Witch Hunt Village

The next leg of our journey would be to find Gnome. Alice was pleased with this even though it didn't mean filling her gullet, because in her eyes it was something I actually needed to do, even though she supposedly didn't want me to do it, but told me about it in the first place. I still couldn't understand what she was up to, even though she claimed to have explained it clearly to me.

Finding Gnome was going to be tough. The desert was huge, much larger than the Forest of Spirits, and much less amenable to two travelers wandering around. I'd made sure to bring as much food and water as possible. Water was the hard part. Water requirements in a desert are large, and water is heavy, which slows you down, which in turn means longer wandering in the desert. Since Alice refused to give me advice on locating Gnome, I chose a route which would lead us into an area where there were human habitations. That would give us a chance to resupply. If Gnome wasn't in this area, then we'd eventually have to tackle the largest unbroken stretch of desert. I wasn't sure that was possible without knowing where we were going.

Since I had performed no acts of heroism visible to the local populace, we were fairly anonymous in the Sabasan capitol. While this meant fewer delays and annoyances to Alice, as well as sparing me what she considered pointless side quests, it also meant that citizens were less forthcoming with information and rumors about the area at a time when I needed something to go on to find Gnome. Wandering large expanses of desert searching would be unlikely to succeed and quite a bit likely to get me dead. Remember Alice's earlier comment about how if I failed she'd keep me as a slave at her castle? She helpfully clarified that remark about two hours into our trek through the desert.

"I'm not going to find anything else for you in this desert," she said. "If you're near death or want to give up, I'm just taking you home with me and you can serve me for the rest of your life."

"I'm not sure whether to be thankful that you wouldn't leave me to die out here or appalled that you're so casually talking about enslaving me," I commented.

"Being personal slave to the Monster Lord is a great honor," she said. "It's not as if I'd keep you in chains or be cruel to you. I'd even continue to work with you to find the answers you need. Maybe even return you to your world if that's possible."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. It didn't sound that bad, except for the "slave" part. As I brooded over it, a familiar voice chimed in my head.

"Don't worry, Luka!" it said. "I'm on your side! I'll help you find Gnomey!"

"Sylph?" I said. "Is that you?"

"Of course it is! Is there anyone else in your head yet? Nope, nobody here! Not much of anything here now that you mention it. Vast, empty spaces. Whoooooo..."

Smartass. Alice was giving me the side eye. "Who are you talking to? Oh, never mind, Sylph must have decided to help you."

Sylph spoke up again. "You don't have to speak out loud to me. Just think to me!"

"Can you read my mind?" I asked, this time thinking it rather than saying it.

"No, silly!" she replied. "I can only hear what you think at me. But I see everything you see and hear everything you hear. You have a very interesting life!"

My face turned red. Sylph witnessed all of that? And I was going to carry three more of these with me? I probably should have thought this out better. "So you know where Gnome is?"

"No," she said sheepishly, then brightened. "But if you get close enough to her I can sense her and guide you the rest of the way!"

"How close?" I asked. "It's a big desert."

"I don't know!" she said brightly.

Sylph didn't say anything else for the rest of the day, so I guess we never got close. We set up camp, and as promised I made Alice a fine meal using the ingredients she had bought. My gold purse was feeling a lot lighter lately. I might have to take on side quests and charge people for them, I thought.

"You haven't talked much about things you have been remembering lately," she commented as we lay on our sleeping bags, enjoying the cool desert air at night. Since there were no trees around, she had been using the sleeping bag as long as we had been traveling in the desert. She was too long to comfortably get inside, even coiled, but she seemed to like laying her human half on top of it.

"I try not to talk much about the useless memories," I said. "But I have been getting glimpses of my family, mainly in dreams."

"Oh?" she said, now interested. "Tell me."

"Oh, my grandfather, but I'm pretty sure he died some time ago. I'm not sure. My mother, who should still be alive…"

"I dream about my mother a lot," she interrupted. "I lost her when I was young."

"Oh," I said. "That's terrible."

"Yes," she said, then changed the subject. "Have you dreamed of Ilias lately?"

"No," I replied. "It's as if she went silent. I was surprised she didn't talk to the king of Sabasa. She'd talked to the king of San Ilia."

"You're assuming she's real." Alice observed.

"The evidence sure points in that direction," I said.

"Hmph.." she replied.

"There's supposed to be a town up ahead," I said. "Assuming I don't get us lost again we should reach it at midday. Fill up on water, get a little more food."

