A

by Ineedalife8394

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3. F

I held back, obviously. I only knocked them out. They were alive. Probably.

Without waiting for them to hit the ground, I went into gatling mode. I spun around to my right, my arms spinning around with me. There was a buzzing like angry bees as a line of stone cannons strafed out. The knights' legs snapped like twigs, armored leg guards and all. They were still attached, though, and I hadn't hit any vital spots, so hey, probably not dead. If they got up I'd be in trouble, so I shot each one in the head with a stone cannon to knock them out. Two to go.

I turned, using the footwork Orsted taught me that allowed me to close in on would-be attackers from behind while maintaining the ability to dodge. It didn't seem like anyone was attacking me just then, but better safe than sorry. I stopped in front of Therese. She stared at me in blank shock. Another knight tried to draw his sword to defend her. Too slow, buddy. Way too slow. Eris could have cut him to pieces ten times over in that time.

In the Version One, I could deal with that. My fist whammed into him before he'd drawn the blade out of the scabbard. This last dude didn't have time to speak before I sent him flying. He crashed into the wall of the church and passed out.

Therese stood there looking dazed throughout all of it. I couldn't see her face through the helmet, but I recognized that body language. People panic and freeze up like that when they can't process what's happening anymore.

"Wha...what the...?" she gaped.

I knocked her out. As a gesture of respect for everything she'd done for me, I did it with a Stone Cannon rather than my fist.

It was over.

The Magic Armor Version One was a serious force to be reckoned with. All my attacks had cut straight through their defenses, and I'd barely taken a single hit. Fighting like this almost felt kind of unsporting. The other Temple Knights lay collapsed around Therese and me. None of them were dead. Great, I didn't like killing people when I could avoid it, unless they were disciples of the Man-God. That was my rule. Besides, these guys were never much of a threat.

"Whew...that feels better."

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Amazing how good it felt to vent some of the frustration I'd built up lately.

Maybe it was good for me to get into a real fight every now and then. I wondered if I should take a leaf out of Eris's book and... Never mind. That'd be too much violence.

Now what do I do? I wondered. After this, the Temple Knights and I were definitely enemies.

Who'd ratted me out in the first place? The list of people who knew about the kidnapping idea included me, Geese, and Aisha...and then Cliff and the pope. Maybe the girl at Cliff's place as well? I ruled Aisha out right away. If she wanted to betray me, she could have hit me closer to home.

"Big Brother, piggyback!" she'd say, all cute, then while I was distracted by her breasts pressed up against my back, she'd slit my throat. Simpler still, she could poison my drink. "Big Brother, I made this especially for you," would be all she'd have to say, and I'd be toast. I was pretty sure Geese and Cliff were safe too. I categorized them together. Neither of them needed a big complicated plan to get the better of me.

That left the pope. But why would the pope pick this moment to get rid of me? What was in it for him? No, I was looking at this the wrong way. Maybe he just wanted to pit me against the Temple Knights. Looking at it from his perspective, I'd said I'd support him, but I hadn't actually followed through. Maybe he plotted this because he was sick of me popping in all the time. Then, while her guards were out here occupied with me, the pope's people snuck in and kidnapped the Blessed Child themselves...

Wait, wait. Hadn't Therese said her information came from a trustworthy source? The pope was her enemy—definitely not a trustworthy source. The kidnapping line might have been a coincidence, a lie someone had made up then tried to pin on me.

No, wait. Not a coincidence—this could be the Man-God's plot. His disciples could be lurking somewhere in the shadows right now. Yeah, that was a more straightforward explanation than betrayal, and it was more likely. Hell if I knew what his angle was, and anyway, it'd be based on whatever he saw in the future. The bastard had his tentacles in every nasty thing that ever happened.

I couldn't pin down the culprit with only the information I had. I

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was just wasting my time overthinking it. I had a more immediate problem —as of right now, I was accumulating enemies. I didn't know if anything had happened to the Blessed Child, but I'd really done a number on her guards. The cardinalist faction wasn't gonna like it. First, they'd arrest me for the attempted kidnapping of the Blessed Child. Then they'd follow the trail of breadcrumbs to get Cliff, the one who'd brought me to Millishion, and then they'd go for the pope.

Hold on. Didn't that mean the pope hadn't orchestrated this? Was it the cardinal?

Come on, we've been over this. Quit worrying about who's behind this and plan your next move.

But against what? Who? Part of me wanted to pack everyone up and get the hell out of the city. But I had Zenith to consider. No way was I leaving her behind. I could go to the Latria estate right now and bust her out...but what if she wasn't there? What if, while I was busy working with Therese, Claire had moved Zenith to a new location?

Was I going to end up burning the whole of Millis to the ground fighting these knights? Oh, the Man-God would love that.

But what the hell. Maybe I should do it anyway. First order of business: get Aisha, Geese and Cliff out of harm's way. Then I'd go to the Latria estate and retrieve Zenith. If she wasn't there, I'd head for the castle, grab a member of the royal family, and demand an exchange of hostages. There, cool, done. I was so tired of thinking about this.

"Oh," came a voice. I looked over, past the mess Quagmire had made of the garden, to the door to the inner sanctum. In front of the door, holding the special key that operated its lock, stood a girl. She was alone.

I realized she was looking into my eyes. I immediately tried to avert my gaze, but it was too late. A look of perfect understanding washed over her face, and she smiled. Then she held her arms out to me, as though welcoming me. When I saw it, it clicked. Maybe it was just an instinct, but I acted on it.

I kidnapped the Blessed Child.

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Chapter 4: Hardball Negotiations

THERE'S AN OLD SAYING: "When you swallow poison, don't forget

the plate." In other words, if you've been poisoned you might as well eat the plate that came with it. This proverb was from an era where it was normal to use hard bread in place of a plate. You put meat—or whatever the main dish was—on top to give it flavor, then tore it up and dipped it in soup to soften it before you ate it. "Don't forget the plate," therefore, meant "finish your meal." Eat everything you're given, even if it's poison. Everything's a gift.

Yeah, I'm just bullshitting.

What it actually means is if you're going to die anyway, you might as well get a little adventurous. It's quite a positive message. You usually don't eat plates, after all. The idea is that if the poison kills you or the porcelain shredding your stomach does it, it's the same difference. Might as well live a little.

I made that up too, obviously.

Anyway! At that moment, I was in the building Aisha had set up as the mercenary office. It was in the Merchant District, underneath a closed- down bar. I was surrounded by barrels of preserved food and rows of black coats yet to be processed. The teleportation scroll had brought me here—a bidirectional teleportation circle I'd set up just in case something like this happened.

Sitting in front of me was a woman. She always put on a cutesy little girl act, but in reality she was probably over twenty years old.

"This place has a lot of character, doesn't it?" remarked the Blessed Child. She sat with her knees bent and her feet to her sides, right down on the dusty floor, even though I hadn't bound her hands or feet or anything. I'd taken her from the garden to here.

"What were you thinking?" I asked.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Appearing at that critical moment, then not even trying to run away..." When I thought about it, the timing of her entrance had been

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perfect. It was like she'd been lying in wait so that she could politely cooperate with my kidnapping scheme.

"I happened to step out then, that's all," she replied. "No one told me about that terrible fight... When I came out and everything was all covered in mist it gave me quite the scare."

You made up your mind pretty quick for someone who happened to step out then.

"You're lying."

"Oh, yes. The truth is, I looked into the memories of one of my minders and learned what Therese and the others were going to do to you. That's why I came outside."

"Huh... You were coming to rescue me?"

"That's right. Then when I came out and looked into your eyes, I knew what had happened right away."

The moment she made eye contact with someone, she could see their memories. It was impressive that she'd found my eyes through the Magic Armor, but maybe that was a part of the power. It wasn't like I understood Zanoba's uncanny ability, either.

"I am on your side," she said. "I want to help you."

I didn't reply. Instead, I pointed a finger at her.

When you swallow poison, don't forget the plate. I'd already kidnapped her, so I was already screwed. No more plans. We're doing this.

I had two cards left to play. Myself and this girl. Let's imagine the worst-case scenario.

The pope, the cardinal, Therese, and Claire were all my enemies. Working as agents of the Man-God, they'd already taken Cliff, Aisha, and Geese prisoner. In the half-hour or so since I took the Blessed Child, the Temple Knights were already moving. My assumption that no one had seen me teleport was wrong—someone had seen me—and the Temple Knights were headed here now. I hadn't had time to set up a transport circle for the Magic Armor Version One, so I'd cast Quagmire to bury it in the garden for the time being, but the Temple Knights had already dug it out and carted it away.

That would be about as bad as it could get. Bad enough that if things actually turned out that way, I'd be screwed... I had to find a way out of it

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with just two cards—my own fighting abilities and the Blessed Child. "Blessed Child," I said, "before I trust you, I have some questions." "Naturally," she replied.

If I was going to make this work, I needed to question the Blessed Child. I could decide whether I could rely on her later—right now, I needed information.

"What is your power as a Blessed Child?"

"Don't you already know?"

"I want to hear it from you."

She might tell me something different from Orsted. I wanted to check.

