Chapter 26: What Makes a Hero?

The next day Blake and I visited the witch, so Blake could make more thread. Then we delivered the thread to the tailor and needed to let her measure Blake's feet. Later, I went out to the forest to gather some herbs for medicines and give Blake a chance to hunt for meat. Meanwhile, Seb and Talia had nothing else to do so they continued to study magic. It seemed like not too many more herbs had grown since we last checked the area so we went back early. I also got the chance to test out the skill given by the shield Erhard let me copy; it seems to be a force field that party members can cross through. On the way back to the inn we saw Ren and Itsuki, who of course didn't notice me and didn't know Blake, currently in human form. I decided to listen in on their conversation as we approached.

"It seems odd that he would steal requests, especially when he said that he didn't know what they were last time we saw him." (Ren)

"That may be so, but there is no one who could have done it other than a hero, and Motoyasu's whereabouts are accounted for." (Itsuki)

"I suppose we'll just have to ask him and find out." (Ren)

I had a bad feeling that they were going to blame me for something, but if they are then there is no point delaying, plus I still needed to talk to them about the dragon and the rebellion. "Ren, Itsuki, I was wondering when I would run into you two." I was still walking up to them as I said it, so they weren't as surprised as if I was right next to them.

"Speak of the devil." (Itsuki)

"Oh, don't tell me you believe in the church's teachings now too. No matter what they say, this shield being stuck to my arm does not make me a devil." Itsuki looked surprised by my joke about the way he phrased my appearance and the church's dogma. Maybe he hasn't heard that they consider me to be one.

"I meant that we were looking for you. I fulfilled an official request, and you stole my reward."

"I have something to talk to the two of you about as well, though this new accusation sounds like it should take precedence. What are you talking about?"

"You're going to play dumb?"

"As far as I know, I have never been given a reward for someone else's work. So if you say that I have, I'm going to need an explanation of the situation so I can determine what happened." From what I heard earlier it seems he is just assuming it was me based on conjecture rather than evidence.

"Ok, we're gonna need to talk this out. If he didn't do it then he really wouldn't know what we're talking about." (Ren)

"Fine. It happened in a northern territory. I'd been charged with investigating the actions of a local despot, and then I was charged with removing him from office, which I did. But when Mald went to collect the reward from the guild, they had already paid it out to someone else." Itsuki glared at me. He really is just assuming that I did it.

"So someone claimed they did your job and took the reward. Did you get a description of this person? Or is there a way that the guild you mentioned uses to identify people? And who's Mald, is he one of your party members?"

"Yes, Mald is one of my party members. We didn't get a description from the guild, but there is a certificate bearing the royal seal that is used to identify him to the guild as part of my party. It's made with a special technology and would be very difficult to fake."

"If it is so hard to fake, how would I have one? The king hates me, remember?"

"Dammit…" Itsuki though for a moment. "Your weapon, you could change it to look like a bow and take my payment without the certificate." He was grasping at straws.

"Three problems with that theory. One, I don't have any shields that even slightly resemble a bow, I doubt either of you have any that resemble different Legendary Weapons either." Itsuki looked at Ren who shook his head. "Two, I have never even set foot inside an adventurer's guild in this world. Three, there are things in this world other than the Legendary Weapons that can transform. Blake and her clothes are good examples."

"Her clothes?" (Ren)

"What are you taking about?" (Itsuki)

"Blake, could you transform for a moment?"

"Sure." She changed to her queen form. They both took a step back in surprise and Ren's hand reflexively went to his sword.

"See? There is also the possibility of someone using illusion magic to take on your appearance. You're just blaming me because I was made out to be a villain by that lying princess and the king."

"But…"

"Itsuki, give up already. You don't have enough evidence to accuse him." (Ren)

"Now for what I wanted to tell you. Though first I should verify. Were you the adventurer that helped the rebellion take out the king of the country to the north?"

"Yes, he was overtaxing his people and leading them to ruin, so I helped remove him." Itsuki said proudly.

"Well the rebel leaders that took over raised the taxes even further and since the country was already in a famine, the people had to smuggle themselves to Melromarc in order to buy food. I know this because the refugees told me when I sold them food last week. It was the same day that the lord of a certain town with high taxes was removed from power."

"But if I hadn't done something, they would have suffered under his rule forever."

"I don't know what the situation with the king was, but I do know that there was a famine and that can lead to people looking for someone to blame for their problems. I wouldn't be surprised if he had good intentions for the tax money but the rebels used the situation as a chance to seize power. I suppose it doesn't really concern me, but as the one who helped them it should concern you. It's fine to try to be a hero, but if you do you need to see it through." I turned to Ren. "So what's your problem with me?"

"You stole a quest that was meant for me."

"Stole a quest… are you talking about when I save a village from Motoyasu's miracle seed or from the disease caused by the dragon corpse you left to rot?"

"Wait, you're saying that the dragon corpse caused the epidemic?" He at least looked like he was concerned.

