Chapter 26 / Heaven or Hell


How long has it been since the two children first met?

It felt as if they were friends for years already. Being only comfortable around each other, it was probably the only time in their present lives that they enjoyed themselves to the fullest. Only with each other, were they able to open up and have some fun for once

Having someone to spend time with made things much easier on the mind. The instance of solitude from Ren's home-schooling was no more whenever Itsuki's classes from his private academy finished up and they met up almost immediately whenever the time called for it.

It was nothing compared to what Itsuki might have felt. He would always be more excited to see Ren over the other way around. Ren always thought something might have been going on, which was why he introduced this place of relaxation to Itsuki. Otherwise, Ren didn't know how to approach it.

Asking might have been the most direct way to figure it out, but he was scared that it might frighten his new friend away. He never did have a good habit of knowing what to say when it came to those types of things, filling up the path of returning home from their hideout with silence until Ren remembered something.

"Did you hear that a new Dimension game was announced?"

"Really!? There's a second one coming out!?"

"I think it follows a new set of heroes. At least, that's what I remember from the videos. One of those series where they use the name and follow the same gameplay, but it's a different story."

When Ren introduced Itsuki to Dimension Force, it was almost like it was a match made in heaven. Itsuki loved the stories that were told inside of that game, having a band of heroes going around to dispel evil across the land in order to get to a position where they defeat the final boss. From the way Dimension Wave was presented, it was almost a guarantee that Itsuki would like the new game.

"Is it coming out soon?"

"In two years…"

"That's a long time!"

"Maybe I should wait on telling you for a year or two…"

"You should have! You're mean!"

Ren pondered for a bit as Itsuki puffed his cheeks, panicking a bit that he genuinely offended Itsuki. "Wait, I got an idea. Isn't your birthday coming up soon? How about I get you an early birthday present? I can ask my parents to buy a second console and then give you my copy of Dimension Force!"

Itsuki's eyes sparkled. "You would really do that!?"

"Of course! You're my friend, right? It's the least I could do to say sorry for getting your hopes up like that. And you can play the game by yourself whenever you start thinking about Dimension Wave."

Seeing Itsuki happy again calmed Ren down a bit.

Ren and Itsuki continued down the forest while playing with their flashlights. All were things to help pass the time as they traversed back to the main road, but they suddenly saw tracks in the ground.

"What's this? That wasn't there before when we came in…"

"That looks like something a car would leave behind, right? A tire, maybe?"

Ren and Itsuki pointed their flashlights to the mysterious trails. It looked like it came down from the main road, but it was driving deeper into the forest into a different direction from where they came and went.

"Not many people are supposed to know about this place, right?"

"It's just a random forest, but no one is supposed to be around these parts," Ren pondered. "I've been here many times, but this is my first time seeing something like this. I've never actually seen anyone else come around here."

Itsuki tilted his head, looking to try and solve what might be going on here. Like a switch of a lightbulb, he widened his eyes and glanced over to his friend.

"You think something cool might be going on down there?"

"Aren't we already supposed to be home by now?"

"So… we can't…?"

Ren grimaced, seeing Itsuki be defeated by the response. Saying no to Itsuki was a bit difficult for him, wanting to make sure he wasn't going to accidentally push him away.

And besides, this little mystery was bugging him as well.

"One quick look."

"Awesome!"

As the two children marched on the unusually beaten path, Ren couldn't help to feel like there was a mistake made somewhere down the road. As if an ominous reason as to why there were random tire tracks in a deserted forest would be here, past the brink of night.

Itsuki was the one excitedly running ahead of him, forcing Ren to catch up behind him. It was as if it was a game of tag. It probably took a few minutes for them to see something between the trees.

With their flashlights pointing over its direction, they stepped through to find the vehicle that left the tracks behind. It was a pick-up truck and the keys were still inside. In fact, the headlights were turned on, even making it redundant to keep their flashlights on.

"What the heck is going on here?"

"I don't know," Ren shrugged. "It looks like someone came here to do some business or something and left their car behind."

"Then what's that shovel for?"

"A shovel?"

Itsuki pointed over to where the headlights had been aimed. Ren looked, seeing that there was a shovel, thrusted into the ground. Right next to it, there was a deep hole. They both walked over to see how deep it went and while none of them would get hurt by falling in, it would look to be difficult for kids to get out.

"Someone was digging? Maybe they were looking for treasure."

"This forest isn't that type of place. At least, I think?"

"Maybe the car has a hint?"

"Maybe we shouldn't be looking at things that we aren't supposed to look at…"

Even though said that, his feet were already moving along with Itsuki to investigate the active vehicle. On a closer glance, the keys weren't turned, so the engine hadn't been running. The seats themselves looked like they were covered in plastic for some reason, as if someone completely recently bought this car.

Everything else in the car looked very clean.

Almost a bit too clean, as if the owner had been very methodical about it.

As Itsuki was looking more into the front of the car, Ren decided to head to the back. The trunk looked like it had something in it, but when Ren got a smell of the scent, it started to become a bit… foul?

As if something was rotting.

He turned his flashlight back on and aimed it over to the opened trunk. It was difficult to see from his angle, so despite what he said to Itsuki moments prior, he decided to climb on to get a closer look. Curiosity was starting to scratch at Ren's brain.

When he got up, he noticed it was all covered in tarp, but something was underneath it all.

Compared to the front seats, it looked very messy with something of dried liquids on the surface. Ren pondered for a moment, trying to figure out what could have fit the criteria, but if it was right in front of him, he didn't need to guess at all.

Without a care in the world, he lifted the tarp slightly—

—and was met with a human face.

"GRAHHHHHHHHH!"

The shock sent him stumbling backwards, making him fall off the trunk and onto the ground. He didn't hit his head, but he found himself lying down with his face upwards to the skies and his eyes widened as much as they could.

Was that his imagination?

There's no way that he just saw a person's face underneath that tarp, right? And it was all creepy too. It wasn't as if they were sleeping, because that would mean their eyes would be closed, right?

Why were their eyes constantly opened like that? Like they were stuck like that?

And the color of their face hadn't been anything he had seen before. It was far too blank to even call it normal. Maybe even discolored, but Ren didn't dare to look back.

