Chapter 28 / Footsteps Behind Heroes
"Mama! Papa!"
"Oh, Rishia! You're safe!"
As the green-haired girl rushed over to her waiting parents at the outskirts inn, Itsuki and the others stood idle behind them to watch the celebratory tears that rushed over the family.
Considering that the front entrances were still being occupied by the amassed crowd of confusion, Itsuki took Naofumi and the others around the way that he and Ren came in from. They met up with Eclair as they left the area as well, but they left from the foyer.
The fact that Itsuki said nothing about Ren's work had been unsettling. He merely shrugged it off because he was under the assumption that the guards were as corrupted as the governor, to which he believed that Ren did what he had to do to keep them at bay. The amount of blind trust he had for his childhood friend was large.
"A family is reunited," Raphtalia said, softly speaking. "I wouldn't want to imagine others suffering through such a separation like that."
"Raphtalia…"
"I mean, I didn't do much about all of this, but I can't help myself to smile seeing it."
There was no bitterness in her voice, merely a tone of satisfaction and relief. It was because she herself suffered that separation that she could feel happy for others who could be reunited like this. She wouldn't have the opportunity to do it for herself, but this was likely a close feeling to have.
"Things that tear families apart are terrible."
"Do you think Itsuki and Ren did the right thing then?"
"... I can't say for certain, knowing what they did to achieve it, but it is as they say."
Raphtalia held her hand to her chest.
"No one has to suffer anymore under the reign of that governor." Raphtalia took a heavy breath. "Sometimes, I wonder what could be going through the minds of the government, letting people like them being someone as important to guide their citizens. The governor of the village I was once in loved everyone in it and made sure everyone was protected, just as Miss Rishia's parents did."
"I'm glad to hear that there are others like them," Eclair responded. "My father, too, had been a governor that looked after his people with respect and dignity. He would despise seeing others abuse their power like that and he would do what he could to have the queen act against it if he were to discover it."
"The way you talk about him, it sounds like…"
"Yes. He passed away recently. The news came to me before I was arrested, so I don't have much information to go off after hearing about it."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's terrible that situations like this have to happen in the first place," Naofumi mulled over, "and while the people might be saved from this situation, what are we going to do now?"
His eyes glanced over to Itsuki, who had been standing apart from the group. He was certain that his friend could hear them, but he was choosing to feign ignorance, watching the family reunite instead.
"The governor is affiliated with the Church of Three Heroes. It's not difficult to imagine that we'll have some type of backlash against us. Even if they didn't know who did it, they could simply blame us and be on their way for more propaganda."
"There isn't much we can prepare ourselves for than what we're already set with," Eclair sighed. "All we can do is hope that we won't be stopped because of this. From how the news spreads in Melromarc, I'm less than optimistic about it."
"Could the news even spread to other countries like Faulbrey?" Raphtalia asked.
"It's a few borders over, but still, most certainly," Eclair nodded. "It not only makes our journey out of Melromarc more dangerous, but our journey into Faulbrey more difficult."
As the three of them grimaced in the aftermath, the couple came over to the group, bowing their heads as much as possible.
"We don't know how to thank you for what you've done!"
Their tears were still staining their cheeks with sniffling coming to them. Their daughter had been with them, but she had been more visibly shaking and nervous about presenting herself.
"How much do you want!?" her father exclaimed. "We'll give you everything for what you've done for us! You helped us out tremulously!"
"We don't need anything," Itsuki answered. "Having this place be quelled from evil is a good enough reward for me. You won't need to worry about that governor coming back for a second round or anything of that matter."
"There couldn't possibly be people that are this kind!"
"It's not out of kindness," Itsuki said.
There was some bitterness underneath that wayward smile of his and frankly, Naofumi felt like he was the only person that could see it. After all, the result hadn't been what Itsuki intended them to be, having the governor never realize the errors of his actions.
"You can say it's out of a sense of duty. If justice is lacking from this country, and I'm around to help out, then I should do something about the evils that I encounter. It's merely that simple."
Itsuki looked down on his hand solemnly with a soft gaze.
"I was once powerless, unable to do anything in my situation, but someone else opened my eyes that it didn't have to be like that. I always then tell myself if I could become stronger, and that I'll uphold justice to help make the world a better place. That's all it is, so you don't need to do anything in response to our assistance."
Feeling like his voice deeped a bit, he swerved himself back to a soft smile to the couple.
"Nothing feels better than the swift administration of justice."
"Thank you so much. We won't forget this act of yours. If you need anything from us or our territory, do not hesitate to come by and contact us. We'll do what we can to satisfy your request."
Itsuki glanced back to the manor as he spoke. "We did stir up quite the mess there, so perhaps it's best if you keep quiet about all of this. That would be in our best interest as well."
"If that's what you want, we'll certainly follow through."
Naofumi wasn't sure what Itsuki's intentions were on having them keep their lips sealed about their actions tonight, but something told him that it wouldn't have mattered. At the very least, if there were anybody shady coming around to ask them about the Heroes, they wouldn't get themselves accidentally involved. In that perspective, it was probably the best thing they could do for them.
There didn't need to be innocent people dragged into this mess.
Rishia stepped forward from the shadows of her parents, bowing a bit lower than them.
"F-Fue! T-Thank you!"
Itsuki smiled softly. "Now with all this over, you can return back to your peaceful life with your family. Take an easy rest before going back home tomorrow."
With them parting ways with the family, Eclair came up to Itsuki.
"My desire is that we leave the city immediately, but with Sir Ren not presently waiting for us and going off to who knows where, there's not much we can do without leaving him behind," she sighed. "Seriously, what is he thinking right now?"
"There's no need to worry about Ren. If he says he'll come back by morning, then he'll do that. We need our own rest as well," Itsuki responded. "I'm feeling a bit tired after all that has happened."
Itsuki started walking back to where the group had been staying. Eclair could only watch as Itsuki dismissed her concerns, leaving her to glance back up to the manor in the distance. The smoke from the initial explosion had still been fuming there, being unattended by any external hands.
