Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter and providing feed backs.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
Getting out of the capital had been the easy part. Sure, they were left to their own devices with no help and an unconscious princess among them. Itsuki and Motoyasu are no help in this situation since Itsuki is still suffering from his wartime trauma, and Motoyasu is, well, Motoyasu. Expecting the two of them to give helpful suggestions on how to escape from a city on high alert without drawing attention to themselves is like asking any royalty to save themselves during a crisis.
But that had still been the easy part of their rescue mission. All they had to do was to lay low while the city was busy trying to contain Motoyasu's rampaging children. Not too long after Hayate and his fellow tanuki friends left, the distant fighting sound became dimmer and dimmer. The group of tanuki men have likely joined up with the birds as they made their escape from the city. And as soon as the barrier came down, the three of them plus Melty ported their way out of the capital back to Stormwind before the defender knew what was going on.
It'll likely take Motoyasu's children a few more days to run their way back to Stormwind and rejoin them. They might even choose to stay in the south. Maybe either join Hayate, or Lord Notches' resistance to continue harassing the Three Heroes' Church to stop them from attacking Stormwind. Motoyasu gives them enough autonomy to make their own decisions.
Thankfully, his spear wielding comrade didn't take all his filorial children with them south. About half of them stayed behind, protecting Stormwind from a possible siege, and spreading themselves around Griffin's Spine mountain range to look for any possible trail left by Naofumi if he tries to escape Melromarc.
As they descended down on the center of Stormwind near a water fountain in a blink of sapphire, Ren first noticed the sun sinking towards the western horizon. It seems like they have been hiding through the entire afternoon and the time is now approaching evening. Armies wearing tabards adorned with the golden clover. He turns his head west towards the city's port, and sees five large ships with the sail of the same emblem, with more armed men coming down, and up the ships. Some of them carried supplies from the fleet into the port. Iris, her brother Barn, or maybe even their father had clearly been busy to reinforce their northern enclave with additional troops.
"Yume!" Motoyasu's sudden scream nearly made him stumble on his feet. Ren narrows his eyes in annoyance and turns to look at his old, yet the most immature hero colleague with. He is currently standing on the tip of his toes, looking left and right for someone. Even his neck looks longer than usual. "Yume! Come here! I put you in charge while Miya is away in the south."
Interlude 22: Return of the Three Heroes
A figure leaps her way through the top of the building towards them. From the distance, her most easily picked up feature was her black hair, and the deep gray haori she wears. The athletic feat displayed by her drew the attention of both children and adults. The kids jump on their feet, clapping and waving their hands like they are witnessing some kind of celebration event. The reaction from the older crowd is much more reserved, but they still stop their steps to look at her jumping through the top of Stormwind buildings. Ren supposes what Yume (presumably, he didn't bother to remember who's who for Motoyasu's bird children) shown right now isn't something normal for the residents of this world even if adventurers is a valid profession. Not too long after, the woman who looks like a young adult, but in reality is less than a year old leaps down from the roof and kneels down not far away from the Spear Hero. "Welcome back, Master Motoyasu. I assume you and your fellow heroes have managed to complete your tasks... and the one in your arms is my charge?"
"Yeah. You are in charge of protecting Melty while Miya is away." Motoyasu hands the still slumbering body of Melty into the waiting hands of Yume. He pauses for a brief moment, then takes a step forward, and runs his hand through the woman's hair. It looks a bit awkward, since Yume is about as tall as Motoyasu, and she looks a bit more mature than the Spear Hero with his carefree (or childish/naive, if you want to be blunt) expression. But she is still only less than a month old in reality, so she smiles and looks rather happy to be praised by her 'father'.
Ren focuses his gaze on the still unconscious princess now they are out of immediate danger. He lost count of time while hiding in the slum and waiting for the overheard barrier to be lowered. Especially since he has no idea the exact time when they had to put the princess to sleep, but she's been out of consciousness for a long time. Is she even okay? Her chest is still going up and down so that's a good sign, but had they hit her too hard and caused some pretty severe injuries that she still hasn't woken up? Not that he's eager to explain the mess to a child... but they should probably make sure she wasn't badly injured due to their own attempt. Getting one knight mad at them is annoying enough, they probably don't want to anger the parents of the princess. "Better get the princess checked up first. She started panicking when we told her about what really happened. We had to knock her out. But she's been out cold the entire afternoon."