"Ok here's what happened from my perspective. I heard there was a town facing an epidemic, so I went to sell them medicine. While there I found out that it was caused by a rotting dragon corpse you left, apparently so adventurers could use the materials. I realize that things don't always seem logical in this world, but rotting meat plus dragon magic never leads to anything good. Anyways I asked if they had requested help from the heroes, but they had been told that they were all too busy and that it would be a while before any could help. Since I was already there I said I would take care of it in exchange for what they were going to pay the kingdom for support. So depending on how you look at it, you could say that I stole the request, but I am curious, would you have accepted payment even knowing that you were part of the cause?"

"I… what happened to the villagers?"

"It seemed like most had fled the area, but there are over a dozen fresh graves and several people were on the brink when I got there. They were recovering when we left."

"Are you going to believe him?" Itsuki looked at Ren.

"The problem was solved so the reward was canceled, his story lines up." (Ren)

Itsuki looked at me suspiciously. "You said that you went there to sell medicine. How did you know they needed it if not through the adventurer's guild?"

"Through the merchant's guild. I've been working as a traveling merchant recently and have made something of a reputation, or rather Blake has one. Since I don't advertise my identity as the man falsely convicted of rape, they see me as someone with great healing magic and medicines traveling with the biggest filolial they have ever seen. Word spreads quickly among merchants so I tend to know where there are famines to sell food and, in this case, an epidemic to sell medicine."

"So you profit off of other's suffering?" Itsuki seemed willing to use any excuse to make me the bad guy.

"I do business that eases their suffering in exchange for money or goods. I won't say that their unfortunate situations didn't end up benefiting me, but that's business. I don't charge more than they can afford to pay, and I don't make promises I can't keep. I also make sure that people know the dangers of what is left behind so they don't expect everything to work out just because someone saved them."

"The danger of what is left…" Ren seemed to still be in a bit of shock over having inadvertently cause people to die.

Blake changed back into her human form and waved her hand in front of his face. "Hey, are you ok? The dragon zombie is gone; I jumped into its belly and ripped out its core."

"Zombie?" That brought Ren back.

"Yeah, when we went to dispose of it, it reanimated into a zombie and started spraying poison everywhere. Honestly with all the poison resistances the monsters on that mountain gave me, I might actually be immune at this point. Anyways, the corpse is gone and the villagers are recovering; I wouldn't call it a happy ending, but there are more survivors than corpses."

"You mentioned another request you stole, one from Motoyasu?" Itsuki kept on trying to prove me evil.

"Not quite, it was stopping the vines that came from the so-called miracle seed that Motoyasu brought to the village to end a famine. I had gone there to sell herbicide and they had been completely pushed out of their homes by the vines. They said something similar about putting in a request but the heroes being too busy to help. That one was actually pretty easy considering I just had to dump the herbicide on the main vine to kill it all."

"Oh yeah, those vine monsters were shooting poison too." (Blake)

"Anyways, if you are going to mess with politics you need to get the full story before doing anything drastic and if you are going to leave something that can become dangerous to others, make sure they understand. I told Motoyasu the same thing yesterday, but I'm not sure how much got through his attempt to flirt with Blake."

Itsuki raise an eyebrow. "He was flirting with your transforming bird?"

"He was annoying, then that mean redhead girl showed up." (Blake)

"You may find some of the things that I say hard to believe, but I actually haven't lied to any of you since being summoned."

"Oh yeah, then what about the demon king that you said would show up to get you?" Itsuki seemed to think he finally had a way to win.

"Don't you remember? The king said that we would be returned to our worlds at the moment we left, that means he has no need to retrieve me since it will be like I was never gone. At least that's what I am hoping is the reason. Most of the artifacts that he made don't seem to work in this world, so I am a bit worried that it's too far for him to locate or that there is something else at work. Time dilation is also a possibility. If a month here is an hour there, it will be a while before anyone misses me."

"You just have an answer for everything don't you?"

"Not everything, there are plenty of questions I have that I have yet to find answers for. One of which being Motoyasu's insistence on believing anything a woman tells him."

"Whatever, I will find proof that you're the one who stole my reward."

"Why are you so convinced that it was me? I have already proven that it could be any number of people that we don't even know."

"What reason would someone I don't know have to steal my reward?"

"For the reward. They could also be an acquaintance of someone who you took down that wanted some form of payback. Or maybe they just have some grudge against the Bow Hero like the king had against the Shield Hero. The world is a big place and, unlike a game, things continue to happen when you aren't there to see them." Itsuki didn't seem to have a comeback and left. Ren just stood there thinking. "If you want to check on the village and see for yourself, you can, but it will have to wait until after the next wave." He nodded, but continued to stare off into space. I continued on my way back to the inn with Blake. After I turned the herbs into medicine, I started working on some accessories. Hopefully I would be able to make some that would be useful for us to use during the wave.

drmcgraw186: They might be able to pass as humans through illusion magic, but there would still be the issue of getting permission to class-up. The wave comes in a few days so there isn't time to go somewhere else and I am well aware of what troubles he would run into in Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden.