Chapter 8 / Black and White


"Alternate entrances to the Church?"

"Don't make me repeat myself."

Ren's party member, Batka, looked at the hero with a discerning frown. Their leader was always acting aloof and distancing himself from the rest of the team. It made things difficult to keep an eye on him, since he was disappearing to do his own things.

It made it even more difficult considering that he never spoke much to anyone on the team.

When Ren suddenly came over to speak to Batka, asking about any information on these entrances to the Church of Three Heroes, he was taken back. All Batka could do was dumbfoundedly stare at the hero.

Ren sighed. "It's fine if you don't know. Forget about it."

As Ren turned around, Batka raised his hands out. "Hold on a minute! I'm not sure why you're looking into the Church of Three Heroes, but if you're talking about entrances, they do exist!"

"Obviously, they exist. I wouldn't be coming to ask you if I didn't actually know they existed or not. I remember you mentioning something about being brought up in the faith alongside Tersia, so I thought it would be best to ask you if you knew any exact locations."

Batka flinched. He was talking about the fact that he and Tersia were friends with the other two party members during their guild request, as to properly introduce themselves, but he hadn't had the slightest idea that the Sword Hero was paying attention to their conversation.

"I mean, I'm not a follower of the Church anymore, but—"

"That's exactly the reason why I'm asking you in the first place." Ren crossed his arms as he stood impatient. "Stop dancing around the question here. Do you know any locations that would give me access to the Church?"

"Couldn't you just ask one of the nuns? I'm sure they would allow the Sword to use them."

"Never mind. I'm leaving."

"W-wait! Hold on!"

"What is it? Spit it out already."

Ren turned his head around, annoyed that Batka kept stopping him.

"There's at least, uhm, an alternate passage that you can take into the Church! It's only reserved for deliveries and high-ranking members of the Church, but why do you need to—"

The hero looked over his shoulder. "Do you know where that is?"

"It's just a few streets over from the main building. They usually get a shipment of various items and supplies through that entrance. I hear that they're getting a few of them tonight. Other than that, it's usually guarded by holy knights."

"Alright, I guess that's good to know."

"Do you need me to introduce you to some people that can help?" Batka asked once more. "I might be gone from the faith, but that doesn't mean I'm not friends with some of them."

"No, that was good enough. Thanks, Batka."

The party member flinched. Considering how attentive the Sword Hero was, it shouldn't have been a surprise that he knew his name. However, he seemed like the type of person who didn't really care much to learn it. It made him rub the back of his head in bewilderment.

"Y-yeah… Have a good night." He wasn't sure if the Sword Hero even heard the reply. "Oh man, I can't get a good read on the guy, but I suppose this means I don't have a night to myself now…"

-/IV/-

In order for the shipment to be guaranteed its quality, a handful of Church staff were typically sent over with adventurers to help in transporting it over. It took some time to get everything sorted out, but a schedule always helped out to keep things as expected as it should be. It was getting close to night since they had to deal with a few more monster attacks than usual, but the delay hadn't been too bad.

"And that's another shipment of supplies, all brought over safely."

"We really do appreciate your assistance."

"This is the least we could do to help out and ensure that the Church gets what they need."

"Speaking of which, did you hear about the rumors?"

"The one with the Shield Demon? I thought he was going to keep hiding his true colors away, but apparently, he did something terrible to an accompanying party member on the very first night."

As they walked down the back street to the alternate entrance, a mysterious black sphere dropped off from the rooftops. Their eyes only caught sight of it once it was close to the ground, not thinking they would be encountering any type of situation here.

Before they had time to react, it exploded into a black powered mist.

"What's going on!?"

"A smokescreen!?"

The adventurers pulled out their weapons, as their mage started channeling magic. A wind gale took a few moments to conjure up, but once it was shot outwards, the mage was able to disperse it. The other adventurers looked around for anything amiss, but nothing had been changed.

"Nothing missing from the cart. No damages elsewhere."

"Was this a prank?"

"There doesn't appear to be any harm done. We should move onwards."

The adventurers were more wary of the short distance they had to travel, but nothing noteworthy could have been mentioned. It would appear that they were on edge for nothing, meeting up with the holy knights without another issue unveiling itself. It was such a small incident that it wasn't really worth it to ask them if they knew anything about it.

Not before long, the carriage was pulled into the entrance. The adventurers said their goodbyes with the staff after being paid for the job and headed out on their way.

The carriage was stationed over in a corner of the church's storage facility, being brought in by the holy knights. As tedious as the job had been, the two knights were still able to keep their minds afloat by simply having a conversation with one another.

"You have to hear about this. You remember how there was a group sent out to eliminate some threats to the Church last week?"

"Didn't they get their asses kicked? I heard one of them even returned, stripped of almost everything of his belongings."

