AN: I do not own The Slayers, I just play in the sandbox.
Gourry did his best to tune out Jade and Maius as they glorified knighthood. Once he had been that naive. He had truly believed that by following the rules for a knight and staying true to those ideals he would be able to save his family and help the Elmekian Empire. At the time, he was aware of just how high the stakes were, but he truly believed that if he remained a true knight goodness would prevail. Even after all of these years, the fact that the world seemed to have punished him for his commitment to those high ideals still stung. Because of his commitment to doing what was right, he lost not only his family but his homeland. Meanwhile, the people who played dirty were rewarded with positions of power.
He was worried that Jade and Maius were bound to feel that same crushing sense of disillusionment. But aside from trying to help them out what could he do? Even if he had the ability to talk to his teenage self and warn him what was to come, he was pretty sure his teenage self would not have believed him. There was little he could tell Jade and Maius that would brace them for what was to come. Experience was a cruel but effective teacher. And besides, perhaps they might just succeed.
Gourry turned on his back as he sighed as Jade started relaying to Maius a tale that sounded rather similar to one he used to hear in the Elmekian Empire. He closed his eyes to try to feign sleep as he suddenly became rather homesick. He started to think about what he could have done differently, how he could have achieved a better outcome. But it was futile. The corruption back home was just too deep for one man, still just a boy at the time, to weed out. And in his gut, Gourry felt it was the same here. Whatever was going on in Gyria seemed to be tied to forces so powerful they would blow Jade and Maius' mind.
Lina suddenly twitched in her sleep, elbowing him as she did. Maius apartment was tiny, way too small for six people, so he was crammed in with Lina, Luke and Milina like sardines. And to his luck Lina hadn't even given a second thought to lying down beside him. He smiled as he moved his hand slightly to touch her hair, taking comfort in her presence as she started to snore.
Was meeting Lina his reward?
Or was it luck?
Whichever it was, the fact remained he was not alone anymore. Lina, Luke and Milina may not have ascribed to the high ideals of knighthood, but they were all doing the right thing. After he left home he resolved to never be loyal to a place again. A country would just spit in your face while they stabbed you in the back for doing the right thing. Eventually he decided that the best thing to do would be to find other people who did the right thing. While they may not have toppled corrupt kingdoms, they saved lives. And that was reward enough.