Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
Of all the boys (and girls) from the quaint little village of Lute, Mein remembers Raki. Not only because his older brother was a young knight that supposedly served Mother, but because he was quite smitten with Raphtalia. Thinking back, the fugitive princess realized that she owes Raki an apology.
After the celebration of Second Wave, she saw an instance when Raki had kissed Raphtalia while their friend surrounded him. She didn't believe his excuse of it being an exercise to teach Raphtalia a way to deliver potion to someone who is unconscious. Yet, that was the way Raphtalia saved her life when they were ambushed by Towair and his Ravens. Granted, he might still intentionally steal a kiss from Raphalia while teaching her a useful skill. But it doesn't change the fact that Mein herself is alive thanks to Raki.
Right now, the eyes of the boy in front of Mein shine with such desperate hope, she almost doesn't want to tell him the truth. That the Shield Hero he expected to ride in, chase away the rogue faith, and save the day for him is a victim of the church. The two of them are pushed into a corner by the Three Heroes' Church, and they are barely staying alive.
The village boy didn't immediately notice the Shield Hero's rather squalid and diminished appearance. He looks left and right, clearly trying to find a certain small figure he's eager to find again. "Where is Raphtalia? Did you leave her somewhere safe?"
The eyes of the Shield Hero cast down. He clearly noticed the same thing as the fugitive princess. It clearly hurts him much more than Mein, considering his uncompromising kindness. "Raphtalia… she was taken. By the Three Heroes' Church."
Raki, and the rest of the boys' eyes slowly grow larger at the news. They may be young, and they may be a group of village boys. But they live close enough to the capital of glorious Melromarc. Enough to the center of the Three Heroes' Church's influence. They knew what it means when a demi-human like Raphtalia is 'taken' by the church. "No… they got you too."
"I'm sorry…" The Shield Hero's head falls down after one faint apology. Unable to live up to a group of desperate kid's expectations is no doubt, another open wound that has since piling on top of the Shield Hero's damaged mind since the Three Heroes' Church's betrayal at the end of the Third Wave.
"No. Please, don't be upset, Master Shield Hero. You have already done so much for us. I shouldn't have jumped to you and expected you to come around and save us again after everything…" The thin looking boy takes a few steps back, and pulls on Naofumi's sleeve. One of his fellow children blows out the fire from their lantern. "Come with us deeper into the mine. It's not safe here. Those bad people from the Three Heroes' Church might see our light and come investigate. Let's go deeper where we'll be safe."
Chapter 100: To a World That Abhors You And I
Once again, they resume their trek deeper into the abandoned Lute mine, everyone holding onto every other person's cloth to make sure no one gets lost in the darkness. Mein can't see anything, but she can hear the faint sound of wooden staff bumping, and knocking at the ground and walls. The boys walking in the front are using their sharpened wooden staff for navigation, in addition to using them as improvised spears.
The fugitive princess completely loses track of time, or her sense of direction as she walks behind Sir Oersted. She thinks that she is currently turning on the fifth corner they rounded up in the tunnels, but she can't be too sure with her vision taken away. For all she knows, she's still walking in a mostly straight line rather than turning a corner. Just as her mind starts to wander around, she can see a faint light coming from an actual corner in the distance. Like a wisp, produced by some enigmatic, impish spirit beckoning her towards an elusive end. The boys from Lute pick up their pace, and they reach the source of the light in a few breaths later.
Huddled around another lantern is another group of a dozen boys. But this time, they are much younger than Raki's group. Maybe around five, to six summers, definitely even younger than Raphtalia and Melty. Their cloth has tattered ribbons barely clinging on their tiny forms as the older boys. The sound of steps makes all of them squeeze into each other tighter, as they retreat back to the corner of the dead end. After seeing who made their way to their hideout, they visibly relaxed and let go of each other.
"Who are these people, Big Brother Raki?" One of the older boys looks up and asks.
"Don't worry. They are friends." Raki kneels down, ruffling the boy's dirty hair. Naofumi's eyes turn up for a brief moment. He reaches inside his cloth, and takes out some of his rations. Hardtack, and dried meat. The Shield Hero passes them around to the children, who eagerly and happily take the food, and start devouring them like they are food fit for a feast.
While the younger children are busy eating the food given out by the Shield Hero, Raki pulls them further away from the little ones and sits down around the corner of the tunnel they made their home. He takes another good look at everyone and blinks a couple of times. The previously over eager Lute boy clearly notices that the Shield Hero is dressed like a village girl. "What… happened to you, Master Shield Hero? Did the other heroes not do anything when the Three Heroes' Church took Raphtalia?"
"Someone summoned an invading, outer goddess at the end of Third Wave. She hurt a lot of people." Mein takes over the explanation, knowing that Naofumi probably doesn't want to think, or speak too much of the mentally traumatic experience for him near the end of Third Wave. Strangely enough, she didn't have too much trouble recalling what happened, despite an invading outer goddess who tried to murder her.
