--Priest’s perspective—

Genius. Prodigy. Those are the words I’ve been branded with since birth. My parents are high ranking church officials, as such, I was raised in the presence of the Gods.

For some reason, the Gods adored me. From at an early age, I was to devote myself to learning holy magic and become the church’s greatest weapon as the one closest to God. For this reason, I was cut off from human interaction. Isolated in the church, praying to the Gods, receiving their blessings; that is how I’ve lived until now.

Though at times I wished to see the outside world, I wasn’t unhappy. My mother and father were proud of me, the other priests held me in high esteem, and ‘devoting themselves to God’ is a priest’s happiness in life. Even the times I asked to be let outside were just out of simple curiosity. I mean, I was the hope of the people, their weapon against evil. Every year, on my birthday, they would shower my parents with offerings. Sometimes, I was even given something interesting.

Growing up in the church, I was taught many things. I was told about the war against the demons, how when all hope seemed lost, a group of humans with pure souls called upon the Gods; and with their power, wiped away the demon army.

It was a fantastic tale of good and evil! But even though the Demon army was exterminated, many of them fled and took refuge in a land far away. Every now and then there are demons that find their way back, and it’s the church’s duty to eliminate them. For me to be like one of the heroes in the stories… I was honored to be chosen by the Gods, and was determined to be a powerful weapon they could use against evil.

Aside from demons and undead, I also learned of the existence of demi-humans. Apparently, during the war, some humans chose to forsake our Gods and instead worship the demons. Forming a cult, they met with the demons, and the demons bestowed power onto them, turning them into half human, half demon races. Thus the demi-human races were born. Races born of heretics. Evidence of the past failures of mankind.

Hearing about this, I was shocked. How could humans forsake that which protected them, and worship those who sought to destroy them? And what of these new races? Even if only half, aren’t they still demons? Shouldn’t we work to eliminate them all the same? I asked these questions and got an unbelievable answer.

Not only were we protecting the demi-humans, we were breeding them and increasing their population. I was told that the church was selling them as slaves. When I asked what that was, I was shown one of them.

That was the first time I met a demi-human.

She looked almost like a human. The only real difference was her long and pointy ears. My face turned slightly red when she was walked in completely naked, but I quickly recovered. She had a perfect body and a beautiful face, but her eyes were dark and held no life. She had bruising over some parts of her body, and on her back were long scars; ruining her perfect skin, like tears in a painting.

Somehow I felt something heavy in my chest.

What was this? Whenever I looked in her eyes, my legs became weak, and my stomach turned. I couldn’t be near her anymore and had her quickly taken away.

Why did that happen to me? Why did I react like that? I thought about it for a while after that, and reached a conclusion. It was irritation. I was mad that the priests would bring something like that, man kind’s mistake, and wave it around right before the Gods.

Like that, I voiced my opinion to the church, suggesting we get rid of all the demi-humans in order to show our devotion to the Gods.

They were outraged. They accused me of calling their faith into question. They said the power of my position had gone to my head and I thought myself to be the voice of the Gods. In the end, I had even more restrictions placed on me. The priests hardly spoke to me from that point on, and even my parents looked at me with reproachful eyes.

Just where exactly was I wrong? They are the ones who are mocking the Gods!

Without the church or family, I turned to the only ones I had left, further devoting myself to my faith. All day, with nothing else to do, I would pray and train my holy magic alone in a single room. Aside from the occasional maid that cleaned the room and brought my meals, I was visited by no one.

On my 15th birthday, I was finally allowed to leave the room. I was told that a demon had invaded from the north and was rampaging throughout the country. It was a high ranking demon that was destroying villages, nearing the capital.

I was excited. Not only would I finally be able to exterminate a demon, but I was finally about to see the world outside the church.

My expectations were easily crushed. The only reason the church brought me with them was because they were specifically ordered to by the emperor. The total subjugation force sent out consisted of 30 royal knights, 5 holy priests, and me. During the trip, I was constantly kept in a royal carriage. Unable to even look outside, I road without speaking to anyone or seeing anything the entire way.