"R-Ren!? What's wrong!?"

Itsuki ran over immediately when he heard the scream.

"Your face is all pale…?"

He looked over to where Ren had been staring and reached out to see for himself. Before Itsuki could climb up, Ren quickly got back up to grab his shirt. Itsuki snapped his head around, raising his eyebrow.

"Don't look…"

Seeing how frightened his friend had been, Itsuki slowly took himself off the truck. There was no reason as to why Ren would be acting like that if he didn't actually mean it and besides, it was hard for Itsuki to imagine that his friend was pretending.

"Wh-what did you see?"

"Th-there…" Ren gulped, trying to get the words out properly as the face flashed before his eyes. "There was someone… underneath there…"

Ren bit his lips.

"I… I think they're dead."

It was Itsuki's turn to widen his eyes. As the gears slowly turned inside his brain and his head carefully pivoted back to see the covered tarps, his body started shaking a bit from the realization that they were standing next right to a corpse.

In fact, it was probably because he was panicking so much that it looped right around to not being able to show any of that too openly. All he could do was have a hanging jaw opened up.

"Why would… something like that be here of all places?"

"I don't know, but we have to go tell someone."

"Right…"

Now that Ren calmed down from the shock, something didn't seem right. If there was a body on the truck and a hole that was dug out, that would mean that whoever was driving the truck had plans to bury the person, but he wasn't sure what the reason could be.

Why did they choose an isolated forest instead of a proper graveyard?

And why would they leave this place unattended?

"...!"

A metallic sound suddenly echoed behind him as he turned around in horror. Itsuki fell down to the ground with a mysterious man suddenly standing right behind them. With a rugged appearance with an unhinged expression, he looked at them with a look of disbelief. In his hand, he swung the shovel at Itsuki's head, knocking him unconscious.

His friend didn't even have the time to react.

"I-Itsuki!"

"Didn't think there would be kids around here," the mysterious man said. His words dragged on a bit, grimacing at the children. "As much as I don't want to involve the two of you, you've seen too much. I'll need you two to take a little nap."

The man raised the shovel, turning the flat side over, leaving a smirk for Ren to see.

"Nothing personal. I just can't have any witnesses."

Ren couldn't move before the shovel swung over him, colliding with his skull. His head was throbbing and the pain was immense, finding himself on the ground like Itsuki before he could even think about running away.

His consciousness was fading away as his eyes were closing on themselves, seeing the man pick up the unconscious Itsuki and basically toss him into the trunk, as if he was already comfortable doing something so deranged.

Darkness finally took a hold of him as his entire body went limp.

-/IV/-

On the rooftops, Ren could feel the chilling winds settle in for the night, so he tucked himself in with his scarf. His friend had been observing the governor's manor for a bit of time now, trying to figure out a way in. Mental notes were made every so often about the position of where the guards were, their patrol rotation, and their numbers.

"Did you find an opening yet?" Ren asked.

"The place looks secure," Itsuki responded. "It's going to be difficult to find the governor with that many guards around, but I'm confident that they have to be somewhere in there."

"I guess stealth missions are more difficult than they look."

Ren and Itsuki dismissed themselves from the building's rooftops, jumping downwards to the nearby alleyway. They were able to easily scale up the height and land down without causing any injuries or problems for themselves thanks to their stats. They walked over to the end to poke their heads out in order to get another look at the front gate.

The heroes wanted to keep things quiet to have things go as smoothly as possible. If they rushed in and engaged in needless fights, they could pull too much attention to themselves and garner attention. It would be similar to showing off something he did. For Itsuki, justice only worked if it was done without that announcement, letting others naturally figure things out for themselves.

He was better suited to act in secret, so no one else would be able to know what he had done. Looking for praise is merely another way to look for trouble.

"We're going to have to make some sort of distraction, but…"

"If that's the case, they're going to figure something's up if it's too loud," Ren explained, "but if it's too quiet, I don't think they'll bother to check."

"I wonder if there's any other way to gather information on the manor. We're not playing with a lot of information here."

"Maybe we'll get a chance right now." Ren nudged Itsuki out of his thoughts, prompting him to look upwards. "Take a look."

There were a few haughty individuals that were walking themselves out from the manor. The guards were familiar with them, letting them move onwards without even stopping them. There was even some small talk done between a few of them before the rugged group went down to a nearby street. Itsuki brought himself closer to get a better look, narrowing his eyes on the suspicious scene.

"Who the hell are they? Bandits?"

"People like them are coming out of a governor's manor…" Ren crossed his arms, leaning against the nearby wall. "You think they're going to be up to something?"

"If they're coming out of the manor, I think we could have a little talk with them."

Ren and Itsuki quickly trailed behind the group of thug-looking individuals. Their footsteps were very quiet and their pacing looked natural to the spare onlookers.

The streets they were taking looked awfully familiar. Itsuki tried to recall if they came past this way before, but when he saw that the thugs stopped before a certain building, the memories of the afternoon flashed back to him. They were back to the tavern that the owner kicked them out from, but this time, it looked as if they were the ones arriving second.

"Looks like those guys are tagging in their buddies for the second round," Ren deduced. "The guards dropped the bag of money during our fight, so they didn't receive the tax payment from the tavern. It seems like they didn't even bother coming back around for it."

"And they're sending their hoodlums to trash the guy's place?"

Itsuki crept up closer to the tavern ahead of Ren, preparing his weapon from the side of the door. He could already hear the terrified reaction of the owner, begging the group to not destroy his establishment. Clicking his tongue, he pulled out his bow and set two arrows in the nock.

"We're not letting this stand."

Ren sighed, drawing his sword. He backed up away to set himself behind Itsuki as his friend took his position in front of the door. A hero might have to help the innocent, but it wouldn't hurt to make such an extravagant entrance when the opportunity arises.

With a deep breath, Itsuki ran forwards and threw himself into the door.

It opened wide, letting Itsuki roll inside. Itsuki stopped on his knees and aimed his arrows. The thugs looked like they were just getting started to get the place all wrecked up, but they were surprised to see the unexpected visitor. Without giving them a moment to react, Itsuki fired his loaded arrows at one of them, immediately pinning their body against the far wall.