"It sounds pretty crazy, but I wonder who the target was that humiliated them like that. If the Church sent out their assassins to deal with them, it must have been someone going against the Church's teachings."

"I haven't heard any updates on that matter recently, but a job that failed that hard. It's the first time I've heard of it. The assassins are pretty good at their job, but I guess that's less work for us to cover up. Between you and me, I'm a bit thankful for that. I needed a bit of a break."

"I feel that. Are we almost done here?"

"Yeah, I'm making one final check and then we'll leave the rest for tomorrow. It's getting too late for us to do anything else here."

As they left, they never noticed that something—or someone—had been hanging underneath the carriage. Ren dropped out from underneath and quickly got to his feet once he knew that the room was cleared from witnesses.

"That was easier than I thought."

In his hand, he was holding some high-potent smokescreens. He picked up a couple from his looting on the assassin that tried to attack them, the same one that the knights must have been mentioning. One quick toss was enough; it gave him enough time to drop down next to the carriage and attach himself to its frame, but he would admit that the wind magic caused him to panic.

While hiding though, he didn't think he would receive such valuable information.

"So it wasn't a random attack by overzealous outliers…"

The assassination attempt was orchestrated and premeditated, orders sent down by high-ups. Whatever may have been the reason, the Church wanted their supposed holy figures to be dead. Ren mused through the possibilities, but all he could grasp were guesses without anything concrete.

If they treated Naofumi like a demon, then it would make sense that they would try to eliminate everyone who was affiliated with him, even if that meant crossing their weapons with the Sword Hero and the Bow Hero. However, Ren didn't understand something crucial.

How would they know to target the heroes in the first place? They might have already seen success in stopping the two heroes from reaching the trial and claiming Naofumi's name as innocent, but that beckons another question for Ren.

Why was Motoyasu allowed to be at the trial?

Ren's hypothesis had to be Myne. She certainly had to be the final puzzle piece in this situation, but as to where she fitted, he didn't have the exact answer to that. If Myne had connections to the aforementioned princess, while Itsuki came across a conversation where the princess was involved with the Church of Three Heroes, that might have painted a clearer picture.

It would have been nice to go ahead and interrogate Myne for information, but if it was that simple, he would have already done it by now. Ren needed to figure out another way to gather that smoking gun to clear Naofumi's name once and for all. The solution might have been inside the Church.

If he couldn't interrogate Myne, he'll simply interrogate a high-ranking official of the Church. If they were the ones to send the assassination order, they must have an idea of what is happening.

Drawing his sword and grabbing a lantern from the storage, Ren started making his way through the depths of the Church. If the layout had to be made off some references from games he played, then his objective would be on the top floors of the building. It wouldn't hurt to pay attention to any suspicious doors that might warrant a check.

There were a few knights on patrol, but Ren was able to use the shadows around the corners to his advantage. Some of them would walk right on by, oblivious to the intruder within the perimeter, but that worked for Ren. If he could get through the area without triggering any type of alarms, that would make his life far easier.

As Ren scurried down the hall, he noticed that there was a staircase leading downwards. He didn't think too much about it until upon crossing it, he heard the faint sound of people in prayer. His attention was caught briefly, enough for another patrol of knights to come around the corner. It forced Ren to retreat into the staircase until they went by, but that only made the prayers sound louder.

The main church hall should have been above him, not below him.

What was going on down there?

Although he knew better, he allowed his curiosity to get the better of him.

He headed down the spiral staircase and found himself at an alternate church hall, but the darkness made it look far sinister than what he'd imagined the main hall would be like. They were people present within the shadows, all kneeling down to the statues upon the altar. With one person standing before them, leading the prayers, Ren could see a sole weapon being propped up before them.

An ornate blade, silver in its color. It looked almost like a replication of his holy sword's base form, only that the blue gem had been replaced with a generic one.

"This doesn't look like religion. It feels more like a cult."

It didn't matter what this was. This had nothing to do with Ren and his current objective.

Backing off, he quietly escaped up the stairs again and continued his way. He didn't have any trouble dodging the attention of the knights and soon, he found himself before a few doors on the second floor that looked important. The plaques next to the frame helped in determining his guesses.

He pressed his ear against one of the doors to listen for anybody inside and once he could confirm no presence, he slowly opened the door. It wasn't locked, so Ren felt pretty lucky.

Ren closed the door behind him and prepared to turn on his lantern, but there was no need to. There was already a light turned on, illuminating the area. The room looked like a typical office, with a desk layered in paperwork and drawers that were filled with documents. The books on the shelves were somewhat misaligned, having been taken in and out constantly. He placed the lantern on the table, picking up some of the papers to see if there was anything relevant here.

… Only for him to realize he couldn't read.

[Attention]
[The Holy Weapons are able to translate speech for the respective Hero in order to communicate with others.]

