“Wait, just a second…! Stop…! Plone is going too…! Please let me go with you!”
The voice of the little girl, Plone Dolos, who had suddenly appeared from somewhere, echoed loudly toward the hunting squad that was about to depart.
Her desperate expression as she pleaded was enough to evoke sympathy, but perhaps the feeling shared by all the members of the hunting squad was more confusion than compassion.
The participants for the hunting squad had already been decided in advance, so it was quite bewildering to suddenly request to be included on the day of departure.
And among the squad members, the muttering of someone who was probably the most flustered at that moment began to resonate.
“…Plone, what on earth made you think to suddenly join the hunting squad?”
The owner of that muttering was Diakonos, Plone’s father.
Seeing his daughter causing trouble right in front of him seemed to give him a headache, as he frowned.
Regardless, what came from Diakonos’s mouth was a stern voice that clearly implied he was about to scold his daughter for causing a problem.
However, whether Plone didn’t realize this or was simply pretending not to, she waved her hands at Diakonos and shouted.
“Ah, Dad…! Take me with you! I want to go too…!”
“…I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s not possible. Don’t be unreasonable.”
“Why not! I said to take me with you!”
“…Huff, everyone. I’m sorry for the delay in departure. Could you please take Plone back home? I’m asking you, please.”
Despite Diakonos’s firm refusal, Plone steadfastly insisted on wanting to come along.
Diakonos sighed at that scene and apologized to the nearby members of the hunting squad, asking the people of the Dolos House who seemed to be escorting them to take Plone back.
Two sturdy men approached to grab each of Plone’s arms and tried to pull her away, but
“Ugh… Miss, please…!”
“Ugh…! This isn’t right…!”
Even though the two men struggled with all their might, Plone stood there like a stubborn post and wouldn’t budge.
It might look somewhat comical for two strong men to be helpless against a small girl, but it was normal that they couldn’t handle her by sheer strength.
Despite her frail appearance, Plone was a girl with tremendous power, as she inherited the blood of the Dolos most strongly.
Eventually, it seemed Diakonos realized he couldn’t forcefully send Plone back, as he opened his mouth again.
“…Plone, what’s not allowed is not allowed.”
“Why do you keep saying Plone can’t go…! Why didn’t you pick her for the hunting squad…!”
Plone demanded an explanation for his firm rejection.
Diakonos answered plainly as if stating the obvious.
“…Where we’re going now is the witch’s stronghold. It’s a dangerous place where anything could happen. I can’t take you, who is still a child, to such a place.”
Diakonos could only say that to Plone for that reason.
No matter how much Plone wanted to join the hunting squad, the danger associated with going to a perilous location meant that young students had not even been considered when selecting the team.
But as if questioning how that could be a reason, Plone shouted.
“But Scarlet and Sylvia are going! They’re the same age as me…!”
“They, those two…”
Diakonos was momentarily at a loss for words at Plone’s rebuttal.
As she said, those two were her classmates.
However, since they were key members of the hunting squad, Diakonos immediately responded.
“Those two are strong, so it’s fine.”
“But Plone is strong too! And it’s strange to say it’s too dangerous…! Everyone going from Dolos this time, including you, Dad, is all weaker than Plone! That’s way more dangerous…!”
That statement was also sufficient to silence Diakonos.
Indeed, Plone was strong.
Even now, despite the two men of Dolos straining to drag her, she wouldn’t move an inch.
And as she added, it was also true that she was stronger than the five members, including Diakonos, participating in this hunting squad.
However, the reason Dolos was included in the hunting squad was not simply for that reason.
“…Alright. You’re right, Plone. We’re not included because we are strong. It’s true there could be danger. But how could we not go? Dolos is a sinner. We cannot just sit by watching what Dolos has done until now.”
Diakonos and the people of Dolos wore solemn expressions.
They knew.