"What the—!?"

"Get them!"

With a spur of their aggression being redirected, two of them ran forwards to Itsuki, but Ren stepped in to be his vanguard. With one sweeping slash, Ren sent those two flying backwards with a hurling scream. He spun his sword and pulled up to the next advancing thug, thrusting the pommel right into their chest. They staggered a bit, giving Itsuki a chance to pin all of them against the wall.

"One, two… three, four…"

"Was that really it?" Itsuki asked. "That was pretty quick."

There was still one more thug that remained in the tavern standing. He was baffled with how quickly his allies were dispatched and taken down by these two mysterious adventurers, but even he could piece things together carefully. He tried to laugh, but after seeing all of that evidence, he knew he wasn't going anywhere.

"Ohoho… You're the ones that messed them up beforehand, huh?"

"If you already know about that incident, then we've already gotten half of our answers."

If it had been bad for the people outside of the governor's territory, Itsuki wanted to know how terrible it was for those who were living within the area. With fear stricken on the barkeeper's face, Itsuki decided to approach him. The seat was knocked down, so he picked it back up and sat himself right in front of the cowering man.

"Could I ask you to clean up those guys? Get some information from them while you're at it." Itsuki didn't look back, but Ren knew he was talking to him. "I want to talk with this guy."

"Don't get yourself kicked out again."

"I don't think we'll have that issue this time around."

Ren walked up to the remaining thug. He tried to give one final fight, attempting to draw his dagger, but Ren closed the gap too quickly and slammed his fist into his gut. It wasn't enough to knock out the guy. If he ended up using too much force, he wouldn't be able to question him as Itsuki requested. It did make him stagger and drop the knife by his feet, allowing Ren to drag him outside.

"Don't rough him up too much if you don't need to."

"No promises."

All the bartender could do was watch how casual this brooding adventurer had been acting. His facial reaction had little to no changes all through the interaction, but his attention returned back to Itsuki once the hero intentionally tapped his fingers on the counter.

"You again…"

The bartender instinctively straightened up, taking a deep breath.

"I'll make this quick because I'm low on time. Tell me about the situation in this town."

The bartender gulped. "Th-The situation…?"

"Involving the governor. All these taxes. All these nefarious thugs and guards. They all come from the governor, right? The governor that's supposed to be managing their territory properly?"

The bartender looked away, hesitating and biting his lips. "I… I can't. If they figure out I explained everything, they'll come for my life."

"No, that's wrong. It's because I'm here to make sure those things end."

"Seriously? You mean to go up against the governor? Surely, you must be joking."

Itsuki continued, "I need you to tell me everything that you know. I'm certain that you've been a victim to the governor's tactics or rather, you've seen it for yourself."

The bartender sighed, looking over to the clock that rested near the door.

"How long do you have?"

"I only need what things he has done. As much as I would like to console you for your personal anecdotes, I'm afraid that will have to be held off."

"I don't want more bad things to happen here. If I tell you everything I know, you have to not tell them where you gathered your information."

"That type of promise won't be needed. We're planning to act tonight."

"You can't be seri—"

With a tightened chest, the bartender looked over to the remaining thugs that were still knocked out in the tavern. One of them was still awake, struggling to get the arrows unpinned off of him, but at some point, he appeared that he had given up after seeing his comrades get beaten up so easily.

However, Ren casually strolled back into the tavern, noticing the thug. He yanked the arrow out, pulled up a knee into the thug's gut and casually dragged him like he was simply taking out the trash.

"Okay, maybe you are serious…"

The bartender sighed, taking up a seat from behind the counter.

"Here's what I know…"

-/IV/-

Itsuki stepped out of the tavern, helping out to drag the unconscious thugs outside to dump in an alleyway as Ren asked him to. There was no way he would have wanted to leave those guys in there in the tavern, especially when they couldn't hand them off to the guards for any proper arrests.

According to the bartender, the two groups had been working closely together thanks to the governor. One group would enforce themselves onto the citizens and if they didn't comply, they would "so-happened" to "miss out" on assisting those specific individuals when they got attacked by thugs.

From what Itsuki was able to gather, the governor was certainly overstepping his limits. His taxes were not meant for anything in particular, being far greater than what the capital had demanded from him. There were no known repairs in process, nor any large construction being done for the public.

From the sounds of it, it was merely the greed of wealth that the governor had lost himself to.

Anyone who tried to challenge his authority and decisions would be met with an unfortunate fate, similar to what the couple had experienced. He would set them up to be trapped in a corner, forcing his opposition to lose their fortunes by paying up, one way or another. That was the lucky decision, but if he was pissed off enough, that person would mysteriously disappear and anyone who tried to look for them would be met with a similar ending.

However, that is not to say that the person died, as much as the bartender was implying. It was all he could say, since those would be the rumors on the streets, but Ren managed to bring up something that he gathered from the thugs.

"It seems like the governor never actually had plans to have that girl, Rishia, to serve his household. Those guys said that she was being planned to be sold, almost like a slave."

"It's possible that these disappearances aren't people dying, but people being kidnapped and sold?" Itsuki pondered, as they headed down the streets. "It fits, I guess."

"They also told me that the guards are lacking on the backside of the manor."

If they got what they needed, then all was fine by him. They were kept alive, so once they came across their boss once again, Itsuki's hopes were that they would fall in line as well, seeing that he had changed from their upcoming confrontation.

"If that is the plan for Rishia, then it's pretty much confirmed that she's still stuck inside that manor somewhere."

"They were nice enough to give me her location," Ren followed up. "She's locked up in one of the spare rooms on the top floor."

"Not a dungeon cell?"

"There isn't one inside of the manor. Should there be?"

As Ren raised his eyebrow, Itsuki dismissed the topic.

"Let's just get going."

"Are you sure about this?"

"About what?"

"... Nothing."

Before Itsuki could inquire a bit more, Ren went on ahead to lead themselves over to the backside of the manor.

They looked out for any wary eyes around them before quickly scaling the wall. They wore their cloaks in order to help blend in with the shadows and once they were over, they quickly saw the garden the thugs had been talking about. They quietly rushed over, using the shrubs and hedges as their cover while they checked around for any signs of a patrol unit.