Melromarc spoke a different language from Japanese, but it didn't exactly register with Ren because the Holy Weapons themselves could automatically translate speech for them. It made scouting through the papers difficult for him, especially if he couldn't understand a thing, but he figured that there was no way self-incriminating papers would be kept here.

His only response is to hide in the room until someone returns. There must have been a reason why the door was locked and the room had its lights on. However, he heard footsteps approaching him before he could get a chance to duck into a corner.

Ren tightened his grip on his sword, prepared to take whoever was coming in hostage and make them spit out the information he needed to know. With a tight swing, Ren threw out his attack, but it was met with air. The figure tripped over and fell to the ground to narrowly avoid his attack, but before he could swing his blade back, a whimper emerged.

"Wait! It's just me! It's me, Batka! I come in peace, Sir Ren!"

"Batka?" Slightly unnerved as to what the hell his party member was doing here, he lowered his arm. "What the hell are you doing here? How did you even get in here?"

"I followed you here. I was curious what you were trying to do with the Church, so I decided to tag along. I found my own way in, so don't worry about those details. Luckily, I managed to find you first before the knights could find me."

Ren leered at his party member, swiping the lantern back into his hand.

"However, I could ask you the same thing. What the hell are you doing, snooping around like this? If the head nun finds that you've been trespassing in her office without permission, she's not going to take it kindly, even if you're the Sword Hero!"

"You can say that I have business with her," Ren sighed. "I suppose not her in particular, but if this is the room belonging to the head nun, then I won't be complaining. However—"

Ren grabbed Batka's wrist and started dragging him over to the next room, attached to the office. He was lucky that no one was in here either, but the only way to get there was through that door. He closed the door behind him, just enough for Ren to see through a thin opening.

"—we really shouldn't be standing around, all dumbfounded like that."

"Okay, that doesn't explain—!"

"Batka. Stay quiet. You don't want to be caught here."

"Uh, right." Batka lowered his voice. "That still doesn't explain much as to why you're here. If you wanted to meet with the head nun, you could have just asked to have a meeting with her."

"I don't think she would tell me what I want to know."

Ren glanced back at Batka briefly, seeing that he looked confused.

"Tell me, Batka. What do you think about the Shield Hero's trial?"

"Huh?" Batka tilted his head, stammering at the sudden question. "If… If you ask me, I do find it a little suspicious. The guy was recently summoned from all of that and for him to commit a crime against the person that volunteered to help him out, it was a bit difficult to believe."

"Is that your true thoughts?"

Batka scratched his head a bit nervously. "Honestly, I would have loved to go ahead with the Shield Hero that first day."

Ren raised his eyebrow. "And you didn't after I asked?"

"Hey, I'm sure everyone in the throne room didn't change to help the Shield Hero because they were scared of the Church's presence. Once you're affiliated with the Shield Hero, your life would be in danger if the Church decided to make a move on you. They would be breathing down my neck if I did something that they didn't like."

Ren nodded, now getting confirmation that the Church would act to extremes against allies of the Shield Hero. Batka might have said that casually, but it explained the atmosphere surrounding Naofumi during that meeting with the king. If Myne was connected with the Church through this elusive princess, then there was no need for her to worry about her own life being at stake.

"Though, I think I know why you're here." Batka crossed his arms, almost smug to have figured it out. "You think the Shield Hero is innocent."

"Feel free to think whatever you want, but if you're tagging along, you're going to shut up and stay close to me. If you don't, I'm kicking you out of a window."

Batka straightened up from the threat and stammered. "D-dutifully noted…"

Ren and Batka stayed silent in the connected room, waiting for the head nun to return, but twenty minutes must have gone by without any changes. He wasn't sure why the head nun was out and about, but he didn't want to compromise his position because he was being impatient. There would have to be a moment where the head nun would return before the end of the night, but Ren couldn't predict when.

Another twenty minutes went by, leaving Ren at a loss for words. Was he having the wrong assumptions? There must have been something happening in the Church if the head nun wasn't returning to her unlocked room in a timely manner.

After a total of one hour, Ren growled in frustration. He left the room, leaving Batka panicking behind him as he approached the office's door to the halls. Pressing his ear against the door, he hadn't been hearing anything. He gave it a few minutes, only to realize he wasn't hearing anything, not even the patrolling guards walking by.

Ren checked outside and confirmed his suspicions.

"Nobody…?"

"Something wrong?" Batka followed Ren into the hall.

"Not even the knights are present. What's going on?"

"Maybe we should use this to our advantage."

"For what? I told you that my objective is a higher-up of the Church. Other than the congregation leader, I don't think I can get much higher than the head nun."

"There may be a chance that you'll find what you're looking for in the secret archives. If you're looking for proof that the Shield Hero is innocent, I can't think of a better place."

