Chapter 32 / Lockdown


"The territory of Riyute has been controlled by the Three Heroes Church faster than anticipated. It would appear that there have been a number of drastic changes made within the village's domain. We should warn you that if you do choose to proceed to Riyute, we will not be able to assist you in the duration that you should remain there."

As Naofumi and the others stopped to listen in on the shadow's report in the forest, the situation for themselves didn't seem to be faring well. They've almost reached Riyute, having two hours of traveling left. It wouldn't have been too late for them to turn back since they were still far outside of the Church's range, as that was the message that the shadow had been passing along.

They decided to take this moment as a break, having almost everyone sit around in a circle as the shadow spoke through their updates. The outliers were Sakura, being in her human form and sitting on Motoyasu's lap again, along with Ren, who said that he didn't need to listen if everyone else was there. Instead of joining them, Ren decided to simply stay in the carriage to rest by himself.

It concerned Eclair a bit, thinking that Ren might not want to see another shadow if he wasn't ready yet, but the information wouldn't wait for him to get prepared. If he wanted to "rest", then Eclair couldn't stop him from doing so. Although, the entirety of the trip consisted of Ren being silent most of the time, other than the occasional response that prompted merely a few seconds of dialogue.

"We've reported these irregularities to the queen, as well as your objective, and she expresses appreciation if you were to not pursue further investigation into Riyute."

"You mentioned drastic changes…?" Eclair pondered at the ominous wording. "Could you go deeper into those details for us? We were the ones to request the information, after all."

"Of course," the shadow nodded. "It would appear that the Church started to move out shortly after the assassination of Errnthon's governor. We could not investigate their reasoning however. We were still able to determine that this move was coordinated by the king's cooperation with the pope."

"The king's starting to get involved with these shady dealings?" Itsuki scowled. He crossed his arms, exasperated at the situation. "Of course he is. If that king shares blood with that damned princess, there's no telling what he would do if it gets him closer to us."

"Wait, but that's the thing…" Motoyasu scratched his head. "How does that get their forces closer to us? If they got the news that we were hanging around Errnthon, there's no advantages for them to take over Riyute while we're close to the border."

"Maybe we should think back to what happened in Lerno," Raphtalia suggested. "If the knights of the Three Heroes Church believed the people of Lerno to be brainwashed by Cardinal Heroes, they must believe the same thing has happened for Riyute as well."

"So our suspicions were confirmed to be true after all…" Naofumi grimaced, feeling his hand tighten up into a frustrated fist. "How could something like this be happening? The people that we helped out ended up becoming the ones being targeted by the Three Heroes Church."

"It's certainly unfair…"

"Maybe it's because we've helped them out that the Three Heroes Church became prone to moving out into their villages." Motoyasu frowned, feeling a familiar unpleasantness. "If their enemies went out to make a good name for themselves, they would probably try to limit how much information would have spread to other places in order to keep their fears in check."

"That's already bad for us, mainly because we were trying to keep our movements as quiet as possible." Eclair shook her head, having a sense of exasperation swelling. "Although I'm unsure as to how much Lerno spoke of the Cardinal Heroes, I'm relatively certain that the people of Riyute would attempt to speak very little of us."

"The governor wouldn't have given us the merchant's pass otherwise." Motoyasu pulled out the item in question from his inventory, giving it a brief glance in his hand. His hand tightened around it. "Yeah, I'm with Naofumi. The mystery surrounding Riyute is causing me to be more worried for them."

"And while that thought is nice and all, I still believe we should heed the queen's warning and avoid Riyute while we still can. I'm sure the shadows were able to obtain more information concerning Riyute's condition, so we should hearing everything else first."

The shadow nodded once again to Eclair's words. "While the information we gathered is still limited, we can confirm that the villagers do not appear to be in a precarious situation as with the people of Lerno. In fact, it is most similar to a regular village, only with additional holy knights and Three Heroes Church members within the territory. It is no small amount either."

"Th-that doesn't answer any questions…" Rishia whimpered. "That still returns the concern as to why they're staying there in the first place."

Itsuki bit his lips. "If they've sent out that many units to Riyute, they must be planning something. What would be in Riyute that requires little interference from the Church, but many people from their faction to reside within?"

"To that, we do not have the answer." The shadow hung over their head, as if it was a small defeat. "Even some of the knights dispatched there have little idea as to why they have occupied the space, merely taking orders from their superiors. However, we do have sightings of a representative from the Church meeting up with the current governor."

"A representative?" Motoyasu mumbled to himself. "That means someone of high position would be present, right? What would someone like that be doing in Riyute?"

"You don't think that the governor…" Itsuki frowned, thinking that there might have been a betrayal for a moment, but that wouldn't have made any sense considering what the governor's emotions of being indebted to the heroes. "No, it couldn't be that…"

"Could you figure out the subject of their meetings?" Raphtalia asked.

"We could not. Although we consider ourselves professionals at investigation of information, there are limits as to what we can do and how much reach we can have. In this instance, it is because their meeting takes place behind closed doors and high security."

"So whatever they're talking about in there, they don't want anyone to know." Motoyasu hummed at the thought. "Or at least, the Church doesn't want it to leak out…"

"What about a resistance team?" Eclair suggested. "Have the people of Riyute coordinated anything like that? If they disliked the control of the Three Heroes Church, something small may start."

"As far as we investigated, there were none. In fact, we cannot claim that there is much displeasure among the villagers concerning the control of the Three Heroes Church. They are still allowed to go about their everyday life, but there is a bit of an added tax on their mining activities to compensate for the services that the Church is providing."

