Rial Riel 

Extreme violence, eating alive, butchering, desecration of the dead. A character is pierced in the stomach and their organs are decimated from the inside.

Rial Riel, a Wind Sibyl.
She was breathing a small sigh of sleep on her bed, and was woken up by the morning light. The light was dazzling even through the curtains, whether she wanted it or not.

“Yaaaaawn…”

Rial pulled the blanket over her head and clung to a soft slumber while fidgeting.
After staying like that for a while, she seemed to have given up and sat up slowly.
Her hair was messy from sleep, and her mouth was left open with dried drool still lingering around it.

“If I don’t get up… I’ll be late…”

Rial’s room has been passed down from generation to generation by her elders, and her bed had been used for many years without any damage. She got off and stood in front of the mirror.
She picked up a hairbrush and brushed her hair carelessly.
At 17 years old, Rial was at an age when she should be interested in fashion, but she was not so interested in it, so she was only keeping her appearance to the bare minimum.
As she roughly combed her hair, she noticed the dried drool around her mouth.
There was no running water in her room, so if she wanted to wash her face, she had to go to the common water closet.
But even Rial must have felt embarrassed to go out in public like this. After hesitating a little, she slowly rubbed her sleeve against her face, forcing herself to pretend it hadn’t happened.

“Hehe… Now that’s better.”

Rial discarded the simple cotton dress she had been wearing as a nightgown on the floor and slipped into the familiar attire that was both her uniform and her combat outfit.
She then noticed that since the day she first wore it upon arriving here, it hadn’t grown tight at all. Her shoulders slumped in disappointment.

“In the end… I never grew any bigger…”

The little Rial has always wished she could grow at least a little taller.
However, it seemed that this would have remained just a dream, and recently she has begun to accept reality.
Of course, it was not that she was concerned about her appearance. It was simply inconvenient.

First, Rial placed a step stool on the floor, then stood on it and stretched further to open the skylight.
The main, large window was set into the frame, so the only way to let the breeze in was to open it.

“Wow… What a nice breeze… I’m so glad I’m on the top floor…”

Thanks to the breeze, her slightly fuzzy head became clearer.
Rial began to mumble, to remind herself of her plans for the day.

“First, I’ll go to the mess-hall… I’ll have basic training in the morning… Oh, and then combat training in the afternoon…”

Looking at her favorite longbow propped up on the wall, Rial sighed.
It was lighter than it looked and fit well in her hand after many years of use, but it was still too big.
She couldn’t bear to damage it by bumping it here and there.

“…I guess I can go back and get it later…”

Rial regained her composure and cheerfully greeted the others as part of her daily routine.

“Good morning.”

To the red-haired girl.

“You look lovely today.”

To the girl with the jeweled eyes.

“Did you sleep well?”

To the girl with the dazzling white teeth.

Rial gave bright, cheerful, soft smiles without hesitation.
She exchanged splendid morning greetings with many girls.

Rial loved her life here.
She loved the magnificent buildings and pretty rooms she had never seen back home.
She had delicious food from many different countries, and an environment where she could immerse herself in research.
And above all, she had so many friends that she couldn’t even begin to count them.
She squeezed her eyes shut and murmured, as if she was biting down on the feelings that were rising in her.

“Mother. I’m happy.”

Saying this, Rial started walking again.
To protect the world, humanity, and her beloved place.

This was the academy.
An institution created to protect the world from the disasters that befall it.
Inside the tiny little cage of girls who are enchanted by the elementals.

“You know… if you have something to say, say it clearly, otherwise I won’t understand you.”

A girl, who had spoken to her several times as she was also a Wind Sibyl, said with obvious irritation.
Rial was so flustered that she couldn’t reply, but eventually she managed to speak up.

“Ah… Ah, well… that…”
“That what?”
“The inst-inst-inst…”
“Instwhat?”
“The instructor… told me to tell you… to come right away…”
“The instructor!? She is calling me! Why didn’t you tell me earlier!”
“I’m so sorry…”
“Oh come on!”

Rial weakly reached out to the back of the girl who was running off in anger, but she couldn’t say anything more and just looked down.

“I made her angry…”

The lecture hall was a little relaxed during the lunch break.
The other Sibyls noticed the commotion, but when they saw Rial left behind, they dismissed her with a disinterested “Oh, that girl,” and walked away.

