Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter.
Special thanks to the author BogStandardOtaku on AO3, who allowed me to use their original characters from their own story Living Loving Maid. The premise of the story: Instead of putting Katarina into a slumber, Sirius/Raphel mindtricked her going away to a neighbouring country. Thinking she's exiled, she becomes the personal maid of the villainess from another game she played, hoping to help this other villainess avoid her fate.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
Scolding heat, not as painful as the Wavehound's teeth as they pierce through her skin covers the side of her head, and part of her face. She can feel her skin and flesh slowly melt against her own magic. But the burning sensation on her face slowly fades away, first replaced by a wave of water like coolness, and then a warmth more like the morning sun. She slowly opens her eyes, and sees Naofumi's hands coated in a thin layer of golden light like a pair of gloves. The Shield Hero may have lost his legendary shield, but the skill he learnt through effort rather than granted by his weapon is still with him. His eyes stared at her, voice shaking. "...why?"
"I must take you safely to Zeltoble." The now fugitive princess looks away, not daring to meet Naofumi's eyes. She knows that the reason he, and his companions lost so much was due to her own selfishness to use them for The Game. And the last thing she could do for them is to make sure he lives through the betrayal of the Three Heroes' Church.
Miracle's golden light slowly dissipates from Naofumi's hand. The Shield Hero looks even more lost at the moment than he was when he's accused of raping her. "Can we even make it?"
"Yes. Yes we can." She points at the dead pilgrim in front of them, and moves towards him. "With the burn mark on my face, I'll take his clothes, and pretend to be a devoted pilgrim visiting different churches of the founder to find the meaning in my life after an accident disfigured me. We'll find some cave for you to hide in, while I go to the city of De Gallia to get you some rough, and plain cloth. You can pretend to be my servant. Most guards will ignore you, once they are distracted by my scar."
"That's a plan, at least…" Naofumi stays silent for a few moments, before he points his hand towards the dead pilgrim and fires a miracle at his cold body. "[Antidote]."
"Master Naofumi, the man is already dead." The princess turns to look at the Shield Hero with confusion in her face. "There's no point in trying to save him."
Not to mention it would be very counterproductive if it turns out that he isn't dead, and wakes up. As he would be a witness, and possibly lead the Three Heroes' Church to catch them.
"Yes, but he died of poison, no?" The Shield Hero looks back at her. "What if the poison gets passed over to you when you take his clothes? A curing miracle should work on the target even if they are dead, right?"
The princess opens her mouth, but can't find any reason to rebuke Naofumi's suggestion. She has to admit, him being more careful is a good thing, especially when her own wellbeing is concerned. Good to know that even when Naofumi is clearly shaken and lost his legendary weapon, he is still being more than helpful in aiding their survival.
Chapter 84: Living on a Prayer
The fugitive princess quickly strips the pilgrim's clothes off and burns his body to ash with her fire magic. Normally, it's dangerous to use fire magic in a heavily forested mountain, especially considering she needs to worry about leaving a smoke trail in the sky for the church to discover her location. But thanks to the Star Wand enhancing both the intensity and control of her fire magic, she was able to completely destroy a body within the blink of an eye, barely even leaving a thin thread of smoke in the air.
She quickly trips out of her well-made dress cloak and changes into the plain pilgrim's traveling cloth. While she is doing that, the Shield Hero is going over different bags that have fallen off the dead pilgrim's wooden traveling pack. There aren't a lot of things to go over, some survival items like water bags, ropes, both torches and a lantern, fire starting and cooking tools, and a sleeping bag. The only thing that has nothing to do with traveling in the wild are some religious texts related to Saint Brimir, the first Wand Hero and patron of mages.
She takes the books over and quickly glances over them. The writing on the text is more devoted to the Founder of Wizardry than typically found in modern hero worshiping churches. But still not enough to truly push into the 'worshiping the founder of Wizardry as a god' level of heresy. She is almost a little relieved at this discovery.
Despite being the first princess of Melromarc, she wasn't a very pious worshiper of the four saint heroes. She probably knows more about the ancient history of Brimir than all the heroes put together thanks to Uncle Aldrecht being her mentor. This lines up nicely with her planned alibi of becoming a faithful pilgrim after an impromptu baptism by fire.
"Maybe you can get some potion making tools while you visit Gallia too?" Naofumi seems to be more interested in what tools they have available. "I lost access to my inventory space after Lautrec's goddess stole my shield. It won't be as easy with a mortar and pestle as my shield, but I can still make some balms or potions with herbs we pick along the way."
"Good thinking, Master Naofumi. But let's go find you a cave, or at least some ravine to hide in first. We don't want to be found by the Three Heroes' Church, or their henchmen." Mein begins to pack the items from the dead pilgrim back into their bags first, and then organize them onto the wooden traveling pack. She puts it on her back with the help from Naofumi, as they make their way further into the depth of the mountain to find shelter.