"How big of a tax?" Itsuki asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Not much, especially compared to Errnthon. It's small enough that people don't have second thoughts about it."

"And the mystery thickens," Naofumi sighed. "Not the time for us to come across one."

It felt like with every question they wanted, they were given an answer that prompted even more questions. However, it doesn't appear that they needed to intervene if there hadn't been severe circumstances happening in Riyute if what the shadows reports is correct.

"What do you want to do, Master Naofumi? It was your concern in Riyute that prompted the shadows to make their investigations."

"I mean, besides the rumors and all…" Rishia interjected. "Isn't the Three Heroes Church simply a religious organization? I don't follow their scriptures, but their teachings usually simply try to make the world a better place… on paper, I guess…"

"Yeah, that's right, now that you mention it," Motoyasu nodded. "Even if they're our opponent, they've still got that regular side to them. I remember listening to one of their homilies in the streets of the capital, albeit from an inexperienced young nun, but they use the identities of the Cardinal Heroes to make themselves into better people and lead better lives."

"... It's entirely possible that the Church is merely offering to lend assistance to Riyute for the king," Eclair agreed. "That does make more sense."

"Ah, so I overreacted for nothing…" Naofumi wryly laughed it off, trying to ease his embarrassment, but it trailed off by itself. "Hopefully, that's the case."

"Never too bad to be extra careful," Motoyasu chuckled alongside him.

"If it means that you'll listen to the queen's request to avoid Riyute," the shadow bowed, "then we must have hope that it is the case as well. We will continue to investigate these matters though, on behalf of the queen, so we won't be updating you on further revelations if unneeded."

"Thanks for the report," Eclair said.

After a brief nod, the shadow quickly disappeared into the forest.

"So… that's it?" Rishia asked. "We're not going to Riyute anymore?"

"We've got enough supplies to head over to Reichrott's territory, so I don't see why we should stop," Motoyasu responded. "Lerno provided us with more than enough."

The moment she got her affirmation, Rishia sighed from relief. Somewhere inside of her, she wasn't mentally prepared for another situation like Lerno. She wasn't even involved in the entire action there, merely making the plan, but in simply being in enemy territory, she was so nervous that her legs could have given way at any moment.

"Although, we've been traveling for a while…" Raphtalia glanced up into the skies, seeing that the blue color was starting to fade into orange. "Maybe we should figure out a place to make a camp."

"I mean, we're already here," Eclair smiled. "Why don't we continue being settled down? The Church won't be reaching out here for their patrols, if there are any."

"Alright then, so which one of us is on cooking duty, Naofumi?" Motoyasu playfully smirked.

"I got something I want to make today, so you can leave the food to me. Consider my apology for pulling everyone out of the way to get so close to Riyute like this."

The moment Naofumi mentioned food, Sakura apparently woke up from her subtle nap. At some point during the conversation, the details were too much for Sakura to pay attention to and she ended up dozing off. However, there was nothing quite like mentioning meals around Sakura to get her to awaken.

Ren, however, merely remained in the carriage for the majority of the time that they were camping out there. Even after dinner was served, he chose to eat by himself and while the others wanted him to come over to eat as a group like usual, he was silently insistent on his solo act.

At some point, Eclair knew that this was going to catch some questions from his close friends.

"He's probably in his moody phase!"

"Are you sure, Motoyasu? I feel like there's a problem hanging over Ren's head."

"If there is a problem, let him come to us. Ren usually…" Itsuki hesitated for a moment, closing his eyes. "He likes to think about things for himself if he thinks he could handle it by himself. It simply means the problem isn't big enough to involve us in it."

"I mean, if you say so…"

Naofumi seemed to have an inkling, but Motoyasu was somewhat oblivious. It might have been correct to say he was blindly trustful though. If Ren never acted with his cold shoulder constantly hanging around him, maybe it would have been easier for them to determine the issue.

Despite what he might have said, Itsuki didn't even eat much that night. His worries might have already consumed much of his appetite, keeping a constant eye on the carriage where Ren was. She heard something happened in the previous dungeon, but there were no details spared from the group other than the fact that they accidentally got separated.

Dinner wrapped up, the night emerged over their heads, the fire was put out, and everyone went off to sleep according to the schedule. Everyone kept themselves underneath the midnight skies, but Ren was the only one that stayed with a roof over his head, choosing to sleep while hiding inside the carriage.

As Naofumi closed his eyes, he couldn't stop to wonder that something still felt off about Riyute's situation, especially when putting it up against Lerno. After all, how was it that Lerno was accused of being brainwashed slaves while Riyute was being peacefully treated as civilians? Something felt missing, as if there was another motive right before their eyes.

As the winds softly blew and the grass quietly rustled, Naofumi drifted off to his dreams.

-/IV/-

Ren couldn't close his eyes.

He must have been remaining awake for a few hours after the fire went out. Everytime he would try to fall asleep, the darkness would try to remind him of the burdens he had on his shoulder. Through the voices that stuck with him, despite them no longer being in Lerno's nearby dungeon anymore, it would haunt him and leave very little time for his dormancy.

Ren was lucky that he was already used to very little sleep, since he usually binged playing BSO for extensive durations, but it was a different matter to simply lay there like a corpse.

His body lifted himself up from the carriage's floor, not feeling very tired in the slightest. Maybe if he exhausted himself from fighting monsters, he would be tired, but his hands shuddered at the thought.

