Logan didn't know how he got back, but he found himself in the room he used at the Rosengard Estate. His hands were still trembling, the young demon girl's face ever-present in his memory.
He could feel the way he killed her, the anger that drove his actions, making him shiver to remember.
Especially when he made the mistake of seeing her face—her bloody mouth, her lifeless eyes—they tormented him. It was not what he wanted to do.
He felt his fox over his sheet, the embrace of his slime, and even the goblin at the corner of his bed, crunching on something. Yet, he couldn't feel the warmth from any of them.
Not even the blanket he was using was enough. He covered his head just to make sure, trying to hold on to the contents of his empty stomach, acid doing its best to burn his insides.
An hour, two hours—he did not keep count of the time. It wasn't until he felt a hand over his back that he reacted.
"Logan?" He heard the sweet voice of Rubina calling him. He knew she had called him many times during the day, but this time he reacted to it.
"I know how you are feeling, but you have to remember you did it to protect your own. Remember how you felt and try to understand that what you did was worth something," she said, keeping her hand on his back.
She used some magic to make the area around him warm. Her soothing voice lulled Logan to sleep as Rubina began to softly hum a melody.
Seeing the boy finally asleep, Rubina stayed for a few more minutes, just in case he happened to wake up unexpectedly.
She overheard what had happened and knew Logan was not yet ready to kill others.
Rubina could understand killing beasts; they seemed easier to get over after a while. But killing humans—or in this case, demons—was another matter altogether.
Valeria dropped off Logan and talked to her father before informing the kingdom about what had happened. She said she would emphasize the fragile minds of the teenagers and how difficult it would be to introduce killing to the other heroes.
Rubina herself had never killed another human or demon, so she didn't truly know how Logan felt. Her father was not one for fighting, but for creating—each day, he bred new creatures of various species for his research.
The only death Rubina witnessed was the killing of insects or the lesser intelligent beings to be fed to the carnivores. She didn't even have to take part in that, as her father had many workers to oversee such roles.
She sighed as she looked at Logan's tames, who did their best to be there for their master.
The only one not present was his newly evolved Scorchwyrm, or whatever new species it was, because it was too big for the room. It would easily take up half of the place.
All of them looked sad, scared, and anxious. It seemed that even the short time they had spent with their master was enough to form a strong bond.
She left the room and went down to visit Logan's newest tame. It still had some parts of its leg damaged by magic, which seemed to be what drove Logan to kill.
The limb was slowly healing with magic, but scales were not the same as skin—they would take a little more time to grow back.
The young beast cried out in joy upon seeing Rubina, who often brought it more food than she should have. She had done this since the first day Logan left the beast here, thinking it would be a good way to get on Logan's good side.
She petted the young creature, and then went over to her father's laboratory. The earl was busy examining a mutation crystal, which was the cause of many of the problems the kingdom was facing lately.
He was testing it on some insect creatures, trying to figure out a way to prevent the mutation. The mutation was causing the creatures to experience an anomaly in their mana cores, something that made them expend mana erratically and even caused the cores to explode when enough time was spent with the blue gem.
"There doesn't seem to be anything I can do for now. Only light magic helps, but the crystal needs to be removed to purify the body. It will take too long to heal every creature in the forest this way," he said, taking off his strange spectacles that allowed him to magnify what he was looking at.
His assistant, who was brought by the Church of Light, helped decontaminate the area and used a purifying spell on the earl before he left, to make sure to prevent any consequences from the prolonged exposure.
"Well Rubina, how is Logan doing? I hope he is resting well. He will need time to heal from what he is going through," the earl said, walking back into the mansion with his daughter who was hugging his arm.
"It seems he finally went to sleep after I helped him with some of my magic. I don't think it will last long, so I had his maid check on him," Rubina replied. Everyone seemed too tired to eat, so they decided to talk for a while before sleeping.
It took two days before Logan had the strength to get up, thanks mostly to the help of his tamed beasts. They seemed eager to eat, though some, like him, abstained from eating.
He didn't like this though; they didn't have to suffer just because of him. Logan got up, which made the rest of his beasts to imitate him.
His cute little fox wagged her tail like a puppy, placing her small paws on his legs as if asking to be picked up.
His slime, which was attached to him, jiggled slightly, likely the weakest of his beasts due to the lack of food. As for his falcon, it entered through a half-opened window, holding a small rodent ready for Logan.
[Master, food, I brought!] it communicated with an innocent tone; Logan did not know how to respond to its strange act of kindness.
"Thank you, everyone. Zephyr, humans can't eat that, but I appreciate the offer." Logan petted the falcon, who promptly devoured the refused meal.
It was still happy that its master was pleased by its action. Logan knew his tamed beasts were doing their best to support him, even when he felt he didn't deserve it.
"Come, let's find our friendly little goblin who is probably in the kitchen, and meet up with Scorch, whom I haven't checked on for a few days," Logan said as he put on a new set of clothing that Ruri had left for him.
Tossing the dirty clothes away felt refreshing. They probably still had dirt from the outing; his pants had a few burnt parts, and his shirt was still damaged on one side.
He tried to forget what caused it for now, as he had other things to do.
With a fresh set of clothes and a renewed sense of purpose, Logan gathered his tamed beasts and headed towards the kitchen to find the small goblin.
The sun was shining brightly outside, casting warm rays through the windows, and Logan felt a weird spark of joy igniting within him.
Soon he heard the cheerful kitchen staff as he entered to find his goblin; they filled the room with warmth. There were five people in total, all talking and complimenting his goblin, who someone had dressed up.
Based on its design, he guessed it was either Rubina or Chloe, both of whom he knew had the best tastes in fashion.
The small creature did not seem to care for the words given to her; instead, she was drawn to the smell of the bread being baked and the food being prepared.
One of the chefs gave her a piece of jam to calm down the small creature, who cried in frustration from hunger.
As soon as he entered the kitchen to calm his little glutton, the staff turned towards him, each one cheering at his presence.
"Good to see you, Hero Logan!" one of the maids exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with warmth. "We've got a feast prepared for you and your companions; I hope you can wait just a little bit."
The chefs nodded in agreement, busying themselves with platters of food that looked and smelled delicious. Logan's tamed beasts perked up, their eyes wide with anticipation.
"Oh… thanks, don't mind me, I just came for this little one," Logan replied, trying his best to calm his nervousness.
"Don't worry about Princess; she's always here to help taste the food," one of the chefs said. She was an elderly but healthy woman who gave another portion of jam to his goblin with a smile.
"Thank you for taking care of her." Logan finally had the courage to smile, each moment he began to forget the pain that ailed his messed-up mind.