The carriage I traveled in was even built so that you could spend the night inside. Like that, I never visited an inn or was allowed outside of the carriage until we got close to the demon.

We had finally arrived at the next village in its path. As we got closer, I could feel the ground begin to shake. Soft screams in the distant grew louder the closer we came, and then, it came into view.

People around the carriage flew into panic. I could hear voices of disbelief. A few lost themselves and even ran away. It was then that my carriage was finally opened, and with fearful expressions, members of the royal guard urged me outside to fight.

Gigantic.

I stepped outside the carriage and what I saw stole my breath for a moment. An enormous beast. The beast was demonic, surrounded by a dark aura. It stood nearly five times as tall as the highest roof in the village. Without care, it savagely kicked over houses and stomped helpless villagers into the ground.

Terrifying. The people around me, even the priests were terrified. With shaking legs, they prayed to be saved from this monster. All will to subjugate this demon had disappeared. After all, this is probably the first time any of them had fought an actually demon, at least one of this size. No, perhaps to them subjugation was already an impossible task.

Even though they are supposed to worship and believe in the Gods…

I was surprised. Certainly there is a great evil before us, but aren’t we true believers of God? For their faith to be thrown away just by looking at this demon… Unforgivable.

With resolution, I walked past the cowering priests and knights. My head held high, I approached the demon; and when I came within range, I drew upon my holy magic, striking it.

The magic power within me was drawn out, and like that, a beautiful white light appeared above the demon. As if forming a blade of light, it sharpened and swung down at it, ripping through its body and purging the darkness.

The beast let out a pained shriek and turned towards me. With eyes red as blood, it seemed to look through me, to my very soul.

But I wasn’t afraid.

My soul was something that belonged to the Gods. Even though this was the first time I had seen a demon, I was not afraid. With a smile, I called out to the Gods. I offered my magic power to them and like that I was enveloped in a bright yellow light. The yellow light further purified my magical power, and as if absorbed by the Gods themselves, dissipated into the air.

A moment later the Gods smite the demon. A large bright light came down upon the beast. It was as if the sun itself fell upon the village. The bright light burned away all darkness, all things impure. It was the judgement of the Gods.

When it faded, nothing was left of the demon, not even ashes. As if it had never been there, the demon had disappeared. But the damaged buildings, the corpses which were thrown about and littered the floor, were evidence that it had been.

Even though I had just witnessed the might of the Gods which I hold faith, I couldn’t bring myself to be happy. The scene before me, the broken families, the lost homes, the chaos of the village. It served as a reminder that even though you extinguish evil, the destruction it causes, the despair it can engrave unto one’s soul; cannot be so easily purged.

I turned back and looked at the subjugation party.

Why were they looking at me like that?

Shock. That’s the best way I can describe their faces at that time. They looked at me in disbelief. I, still just a kid; stood against and defeated the demon which had caused grown men, experienced in the art of war, to turn and flee. Their eyes, which previously had looked down on me as a pampered and privileged child of the church, had now looked at me with awe and fear.

On the ride back to the capital, one of the priests rode with me on the carriage and nervously talked to me about various things. The way he was shaking the whole time was comical.

Once we finally reached the capital and I arrived back at the church, the priests who had accompanied me along the way frantically ran inside to give their report of the subjugation. In response to hearing this, the church officials looked at me with wariness . My treatment within the church became harsher and even more restricted. And like that, almost a year passed.

Today, like every other day, I spend alone in my room. In the mornings I get up and wash myself, dress myself, then I pray to the Gods until breakfast.

The door opens and Lily comes inside. She is carrying with her a tray. The tray holds a plate, napkins, and silverware. On top of the plate is a mound of rice with eggs steaming next to it.

I look at Lily and smile. She is the maid who is in charge of cleaning the room and bringing my meals. We have become close over the past few years.

“Good morning Lily”

“Good morning Christina”

It took forever to get her to call me that. As a servant of the church and to nobility in general, it was forbidden to address your masters in such a familiar way. For the longest time she had insisted on calling me ‘Miss Fairfield’. She will still call me by that name in public, but with just the two of us, she addresses me by my first name.