"An invading outer god? That's…" The boy covers his head with both hands. He goes completely silent, unable to finish his own sentence. For a boy who lives in a small village near the capital, the idea of Wave of Catastrophe itself is probably terrifying enough. The idea of an actual invading outer god descending into the world likely blew his mind. "And that's how the Three Heroes' Church took Raphtalia."
"Yes. They took Raphtalia and Firo, killed Kyubei and Farkas. Mein and I barely escaped with our lives." The Shield Hero falls down on the rocky floor, back against the cave wall. All the bones in his body seemingly disappeared. "At least… that's what I hoped. We don't know if Raphtalia and Firo are even alive…"
"They are. They have to be." The fugitive princess quickly sits down besides the discouraged Shield Hero and grabs his hand, hoping to lend some of her strength to him so he can continue going. "They were both knocked out by Consevatie. They weren't fighting against the men of Three Heroes' Church to buy us time to escape like Farkas did. If they wanted to kill Raphtalia and Firo, Consevatie could have simply took off their heads."
"Yeah… you are right." The Shield Hero slowly moves his head to give Mein a quick glance. He turns his head away to stare at the floor not soon after. "I'm not sure that's better. Enslaved by a bunch of racist assholes who hate anyone who isn't a human. How would they be treated…"
They fell into uncomfortable silence, as The Younger children practically inhaled down the food passed around by Naofumi. When they ingested the last bit of morse, they looked up expectedly at the group of newcomers again. While Mein is hesitating, Uranus and Sir Oersted stand up, and pass their own ration over to the starving kids.
"What happened to you, or Lute Village?" The fugitive princess feels her face burning up. For her own selfishness of not wanting to pass her own ration. She tries to hide it, by making Raki talk about his situation. "We passed a two men patrol of both the church, and some of the queen's men on our way."
"They came, looking for Gaston." Raki looks up at Mein, he wipes his dirty hand over his nose, leaving a dark trail of wet mud on his face. "Well… probably not Mr. Gaston specifically. They came, looking for someone who acted as Master Shield Hero's guide a while back. And all they know is that Mr. Gaston had a very large filorial. So he immediately ran away with his bird before they found him. And then… the church came. They were led by a well dressed guy named Caleb. He acted nice at first, all smiling and being helpful to the village with his group of church people, but then he… he…"
The boy's voice chokes up, into something that half resembles a broken sob. Mein reaches her hand over, gently brushing through his dirty hair, trying to gently encourage him to continue. "Take a few breaths, and speak slowly. You don't have to rush. Anything you tell us about the Three Heroes' Church could help."
"But you don't have to say anymore if it's too painful for you, Raki. We'll manage with what we have." Naofumi on the other hand simply tells the boy to stop. Mein looks back at him, a bit apprehensive that the Shield Hero is actively preventing them from learning more information about the Three Heroes' Church's recent actions. She suppose she can't fault him for wanting to spare Raki the suffering of reliving a harrowing experience. And in the grand scheme of things, it probably doesn't make much difference on affecting what they'll do next. But still, every bit more they can learn about their enemy should help them make a better plan on how to proceed next.
"No… After everything you have done for us, telling you what happened is the least I could do…" The boy takes a few deep breaths to steel himself, before he starts to speak very slowly with hushed, but steadfast whispers. "That Caleb guy. He put slave seals on all the women… even girls from our village. Said something about all women are dirty, stealing spirit from men. And he didn't just have his lackeys paint the slave seals with a brush like normal. He… tattooed all of them on with a white hot iron rod."
"Chief God preserve us…" The fugitive princess recoils back at Raki's recount of the event, despite the boy's words not being exactly filled with the gruesome details. Or perhaps it is because of his simple, straight to the fact recount that makes her mind conjure up the kind of scene that's an affront to most sentient beings. She nearly draws the symbol of Three Heroes' Church's holy triangle with her hand out of instinct, but manages to catch herself at the last minute to change it into the cross shape of the holy icon of the four heroes. Raki probably wouldn't appreciate her using the gesture of the Three Heroes' Church after they committed such grievous sin towards the women of his village.
"Are you alright, Mein? I understand you are upset about the people of Lute being enslaved. But you don't want to get too worked up for your heart condition…" The fugitive princess can feel Naofumi's hand on his shoulder. No doubt, it's meant to be a source of comfort. But with what Raki described to her, she ends up shaking the Shield Hero's hand.
"NO! I'm not alright! Or… well, I'm going to be alright. But not the women of Lute Village." The princess turned fugitive lets out an ear piercing shriek at the injustice that befallen the women of Raki's village. She turns around on her heels to look at Naofumi's half terrified, half bewildered face and grabs him around his shoulders. "That Caleb bastard didn't just enslave them! He tattooed the slave seal on with a burning iron! That's the kind of punishment put on the worst kind of criminals, who don't even get a quick death! Even if they have the magical seal washed off with holy water, the tattoo will be with them forever! They'll always carry it with them!"