(I… why can’t I speak well…?)

She had no quarrel with the other girls. No prior grudge either.
But she was unable to say what she needed to say. That was the usual Rial.
No matter how light the subject, when she tried to speak, no words came out.
Her body stiffened with tension, and the lines that she was supposed to be spun smoothly in her head got swallowed up.
Her personality made it difficult for her to express her feelings to others.
In other words, Rial was extremely poor at talking.

It’s not that she was bad with other people.
In fact, she was more of a people person, secretly longing for relationships where she could talk and laugh, share worries, and encourage each other.
However, because she was extremely bad at conversation, it was natural that she could not communicate with others, and as a result, Rial had no one she could call a friend.

Since coming to the academy, Rial’s desire has been consistent.

I want friends.

This desire was not something she held vaguely, but an intense longing, like wanting water in a bone-dry desert.
It was such a strong desire that she fell into a vicious cycle of thinking, things like “I don’t want to fail,” or “I have to be successful,” which made her body even more rigid.

Being poor in conversations didn’t just mean that she was bad at putting words together.
What to say, what to not say. Making the wrong choices was one of the causes.

“Rial… right? Do you want to go eat lunch?”

Rial was intently reviewing the contents of the lecture earlier, and the only other girl left in the room called out to her.
They weren’t close enough to be called friends, but they were belonged to the same academy. Sometimes, someone friendly would have talked to her.
Rial was surprised and excited, but tried to make the conversation flow smoothly.

“L-let’s go… I’m very hungry…”
“Hahaha, I know. I’m hungry too, from using my brain too much.”
“That training was hard…”
“Really! I’m doing my best to keep up… See you later!”

The girl started to walk away before the others.
Rial mustered up all her courage, knowing that she must not miss this opportunity.

“Um, um…”
“Huh? What?”

The girl stopped when she heard a voice calling out to her and turned around.
It was simple. All she had to do was invite her “to go to the dining hall together.”
Rial knew it, but she just stuttered and couldn’t get the words out.
And in that moment…
Rial noticed that a small child was clinging to the leg of the girl in front of her.

“Ah…”
“What’s wrong? Is there something on my leg?”
“Yes… a little… three year old girl…”
“What!?”

Though there were individual differences, the power of the elementals was manifested using girls’ bodies as vessels.
In this academy, where the Sibyls gather, there can be no such thing as a little child.
Basically, Rial’s words meant that she was seeing something that shouldn’t have been there.

“Hey… don’t say creepy things…”
“Ah…”

By the time she realized that she had created an uneasy atmosphere, it was too late.
The girl gave Rial a look of awe and quickly walked away in fear.
Rial hung her head again and spoke to herself in the empty auditorium.

She wasn’t hallucinating.
That young child was not here, but also here.
Rial had a rare ability that was different from her elemental powers.
When people die, their souls are freed from their bodies, but are still bound to the mortal world. Those were reflected in Rial’s eyes, retaining the form they had when they were alive.
That was the ability to recognize the souls of the dead.

“I did it again… I was so excited that we were going to get along…”

Rial was taciturn, had trouble choosing her words, and had a power that made others find her creepy.
Although she was not bullied, she was isolated at the academy.
She was a kind and considerate girl who wanted friends more than anything else.
But her feelings were not conveyed to anyone unless she put them into words.

One day, a turning point came for the lonely Rial during practical training with all military branches.

“You’re kidding me?! Not a single one missed, all right on the mark?!”
“I can’t believe it…”
“There was a girl like that at the academy?”

In front of a target with five arrowheads piercing its center, the girls started murmuring.
Of the five, one of the arrows that was already stuck in the target had been shot from above and destroyed, clearly demonstrating just how accurate the shot was.
Rial, the one who did that, was confused by the change in the atmosphere and hunched over awkwardly, not really understanding what was going on.
Her archery skills were so good that she was easily ranked among the best, even in the 100-year history of the academy.

The world that was once supposed to have been destroyed began to recover, and the livestock industry stabilized once again.
As a result, bows and arrows gradually came to be used only as weapons for fighting, rather than for hunting.
Rial, a member of one of the few nomad tribes in the Wind Country, had spent her childhood shooting animals far more agile than humans.
Even among her tribe, she was known as a master of the art, so her bow abilities were not a surprise.