"Of course. As you command, Master Motoyasu, Master Sword Hero." Yume gives a half bow to them while still carrying the princess in her arms. Before she turns around to take the princess away, she turns to look at Motoyasu again. "Everyone is gathered in the castle discussing the next step of our war against the Three Heroes' Church, Master Motoyasu. Perhaps it's prudent for you, Master Sword and Master Bow Hero, to join the meeting."
"Right, of course! Also, good thinking, Ren!" Motoyasu nods his head to Yume, and then looks back at Ren while giving a thumbs up. The youngest summoned hero fights back the urge to return him an eyeroll. As if he needs any validation for having a bit of common sense.
"You two go ahead and join the meeting. I need to do something else first." Ren shakes his head and walks away. He didn't turn his head to see if Motoyasu and Itsuki followed him, or went straight to the former castle. The Sword Hero raises his left hand, sweeping through the sapphire gem on his sword. His mind wanders back to earlier, when Hayate told them about a certain bottle of night something extract. He'll need to find a pharmacist, or an alchemist and get some unbiased expertise from them. He doesn't personally know any possible candidates, since he usually leaves resupply duties to his companions. But he does have one person in mind.
The guy who punched Itsuki a few days ago when he came back with that village boy. What was his name again? Ricky? Not important. Rishia's brother, supposedly. The way he dresses, and the way his hair looks like it's been dipped in oil. It certainly reminds Ren of a certain potion teacher from a certain famous book series. Which means his answer And even if he got it wrong, he'll simply find someone who can point him to a potion maker. But he wants to try that Raruk guy first. From the way he publically punched Itsuki in the face, this supposed potion maker was clearly someone who isn't afraid to fight against authority. Which means he is more likely to give a fair verdict, rather than doing whatever he's told by a hero.
The guards outside the dungeon didn't try to stop him. They immediately part ways without saying a word. He didn't spend as much time in Stormwind as Balafon village before the Third Wave. But the time he did spend here to prepare for their future conflict with the Three Heroes' Church is apparently long enough for them to remember his face. The Sword Hero gives a nod to the guards, and goes into the dark, and dank dungeon. He can't stop the twitching of his nose when he smells the foul odor.
The Sword Hero narrowed his eyes and waited a few moments to let his eyes and nose get used to the dungeon. He turns his face to look at a guard sitting behind a table munching on a loaf of bread. The man has no beard or mustache, and looks only a few years older than Motoyasu. He wears the golden tabard with House Amelia's clover emblem. "You."
"Yes, Lord Sword Hero!" The young guard drops his meal onto the table. He jumps to his feet, nearly knocking the chair down with the sudden movement. "How may I serve you?"
"Do you remember someone punching Itsuki, the Bow Hero a few days ago? Is he still imprisoned here?" The young guard nods his head at both questions. "Take me to him."
"Of course, Lord Sword Hero!" The young guard gives Ren a salute, hitting his chest with his fist. The guard turns around, takes a ring of keys and runs ahead. "The prisoner is this way. Follow me."
Ren follows the young guard, turning corners and walking through the dungeon. He passes through wooden gates separating himself and the prisoners, ignoring their alarmed glares that clearly carries hostility. He can hear the sound of moaning and cursing behind almost every prisoner's rooms. The Sword Hero takes a few closer looks at them, and sees how some of them are as frail looking as a homeless person, while others look bodybuilders whose rags barely fit them. House Amelia clearly didn't put too much effort into who they tossed into the dungeon. He didn't spend too much time asking about what happened to this small kingdom before it was annexed by Iris' family. But he heard some rumor about Itsuki's ill-advised coup from the people. Either from drunken adventurers, or gossiping citizens. No wonder he got punched when he showed his face again.
"All of these prisoners got tossed in here for rioting?" The Sword Hero can't help but ask the guard in front of him. He can buy the idea that those thug looking ones are real criminals who break the law. But some of them look like they barely have any strength to stand up.
