The humongous man, wearing heavy plate armor with Valoria's crest on its chestplate, flipped the massive double axe in his hands, its metallic head hitting the stone ground with a loud clang, and leaned against its long handle.

  “Sheriff.”

  I didn't care to say another word. In truth, I really didn't feel like speaking at all.

  “We found the blasphemous hideout in the old priest's basement. To miss something like this, right under our noses…”

  The big man sighed, his eyes scanning the cavern a second time (the first one being just as he entered).

  “You have my condolences.”

  I raised my eyes to look at the sheriff for a few seconds, but even the simplest words got stuck in my throat. Without uttering a sound, I lowered my eyes once again.

  The sheriff approached the altar. I couldn't help but raise my eyes once more, curious about the source of the whooshing sound. As it turns out, that was the sound of the massive axe casually spinning in his hands.

  After a few seconds, he finally stood in front of the altar.

  The first thing he did was lift Amelia's body.

  I was about to rise to my feet, but he gently and effortlessly carried her to the side of the cave, lowering the body to the floor near the wall. Then, he returned to the altar once again.

  The next moment, his axe was already raised over his hand – only now was I paying proper attention, catching the exact moment where the shimmering air around his axe turned into a violent, chaotic mess of energy, glowing with a dim crimson tint.

  BOOM!

  The massive axe moved with so much speed that even I, with my abnormally high perception, only saw a blur.

  A small quake shook the cavern floor, stone shot in every direction, and a cloud of dust followed.

  Most of the dust quickly settled to the ground, but even before that, I could already see the ruined remains of the altar, which looked as if a cannonball hit its centre, leaving little behind atop the cracked pedestal.

  “That should do it. Altars, be it to demon lords or evil gods, must be destroyed with haste.”

  Despite seeing my complete lack of reaction, the man continued speaking, mostly to himself.

  “Xerius, ‘The Undying Deceiver’. The god of undeath and deceit, among other things.”

  He sighed once again.

  “Most commoners remain blissfully unaware of this name, even if many had felt his influence, albeit seldom directly. However, deceit is not one of his domains for nothing – sometimes, his cultists manage to slip through our watch. And every time they do, the results are tragic.”

  I raised my eyes one final time.

  I had to admit those words managed to light up a faint fire of resentment within me – perhaps it was the sheriff's goal, too.

  However, this fire fizzled out moments later. Sebastian might have still been in his late teens, but I was a decade older than him.

  The sheriff? Blaming him would be the same as blaming the chief of police for failing to stop every single murder in a massive megalopolis – one filled with organized crime, too. Sure, it was his job on paper, but stopping every single murder was simply impossible.

  On the other hand…

  My Awareness was very good – having received it right after coming here from Earth, I knew just how ridiculous my perception was compared to that of a normal human.

  It allowed me to pick up on subtle signs which a regular person from Earth, or even the vast majority of humans in this town, would never even suspect.

  When I first saw the priest – even if I dismissed my gut feeling back then, I should have thought back to it, and properly investigated him.

  And this very cave – even if I didn't want to investigate it myself, I could have at least recognized it as something abnormal enough to warrant attention. I should have reported it separately, but even if not – at the very least, something like this should not have slipped my mind when reporting that mission.

  Perhaps I could also decide to visit Amelia earlier, or take the same shortcut the priest took in the woods, and try to find the way using the map, his tracks, and my approximate memory of the cave's location.

  There were so many things I could have done differently – and, in each case, there was a chance Amelia would still be…

  Clang!

  I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of metal hitting rock, as the sheriff sat on the ground beside me, placing his massive axe on the ground between his legs.

  Under my unfocused gaze, he unfastened something from his belt – a thin, long metal flask, around the size of my foot.

  “Drink.”

  His voice was stern – this sounded more like a command than a request.

  Without much thought, I took the flask from his hand. As I removed its lid, a faint smell of alcohol, mixed with a fragrance akin to sweetened rosemary, hit my nose.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  gulp

  Almost mechanically, I took a large sip..

  Kuupf

  ..then nearly spilled most of it back out, stopping mid-cough with great effort. The drink was far stronger than its smell suggested, although it did leave a pleasant aftertaste.

  It felt like I'd just drunk a few glasses of rum in one go.

  The sheriff took back the flask, taking a sip twice as large as mine, before returning the flask back to its resting place.

  “I’m sorry about Amelia. I know you two were close.”

  “You know even that, huh?”

  “I know a lot of things about my town, but this one wasn't a big secret. With all your visits to the shrine, it was either that, or you becoming the Sun Goddess’s most devote believer in this town.”

  “...don't other people often go to the shrine for prayer?”

  “People go to temples or churches for prayer. The shrine usually serves for ceremonies, such as cremation, as well as the proper place to meet the sun priest – be that for urgent healing, advice regarding faith, or help with dark afflictions, such as curses. People sometimes come to get healing, or to report things they suspect to be of demonic or otherwise evil origin.. although it's proper to first report this to us.”