Due to the nature of their tactics, archers in the infantry corps didn’t often train together.
Also, in actual combat, multiple arrows usually came from behind. There was no way to be sure who shot the arrow that pierced a Scourge.
And so everyone, except those who were accustomed to seeing her, was shocked by that petite expert archer.
Among them was a girl from a noble family known for its military lineage for generations in the Earth Country, who expressed her admiration with generous praise.

“You’re amazing! I’ve never seen such a beautiful arrow!”
“Th-Thank you.”
“I’m Soare. I’m a clumsy woman who can only use her sword.”
“I-I’m Rial…”

The girl who introduced herself as Soare held out her hand in a natural motion. Rial didn’t understand at first, but she finally realized what it meant and extended her hand back, and Soare held it tightly.

“I’m glad we have an archer like you! There’s nothing more reassuring for someone fighting on the front lines!”
“That’s… nothing at all…”
“You’re being humble after showing off all that you’ve done! That’s pretty mean!”
“No, I’m not humble…!”

Soothing the flustered Rial by saying, “I was just kidding,” Soare laughed heartily.
As expected from a girl from a noble family, Soare’s every move exuded pure boldness and nobility.
Rial had often been fond of noble people like her.
Her personality was full of pride and dignity, the polar opposite of her own.
She had longed for someone like her, thinking that if she could be next to her, she too could change.
And for the first time, that longing became reality.

///////

“What’s wrong, Rial? You’re spacing out.”
“…Ah, no. It’s nothing…”
“Haha. So you’re seeing ghosts again, aren’t you?”
“…Yeah.”

After a day of training, the sun had set and it was night at the academy.
In the chapel prepared for those from the Earth Country, Rial and Soare were sitting alone in their chairs, engaged in trivial conversation as usual.
Due to Rial’s nature, it couldn’t be said that they had grown close quickly, but since then, their friendship had slowly deepened.
Naturally, Soare felt they were polar opposites. Rial, unlike anyone she’d known before, felt fresh and new to her. She understood her reticence stemmed from being overly cautious not to offend others.

“Soare, don’t you find it creepy…?”
“Not really. Actually… I know it’s bad for you, Rial, but I don’t believe in ghosts.”
“Why?”
“If they can stay in this world even after death, then it would be worthless to be alive right now. I have been taught that it is beautiful to fight with all one’s might and then die. If that time comes someday, I would like to die with honor.”
“I see… I understand what you’re saying, Soare… a little.”
“Hahaha. Even though you’re denying me, you’re kind. But it’s not that I think you’re lying. I think you’re seeing something strange, like the remains of an elemental.”
“Thank you for being kind… But it’s okay. Even if you don’t believe in it, as long as you don’t hate me, it’s fine…”

The two of them cut their conversation short so as not to be late for lights out and went back to their respective dorms.
Arriving at her room, Rial collapsed onto her bed without changing her clothes, and then turned onto her back and looked up at the ceiling.

For the first time, Rial had someone she could call a friend.
A sense of euphoria filled her chest, as if a sweet liquid like sugar water was being poured into her.
But at the same time, for some reason, completely opposing emotions well up from deep inside her.
Anxiety, fear, a sense of weakness.
How long will this happy time with her precious one last?
What if Soare actually hated Rial and abandoned her tomorrow?
What if Soare has an even closer friend and forgets about her?
Just thinking about it made Rial feel so painful that she couldn’t breathe.

“I want to be friends with Soare… forever…”

Rial muttered, and took out a rough, milky white stone-like object from her bosom.
Then, as if speaking to herself, she muttered.

“What should I do… Mom…”

First, she asked her mother. And then.

“Tell me… everyone…”

The only sound left in the room was Rial’s voice, begging someone to tell her, before fading away.

“The day has finally come.”
“B-Be careful, Soare.”
“I’m sure you will back you up. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah… I’ll protect you.”

On the road from the Academy to the Water Country of Cryslo, there were the remains of a fortress that once stood here.
Many of the stone outer walls had collapsed and were in ruins, but thanks to itsfine original construction, it was soon used as a resting place for merchants traveling by cart, and now even a small market was operating there.
The Scourges appeared, as if targeting the remains of the fortress.
Although a few casualties were suffered, many people managed to escape, but the swarm of Scourge had made itself at home in the ruins.
Although their mission was to annihilate the Scourges, they wanted to make sure they took back the remains of the fortress, which had become an important place for trade between countries.
Having made this decision, the Academy called together several units to be on the safe side.
Among them were Rial and Soare.
Though they had been summoned to the battlefield many times before, this was the first time they had been called for the same mission.
They were aware that this was a battle that would put their lives on the line, but a slight sense of elation was also beginning to form within the two of them.

