do you know of any key that can open the door from the outside, or perhaps of another way to get in?" The driver blinked at the line of questioning. However, his eyes twitched to the side for a moment first. Hina's preeminent automaton powers of observation allowed her to pick up on the change, and the Butcher caught it, too. Both of the things they were looking for existed. However, the driver shook his head no. Apparently, he was planning on courageously keeping his master's secrets. The man's reaction caused the Butcher's expression to change. It was still dark beneath his hood, but Hina could tell. The Butcher was smiling. "Mr.... Mr. Butcher?" "Ah, such loyalty. Feeling responsibilities toward your post, fulfilling your duties as your master commands... It's the mark of a good man, and a mark I can respect. So I take it this means you're prepared to bear your share of the burden of your master's sin?" "...Hmm?" The driver let out a muffled voice through the Butcher's hand. The Butcher responded by slowly lifting his other arm. His claws gleamed as he laid them on the scruff of the driver's neck and spoke in a strangely syrupy voice. "Goodness, for you to so readily share the sin of whatever horrible ritual is going on in there... Hats off to your dedication, good sir." The driver started thrashing about, his eyes wide. He frantically tried to tell them something. However, the Butcher pretended not to notice, instead digging his claws into the man's skin. "Then I suppose I have no choice! I'm a proud Butcher, uninterested in matters that don't concern meat, but out of respect for your loyalty, I shall deliver the coup de grÃ¢ce myself!" "Agh, gack... No, stop, please!" The driver threw the Butcher's hand off in utter desperation. The Butcher stopped for a moment. Before he could say anything, the driver shouted out the information of his own accord. "Th-the key is in the antechamber! And you can get into the observation balcony from there, too! If there's anything else you want to know, I'll tell you anything! Anything and everything! So please spare me, if no one else!" The driver sobbed as he made his desperate entreaty. Then he even began denouncing his employer. "The banquets are horrible." "Those demons." "They're the worst." "They're like fat pigs, all of them." The Butcher listened in silence to what the driver had to say. Eventually, he smiled once more within the darkness. "I see......... So that was the limit of your resolve as an attendant, then." "...Mr. Butcher?" Hina let out a puzzled little murmur. The Butcher's words were clearly full of all sorts of complicated emotions. But as far as she knew, he himself wasn't anyone's attendant. Hina tilted her head to the side. However, she didn't have time to put that confusion into words. All of a sudden, the Butcher's demeanor did a complete about-face, and he spoke in the same cheery voice as always. "Now then, if you'd be so kind as to lead the way! Tallyho!" The abrupt change appeared to strike even more fear into the driver. He nodded repeatedly, then practically took off at a dash. The Butcher tallyhoed on after him. Hina clenched her halberd tight and hurried on to join him. There was only one destination on her mind. The Torture Princess'sâ€”Elisabeth'sâ€”side. "The balcony is just past here." The driver pointed at one section of the darkened tunnel. Now that he mentioned it, they could see a stairway hidden there. According to the driver, the organization didn't officially allow observers, as one of the requirements for taking part in the banquet was to become complicit. However, they were willing to waive that requirement for some of their wealthier financiers. There was no small number of their older patrons who, while brutal in nature and filled with licentious appetites, lacked the willpower and physical resilience to partake in the banquets themselves. To accommodate them, the organization had built a balcony that was far enough back so as not to dampen the enthusiasm of those down below. That way, they could enjoy the bloody banquets to their hearts' content whenever they liked. "Hmm. For a group of so-called demon worshippers, their business senses seem much more on point than their actual beliefs... Ah, I see you're in quite the hurry. Fare thee well, Ms. Lovely Maid." The Butcher gave Hina a little wave as he watched her race down the stairs like a tempest given flesh. The decorative carvings on the wall flitted into her peripheral vision one after another as she barreled past them. They featured a horned monster laughing as it ate people. They were impressive pieces of artwork, albeit in rather poor taste. The devout probably depicted what they imagined a demon to look like. How completely absurd. Hina found the whole thing exasperating. For she knew one thingâ€”those images didn't even begin to compare to how horrifying actual demons were. The pain they inflicted on people was beyond imagination. Admiring Diablo and its demons and altering them to make them more palatable to blindly believe in were both acts of utter ignorance. No matter how much you change them to suit your fancy, God and Diablo will never be worth believing in. No matter how many hordes of people praised and extolled them, Hina would never be able to bring herself to join the chorus. In her mind, there was only one entity worthy of her faith. It was Kaito Sena, her eternal lover. Him alone. For that was what love wasâ€”madness and faith. And beyond that staircase waited the woman whom the man she believed in believed in himself. And that was why Hina was making such haste. Suddenly, the walls at her flanks ended. Hina raced out onto