They managed to find a small cave hidden behind some trees and bushes not too long after. The princess goes in first, preparing to face some kind of monster that makes this their home. Thankfully, that doesn't seem like to be the case as the air in the cave smells somewhat fresh. Without the stench of decay or filth that usually accompany monster nests they encountered on their travels.
"This should be good enough for you to hide in, Master Naofumi. Have your balloons hide behind the bushes, and have them protect you in case a monster comes in while I go get you a disguise." Rather than lighting the place up with her magic, Mein changes the vassal wand into a long staff, and uses it to feel the ground. She should probably save her magical power, and minimize the chance to lure monsters or possible pursuers with the light of magic. "Be careful under your feet, Master Naofumi. There's barely any light coming through the cave entrance. I don't want to light anything up to attract unwanted attention…"
"Don't worry. I lost my shield, not my siIIIIGGGGHHHH~!" Naofumi didn't finish his sentence when his voice suddenly rose in volume into a shriek. Yet, his voice suddenly starts to trail off further away from the princess turned fugitive.
Mein quickly turns around. All she sees are Naofumi's pet abominations bouncing around in panic. She moves over to where Naofumi was, feeling the ground with her hands. Sure enough, there was some kind of a pitfall near the wall of the cave. "Master Naofumi? Are you okay?!"
After a few beats of silence, Naofumi's voice comes up from the hole. His reply puts her mind in slight ease. "Ouch… I'm okay. Just startled. It's more like a slope than a straight drop."
"Hang on, I'm coming down to help you." Mein squats down on the ground and takes the wooden traveling pack off her back. She takes out the rope, and ties it up near the root of one of the bushes. It might give their position away, but the earth-colored rope is thankfully not very visible unless one knows what they are looking for. The extra security it gives to her as she tries to retrieve Naofumi back should be well worth the risk.
The princess gives her safety rope a few hard tug. Happy with both the bush, and rope to not snap on her, she begins to carefully slide down the sink hole after the Shield Hero. As she goes deeper into the mountain, darkness begins to engulf her. The princess looks up, and only sees a very dim light at the top of the pitfall. She looks back down, and fires out a [Mage Light] towards the bottom of the sinkhole to be able to see where she is going.
Naofumi is currently half sitting, half lying on the bottom. Maybe another two, to three grown men's height from her. The sudden burst of light makes him hold his hand in front of his face, trying to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness. He puts his hand away as she too reaches the bottom of the pit fall. Naofumi's three balloon monsters slide their way down after her, making some excited sounding gibberish that's hard to tell if they are having fun, or having a bit of a scare.
Mein starts to look around the cave chamber as the balloons hop their way over to Naofumi, trying to comfort him through licking. The chamber itself is larger than she expected, maybe about the size of mother's throne room judging by the shadow and the rough silhouette she [Mage Light] cast near Naofumi. Out of curiosity, she fires a couple of more [Mage Light] around the place to get a better look. And trying to assess if there is any hidden monster that'll harm Naofumi if she leaves him in the cave. The air smells clean enough, but she would rather be safe than sorry at this point.
There is no sign of any monster. But to both Naofumi and her own surprise, there is a clearly man made stone structure at the far side from them. Giant stone tablets makes up the entirety of the far side wall from them, carved rather than naturally formed judging from both elaborate decoration and symbols
Amongst all the ancient carving, one symbole that's about three times larger than the rest sits at the middle of the stone wall. It has a single thick line going straight up, with both angling and branching lines at the top and the bottom. The bundle of lines at the top is at least three times larger, and thicker than the bottom.
Mein's ancient language is flimsy at best, but even she recognizes this particular symbol. She points her arm at the large symbol to the Shield Hero. "Be careful, and don't get too close to that wall, Master Naofumi. See how it looks like a tree without leaves in winter? That's the word 'Death' by the ancient, dragon worshiping human."
Naofumi's left foot was already lifted off the ground, and it was halfway forward about to make the first step. He instantly planted his foot back at her warning. "Dragon worshipers? You mean like those Loptus worshipers who 'helped' us back in the Third Wave?"
"Yes. This could have been some ancient Lopter cult worship site. Might even have been a ritual sacrifice site considering the prominence of the word 'Death'." The princess nods her head along, but then shakes her head. "But it could be other cults. The Loptr cult wasn't the only human cult that worshiped the dragons. They were the most well remembered one because they openly sided with the beastman invaders."
"It sounds like bad news. I'll stay away." The now shieldless Shield Hero presses his back against the rocky slope, clearly wanting to stay as far away from the ominous looking wall as possible. He throws a look over at her way. "Should I even stay in this cave with Yuzus? What if it's like that laboratory dungeon we went through with Motoyasu?"