Ren narrowed his eyes, being skeptical of the idea.

"H-hear me out. It sounds weird—"

"Very weird."

"—but I hear that they keep confidential information there. You could find the transcripts of the orders that they used to send out the assassinations. That might be proof that something might be amiss and make the king start doubting what's been going on. It's nothing too direct, but it may be a start."

"The transcripts of the assassination orders…?"

That did sound rather tempting, but if the head nun returned while they were scouting for the secret archives, he may not have another chance to have a good position to interrogate her. At this point, he would have decided on a coin flip what path he should pursue, but while there hadn't been any guarantee that they would find the transcripts, there wasn't any promise that the head nun would leak out the information either. There was less risk in pursuing the transcripts, requiring no confrontation.

"Alright, I'm listening. Where are the secret archives?"

"The grand library. I remember where the entrance of the secret archives is, so we won't have to waste too much time dwindling around. We will have to descend to the basement floor to access it."

"Take me there immediately."

"As you wish, Sir Ren."

Batka did as he was told, bringing Ren a path to where the library had been. However, Ren was very wary of Batka's haphazard movements. He wasn't checking around the corners or paying attention to see if there were any knights down the hall before advancing. If the guy was planning to give him heart attacks, he was doing a successful job at doing so.

Fortunately, they didn't come across any knights at all. They arrived at a set of double doors. He pushed it open with Batka's help, revealing the grand library. Fulfilling its name, it was rather grandiose with the arrays of books and shelves, the narrow corridors and high balconies.

Batka approached the great statues situated in the middle of the library. It was one of three nondescript heroes holding their weapons, as the Church seemingly likes to have all over the place.

"Stand back a bit. I'll need to put some magic into this statue."

"Do what you need to do."

Batka placed his hand on the statue and started channeling. Wind slowly started to pick up around him before Ren started to hear some mechanism under their feet. Soon enough, the floor started to move around the statue, revealing a spiral staircase looping around its perimeter. With Ren finally turning on the lantern he had been holding with him this entire time, he slowly descended downwards.

Compared to the library, it was pitch dark down there, so the lantern was helpful.

The secret archives at the bottom was almost as big as the library above it. It was going to take forever to look through all the possible documents and figure out which one had been what they're looking for. Batka claimed to only have a vague idea of what it looked like, but even if Ren didn't know the written language, he said that all assassination reports are marked with a red stamp on its folder.

"Should we split up?" Batka suggested.

"I don't see why we shouldn't," Ren replied.

If the Church is as organized as he assumed, the reports might have been in order of time. Ren will simply have to search for a collection of red-stamped documents and bring to Batka the ones at the end. It shouldn't be too difficult.

As he went off from Batka, he scouted the location for what might fit the description. He was very throughout, but he wasn't coming across anything with a red-stamp. He must have chosen the wrong aisles to check first, but as he turned the corner, he noticed that there was a stray book resting on a table. If it were any other book, he wouldn't have paid attention to it.

"That's…"

However, it was not any normal book. Ren rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, but as he approached the table, his heart skipped a beat. It was as he thought it to be. Placing the lantern on the table and forgetting about his original objective for the moment, his questions spiked in disbelief.

"W-what… What is this doing here…?"

Before him, there was a copy of The Records of the Four Holy Weapons.

The same book that brought them over here.

He flipped through the pages, but instead of being in Japanese, the text was filled with scribbles. He wasn't even sure if these scribbles were in the same language as what Melromarc used, but that book hadn't been merely filled with words alone. They say that pictures were worth a thousand words and thankfully for Ren, they were words that he could actually understand.

At least, he thought so. There were still pictures that he could not quite figure out, but to the few that he could determine, they were all leaning towards the few pages that Naofumi had read to them prior to their summoning. Ren quickly scanned the pictures once more to jog his memory.

When he reached the picture of the supposed heroine of the story, he stopped.

"There's even only a single heroine, who is the princess of the country," Naofumi's words echoed in his head, "but it looks like she was written to be a terrible person. Being obsessive and manipulative of the heroes, she was usually the obstacle in the way for them. It's because of her that the heroes had a habit of going up against each other, whether it's through another one of her schemes or trickery."

Ren remembered the scene of Itsuki pushing Motoyasu against the wall, angered by the fact that he looked like he was taking Myne's side over Naofumi. And there was the picture itself, and while it didn't have many details, the princess did have red hair.

"Myne might not be working for the princess after all," Ren realized. "Could it be possible that Myne is the princess!?"

If that was the case, he needed to tell his friends immediately of this potential information. If everything in the book had been repeated to them in the castle, there was a good chance that the pattern could continue with its verified source. Although he'll have to confirm it somehow, this was a valuable thing to realize, because if so, their opponent was already in plain sight.

All that was left is to take the fight onto her field.

