When they returned to the camp, they found it had already been packed up. The soldiers were standing around and yawning. Count Preston was pacing back and forth impatiently.
"Daughter? What took you so long!?" Preston's eyes darted between Eristia and Yuriy. "Our mission cannot be delayed for any reason, Lescatie's fate depends on it!"
Eristia flinched at this anger from her father. He was right, he was acting for the good of Lescatie, it was her fault for taking so long—
"M'lord, we discovered something important while scouting…" Yuriy tried to explain.
"Silence!" Preston barked. "I was speaking to my daughter!"
"My squire only spoke the truth," Eristia said firmly. "We discovered something of paramount importance."
Preston looked at Eristia and blinked, as if he was only seeing her for the first time.
"We discovered that the village ahead of here has fallen to monsters," Eristia said.
That was met with various reactions. The soldiers, who'd already had poor morale to begin with, looked like they had utterly lost hope. Eristia's father showed a mixture of confusion and anger and denial, cycling through different emotions at different moments.
"What… What were those incompetents doing!?" Preston said. "To let monsters conquer almost up to Lescatie's southern border! The name of Lescatie has been dragged through the mud!"
Eristia was tempted to agree with him. Yet… she hadn't actually spoken to any of Lescatie's other heroes recently. Not to the likes of Wilmarina Noscrim or Sasha Fullmoon, and not even to heroes like the Gardner siblings, who her father had previously been a patron to.
Father has never liked me interacting with other heroes, outside of my duty… Eristia thought. Out loud, she asked, "What are your orders, Father?"
"Destroy that village, eliminate the monsters!" Preston shouted. "No obstacles can be permitted! I must get out of the country and to Amalos promptly, before they—before more monsters can find us!"
Next to Eristia, Yuriy shifted slightly. Eristia could easily guess what he was thinking.
If he is the one to say it, he'd be seen as a heretic, sentenced to death… and no one would believe his words. But I am a hero. I can say such things, and be believed…
The thought of talking back to her father at all made Eristia nervous. He was the head of a noble family, someone granted authority by divine will, if to a lesser extent than royalty. But this was something that needed to be said.
"Father… eliminating that village is not so simple," Eristia said. Each word took more effort than an entire battle, but she persisted. "There are over fifty monsters, far more than I have ever faced alone. And there are hundreds of villagers, who may… fight on the side of the monsters, if attacked."
A vein bulged in Preston's forehead. "Are you telling me that one village is beyond your capabilities? You, a hero of the Order?"
Eristia swallowed. "Yes… Father. I believe it would be more prudent to go around the village instead."
"That would take far too long!" Preston shouted. "No, Eristia, that is unacceptable! Take these soldiers if you must, and eliminate that village! There can be no delays!"
The soldiers looked terrified when they heard this. From overheard conversations, Eristia knew that a third of these soldiers were personal guards for House Vitral, and the remaining two-thirds—which included Yuriy—were just random soldiers that had been recruited as escorts for this mission. None of them was experienced with fighting monsters.
If I did expect to fight monsters, I would only be somewhat confident with Yuriy at my side, not these tired wretches… And even if every single one of them was on Yuriy's level, I would still have little hope of success against so many monsters…
"Father, I do not think this would work," Eristia said. "I believe it would be better to—"
SMACK!
Eristia touched her slapped cheek gingerly. Her cheek didn't hurt at all, but the sheer suddenness of what had just happened caused her jaw to drop.
"F-Father…?"
"SILENCE!" Preston shouted. "ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS FOLLOW. MY. ORDERS! EVEN THE LIKES OF YOU CAN BE USEFUL THEN—GAH!?"
Preston was knocked backwards by a punch to the face. Said punch had been delivered by a certain dark-haired young man, who was already winding up another.
"DON'T HURT ERIS!" Yuriy roared. His eyes were filled with a never-before-seen fury.
Two of the soldiers grabbed Yuriy by the shoulders and pulled him back.
"Don't do this!" one soldier said.
"We get how you feel, but this ain't gonna help!" the other soldier added.
Preston got back on his feet. His nose was now bleeding from Yuriy's punch, though his anger seemed to be overriding his pain.
"How… dare… you!?" Preston growled. "You dare lay hands on someone above your station!? You must be the one who led my daughter into this foolishness—"
"This feels much too familiar," said an unfamiliar male voice.