"That town sounds stupid", she replied, now obviously settling in to sleep.

"How so?"

"When you were going around asking people for information on the area. The village we're headed towards is that one with the moral panic going on."

"The witches?" I asked. "How do you know it's that town?"

"Because I know," she said.

"Should we avoid it then?"

"I don't care," she replied. "You'll probably end up getting lost anyway. If we find it, we find it. You seem to think you have a fate now, so let's let fate decide."

"Do I have a fate? The sphinx said I did. A strange one, too."

"How should I know?" she said. "She's a lot older than me and practices really old magic, so maybe. Fate just seems to me like gambling. Gambling is stupid. Either decide what you're going to do or let life lead you around by the nose. Good night."

With that, she turned over and went to sleep.

I'll have you know that I did actually find the village, and before midday! Maybe I was getting better at navigating through a desert. Or maybe I was just fated to find it. The place wasn't too lively. I guess if it was true this place was undergoing a moral panic that it was to be expected that there would be an atmosphere of fear. Still, even towns like this had to eat and drink and work, so I figured we should have no problem topping up our supplies. We'd only been traveling a day and a half, so worst case we could afford to get out without buying anything and wait until we came across another town.

It wasn't long before we came across our first villager, a nice middle aged woman. "Are you a traveler?" she asked. "You must leave this village. Turn back right away. That silver haired woman will be arrested on sight. They might even arrest you given that sword you possess."

Argh! Angel Halo! I kept forgetting how nasty that thing looked. It practically had "consorts with demons" written all over it. Well, I didn't need any further prompting.

"I guess we should go then," I said to Alice. Alice said nothing and turned around to walk right back in the direction we came from. I followed her, only to see two soldiers right in front of us!

"Travelers!" one of them shouted. "Don't move! I need to inspect you first!"

The other addressed the villager who had warned us. "Peasant! What are you saying to these travelers? Are you a witch?"

"They were just asking directions, sir!" she pleaded, beginning to panic. When the soldiers made no move to arrest her, she quickly walked off.

"Strangers, why have you come to this village?" one of them asked us.

The other seemed more interested in Alice. "You, woman! What's with the color of your hair? You must be a witch!"

The soldier pulled an evil looking knife from his cloak and advanced on Alice. I didn't believe he was any threat to her so I chose to wait and let her decide how to play this.

"It is said that a witch doesn't bleed even when cut," he said. "Therefore, just let me make a cut on your hand so we can check. If you're not a witch, blood will come out. Do you understand?"

I'm not sure what I expected Alice to do. I assumed a rude comment. Possibly even extreme violence. Maybe she'd jedi mind trick him. Instead, she just said, "Of course," with that interesting smirk of hers that I hadn't seen in awhile. "This seems like it will be amusing."

She held out her hand. The soldier grabbed it and made a long cut along the back of it. "Ouch," she said, mildly inconvenienced, as blood started to ooze from the wound. That struck me as completely normal, but the soldier reacted with surprise.

"Impossible!" he said in disbelief. "This knife…."

"Oh, that knife?" Alice said, now thoroughly enjoying this. "What about it? Was the knife not supposed to cut me? Look, blood came out. Isn't that what you wanted to see? Doesn't this prove I'm not a witch?"

With a sadistic smile she began to lick her own blood off her hand. "You… you…. You're a real…." One of the soldiers said. Both were now very alarmed. They turned and ran away.

"Was that a trick knife?" I asked.

"Nothing gets past you," she replied. Yep, the smirk was definitely back. "Typical heroes, running away at the first sign of real trouble. Probably to go get a discount at the local tavern."

Villagers were starting to come out of their homes, surrounding us. I wondered if we should make a break for it. I had a dim memory of mobs tying people up and burning them at the stake from my world. Alice interpreted the situation differently.

"Of course., Here we go, now they're going to tell you their problems and you're going to try to save them."

Sure enough, Alice had called it correctly. The villagers told tales of their sons and daughters, wives and mothers, but strangely almost never the elderly, taken to the lord's manor and never coming out. That sounded fishy. Weren't witches usually executed in public? Disappearing them didn't seem like normal behavior.

Alice observed that I seemed to be thinking, something which she didn't appreciate. "I see those gears turning, Luka. Should I even bother to tell you not to get involved?"

"It sounds like human on human violence though," I responded. "Maybe this is something you'd be willing to help with? You wouldn't have to fight your cute little subordinates."