"Still though, what was this book doing here?" Ren picked it up and inspected it for a bit before dumping it into his inventory. He was certain that the Church wasn't going to miss something like that. "Honestly, I couldn't care any less. I'm onto something now."

"And what would that be, Sir Ren?"

Batka's voice emerged from the aisles, prompting Ren to look over his shoulder.

"Nothing much," Ren dismissed. "I still haven't found the transcripts."

"You really thought there were transcripts to be with?"

There were more footsteps following Batka and once he snapped his fingers, those footsteps only got louder. "Sorry, Sir Ren. Such transcripts don't exist."

Ren turned around to see Batka being supported by a few holy knights with their weapons drawn. He instinctively pulled out his sword, gritting his teeth.

"Are you kidding me? Batka! What's the meaning of this!?"

"I already told you. Once you're affiliated with the Shield Hero, your life would be in danger if the Church decided to make a move on you. As someone who believes in the Shield Hero, the Church wants you gone. I'm sorry it has to be this way, Sir Ren."

Suddenly, Batka's oddities started to make sense. He wasn't being careful in the halls because he knew he wouldn't be caught. The knights on patrol stopped showing up after Batka appeared in the head nun's office before Ren. There was also the fact that Batka somehow managed to get through the outdoor security, despite claiming to be following Ren.

The thing that should have tipped Ren off though was the fact that Batka knew about the assassination attempt. That was something Ren didn't tell anyone, but because he was so consumed with finding clues for Naofumi's innocence, Batka's mistake flew underneath his radar.

Batka was working for the church this entire time.

"Now, we've got two options. We can do this the easy way, where you surrender yourself to be arrested by the knights on trespassing and whatever else the Church wants to incriminate you for, or we can do this the hard way, where you struggle and be defeated here where you stand. Also, you'll still be arrested by the knights."

"Do you really think I only have two options? Too bad!"

Ren tightened the grip on his sword and unleashed his sword in a spin.

"I choose option three! I'm escaping!"

Batka bitterly smiled. "I thought so."

The knights tried to intercept Ren's attack, but they were blown away by his strike. The knights recovered and bounced back to Ren, but no matter how fast they swung their swords, Ren was quicker on his movements. His ability with his sword stemmed from his experience from Brave Star Online and while it hadn't been a perfect replication of it, he was pretty good at the game from a combat perspective. Easing himself into this world's fantasy setting wasn't difficult for him.

"Take this!"

With a heavy slash for retaliation, Ren launched the knights onto the ground without breaking a sweat. The few knights that were still standing around were hesitating to approach him, but Batka ended up being the person to take the steps towards the Sword Hero. He told them to retreat to grab more knights to help with Ren's capture, but that merely left Batka alone with Ren.

"Confident in your abilities, aren't you?"

"Believe me when I say it, but I didn't want to do this. If you had not stuck your nose so deeply into the Church's business, I could have kept covering for you throughout our entire journey together, but it has to come to this. They're forcing my hand, Sir Ren. I can't…"

Batka drew his two short swords, holding them like daggers.

"I can't do anything about it."

"That's not changing the fact that I'm leaving here on my own terms. Do you think I'll simply stand here to be captured when my friend is out there, suffering because of the actions from the Church!? The fact that you guys are doing this right now means that the Church really does have a part to play in what happened to the Shield Hero!"

"I'm sorry, but that's not my position to comment."

Batka lunged forwards and began his assault with his whirling blades. Ren was able to uphold a defensive guard, blocking every single one of Batka's approaches. The weight of his sword landed onto Ren's guard, but he wasn't able to break through.

"What about everyone else in the party?" Ren grunted. "Are they with the Church as well?"

"No, they're normal adventurers." Batka pushed forward with his dual blades, but only managed to succeed in giving Ren free space. "They're not involved in what the Church is doing. They're smart enough to realize the dangers already, so I suppose you can say I was there for an extra measure."

"I assume that it's the same deal with the other heroes."

"Who knows?"

With such an indirect answer, Ren could only take it as truth. If that was the case, the others, aside from the partyless Naofumi, might already have eyes on them, watching their every move. While Ren could assume Myne was the agent in Motoyasu's party, that left Itsuki's side to be unaccounted for. Ren needed to escape, so that he could warn him before Itsuki could commit the same mistake.

If Batka was standing in the way, then Ren had no other choice except to cut him down. It was a shame because Ren thought Batka was a decent person, from how little of a time they interacted.

Even so, Ren didn't hesitate to lift his sword.

"[Severing Sword]!"

He fired a wide slash at Batka, who had narrowly dodged, but it caused the attack to crash into the bookshelves and caused a collapse of books and documents into the air. Batka landed onto top of another bookshelf, sweating a bit, but he wasn't making himself a sitting duck.