The princess holds her newly acquired Star Wand in front of her as she slowly approaches the wall. Not sensing any malicious magic, or resistance, she slowly closes the distance till her hand is touching the stone slab wall. To her relief, there is nothing special about the structure itself. It's just regular stone. "I'm not sensing any magic from it. I'd say it's just a very ancient ruin. Maybe even a piece of some larger structure that fell into the mountain after a quake or something that got preserved throughout the ages while the original structure was long destroyed by element, or dismantled by the people. There are all sorts of these things around the world."
"That's a relief." Naofumi slowly sits back down on the ground. He seems to suddenly think of something, as he starts to take off his armor. "My armor! We can't take it with us while we try to flee to Zeltoble. Guards, or those church people will know who I am if they find my armor in our luggage. I can't put it into my inventory storage because that fucking goddess stole my shield. But if I bury my armor here, we can try to find someone to find it and retrieve it back for us once we get to safety. This cave with the wall is a good marker to point people to."
That… is actually good thinking. And once again, she is impressed at Naofumi's ability to make the needed decisions. There aren't that many people who are willing to give up a suit of expensive armor made of Blue Chromezoid, that'll feed a well off family for a year and more. Even when their own lives are threatened.
Although this reminds her, she got the Star Wand from Father. Maybe she would have access to her own inventory? She's trying to hide her wand from their pursuers, not Naofumi. She pulls her wand out of her pilgrim's cloth, and tries to put a piece of rock in it for a test. She immediately feels a jolt of shock running through her hand as the rock is repelled away from the wand. A screen of jumbled words appeared in her eyes. "DAMN!"
"Mein! Are you okay?!" Naofumi quickly jumps up and runs over to her. "What happened?"
"I, I got the Star Wand from King Aultcray after he was taken down by the goddess. But I think it's damaged, or broken. I can't unlock any new forms like you did, and I don't have access to inventory storage. Here, bury my dress cloak with your armor too." She hands him the bag she hides her dress cloak in, and the lantern from the dead pilgrim's possession. "You keep this lantern, Master Naofumi. It'll give you some light if you want to hide in this lower chamber. People wouldn't be able to see its light from outside."
The Shield Hero looks up at her for a few moments. He takes over both the bag, and the little traveling lantern. Seeing how he's as well hidden as he possibly can, Mein grabs the rope, and slowly pulls herself back up the cave. Once she pulls herself back into the cave entrance, she pats down all the dirt from her pilgrim's cloak, takes a deep breath, and steps out of the cave.
She's not worried about finding the direction to Gallia City, for she can already see the tip of the great cathedral of Brimir atop the treeline. She takes another deep breath, schools her expression and tries to get into the mindset of a devoted pilgrim, and starts to make her journey.
Thankfully, she didn't encounter any wild monsters on her way that'll delay her even further. The forest is eerily quiet, completely devoid of the sound of beasts, birds and even insects. The native monsters probably sensed the incoming Wave, and ran away from their natural habitat.
The only noise she hears, other than the ruffle of leaves in the wind, is the sound of some metal hacking at the woods in the distance, when she's about to make her way out of the forested hills and into the plain of Gallia. Lumberjacks, working so soon after the 3rd Wave concluded? She knows bravery is considered one of the greatest virtues of Gallia people, but she didn't think they are this foolhardy.
The newest wave may have been over, but they usually leave Wavespawns stranded in their world afterwards. Mein reaches her hands up to touch her missing ear, thinking about the monster that gave her this first permanent scar. Oh, well. It's not her place to go warn some lowly lumberjacks, especially when she knew there's no Wavespawn left thanks to the Soul Eater devouring all of their souls to enter into its second form.
It still took her enough time to make her way out of the forest and into the plain where the city of Gallia lies, that the sun is already starting to dip towards the west.
Even from a distance, she can make out a large crowd of people around the wall of Gallia city. Displaced refugees from the villages around the city trying to seek safety inside the castle wall, most likely. The number of the people is so great, the only reason she knows that Gallia city isn't currently under foreign siege is due to the lack of any siege engines. In fact, she can see the wall of Gallia is fully manned by guards, with their bows trained on the refugees.
It doesn't take the princess turned fugitive too long to figure out what happened outside the walls of Gallia city. The common folks outside the city wall abandoned their homes when they saw the sky light up in crimson red. Hoping to find safety within the city protected by both the stone structure and Prince Joseph's army. But they are denied entry, likely on the mad prince's command for fearing that the Wavespawn gaining access to the inner city if he opens his gate to the refugees.