There had been two guards roaming the area. Their perspective had been pointing right to the balcony that they needed to climb to, but Itsuki had an idea. He pulled out his bow and aimed an arrow over to the opposite direction. Once fired, it made an audible noise against the ground, causing the two guards to look back in confusion.

They both walked off to check out what it could have possibly been. In the moments they took their eyes off their position, Ren and Itsuki closed the distance. They jumped up the low-hanging balcony successfully and found themselves on the second floor.

The door to the balcony had been unlocked, so the duo simply walked right on through.

However, they shouldn't have been walking around aimlessly.

"What now?" Itsuki asked.

"There's only one set of stairs in this building. We'll have to make it over to the foyer, wherever it is, and from there, we can easily access any floor we want, including the top one."

"Got it. We'll make a path to Rishia first."

"You don't want to confront the governor first? They said that his office is also on the top floor."

"I want to show him everything that he has done and have him understand that we're here to punish his wicked ways. I figured that if we had the girl he told away from that couple there's no way he'd be able to deny any of it."

Itsuki clenched his fist.

"It's too easy for the culprits to lie and say they didn't do it when confronted. Or that everything is simply a misunderstanding and they weren't actually doing what the victim had been crying about that entire time. I want him to understand that he has nowhere to run from justice."

Ren merely held his sword to his side, staying largely silent.

They continued onwards to the foyer, narrowly dodging some of the guards. Their footsteps were as quiet as they could be and the foyer itself was free from any eyes.

It was very large and spacious there, having the stairwell be a straight climb from the first floor to the fourth floor with stops in between for every level. It was almost as if it was supposed to impress anyone who walked in. It was similar to a museum with paintings on the wall and fancy pillars positioned every few meters apart from each other. This area could easily fit a viewing gallery of some sort.

Stepping up the flights of stairs, Ren guided their way over to the room that supposingly held the daughter of the couple. It was obviously locked.

"If only Welst was here…"

"Who's Welst?"

"He was one of my party members. Welst knew how to lockpick."

"Well, I know how to break locks."

Itsuki widened his eyes. "You do? First time I've heard about it."

"Yeah, just give me some space."

Itsuki backed up to let Ren do his thing, only to realize the wording of Ren's words.

"Wait, when you say you know how to break locks, do you really mean—?"

Without a wasted moment, Ren kicked against the handle and busted the door wide open.

"Alright then…"

Too much force was used and the hinges came off, having the door fall forwards onto the ground. Itsuki coughed awkwardly to emphasize the absurd manner Ren demonstrated, but he supposed it got the job done as quickly as possible.

He was hopeful that there weren't any guards that would come by soon to see the broken door.

"This is the room? I don't see anyone."

"Wait, what's that noise?"

Itsuki looked around to scan the area, hearing a strange sound. If he focused, it might have been the noise of somebody's whimpering, but it was weirder than most cases. He walked a bit further into the room, to notice a figure in the corner of the room.

There was a girl, cowering in fear.

She was shaking almost nonstop with her hand on her head and her face tucked into the walls. Perhaps it might have been a defense mechanism after seeing the door of the room get suddenly smashed down by Ren, thinking that whoever is behind it was out to kill her.

"A green hair girl," Ren murmured, following Itsuki into the room.

"Hey, excuse me?"

"FueeP-Please don't hurt me…"

There it was, that weird sound again. Was she actually making that noise with her voice?

"I've heard her for like, two seconds, and I'm already starting to get annoyed by the sounds she's making," Ren scowled, approaching the girl. He bent down and tapped the girl on the shoulder. "Hey, you're Rishia, right?"

The green-haired girl slowly turned around to respond to her name, but the moment she saw Ren's face, a shiver went down her spine. She jumped in her place and glued herself to the wall. Putting the destruction of the door and the cold presence of this mysterious person together, she was already starting to say her prayers.

"F-FUEE!?"

Ren jumped a bit by the sudden scream, but he immediately lunged forwards and covered her mouth. "N-not so loud, you idiot! We're here to save you, but if you keep making loud noises like that, you're going to make things harder for us!"

Tears were starting to come down Rishia's eyes out of genuine fear as Ren forgot to release his tight grip on her. Itsuki could only sigh at the poor first impression Ren delivered on the person they were trying to save, making it look like he was the enemy instead.

"Ah, crap. S-sorry about… Ugh…"

"I'll take over," Itsuki deadpanned.

He walked up to grab Ren's shoulder, silently telling him that he was going to handle things from there. With a dismissive groan, Ren gave Itsuki the space to salvage the encounter.

"Sorry about my friend. He's not very good at meeting new people."

"... Tch." Ren covered up his fluster with a cold shoulder.

"Wh… Who are you…?"

"We've been asked to rescue you from the governor by your parents. We're glad to see that you're still safe here, so there's no need to stress anymore. You can relax with us around."

Rishia were still scared of Ren. Itsuki briefly glanced behind him to see Ren crossing his arms in a moody atmosphere. His glare at Rishia might have been making her very uncomfortable, causing Itsuki to prompt Ren to look away.

"You can relax with me around, I guess," Itsuki sighed.

"You're… here to save me?"

"That's not the only thing. We still haven't dealt with the governor yet, but everything will end tonight. If it doesn't, you'll find yourself back into a similar position again once he realized what was happening here. And we certainly don't want that to happen to your family, or even anyone else that's been affected by his selfish actions."

She looked up at Itsuki, widening her eyes in confusion.

"You're going to do something about that governor?"

"Can you lend us a hand while you're here?" Itsuki asked. "We want to make sure that he understands the gravity of what he has done."

"Fuee!? How could I do something as scary as that!?"

"Don't worry. We'll be here, leading the way. All you have to do is expose his actions for him to see before him. Afterwards, you can let the heroes of justice take their roles."

"Heroes of justice?"

She looked up curiously at Itsuki, being taken back a bit by the phrase. She didn't have much time to register what he meant by that as Ren interrupted them.

"Can we get a move on already?" he scoffed. "As much as this girl wants to play twenty questions, we're still burning time here and frankly, I want to get this wrapped up as soon as possible. The quicker we act within the manor, the less of a chance we have of crossing paths with extra guards."