Even if he knew the fight to be trivial, his hands were unconsciously rejecting his sword out of fear. He already recognized that problem from meeting with the nue monster, but it wasn't something he could fix himself. As long as he kept carrying these sins, that trauma wouldn't lift, but Ren didn't know that. He simply thought if he kept pushing himself through it, the problem would fix itself.

Standing up from the carriage, he quietly leaned his head out from the carriage.

For some reason, no one had been awake to watch the group, but Ren didn't ask any questions about it. If anything, someone must have dozed off when it was their turn. He snuck himself off the carriage and started walking away from the camp to find monsters to encounter.

He must have walked a fair distance before he could find a stray monster. Although it didn't look aggressive at first, it served to be the perfect target to ease himself back in fighting. His hand reached for his sword, but as his fingers slipped onto the handle, the images of the people he had killed flickered before his eyes. His hands were left shaking as the monster merely ran away, preemptively sensing the strength difference between them.

"This… is ridiculous…"

All he could do was clench his hands into fist of frustration, being reminded how little he grew as a person since his childhood. All he did was put a mask over himself and called it a day, but in reality, he was still the same anxious child as before. To hide away that anxiety, he kept everyone else at a distance, but treasured the people that were able to come close.

That's why he couldn't let the others know about what he did. Ren was scared that he would end up pushing them away, the same fears that were embedded in him when he first met Itsuki, his first real friend. To say that he realized that answer, that was far from the truth though.

All he was simply trying to think about was a way to fall asleep.

If fighting to exhaustion wasn't available to him, then perhaps running would.

He wanted to empty his mind of all of those bothersome thoughts. They would have become roadblocks to him and as such, he needed to do what he can to get through them without hindering the others.

A few minutes passed. Or had it been a few hours? For Ren, it all melded together in one continuous flow without any rhyme or reason. Environments looked the same when attention wasn't being given and time felt meaningless underneath a black sky.

All Ren wanted to do was run, perhaps away from that bottomless guilt.

Ren noticed a mountain in the distance. It was tall enough to tower over the trees, but Ren could only recall one place near Riyute. He didn't think he had walked so far from camp, but maybe they had been closer to the mineshafts than Ren had expected. After all, he wasn't really paying attention to the surroundings during the trip.

"The mineshafts, that was where…"

His feet unconsciously started to pull him over towards that direction.

"[Faust Quickness]."

With a brief chant of his spell, he increased his movement speed and started to run off.

It took probably half an hour for him to arrive, seeing that the space in front of the entrance was void of people. It would make sense, considering this was the middle of the night, but he was becoming uncomfortable upon his return here. He didn't want to stick around any further, but off in the distance, there was a small stone pile near a tree.

His eyes widened as he stepped closer to the stone pile. Each rock was stacked neatly on top of each other and it took a moment for him to realize that the ground in front of it looked like there was once a hole here. A little plaque stationed itself against the pile as Ren knelt down to read it.

"[May the unknown travelers rest in peace]."

The villagers must have found the shadows that Ren killed and gave them a proper burial.

In hindsight, Ren didn't exactly do a good job at hiding his work, simply leaving the bodies there without a second thought. The same deal could have happened with the Shieldfreedan envoys, since they were left to rot within the alleyways.

Nevertheless, Ren felt dizzy.

The reason to which he cut those shadows down was suddenly meaningless and that sunk into his thoughts the deepest as he looked upon this unmarked grave.

Not only did he kill someone who had only been doing their job, but it disrupted the ease his friends could have received in their objective. In fact, now that he thought about it, everyone he killed was simply trying to do their jobs, from the envoys to the guards.

He was even prepared to kill Batka when he betrayed him, who was simply forced to fight against him due to his own personal circumstances.

His hand slowly rested on the tilled earth. Did he even have the right to pay his respects for the people he killed? It felt demoralizing to himself and perhaps insulting to those deceased shadows, but this was enough proof to tell him everything that was wrong with himself.

"What's the point of being strong if I keep misusing this strength…? Why should I strive to be stronger if my power ends up throwing everything into disarray…?"

Ren was frustrated.

The objective he wanted to keep, that was to say his ideal of protecting his friends from these unknown threats, was the very thing that sank their circumstances deeper into the depths. He was trying so hard, knowing that he would have to carry that blood on his hands, but he acknowledged it by telling himself that the others wouldn't have to get their hands dirty otherwise.

How much of that was a lie? How much of that was him simply convincing himself?

Were the voices in Lerno's dungeon right? Would it be better if he wasn't around to screw them up anymore?

What else was he going to screw up for them if he chose to stick around?

As Ren dwelled in his despair, he didn't notice the subtle footsteps coming up behind him. With a torch lit up in hand, a group of holy knights were making their patrols close to the mineshaft when they discovered a hunched-over figure in the distance.

"Who's there!?"

As the knights got closer, they shouted out to Ren.

Ren flinched and immediately stood up from the ground, looking over his shoulder in terror. He didn't think that he would be coming across a patrol of holy knights like this. With his feet slowly backing off to try and give himself a head start, the knights narrowed their eyes on the familiar figure.

"Wait, surely that can't be…"

"The Sword Demon…!?"

"We can't take any chances! Capture him immediately!"

The squadron immediately immobilized outwards with their drawn weapons. They were already too close for Ren to escape properly, so his last opportunity had been to fight his way out, something that should have been more than easy for him to do.

Even with his back against the wall, the images of Errnthon's incident flickered before his eyes. He told himself that he was simply protecting Itsuki back there, but his thoughts were betraying him.

