)—(\IV/)|—(
Being a captain of Melromarc's knights was never a job to be taken lightly. There was never a chance to even see it as a simplicity to life and in fact, it was guaranteed to make things even more difficult. Everything must be approached with the greatest of care and the utmost of efficiency, not to mention that it must be the most correct solution to the problem at hand.
It wouldn't be hard to imagine the type of stress that a person would need to hold in their arms everyday in order to be a functional leader for his soldiers, but none of the knights would have been able to guess such heavy thoughts would plague their steadfast captain's mind.
To the rookies and to the veterans, to the nobles and to the civilians—Lothringen Vortigern was the ideal knight. He, under the close command of the king and queen alongside his colleagues, helped to uphold the country's peace whenever the presence of Melromarc's knights were needed. There was no faltering from that ideology that he respected so much, yet he found himself in doubts these days.
When the Cardinals Heroes were to be summoned, he stepped forward immediately to assist Aldrecht with the ritual to ensure that it hadn't gone wrong. To be honest, that was simply half the story.
Even men in their mid-forties have their idols that they kept close to their hearts.
For Lothringen, he looked up to the Cardinal Heroes, uninfluenced by the teaching of the Church of Three Heroes. It was their legends that inspired him to be a man that protected his country's peace and to meet them while guiding them in their guide from afar had been a dream come true.
And yet, that had only been a dream.
It was still a dream that was yet to be seen coming from the horizon.
People saw his investigation into the situation of the Shield Hero to be noble of him, letting himself be tasked with something so important that related to the Cardinal Heroes, but it wasn't anything of the sort. Lothringen simply didn't want to believe that the Shield Hero would dare commit a heinous crime against the princess, whether he knew that to be her identity or not. He didn't bother with investigations normally, knowing that his knights were already more than enough to conduct them properly.
However, he wanted to see the evidence for himself and if he couldn't come to a conclusion, he wanted to allow the wise king to be able to make his informed analysis on the matter. Though at the time, he felt rather shaken when not even half of the evidence had been presented when the wise king decided on the Shield Hero's fate.
When the hero had left the castle gate, he knew he simply needed to trust in the king's decision for that would have been the best outcome. There was no reason to doubt it, the man who helped bring victory to Melromarc during the Siltvelt War and the ruler that held peace between the nations alongside the queen.
However, as much as his steeled resolution was on the streets, he was completely taken aback discovering the incident within the Church and its correlation to the Sword Hero and eventually the Shield Hero. He knew what needed to be done, but it didn't make the job any easier to do.
In a way, he was thankful for Zellus' interruption, but in front of his knights, there was no simple way to express his gratitude. He should consider himself lucky that Zellus was so insistent on fighting them, despite the fact he only bought in the Sword Hero.
It was a bright day outside.
It was much too bright for what the capital was facing these days.
He left the castle, heading over to the Church of the Three Heroes. It had been a few days since the proclaimed attack of the Sword Hero, but something about it didn't sit right with him, as did the crimes of the Shield Hero. Once again, he took it upon himself to conduct an investigation, but it took this long for the Church to properly give him access to the crime scenes.
As he was passing down the streets, he noticed a familiar face out of the corner of his eyes
There was no need to call out for him; that man had done so already for him.
"Oh, Captain! Fancy seeing you here!"
"Weren't you supposed to be on castle patrol?"
"Yeah, but that was boring! Nothing was happening!" A grin was all that was needed to say everything else, as well as the retort for what Lothringen had been thinking. "I had one of the rookies take the job in my place! See? I wasn't going to just up-and-leave the position and all!"
"But you did."
"Ah, don't sweat the smaller details!"
Lothringen had that familiar exasperation welling in his throat, accumulating in a deep sigh. He walked off with Zellus following him like a tamed monster trying to ask for their meals.
"Anyways, the Church finally got off their high horse and allowed you to come investigate for yourself?"
"I wouldn't phrase it as such, but yes. After conducting their own investigation, they have allowed the knights to come in for our own. I already have people at the library to record evidence and observations."
Zellus grunted, averting himself from the captain. "Do you really think that you'll find anything? It sounds pretty clear that the Sword Hero came and attacked the Church's library."
"And yet, there was no claim that it was the Sword Hero specifically. We had a description, not a name, as a witness testimony. It was entirely possible that someone may be posing as the Sword Hero."
"I don't think there'll be anything concrete that points otherwise. If that was the case, I would have beaten up the Sword Hero for nothing!" Zellus jested, laughing at his own joke. "It would definitely leave a bad taste in his mouth!"
"I hope he will be understanding."
"Eh, don't count too much on things going our way," Zellus quickly replied, holding that usual whimsical air as he spoke. "Wouldn't it be much more interesting if it didn't?"
He shook his head. "I'd rather have control over the situation than allowing fate to decide."
Zellus, in turn, scratched his head in the response. "Yeah, what other response was I really expecting?"
Lothringen noticed that Zellus was walking side by side with him for some time, even as they approached the street to where the Church had been. He hadn't been much of a man for these types of jobs, so he wondered about the change of heart. Though, he doubted it was as such, but he merely wanted to ensure it.
"Are you accompanying me to the investigation site?"
"Nah. I got no reason to." He gazed over to the direction of the Church, where the pointed roofs baring its rightful crest were visible. His voice had dropped somewhat from the upbeat tone. "I won't find anything for me at the Church anyways. They probably already moved it again."
Lothringen furrowed his eyebrows.
"What are you talking about?"
"Ah, it's nothing important." He dismissively waved the subject matter away with his smile. "I was only thinking out loud, that's all! You wouldn't understand even if I sat you down at a tavern and explained everything to you from the bottom up. My recommendation for the menu, don't bother."
Lothringen groaned. "I haven't for a long time, Zellus."
"Speaking of which!" Zellus sped up and stopped Lothringen in his tracks, pumping his fist at the captain's chest. "Are you available for tonight? Our usual tavern just came out with a new meal to their menu! Perfect opportunity to get some alcohol into our system!"
"I appreciate the offer, but I must regretfully decline."
"Oh, come on!" Zellus stomped the ground like a child not getting their requested toy. "You really look like you needed to lighten up over the last week or so! Especially since the Shield Hero's trial! It's fine to take breaks now and then! Look, I'll even pay for both of our portions! It'll be my treat!"