"Are you alright, Eclair?"
"I'm only a bit sore from my fight with Sir Ren, but mentally, I have no idea how to feel about any of this. Now that it's been done, there's no point in pursuing the matter any further, but I despise how it was done in the first place. It leaves a bitterness on my tongue, even if it was supposed to have a sweet ending for that family and the people of these two territories."
Eclair's eyes panned down to the few people on the streets, moving away from the crime scene.
"The governor was selfish in his actions and would be put to death by the queen if more serious crimes were listed to his name, but seeing things be taken into their own hands, it's a bit unnerving. Leaving our personal circumstances out of this, my own sense of justice would allow this to happen, but my duty as a knight demands for proper procedure to be met."
"Regardless, perhaps Mister Itsuki is right."
Naofumi flinched. "Raphtalia?"
"N-no, I didn't mean that." She waved her hands out. "I meant for us to get some rest. I'm sure more things happened outside of what I was around for, but I don't think dwelling on such matters outside like this is a good idea. We probably need to leave as soon as possible."
Although it might not be what she was referring to, Naofumi and Eclair did rush in before the eyes of the people at the front gate, so it might not be for long until they were recognized by them. If they weren't going to be leaving now, hiding out in the inn was the best thing that they could do.
"After all of that, I guess anyone would be tired."
It was another matter if Naofumi could sleep at all tonight, given what was circulating in his mind. Eclair might be having the same problems, but they departed the streets to arrive back at their inn. The citizens were certainly rattled about what happened, but given the brief gossip among those in the lobby, it would seem like the news hasn't been known that their governor was assassinated.
Everyone went into their rooms and when Naofumi arrived, Itsuki was nowhere to be seen. He must have been taking a more scenic route, but at this point, Naofumi didn't have the willpower to care anymore. He was far too burnt out to feel anything else other than the creeping fatigue on his shoulders.
All the very least, Motoyasu was still asleep alongside Sakura in the same bed.
They looked like they were at peace, unknown to the problems that were going on behind his back. He considered telling Motoyasu about Ren and Itsuki, but seeing them be this, he held back. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to break Motoyasu's sleep to tell him what happened.
If he went ahead and thought too much, he would never get a wink of sleep at that rate.
For now, he climbed into bed and tried his best to find some sleep.
Would it be too much of a hassle to hope it was all a nightmare? Despite the sounds of snoring filling his ears, his eyes were too heavy to keep open anymore, as he drifted into his own slumber.
-/IV/-
The chilling winds blew past Itsuki as he came out from the forest.
The location was near Errnthon and situated on a hanging cliff over the city. Anyone could see almost anything down below, but the only caveat was that details were far too small for them.
Itsuki looked on to find his childhood friend sitting down near the edge, gazing at the scenery.
"There you are. Eclair said you ran off once they made it past you."
"I didn't run off. I chose to leave because there wasn't any point for me in sticking around."
"What's the difference?"
"... How did you find me?" Ren sighed, abruptly changing the topic.
Itsuki chuckled softly. "I took a quick look around the outskirts of the city and noticed a cliffside nearby. I thought that if you would run off anywhere after all of that, it would have been here."
"I guess you're not my childhood friend for nothing."
A silence consumed the atmosphere, leaving the whistles of the breeze in the air.
Itsuki approached Ren and sat down right next to him, sharing the sight. Now that it was over, Itsuki felt fulfilled, but at the same time, very empty. Nothing like how he presented himself before Rishia and her family. He was still confident that if he had a second chance to look at the situation, he would have still helped out her family in the same drastic measures like this.
Even if Naofumi and the others didn't approve of it.
"I know Naofumi is just looking out for us, but there's no way we could leave things as they are in good conscience. Oh, I heard that you were holding Eclair and Naofumi off for me in a fight."
"Naofumi's stats made it difficult for me to keep him down, while Eclair was… well, Eclair. I can't believe she was holding back her techniques of her own as well… And if Raphtalia never showed up out of nowhere…"
"None of that would have been needed if the governor simply understood his position."
Itsuki's tone sounded frustrated.
"I don't understand it. How is it that he couldn't see the evil he was doing, even when the evidence was shown right in front of him?" Itsuki leaned back, lying flat on the ground towards the crescent moon. There hadn't been any stars to illuminate the skies. "I can't understand any of it."
"Is it something that needs to be understood?"
"If I could see what they see, I could probably break through to them to show that what they've been doing goes against the nature of justice. A result like this is fine and all, but it wasn't what I was intending to end up with."
He wanted the governor to admit his defeat.
He wanted the governor to turn himself in for the crimes he has done or at least, make amends for them. Itsuki didn't think it was particularly difficult to go through such changes, but the events of tonight changed how simple it merely was in his mind, not how it would really play out in reality.
"Why don't we simply leave it at that?" Ren asked.
"Like what?" Itsuki responded, raising his eyebrow.
"That it was the best you could do. Sometimes, I don't think we can't rely on others to do what needs to be done, right? Including the culprit themselves. We were probably lucky that your bullies decided to back off after we fought them off."
"They didn't just back off that day," Itsuki grimaced. "They turned themselves in to the teachers, telling them what they were really doing during all those months. Since the damage was already done, they were only suspended for two weeks, but when they returned, they didn't even dare come close to me. That's the feeling I wanted to pursue here, one of justice being dealt before my eyes."
"Don't you think it was too perfect to play out the same way again here?"
"I thought it was because we fought back that they realized that they were wrong." Itsuki clenched his fist and held it up above him. "When I first confronted them about their bullying, I was beaten so hard, but then when you got out of the hospital…"
"Yeah. We definitely turned the tables on them and fought back."
"I thought something similar could have happened here."
Itsuki closed his eyes and remembered the governor's beaten state. Even though it was a far more bloodied and disgusting sight than whatever they both did to the bullies, the governor would not yield his evil conscience. He wondered if there was something wrong in his approach.
"Maybe it was because we were kids, and that they were kids," Ren answered. "Kids are usually influenced by their emotions far more than adults. Adults are reigned by habits, so once the governor was set on that path, it was probably too late for him. He was far too into his own stupidity to realize it."
