A mixture of relief and shock left him in a state of confusion—relief that he was safe and shock that the one who saved him was a penal hero.

We didn’t have time for any of that, though. I counted the number of knives I had left. We may have stopped the first wave, but there was probably another horde of faeries on their way, and handling them all would be impossible. We had to run, but…

“…Just go away. Leave us alone,” barked the young soldier. He fixed us with a resentful glare as he propped up an injured, unconscious ally against his shoulder. He was obviously exhausted himself, able to stand only by using his spear as a cane.

“What a disgrace, to be saved by penal heroes…!”

“Huh? What the hell…?” Dotta looked back at me, puzzled. “Uh, I’m pretty sure this is where they’re supposed to thank us. Am I wrong?”

While I didn’t agree with him completely, it did bother me.

We’d saved this punk’s ass and he’d just told us to go away. Fine. Running away and leaving them behind would be much easier. We could use them as a decoy and break through the enemy lines. But…

“I understand how you feel, my knight.”

Before I knew it, the goddess was standing by my side. She was a little out of breath, but it seemed she’d kept close behind us the whole time. She elegantly brushed away the hair clinging to her forehead.

“We could never run away and leave them behind. Those were your thoughts just now, yes? Allow me to handle the rest. I can take care of these weak, filthy faeries in the blink of an eye.”

“No, uh… That’s…”

I tried to come up with a reason to refuse, since using a goddess’s powers would only make the situation worse for us. We could still fix this. We could still secretly return her to the Holy Knights before they noticed. But once she used her powers, there was no going back. I had to come up with something, even if that meant making it up on the spot.

“W-wait!”

But while I was desperately racking my brain, one of the soldiers shouted, his eyes on the goddess. He sounded panicked.

“What is the meaning of this? That blond hair, those eyes… Don’t tell me…”

The cat was out of the bag now.

“Why is she with you?! What have you done?!”

“G-give it a rest already! This is no time for us to be arguing! We’re on the same side! More importantly, Xylo…!” Dotta raised his voice, cutting off the soldier. He probably didn’t want any of them to figure out he’d stolen the goddess. “The next wave is coming. They’ve already seen us. We have to do something!”

“Good point,” I said.

We couldn’t hold them back with Dotta’s poor aim alone, and the soldiers we’d saved were all too injured or exhausted to move. We couldn’t rely on their help. I was worried I didn’t have enough knives left to handle the next wave, but I didn’t have any other choice.

“Goddess, we have this under control, so you don’t have to—”

Just then, we ran into yet another problem. I was holding the goddess at bay, unsheathing my next knife, when…

“Xylo! Dotta!”

…someone screamed right into my ear. It was the kind of piercing shriek that could blow out your eardrums. Both Dotta and I knew exactly whose voice it was, and we both covered our ears with our hands.

There was no point to the gesture, but we couldn’t help it. The sacred seal on our necks was relaying this voice to us directly—yet another of the mark’s special features: long-distance communication. And there was no escape from this, either.

“We’re in trouble. Listen carefully! Everything’s a mess. A real mess.”

This was our so-called commander—the cowardly, useless con artist and political criminal Venetim Leopool. When he did bother to contact us, it was always to tell us something had gone wrong, just like Dotta. At times, it would be some dumbass order from the people in charge; other times, he was just letting us know how much worse the situation had gotten.

“It’s just awful. I think we’re done for. Xylo, do you have time to talk?”

“No!” I shouted, knife in hand, allowing the seal on my palm to infuse it with power before throwing it into the distance. Another explosion. Jiggly pieces of fuathan flesh flew into the air. I’d managed to take out the vanguard that saw us. That should buy us some time.

“You hear that? Does it sound like I have time to talk?”

“No. But I’m afraid you’ll be angry with me later if I don’t tell you this now.”

“I’ll be pissed either way! Now, what is it?!”

“The Holy Knights have started moving.”

“Perfect! So they’ve already started to retreat? If that’s all you have to report—”

“They’re heading straight for the Demon Blight.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I asked him to repeat it.