"Some of them are here for rioting, milord. Others broke different laws. Like the one you are looking for. He's in a maximum security dungeon right now." The guard didn't explain everything he wanted to know. But Ren wasn't really interested in the 'how' anyways. He briefly wonders if he should take a moment to talk to Iris' brother about what's happening in the dungeon of the city he is governing. Some of these prisoners look like they don't exactly belong in here, and merely got thrown in with the rest of the criminals simply because the guards don't know what to do with them. Then again, he probably doesn't have time to worry about it till their conflict with the Three Heroes' Church concludes. He'll just have to do his best to not forget about them.
Not too long after he turned another corner, he heard someone's angry scream coming out of another metal door. Somehow, this voice is much louder than the rest of the sound coming from the dungeon. The other sounds all come from someone dying or losing all hope, while this angry shout is as forceful as the one from three days ago when he punched Itsuki in the face (supposedly, he didn't see what actually happened). "Are you here to make excuses for your precious Bow Hero again? GO AWAY!"
"Please, don't make this hard for everyone, Big Brother Raruk. The Bow Hero didn't mean for things to fall apart for everyone. And he really does feel guilty about how things turned out." Ren narrows his eyes once again, and sees Rishia kneeling in front of a metal door. Practically begging for the one inside to stop acting out of his hostility. "Master Itsuki is doing his best to fix his mistakes. He's been fighting back the Siltvelt invasion at Fort Wolf's Mouth even though he hates killing-"
The young woman's plea is interrupted by laborious laughter behind the metal door. "Oh, yes! The valiant Bow Hero fought back the Siltvelt invaders. In spite of his aversion to killing. Such a noble soul! It's not like he reveled in killing the army, and the king of Stormwind. Caused a riot right after, and led to countless deaths of Stormwind people from both the violence, and the famine! And what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to forgive the noble and fair Bow Hero for his past actions because you are having a crush on him?"
Rishia lets out a soft 'meep' and tries to jump to her feet. Ren isn't too sure if she's startled by her brother's action, or his own sudden appearance. But he takes a step forward, and grabs her shoulder when she nearly tripped herself. The shy girl drops her head, to the point she nearly hides her face in her own chest. "Thank you, Master Sword Hero."
"No problem." Ren takes a step back and turns his head to look at the guard accompanying him. He points his finger at the keyhole on the metal door. "Open it up. I need to speak to the prisoner."
"Are you sure about this, milord?" The guard turns to look at Ren. "This one got violent."
"Your brother is a potion maker, yes?" Ren turns his face to look at Rishia again. Her body shakes under his gaze. Her mouth opens and closes a few times but no voice comes out. After a few moments, she simply nods her head before burying her face in her chest once again. The Sword Hero turns back to the guard. "I'd like to think I can take care of some potion maker."
"Ye- yes! Of course, milord! I didn't mean to question you! I'll open the door immediately for you!" The guard immediately stands straight as an arrow. His armor makes a crispy clap sound as his legs slam together. After a short pause, he runs forward and almost slams the key into the keyhole. Ren is almost concerned that the thin piece of metal would have snapped, but thankfully the metal door opens with a click.
The Sword Hero steps into the stone prison room. He had to pause for another few seconds to let his eyes get used to the darkness once again. Inside, the young man who punched Itsuki looks up at him with a glare. "What? You are one of those heroes? Why aren't you busy leveling, or getting better gear? Don't tell me you are here to gloat."
"I don't care about boasting." The Sword Hero takes the bottle out of his sword and sets it on the ground in front of the prisoner. "Rishia said you are a potion maker. Can you tell me anything about this? We went to the cathedral in the capital to rescue the princess. And we found this bottle where the king is resting. Our guide said something about it being night something extract. Supposedly you can use it as a poison."
Rishia's brother stares at the bottle for a few moments. He looks up at the Sword Hero and shakes his head. "Nightbloom extract. It can be used as an anesthesia. But it can also be used to keep someone in a coma, or kill them if you really increase the dosage. I don't know if you are talking out of your heroic behind, or being serious. I'm told I should love our lord, but never liked him, or those religious nutjobs myself. It's pointless to show me this bottle anyway. Nightbloom extract effect depends on the dosage, and what other reagents it's used together with. Get me a record of the king's treatment if you want some dirt on the church."