"Really? Is that actually a thing?"
"It sounds right. Adults learn less than kids, sometimes being stuck in their own thinking of stupidity. That's why outcomes like these ones are inevitable."
Ren shrugged, leaving a dissatisfied response.
When they were little, things might have been much simpler than the circumstances that they found themselves in right now and yet, the gentle breeze made things refreshing, despite what blood Ren and Itsuki might have on their hands now.
Ren didn't plan to return until the morning and hearing that, Itsuki decided to stick by him until then. He leaned himself against a tree, just as Ren might have done when they slept outside to find that it was slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't impossible to doze off like that, but it did give insight on what Ren had to go through when he chose to sleep like that.
Watching his friend continue an outward gaze, Itsuki slowly closed his eyes, but a fleeting thought rippled in his mind. This might have only been the beginning with other evils outside of this one, so there was no room to hesitate anymore.
Idol Rabier was one such example, so there was still work to be done.
When he remembered Rabier, he remembered what Welst, his former party member, said. Just as he was trying to sneak out, Welst had caught him snooping around to see if Rabier had been keeping slaves around his manor. However, it was what he said that caused him to wonder.
"Because it's their justice…?"
Just as he believed in his own justice, they believed in their own, but it was twisted that he couldn't see how they could be right. Welst could say what he thought of the situation, but in seeing it before his eyes, there's no way that could have been the case.
"Ren? Do you think that somehow, in some twisted way," Itsuki asked, "that the governor thought he was doing the right thing? To think that he was believing to be on the side of justice?"
"Who knows? There's no point in thinking about what was done," Ren grunted, not bothering to look over to Itsuki as he answered. "If what we saw was wrong and you couldn't meet him eye-to-eye, there's going to be a fight, no matter what."
"I guess you're right. All we have to do is follow our own justice. It doesn't matter if what they see is their own justice, it's wrong if it's blatantly cruel. And we have to fix that, by becoming heroes of justice. I want… that dream… of ours to come… true…"
Itsuki's eyes closed on itself as the uncomfortable position against the tree started feeling more cozy as his consciousness drifted away. Ren glanced over, checking to see if Itsuki had fallen asleep yet before giving up a heavy sigh.
"Becoming a hero of justice…" he muttered to himself. "Whatever that means, nowadays."
-/IV/-
The next morning, Naofumi woke up from the bed to see that the room was empty. Motoyasu and Sakura likely woke up already which spurred him to get up as soon as possible. He must have overslept, but if that was the case, his friend would have come to wake him up. That momentarily step of logic missed Naofumi, causing him to rush to get his clothes and equipment on before heading out to the lobby.
"Good morning, Master Naofumi."
As he walked down the hallway, he came across Raphtalia.
"Sorry, I overslept."
"Don't worry, you didn't oversleep. It would appear that everyone else simply woke up earlier than usual."
"Did Ren and Itsuki come back yet?"
"Just recently. It would appear that they didn't come to the inn for the entire night, but they didn't come across any trouble. They already suggested for Mister Motoyasu and Sakura to prepare themselves to head off as soon as possible. Along with Miss Eclair, we're almost done. "
"Thanks for the update, Raphtalia."
Raphtalia wryly chuckled. "It's far simpler said like that than what's really been happening…"
"What's wrong?"
Naofumi and Raphtalia started walking down the hall, heading to the lobby.
"As you might imagine, it's been somewhat awkward. There's a tight tension in the air between Miss Eclair, Mister Ren, and Mister Itsuki. Mister Motoyasu is starting to notice, but no one is really saying anything. I think everyone is simply trying to keep him out of it."
Back in Lerno, Motoyasu was starting to resolve to be happier for himself, but with something as serious as this, Naofumi wasn't sure if filling him in was the best thing to do. It was hypocrisy, if needed to be labeled, but some things might have been better off not knowing.
There wasn't a simple enough thought that could solve his dilemma. A simple sleep wasn't enough to cleanse his mind of such thoughts and give him a better state to think about it. His expression twisted and turned, trying to figure out what was the best thing to do concerning Motoyasu, but Raphtalia reached out to him, holding him on the shoulder.
She said nothing, only showing a gentle smile, but it was enough to put him at ease. At least, for the moment until he had to cross Motoyasu.
Although Naofumi didn't want them to be skipping breakfast, leaving the town seemed to be their priority. They could always stop after half an hour to properly have some food. He brought himself outside, seeing that the town was bustling with gossip and murmurs. The topic of last night's incident appeared to have made its rounds, only in vagueness. From what he could hear, people knew that something happened at the governor's manor, but they didn't know that the governor himself was dead.
However, most of them sounded quite pleased to hear that the governor's place had been trashed.
None of the patrolling guards had been making their rounds. They were likely more focused on attending matters surrounding last night rather than upholding regular duties, but considering that their boss is dead, they were probably in chaos right now.
It must have been why Ren was so confident that they could leave tomorrow morning and still be fine. The guards weren't functioning well enough as a group to search and lock down the culprit, only functioning enough in order to keep the situation calm for everyone else.
Naofumi went over to the stables to find everyone else waiting there.
Eclair was already sitting in the front while Ren and Itsuki sat quietly in the back. It must be the work of a cruel mistress that they still have to travel together, even after what happened. Oblivious to the circumstances, Motoyasu and Sakura merely looked between the two parties, noticing Naofumi approaching. Sakura was already strapped in, ready to pull whenever directed to.
"Morning, Naofumi."
"Morning," Sakura followed.
"Yeah, good morning, you two."
"So uhm, did something happen while I was asleep?" Motoyasu haphazardly pointed towards the people in question. "I feel like there's some, uh, weird vibes in the air."
"Sakura feels it too…"
"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you," Naofumi chuckled, trying to be lighthearted about it.
"Hmm, if you say so…"
Sakura imitated the light shrug Motoyasu gave off. While Motoyasu accepted it as it was, Sakura's eyes were more attentive. It appeared that she was more perceptive of the uneasy answer.