"I can see the surface of people's memories."

"The surface?"

"Yes. Things that are on their mind, and the associated memories. Only a little, though."

"What's the difference between that and reading minds?"

"The difference is that I only see the past. Though if I maintain eye contact, I can go back as far as their memories extend."

So it's less that she sees into their memories than that she sees bits of their past that relate to whatever they're thinking about.

"You only see it?" I confirmed.

"That is correct."

"Say a person lost their mind. Could you bring them back to themselves?"

"No. I imagine it could be possible if I used my powers in conjunction with healing magic, though."

She can't bring Zenith back.

"Meaning...you can't actually read minds."

"No, but I can use what I see to guess," she said. She couldn't see what I was thinking right now, but it was impossible to carry on a conversation while constantly thinking about something else. If someone asks you, "What did you have for breakfast?" you're not going to have scientific musings about why the sky is blue at the front of your mind.

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"I see why no one with a guilty conscience wants to meet your eyes," I said. She was a lie detector through and through. All she had to say was that your eyes had met, and that was enough to establish guilt. There was no way to tell if she herself was lying, but I guess nobody watches the watchmen. She could condemn anyone she didn't like; that was how it worked for a Blessed Child. You only had to look at Zanoba to see how this kind of power made you an asset and an incredible threat. So long as someone with power backed you up, you'd be safe.

"You aren't averting your eyes, Sir Rudeus," the Blessed Child pointed out.

"I guess my conscience is clean."

I'd kept my eyes on hers for a while now. Part of it was just that I didn't give a damn anymore, but also, if she could see the past, maintaining eye contact would save me a lot of time explaining.

"Perhaps not, but are you sure you don't mind me knowing everything else?"

I didn't reply.

"Goodness, Sir Orsted has a curse like that...ah, the Man-God... their first words were...oh, dear!" The Blessed Child's face suddenly turned red.

What, did you see something dirty? Don't you see that stuff all the time in inquisitions? You must get a good look every time a Millis priest sleeps around.

"Two at once, dear me...two, yet still love...oh...oh, an altar... wait...oh!" She was sweating and out of breath.

Saw something you shouldn't have, hmm?

"What did you see?" I inquired.

"Heres—" She coughed. "Ah, I mean, I see those not of the Millis faith have rather extreme...that is to say, different rituals, to ours..."

"You just saw the core of my soul."

"I-I see," she said, flattening the hem of her skirt and drawing back from me a little.

Relax. Maybe the Roxy faith isn't as pure as yours here in Millis, but it's still a pretty nice shade of blue. You won't find any ero doujin stuff here.

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We both coughed. "Let's get back to business," I suggested.

"Yes, that sounds good," she agreed.

The Blessed Child seeing all that wouldn't cause me any problems, but it was a bit embarrassing having someone know about it. If she'd seen me doing it with both of them, she might know what I said then, too.

It's not like that! I just got a bit overexcited and it slipped out. This never happens to me!

Anyway, back to our conversation.

"First, I want to know how this happened. Who do you think is pulling the strings here?"

"I imagine it's either His Holiness the pope, or the cardinal who wants to depose him. I shouldn't think that the Man-God is involved."

So the top dogs of the Demon Expulsionists. But what about the Latrias...?

"You don't think the Latrias are involved?"

"It is possible someone else is using them, but I don't think they're behind all of this."

So Zenith's abduction wasn't related. Right now, we were down to the papalists, or the cardinalists. Both leaders were suspect.

"What makes you think the Man-God isn't involved?"

"If His Holiness were to submit to the Man-God, it would bring disgrace upon the whole of the Millis Church. His Holiness may not be a good person, but I cannot fault his faith."

"But how can you be sure?"

"When I look into his eyes, I shall know."

Okay, stupid question: Could I trust her?

"If you don't trust me, you'll be best served using me as a hostage to get what you want."

"I'm not holding enough cards to make that work. The Temple Knights are probably already moving in on me. Even if I demanded something in exchange for you, I'd still—"

"I am everything to the Temple Knights," she said, cutting me off. She smiled dreamily at me. "The Temple Knights—no, the whole demon

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expulsionist faction—know that if I die, they lose their chance at victory."

"Basically, whatever they try to tell me, if I go hardball and threaten to kill you, they'll do anything I want?"

"I flatter myself to say that yes, I am that valuable."

I wonder... Crap, I better not have to watch Aisha die in front of me because I trusted you.

"The Temple Knights aren't dumb, and they're not incompetent either," I said. "For all I know they arrested Aisha and already got this location out of her. Hell, they wouldn't even have to do that. If they were keeping an eye on me, they'll come looking here right away. They could charge in and rescue you while I'm off making my demands at the church headquarters."

"Then clearly you should take me with you when you make your demands."

"Bold move, but if they ambush us on the way it could turn into an all-out battle."

"Surely you could take down the lot of them? You held your own against the likes of Sir Orsted and Auber, did you not?"

She'd seen that too? Sure, it was possible that I could hold off the Temple Knights. Not to brag, but I've done my fair share of mowing down small-timers. You could call me Rudeus "camp the noobs" Greyrat. Back in the garden battle, I took care to hold myself back, but if I'd been fighting to kill, they wouldn't have stood a chance.

"Besides," she continued, "if we were attacked, it would be by papalists, not the Temple Knights."

"How d'ya figure?"

"The Temple Knights won't do anything that could risk my death. The pope, on the other hand, would be delighted if I just happened to die."

If you asked them, of course the papalists protected the Blessed Child. If there happened to be a fight and she happened to get killed in the crossfire, however...that would only be good news for them.

"What if the Temple Knights use barrier magic or something to steal you back without risking you getting hurt?"

"You just defeated the best fighters in the Temple Knights. It's not their style to repeat a failing strategy. They wouldn't take the risk."

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The guys from before were their best fighters...? I mean they coordinated well, but seriously...? No come on, that's not fair. They were good enough to keep firing magic at me even while dodging my Stone Cannons. And that guy didn't hesitate when he tried to go up against my Magic Armor with a sword.

Assuming they were, on average, Advanced-level Sword God Style and Advanced-level Water God Style, with intermediate attack magic, intermediate barrier magic, and intermediate healing magic, they were a seriously elite and versatile team. There was a bit of individual variation to account for, but their seamless coordination against me was a testament to their overall caliber. Okay, Therese was a class below the others, but she'd been a capable commander. I was pretty sure that I could have held my own even without the Version One, but they would've had a real shot. I'd still taken out their best guys, though, so maybe she was right...

Hold up, we're only talking about the Temple Knights here.

"Aren't there Missionary Knights and Sanctuary Knights as well?" I asked.

"Those orders serve the Holy Country of Millis," replied the Blessed Child. "They don't get involved in the petty quarrels of the church. Besides, the Missionary Knights are out of the country at present."

They're not even here? I was starting to feel like I might have a chance. I'd show them my hostage and engage them in fair and honest negotiations.

After this sudden, violent attack I, the almighty Rudeus, follower of Orsted, have taken offense. Though I would be within my rights to draw and quarter the Blessed Child and cast down the light of the Holy Church of Millis, I shall be merciful. If you comply with my demands and apologize directly, I shall forgive you, and spare the Blessed Child's life.

Work in progress, we'll go with that. While I negotiated, I'd get the Blessed Child to work out who'd betrayed me and the identities of the Man-God's disciples. It was possible that some of this would come and bite me in the ass later, but assuming the negotiations themselves went smoothly, I was confident we could get out of the country unscathed. The mercenary band would probably have to wait. That was fine. I'd come back in a few years, once Cliff had established himself as a major player, and we'd talk then. I'd have to keep an eye on things, though. If, for example, it turned out that the pope was a disciple of the Man-God, I'd

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have no choice but to tear Cliff away from his ambitions in Millis. It wouldn't be fair to him, but sometimes life is unfair.

"If the other knight orders concern you, I suggest you act sooner rather than later. If they did arrest one of your friends, the longer we wait the more likely it is that something terrible will happen."

"Agreed."

Only an hour had passed since I'd kidnapped the Blessed Child. The worst-case scenario was that Aisha and Geese were already under arrest, but there was no way the knights had had time to find them both, arrest them, and torture them yet. Still, the longer I hid, the more desperate they would become. People do crazy things when they're desperate.

Okay. The next bit is going to be a gamble. If this goes wrong, someone is going to die along with the Blessed Child. I have to be ready for that.

I wanted to feel ready, but I didn't. What I wanted was a trump card to store up my sleeve.

"Hey," I said.

"Yes?"

"Why are you helping me, anyway? How come you just stood by and let me kidnap you?"

The Blessed Child gazed at me, puzzled, then she smiled softly. Now that was a smile befitting the symbol of the Millis Church.

"I owe my life to you and the warrior of the Superd tribe," she replied.

Did she see that in my memories? Or did she look into Eris's memories last time? Impossible to say, but it was Ruijerd and me who brought Eris to Millis last time.

I was skeptical all the same—her answer was too much like what I wanted to hear.

"Does that not convince you? Then how about this: I was angry— angry to see my new friend and my most trusted servants forced to kill one another."