She folded her arms. "Precisely because it's a human problem I'm not going to get involved. And neither should you."

"But aren't you curious now about what's going on? I've heard of witch hunts before and this witch hunt isn't fitting the usual pattern. No public executions, no bodies. Something very strange is going on here."

"I admit to being a little intrigued," she said. "Fine, do what you want. I won't get food out of this, but at least I'll have my curiosity satisfied. Besides, if you get subdued and captured by humans I don't have to feel guilty about breaking you out and taking you back to my castle."

She seemed awfully fixated on that idea lately.

Alice chose to vanish again as I reached the palatial mansion of the ruler of this village. Had I even gotten this village's name? I guess I had been thinking of it as Witch Hunt Village since I'd heard about it. I needed to make sure that Alice wouldn't remember it as Foolhardy Hero Village, or I Visited Witch Hunt Village and All I Got Was This Lousy Slave.

Two soldiers stood guard at the gate. I had no worries about that. I hadn't fought a human in what seemed like a lifetime, but even before I had become the veteran of a couple dozen real life fights, ordinary soldiers were no match for me. Now I was confident that anything less than four would pose no serious obstacle.

I walked up to the soldiers confidently, all business. "I want to speak with your lord."

"Who are you?" one of them demanded. "Lily wouldn't meet with some outsider!"

"You're suspicious," the other said. "Are you a witch? Allow me to test you if you wish to prove your innocence."

Sylph spoke up in my head. "Oooh! Oooh! I wanna do something!"

Curious, I responded. "Go ahead."

"Yay!" she cheered, and a gust of wind blew off the soldier's helmets!

"What the hell?" one exclaimed.

"A real witch?!" shouted the other. "Shit! Run away!"

Now I was getting mad. This was some kind of scam! They knew damn well there were no witches here! Now I was determined to end this. The village didn't seem to be ruled by raw force. It was ruled mainly by fear. I hoped there wouldn't be much opposition in the manor. Perhaps like any regime based primarily on fear, it would crack like an eggshell as soon as someone who was not afraid challenged it. I walked up to the mansion and opened the door.

I don't know what I expected to find, but what I did was definitely not it. The place itself looked like a witch's house! There was a crystal ball on a table, a pentagram on the floor, and in the center of that pentagram a cauldron. What the hell is this? I thought.

A woman was there to greet me. "Welcome. I am the lord of this mansion, Meister Lily. A sorcerer aiming to understand the truth of all creation."

"That sounds an awful lot like a witch," I pointed out.

"Witch, sorcerer, does it really matter?" she said breezily.

"I don't really care what you do in your private time, but I need to know what you did to all those people."

"I used the women as experimental materials. The men… I just squeezed out their seed until they were dry, then discarded them."

Oh no. Part of me had been hoping for a Happy Village-like happy ending, where I rescue everyone, happy reunions galore, a big party, and Alice gets goodies. But this woman, it sounded like she'd murdered a lot of people! How does one even get justice for a crime of this enormity?

"Shocked, are you?" she said, now walking around me like a cliché of a Hollywood villain. "This old fashioned village always rejected knowledge and magic. But ever since I took over as lord five years ago, I've been fascinated by magic power. So I simply used their prejudice to start a witch hunt to collect materials for my experiments."

"But you can't just…. Kill people!" I objected. "Or use them for raw materials!"

"It looks like you hold some magic power yourself," she said. Was she able to see it? Even Alice hadn't seen it until I released it. "A lot of it, actually. I'll bet you have no idea how to use it. I could teach you. You could be the most powerful being in this world with my guidance. Why don't you join me?"

"Join you to do what?" I demanded. "Lord it over people? Experiment on them? Kill them? I don't seek power for its own sake."

"Of course not," she said. "You're one of those morons who runs around righting wrongs, saving princesses, slaying dragons, then you die, and nothing has really changed. But once I've finished my research and gained enough power, I will change things! I will make this world how I want it to be! If you won't join me, I'll just have to capture you and research your power for myself. I've never heard of a person just carrying raw power around with them. Perhaps it can be extracted. I'll start by analyzing your semen."

"I'm pretty positive my power isn't in my semen, lady," I responded. "I've certainly given it to enough monsters."

"Oh, you're so silly," she said. "That's not what I meant, but I don't think I need to explain myself further. If you're hellbent on trying to rescue the people still alive in here, go right ahead. Enjoy all my mansion has to offer."

With that, she vanished. "Alice?" I said. "Did you get all that?"