"Is there really nothing…?" Sakura asked.
"It wasn't anything important." Ren came out from the cart, crossing his arms while leaning on the side. "The more you worry about it, the more we waste time here."
"I guess you're right. Let's head out of here before…" Motoyasu tilted his head, raising an eyebrow. "Wait, why are we heading out early again?"
"Same reason as Riyute."
"Alright, fine by me."
It didn't seem to bother Motoyasu on whatever reasoning Ren gave him.
It wasn't too much effort to head out early, but as he climbed onto the carriage's driver seat, he noticed that Naofumi was still standing there. Ren had a single foot on the carriage himself, but froze when he saw the grimacing expression on his friend's face.
"Aren't you coming on?"
"... I think Motoyasu needs to know the truth."
Eclair herself was thinking of trying to let Motoyasu know, but she didn't know how to deliver the message properly and once Itsuki heard Naofumi say that, he climbed out of the carriage as well, passing Ren as his childhood friend merely transitioned himself to sit along the edge.
"Is that a good idea?" Raphtalia asked, not meaning that she believed adversely to it, but to ensure that Naofumi had properly thought this through to not regret it later.
"If we're going to keep moving forward, Motoyasu should know what happened."
"Sakura doesn't know what happened either…?" The filolial tilted her head, looking as confused as her father. "Can Sakura know if Daddy knows?"
"Yeah, I was… implying that you're included too…" Naofumi wasn't exactly sure if Sakura was being like that to lift the atmosphere or if that was just how she naturally was. Naofumi wasn't even sure if she would understand the gravity of the situation to begin with. "Though, I'm unsure if you'll have any weight to know as to how serious it is."
"You know about the incident with the couple and the local governor here, right?" Naofumi started to explain. "Last night, when Ren and Itsuki went over—"
"We killed him. No, I killed him." Itsuki walked over to Naofumi and Motoyasu. Almost immediately, Motoyasu's expression turned over, as if he thought he had heard a bad joke being told.
"Whoa, whoa, wait." Motoyasu rubbed his forehead, trying to comprehend the situation. "Instead of giving the money over like we planned, you took it up a notch and took his life?"
"Sorry if it bothers you, Motoyasu." Itsuki clenched his fist, holding it before him. "I couldn't just leave it alone, despite what was said last night."
"Well, I mean, like…" Stuttering, Motoyasu was finding it difficult to say the right words he wanted to say. "I can't even say that I feel bothered because it sounds so unreal, but…"
Motoyasu glanced over to Ren and Itsuki for a few moments rather casually.
"You guys don't regret it, right?"
"If you gave me a second chance, I would have done it again."
Itsuki's voice had been firm.
"The outcome might not have been satisfying for me, but I wouldn't mind a result like this for a second time. At the very least, that governor wouldn't be hurting anyone else anymore."
"And what about the couple?"
"Ren and I were able to rescue their daughter, safe and sound. They should be preparing to leave back to their home this morning."
Motoyasu wasn't overreacting to how Naofumi would imagine. In fact, Naofumi wasn't sure how Motoyasu would take it, but his friend had been far quieter than he could expect.
"You're taking this far better than I imagined."
"Ren and Itsuki don't regret their choices and it's as they say. I don't think there's any point in looking back on a past that can't be changed." A bitter smile emerged from him. "Yeah, I guess that's something I should try to adhere to as well."
"Motoyasu?" Naofumi couldn't hear that last part.
Motoyasu hesitated, waving his hand before his face, almost as if to hide his expression from Naofumi. "We'll just have to be more wary about our upcoming days, right? We can start thinking about bridges once we get to them. I feel right now won't change the circumstances we're in."
"I'd rather us not get into deeper problems than we could be facing here. Maybe you two didn't realize it," Naofumi said, glancing at Ren and Itsuki, "but it would seem like the governor is someone from the Church of Three Heroes."
"That was already the worst-case scenario," Eclair grumbled.
"If the news spreads out too much, would we even have a chance to meet with the queen?" Raphtalia asked. "There's no way that she isn't heavily guarded by knights."
"You're right to assume that."
"Even so, while Motoyasu is probably right about how we should be treating an event that already happened," Naofumi said, walking up to the pair of troublemakers, "that doesn't mean we'll be doing nothing about it in the future. I can't condone the things you're doing, not only because it feels wrong to have this type of violent jurisdiction—"
"It was only this violent because the governor wouldn't listen to me!"
"— this type of violent jurisdiction," Naofumi continued through the grit of his teeth, speaking louder to overtake Itsuki's response, "but because this is going to endanger us more than anything. I want to be keeping everyone here safe and sound, but that can't happen if you guys go out of your way to gather more attention towards us!"
"What are you planning on doing?" Raphtalia asked.
"It's clear to me that if we ignore what happened, Itsuki and Ren are simply going to do this again," Naofumi grimaced, tightening his hand. "I'm going to have to ask everyone to keep an eye on them until we meet the queen, so that they don't do this again."
"Naofumi! C'mon! Ren and I ended up helping the people of this territory and the one that the couple resides in! Two birds with one stone! You can't say that what we did was wrong!"
"You also can't say that you don't understand where I'm coming from."
Itsuki bit down on his lips, glancing away from Naofumi's powerful stare. The fact that Itsuki had pulled the trigger on his bow almost instinctively when Naofumi was attacked by the governor rang back in his mind, a notion of that feeling of wanting to protect his friend. Likewise, Naofumi wanted to protect them as well, in his own ways.
"I was already planning on doing that," Eclair said.
"If that's what you want, then I'll do my best," Raphtalia answered.
"... Are we done yet?" Sakura asked, interfering greatly with the mood. Despite wanting to know, it would sound as if she zoned out during the explanations.
If anything though, it might have been the thing that they needed to get moving again.
"Yeah," Naofumi nodded. "Let's get everyone onboard and then we'll leave."
Once Motoyasu got onto the driver's seat next to Eclair, everyone else climbed onto the back of the cart. He could see the disgruntled expression on Itsuki's face, all while Ren didn't look too bothered by anything that was said to them. Naofumi reached out his arm, holding it on Itsuki's shoulder.
