“Aren't you going to help me?” I hear the harpy's trembling voice from behind. As I take a step forward, she starts sobbing, and eventually she bursts out crying.

The trade is over. I healed her to get the answers to my questions. That should have been the end of it.

“I want to go back home, please help me!” She cries.

If different races killing each other is a natural flow, I decided to follow it. Someone like me shouldn't be allowed to help her. Doing any more favor with the power I have obtained through sacrifices of countless lives would be preposterous.

I take one more step. The sound of her crying becomes louder, but I ignore it. In this world where killing each other is the norm, only people like Rina is allowed to help others without a reason.

'...'

Thinking about her, they come from the same alliance. Black Harpy is also a powerful race, and they are quite similar.

'If Rina found herself in this kind of situation...'

I don't want it to happen, and I don't even want to imagine it. However, considering what happened to this harpy, I can't deny the possibility.

'… Isn't this fine?' After all, she is an ally to Rina who has done so much for me. If I think it as repaying her favor, there should be no problem.

I look back at the harpy. The torn up wing has to be the reason why she can't escape by herself.

I had kept the use of light magic up to level six in front of others, and regrowth is a spell I learned once I reached level seven. The more I show my abilities, the higher the danger is going to be, as there will be enemies coming at me while knowing what I am capable of.

'...'

Judging from those I have seen in the Tail Fox village, I don't think I will get to fight against black harpies. Maybe Rina's carelessness is being contagious, but I can't help thinking that even that is acceptable.

I head back to her and focus on gathering the mana. It is the first time I have used Regrowth on someone else, so I have to focus. Visualizing the part where her wing got cut off, I imagine the natural state she should have been in. Since Regrowth reverts back to the normal state of an organism, my visualization doesn't have to be exact. However, the closer my image is to the reality, the less mana it consumes, and the process also becomes smoother. Fortunately, I have already studied black harpies structures, and her wing grows back in no time without problem.

“Don't tell anyone about this.” Seeing her wings growing back to the normal state, she starts flapping her wings. With excited expressions, she starts hugging me.

“Thank you, little goddess! Really, I thought I would never be able to fly again!”

I thought we went over this goddess thing, but she keeps calling me like that.

“...”

I was going to correct her, but seeing her all excited, it doesn't look like she is going to listen. When I think back, she actually didn't listen the first time neither. I guess there is no use telling her once again.

Because of how narrow is the alley, she just excitedly jumps around, but she should have no problem flying. Ah, she stopped.

While I am wondering why she suddenly lost her vigor, she comes back to me.

“But, there's this crest...” She sits down in front of me to show me her neck while trying to not meet my eyes.

'Magic circle?' Under her neck, there is a a circle, inside which a weird emblem involving a wolf-like animal's head can be seen. On the border of the circle, some weird marks are written in a pattern I have not seen before.

'I have no clue what this is.' I look at her who is sitting in front of me.

“I... can't run away with this crest on me. My master can order me to return through this, and I will have to obey against my will.”

Is this like the magical tools I have seen back then? If I know its functions, I might be able to analyze it.

“Anything else?”

“It also makes me unable to go against the orders I was given before. I can't even escape in the first place...”

I haven't seen any magic that can make the target obey, but if it can give orders from distance, it has to have a communication magic engraved in it. And that is something I should be able to recognize.

I put my hand on her crest, ignoring her flinching. Control of mana becomes better the closer I am to the source. Because I am inspecting something I am not familiar with, I want to be as close as possible to my target.

Unnatural flow of mana around the crest spreads inside her body. I try to follow as if I am trying to untie a knot, and I manage to locate its destination.

'Her heart.'

To be honest, I can't tell the structure of the magic crest. All I can tell is that the distorted flow of mana from it is digging inside her like a root, anchoring itself on her heart.

“Little goddess?”

She looks at me anxiously. Since I can't analyze its structure, I can't really undo it. Forcing it to be undone while not knowing much about it will destroy her heart.

'…'

Actually, there is a way I can remove this crest. If the destruction of her heart is the countermeasure for trying to forcefully remove the crest, then I just have to restore it afterword. However, because of how complicated and delicate is the process, it requires level eight in light magic, and it makes sense as to why the creator of the crest didn't consider it before making this countermeasure.

'Can I do it?' I have never used such a high level light magic on someone else before, but I don't think she will die, at least.

'There is no problem, then.' She can obtain her freedom, and I can test the limit of my abilities.

But before that... I undress myself and send my clothes flying on top of the roof. Since nobody is there, I don't need to worry about them being stolen.

“Don't move.”

“Ahue?” She looks away as I grab her shoulder with my left arm.

I form a blade of wind around my index and middle finger of my right hand. It should be enough to pierce deep enough to remove the problem.

“Uh?”

I thrust my fingers inside her chest. As hot blood spills out, I continue reaching deeper. As I feel the tip of the blade reached her heart, I give it a final push to pierce through it.

“Why?” While coughing blood, she manages to get her words out.