"Once again, I must decline. I rather focus on concluding my investigations first and foremost before treating myself to anything, even if it's on someone else's copper." Lothringen averted his gaze from Zellus' hopeful eyes, but if the offering knight had been expecting anything else, that would have been the unexpected route. "Besides, I have not done anything worth a reward yet considering the circumstances. Perhaps you can hold off your reservations until this whole mess is over."
"Which mess could you be referring to?" Zellus took a few steps over to have his body be seen in his captain's perspective. However, Lothringen could not see his expression. "Are you talking about simply the Sword Hero incident? Or is there a bigger mess that you want to deal with beforehand?"
"I want the ordeal with the Cardinal Heroes to be finished. Not simply the Sword Hero, but I want to ensure that there are no more loose ends when it concerns the four Cardinal Heroes. I pray that there won't be any problems concerning the Spear Hero and the Bow Hero."
"Huh. What a coincidence."
Brushing it aside, Lothringen regained his posture. He didn't bother to ask any further about what Zellus' coincidence might be and even if he did, it would have ended up as a vague response. He was always trying to dodge his way out of straight answers if he didn't want to part with the information that easily.
Zellus was always the kind to drop hints, but never elaborate what type of hints he was dropping.
"Anyways, I've wasted enough time with you. You should move on with your assigned duties that I've given you, but you'll likely ignore that."
For Zellus' ten years old service, Lothringen still didn't have a surefire way to get the troublesome knight to work, always throwing it up to a coin flip. If it wasn't for his usefulness of his power and insight, he would have been executed a long time ago.
"At the very least, ensure that the streets are safe."
Chuckling, Zellus made a playful salute. "As always, Captain."
Lothringen promptly started walking down towards the Church. "I'll be on my way now. I wish you luck and if you do head out tonight for that new meal," he said as a subtle smile emerged from the normally-stoic expression, "I hope you enjoy it to great extent."
As Zellus watched the back of his Captain, he could only take a deep breath, seeing the utter stiffness in his words. However, it was combined with that sense of familiarity that made it less cringe-worthy, a mutual bond that was surprisingly worked up ever since he joined the knights.
Even if Lothringen wouldn't have used the word, Zellus would have liked to see them as friends.
That alone was the reason why he dropped everything in his past and started to fight for the Captain. To be honest, he was never interested in the knights as a whole and felt no obligations to prioritize the people, but ever since Lothringen had shown him his strength, he became very intrigued that a normal man had such conviction.
More so than his original target could ever garner from him.
"Sneaking up behind someone is rather rude, you know?"
He didn't even bother to turn around to feel the shadow's presence behind him, starting to make their approach the moment Lothringen left. He had to guess that they were currently disguised as a normal civilian, but those finer details were of no concern to him. Maybe it looked weird to the average passerby, but no one was stopping to stare at the interaction.
"Lord Aldrecht has a job for you."
"Can't that old mage come and meet for me himself?" He turned his head slightly, but made no visual contact with the shadow. "Was it so urgent that he had to proxy the message with one of your kind?"
"It is indeed urgent and must be addressed immediately."
The shadows weren't the type of people that Zellus could get any sort of reaction out of. Despite being able to tell the difference between each one, he couldn't really care much about them in the slightest, considering only a small subset of them were able to fight. Even then, they were merely assassins, not any of the dueling kind.
"Okay, so I'll ask. What's up?"
"The Spear Hero has been reported to arrive at the western gates of the capital."
Zellus' ears twitched as his interest became piqued. "Oh? I thought the Spear Hero wasn't supposed to be around these parts during this time. Was this intention to return added into our operative's report?"
"Correct. They were planning to make attempts in deterring the Spear Hero from returning, but they have been unsuccessful. Our intel says that the Spear Hero has learnt about the Sword Hero's situation. The extent of this knowledge is unknown."
"So Aldrecht wants me to be the last line of defense? Pick up on our little operative's slack? Isn't that right?"
"That is also correct."
"Oh boy, more work for me," he groaned. "But while you're here, could you pass something to Aldrecht for me? I found something the other day that might be a bit interesting."
Out of his coat, he pulled out a book. The material dated itself to be quite the old text, but looks were more deceiving before. If there had to be any type of idiom applied, judging a book by its cover was indeed one of them. He would have liked to hand it in sooner, but the contents of the book had been too interesting for him to not read over it.
In the end, he concluded that it ended up being a waste of his time.
Adversely, the books that Ren and Batka had uncovered were more than a treat for his eyes.
He held it over his shoulder and felt the grip of the shadow taking it into their care.
There was no word for confirmation, not that there needed to be any.
Zellus finally turned around to see that the shadow had already ran away. However, he glanced down one of the nearby alleyways where the shadow had fled towards. Though their footsteps were light and hard to track, they weren't impossible to listen to after getting used to how they moved.
With a deep sigh, Zellus brought his hands behind his head, resting it along the interlocked fingers.
He started walking down the streets, humming an unfamiliar tune to the public ears.
He had his orders.
It was another thing to consider if he was going to follow them at all.
)—(\IV| Chapter 1-23 |IV/)|—(
)\( Everlasting Conviction )/(
"... So uh, Sir Motoyasu? Could you explain once more why we suddenly came back to the capital?"
The group had been getting an inn for them near the heart of the capital since rushing over as soon as they could. Even throughout the carriage ride here, Motoyasu stayed silent within his constant worry for Ren's well-being and reputation. He knew from what Aldrecht told him that the Church was not to be trusted, but from what Myne told him, Ren had supposedly attacked the Church's library for whatever reason.
He was trying to possibly figure out what could have happened through the time it took to get here that he completely forsaken addressing the main issue towards his party members.
It was only by Elena's suggestion to grab a room that broke him out of his bubble. If it hadn't been for her words, he would have immediately stormed the castle in his demands to let Ren out. Thinking back on it, it sounded like a ridiculous approach, even if he was the Spear Hero. Even so, that was what he wanted them to allow him to do.
As Rino asked the question as the keys to their rooms were handed over, Motoyasu answered rather vaguely.
"Something came up that I needed to check out for myself." He looked over to the girls, holding the back of his head. "Sorry if I was dragging you all around just for something as simple as that. It felt really important to me that I had to get here as soon as I could, but you'll have to forgive me for not providing any more details than that."
He didn't want his party members to start getting the wrong impression of Ren.
He simply wanted to get this entire mess cleared up as soon as possible. It could have been a perfectly valid thought that the Church might have framed Ren if what he assumed was to be correct, but there were massive leaps in assumptions that were made and frankly, he didn't want to be blindly pointing fingers when he didn't know the full story.