"Don't take this personally. I really do admire your sense of justice, but there's always a time and a place for everything. Please understand that."
As Naofumi spoke, it felt like the tension in Itsuki's shoulder were released.
"I know that." Itsuki continued moving to his seat. "You always did care a lot for us, so it's not like I didn't expect you to not like what we did. If you're looking for an apology, you're not going to get one. I don't regret a single thing I did, so it would be empty."
"I'm not looking for one."
"..."
Naofumi heaved himself up following Itsuki as the last person in and almost immediately after he sat down, Sakura started pulling the cart out from the stables on Motoyasu's command. They rolled through the streets. Compared to yesterday, it felt like there were more people out, as if to compensate for the lack of guards.
There weren't any guards at the gate either, so without the security, Motoyasu was able to easily leave the perimeter without an ounce of trouble. However, the future might be withholding all of that and while the sun was looking bright today, Naofumi wasn't sure if their upcoming path had been the same.
All he could do was hope.
…
…
"...ait.."
"... Did you guys hear something?"
"Hear what?"
"Sounds like it came from behind us."
Naofumi and Itsuki glanced outwards towards the gate they were leaving from, only to see a green-haired girl trying to run out towards them. He couldn't make out what was happening until he recognized the two braids trailing behind in the wind. Her green clothes rustled over her beige dress in her awkward running, flailing her guard-covered arms to try and get their attention.
"WAIT! FUEE—!"
However, in her desperate rush, she tripped over her own feet and crashed into the ground. It certainly gave Naofumi and Itsuki quite the startle as Itsuki instantly stood up and raised his voice.
"M-Motoyasu! Stop the cart!"
"What for!?"
"Just do it!"
Pulling Sakura back a bit to slow down, Itsuki didn't even wait for the vehicle to stop before jumping out. He ran down the road to see the couple's daughter, of all people, in tears after suffering a nasty fall. Fortunately, she didn't look too hurt, recovering to sit on her legs as she rubbed her nose.
"F-Fuee… I don't think I ever… shouted loudly before in my life…"
"You're… Rishia, right? What are you doing here?"
Just then, her father was able to catch up to her. He too was short of breath, but he persisted after catching a few seconds. He still had a smile on his face, similar to last night, but if he wanted to thank them again, there hadn't been any reason to send his daughter to rush out like this.
"Thank goodness you stopped," he gasped, leaning on his knees. "Maybe she's got some good luck, after all."
As the cart stopped, Naofumi took his turn to head off over to meet with the sudden encounter. He made a brisk pace over, basically jogging to come to Itsuki's side.
"What's the meaning of all of this?"
"We were intending to head on over to the inn you were staying at to speak with you there, but when we were ready to get moving, Rishia noticed that you folks were just passing by. A bit later and we would have completely missed you." The father took a deep breath to get his breathing back to normal before standing up straight. "We have something to speak to you about."
"If it's about a reward, we already said that—"
"No, sorry. I misspoke." The father glanced down to his downed daughter. "Rishia has something that she wants to speak to you about."
"I-I… U-Uhm, uh…! F-Fuee…!"
Being prompted to talk, all Rishia could do was stammer nervously as her eyes were starting to spiral in dizziness. Her face was growing pinker by the moment, making it look like she was about to have a breakdown rather than proceeding with the conversation.
Both Naofumi and Itsuki glanced at each other at the corner of their eyes awkwardly as Rishia's father wryly laughed, though they were not judging for a single moment.
"Take deep breaths, Rishia." Itsuki crouched down to meet her at eye level. "Speak your mind without worries. Did you want to thank us again, or was it something else?"
"I… I, uhm…"
With her voice quivering, she took a few seconds to inhale a huge breath inwards to calm it down. She wanted to get her message across, needing only a few words to get it done.
"I want to join your party!"
"..."
"..."
Itsuki and Naofumi blanked.
Naofumi's face went pale the moment he heard what Rishia said. He had to be certain that he heard it wrong, but one mere look at Itsuki made it clear that he was sadly not mistaken. Naofumi already knew that it was going to be impossible, especially because they had such a big target on their back, but Rishia obviously didn't know that.
It looked like she built up so much courage to ask, only for them to crush those dreams quickly.
"Could I ask why you want to come with us?"
Naofumi raised an eyebrow to his friend, but it would appear that all of his attention was being given to Rishia the moment that she made her request. He wanted to pull Itsuki over to talk with him for a moment, to not try and humor her any further, but Rishia responded much quicker than he expected.
Her eyes were drawn to the ground as she leaned forward.
"Because… I'm weak." Her hands crumpled onto themselves, as if frustrated with herself. "I-it… It was my fault that my parents were caught in that situation… I was weak, and that's why I was taken by that governor so easily… I simply let myself be taken like that without even thinking of struggling…"
Rishia looked up to Itsuki.
"On the other hand, you're so strong. You're able to not only help yourself, but… you even could save others. I… I want to be strong like that and I think if I traveled with you, I'll be… I'll be able to do that. I want to be able to help you for what you've done for me and my parents, but I can't do that if I'm still like this…"
Her hands tightened, pulling closer to her chest.
"I want to be like you, a champion of justice."
Her body shivered. "Even though it was scary how you did things, I think… I think I thought it was scary because I'm weak…" Rishia trembled, holding her head as if trying to forget the brutality Itsuki showed last night. "So that's why…"
Before Itsuki could reply, Naofumi stepped before he had any wrong ideas. With being called a champion of justice, he could see the thin smirk emerging from his friend.
"We're not on a regular journey. We can't take extra people along with us."
"F-Fuee…!?"
"Sorry, but it's how things are."
"Please reconsider," her father said, bowing. "Once Rishia makes up her mind, she usually stands by her choices. Although it usually takes a fair amount of time to do so, she was rather resolute in this particular decision. I'm not sure if there was any other time where she made up her mind this quickly before, not even the school she wanted to study at."