She reappeared behind me. "Yes," she replied. "Now I'm glad we're here. She saw your power right away and she wants it. No human should have access to that kind of power. Seal. That. Bitch."

She vanished again. I exited the main room and entered an area that looked like a prison. Cages lined all the walls. But in the center of the room was the most bizarre thing I'd ever seen, and I'd seen a lot in the last few weeks. A strange, octopus like creature was hanging from the ceiling like a slimy chandelier. A tentacle with a receptacle on the end was clamped onto a man's penis and seemed to be milking him. He looked like he had already gone insane from pleasure. Was this a monster? It didn't appear to have any human-like parts which would indicate a true monster. But no mere animal could leave that expression on a man's face. That was monster magic at work!

As I looked around, there wasn't just the one. There were many scattered around the room, each one sucking on a young man. Suddenly I felt a presence behind me. Having Sylph was amazing. No one could ever sneak up on me again! It was a little girl. She had tears in her eyes and seemed very frightened.

I went to console her and assure her she was rescued. But appearing behind her was Lily. "What a naughty little girl," she said evilly. "You must be punished."

Lily gestured with her hands and the little girl's arms turned into tentacles. More streamed out of her hair. "What did you do to her!?" I cried.

"I just forced her to change into a life form that craves semen," she replied. "Ah, but it looks like she's another reject."

Lily gestured again and the girl was transformed into another one of the strange organisms that were milking men all over the room. "Since you tried to escape I guess the body of a failure suits you. Now make yourself useful and suck this intruder dry," Lily commanded. She turned to me. "Don't you want to be sucked dry? Look at all these other men. Don't you want to experience what they are experiencing?"

"Lily, she's just a child!"

"She is, isn't she?" Lily taunted. "I guess your only choice is to let a child suck you dry or… kill her. Have fun."

She vanished again. The thing advanced on me. The only thing that kept me from total despair was something Alice had told me when she first gave me Angel Halo. There was a chance that if I beat this thing it might turn her back into a child again. Seeing no better alternative, I attacked.

Thankfully it wasn't even a fight. A tentacle lashed out for my groin area, but didn't even manage to get my pants off before I sealed it. She must have been rendering these men helpless before serving them up. She had obviously been hoping I'd be paralyzed with indecision. Her first gambit had failed. When I sealed the creature, it turned into a cloud of dust, which settled onto the floor, reforming into the body of the little girl. She was unconscious, but breathing. Thank goodness. I realized I should probably do this with all the other such creatures in the room. Or perhaps I should go deal with Lily first?

Praying I was making the right decision, I ran out of the room, determined to end the threat first. The next room was even larger. There were women inside this one. No, monsters, perhaps? Hybrids? The women looked like villagers. They were dressed like villagers, anyway. They also had various types of tentacles. Tentacles which were also being used to milk men lying on the ground. There seemed to be about ten of them, each one focused on a man.

I felt something in the air. Behind me was another woman, this one with her full attention on me. Only one of her arms was a tentacle, but it was a a doozy. Extending out of her arm socket were three different types of tentacles. One of them appeared to be developed mainly for milking men, but the other two looked thick and mean and were moving with malicious intent. The look on her face was one of insanity.

"You've been altered," I said, trying to reason with her. "You're sick. I can cure you. Maybe. You don't have to fight me."

"You're right," she said. "We don't have to fight. You could just give me some of your semen now. My throat is so dry. Don't you want to shoot semen into it? Normally I use my tentacles to milk men but for you I'll give personal service."

I attacked, hoping Angel Halo would cure her as it did the little girl. She wasn't as easy though. She immediately wrapped me up with one of her tentacles, while another quickly ripped my pants off. This is getting expensive! I thought. The third, the one designed for pleasure, hovered near my penis, ready to suck it in.

"You can still opt for my mouth," she said. "Easy way…" she licked her lips. "Hard way…" she waved the milking tentacle menacingly in front of me.

I began to struggle. "Oh well, hard way it is," she said, and the milking tentacle went over my penis with a loud shlurp!

The feeling was indeed intense, but not in a way that I wanted to experience to its conclusion. There was clearly monster magic at work here. If I didn't do something, I was going to be driven to critical ecstasy in less than a minute. However Lily had synthesized it, it just wasn't quite the same. It could bring a man to orgasm quickly, and I presumed it also reduced or eliminated the refractory period to keep them going. But something about it was off. There was a wrongness about it, something that made one want to resist it even though it felt amazing. Whereas natural monsters had often made me think of surrender, to enjoy the pleasures they could bring me, the wrongness of this only increased my struggles, even though the receptacle's insides felt amazing.