Itsuki nodded and he extended his hand outwards to Rishia. With a gentle smile, he wanted to overwrite any wrongs she saw in Ren by bestowing a soft voice to calm her down.

"Don't worry. We'll protect you."

Rishia flinched at first, but Itsuki didn't make any sudden movements to scare her. Slowly and carefully, Rishia took Itsuki's hand. While it was still shaking, it was soft and small. Her parents weren't exactly exaggerating when they said she had a small figure, being more obvious once she was on her feet.

As Ren checked the hallways to see if anyone was coming down, he gave a signal that it was all clear for them to proceed. The girl was a bit frightened to even take a step out of the room, but Ren's confidence was convincing enough to make her try to move.

Itsuki kept himself close to Rishia, advising Ren to keep his distance for now.

"You said the governor's office was on the same floor?" Itsuki asked.

"As well as his bedroom, but the thugs said that he was likely to be in his office until late night."

"Wh-what do you want me to say…?"

"I don't think you should say much if you really don't want to, but if he starts denying the crimes he has done to your family, I think it would be best to speak up against that."

Itsuki started asking Rishia about her circumstances and from what perspective she had, her story lined up exactly with what her parents told them. She seemed very hesitant about telling them, so Itsuki figured she wouldn't be able to speak up against the governor. It wasn't too important for him, since her presence should be more than enough to throw the governor off his game.

"We'll simply handle everything."

"Wouldn't it be easier to have ourselves escort her out first before making a trip back to the manor?" Ren asked. "Or you can bring her out to her parents while I wrap things up here."

"Wouldn't that be inconvenient?" Itsuki raised his eyebrow. "We're already here, so we might as well finish things while we're around. And besides, I want to be the one that confronts him."

Ren dismissed any other follow-ups he wanted to say.

Up ahead, he could hear footsteps coming down the hall. Ren and Itsuki both pulled out their weapons in anticipation.

"Are you sure the crashing sound came from over here? We've already checked this area."

"You can't be too sure about it. The governor said to find out what it was, so—"

The two guards stopped, seeing the two heroes and the girl that was supposed to be locked up in her room. They flinched, trying to draw their weapons quickly.

"Hold up! Who the hell are you two!?"

Itsuki didn't answer, aiming down his bow immediately. He fired off two arrows. One hit their mark, dropping a guard, but the other one was able to block it. However, Ren closely dashed right behind the second arrow and added a strong slash to the attack that the guard couldn't react in time.

They were getting closer, so they both moved out quickly to find the governor's office, keeping in mind that Rishia hadn't been as fast as them. Once Ren found the set of doors that had been labeled as such, he backed up just as he did for Rishia's room and kicked the door right down.

"Wh-what the hell!?" The man inside had been surprised, immediately looking up from his work to see Ren, Itsuki, and Rishia walk up to the center of the room. Itsuki lowered his bow and took the spotlight, glaring furiously at the governor. "Who are you!? Kicking down my doors like that!? I don't know who let you in here, but these things will not stand! Guards! Somebody!"

"It's funny that you should talk about things that won't stand," Itsuki growled. "You don't really have much room to be talking for yourself about those types of things, don't you?"

"What are you talking about!?"

"Your abuse as a governor of these lands. Taxing higher than what is required from the crown. Striking down those who have rightfully showed dismay to your unbelievable decisions. Even taking yourself to the territory of another and manipulating the situation in order to benefit your own selfish desires! You are the definition of evil, unfit to lead people as a governor!"

The governor's face grew red, gritting his teeth with a rage.

"I don't know who you are! I don't know how you got here! All I do know is that I'm not going to let this incident slide right through me! You come into my home and then decide to drop baseless accusations at my feet!?"

Three guards suddenly showed up behind them, followed by the ringing of an alarm system. The shouting of their boss must have prompted them to come as soon as possible, but Itsuki was surprised that they responded so quickly like that.

Nevertheless, Rishia got spooked by the look of dangerous men approaching into the room, but Ren stepped in the way and pointed his blade forwards. If Rishia had to be honest, Ren looked just as dangerous as those guys to her, if not more.

However, it gave Itsuki the security he needed to continue the conversation.

"We have the proof right in front of you. The girl you kidnapped from a couple of a nearby territory that you recently terrorized. You were going to sell her off into the slave market, weren't you?" Rishia flinched, hearing that news. She was completely unaware of that intention and her face grew very pale, a genuine fear that Itsuki could tell to be real. "All of that is unacceptable!"

"You think you're in the position to stand some high ground? You're surrounded and more guards will come by here before you know it!"

"So there's going to be more? There's only one way to get to the fourth floor…"

Itsuki murmured aloud.

"Ren. Take care of it."

"Alright."

Without even saying much, his friend already understood what it was that he should do. Spinning his sword, he wasted no time in approaching the three guards. They tried to fight back, but Ren's strength was simply too much for them. With the overwhelming speed and power, they were sent flying out from the room and left unconscious against the hallway walls.

"Wh-wha…?"

Ren looked over his shoulder one last time.

It looked as if he wanted to say one more thing before he left, but he held his tongue. Anything he said right now would have been for naught. It was far too late for something like that anyways.

Ren rushed down the hallway towards the flight of stairs.

Meanwhile, Itsuki took one step forwards, causing the governor to flinch from his desk.

"Do you really think you can keep on going like this? To act in evil when the threat of justice could be right around the corner? I'd suggest you change your ways."

As the Bow Hero, he couldn't exactly report this to the capital himself. It might have been what he could do if he wasn't on the run, but he'd have to improvise to see what else he could do.

"Or else what? Report me to the crown? As if they would believe the words of an adventurer that broke laws of his own! Trespassing onto a governor's private property without permission is quite the offense! And let me take a guess! You folks were the ones that roughed up my guards at that boorish tavern this afternoon!"

"I don't have the power to report to the crown."

Itsuki raised his bow, loading an arrow into the nock.

"I'm going to make sure that you fear justice itself."

He didn't want to kill the governor, since that would be too much of an easy way out. "To that, you'll fear it so much, you won't even dare chase after your selfish evils again. You'll be the one to report your own wrongdoing once you realize the severity of your actions!"