As she walks closer to the ancient city, her earlier guess is affirmed from the way the people outside the castle wall dress. Plain, cheaply made clothes that fit more the style of life outside a city, farmers, ranchers, hunters, lumberjacks and miners.
The age of the refugees spawn from both babies in their mother's arms, to the elderly who have to be held by others. Most of them only have cloth on their back, their faces grim with the realization that they left all their livelihood behind, and their salvation from Wavespawn denied by their lord that's supposed to take care of them in a crisis such as this. Some of the younger children are busy crying and screaming, they are quickly hushed up by their parents, fearing the sharp point of arrows gleaming under the sun.
Mein stands on the tip of her toes, trying to get a better look at the gate of Gallia city through the crowd of homeless people. This is bad… her plan of getting a disguise for Naofumi, and necessities for their escape to Zeltoble might be ruined if Prince Joseph isn't opening the city gate at all. She understands the mad prince's hesitation at opening the gate now even with the Wave's conclusion. The refugees might try to swarm into the city, possibly rob and destroy everything the city people have in a desperate bid to gather enough resources to survive. She herself likely would have done the same thing Prince Joseph did.
It still doesn't change the dire situation she found herself in. Given enough time, the Three Heroes' Church might be able to gather enough men to comb through the forest and mountain. Discovering Naofumi, or herself as she tries to make her way back to him.
The sound of claws running on the cobblestone road can be heard from a distance. The sound can be easily heard which means the number of riders is significant, but not making her ear ring like the charges she heard during the Wave battle when the knights of different Melromarc martial houses pushed forward.
Which means it's not a small detachment of riders running for their lives from the Wave. But not a full sized army coming to reinforce the defense, or to help keep the order of Gallia city either. Maybe it belongs to one of the smaller great houses, sending their knights and riders to Gallia after the battle against the Third Wave has already concluded. To reassure Prince Joseph of their loyalty, most likely. Mein looks over out of curiosity, the fact that she can't see any flying banners instantly shots down her earlier assumption.
There are a few dozen filorial riders, definitely. But she can also see silhouetted bundles behind them. Not some kind of caravan, for there aren't any carts or wagons behind the beasts. Who would be sending out almost a hundred riders to retrieve supplies, with no wagons, shortly after a Wave of Catastrophe battle? If she doesn't know better, she almost expects it to be some kind of hunting party of foolish nobles.
The riders close their distance, letting the fugitive princess get a better look at them. Their chain armor is tainted by both dirt and blood, but clearly of high quality judging by the tight and clean weaved armor underneath all the grim. Their armor also lacks wear and tear despite them clearly coming out of a battle recently, further adding credence to the chainmail either being well -made or the skill of their wearer. This definitely rules out the possibility of them running away from the Wave of catastrophe unlike the refugees.
The riders lack tabards over their bodies or around their steed, but those that carry shields have their family crest painted on them. Which affirms her earlier assumption of the riders being an actual noble house rather than being some well off common born. Someone assembled this riding party in a hurry, and didn't bother to bring a tabard or a banner to declare the origin of their house. At the head of the riders is a young man around the same age as herself. He wears a set of red colored plate armor as opposed to the chain mail as the rest of the party, indicating his importance if riding at the front isn't enough. His skin is in a darker shade than most fair skinned Gallian, indicating someone who prefers outdoor activities. Either in martial practice, or hunting.
Mein tries to get a better look at their family crest, but she doesn't manage to make it out with all the dirt and blood over their shield, and the speed in which they close their distance. She does manage to get a better look at the cargo on their steed, and realize they are freshly killed beasts. It seems that she was actually right - he was some foolishly daring young scion who decided that going out hunting while a Wave of Catastrophe is going on is a good idea.
The riders slow down as they reach the crowd of refugees. The scared men and women of humble birth quickly shuffle away from the armed highborn. Fearing their bloodstained weapons falling on their head if they provoke the young noble.
"Have no fear, good people of Gallia! I understand you suffered much from the Wave of Catastrophe." The young noble opens his arms in front of the scared people instead of pulling out his weapons. "I have heard of your plight, and decided to aid you in your time of need. Even now, my servants are following behind me. They will begin building a soup kitchen and turn the beast I hunted down with my knights and guards into morsels for you. If you would arrange yourself into an orderly fashion, we will make sure none of you go to sleep with your bellies empty."
Mein has to blink her eyes after listening to the young lord's declaration. Okay… his action is still foolish, but at least his heart was in the right place?
The young noble's followers begin to act while the princess turned fugitive is still stunned at the development. About half of them quickly form up around their lords, hands on the handles of their weapons without drawing them out. They are not trying to provoke aggression from the refugees, but making their intention to use violence clear if their lord is harmed. The other half begin to unload the hunted beasts, and start to skin, bleed and prepare the meat for cooking.