My struggles succeeded in freeing me, although I had been way too close to the edge for comfort. The combat tentacles lashed out at me, one striking me and sending me to the ground. But I had reached my sword, quickly rising and driving it into her midsection. The look of shock and pain on her face changed to slackness as the tentacles vanished and she collapsed to the ground. I checked her pulse. Also, still alive.

I had expected the battle to attract attention from the other women, but they were too focused on milking the men they already had. Lily's experiments had not yielded warriors. They barely even had any awareness in those forms. Their only urge was to get semen and if they already had it, no other threats mattered to them. I imagined I could have set the room on fire and they would just continue to milk men as they burned.

I advanced through the room, ready to resume my search for a final confrontation with Lily. It occurred to me that I'd have a lot of work to do once this was over, what with curing the female victims and getting the males medical attention. Was there even decent medical attention in a village like this?

Suddenly I heard loud clanging down the hallway. It sounded like a battle. Was there someone else here trying to rescue people? I ran down the hallway towards the sound. A soldier was battling what looked like an iron maiden torture device that seemed to have a mind of its own and was backing him up against the wall. The maiden opened up, exposing a bizarre interior. Rather than spikes, it seemed to contain soft membranes with a place in the middle where I had to assume a penis would go to be sucked dry. What kind of mad scientist was this woman? Was the iron maiden a transformed villager?

The thing closed around the soldier. Lewd sounds could be heard inside it. The thing gave a creepy smile. Semen started to flow out from the bottom in the same way I imagined blood would with a traditional iron maiden. But he had been in there only a few seconds! I frantically rushed to it and started hitting it with my sword. It appeared to have no defense other than to close on its victim. With a victim already inside, it could do nothing to resist me. Backed up against the wall, it had nowhere to go. Yet its creepy smile never left its face as I pounded and slashed at it, as semen continued to pool on the floor.

Finally, my attacks yielded fruit as the thing disintegrated, causing the man to fall out with a thud, unconscious, but still alive. The thing had changed into a woman, another villager by the looks of her. I turned to continue my search for Lily, but nearly ran smack into another iron maiden, this one already open to receive me! How did I miss that one? Maybe it hadn't been moving, which is why I didn't feel its presence in the air?

Since it seemed to be slow, I went around it and ran to the next door. Behind the door I recognized Lily's presence. The maiden slowly hovered after me, now closed. Not wanting to be interrupted in my confrontation with Lily, I sealed it before entering.

Lily was indeed there. The place appeared to be a laboratory. "How impolite," she greeted me. "Shouldn't one knock first?"

"I won't let you continue to hurt people!" I vowed.

"You don't get it, do you?" she said. "My experiments are a noble endeavor for valuable research."

"More valuable than people's lives?" I said in disbelief.

"Haha.. What a shallow sense of justice," she shot back. "This world contains things you can't comprehend. This old village had a policy of exclusion against outsiders. While living here, I was able to catch a glimpse of the ugliest humanity had to offer. This research is just my gift to repay them for that."

"Whatever they may have done," I argued. "This was never the answer. It stops now!"

"Or else?" she said mockingly.

I almost regretted not having a normal sword anymore. I supposed I could have choked her to death but for whatever reason I didn't feel I was capable of that. I only saw one option. "Or else I'll subdue you and turn you over to the villagers to face justice."

"Justice?" she laughed bitterly. "Do you think I started their hysteria? They didn't have the slightest sense of what justice was long before I got here. If you turn me over to them they'll kill me before you even have a chance to step foot outside this village. And subdue me? You are an amusing one. What, are you going to use that power you have inside you? I can already tell by its unsophisticated nature that you haven't the foggiest notion how to use it."

"It's defeated monsters before," I warned.

"Presumably monsters who didn't know it was coming," she scoffed. "Do you know why I chose to face you here in my lab? Because I have counterspells here. You couldn't use your magic even if you wanted to."

"Maybe," I said. "Maybe not. But I don't need magic to beat you. And if your magic is anything like that imitation monster magic you use on your creations, I'm not impressed."

