Everyone carries a sword within them. And we all wield them pretty easily.

"Get lost. Unlucky bastard. Someone like you should just die."

Bosha thought if everyone was carrying a sword, then he should be carrying one to stand against those who wield theirs. Or even yet, he has to swing a sword at someone before they can swing their knife at him. He hated humanity. He hated everything in the world, and he thought he'd never change his mind.

Ygraine was an invisible existence. Getting to know her was like getting to know one's self. The more Bosha was drawn to her, the more he learned about himself. He soon realized there were people in the world who did not carry a sword. Bosha realized he had wielded a sword at those people, and that his heart was filled with mindless hatred, envy, and jealousy.

As time passed, his steps grew heavier and heavier as he followed Ygraine, until one day he said to Ygraine,

- "I am a wicked man. I have made good people cry, I have made them bleed, I have made them die unjustly. What makes me worthy to follow you?

Then Ygraine answered,

- No, there is no one in all the world unworthy.

The weight of his accumulated sins crushed Bosha's heart.

- How can I pay for the sins I have committed?

Ygraine replied.

- No matter what you do, you can't.

Hearing those words, Bosha shook his head. Ygrainne continued.

- It's like trying to catch a river that has flowed away. Your sword had taken lives, their blood dripped and soaked into the ground, and their body rotted and returned to the earth. Nothing can undo that.

- Then... what am I to do? What can I do?

Ygraine smiled wryly.

- Love your people. And don't stop asking questions like this one. Ask, ask, ask. Keep questioning your own heart.

Bosha found salvation in that smile, living by it. Knowing that Ygraine was Lutea, and knowing that Lutea loved all humans, made him a new person.

But was it good enough?

Only after following Ygraine did Bosha learn about humanity— how parents love their children, and how friends trust each other. He understood how people rejoice together when they rejoice, and how people mourn together when they mourn. Only then did he understand the implications of what he had done.

Once he understood, the guilt became unbearable. What do you think the people who were struck by Bosha's sword feel?

- There is no one in the world who is unworthy of love.

No, no. There are those in the world who do not deserve love. Those who lost loved ones to Bosha would not want him to be loved.

- Everyone deserves to be happy.

No, not everyone. Those who have been made unhappy by Bosha will not want Bosha to be happy.

The questions he asked himself pierced his heart like a sharp, thick awl. His own logic would not allow him to forgive himself, so he leaned on Ygraine's logic. He buried the memory of his sin in the back of his mind. He followed Ygraine to fight the witch's forces and save people. He had died, struck down by the witch's clone, and died satisfied. Unaware that it was an act of self-gratification.

Now, his sins have come back to haunt him in the form of Armillo, bringing out the ugliest, dirtiest parts of him.

A question pierced Edulis's heart yet again.

"Do I have the right to speak in Lutea's name?"

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- Ugh... ahhh...

The people pressed against the walls have lost their humanity and are unable to speak. The eyes of the soldiers blocking the crowd were hollow; they had never been human in the first place.

Their necks and limbs lengthened, and they could no longer walk on two feet. They crawled on all fours, drooling like animals. Only Edulis, Armillo, and a few small children among the protesters remained human.

"Eh, Lord Edulis!" A terrified Kishi shouted, shaking with fear.

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Edulis used Purification on them, but they didn't return to their original forms; their souls were already warped. Murjana moved swiftly, rescuing the trembling children from among the monstrous people.

Then, the monsters began to move toward Murjana and Edulis as if demanding the children.

"Armillo….What the hell are you doing?"

Edulis asked, and Armillo smiled.

"I am building an army, Bosha, and just as you have given weapons to those who listen to you, I am giving power to those who listen to me."

With those words, Edulis knew what Armillo's power was. Armillo had the power to bend souls with his words.

"Armillo... didn't you love people? Didn't you live for those who believed in you and followed you? Then why..."

Edulis said in a trembling voice.

"Why, Bosha, you know the answer to that better than anyone, don't you?" Armillo chuckled. His eyes were as blue as Akale's. "There was no such thing as followers, Bosha. I don't have any followers. They were all following their self-interests."

Edulis couldn't speak back.

"If I had asked these people to gather to fulfill Lutea's will, would any have come forward? If I had asked them to share what they had for the sake of the sick and poor, how many would be here?"

Edulis thought to himself. Fewer than now, perhaps, but still quite a number would go. But Edulis had no right to argue. It was Bosha who had made Armillo think that way.

"I am blessed, Bosha, because of you. Your awakening has brought me into the eyes of Akale, and she has bestowed her power upon me. I believe that Akale should be esteemed above Granadilla. She loves people for who they truly are. Don't you think so, Bosha?"

Edulis couldn't utter a single word.

"I died cursing you, but now I think we can be friends. Honestly, I was a fool back then. Hehe..."