Hm...

"I also wanted to thank you," she went on, "for all the time you spent with me making me laugh, and for the picture you made for me. As

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Saint Millis says, 'Thou shalt be gracious and repay that which thou receivest.'"

Hmmm...

"From the beginning, I intended to find a way to help you in secret when you came seeking assistance on your mother's behalf...but you did not ask it of me."

When I still didn't say anything, the Blessed Child pouted, and said, "You only kidnapped me in the first place because a single glance told you that I wasn't your enemy, isn't that right?"

"I suppose," I said.

Yeah, I suppose I had thought that. That was why I'd grabbed her right away, and how we ended up back here, having this conversation.

Right. Too late to have second thoughts. Ending up on the back foot is what got me into this mess, and thinking isn't going to make it better.

When I went in next, I needed to make sure I was in a stronger position so I could get what I wanted. My goals were as follows:

One: Get Zenith back.

Two: Guarantee Aisha, Geese, and Cliff's safety.

Three: Make sure I didn't cause problems for Cliff down the road. Four: Get the mercenary band up and running.

Five: Get permission to sell Ruijerd figures.

Six: Make Millis my ally.

My immediate objective was to tick off one and two.

This time, I was going to make the first move. I'd drawn a good card —the Blessed Child. Not that I was a dud card myself, mind you. The thing to do now, then, was to take my turn first and without warning... before yet another idiot who didn't understand what was going on could complicate things.

"If this all gets worked out, and I don't make enemies..." I said at last, "I'll bring Eris to visit next time."

"Please do," said the Blessed Child. Off we go, then.

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It must have been two or three hours since my fight with Therese's gang. There wasn't a single Temple Knight out on the streets. It was almost eerie. That had to mean Geese and Cliff hadn't informed on me. I'd gotten myself and the Blessed Child out of the garden with a teleportation scroll. Most of society didn't even know that teleportation circles existed, never mind scrolls. The Temple Knights had sealed the entrance to the garden, so the logical assumption was that we were still inside. It would take whoever was in charge maybe an hour to deduce that we'd gotten out, and then they'd move on to the next step: calling in the rest of the Temple Knights to search the city. Tack on another hour to put together a search team. Finally I added an hour for delays and hold ups...by now, they might have locked the city gate, but they shouldn't have mobilized quite yet. Mobilizing a sprawling outfit like that isn't easy!

Cliff and Geese were both aware of teleportation circles. Geese was there when I set this one up as an emergency escape route, and Cliff helped when I drew the teleportation circle in the basement of our office in Sharia. More to the point: if Cliff or Geese had turned on me, the Temple Knights would have known where the teleportation circle led to. I could rule them out right now as snitches. But the pope and the cardinal should have guessed I was getting around using teleportation circles. They'd collected enough intel on me. The same went if the Man-God was pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

I'd ruled out every suspect. Weird. Just a few hours had passed, but surely my opponent was back footed. There was no way Therese had actually been acting alone. Right?

We arrived at the church headquarters while I mused on the matter. As we approached, a procession of dudes in blue armor came filing out, one after another.

"It's the Blessed Child..."

"Rudeus brought the Blessed Child!"

"Call for reinforcements!"

More and more and more of them emerged from the church, and from the city around us. In a moment, we were surrounded. How was I

Back to the church we went.

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gonna pull this off?

"Sir Rudeus," said the Blessed Child, "whatever you do, don't let go of me."

I didn't reply. She was my lifeline. I kept my grip on her arms.

None of the Temple Knights had their swords out, but they sounded pretty upset. They weren't gonna risk hurting her. Just like the Blessed Child had said.

"How could you treat her with such violence!"

"By taking the Blessed Child hostage you bring shame upon all believers in Millis! You won't get away with this!"

"Rudeus, you bastard...even I've never laid hands on the Blessed Child..."

That's um, an interesting thing to be mad about, I thought. Before I could even get a word in, everyone had assumed that the Blessed Child was my hostage. Okay, well, not wrong. After knocking out her guard and spiriting her away, what else were they supposed to think? Maybe whoever was behind all this knew how it'd look.

"Captain, let's get him! After his fight with the Keepers of Anastasia he can't have much magic left," said one knight.

"Not yet—he must have enough in reserve to kill the Blessed Child," cautioned another.

The first replied, "No problem. If we all attack together, he'll save his own skin before he tries to harm her." That one kept trying to rile the others up. Was this the mastermind's agent?

"Who does he serve?" I asked, keeping my voice low. "The Man- God?"

"No," the Blessed Child whispered back. "He works for His Holiness, the pope. He has no connection to the Man-God, and I don't think he knows the details of what's happened."

Okay, yeah. Maybe I'm getting paranoid. Right. Time to get the ball rolling.

"I demand to speak to the pope about today's events! Out of my way!" I bellowed in the loudest, most imperious voice I could manage. In response, the Temple Knights got rowdier.

"How dare you!"

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"You think the pope will grant an audience to a worm like you?"

"Release the Blessed Child at once and face judgment!"

A few even began to draw their swords.

When the Blessed Child twitched in my arms though, all of them begrudgingly returned their swords to their scabbards.

Hot damn, they're totally powerless against her. I got the picture after the Keepers of Anastasia, but she's literally an idol to them.

Here goes... I cleared my throat.

"My name is Rudeus Greyrat! I represent the Dragon God Orsted! I swear upon his mighty name that I do not wish to harm the Blessed Child!"

I raised my left hand, showing them the glittering bracelet Orsted had given me. It wasn't the strongest proof of identity, but it made for a decent bluff.

"However!" I continued. "If my request to speak with the pope is denied, I cannot guarantee her safety! Know that by making an enemy of Rudeus Greyrat, the Church of Millis will be the enemy of the Dragon God and all his followers!"

I was playing hardball here. I'd even memorized a little speech. I was using Orsted's name without permission, but that should be fine. Also, he didn't actually have that many followers. Details.

The Temple Knights recoiled a step away from me. With just a few words, I'd made them see me not as a petty Child-nabber, but a big deal with organizational backing.

I had my cards lined up. Great.

"I demand an explanation from His Holiness himself for the disgraceful assault I suffered earlier today! Why was an attempt made on the life of the Dragon God's representative? Why is my mother being held captive? The answers to these questions will decide whether your Blessed Child lives or dies!"

Hey, I'm just a visitor here. One day, without warning, I was accused of plotting a kidnapping, and an attempt was made on my life. Now I'm mad. Really, I'm furious. I want an apology, and compensation. And while I'm here, I'm making Zenith the Holy Millis Church's problem, too.

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There was a pause.

"What do we do...?"

"What are we supposed to do? He's got the Blessed Child as his hostage..."

The Temple Knights still didn't let me through. They kept dithering. I guess a bunch of grunts didn't want to make the call themselves.

Maybe if I waited, their commander would come out. At least, that's what I was thinking, when–

"Let him through!"

"Get out of the way!"

"Are you going to let the Blessed Child be killed in front of us?"

All of a sudden, there was a minor commotion at the back of the group. Four men and women pushed their way through. I knew three of them. They were from the Keepers of Anastasia. It hurt to look at the dents in their armor. One of the three was Therese. She saw me, then looked down in shame.

The fourth person was a man in his late fifties with a white beard. His face was covered in deep wrinkles, but his gaze was sharp and youthful. Who was he? I'd never seen him before. He wore blue armor, the Temple Knight uniform, but his armor was a little more elaborate than the others. A level up from Therese's.

If the dudes around us were normal temple knights, and the Keepers of Anastasia were grunt temple knights, and Therese was elite, then this guy was the King of the Temple Knights.

"I am the commander of the Sword Company of the Temple Knights. My name is Carlisle Latria."

Oh. So this is Carlisle. Grandpa.

"I'm sorry we have to meet under such circumstances," I replied promptly. "I am Rudeus Greyrat, son of Zenith Greyrat." Carlisle eyed me like a hawk. His eyes were even more piercing than Claire's. On that point, husband and wife resembled each other. I didn't want to fall into a verbal tug-of-war with this guy.

"Is that all?" he said.

"...No." It took me a moment to work out what he meant, but then I remembered my exchange with Claire, and shook my head. Here, I was

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Orsted's follower. I was still Zenith's son, of course, but that wasn't the role I was assuming here. There couldn't be fair negotiations unless we saw each other as equals.

"I am Rudeus Greyrat, representative of the Dragon God Orsted," I said, puffing up my chest and sticking out my chin, like I'd seen Eris do. "I have come to demand an audience with his Holiness the pope."

After I was finished, Carlisle's face softened for a brief moment. "Hm," he said. Then, his expression closed off again. "I'll take you. Come."

With that hard look fixed on his face, he turned and marched away. Therese and the others followed, looking troubled.

"What do you think?" I asked the Blessed Child quietly.

"It appears that Therese was merely following the orders of the Cardinal," she replied. "Carlisle wouldn't meet my eyes, so for him, I cannot say."

That's a handy trick. So Carlisle was a mystery. He didn't feel like an enemy, but I didn't trust him. Best to stay on guard. Leaving behind the Temple Knights who stood back, watching us from a safe distance, I went after Carlisle and the others.

