Author's Note:

Here's another memoir to hopefully provided further perspective once more to how the common people perceive and are affected by the events in "stingrasher's" "The Sun Princess". As always don't forget to check out his work, he's updated as well by the time of this being published.

Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments and hope you all enjoy this one way or another. Until next time, which hopefully won't be too distant, but no promises. The only thing I'm sure of is that while the flames continue to burn, I shall write what I can and interests me.

Chapter #002: Mah the Merchant

Natsuki Subaru was perhaps the riskiest investment that Mah had ever made at the time, and that is putting it lightly.

The man was accused of being the dreaded Witch Cult's Archbishop of Pride. Any positive assosciation with him was practically a definite career suicide for a merchant, especially with all the strings that the Merchant Princess Anastasia Hoshin was pulling.

Having connections is essential for any merchant to not only survive but also thrive, and the Mechant Princess was making good use of hers, along with a good deal of coins, to make sure of it that Natsuki Subaru and the Priscilla Camp, which had taken him in, were unable conduct trade with merchants without it costing them unreasonably so, if at all even.

Not like she needed to do much convincing in the first place, given Natsuki Subaru's horrendous reputation at the time with him being accused as an Archbishop and all. Still, Anastasia had certainly made things much harder for them. To the point that it was a wonder, if not a downright miracle in of itself, that they lasted for as long as they did, on foreign soil no less at that.

From bribing the right people at the top so that the flow of goods across merchants will also have them made aware that conducting fair trades with the Baroness's camp will be bad for their business.

To having some of her men run the rumor mill with all sorts of stuff that would be damaging and complicate matters wherever their camp would try and purchase goods and rest.

Such as how the entirety of their camp was actually part of the Witch's Cult, with Subaru being speculated as the actual leader, which given the amount of times the Sun Princess had deferred to his advice and counsel had certainly took root and spread.

Priscilla's famous luck becoming attributed to the same vein of power as the gospel which corrupts the minds of the common folk. Incomprehensible and spontaneuous without rhyme nor reason.

There were even some rumors spreading that the Witch Cult actually had their claws deep into the Vollachian Empire's nobility. Their Meritocracy ridiculed by having it attributed to a mad desire to please the Witch of Envy.

All sorts of rumors were running about that made it abundantly clear, for those who didn't already get the memo from their suppliers and other merchants, that the Priscilla camp was not to be done fair business with.

And like so many others, Mah was all for going into business for himself and avoid the camp like the White Whale when the Calamity still lived, and if he did happen to cross paths with them against his wishes, then if he has no other choice then he could atleast rake a large profit from them as well.

Indeed, those were his thoughts at the time, riding from a naievely perceived righteous duty to hinder the accused Witch Cultists and aid the candidate who was a third of the camps that had helped to free the merchants of their woes and fears on the White Whale in her endeavor to combat the Witch's Cult.

Looking back on it now he can't help but laugh and cringe about it, and how glad he is that it all ended one day with a fateful encounter with the nasty-eyed man himself and the fiery baronness.

But before them, it was an encounter with true evil.

It's easy to brand something you know truly nothing of as evil when driven by emotion, and even more so with some coin thrown in for people like him.

However, when misfortune struck and he found himself within a village that the Witch Cult had decided to siege for reasons unknown to him. Beyond the influence of others and gains it was with his own eyes and mind that he bared witness to and identified what evil really is.

What guards the quaint village had for defense were crushed and ridiculed

Innocent civilians were slaughtered with mad glee.

Neither the elderly nor the young were spared as they were brutally massacred before their children and parents.

Houses were burned down even as the residents were still inside, trapped within what were once their warm homes that had turned into an infernal cage as demons awaited with sadistic and malevolent intent for them on the outside should they try and leave.

What had once been a quaint and peaceful village full of smiles and laughter had become a place straight out of hell with the devil-worshippers running amok as the screams of terror and anguish from the villagers coincided with the crazed laughter and zealous proclamations of the Witch Cult.

Mah could not take the evil he was witnessing, never before could even imagine such a hellish sight in violent and nauseating detail.

Fear consumed every fiber of his body over what fate he would soon likely meet in a village so far out and seemingly forsaken.

It was in those dark moments where despair had fully consumed him as he was within the clutches of Witch Cultists did a ray of light and hope shone down upon him and the village.

Light and hope that belonged to and was brought by the Sun Princess, Priscilla Barielle, and her Knight, Natsuki Subaru.

From seemingly nowhere and as if the wind had carried them, their camp had spread out and engaged the cultists in fierce combat. Mah even had his life saved moments before them by the very man he was warned about as he arrived at the scene and fought against his would be killers.

It was a violent battle with the fanatism of the cultists, but the unyielding might and determination of the Sun soon saw the battle end with victory undoubtedly theirs.

The village, what's left of it and whoever managed to survive, were saved. The Priscilla Camp had thwarted the Witch Cult from fully destroying the place and slaughtering everyone there, but their work there did not stop there.