The operation’s tactics were quite clear.
A roughly square wall surrounded the castle. First, Rial and the other archers would scale the wall and secure a line of fire for firing arrows from the top of the castle.
Next, the front line troops would charge in through the main gate, the only entrance, and lure out the Scourges hiding there before engaging in battle.
The archers would provide support from above.
In a war between humans, it would be necessary to think each other’s moves two or three steps ahead. But against the Scourge, whose intelligence was below that of beasts, this level of simplicity was sufficient. Or rather, the quality of the battle was more important than the strategy.

The archers had reached the wall first, and the wind Sibyls, including Rial, were the first to use their strength to jump high into the air.
They landed on top of the wall, and then lowered climbing ropes for other Sibyls, who had no way of jumping.
Perhaps thanks to their rigorous daily training and actual combat, the girls reached the top without any trouble and quickly secured a line of fire.
Next, the fire Sibyls set the oily and moist trees ablaze, and thick white smoke rose into the sky.
Using that as a signal, the melee troops waiting on the ground charged into the wall.

“Come on! You ugly Scourges! I’ll kill you with my own hands!!”

As if responding to Soare and the others who were shouting at the front line, swarms of Scourges appeared from piles of rubble all over the fortress.
Although they did not appear to be male or female or capable of reproduction, they mimicked the shape of spider-like creatures that existed in this world.
However, their wriggling legs were far too numerous to count, and they gave off a horrifying and intense feeling of disgust to anyone who saw them.
Soare and the others flinched for a moment from the physiological discomfort, but quickly regained their composure and charged towards the Scourges.

“Uoooooooohhhhhhhhhh!!!”

With a roar, the girls thrust their blades one after another, making full use of their elemental powers.
As Rial accurately used her bow and arrow to kill Scourges who had escaped the front line’s attack, she could see Soare struggling.
True to her straightforward nature, Soare fought by altering the surrounding stone pavement to create one-on-one situations with each Scourge, then finished them off decisively.
Even without her elemental power, Soare’s swordsmanship was quite impressive, and the confidence that came from that ability was one of the reasons for her nobility.
Rial gazed upon her brave figure swinging her sword without any impatience or hesitation from the top of the castle walls.
Even though her life was on the line, her thoughts were away from the battlefield.

The more fun days she spent with her precious friend, the more anxious she became about losing her.
“I want our relationship to last forever” was just a fantasy.
Yes, it must be a fantasy.
Despite this, Rial worried because she knew how to make that wish come true.
A way to stay friends forever, as if time had stopped and been locked inside a treasure chest.
The conflict that had arisen within Rial was supposed to dissipate over time as they spent each happy day together.
If only it hadn’t been today, in this place.

“Soare! Behind you!!”

A girl who was in the same unit as Soare raised her voice.
Before she knew it, Soare had separated from the rest of the force, so far away that she would not be able to reach them unless she raised her arms.
The tactic of blocking off the surrounding area with stone walls and defeating each enemy one by one also blocked her line of sight.
Normally, one should have carefully checked the relative positions of their allies while fighting, but she had neglected to do so.
Was it because she was overconfident, or was it because she was trying too hard to appear brave to Rial?
The Scourges attacked the lone Soare with the force of their numbers.

Rial came back to her senses after hearing the voices warning of danger.
Before her eyes, she could see her friend about to be attacked from behind.
There were five Scourges in total.
With her arms, Rial could fire three arrows at the same time in the blink of an eye.
First, three from the nearest enemy. She would instantly pick up the arrows and shoot two more. There was enough distance to make it.
Rial reached into the quiver on her back and took out an arrow, holding it between each of her fingers.
She placed it on the bow and pulled the long string with all her might.

I will hit it. Don’t worry. I’ll save you now.

That’s what she was thinking in her head. But contrary to her thoughts, her body wouldn’t move.
It wasn’t because she was unwell or nervous – Rial decided not to fire the arrow of her own accord.
The other archers were concentrating on their own battles, and only she could help Soare, who was isolated from the rest of the unit.
If she didn’t shoot the arrow in her hand now, Soare would be killed by the Scourges.
It was unthinkable that she would let her precious friend suffer such a fate.
…Or so it should have been.