What if that had been a self-indulgent lie as well? What if he was trying to excuse his actions by relying on, or even blaming on, Itsuki's motivation? To say that Itsuki was far more unapologetic about the assassination was saying very little, so how was it that Ren couldn't feel the same way? Why was it that he felt like he was hiding behind Itsuki as a reason to fight?

As with the monsters, his hand couldn't grip onto his sword properly, forcing him to dodge out from the knights' onslaught. Even then, his senses weren't as good as before, taking a few strikes here and there. Not before long, the knights were able to knock him off his feet, causing him to roll against the ground into the stone pile. It was knocked over, plaque and all, as the knights approached him.

He kept screaming at his body to get back up, but his lethargy was too strong.

The knights grabbed him, dragged him over and handcuffed him.

"Do we have the right person?" one of the knights asked. "I feel like that was a little too easy. After all, this is one of the guys that assassinated the governor of Errnthon."

Another knight pulled out pieces of paper, that being a set of wanted posters. He shuffled through the few sheets before coming onto the one reserved for the Sword Hero. He squinted at the image and the person in question, unable to define it clearly.

"I see some resemblance, but…" The knight scratched his head. "Whoever made this poster is terrible. I can't make heads or tails out of the picture, now that I have a reason to have a better look at it."

"Then what should we do?"

"Regardless, we should probably bring him back to Riyute. Someone being on the perimeters of the mineshaft this time of the night should be considered suspicious in the first place."

Ren didn't say a single word.

Even when the knights were trying to ask for his identity, he didn't bother answering as if he was in his own little world. Fortunately, the knights didn't take that as an affirmation to him being the Sword Hero, figuring that there might have been something else wrong with their temporary prisoner. When they were asking other questions to figure out the situation, Ren still never bothered to answer them.

All he was thinking about was how much more trouble he was starting to cause for his friends. Maybe it would have actually been better this way, since he would be out of their hairs now. Regardless, his body was starting to get tired, so in one way or another, he got what he wanted.

His eyes slowly closed as he fell to sleep in their captivity.

-/IV/-

When Ren's consciousness returned to him, he found himself in the familiar sight of a prison cell. It wasn't too fancy like the castle's, nor was it even in good condition. It must have suffered its own fair share of destruction during the wave, but considering how the village was still rebuilding, it might have been served as a low priority by the governor to repair.

Ren was still shackled by handcuffs, but these ones weren't under the influence of whatever magic they had back in the castle. However, they were made out of strong metals, so even Ren had a difficult time simply pulling his hands apart to break them. Or maybe, it was his lack of energy that made it difficult. At this point, it was difficult for him to tell.

What time was it? There were no bright lights emerging into his cell, merely having the torches on the wall providing him with some sense of spatial perception. There were a few cracks in the wall and when he lazily looked through it, he could see that perhaps the sun was starting to rise.

A few minutes passed in silence as he noticed that there was a guard passing by. They must have heard some of the rattling that Ren's shackles were making upon movement, but when they both made eye contact, the patrolling knight walked away hastily. Ren wasn't sure what their problem was, but frankly, he didn't care. Despite the brief sleep he had, he still felt too tired to even think.

It might have taken about half an hour for something else to happen.

As Ren leaned his head against the back wall, wondering what was going to happen to him, he heard some more footsteps coming down the hall. When he noticed the shadows of a few figures looming over his prison cell, Ren leered upwards to see who it could have been.

"What…? You…?"

It was the head nun he encountered when he was infiltrating the Three Heroes Church building. He remembered that Batka had called her Sister Altara. Ren was wondering what she, of all people, was doing in Riyute so casually like this.

"This is indeed the Sword Demon," she explained to the accompanying knights. "It's a wonder as to how you were able to not only encounter him, but to capture him as well. Perhaps this is the will of the gods. We must remember to give thanks to them for this opportunity that they have provided for us."

"What shall we do with him, Sister Altara?"

"It is simple. We bring him back to the capital for the pope and the king to decide his fate. I believe an execution will be in order for the crimes he has committed, but we will see as to what they have planned. After all, we cannot be the ones to announce his justice."

The head nun glanced at her knights.

"Prepare the transportation."

"Of course. We'll have preparations started immediately."

"What about the meeting later today with the governor?" another knight asked. "Have you finished your discussions with him yet? Hasn't he been rather stubborn about the current predicament?"

"This matter takes more importance."

The knights saluted, having some of them depart in order to pass on their new orders. However, she requested for the others to leave with them in order to give herself some time with the Sword Demon. Although the knights heavily advised against it, her word had belonged to one of the higher positions available in their ranks, so upon her insistence, they were forced to leave her alone.

She silently stared at the Sword Hero for a few moments, but Ren didn't bother to look upwards.

"If you are capable of answering, I have a few questions to sate my curiosity. It won't matter one way or another if you answer me or not, but you would do well in honestly answering these questions. It is not as if you are in the position to do otherwise, Sword Demon."

"Sword Demon this, Sword Demon that…" Ren grumbled. "You don't honestly believe in your own lies, right? These are all stories that you fabricate and transform in order to suit your needs."

"I'd advise you to not change the subject."

Sister Altara walked up to the iron bars, narrowing her eyes.

"Now tell me what you're planning."

"Planning? What are you talking about?"

"You don't expect me to genuinely believe that the Sword Demon would be simply captured in a casual manner. After all, you were the ones to kill the governor of Errnthon, a powerful man who was esteemed for his knowledge in magic. I am wary of your capture, to say the least."