Whoever this young noble is, he was serious about feeding these refugees.
The princess turned fugitive shakes her head and turns around, looking at the gate once again. There seems to be some kind of commotion behind the gate, as loud voices can be heard. But she can't make anything out of it due to distance, and the rumbling noise caused by all the displaced Gallian people. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait very long. Not soon after, the gate slowly begins to rise and a group of soldiers comes out with their spears pointed outward at the refugees. The scared and homeless commoners quickly push themselves back, clearing out an area for the soldiers.
A blonde girl in a silk dress comes out of the gate with her own escorts. Her hip length hair is fashioned into brands of spirals near the end, in the ludicrous style that's popular amongst Gallian high society. Unlike someone like Eclair, or even Prince Joseph's own daughter, Princess Josephine, this particular Gallian young lady clearly didn't get the message of training for martial excellence after the Great War for her own self protection. Her guards cracked their whips at the crowd of people, splitting a passage through them for the little lady to reach the young lord.
Behind the blonde lady, a group of well-dressed servants, and cooks comes out of the gate with two carts behind them. One filled with cooking tools like pots, the other filled to the brim with logs of wood.
"Lord Maximillian." The young lady's voice is cold enough to freeze water. "Do you want to explain why you ran off with your personal guards? While the Wave of Catastrophe is still ongoing?!"
"Oh, hey there, Mali." The young man pulls off his helmet, showing his short brown hair. Despite being slicked back, the edge of his hair is already spiking up again. Or perhaps, the young man didn't put too much effort into actually stylizing his head unlike the young lady in front of him. He scratches his head, in a gesture that reminds Mein of Naofumi as he gives a nonchalant smile. "Am I in trouble? You almost never call me by my full name."
"It's Lady Malicia to you, Lord Maximillian." The now named Lady Malicia isn't charmed by the young noble's smile. In fact, she squints her eyes, as both her voice and glare turns even colder. "We must carry ourselves with proper etiquette in front of our lessers, Lord Maximillian. And to answer your question. Yes. You are in trouble with me, and your brother Lord Alexander. You worried him sick when you ran off with your small detachment of escorts."
Mein squints her eyes too. Their names are familiar, definitely someone of high standing in Gallia. But once again, she didn't pay too much attention to the courtly affair of Prince Joseph.
"You two worry too much. All four heroes fought in the Wave, not to mention King Aultcray and the Pope of the Three Heroes' Church brought their personal army." Lord Maximillian waves his arm. The young noble seems to be very proficient at using his arms. "If that's still not enough… Well, I'm not going to be any safer inside the wall than out here."
"That's not the point! If the worst happens… well, Lord Alexander would like to know where his younger brother is." Lady Malicia spins on her heel and gives a withering glare to the gathered refugees before turning to look at the Lord Maximillian. She tries to keep her voice low for the next bit, but not quite managing due to how emotional she is being. "You shouldn't risk yourself for these commoners!"
"Who else would help our people if not myself, or my brother?" The smile in Lord Maximillian's eyes instantly evaporates as he flips down from his filorial and takes a few steps forward. His face is almost close enough to Lady Malicia for their nose to touch together, while completely ignoring her gesture to keep his voice down. "Uncle Joseph would leave them out here to die while he puts Gallia City under lockdown! Don't deny it! You knowthat's true!"
Mein slaps herself on the back of her head. The title of 'uncle' finally reminds herself who Lord Maximillian, and by extension, his brother Lord Alexander are. They are two of the most prominent scions of House Ritallia's younger generation, the cadet branch of House De Gallia. She didn't expect Maximillian the Red to be this… scatterbrained.
"Yes, I know. That's why I had my own arrangement." As if trying to prove her point, Lady Malicia points her arm towards the direction of the gate. More wagons are pulled out of the city of Gallia, with barrels and barrels of grain stacked on them. "There was no point for you to risk your life hunting monsters to feed these refugees, because there's not enough beast around Gallia to feed this many people in the first place. That's why I released House Baudelaire's grain stockpile. It's nothing fancy, but it'll be enough to tie them over till we get official relief from His Grace, Prince Joseph, or the crown."
House Baudelaire, of course! They are considered the unofficial queen of Gallia. If the heir to Gallia isn't marrying another royal house, or a lady with royal descent, they would often take a bride from House Baudelaire.
"Awww… I always knew you cared. Mali. Come here, give your friend a hug!" Lord Maximillian turns his face back to Lady Malicia, his face is split with a wide grin once again as he opens his arms and pulls the blonde girl into a hug. Mein can almost hear the sound of Lady Malicia's bone bends. "You really should quit that haughty 'I don't care about those below my station' act, you know?"