"Oh, that?" she laughed breezily. "Admittedly that's still a work in progress but as you saw, it gets the job done. I guess I should work harder on refining it, though. Your struggles were more vigorous than I would have liked. Thank you for your constructive criticism. But I've given someone as pathetic as you entirely too much of my time. I not only can read your magic, I can also see your aura. I assure, you it's pitiful. Oh, you have some spirit, I'll give you that much, but you're not the hero you think you are. You're just a feeble, weak-minded fool, easily led around by the hand like a needy child. Why don't you let me be the one who leads you?"

"Not gonna happen," I said.

"Pity," she said. "I really didn't want to have to kill someone as rare as you, but you've left me no choice."

Her arms transformed into numerous tentacles. The variety was astounding. Heavy ones that looked to be for grasping or striking, tentacles that appeared to have serrated edges for creating vicious wounds, poisonous looking ones with stingers on the ends, as well as semen milking tentacles.

"You transformed yourself just like the villagers?" I asked, appalled.

"This is nothing like the villagers," she replied. "Those are just experiments. This is the finished product."

"And you think you'll rule the world with a few tentacles?" I asked.

"Do you take me for a fool?" she replied. "This is just to give me some ability to fight toe to toe if I have to. Once I create legions of minions with these weapons, then I'll rule the world!"

The battle began. But for all her abilities, she was clearly not a fighter. Her tentacles may have been dangerous, but just possessing dangerous weapons doesn't make one a warrior. I had expected her to force me to focus on her more dangerous tentacles while using the pleasure giving ones to actually defeat me. That had been Nanabi's strategy with her tails, and she had fought with skill and precision. Lily simply flailed at me randomly. Summoning Sylph's power for the first time in this mansion gave her even more fits. Her tentacles were strong enough to easily push through the wind shield, but the wind was so random that she had no way of aiming her strikes precisely.

Nevertheless, those tentacles were extremely dangerous and it wouldn't have taken much to do me grevious damage. Since I had to prioritize the poison and the serrated ones, I was getting beat around by the thick ones. At one point I dodged a thick one only to receive a nasty laceration on my leg from one of the serrated tentacles. But she knew she was losing.

"No!" she cried, backing away from me. "I can't be beaten! I've worked so hard!"

"You are beaten," I said. "Now it's time for you to answer for your crimes!"

"My crimes!? My crimes!? Do you have any idea what crimes this village inflicted upon me?!"

She lowered her tentacles. Her voice grew soft. "My mother was a dancer born in Sabasa. She was a mistress of the lord of this village. I was the result of that affair. Of course, I was viewed as nothing but a bastard child, the daughter of some foreign prostitute. The villagers despised me. On top of that, my mother died when I was young. She worked herself to death trying to provide for me. Do you think they had any sympathy? No! Their harassment only grew. The church wouldn't even hold a funeral for her. After she died, I was sent to my father. But that was just another hell. Do you understand?"

"I do," I responded, trying to bring as much kindness into my voice as I could. "At least, I can see why you'd be so bitter, why you'd hate them so much."

"I wanted revenge," she said. "That's why I studied forbidden magic. I killed my father and brothers. After I got rid of them, I took over the lord's seat. The prostitute's daughter they despised so much was now their lord!"

"Evil begets evil," I responded. "We have to make a choice to not continue the cycle. Horrible things were done to you, Lily. But do you think you'll find whatever it is you're looking for by seeking power? By hurting people? Someone once told me that savagery only brings you savagery. Even if you beat me today, there's always someone in the world stronger than you, or more resourceful, or just lucky, who will come and end you."

"They were the reason my mother died," she said. "Can you even begin to understand the pain we went through? Of course not! How could some hero, adored by everyone, understand?"

"I'm not a hero," I said. "I'm not even sure what I am. My mind was wiped by whoever brought me to this world."

"You're not even from this world?" she replied, astonished. "Of course, it makes sense! That power inside you!"

"The point is, we all have problems. The way you're dealing with them will never satisfy you. You'll just meet a bad end."

"Oh, and will turning me over to the villagers be a good end?" she shot back, now in tears. "You know what they'll do to me. Are you willing to have that on your conscience?"

She had me there. Maybe I am weak-minded. That's for someone else to judge. But she was no longer the classic cinematic villainess. Now I saw a broken person in front of me. Had the villagers earned this? Maybe some did. But she even hurt the children!

"I'm going to try to make sure that doesn't happen," I said. "But first…"

I leaped forward and drove my sword into her chest. Her eyes went wide in shock. Her tentacles disappeared. She was a tough one though. She didn't lose consciousness. "My power! It's gone. But…. I have nothing now."