Despite her surprise, Eristia remembered her hero's training. She drew her sword and whirled around to face the newcomer.
Newcomers, rather. A group of five was approaching them on the road to the north. Two of them were monsters: a lizardman and a dark elf. Two of them looked human but emitted demonic energy, marking them as incubi. The fifth one was a genuine human: a middle-aged man with greying blue hair who wore leather garments designed for travelling.
Eristia did not recognise the man. However, her father certainly did.
"S-S-Sun Priest Noscrim!?" Preston exclaimed. "How—"
"Former Sun Priest," Noscrim corrected. "Even before you ran away from the capital, I'd already been arrested and stripped of my titles."
Eristia did recognise the name. She'd never met the man in person before, due to her low status, but she'd certainly heard of Lescatie's highest-ranking priest… and father to its most famous hero, someone Eristia had looked up to.
When I heard the stories of political upheaval in Lescatie, and wrote to Father for advice… he told me not to worry, to focus on my own duty as a hero, and so I did just that. But the Sun Priest lost his position!?
"Why… Why are you here with monsters!?" Eristia asked. "What about… What about your daughter!?"
Warran Noscrim raised an eyebrow. "Currently doing her best to break as many traditions regarding relationships as possible… but I digress. I have come here on punishment detail, to retrieve some runaways."
"This is nothing like you, Noscrim!" Preston said frantically. "You must be an imposter! Eristia, kill him!"
"We can't let you do that," said the lizardman, reaching for an axe.
"He's under our protection," said one of the incubi, this one armed with twin daggers.
Eristia looked at the former Sun Priest's guards with trepidation. These were not the monsters she'd seen so far today, civilians with no weapons or apparent training. These monsters and incubi had weapons and quite clearly knew how to use them. She might stand a chance against one or two, but all four would be an impossible fight for her.
And if she was honest with herself… she wasn't sure if she should fight them at all. The former Sun Priest might be inexplicably a heretic now, but he had a sense of authority in his voice, had the atmosphere of a leader. Meanwhile, her father… if Eristia was honest, her father had been losing that sense of authority day by day throughout this mission.
"Why have you come here with monsters, instead of an escort of Lescatie's heroes?" Eristia asked. That was something she had to know.
"I'm not certain if any hero in Lescatie would be willing to spend time around me at this point," Warran replied with remarkable ease. "And in any case, my cooperating with monsters and incubi is a good way to advertise Lescatie's new regime."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" "IMPOSSIBLE!" "HUH!?"
Eristia, her father and the soldiers all reacted in similar ways.
"Just how can you know this little about current affairs?" Warran said. He sighed in exasperation. "I suppose the duty falls to me to explain. Monsterkind came to Lescatie last week in the hopes of negotiating peace. Peace was achieved…" he grimaced, "thanks to various methods, some of them unlikely to ever be revealed publicly. I was arrested earlier than this, on charges of corruption. I have now been given limited amnesty in exchange for performing services for the new regime."
Eristia's head was spinning. She heard the former Sun Priest's words clearly, she understood what they meant, but—for the second time this morning—she could not accept them.
"There was… a village we saw, south of here," Yuriy said nervously. "We saw monsters there, who seemed… friendly with the villagers… Was that…?"
"An example of what I speak of," Warran said. His gaze turned to Eristia's father. "So, Vitral, what will you do? This limited amnesty is extended to everyone in our positions. Semel and Millen have taken it already. Will you accept it, and live comfortably in the city you have always known? Or will you continue trying to flee, meaning you will be captured, then sentenced to quite a few years in prison?"
Preston shook her head slowly. "It can't be… You would never give in to monsters, Noscrim… I cannot believe it…"
Preston looked at Eristia, a desperate plea in his eyes.
This was it. It all came down to Eristia's choice. If she fought, she might possibly buy enough time for her father to escape. He could then reach the neighbouring country of Amalos, where he could request reinforcements for Lescatie…
Do you still believe that? whispered one part of Eristia's heart. Do you still think that's what he's doing?
Eristia thought about this mission. How her father hadn't brought along any knights, or any heroes except her. How he'd started with two other nobles, yet those nobles had given up and returned to Lescatie, something that should have been suicidal if monsters had truly infiltrated. How she'd never been given any proof of monster infiltration, only her father's word…
Granted, Eristia had now seen many monsters in Lescatie. But her father had been genuinely surprised at how far they'd spread. This had never been within his calculations.
