Both of them stared at each other, the air tense, until the silence was finally broken by Klara.
"What's your name, young man?"
"...Carl," Faust replied.
"Are you a demonic worshipper, Carl?" Klara asked calmly.
"No, I'm not," Faust replied plainly, though inside he was nervous.
"What are you doing in the village?"
"Just wandering around, trying to learn more about the area."
"Alright... Were you ever involved in demonic practices?"
"I don't even know what that is."
"Do you know or were you ever involved with any demonic creature?"
"Never."
"Are you a mage?"
"No."
At that moment, Klara squinted her eyes, studying Faust with a solemn expression.
"Are you telling the truth?" she asked.
"Yes." Faust said with a nervous tone.
As soon as he answered, she immediately said, "Captain, could you please give me the jewel?"
"Yes, M'lady," the captain replied, grabbing a jewel from his pouch and placing it in Klara's hands.
The jewel was small, tinted yellow, and shaped like a diamond.
She held it out to Faust.
"If you are not lying, you won't be afraid of using this to test yourself, right?
This jewel can extract mana. If you touch it and you are not a mage, it will simply glow. If you are a mage, it will break, because your mana is more concentrated."
"If I try to talk to Red, they will suspect. If I refuse to touch it, they will suspect. If I do, it will prove I have mana, and they will also suspect. I have no good choice. Red is quiet too… damn it!
"The bear isn't too far away. I could cause it to rampage and try to escape… The chances are low, but if the situation worsens, I'll have to risk it. For now, I should agree to the test. It's easier to explain why I have mana than why I refused...
"But in a situation where they are trying to find fault with me, it won't be hard to accuse me no matter what I do. The guards look nervous. Maybe she doesn't know what they did to me. Since they seem afraid of her, maybe she's neutral? I have to try my luck."
Faust thought all this in a blink, then answered,
"My Lady, I won't test anything until the guards give me back my money! They stole it from me!"
The moment those words left his mouth, the guards began sweating cold. They were hoping Faust would forget or ignore it, but he didn't.
Klara looked at the guards, then at the captain.
"Is that true, Captain?"
"No! That beggar is obviously lying, My Lady!" the captain blurted.
She looked at him, smiling slightly.
"Well… maybe some new guards could have taken some of it. I will investigate it, M'lady," the captain said, trying to recover.
"Alright, that's enough," Klara said. "Carl, if you're telling the truth, your money will be returned. But for now, the matter is much more serious."
His plan was naive. Anyone with half a brain would not fall for it. He had to answer properly now.
"Alright. You can use it," Faust said.
Klara smiled and handed him the jewel.
He grabbed it and closed his hand around it.
He felt a small amount of mana being drained, and then, after a few seconds—
CRASH!
The jewel shattered. Faust tensed, nervous.
He had thought he could control it, or at least suppress it a little, but he couldn't.
"Oh, why did you lie, Carl? You are a mage," Klara said.
"My Lady, I have a proper reason for lying! Look, my parents were mages and they taugh—"
Faust's voice was cut off.
"How could I trust another word you say? If you lied once, you'll lie again. Take him back to the jail and prepare his execution. If he's a mage, he could have killed those beggars. That's proof enough."
She stood up from her chair as Faust's heart sank.
"Execution? For what reason?" he thought, panic rising in him. "I survived until now just to be executed? That must be a joke. I won't let it happen. I'll try one last time."
"MY LADY, PLEASE WAIT!" he shouted as the guards lifted him up. "I'm actually a survivor from the village that was attacked two years ago! I learned mana while living in the woods! I came to the village to find information about what happened!"
Klara stopped walking and turned back toward him.
"Interesting. You are a survivor?" she said, signaling the guards to release Faust.
She approached him and spoke with a motherly tone,
"Such a traumatic experience to endure as a child. I'm sorry, Carl."
Faust remained silent.