(Rather than an uncertain future… I want this moment to last forever… I want us to be friends forever and ever…)

Rial quietly lowered the bow she had been holding.
Soon after, a Scourge climbed over the stone wall from behind, and a thick, hard, black needle-like thing extended from its mouth.

“…Uh?”

Soare felt something strange around her waist and turned to see what it was. She saw that the needle had already extended from a Scourge and was piercing her flesh.
Though shaken by the attack from behind, Soare quickly recovered. The needle was sharp but thin. It was not a fatal blow, and she could counterattack as much as she wanted.
Just as Soare was about to turn her body around, the tip of the needle inside her body suddenly changed shape, and began to slice through her internal organs.

“Ah, ah, ahh.”

Soare was making voiceless noises as the needle transformed into a rotating blade, and moved around inside her, chopping up her kidneys, intestines, uterus and other organs until they mixed with her blood. The Scourge immediately gulped down the juice mixed with the flesh.
With all of Soare’s vital organs destroyed and a large amount of blood lost, her face quickly lost all life and she quietly collapsed without a sound.
Her body was needlessly ravaged, and she was dead.

Not many people noticed that Soare was dead.
Everyone was busy with their own battles, and there were no visible external injuries that would cause a flash of blood to splash.
But only Rial had seen the whole tragedy.
She had seen it all, from start to finish.
She didn’t even raise her bow to save Soare as she was being ravaged.

Rial had willingly left Soare to die.

There was no sadness in her eyes.
Rather, there was a look of expectation, as if she knew something fun was about to happen.

///////

By the time the annihilation of Scourges was finished, the sun had already set.
Those enduring the pain of their injuries, those grieving the death of their comrades, and those rejoicing in their victory all quickly left the battlefield.
All that was left behind were corpses of Scourges, left carelessly abandoned.
And the bodies of the girls, neatly gathered together and covered in linen as if they were sleeping.
A recovery team would normally come to take away the bodies and belongings, but operating at night was dangerous, so that work was postponed until morning.
It was not that they would neglect the dead, but protecting the lives of the living was the top priority.

As the night drew on, the inside of the fortress was silent as if nothing had happened.
A shadow floated in the darkness, lifting the linen covering the bodies of the girls.

“Soare… I’m glad… your body is still clean…”

After finding Soare’s body, Rial carried it on her small shoulders and started walking slowly.
Soare was much taller than Rial, and she dragged her feet, making a sly noise.
It was an absolutely unforgivable act she carried out in the dark of night to avoid being seen by others.
However, her stride was resolute, and there was even a sense of righteousness to it.

Carrying the body, Rial jumped over the high wall surrounding the academy, just as she had done during the day’s battle with the Scourges.
Leaving the academy without permission was prohibited, but it was unlikely that permission would be granted for personal use in the first place.
As a result, her only option was to sneak out, but her wind powers were the perfect way to escape.

Beyond the outer wall was a small forest-like place, lined with trees.
The academy grounds were vast, and perhaps because the main building was still some distance away, that area remained largely untended, overgrown with dense vegetation.
Hidden there, Rial was wondering about what to do.

It wasn’t that she had brought Soare’s body back because she couldn’t bear to leave it out in the open.
She had a clear intention of retrieving it with her own hands without being found by anyone else.
But it was difficult to carry a human back while hiding. Using her elemental power, she could jump and enter through the skylight in her room, but someone would likely see her on the way to the dorms.

“What should I do… If I keep going like this, the sun will rise and I won’t be able to hide anymore…”

There was little time before dawn when the recovery team would head to the battlefield, but Rial’s actions seemed too unplanned.
On the other hand, it showed that leaving Soare to die was impulsive.
Rial’s impatience grew and she began to shake her body.
Even so, she remained vigilant. Suddenly, the dry crackle of a withered branch crunching underfoot reached her ears.

“Who’s there!?”
“You shouldn’t go out without permission, Miss Human.”
“I-Instructor Besty…”
“You shouldn’t underestimate the security here. Well, it seems I’m the only one who’s noticed so far.”

The woman called Besty looked somewhat amused as she adjusted her glasses with her fingers.
For Rial, on the other hand, it was a matter of the utmost urgency that she was exposed to her instructor.
Despite this, even though she was wary, she seemed somehow relieved.