So Eristia slowly lowered her sword.
Perhaps I'm a failure as a hero…
Perhaps I'm a failure as a daughter of House Vitral…
Perhaps I'm a failure as a human…
But I can't. I can't do this…
"ERISTIA!"
Preston raged at his daughter. However, Yuriy—who'd already been released by the others, when Warran's group appeared—interposed himself between the two.
"I won't let you hurt her again," Yuriy said firmly.
"Get out of the way, you fool!" Preston shouted.
"Why does this keep happening?" Warran muttered, causing all eyes to focus on him again. He cleared his throat. "It appears you have made your choice, Vitral." He nodded to his own guards. "Take him."
The monsters and incubi silently moved forward and grasped Preston by both arms.
"Unhand me! No, this can't be happening…!"
Preston continued screaming as he was dragged away. Each word stabbed into Eristia's heart like a jagged blade, reminding her of her multi-faceted betrayal. But she did not lift up her sword.
"As for the rest of you…" Warran said, seeming unperturbed by what was happening. "I would suggest you return with us to the capital."
One of the soldiers raised a hand. "Beg pardon, m'lord, but… you said monsters are there now…"
"Their intentions are, as much as I hate to acknowledge it, peaceful," Warran said irritably. "You may as well see it for yourselves. I'm sure you all have families and friends there, and would like to know how they fare."
The soldiers began a hurried discussion among themselves.
"…Former Sun Priest," Eristia said, still unsure what mode of address to use. "You said that you'd been arrested on charges of corruption… and my father was fleeing Lescatie?"
"Indeed," Warran said. He furrowed his brow. "Until very recently, the aristocracy of Lescatie has committed many sins: embezzling funds meant for the military, extorting funds from our neighbours, spying on each other, blackmail, bribery, the occasional assassination… I am guilty of many of these things. Had I not taken a certain offer, I would have been executed by the Blade of Salvation."
Eristia gasped. A person speaking so frankly of their crimes was unheard of, in her experience.
"Your father is guilty of many of these things, though to a lesser extent," Warran continued. "And is quite eager to avoid punishment… It seems you have not heard of this, so I shall explain: eight days ago, my daughter and the Mayer heir walked brazenly into the noble district."
Eristia blinked. She had no idea what the significance of that was.
"They were setting a trap for their political enemies," Warran explained. "Many fell for that trap and were later arrested. Your father, on the other hand, suspected what my daughter was planning. He decided, correctly, that he would be arrested as well if he remained in the capital."
"So he fled…" Eristia said. "Bringing along whatever escorts he could find… And leaving behind even his wife and legal children…"
And leaving behind most of the forces at his command. Eristia had thought this was to avoid notice from the monster infiltrators. Thinking about it now, it had obviously been to avoid notice from his political enemies.
On a related note, Eristia had received no orders to leave Lescatie in the days leading up to her father's flight. Thinking about it now, he'd been keeping her on standby in case of emergency. Her, the only hero he could rely on to follow him loyally… and blindly.
"Correct," Warran said. "Few would consider me particularly moral, but I certainly never cheated on my wife with another woman, then ignored the resulting child, then left my family behind to save my own skin!" He took a few deep breaths. "Hmph. At the very least, it might be entertaining to see him reunite with his wife and children…"
Eristia thought about her stepmother, half-brother and half-sister. She'd only ever seen them from afar—once again, she hadn't been allowed to interact with the main family. But she'd often envied the luxury they lived in…
…especially since her mother hadn't been permitted even half of that luxury. Preston Vitral had abandoned his mistress Ellen when she'd become pregnant, and Ellen had died a few years afterwards.
When Eristia thought about that, she felt much less guilty over not defending her father.
"Do you have any further questions," Warran asked, "or do you wish to begin heading back to the capital?"
Eristia cast her gaze around. She looked at the soldiers, who seemed to be coming to the conclusion that return was the best option. Then she looked at Yuriy.
"Eri—Hero Eristia…?"
When she heard those words, saw that face, Eristia felt a splitting headache. She clutched at her head.
"ERIS!?"
Eristia felt soft hands touch her shoulders. Out of instinct, she pulled away.
"Eris?" Yuriy said, his face full of concern.
"Yu…riy…"
Then Eristia broke into a run.
