Ryuma couldn't even call this an awkward silence. It was unbelievably cold and suffocating enough to effect his breathing.
What could he say to them? The priest came and had their way with any female they got their disgusting hands on.
And the worst part about it, is that everyone just let them do it… him included.
His own eyes were dead to the world. Lost in the ever turmoil of questioning everybody he ever knew. What if this wasn't just Geneo Taku that was like this. What of his friends? His family? His mother… his father?
Did they all view the lower world like this?
The soft pouring sound of water could be heard as Castor would constantly wring the cloth in the tub of water that his nude wife currently sat in. He'd wipe her down with little emotion shown, though the tear stains he had were still present.
It was clear to him that neither of them cared about his presence of her modesty. Her mind was as broken as her shame was, so there was little left there to salvage.
It only disgusted Ryuma more. Every time he'd look in her direction, he'd look away in thought. How could they be so calm about this? Was this their life?
"I've wiped everywhere. We should get you dried and dressed before you catch a cold," Castor said.
"No…" It was meek and low, but it was Mera's voice. "I'm not clean enough," She grabbed her own head. "I still feel dirty Castor. I can still feel his touch,"
This time she put a hand on her stomach. A stomach that Ryuma realized showed early signs of pregnancy. "This baby…"
"Is our beautiful baby. I don't care what anybody says about it. It's ours and ours alone,"
She didn't say anything. There was only silence.
"Why?" Ryuma asked.
"I don't know what you're asking. Why do they do this? Why is the world like this? Why…"
"Why did we just sit back and watch it happen?" Ryuma asked a little more forcefully than he wanted.
"Ahh… I see. A spirit wielder like you, have no concept of how weak we are to the priests," Castor took a deep breath. "Even if he took him by surprise, the best we could do would be a scratch of blood before the three of them would wipe us out,"
"If that's true, then why did I not do anything?" Ryuma asked.
He could've taken Geneo out if he got him by surprise, and the other two would be easier. Something in him froze from doing so and it came when Mera herself stopped him.
Castor never once looked his direction. He just continued wiping her down as per her request to not leave the tub.
"Suppose you did. Suppose every one of your calculated plans would have gone off without a hitch and you killed all three of them off. What do you think happens then?"
Ryuma was drawing up a blink. Sure he had an idea, but Geneo was the worst he could get.
"They'd send a squad to wipe us all out. Not just a slaughter, but an entire cleansing. The men, the woman, the children. Even the cattle, the fields, and the housing. We will be wiped of our lives, our culture, and our existence. Proof we were ever here will be destroyed just like that. Because that's the way of The Order,"
The way he spoke, Ryuma could deduce that this has happened before. A village down here that none knows about. It wouldn't shock Ryuma at this point if the order took an extra measure and decided to erase the history as well. He doubted that whatever town this happened to still remained in the history books.
Would The Order really be that meticulous over a few people, tithe collectors at that.
"It's like… it's illegal to even fight back even when you're wronged," Castor said.
Ryuma tried summoning one of his katanas. As it was forming, it shattered itself in refusal to manifest. His hand was uncontrollably shaking, racked with the fear of his trauma. Much as he wanted to blame Mera for stopping him, he didn't know why her meek call to halt was able to do so, even at the point of being raped.
All he had to do was sink the point of his blade into that body of his and… That's right… that's why he couldn't do it now that he imagined it.
He was raised his whole life in the Skylands to see the demons as the enemy. Turning his blade on humans made him sick to his stomach, and he was utterly incapable of it. Killing another human being. This must be why his blade no longer manifested itself. He didn't know what he wanted to do with it, or how to use it properly.
"If… if it's this bad. Why don't you leave? Run-away far away and never look back. You have plenty of chances to do so,"
Castor looked at him this time. "Ryuma. Have you ever seen an apparition here?"
"Apparition?"
"Those things you and you're priest call demons. Down here we call them apparitions. The bumble flowers that grow here are a natural repellant, so much so that they don't come here. This is the perfect place for a sanctuary, to people like us, but at the same time, provides us a place as a point of interest in the Skylands now that they've found humans living here,"
So leaving was nothing more than suicide. For Castor and everyone who endured all the harassment, the idea of leaving here must be devastating to them. They have everything they have to weigh in everything they do. The pros and cons, and they chose this.
He tried to summon his katana again, and flashes of the child burning back when he was eight, was now joined with the scene of Mera and Geneo.
"Has nothing really changed?" he looked at his own hand. How was he going to kill Geneo if he was this useless now?
The door flew open so hard, it bounced off the wall, and a man came running in panting hard. "CASTOR, COME QUICK! It's Seka, she…"
The man stopped when his eyes spotted a third person in the room he wasn't expecting to see. Upon meeting his eyes and taking him in, his eyes turned into immense fear as it widened. He fell to the ground and prostrated himself instantly.
"Forgive me! I didn't know there was a fourth priest here!" The man said.
Ryuma looked at himself and realized he was still in his priest outfit. Sure it was a far different color palate than the normal, but the attire matched, nonetheless.
Whoever this man was, he must not have gotten the news of his infamy yet.
"Forget who he is Carl. Tell me what happened," Crastor said.
"ARE YOU NUTS!? THAT'S A PRIEST YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! YOU DON'T WANT TO GET US ALL KILLED DO YOU!?" Carl said.
Ryuma got up annoyed that he was being put in the same category as them. "Don't worry. I'm not like them. I don't want to harm any of you," Ryuma said.
He looked back and forth from Ryuma to Castor if only to verify that he was telling the truth. Crastor gave a slight nod his direction encouraging him to get on with it.
"It's Seka, she was found hanging,"
Castor dropped the cloth and immediately rushed out. Carl reluctantly followed, leaving Ryuma with just his wife.
He took the time to help her dress. The news shook even her. Even she might want to be out there. Once she was fully dressed, she ran outside towards the direction everybody else had run towards. Ryuma was about to run outside when something caught his eyes.
It was the bounty on his life with about a hundred thousand gold teals on it. He decided to grab it and take it with him.
Every one of the townsfolk bared witness to the body of a woman, strung up from a sturdy branch. Her body swaying with the feint wind. The only thing they could do was watch and feel sorry for the poor young girl. Her maidenhood stolen from her in the most beastly way imaginable.
It was self-inflicted.
Anybody who ran up there more or less, gave the same reaction. Shock and surprise that someone decided enough was enough, or mild indifference that this was just more of the same and was an expected outcome. After all… how much of this could one really take before they snap?
Realistically, this didn't change their fate even a little. All it meant was that there was one less girl for them to chew on and that the rest of the girls were one body shorter to being picked.
"C'mon… let us remove Seka from up there," Said the oldest man there.
Most of the men calmly looked at the body as they began trying to get up there to remove her from it. Only one man in the mix looked like he was on edge, and that man was Carl.
He was one of two that knew that a priest was in the vicinity.
Speaking of which, people turned as they noticed the presence of a priest dressed in white coming up from behind them.
Ryuma decided, that he should at least pay his respects.