She never had anything to begin with, she just didn't realize it. Now nothing more than an average human woman, I offered her my hand and led her out of the room. To my surprise, I found that by sealing her magic, all of the transformed women were now normal. The men, however, were going to need some help. I hoped that they hadn't literally been driven mad with pleasure. Alice had told me that enough of it could break a man, but maybe the fact that the monster magic was artificial and incomplete would make it possible for them to recover.

Alice reappeared and did something nice without even being asked. With a gesture of her hands, magic flowed out of her into the prone males. They began to look around, disoriented, but now mobile. The women and I helped them up, and we led everyone out of the manor.

The commotion inside, combined with the disappearance of the guards, had drawn a crowd outside. As people exited the manor, those in the crowd began to recognize their loved ones. Joyous reunions took place. But I knew that this time many would not be reunited, that all today would do at best was give them closure. Many tears would be shed today, tears of joy and sorrow alike.

Some villagers shouted at and taunted Lily, Others tried to grab for her. Something about the look I gave them deterred them. I handed her off to Alice. "Alice, I know you don't like to help me, but this is just a simple favor. I never ask you for anything. Please, can you hold onto her, make sure no one tries to take her?"

Alice didn't want to do anything of the sort, but she said, "Fine."

One of the older villagers approached me. "You've saved us! Anything you want from us, we will give you gladly!"

"There's only one thing I want, and you're not going to like it," I responded.

The old man looked worried, but gestured for me to continue.

"You can't kill Lily," I began. "In fact…." At that, other villagers had started to gather around me, listening intently. Good. As many as possible needed to hear this.

"In fact," I continued. "This village hasn't been very kind in the way its treated outsiders. When you treat people badly, you get treated badly."

"You're blaming us! How dare you!" a woman shouted from the crowd.

"This isn't about blame!" I argued back. "This is about how to make things better going forward. If you just string this woman up, you're no better than she is. Then you'll just go back to your old ways, and before too long you'll create another Lily!"

"What would you have us do, then, stranger?" the old man said. "Do we just… forgive her? Unthinkable!"

"Put her on trial," I answered. "But not just her. This town should be on trial as well. Let her tell her story. Let her explain her actions."

"Her actions were inexcusable!" a voice said from the crowd.

"Yes, they were!" I agreed. "Do you think the actions that made her who she was were excusable?"

No one answered. "Look, folks," I was going to try to wrap this up. "If you're truly grateful for what I've done here, there's only one way to repay me. Put her on trial. If she confesses her crimes in full, be lenient towards her. She has a great deal of knowledge. Maybe instead of using that knowledge to hurt others she can be reformed and use it to help others. Help this village!"

The villagers milled about angrily. They weren't buying it and I didn't really blame them, and yet they did not want to go directly against the will of the one who had saved their loved ones, at least as many as could be saved.

"I say we do what he says!" A voice spoke up from the crowd. The man had been sitting and resting, apparently one of the victims inside the mansion, but now he stood tall. It was the soldier I had rescued from the iron maiden. "I went into the manor for the same reason this man did. But where I failed, he succeeded. If not for him, I don't know where I'd be. Probably still inside that… thing."

"You would have been," Lily spoke up. "I reserved that creation for those I wanted to kill outright. You would have been slowly digested by it."

I'm pretty sure she wasn't helping her own case. "Nevertheless," the soldier continued. "The hero speaks truly. I've always prided myself as a free thinker, that's why I decided to try to do something about Lily when I couldn't stand the wrongs being done here any longer. But many of you also know that I spoke out against this village's prejudice and hate. If this village can't change, then I just don't see a place for myself here anymore."

"No, Eric! Don't leave! You were one of the few kind soldiers here!" Other villagers shouted their agreement.

"Then let's do as he says," the soldier I now knew to be Eric said. "Let's have a trial. More importantly, a discussion about who we want to be as a village. Maybe you can't forgive her. I certainly understand that. But she's helpless now. She commands no magics, she wields no power, she has no minions. If you can't see it in your hearts to treat her leniently, and Ilias knows I can understand it, then let me take her from this village. I pledge to you that she will never return."

He walked up to Lily, still held by Alice. Their eyes met, his with compassion, hers with disbelief that anyone could be kind to her.

The old man turned to me. "We're not going to resolve this today, hero, but I think we're agreed now that we won't kill her. But crimes of this seriousness demand serious punishment! Perhaps banishment is the best answer, I don't know. You have my promise though, no harm will come to her. Eric and I will see to that."