The Shield Hero's mouth hangs open, clearly shocked at what Mein just told him. His jaw flips close, and then opens again. He repeats the wordless gesture a few times, before finally letting out a subdued exclamation. "Dear gods…"
"Father Caleb. I should have known. That's not a good name among the clergy circle." Uranus narrows his eyes as he straightens his back. The face of the usually soft spoken and mild mannered priest twists to look more like an angry monster in the dim light, and waving shadow of their oil lantern. "I should have known those two were speaking about him…"
"You know him, Master Uranus?" Naofumi turns around to look at the old priest. Yet his eyes look hollow and distant. Perhaps he isn't really interested in hearing what Uranus wants to say, but simply wants to distract himself from the shock of the great tragedy that has fallen on Lute village.
"There is no doubt who the boy is talking about with such heinous actions, and harmful rhetoric. Father Caleb is rather infamous among the clergy of Melromarc." The elder priest's brows twist into knots, his voice grave. "Much like His Eminence Pope Balmus, father Caleb also rose into fame during The Great War. He was only an acolyte of the Three Heroes' Church at the time, yet he proved himself a powerful fight with his great strength, personally slain up to a dozen of Siltvelt commanders twice his age. But unlike his eminess, Caleb was an angry and vindictive man who sees women as lesser than him. He openly voiced his opinion that The Great War was caused by women who rose above their rightful stations. He was also of the opinion on how women shouldn't be allowed to inherit the rights of noble titles. And should all be kept with a slave seal on them to keep them from stealing the spirit of was put into the penitence legion, because of such egregious offense aimed towards our queen, and nobility at large. How was a monster like him even allowed to take command of an entire Three Heroes' Church operation?"
"I think you asked the wrong question, Master Uranus. At the current rate, it's better to ask what kind of animal isn't Cromwell letting out of the cage to accrue more power for the Three Heroes' Church." Mein lets go of poor Naofumi's shoulders and lets out a few coughs. She manages to take a couple of deep breaths and hold herself steady. The retired battle priest bows his head down in shame. "The Three Heroes' Church hadn't simply gone against Master Naofumi, the Shield Hero due to religious dispute. They have now flat out started a rebellion to take over the nation. Someone strong enough to slain veteran Siltvelt commanders as a boy, and no doubt have only grown stronger during his service in the penal legion. Who has an ax to grind at all women, especially our queen? That sounds like the perfect attack dog for Cromwell to let out."
"Sounds like a real nasty piece of work. They should have thrown him into the darkest, dampest dungeon and threw away the key." The Shield Hero scoffs at what's been said about the despicable former priest.
"Who is this, Master Shield Hero?" Raki looks up first at Uranus, and then over at Sir Oersted who is silently sulking at the corner where the cave tunnel turned. "I haven't seen them before."
"Oh right. These are Master Uranus, and Sir Oersted who helped keep Mein and I safe after we escaped from the Three Heroes' Church." The Shield Hero turns around to introduce the newer faces of their little group to the Lute village boys. "Sir Oersted is a young Gallia knight, and Master Uranus is a retired battle priest…"
At the mention of Uranus' former occupation, The Youngerer children immediately begin to scream and huddle into the far corner once again. Completely forgotten how eager they were when they received food from the old man not too long ago. The older boys reach their hands over to their improvised weapons. Raki manages to control himself and not make too large a movement, but from the sudden stiffness of his posture, he's clearly forcing himself to not recoil back like his friends simply out of politeness to the Shield Hero.
"It's alright, Raki. He's not from the Three Heroes' Church. Master Uranus was the retired head of battle priest of Gallia Four Heroes Church." The Shield Hero frantically waves his hands around, trying to reassure the boys that Uranus is here to help, and not to further prosecute them. As expected by the fugitive princess, it didn't have much effect on the panicking boys. A bunch of frightened and starving village children aren't going to care about the theological or political differences between two different sects of the church.
"It's okay. Master Uranus isn't with the church anymore. He helped free us again when we were closed off in Graile, when the Three Heroes' Church took over the city." Mein tries her best to resolve the rising situation as gently as she can think of. Unfortunately for the fugitive princess, she doesn't think her attempt to be any better than the Shield Hero. With the strings of severe happenings recently, especially her heart acting up again, it's hard for her to concentrate and think things through properly.
"You were at Graile, Master Shield Hero?" Thankfully, Raki seems to be suitably distracted when Mein mentioned the name of the Gallian fortress city. The rest of the boys also look over at the Shield Hero, awe in their eyes filled with twinkling curiosity. "We heard some of the guards from the Three Heroes' Church talking about five hundred of them being sent over to 'pacify' the city. And only about a dozen fled their way back to their cathedral because the city rose up against them. That's the first major black eye the Three Heroes' Church got after they started taking over!"