"You're hiding your true thoughts from the others…?" Ren glared upwards through his draped bangs. "In front of those knights, you claimed that this capture was the work of your so-called Gods, but when you're by yourself, you start to cast suspicion and take a more leveled-head response."

"A demon as yourself will not understand. I am a leader in the faith of the Three Heroes Church, someone that must push for our belief whenever we can. This is to ensure that the people we lead can understand that our lives are not to be granted for, and to give thanks whenever we can. When they believe in our words, they believe in our teachings and—"

"Shut up," Ren growled. "I'm not trying to listen to your homilies."

"Then simply put, the Church desires to give the world salvation. They cannot be saved if they are in danger, so we must protect them if we believe that there is a threat looming. Sometimes, we must be cautious if there is reason to be."

"And you believe that threat is us?"

Sister Altara nodded. "The demons that come to our world, taking the Holy Weapons into their hands, is a threat that we cannot allow to roam in Melromarc. You've already shown to be disruptive and chaotic in the events within the castle, not to mention the unwarranted actions against our Church."

"I'd say they were warranted." Ren wanted to clench his hand into a fist, but he could only bend his fingers inwards. "You guys were the ones to strike first. There's no doubt that the Church worked together with the princess in order to frame the Shield Hero for crimes he didn't commit."

"That was a necessary procedure."

Ren flinched, not thinking the head nun would have admitted to that so easily. After all, they never heard direct confirmation that this was the truth, merely using intuition and deduction to piece those things together. Though, Ren wouldn't say it was a difficult hypothesis to make.

"Look at what happened. The Shield Demon, making the other Cardinal Heroes as his brainwashed demons as well, and escaping our grasp in order to stir up more chaos in the world. Do you need me to not remind you of what you have done in Errnthon? That city is unguided and disturbed in its everyday life, and we must inform the rest of the country of these dangers, so that the incident may not be repeated."

It was as they assumed. The events in Errnthon were being pushed as a narrative for the Three Heroes Church in order to spread their word and influence, but it was merely a way for Ren's eyes to be opened to the truth. Even if he tried to hide behind Itsuki's determination to kill that governor, it didn't change the fact that Ren contributed to causing the group to be noticed.

"We attempted to frame the Shield Demon in order to prevent these things from happening in the first place, but through our efforts, our attempts were still compromised and it allowed the Shield Demon to slip through our grasp. Maybe it was not the best of ideas to allow the first princess to pilot some of those plans."

Ren could feel the piercing glares coming from the head nun, climbing onto his shoulders.

"Now that I mentioned that, I'd like to return to my original intentions here. Why have you returned towards this direction? Errnthon is not close by and you would likely do well in simply heading away from the capital, would you not? Our reports made the deduction that you would be heading past the borders, so there is no reason as to why you should be here."

Ren turned his head, trying to scowl his intentions.

"Do you think I'd honestly answer you?"

"It was certainly worth an attempt. Your punishment for your crimes in conspiring with the Shield Demon, brainwashed or not, may be lessened to an extent if you speak up against him."

"You're delusional if you think I'll sell out my friends."

"Even though they left you behind?"

"I…!"

Ren bit down on his tongue. He knew that Sister Altara was throwing out random and baseless comments in order to reel in any specks of information that she could gather, but Ren instinctively hesitated upon thinking about what she said. All the Church could do against the heroes was to make up stories and twist narratives, but it was an effective move.

Sister Altara narrowed her eyes, feeling like she managed to catch something in her web of accusations.

"I see now. They abandoned you because you were not acting to their expectations, or even perhaps causing too much trouble for them. Maybe that assassination on the governor wasn't even meant to be the goal of the Shield Demon, but his lackeys felt the need to eliminate him once they learned that the governor was a part of the Three Heroes Church."

"That's not true! They wouldn't…!"

"It does not matter much to me," the head nun sighed. "However, this may be a ruse in order to trick us into thinking that you are weak. We will not be tempted so easily, so perhaps we'll delay your sendoff to the capital for a bit. I'll be transferring most of our forces for a full sweep of Riyute's surroundings in order to see if the other demons are around."

If Ren denied it, Sister Altara would call his bluff. If Ren played along, Sister Altara would simply go on to do it. There was no right answer outside of ignoring her words once again, but he was certain that she was already planning on doing that, regardless of what he decided to do.

"We have to take precautions. Despite it being unideal, you demons are powerful. We must ensure that we use everything to our advantage in order to smite all of you demons down. If capturing you was easy, that does not mean it will be easy to capture the others."

Now that he thought about it, what did he even contribute to their progress so far? He couldn't think of a single scenario where his actions had a positive impact on their circumstances. It's not as if he could delude himself to saying that he was powerful, so he could convince himself that he was important.

In fact, Ren was the only one that hadn't even seen the wave of destruction yet, but Naofumi, Itsuki, and Motoyasu were able to handle themselves during that catastrophe. They didn't simply fight off the wave, but they managed to even protect most of Riyute's villagers from their impending deaths.

They were already strong enough, so where did that put Ren?

Maybe the voices in Lerno's dungeon were right. Even if Ren already recognized them to be the work of voice gengars, that didn't change the lasting impact they made on his thoughts. All he was doing was hindering their progress, so perhaps getting away from his friends was the best thing to do in order to protect them. That was what Ren's mind was pressuring itself with.

"I'd advise you to think about my offer to betray your fellow demons. We already have the advantage by having you in our hands."

Sister Altara started to walk away.

