Sure, it had caught my eye once or twice, but I never really cared about the thin black bands around the bird-people’s wrists before. For all I knew from these being the only birds I’d ever met, it might have just been something that they were all born with, you know? And what’s more, I’d also never noticed the small mark on the back of their necks, buried amongst all their hair and feathers. To be fair, it’s not like I could have ever noticed it before, but still, I was quite surprised to notice it was there.

 

And how did I notice it, you ask?

Because that mark is where the quiet priest inserted his key.

 

I won’t lie, I found it fascinating and gross watching the key, which I was sure was solid, somehow sink into the mark in their necks and turn. It didn’t even look like it hurt or anything, like I would have expected it to, so it must have been a magic key, or maybe the marks were just magic marks. Or hey, maybe it’s both. Either way, it did its job, and once the key was removed, the black bands on the bird-person’s arms would rapidly deteriorate away, falling like ash to the ground.

 

I made sure to watch closely while each of them was freed, holding the uncomfortable looking Meria in place next to me, all the while.

 

You know, this solves the question of why they were never chained up or anything. I’d always wondered what was stopping them from simply using magic or their strength or like… just flying away. I’d honestly been worried that it was some kind of psychological programing or something, but I guess that this slavery magic or whatever it was they were bound with was what was keeping them from doing anything. As soon as they were released, each one of the birdfolk flapped their wings and created large gusts, and their eyes lit up in joy as they did so.

 

Every one of them except Kale, that is.

 

Unlike the others, he just stood there patiently, scanning his eyes over the others with an impossible to understand look. I wanted to go over there and immediately ask what he was thinking. It was so hard to resist the urge. In our past lives, Kale had always tried to keep a stoic look on his face like his mother had forced him to, but I’d learned over the years the little tells that he would show. I was sure I always knew what he was feeling; At least until he blind-sided me with those marriage talks of his. So now, with this new Kale that acts so differently in front of me… It’s making me uneasy. If I didn’t think that Meria might flee from here after I let go of her, I’d be over there with Kale in a heartbeat.

 

Nope, first I have to finish taking care of business, and then I can take my time trying to learn about this new Kale all I want.

 

When the quiet priest finished freeing all the bird-people, the key in his hands suddenly turned to ash, just like the bindings had, and a notification popped up in front of me, signaling the end of a quest. Good, that means that the freeing is completely finished. I don’t have time to look over this quest notification just yet though, so I’ll have to pay it proper attention later. There’s still work to do.

 

With Meria in my left hand, I linked arms with the quiet priest on my right, and they both obediently let me drag them a distance away. Once I believed we were far enough to have a small conversation amongst ourselves, I let the two of them go and stood in front of them, trying to look as big and authoritative as I could while I pinned them with my eyes.

 

“The two of you agree that these birds are no longer slaves, right?”

 

It took a little moment of hesitation and confusion, but both of them willingly nodded their heads. Wonderful. So far this is going smoothly. Now it’s time to take a biiiiig step.

 

“Alright. Then do you think you both should be saying something to them right now?”

 

The already apprehensive and puzzled looks on their faces only grew. The quiet priest brought his hand up to scratch his head for a few seconds and then slowly asked his question.

 

“...Do we need to say something to them?”

 

Meria also looked like she didn’t have a single thought about apologizing in her mind. Wow. Okay. I knew it might turn out like this, but I guess I wasn’t fully prepared to feel this upset and disappointed. I’d kind of hoped that they’d just naturally decide to do it, but if it’s going to come to this, then I suppose I’ll have to spell it out for them, even if it’s through clenched teeth.

 

“Those people over there just got freed from years and years of enslavement and abuse. Both of you were the ones who hurt them and treated them as less than people. Just look at them, they’re filthy, wearing rags, and covered in wounds. You two did all of that. You don’t think that’s something worth apologizing for?”

 

The usually gentle and compassionate Meria froze with a conflicted and slightly affronted look on her face. And the quiet priest… He still looked a little confused, but most of all he just looked… cold. And when he spoke, he truly sounded like he was talking to a child who was speaking nonsense.

 

“But they were slaves at the time. We didn’t do anything wrong against misbehaving slaves.”

 

Meria chimed in too, shortly after, muttering defensively with her eyes big and wide.