“…I see. I understand what you want to do.”

This instructor, nicknamed “Odd Besty,” had unique values ​​that were different from the other instructors, as her name suggested.
A leading researcher into the ecology of Scourges, she dissected and analyzes the enemy creatures every day, and by understanding their structure, she took measures against them.
While her research brought significant benefit to the Academy, many found her repulsive, as she often appeared to gleefully toy with the corpses of monsters.
The eccentric Besty and Rial had a connection that went beyond the surface relationship of instructor and student.

“So you’ve finally taken an entire human? Maybe what I did was wrong to make you turn out to be such a naughty child.”
“N-No… it’s not your fault, Instructor Besty… I just wanted to do it myself…”
“Anyway, it’s not a good idea to stay here like this. You’ve always helped me out, so I don’t want to lose you.”

Scourges were dismantled for research purposes.
It was a hard work that everyone refused to do it because it was so horrible, but Rial occasionally helped out.
Besty was very grateful for her efficient help, and Rial also benefited from it, so it was a mutually beneficial relationship.

“Please use my lab. I’ll help you bring it in.”

Besty suggested so.
Although it was an academy facility, the Monster Research Countermeasures Room had become almost like a personal possession of Besty.
As mentioned earlier, many people despised her Scourge research, so no one came near it.
Now that she thought of it, it was the perfect place to hide a secret.

“I-Is it okay…? You are an instructor, and yet…”
“Oh, what a strange thing to say.”

Besty said, sounding genuinely annoyed, and pushed up her glasses, which shone in the moonlight, as she continued.

“It’s because I’m an instructor.”

Dissecting a Scourge takes quite a lot of effort.
In particular, individuals who have closely mimicked the animals of this world have complex physical structures, so it takes not only strength but also time.

First, to drain the blood, you insert a blade into the carotid artery, a large blood vessel.
To maintain cleanliness, it is hung upside down over an iron bathtub-shaped washing area, and gravity causes the blood to flow out and fall to the floor with a dripping sound.
If it is needed for research, it is collected into a container, but if not, it is put into the sewer.
A small river of red blood, darker than expected, flowed over the worn, scratched iron.

After a few hours, once all the blood has been drained, the next step is washing.
It is rinsed lavishly under running water to remove any dirt and pathogens that may have adhered to it.
It is done carefully and meticulously, like a mother bathing a baby.

Once the washing is done, the blade is used again to cut open from the middle of the stomach to around the groin in one go. Once the blood has been drained, there won’t be much of a stain.
This is a task that normally requires delicacy and boldness, but perhaps after a fierce battle, many of the specimen’s internal organs are already severely damaged.
Therefore, in order to at least recover what remained, you first thrust your arm forcefully into the torn-open abdomen.
Then you must accurately find the esophagus and airway from inside the throat and severe them. After that, you grab the severed part and drag it downward.
Where the diaphragm had adhered to the ribs, you place the blade on it and scraped it off.
Carefully, meticulously.
You can feel the hardness of the bones that you shouldn’t have been able to touch through your palms.

After disposing of the internal organs, the task is to separate the creature into parts.
Switching to a fine-toothed saw, you cut away the femurs, humerus's, pelvis, and cervical vertebrae, along the large joints.
As you insert the blade into the elastic skin and flesh, you soon come across hard bone.
Don’t use too much force. Make use of the fine blade and gently move the saw back and forth as if scraping.

It’s not a difficult task. You can feel the location of the joints by touching them directly, so all you have to do is cut away, tearing the tendons.
Once this series of steps is finished, a clean, pure white chunk of meat should be lying in front of you in a good size container.
A container is prepared to hold a piece of meat of this size.
A glass tube filled with a water solution made from processed alcohol. If the cut part is soaked in this, it will preserve its beauty without rotting.

Rial carried out these tasks calmly for over half a day.
She didn’t show the slightest sign of nervousness, and she didn’t tremble or vomit.
Her hands showed that she was used to this kind of work, and she seemed to be making the most of her experience.
But deep down, she was also breathing a sigh of relief.

“That’s good. I can now use those skills on a human body,” she said.