That would have made him have a sour taste in his mouth, being a remainder of Naofumi's trial.
"Oh, it's not much of a problem," Rino responded, waving her hand forwards. "I only wanted to know the general idea of why we're here. If it's something that you see as important business, then by all means, Sir Motoyasu!"
"Is this going to take awhile?" Elena asked.
"To be honest, I don't know." Motoyasu sighed heavily, almost drooping his arms forward in a depression. He could tell that Elena wasn't too satisfied with the answer. "I'm hoping it doesn't take too long, but I can't make any promises either."
"Either way, you don't need us for whatever you need to do, right?"
He nodded. "Preferably, it'll be better if I do this by myself."
Elena's subtle tenseness seemed to have disappeared with that response. "Glad to hear it. We'll hang back at the inn and spend time around the capital."
He was happy that Elena and Rino were understanding and considering how Myne was the one to inform him beforehand, she would have been alright with letting him go off by himself to see what's going on with Ren.
However, the only person that had concerns was Lesty.
"Uhm, are you sure you should be doing… whatever you need to do here?"
When Motoyasu revealed that they were heading back to the capital, she was the one more bewildered by the abrupt decision. It was as if she was trying to turn him away from making such a move, but after Myne took her to the side and discussed some words with her, she eventually stopped gatekeeping the choice and allowed him to return.
He didn't understand her perspective, but she hadn't been saying anything else during the ride over here.
"I mean, the waves of destruction are coming up soon and I don't think backtracking is a good way to prepare for such an important task."
"We're already here," Elena refuted. "We might as well stick around and let Sir Motoyasu tie up any loose ends that he wants to finish. If there were any moments to stop him, it was back at the village."
"Yeah, I realized that, but…"
"It'll be fine, Lesty!" Myne followed up. "We can trust Sir Motoyasu to be off by himself. He's the Spear Hero, after all!"
Lesty tried to smile, but it was evident that there was some type of suppressed conflict arising. She twiddled her thumbs behind her back before making a bitter smile, as if there was something else she had been hiding.
All that resulted was a wryly smile as she brought her head forwards to speak with him.
"You'll tell us if there's anything wrong, right?"
"Y-Yeah," Motoyasu instinctively replied. "Of course. If it's something I can't handle by myself, the next course of action would be to have everyone help me out. I just didn't want to bother everyone if it's really meant for a one-man job."
"That just makes our lives easier," Elena commented, making herself at home at one of the nearby lobby seats. "No point in moving around with Sir Motoyasu if we're not needed."
"But what if he gets jumped or something like that?" Rino asked, most likely seeing what Lesty was trying to imply. "He's still one person against a group of alleyway thieves!"
"Then he shouldn't be heading into the alleyways in the first place," Elena quickly retorted back. "If he did that, he walked into that problem himself."
"I'll try not to raise concerns with everyone," Motoyasu laughed lightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "For now, think about the next few days as a little break from our journey of getting stronger! Everyone surely deserves it and it's a well-earned moment of relaxation before the waves of destruction!"
"I got an idea," Myne announced, turning to the rest of the girls. "I know just the place for that! There's a spa on the other side of town that is simply glorious!"
"Oh, that's a perfect place for you girls," Motoyasu cheered. "Spas are great for unwinding yourself!"
"You don't mean that ultra-expensive one, right?" Rino widened her eyes. "I wouldn't be able to afford to walk near the building!"
"It's fine, Rino! It's one of the best ones in Melromarc and it's all worth its value." Lesty twirled around the shorter girl and wrapped her arms around the adorable stature. Her mood shifted quite rapidly, probably thanks to Myne's recommendation. "You'll feel like a brand new person when you step out from their treatment!"
"With the money I have available," Myne said, "it'll be my treat! I'll even pay for everyone here!"
Elena's ears twitched as Myne mentioned that.
"I was thinking about staying back at the inn, but if you're offering, it would be a big waste to let it be taken down the river."
"You would really do that, Myne?" She looked upwards to her with thankful eyes. "That's really nice of you!"
"Erhm, not to take away from the whole gesture, but are you sure you should be doing that?" Motoyasu intervened. He got shot by a chilling dagger off the corner of his eyes by Elena, but he proceeded with what he was trying to convey. "If anything, I should be paying up everyone here. I'm the one who brought you girls here after all, so it only makes sense that I pay for your pleasure."
"What a gentleman, but it's not needed, Sir Motoyasu." Myne grabbed onto his hands, smiling at him. "I have more than enough to treat my dear friends to a day of relaxation. You should save your money for equipment and items for when we're on the field."
"Are you sure?"
"You already divide up the guild rewards with us, on top of buying us the equipment and meals that we need," Lesty added on. "I can imagine that your wallet is looking a bit thin right about now! Give it a little break from time to time!"
Motoyasu wryly laughed, considering she hadn't been exactly wrong.
He started to take a few steps over to the door, passing the keys over to Myne and Elena for their rooms.
"I'll be heading off now. Everyone, take care! I'll be back by sunset at the very most!"
The girls made waving gestures back to him, saying their temporary goodbyes for the day.
He was happy that all the girls were getting along so well with each other. He wondered if he had been honest in his past, none of those recollecting events would have risen up. Since getting those nightmares by that Miracle Seed cavern, he couldn't help to think about those two girls whose lives were lost because of him every time he looked at the party.
He merely hoped that nothing would break apart this group.
)—(\IV/)|—(
To be honest, Motoyasu had no idea where he should start.
It would have been the easiest idea to approach the castle and make demands, but he couldn't figure out what it is he wanted in the first place, despite rushing into the capital without hesitation. Naofumi always said that he acted first and thought about things later frequently when his emotions got the handle of his head. Ren would always berate him for that, but this most likely wasn't the best time to be reminiscing.
He had guessed that the Church of Three Heroes did something towards Ren that caused his arrest under the Melromarcian Knights. It was obvious that he simply needed to prove that the arrest was based on false accusations, but that was much easier said than done.
It wasn't as if he could run up to the king and tell him that the Sword Hero was innocent because he believed that he wouldn't commit a crime, even if it looks like he would at any time. He could feel Ren's invisible glare as he thought about that against his back, judging him for even issuing that comment.
This was especially the case when he knew absolutely nothing about the circumstances other than the fact that the Sword Hero was arrested. He tried asking Myne before departing for the capital, but other than the bare essentials, she knew nothing else.
