Elsewhere in Hyrule, those among the company who were headed to Akkala passed by a campsite. When they went to see who was there, they found Hudson and his construction crew, as well as some Zora guards. "Got your job done?" Hudson asked them.

"We did, and not a moment too soon," Link confirmed.

"That's good," Hudson smiled. "We're still working on ours. We're going to build a town on the island in Lake Akkala. It's going to be called Tarrey Town. And as thanks for your company's help, we'll build you a guild hall."

"You don't need to do that," Link assured him.

"Sure we do," Hudson said. "Everyone needs a base of operations. You can store your stuff there, and if you're in the area, you can rest your feet there."

"It could be a good thing to have," Ferdinand suggested to Link.

Link shrugged. "If you insist on building it, at least let us do something for you."

"If you insist," Hudson agreed. "Are you headed to Goron City anytime soon?"

"Yes, but we have a couple of other stops to make first," Link said.

"Well, when you do go visit the Gorons, see if you can find one or two good, strong Gorons who might be interested in helping with construction," Hudson suggested. "And their names have to end in -son, else we can't hire them. Company rules."

"What if Gorons who have names that don't end in -son want to help build the town?" Claude asked with a frown.

"We'd have to take them on as independent contractors rather than employees," Hudson said. "If you can only find Gorons whose names don't end in -son who are interested, fine, but it's much more hassle."

"Your rules sound counterproductive," Claude said.

"Maybe, but they're the rules," Hudson said.

Heading further north, they met two travelers on the road. One was a tall woman with red hair. The other was an orange giant, a Goron like Daruk.

Bernadetta seemed a bit frightened of the Goron, but everyone else seemed unbothered by him, being mostly used to strange beings living in Hyrule by now. His name was Naddon, and the woman was named Laroba. It seemed she was a Gerudo, of the desert in Hyrule's southwestern corner.

The two of them had heard of Hudson setting up camp, and were taking their wares to trade to the builders.

"I'd be careful traveling north if I were you, kids," Laroba warned them. "I've noticed Guardians active in the area."

"Guardians or no Guardians, we have to keep going north," Claude said.

There were a few Guardians in the area. Fortunately, they managed to avoid most of them. Only one actually sighted them, and it was one of the ones in a state of decay. An arrow to the eye blinded the Guardian. Surprisingly, it was Bernadetta who made the shot that had taken the Guardian's vision.

Aside from that, the only encounter with monsters that they had was from a few Stalfos. Even a tired and shorthanded Rising Sun Company outnumbered and outmatched the Stalfos, and they were dispatched easily.

A few days after leaving Zora's Domain, they reached a trading post, much like the ones at the Dueling Peaks and the Lanayru Wetlands. "Finally. I could use some sleep in a real bed," Hilda noted.

However, as they approached the trading post, they saw a man in a hood. "I've been waiting for you."

"You have?" Link asked.

"Oh, yes," the man in the hood said. "I made a mistake last time I tried to kill you, Hero."

"Astor!" Dimitri realized, and stabbed the hooded man with his spear. However, "Astor" simply melted into a puddle of purple sludge, then reformed into the shape of a man.

"I am not here in person," the Astor construct said. "I do not need to be."

"You mentioned a mistake, the last time you tried to kill us," Ingrid said. "Do you want to tell us what it was?"

"Of course," the Astor construct said. "I turned the people of Gatepost Town into monsters that sought your demise, but I gave you no reason not to fight for your continued existence. For as deadly as the ReDeads might have been, you had no reason not to try to destroy them. You feel compelled to save everyone you can, but the ReDeads were beyond salvation."

With that, people whose bodies were covered in the same purple sludge that comprised the Astor construct started exiting the trading post. "These people are not beyond salvation...yet. So choose, heroes. Kill them, or die trying to save them."

A light blast reduced Astor's construct to a puddle of sludge, and a second light blast reduced the sludge to water. But the people were still infected with Malice.

"We have to find the source!" Link shouted. "We take out the source, the rest of it disappears! Try and look for a sinister, orange eye!"

With that, the heroes dispersed to try to find the source.