the balcony. A chandelier glittered beside it, and past the balcony, Hina could make out what was going on below. She gasped. Or rather, she replicated the human gesture of gasping. The lower level was red with blood. In all likelihood, the scene that had just taken place was far grislier than any the rich financiers had ever witnessed from atop this balcony. Now, though, the carnage was over, and the floor below was a sea of blood and viscera. Ravaged corpses were piled up like mounds of dirt. Many of them looked to have been slain by the Torture Princess without so much as a chance to fight back. At long last, their crime had found its punishment. However, there was someone down there who was still alive. A young man with an ax leveled his blade at Elisabeth, squaring off against her with some sort of resolve burning in him. Elisabeth shrugged. "You never took part in the banquet to begin with, so it's not as though I've any intention of killing you." "Shut up! You...you're no different than they were! How could you do something like this?!" The man shouted, practically bellowing, and Elisabeth just shook her head. Then in the same level tone as before, she went on. "A question, then. Where was this foolhardy bravery of yours to be found when the girl was still alive?" *** "Why, if it's the brutality you object to, you could have even made this stand of yours back when they were alive. So why now? What will this baying of yours accomplish? Whose pain will it heal? At this late hour, howâ€”?" "Be quiet! Shut up already, you monster! Yeah, you're right. I regret it. I regret it, okay! This is what I should have done the moment I stepped into this damn room! I don't know how long it'll take me to atone for not doing so, but I'll do whatever I have to!" "I see. Well, I know not the scale of your resolve, but if it's resolve you have, then I shan't say any more." "But here and now, what I need to do is kill you! How am I supposed to move forward if I let a monster like you live?!" Hina quietly listened as the youth raged. Elisabeth merely nodded. And Hina knew. When a person met a monster, even if it posed no threat to them personally, it was still their duty to kill it. Such was the fate of people and monsters. And yet... "Such is the fate of people and monsters." As Hina whispered those words, the young man raised his ax up high. He charged at the Torture Princess. However, his movements were so slow, it was almost sad. One snap of her fingers was all it would have taken for Elisabeth to end things. However, she didn't move a muscle. The Torture Princess calmly returned the youth's gaze. And Hina continued: "But you, my lady, are no monster." Sometimes, the only thing that could kill evil was a different brand of evil. But in the end, only good could break that cycle of malice. That, too, was one of the world's many truths. The Torture Princess knew that fact well. And anyone who knew that fact couldn't possibly be a monster. She was just Elisabeth Le Fanu, and she was standing motionless. The executioner's ax drew ever closer. "And I will never leave you alone." If the people of this world refused to see that, then it fell on those who didn't fit that criterion to stay by her side. Namely, a foreigner from another world and an automaton. Hina practically pirouetted as she leaped off the balcony. "That's right. If this was all you saw of her, then that would be a perfectly reasonable conclusion to draw. After all, it is an undeniable truth." Her maid uniform fluttered as she descended straight down. After that ghastly scene, it was impossible to deny the Torture Princess's brutality. Even so, Hina's feelings remained unchanged. "...However, I refuse to let you call her a monster." The person whom her beloved admired, a woman whom she herself adoredâ€” â€”was standing there with a forlorn look in her eyes. What more reason could she possibly need? Hina's silver hair swayed as she gracefully made her landing. She swung her halberd and easily lopped off the head of the young man's ax. Its blade went spinning through the air, eventually planting itself in corpses' torsos. Hina lifted her beautiful face and spoke without a moment's hesitation. "Never again utter such rudeness to my dearest Lady Elisabeth." "Wha...? I don'tâ€”" "And heeere I goooo! Hachaaaaaah!" The young man began to let out a bewildered yelp, but he was cut off by a loud, cheerful cry. At some point, the doorway had gotten thrown wide-open. The Butcher had used the key. Something large and heavy came hurtling through the entranceâ€”the massive bone-in piece of meat that had put in so much work this day already. After spinning through the air, it struck the young man square in the forehead. The youth keeled over backward, then went still. It looked like it had given him a concussion. Hina fixed her gaze on him. His life didn't appear to be in any danger. When he woke up, he would probably flee. Then he would report what had happened to the Church, and they would learn of Elisabeth's brutal act. In the end, though, she'd successfully put down an equally brutal group of demon worshippers, so the Church would try to quietly put the matter to rest. Yet even so, the rumors would linger on. Loathsome Elisabeth. Repulsive Elisabeth. It was true. The punishment that the Torture Princess had handed down was a fate no person had the right to subject another to. But at the same time, no more innocents would fall victim to these dark underground halls. Each was just as true as the other. And because of that, Hina elected to gaze. She gazed straight at Elisabeth. Elisabeth, for her part, blinked repeatedly. This clearly wasn't a turn