Shinmai Maou no Testament: The Village

Part Six: The Meeting

They go in and see that all of the village elders are there, along with more guards. The room is large enough to accommodate everyone there with ease. Jin-San sees that they have the same two ladies that prepared breakfasts have a large snack buffet ready to present, likely after their meeting.

After the group enters, the doors shut and then are barred. Basara recognizes the metal bars they used as Mithril, a tough metal that is extremely hard to make, and even harder to break.

Chisato moves to greet the chief elder and he bows deeply to her. She goes up the chalkboard at the back wall, and then she signals for everyone to sit and be quiet. Everyone sits except for the twelve guards.

Chisato clears her throat and then says, "Greetings. I am here to represent the gods as we show you video of what happened that fateful day nearly six years ago, when Toujou Basara first used his power 'Banishing Shift'." Chisato pulls a gem out of her purse and says a quiet chant. A beam of light comes out of the gem and displays a video on the chalkboard.

Everyone there sees what happened. Seito broke into the temple where Brynhildr was stored, and when he grabbed it, he went crazy as the spirits trapped in the sword took over his mind. He went on a killing rampage, and no one could stop him. By the time that he had gotten to the group training the children, he had already murdered 6 heroes, including some that were highly skilled.

A murmur rises in the crowd. That madman Seito was as strong as Jin! The sword contained unbridled power, and the ease that Seito was going through these heroes was very unsettling.

After killing all of the children's instructors, he turned on the kids. He slaughtered them with as little concern as he had the adults.

Then everyone there could see it; Seito killed everyone. The only two left were Basara and Yuki. There were no wounded heroes in that group. When Seito went after Yuki, Basara could not let her die, because he had something he needed to protect.

After the blinding light came and went, all that was left was Basara, Yuki and Brynhildr. Then the rest of the villagers approached. And then the video stopped.

Yuki, who was sitting next to Basara, grabs his arm and leans on him. For the first time that Basara can remember since they were kids, Yuki begins crying.

It's everything he can do to not do the same thing. After seeing that scene, the carnage and death he had witnessed came flooding back to his brain.

Basara feels someone take his other arm. He turns and sees that it is Mio, and she is also crying. She isn't trying to copy Yuki; she is amazed that such a young boy could go through that and end up the man he is today. Her empathy goes out to him, and she feels so sorry for him.

Then Basara feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns to see one of the elders. "Basara, we have not treated you as the hero you are. You deserved far better than what was done."

The elder looks at Mio and says, "And I am most surprised at the tears of a demon after seeing that scene. You really are empathetic to the hero clan." Mio looks at him with glistening eyes, and then grips Basara's arm a little tighter.

Then the elder grabs Basara and Yuki's arms, and raises them to their feet. "These two have been through a trauma that cannot be compared. How can we call ourselves heroes after treating them the way we did?"

The elder wasn't just thinking of Basara's banishment from the village; but Nonaka Yuki must have been traumatized by that incident that happened when she was just 10 years old, and nothing was done to alleviate her burden. All she could do was train harder and harder on the off chance that she could again meet the one person in the world that knows her pain...