  “I see.”

  It seemed some things were more obvious from an outsider’s perspective. Not that it mattered now, anyway…

  “I know how you feel right now.”

  “You do?”

  Perhaps my tone came out more confrontational than I intended – or perhaps I just let some of my feelings slip through. Either way, the sheriff took no offense.

  “I do. Before becoming this town's sheriff, I served in the army. Our unit was small - much smaller than most similar units. We also had much much more freedom in how to handle our missions. Our mortality rate was low… but when death came, it often came without notice, and with little to no hope of escape or resistance.”

  The sheriff's tone grew quieter – I could sense the melancholy in his voice, born of old scars that never quite fully healed.

  “I have lost comrades.. friends. More than once. At first, I thought I could get used to it. Until I realized - it never gets any easier.”

  “Did it ever happen because of your mistakes, though? Because of actions you took- no, actions you should have taken – but didn't?”

  The massive man looked into my eyes with a solemn gaze, before nodding.

  “Yes. It had. More time than I’d care to admit.”

  “Then what?..”

  I couldn't finish the question. Perhaps I couldn't articulate it – or perhaps a part of me, the one that believed I deserved to bear this pain, simply didn't want to. However, the sheriff understood the unsaid words.

  “First, you face the pain. Because you realize that you only feel it because you and they shared a special bond – running away from the pain would be the same as running away from their memory.”

  His eyes shifted to the side, looking at the distant stone wall.

  “Then, you look back. You learn what you can from your mistakes, try to predict the new mistakes you must avoid, and above all - get stronger.”

  He looked at me once again.

  “In time, if you remain true to yourself, you will meet new comrades, and make new friends. And when the next threat looms on the horizon, you will be able to see it. And you would be able to protect those you care about – every single one of them.”

  For some time, a silence, which stretched to eternity, descended upon the cavern – not a word was uttered, and not a sound was heard. However, eventually, the sheriff inhaled deeply, and spoke once more, returning to his regular tone. Although, on second thought, he sounded more somber than before.

  “Sebastian. There is something important you must know.”

  Seeing him stand up, and hanging his weapon on his back, I decided to finally follow suit. My mood hasn't improved one bit, even after his words, but I also realized I couldn't just keep sitting here forever.

  The sheriff threw a glance at the dead priest.

  “First things first – I will send both bodies to Silverveil with the next caravan. However, given the last caravan departed yesterday morning, it will take roughly three weeks for them to arrive. That is fine, but I can't delay a report of this magnitude by this much.”

  His eyes shifted from the priest back to me.

  “Tomorrow, around noon, one of my men shall depart for Silverveil, acting as a courier to personally deliver this report. Since you are both the main witness and a party in the incident, you shall accompany him. Of course, we shall handle the travel supplies, and a horse will be provided as well.”

  “...you want me to leave town? Didn't you say I have to pass the true interrogation first?”

  “I said you'd need to make enough gold to pay for one. The investigation itself is conducted in the city, either way. We don't get high level priests or paladins visit this town very often. Even though we might get such a visit soon.”

  He added the last part with a sigh.

  “How do you know I even have that much money?”

  “You probably saved up at least that much by now...”

  The sheriff shrugged his broad shoulders.

  “...but that doesn't matter, anyway. You won't be paying for it.”

  “...what?”

  “As a witness in such a case, your testimony - the one in the city, not the report you'll give back in town - shall be conducted as a true interrogation.”

  “...”

  “Since the means to discern lies will already be in place, the two procedures shall be combined. Of course, even if this wasn't the case, your reward would have been more than enough to cover it.”

  “My reward? Is it really that much?”

  The sheriff gave me a strange look.

  “You seem to have forgotten what I told you a few minutes ago. Even if his deeds came to light in a few days, having a Death Priest escape after killing the Sun priestess.. this would have been terrible in and of itself.”

  His expression turned more solemn.

  “And if, true to the Undying Deceiver’s reputation, he had a plan to conceal this murder, perhaps masking the young priestess’s disappearance as something else… had that happened, there is no telling what tragedy might have befallen this town before he was brought to light.”

  Perhaps I haven’t given his words proper consideration – I had to agree that stopping the priest of that wretched god, especially if he could infiltrate the community again, might have indeed saved many lives.

  Even if those distant, abstract lives didn't mean nearly as much to me as the one that was already lost, I should not have treated them this lightly – otherwise, I would be no different than this priest.

  As I nodded my head, the sheriff’s face became grim again.

  “There is one more thing. What happened here – you shall say no word of it to anyone but me, the deputy, and those receiving your testimony in the city.”

  His eyes gazed into mine.

  “If you are forced to tell anyone else about this incident - be it a friend, a lover, or your own mother - you shall say the old priest and the young apprentice were kidnapped by cultists. By the time you arrived, it was already too late to save them.”

  “...what?!”