All According to Plan?...

I couldn't help but feel a little concerned. When Nathan spoke of his plan to me, it honestly sounded quite wishy-washy to me, but I have confidence that he knew what he was doing.

It was probably going to be hard to fight against pretty much anyone with how our strengths were now, especially someone that could potentially be a blood mage. Perhaps Edward had actually become a mage earlier than we had thought.

If that were the case, that would mean Nathan was in serious trouble. I hardened my expression while the grip on my sword grew tighter. My legs gradually picked up the pace, turning from a walk to a full-on sprint.

I counted the houses.

The first.

Second.

Then third.

Fourth.

And finally, past the fifth house.

I looked down the alleyway to my left, and my worries were confirmed. There was someone on the ground begging, while the other was holding a knife to a girl's neck.

It was time to get ready to fight.

...Or so I thought.

I used my free hand to rub my eyes, to make sure I wasn't seeing things, but no, I was seeing it correctly. For some reason, Edward, the blood mage, was on his knees begging, while Nathan was the one holding a knife to the girl's neck.

What the fuck was going on here?

Confused, I looked at Nathan, while he looked back at me with a bitter smile. I raised an eyebrow.

"Did you turn to the dark side or something?"

Nathan laughed casually like he wasn't holding a knife to a girl's neck.

"Nothing like that. The situation is just... a little complicated. But in short, everything is under control."

I looked at him strangely.

I felt like he had a little too much control in this scenario, but regardless I had my sword at the ready. Nathan took a deep breath before explaining the scenario, almost like he was reminiscing on an old fond memory.

...

Nathan was just randomly walking around the area until he happened to come across Edward. It was at that point he began to discreetly tail him. He made sure to take turns to make it look like he was going in a different direction and that the fact he was nearby was just a coincidence.

He also made sure to almost always be facing another way. Sometimes he would ogle some random girl to get away with it, or take interest in some random thing at a stall. That way, his presence would be more inconspicuous.

And eventually, Edward ended up walking into the alleyway. Nathan didn't follow after, just leaning against one of the walls as though that was actually his house.

The girl was already there.

"A-Ah, you're here?"

Edward responded promptly.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I can't help that much, or else I won't be able to eat tomorrow. Still, I have some to spare."

The girl sounded dissatisfied.

"Wh-What? Only this much? I... I won't be able to do anything with just this! You have to give me more!"

Edward seemed rather panicked.

"I'm really sorry, this is all I can spare. I can help you look for other people that may have some to spare."

The girl had fallen silent. Nathan wasn't sure what exactly was happening, but out of nowhere, she had suddenly spoken up.

"Thank you. Don't worry about all that other stuff. As a show of my appreciation, why don't you have this candy?"

Edward let out a laugh.

"Ah, no, no. I don't need anything!"

The girl also laughed, though it sounded a little strange.

"Don't worry about it, just have the candy, please! I want to see you eat it."

Edward stammered.

"Uh, well, if that's the case, I guess..."

"Stop right there."

Nathan had stepped in, with his wooden spear raised. The girl initially had a bright smile on her face, but shock immediately appeared once she saw him. As for Edward, he looked back and had a tense expression on his face.

His first reaction was to block the girl and defend her.

"What do you want? This girl did nothing wrong!"

Nathan's eyes narrowed.

"You fucking idiot, how gullible can you be?"

While Edward was confused, Nathan suddenly threw his wooden spear full force, prompting Edward to close his eyes and raise his arms to guard himself.

Then, a girl's scream rang out, while a knife clattered onto the floor.

The girl tried to stab Edward, while Nathan hit the girl's hand, causing her to let it go out of pain. Nathan shouted.

"Run away, dumbass!"

Edward looked rather confused, still standing in place. The girl's widened all the way, as she began laughing like a maniac. She dived for the knife that had fallen and clasped her hand around it.

But before she could lift it up, Nathan slammed his foot firmly onto her hand, leaving it in place. He didn't hold back, evident from the expression of pain on the girl's face. She used her other hand to try and forcefully pry Nathan's foot off, but wasn't able to. Regardless, the girl refused to let go of the knife.

The girl flashed Nathan a smile and tilted her head to the side.

"Hey~ Do you mind getting off my hand? It really hurts, you see..."

Edward flinched.

"C-Could you stop stepping on her?"

Nathan's eyelid twitched. He looked at Edward as though he was a monkey.

"Do you really not understand the situation right now?"

Edward looked down at the ground and scratched the side of his head.

"I know, but... that looks like it hurts her."

Nathan frowned rather deeply, very clearly pissed.

"Bitch, if you care so much about other people, then you can't care about this person! Do you even know what she was actually trying to do to you? That damn candy is drugged to make you fall asleep. Then, she planned on carving you up with the knife and eating you. Did you not notice the damn bloodstains around her lips."

Edward blinked several times.

"I... that's jumping to conclusions."

The girl let out a mischievous laugh, like a kid that just pulled a prank.

"Actually, that was exactly what I was going to do, hehe. Your blood just looked so tasty."

Edward looked like he was in great physical pain as he cringed and held onto his head.