He led me directly to the inner sanctum. As we walked, the other members of the Keepers of Anastasia formed up around us. They weren't wearing their helmets this time. All of them were up and on their own feet, probably thanks to healing magic. I wasn't letting my guard down, but their plan wasn't to attack me, clearly.

In a head-on battle, I'd broken through their precious King-tier barrier and soundly beat every last one of them to a pulp. While they hadn't been fighting to kill either, I'd gone easy on them. They knew it. We were all very clear on who was stronger here, and by how much. On top of that, I had the Blessed Child. They weren't about to pick a fight with the guy who'd KO'd them only hours ago when her life was on the line. Why did everyone look so awkward, anyway? Mr. Dust was the worst. He'd been avoiding my eyes the whole time.

I wasn't feeling hostility, though. That wasn't the vibe. They didn't seem wary of me at all, actually. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were guarding me.

Hmm...

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We kept walking through the inner sanctum for a while. Before I knew it, I'd lost all sense of direction. Blame it on the slight curve in the passage combined with however many seventy-degree corners we'd turned...

Last time I was here I thought this twisty maze of passages were too alike.

"This is like a labyrinth," I remarked.

"Indeed. It was built this way so the pope and I can make a quick escape if necessary," the Blessed Child informed me. So it wasn't barrier magic or something of that nature then. I didn't need to worry about suddenly being put to sleep or tripping a booby trap.

"That's right!" The fanboys started proudly chattering around us. "The Blessed Child knows every inch of these passageways!" "She always used to get away from us when we played tag!"

So it was designed like this to let the important people get out. Standard security. But I was starting to lose track of where I was. If I were ambushed from behind, there was no way out... Wait, no, I could just smash through the ceiling and get out that way. Or the walls... Well, they probably had barrier magic on them, but the stone of absorption should take care of that.

Okay. I should probably have thought this through a bit more before I dove in, but everything's gonna be fine.

"Are we almost there? I'd rather not go too far in..."

"Just a little further," said Carlisle, without looking back.

Really? You'd better not be leading me into a trap. I turned a wary eye to the other guys behind us. They all flinched, then started protesting.

"Lord Carlisle! You mustn't be rude! At least turn around when you address him!"

"Who knows what he might do to the Blessed Child if he gets upset!"

"My lord, look at these dents! Do you see what he did to my Temple Knight Armor? He wields incredible power!"

"Imagine the horrible mark he might leave on the Blessed Child if we offended him..."

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"Silence, all of you!" roared Therese, and the otaku shut up. Carlisle stopped walking, then turned. Slowly, to face me.

"Just a little further."

"...Thank you," I said with a nod, and we continued on.

We only took another ten steps or so, then Carlisle stopped in front of a door and knocked.

"I have brought Rudeus Greyrat to see you, Your Holiness," he announced.

It really was just a little further. I felt kinda bad for rushing him. Now I thought about it, I didn't know which direction I was facing anymore but we'd only actually turned two corners. If I needed an escape route, I had one.

"Enter," came the pope's voice. Carlisle faced the door, said a brief prayer, then opened it. He held the door and gestured for me to enter.

"Go ahead," he said. Keeping my grip firmly on the Blessed Child, I went into the room. Part of me thought surely now I could let go of her... but no. I couldn't let my guard down yet.

I found myself in what looked like a meeting room. There was a long table at which ten people sat facing each other. One of them was the pope. Cliff was there too, and an old man wearing a luxurious vestment similar to the pope's. That had to be the cardinal. There was also a man clad in white armor. In the back of the room, seven knights stood with their hands clasped behind their backs. Two of them I recognized as the pope's guards. Everyone was looking at me. It looked like my entrance had interrupted a fierce debate. They stared wordlessly toward us.

At the far end of the table sat two more people. One was an old lady, her lips set in a hard line as she glared at me. Claire Latria. And beside her...

She's here, I thought. I finally found her. Seated beside Claire, a woman gazed up at the ceiling with empty eyes. She was close to forty, but she looked younger. The woman my father had loved more than anyone in the world.

It was my mother. Zenith.

Wait, I thought. Why are they here?

What was going on? I hadn't made any demands yet. I hadn't told

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anyone to bring Zenith to me. Bang.

The door slamming shut behind me shattered the silence. The Temple Knights moved into position in front of it, standing in a row as though to face down the knights in the back of the room. Therese alone took a position at the table.

"Now that all the pieces are on the board," the pope said from his seat at the far end, "let's talk, shall we?" Apparently, a lot had happened in the last few hours. So much for making the first move. I was a pawn in someone else's plan. Again.

"Ugh," I sighed through clenched teeth.

"Rudeus, Blessed Child," the pope went on, "won't you both take your seats?"

It looked like I had a talent for getting caught off guard. But I hadn't lost yet.

Let's see where this goes.

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Chapter 5: What's Stopping You?

IKEPT THE SHOCK I felt from seeing Zenith and Claire from showing

on my face...I think. I wasn't sure I could win this standoff or that everything would turn out okay. The only thing I could control was me, and I'd do what I could. It only took a second to run a mental simulation of how to get Zenith out.

I couldn't use a teleportation circle in front of this many people, but I had a good idea of the capabilities of the Temple Knights. I didn't know how strong the Temple Knights lined up behind the pope were, but if the Blessed Child were telling the truth, they wouldn't be stronger than the Keepers of Anastasia.

I could get Zenith. Just knowing that, I'd as good as achieved one of my goals. I'd get Zenith and Cliff, then get Aisha, and Geese. Then we'd get the hell out. I was worried Aisha and Geese were being held somewhere, but I could find out if and where from one of these guys.

With that plan in mind, I escorted the Blessed Child to her chair and stood beside her. I kept tight hold of her arms.

Before I sat down in the seat next to hers, I said, "I'm so glad you're all here. It'll make everything go more quickly."

I was perfectly calm—the words rolled easily off my tongue. It'd been a while since I felt like myself.

"I believe this is the first time a number of us have met," I went on. "I represent the Dragon God Orsted, and I came here to deepen his bonds of friendship with the Millis Church."

The title of Dragon God sent a ripple of unease shivering around the table. No one here had met Orsted in person, and I seriously doubted any of them knew about his objectives. What we were up against. Possibly some of them hadn't even heard of the Seven Great Powers. But everyone knew the title Dragon God. It was usually found alongside another title: "Demon God."

"Owing to unfortunate circumstances," I went on, "I currently hold the Blessed Child's life in my hands."

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I pointed at her and concentrated my magic to make a lighter-sized flame at my fingertip. The tension in the room mounted.

"I can't tell you how much I regret that it had to come to this. To stoop to taking hostages is to bring dishonor upon the name of a superlative uber being like Sir Orsted. Alas, it was a necessary measure in order to facilitate these negotiations—and to guarantee my own safety and that of my subordinates. I hope you all understand."

"A superlative...uber...?"

My tongue ran away with me there. I wasn't trying to be funny, promise.

I coughed, then continued. "Why," I said, looking around the table, "was this attempt made upon my life? Why was I forced to bring shame upon my master's name?" My eyes came to rest on Claire. She was frowning. "Would anyone here care to explain? If no explanation is forthcoming, I, along with the Dragon God Orsted and all his followers, will have no choice but to move to open hostilities with the Millis Church."

This wasn't an empty threat. If the Man-God had the top members of the Millis Church in his back pocket, then it was a potential development I had to consider.

The room stayed silent. Not one person took the bait. No cries of "Bring it on, then!"

Were they all freaked out by the fight earlier today? Or did I say something weird again?

Well at the very least, I'd made it clear that I was pissed off.

"Lord Rudeus, I appreciate that you are angry." The answer came from the very back of the room. He sat facing me front on, with Cliff at his side. Pope Harry Grimor. The most important guy here.

"However, as you yourself acknowledge," he went on, "you are unacquainted with several of our number gathered here today. May I introduce everyone?" When I didn't reply, he added, "I won't take too much of your time."

I tried to work out what his angle was. Why would he make introductions? To buy time? Were his people capturing Aisha as we spoke? But there weren't that many people here. It couldn't hurt to know a bit more about the others. It's important, when making demands, to do

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everything in the right order. People will only hear you out if you condition them properly. If all you do is chatter what you want to say when they're not ready to listen, nothing will get through.

"Of course. I shouldn't have rushed things."

"Thank you...Cliff, if you'd be so kind?"

"Yes, Your Holiness," Cliff said, standing up. "Good day, everyone. I am Father Cliff Grimor. His Holiness Pope Harry Grimor is my grandfather." He took a step back from the table. Apparently Cliff would serve as our MC.

"May I ask you to begin, Cardinal Leblanc?" he said. The man whose vestments rivaled the pope's stood up. His face was, in a word, fat. It was perfectly round, like a certain bread-faced ally of justice. He was also the head honcho of the Demon Expulsionists.

"I am Cardinal Leblanc McFarlane," he said. "I supervise the Temple Knights and assist the Holy Father." In other words, he was effectively number two in the whole of the Millis Church. Right, the cardinal's job was advising the pope... A bit like the prime minister in a monarchy.