"Yeah. It was actually Mein who whipped up the garrison of Graile city to go against the Three Heroes' Church. She pretended to be the first princess, and had one of them champion join our side to push away the church who were enslaving the people of the city. I helped out a little." The Children collectively turn their head over to look at Mein. Their previously lifeless faces now practically shine with awe, making the fugitive princess' face heat up as she looks away. "Didn't you know I was there? The Three Heroes' Church was looking for me, and I didn't really hide myself. Because we had to win the city garrison over to our side, we tried to convince them that the Three Heroes' Church tried to assassinate the princess and I ended up saving her life."
"No, there wasn't any mention of the Shield Hero, or princess at all. All we heard was some officer in Graile caused a coup, and the riot killed most of the church men sent to Graile." Raki's explanation makes Mein and Naofumi look at each other. The Shield Hero looks equally surprised at this revelation as the fugitive princess.
"Really? I'd thought someone would have mentioned that I was there. It's kind of a big deal that the one they were looking for appeared in the city they took a big hit in." The Shield Hero scratches his head, clearly looking befuddled at the newest development.
"No. It makes sense with what Raki said, and honestly I should have expected something like this." The fugitive princess holds her hand up to stop the Shield Hero's mind from wandering in circles. "Think about it. The Three Heroes' Church had their most crushing defeat in Graile, by Shield Hero who they tried to paint as a heretic, but has lost his legendary shield and is now weak. To the point that the city rose up and threw them out. Out of a few hundred strong that's been dispatched to Graile, only a few dozen ran back to the capital with their tails between their legs. How would Cromwell explain it to the most fanatical believers he has whipped into a frenzy to act as the backbone for his rebellion without them losing faith and crumble into dust? He can't. So he had to spin the narrative around, maybe paint the people of Graile as more traitors and heretics who forced the Three Heroes' Church back with superior numbers, without the Shield Hero, or the first princess of Melromarc's involvement."
"True. And with the 'rebellion' of Graile, he'll have more excuses to start forcing people into joining Three Heroes' Church's army. Either through indoctrination, or indentured service like he did to the poor people of Graile." Uranus nods his head, agreeing with Mein's assessment. "I'm afraid that what happened in Graile, or Lute village is but a prelude. Before this rebellion is concluded one way or another, more and more innocent people will suffer from Cromwell's ambition and madness."
"Surely they can't stop everyone from talking about what really happened in Graile? What about those Okami guys we met back in the city? What about the people who surely fled from the city after our failed revolution?" The Shield Hero waves his arms around animatedly, unable or perhaps unwilling to believe in how much grasp the church has on information people have access to.
"The remnants of the Okami Clan were busy taking care of themselves and surviving. They wouldn't go around the nation screaming atop of their lungs about the truth of the Graile rebellion." Mein takes a pause after talking about the descendants of Q'ten Lo's warrior caste. What she has now figured out after connecting all the dots makes her hesitate in telling Naofumi. Surely, he will blame himself for the tragic outcome. But in the end, she decided to tell him the truth. There's no point hiding what he'll eventually find out. "As for the people of Graile… do you remember back when we were staying in that forest monastery, someone mentioned that Lord El Bridget went to Graile?"
"Yes? I mean, it makes sense. We fought his daughter before our escape. He probably got really worried and wanted to make sure she's okay." Naofumi's head slowly cocks to the side. He clearly hasn't yet made the right connection yet. Probably due to his lack of glorious Melromarc's courtly life, and how it would affect the noble families.
"I thought of something similar at first when I heard the news. But remember how that El Bridget girl acted that night? She was more of a rapid animal than a properly educated lady warrior. Heck, Ken was acting more like a civilized man, and he looks like a wolf standing on his hind legs. Does that speak of stable upbringing, and family life?" Naofumi blinks at Mein's words, his mind clearly starting to come to a similar conclusion as the fugitive princess. "It's likely that what that El Bridget girl brought with her was her father's vanguard, and Lord El Bridget brought his main force with him to Graile not long after. What do you think he'd do once he learnt how the situation in Graile was utterly fucked up beyond any salvage?"
"You can't mean that he… he purged the entire city?"
"At least he made sure enough of Graile was properly 'pacified' again. To the point whatever truth would have leaked out of the city would be dismissed as idle gossip." With Mein confirming what must be his worst fear, the Shield Hero turns around, and promptly starts to empty the content in his stomach.
Mein expected something like this, and she certainly doesn't feel any pleasure for being the bearer of bad news. But Naofumi needs to learn the consequences of being directly involved in a militarized coup of the strongest faction of a nation and have not enough power to force the other side into a bargained compromise. It might be too late with him losing his legendary weapon, and having no powerful ally to rely on. But they somehow get out of this crisis, he needs to understand the need to build a proper power base like the older, veteran Vassal Heroes all did.
