Book 1, Verse 32

The verse that came to mind was, I think, one of John’s favorites.

“A harsh word stirs up anger, but a kind word turns away wrath.”

I remembered the way he always said it, a little bit smug, but mostly sincere.

My eyes gently opened, and I spoke to Niels as calmly as I could.

“Why?”

Niels looked at me, confused.

“What does that even mean?!” He yelled.

I did my best to keep calm.

“Why are you saying all of these horrible things to Elisa?”

Niels looked like he wanted to do nothing more than punch me in the face.

“Because they’re true.”

“Even if they were true, why are you saying them to her now?”

Niels looked disappointed in me.

“Of course an idiot priest would try to interject when we’re talking about something not even related to religion. Why don’t you shut up and go console Vivian?”

Vivian was tearing up from the whole affair, but it wasn’t time to do that. It was time to remain calm.

“Niels, why are you saying these things to Elisa now?”

Niels glared down at me and opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything.

“She deserves to hear them!”

A memory of what John had told me back when we’d first met came to me.

“Deserves? Niels… I think you know that, according to God, we all deserve much worse than what we receive.”

Niels frowned.

“Killing a beast for nothing but her own gain; it’s cruel! It’s malicious!” He said.

I gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

It suddenly felt like I was much lighter than before, as if I were walking on air. The sunlight seemed brighter than before as I spoke. I looked up at Niels, and I felt a strange sort of confidence that I hadn’t felt before begin to course through me.

“Niels. She is intent on killing an animal.” I looked at him calmly, and for the first time really got a good look at his emerald green eyes. “And as majestic as it is, animals are not the primary focus of God’s work.”

“What, so we should slaughter them without a care? Raze the land until naught but cinders remain?!” He interrupted.

I waited for him to stop.

“Niels, in God’s eyes, people are more important than sparrows and lilies.” My voice became firm. “It’s true that God commands us to take good care of the world He created.”

Even though nothing changed outwardly, something inside me told me that Niels’ confident anger had begun to crumble slightly.

“But you have elevated God’s creation above those who He created in His own image, and you have crushed and ravaged with your words one for whom the Savior from another world died.”

Niels looked at me, his confidence nearly destroyed.

“B-but, she’s… there’s no need for her to kill it.” He said, trying to remain confident.

“And there’s no need for you to kill her.”

He looked at me, absolutely gobsmacked.

“I-I wasn’t going to kill her!” He said defensively.

“You let your anger rule you while you spoke to her. All you wanted to do was harm her with your words…” I said calmly.

Niels became quiet.

It was time to clinch it.

“And you have done your best to kill her spirit.” I finished.

Niels’ resolve shattered. I watched as he took a step back, then breathed deeply, before beginning to hyperventilate. He looked at Elisa’s back, and his eyes filled with recognition.

He fell to his knees and lowered his head.

With that handled, I turned my attention to Elisa and stepped towards her.

She still hadn’t moved.

I opened my mouth, before remembering something that had happened to me back when I was still in college.

It was after I had known John for a little over a year. I was the junior to his sophomore. One day, halfway through the second year of our friendship, I had been cheated on by my girlfriend.

I cringed at the memory of it.

What I remembered was that while I had been reeling from the blow she’d dealt me, I had confided in John. When I had, I had expected him to begin lecturing me on ‘choosing the right woman’ and ‘praying about these things.’

What he had done had surprised me.

And now it was my turn to surprise Elisa.

Without speaking, I shut my mouth, walked over to where she stood, and stood next to her.

She didn’t turn to look at me.

And I didn’t turn to look at her.

The sun shone brightly overhead as the breeze picked up again. Off in the distance in front of us, the tares were grazing, completely unaware of the distress they had caused us.

Out of the corner of my left eye, I could see Elisa’s face.

It was red and her eyes were puffy, and there were tear-trails going down her face. Every few moments another tear snuck out of her eyes and she shook a little bit trying to hold it back.

I didn’t say anything as she trembled.

Leaves fell from trees somewhere in the distance.

Butchers were selling to customers somewhere in Mandl.

Back in my world, there were people playing the latest video game.

And here I was, standing next to a woman I hardly knew, doing my best to comfort her.

I looked at Elisa quietly, before looking towards the horizon with her again.

A deep breath entered my lungs as I stood still.

Her face was still red and her eyes still looked puffy, but the tears had become less frequent. She was breathing more evenly, and not through stilted and forced breaths. Her trembling gradually lessened as well.

After a few more minutes, the only evidence left that she’d been crying were her eyes. Her shaking completely stopped. She stood there, with the knife in her hand, facing the single tare still standing in the plains a distance away from us.

With a shaky sigh, she slowly turned to look at me.

On her face was a familiarly annoyed expression.

“W-why are you standing so close to me?” She said, trying to sound annoyed. “It’s… kind of creepy.”

She took the hand that was holding the knife, curled it into a tight fist, and punched my shoulder.

“Dumbest priest I’ve ever seen.” She said, regaining some of her confidence.

With that, she turned to face the other two, and I did the same.

Vivian was crouching next to Niels; Niels had his head buried in his arms and was still on his knees.

Elisa looked at the two of them, and when she saw what Niels was doing, I saw a flash of animosity and sadistic glee cross her face, and her fangs became visible.

She opened her mouth with a smug look on her face; when she did, I could feel what was going to come next. A verbal beatdown even more damaging than what Niels had said to her was coming.

Vivian looked up to Elisa, her own trepidation plain on her face, and Elisa hesitated.

She looked at Niels again.

Her words came out stuttered and awkward as she spoke.

“I–I’m, um…” She stopped. Her ears were still laid back flat on her head, but they seemed less hard-pressed then they were before.

The wind passed by all of us, gentle and cool, and I could almost feel it calming everyone down.

I walked over to Vivian, and she slowly stood up.

Me and her both took a few steps back to see what Elisa and Niels would do. Once we were a few steps away, Vivian leaned in close to me.

“Shinko, could you please… give a blessing over what happens next?” She whispered.

I looked at her, slightly surprised.

“I don’t mind if you use magic or anything like that, but if you could use some of that ‘divine power’ right now… I promise not to tell anyone.”

I had already prayed about this situation once; I felt like praying again about the same thing in such a short timespan might not work so well.

Thankfully, before I had to answer, Niels spoke up, redirecting everyone’s attention onto himself.

Regardless of whether it was bad manners, I prayed that things would go well.