Not exactly the answer Ren was hoping for. But he didn't expect everything to turn out okay immediately. At least the potion maker pointed him in the right direction. Hopefully. There's always a chance this Raruk person is messing with his head after what Itsuki did. The Sword Hero nods back to the prisoner anyway. He turns around, and exits the prison room. He can hear the guard locking the door back up behind him.
The Sword Hero turns his head to look at Rishia. Once again, she quickly turns her face away, but with the dim light of the torch he could still see something glittering near her eyes. The girl is clearly worried about her brother. Ren takes a step up. He raises his hand, freezes in the air and pauses for a brief moment. In the end, he didn't dare to settle his hand on Rishia's shoulder. "Let's go find Motoyasu and Itsuki. We'll tell Iris to let go of your brother. Just... don't have him punch Itsuki in the face again."
Rishia abruptly turns her face to look at him. The shy girl clearly didn't expect him to speak up for her brother. Ren briefly wonders if he is still turning people away simply for his attitude, or if she's simply giving up on her brother after he publicly assaulted the Bow Hero. He can hear her flurry footsteps following him out of the dungeon.
It wasn't too hard to find his way back to Stormwind's castle afterwards. The dungeon is built into the base of the wall. And the wall ends up looping its way back to the castle. A servant quickly led them to one of the rooms, where the rest of the group gathered. It had a desk at the end, guess it was the office of the king before Itsuki supposedly killed him. Ren gives a quick look around, and sees everyone is sitting, or standing against the wall. Not a big surprise, considering their decision to fight against the Three Heroes' Church after what happened in Trumpet. He did raise his eyebrow once again when he saw the rest of Itsuki's party was also gathered around the room. The Sword Hero briefly wonders if they left the fort Itsuki was fighting at on their own, or if Itsuki and Motoyasu went back, and ported them over. Probably the lateral option. Since it's supposedly still under siege.
"REN!" Wyndia runs over. The little dog girl abruptly stops in front of him when she looks behind him. The Sword Hero turns back, and only sees Rishia. He steps into the room, not really understanding, or caring about Wyndia's strange behavior.
About ten steps to the left, four young men about Motoyasu's age, and a slightly younger boy is sitting around a tea table. One of them set a crystal ball on the table, and a projection started to form around them. The tall stone wall makes Ren think they are using it as some kind of battle report at first, but then he notices endless sand dune around all the manmade structures. Ren can't think of ever seeing this kind of environment while he's traveling around this country.
The 'camera' started to zoom closer to the tall wall, and the Sword Hero realized it wasn't a wall built to protect a city at all despite its height. There are countless arches that serve as gates to let people pass through, and a multi-leveled walkway with countless audiences clapping, and jumping at some unseen spectacles. Something like the Roman coliseums? Ren loses his interest in the projection itself and begins to take a closer look at the young men surrounding the tea table. He only recognizes Barn, the younger brother of Iris.
While the Sword Hero doesn't know who Barn's friends are, he can still make some guesses based on the way they dress. First, they are obviously very rich, if not nobility. Their clothes are silk, and have decorations sewn on them with golden and silver threads. One of them wears armor over their casual clothes. A knight similar to Sir Beckter, considering he also wears full armor even outside of battle and adventuring. When Ren asked him to take off his armor and relax, Sir Beckter replied that a knight needs to constantly wear their heavy armor to get used to their weight. Or else they wouldn't be able to swing their weapon when they have to fight.
"Welcome, welcome everyone to the annual Zeltoble filorial racing ceremony! This year, we are looking at a great competition for the well-bred racing filorials from famous stables all over the world, and the respective riders under their contract..." The over zealous scream of what sounds like an announcement brings Ren out of his silent musing. He turns to look at the projected scene once again. Sure enough, it's showing a number of giant birds with reins and saddles kicking their feet on the sand, their riders standing beside them. The announcer begins to hype up the competitors. Not that any of them meant anything to someone like him. "And from the most esteemed Riddle Stable, Avalon, Germania. We have a new challenger in the competition! For the first time, paired with the young, but supremely talented rider Viktor Krum, trying to gain the same title as his grandfather, and his father before him... let's have a round of applause for Lord Voldemort the Third!"