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Master Naofumi. I was the one who came up with the idea of citing a revolt to get out of Graile. If any of us is to blame for the situation, I would be the most to blame." The princess takes a step forward, and rubs the Shield Hero's back while gently whispering to him. She wasn't the crown princess as per her birthright, but she was still taught to act the part of a royalty. She knows how to push a great tragedy upon her nation and her people to the darkest corner of her mind and treat it as a number in a ledger to make a more rational decision rather than let her emotions get the better of her and make a situation worse. Especially when she didn't personally witness the actual tragedy. "As cold as it is for me to say. The people of Graile were doomed to begin with the Three Heroes' Church lording over them. They were forced into the Three Heroes' Church's slave legion, and would have been sent out as the first wave to die no matter who they pick a fight with. With what little we had, there was nothing we could have done to save them."
"I know… but that's still so many innocent people dead because of…" For a brief moment, she was afraid that Naofumi would come to the conclusion that it was because of him. Thankfully, his face seems to twist into that of vindictiveness. "Because of the Three Heroes' Church. They must be stopped or else more innocent people will suffer!"
That's good. Well… not great, but good enough. Anger and spitefulness towards a deserving target is better than Naofumi blaming himself once again for a situation that he's only tangentially responsible for causing. "You are right, Master Naofumi. We could hide ourselves in an endless mountain range and live like a pair of hermits. But more and more people will still get hurt, if the Three Heroes' Church, and more importantly, Cromwell, isn't stopped."
"Will you save us from the bad men from the church then, miss?" Mein's heart stops beating for a brief second when she hears a timid and young voice behind her. She… she really walked herself into this. The fugitive princess stiffly turns around like a badly constructed and damaged golem, and comes face to face with one of the younger boys from Lute village. Looking up at her expectedly with his eyes.
"NO! Don't cause problems for the Shield Hero and Miss Mein, Billy." Raki quickly hops his way over, wraps his arms around the younger boy and gently pulls him away. "They have enough to worry about already. We can't impose on them."
"But the bad men from church hurt so many people…" Young Billy looks over at Raki, and back to Mein again. "They can beat the bad men from the church and make them go away. Like they did in Graile."
Mein's lips feel dry, her throat feels like a knot twisting together. She opens her mouth, wanting to explain to the children that they are certainly no match for whatever force the Three Heroes' Church stationed in their previously cozy and homely village. Graile was a lucky coincidence, where they both discovered a small group of elite warriors who kept themselves trained who willingly helped them, and she managed to win over the dimwitted champion of the city garrison force to their side. And even then, whatever she managed to gather under her banner and the Three Heroes' Church had only mutually destroyed each other. And with what happened to Graile immediately after, she really didn't save anyone other than the remnants of the Okami Clan. But how can she explain such cold, clinical truth to a small boy who is looking up at some mythical heroes who could have liberated his village from their monstrous tyrants?
"If we want to save Lute village, letting Vicar Vittorio know what's been happening there is our best bet." Everyone, including the children, all turn their head over to look at Uranus. "I don't personally know Vicar Vittorio well beyond what is said about him. But he was the personal apprentice of his predecessor, Vicar Claud Edda of Bragi bloodline and I know his mentor. If Duke Claud is still around, he would have moved the sun and moon to save innocent people from suffering from religious frenzy, or tyranny of some madmen."
"More church people?" Billy gives Naofumi and Mein another quick glance before retreating further into Raki's embrace. He clearly doesn't understand why the Shield Hero who helped chase the bad church away from Graile can't save them, and they need to bring up more 'bad church men'.
"Vicar Vittorio certainly had enough forces with him to put a stop to the madness of the Three Heroes' Church. He already sent his inquisitors, and his church army to the capital with their commanders before the Third Wave. And we saw his precious Adeptus Astartes making their way to the capital when we stopped in Gallia city. Coupled with whatever he has for his own retinue, that's an army numerous, and strong enough to take over the capital from Three Heroes' Church." Mein nods her head along the idea brought up by Uranus, but then she shakes her head. "The better question is will he be willing to go to war with Cromwell over Lute village."
"You don't think he would?" The Shield Hero whips his head around to look intensely at the fugitive princess.
"Think about it. The man was denied entry into the capital by Cromwell. And he certainly didn't force himself in by sieging the capital's wall." The princess points her finger at her own head. "Much more terrible religious wars have certainly started in the past for less slight than what Cromwell treated Vittorio. While you could say that he is being rational and stopping the conflict in Melromarc from escalating, it doesn't mean he would do nothing and just take naps while he's camping outside the city. What would you do in his place?"
"I would start gathering information. Both from inside the capitol, and outside…" The Shield Hero's eyes begin to shine with a sudden ray of realization. Uranus' shoulders sag, the retired battle priest also seems to understand where Mein was going with her hypothesis. "It wouldn't have been too hard for him to learn what had happened in Lute village!"
