"Hmm? Why has everyone gone silent?"
Fíliya sat up straight on the bed, looking at the other three with a teasing expression on her face.
By this time, they were already in another lodging arranged by the old woman. There were two large beds in this room, allowing the four of them to sleep together comfortably.
As for the bed allocation, naturally, Fíliya shared one with Solitär, while Aura slept with Linie.
"What else can I do but be silent? I got scolded for so long despite not doing anything... It wasn't me who invaded the Northern Plateau."
Aura's tone seemed a bit aggrieved.
"Oh? Is that so? But hadn't you already been 'recruiting soldiers and buying horses' back then, even thinking of roping Solitär in? If you had really started rolling out your Undead Army, tragedies like that old woman's would have played out countless times, you know?"
Fíliya continued to look at her with a smile.
"Th... That was stopped by you, wasn't it! If I didn't do it, I didn't do it!"
Aura glared fiercely in Fíliya's direction.
"Mm-hmm, let's say you didn't do it then. But what about a hundred years ago? As 'Aura the Guillotine' of the Seven Sages of Destruction, I'm afraid you killed quite a few people, didn't you? And given your personality back then, those unlucky souls probably died quite miserably."
Fíliya continued to sting Miss Aura with her words.
Now Aura could only lower her head and grit her teeth, not daring to refute a single word. After all, she had indeed done those things.
"So annoying! I actually felt pretty good when I helped that old bag earlier, but now you've ruined my mood completely!"
After shouting this final sentence, Aura burrowed directly under the covers and buried her head beneath the pillow.
Seeing Aura choose escapism in a bit of self-abandonment, Fíliya gave up on twisting the knife further. She turned her gaze to Solitär, who was also looking at her with a subtle expression.
"Hmm?"
Fíliya tilted her head slightly.
"..."
Solitär pondered first, then spoke slowly.
"So... do you want us to 'atone for our sins'?"
Solitär probed in a low voice.
"Hah?"
Fíliya's mouth twitched, her eyes instantly widening.
"Are you joking? I have no such intention."
Fíliya answered immediately.
"Then what are you doing? Provoking Aura like that... surely it isn't purely because you want to bully her again?"
Solitär pressed on.
"Mm... If you kill, don't fear the blood on your hands; there's nothing wrong with owning up to what you've done. However, this 'atonement' business is indeed a bit laughable."
Fíliya didn't answer Solitär directly, instead continuing to speak to herself.
"I've simply seen similar things too many times... Kill one and you are a 'criminal.' Kill ten and you are 'evil.' Kill a hundred and you are a 'ghost.' Kill a thousand and you are a 'general.' Kill ten thousand and you are a 'marquis.' Kill a hundred thousand and you are a 'king'... In the human world, there are plenty of 'nobles and royals' who have sent thousands, tens of thousands of lives to their graves for their own selfish gain. Yet, I've never heard of a time when they needed to 'atone'."
"Umu, although your situation is a bit different, and forcibly linking them might be suspected of false equivalence... but that's not important. In short, my goal isn't to make you do anything."
The atmosphere in the room became incomparably quiet. The three demons clearly wanted to know what Fíliya was planning. Even Miss Aura, currently in a huff, secretly peeked her head out from under the blanket a little.
"I simply wanted you to witness human 'malice,' Aura."
Saying this, Fíliya suddenly shouted in Aura's direction.
"What is it..."
Aura crawled out from the covers impatiently, her eyes still full of resentment.
"Tell me your true feelings. The current you should be able to feel a little something. After all, your magic is too strong, and you're too cowardly; you only dare to kill after controlling your victims, so you rarely have the chance to face human malice directly, right?"
Fíliya looked at Aura with an expectant gaze.
"...It's just a bit incredible, I guess... That was clearly an old woman who could be knocked over by a breeze... Yet, in that instant, I felt a sense of being overwhelmed by her aura... It was as if my heart skipped a beat."
"Mmhmm, you're very spiritual, Aura. That is the feeling of being targeted by 'malice.' You really are the demon with the most 'human sense'."
Fíliya clapped her hands with great satisfaction, then smilingly awarded Miss Aura a "Best Living Human Award."
"Uh... but is that useful?"
Aura continued to ask.
"Of course it's useful. Understanding malice is the first step to understanding humans. I believe you can definitely continue to 'evolve.' Heheh... Speaking of which, the 'malice' that idiot Macht spent his whole life trying to understand was easily grasped by you, Aura. From this perspective, you are indeed much stronger than him."
Fíliya did not stingy in her praise for Aura. If not for the distance, she would have even wanted to reach out and pat the other's head.
"Wha... What did you say?!!"
Aura stood up from the bed in excitement.
"Hmm? I said you are very spiritual."
Fíliya laughed mischievously.
"Not that! The part after!"
Aura's tone sounded exceptionally anxious.
"Umu... Oh, I praised you for having a very human sense."
Fíliya continued to snicker.
"Not that either! Even further back! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?!"
Miss Aura bit her lip lightly, her fists clenched hard.
"Alright, alright... I praised you for being better than Macht."
Fíliya shook her head helplessly. Although she wanted to tease Aura a bit more, she was afraid the balloon would burst suddenly, which wouldn't be worth it.
"Heheh... I'm better than Macht..."
Miss Aura immediately cupped her face and sat on the bed in a 'W-pose,' a foolish grin beginning to radiate from her face.
"Lady Aura... your expression is very spacey right now."
Linie reminded her in a whisper, but Aura was already completely immersed in her own world.
"Tsk tsk, I didn't expect this guy to be so easy to deal with... Just a little praise and she's in a trance. Really."
Fíliya turned her head helplessly to look at Solitär.
"However, unlike Aura, there is actually another dull 'bad student' here. It seems you didn't receive any enlightenment?"
Fíliya scrutinized Solitär with a subtle gaze.
Solitär, however, lowered her head and remained silent.
Because of the difference in killing methods, she was different from Aura. In her past life, she had long since witnessed countless curses and abuses hurled at her by humans before their deaths.
The sharpness of those words far exceeded that of the old woman just now. So if one had to say, Solitär should have witnessed human malice long ago.
But... until she met Fíliya, she had no feelings whatsoever regarding those words.
Or perhaps... she still didn't.
____
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