Ren trips on his feet over nothing while the sound of clapping hands threatens to come out of the recorded scene and collapse the room around him. He looks around, and notices neither Itsuki nor Motoyasu fared much better than himself. He turns around, and sees Iris' younger brother Barn turning his nose up at them, a smirk near the corner of his mouth. "Let me guess, the name tripped you all because you were all thinking about that supposed 'dark lord' from Faubley?"
"For all of your information, that so-called dark lord of the Shield Order stole the name from Riddle Stable's prized racing filorial dynasty." One of Barn's friends, a young man with dark, well groomed hair that reaches the bottom of his face lets out a snigger while shaking his head. Ren can't help but notice how he appears to be dressed better than his friends. All of the decorations on his cloth are made of golden thread, rather than gold with silver. And even if this is merely a stylistic choice rather than the material made of real gold or silver, there are also precious stones decorating the buttons of his cloth. "The first Lord Voldemort won his title before the whole secret war among the mage lord families started. Uncle Frank had a memory crystal from sixty years ago when it happened."
Ren notices the youngest from their little group drops his head when this 'Uncle Frank' was mentioned by the well dressed young man. His action is clearly noticed by the dark haired young man, as he puts a hand on the boy's shoulder in a comforting manner, and gives him a gentle but firm shake.
"That is more than enough, Barn." Iris stands up from the chair she was sitting in. As usual, she has her face covered with her folding fan. Not that it hid the scar that ran down from her forehead across her nose. Ren can't see anything below Iris' eyes, but he can tell the noble lady isn't happy from the way her brow twists together. "We are gathered here to discuss what to do with both the Three Heroes' Church, and the missing Shield Hero. We could do without you and your friends watching filorial race recording. We especially don't need any snarky comments."
"Oh, come on. Take it easy with me and my friends, sis." The young governor's body lets out a sudden shake. He looks a bit taken aback from Iris' chastise. Perhaps he felt embarrassed that he got scolded like a child by his older sister in front of his friends. "Nobody said anything important about the church, or the Shield Hero yet. So my friends and I are just having a bit of fun before the real discussion begins."
"I will not repeat myself, Barn. We are having an important discussion that'll decide the future of our great house. The family you belong to. The least you could do is take this seriously." Iris' voice takes on a harder edge. Not only that, but her two loyal henchmen. The well-dressed blonde, and the gruff looking dark hair both take a step forward. The thuggish looking one (what was his name again? Dion? Dean?) flexes shoulders in a threatening manner. "You caused enough headache for father with how much your head gets stuck in the garden. I will not be pampering you now that you are the acting governor of Stormwind."
"Fine, fine! Call back your attack dogs, sis. You don't have to be so mean about it." Barn puts his hands up in a show of appeasement. One of Iris' two bodyguards growls at Barn (Guess which one?), and he quickly waves the projection off and puts the crystal ball back into a box.
Ren feels his hand being pulled, so he allows Wyndia to drag him over to the table where his adventuring party is gathered while Rishia quickly walks over to Itsuki's side. The shy girl didn't dare to look up, and watched her own steps through the whole journey. The fat knight in Itsuki's party gives Rishia a vindictive glare, which she ignores out of total obliviousness. Once again, Ren feels his hand is being pulled from his side, this time with more force. He turns to see Wyndia quickly adjusting her posture to look forward, and pretending innocent. The Sword Hero wonders what's going on in the little shiba girl's head, but decides to ignore it for the more important matters. "Did a doctor look over Melty? She's been unconscious for a long time. I don't know if Hayate hit her too hard, or if it's something else."
"I assure you, Master Sword Hero. Her Highness Princess Melty is in good hands. The best healers, and clerics specialize in healing miracles in the city were all brought into the castle to look after Princess Melty. You can go over and take a look at her yourself." Both of Iris' henchmen, and even her personal maid turn their head to glare at him. Do they think he's accusing Iris of lying?