"That man, Batka. He knew his circumstances and provided his loyalty to us, even if temporary. Now then, will you know your own circumstances and provide your loyalty as well?"

With her words trailing away, Sister Altara left Ren by himself. His thoughts were the only things keeping him down right now as he drowned within them.

He wondered if they ever learned about the truth of his actions behind their backs, would they abandon him? Ren was scared to even divulge into that matter for himself. If Itsuki had broken him out of a prison cell once, there was no doubt that they would try to help here as well if they knew where he was.

However, what they would do is different from what they should do.

Feeling like his vision was starting to be blurry, Ren closed his eyes once more.

-/IV/-

"Fue! I-I'm sorry, once again!" Rishia bowed her head to Eclair. "I know I shouldn't have closed my eyes for a bit! I immediately fell asleep even though I was supposed to be on guard!"

"It's fine, Lady Rishia," Eclair chuckled. "As long as nothing bad comes out of it, you should take that as a learning experience. Guard duty, although it may be boring, is very important. During my time as a knight, I can tell you that I had few occasions when I was first starting out where I almost fell asleep while standing on my feet, so I can certainly sympathize."

"Th-thank you…" Rishia bowed her head once again.

Apparently, as Eclair woke up to take over the night shift, she noticed that Rishia was asleep. She didn't think about reprimanding her about it, simply wanting to remind her to try and not let that happen again. She was likely still new to staying up during a portion of the night in the first place, after all.

Off to the side, Itsuki was trying to get Motoyasu and Sakura to wake up, so that they can start preparing to leave, but Naofumi found himself in a daze of realization. Raphtalia noticed as she got up from her sleeping bag, curiously looking over to him.

"Master Naofumi? Is something wrong?"

"We never told the villagers of Lerno to keep quiet about our presence at their village."

Raphtalia blinked, not exactly understanding the sudden outburst. "What do you mean by that?"

"I thought it was weird that the Church tried to prosecute the people of Lerno, but never tried to do the same thing with the people of Riyute. If the people of Riyute were less open about their opinions of us, the Church might believe that they've got little to do with us."

"That does sound true, but I still don't know what the point of understanding that would be. Does this mean Riyute is safer from the Church than we originally expected?"

"I don't think their safety is going to be a problem for us. In fact, it's the implications of what the Church might do with their actions that worries me." Naofumi rubbed his chin, carefully pondering at crafting his hypothesis openly for Raphtalia to hear. "Their involvement of Riyute might make things worse for us."

Raphtalia was starting to grasp what Naofumi might have wanted to say. "Wait, so the Church wanted to control Lerno through force, eliminating any presence of people they think were brainwashed by us, while the Church also wanted to take control of Riyute, aiding them in rebuilding while the villagers are keeping quiet about our influence. This means that…"

Naofumi nodded.

"As Motoyasu mentioned, they're trying to limit our influence, but the Church is also trying to increase their own influence across Melromarc. It would make things easier for themselves when they use their supposed philanthropy in order to make the Cardinal Heroes look even worse than before."

"And checking up on places that we could have been to, they're trying to make sure that any of our work is buried underneath their work." Raphtalia frowned, holding her arm. "Doesn't this mean the queen has a limited timeframe to get everything sorted out for us?"

"Unfortunately, that's right. While we can't do much about it immediately, it only puts more pressure on the queen." Naofumi could only imagine how little sleep she was getting. "I wouldn't want to be her right now. I think we've got the easy job here, so let's keep up with moving according to her plans."

Raphtalia nodded. "Of course. We wouldn't want to make things harder for her."

"Hey, guys?" Itsuki's sudden call caused Naofumi and Raphtalia to glance over. As Motoyasu and Sakura were stretching from their relaxing night of sleeping, Itsuki stood by the carriage while looking inside. Everyone else gave their attention to Itsuki as well.

"Do you need something, Sir Itsuki?" Eclair asked.

"Uhm, yeah. Has anyone seen where Ren is?"

Eclair frowned as she walked over to Itsuki to look in the carriage. Just as his perspective implied, Eclair could not see a single trace of Ren's presence where he was supposed to be sleeping.

"Sir Ren?" Even as she called out to the carriage, and even to her surroundings, Ren didn't provide a response. "Where could he have gone?"

"Maybe he went out for some early-morning grinding," Motoyasu suggested. "He's the type of person to like using his time as efficiently as possible, right?"

"He never did that frequently as of yet," Naofumi responded. "It would be weird if he suddenly started now, especially when we're technically close to enemy territory."

"And I'm sure Mister Ren would understand it would be dangerous to wander off too far," Raphtalia added on.

"I-I mean…" Rishia fidgeted around, trying to get her thoughts out. "Did anyone actually inform Ren of what the shadow said? If he was in the carriage to rest during the debriefing, maybe… he wasn't listening?"

"What? He was still awake in the carriage, wasn't he?" Motoyasu asked. "It would be even weirder if he wasn't paying attention to the shadow's words, even if he was inside the carriage."

"F-Fue… I-I'm sorry, it was just… a guess…"

"Don't apologize, Lady Rishia." Eclair took Rishia's words seriously, narrowing her eyes back to the carriage. "I think it's entirely possible that your hypothesis might be correct."

"Hmmm…" Sakura tilted her head, coming closer to the carriage. "Stupid Ren's scent isn't strong here. Sakura thinks that it's been a while since he left."

"I didn't know filolials had a good sense of smell," Eclair blinked.

"No, Sakura just doesn't like Stupid Ren's scent. Sakura's carriage is better like this."