As she ran, images and sounds and emotions flooded through Eristia's mind.
A little girl crying as she was brought to a strange building.
A young boy extending a hand to the girl.
Two sisters in grey habits, one young and one elderly, who did their best to care for their many charges.
Bullies attacking the girl, only to be chased off by the boy.
The same bullies ambushing the boy on another day, beating him until the girl started hitting them with a stick.
The girl hearing a scary story from the boy one night, resulting in quite a few nightmares.
The boy complaining about his stale bread, causing the girl to offer him her marginally fresher bread.
The girl and boy comparing each other's heights against marks on a wall. To the boy's annoyance, the girl had grown slightly taller than him.
And last of all… the day those happy memories came to an end.
-ooo-
A few moments later, Eristia found herself sitting on a branch of a tall tree. She looked out over the picturesque landscape but felt no joy from it. The cool breeze blew across her exposed skin, but that did not relax her in the slightest.
Then a monstrous presence approached.
"Seriously, did you have to run away like that?"
The dark elf from before jumped up to Eristia's branch. This dark elf was, similar to many monsters, dressed in strips of black leather that exposed a majority of her brown skin. She looked at Eristia with an expression of pity.
"Leave. Me," Eristia demanded. She drew her sword and thrust it towards the dark elf.
But the dark elf casually grasped the sword's blade between two fingers. "Relax, I'm not here to try and transform you or anything. Just here to talk."
"You know nothing about me," Eristia grumbled.
"True, true," the dark elf said. "But that cute boy from before probably knows a lot."
Eristia glared at the dark elf with a venomous hatred.
"I'm not aiming at him—in the first place, I'm married, you know?" the dark elf said. She pointed downwards. "Now, I don't know about you personally, but I know you're going through something rough. And in my experience, it helps to talk to people you trust."
"…Leave. Me," Eristia repeated.
The dark elf sighed, released Eristia's sword and jumped off the tree branch. She landed on the ground and walked away.
On the other hand, someone new was walking up to Eristia's tree. Someone she couldn't dismiss so easily.
"Hero Eristia!" Yuriy Karelstein called out. "What did I do wrong!?"
Eristia gripped the hilt of her sword. Just like last time, it failed to reassure her.
…I can't hide from him anymore. I have to face the truth…
Eristia sheathed her sword, slipped off the branch, fell a fair distance and bent her knees as she hit the ground. She landed just a few paces away from Yuriy.
"Hero Eristia!" Yuriy said, relief clear in his tone.
"Yuriy, I…" Eristia began. The words disappeared in her throat, but then she clenched her fists and forced out an answer. "Now… I finally remember…"
Yuriy gasped and his eyes widened. He looked like someone who'd found the secret to eternal life, but was plagued with fear that it might not work at all.
"I remember you, Yuriy…" Eristia said. "From… the orphanage…"
Yuriy blinked, tears now leaking from his eyes. "Hero Eristia… Eris… I thought it was you! You look just like how you used to be!"
Eristia nodded weakly. "When you protected me from my father… just like the first time you protected me from bullies… I remembered…"
There were many things heroes were not meant to do, even bastard-born heroes. And Eristia was unable to resist doing one of them.
"YURIY!"
Eristia ran at her childhood friend and threw her arms around him. They both collapsed to the thankfully soft ground.
"ERIS!" Yuriy said, hugging her as well. "I… I… I… I'm so glad you remember!"
"It's all my fault!" Eristia said, sobbing into Yuriy's shoulder. "It's because I… I tried my best to forget you!"
They continued embracing what felt like hours, making up for years of lost time. All thoughts of propriety were delayed until the very end.
"Yuriy…"
"Eris…"
Eristia released her childhood friend and, with a slightly red face, got back to her feet. A similarly red-faced Yuriy did the same.
"Eris…" Yuriy said. "What do you mean… you tried to forget me?"
Eristia hung her head in shame. She thought back to a certain day: the day her father came to the orphanage, disguised in commoner's garb, after learning that she'd heard the Chief God's voice. Shortly before her father arrived, Eristia had confined herself in a room.
