「“Do not leave this place for three days. If you try, I will release the Demonic Energy”… That is what the demon said.」
When Faust first said that, I felt a subtle sense of incongruity. If the demon had truly intended for him to encounter the pursuit party, it would never have said so directly.
And it had even sworn to warn him that leaving would lead to discovery and a fight. If the boy lost control while fighting priests, that would only benefit Wrath, so why had the demon prevented it?
Did that not ultimately mean the collision could cause it a loss greater than any benefit it stood to gain?
「Later, it even caused terrible pain to stop me from moving.」
Especially if it had gone so far as to do that.
The boy’s words filled me with profound doubt, but in the end, I swallowed my question. It would not be too late to ask after I had heard everything.
「…Still, they didn’t throw me out immediately. I tried to be satisfied with that. One day would be enough for the search around the cabin to end, so I believed that would truly be all right.」
But as the story rushed in that direction, I began to lose my words for an entirely different reason.
「Using the darkness as cover, the hunter tried to kill me.」
When the boy suffered a betrayal that was not quite a betrayal, the force silencing me grew even stronger. I pressed my lips firmly together before the profound grief I felt.
「The truth is, it was only natural. Her child died of Demonic Contamination… in other words, because of a demon… And even if that hadn’t happened, it was only right to be hostile toward…