Necromancer's Descent

59 - Sacrifice

Rosalin's Point of View

Wait- what do you mean not grieved even once?

That place was a nightmare. The sheer amount of dead there so high that I couldn't see the ground. How corpses had flown about like specks of dust from the movement of the giant centipede like monster. Sacrificed so she could get some magical staff, right?

I- I knew she hadn't visited them, but- no- is it even possible not to grieve such a massive loss of life? Even if you were forced to do it. 

I know full well that Seid can read thoughts, so the words coming out of his mouth sends a wave of nausea through me.

"They would have died anyway! They would have started a rebellion, and more people would have died than if they just died then anyway."

Mia's firm words did more to convince me of Seid's words than his own.

I feel sick.

Just how convinced do you have to be, to not feel any guilt?

...Mia would have seen at least a little bit of the massacre, right? They had to have gone to and left the place with the staff. So they should have seen part of it. They should, right?

"Certainly most would die from those rebellions, although, you also 'by chance' added in those of your allies that would just want you dead. Not to mention, that rather than your little prince over there suggesting the purge, it was you."

Seid tilts his head, as if curious about Mia's reaction. As if he's trying to see, if any guilt can be found.

"It made no difference who made the suggestion, and they were evil people that wanted to kill me. That's enough of a reason. I'm the saintess."

Wanted to kill her? If I could, I would have pressed my lips together. Why would they want the saintess dead, if they were Claudius' allies? Seid stares down at her, and a weird, cruel smile spreads on his lips.

"Then, what about the southern villages? Villages that you left to die, to complete the coup. Villages waiting for reinforcements that never came. Villages decimated, with barely any survivors. They neither intended rebellion, committed no crimes, nor wanted you dead."

This body came from the southern villages, right?

Mia, for the first time lowers her head for a moment... but then lifts it again, and the words coming out of her, makes Seid's smile wider.

"They were a necessary sacrifice."

At this point, I'm not surprised anymore. I know that this sort of thought would probably have been necessary, to actually complete the coup, but to say those words to a god telling you, that you could have done better, and saved more, is like admitting defeat.

"They were not. Hina."

Seid's bright moonlight eyes narrow.

"The only necessary sacrifice to stop the demon lord, is you. I'm sure the three survivors, and the now dead families of the victims in the capital thought that your life should have been sacrificed in their stead."

Wait- what?

"Eh?"

Mia's soft sound of confusion seems to echo for a moment. Like Seid made it echo, to mock her lack of knowledge.

"That's right. Those 'evil' people that wanted you sacrificed, were people that had family in those southern villages and weren't told their children would have to be sacrifices for the plan, or neutrals that never knew about the coup before it was too late... and you sent them to their deaths without an apology or regret for their children's' deaths... how admirable."