"Digressing aside," Naofumi coughed, trying to keep the topic rolling, "if Sakura can't sense that Ren was in the carriage recently, that would mean he left a while ago, right?"

"I didn't see any movements where I was taking up my night shift," Eclair declared, "so he couldn't have moved off under my supervision."

Eclair then realized the brief window in which Ren could have technically left without anyone noticing. It would have been the shift right before her, so she instinctively glanced at Rishia.

Rishia knew this and instinctively got on her knees to bow against the ground.

"Fue! I'm sorry!"

"My bad, Lady Rishia. I wasn't trying to blame you."

"And beside," Raphtalia giggled, trying to lift her mood, "I think that even if I was awake that shift, Mister Ren would still be able to get past my senses. I feel like he can be very slippery whenever he's trying not to be noticed." She knelt down to Rishia to help her back on her feet.

"Wait, but that would mean he's been gone for several hours…" Naofumi flinched.

"What does that mean?" Motoyasu asked.

Meanwhile during their discussion, Itsuki merely stared off into the distance, wondering where Ren could have gone. Any friend would have been severely worried about another friend, especially after seeing their sudden breakdown back a few days ago. Itsuki wasn't so dense to realize that under normal circumstances, Ren should have been able to take down the nue monster he encountered without needing any ranged assistance from himself.

"Something's going on," Itsuki murmured to himself, "not just in this situation, but with Ren himself. He's not acting the way that he usually acts."

Just as the group was trying to figure out this unusual mystery, a shadow suddenly appeared from the forest to kneel towards the heroes and companions. Without any pretenses whatsoever, the shadow immediately spoke without letting them be prepared.

"Apologies for the rude interruption, but there's a big problem happening."

"F-Fue!?"

The sudden appearance made Rishia jump back, forcing Raphtalia to catch her before she fell over. Everyone else stiffened, fearing as to what the shadow was going to reveal.

"What is it, Shadow?" Eclair replied.

"The Sword Hero has been captured by the Church and is currently being imprisoned."

"Wh—!?" Itsuki gasped, not believing the news. "Seriously!? He got captured again!?"

"We managed to collect the news from the other villagers who had reported seeing the Sword Hero being brought in during the night. This mistake ultimately falls on us, as we had lost track of the Sword Hero's presence. We should have been more careful in following him, but he certainly makes it rather difficult for us."

"So in other news, we have to head to Riyute immediately anyways," Naofumi grunted. "So much for avoiding the village, but we can't exactly leave Ren. We'll have to figure something out—"

"We would also regret to inform you that your time is limited. As we speak, they are making preparations to bring the Sword Hero back to the capital for his punishment in cooperating with the supposed Shield Demon. It won't be much longer until it happens."

"We don't even have enough time to make a plan!?" Eclair gasped. "With such little time, there's no way we'll be able to sneak in to rescue him!"

"Also, we believe the Church already knows that you're in the area. We've heard that there have been squadrons of holy knights sent out for increased patrol routes, happening during the time that the Sword Hero has been imprisoned. That is the only reason why they haven't departed immediately yet."

"This doesn't sound good…!" Rishia whispered. "Wh-what do we do!?"

"We're still outside the area to which the Church might check, so while we're safe from their eyes and all, that doesn't get us closer to helping Sir Ren."

"Well, the Church already knows that we are here, and we have to go ahead to save Ren from their hands…" After pounding a fist softly into his other hand as if an idea popped into his head, Motoyasu turned to Sakura. "Alright, let's transform and get ourselves prepared."

"Okayyy…!"

As Sakura turned into her filolial form, Motoyasu hastily got her attached to the carriage. He told Naofumi and Itsuki to drop everything that was inside and outside of the carriage belonging to them into their inventories, such that there won't be anything in the way. Given such phrasing, everyone else wasn't sure what Motoyasu was trying to do.

"You've got a plan, Motoyasu?" Naofumi asked.

"Something like that. Now that we've got everything cleaned up, get onto the carriage. Oh, and Itsuki? Switch places with Eclair for a bit."

"Me?" Raising an eyebrow, Itsuki reluctantly did as instructed. He sat down next to Motoyasu as Eclair climbed to the back with everyone else. "Alright, but why do you need me here?"

"I think you'll figure it out sooner or later."

"I don't like the sound of that."

As Motoyasu grabbed onto Sakura's reines, Eclair only then realized what was going on through Motoyasu's head. If the reasoning was correct, in such that the Church knows they're there and they have to reach Ren as quickly as possible, then it would stand that Motoyasu was thinking to—

"Alright, Sakura! Full throttle!"

"Full throttle? Really!?" Her eyes sparkled as she looked forwards. "Oh, okay!"

"Wait, Motoyasu. What are you doing?"

Sakura dug her talons into the ground, as if getting herself ready while Naofumi concerningly asked about the worrying instructions his friend just gave to Sakura. He could literally hear the ground cracking underneath Sakura's force.

"We're going straight for Ren."

"Like, straight straight? I, uh, don't think that's a good id—"

As if to the sound of a thunderstrike, Sakura lunged forwards and accelerated to unbelievable speeds. Even with the weight of six people and a carriage behind her, she was going extremely quickly. Motoyasu gripped onto the reines, handling her almost perfectly, while everyone else panicked, trying to hold onto something for dear life.

"Yay!" Sakura's feet rapidly paced themselves as he enjoyed the wind running against her feathers. "Sakura never gets to run this quickly often with Daddy!"