"Exactly. While you can once again, speak kindly about him being rational and not escalating a volatile situation. He is certainly not someone who would move the sun and moon for the suffering of innocent people. Common people." The fugitive princess crosses her arms in front of her chest as she looks over at Naofumi and Uranus. "He can take on the Three Heroes' Church. Especially with the Three Heroes' Church spread around too thin. That's probably why that Monro guy was sent to get Lady Silvia even though he clearly isn't an obedient lackey for Cromwell. Cromwell had no one else to spare especially with Vittorio breathing down his neck right outside the city wall, and the old bastard had to rely on who the Three Heroes' Church had near Lady Silvia. But Vittorio doesn't want to go to war with Cromwell either, because he'd be losing too many men. And then someone else will pick him apart afterwards. If not one of the Melromarc lords, then someone from outside, like Siltvelt or Faubley. So if we want Vittorio to act, we need to give him an enticing reason to do so. Something that'll make him gain more in the end even if he ends up weakened fighting Cromwell."
"Something or someone, like me, the Shield Hero." Naofumi didn't fully finish his sentence when everyone heard the sound of weapons clanking against each other coming further away from the tunnel leading to them.
The fugitive princess whips her head around. To her dismay, she realized that Sir Oersted wasn't with them anymore. The Younger knight had been such a quiet, yet constant presence after the death of his 'best friend', she never even noticed that he's no longer standing with them anymore. And clearly, he has encountered someone snooping around to the Lute boys' hideout. And judging from the echo of metal against metal, that someone most definitely isn't a non sentient monster. Someone, most definitely from the Three Heroes' Church, has discovered them.
"NO!" Raki quickly grabs another lantern in the corner, lighting it up and disappears around the corner faster than a flash of lightning. Mein, Naofumi and Uranus quickly follow his steps, and a bit further away in the tunnel, Sir Oersted is crossing the blade with a knight wearing the tabard of the red holy triangle of three heroes.
A knight templar. And as the fugitive princess moves her sight from the intruder's chest to his face, she realizes he was the lackey of Consevatie The Younger, who gave both the Shield Hero and Jaune a hard time back on Silver Peak. He was also the same young man who her group nearly ran into while he was patrolling the forest.
"NO! Don't fight! He's okay! PLEASE!" Raki's furiously desperate cry seems to de-escalate the fight between Oersted and Jackson. They both take a single step back, still holding their weapons in a guarded stance while having their eyes trained on each other. But at least their weapons aren't crossed at each other anymore. "Jackson is okay! He helped us escape Lute. And he brings us food. He's not like those bad people from the church. He helps us common folks."
Jackson. So that's the little shit's name.
"Raki, and… Shield Hero." The commoner turned templar gives Raki a quick nod before he narrows his eyes at Naofumi. He still doesn't look, or sounds friendly towards the summoned hero just like their last encounter, but there's no heat in his voice. He hands a small bag over to Raki, likely filled with some food inside. The oldest Lute boy hands the lantern over to the Shield Hero, takes over the bag in Jackson's hand, and runs back into the corner where the little ones are hiding, likely passing around more food for them.
"Yes, me... and you too." Naofumi shares an equally awkward greeting with the lackey of Consevatie The Younger. He looks away at the curved stone wall for a brief second. "So. You weren't just making excuses when you said you wanted to help the common people. That's good."
"Don't take me for one of those pampered nobles, or their hired thugs." Jackson scoffs back at the Shield Hero.
Mein crosses her arms while glaring at the commoner templar. "Oh ? You seemed to have had no problem helping Caleb and his sons of whores subjugate this whole fucking town. Tell me, did you stand by and watch as Caleb branded the men with a hot iron? Did you hear them scream, you useless son of a whore-"
Jackson apparently got offended with her words, as he interrupts her and screams right back. "What could I have done !? Caleb and his men would have killed me the second I said anything!"
Mein turns her nose up at Jackson. His audacity and hypocrisy to make himself come off as better than the rest of Cromwell, or Consevatie's lackeys utterly disgusted her. "Maybe...but it's funny, weren't you the one who was bitching to Naofumi and your friend Jaune back at Silver Keep about not doing enough to protect the common people ? You're no different. Only difference is that you're working for Fuckboy's like Consevatie and Caleb the manwhore, you're just a bit more self-righteous than those bastards."
"I don't have to justify myself to the likes of you." Jackson spits on the ground, no longer His eyes move over to Uranus, before quickly trains back onto Oersted once again. "I see you made some new friends."
"The fucking cult you belonged to didn't leave me much or a choice when they tried to kill me. They did kill two of my friends. Kyubei and Farkas! And I don't even know what happened to Raphtalia and Firo! I either do everything I can to survive, or lie down and die." The Shield Hero growls right back at Jackson. To the commoner turned templar's minor credit, he actually avoids Naofumi's angry glare and looks away as if in shame.
