An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth, a Word for a Word

Even when he intervened along with the Lunatic Vice Guild Master just as the saint and Lunatic Guild Master were about to fight, he thought there must have been some misunderstanding.

One of them might have misheard what the other said.

One of them might have misspoken.

Nevertheless, if he had to hazard a guess, the likelihood of the saint being at fault was significantly higher.

Since the proud saint would not easily admit her fault, it wasn’t actually that surprising that continued verbal arguments eventually led to a physical confrontation.

Therefore, he asked.

“Please explain everything from the beginning, Saint. How did you end up planning to fight with the Lunatic Guild Master in the middle of the Lunatic Guild headquarters?”

After all, he needed to know where the misunderstanding began in order to correct it, even if belatedly.

Either way, since they would be staying in this city for the next week, he thought it would be better to eliminate any discord with the Lunatic Guild as quickly as possible.

…However.

“I was asking Asha if there was anything fun around here, when suddenly this really cute cat came walking by…”

The more he heard the detailed circumstances from the saint, who was uncharacteristically mumbling.

“I just thought, even in that huge temple, I wouldn’t feel lonely if I had it with me, so I tried to take it to the Holy Country…”

The more he learned exactly what she had said and done while he briefly took his eyes off her.

“I really didn’t know it was Asha’s cat. If I had known, I wouldn’t have tried to take it.”

A dizzying sensation flowed through his entire body.

That was because everything she did was absolute madness—he knew it was highly disrespectful language, but he couldn’t express it any other way.

First of all, it was problematic to continue referring to a beast person as an animal in a place where humans and beast people lived together harmoniously without distinction.

What made it worse was that the target was a child whom the Lunatic Guild Master cherished more than her own life.

The most serious issue was that she had used [Subjugation Collar] on that young beast person, blinded by a momentary impulse.

“G-goddess… Why give me such a trial…”

Now, instead of expecting cooperation from the Lunatic Guild, he could only hope they wouldn’t declare war on the Holy Country.

The fortunate thing amidst the misfortune was that the possibility for “dialogue” hadn’t been cut off yet.

Even though the disaster he thought he had prevented had already occurred, if they did nothing now, it would truly become irreversible.

In truth, he wanted to just faint and collapse right now, but… he was the only one who could do anything at this moment.

Therefore, he decided to temporarily isolate the saint, who chose only the most extremely disrespectful words whenever she opened her mouth, in a reception room.

Heading to where the “decision-makers” were was the next step.

“Please stay here quietly until I return. If you step even one foot outside, I will be angry.”

“B-but—”

“I will be. Angry.”

“…Alright…”

And so, with a heart that had become tens or hundreds of times heavier than it was a few minutes ago, he moved his feet.

Later, finally arriving before the people the saint had been disrespectful to, the first words he managed to force out of his mouth that wouldn’t open today were, “I’m sorry.”

“This must be what it feels like to have nothing to say even with ten mouths.”

He continued to do his utmost to clean up the mess created by the saint who wasn’t acting like a saint.

If the Holy Country found out that the person who came as their representative had bowed his head to foreigners, they would probably severely censure him… but that wasn’t what mattered right now.

“I swear in the name of the goddess that such an incident will never happen again.”

Whether the Holy Country was a collection of extreme discriminators who didn’t recognize the existence of beast people.

Whether the doctrine of the Holy Country was a terribly supremacist one, believing that only pure humans were qualified for salvation.

Whatever twisted “common sense” the saint had developed growing up in such a place all her life.

Right now, these were nothing more than mere excuses.

Nevertheless, he mentioned these points a little bit, hoping for a small measure of understanding.

Of course, even if the people before him understood the saint’s mindset a little bit, it wouldn’t justify the saint’s insulting remarks.

“Please tell me whatever Lunatic wants without hesitation. I’ll do everything I can within my capacity.”

He tried to do the absolute best he could at present.

He earnestly begged them not to bare their teeth at the Holy Country, saying he didn’t even expect them to cooperate with the saint’s journey as originally planned.