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She sets the tray down on a small table.

“Smells good.”

I walk over, taking in the scent of the food.

“Of course, the chefs prepared it for you at my request. It is the least I can do to make sure you have acceptable meals.”

I smile wryly. As a maid who has worked here for decades, she has ties with the rest of the help. Everyone views her as an older sister, and she has a certain amount of authority among the servants. I’m sure if it wasn’t for her, I would be eating some bland porridge or soup right now.

“As always, thank you Lily.”

“Please, I am unworthy of such thanks. To keep such a cute little girl locked up in here all the time… I just can’t stand it. Even though you are the treasure they flaunt so easily to the public, to treat you like this…”

I sigh. This isn’t the first time we have had this conversation. Even though we have discussed it so many times already and have already decided it can’t be helped, for her to get so agitated on my behalf… it makes me a little happy.

“We’ve been over it before. There’s no helping it. Besides, it’s not like I’m completely alone, I have the Gods, and you…”

I look at her and give the most sincere smile I can. Looking at me, she covers her mouth with her hand for a moment, her eyes shaking from fighting back tears. Finally, she embraces me.

“That’s right, I’m always here for you. Remember that!”

Seriously… even though this is nothing new…

I feel my face becoming hot.

“I… I will.”

Like that Lily and I talked while I ate. After I finished, she took the tray and left the room. With a full stomach, I practiced my holy magic.

Holy magic is unlike any other type of magic in that it only affects darkness. Because of this, I can safely practice all of my magic without damaging anything. However, on the same note, I am unable to see the effects of the magic I am practicing. I have to rely on feeling alone.

A few hours after breakfast, there’s a knock on my door.

“Come in.”

The door opens and three men come in. The first one is a tall man with brown hair and a scruffy beard. The armor he is wearing shows he is a royal knight. The person behind him has black hair which is long and reaches his shoulders. He has a more refined appearance, but wears similar armor to the first man, showing he is also a member of the royal guard. The last man is a familiar one. He is a member of the high council of the church. He is fat and bald, wearing a loose fitting white silk robe. His face displays a look of extreme displeasure.

“Good morning miss Fairfield, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Edwin Gustav, commander of the royal guard. I come today on behalf of the emperor, requesting your assistance in a reconnaissance mission north of the border.”

The man in front approaches me saying this. I look at the church official and he looks back at me with furious eyes. It seems they can’t disobey a direct order from the emperor. But why would the emperor go through the trouble of personally requesting me?

Thinking about various things, I remain silent. As if reading my mind, the commander speaks again.

“As with any mission past the borders, there is the risk of running into demons. Once past the borders, especially the northern ones, strength of the monsters and demons rise considerably. After hearing of your accomplishments regarding the recent subjugation of a higher demon, the emperor feels it best that you be the one to accompany us on this journey.”

The commander looks at me with a bright smile. Well, it doesn’t seem like he is a bad person. Although it was sudden, to be able to leave the church, of course I would be happy to go.

I nod.

“Of course I’ll accompany you.”

The commander lets out a hearty laugh and turns to walk out the door. Before he leaves, he looks over his shoulder at me.

“Well? Aren’t you coming?”

“Ehh? Right now?”

Seeing my slightly flustered reaction, the commander smiles wryly. I take back the part about him seeming like a good person.

“Well, we have run quite late in preparing, and due to certain complications…”

He glances over at the high official.

“…our meeting with you was delayed until now. Sufficient supplies and accommodations have been prepared for your comfort along the way. If you need anything from this room, please bring it, but we are running late.”

I shake my head. He nods, turns, and I follow the three men out of my room.

Leaving my room, we walked straight out of the church. With a despicable look, the church official saw me off.

We boarded a carriage and rode through the city. Along the way I talked with Commander Edwin. Apparently news of my past achievements have spread and I am quite a well-known figure throughout the Empire.

We travel through the city, stopping along the way. Every time we stop, more carriages join the line until we have a caravan of around five wagons.

I ask the commander who the other people are and he tells me they are adventurers who have signed up to join the expedition. Like that, we leave the city.