"Please…! I want to go with you…!" Her trembles started erupting in vigorous shaking at the heightened probability that they weren't going to accept her. "I-I… I promise I won't slow you down…" Rishia's colorful expressions turned grim. "Actually… I don't know if I can really promise that…"
Naofumi sighed, nudging Itsuki. "Hey, tell her that she can't come already. As much as I don't want to refuse her offer, I think she needs to hear it from your lips."
Itsuki's eyes were gazing softly upon the cowering Rishia, as if he was looking down at a puddle's reflection on the ground. Naofumi tilted his head, nudging him once more, but Itsuki softly looked over.
"I can't."
"... Wh-what?"
"Rishia," Itsuki called out, causing her to look up. "Once upon a time, I was like you. I was weak, susceptible to the forces of others. Pushed around, kicked the ground. I was always suffering because I thought I had no other option, but one day, someone showed me that it didn't have to be that way."
Itsuki burrowed his eyebrows, thinking about Ren.
"My path to justice was carved out that day and if I can inspire others to carve out that same justice, in order to protect the innocent and the weak, just as I was in their shoes, then I can't refuse you in good faith. You said you want to join, Rishia?"
Itsuki extended his hand to her once more.
"Then you have my invitation."
"Itsuki! You can't be serious!"
"I'll take responsibility for her," Itsuki responded. "I want to be able to inspire justice like how I see it in other people, such that folks like that governor can't do what they please. If her enlistment to our party means that she can follow in those footsteps, I'll welcome her myself."
Naofumi bit his lips, hearing a melancholy tone in his voice.
"I want you to know that we're up against some serious odds here. We might have to fight some fierce battles, go head-to-head with opposition that wants to eliminate us and travel extensively that we might end up really tired. Even knowing all of that, will you join us?"
"Yes." Rishia's voice was quiet, but it was firm and assertive, the first that her words had sounded since they met. "Even if I die, I don't think I'll have any regrets."
"Welcome to the team, Rishia."
Rishia reached out to Itsuki and grabbed his hand, being pulled up to her feet.
"Th-thank you so mu—Ah! I bit my tongue… Fue…"
She dusted off the clothes at her knees, trying to present herself more formally towards them, all while Naofumi sighed next to his friend, shaking his head. He wasn't sure if Itsuki was thinking things through properly, but with what he said, there wasn't any room for Naofumi to intervene, not that he felt like he could even if he had the chance.
"Look at my little girl, all grown up now." The father was tearing up, seeing that his daughter was accepted. "I suppose you folks are on the way out with no opportunity to stay any longer than this, right?"
"Yeah, sorry. We have to be moving as soon as possible."
"Then I'll tell your mother that it worked out for you," Rishia's father said. "Right now, I can provide you a small satchel of money to help provide for—"
"Don't feel the need to do that. We've got a decent amount of money and it's not as if we go through it too quickly," Itsuki replied. "We can accept Rishia as she is."
"Then I'm going, Papa!" She pulled herself to her father, giving him one big hug. "I'm going to do my best to help out Lord Itsuki! Please don't forget about me!"
"How could I? Make sure you take good care of yourself. I've always wanted you to go see the world for yourself, so take any moment you can to enjoy yourself."
"I will!"
As their hug seemed like it took forever to be dismissed, Naofumi crossed his arms.
"Are you going to regret this?" he asked.
Itsuki shook his head. "No. That's why I won't apologize for what I'm doing here either."
After Rishia left her father, waving back to him as much as she could, she approached the cart to see familiar faces from last night and a new one, even a unique filolial she had never seen before. To see such a diverse team, it filled her chest up with lightness.
Naofumi and Itsuki filled everyone in about what happened and introduced Rishia properly as their new team member. While Eclair had her skepticism on if that was a good idea, Motoyasu grinned.
"Getting another cute girl into the team, huh?"
"Fuee!? Cute!?" Rishia blushed after being complimented. "You… don't mean me, right!?"
"Of course I mean you. Who else would I be speaking about?" he winked. "In any case, I feel like you're going to find yourself right at home with us and if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask any of us about—Gahh!"
Suddenly, a fist sucker-punched Motoyasu across the face, causing him to fall down. He scrambled to recognize what happened, since it occurred too quickly.
"Wh-what the hell just happened!?"
To the spectators, all saw Ren closing in on Motoyasu to deal the sneaky strike before returning back to a normal stance, as if he didn't even move. The only hint was him shaking his hand, as if he had just punched a rock, leading Naofumi to come over to pull Motoyasu back up through his complaints.
"Was that really needed!?"
"You couldn't keep it down for a few seconds?"
"Again, I'm just saying it how I see it! There wasn't anything more than that!"
Rishia widened her eyes, being a bit nervous about Ren. After all, her first impression of him was a scary person that didn't hesitate to grab her, like he wanted to suffocate her. Her second impression had been slugging his party member in the face without holding back. When Ren glanced over to Rishia, she had the instinct to not meet his eyes.
With everyone making their introductions to one another, Rishia bowed to them.
"I'm Rishia and I'll… I'll be in your care!"
"If we're done here," Eclair said, "then we'll make haste to our next destination. Let us move on."
As Rishia climbed on as their new party member, it took a few minutes of traveling for Raphtalia to send the party invitation to her. She hastily accepted it, only to notice that everyone's name was listed there. She tilted her head a bit.
"Uhm, don't you know about the experience penalty…? There's more than six people in the party, so everyone's… going to receive less experience, right?"
"Oh, we go ahead and split up for experience when we reach a town or a campsite," Raphtalia responded. "When we're on the road together, it's far simpler to keep everyone in the same party, even if we incur the penalty. It's not as if it would make any heavy changes."
"It just seems… inefficient?"
"Likely, but half of us aren't receiving experience points at all, so there's no point in moving parties around," Raphtalia lightly chuckled.
Rishia frowned, not understanding Raphtalia. "I know there's a penalty, but no one shouldn't be outright receiving no experience points. That doesn't make any sense."
"Well, Master Naofumi and his friends are the Cardinal Heroes, after all. They don't incur any experience points when the holy weapons are close to each other."