"Don't make me laugh! Are you an idiot!? I'll enjoy making you disappear!"

The man raised his hand, conjuring a magic circle at Itsuki. His surprise caused him to falter slightly, not realizing that the governor had his own combat abilities of his own.

"I am the source of my power! Annihilate all my enemies with a blazing destruction!"

"Rishia! Get behind me!"

"Fuee!"

"[Drifa Flame Explosion]!"

From the magic circle, Itsuki could already feel the intense heat. With something so close-ranged, there was no moment to dodge it. Even if he could, it was practically guaranteed that Rishia wouldn't be able to move in time. Either way, Itsuki turned his bow to the side and held it outwards, gritting his teeth and bracing for impact. He didn't think the governor would suddenly come out, arms swinging.

And by arms swinging, what he really meant—

—was one giant explosion.

-/IV/-

"The alarm is going off! What's going on!?"

"We have intruders!"

A group of guards came from outside patrol.

After hearing the alarms ring, they came over as quickly as possible to meet another guard who was spreading the news. The intruders were reported to be with the governor as of the moment, so they had to get up to the fourth floor as quickly as possible to ensure that he was safe.

They rushed into the first floor foyer where the staircase went up to the fourth floor, but they slowed down when they saw that there was a mysterious figure sitting on top of the final step above.

It was a bit silent after they noticed, but their leader scoffed. He immediately knew who it was, stepping through his men before confronting the adventurer.

"I suppose this means you are criminals after all. Breaking into the estate of the governor is quite the crime. We let you off with a small warning last time, but I can assure you that you won't be lucky this time. You've overstepped your boundaries, kid."

He drew his sword, a replacement for the one he dropped at the tavern.

"Don't let his appearance get the best of you all. Alive or dead, it doesn't matter." He smirked, seeing that there were more guards here, readying their weapons. With a snarling command, he smirked. "Get him out of the way."

The adventurer merely looked down at the guards who were already looking down on him. With a heavy sigh, he stood up from his seat and pointed his sword down the stairs. With a loud voice, he spoke, but the tone was so cold, it froze most of the guards in their place.

"I'm giving everyone here a chance to live. Take one step up the stairs and I'll consider your life to be forfeit. Your best option is to run away, if you want to live."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" the leader scoffed.

"No. It's a promise."

The other guards murmured with each other, getting spooked by the methodical way that the adventurer had been talking. The leader was starting to lose them, so out of anger, he was the one to ignore the warnings and run up first.

"What the hell can one person do to all of us!?"

"You know, you guys are in the way."

His footsteps rattled to the second floor.

"If your intention is to hurt my friend, then it's my duty to keep him safe."

His footsteps climbed over to the third floor.

"That's why I was given this power."

His footsteps steadily approached the fourth floor and the leader swung his blade upwards. However, it was reflected too easily, too quickly, and too suddenly. Before the leader knew it, he was falling backwards, almost gently down the flight of stairs.

The last thing the leader saw was the adventurer lunging right into him, piercing his armor, his body, with his sword and striking him down to the third floor. His blood splattered all over the place as he struggled to get the adventurer off of him, but his health was rapidly disappearing along with his energy.

"No… way…"

Once the adventurer confirmed that the leader had been dead, he was about to approach the rest of the guards on the ground floor when an explosion occurred back on the fourth. He leered back out of concern, feeling its shaking through the building, but he decided to ignore it.

He had his own job to clean up with and if Itsuki intended to tackle the governor by himself, he'd let him do what he wanted to do there.

"He struck down the boss! He can't get away with that!"

"We can't just stand here and let him do what he wants!"

"Didn't the boss have a class-up!? And that guy just took him down like it was nothing!"

"There's like twenty of us and one of them! We'll easily win this!"

A small part of the guards were retreating, but the vast majority were still intending to fight through him. He pulled out his sword from the leader's corpse, quietly preparing himself to fight through those who wanted to hurt Itsuki.

There was a part of him that wondered if what he was doing was the right thing to do.

Back at Riyute, when he dealt with those masked figures.

Back at Visna, when he struck down the people claiming to be from Shieldfreedan.

And now in Errnthon, where he was prepared to take down anyone stubborn enough to continue.

However, he shut off his thoughts.

Thinking too much about it will make him hesitate.

Ren didn't care much about being an ally of justice as he did when he was younger. He found it wouldn't do anything for him, being an aimless dream that he could no longer achieve. There was simply another dream that he wanted to keep that didn't have to do with justice at all.

Such problems were black and white for Ren.

All he needed was instinct to do whatever it takes to protect his friends.

Even if he had to take on an army.

Even if he had to turn his back on this world.

(If you think too much about it, you'll have already defeated the purpose.)

The same words he told Motoyasu on the day of Naofumi's trial—

—rang once more in his ears as his sword shined a brilliant light.

-/IV/-

Naofumi sat off on a bench outside of the inn.

It was times like this that he wished he had his phone to mindlessly waste time, but trying to maximize his strengthening methods was a good way to spend the time otherwise. With the moon coming up, it was certainly getting dark and there weren't many people on the streets anymore.

"How long are they going to take…?"

Motoyasu and Sakura had already gone off to bed together. Meanwhile, Raphtalia was probably getting ready to sleep herself. Eclair was still awake, tending to her own weapons before heading to bed, leaving Naofumi some time to himself and choosing to use it to wait for his friends to come back.

Needless to say, he was getting worried.

"Sir Naofumi? Are you still out here?"

Eclair came out from the inn, noticing Naofumi's seat immediately.

"Yep. You're done with your weapon?"

"I am." Eclair showed Naofumi the glisten of her blade. "It is merely a simple clean of the steel. It's nothing too difficult."

Naofumi looked down the streets as Eclair approached him. He gave it a moment to see if he could see any of his friends down there, but there was still no sight of them.

"Shouldn't you be getting some rest, Sir Naofumi?"

"Ren and Itsuki haven't returned yet."

Eclair was surprised. "All they were going to do was provide money for the couple and make sure the transaction goes through. You don't believe that something might have happened?"

"I mean, if the governor pulled them into a fight, I'm sure it wouldn't take too long to resolve."

"You're quite confident in their power."