Even if they were born with blessed bodies, they did not have as much combat experience as other heroes and were not strong either. They acknowledged that participating in this hunting squad could be dangerous.
However, the reason Dolos had desperately sought to join this hunting squad was.
Although they might not be able to finish everything by their own strength, at the very least, they thought they could not just sit idly by.
They believed that even if they bled during this hunting operation, it would be the least they could do to atone and repent for their past wrongdoings.
That was the mindset with which Dolos approached this hunting operation, and that was precisely why Diakonos did not want to include Plone in the hunting squad.
But in response to that explanation from Diakonos, Plone shouted loudly.
“Then that means Plone shouldn’t be left out…!”
And added.
“If it’s because of wrongdoing, then it’s Plone who has done the most wrong…”
With tears welling in her eyes and sorrowfully.
“Plone is, the worst person…”
The voice she murmured was filled with—
Nothing but guilt.
Once freed from the mental control of lust, Dolos realized what they had done and had no choice but to groan in guilt for a long time.
Everyone from Dolos felt that way, but if one were to find the person who suffered the most guilt, it would undoubtedly be Plone.
It was inevitable because the circumstances of Plone were different from the others in Dolos.
The others in Dolos had acted under the belief that being controlled by the Witch of Lust was a form of happiness.
But Plone was fundamentally different.
While others were mere slaves, Plone was an avatar.
From the time she was born up until not long ago, Plone had lived her life as the avatar of the Witch of Lust.
Plone loved pretty things.
She felt happy looking at herself dressed beautifully, and she wanted others to be happy too, which led her to start a clothing and cosmetics business.
But now, she couldn’t tell if those were truly her own pure thoughts or if they had been influenced by the Witch of Lust.
Because the Witch of Lust also loved beautiful things.
The Witch of Lust desired to make humans who conformed to her standards of beauty into her dolls.
So, following her will, Plone would approach people who fit that standard, saying they should be friends and become close with them.
That was a kind of selection.
A selection to choose the humans who would be favored by her when mankind inevitably fell into the hands of the Witch of Lust.
This abominable act, Plone had claimed to enjoy all along.
Thus, Plone had become unable to trust her own values.
She could no longer discern whether her love for pretty things was a pure thought of her own or if it was influenced by the values of the Witch of Lust.
As such, Plone could no longer love herself as she once did.
“Plone is the worst person…”
Plone referred to herself not as ‘I,’ but rather as ‘Plone.’
This was an unconscious manifestation to separate her consciousness, which had been occupied and controlled by the Witch of Lust, from herself.
However, for Plone, who had frequently operated as ‘I’ since her birth due to being in sync with the Witch of Lust, ‘I’ was essentially the same as ‘Plone.’
Even after being possessed and controlled, what ‘I’ did was tantamount to what Plone did. Thus, Plone could not help but be tormented by the distance created from ‘I.’
When her body was controlled, she wished her consciousness and memories would disappear entirely.
The memories of pushing her precious friends into peril, putting them at risk, selecting them, and offering them to the witch were still far too vivid in her mind.
Plone could not forgive herself.
Yet at the same time, Plone wanted to forgive herself.
And when she thought of a way to do so, the only lifeline appeared right before her eyes.
“Still, I want to be a good kid… so please let me go with you. I beg you…”
“…Plone.”
That was her intention to eradicate ‘I.’
To erase ‘I’ from this world and reclaim the pure ‘Plone.’
Of course, she hadn’t verbalized that, so no one would understand her intentions.
Even so, perhaps her desperate feelings were conveyed, as her father Diakonos softened and could not reject her as firmly as before.
However, Diakonos, who valued rules and order, could not easily grant her wish to join the hunting squad, despite his daughter’s pleas.
“Hey…!”
If someone else hadn’t voiced that request first.
“Could you take Plone with you to the hunting squad…?”
“Please. If possible, we would also like to be included.”
With blond and blue-haired members, two troublemakers had joined the fray.
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