"And let's keep going at this speed! Our friend needs our help and we're not stopping for anything in our way, Sakura!"

"Hey, Motoyasu! Slow down a bit!" Naofumi shouted out, trying to not go flying into the air. "This is a bit too far, don't you think!?"

"M-Master Naofumi…?" He glanced over to Raphtalia, seeing her expression getting queasy and her cheeks getting pale. "I-I don't feel so good…"

"FUEEE! This is too fast!" Rishia was on the verge of crying. "Is this how I'm going to die!?"

"Sir Motoyasu! I'd advise for us to slow down our speed a little!" Eclair called out. "I don't recommend us rushing straight in like this!"

"I don't think he can hear us!" Naofumi screamed. "Damn it, get ready and brace yourselves! Something tells me we're not getting out of Riyute cleanly!"

The whimpers and distress of Motoyasu's friends were lost to the winds howling past them as Sakura led them towards Riyute's direction. As quickly as they departed, the shadow merely stood at the campsite, being a bit speechless at the sudden sendoff, but they decided that it might have been the simplest, if not, most direct way of solving the problem.

Not that the shadow thought it was the best way to handle this, but it was far too late to stop them now. The shadow retreated back into the forest, disappearing without a second sound left behind.


[SKIT 124 : Uninvolved in Battles II]

[Raphtalia] : "Don't you think Mister Ren has been staying out of battles too frequently lately?"
[Rishia] : "Does he fight often...?"
[Raphtalia] : "He's usually the ones on the frontlines when we get into a monster skirmish, more often than not, but I've been noticing that Mister Ren hasn't been doing that lately. In fact, I don't think he's been using his sword in the slightest. Even when we went into the Alchemist's Cavern, I never saw his sword be sheathed, always staying in the back despite being a swordsman."
[Rishia] : "Are you suggesting... that we ask him about it!? I-I'll pass, please! Even when he's by himself, he's too scary to talk to!"
[Rishia] : "Regardless of what's going on in his mind, I feel like I'll have a heart attack when time he talks to me! Fue!"
[Raphtalia] : "Aah... Rather than scary, I think you're misunderstanding him..."
[Sakura] : "I think Stupid Ren just wants the attention from Naofumi and the others."
[Sakura] : "Naofumi and Itsuki looked a bit worried for Stupid Ren, but Sakura thinks Daddy has the right idea."
[Eclair] : "Does Sir Motoyasu not worry the same for Sir Ren?"
[Sakura] : "Daddy thinks Stupid Ren is fine."
[Eclair] : (For someone who's rather social, he has a bad habit of not sensing another person's emotional state.)
[Eclair] : (Hopefully, he hasn't run into any serious trouble in his world because of that...)
[Eclair] : (But Sir Ren, you can't keep staying like this forever...)

[SKIT 125 : A Filolial and Her Carriage]

[Sakura] : "..."
[Itsuki] : "Hey, Motoyasu? Why is Sakura staring at her carriage so much?"
[Motoyasu] : "I think it's because Ren is choosing to sleep in it tonight."
[Motoyasu] : "He's been sleeping in there lately, and it somehow bothers Sakura."
[Itsuki] : "You say that, but I think we known why it bothers her."
[Itsuki] : "What even is the difference between Ren sleeping in it and Ren staying at the back while we're travelling anyways?"
[Itsuki] : "It's not like he's doing anything different at night."
[Motoyasu] : "I read that filolials get attached to their carriages. You must have remembered from when we were dealing with the [Miracle Seed]'s aftermath back in Lerno that she wanted to return to the carriage desperately, right?"
[Motoyasu] : "For someone to be inside of her carriage while she isn't around it, it's almost like the carriage is cheating on her. It makes it worse that she didn't like Ren to start with, so it's like the carriage is sleeping with her worse enemy."
[Itsuki] : "... I don't think that's how the analogy should work."
[Itsuki] : "... Oddly enough though, I think I understand."
[Itsuki] : "... Despite me not wanting to understand."

[SKIT 126 : Way Too Fast]

[Naofumi] : "I-Is this safe!? We're going so fast!"
[Motoyasu] : "Why wouldn't it be safe!? I've got control here, especially with Sakura in the lead!"
[Sakura] : "Believe in Sakura! Sakura will make sure everyone is still inside the carriage while going very, very fast!"
[Sakura] : "Sakura has practiced with Daddy with crates before!"
[Itsuki] : "Why does that not reassure me!?"
[Eclair] : "I mean no offense to you, Sakura, but this is not the ideal way to push things along!"
[Eclair] : "Wait, I should be saying this to Sir Motoyasu!"
[Itsuki] : "Should filolials be able to run this quickly to begin with!? This is way too fast!"
[Eclair] : "I have knowledge about racing filolials, but I don't believe Sakura is one of those!"
[Sakura] : "Because Sakura is Sakura! Sakura is better than those other filolials!"
[Naofumi] : "I don't think that's what she was trying to—"
[Raphtalia] : "M-Master... Naofumi... Please save me... I think I'm going to..."
[Raphtalia] : "Ergh..."
[Naofumi] : "Ah, crap! Uh, stay still, Raphtalia! You'll be alright! O-or should I be telling her to lie down...?"
[Rishia] : "..."
[Naofumi] : "It looks like Rishia is lying down to—Nope, she's just passed out."
[Eclair] : "All of our work, trying to get to the border as quietly as possible..."
[Eclair] : "Going down the drain, just like that..."
[Eclair] : "The queen is going to have a headache, that's for sure..."