"Raphtalia and Firo. That's the two girls following you, right? One with raccoon ears, and the other with a pair of small wings?" The Shield Hero answers Jackson's question with a small nod, he continues. "They are both alive. That lying little shit Consevatie took them both into his family's capital manor and kept them away from the worst of the fighting and rioting in the street. And I saw a bunch of supply wagons with fresh, imported food driving into Consevatie manner every other day. Bastard probably held a feast with them every day, and fattened them larger than pillars by now."
The Shield Hero takes a pause at Jackson's answer. He then wobbles on his feet, till he leans his back against the wall and rubs his eyes. "At least they are safe."
Mein isn't sure about that. While Raphtalia and Firo might be physically fine and have all of their needs fulfilled by Consevatie The Younger, possibly even pampered like princesses. There are other ways a noble can easily abuse their enslaved victims. And considering how the little shit's uncle was (the infamous child lover/killer), she isn't willing to bet that Raphtalia and Firo haven't gone through something traumatic. But it's probably better not to inform the Shield Hero about it.
"Yeah, well. It's nice that you are here. Because we aren't letting you leave." The fugitive princess crosses her arms. With her ultimatum given, Oersted takes another step, not yet going on the attack, but definitely pressing forward at Jackson.
"Why? Jackson is okay." Mein looks around, and sure enough sees Raki has returned. The small bag in his hand is now an empty folded rag.
"He might be okay with you boys, but he's not okay with the Shield Hero." Mein uncurls her arm, and scratches Raki's dirty, disheveled hair. "He made it very clear that he hates all the summoned heroes. Because he thinks the heroes oppress the common people together with the nobles."
"Don't want me to leave, huh?" Jackson holds his ground, rather than backs away even as Oersted continues to press into his space. In fact, he actually drops his arm holding his weapon. This act actually seems to confuse Oersted enough that he takes a step backwards. "I'm not stupid. I know I can't escape from all of you by myself. But too bad for you, keeping me around won't do you any good. What do you think happens once I'm supposed to report back for more patrol? Caleb, and his band of thugs will suspect something is wrong. And this nice cozy little abandoned mine will be the first place they come looking for me."
Mein feels like grinding her own teeth at Jackson's smug reply. She knows the little shit is right. Forcing him to stay in this abandoned mine could bring as much problem as letting him go. Sure, they could only stay for the day and leave immediately as night falls. But there's still a chance that the Three Heroes' Church box them inside this abandoned mine, and unlike the situation with Graile, there will be no escape. At least he might genuinely care enough about the boys from Lute village to not sell the Shield Hero out to Father Caleb, or Consevatie The Younger while they stay here.
"Do you know anything more about Raphtalia, and Firo?" Naofumi asks his question, while Mein is distracted trying to puzzle out Jackson's motive. She decided to see where it goes, for Jackson's answer can help her understand him more.
"Do I look like someone who Consevatie would invite into his family manor?" The commoner turned templar scoffs with vindictiveness. Mein wonders if this means he helped the boys from Lute because he genuinely wanted to help the common people, or simple out of spite for Consevatie The Younger tossed him away. "I know about as much as anyone else about them. The Consevatie fuckboy took them both into his manor and didn't let anyone near them like they are newly bought virgin slaves in the silk street. At least till he brings them out to parade them around in fancy cloth. I know some of the girls from the Three Heroes' Church are jealous of how much he pampered those two."
"We'll let you go. But give us tools to write a letter." Not wanting to waste more time ponder over Jackson's motivation in circles, but doesn't want to let him go for free either. The fugitive princess holds her hands out at Jackson.
"What's that for, Mein?" Naofumi turns his focus over to Mein, his usually sharp mind seems slower than usual. It might be that he genuinely isn't experienced at how this kind of scheme works to guess Mein's intention, or maybe he still hasn't recovered from learning the fate of Raphtalia or Firo.
Mein pulls Naofumi away from Jackson, not wanting the little shit to overhear her, and possibly rats them all out. "We need to get Vicar Vittorio's attention for more reasons than one. But it's too dangerous for you to walk into his camp and meet him. We are too close to the capital, and the Three Heroes' Church probably has people watching over Vittorio. But we can still try to pass a message to him."
"Oh, yeah. That's a good point." Naofumi nods along at Mein's suggestion. They turn around the corner again, and see that Uranus is already holding some parchment within his left hand, and a piece of elongated sharpened charcoal in his right.
"Don't have a fancy quill, or ink with me. You'll have to settle for my piece of charcoal." Jackson takes a few steps away, slowly disappearing into darkness. "I'm going, if that's all. Nice to be of service to you, your majesty."
That little shit!
The day passes, slower than usual. The fugitive princess can almost feel like a hammer is hitting her chest with every agonizing second, not knowing if Jackson would bring the rest of the Three Heroes' Church men to them. To be slightly safer, they split from the Lute boys and went to a separate tunnel to hide. But it wouldn't do them any good, if the Three Heroes' Church simply stationed a contingent of guards, and barricaded the only entrance and exit.