“Wait. What was that?”

“The Holy Knights in the forest have regrouped and are lining up for battle against the Blight. They seem intent on stopping the enemy from advancing any farther.”

“…Why?”

“You think I know?” Venetim laughed carelessly. “The two armies are about to clash… What should we do?”

Hell if I know, I wanted to say. Did nobody let these Holy Knights in on the plan? Or were they told and they just decided to ignore it? The Holy Knights I knew were military specialists to the bone. This kind of maneuver—sacrificing heroes as the army withdraws—should have been routine.

“Hey!” I yelled at the soldiers to our side, who were apparently so exhausted they could no longer stand. “What’s that captain of yours thinking? Was this the plan from the start?”

“…Yes,” replied the young soldier from before. He could barely speak. “We never believed the penal heroes would help us withdraw. Besides, Captain Kivia… No, we, the Holy Knights, value honor. We wanted to strike back at the enemy, and—”

“Are you stupid or something?”

I wanted to kick the crap out of each and every one of them, but I didn’t have that kind of time right now. My entire plan had just come crashing down. I couldn’t leave them sitting here in the forest while I still had orders to support their withdrawal, and there was no way in hell I was going to let them fight the Demon Blight head-on. At this rate, us heroes were going to die nasty deaths and the Holy Knights would be all but wiped out.

After all, we had their trump card, the goddess, here with us.

This is just great…

There was only one thing we could do now. If the Holy Knights weren’t going to withdraw, then…

“Xylo.” Dotta looked like he was about to cry. “What are we gonna do?”

I remained silent as I looked at Dotta and the ten or so soldiers behind him. Each one of them was wounded and drained. Their faces were clouded with despair. And yet they looked at us as if clinging to their last sliver of hope. I don’t like these guys. I hardly know them. I wish I’d never even come here, I thought.

“…Goddess.”

“Yes?” she replied, smiling from ear to ear. “You need my help after all, don’t you, my knight? It is finally time to fight back, yes?”

“Yeah… It’s…time to fight back.”

She hadn’t heard my conversation with Venetim. She was still misreading the situation. She didn’t know who we were—who I was. In other words, I was deceiving her. But I had to do it.

“Goddess, please lend us your strength,” I said, loud and clear. “Change of plans, Dotta. We’re going to defeat the demon lord.”

“What? Are you serious? There are five thousand monsters out there. Do you really think we can win?”

“What insolence,” said the goddess. “Of course you can win. You will have my assistance, after all.”

The goddess elegantly bowed.

“Now, my knight, it is time for you to make me an offering for our pact.”

“…I know.”

I unsheathed a knife and ran it down my right arm. I felt a sharp pain as blood began to flow.

This was how you made a pact with a goddess: The knight had to offer a part of himself as evidence of the agreement. Then you exchanged an oath. It was an arrangement between the goddess and a single knight, lasting until one of them died.

Only after forming a pact could a goddess use her powers for mankind.

“Please help us,” I said.

“Then do you vow to display your greatness as my knight?”

“I do,” I replied without a moment of hesitation.

Wait. That was a lie. I did hesitate, but only once the words had left my mouth. What have I done? I thought.

“Very well.” Nevertheless, the goddess cheerfully brought her lips to my wound. “It will be my pleasure.”

Judging by her doll-like features, I figured her lips would be hard as glass, but that was not the case. Her soft, smooth lips pressed against my arm, and I felt a fire ignite at the back of my mind. It was as if I’d regained a part of myself that I hadn’t used for a long time, or that I’d forgotten. I could tell she was smiling. Her entire body shone even brighter than before.

Now I’ve done it.

For a brief moment, I closed my eyes and saw sparks on the back of my eyelids. It felt like a door had been opened in the depths of my heart. This was evidence that a connection had been made. I knew well that there was no turning back now.

You might say I had taken the first step past the point of no return. This was how I threw my life away all over again.

***