The Great Sinner Was a Great Sinner

Trembling, I open the door.

“Hih......!?”

All at once, every evacuee in the room looks my way, and at the sight of me covered in blood, a few small screams go up.

But I ignore those reactions.

In the center of the room, the villain-faced man is lying down.

My eyes saw nothing but that man.

“O, old man......”

I approach him unsteadily and slump down beside him.

Old man Giovanno's face is pale.

His breathing is very ragged, and he groans occasionally.

He's sweating profusely.

Beside him, Booze-Reek Woman is desperately grinding herbs, gori gori, and making the old man drink them, but it doesn't seem to be doing much.

The old man looks to be in great pain.

After the fight to the death with the Golden Bear, I had gone on taking in its flesh and blood without knowing it, and what woke me was the panicked voice of Modokin the scout.

“This is bad! Gio, Giovanno-san's been stabbed!”

“Wh, what did you say!!?”

I also heard the perverted old geezer's voice.

Apparently, he had moved over here without me noticing.

So where was I when I heard them talking? Inside the Golden Bear's meat.

The Golden Bear's body is huge.

Apparently, as I went on eating it without knowing, I had burrowed into the Golden Bear's body like an earthworm through soil.

In a hurry, I push through the meat toward the outside, slicing and tearing through the fur, and poke my head out.

“What do you mean......!?”

““OWAAAAAAAAAAH!!?””

Seeing me suddenly crawl out from the carcass of a giant bear, the two of them were naturally shocked, but since they were used to my behavior, they quickly explained the situation to me.

In short, the defense of the base had succeeded.

But an assassin hidden among the evacuees had stabbed the old man.

And now the old man was close to dying of poison.

That, it seemed, was how things stood.

The moment I heard that much, I couldn't stand still; I left the Golden Bear's flesh and blood where it was and ran to the old man.

◇ ◇ ◇

“U...... mu...... Emi, is it......?”

Noticing me slumped beside him, old man Giovanno opened his eyes slightly.

His eyes won't focus.

Maybe he can't, really see me.

“Yeah.”

“Are you...... hurt......?”

“Healed.”

“......I, see...... any, way......”

With that, the old man reached out a trembling hand and gave my head a couple of pats.

“I'm glad...... you're safe......”

He said it, and smiled.

Though he must be in unbearable pain.

In unbearable agony.

He was glad I was safe.

“Why......”

I was stunned.

“Why, did this happen......”

I look at a corner of the room.

There was a woman tied up with rope, and a boy being held down by that adventurer, Yuju or whatever.

“Those, did it?”

I stand up unsteadily.

“Those, are the bad ones.”

I begin to walk, swaying.

“I'll kill them, okay?”

I ready a hand chop.

I don't give off killing intent.

I don't use 【Intimidation】.

Because it would surely be poison to the old man, weak as he is.

The boy glares at me with defiant eyes.

The woman is brazen.

She's smirking.

“......Stop it, you fool......”

But the one who stopped me was none other than the old man.

“......Why.”

“This is...... divine punishment...... I'm, a great sinner...... I have to, accept it......”

And the old man said something that made no sense.

◇ ◇ ◇

His consciousness fading as the poison ran through his whole body.

But even in the midst of that suffering, Giovanno was somehow relieved.

Emi had saved his life and ordered him to live.

But in the depths of Giovanno's heart, there had always been a guilt that tormented him.

It had been hard.

It had hurt.

The consequences of his past were now reaping his life.

Could there be a better curtain call? he thought.

Ah, the end was near now.

Soon, he would die.

Realizing this, Giovanno wanted to see Emi's face one last time.

The face of the one he owed.

The face of Emi, whom he...... thought of as a daughter, and loved.

Emi, holding back her murderous intent, had sat beside him again.

Summoning the last of his strength, he tousled her hair.

Thank you.

He murmured it.

Whether it came out as a voice, he didn't know.

But then.

Giovanno suddenly noticed.

Plop, plop.

Something cold was striking his face.

It was tears.

Tears falling from Emi as she looked down into his face.

When he noticed that.

He.

......regretted it.

And for the first time, now of all times, he truly did not want to die.

Because he realized that dying and leaving his beloved daughter behind was a great, great sin.

To live was a sin; to die was a sin.

He truly had been a hopeless great sinner.

Ah, he could no longer see anything.

His body wouldn't move.

No words would come.

In the midst of it, Giovanno could do just one thing.

He could pray.

And so, the great sinner Giovanno died.

He died still covered in sin.

He died praying for his daughter's happiness.