"Thank you," I said, genuinely grateful. Truth be told, I was not comfortable with this either. She had murdered people. So many people. I felt that I was being too much of a bleeding heart. But whatever she was before, she was no longer a threat now. It just didn't feel right to kill someone now so harmless, regardless of her crimes. Again, maybe I'm wrong. I feel I probably did what I did next out of moral cowardice: I left, not willing to witness the consequences of my own actions here. Lily had been right. I am pathetic. But this was a part of who I was that I wasn't sure I was willing to give up. I would never be the stern warrior who would cleave evil beings in half with a swing of my sword. I hadn't killed anyone yet and I didn't think I ever could.

As Alice and I left the village, she noted, "That's the first time I've seen you depressed after a victory."

"So many died," I said. "I would have felt terrible no matter what. I feel now like she's getting away with murder."

"She is," Alice replied matter of factly. "But I agree with not letting them hang her."

"Really?" I said.

"You should have killed her yourself," she said. "It would be more merciful and the villagers would have been happy."

"I didn't have my sword anymore, remember? This thing doesn't kill."

"You know how to kill with your bare hands," she pointed out.

"You know I'm not capable of choking the life out of someone," I said.

"I would have killed her for you then, if you'd asked. That's a favor I would have done gladly. Perverting monster's innate magic that way… It's offensive. She was a threat to monster and human alike. If she'd gotten hold of your power…."

"I assume you would have prevented that?" I asked.

"Absolutely," she confirmed. "My responsibilities as Monster Lord are clear. Even if I had to kill you to prevent that, I would."

I went silent at that. I knew she was right, but hearing her say it out loud….

"I'm proud of you though," she said. "You did really well. You may have begun the process of genuine change in that village. I don't think a real hero could have handled that any better than you did. You also eliminated a threat I hadn't even identified yet. I'm starting to rethink whether or not I should be discouraging you from doing these kinds of things."

"That's funny," I said. "because I was trying really hard to not do these types of things anymore. This one was a lot easier than some other things I've done, at least combat-wise. But eventually I'm sure I'll run into something I can't handle, or I'll make a mistake."

"I guess you'll have to figure that all out for yourself," she said. "I'm giving up on trying to change who you are. Lily was right about one thing. You're too easily led. I'm going to try to refrain from being one of the ones who does that to you. I'll never stop completely. I'm too used to ordering people around. I guess we all need to keep on trying to be better."

I felt something in the wind just then. Not a threat, just one of the villagers. Alice sensed it as well using whatever innate ability she had. We turned to face whoever was approaching. It was the village girl with the tentacle that I'd fought.

"I needed to speak to you outside the village," she said. "First, thank you so much for saving us. I'm so sorry for what I did to you."

"I'm sorta getting used to it now," I said. I was probably lying to myself as much as her.

"I agree with what you said back there," she continued. "This village can be so mean and intolerant. Many of us have recognized that for a long time. You've given us the courage to speak up now. I… understand how Lily got to be the way she was. If I have anything to say about it we'll reverse the cycle of hate. Maybe we can make sure nothing like this ever happens again."

"I really appreciate your words… um…"

"Judy," she said. "I'm Judy."

"Thank you, Judy. I really hope things go well. I'm sorry I didn't stick around, it was just… a bit much for me."

"There's one more thing I need to show you," she said. She took a step back, stretched out her arm, and it transformed into tentacles!

"You're not cured?!" I blurted.

"We can at least control it now," she said.

"We? All the women who were experimented on are like this?"

She nodded.

"Oh." Well that was another complication.

"Don't worry," she assured me. "This village is going to learn to be tolerant now. It has no choice. There is no family without a loved one affected by this. They aren't going to disown all of us."

I hoped that was true. We said our goodbyes, Judy urging us to please visit the village again. I wanted to, but wasn't sure I could. I feared that I'd return to a place that hadn't changed much.

As we got further away, Alice observed, "Humans are quite resilient, aren't they?"

"We can be," I replied. "We live short lives, and we aren't always dealt a great hand, but we have to play that hand as best we can."

"I see we're back to not speaking like a normal person again," Alice said.

"You don't play cards, do you?"

"Oh, I'm just messing with you," she said, now smiling, playfully punching my arm. "I enjoy playing cards. Sometimes I even make Granberia play with me. She hates cards. That's part of why I enjoy playing with her so much. Okay, enough nonsense, let's find Gnome."

Yes, it was about time to do that, wasn't it?