'Ah...' I notice signs of surprise and resentment in her eyes. I realize that I could have warned her, or there could have been better methods at doing this. But I can't stop now, and I have to follow through it.

'I have to wipe out the whole thing.' The crest still hasn't disappeared, so this much wasn't enough. To make sure that the magic is gone, I'd better remove everything that it is affecting. Grabbing her arm with my other hand to stop her from struggling, I release the wind blade to dismantle everything around it. A small but powerful cyclone is created inside her, and soon creates a hole in her chest.

“Little goddess...” I see her eyes starting to lose focus. There is not much time left. I confirm that the crest disappears as I eliminate everything in its root. All that is left is to restore her before she dies.

As I take my hand out of her chest, she starts falling down towards me. I support her with my left hand so she can empty the remains inside the hole. After verifying that it is clean enough, I pour in the light mana to regrow her heart and structures around it.

'As expected, doing this on someone else consumes a lot of mana.' Since I haven't been fighting much recently, I have lots of spare mana so this much is fine. Confirming that her heart has been restored and her hole in the chest has been closed, I check the circulation of blood has gone back to normal. The crest doesn't seem to come back neither, and the distorted mana is also completely gone.

'Why did I not take a different approach?' I should have explained her first, and then could have used a less brutal method, by carving around her heart for example. But instead, I went for the quickest and most guaranteed method.

'Taking my time with it would have put her life in more danger, and this was the best way to make sure that all of the magic was eliminated.' I have always thought going with the most efficient method was the best course of action in order to survive. But did I really have to do that?

I find a towel on the rooftop and bring it over me with wind. I try to wipe off the blood on my hand, but it doesn't get cleared easily.

'I need to wash them before I can wear the dress again.' Having blood all over me is fine, but I don't want to get the dress dirty.

“Eh?” The harpy seems to have regained consciousness. Since I have restored her lost blood, she should have no problem now. But as soon as the harpy opens her eyes, she distances herself away from me and glares at me.

“What? I just had an impression? Dream? That little goddess tried to kill me!” She frantically waves her wins to gesture her confusion.

“Ah? Why are you all bloody? Why am I covered in blood?” She starts trembling as she finds all the blood on her body.

'It's my fault that she is being so wary.' Even though she will soon find out about it, I should tell her about it.

“The crest.” I tell her to check her neck while taking down the dress I have put on top of the roof.

“The slave crest is gone! You are really a goddess! Thank you so much!” She jumps at me and starts hugging me, so I stop the dress from falling down. It's no good, I'm going to need another towel, preferably a wet one. And stop rubbing yourself against my cheeks.

“Heheh, it's so soft!” I push her away and bring in another towel to clean myself up. Her attitude really changed quickly, even though I remember her expression clearly.

“Are you not afraid of me?”

“I mean, I was! It was really surprising when you suddenly stabbed me, I thought I was going to die! But now I know that you did it to remove the crest, it was all for me.” Apparently, she is the type that thinks all's well that ends well.

“And... it felt really warm...” She murmurs. There shouldn't be any change in temperature when I use light magic, so I'm not sure what she means.

“What's your name? Oh, sorry, I should introduce myself first. My name is Mireille, If you find any black harpy and tell my name, they should guide you to my nest!”

“Luxe.”

“Luxe... Luxe... I'll remember the name, can I bring you home?”

Seeing that I removed most of the blood stains, I put the towel back on the roof, and bring down the dress.

“Bye.” As I finish dressing up, I shake my hand to her. I ended up spending too much time and mana, so I should get going.

“Ehh, can I not?”

She doesn't stop me as I walk away.

“Come to see me! It's a promise!”

After a while, I sense her flying up into the sky. I know that she should have no problem leaving on her own since I entered the town through the sky.

Even though I cleaned myself up thoroughly, I can still smell traces of blood stuck in my hair, and between my nails.

I am used to it, and that's why I chose that kind of method when I could have done otherwise.

'No, it didn't even occur to me.'

Because I thought it was the best course of action, I followed it through. I didn't doubt that it was wrong to do so, until I saw her expressions.

'If it was Rina...'

I don't want her to look at me that way. But I might still end up hurting her regardless.

'…'

This might be the consequence of trying to help using the power I have obtained from taking away countless lives.

'It doesn't suit me after all.'

Wearing a pretty dress and living in warmth, those aren't things that my bloody self is allowed to do.

'Even so...'

I want to be with her. It is like a sweet dream that I never want to wake up from.

I was helpless when it mattered the most, because I didn't want to fight, because I didn't do what I should have done. That is why I resolved myself to always follow through the best course of action I can think of, in order to leave no regret.

And I realize that as long as I keep this resolve of mine, I can't keep on staying with her.

'…'

I look in the direction of the fifth district. I know that in a place where they trade people from other races. The hostility I have been feeling will most likely surface.

'I will just do what I have to do.'

What I will do is clear. Even so, deep down inside, I am still hoping to keep wearing this unfitting dress of mine. I cast aside the pointless thought and keep walking towards my destination.