The pope and his relationship to the cardinals in the Millis Church weren't quite like ones in the religion I knew. I did know this pope and this cardinal were definitely working against each other, though.

He's got his eyes on becoming the next pope. I wonder if they hold elections every few years or something...

As I thought this, the cardinal sat down. So by 'introduction' he literally just meant name and occupation.

"Sir Bellemond," Cliff called. A man in white armor sat next to Leblanc stood up. His face was scarred, and he only had one eye. He looked about forty. The white armor meant he was a Cathedral Knight. Man, did he look grim. From what I remembered, the Cathedral Knights were sort of like the paladins of Millis. He must be ticked off that I'd caused havoc in his town.

"I am Bellemond Nash Vennik, deputy commander of the Arrow Company of the Cathedral Knights," he said curtly, then sat down again.

Haven't I heard that name somewhere before?

He kept glaring steadily at me but didn't comment. Maybe his face just reminded me of someone. Like Orsted, or Ruijerd...

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Ah, now I remembered. That knight Ruijerd knew had a similar name. Yeah, Galgard Nash Venik. Gash, for short.

"I knew a Galgard Nash Vennik..."

"I'm his son," he replied.

"He's a man I was glad to have known." Interesting. His father was a Missionary Knight but it had been acceptable for him to join a different order. Well, he'd made it to deputy commander, so I guess he hadn't failed in his filial duties.

"Sir Railbard," the pope continued. Two more knights in white armor came next. I didn't know them, but they introduced themselves as Arrow Company senior captains. These companies were some kind of military unit type affair. Senior captain was the next most important rank after the commander, deputy commander, and company leader.

"Lord Carlisle."

"You may skip me; Rudeus and I spoke earlier," said Carlisle Latria, declining to introduce himself. I wondered if that was allowed, but then realized the pope hadn't introduced himself either. Claire would probably opt out too.

The introductions continued. There was an archbishop, and the company leader from the Temple Knights' Shield Company. I decided to remember their names, just in case. It might never be important, but there was no harm in knowing. At times like these, I wished we could exchange business cards...

"Lady Claire." She'd been called. What was she even doing here amongst all these important folk? Was she some sort of witness? Maybe she was the one who'd spread the fake rumor about me kidnapping the Blessed Child. And why had she brought Zenith?

Part of me wanted to demand answers right away, but I got the feeling an explanation was coming. Best to be patient for now.

"I am Claire Latria, wife of Count Carlisle Latria, and this is my daughter, Zenith. Please forgive her demeanor. I'm afraid she is unwell," Claire said primly, then sat down.

That seemed to be everyone present. The guards hadn't introduced themselves, but that probably just meant they didn't get a voice at this table.

"Very good," said the pope. "Now that Lord Rudeus is with us, I

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would like to hear what happened." Our discussion began. *

"First of all, Rudeus, I'd like to clearly establish the context for all this. Do you mind?" From the pope's choice of words, I guessed that he had gotten wind of what happened not long ago himself.

"No objections here. I'd like to hear it."

Several hours had passed since the fight. That the cardinal and the important folk from each Knight Order were all gathered here seemed a bit suspicious, but the order commanders' absence tempered that somewhat. It felt more like, upon hearing of the Blessed Child's abduction, they'd grabbed the most important people they had on hand. Though it struck me as a bit odd to see the Temple Knights who'd been in the middle of all this standing here.

"All right, where shall we begin..." the pope said. "Forgive me—I heard the details but a few moments prior. I haven't had time to process it yet." He rubbed his brow. A man raised his hand. It was Sir Bellemond. Besh, if I remembered right.

"I believe we have the least information here. We came at the cardinal's summons. Our orders were to return with the corpse of the man who sought to kill the Blessed Child and bring ruin upon the country."

As I knew from Zanoba, a Blessed Child was an important national asset. Her kidnapping was good enough cause to invoke national ruin. Although the church looked after this Blessed Child, making her their private property, her loss would still be a blow to the whole nation. Enough of one that such a summons couldn't be ignored.

"Upon arriving, however, we found her guards unconscious and the Blessed Child gone. Now, the kidnapper himself is here, angered and declaring himself blameless," Besh went on. He shot a glare at the cardinal. "Given the summons we received are at odds with reality, I would like to declare our neutrality in these proceedings." He sat down.

The pope smiled widely, then turned to look at the cardinal. "Your Eminence, might I trouble you to explain why you chose to deliver such a summons? Please face Mr. Rudeus when you answer."

Sounds like this was the cardinal's dirty work, I thought.

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The cardinal stood up with a gentle smile, then said, "I received a tip-off from the House of Latria. The message said that someone had been overheard on the street making troubling statements about kidnapping the Blessed Child."

The House of Latria...overheard on the street... Could someone have followed me home after my second visit to Claire's house? I hadn't noticed anything at all, but I did make a scene before leaving. She might have sent someone to keep an eye on me, to make sure I didn't try something. I suppose I had talked about kidnapping the Blessed Child out in the open. Anyone could have heard us. It could easily have reached the ears of a Latria servant simply by coincidence. The walls have ears, as they say, or in this case the streets. Nowhere was safe.

"When I looked into the identity of the speaker," the cardinal continued, "I found it was Rudeus Greyrat. The subordinate I sent to investigate claimed that Rudeus was abusing his relationship with Therese to get close to the Blessed Child."

According to the cardinal, he didn't usually give much credence to rumors. Roadside banter wasn't out of the ordinary and the Temple Knights didn't have time to go chasing up every nasty comment they heard on the street. But I had demons among my closest friends, and I was close to the grandson of a pope who pushed for accommodations for demonfolk. On top of that I'd also severed my ties with the Latrias. I cut a fairly fishy figure, for sure. Then, right after I quarreled with the Latrias I'd gone straight for the Blessed Child. That distracting the Blessed Child's guards so that I could kidnap and murder her lay clearly within my capabilities was the clear deciding factor. I had both the ability and the motive.

"I decided to move against him first," the cardinal finished.

"I see... But, Cardinal, that doesn't match up with the testimony from the Cathedral Knights. There's a significant difference between kidnap and murder."

"I imagine the messenger I sent got a little carried away in relaying the message," the cardinal replied. His face was placid, but the latest facts told me all I needed to know about his intentions.

He'd wanted to set me up for attempted murder of the Blessed Child, then make it look like the pope was directing me behind the scenes. Too bad for him. His precious Temple Knights got knocked out and now everyone could see that I didn't want to kill a single one of them, let alone

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the Blessed Child.

"Very well... Before we come to you, Sir Carlisle," the pope continued, "let's hear from Rudeus. What say you?"

I was silent for a moment, taken aback by the sudden question. After a second of consideration, I realized I didn't need to lie. I had nothing to be ashamed of.

"I admit I did let my mouth run away with me and raised the idea of kidnapping the Blessed Child...but that was only a heat-of-the-moment comment. My companions immediately rejected the idea, and it never went anywhere."

"Then why did you seek out the Blessed Child?"

"I sought my aunt Therese's support in resolving a family disagreement with the Latrias. I realize it may have appeared that the Blessed Child was my target."

"Oh? But if that is the truth, how is it that you now have the Blessed Child as your hostage?" The Pope's voice was friendly, even though his questions felt like a cross-examination. It was a voice that said don't worry, just tell the truth and everything will be okay.

"As I said before," I replied, "I took an important hostage to guarantee my own safety. Only after the Blessed Child gave me her consent, of course."

"Is that true?" the pope asked.

"It is," the Blessed Child answered. "I needed only to look into Rudeus's eyes to see he was guiltless." She looked around the table, and the Pope and the cardinal casually averted their eyes.

Must be hard, having that much guilt to cover up, I thought.

"If that's the case, why did you knock out the Temple Knights? Surely you could have resolved this through words," asked the pope.

"I was trapped inside a barrier without warning and subjected to a ridiculous trial while all my protests fell on deaf ears. They told me they were going to cut off my arms. There was no reason not to resist," I replied. Though I guess I didn't need to knock all of them out.

Leaving Therese standing and reasoning with her might have been the smarter move. Had Therese been there when the Blessed Child came out and saw me do nothing, she might have listened... No, that was stupid.

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I had no clue the Blessed Child would show up, and the vibes back there had not made it feel like we were gonna resolve anything with words. A trial where the verdict was already decided. I'd experienced something like that in my past life too.

"I see... Well, then..." the Pope said. He was slowly working up to addressing the heart of the matter. "What, then, is this family disagreement all about?"

I saw Claire twitch, and something dark welled up within me. The memory of her petty narcissism played in my mind. I could put up with anything she did to me. What I couldn't tolerate was what she said to Aisha. What she said to Zenith. She'd been horrible to Geese as well.

"My mother—that woman—was abducted by the countess and kept away from me," I said. As I spoke, my frustration mounted. "She intends to force my mother, who cannot even speak, into marriage with an unknown man, with no regard for my mother's own desires. She even intends to force her to bear children." My voice grew ragged. "When I objected, the countess used cowardly means to kidnap my mother. Then, when I went to her demanding answers, she feigned ignorance of the whole affair!"