"Well, I can tell you what we know. Our guards investigated the matter. It was a planned attack. A group of bandits tried to rob a caravan passing through the village. The caravan belonged to the capital, so it was wealthy. The bandits scattered afterward. They were known as… Black Bear? Black Boar?—"
"Black Buffalo, M'lady," the captain corrected.
"Thanks, captain. Yes, they were called the Black Buffalo. We don't know much more than that. The capital sent troops to hunt them down, and they were all killed. They were foolish to attack a capital caravan. Greed truly is the downfall of men."
Faust stayed quiet.
"They were all killed…"
The words rang in his mind, over and over.
The only reason he had endured so much was for revenge—and that was now gone. He had no other purpose left. At least, he thought so.
"Don't worry, child. At least you can rest your heart now," she said.
He looked at her with emptier eyes than ever before. He couldn't even cry anymore. If the universe liked playing cruel pranks, it sure as hell was good at it.
"Sorry, Carl, but you're still too suspicious. Even if you are telling the truth, it doesn't mean you didn't kill those beggars.
Consider that information a favor. I truly feel sorry for your circumstances… but you're probably not innocent either."
Faust didn't react. He just glanced downward as the guards dragged him downstairs, threw him into the jail, and left him alone.
He was confused, sad, angry—every emotion clashing inside him.
He had escaped his village thanks to the sacrifice of his parents. He had fallen into a cave, survived by sheer will, strengthening both his body and mind with only one goal—to have revenge and free his soul from guilt.
But what was the point?
He now lay on the cold ground, broken, shattered.
He had no reason to stand up. No reason to walk.
No reason to eat. No reason to live.
At that moment, the heart that had been slowly toughened by endless hardship was completely destroyed, like a glass smashed to pieces.
His mind was scattered.
He could barely think.
"They were all killed..." kept echoing inside his head.
He stared at the ceiling with a disconnected, empty gaze.
No reason to go forward.
That is where humans stop.
Every human had a goal—sometimes clear, sometimes hidden. The most basic goal was survival, like any creature.
But without any goal, a human was no different than an empty vessel, no different than a rock or a dead tree's trunk.
He remained on the ground until a familiar voice echoed in his head.
"Get up, Faust."
It was Red's voice.
"Get up now! And stop sulking so much."
Faust remained silent. He didn't even care that Red had finally spoken more than four words at a time.
"Stand up. Don't give up now."
Red's voice failed to convince Faust.
Faust remained silent, he was still lying down on the ground looking at the ceiling.
After that, Red kept quiet as usual.
******
In the village hall, it was barely illuminated by the sunlight coming from the window. Klara was speaking with her husband, the village lord, Kain.
"My Lord, I believe the suspect was indeed guilty. There is enough evidence to think so. He has mana, and from what I could observe, his mind is quite sharp too. It's perfectly plausible he killed those beggars.
"I asked the captain to prepare his execution. We should do it as fast as we can. Since our village is about to become a town, it wouldn't be good to have anyone think a demon worshipper is acting."
"Hahaha, Klara. You truly are my wife. You don't think that kid is guilty at all, do you?" Kain looked at Klara; she stared at the ground. He got closer to her and hugged her. "You know the beggars would cause more problems unless we found a culprit. It's unfortunate that it landed on the kid's shoulders, but I agree with you. We should prepare his execution quickly."
Besides Faust serving as a scapegoat, the execution was also a powerplay—a message: if anyone tried to trouble the village, they would be executed, be it a kid or an adult. Lord Kain was intelligent, a smart man. He hadn't reached the lord's position by luck after all. His wife was a fruit of the same tree; she was intelligent as well. Unfortunately, sacrifices were needed. A little hypocritical, but so is the world.
"Guards, find Hugo and tell him to schedule the execution of the demonic worshipper for tomorrow," Kain commanded.
"Alright, My Lord!"
"Alright, My Lord!"
Both guards said in unison, leaving quickly.
Kain let go of his wife and sat back on his wooden throne. She sat beside him.
Faust's execution had been set in stone. He had one day left.