Yae Sakura was thinking about what had just happened outside the gates of Yae Shrine.
Another somewhat ethereal voice was speaking beside her ear.
"You saw it all, didn't you? The choice those Yae Village villagers made?"
"They simply do not care about anyone else's lives. All those villagers care about is whether they can survive and live better themselves!"
"They are the ones who killed those girls—the villagers?"
"Do you still not understand? Your family... Look at the blade before you... Isn't that the sword your mother left behind?"
The voice beside Yae Sakura's ear continued relentlessly. "Can you still clearly remember what your mother looked like?"
"Your mother, as the previous generation's Miko, also died during the Sacrifice Ritual, didn't she? As Yae Village's Miko, don't you know that better than anyone?"
"Four years ago, your younger sister also became a sacrifice to quell the god's wrath..."
"Your mother, your younger sister... Both became sacrifices because of this so-called Miko bloodline..."
"Doesn't all of this truly leave even a trace of hatred in your heart?"
"You clearly possess the power to slay demons and banish evil. You protected Yae Village for who knew how many years, yet what did you, as the Mikos of Yae Shrine, receive in return? Was there even a single villager who felt grateful to you?"
The gloom surrounding Yae Sakura's shrine clearly wavered in response to the words in her ear.
"Oh, and that foreign nun... Do you see her as your salvation?"
"But to her, you are no different from those villagers... You are all merely part of what she protects."
"And she seems not to know your true nature, does she? The Miko who kills sacrifices and offers them to the god... who pleases the god?"
"Hahahahaha..."
The voice by her