"Unhand me, Lord Maximillian! This is very much NOT the proper way for us to conduct ourselves! And no! I do NOT concern myself with those below my station, thank you very much!" Malicia kicks her feet in the air, still managing to flail around inside the red knight's bearhug. "I only released our grain stockpile because they'll go bad anyway!"
"Sure, you did." Maximilian ruffles Malicia's hair as he finally puts her much shorter Lady Baudelaire back on her feet. He turns his head left and right, clearly trying to find someone. "Where is my always proper big brother anyway? Don't tell me he sent you in his stead because he's got a stick too straight in his behind to yell at me himself."
Lady Malicia bites back a huff, clearly giving up her effort to force proper etiquette into Lord Maximillian. "Lord Alexander with his personal retinue after the Wave of Catastrophe has concluded, shortly after you. And no, he didn't chase after you. They went to gather wood and hay to build shelter for the displaced refugees."
"Ha! Imagine that! The proper 'Prince of Gallia' being a lumberjack with his knights and guards. I always knew it was an act! And to think he is always lecturing me about wasting my time hunting!" Lord Maximillian pumps his fist up, seemingly very happy about… something.
The fugitive princess stops paying attention to the pair of young, eccentric Gallian nobles and looks at the gate once again. Most of the refugees have stopped 'besieging' the wall, and starting to gather around the site where the soup kitchen is going to be set up for them. Only a small group of people still remain near the gate, and they are clearly better off than the displaced Gallian commoners. For one thing, these people actually have traveling bags of different sizes with them. These must be the actual travelers who come to the city of Gallia for various different reasons, and are simply unfortunate to have encountered the Third Wave.
It also seems that her luck is finally starting to turn around. As the guards are now releasing the travelers into the wall of Gallia. Even the mad prince didn't plan to have his capital city fully locked down tighter than a virgin in the street of silk.
Mein slowly, and carefully makes her way through the refugees towards the gate of Gallia city. She clearly caught the attention of the guards, as they pointed their spear at her even from a distance. "Halt, pilgrim. If that's indeed who you are! On the command of his grace Prince Joseph of House De Gallia. All travelers into, or out of the great City of Gallia must show their face. We want no fugitives, or spies into our great city at this time of crisis!"
"I am indeed a pilgrim, Brave defenders of Gallia." Expecting such a response, the princess turned fugitive slowly pulls her hood back to reveal her burnt face. The soldiers and knights stare at her face for a brief moment, clearly stunned at her grotesque scar before they quickly turn their heads away. Some in disgust, others in shame. Everything is going to her plan so far. "I was once a student of the arcane art in the city of Romalia. But after the accident that left me this mark, I have turned to become a devoted follower of the Founder of Wizardry to seek meaning in my life. To do so, I seek to make the pilgrimage of the pentagon. I have already made my pilgrimage to the Cathedral of the Void in my home city, and would like to gain access to the great city of Gallia so I may complete my pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Earth."
"Yes, of course. May the Founder of Wizardry, Saint Brimir watch over you." The guards quickly pull their weapons away and stand apart from her, not even bothering to search through her possessions like they did to the travelers before her.
The princess turned fugitive closes her eyes and her hands, giving the guards a bowing prayer before making her way through the gate. She has to fight to school her face, to not let any sign of smugness show, lest she gives herself away.
The great city of Gallia. The capital of the land now known as 'Glorious Melromarc' till' the Wave of Catastrophe arrived almost two hundred years ago. When the last De Gallia king was killed in the Wave, leaving an heir too young to assume the throne after him. Despite it being a grand city of culture and history, Mein has never set her own two feet in her land's former capital. Prince Joseph wasn't Mother's ally, and has no male heir despite him sleeping around. So there is no possibility for Mein to form a marriage alliance with someone from House De Gallia either.
She still remembered enough about her education even through her nap to know the landmarks of this ancient city. One of the five (and four remaining) original cathedrals dedicated to the Founder of Wizardry before the church of the Founder were forced renounced his godhood by the newly formed church of heroes, and granted Brimir the less divine yet still illustrious sainthood title. The untaken castle of De Gallia, which has remained standing since its first construction and remained in the hand of House De Gallia through both Waves of Catastrophes, and multiple foreign invasions.
And of course, the main street of Gallia city which is decorated by statues of both important Gallia kings, and heroes throughout the ages, especially with one dedicated to the Bow Hero since the De Gallia royalty came through the union of the descendants of Brimir, and the first Bow Hero. The 'Road to Victory' that supposedly puts Melromarc Castles' own 'Hero Square' to shame.
The princess of Melromarc didn't expect what she saw after she crossed over the threshold of the wall. She imagined a grand and splendid city carved out of marvelous stones, where every crevice drips with proud history.