Everyone at the table looked horrified. Therese and the other Temple Knights had reached for their swords, their faces grim. The Blessed Child frowned slightly. It looked like I'd got the upper hand here.

"...That's all I have to say," I finished.

Any further words escaped me, so I left it there. I'd communicated my anger. Everyone was looking at the Latrias.

Carlisle and Claire. The pair of them were looking at Zenith with pity in their eyes. Zenith, in turn, stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"All right, Lord Carlisle, Lady Claire. Everything we've just heard seems to put the blame for this affair at your feet. What do you have to say for yourselves?" the pope asked.

The two of them exchanged a fleeting look. What were they plotting? I didn't get the sense from the cardinal at least that he was going to come to their rescue.

"My wife acted on her own initiative. I know nothing about it," said Carlisle.

He'd thrown her to the wolves. His own wife. Maybe that wasn't so

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insane, though. If Claire really was like this all the time, and Carlisle had grown steadily more fed up with her, maybe he decided this was the time to dump her.

I knew that no matter how much chaos Eris caused with her outbursts, I'd never do that to her. I wasn't about to claim that after years of marriage, it was absolutely unthinkable that I'd get fed up with any of my wives' more annoying qualities, but I knew I'd never turn on them or abandon them. I'd never have gotten married in the first place if I didn't believe that.

Seeing Carlisle do it kinda got under my skin. I remembered something Cliff had said ages back. In Millis, when a marriage was arranged, the bride's family provided the dowry. In exchange, the groom swore to protect the bride's house with their life. The definition of "house" in these circumstances was a bit unclear, but still, I couldn't believe Carlisle was really going to abandon Claire here...

"I am the head of the family, and shall therefore take full responsibility. I wish to make it clear, however, that this was not a decision made by the whole Latria family," he said.

That little addendum is how you show you have a conscience, huh?

"I see. Lady Claire, what say you?" said the pope.

Claire didn't answer. Her mouth was clamped shut in a hard line. She looked like a sulking child.

"Silence will be taken as an admission of guilt," the pope said, looking around the table. Then, without waiting for anyone to speak, he went on. "In that case, we find Lady Claire responsible for this affair, along with Sir Carlisle as her collaborator. Lady Claire shall face punishment, and Sir Carlisle shall bear responsibility for her actions. Are there any objections?"

Something was wrong; this was too easy. We'd missed something crucial. It was like we were just going through the motions to reach a foregone conclusion.

"No objections!" The first one to reply was the cardinal.

"No objections!" echoed the others, nodding. Claire's face was gray, but she kept her composure.

She's not going to say anything? No excuses? I thought. But then, her half-assed excuses would just make me sick anyway. I was happy so

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long as Zenith came home with me. After this, I'd never go near the Latrias again. I wouldn't let Zenith or Aisha or Norn go anywhere near them either. It was over.

"Are you satisfied with that, Rudeus?" the pope asked me. "It was not our intention for things to happen this way. We never intended any offense to you, nor to invite the enmity of Sir Orsted. I hope that we can remain friends..." He was still smiling that friendly smile. I looked at the cardinal. He kept up a smile of his own, but when our eyes met he swallowed, and I saw he was sweating.

"N-naturally, we want to avoid conflict with Sir Orsted. I don't know how he came to foresee the resurrection of Laplace, but I will not spurn any ally in that fight. We shall have to seriously consider this proposition to allow the sale of these so-called demon figures at a later date..."

Over the course of this last exchange, I worked out the broad strokes of what was going on.

The one behind the kidnapping accusation and all the rest was the pope. I was pretty sure the leak came from his agents. He'd stolen the Latrias' name so that the cardinal would be provoked into making an attempt on my life. Either that, or he had an agent in the Latria household and the information came from there, but the details didn't matter. He couldn't have known for sure that the cardinal would act. From the cardinal's perspective though, I was a definite problem: a follower of the Dragon God who'd shown up as a friend of the pope's grandson. I'd caused problems for the Latrias, who were in the cardinal's faction, then that family squabble served as my cover to get close to the Blessed Child. To him, I probably looked like an assassin sent by the pope. You couldn't blame the guy for thinking he had to take me out. Had he only sent a few of the Temple Knights because he'd underestimated me, or because he'd seen this coming and wanted to be ready?

Had the pope known I wasn't going to kill the Blessed Child, or did he not care either way?

If I'd died at the Temple Knights' hands, well, no loss for him. I was Cliff's friend, but I wasn't one of his people. Throughout all of this, he hadn't done any of his dirty work directly, nor had he ordered me to carry out the kidnapping. He was confident he could get through even an inquisition with the Blessed Child, and if all else failed, he could pin it all on Cliff. Plus, even if Orsted did show up later, he could claim he'd just

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been caught in a Demon Expulsionist trap. Maybe he'd even use it as an opportunity to repair relations with Orsted.

And now this conclusion. In the end, the Latrias took the blame for the whole affair. I'd bet money that neither the pope nor the cardinal had given a damn who ended up on the chopping block in all this. The only reason the scapegoat ended up being Claire was because I was angry at her —all I wanted was to get back at her. The Pope could declare victory, knowing he'd struck a blow to the cardinalists via the Latrias. The cardinal's faction was the only loser here. I felt like I'd been played...but you know what? I was going to get Zenith back and have my revenge on Claire. At this rate I'd have the mercenary company up and running soon too. I had zero reason to object.

"Sounds good to me," I said.

"Very well. Precedent dictates that Claire Latria be sentenced to ten years imprisonment for inciting national mayhem."

"Ewuh?" Wow, that was a weird noise.

"You object, Rudeus?"

"Um... You said ten years?"

"I did. Claire Latria kidnapped a family member of an associate of the Dragon God. Her actions also led to an attack on the Blessed Child."

"But... I mean okay, yeah, but—"

"Her behavior has insulted powerful individuals and incited mayhem. Were you not such a good-hearted man, the Blessed Child would likely already be dead. Ten years is merciful when you consider it in that light."

I mean...really? But okay, maybe that's fair. This did blow up enough that all the big shots ended up gathered here to sort it out.

Claire probably wouldn't be the only one to suffer for this, but still, ten years imprisonment... That...was a long time. Ten years back, I'd barely just broken up with Eris. A really long time.

I couldn't do much about it, though. Claire was the one who'd decided to play dirty. This all started because she'd abducted Zenith.

When I didn't say anything, the pope said, "No objections? Good, then this provisional court, presided over by at least three bishops and three senior captains, finds Lady Claire Latria guilty of inciting public

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mayhem and recommends ten years imprisonment. I will leave it to you, Sir Carlisle, to arrange a formal trial for her."

"No objections."

"No objections."

The cardinal, the archbishop, and the knights all solemnly intoned their agreement.

"Good. Sir Bellemond, as our neutral party, I request that you take the Latrias into custody. Once a formal sentence has been passed, the outcome shall be conveyed to the rest of you." The Pope looked over at the Cathedral Knights and raised a hand. Besh and two others stood up at once, then came trotting around the table toward Carlisle and Claire.

As they passed Therese, she frowned for a split second. One of the knights pulled out a set of manacles and put them on Carlisle. Carlisle allowed his hands to be bound without a word, then followed the knight from the room of his own accord.

Claire? She didn't move. She half stood up, but her whole body was trembling. Her expression hadn't changed, but her shoulders and her legs were shaking.

"All right, Lady Claire."

"I..." she said, "I..." The Cathedral Knights approached her. She was going to be arrested and thrown in a cell. It did leave a bit of a bitter aftertaste in my mouth, but it would also mean one of my problems tidied up.

Suddenly, my eyes met Cliff's. He was staring at me, his expression all panic and confusion. What was that about? I mean sure, there were parts of this I didn't like—this kangaroo court-style setup issuing a ten- year prison sentence, for one thing. It felt a bit vindictive.

These are the rules your people play by though, right? I thought of how the Temple Knights had tried to pull a similar stunt with me. This conclusion is all above board so far as you guys are concerned, right?

"Come on, Lady Claire," said Besh, reaching slowly toward Claire like he was trying not to provoke her. Claire looked down at her hands with fear in her eyes. She looked like she wanted to leave her body.

"Ugh!" The next second, something went ramming into Besh. He staggered backward, his heavy armor clinking. Without missing a beat, he sank into a fighting stance, moved to draw his sword, then froze. What

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stopped him wasn't Claire.

Standing there, between Claire and Carlisle, was Zenith. She had put herself between Claire and Besh. She had both her arms outstretched, blocking the way. Her face was still blank as she faced him down, but the hostility was clear in her actions. She was protecting Claire. I was even more at a loss than before. Why would Zenith protect Claire? Was it a spur of the moment decision? She had reacted to her surroundings before this, though, and whenever she did it was always for the sake of her family. Was she reacting automatically, protecting her mother without understanding what her mother was trying to do to her?

I had to be missing something. I never had the right answer in this sort of situation. It had been just like this with Pax, now I came to think of it.

Get it together, I thought. If you think this through clearly, you might see what you missed.