"Ah, I see. I suppose that makes sense."
It took Rishia a few seconds to register what Raphtalia said, causing her face to twist in horror. She knew she was going along with strong people, but this wasn't anything in her imagination. Needless to say, Rishia immediately broke down, thinking that perhaps, she might take herself back on her word.
"... Heh?"
Rishia's eyes widened.
"FUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!?"
-/IV/-
The pope, the leader of the church of Three Heroes, stood behold the basement altar, staring at the three statues of the Cardinal Heroes they worshiped. They were of the Spear Hero, the Bow Hero, and the Spear Hero, giving the distance lack of the Shield Hero. They saw him as the evil demon of the bunch, so it was given, but considering the circumstances they found themselves in, there are people that are skeptical of their beliefs.
He wasn't too bothered by it, since the news of what happened at the castle had been turning out in their favor more and more. There are folks that come to the capital, just to see the restless state of the city for their own eyes with citizens acknowledging that there had been something that happened within the castle perimeters, especially the nobles who had been at the duel.
However, it wasn't as if they could leave the heroes unattended. It was his, no, their intention to get rid of the Shield Demon. After all, the first princess sent a report during the second night after they were summoned depicting that the Cardinal Heroes were already knowledgeable of each other, ahling from the same world, being told by the Spear Hero himself.
That wasn't something in their scriptures, depicting that the heroes, the true heroes were folks that came from different worlds. They sent shadows to deal with the Bow Hero and the Sword Hero during the Shield Demon's trial to quietly get rid of them, all while stopping the messengers from informing them of the incident. The first princess intended to have the Spear Hero come to the trial in order to tug him along, intending to manipulate him to go against the Shield Demon.
And yet, look at how that turned out. With those heroes escaping from the palm of their fingers, they were looking for the equivalent of a needle in a haystack. It was almost impossible to track down where the Cardinal Heroes could be, but if they could find one, it was very likely that they would find the others. The odds weren't exactly in their favor, so he simply prayed.
The pope prayed to the real Cardinal Heroes, but there was an underlooming intention lurking behind it all. He gained the direct partnership of the king in order to tackle this difficult task, but that allowed him to be right where he wanted to be.
He was slowly taking steps towards his true goal.
"Your Holiness?"
"Yes, I am here, Sister Altara." He turned around to see the head nun with a smile. "Is there something you wish to speak to me about?"
"Indeed, and I believe it is very important." The nun had a few papers in her hand, but she wasn't reading them. She already knew its content, looking through it before entering. "Our funding will appear to be reduced for a bit."
"For what reason could that be?"
"We've received a report that Governor Errnthon has passed away. Without him providing us with a higher donation than what we requested from his territory, we'll find that the budget for his month may be tighter than usual. Not unless we can have the king enlist another one of a devoted noble of the Church to that territory, but it was already difficult to have the queen convinced of the decision for someone along the lines of Governor Errnthon."
"Was there an accident? This is quite sudden."
"That is what has been announced to the public, but that is not what the report from our sources say. It would appear that he was killed."
"Errnthon? Killed? Why, that man had been powerful with his magic. I cannot imagine how he could have been killed. Do they know who did it?"
"This is what I wish to speak to you about. Eye-witnesses claim to have seen a few certain individuals, but they could not confirm their identities clearly. However, they were powerful enough to storm the manor and assassinate Governor Errnthon with the guards knowing of the attempt and yet, the guards were still wiped out. Quite violently, at that."
"... I see." The pope turned around to see the statues once more, narrowing his eyes on the relic of a bow on the altar. "The Demons have made their move and sent their message and it appears that if they made their way over to Errnthon's territory, then they must be looking to escape from Melromarc. If they're in that area, then it looks as if they're heading to Faulbrey, where the queen is."
Behind his glasses, the pope's eyes narrowed.
"Of course, their objective is the queen."
Tapping his staff on the ground, he turned back to Altara.
"Send the notice to the king at once. Tell him that his wife is in possible danger. Now that we know where they are, we shall take action immediately. Track down the possible locations they've been to and follow their footsteps. We need to check if they're made any sort of negative influence anywhere."
"How shall we send the report to the first princess? She is currently off on her own, seeking out the second princess. It would appear that the second princess has been sent off by the queen."
"No need to worry about sending something to the first princess. What she does has no affiliation to us, as long as she can still serve her purpose without getting in the way and besides, I do not believe she will have a change in her actions if we are able to relay a message to her."
"Of course. I'll contact the king right away, Your Holiness."
With a deep bow, the head nun left the pope to himself, not seeing the man under the robes biting his lips enough to make it bleed. Frustration emerged onto his face.
"They need to be stopped at any cost."
[SKIT 108 : After A Departure]
[Eclair] : "And in our tracks, we leave Errnthon."
[Eclair] : "With the governor dead, I wonder how things are going to end up for those people."
[Itsuki] : "Obviously, they're going to have a better life, right?"
[Itsuki] : "They don't have to live in fear anymore. They don't have to be treated like they don't matter, being wringed out of their money by their greedy governor."
[Eclair] : "While you may be correct, there's still the issue of what comes next for them."
[Eclair] : "They won't be left without a governor for long. Once news reaches the capital, they'll have to dispatch a new governor to take his place."
[Eclair] : "And considering how the Church of Three Heroes had a person take the place of governor, there's a likely chance that they would try to get another one of their members sent over to handle the situation there. Perhaps even picking up where the last governor left off."
[Eclair] : "... There's no guaranteed that what we did would truly liberate the people of Errnthon."
[Eclair] : "Without aiming at the heart, there's always a chance that the problem will come back."
[Itsuki] : "It's enough that we did something for them right now."
[Itsuki] : "Hopefully, we'll find the queen before Errnthon falls to another tyrannical governor."
[Itsuki] : "And from there, all will be finished and justice will be delivered."
[Eclair] : "... I sure hope that's the case, for everyone's sake."
[SKIT 109 : Heavy Sleeper]
[Raphtalia] : "I do have to wonder about something, Mister Motoyasu."