Nevertheless, the response from the Lunatic Vice Guild Master across from him wasn’t in the form of compensation or a request, but rather a detailed “timeframe.”

“It would take about two weeks at the shortest. A month at the longest.”

“W-what… do you mean?”

“I think you already know what I mean.”

In other words, it meant that the worst imaginable thing might happen soon.

Simultaneously, it meant they had already completed the rough estimation and calculation for reducing the Holy Country to ruins.

“Must you… really do this?”

“Rather than worrying about the same thing happening again in the future, it’s better to uproot it completely.”

Upon hearing the ultimatum from the Guild Master who had been giving only cold gazes until now, he finally changed his words and asked again.

“…What would you have me do?”

The demands that came at the end of the hellish silence that followed were, coincidentally, directed at the saint, not at Iji himself.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t flatly refuse because…

“As long as your side doesn’t break the promise first, this will not be ‘known’ to anyone.”

Because even Iji knew that this was the final Maginot Line where the lunatics before his eyes would withdraw.

He also couldn’t deny that this was a better option than an all-out war between the Lunatic Guild and the Holy Country.

In addition, coincidentally, if done well, it was also a way to successfully complete the saint’s journey, which was the original purpose.

“Of course, please keep in mind that this is only possible on the premise that Ms. Lua accepts it.”

“…What do you intend to do if that child refuses?”

“It would be better for you to find out when the time comes.”

In the end, he returned to the saint while suffering from even more complicated thoughts and worries.

As expected, when the saint heard the demands from Lunatic.

“I have to call that cat—”

“Not a cat, but a beast person. No, just call her by her name.”

“Is that the problem right now? How can I use ‘honorific speech’ to such a young child!”

Literally only astonishing responses came back in succession.

But what could he do?

If they refused, the Holy Country might become a sea of fire.

It would be too reckless to just brush it off thinking, “Surely they wouldn’t go to war?”, as they were more than capable of doing so.

“For the next week, every word the Saint says will be recorded.”

“The moment you speak disrespectfully to that child, you will be expelled from this city.”

“If there’s something you want, you should earnestly ask for it, not order harshly. Not to me, but to that child.”

Of course, all of this was only possible assuming that the child named Lua accepted the saint’s sincere apology—he also added that if she didn’t even try to make a sincere apology, the journey would end today.

Even if by some chance the child accepted the apology and agreed to let the saint act as her “subordinate.” If the old men of the Holy Country heard that the saint used honorific speech to a beast person, they probably wouldn’t let it slide.

From the perspective of those humans tainted with the chosen people ideology, they might not care how the saint treated beast people, but they couldn’t overlook a saint being treated by a beast person.

Therefore, for the saint’s journey to continue, to somehow settle the recent rudeness, and to prevent the Holy Country from learning about her behavior outside their “common sense,” the saint’s straight back needed to be bent.

They promised that if the saint treated the child “respectfully” until a week later, they would not leak the recordings to anyone… so for now, he had no choice but to believe them.

“Let me say it again, if you had been just a little more careful, Saint, none of this would have happened.”

In the end, all of this was the karma of the saint who was not acting like a saint.

Since it had come to this, he hoped it would become an opportunity for her to change into a more saint-like person.

So that this willful child, who was chosen as a saint without any proper verification merely because the goddess supposedly chose her, could continue to live as a saint in the future.

“So, I can make that saint person do whatever trivial thing I want?”

“Of course, from your perspective, Lua, you might not even want to face her… but I thought it wouldn’t be bad to grab one of the saint’s ‘weaknesses’ this time.”

In other words, it meant this was an opportunity to forcibly make that ‘saint’ my ally.

In truth, I didn’t really care what she called me.

Therefore, there was truly not a single reason to refuse Asha’s proposal.

Not long after, a knock was heard.

And within seconds of meeting Daina’s bright yellow eyes once again.

“I’m… soo… rry… Lua… nim… Earlier… I was… really… rude… to… you…”

A voice that was creaking to a serious degree flowed into my ears.

Hmm…

This feels quite different.