He threw one of his swords at Ren to cover himself for a quick magic cast. Ren knocked the flying sword out from the air, but didn't have an answer to interrupt Batka. He was already done by the time his sword was spinning away.

"[Faust Wind Shot]!"

Ren tried to block the spell, but the knockback was too great for him to handle, even if it didn't do much damage. He was pushed against the table before he noticed a second [Faust Wind Shot] coming right at him. With quick thinking, Ren leapt over the table and kicked it to its side to act as a shield against the spell. The collision caused the spell to disperse, but Batka leapt into the air to catch his second sword and tossed it right at the table.

The silver metal impaled right through the surface, narrowly hitting Ren's head. He glanced over to one side of the table for a quick survey, only for him to hear the footsteps coming from the other side. Ren's head turned over, seeing Batka readying his blade for a thrust right at him. He took a step back and pulled the table to reorient its angle. A thud smashed into the surface, shattering the table into two large pieces, but when Batka was ready for a follow-up, Ren was no longer behind the table.

"W-what…?"

It was as if he disappeared, but Ren merely moved to a blindspot the moment he turned the table around. He kept his shadow hidden behind the table pieces. Once he found the opening, Ren made his move. A violent slash came down against Batka's back, but it was slightly too slow.

They both clicked their tongues when their blades collided once more.

"You know, I respect your fighting ability," Batka said. "I really did want to follow you on your journey to become a hero, but sometimes, things don't work out the way that you would want them to."

"Save your flattery!" Ren twisted the grip of his sword, causing Batka to stagger forwards, leaving him open for a clean kick to the stomach. Batka bounced against the ground before grinding his feet to a halt. "If you think sweet words are going to save you, you'll be sorely mistaken."

"Ah…" Batka coughed. "You… You really care about the Shield Hero. The reports were true, that you and Shield Hero… no, that all of the Cardinal Heroes knew each other before your summoning. You are... good friends."

Ren raised his eyebrow. He didn't understand why something like that would be in the Church's reports. It didn't sound very consequential to him, but it was probably the reason why he and Itsuki were attacked on the day of Naofumi's trial. However, it stemmed to question how they would receive that information to begin with. One of them must have accidentally mentioned it or—

Ren flinched, realizing that before the day they were attacked, Myne had come across Motoyasu. If there was anyone who would blabber about his personal life that quickly to a female stranger, it was definitely Motoyasu.

"You're… far nicer than you let off, Sir Ren. Even though you give everyone in the party the cold shoulder, we can tell that you're still looking out for us, when it should really be the other way around…"

"Shut up. I don't need to hear it."

"It's my truth…! I really do regret doing this, but the Church is forcing me!"

"I said shut up! I don't care about your reasons for doing this!" Ren's grip on his sword tightened as he brought it forwards. "You're stopping me from helping my friends! In that case, I'll be cutting you down, right here and right now!"

Batka gritted his teeth, but his awe and respect for Ren was being expressed through his subtle smile. Batka got back up on his feet, lifting his two swords again. He shrugged off any pain that his body was feeling and rushed Ren down. His flurry of attacks were matched though, despite Ren needing to deal with an extra sword in the attack patterns.

Though, it was simply that to Ren, a pattern. After a few seconds, Ren slid right through one of his assaults and swung his foot to stagger the dual-swordsmen. Batka didn't let it get to him, recovering quickly and launching back another slash, but as Ren went to block it, the Sword Hero also threw a small, black orb between the two blades.

It cracked once it was squished together, exploding into a powerful smokescreen.

"H-huh!? Since when did he—!?"

Batka couldn't finish his thought, feeling the sudden foot-shaped weight sink into his stomach. The force fired him outside of the smokescreen and into a bookshelf. The acceleration pushed the bookshelf over, tipping towards Batka, but he managed to reorient himself and roll out before it could squish him. Faltering on his feet, he stood back up to see that the smokescreen hadn't dissipated yet.

He aimed his arm, thinking Ren was still in there and casted his magic.

"[Faust Wind Blast]!"

The wind fired from Batka and dispersed the smokescreen with relative ease, only to reveal that Ren hadn't been there anymore. Batka clicked his tongue, figuring that Ren must have run off to the staircase to escape, but as he thought about pursuing him, he saw a shadow looming behind him.

He turned around to the fallen bookshelf, seeing Ren swinging his sword right down on him.

"Got you! [Cyclone Sword]!"

Spinning vertically from his skill, Batka couldn't defend himself in time. The best he could do was step backwards, but even then, the attack was still able to land. At the very least, he avoided the fatal blow as only the surface of his chest was outlined with his blood as he stumbled backwards. Batka crossed his swords, defending himself from Ren's following slash, catching him at the pinch, but a swift kick from Ren sent Batka flying down the aisle.

