"You're kidding me..."

Even though I was the one being called a savior, the older elf looked more surprised than I was. Or rather, she looked crestfallen.

Most likely, this term was some sort of code between them. Now, as for the actual meaning, I was utterly clueless.

"I'm not, I swear!" the kid retorted. "I tried to single out the target of salvation from the other survivors, and the signal happened to be right above me!"

"Lune, please go downstairs for a bit. I need to have a quick chat with our 'savior'," she said with a sarcastic emphasis on that last word. I couldn’t exactly complain, however.

The younger girl, apparently called Lune, pouted but obeyed her without voicing so much as a complaint nonetheless. Without a word, the brown-haired girl closed the door and looked at me from head to toe.

What was that about...? Did she say survivors?

"Um," I tried to break the silence, "What does she mean by—"

"Shut up." she cut me off and curled up with her back against the door, as if she were about to break down in front of me. Maybe she was.

Aren't you the one who just said you wanted a chat with me?

"How is this happening...? It has to be a joke."

And now you're talking?

"God, why would you lead us to her?" she cried out, somehow preferring to ask for an explanation from some god over talking it out with me. "We risked our lives to follow that trail, and for what result...? I can't just entrust my family to a mass murderer!"

That's me, right? Rude…

Calling myself a murderer or a genocidaire was one thing and was even a bit cathartic, but hearing that from someone else’s mouth felt just harsh. Those terms usually implied an intent to cause death, which wasn't my case. Not that I was willing to argue with her on semantics.

The elf stayed immobile for a bit, muttering and complaining all the while, until she perked up as if in realization. "Is that a test?"

She still isn't talking to me, right?

Considering she was looking at the ceiling, that was probably the case.

She eventually looked my way, finally acknowledging my existence. "What's your name?"

"Alice," I answered without hesitation.

I could easily have used a false name, but I didn't feel like lying. Or rather, I was fed up with lies. Hiding the truth, most notably regarding my abilities, had been one of the root causes of that incident in the first place. Moreover, I didn't wish to use my alias either and sully that name by associating it with my sin. It might have been cringe-worthy but, to me, 'Iris' was supposed to be a hero one day. I would probably never use that name ever again.

"Uh... sorry," she said awkwardly as she stood back up. "I needed to vent for a bit."

“... Okay?”

She recovered her serious expression from before in a heartbeat. “Can you do me a favor?”

"S-sure."

"For the time being, don’t tell my sister anything about what you did. Please."

Just like that, she closed the door and left without giving me the chance to say or ask anything.

Wait, that’s all she had to say?

Somehow, she had not explained the slightest thing and only asked for my name. She hadn't even told me hers.

***

I guess I'm still alive.

That was my first thought as I was woken up by the rays of light that marked a new day.

“Ah, you’re awake!” a childish voice called out.

Sat on a chair was that same little elf with the head bandage on the head.

Lune, was it?

“So, have you thought it over?”

“What was there to think over?” I retorted. “I have no idea what is going on.”

“Uh? Didn't Clair explain the situation…?”

“Is Clair her name?”

“I need to start from there?! Why did she have to shoo me away to have a private chat with you if it was to leave you confused?!”

"Don’t ask me…"

“Well," she cleared her throat, "She appears to be aloof and cold, but she isn’t a bad person. She's just overly cautious.”

From what that Clair girl had said, this kid didn't know that I was responsible for everything. Considering Clair knew the truth, I wouldn’t say she was being overcautious at all. If anything, letting her younger sibling be alone with me was way too lenient.

Lune’s attitude toward me would be sure to change if I told her everything too. Frankly, that request from yesterday was troublesome. Just when I had decided to be more honest, I was tasked to hide the truth from that kind girl who was taking care of me.

I wouldn’t outright reveal the truth for now but, if she were to ever ask me who I thought was the culprit, I wouldn’t tell a lie either.

In other words, I was plotting to use voluntary omission to trick her. That was quite an unhealthy start for a relationship.

“So..." I started, "I at least picked up on the fact that you two had been looking for me. What is that about?”

“Er... I'll try to be direct then. We came from Wetrekha and we've been traveling all the way here to meet you, our savior.”

It wasn't code, then...?

“... When you say Wetrekha, do you mean the Empire? Why? Am I famous over there or something…?”

Am I considered a savior there? For what I did here? No, the temporality doesn't even make any sense. And she doesn't even know what I did. What's going on...?

“Not quite," Lune corrected me. "You're not famous there, and we didn’t know anything about you either. We just blindly followed your trace.”

“You're... losing me here. You and your sister must have mistaken me for the one you were looking for. I’m no savior.”

“I can show you that it’s not a mistake,” she confidently said, standing and taking a deep breath. “Spirit of guidance, please lend me your light and illuminate the path toward salvation.”

Ha? Is that some kind of incantation?

A moment later, I sensed a mild surge of mana within me that I might not have noticed if I weren’t paying attention. Timing-wise, there was little doubt that it was related to the words she had just said.

I couldn’t rule out the possibility of a bluff but I was at least positive that it had been a spell, one refined enough to not overwhelm me. That moderate reaction from my mana was orders of magnitude less intense than the rejection I would have felt if she had merely thrown her bare mana at me.

Even so, for all I knew, that spell of hers might have been completely unrelated to the words she had said.

“Twelve o’clock, about two steps away from the target of salvation.” Lune pointed at me. “Seems about right. You felt it as well, didn't you?"

"Yes", I nodded.

"Then there’s no doubt about it, you’re the one I’ve been looking for.”

“... You’re not trying to scam me, are you?”

