Day 38, 8:50 PM

  I reach Lucy and Gila with Edna out cold in my arms. The girls have started a fire. In its light, they nervously await my arrival. When I started out in Everrain, kidnapped by a presumed mad witch, I never expected a development like this. It almost feels like a German folktale. I’m leading children away from their homes, with a witch in my arms, only lacking a dancing goat or donkey. Considering Everrain fauna, maybe I should settle for a big juicy grub or a soft-spined caterpillar for a devilish henchman.

  I step into the light slowly. Reddish-orange dancing and making the palette of olive colors decorating Edna’s face even eerier.

  “Who’s that?” Lucy asks, Gila hiding behind her.

  “The witch the inquisitors were burning.” Both girls pale and step back.

  “Watch out.” I jump towards them, still keeping a firm hold on Edna, and grab Gila just as she’s about to step into the fire. “You could’ve burned yourself. Saving one woman from a fire is more than enough for one evening.”

  The girls don’t find the joke funny, however, the irony of the situation doesn’t escape me. I want to turn them into mages, which would make them eligible for burning by the rest of their civilization.

  The girls are still terrified of Edna and me by association. The first thing to do is make them relax, listen, and then make an informed choice.

  “Look at her.” I thrust Edna’s beaten, bloody, and bruised form towards them. “Does this woman look like a creature of darkness to you? I was killing abominations with her at the edge of the corrupted lands mere days ago. Why would a spawn and helper of wormlords do that? Does she look dangerous?”

  Thankfully, Edna is in the pathetic state she’s in, otherwise she would’ve looked very dangerous, much more dangerous than the abominations which could eat the girls alive before they managed to blink.

  “Listen, I didn’t lie to you. What I wish is to offer you a life you are in charge of. I want you to have choices and options beyond doing what you’re told and with the biggest prospect in life being getting married to some Fred-like loser.”

  I look them both in the eye.

  “But I can’t in good conscience allow an innocent woman to die just because someone claims she’s evil with no evidence. She’s been living alone in the forest for years, for heaven’s sake. She was growing medicinal herbs and food to trade with those who needed them. What kind of threat could she possess?”

  Time for the best argument I could find.

  “And, if she’s so dangerous, why did the inquisitors wait for her execution? Why did they let a crowd watch? People who are dangerous die fighting, you don’t drag them around however you want.”

  “How did you rescue her?” Lucy asks, her mind catching up with the situation and probably making some guesses.

  “I killed the priest and the inquisitors and sent the guards running back home before I saved her from the fire.”

  Gila’s face is white. I can’t even see a hint of blood flowing through it.

  “We’re dead,” she mutters. “They are going to hunt us down and burn us on the pyre.”

  I think she’s overreacting. There’s no way anyone can figure out who I am, nor that I’m associated with the girls. It would’ve been a different story with the girls watching. Someone would’ve noticed that they knew me, but I can make an argument of Gila’s fear.

  “That only proves my claim that they burn innocent people. Regardless, I think you can just go home now, and claim you got lost in the commotion. Nobody can say who was there and who wasn’t.”

  “Griff.” Gila glares at me, clenching her teeth to calm down before squeezing the rest of the words out of her mouth. “How could anyone get lost going half a mile in a straight line in the middle of an open field? Tell me, what excuse do I have for staying out two extra hours?”

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  She keeps talking before I can mouth a response, her tone rising and growing more aggressive.

  “And even if you have the most perfect, rational, reasonable response, I will have to deliver it before the inquisitors who can see your very soul when you speak with them. And I will have to talk to them! Because, because they will suspect me. And they would be right, because I was seen and have received aid from someone who killed a priest and a bunch of inquisitors. How do you even do that? What gave you the idea?”

  Her skin grows marbled once more as blood rushes into her face from all the screaming. I’m certain she doesn’t want a real answer. She doubly doesn’t want and doesn’t need to know about BSD telling me I have to save someone like Edna from a situation which is absolutely detrimental to me.