I didn't want to go with my father… I didn't care about becoming a hero… I was just afraid. Afraid of leaving home…
Then Yuriy came… lifted up my spirits… gave me the courage to… to do my duty for the Chief God…
"Back then… the last time you and I spoke, in the orphanage…" Eristia said. "I promised you that after I became a hero, we would surely reunite…"
"Of course I remember!" Yuriy replied. "I always remembered that promise…"
Eristia felt guilt pierce her heart, more agonising than any physical injury. "Well… my father told me to forget about that promise… to focus on becoming a hero… said that I had to 'cast away' everything from my old life… that only then could I be a true hero, and serve the Chief God properly…"
Preston hadn't actually seen Yuriy in person, only learning of the promise from Eristia's words. In hindsight, this was due to his disdain for commoners that prevented him from lingering in the orphanage. If he had met Yuriy back then, he certainly wouldn't have recruited him as one of his escorts.
As for the present Yuriy, he looked absolutely murderous. "That… bastard! How could he say that!? His own daughter!? I should've punched him ten more times! Prison's too good for him!"
Despite herself, Eristia laughed. She hadn't seen Yuriy so angry until today. Even the bullies from the orphanage had never made him so angry.
He's this angry… for me… hehe…
"Thank you… Yuriy," Eristia said. Just saying her friend's name again, without the formality of a title, felt pleasant. "We're lucky beyond belief, to have reunited again after so long…"
"Maybe it wasn't just luck…" Yuriy said.
Eristia looked at him curiously, a silent request for him to explain himself.
"I mean, I knew you'd been taken in by the Vitral family…" Yuriy said. "So when I grew up, I fought to get assigned to a barracks near your mansion…"
"I was never let inside that mansion, myself…" Eristia said quietly. "So it wasn't just coincidence that you were recruited for this mission. Because you were close, when my father looked for additional soldiers to escort him…"
Yuriy had done the best he could to reunite with her, but there had been no chance of it working. Eristia hadn't just been forbidden from visiting the family mansion, she'd been highly restricted in her movements, for fear that she might reveal Count Preston Vitral's affair. She'd spent most of her time in a house in Lescatie's middle-class area, leaving it only for missions.
If I'd just doubted earlier… If I'd just tried exploring the capital…
"Th-Thank you for doing that, Yuriy…" Eristia said. "More importantly… what should we do now?"
"Oh, um…"
Everything they'd ever known, ever been trained to fight, had been uprooted in a matter of hours. Eristia still had a faint suspicion that the monsters were scheming something, so she did at least want to confirm their intentions herself. But afterwards…
"Yuriy," Eristia said. "Do you have… any strong connections to Lescatie? Any friends you've made, and wouldn't want to part with?"
"I've got some friends back in the Fifth Squadron, but…" Yuriy said, then he blinked. "Eris… are you planning to leave Lescatie?"
"It's just an idea," Eristia clarified. "While I was up in that tree, I was thinking about who I am… and that woman is deeply, pathetically ignorant."
"Eris, that's not true!"
"It is," Eristia said sadly. "I let myself be a mindless puppet for years, because I thought that was how to be a true hero. I never—" she imbued that word with all the conviction she could muster, "—want to be that ignorant again. And… listening to those harpies gave me an idea. To see the world outside Lescatie, with my own eyes."
Eristia had been taught of the wider world in her hero lessons, since there was always the possibility she might be sent abroad on campaign. She'd heard of barren tundras where snow could fall year-round, tropical rainforests that never knew even the slightest frost, deserts baked dry by relentless sun, and oceans that made Lescatie's sole lake seem like a puddle. She'd heard of countries ruled by a single king and countries split up into hundreds of tribes, each with their own chieftains.
After throwing off her father's yoke… she now wanted to see that world for herself.
"O-Of course, I don't insist on you coming with me, Yuriy," Eristia said. Trying not to sound hopeful, she added, "But if… you're interested in this as well…"
"That sounds like a great idea, Eris!" Yuriy said with a smile. "I'd have to tell my friends first, but I can accompany you!"
A moment later, Eristia and Yuriy blushed, having realised the implications of a woman and man travelling alone together.
"Alright," Eristia said. "Then… let's head back to where the others are…"
The two childhood friends walked back through the woods, talking about all the years they'd spent apart.
AN: In canon, Wilmarina's father is the one who told a young Eristia to devote herself to being a hero, and an unnamed bishop acts as her superior in the present. I decided to give these roles to Eristia's father, both so he'd have more relevance and to avoid making the story overly focused around the Noscrims.