On the first glance, the Road to Victory certainly seems to live up to its name. The street is wide enough to drive ten carriages side by side, and there are definitely statues lined up alongside the street. But upon close inspection, Mein notices cracks, bumps, and sinkholes in the stone bricks. None of the statues have their heads attached on their shoulders, some are barely a stone pillar with their limbs broken off. She looks to the side, at the buildings lined up on the side of the main street. All of them have cracks on their walls, boarded up windows or even corners of roofs or walls long broken off.
This… this can't be the famed main street of Gallia city. Yes, the city was under heavy siege by the Siltvelt invaders. But that was twenty years ago. Surely, Prince Joseph had enough time to bring around and fix his once great city by now?
Melromarc Castle was completely taken over, and sacked by the same invasion force. Yet, one is hard pressed to find any trace of the atrocities committed by those animals in the city itself. If one stays away from the slum, of course.
Atop the wall isn't where Prince Joseph committed all of his men. Multiple squads of guards patrol the ground. Not only the main street, but the many side streets too, As Mein makes her way towards the Cathedral dedicated to the Founder, she even catches glimpses of the guards in some of the back alleys. The mad prince is clearly leaving no stone unturned to keep the order during the Wave of Catastrophe.
But what catches the fugitive princess' attention more than others is how well-maintained the equipment of the guards are, compared to the sorry state of the city itself. Not only the elite guards that man the wall of patrol the main street. Even the most basic guards have chainmail shirts that reflect the light of the sun, equipped with steel armament that seems to suck heat away from her breath with their sharp edges. Well, now she knows why Prince Joseph didn't have any money to fix his own seat of power. He has clearly invested all of his coins into his army.
Not a bad investment. Especially if he agrees with the particular theory about the Wave of Catastrophe that they are called forth by great tragedies and bloodshred. The Great War definitely fits the criteria, and nobody can accuse House De Gallia's army isn't up to the standard to fight the Wave. But still, she wonders if it's worth the squalor state of one of the most ancient and cultured cities on Medea.
She makes her way briskly through the heavily patrolled street towards the Cathedral of the Founder. To keep up her appearance of a pilgrim who is in Gallia city to complete her holy quest to find meaning to her life and the accident that disfigured her.
The Cathedral of the Founder doesn't fare any better than the Road to Victory. Mein was never a particularly pious princess, to the heroes, or to the Founder of Wizardry. Still, seeing the beheaded statue of Saint Brimir, patron saint of mages standing atop of the stairs to the cathedral makes her feel like her spine is folded like a piece of parchment.
Thankfully, she encountered no difficulties within the cathedral itself. The priests and shrine servants were still too busy gathering potions and holy water to mind a single pilgrim in their hall. She makes her fake pilgrimage, pretending to be a devoted, yet unremarkable worshiper of the founder before leaving.
As she is leaving the cathedral and about to take the stairs down back to the main street, she notices a group of riders not there when she first entered the church. A group of knights, that by itself is nothing strange. Different kinds of warriors gather for the Wave of Catastrophe fight after all.
The knights, and their filorials are covered with white armor. The middle of their chest plates are decorated by a red cross. The holy icon of four heroes, and the red coloring instead of the usual gold indicating their status as the knight templars of Four Heroes' Church. That in itself is also nothing to raise an eyebrow for. Despite not directly participating in the most recent Wave battle, and nowhere near the influence and strength of Three Heroes' Church, the Four Heroes' Church also have their own elite guards that are supposed to deal with both the Wave of Catastrophe, and rogue heroes.
All of the knights have glowing blue eyes on their faces. That is most definitely NOT normal.
Adeptus Astartes, the magically enhanced super soldiers created by the Four Heroes' Church back in The Great War in a desperate bid to stop the beastman invaders. Their pathetic failure to achieve anything before they were slaughtered by the Siltvelt invaders was at least part of the reason for the Melromarc branch of the Four Heroes' Church's fall from public grace.
Still, there were rumors that one of them survived the onslaught of the Siltvelt army. And the current generation of the Astra Knights were personally trained by this sole survivor. Mein stops her feet and looks at the tall knight in full armor talking with a Gallian priest.
Mein has to admit, the man is a bit on the slim side for this supposed legendary survivor. Especially considering his tall stature. He is currently holding his helmet in his right arm, letting his long, silky smooth blonde hair split from the middle of his head and trail back behind his back where he carries a giant saber that looks less like a sword, and more like someone sharpened a metal door.
"Are you sure you do not need rest, my lord? We can exchange your tired mounts without any problem. But surely you and your own men also need rest." The priest's face is twisted with concern as his sight runs between the tall commander of the Templars, and his statue-like subordinates. "I don't know much, but I heard words whispered in our hall. The Three Heroes' Church has already condemned Lord Shield Hero. Even if you ride through the night, you will not be able to change much, if anything once you reach Melromarc Castle."
