When I got back, Nika was staring at me wide-eyed, the exact same expression as when I started the slaughter. She must have still been processing what happened, so I left her on her own for a while as I piled all the bodies up, making sure to get all ten of them. They were travelling light it seemed, the only things of worth on them being their weapons and a few coins, but I decided against taking them since it might raise suspicions.

Incineration was the best way to destroy evidence, and the smoke shouldn't be too suspicious given the amount of monsters that could create fire.

Then I remembered something. Even if my sword wasn't, I was most likely covered head-to-toe with blood and guts. So, before I went to talk about what happened with the mage girl, I mustered up all my mana and cleaned myself with Rinse.

Surprisingly, despite the sheer quantity of the filth, only about three fourths of my mana was consumed. Maybe, just maybe, my mana pool was steadily growing.

I was becoming stronger, in several ways.

I looked over at the pile of mutilated bodies.

'Strong enough to massacre ten people... but am I strong enough to bear the guilt? Shit. Save it for later, man.'

I shoved the painful thoughts aside, knowing I had something I needed to do before I could dwell on them.

I kneeled down if front of the still shell-shocked girl, and rubbed her hair with my now clean hand as an attempt to soothe her. She flinched, so I quickly pulled it back. She was looking at the floor, though, so I couldn't see her expression.

"Sorry. But, silly girl... didn't I warn you that you would get targeted? You should have listened to me. Haaah... Well, I'm sorry for making you witness that gory scene–"

"Thank you."

"–eh?"

"I s-said th-thank you. For saving my life, a-and all that."

I smiled a bit. It was a tired, bitter smile, but not a forced one.

"Of course, I couldn't just leave you to die in good conscience now, could I? Just... maybe you should stop being an adventurer in the future? That boorish place isn't fit for a lady like you. And, if you meddle with those kinds of people, incidents like this one are bound to happen again."

She looked up, showing a strained, bitter smile.

"Y-you're right..."

"I know. Then how about you–"

"...but I can't. I'm... not allowed to say in detail, but I absolutely have to reach D Rank. My future... depends on it."

"D Rank... Is it some sort of test? It doesn't have to do with money, does it?"

She laughed slightly.

"You really have good intuition... that's right. But please, don't ask further." She looked down, as if conflicted.

I put on a pensive expression.

"I see... then, how about you join our party? We could... get you to D-Rank safely."

Her eyes widened.

"R-really!? No, I can't trouble you more than I already have... Ah! I know, I'll give you half of my allowance in exchange for the help, how about that?" She smiled at me, her bright tone in complete discordance with my somber mood.

I chuckled at her words, nonetheless. I made quite a bit of money from the adventuring quests alone, not to mention my monthly allowance. It was still quite considerable, even if it was only half of what my brothers got.

Still, if it meant she would say yes, I wasn't going to deny her idea.

"Alright, it's a deal then."

I tentatively extended my hand towards her as I stood up, and she took it. I pulled her onto her feet, and then shook her hand. She was about to turn around but, not wanting her to look at the pile of bodies, I stopped her with my hand.

"You better not look at that. I don't want you to start retching, you know?" I advised her, unfortunately from first-hand experience.

"But... I have to get used to it, right? I... had never fought a real battle against other people before, and the blood and gore made me dizzy and weak... but I have to prepare myself in case it happens again in the future. Killing might still be too much for me, but at least seeing bodies... I have to do it.'

Seeing her determined expression, I nodded solemnly and let her turn around. When she saw the mass of cut flesh and viscera, blood flowing and pooling in places, broken bones jutting out of torn skin, dead, bloody faces with sinister smiles, she clasped her hands around her mouth with a terrified expression and staggered. She would have fallen had my arm not been supporting her back.

Seeking comfort after seeing the grisly scene, she buried her head in my chest, clutching my shirt tightly, and started sobbing. She had unscrewed the cap of her feelings, and all the stress, all the sadness and all the fear she had been keeping bottled up gushed out all at once.

And I was the only thing she could grab onto, a pillar she could hold onto as she resolved her raging emotions.

To be honest, I was not faring too much better than her. Even if I was the one who slaughtered those men and piled the bodies, once the battle rush had worn off, the sight was truly hard on my eyes, especially now that they could capture everything with so much more detail.

But I had to stay strong for Nika. To distract myself, I ran my hand through the girl's back and unconsciously buried my face in her fragrant, luscious purple hair just like I did with Aina, not even realizing that what I was doing was way out of line.

Perhaps I unconsciously needed someone to lean on, myself. Some healing.

She didn't seem to mind though, so we stayed like that for a while, and her sobbing eventually died down. But suddenly, she pulled away, and I immediately felt my tear-soaked shirt get cleaned and dried off. I immediately identified the spell as Rinse, though clearly used with a much higher mastery as it worked almost immediately.

"I'm... really sorry about that. I... don't know wh-why I did that, but I-I promise it won't happen again, so... please forgive me–"

"Hey, hey, slow down there!" I interrupted her, my thoughts less chaotic now, "I didn't mind that at all! Tears are just water, nothing in comparison with being covered in blood! You even cleaned me up immediately. Plus, what man doesn't want a cute girl to cry on his chest?" I continued, trying to liven up her mood.

To finish it off, I flashed her a rougish smile.

"Wh-what? Please, I know more than anyone how ugly I am. You think I don't get reminded of it every day? I'm very happy that you don't discriminate based on beauty, but you don't have to lie to make me feel better..."

Her face was full of bitterness.

I quickly realized my mistake.

"Oh, that's right, you didn't know. Let's just say... the girls you think of as ugly, I see as beautiful, and vice versa," I told her, which was not quite the case but close enough.

She looked at me incredulously, but it seemed like she believed me. After a second, she seemed to imagine something, and suddenly started blushing. She was even cuter than before, when she made that expression...

'Bad! Don't look at her that way, you already have Aina!' I chastised myself as the image of an angry, heartbroken Aina popped into my mind. I did not want to make my lovely maid feel like that. I sighed, then refocused on reality.

"Anyways, I should hurry and burn those corpses. Let's see, where did I put my flint...?"

Nika suddenly perked up.

"Oh, I can help with that! My affinity with fire is pretty low, but it's enough to start a fire."

She concentrated for a moment, chanting some words under her breath, and a few seconds later a spark flew from her fingers and into the pile of bodies, which soon caught fire. I was amazed, to say the least.

"Wait... you have a triple elemental affinity!? That's crazy!"

She smiled beamingly, a hint of pride showing on her face.

"Of course, I'm amazing right? Right!? If I wasn't, my master wouldn't have picked me!"

I could feel the confidence oozing from her words. It caused the corners of my mouth to tug up slightly.

"Really? Wow, your master must be a really amazing mage, then."

She suddenly realized something, and her face became a concerned visage, as if she'd made a big slip-up.

"That's right... I'm not allowed to tell people about h–them, though, so please act as if I hadn't said anything," she mumbled as she twiddled her thumbs, looking at the ground.

"Hahaha, alright. Let's go back now, shall we? Judging by the sun, the gates are about to close for the day. And we're a ways away from the city, but someone might still come to investigate the source of the smoke."