Trying not to kill anyone while avoiding attacks was difficult. The infected outnumbered the company, and they weren't holding back.

But Marianne did her best. Mipha's Grace seemed to come in handy. Channeling small amounts of Mipha's power into her own healing spells created a spell that could stun the Malice-possessed innocents without harming them.

An infected tried attacking her from behind, but Dimitri hit him with the blunt end of his spear. "Focus on finding the source! I will protect you!"

Claude pointed to the inn. "Maybe it's in one of the buildings!"

The three of them entered the inn to find more infected.

One of them was different from the others. Orange eyes stared out of the Malice infecting him in all directions. "He's the source!" Claude said, nocking an arrow.

"No!" Marianne shouted, pushing his bow away.

"I SEE IT ALL!" the man shouted, as the other infected tried to swarm the three. "ONLY DARKNESS!"

Marianne blasted him with her Grace spell, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect. "I AM BLINDED BY HIS DARKNESS!"

Marianne put everything she had into one spell. This spell would either exorcise the man, or he would kill her. She directed the spell at him. "Can you see the light?"

"I see you," the man said.

"Take my hand!" Marianne shouted, reaching out to the man. She could feel the darkness struggling to hold on. Just a little more, and...

Her attempted exorcism was cut short by an arrow piercing the man's throat. She turned to see that Claude had loosed his arrow.

Dimitri grabbed Claude by the throat. "What did you just do?"

"Couldn't...risk...Marianne..." Claude said weakly, as the Malice dissolved from the other infected.

Dimitri dropped Claude. "I could have saved that man!" Marianne protested.

"He could have killed you," Claude argued. "He was getting close."

"I would have taken that chance!" Marianne said.

"And if you had died?" Claude asked. "I would have had to kill him anyway, or all of the people here would have died. What's worth more, one life or dozens?"

"Lives are not trade goods," Dimitri growled.

Everyone else seemed to realize that the attack was over, and ran to the inn. When they saw the body on the ground, they looked at Claude. "What happened here?" Edelgard asked.

"He was the source," Claude said.

"I tried to save him," Marianne said sadly.

"Instead, Claude killed him," Dimitri accused.

"I didn't want to risk Marianne's life!" Claude defended himself.

"I chose to take that risk," Marianne said.

"I understand why you would have done that," Link said. "But that doesn't make it right."

Claude looked around at the disapproving stares of his companions.

As he did so, the former infected began to come to. A young boy of about nine or ten saw the body of the man Claude had killed. "Papa?"

Claude looked back at his companions. "I...I had no choice! Marianne is too important to risk!"

Seeing that no one was coming to his defense, he ran away.

Edelgard followed Claude to the stable. "Are you here to judge me?" Claude asked without looking at her.

"...No," Edelgard said. "In your position, I likely would have done the same thing."

"So you don't think it was wrong?" Claude asked.

"I didn't say that," Edelgard said. "Killing that man was wrong. And if I had done it, it would also have been wrong."

Claude sighed. "One life is only worth one life, right? If by killing that man, I saved Marianne, does that make me a bad person?"

"Marianne chose to risk her life for that man," Edelgard told him. "You took that choice away from her."

Claude stared at his feet. "I don't understand why she was so willing to risk her life for a stranger. He couldn't do anything to stop Ganon."

"You wouldn't risk your life for a stranger?" Edelgard asked.

"No," Claude answered. "I'm only on this quest because if we lose, I'm guaranteed to die. I'd rather have agency in my future. I don't care about being a hero."

"You don't care about the people of Hyrule?" Edelgard asked.

"Obviously, I'd rather they survive," Claude said. "But if I had to sacrifice Hyrule to save the world, I would do it."

Edelgard frowned. "So would I. But we don't have to sacrifice Hyrule to save the world."

"True," Claude agreed.

"I've been thinking about sacrifices," Edelgard admitted. "And sometimes they need to be made for the greater good. But sometimes...maybe when you start to make too many sacrifices for the greater good, you begin to sacrifice things that don't need to be sacrificed."

"Then how do you know when to sacrifice and when not to?" Claude asked.

"I don't know," Edelgard admitted. "I just don't know."