"We may be too late to help Lord Shield Hero. But there are still things we can do together with Lord Inquisitor Julio. I fear what will happen in the capital, if the most devoted of the Three Heroes' Church are allowed to do as they wish without the oversight of His Eminence Pope Balmus-'' Lord Commander Cloud of Adeptus Astartes suddenly stops his explanation as his sight wanders over to Mein.
The princess turned fugitive feels her heart jumping into her throat once again, as she belatedly realizes she technically counts as a 'rogue hero' now thanks to her inheriting Father's vassal wand. Did the Lord Commander of the Astra Knights simply get curious because of her staring, or could the knight templars actually have some kind of special technique that allows them to sense the presence of a hero?
If it's the latter case, she has just outed herself in spite of all her actions so far.
"Is there something wrong, my lord?"
"No. It's nothing. I'm probably just being paranoid." Lord Commander Cloud turns his face back to the priest and shakes his head, thankfully no longer focusing his attention on her. "Please, prepare fresh mounts for my men. We will make haste to the capital immediately."
End Note:
After our detour with the three weapon heroes, we come back to Malty's point of view once again where Act 3 of Three Heroes Church Saga officially kicks off.
Pointless, but fun (maybe) trivia. I often have very bizarre dreams revolving around stories I'm currently working on, which I tend to try and find ways to logically get intergrated into my story in some way. And the part in this chapter, where Malty and Naofumi discover this underground ruin with the ancient symbol of death on it was actually inspired by one of my dreams (not directly though, since originally the dream was about the four heroes exploring a dungeon and it created dopplegangers of them, where Malty and her mother have to figure out who are the imposters).
The city of Gallia has a main street lined up with statues of past heroes and their kings, and they are destroyed by Siltvelt invaders was inspired by how the statues around Notre-Dame de Paris were beheaded during French Revolution, where the mobsters thought they were past kings of France.
Guest review time.
To Guest:
Sadly, Yesold have already stormed off thanks to Ellie. But don't worry, I'm sure she'll find ways to deny the credit to the heroes. Crazy people have a way to do that inspite of all evidence to countrary.
XD
Glad you liked my version of the three weapon heroes. I'm not particularly a fan of the type of writing where a character gets shown as completely worthless to make another character look good by comparison. Unless I'm making a point about a character, or a character who is supposed to be alegory of certain archetype, who I genuinely believe they are worthless waste of skins, at least. Case and point... Consevatie the young and Yesold.
Back to the heroes, I believe it shows off Naofumi's awesomeness more, when he is standing amongst equals who are also competent heroes on their own rights, but trusted him to lead them. Not when he's a glorified chaperon of a group of mentally challenged people wielding power beyond their own control.
Ah, yes. Motoyasu is legitimately awesome when he managed to still achieve so much after he goes insane.
Well... Fire Emblem 4 and 5 are both interseting specimens of their own right in Fire Emblem franchise.
Originally, 4 is supposed to have a 3rd Act where both generations come together after Seliph's story, but 3rd Act got cut due to time and resource constrain. (happened to Romancing SaGa 3 on the same plateform too, yes, this happens even in the 'good old days' where games come out finished without massive day one patch and Disk Lock Content.) Honestly, I think this actually made FE4's story better, and Singurd is unique in that he can be the failed hero of the first half of the story where he is allowed to be more flawed.
As for Leif, he gets a lot of extra character development thanks to Fire Emblem 5 essentially being a more personal story all about Leif's growth as a person, as opposed to the usual 'save the world' plot Fire Emblem have. Since the big stake 'save the world' plot happened in Genelogy of Holy War, while Thracia 776 being a side story that would have been concluded in one, or maybe a few chapters in other Fire Emblem games get stretched into a full game campaign (the only other one in the franchise, to my knowledge that attempted this was Fire Emblem 7 which tells a prequel to Fire Emblem 6, especially the more self-contained Lyndis/Tutorial campaign. But even 7 has the big 'stop the dragon from coming into our world' save the world plot). We get to see how Leif went from the angry little boy who lost his parents in Fire Emblem 4, losing his mother figure in Fire Emblem 5, and eventually grows into the heroic, and determined prince knight he was in Fire Emblem 4's second half, and the wise king he eventually becomes in the epilogue.
It's a really smart creative choice that his portrait in Fire Emblem 5 looks much softer than his Fire Emblem 4 one to reflect the difference in his mindset between the two games, instead of simply reusing the asset from FE4. So yeah, that's pretty much the main reason why Leif is my favorite heroic character from Fire Emblem franchise.
I have no knowledge about Fire Emblem franchise after the GBA titles, so I have no idea what you are talking about about Corrin.
:P