There was no time, that was the issue. Besh would push Zenith aside and take Claire away in seconds. Should I stop him? Could I do that without working out the consequences first? Shouldn't I get more information before I acted?

"Stop this, please!" While I hesitated, another voice called out, bringing Besh to a halt. A small figure came pushing past to stand in front of Zenith. The guy who'd been looking at me reproachfully for a while now. It was Cliff.

"This isn't right!" he said, standing in as though to protect Zenith from Besh. "Ganging up on an elderly woman, pinning all of this on her... Saint Millis will punish us for this!"

"How dare you! A mere priest presumes to speak for Saint Millis and defy the just ruling of the church?!" shouted the cardinal.

"You think this is the will of Saint Millis? A husband spurning his wife, while their child stands alone to defend her mother against a mob coming to carry her away?"

"What child? She's a grown woman, and she's out of her mind!" the cardinal retorted.

"Age has nothing to do with it! A parent is a parent, and a child is a child!" Cliff said, shutting him down. Glowering, the cardinal turned to his own servants, the Temple Knights. A silent order to silence the

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troublemaker. But the one whose eyes he met was Therese. Cliff looked to her as well.

"Captain Therese Latria of the Temple Knights' Shield Company! Are you not also this woman's child? Did Saint Millis not say, 'A knight does not forsake loyalty, be they faced with any manner of trial. Yet at times, bonds of love must be held higher than those of loyalty'? Do you not consider your own mother unworthy of your love? In all the years she raised you, did you never feel love for her? Do you owe her nothing?" Therese looked away, her face stricken. Cliff, his fury unrelenting, cast his eyes about the room. They came to rest on me. "And you, Rudeus!" he called out. His gaze was, as always, unwavering. It pierced right through me. "Is this what you wanted? I never thought I'd see you stoop to taking hostages—then to ensnare your own grandmother and have her locked up in a cell! Are you happy with this?!"

I didn't reply. Cliff's argument was a bit off the mark. I hadn't taken the Blessed Child because I wanted to. And shutting Claire up in jail obviously hadn't been my idea. Besides, what Claire had done was wrong. That was a fact. You do something bad, well, there are consequences for that, and you can't get out of it by making a big emotional speech.

"I know you had your disagreements with her. But in all your family quarrels up till now, you resolved them by considering the other's point of view! Norn told me all about it. After the awful way Norn treated you, you still went to her side when she despaired, without a thought for the past. This time too, you tried to work things out! You consulted with your grandfather and Therese to try to reach a peaceful solution. After all that, can you truly say you're happy with this?"

Okay, so Cliff had a few things mixed up. The only reason I wanted a peaceful solution was for the sake of the mercenary band and Cliff himself. It wasn't out of familial love. That was a quibble though, and Cliff wasn't in the mood, so I stayed silent.

"Answer me!" Cliff shouted. "Rudeus Greyrat, do you condone this or not? Your answer will decide my opinion of your character!" For some reason, that hit me hard. It actually hurt. Why was that?

It hurts, I thought, because even I'm not crazy about seeing one of my family thrown in jail. It is Claire, though... It's not like she treated me like family.

Claire was different. Claire was not my family. Something still

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niggled at me, though. I couldn't work out what it was, and until I did, I couldn't answer Cliff.

"Look, Cliff..." I began. "I'll give you an answer, but first I want to ask Claire something. Is that all right?" Cliff looked taken aback, but I didn't wait for a reply. Instead, I turned to Claire. There was fear in her eyes, but she met my gaze undaunted.

"Why did you take my mother from me?" I asked. Her expression didn't change.

"For the good of my daughter, and my family," she answered without hesitation.

"Did you really think marrying off your daughter in her current state would be for her own good?"

"Given the circumstances, I did," she replied. Before I knew it, my hands had curled into fists. My jaw was clenched tight. How could Claire be like this? She must know that if she'd just said, "No, I was wrong," she'd be off the hook.

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I fell silent. The whole table looked at me expectantly, as though I suddenly had all the authority.

Wait, maybe I do, I realized. I'm still holding the Blessed Child's arm. From the start, this had never been a discussion amongst equals.

"Which is more important to you? Your daughter or your family?" I asked.

"Both of them. Neither is more important than the other," replied Claire, hedging.

That irritated me. Why wasn't she trying to persuade me? She knew I was the one with all the power in the room. If I said we should forgive her, this whole thing would go away. Okay, maybe not entirely, but she'd be off the hook for the ten years imprisonment at least. It's not like anyone died. We could settle for another punishment.

Come on. Get over yourself and just say it. Apologize...

As I hesitated, Claire snorted. "You needn't go out of your way for me," she said. "I never asked you to save me. If I am to be punished for what I did for my daughter's sake, then so be it."

I was at a loss for words. What the actual... You... Oh screw it, this isn't going anywhere.

Zenith had defended her. Cliff had defended her. Yet now she came out with this? I was done.

"If that's all you have to say, I think we're... Huh?" I trailed off as I felt something jab into my shoulder. Looking around, I saw the Blessed Child. She had jabbed me with the hand I wasn't holding on to.

"Rudeus," she said.

"What?" The Blessed Child no longer wore her usual serene smile. Instead, her face was blank. Blank, but somehow...unclouded. Like a saint.

"Spare her, Rudeus," she said.

"Why?"

I wasn't falling for this. I no longer had any intention of forgiving Claire. If nothing else, she obviously had no interest in working things out. The stupid old hag wanted total control over her daughter and resented her pesky grandson for getting in the way. She was like a child throwing a tantrum, flinging her toys around when things didn't go her way.

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"Lady Claire was truly thinking only of her daughter and her family," the Blessed Child insisted.

"Good intentions pave the road to hell," I retorted.

Thinking about others didn't mean anything if you didn't consider any viewpoints other than your own. If you were hell-bent on pushing what you thought was best on someone who didn't want it, you were better off minding your own business. Plus what Claire was pushing was seriously awful. No one would want that.

"Claire also considers you to be a part of that family, Rudeus."

"Excuse me?"

"All of this was for your sake as well."

For me? How does all of this follow then? How did we end up here? I needed her to work with me a bit more here. She wasn't making sense.

"Please, Rudeus. Trust me. When I looked into her eyes, I knew." Right, the Blessed Child's power. She could see your past in your eyes. So that meant Claire had to have some reason—not that I had any clue what it might be.

"Claire, care to shed any light on what the Blessed Child is saying? Because I'm not following."

"I'm afraid I'm at a loss myself," she snapped back. "I suppose even the Blessed Child must lie sometimes. I'm quite sure I never did anything for you."

There you go. Cliff, Blessed Child, you can try and cover for her all you like, but I can't back down after that. I do feel a little bad about it...

It was time to put an end to this.

I sighed. "I can't reconcile with her when she thinks nothing of me." Claire nodded, her gaze steady. Cliff stared at me in dismay. The Blessed Child looked sad. Therese's eyes went to Claire, and Sir Bellemond stood up. Zenith—I realized that Zenith was standing right in front of me.

Um...

Slap. Her hand struck my cheek. There was almost no power in the blow. It probably wouldn't even leave a mark.

"What?"

For some reason, though, it hurt. I felt the place she'd slapped me

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growing unbearably hot. "Nngh..."

All of a sudden, tears were rolling down my cheeks. In the time it took me to realize what was happening, Zenith had moved past me. I turned and saw Carlisle. The man who had stood there manacled, watching all this run its course, then left. Because he was standing behind me, I hadn't been able to see his face, but there was a whole mix of emotions there—worry, fear, regret.

Zenith slapped him too. Just like before, the blow was limp. Afterward, she kept walking, wobbling with each step. No one stopped her. Not the Cathedral Knights, not the Temple Knights, no one. It was like time had frozen around her.

At last, she stopped in front of Claire. She raised her hand, palm out and ready to... No slap came. She cradled Claire's face in both hands, leaning forward until their noses were almost touching, so she could peer into her mother's eyes. From where I stood, I couldn't see Zenith's expression. When Claire looked into her daughter's face, though, the effect was dramatic.

First, her eyes widened. Then, her lips began to tremble, followed by her cheeks, her shoulders, then her whole body. The shaking spread right down to her fingertips, then, as though triggered by the tremor, her arms rose up, and gripped Zenith's hands tight.

"Uwa...aaaa...waahh..."

The cry that burst out of Claire was something between a sob and a moan. She drew Zenith's hands up to her face as though she was going to kiss them and tears began to stream down her face. Then, perhaps succumbing to the shaking, her knees gave way and she sank to the ground.

"Oh!" came a voice from behind me just as someone ducked past. It was Carlisle. His hands still manacled, he rushed to Claire's side. Lowering himself down beside her, he said, "Claire, my dear, you need to stop this."

"Buh...uh, uh, but Zenith..." Claire moaned, her face streaked with tears.

Carlisle moved as though he wanted to embrace her, then remembered the manacles wouldn't let him. Instead, he lay his hands on

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top of Claire's, which still clasped Zenith's.

"She's okay. You don't need to worry. She's okay," Carlisle said, then stood up. Claire's sobs echoed through the room.