"I'm not accusing you of lying. I only want to know what happened to the princess." Ren crosses his arms in front of his chest, and frowns at Iris in annoyance. He's not trying to pick a fight with Iris, or treating her like she's an untrustworthy enemy. But he isn't going to put up with her servants for acting like asses either.
"Don't act all high and mighty here, you summoned brat! Lady Iris-" The gruff looking man with dark hair stomps his foot forward. Now aiming his ire at Ren instead of Iris' brother. The Sword Hero fights back his urge to roll his eyes. The thug might be able to intimidate a young man like Iris' younger brother, but his verbal threat and aggressive behavior can't even compare to a smile from Zellus (which usually ends up with Ren getting a severe ass whooping alongside Itsuki, Motoyasu and Naofumi in their sparring match). Heck, he had faced worse back when he was playing Brave Star Online.
"That's enough from you, Dida! (So that's his name! Thought Ren) Behave yourself or else I'll have to send you back to Amelisport again. Master Sword Hero isn't trying to start a fight here." Iris suddenly raises her hand up. The back of her palm is so close to her henchmen's face, she would have backhanded him if he had taken one more step forward.
"Says who?" Dida takes a few steps back alongside his blonde fellow. He throws a venomous glare towards the equally thuggish looking knight behind Itsuki. "Who can promise the Sword Hero isn't an aggressive piece of trash like the esteemed Sir knight serving equally esteemed Master Bow Hero?"
"You want to take it in the dueling ring? You filthy gutter rat?" The knight from Itsuki's party barks out curses at Dida. He takes a step forward this time, and starts pulling his sword out of his sheath. "We are in this mess all thanks to garbage like you! The king and his loyal men wouldn't have been hurt, and esteemed Three Heroes' Church didn't have to step in to maintain order if all of you never supported the Shield Hero for your own selfish gain-"
"SHOVE IT! MALD!" Itsuki stomps his feet on the floor without standing up. As someone who is only one year older than Ren, the Bow Hero isn't exactly intimidating. In fact, if body size mattered as much as it did on earth, someone like Mald would have easily wrestled someone like Itsuki (or Ren himself) onto the ground. Yet, thanks to their hero title, the much larger, and much heavily armored knight instantly goes silent when faced with Itsuki's fury.
"NO! I have to say it outloud now, Lord Bow Hero!" To Ren's complete surprise, the thuggish knight suddenly goes down on his knees. His voice is practically begging Itsuki. No wonder his fellow hero hasn't kicked this bully out of his own party yet. He truly has no shame when it comes to appeasing the Bow Hero. One could be excused to think this knight really is someone who meant well, if they didn't know his past record of bullying everyone around him. "I have stayed silent for too long! It was my greatest honor to serve a fair, noble hero and bring justice to the world. When neither Lord Sword, nor Spear Hero show up to defend glorious Melromarc from the invading Siltvelt animals, I thought we were truly lost. But you did! It was my proudest moment since my knighting to stand beside you against those animals. But you are slowly being corrupted by the poisonous lies of these traitors and heretics. Do not listen to their lies to fight against this nation, and the Three Heroes' Church! Lord Bow Hero! They only have your best interest in mind!"
"Take him away!" Iris suddenly narrows her eyes. Both of her henchmen leapt towards the knight, weapons in their hands. Mald managed to get to his feet and crossed blade with the blonde henchman. But while he's busy fending his foe off, Dida kicks his feet out and trips the thuggish knight over.
Ren's eyebrow raises up at the physical feat the dark haired henchmen displayed. Considering he was able to put down someone in full steel plate armor with nothing but his feet. Granted, RPG game-like stats exist in this world, and not everything follows physical rules. But it only shows that Iris' private thugs are well trained and well leveled. He wasn't only kept around for his looks and intimidation factor.
The Sword Hero's surprise didn't end here. While Mald is falling down, Dida balls up his free hand and punches the brutish knight... right under his belt with a loud clunk. One could be excused in thinking the dark haired thug hit his opponent with a hammer from the sound he made. The eyes of Mald bulge out for a brief moment, and then he goes completely quiet and still on the ground. Dida gives Itsuki a smug looking grin, almost like he is taunting the Bow Hero to go after himself to avenge Mald. But Itsuki didn't even bother to spare the fallen knight (or Dida, for that matter) a sideway glance. Ren wasn't too sure if Itsuki is still not recovered from his trauma and is now having one of his episodes where he completely cut himself from the world, or if he simply didn't care about what happens to his thuggish knight.