Raki went with the rest of them. Volunteering to help guide them away from night patrol, and possibly to act as the runner when it comes down to the time to pass the message to Vicar Vittorio's camp.
The sun sets eventually as night falls. No one from the Three Heroes' Church came to arrest them. They slowly, and carefully leave the abandoned mine, and start to make their way towards Vicar Vittorio's camp. Despite not taking even a tenth of the time during their waiting, the journey feels just as long. Every howling of wind, hustling of the branch, or a noise made by a bug or a bird makes them pause and hold their breath, fearing the unseen hand of the Three Heroes' Church closing in around their necks.
Thankfully, the Chief God seems to have smiled upon them. They managed to make their way to the edge of King's Forest without any problem. Further away, about two hundred paces or so is the camp of the Romalian vicar of Four Heroes Church. Mein can't see very clearly, but a young man with long, flowing golden hair wearing elaborated, light blue robe is sitting near the edge of the camp. The unmistakable giant form of the Four Heroes Church's blessed Battle Master sitting right beside him. Even from a distance, the fugitive princess can make out the scowl on Roger of Ajax's face that could rend steel.
"Is that the vicar you were talking about?" Raki turns around to look at Uranus, who gives him a silent nod. The boy looks forward, his hands squeezing the written pieces of parchment. "Alright. Thanks for all your help again, Master Shield Hero. But it's my turn to save my village now. Wish me luck, and may the Chief God protect you from those bad church people."
The boy is about to run out of the bush they are hiding in. But Mein suddenly reaches over and grabs his wrist, stopping him from sprinting off. Everyone notices her strange behavior, and Naofumi quietly whispers to her. "What's wrong, Mein?"
"Something doesn't feel right. Would the Vicar of Romalia Four Heroes Church sit in the open like this? And look at his bodyguard. He doesn't look like someone who would protect Vicar Vittorio if something did happen. Why isn't Lord Inquisitor Julio, or Lord Commander Cloud with him?" Everyone turns around to look at the camp of the Four Heroes' Church. "I think we better leave, before something happens."
"We are just going to leave like that, without even trying to pass my message over?" The Shield Hero looks back at Mein, and then over at Vittorio again. He clearly doesn't like the idea of risking themselves coming this close to the camp of Four Heroes' Church, only to run away without doing anything. "Raki and everyone from his village is counting on us."
"I don't think the risk is worth it." While Mein is continuing her attempt at persuading Naofumi from risking their lives, Sir Oersted suddenly grabs the parchments from Raki's hand. "Hey."
"All of you go. I'll run to the camp myself." The Younger knight from Gallia speaks again after nearly a week of his unofficial vow of silence. "Sir Chevalier risked his life for Lord Shield Hero. Streibough gave his life for him. It's my turn now."
The fugitive princess wanted to stop Sir Oersted from pointlessly throwing his life away. But then she suddenly feels a sting on the back of her neck. She briefly wonders if it's some kind of insect, before she falls face first into the dirt. Her last cohesive thought was that this was exactly what happened when they were ambushed by Siltvelt Ravens.
Not again…
End Note:
Not sure if any of you expected Jackson of all people would have his characterization expanded a little, but his character was from the point of inception, meant to be someone who is both a jackass, but also someone who truly does want to help other common people. So this part where he helped a small group of boys from Lute, but unable to stop the atrocities that happened in Lute village at large was in fact, NOT a last minute addition unlike most of my other ideas.
Because to tell the truth, I'm so sick and tired about the whole bullied kid trope that's been done to death by Hollywood (and how Hollywood at large completely get highschool bullying WRONG), I'm honestly at a point in my life where I genuinely feel more empathy towards the bully characters more than the bullied kid despite me being a pariah through out my school days. Heck, according to Hollywood trope, the bullies are actual social pariahs.
Anyways, most of this chapter is still setup, and the next chapter is as hinted by the ending, the big gunt punch chapter. Hope all of you will be ready for it. Because I certainly don't plan to pull any punches when it comes to gut punching my own main cast.
Guest review time.
To Guest:
Thank you very much for your review. Hope you enjoyed this story so far, and will continue to have a good time.
Naofumi would probably realize that Flangey was a country from earth with its name mistranslated/misremembered, if there is more distinct Christianity iconography. Such as one of my reviewers asked if Jesus was worshipped by the hero churches. As it is, he doesn't even think about it's actually a country from his own world, and just assumed it to be from a different isekai fantasy world.
The original country Comrade Broseph talked with me about was Portugal, and I sort of reverse routed the idea by making China's mistranslation of Portugal during Ming Dynasty sounds a bit more western like. So yeah, while 'Flangey' could be any of the locations you suggested, Comrade Broseph's original idea was still Portugal.
Interesting. I would assume Medea would be on a higher plane of existence with its denizens able to achieve much higher personal growth than earth people. Or perhaps it's because of this reason that earth is on a higher material plane of existence than Medea, as Medea would be more conceptual rather than material?