Edulis couldn't raise his head in front of Armillo. Armillo looked at him and said.

"Bosha, come with me to lead the army, and together we will create the world of Lady Akale. A world of truth, a world where honest killers rampage, a world where the weak cry and the strong laugh. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Beside speechless Edulis, Murjana shouted. "What nonsense are you talking about? That's not what Edulis would want, isn't it?" Murjana's voice was full of conviction.

"Edulis is a warm and upright person. He would not want the weak to be trampled on, not when he is fighting the forces of the witches in Lutea's name. Stop confusing the people with your nonsense."

That belief weighed heavily on Edulis.

"Hahaha! Now who's talking nonsense?"

At Armillo's signal, the monsters surrounding Edulis pounced on Murjana, a pure white magick wrapping around her. She protected the children behind her, slashing the limbs off the monsters.

Murjana tried to direct her sword at Armillo but the monsters gripping her ankles immobilized her.

"Lutea's will? Do you think Bosha would believe in such a thing?"

Edulis couldn't refute that. He believed in Lutea's words– a belief unshakable as a mountain. But that belief might not be pure.

Perhaps in that belief, there's a desire to turn away from one's own sins?

Above all, Edulis has done a great wrong. He did not keep Ygraine's word. He stopped asking himself questions. He buried his memories, hid them, and turned a blind eye.

Hypocrite Edulis. How dare he carried Lutea's words to strangers all this time? How could he have spoken out against the Ascidians?

Murjana swung her sword without hesitation, but Edulis could not. He knew he was responsible for this whole situation. He had made good Armillo do the will of Akale, and he had failed to stop him from turning the villagers into monsters.

Armillo's soul, the villagers' souls, and his own were irreparably damaged. Because of Bosha.

Edulis had no words to convince Armillo. How could he bring up Lutea's name in front of Armillo when it was Bosha who had tainted it?

Edulis had no intention of joining Akale's forces. But when Armillo pointed his sword at him, he couldn't move. Edulis had killed him while mocking Lutea once, and now was he going to kill him in her name?

Ah, if only Ygraine were here, his words could have changed Armillo's mind!

"Oh, reinforcements are coming," Armillo said. In the direction Armillo was looking, he could see a group of people rushing in from the distance. People who had not yet turned into monsters.

"Bosha, do you know why those people who aren't part of the Ascidia are coming all the way here? Because when taxes go up, the price of raw materials coming in from the ports goes up. It's money, after all, that drives the world."

With that, Armillo cleared his throat. Magick, curling like soot, gathered around his throat. What came out of his mouth was not a snake-like voice. It was the voice of a good orator, a priest discussing gods and justice, with the malice to turn people into monsters.

"People of Lutea! Stand against the regent who has forsaken Lutea's will-"

As he spoke, a black blade sliced through Armillo's throat. It was an instant. Edulis kicked the ground and leaped. The severed head rolled across the floor. No blood flowed. Armillo was no longer human.

"Bosha. Do you think you have the right to wield a sword against me?"

He has a valid point, but Edulis didn't stop swinging his sword. He cut the arm of Armillo reaching for his head and stabbed him through the heart. Tears fell from Edulis's eyes. He remembered Armillo's words, ninety years ago.

- Lutea said to speak with faith, not with sword.

He remembered the innocent face of the young man who had spoken those words. As his innocent face turned to despair, he saw himself slitting the man's throat.

That's right. Ygrainne had said to speak with faith, not the sword. But right now, Edulis didn't know how to speak with faith. He had to stop Armillo somehow before more people were turned into monsters.

Edulis swung his sword. He swung it shamelessly. He cut off Armillo's head so he couldn't speak, and he cut his body into pieces. Then he cut down the men who had turned into monsters.

"A... killer! A killer!"

The gathered crowd shrank back at the sight of Edulis covered in blood. Hearing the words, Edulis nodded. It was as if he had overheard the truth. It was true. Edulis is a murderer. A killer who used Ygraine's words as a mask to hide himself.

A blue snake slithered out of Armillo's shattered body. It slithered out, smirking at Edulis. It was Akale's voice.

"You killed him, Bosha! You have forsaken the love and faith that Lutea spoke of, and you have killed an enlightened one, you hypocrite!"

Edulis swung his sword and severed the serpent's waist. Akale was right, he thought.

"I am not worthy of Lutea's name." Ygraine's words came to mind.

- 'There is no one in the world unworthy of love.

No, no. Some should never have set foot in Lutea's world. People who look at others with cold eyes and scoff at goodness. People like Bosha! Look at what he has created. A field of corpses, a land stained with blood...

"You have committed no sins, Armillo. They are all sins of my own making." Edulis muttered to himself as he buried Armillo's remains in the ground, and thought, "I must create a world of Lutea."

He must create Lutea's world. But he must not be a part of it.