“S-scam? I’m not! My magic is the real deal, you saw it!”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“This doesn’t prove much, I'm afraid... At least explain how it's supposed to work?”

“Er… Clair doesn’t want me to reveal too much,” she said hesitantly. “Well, actually, she told me not to tell or show you anything for now.”

Didn’t you show me a decent amount already…?

“Can you detect potential survivors with it?” I asked, referring to something she had casually let out the day before.

“Unfortunately, we’re the only ones alive in this city,” Lune said solemnly. “I already checked.”

As her words sank in, I felt my voice catch in my throat. “I see.”

“Besides us three, the closest person alive is one, maybe two days from here by foot, due northwest.”

“So there are survivors…”

If she was being honest, this answered the most dreadful question I had been losing my mind about.

Northwest, huh?

The epicenter I came from was several hours from the capital by foot in the direction of the south, so it was natural that the closest survivors she mentioned would be roughly in the opposite direction. That checked out.

Frankly, I was torn between the indescribable relief of knowing the vast majority of the world had most likely survived and the crushing realization that up to half a million deaths lay at my feet. Given the concerned look that the elf was giving me, those contradictory emotions lurking in my mind may have combined into some peculiar expression.

“Alice,” Lune said. "I understand that this whole situation is crazy. Even we had no idea who the target would be, and we sure didn't expect the encounter to happen in these conditions. The only reason we are in the capital today is because we deduced the target was heading there."

They've only been here for a few days, then? Wait, does that mean this place isn't theirs but some dead person's instead?

This didn't even seem like a hotel or an inn room, after all. Well, taking shelter in an unused house instead of sleeping in the street was a sound thing to do in such a critical situation, so I quickly chased out of my head the thought of them putting in a closet the corpses that were in the way.

“It seems your journey wasn't worth the effort,” I snorted. "Maybe you should have stayed in the Empire."

"We were looking for a savior for a reason. Staying there was out of the question."

“Well, I bet you were expecting some kind of knight that would have protected you. Instead, you found a lowlife that you must take care of.”

“Come on, I don't think that at all! I fully trust God's judgment. Plus, you survived that deadly phenomenon, so you must actually be quite tough. How did you even manage that?”

"Well..."

Am I already at a point where I’d have to lie to get myself out of this?

“I—”

“Oh right, you don’t remember much of what happened,” she said. “Clair told me so. Sorry, that was tactless of me…”

Huh.

This Clair girl had gotten a head start and was ready to lie to her sister's face as long as she thought it was for her sake. I initially thought it was because Lune had — supposedly — the maturity of a pre-teen, but it might have been because of this salvation thing after all. She probably didn’t want her sister to be disenchanted upon finding out the person she had been crossing foreign lands for was in fact a criminal.

Honestly, considering Clair had experienced this same disillusion, it was impressive that she had readied herself to hide her frustration and hate toward me in the presence of her sister, and even lie to her. This took some serious mental fortitude.

“Alice,” she continued. “Given where you met with us, is that right to assume that you came from south?”

“I did.”

“Do you have any plans to go back to where you’re from?”

“Well... Yes.”

Though "plans" seemed a bit too hopeful a term considering the grim future I envisioned.

“Good, my sister and I intend to head in that direction as well. We should stock on food and water so that we can leave this place in the afternoon!”

“Why are you assuming that we’re going together?” I asked. “I’m sorry, but I still think you’re mistaken about me...”

“You can barely walk in your state, and it would take you at least a couple of days to recover. Neither Clair nor I have that time, unfortunately."

"I'll find a way to survive."

"How about you accompany us at least until you’re able to move by yourself?" she bargained. "If even then you want to part ways, so be it.”

She shouldn't be that enthusiastic to travel with me.

"... I doubt your sister would be willing to bring me with you."

"But it was Clair’s idea for you to come with us,” she said. “She’s working on getting a carriage ready as we speak.”

If she insists that I come too, then I don't think I'll be able to physically resist...

I gulped.

***

“Please,” Clair panted, “Tell me the road ahead is paved.”

“Sadly, no," I said. "It only extends around the capital.”

She sighed heavily, “Dear God…”

Should I walk, after all?” Lune chimed in.

“You two aren’t the problem, it’s this damn cart,” Clair grunted.

At the moment, Clair was pulling a two-wheeled hand carriage by herself. The reason for this was that she was the only manual labor available as all beasts had died all around. In these conditions, this sort of lightweight carriage was possibly the best way to transport a deadweight like me as well as all the supplies. Truly, the image of an elven woman showing this much effort went against all the stereotypes about the physical weakness of elves that I had. Although she was clearly having trouble doing it.

For the second time in just a couple of months, I watched the capital shrink into the distance behind us. The first time, I had felt melancholy with the hope of one day returning to further explore the architecture and shops. But now, all I saw was a gigantic graveyard, the symbol of a huge political shift and even possibly the fall of the Ouronia Kingdom.

Lune apparently could not confirm this kind of thing, but King Arlington had certainly perished as well. He was the man I admired the most as a child, although it may very well have been because of some kind of propaganda since every other child in the kingdom idolized him too. Well, even ignoring this cult of personality, he was among the strongest mages in the entire kingdom, with an incredible amount of achievements from battles.

Even so, just like the others, he would be left there to rot. The thought of leaving them be was excruciating, but I knew burying them all would have taken me years. If civilization had truly endured nearby, it was likely that all the bodies in the capital would be thrown into large mass graves within a few weeks or months.

What I could do though, as soon as my condition was better, was ensure that the people I found ahead would get the right to have a burial, even if temporary.

I turned to look right ahead, in the direction of the ground zero of that burst.

That includes them.