An eye?
John looked at Tos.
Tos shuddered, then dragged his feet as he approached.
Thinking of the Dragon Contract he had received, he supposed this might be the price he had to pay.
This was the fate of a Battle Servant: to sacrifice himself for the one he protected.
Sure enough, someone as weak as him had only been chosen because he still had some value to exploit.
Bracing himself against the pain of what lay ahead, he declared resolutely, "I'm willing to... ow!"
Before he could finish, John kicked him away.
"What are you willing to do?" John asked, speechless.
Hearing those foolish thoughts in Tos's head, he felt he could never figure this boy out.
He walked up to the old woman and asked a question.
"An eye?"
"An eye!"
"All right."
John seemed to have given in. "Wait here a moment."
Under the old woman's gratified gaze, John briefly left.
When he returned, he had an eye in his hand.
Strangely, both of his own eyes were perfectly intact.
The old woman's expression froze.
John handed her the eye he had gouged out of an Inferius retrieved from the water.
"There. Give me that bowl of water."
He held out his hand as though it were only natural, leaving the old woman silent.
Could she say he was wrong? He didn't seem to be.
Could she say he was right? Something still felt wrong.
The old woman hesitated, unsure whether to hand it over.
John's expression turned dangerous. "Are you going to break the rules?"
This old woman was a goddess.
She stood watch beside the river, collecting a toll from those who passed.
An eye in exchange for a chance to avoid attacks by the forest's creatures farther ahead.
These details were recorded on the