"Any sympathy or mercy for evil becomes a blade against the innocent. That's not kindness—it's ignorance..."
Zeroy's words echoed in the Holy Child's mind.
Her methods would mean countless deaths. That said, in moments of hesitation, she only had to think of the children.
Think of what happens when evil spared out of mercy goes on to harm them again.
In that moment, she herself would be complicit in those crimes.
That wasn't kindness or goodness at all—it was enabling, permitting those people to keep hurting the children.
"..."
The Holy Child pressed her lips together, her gaze hardening. The doubts, the gloom, and the despair in her heart all scattered somewhat.
Still... did it really have to mean so many deaths?
Evil shouldn't be forgiven, but not all deserved to die.
Many didn't truly hate the Cursed Children. They just went along with the crowd.
Some weren't vile enough to curse their protectors. They simply knew nothing about the children at all.
They didn't know what the children did, or what kind of lives they lived. They couldn't know, because governments everywhere deliberately hid the truth.
She had to do something...
...
"Wonderful, mq!"
"—!"
Patchouli stiffened as she was suddenly embraced, her body tensing under her violet robes.
In centuries of life, this was the first time someone had hugged her so tightly. The alien touch of another's body, the breath pressed so close… it left her mind blank.
"I don't even know how to describe what I'm feeling right now! Can I hug you, kiss you, maybe even lift you up high?"
Zeroy pressed her cheek against hers, hair brushing Patchouli's sensitive ear. Her voice sparkled with childlike joy, eyes gleaming with undisguised excitement.
"..."
Patchouli snapped back, her pale cheeks flushed red. She frowned, reaching to push away the girl rubbing her head against her.
"Don't stick so close, you fool... We only just met, right? Do we know each other that well?"
Not even Remilia, her dearest friend, had ever been this close.
"And another thing—" she hissed through clenched teeth, a faint vein pulsing on her forehead. Her frail voice, though lacking force, carried sharp indignation. "What kind of nonsense name is 'mq'? Forget it immediately!"
The witch's face burned with shame and anger, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shove away this girl who knew no sense of distance.
Abruptly, she realized—Zeroy had frozen.
For no reason, she just suddenly stopped and stared.
Then she let go, looking away with an embarrassed flush. "Ahem... sorry, I got a little too excited."
Patchouli was... adorable!
The witch named Patchouli already possessed beauty and elegance beyond the ordinary. Until now, she had been calm, scholarly, and enigmatic.
But now—sudden emotion, the shy, flustered look...
The contrast hit Zeroy like a blow.
It reminded her that she wasn't just a girl, but a Reincarnator. She immediately pulled back, putting distance between them.
Girls could hug and cuddle if it was innocent.
Albeit as a reincarnator with deeper thoughts, she couldn't allow it!
"..."
Patchouli adjusted her rumpled robes, frowning as she stared at Zeroy, baffled. She didn't understand why Zeroy had reacted this way, or why she'd suddenly hugged her.
"Was it really that exciting?"
Just earlier, she had brewed a special potion for Zeroy.
The effect was simple—increased perception. After drinking it, Zeroy had suddenly thrown her arms around her.
"It was that exciting."
Zeroy, now serious again, nodded firmly.
"I can sense others' evil, but the range is poor. This potion helped me a lot."
The Evil Flower could also sense evil, but it wasn't practical, so Zeroy had left it collecting dust in the warehouse.
Because the evil it sensed didn't align with her own sense of evil.
For instance, as long as someone had killed, the Evil Flower would bloom—regardless of motive.
That made no sense.
If so, then wouldn't she herself be considered the greatest evil? Yet all she had killed were villains.
So now, she relied on [Evil Slayer LV2: Slightly sense others' malice and crimes].
That effect was judged according to her own sense of sin.
However, "slightly" limited it… only within twenty meters, and useless against powerful foes.
This troubled her greatly.
She didn't want to kill innocents. But with such a small range, her speed in cutting down heads was severely restricted.
Even if the world's population were only 750 million, that was still too many, scattered everywhere.
If she wanted to spare the innocent, she might not finish cutting off all 750 million heads within thirty days.
No—700 million.
"Seven hundred million..."
Patchouli's eye twitched.
Even knowing Zeroy's logic, even recognizing her killings as justified, the sheer scale still staggered her.
Monsters that ate humans… how many could they consume in their lifetimes?
This girl, in thirty days, planned to cut down seven hundred million.
Patchouli had read countless books, seen centuries of events. Yet, never had she imagined decapitation described with the unit of 'hundreds of millions.'
The unreality of it was like the first day she entered the Main God Space.
"Why seven hundred million? Didn't you say there were 750 million people?"
"Because the other fifty million—I estimate them to be the normal ones."
"Only seven percent are normal? Isn't that too harsh?"
"It's just an estimate. I hope it's more. Even if that means I was wrong, that's fine."
"..."
Patchouli held her gaze.
"You really mean to kill that many? You're sure? Do you understand what that number means?"
She couldn't help but ask again and again.
"Of course. I've thought it through."
Zeroy's answer came with a dazzling, innocent smile.
"And besides, they're not people. Just vermin. Would you feel anything stepping on vermin?"
...
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