He could try and ask around town, but if the Church of Three Heroes had really framed Ren for something, they could see him asking around about him as a red flag to them. He hadn't forgotten about the implications of their attack that Zellus announced to him and Aldrecht.
In the end, Motoyasu could only rely on meeting with Aldrecht once more to see what options he could possibly have. It wouldn't be out of the question if the old man realized the same thing as he did and was in the midst of figuring something out for his friend.
The streets of Castle Town hadn't been so lively as it was in the first few days. People settled down as the news of the heroes' arrival had done the same, allowing the civilians to return to their daily lives.
Regardless, he was able to walk around without being approached by anyone. He hadn't been hiding his face at all, but people weren't paying much attention to him. They probably thought he was another adventurer of the guild, but if it was that case, he was a little bit surprised that the general public knew what the Cardinal Heroes actually looked like.
Though, it was the world where things like television and the internet weren't existent, so it wasn't that hard to believe. He merely assumed that since the king said that rumors travelled quickly throughout the town, the descriptions of the heroes would have been acted in the same manner.
Adversely, it wouldn't have been too surprising if some of the knights knew him. A few of the ones that passed by actually looked at him, trying to remember if he was the Spear Hero or not, but even if they recognized him, Motoyasu didn't think that they would leave their duty just for an autograph.
However, a pat on his shoulder changed that thought.
There was at least one knight that would have.
"Hey, Spear Hero! Nice to see you again!"
"Oh, Zellus?" He turned around from the familiar voice. "I'm glad to see you too!"
The extravagant knight had smiled, brandishing his white teeth to the world. Conversely, the patting started to evolve into a full-body check, causing Motoyasu to become slightly uncomfortable, yet more confused to say anything about it.
"Hmm, no injuries. Better than I expected."
"W-Well, I mean…" Getting patted down by a knight wasn't how he expected to start off the conversation, causing him to stutter a bit. "There's no point in getting stronger if I lose against tougher monsters and enemies while growing. I'd rather play safe than sorry, especially when I'm in charge of my party members' lives here."
"I guess you have a point, but you shouldn't be too afraid to tackle bigger challenges."
After backing off, giving Motoyasu a bit of personal space, Zellus held himself in a rather casual posture. He started walking off down the streets, silently beckoning Motoyasu to follow him and given he had no other ideas for his current plans, it might have been better to play along.
After all, Zellus might be able to help him out as well.
Motoyasu merely needed to figure out a way to express his words that would enable him to help out Ren in some capacity.
"So, what brings you back to the capital?"
"I, uhm…" Motoyasu scratched his head, trying to enunciate his thoughts. "I heard about the situation with Ren recently. Myne told me it happened a few days ago, but I don't know a lot about it."
"And you came to check up on the Sword Hero?" Zellus rubbed his chin while bringing out his sharp glare at Motoyasu. "I thought we told you to cease contact with the other heroes until everything surrounding the Church was all cleared up. The idea that you came solely on the reason to check up on the Sword Hero might send some red flags towards them. You haven't told anyone about this, have you?"
"Other than Myne, no." He had almost a prideful assertion to his response. "I was mindful of keeping my reasons a secret and the other girls were fine with it."
"Good," Zellus nodded his head. "The less you talk about it, the better Aldrecht can control the information surrounding your return to the Church."
"So what should we do? I can't imagine Ren suddenly doing anything illegal enough to have himself arrested. You and Aldrecht are probably finding a way to help him out, right?"
"Not really."
Motoyasu stopped in his tracks after the nonchalant answer that escaped from Zellus' mouth. He waited for a second for him to reveal that he was merely pulling on Motoyasu's leg, but all Zellus did was stop after a few moments before glancing back. He even tilted his head, acting confused as to why they had stood still.
"W-What!?"
"As far as I know, we're not helping out the Sword Hero. There's nothing complicated about that."
"Why not!? Ren obviously wouldn't do such a—!"
Zellus grabbed Motoyasu's mouth before he could exclaim that proclamation into the skies for all to hear.
"Please don't just shout that out."
"S-Sorry, but you surprised me!" Motoyasu shook himself out as Zellus pulled himself back. "How are you not helping out Ren!?"
"We're not in the situation to do so. This might surprise you, but he really did attack the Church's library and was promptly arrested for it." Motoyasu's eyes widened as Zellus shrugged with a grin, somehow so chill about it. "Well, there's a lot of inbetween details that I skipped out on, but that's the general gist of it. So far, the Captain recently received access to the crime scene and it won't take too long for him to gather his own understanding."
"I… I don't understand."
Staggering backwards in disbelief, Motoyasu felt like he didn't even know Ren anymore. Despite the younger age, he always admired Ren for his calm and collectedness, even when he was expressing some type of displeasure towards him. He was the type of person where it would be assumed that he would be the one to think things through carefully and concisely.
"He… He wouldn't just…"
Had it been the different setting that tipped Ren off from acting normally? He knew Ren from his time living together, but perhaps Ren acted differently when he was playing a video game. He always saw that Ren's character in the brief Emerald Online playthrough would always be frontlining, aggressively using resources and skills, but that itself didn't make sense.
He was smart enough to not treat this like a game, right?
"R-Ren… why did you…?"
He wanted to deny it.
It was ugly to accept such a thing about his friend.
He didn't want to think about it, but he needed to know.
Clenching his fist and regaining some of his belief, he looked back at the knight.
"Zellus, I need to ask you a favour."
"A favour?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What could someone like me do to help out the Spear Hero?"
"Do you think you can get me a meeting with Ren?"
Zellus crossed his arms, moving his eyes up and down Motoyasu's stern posture. He was rather amused at the sudden advancement of the Spear Hero, almost at the point where he wanted to laugh out loud. He held back that feeling though, in respect to the earnest desire that Motoyasu had put forward, bare for him to see.
"What about the deal that you made with Aldrecht? We can't have you be seeing with the Sword Hero, after all. He would never allow for it and asking the Captain won't do you much either. Aldrecht's word is ranked highly in the Captain's eyes to the point and will trump yours."
"There has to be some way!" Motoyasu bowed his head in a single, quick motion. His ponytail draped his neck without any other regard to it. "Zellus, please! I'm begging you!"