"Not cool, man! Not cool..." Ren turns his attention to Motoyasu next. The posture of their oldest fellow hero is slightly hunched over. He has his legs firmly closed around his own crotch. The Sword Hero supposes that he should have done something similar after what Dida did to one of their fellow men. But it's a bit hard to get into the mindset when the deed is already past him.
"Do you have a problem with it? Scrub?" Dida turns his smirk towards Motoyasu. The Spear Hero nearly jumps out of his skin. But he immediately clamps down his mouth and goes quiet. Both Katarina and Bertia step right in front of Motoyasu. Katarina is practically growling at Iris' thug. While Bertia's face is a much more timid looking by comparison, her glaring eyes show the same anger. Ren silently wonders if there's some bad history between them.
"That's ENOUGH, Dida! Stop trying to intimidate Lord Spear Hero. Take Lord Bow Hero's companion back to the guest room, and let him rest. He is clearly too stressed out about the situation." Iris' command makes the dark haired thug change into a more serious looking face. He turns around, and helps his blonde companion carry Mald out of the room.
"I'm sorry all of you have to witness this farce, esteemed heroes." Iris raises her empty hand, and begins to massage her temples. Ren wonders how much she's acting her role, and how much she is truly frustrated with their current situation. "Her Highness, Princess Melty should be fine. The healers believe she's merely exhausted herself from a mixture of stress, fatigue, and trauma. Both physically, and mentally. She should be waking up not long after."
"Just so we are clear. Everyone has made up their mind about fighting against the Three Heroes' Church. And nobody has any second thoughts?" Ren casts his sight over everyone in the room. He's fairly confident about his own companions considering they still haven't left him yet. Motoyasu's companions are even more trustworthy. The Sword Hero hasn't forgotten the reason that they started fighting against the Three Heroes' Church was because they tried to arrest Motoyasu's girlfriends (and fiance, in Iris' case). The Sword Hero turns his gaze over toward Itsuki's party. They on the other hand... Well, one of them already showed his allegiance to the Three Heroes' Church. Who knows what the rest of them truly think?
Perhaps his glare was more effective than Ren thought. One of the young females in Itsuki's party suddenly went down on her knees similar to Mald did earlier. At first, Ren wonders if Iris has to call her henchmen back and take another one of Itsuki's companions out of the room. But then she started speaking, at the blue haired knight from her own party. "I know what you think about Sir Mald, and you don't like what the Three Heroes' Church had done under Cromwell's lead. But please, think about how your action will affect your family, and all of Prince Joseph's bannerman, Your Highness! The Faith of Three Heroes is still the most powerful religion in our nation! Aside from their... aggressive action against the Shield Hero and certain noble families, there's no proof that they have betrayed the nation, or the crown yet. Your involvement against them as the heiress of our prince would pit House De Gallia and all of your bannerman against the Three Heroes' Church. It would start a civil war that'll tear this nation apart when we have countless enemies all around us!"
Ren is a bit ashamed to admit that he forgot 'Sir Crepe' from Itsuki's party was another princess of this nation. Although she comes from a different noble family. All the talk about this family and that great house flies right over his head. And considering how the blue haired girl carries herself more like a knight (she's certainly more like Sir Beckter than that thug named Mald), he completely forgot that she's supposedly a big deal.
This seems to finally get Itsuki's attention. His eyes are still a bit out of focus, but he turns to look at Sir Crepe's general location. "I understand if you want to sit this one down, Sir Crepe."
"NO. I wanted to become a knight. Someone who does the right thing regardless of the consequences. Someone like Lord Uther, or Lord Singurd." The reply from the blue haired knight is as quick as it is firm, leaving no room for question. Sir Crepe turns to face the girl who knelt before her, and pulls one ring with a topaz gem out from her cloth. "Lesty. Tell Isabella that she is the heiress to father now. It should have been hers by birthright anyway with her being the eldest and birthed by the wife of Father. And... I know she'll be a better princess than I ever will be."