[Motoyasu] : "Ask away, beautiful."
[Raphtalia] : "That explosion was very loud. I'm surprised that you didn't come to to see what it was."
[Motoyasu] : "Uh, about that..."
[Motoyasu] : "I don't think I heard any explosions last night. Itsuki and the others telling me about the explosion at the manor was the first one I've heard anything about it. It's hard to deny it when I saw the rubble of the manor in the distance."
[Raphtalia] : "You... didn't hear it?"
[Sakura] : "Sakura heard it. It was very, very loud. It went boom and ka-doom."
[Sakura] : "When Sakura woke up to see what it was, Sakura saw a lot of smoke coming from some building."
[Sakura] : "But Sakura noticed Daddy was still sleeping, so Sakura went back to sleep with Daddy."
[Sakura] : "Sakura figured it might not have been anything if Daddy was still asleep."
[Raphtalia] : (Sakura's obliviousness is almost incredible...)
[Raphtalia] : (Probably just as incredible as to how heavy of a sleeper Mister Motoyasu is...)
[SKIT 110 : Test of Durability]
[Motoyasu] : "You're telling me that the governor tried to blast you away with a powerful spell?"
[Itsuki] : "I was prepared to take a lot of damage from taking the full force of it, but I surprised to see that my health didn't drop down too much."
[Motoyasu] : "Aren't archers supposed to have low defenses!? That's crazy you were able to shake it off!"
[Naofumi] : "I think that would have to mostly do with our strengthening methods."
[Naofumi] : "We've been working on them nonstop on all of our methods that I wouldn't be surprised if we were one of the strongest people in Melromarc already,
especially hearing about how Itsuki resisted a big-level magic spell so easily."
[Motoyasu] : "How durable is he!? How durable am I!?"
[Motoyasu] : "No, wait. If we're possibly very durable, how durable would Naofumi be!?"
[Motoyasu] : "I bet he's like that immovable rock in the stories!"
[Itsuki] : "I think you're overreacting a bit, Motoyasu..."
[SKIT 111 : Unbreathable]
[Itsuki] : "..."
[Ren] : "..."
[Eclair] : "..."
[Naofumi] : "..."
[Motoyasu] : "Man, it sure is tough to breath here..."
[Raphtalia] : "I'm sure everyone simply has a lot of thoughts on their minds right now."
[Raphtalia] : "What happened in Errnthon last night was not something that could be simply covered."
[Motoyasu] : "It's not as if I could feel any animosity in the air though."
[Sakura] : "Hmm. Everyone still talks to everyone normally..."
[Motoyasu] : "It's just that when it gets silent, that's when things feel awkward."
[Sakura] : "Yeah. It's like nobody wants to talk. It feels kinda lonely."
[Raphtalia] : "I don't think there a simple solution to any of this, except the passing of time."
[Motoyasu] : "As much as I don't like this, I'm afraid you're right."
[SKIT 112 : Welcoming a New Friend]
[Rishia] : "I, uhm, hope to get along with everyone here!"
[Motoyasu] : "Welcome to the team, Rishia!"
[Motoyasu] : "You know, maybe a little party is in order!"
[Eclair] : "I don't think we have time to spare for a party."
[Motoyasu] : "No, nothing extravagant or anything like that."
[Motoyasu] : "I was thinking more like a buffet course, presented off by Naofumi and I in the kitchen."
[Naofumi] : "Huh? You want me to cook up a buffet?"
[Naofumi] : "That's going to take a while to scavenge food for something like that."
[Rishia] : "U-uhm, you don't need to do something like that..."
[Raphtalia] : "Don't be so reserved. I'm sure it would be fun and perhaps, a nice change of pace."
[Sakura] : "Sakura just wants the food."
[Raphtalia] : "Right, a nice... change of pace..."
[Rishia] : "F-Fuee... I don't want to insist..."
[Itsuki] : "..."
[Ren] : "..."
[Itsuki] : "You know, she reminds me when you were a kid. All nervous and stuff."
[Ren] : "Say one more word and I'm invoking my right to kick you."
[Author's Notes]
This is what I consider to be the end of the first half of the first arc.
In other words, Arc 01A is finished and now, we're moving onwards to Arc 01B. I'll be updating the synopsis slightly to account for this transition. It's not… exactly "halfway" in quantity per say, but now that we have the final party member to round out the group and things looking to get tense with the enemies figuring out where they are now, I'd say this is a good place to label it as such. Well, at least the final planned party member, I suppose.
There's still one more person left on the table that I'm still debating over, but I'll leave that for later.
I don't like rambling on for too long, but I do have to say that this has been quite the journey for me so far. After working on ROT4H for a while over multiple versions, this is quite a personal accomplishment. We've surpassed the word count of the previous, elongated version while making it further through the narrative with a better pacing. I always like looking back to see what I was able to achieve and I think this is the proudest I've been of any iterations of this story.
Although, that being said, things are a bit less connected in my notes now that I'm here. I… never actually thought I would be making it this far, so perhaps I should take some time to consider the options I have in approaching the second half of the first major arc. For this story, I was thinking of dividing the arcs by a certain structure, so hopefully, we can reach a point where you understand what I mean by that.
I never mentioned this before somehow, but I always love to see how people think about how things have been going on so far. I don't think there's any author that doesn't like the attention, but with how I'm going ahead with things, I decided to put self-satisfaction out first and foremost above anything else. And with this chapter, I'm feeling quite the satisfaction. I think that's the most important thing about writing a story, seeing if it's something that the author themselves can enjoy. After all, if a story they want doesn't exist, why shouldn't they go ahead and try to write it themselves? The worst you can do is fail and trust me, I've failed on numerous occasions with this fic, but I hung in there and got this out. You could only fail so many times before understanding why you've been failing, and working on fixing those errors.
Even though the audience is smaller than before, I'd still like to thank everyone for hanging in there alongside me. Thanks for reading up to this point and if you're enjoying the story, that's great news. I hope I can deliver on the same satisfaction that I've been giving you, that I've been giving myself.