Motoyasu didn't know what type of face Zellus had been making; even if his head pointed up, he kept his eyes closed in anticipation of the knight's response. He was hearing mutters from the surrounding crowd, talking about the interaction oddly playing out in the middle of the streets, but none of them belonged to Zellus.
His hands started to shiver, thinking about what type of silence Zellus had been giving out, but as seconds felt like minutes, he persisted in keeping his stance. He knew he suddenly came up with the idea, but it was something he truly wanted.
He wanted to hear Ren's side in its entirety.
He failed Naofumi once. He didn't want to fail Ren as well.
Suddenly, Zellus' hand held onto the back of his head lightly, almost patting it in a way.
He slowly glanced up to see Zellus having a bittersweet smile naturally forming on his face. He only knew the knight for a short time and had a handful of conservations with him, but something about that expression seemed very off to him.
"No matter what?"
Motoyasu rose back with a straightened back and silently nodded.
"Hmm." Zellus rubbed his chin with a pleasant smirk. "Yeah, sure. I'll gladly you help out, Spear Hero."
"Really!?" Motoyasu gasped in excitement. "Thanks, Zellus! I really owe you one!"
"However, I have one condition."
It would have been too good of a dream for the knight to do it for free. Motoyasu should have expected some strings to be attached, but his heart skipped a beat regardless. His ears were ready to listen, but his mouth didn't bother to affirm that he was prepared. Perhaps in some way, he wasn't and for what Zellus had in mind—
—he really wasn't.
"I want you to fight me, Spear Hero.
"If you can't beat me, you can forget about meeting with the Sword Hero."
)—(\IV/)|—(
The light breeze that came across the grassy plains might have been uplifting in the normal circumstances, but all Motoyasu could feel was the unnerving hiccups in his body, shaking at his fundamental core as he followed Zellus some distance away from the capital.
He knew this wasn't going to be a simple task if he compared how Zellus looked to the other knights. It wasn't simply due to the different outfit he had from the knights' general uniform, but his multitude of swords gave off a very ominous feeling that he hadn't been focusing on before due to the fact that he never thought he would engage him in combat.
Now that they were a few steps away from clashing weapons, Motoyasu was able to see him as an opponent and he really didn't like what he was seeing.
Added to the fact that this was the first time he fought another person in this world, he knew the request was going to be difficult to fulfill. However, he was keen on meeting Ren enough to be feeling the need to take down the knight.
"This should be the place."
They stopped inside a light forest where there had been a clearing between the trees. It was like a small arena where the trees had stood as the spectators to all who chose to fight in between their sights, but other than the monsters that seemed to not want to approach the area, this place was devoid of living creatures.
"Before we start," Zellus said, as he turned around, "you don't mind if I refer to you by name, right?"
"N-No, not at all!" The casual nature that the knight had stood in contrast to the restlessness in his heart. "If anything, I'd prefer that people call me by my name."
"That's good," he cheered. "I hate formalities in the first place."
Zellus drew one of his swords from his back, prompting Motoyasu to get into position with his spear. He slid his hand down the pole while bending his legs, all while keeping the tip pointed in Zellus' direction.
"Hmm…" Zellus glanced at the posture, scanning it in the matter of a few seconds. "Not bad, but it's not anything worth mentioning either. A bit too basic and simple."
He suddenly threw his sword off to the side, planting it next to one of the trees. Motoyasu flinched, surprised at the action, but the knight wasn't done yet.
He started repeating it with all his other swords, tossing them all to the side. Not one of them were treated differently from the other, ranging from his rapier to giant broadsword and his katana to short swords.
He kept setting each sword to the side until he was left with two daggers in his hands.
"This should be enough."
Zellus spun his daggers and held each one comfortably in his palms. Compared to Motoyasu's battle-ready composure, he looked too defenseless, but it was that exact thought that made him wary in the first place.
"Are you ready?"
In the split moment, his vision started to act weird. It didn't blur or disrupt his line of sight, but he noticed that his health bar had been glitching out. He couldn't even tell if the meter had been filled or not, as the graphical interface was indecipherable.
It wasn't much longer before something had popped up before his eyes.
[Attention]
[You have been marked with [Anti-Status Magic (Absolute)].]
"Hey, uhm? Zellus?" His attention was pulled over to the mysterious message that transparently blocked his sight. "Something just showed up in my Status Magic. Says something about 'Anti-Status Magic'? Not sure what that's all about."
"Don't worry too much about it. It's just there to help keep things fair," Zellus answered, tapping on the temple of his skull. "I wouldn't want our stats getting in the way of success, right?"
Motoyasu recalled the dueling function back in Emerald Online, where entering the player versus player arena would balance out levels to an equal playing field to ensure that the one with better knowledge and mechanics of the game would come out as the winner.
He didn't realize that this world had the same thing, but this might have eased the odds a bit to his favour.
"Now then, Motoyasu. Come at me with everything you got!"
)—(\IV/)|—(
Every theory that could be conceived to him was incorrect, but what had been more important was the information he could gather from each false hypothesis. However, when there were conflicting pieces of information that led nowhere, there was no conclusion he could possibly derivate other than the fact that he was dealing with magic that was truly unknown to this world somehow.
As a summary, Aldrecht had no idea what to do and had not progressed any further to the truth as he was a week prior concerning the summoning ritual.
He felt the semblance of failure creeping up to his frailish body. The only thing that was helping him ease this headache had been his relaxing sips of tea, but he noticed that he had been running out of his brews more at a quicker rate these days, especially when the confusing results of the ritual had not been the only thing he had to take care of.
In addition, there's still the need to coordinate against the Church. The reasoning behind the pope's hasty summoning recommendation had not been uncovered yet, but that action was certainly key in his grand scheme.
The mere thought of this caused him to slump his hands onto his desk. Pacing himself around the room hadn't been jogging his mind as well as it did in the past.
Who was he kidding here?
He was no brilliant tactician like his old friend.
Applying theories and repeating experiments was how he taught himself and gained his reputation as a researcher of academia. If he could repeat different tactics and see the different results, he could feasibly put together a proper plan that would be able to defeat Pope Balmus and his hidden weapon of the Replica.
Aldrecht was never a good chess player.
He simply played against Aultcray enough to learn his tactics and develop strategies that would be able to defeat him. These patterns would be transitioned to others who challenged him to the game, but there were far few who would. Nowadays, Aultcray was his only rival for the tabletop game of war.
Adversely, he wouldn't be surprised if his friend had been playing off a fresh slate everytime. If he had no doubt that Aultcray would be able to turn against their perceived ally and friend, he would have no issue in sharing details to the king.