"You've seen it firsthand for yourself. Ren is still pretty strong at the end of the day. Paired up with Itsuki as well, and I think they're a force to be reckoned with."

Naofumi glanced back down the street one last time.

"I'm certain they could get themselves out of a tough situation like that. If I showed up to help out, I figured that I'd be getting in the way."

Despite saying that, Naofumi sighed and stood up.

"Maybe I'm worrying a bit too much. I said it myself that I believe that they could handle themselves just fine. After hearing that story from the couple, maybe I'm a bit tense."

"It really is a shame what happened to those folks." Eclair grabbed her arm, almost biting his lips. Her eyes swayed downwards to the ground. "To think, something like that was going on within Melromarc and it was being swept away underneath the rug for no one else to see. It makes me think about what other sorts of acts other people are capable of hiding away."

"It's no perfect world."

"I suppose that's why us knights are enlisted, in order to protect as many people as we can."

"I think I'll take your advice and go to sleep for now," Naofumi chuckled. "I'll easily figure out in the morning what happened. Maybe depending on how they look, I won't even have to ask them."

"Good night, Sir Naofumi."

"Yeah, you too. Have a good night—"

The air suddenly shook around them.

An erupting explosion echoed in the distance. Naofumi widened his eyes, holding his arms after feeling the sudden shaking before he was able to stabilize himself. While Eclair looked around in confusion. Naofumi's attention grew more wary when he noticed where the smoke had been coming from.

"What was that!?"

"An explosion!?" Eclair guessed. "Did someone launch a magic spell in the middle of town!?"

The few people on the streets were just as confused as Naofumi. They all looked over to the direction of the smoke, murmuring to each other.

"Sounded like it came over there."

"Whoa, isn't that where the governor's house is?"

Eclair must have overheard the comments as well. She gave an expression of disbelief to Naofumi as his worries drastically transformed into nervousness and anxiety. If Ren and Itsuki went off to meet the governor and the explosion went where they were supposed to be…

Before Naofumi couldn't properly think about what could have happened, his feet were already moving out. He wanted to see that his friends were safe.

"Ren…! Itsuki…!"

"Sir Naofumi! I'm coming with you!"

Eclair quickly managed to catch up as they ran through the streets to find the governor's manor.

As they got closer, more people were exiting their homes and looking out their windows to see what could have transpired in their city and guards had been rushing back to the manor. Naofumi used them, trailing behind a group to arrive at the manor quickly.

Once there, he found himself out of breath as he looked up to see smoke coming out from the governor's building. Guards were trying to contain the situation, but he noticed that there were a few guards running out from the premises.

One of them was caught by their comrade.

"What are you doing!? Get back in there and check if the governor is safe!"

"No way! There's no way I can go back there! There's a monster in there! It couldn't be anything else!" Hysteria quickly possessed the guard. "That monster just slaughtered a group of us without even breaking a sweat!"

"You're running away!?"

"I choose life! Screw this shit! The job is not worth the money!"

The guard pushed his comrade away and fled the scene.

After hearing that, Naofumi and Eclair glanced at each other. They couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, but perhaps the place was attacked while Ren and Itsuki were there. If there really was a monster inside of the residence that got loose, it could spell disaster for the rest of the town. If this monster was strong enough to take out some guards here, Naofumi couldn't stand around and do nothing.

"Eclair, we're heading in!"

"On it!"

Eclair was already on the move as they managed to slip right by the guards. Some of them shouted for them to stop, but they didn't heed their warnings. They ran down the road over to the front steps to the manor where they opened up the doors.

Preparing to have a fight as soon as possible, all they could really do was stop.

With the shield that Naofumi was going to raise, it had instead fallen slowly downwards as he looked onwards. His mind refused to believe any of it, but as much as he wanted to rub his eyes to make sure he was seeing the right thing, he simply could not take his sight away from it.

His mouth dropped, not knowing how to express himself here.

Sadness? Surprise? Anguish? Resentment or Relief?

No emotions were able to surface. How could it?

He didn't understand what he was seeing.

"... Ren?"

Before him, it looked like hell.

Ren stood in the middle of slaughtered men. Blood was dripping from his sword with some splatter spilled on his clothes and cheek. However, he was standing so quietly that Naofumi felt like he was looking at the empty shell of his close friend.

Eclair got a grip on the situation much quicker than he could ever do for himself.

"Sir Ren?" Her voice was filled with anger. "What's going on here!?"

He was silent, as if he couldn't notice that his allies had come. It was like Naofumi couldn't even recognize any semblance of his friend at all. Something about him felt different, even if the expressions he wore were the same. A blank, emotionless stare persisted before he turned around, and then he finally snapped back when he saw Naofumi.

"... This is a bit awkward." Ren looked away for a moment. "I didn't think you two would be coming here like this."

"Answer me, Sir Ren! Why have you done this!? Do you know what you've done!?"

"..."

"Sir Ren!"

"Go back to the inn. Pretend you didn't see any of this."

"That's impossible. Frankly, it's insulting that you would think I would turn a blind eye to this."

Ren turned around and walked up the stairs quietly, as if that could solve the outstanding issue here. Eclair was tempted to run up to grab him, but it was Naofumi's question that caused her to stop.

"Hey, Ren? Where's Itsuki?"

Eclair flinched.

Ren stopped himself on the second floor.

"He's meeting with the governor right now, confronting him for all the crimes he has committed while shadowing this city. He's bringing justice to the wicked, as he would say it. He's going to prove that he's capable of being a hero of justice, even if that leads to the governor taking his final breath."

Naofumi recalled the talk he had with Itsuki about their past, how Ren wanted to become a hero of justice like Itsuki right now. However, this was the first time that he heard Ren even talk about justice like how Itsuki would go on. It was surreal, hearing it come from Ren's mouth.

Eclair widened her eyes. "Are you saying that Itsuki is going to kill the governor!? Do you know how many problems that's going to cause!?"

"He wants to protect the innocent people affected by this governor's whims. All I'm doing is following his request to give him the space to do it."

"I don't understand what's going on, Ren! What are you talking about!?" Naofumi's mind exploded, having enough of this confusion. "Damn it! Why do you guys never explain a single thing until it gets to a breaking point like this!? First, with Motoyasu! And now, you and Itsuki!?"

