Kenji, like Donny, tried to make a move to stop the woman as she headed towards the well, but he hesitated over whether or not this situation was really as it appeared. Maybe the woman was going to make some kind of wish on the well, or drag something up from its depths, call some horrible monster out to eat her instead--no. The simplest conclusion turned out to be the correct one, and Kenji watched like the others, wide eyed, as the woman threw herself to her death.

A shout drew his attention to another figure, this one a hobbling man who blamed the group for...something. As Kenji looked around at the slain dog-men, Donny was the first to call the stranger out on how fucked up all of this was. But all of this talk was bringing out some much more workable information about this new world that Kenji could start putting together for himself.

[i]I was actually right, in a sense. That woman was, if she's to be believed, a criminal who was being taken away for some kind of cleansing ritual. Why she bothered struggling I don't know...maybe it was just some kind of show?[/i] Kenji knelt next to the God Hand he had slain, and following Paul's earlier example, used its own cleaver to behead it. Though he was much more careful about it, and thus only got blood stains on one of his pants legs. He almost threw up again, but held it down as he used the creature's own ratty cloak as a bag to hold the dripping trophy.

[i]The woman uttered the same phrase that the pale lady did before, in that Church of the Absolute. These creatures were called God Hands...implying they're servants of this same Church?[/i] He looked at Maria. The likelihood that she and the strange, patchwork-quilted man from before were being intentionally misleading seemed much higher to him now. [i]The Mayor didn't recognize us as Hunters at first...implying that the reason the other townsfolk don't get involved is because they've all intentionally agreed not to do so for some reason. If this failure means that the God Hand will come back in greater numbers...[/i]

He turned in place, looking out across the town in different directions. Here and there through the fog he caught sight of a wooden, barely standing wall. And of course the settlement as a whole still seemed to be a complete shithole.

[i]A necessary sacrifice? They allow the God Hand to take one of their own, in order to ensure survival and avoid conflict? And now we've ruined their ritual, so the God Hand will come in force to punish them. The Church of the Absolute requires Hunters to make donations, and they earn the money by slaying monsters...The monsters themselves serve the Absolute too. And they serve by murdering sinful humans...apparently killing people in large enough numbers that a town like this is turned into a ghost town and forced to willingly give themselves up to avoid being wiped out completely...[/i]

A flash of insight came to Kenji, and he involuntarily sucked in a breath.

[i]Absolute. Sinful nature. According to some theories of both religion and philosophy, human beings are inherently born with sinful natures. We design laws to prevent the sins of others, like murder and theft...but human laws are CONDITIONAL. Someone who steals a candy bar will get a lesser punishment than someone who steals a thousand dollars from a bank. Someone who unintentionally kills someone during a fight won't be sentenced as harshly as someone who plans out the murder in detail. 

But would an ABSOLUTE being allow such gradation on the scale of "sin?"

Maybe this Absolute god or whatever it is actually exists in this world, and sees humans as inherently corrupt. Thus they are deserving of punishment even if they haven't "done anything," because the very act of existing is sinful. So it uses the monsters to destroy them...yet maybe it considers the acts of violence the monsters commit to be sinful as well, and thus Hunters exist to punish the monsters? It seems like it would create an endless cycle...but it also provides money for the Church...[/i]

Kenji growled to himself and shook his head. He was jumping to too many conclusions. Still, his hunch about the woman had been right. They should have just let her be dragged away, as heartless as it was to say. He felt like he was on the right track, but that he was definitely missing some vital pieces. 

He would let Donny question the Mayor, and no doubt some of the others would do the same. Instead, he turned back to the pale woman. Walking up to Maria, spear cradled in one arm and leaning against his shoulder while his other hand held the bag with the God Hand's head, he looked at her suspiciously behind the thick frames of his glasses.

[@KoL]"You want us to make donations to the same God that uses these creatures as his Hands? Or am I misunderstanding that?" he asked. "What exactly are the teachings of the Church of the Absolute?"