Besides, this was something he felt he himself needed to do.
"Aldrecht? Are you in there?"
His friend's voice had echoed past his door as a few knocks followed in tandem. He quickly turned around after revitalizing his mentality, even if it had been done in falsehood. He certainly didn't want to concern Aultcray with these issues.
"Yes, I am. Please come in."
The door opened up as the king slowly entered. He had been still wearing his regal outfit, but he took off his crown the moment the door clicked back to a close. He used this time to walk around his desk and sit down beckoning Aultcray to have a seat on one of the couches. The king silently refused by standing a few meters away from the desk as he took notice of some of the diagrams of the summoning ritual on the chalkboards.
"What brings you here to my personal quarters?" Aldrecht asked. "If you needed to have a conversation with me, you could always have one of the servants fetch me for you to come to your room."
"That wasn't necessary," Aultcray shook his head gently.
"Then is there something you need from me?"
Aultcray sighed, holding his eyes shut before he stared at Aldrecht upfront.
"Are you doing alright?"
"... What brought this up all of a sudden?"
"You can perhaps call it intuition, but I've known you for far too long to be able to pass it as mere guesswork. You've been anxious of something for some time, but I don't remember when it was when I started to notice." Aultcray walked up to the desk to get a better look at him. "Though, it's clear that you've been more on edge lately."
"It's… nothing much," Aldrecht responded, averting his gaze. "I've simply been frustrated with the outcomes of my research so far. I haven't been able to gather any type of fruit from the seeds sown. Getting a rotten one would have been a blessing at this point."
It hadn't been the whole truth, but he wasn't lying entirely. However, Aultcray finally walked over to one of the seats and took his place down, grunting a bit as the cushions nested his body. In a way, he knew Aultcray was deeply worried, but he didn't know how far those worries went.
"You usually aren't so taken aback by these setbacks."
"It must be my age coming to bite back at me," he jested, chuckling in its trail. "I'm not as young as I was in the past, old friend."
"In the past, huh?"
Aultcray had a longing expression on his face as he fell back onto the couch's backrest. That little comment from him had Aldrecht to think about what he just said, yet he was likely seeing it in a different vein than his friend.
Indeed, their past had been much simpler than what he had to worry about these days.
"The years have truly flown by quickly, ever since I married Mirella and become Melromarc's king. It certainly would have felt much longer if you weren't by my side."
"I didn't do much, Aultcray," he chuckled wryly. "I merely supported you from where I could stand. The rest of the country's future was carved out by you and Mirella."
He was never any good with expressing his ideas or sharing words to other people. It was not as if he was an introvert, but it might have been quite the opposite. When it came to certain topics, he wouldn't know when to stop, so upon becoming his friend's retainer, he decided it would be best to seclude himself and offer assistance whenever his friend needed it the most.
Personally, he didn't think he did much work. At most, he served as a second opinion to the king's wisdom, gathering whatever holes that the king had yet to traverse, but he could never bring aboard any ground-breaking ideas to the table.
"Don't be so humble! If you were never by my side, I would think I would end up differently!"
"Even if I died back then, I still have belief that you would have become the hero of the Siltvelt War and attracted the fabled attention of Melromarc's current princess back then. My survival did not have much influence in your run from Faubley."
Speaking about it so nonchalantly after all these years, Aldrecht could remember the surreal feeling of death and agony spreading within his birthplace, engrossed in flames and screaming. He could remember his mother tucking him away in hiding while she ran out to distract those cold-blooded enemies, being one of the last times he saw her alive. It was so frightened that he simply ran away, only to encounter another group of killers.
It was almost a fleeting nightmare, yet it was something that he wasn't so bothered with anymore. Even with a lifelong burn imprinted on his back, a reminder of the terrible incident could only make him smile bitterly at worse. If anything, it was his friend that took the incident much more personally.
"Do you not doubt the fact that I would have been crushed by your death?" Aultcray retorted.
"At that time, we only knew each other for a year. I trust you could have gotten over it."
"At that time, you were the only one who had been close with my sister and I." A single scoff was his response. "Losing you in that attack would have been devastating to us."
"Is that so? It's been decades and this is the first I've heard about it."
"Well, we never got a good chance to reminisce about the past together like this in a long time. It's been business after business the moment I took the throne by Mirella's side."
"Didn't I say it beforehand? That being a king would be no simple task? It's far from what you were planning after our departure from Faubley and it wasn't a decision to take lightly back then."
Aultcray glanced down at his crown, nested softly on his hand. The weight of it had certainly become lighter over the coming years.
"I don't regret taking up the throne for one instance, even if I hated what it meant. It may have been difficult, but I've come to love my life here. With a loving wife, two adorable daughters and a good friend I could always trust, everything else could be hell and I'd accept it nevertheless."
"Heh. You truly have gotten soft, Aultcray," Aldrecht laughed.
Back in the day of war, this same man would have been sent his enemies into peril with unyielding control of the battlefield coupled with his ruthless plans catered to their ideal execution. That was the true face of the Wise Sage King, while the person who sat before him was nothing of the sort anymore. It was not a harsh criticism, but it was a thought that was shared between the both of them.
Even Aultcray had admitted that his title was much greater than his actual self, but if it continued to inspire the knights and the citizens, he would allow the title to persist. That wasn't even mentioning the blown-out proportion that Aldrecht's title had gotten. The Lord of Calamity was a bit much, even for his younger self.
"If only my sister could be here, it would have been perfect. Us three were quite the group, wouldn't you say?" Aultcray's grip tightened around his held crown, giving a bittersweet expression. He certainly hasn't gotten over the loss of his sister during the war. "She would have been happy to see where we were today."
"I'm sure she's still watching over us," Aldrecht comforted. "Though, I would imagine Lucia would have been quite the favourable woman if she had still been with us. I remember vaguely that during the war, many proposals would be given to her based on her beauty alone, only for you to step in their way."
Aultcray scoffed, just thinking about it. "I wasn't going to allow some random person to take my sister's hand in marriage, especially if she didn't know who they were before their offer."
"That sounds quite like you, of course. A brother being overprotective of the younger sister."
Aldrecht could always remember how much Aultcray loved his sister, but he couldn't blame him. Lucia had been the only family he had left. His parents were within the village on political business as the intruders invaded the territory, killing everyone that they could see. He was entrusted with protection of his sister and running away as their parents held back the enemies.