Using the techniques she had honed from dissecting Scourges, Rial dismembered a body into pieces.
It was the body of her friend Soare, who had been smiling at her just yesterday.
This was deep inside the research room she had borrowed from Besty.
The room typically used to dismember Scourges was now filled with the suffocating smell of blood.
In there, Rial was attempting to place Soare’s right arm into the glass filled with liquid.
She was used to it, but it was not something she did on a daily basis.
But the feeling of tearing flesh and cutting bones opened the lid of Rial’s memories.
Memories of the first time she carved up a human as a child.

The Wind Country had a minority tribe.
It was a wandering tribe with no permanent home, and Rial was a member of it.
The reason they lived this way was not because they had lost to other tribes or because the land of their hometown was barren.
It was because they believed in something that could be considered heretical.
As they fled persecution over and over again, they naturally came to the decision to wander without a permanent home.

Among the many teachings they followed, one of the main reasons they were recognized as a heretical cult was the binding of souls.

“As long as the body of the dead remains, their soul can be bound to the mortal world.”

Believing this, they did not bury the bodies of their tribe members when they lost their lives.
They preserved the bodies after embalming them, and moved from place to place with them.
They did not cremate or bury them, and the sight of them carrying large numbers of corpses on their backs was strange to many, so it was no wonder that they were persecuted.
Furthermore, in this world, the very thought of keeping a soul that should have been released was nothing but taboo.
However, that didn’t mean that the soul was actually being kept there.
The bloodless, incomplete bodies never moved or spoke again.
Just as many believers of various religions have never laid eyes on their gods, they simply believed and had faith that it was possible to capture a soul.

In this tribe, Rial was isolated as a child, just as she was now.
Few comrades, few children. On the surface, they supported each other and lived, but Rial never expressed her feelings, and the other children could not open up to her.
When she could no longer bear this isolation, her mother, her only refuge and someone she could depend on, coldly pushed her away.
Her mother’s true intentions were that she wanted her to become strong so that she could survive in the future. But the young Rial did not understand that, and before she knew it, she was consumed by a deep, deep sadness in her heart.
And this only accelerated with the death of her mother, her only family.

Time passed, and Rial turned 14.
Whether they had heard of her or they had done their research, people from the academy came to the tribe.
At first, the tribesmen were skeptical about the proposal, but they quickly became friendly when they received a reasonable amount of money.
Rial herself saw no reason to stay in this isolated place with no family, and readily agreed to take her in if she was needed.

Then, the night before leaving the tribe for the academy.
Rial, under the watchful eyes of her brethren, carried her mother’s body to a nearby cave.
Her mother’s body was quickly dried to remove all moisture in order to preserve it. Rial stabbed her dagger into the corpse.
Even if she was dead, she couldn’t stab her mother’s chest.
She teared the flesh around her waist, split the brittle bone, and carefully removed it.
The bone fitted in the palm of Rial’s hand. It was part of the pelvis.
And it belonged to who was once her mother.
It was the bone that had held Rial in the womb since before she was born into this world.
As she grasped it, the love for her mother suddenly overflew.
There were times when she was pushed away and felt sad. But Rial was not a child anymore. Now she understood her mother’s true intentions.
And that was not all. The eyes that looked at her were always filled with love.
Rial was born into a tribe that believed in summoning the dead, and she could not bear to be separated from her mother by going to the academy.
That’s why she removed part of the corpse so that she could always have her by her side.

Faith is just faith after all.
No matter how many times the tribe members, even the eldest ones, have prayed, they have never succeeded in summoning a soul.
But they continued to pray. Even in death, their brethren would have always been together.
That was the teaching and culture that has been passed down to them for generations.
But at this moment, it was no longer a teaching or a culture.
The summoning of the soul – the wish to keep a soul in the mortal world by using the body of the deceased as a vessel – was accomplished by none other than Rial.

“Mother…”

In the dark, deserted cave, only Rial could clearly see the figure of her mother.
It was not a fantasy. It was a power possessed by her distant ancestors that had been lost over the eons.
That power had awakened within Rial.

Perhaps because her power had awakened, her own existence had come closer to the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead, and from that day on, Rial was able to see ghosts as well.
Many of them tried to bring disasters to the living, but strangely enough, Rial was not afraid of them.
Now that she could keep her soul bound even if her life ended, the value of life and death was very small for her.
On the contrary, she began to see death as a means to promise eternity.

The petite girl from the Wind Country knocked on the Academy’s gate.
She held her mother’s bones to her chest.