  And even after succeeding on the first try, the consequences for me are grave. The entire world will be after me. That’s why I need extra eyes and extra heads. People who don’t think like an illegal alien that I am, or the secluded half-mad witch who lives in the woods and talks to slugs.

  Edna and I are desperately lacking the perspective of the common person, of someone like Gila, who believes the inquisitors can see her soul.

  “Does that mean you want to go home? Because I won’t threaten or stop you.”

  “Are you deaf, Griff?” She screams. “I just said I can’t go home! Inquisitors will torture me and burn me alive, and I have no idea how to survive outside the walls. My choices are getting burned alive, starving to death, dying of some disease I pick up, or joining you.”

  “Do you think joining me is worse than staying home with the things as they are?” I keep my voice even, genuinely curious about what she’s gonna say.

  The question stumps her. She stares at me, trying to say yes, but really, for Gila, her parents stealing her hard-earned dungeon loot must’ve been maddening. She was a step away from her dream, then they brutally stole it from her. Quite literally.

  Since she’s quiet, I continue with the rational approach, leaning into Amicable.

  “All right, and this morning, have you had any better options than what I’m offering right now? Have I mistreated you so far? Have I taken, stolen, or even denied you anything?”

  “Dammit, Griff! This isn’t about what’s better or worse, I’m done for! You didn’t give me a choice!”

  Lucy is silent, observing the one-sided shouting match. Some people don’t take well to rational speech, and the other person being calm only angers them further, so I guess I need to change my approach. I draw a deep breath, pretending I’m getting worked up, and start shouting back.

  “I had no choice either! All right? What else could I have done? Told you, ‘Hey, Gila, I’m about to go murder eleven people to free someone they are falsely accusing of being a witch. Wanna run away from home with me?’”

  I don’t really like pointless shouting. It’s pointless for one thing, and it’s a sham in which I’m exerting my charisma to win them over, which also doesn’t sit well with me. I would prefer if they could decide to follow me willingly, without me forcing their hand.

  “Tell me, Gila, what would you have done? What was I supposed to do if you said no and went to the inquisitors? What would’ve happened to you had you gone to them?”

  Gila deflates. She’s a cautious person. One accustomed to always fearing the worst, and seeing her family situation, I understand why. But right now, I’ve got her spinning scenarios about what would have happened had she approached the inquisitors with such a claim, and I can see the cogs turning, deducing that all roads led to the pyre. So, I press her fear.

  “Even if I told you nothing, but they found out we were associates, what do you think would have happened?”

  Pyre. It’s burning in her mind.

  “Gila, I went to save an innocent woman.”

  Who’s technically a mage and a sworn enemy of the church. But there’s no need to mention that. Instead, I hammer in the final nail.

  “Gila, if you were on that pyre, innocent, I would have killed those inquisitors for you. I would have raised hell to save you.”

  Gila deflates, all her fight gone from her.

  “I would’ve done it for you too, Lucy.” I turn towards the other woman, who blushes.

  The way she acts, the way she looks at me, I know she has a crush. She would’ve followed me even if Gila left. I’m not sure what to do about that. Leading her on is bad, denying her outright is also bad, sleeping with her is even worse. For the moment, the best option is to play ignorant, and have a serious talk with her once she’s mastered some magic and has a more solid reason to stay with the group.

  The girl is unaware of my thoughts. She looks at me with loving eyes and cheeks marbled red as she nods.

  “I know.” She says with way more certainty than I feel. Edna had the advantage of being my mentor in magic, and BSD’s level up condition had her back. But as Lucy is now, all puppy-eyes, full of adoration, and willing to follow me to the grave, I must admit, I would probably risk everything to save her.

  I’ve done it once by using Redo, and I would probably do it again. Which is a shame, because that means I will probably have to kill myself at some point in the future to keep all three of them alive.

  An entire nation will be coming after us, and eventually, they will catch up with a force overwhelming enough that I will need to cheat.