 

“And they were criminals. You don’t know what they’ve done before, Arissa. Before the war ended, you should have seen all the people they hurt that we had to treat. They were dangerous. We had to make sure they wouldn’t get any dangerous ideas.”

 

And the quiet priest just nodded along to her words...

 

…

…

…So this is how it’s going to be.

I feel so stupid that I’d hoped they would have behaved differently.

 

This is my fault. I was too soft on them because I was scared that it would affect the atmosphere in the church. It's hard, wanting to believe the best of the people around you, but being scared that they'll suddenly stop being so nice once you try to talk to them about something. Maybe it’s my fault for being such a broken person who wants to believe in any modicum of kindness around me. They were nice to me, and I wanted to treat them like the family I never had just because we lived together and I was so horribly lonely and sad. …Maybe I should have taken the time to get to know them better before I just opened up my heart like I did and let myself get hurt so badly. Truly, this was an error in my judgment.

 

…At least I have Kale now.

I don’t have to worry about being lonely in the future without their niceness anymore.

And now, I don’t have to keep being hopelessly nice, either.

It was a good call not bringing Chella here with us.

At least I don’t have to see her reaction to what I’m about to do.

 

The switch in my mind for [Pressure of the Divine] flipped on in my head, sending the two priests crashing down to the ground wordlessly. It’s a small blessing that I don’t have to see the looks on their faces while they’re in that prostrated posture; I don’t think I’d have the courage to speak without my voice warbling from sadness and pain otherwise. My chest already hurts enough.

 

“Even if you don’t understand why, or you think that they’re scary, you still have to apologize to them. Just because they were slaves before, that doesn’t mean they ever stopped being people, and you hurt those people. By your logic, I could do whatever I wanted to the two of you right now without any remorse, just because I’m the Saintess and you’re just priests, right? Would anyone try to stop me? Would it be considered wrong by anyone? Do you see how stupid that is?! Apologize! Now go.”

 

When I released them from the pressure, they immediately sprung up. However, when they saw me looking at them with an expectant glare and my arms crossed, they hurriedly rushed away from me and frantically bowed to the birds. It lacked all sincerity and was purely motivated by fear, which I totally can’t blame them for at this point with such a show of power. This is why coercion was at the bottom of the ways I wanted to handle this. I really shouldn’t have let my anger get the better of me there… Maybe if I spent the time explaining things to them better, then I could have ended this more amicably. But honestly, I don't think I can be amicable with such people anymore anyways.

 

Also, now that they’re just doing it because they’re afraid of me, all those thoughts I had about getting the bird and them to reconcile have completely flown out the window.

Fuck.

…I’ll just have to try again some other time, I guess.

 

~~~

 

I stopped the frantically apologizing pair and sent them away. There was no point in keeping them around for any longer anyways, now that I’d intimidated them. Instead, I decided to focus my efforts on healing and cleaning up the birds and asking what they wanted now that they were freed. So far I’d only ever really talked to Kale, and although I honestly only wanted to talk to him, I made a concentrated effort to speak to all the others.

 

“Is there anything I can do to make things right between you all and the priests?”

 

But surprisingly they all just turned their heads in confusion at the question. It was very cute, like how an animal might have done when they heard an odd noise, and I had to hold back my smile at it, since I was doing my best to be diplomatic.

 

“Make things right?”

 

They all continued to tilt their heads, and then after a short while they simply turned to look towards Kale, as if expecting him to explain. It seemed like he was doing his best to remain stoic, but from the way the feathers on the back of his head and neck rose slightly, I could somehow tell he was feeling a little awkward. He turned to me with his eyes reminiscent of my old Kale’s, and spoke for the crowd to me.

 

“They don’t want anything but to go back home.”

 

Huh? Really? I mean of course we’re gonna let them go back home, but… Do they not understand what I mean?

 

“Yeah, they’re free to leave at any time for sure, but I meant… Don’t they want any kind of… I don’t know... Don’t they want something to make up for how they were enslaved and treated awfully? I got the priests to apologize, but I don’t think that’s enough to make up for everything…”

 

Kale also tilted his head in the cute way the rest of them had for a moment, but then he simply shut his eyes and shook his head, which lightly rustled the feathers at the back of it.

 

“No, Saintess, they hold no grudges and wish for nothing. They were defeated and captured in battle; What their captors do with them is their right. It’s their own fault for not being strong enough.”

 

…Huh?!