///////

“Oh, it’s beautiful. I can’t believe this is your first time.”
“I-It’s all thanks to your help, Instructor Besty…”

Looking at Soare’s body, torn apart and stuffed into glass, Besty was impressed, but kept an eye on Rial.
By ordinary values, Rial’s way of thinking was utterly insane.
Besty herself was mad to overlook this, but that was not a problem and she had no interest in it.
What worried her is that her supporting Rial has caused her to go mad.

“Are you no longer satisfied with the corpse fragments I’ve given you up until now?”
“N-No, that’s not it… She’s the first person to have become my friend while she was still alive…”
“Is that so? Humans are foolish, but you’re still interesting.”

Besty knew of Rial’s power to bind souls to corpses.
It was an absurd story, but it was only because she was Besty that she believed it.
She showed an interest in it as a personal research material separate from the Scourges, and used her position as an instructor to sell parts of the bodies of Sibyls who had been killed in battle to Rial.
Some were hot-blooded and loved fighting, some longed for love more than fighting, and some became unhappy after awakening to their elemental powers.
As she summoned souls one after another, she made countless friends.
Strangely enough, the souls Rial summoned were all friendly.
They encouraged her with kind words, chatted with her about trivial things, and behaved just like the friends Rial wanted.
To Rial, these were the only friends she knew.
They were the only ones who were always by her side, and treated her without ever changing their minds.
And so, to Rial, they were living friends with no promise of eternity. They were sweet and exciting, but above all, they were frightening.

“Whatever you want, just make sure you don’t get swallowed up.”
“Swallowed…”
“Yes. Once humans start craving something, they can’t stop.”
“…Yes.”
“I’m an instructor at the academy after all, so I’ll deal with it appropriately depending on how things go from here on out, okay?”
“Deal with it…?”
“Yes. When that time comes…”

Next, Besty, contrary to her words, looked completely uninterested as she spoke to Rial.

“I will kill you.”

Rial steadily achieved success in Scourge battles, and her archery abilities became known to everyone.
More and more people began to treat her kindly, like Soare had done in the past, and she rarely ate lunch alone.
Over time, many of these friends also left.
They were eaten, torn, burned, pierced.
In the fierce battle, those who lacked the necessary skills were killed without a word.
But strangely, regardless of the cause of death, their bodies never returned from the battlefield.
These girls were Rial’s close friends.

Each time Rial bestowed eternity on girls who were supposed to have lost their lives, her power grew stronger with each passing day.
The ghosts, once barely visible, now possessed palpable substance, and encounters grew more frequent.
One day, as her power grew, Rial noticed something.
A countless number of ghosts were wandering the grounds of the Academy.
The accumulated history of battle had spilled far too much blood.
Girls who died longing for life due to pain and regret have become ghosts who cling to this land.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands.
They continued to whisper words of resentment and curses against this world in Rial’s ears.
But to Rial, those words sounded like nothing more than happy chatter.

Besty warned her, “Don’t get swallowed up.”
It was unclear whether that was about to become a reality or had already happened, but Rial continues to spend the happiest time of her life…

“Yaaaaawn…”

After waking up in the morning as usual, Rial staggered up and began to get ready for the day.
She brushed her hair out and changed from her nightgown into her uniform.
She opened the skylight to let fresh air into the room, then left the bedroom reciting her schedule for the day.
The next room was filled with a desk used for studying and writing letters, tastefully displayed plant specimens, and a large shelf covering one wall.
Most of the shelves were filled with glass bottles, making it seem more like a researcher’s room, rather than that of an infantry corps.
Rial came to the side of the shelves and began to walk slowly, stroking the glass bottles lined up with them lovingly.

“Good morning.”

To Elly, whose red hair was swinging in a ponytail.

“You look lovely today.”

To Kuroha, who was proud of her bright blue eyes.

“Did you sleep well?”

To Lana, who showed off her white teeth every time she smiled.

After a while, as she came to a certain shelf, Rial stopped in her tracks and muttered the following.

“I’ll do my best… Soare.”

Today, she is still shooting her bow on the battlefield.
With many friends and with her mother.
No one knows what fate awaits her as she continues her sacrilege against the dead.
But Rial herself knows that the release of many souls will come at the cost of her life.
Ironically, it may be that moment when she will be able to enjoy true happiness, without struggling with her own inability to do anything, or fearing an uncertain future.