Batka coughed, seeing his health was already dropping quickly. Even if he had a higher level, Ren had the power of the strengthening methods by his side that could close the difference in their stat ratings easily. From the moment this fight started, Batka already knew he was outclassed. He didn't have the fighting experience to keep up with Ren.

When he looked up to the approaching Ren, he noticed his eyes were colder than usual. They were calculating, as he lifted his sword, preparing to put an end to Batka's life. He knew, by then, that Ren was prepared to go to the extreme if that meant he could ensure the safety of his friends.

While that was noble in its own right—

"You should… be careful about that…"

"... Huh?"

"You really cherish your friends, but if you have no sympathy or compassion for anyone who decides to get in the way, you're going to become a monster one day. You would be no better than a cruel murderer on the streets."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Batka quietly chuckled. "It's funny. I don't even know for myself, but I know that deep down, you're no monster. So don't let yourself get lost."

Ren lifted his sword, ready to execute Batka, but considering how he didn't have the energy to move anymore, he didn't think there was a reason to take his life. He didn't know if it was Batka's words that quelled his agitation, but he decided to simply leave him there. Besides, every second he wasted here, it was another second that back-up could be arriving—

"[Drifa Fireball]!"

"What!?"

From his side, a fiery projectile crashed into Ren, exploding on impact. Batka leapt out of the way before it landed, narrowly dodging its radius, but as the person that was directly hit, Ren was thrown away and rolled along the ground. Ren managed to snap out of his spin and get back on his feet, but there were knights, dressed more professionally, approaching Ren with a violent assault.

He was able to defend himself against the various slashes, knocking them away, but the magic spells kept on coming every moment the knights weren't in the way.

"[Drifa Fireball]!"

"Grah! Damn it!"

These spells were considerably more powerful than Batka's wind spells. He couldn't get away from the onslaughting pressure, not noticing the flank approaching him rapidly. He only managed to block the flanking knights at the last moment, but there was too much force behind their swings that caused Ren to be launched towards the ground.

He tried to get up once more, preparing a smokescreen to give him space, but he couldn't even get up on his feet to move. The knights locked him down, but stabbed their sword next to his neck, crossing them such that he couldn't move his head. Another knight came over and stomped on his hand, making sure that he was going to be able to swing it.

"Sir Ren…" Batka whispered to himself, pulling his body up to see Ren in a captured state.

"You did a good job on bringing the Sword Hero here, Batka. A place where even his screams can't reach the surface."

A female's voice emerged from the mages, having her walk through with a peaceful smile on her face. She was wearing garments of a nun with a rosary of the Three Heroes Church against her bosom.

"You will certainly be handsomely paid for your services. We were right to hire you for the job. We, as the Church, will see that there will be no need to meddle with your allies. We will leave them alone, as promised."

"T-thank you, Sister Altara…"

Ren frowned at what the nun had been saying. Did that mean that Batka was also fighting for the sake of his friends? If what he said was true about the Church, it was possible that his friends and allies were used as leverage for him to do what they wanted him to do. That would certainly explain his regret and dissatisfaction during their fight, only doing it or else his friends might suffer for it.

"Bastards…!" Ren growled. "Out with it! You were the ones to fabricate the situation with Naofumi, the Shield Hero!? He's innocent, and yet you bastards decided to incriminate him based on your shitty beliefs! I swear, I'll make you pay!"

"I don't think this is how interrogation works," the nun giggled. "Usually, you would have to have the upper hand in order to force answers out of your victims. However, because of my loving heart for the Church's teachings, I will still respond to you."

"What high and mighty bullshit!"

"We merely did what we thought was right." The nun's smile looked possessed, sending chills down Ren's spine. Her hands rose up, as if she was in the position to be preaching him. "We wanted to protect our world from the demonic hands of the Shield Demon, but we were too late to save the other Cardinal Heroes. We must ensure that no further damage can be done and show everyone the saving light of those we worship."

"You're not getting away with this!"

"Oh, believe me when I say it, Sword Demon." The nun carefully walked forwards and bent down to the trapped Ren, as if mocking him for the position he found himself in. "We already have. All that is left is for the pieces to fall together, so that we can give this world the salvation it needs from the Demons that plague it."

At that moment, one of the knights slammed his foot onto Ren's back, making him squirm in pain. Over and over again until his consciousness was starting to fade away. He kept swearing under his breath as the nun merely sat there, watching him suffer and lose color in his eyes.

"ARGH!"

Batka couldn't even dare to look, keeping to himself. All he could whisper were apologies.

Ren wondered why they were summoned to this world if this was what was going to happen. Naofumi once doubted the reason as to why they were selected to be the Cardinal Heroes and while Ren thought it was a silly thought at the time, he slowly came to match Naofumi's concerns as his vision started to blur. His body became limp, his mind would soon follow.

