Fi’s consciousness was thrown into the darkness of night.
“…! …Hah. Hah… Hah… Ahh…”
There was a dull pain in his throat. It was as if the blood was still there from his dream. He looked around and saw that the damp dirt was still soft. There was nothing wrong.
“Fi?”
“Huh…”
Ho noticed that Yuneri had been sleeping next to him. A small ball of brown fur. The kobold rubbed its sleepy eyes and looked up.
“Fi? What happen?”
“…You.”
That’s right. After learning that Fi was leaving, the kobold had been upset and wanted to sleep next to Fi.
“Fi…crying.”
“Huh? Oh…”
He realized that half of his face was stained with tears. Fi wiped away what hadn’t dried yet, and smiled gently.
“It’s nothing. Let’s sleep.”
“Fi. Do something bad?”
The young kobold stretched out a hand towards Fi’s face.
“Wh-what are you…”
“Fi. Always saying…sorry…”
Yuneri made his expression as serious as possible, and then he spoke to Fi as if he was speaking to a child.
“After doing bad, say sorry. Good child. And so, Fi is good.”
“Id…idiot… That’s not what…”
“Fi is good. Good.”
The small hand patted Fi on the head. And Fi felt some of the guilt in his heart being removed.
“Thank you…Yuneri.”
He tousled the kobolds fur and patted him on the back.
“Sorry to wake you up. Let’s sleep now.”
“…Yes.”
Yuneri was already drowsy, and so he quickly walked back and rolled up into a ball again and went to sleep.
Fi quietly made his way into the grove and used his smartphone.
‘Ah, what is it? Did something happen? Keep it short. I’m chatting with a friend right now.’
“Hey… What exactly…am I doing?”
‘…Wait a minute. They are about to leave.’
He heard noise on the other end, and then the speaker returned. It was not much time for Fi to gather his thoughts together.
“I…without a doubt…killed Sheto’s family. His lover and his pack. Even if the god told me to… I was doing it for points. Without thinking about anything…”
‘Oh, dear. You’re talking about that again. I’ve told you many times already. That matter is forgiven by divine authority’
“I know. But I’m not satisfied with that. Besides…Sheto just blamed me and…”
‘…In your dream? What a terrible time to have such dreams.’
He sounded like he was joking, but there was something serious in his voice as well.
‘Do you know about chaplains?’
“Not really…are they like priests who are in the army?”
‘Exactly. They have a long history. In your world, they often accompany armies to ensure morning and evening mass and administer last rites.’
Fi had never had much to do with religion, and so it made little sense to him. People were in the army to kill. But priests offered healing and absolution.
“I see. I wondered why the Priest job existed. But I suppose they came from chaplains.”
‘Well, something similar to that. They also write records and practice primitive medicine. But in the end, their real job is to heal the mind.’
“The mind…?”
‘A more cynical way of putting it…is that they justify murder.’
Fi felt a chill go down his spine.