After coming to realize that the Faubley council would not pursue this matter, even if Aultcray's parents were of importance to the throne, they left everything behind to join Melromarc's borders.
"You know, I would have been fine if you were romantically interested in Lucia. You were one of the few people I could trust with her in your care, after all. I could have helped sort things out and pull strings together to make it happen!"
"So I'm reminded."
It was quite amusing to hear Aultcray's mindless speculations about those that would have never been. Even if Aultcray did hook them up, it would have never lasted long due to their platonic relationship with one another. Lucia was the same as Aultcray to him, a person that he dedicated his life to serving for saving his life. He wouldn't have been here if it weren't for the twist of fate that occurred, having their escape path line up closely with where he was being attacked.
However, as they trudged on through the memories, Aldrecht realized something.
"... Why have you come to my personal quarters, simply to talk of the past?"
Aultcray merely smiled.
"Because those were our golden days, my friend. You constantly stick your into research for so long, I'm afraid that you've forgotten how it was like to truly live your life." He started standing up from his seat and placed the crown back on his head. "I may not be as wise as I was before, but I can offer some wisdom to a frustrated friend. I'm not asking you to open up yourself to others, but perhaps it's best if you slowed down a bit."
"Aultcray…"
"Remember, Lucia treasured you dearly and so do I."
There was a sense of amusement lingering in his words.
"I would advise you to never forget that."
"Not that I ever did." A sudden recollection hit him as the door creaked. "Say, I heard that the Spear Hero has returned to the capital. Why don't you check up on your precious daughter?"
"If it were up to me, I'd be running over in the streets just to see her again."
With the door closing behind the king, it was fairly obvious that he hadn't caught on to whatever plans the pope had been holding up his sleeves and what inclusion that Aldrecht had within that countermeasure. Aultcray seemed to only have chalked up his pent-up emotions to the failing research of the summoning ritual and with tensions being high due to the incidents of the Shield Hero and the Sword Hero, it may have felt right for the king to sit down and speak as a friend to his retainer.
Aldrecht had to think about it though.
Had it been wrong of him to attempt and tackle this problem by himself from the very start?
Should he have taken at least some amount of risk in order to solve it?
His internal mumbling was cut short by a knock by a window. He had it previously opened for fresh air, but it now served as a secondary entrance for the shadow, crouching along the edge.
"Has Zellus properly received the order from me?"
"He has. However, he wishes for this article to be delivered into your hands."
Aldrecht looked over to see the shadow placing some textbook onto his table. It looked like it was uncovered recently in a dungeon while all the pages were worn out from the side. The cover did not share anything important, being nondescript as a generic slate.
"Did he say what this was?"
"He did not."
Aldrecht had a good guess what this was about.
"Very well. You're dismissed."
The shadow, just as quick as they entered, left without another spare second wasted.
He slid the book across, holding his fingers along the seemingly ancient text. If he had to guess, this may have been something akin to a recovered documentation from the past and if Zellus found it excellent enough to be sent up to him, it was entirely possible that this was linked with the Church or even better yet, it was being hidden away by the Church to ensure that it was not seen by the public.
When he opened the first page, he had no idea what the contents might have been.
And to be honest, he wasn't sure what to make of it.
He had never considered this scenario because it never came to his mind as potential candidates, but if the issue hadn't been the catalyst or the execution of the ritual, it must have been the actual summoning. He did recall that the Spear Hero had admitted to knowing the other Cardinal Heroes prior to their arrival here, contrary to the prophecy.
He silently turned the page.
'What was this about false heroes?'
)—(\IV/)|—(
For what felt like the millionth time, Motoyasu crashed onto the forest's floor. At this point, he should have been grateful that they were fighting over a grassy field and not over rough terrain or else his back would have been bleeding badly and his spine would have been dislocated. If not from the impact, then from the repetitive slams on the surfaces.
With his head laying flat against the ground and the skies still covered in its afternoon blue, he must have been throwing himself at Zellus for at least an hour or two, but he didn't get anywhere closer to hitting him with an attack, much less beating him in a duel.
The scraping of the air against his lungs had been flooding his eardrums with their uneasy noises, resonating in tandem with a heavy-beating heart and a dried-out throat. His skull had been pulsating with the sour and unnaturalistic rhythm, but his hand was still gripping onto his spear firmly.
He wasn't letting go and it wasn't because of the inability to.
Using his spear as a support, he stabbed it back into the ground to lift himself onto his knees. Heavy breaths were needed before he could properly stand back up, but he couldn't settle himself straight. He staggered back and forth, trying to center his gravity around his planted spear before he managed to somehow firmly lock his feet down.
Through the bangs of his hair and the sweat that dripped down them, he glared at the knight, as normal as he was before he took his first strike. He then pulled his spear up and lifelessly pointed it at his opponent who had merely given him an exasperated sigh.
"You're still not done yet?"
"I'm not… surrendering…"
"Honestly, with that form and poor technique you've been showing me, I might as well surrender before I die of boredom," Zellus spat in a sour mood. "What Cardinal Hero are you exactly? You're the Spear Hero, aren't you? You're certainly not the 'Stick Hero', but you're fighting like you have one instead!"
Motoyasu just simply couldn't believe how easy Zellus was at dodging his strikes. It was as if he was dancing around all of his swings, thrusts, and skills. Even the ones where he thought they couldn't be dodged, Zellus managed to surprise him with so simple the flaws were in those attacks.
"Give up already, Motoyasu. You won't be able to beat me like that."
"If I give up now… I won't be able to meet Ren…"
He tightened his grip even more on his spear and started running at Zellus.
Beforehand, he was afraid that if he went too hard, he would have accidentally injured the knight, but that certainly wasn't the case anymore. Motoyasu wanted to inflict a wound, no matter how big it was, onto Zellus. He needed to take his step forwards to helping Ren and if he had to tackle an impossible task to get there, he would gladly bash his head against its barrier repeatedly, past the point of a concussion.
Frankly, he was trying to figure out if there was any easier way to do that without beating Zellus, but no matter how much he thought, everything had a certain risk to it. He was even asking Zellus about the alternatives that were possible and each one was subsequently shot down by some form of manner.
"Take this!"
"Thanks, but I'll pass."
Zellus threw one of his daggers into the air and narrowly sidestepped the thrusting spear. Motoyasu stopped on his heels, but Zellus grabbed the polearm and pulled it inwards to him. The motion caused Motoyasu to follow quite forcibly, coming closer to the knight as he released his grip and clenched another fist.
