"Back then, the elder who had always looked after me said this."
Castorice recalled:
"She said... I should honor those who went to their deaths."
"And as the saintess who granted people glory and release, I should respect myself, too."
"Nothing wrong with that," Yan Huan pointed out. "It's a job. An executioner uses a blade, while you use your hands. Yours is more artful, and you're the best at it."
"But whatever name I give it, I'm still taking other people's lives..." Castorice's eyes dimmed.
"Back then, my presence was mainly meant to deter deserters."
"Even for soldiers of Aedilia's Underworld army, zealous as they were, accepting death didn't happen overnight."
"I still remember the fear in those soldiers' eyes when they looked at me..."
"Hmm..." Listening to Castorice, Yan Huan didn't know what to say.
Being forced onto a battlefield and running away out of fear were only human.
At times like that, the reason for the war and the leader's powers of persuasion mattered more than the person keeping the troops in line.
"If you don't like the job, quit," Yan Huan suggested.
"You're so powerful. Who could force you to do something you don't want to do?"
"Instead of Battle-command Saintess, you could take a different title. How about... arm-wrestling champion?"
Castorice gave a soft laugh.
"Perhaps you're right."
"But I still have to face my fate..."
"You must have been puzzled, too, the day Oloronis's trial ended."
"I know I was."
Castorice sighed.
"I don't understand why someone from beyond the stars like you was drawn into Amphoreus's fate so early, and in such a cruel way..."
"I want to do something, but no matter how hard I try to act naturally, I can't touch the living as easily as anyone else."
"?" Yan Huan