Hope everyone's doing alright with all the COVID-19 scares. Me? I can't go to work for at least two weeks. :(
And now for one of Chris Hackney's best scenes in the game. Really, he NAILED this part in the game.
Chapter 11 – A Harsh Reality (Garland Moon)
To say that the students were uncomfortable with the slaughter they had just been a part of would have been a severe understatement. The Knights of Seiros had arrived and routed the remaining rebels, but the damage had long been done.
"Damn it!" Caspar cursed. "It was all so pointless. I've never seen so many people utterly heartbroken…"
"Forcing innocent citizens to risk their lives…" said Ferdinand. "That man was not a noble, but a monster."
"Dear Goddess…" prayed Marianne. "I beg your guidance. Why did these people have to suffer? Why did we have to…" Marianne could not even finish her prayer, choking on her words.
"That fool, Lonato," Lysithea hissed. "He knew he had no hope of victory. He didn't need to drag all those people down into the ground with him!"
Dorothea continued to listen to the others, shaken by their ordeal. Killing murderers, thieves and rapists was one thing, but these people had been civilians. It left Dorothea with a foul taste in her mouth as she remembered the woman with the pitchfork crying for her loved ones.
Then she heard a loud shout, this time coming from Prince Dimitri.
"Are you insane?!"
Dorothea whipped around to see Dimitri was yelling at Byleth, and a look of alarm went across the singer's face as Dimitri grabbed Byleth by the shoulders.
"Those weren't knights or soldiers, but fathers and sons, mothers and daughters!" Dimitri continued angrily. "We… we shouldn't have killed them. We should have found another way…"
"And how would you have stopped them if not through force, Dimitri?" said Edelgard, placing herself before Byleth and the prince and gently pushing Dimitri away from the Professor. "If we had done nothing, Lonato and his army would have ravaged every village in their path on their way to Garreg Mach. Would you have let them slaughter more innocents just to take some moral high ground?"
"Edie…!" Dorothea said, shocked at the princess' insensitivity.
The singer half-expected Dimitri to lash out at Edelgard, but to her surprise, his anger began to subside.
"I… I'm sorry," said Dimitri. "It's not fair for me to blame another for the circumstance. I know that if we hadn't… done what we did, even more civilian lives would have been lost. At least, my mind understands that. But… my heart…"
"I understand, Dimitri," said Byleth.
"Those in power, no matter the era, always claim they fight for a just cause. That they take life to protect it. But… Is it truly okay to take any life you please, all in service of some implacable 'just cause'? Lord Lonato didn't take up arms out of a lust for power. He simply believed his cause to be just. Who's to say it wasn't? Maybe we didn't have to cut him down like that. Maybe we could have reached a mutual understanding… found a path of peace. I… I have to believe that."
"A noble ideal, Dimitri," said Edelgard. "But I, for one, could not have allowed him to continue. No matter how he or his people saw it, his ideals of justice were unreasonable. And it is our duty to strike down those who would cling to such unreasonable ideals of justice. Even if our enemies are the gods themselves… we must never lose sight of our goal."
Dimitri, Byleth and Dorothea looked at Edelgard in shock. What the princess had said bordered on heresy.
"That's taking it a little far, Edie," said Dorothea.
"Perhaps, but really, I'm just like Lonato. I, too, will be the sort of ruler who's willing to risk the lives of my citizens in service of a higher cause. It's not possible to change the world without sacrifice. Dying for the greater good is not a death in vain."
"How can you be so callous about other people's lives, Edelgard?!" Dimitri snapped.
"I must look at things in a realistic light, Dimitri. Believe me, if it were within my power, I would fight for a higher cause with my own two hands and no one else's. But I cannot. No one commands that much power. Not you, nor the Professor, nor I."
Dimitri was at a loss for words.
"You could have a little more sympathy for these people, Edie," said Dorothea.
"Dorothea?" asked Edelgard.
"No matter who's right and who's wrong, people end up dead because those in power can't agree to anything. And when it's the innocent who get caught up in it… There's nothing 'just' about any of it. There's no cause worth fighting for if it means innocent blood must be spilled to see it through. And the ones who drag those innocents into the fighting for their 'just cause'? They're the worst! Why can't they fight their own battles and leave the rest of us out of it?!"
"Dorothea…" said Byleth.
"I hope you'll never have to fight for some higher cause, Edie. Because if you or Dimitri or anyone else had to send innocent people to the slaughter to achieve it, I would have no part in it. I'm sorry, but I just wouldn't be able to bring myself to do it."
Dorothea's words left everyone around her silent. For a moment, Dorothea thought Edelgard was going to be angry with her, or at least disappointed.
To her surprise, Edelgard said, "I would never make you do such a thing, Dorothea."
"Edie…?"
"You are my friend, not my vassal, nor my servant. If you did not wish to fight for me because of your conscience, I would not force you."
Dorothea's eyes watered a bit upon hearing this. With a sniffle, she asked, "D-Does that go for the rest of us?"
Edelgard did not answer to this, but simply smiled. It was enough for Dorothea.
"I owe you an apology, Edelgard," said Dimitri. "I should not have judged you so harshly."
"Think nothing of it, Dimitri," said Edelgard. "This has been a… trying day for all of us."
"Well, most of us, at least," Dorothea quipped as she gestured toward Claude, who seemed far less shaken than the others and was busily chatting with Hilda. It seemed he was more interested in Thunderbrand than on such a moral debate.
"How does he do it?" asked Dimitri.
"I doubt asking him would get you a straight answer," said Dorothea.
"I'll have a word with him," said Byleth.
"I'm afraid that'll have to wait, Professor Eisner," said Catherine as she strode up to the group. "I fear this incident is far more serious than anticipated."
Catherine raised up a letter in her hand, which bore an unmarked wax seal.
"What is this?" asked Byleth as she took the letter and opened it.
"I found it on Lord Lonato. It mentions a plan to assassinate Lady Rhea."
"What?" gasped Dorothea. "Are you serious?"
"We can't tell who sent it, so the source is suspect, but the content is too disturbing to ignore. We must report this to Lady Rhea right away. I hope that it's nothing…"
"I hope so too, Catherine," said Dimitri.
As Byleth handed the letter back to Catherine, the swordswoman said, "Round up the students. We need to get back to the monastery as soon as possible."
Nodding, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Byleth all dispersed to rally the others. But Dorothea remained where she was as a thought crossed her mind.
"Hey, Catherine?" she asked. "Can I see that letter?"
"Huh? Sorry, but I need to hold onto it for evidence."
"I'm not asking to hold it. I just want to see what's written on it."
"I'm afraid even that's out of the question… Sorry, I didn't quite get your name."
"It's Dorothea."
"Oh, right, the opera girl. Sorry, but I can't let a student–"
"It's just…" Dorothea interrupted. "Why would Lonato be carrying that on him? Doesn't it seem a little strange? If I were him, I'd have burned the thing immediately after reading it. Why carry it if there was a chance that someone could find it?"
This ended up catching Catherine's attention.
"You think it's a hoax, do you?" asked Catherine. "Regardless if it's real or not, we have to treat it as a serious threat. Hopefully, it'll just be that: a hoax. But if not…"
Realizing Catherine had every right to worry, Dorothea simply nodded and decided to end the conversation there. She turned away and went off to help Byleth round up the others for their trip back to Garreg Mach.
I'm sure I've messed something up; this part was not easy to write. Trying to get Edelgard's lines to work in contrast to Dimitri's was tough. And then having Dorothea give her view of the situation from the perspective of being a commoner was another challenge; I'm sure I've been heavy-handed again.