Chương 91: Hecate is for the Children

"Could you not?" I asked. Sometimes asking things nicely helped, and it's never too late to make a good second impression. I think that's something people say.

"Impressive," Bogumir said. I waved him off and giggled.

"It was nothing, really." Bogumir crossed his arms.

"There's one thing I don't get."

"I have a feeling you're about to ask me a question."

"Why?"

"Because usually when people say they don't get something they ask for clarification right after." Bogumir closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I didn't mean why do you have a feeling I'm about to ask you a question. I meant why this? Why did you come here? Why do all this?"

"Sounds like more than one question, Bogumir." He slowly nodded.

"I can see why they put a one million gold bounty on you." I proudly smiled.

"Yeah, I'm pretty hard to kill."

"No… That's not why."

"I'm too pretty and they were afraid no one would kill me for less?" Bogumir closed his eyes again and took another deep breath. I guessed that was kind of his thing. Then he put his middle and index finger to his forehead, and I was afraid he was going to blast me with some kind of death beam. I rolled to the side, activated [Clean Entry], and shot his arm off before he could vaporize me. His arm dropped to the ground, and Bogumir just stared at me. Didn't even look like he was in pain. I held up my hands.

"Sorry? I thought you were going to death ray me. I didn't mean to disarm you." I chuckled at my unintended pun.

"Sorry! I also didn't mean to laugh, it's just." I pointed at the arm lying in the dirt.

"Dis… arm. Sorry." Jerzy looked down at the arm, then at me. He shook his head. I raised my hands.

"I said I was sorry!" I flashed them my friendliest smile.

"I hope this does not affect our friendship?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" the chuckler said. I tapped my chin.

"I feel like this is a rhetorical question. You're not really asking me, are you?"

"Can we just kill her?" Bogumir silenced him with his remaining hand.

"Hecate, can you just tell us why?" I glanced around and saw a crowd had gathered around us. They kept at a safe distance, but people were definitely watching.

"You still going to kill me after?" I asked. He gave a small nod. Figures. Rude. I cleared my throat.

"The reason why, is a very good why. Because the reason is." I scanned the crowd again.

"The reason is, I'm doing this for the children." Bogumir frowned.

"For the children."

"Yes. Exactly. For the children. I came to Silesia to protect the children. It's why I risked my life to slay the Swamp Devil." I wiped a tear from my eye (there was still some sand in it), and raised my voice so the crowd could hear. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"You ask why, Bogumir? Look at this place! Look at these people! When the Swamp Devil was eating their children, where was the Church? They were too busy polishing their gold and practicing their scowls in the mirror!" I gestured grandly at the crowd.

"I came here for the youth! For the babes! Because a wise man once told me that children are the future, and if the Inquisition keeps blowing up all the youngins, there won't be a future! They hate children because children ask too many questions! Questions like: 'Why is that man missing a tooth?' and 'Why does that lady have no ears?'" Jerzy clapped a hand in front of his mouth. I knew I spotted a missing tooth! Spotted a... not tooth. A hole that should have a tooth, but didn't. Jerzy was missing a tooth.

I turned back to Bogumir, my expression one of deep disappointment.

"The Church wants a world without laughter, without joy! They saw me, a humble protector of innocent babes, and they said, 'She's too pretty. Her hair is too nice. She makes the children believe they are allowed to dream! We hate babies! Kill her!'" The crowd erupted in gasps and murmurs.

"The Church wants to kill her for her nice hair!"

"She's protecting the children!" another voice called out.

"They don't want us to dream!"

"They want to kill her because they hate babies!" someone shouted.

"They're angry because babies laugh!" a woman cried.

"And they don't!" another man yelled.

"Have you ever seen one smile?" I rubbed my eyes again. That sand had gotten me pretty good. Someone in the back shouted, "ARE YOU SAYING YOU HATE BABIES?"

"I never said that!" Bogumir snapped.

"We don't hate babies!" I solemnly shook my head.

"They said the only good baby is a dead baby." The crowd collectively gasped in horror. A man pointed at the arm on the ground.

"LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO HER."

"That's my arm!" Bogumir said.

"She did that to me!"

"But it could have been me!" I howled.

"Because of the babies!"

"They're killing our babes!" someone cried. I dropped to my knees and slammed my fist into the sand.

"Why, Bogumir, WHY? Why must you wage war on the babes?"

"YEAH! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" a man yelled.

"You ol' dirty bastard!" a woman screeched. I wiped at my eyes again.

"So you ask me why? WHY? I should be the one asking you why, Bogumir! Why do you hunt children? Why do you want to snuff out every spark of joy and hope in this world? Why do you stand there, looking at all these people, these families, and think 'Yes, today is a good day to hate babies'?" I gestured wildly at the crowd.

"These people have children! They have futures! They have DREAMS! And you want to take that away from them! You want a world where no child laughs, where no baby smiles, where everyone is as miserable and tooth-missing as you and your baby-hating friends!"

"Hey!" Jerzy said, hand still over his mouth. I pointed at Jerzy.

"He's missing a tooth! Probably from all the baby-hating! Maybe he broke it trying to EAT one."

"He's missing a tooth!" a woman gasped.

"That's not—" Jerzy started.

"SILENCE!" I shouted, throwing my hands up.

"The babies are speaking!"

"ENOUGH." Bogumir said, his voice echoing like a hundred voices at once. That was pretty scary, but I was on a roll, so I stood up slowly.

"Yes, Bogumir. Enough. Your reign of terror ends today." I rolled my shoulders, then casually grabbed a mana potion and downed it. They didn't even try to stop me. Thanks to Bogumir graciously indulging my little speech, I'd recovered a good amount of Stamina and was ready for round two. As a bonus, the crowd also appeared to be on my side now.

"Any last words?" I asked. Bogumir nodded to Jerzy and the chuckler and they spread out. Jerzy still held my bullet suspended in front of him, so I figured he was planning to shoot it at my head at some point, which could be a problem considering it being infused with [Clean Entry]. The chuckler was likely going to be throwing more flaming boulders at me, unless he felt like changing it up and doing something original, though he didn't seem the type. And why would he?

His boulders had been pretty effective against me. I suppose I shouldn't be judging anyone on originality since I mostly used [Clean Entry] to dispose of threats myself. Now that I thought about it, it hadn't been as effective against these guys as it had been against my previous opponents. Maybe it was time to adjust my strategy a bit. As for Bogumir, he hadn't even attacked me yet. He'd just been standing there calm as a cucumber, and I was supposed to be the cucumber.

He hadn't even flinched when I shot his arm off. What was up with that? I squinted, trying to see if he was maybe secretly crying a bit, or otherwise in pain, but I didn't spot any tears. He didn't look bothered at all. The crowd had gone silent now. The excitement had evaporated the moment the inquisitors spread into formation. People were slowly backing up. Some of them went inside houses and stared through the windows, faces pressed against them. Vasil hopped next to me.

"Be especially careful of the middle one."

"Bogumir?" I asked.

"Yes."

"But he only has one arm left. How hard can it be? Jerzy is the one with the immobilization spells." Bogumir calmly started walking toward me. As he stepped closer, the arm on the floor rose and also started walking toward me like a nightmarish five-legged spider-hand, with the arm dragging behind it. My eyes widened.

"What?! You can't do that!" Bogumir simply grinned as he and his arm advanced.

"That's bullshit!"

"Aim for the head," Vasil said.