SWNOVELXO Chapter 383
“Please, just kill me.”
This was the first time Joyra spoke up in the gathering, bowing his head as he declared, “My family is a family of sinners. And I am also a sinner. I should not be alive.”
He spoke with an air of indifference, almost as if he were a different person from the one who desperately clung to life before falling. His demeanor was not merely a facade for seeking forgiveness, but a genuine acknowledgment of his sins.
Typically, as one nears death, the attachment to life intensifies. Joyra had once walked down that path, but in his moment of reckoning, he chose to reject sacrificing others for his own survival.
Moreover, the consomme soup served by Kurt made him painfully aware of just how horrible his wrongdoings were.
“Hmph. At least you understand your place.”
Azaani, a Sister of the Holy Kingdom, responded with sarcasm, having faced the threat of death at Joyra’s hands just a few days prior while trying to subdue him in the Underground Space.
Feeling the need to unleash her pent-up frustrations due to the interrupted meal courtesy of Kurt, she glared at Joyra with an icy gaze devoid of warmth.
“Yes, you and your accomplice. No, everyone in the villages I’ve harmed. I have committed an irredeemable wrong against you all. I am truly sorry.”
“If you’re saying that much, it will certainly make things easier to discuss. Your actions, sacrificing countless lives for your own selfish gain, warrant immediate execution under the laws of the Holy Kingdom,” Azaani declared, scoffing at Joyra’s composed demeanor.
“…I wish I could say that, but it seems that’s not the case,” she added.
“…What?” Joyra was caught off guard.
“You may have lain there as if dead, but there were petitions submitted concerning you. Quite a few, actually.”
“Petitions…? Who would even do that?” Joyra asked, increasingly confused.
Azaani’s words stirred up even more confusion within him, as he had no one outside the villagers to even think of who might care.
“The villagers…? They did?” Joyra stuttered in disbelief.
“Huh… The contents of their petitions were largely similar. They believe you went mad due to an artifact from the Ancient Empire. They acknowledged their lack of vigilance in not noticing your deterioration in time and requested a reduction in your punishment. Others highlighted your dedication as a doctor to explain why you are not the kind of person who would do such things.”
“The villagers… for me?” Joyra was still in shock, as Azaani shoved a pile of papers into his hands.
The stack looked thick, like the contents of a book, and upon examination, they all pleaded for leniency on his behalf.
There were messy scrawls reminiscent of a child’s handwriting, detailing how he had overworked himself to treat one girl, who recovered but left him bedridden for over a month.
Others had badly written notes but insisted Joyra was a good person.
Azaani pointed to the neatly written letters professing how kind he was since childhood.
Although there were many papers, they all conveyed just how devoted Joyra had been to the villagers, even at the cost of his own health.
“For someone like me… the villagers…” Joyra’s voice trembled.
“But that’s not all,” Azaani interrupted as he went through the petitions, her tone cold.
“The villagers abducted were, aside from a few scratches, in remarkably good shape,” she noted.
“That was to preserve the villagers’ organs…” Joyra mumbled defensively.
“No, if that were the goal, it would have been more logical to damage limbs to make them easier to control. In fact, records from your ancestors about organ transplant magic showed that method was employed. Besides, you didn’t harm the villagers until I and Nisa approached the mansion. You kidnapped them impulsively but had no intent to hurt them,” she asserted.
“N-no! It was because you guys got in the way!” Joyra stammered.
At that moment, Kurt, who had been quietly listening, interrupted.
“No, that’s wrong. You had days before the Sisters came looking for you. If you wanted, you could have performed organ transplants in that time.”
“Th-that’s…” Joyra struggled for a response.
“You had plenty of opportunity to kill the two Sisters, yet you let them go multiple times,” Kurt pointed out. It would have been simple to finish off two people trapped in the maze-like Underground Space, yet Azaani and Nisa managed to escape and run for days.
“…!!”
Azaani frowned, evidently disturbed by Kurt’s observations.
“Tch. Bringing up the subject of someone dodging death…” she grumbled.
“Sorry. Just felt it needed to be said.” Kurt shrugged.
“Anyway, bringing it back to the main point, while you didn’t completely let us go, you also didn’t fully intend to kill us. You were conflicted about your actions, right? This goes for the villagers too. You haven’t completely crossed the line.”
“But what difference does that make? It’s a fact that I kidnapped the villagers and tried to kill you. And yes, it’s true my ancestors committed heinous crimes. That doesn’t change the facts.”
Joyra’s reply was cold, contradicting the usual scenario where a saint would scold a sinner. Instead, it seemed Joyra was attempting to prove his wrongdoing while Azaani appeared almost to defend him.
A starkly bizarre situation unfolded, akin to a farce, yet Joyra held a serious expression while asserting his guilt.
Perhaps Azaani’s resolve was wavering against Joyra’s unwavering stance, as she finally sighed and spoke.
“You’re right. No matter how flowery the words, your crimes won’t disappear. No amount of good deeds can erase a wrongdoing. Past kindness can’t make up for bad deeds.”
“Then…!”
“But conversely, those wrongs don’t erase prior good deeds either. The fact you kidnapped villagers with the intention to sacrifice them is true, but it’s also true you worked tirelessly, no proper compensation, to save villagers. Similarly, your ancestors may have initially viewed them as mere spare parts, but they later atoned for their sins through genuine acts of kindness.”
She gestured toward the petitions written earnestly by the villagers, many of whom couldn’t even read properly.
Then, without missing a beat, she shifted the topic.
“Look, it’s true that your lifespan is about to expire, but that doesn’t mean extending it requires preying on others. The Holy Kingdom researches the magic and technology of the Ancient Empire, and among them is the technology related to modifying the bodies of Wizards, just like you researched.”
Although the Holy Kingdom regards the Wizards, descendants of the Ancient Empire, as potential threats, it’s merely a caution, not outright hostility.
While they likely can’t fully heal a severely damaged body like from the Ancient Empire, they can still extend your lifespan to some degree.”
“Wh-what does that mean?” Joyra was lost.
What truly confused him was the implication behind those words.
“Wait, are you saying you’ll forgive me…?” Joyra blinked in astonishment.
“Huh? Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not saying I’ll forgive you and declare you innocent. I simply judged that executing you on the spot would not align with the laws of the Holy Kingdom. You will be transported to the Holy Kingdom and judged for your crimes as a prisoner, serving labor commensurate with your punishment.”
“….”
“It’s fortunate for you, but the Holy Kingdom always suffers from a shortage of people researching the magic of the Ancient Empire. Your healing is not salvation; it’s merely a way to extract suitable recompense for your sins. Hmph, you’ll probably endure the kind of wretched labor similar to that of a graduate student without receiving proper breaks. And by then, no matter how much you regret, there won’t be any mercy.”
Azaani kept her expression cold, at least outwardly, as she turned away abruptly.
Joyra, his voice trembling, inquired, “So… does that mean I can live…?”
“Understood…! Thank you so much…” Joyra bowed his head quietly.
“You don’t need to thank me!”
“Yes… really, thank you…”
“So, stop thanking me!”
With Joyra’s incessant gratitude, Azaani wore an expression of frustration, at least on the surface, before hurrying off, adding three more people to Kurt’s group: Azaani, Nisa, and Joyra.
Days later, Kurt’s party arrived at the Holy Kingdom.