"Jittol? That's…"
'The city other than the capital that had the honor of receiving The Hero's visit.'
Ackster looked at the ruins and let his eyes sharpen their focus further. It was destroyed.
When The Hero visited Jittol, the city had been flourishing enough to make The Hero suspicious, so he conducted an investigation and concluded that it was just one of the rare exceptions to the trashiness of humans. Moreover, there hadn't been a single mention of the city recently being razed to the ground.
Granted, The Hero's stop at Jittol had come a couple of years down the line. But the degree of destruction currently plaguing the city was beyond what Ackster thought was restorable and forgettable within such a time frame.
"What happened?"
Wilma had been curious about what Ackster was about to say, and she had patiently waited for him to continue while he was deep in thought. So, she couldn't help but feel it was a shame that he didn't say what was on his mind. But it didn't come as a surprise.
Ackster had never been talkative, and it had only gotten worse.
"It's a long and short story."
"..."
Ackster glanced at Wilma, wondering why she was beating around the bush.
"Well, it is pretty short, actually."
"..."
Wilma chuckled out of embarrassment. She had intended to delay her answer like this. It had just happened as she gathered her thoughts. What a blunder for someone who is usually calm and composed.
"So, a couple of months ago…"
Wilma began with hesitation. She needed to give a timeline for Ackster to understand. But she remembered the last time she had mentioned the passing of time to Ackster. Fortunately, he didn't seem bothered.
"...A group of people appeared and relentlessly started murdering and sacrificing everyone and everything they could get their hands on. They were too quick and brutally efficient, so when people finally noticed how serious things were, there wasn't much ordinary people could do. Currently, there are four S-rank threat-level individuals at the helm, along with too many to count mindless slaves. You know that ant queen you defeated?"
"Mmm."
"That one was technically S-rank in threat-level, but only because of the potential danger it posed. These four are like that since they each control a slew of slaves, ranging from ordinary humans to strong adventures in strength, in addition to their own S-rank strength."
Ackster had gotten a bad feeling from the beginning of Wilma's explanation, and it had only grown as she mentioned there were four of them. He didn't even know where this uncanny feeling came from.
"You don't happen to have any details?"
Ackster noticed how Wilma hadn't said anything about what the group was called, their names, or their specific crimes.
Wilma nodded.
"The four call themselves Blood Moon Avatars or Avatars of the Blood Moon."
'Shit.'
Although it felt like it was half an eternity ago, those two words rang through Ackster's mind like a church bell.
'So this is my fault then?'
He looked out over the ruined landscape below the balloon with a grim face.
"We've managed to get their names as well. They are—"
"Hansel, Moira, Nash, and Limm."
Wilma looked at Ackster, surprised.
"Y-yeah. How'd you know?"
"I've met them."
Ackster's gaze didn't move from the ground as his face darkened even further while thinking about what could have happened for this to happen instead of the original story, where they hadn't made an appearance, at least not one of this scale.
"Really?"
"Yes."
Since Ackster didn't tell her anything, even after she gently tried to pry information out of him, Wilma could only stop asking and let Ackster brood in peace.
'The turning point has to be Karandiel's Fall.'
Ackster quickly identified at what point his actions had changed the timeline. The only opportunity that he could see was when he had fought with Hansel and the others over Karandiel.
Of course, it could be something like a butterfly effect from something else. But considering how deeply involved with the Crimson Edge he had gotten, and how he had most likely sowed quite a deep grudge back then, it had to be related to it.
However, was that enough to cause them to go on a rampage and decimate western Lill? Why hadn't they done that in the original story?
'Maybe they couldn't.'
Ackster thought back to the scene around the golden barrier that had protected Karandiel as she fell to the mortal realm. Ackster hadn't been the only one to fight against the Crimson Edge, even if he had spearheaded it. But he thought about what would have happened if he hadn't been there.
The Crimson Edge would have wanted to monopolize whatever was inside the golden dome. Naturally, they weren't the only ones. It was just that the other adventurers in the area weren't powerful enough to oppose them.
But if there was someone powerful enough to do just that, and who would be very keen on getting their hands on a potential divine treasure?
'Willow.'
Willow hadn't revealed much of her strength during the actual fighting, possibly because she wanted to know what Ackster was capable of. But afterward, she had revealed quite a bit of what she could do. Ackster also discovered that she was an elf fighting to become the spokesperson of the Forest of Eternity.
She both wanted whatever was inside the golden dome and had the power to take it. Willow also had the Friends of the Forest skill, which would help her determine Hansel's and the others' true nature to some degree. She would be able to tell that they were rotten eggs.
When he thought back to it, Willow definitely seemed sharp enough to know to kill enemies. She was probably also more experienced than Ackster.
Without Ackster's involvement, Willow would have fought and killed the Crimson Edge adventurer group, forever removing the threat of the Blood Moon. Then, she would have picked up Karandiel, realized she was a fallen angel without power, and probably been disappointed. Even if Karandiel could regain her powers, it would be too slow for it to make an impact. Beings from the divine realm were also a grey area in terms of whether they could help in the spokesperson selection.
'In short, it's my fault.'
Ackster was pretty sure he managed to get a somewhat accurate picture of what would have happened if he hadn't gotten involved.
'If I had just…'
If Ackster had just taken the opportunity to end Hansel then and there, western Lill wouldn't have gone under. His decision to spare one life had cost thousands, tens of thousands, lives, if not more.
It weighed on his heart like an anchor.
He was the sole cause of this bloody disaster having struck the country.