Mah's not gonna lie and say that with that one incident, all previous doubts and hostility he had for the Priscilla Camp went away. No, things weren't so simple and emotions, feelings, thoughts, they were never one to fade so easily. Especially for merchants who needed to be wary of deceit and ploys.

Over the course of time however as he remained in the village, stuck there as he was recovering from his injuries. He came to observe and witness the Priscilla Camp, Natsuki Subaru in particular, help the village get back onto their feet.

Initially he had thought everything to have been a scheme of some sort to sway public opinion of their camp, as a matter of fact Mah was quite confident in that theory of his.

But seeing their camp share with the village what little supplies they had, and it was certainly meager as Anastasia ensured.

Seeing them help in repairing the village.

Seeing Natsuki Subaru smile so brightly every time he went off to help in whatever way he can, as he went to play with the children, and performed his "radio calisthenics" with whoever played along with him. All without minding the distrustful and often even hateful glares sent his way.

The man was even the one to defuse a potential fight whenever any of his men had had enough of the village's treatment for his sake. Preferring peace over defending what manner of pride he may have.

He even made the village children toys with whatever materials he had available.

The accused Archbishop of Pride did all of that without ever asking for anything in return. Not for recompense nor the village's acceptance.

None of it made sense for Mah.

If he truly was the Archbishop of Pride as a Great Spirit had accused him to be, then why?

Why does he have such a kind and selfless heart and soul?

Even after all the mud thrown at his name and image, why does his smile and actions radiate so much warmth and give off a light that one would expect from someone who wasn't a Witch Cultist. What one would expect from a true knight, if not the Sword Saint himself.

Mah just couldn't comprehend just who Natsuki Subaru was at the time, in the deep recesses of his mind it was as if something was being blocked from surfacing for him to see the whole puzzle.

What he saw before him in person, experienced firsthand however, none of it could be denied.

There are some things that money cannot buy, and reputation is one of them.

What Mah saw in the Sun Princess's camp, the kind of person Natsuki Subaru is, and the good they were doing in spite of the scorn thrown their way, it went against everything he had heard of from the rumors and the image that was planted in his head.

Being a merchant required one to have a good discerning eye for truths and falsehoods, and Mah thought himself to have a pretty good eye for it.

So putting everything he knew and heard of, comparing the rumors with what he himself saw and went through…

It was then that he realized how horribly did he misjudge their camp, how everyone was wrongfully painting them in a bad light.

A good merchant should be able to tell the truth from falsehoods.

Mah had thought himself to be a pretty good merchant, one with integrity and honor.

And yet he had allowed himself to be swept up by the Merchant Princess's conspiracy like so many others.

At the time, and even now as he looks back on it, Mah is filled with immense shame the likes of which he doubts he'll ever experience again in his lifetime.

Still though, he was a merchant, and given the arduous path their sort must walk to make a profit, though he lost his integrity, he at least was too stubborn to stay down when his investments go up in smoke. And while previously his trust in the Merchant Princess had led him to commit an injustice towards a kind man, that didn't mean he couldn't start again and this time support him and their camp,

It wasn't an easy endeavor, far from it.

Simply approaching Natsuki Subaru after the cold treatment he gave the man even after he had saved his life was difficult.

Whatmore with his intent to be a merchant that will provide them with fair trade, if not beneficial to the, he was practically going up against every other merchant, the Merchant Guild themself, and a royal candidate, but his pride and honor as an honest businessman wouldn't allow him to leave the situation be now that his eyes were opened to the truth.

Fortunately he had a few connections and favors to call upon, and while even then it didn't amount to as much as he would've liked, it was all he could do and sufficed well enough along with Subaru and Priscilla's own efforts.

Besides, no worthwhile investment that is genuine carries no risk with it.

And while it was incredibly risky indeed, with his business taking a perilous hit that he actually believed he may never recover from, things did turn up for the better for them all eventually and it was all worth it.

It took a lot of effort and resources but the village soon got back on its feet, as did every other village their camp had saved from the Witch Cult.

Their camp… it was quite the novelty experience as he never thought himself to become a merchant that was directly a part of a camp for the Royal Selection Process, even more so for one that was accused of being secretly of the Witch Cult in spite of being the camp who most frequently and actively went against them.

And then, when the day came when all of their efforts bore fruit and the Witch Cult had met their long overdue and deserved end, he was overcome with a sense of relief and accomplishment. While he wasn't an active part of the battles, he still gave his all to contribute to the cause, no matter the expense.

There were few things as satisfying for a merchant as seeing your investments pay off, whatmore to return tenfold, if not a hundred, as his memories of who Natsuki Subaru truly is returned.

While there was initially a resurface of guilt from how he thought of him at the beginning, there was an overwhelming pride and joy as well for his decision to stick with his beliefs and Natsuki Subaru along the way to the bloody end.