Lesty's eyes focus on the ring Sir Crepe holding in front of her palm for a brief moment. She looks up at Sir Crepe once again. "Even if you passed the right of inheritance back to Princess Isabella, everyone still knows you are his grace, Prince Joseph's favorite daughter..."
"I'll fix that too." Sir Crepe runs her hand inside her cloth and pulls out a second ring. Ren can't see exactly what it looks like from where he is sitting. But from the lack of glitter, it's clear that this ring doesn't have a large gem like the last one. The blue haired knight holds both rings in her palm as she wraps her fingers around them. "I, Josephine Crepe Brittany De Gallia, second to my name, renounce my right of inheritance of Prince Joseph's title, all the privileges I enjoyed as a member of the most ancient and noble house of De Gallia, and remove myself from House De Gallia. So mote it be."
The room suddenly becomes very quiet, and very cold. Everyone in the room except Itsuki, Motoyasu and Ren himself is staring at Sir Crepe like she suddenly grew a second head. The Sword Hero is far from an expert of how all this noble heritage law works, but even he can tell that what Sir Crepe just did is the metaphorical equivalent of a meteorite impact from everyone's reaction.
Okay... He stood corrected. There is one native person who isn't staring at Sir Crepe. Rishia is doing the exact opposite. As soon as Sir Crepe started taking her vow, the shy girl from Stormwind dropped her head and started staring at her own feet.
"What's the big deal? Even if Sir Crepe removed herself from her family. Her father can just take her back after-" Motoyasu's ramble is stopped when Iris raises her empty hand once again.
"Prince Joseph can't take her back, Master Motoyasu. The unbreakable vow Sir Crepe took is both legally, and eternally binding. From this moment onward, she will never have anything to do with House De Gallia anymore. And even if she's reinstated as an aristocrat by her own achievement, she would no longer have any relation with her birth family." Iris slowly turns her gaze back to Sir Crepe again. Her gaze piercing, almost as if she wants to dissect Sir Crepe to figure out what made the blue haired knight do what she just did.
"You... Sir Crepe." Itsuki takes half a step towards his companion before putting his feet down. He raises his arm, leaves them hanging in the middle of the air for a few moments before letting them fall along his sides again. He opens his mouth, and closes it for a few more times. "You shouldn't have done this... for me."
"I didn't do it for you, Master Itsuki. I did it for myself... and the good of my family. I was never a good princess. I caused my father, and my elder sister countless headaches growing up. And now I found a worthy goal, I wouldn't have to be a burden to them anymore." Sir Crepe drops both rings into Lesty's hand, before she turns to Itsuki and embraces the Bow Hero. "I will fear no reproach."
"Let us cling together."
End Note:
Part one of the interlude showing what the three weapon heroes are doing before we get back to the main cast for the final clash with Three Heroes Church.
Since I keep forgetting to mention it, Medea L'Arc's counterpart was originally supposed to be the self-insert of Angel Wraith. Who used a lot of L'Arc's as a base for his own SI. I kind of got so caught up with him being based on L'Arc, I constantly forget this is a SI character of my friend and just wrote him as Medea's L'Arc Counterpart.
XD
I'm showing a bit more about Iris' family and friend in this chapter. Funny enough, before the idea for this story I originally wanted to write a fanfiction for the story Iris came from: Shilling of the Author's Pet- I mean Achievement of the Duke's Daughter. A story that shared a lot of flaw with RotSH on how one-dimensional characters are portrayed as. And the main character basically being the author's little pet. Which was what inspired that one 'non-canon' Omake where Iris joined force with the more vindictive Rising like Naofumi. Yeah, for anyone who has knowledge about Iris' original story, I'd say these two would have been made for each other.
Dida is in a way, a lot like Motoyasu. If you change his childishness to being an aggro-thinking dipshit... which Motoyasu also is when he has his mind set about who is good and who is bad. A lot of his canon scenes where he acts aggressive against someone feels like you can switch him out with Motoyasu and have it work perfectly. Only of course, Iris is portrayed as purely good therefore his aggression is portrayed as righteous. Needless to say. I do not agree with the writer's portrayal just like RotSH.
:)