The smacking punch sent Motoyasu onto the ground again.
After letting the pain sink back into his dull sense, Motoyasu slowly got back up again in the same fashion as before.
"If I can't beat you in strength or technique, then I'll just beat you… in persistence!"
Once again, Motoyasu ran forwards.
Once again, Motoyasu found himself on the ground.
Once again, Motoyasu stood back up, swaying unconsciously.
Roaring out, he charged once again into the knight, but there was a difference this time. Instead of sending him backwards, Zellus avoided his attack and grabbed Motoyasu's hair, lifting it up. He could feel the strands wanting to be ripped off his scalp as he tried to stand on his toes in the desperate attempt to keep them on.
Though, it was tough not to be distracted by Zellus' constant staring into his eyes.
It was as if he was attempting to spiral fear and intimidation down his pupils, undilatable by the lids. The chills crept onto his neck as the only thing he could hear was his own struggling; Zellus had been deadly silent like a lion stalking its prey, only if the prey had been frozen in place.
Motoyasu had to double-take his own sights.
He never recalled Zellus' eye colour being red before, but he never took much notice of it until now and it was seriously frightening when he was serious.
Even so, Motoyasu gathered his strength into his free hand and swerved his fist up to Zellus' chin in a sudden flank. He was surprised that Zellus didn't act against it, but it was a bit scary to see that Zellus had literally just tanked the attack without looking like he got struck from below.
It was enough to release Motoyasu for the trap, causing himself to back off from the knight a few steps.
"So this is the attribute of loyalty, huh?"
Zellus' mumbling couldn't be heard by Motoyasu; it was much too quiet for him to hear the words, but it was enough for him to know that something was said. Zellus kept his eyes closed as he straightened himself up. The dagger he threw upwards finally fell down as he caught it in his right hand.
"The feeling that you have resting in your heart, it's crying out loud. I heard your screams loud and clear through every attack you've sent at me. The desperation and despair kindled with a spirit of conflicting and unyielding hope…"
Zellus had suddenly sheathed his daggers, causing Motoyasu to flinch.
"I can see reason with your statement. Your persistence is something to behold, setting aside your horribly lacking skills and movements. Though, those can be gradually improved upon, as long as you're willing to learn."
Zellus started walking towards him, but instead of any quick movements or attacks, the knight had simply patted him on the shoulder.
"Meet me back here tomorrow and the days after that. If you're going to be staying in the capital for a while, you might as well improve that sloppy technique of yours. For now, get back to your room at the inn and I'll come pick you up at night time."
"H-Huh…?"
Motoyasu could only give Zellus a blank stare.
"What? Do you really want me to spell things out for you?" Zellus groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. "Give me a break. I hate surrendering like this and if it weren't for the fact you reminded me a bit of the Captain, I would have gladly stepped you into the dirt deeper than some of the graves I've seen"
"Then… you're going to help me?"
"I won't say it again. I already told you what I was going to do back in the capital." Zellus looked over his shoulder with a very smug smile added on. "Just get yourself tidied up for the night. Don't get yourself into a crazy situation before I come. You're already as roughed up as it is."
As Zellus walked away, Motoyasu could feel the energy from his legs drop suddenly. The adrenaline that was running for this entire time finally gave out and he found himself lying down against the ground without the strength to lift himself back up. If there were monsters around these parts, he would have been completely screwed, but something told him that Zellus was going to help take care of that little issue.
"Heh… I really… owe you one, Zellus…"
Closing his eyes, he just wanted to get some rest now, seeing the bright blue skies before it faded away.
)—(\IV/)|—(
SKIT 042 : Craftsmanship
[Motoyasu] : "You really do have a ton of weapons, Zellus. I swear you have a different set compared to the ones that you carried with you when we were first summoned!"
[Zellus] : "Well, there's nothing much to it. I make a ton of weapons, so it makes sense that I use them all at some point, right? Erhm, I guess that idea doesn't really apply to people like blacksmiths…"
[Zellus] : "Anyways, any reason you wanted to point that out? You're interested in my swords? I'll let you take a look at my prized possessions as the Spear Hero! Just don't expect me to create spears for you though because those aren't really my speciality."
[Motoyasu] : "They look fantastic, Zellus. I couldn't even think about how long it would take to be able to get great swords like these ones. You must have taken several years until they started getting into the style you wanted..."
[Zellus] : "Oh? So you know about the hard work that goes into these things. I can't even start to count how many bad blades I've made. Not only do I have to nail the sword's form and the whole process, but I have to find the right metals I need for the weapon too. That alone is a challenge of its own!"
[Zellus] : "You seem to be rather involved in craftsmanship, or at least curious. I would take a good guess to say that you weren't making blades back in your world, but I do get the sense that you were involved in some type of field."
[Motoyasu] : "Yeah, I do sewing as a hobby!"
[Zellus] : "Sewing, huh? Your hands must be rather good and your eye for attention likewise. You got specialty or something?"
[Motoyasu] : "I can generally sew back up holes and rips, alongside making new clothing."
[Motoyasu] : "Though, my preference is dresses! Those are my favourite to make!"
[Zellus] : "... I feel like there's a lot to unfold there and it's probably a good idea to ignore it."
)—(\IV/)|—(
)—(\IV/)|—(
SKIT 043 : Unyielding
[Zellus] : "He's nowhere as good as the Captain, but I guess that's supposed to be granted. The Captain was fighting tooth and nail back against me back then and no matter how many times I sent him to the ground, he kept standing back up. I guess I have a hard time beating someone to a pulp if they showed that type of resistance."
[Zellus] : "I've really grown soft compared to the person I was before. If I never met the Captain, Motoyasu might have died there, not to mention those other two. Something about that unyielding spirit that impresses me so much nowadays, even against the hardiest of difficulty."
[Zellus] : "That's why Motoyasu needs to grow stronger. For all that unyielding conviction he had, it doesn't mean anything in the end on a real battlefield if you don't have power."
[Zellus] : "That's the cruel reality."
[Zellus] : "Though, he was a bit fun to play with! I can't wait to see his face when I introduce him to my namesake 'demon training sessions'! Hmm, was that what the rookies called it? Eh, whatever! Motoyasu is surely going to go through hell and back! Good thing he has that persistence!"
)—(\IV/)|—(