"B-But still, you should let her go."

Nathan took a deep breath.

"If you decide to let this girl go, she's going to lure more unsuspecting victims. They are then going to die in a painful and horrifying way."

Edward looked at the girl as a weak smile formed on his face.

"H-Hey, if he lets you go then will you stop killing people?"

The girl had a wide smile on her face as she nodded a little too excitedly.

"Of course!"

Edward smiled awkwardly.

"See! We can let her go then!"

Nathan gazed at Edward disdainfully.

"You know she's lying. It's written over your face."

Edward fell silent after hearing that. He looked down at the girl, who flashed him a crazy smile and continuously winked at him as though they were actually friends sending discreet messages to one another.

"But... you never know. Maybe she will change."

Nathan looked back at him blankly.

"Fine then."

He lifted his foot off, and the moment he did so, the girl scrambled up to her feet, let out a guttural scream, and lunged at Nathan, knife in hand. As for Nathan, his expression didn't so much as change.

He had experienced how to fight people with knives enough that even Brian would hesitate to use one against him.

The girl lunged forward, and in Nathan's eyes it was such an easy attack, it was practically a joke.

He slid past it, getting behind the girl in one swift motion and twisting the arm that was holding the knife. She involuntarily let it go once. Nathan easily caught it while it was falling out of the air and pressed it up against her neck.

"Stop that unless you want to die."

The girl had a smile on her face.

"Aw~ you saw?..."

While Nathan was disabling the arm with the knife, her other one was reaching behind toward his neck. There was a tiny splinter of wood in her hand. She was hoping that Nathan would focus too much on the hand with the knife, but Nathan was too experienced to be fooled by that.

In the end, the girl dropped the wooden splinter with a giggle.

"Please don't kill me~"

Nathan shot a glance at Edward.

"Do you see now?"

Edward had a bitter expression on his face.

"But still..."

It was then that Brian showed up.

"Did you turn to the dark side or something?"

...

Hearing the story so far from Nathan made me cringe. How naive could this guy be? And he was supposed to be the blood mage that recklessly killed innocent people?

I held onto the side of my head with frustration.

"Edward, you realize that you're being an idiot, yet you're not even trying to change?"

In response, he sat down, with his arms wrapped around his knees.

"But she's still a person, right? Killing her is cruel."

Nathan let out a soft sigh.

"Yes, you're right. She is still a person. Even with how messed up she is right now, I'm sure there's still a good heart in her somewhere."

Edward looked up at him as though he was seeing a new hope.

"R-Really?"

Nathan gave a small nod.

"Really. In fact, I'm sure if we tried hard enough and helped her properly, we could even get her to reform to become a better person."

Edward began smiling.

"Then-"

"But there are many people like her in the world. Helping her out may be possible, but it will be a meticulous process that will take several years. Because of how this world is, people like her are created one after another."

Nathan blinked a few times.

"People that are broken."

He sighed.

"While they can be saved, the source of the problem will keep creating them far faster than they can be fixed. And in the end, people that just wanted to live a somewhat passable life end up getting thrown to the abyss."

His eyes appeared to become hollow.

"As much as we may want to say everyone, no matter what there will always be sacrifices so long as the imperfections of this world exist. And even if we do fix those that are unfortunate enough to go through with it, the suffering they have faced will never disappear."

Edward's expression softened as tears began forming in his eyes.

"Ah... that's right."

As for the girl, she began giggling way too much for a person in her position.

"Wow!~"

She forcefully tilted her head upwards so that she could look at Nathan, despite the fact her neck was lightly cut by the knife as a result.

"I think I've fallen in love with you~"

She proceeded to stick her tongue out and licked the side of Nathan's neck, prompting him to frown deeply. The girl proceeded to bite down and roughly kiss him, making unnecessarily loud sucking sounds.

While Nathan was momentarily shocked, the girl grabbed Nathan's hand which was holding onto the knife with both hands.

And to everyone's surprise, she pushed it into her neck while leaning forward to make sure it cut through.

The entire time, there was a blissful smile on her face, as though dying by Nathan's hand was cathartic in some way. Blood poured out from her mouth and nose, reminding me of how Nathan looked when he died.

We all watched in silence as her expression gradually dulled before collapsing onto the ground like a ragdoll. A puddle of blood was gradually forming.

Edward grabbed onto both sides of his head and bit his bottom lip so hard it began bleeding.

"She... she... why?"

Nathan looked a little despondent as he crouched down. He gently rolled the girl over so that she was facing the sky, then closed her eyes with his hands.

"Sometimes people are so absorbed in the pain, they can no longer see the light of the future. So they choose to abandon that future. They don't believe it is possible for things to get any better or less painful, and are desperate to escape the pain."

Edward looked down at the ground.

"...And there are many people that are going through the same thing?"

I let out a soft sigh.

"More people than you think."

Edward clenched his fists tightly, filled with anger.

"How... How do I stop this?"

Nathan looked at me, and I looked back at him. We came to an understanding.

In the back of mind, I couldn't help but wonder if Nathan had planned all of this from the start.