Along the way I meet the other adventurers and speak with them. Some are interesting people but others I don’t get along with. In particular, those that have demi-human slaves are the ones I have a hard time talking with. Two of the five carriages hold demi-human slaves.

It's irritating.

I'm told to tolerate it but I just can't understand.

The demi-human girls are little more than corpses anyway, why not just kill them? They are an existence that is born from evil and therefore should be exterminated. But they keep them around and feed them to keep them alive and torture them...

And when I realized they were doing that with them too I almost lost control of myself.

That's the very action that created that evil offspring of human and demon, and now they are repeating that and I and apostle of God am told to look the other way?

Disgusting!

They are clearly evil as well, I need to exterminate them along with the demi-humans.

But my power only effects the dark attribute... While they carry enough sin to be tainted with it, the others are not, and so I am powerless...

My holy magic won't work and anything I say is brushed off. It's times like this when I feel small...

All I can do is pray to the Gods to show me a way, a way to help humanity that is walking down the wrong path.

Thinking about various things, our trip continues toward the northern border.

We’ve finally reached the border.

It’s been about 3 months, but we have finally arrived.

The northern border.

Entering the forest, we were the carriage in the middle of the caravan. Behind us was a wagon full of experienced adventurers, and behind them rode the three owners of a demi-human girl.

From the shrieks and screams, I knew the cart behind us had a demi-human slave with them. You could hear her screams all the way from the front of our cart.

It got so bad in fact, that the commander had to stop the caravan, go back, and tell them to keep it down. After that, it got much worse for a few moments, then suddenly became very quiet.

Out of mild curiosity, I looked out the back of our cart, towards them. That’s when I saw two men dump something from the side of the wagon. Though I only saw it briefly, the image of it was burned into my memory.

A demi-human female. She looked to be older than me. Her face was shredded, her limbs broken and bending at so many angles that she looked like a pile of flesh. She had cuts and bruises all over her body, and one of her eyes had been gouged out.

At last, one of the demi-human slaves had been exterminated.

But what was this feeling?

It was not a beautiful thing like in the stories where heroic knights and priests call on the Gods power to purge evil, it was like ravenous dogs crowded together and ripping apart the flesh of their prey.

There was no dignity in it. It was a violent, repulsive act. Is it really something one can be proud about?

Unsure of my thoughts, something heavy lodges itself into my chest and I can't seem to get rid of it. It's a very ominous feeling that wraps around the core of myself.

Shuddering, I shake my head and banish the image from my mind. The image of that girl. Of that demi-human.

Ahh, I need to encounter a demon. Even though we have been past the border for a few days now, and have even been attacked a few times; they were beasts every time. Not a single demon or undead were anywhere to be found. If I could just extinguish some evil… I’m sure I could get rid of this feeling. All I need to do is devote myself to the Gods.

From then on, I ride silently while praying.

Then, it happened.

It was midday and I was sitting next to the commander in our carriage when I heard someone shouting behind us.

“We are being attacked from the back!”

It was the voice of Dalton, one of the three. Hearing his shout, the commander turned around and looked at him with a hard expression.

“What is attacking, and how many?”

Coming to a stop, Dalton stands up straight and salutes.

“Sir, it’s a skeleton. Greg spotted it, him and Edward are currently fighting it.”

Hearing that, I jump up. At last! Even if it is just a skeleton, I must personally exterminate it. It is the only thing that will help this feeling that has been lodged in my chest since a while ago.

Without saying anything, I jump down from the carriage and run off in the direction of the skeleton.

“….field wait!”

The commander shouts something behind me, but I don’t listen to it. I need this. I’ve never needed something so badly in my life.

Once the last carriage comes into view, I see the skeleton and one man. Weren't there supposed to be two people fighting it?

The skeleton takes a step forward and the man breaths out as if resolving himself before charging forward with his sword held high.

Oh no! He is going to kill it before I get the chance!

“Ahh.. don’t!”

As soon as the man comes within range of the skeleton, his sword cuts through the air on a path intersecting its spine.

I can only stand there and watch as the prey I so desperately needed is stolen right in front of my eyes.