"M-Motoyasu… Naofumi… It… suki…"

This hadn't been a matter of how strong he was.

"Please... stay... sa...fe..."

This world was rigged from the start.


[SKIT 041 : Three Heroes Church Cathedral]

[Ren] : "They've got a fancy place here. It's just what I would imagine from a cathedral."
[Ren] : "It's a shame that it's being occupied by people that think my friend is a demon."
[Ren] : "The hallways are still pretty dark. It actually gives me a bit of the creeps, now that I think about it."
[Ren] : "It's like anything could pop of at any moment—"
[Ren] : "—W-what was that noise!?"
[Ren] : "..."
[Ren] : "O-oh... it's just a mouse."
[Ren] : "H-huh... So they have mouses in this world too."
[Ren] : "No! Focus, Ren! You can't be spooked this easily! You've got a job to do!"

[SKIT 042 : Illiteracy]

[Ren] : "I wonder how I was able to function before realizing I can't read."
[Ren] : "In the restaurants, I'd always ask for the cheapest item on the menu."
[Ren] : "The signs are always straightforward, so I never really paid attention to the actual words, just the pictures."
[Ren] : "The guild requests were picked by my party members to avoid the hassle for myself."
[Ren] : "Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've even held paper since coming into this world."
[Ren] : "... I should probably get on learning the language before I land myself into a similar situation like this."

[SKIT 043 : Trigger-Finger]

[Batka] : "Is it your motto to swing first, ask questions later!? You almost sliced my head right off!"
[Ren] : "Don't approach me like that then. It's your own fault that you snuck up on me like that. I thought you were an enemy."
[Batka] : "Okay, yeah, I see your point, but you could have at least hesitated to check!"
[Ren] : "Any second wasted on hesitation, it's a moment of weakness."
[Batka] : "Your friends must have a tough time. Do you have bells strapped to them to know that they're coming?"
[Ren] : "No, they would make their presence obvious for me to notice. Besides, I know at least one of my friends would probably have their trigger-finger ready on their bow, if they were snuck up on like that. It's not an irregular reaction to have."
[Batka] : "But I'm not ready to see the light yet..."
[Ren] : "You know what to not do the next time you approach me."

[SKIT 043 : Serious Demeanor]

[Batka] : "You're always so serious, Sir Ren. You should lightened up a bit."
[Ren] : "... No. I don't need to. You should take things more seriously, in that regard."
[Batka] : "Are you giving me the cold shoulder? Hey, I'm trying to be friends here."
[Ren] : "Then you have energy to spend to try and get stronger. I told you already, but if you slack off on your strength, then I'm not going to hesitate on leaving you behind. There's no room for quiescent party members on my team."
[Batka] : "Y-yeah, I hear you..."

[SKIT 045 : For My Friend]

[Batka] : "To think that you're doing all of this for the Shield Hero..."
[Batka] : "To be infiltrating the Three Heroes Church, that's not a regular task you would see everyday."
[Batka] : "Do you really believe in his innocence that much?"
[Ren] : "If I said that the Church pissed me off more, then does that shut you up?"
[Ren] : (Really though... Why am I going through these lengths to help out Naofumi? Taking a step back, this is a bit crazy, even for my liking. No, there's no use in asking that question. I'm simply doing what I think is right for my friend without a second thought. There's no need for doubts for what I'm trying to do.)

[SKIT 046 : Grand Library]

[Ren] : "It's... big."
[Batka] : "Duh. They don't call it the Grand Library for nothing."
[Batka] : "This place is open for the members of the Church. There's a lot of literature you can find here, hailing from all over the place. Some of the books are directly bought from the Church, but you've got a good amount that are donations from the people. It's peaceful in here during the day, even more peaceful during the night. Honestly, it's my first time seeing the library at this time of day. Actually, coming back here brings back childhood memories of when Tersia and I would run through the aisles, chasing each other in our games of tag. We would always get in trouble by the librarian, but we would always laugh it off by—"
[Batka] : "—Sir Ren? Where did you go!? Hold up for a moment!"
[Batka] : "Left in the middle of my story too!"

[SKIT 047 : Secret Archives]

[Ren] : "What do they have in the secret archives?"
[Ren] : "How much do they have to hide from the public if it's just as big as the library above it?"
[Batka] : "The Church admittedly has its shading dealings. I think every large organization has their fair share of shadows that they don't want people to see and the Church is no different. The secret archives is one of those shadows for the Church, a collection of information that should be allowed for the public to see. Whether its forbidden books or top-secret documents, this is where they store it."
[Ren] : "Hmph. Not too difficult for me to believe."
[Ren] : "Considering what I'm potentially up against, this sort of shading underside is to be expected."
[Ren] : "In any case, they're not going to have their way. I'll make sure of it."
[Batka] : "Sir... Ren...?"