"Then I'll be direct with you."

Ren cleared his throat.

"I'm holding the line here for Itsuki to deal with the governor, one way or another. No one goes past until Itsuki's finished doing what he wants to do. I don't particularly care about pursuing the same type of justice that Itsuki wants, but what I do care about is making sure he's safe. I already had a feeling that he was going to sneak out in the middle of the night to deal with this himself, so I figured that this was the best way for things to resolve for him while I look out for him."

"And this…" Naofumi raised his arm to the bloodied foyer. "This is what you mean by that!?"

"I simply do what it takes to protect my friends."

Naofumi took a step on the stairs.

"What are you doing, Naofumi?"

"I'm going to stop Itsuki. This madness has to stop."

Grimacing, Ren raised his sword.

Never once in his life would Naofumi think that Ren would attack him, but when Ren looked him in the eye, something was different. It was like a switch was flipped inside of his friend and before he knew it, Naofumi found himself, pulling his shield up from pure instinct.

"Grah!"

Ren's sword had smashed itself against his shield, sending Naofumi flying back to the first floor.

Eclair rushed over to see if he was alright, but nothing about the landing was hurting.

Not the strike, and not the fall.

It was his chest that was tightening up in pain.

"Sir Naofumi!? Are you alright!?"

"I already said it," Ren growled. "I'm holding the line for Itsuki. And if you want to make it to Itsuki, and if you want to stop him, then you're going to have to get through me first."

Ren stepped down to the first floor, readying his sword. As Naofumi got back up, Eclair felt the need to draw her own sword as well. This situation couldn't be lightly taken like the sparring duel that they had, but Naofumi tried to stop her.

"Wait, I think I can get Ren to snap out of—"

"He's not under any trance, Sir Naofumi. He's fully aware of what he's doing."

Eclair finally unsheathed her blade, pointing it to Ren.

"And if he keeps up with this, they're going to end up killing the governor! We need to defeat Sir Ren as quickly as possible and stop Sir Itsuki! If the capital discovers that the Cardinal Heroes assassinated a governor, it's not going to look very good for us when we meet the queen!"

"Damn it…!" Naofumi gritted his teeth. "Then we really have no other choice!?"

Ren was serious about everything he said here, as if his actions weren't proof enough, and Naofumi couldn't fathom what could have caused such a thing.

Against Ren, Naofumi was starting to be scared. Out of all the Cardinal Heroes, out of all his friends, he would have ranked Ren as the strongest among them.

Reluctantly raising up his shield against that difficulty, Naofumi braced himself.

This wasn't going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination.

-/IV/-

"Hehehe… That should put you in your—wha…?"

The governor widened his eyes as the smoke cleared out. He calculated that he would have to destroy part of his manor in order to take down the foolish adventurer as quickly as possible, but he widened his eyes when the adventurer had still been standing.

"How did you—?"

An empty glare lined up with the bow's frame, piercing right to the governor like an arrow. Behind him, the girl he kidnapped had been perfectly fine, as if he had still taken the force of the attack without even faltering. The adventurer then lowered his bow, scowling a bit.

"Trying to challenge justice? Fine."

Itsuki's voice got colder. Rishia shivered.

She felt that same sense of fear from Itsuki, just as she did for Ren.

"We'll play it your way—"

His bow was drawn with little patience left, not realizing the irony in his words.

"—until you understand that your actions have consequences."


[SKIT 103 : Confirming Information]

[Itsuki] : "Are you sure that those thugs gave you correct information?"
[Itsuki] : "I mean, you can't be too sure if they were lying or not."
[Ren] : "That's why I asked the first guy my questions, knocked him out, then proceeded to grab the second guy to ask the same questions."
[Ren] : "When the answers matched up, the likelihood that they're telling me the truth becomes greater."
[Itsuki] : "Really? How did you get the first guy to speak up so easily?"
[Ren] : "I've got my ways. I'd rather not be descriptive."
[Itsuki] : "... Suddenly, I'm not too sure I want to know what happened."

[SKIT 104 : Errnthon Manor]

[Ren] : "Security doesn't appear to be very tight for someone like a governor."
[Itsuki] : "The bastard probably thinks he's untouchable."
[Itsuki] : "He established himself as the leader that would destroy anybody's lives if he so willed it, so he doesn't think there would be anyone to stop him. Thus, that confidence leaks through to the amount of security he has on the manor."
[Itsuki] : "And besides, I'm sure he'd like it more that the guards are out in town, 'patrolling' the streets for him."
[Ren] : "Whatever the reason, it's better off for us."
[Ren] : "We'll be able to navigate through the manor easier."
[Itsuki] : "I don't know how these people can live with themselves, knowing what they're doing..."
[Ren] : "That's not our issue to decide. We're only here to stop it."
[Itsuki] : "Yeah. You're right."

[SKIT 105 : Work on First Impressions]

[Itsuki] : "Mind explaining to me what the hell happened back there?"
[Ren] : "Be more specific."
[Itsuki] : "Would you really call that a good first impression on someone we're suppose to rescue?"
[Ren] : "Okay, never mind. You can shut up now."
[Itsuki] : "All I'm saying is that you've got to work on first impressions, Ren."
[Ren] : "Hey! It's harder than it looks! Motoyasu makes it look so easy, damn it!"
[Itsuki] : "You could probably start by not grabbing the poor girl's mouth to shut her up."
[Ren] : "That was required! How else would I stop her from screaming out!?"

[SKIT 106 : Preparation Against a Villain]

[Ren] : "Past this door, the governor is probably inside."
[Ren] : "There's no turning back once we break in."
[Itsuki] : "Would you really think I'll hesitate now?"
[Itsuki] : "The future of innocent lives are depending on us to defeat this governor's evil."
[Ren] : "Make sure you watch yourself."
[Ren] : "I heard from the thugs that the governor of Errnthon can at least handle himself in a fight. His magic capability is apparently no pushover."
[Ren] : "Whatever that means, that remains to be seen."
[Itsuki] : "Hmph. We've got enough power to take him on, if it devolves into a fight."
[Itsuki] : "Justice won't fail here."
[Ren] : "Justice, huh...?"