Carlisle looked around at everyone watching, then said, "I'm so sorry. I'll tell you everything. I only ask that you reserve judgment until you've heard me out." At this, time moved forward again. I didn't think Carlisle had been addressing anyone in particular, but the pope, the cardinal, Cliff, Sir Bellemond, Therese, and all the Keepers of Anastasia turned to look at me. The Blessed Child tugged at my sleeve. With both hands.

I'd let go of her arm. The jig was up.

"...Fine," I said, then collapsed back into my chair. My cheek burned where Zenith had slapped me.

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Chapter 6:

For the Good of My Daughter and My Family

FROM THE DAY SHE WAS BORN, Claire Latria was vain and

hardheaded. As a child, she never admitted to any wrongdoing, and she only apologized when it was dragged out of her.

Her own mother—Rudeus's great-grandmother, Meredy Latria— told her, "Conduct yourself correctly."

But this advice was gravely misguided. Claire, unwilling and unable to see her own faults, believed she had none. That her stubbornness was justified. But mistakes make us human.

Claire took her mother's advice, however, and it made her into a harsh girl. Not correct—just harsh. To herself most of all. She started her education and made mistakes—because that's what an education is, in some ways. Rather than accept that, her standards for herself only increased in their rigidity and cruelty. And if she'd applied those torturous standards only to herself, you know, fine. But that's not what happened. Nobody could meet her exacting specifications, and she made sure they suffered for it.

Without tempering her stubbornness and vanity, her mother's advice had ruined her. She had these twisted virtues. She was tough, and so she pushed through every adversity. She was vain, and so made sure nobody ever knew when she was hurting. And she expected that from everyone around her. She just couldn't hear that she was wrong.

Nobody liked her.

To others, it looked like she succeeded effortlessly, only to then turn around and berate anybody who struggled at the same tasks. And she never apologized, not for anything. She was cold, pampered, and heartless.

Some people saw through to the real Claire, of course. They recognized how hard she worked when no one was watching. But because she couldn't be vulnerable, recognition was all they could offer. Claire, these well-meaning individuals would say, I see the real you, but nobody else will. Still, she refused to change. She saw nothing wrong with her mother's words, nor with her own philosophy. This was working for her. Why change?

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By the time she came of age, everyone was sick of her and no one would have her as a bride. The topic of marriage was broached on a number of occasions—she was the eldest daughter of the House of Latria, after all—but when interested noblemen met her and saw her hardness and her stubbornness for themselves, they ran screaming.

"If I cannot find a husband then I shall simply become a nun," declared Claire when she was eighteen years old. She was a lady of the House of Latria. Becoming a nun was preferable to bringing shame on the family name by becoming an old maid. In Millis, it was a common path for young women in those days.

Claire Latria was harsh to herself and harsh to everyone around her. And that was, basically, all there was to her.

There lived a boy named Carlisle Granz. Carlisle was a fresh addition to the Temple Knights who served as a member of the Sword Company under the direct command of Ralkan Latria, Claire's father.

One day, Claire's father came home drunk. Ralkan himself was a rigid man. That was the only side Claire or her mother saw of him. It was therefore highly out of character for him to come home drunk. Out of character in the sense that it was incongruous, but not in the sense it was rare. Claire's mother knew the routine whenever he came staggering in. She removed his armor, gave him water to drink, and helped him to bed, so that the servants would only think him tired. She never told him off for it. She knew how stressful the job of a Temple Knight could be.

He was unlucky on one particular occasion, however. Claire's mother had gone to visit her parents and was away from the house. So, for the first time, Claire faced her father's failings without her mother there to protect him. She admonished him bitterly.

I can't believe you would do this. Aren't you the head of the Latria family? Was everything you taught me empty words to you?

Her father was drunk, but he was nevertheless shamed into silence that he had allowed his daughter to see him like this.

Instead, the young knight who had accompanied him home spoke. This was Carlisle.

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"I can explain why the captain was drinking today," he said. "One of our knights was killed on duty. It was no one's fault, but we went out to drink to their memory. The captain only drank too much because he felt remorse for the death of his subordinate. I won't stand here and see him insulted for that, even by his own daughter."

Claire didn't reply. She didn't know what to say. Her anger had disappeared.

She took care of her father in silence. She gave him water, and allowed him to lean on her shoulder as he tried to apologize to her. She couldn't support him alone, however, so Carlisle ended up helping her to walk her father back to his room, change him out of his armor, and put him to bed.

Throughout the whole process, Claire didn't utter a single word. She knew she was in the wrong, but she couldn't bring herself to apologize to her father, nor to Carlisle. She was too stubborn for that. But Carlisle understood. He saw that beneath her sullen expression, she recognized her mistake.

As he left, he said, "You're kinder than you think you are."

At that time, Claire had no idea what he meant. All she knew was that this boy, perhaps a year or two younger than herself, had recognized something inside of her.

After that, Carlisle began to receive frequent invitations to the Latria estate, and soon enough he and Claire were married.

Claire and Carlisle had five children together: one boy and four girls. Claire raised the girls as severely as her own mother had raised her. Their eldest son joined the Temple Knights. Their eldest daughter married a marquess. They were the perfect gentleman and lady, exactly as Claire had desired; she would have proudly presented them anywhere in Millis.

Claire had the highest hopes for her second daughter, who was born a little later. This daughter was far more accomplished than the first two children. Everyone who met her was struck by her beauty and her integrity. She was Claire's finest work, her pride and joy: Zenith Latria. But Zenith left. She dashed all Claire's hopes, running away to become an

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adventurer. And then silence.

Claire was apoplectic with rage. She cursed Zenith in front of her other children, calling her an idiot child who had made the stupidest choice imaginable, and warned them to refrain from emulating their sister in any way. It was the first time she had ever let her feelings show so openly. The daughter she'd pinned her highest hopes upon had chosen the grubbiest life she could imagine.

In all her life, this was the shock that hit Claire the hardest.

The fate of their third daughter Saula similarly diverted from Claire's wishes. Saula married a baron, but he became embroiled in a power struggle which he lost. Saula was killed in the aftermath. Millis's healing magic was highly advanced and so such deaths were rare. Her death was one of those rare flukes.

The family put the reputation of the House of Latria on the line to ensure that Saula's killer met a poetic end.

Claire mourned her daughter. She mourned as any other mother would have.

And while she mourned, her fourth daughter Therese chose a life Claire wouldn't have chosen for her—she joined the Temple Knights.

Claire cursed her fourth daughter as she had her second: "You little fool! Do you really think you have what it takes to be a knight? If only you had listened to me and learned to be a proper lady, I would have found you a good husband. You could have been happy."

Therese retorted, "Did dying in a power struggle make my sister happy?"

It had turned into a terrible fight.

Claire turned Therese out, telling her, "You will never set foot in this house again!"

Never for a moment did she think that she had done anything wrong. Zenith and Therese had both left, but someday they would crawl back for forgiveness. She earnestly believed that.

Ten years passed. No word came from Zenith, but Therese did well in the Temple Knights and was promoted to captain of the Blessed Child's personal guard. Claire thought the Knights only handed the position to

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Therese because the Blessed Child was also female. She wasn't wrong. Therese was an excellent administrator and commander, but no more than an average knight. Even so, at all the parties Claire accompanied her husband to, she heard people saying, "The Latrias are really something. Everywhere you look they're moving up in the world!"

Claire tore into others, but she was equally hard on herself. When she did realize that she had made a mistake she never apologized, but she was capable of changing her mind. Now that the daughter who'd made a terrible mistake was now being celebrated, she was left with no choice. Claire forgave and reconciled with Therese.

The words she used when she faced her daughter, however, were not an apology but a haughty, "I forgive you."

Now, Therese was accustomed to dealing with difficult people on a daily basis as a Temple Knight. If not for that practice, and if her older brother (who knew what Mother was like) had not physically stepped between them, there would have been another fight.

Even this experience didn't make Claire consider forgiving Zenith. She did think, however, that if Zenith ever showed up at the gate, she might speak to her again.

It was a few years later when Paul arrived at the Latria estate to ask for their help. A magical calamity had struck the Kingdom of Asura: The Fittoa Displacement Incident. Paul was the captain of a search and rescue team hunting down those who had gone missing, and he had come to request the assistance of the House of Latria.

When Claire learned that Zenith was among the missing, she agreed without hesitation. She persuaded Carlisle to contribute both gold and men. Her hope was that they would find Zenith quickly and she could tell her, "Do you see now? Do you see what happened because you didn't do as I said?"

But Zenith stayed missing. A year passed, then two, and there was still no sign of her. Zenith's husband, Paul, wasted away. He made no effort to conceal his suffering, and although he had a young daughter, he began to drown his sorrows in drink.

Claire was the first to decide that something must be done for Norn. She decided to take her infant granddaughter from her father and foster the girl herself. She would bring her up as a proper young lady. That, Claire thought, was the most important thing. Carlisle was against it, however,

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and so she ultimately failed to tear the girl away from her father. As the days went by Claire could do nothing but watch Norn and stew in her own frustration.

Then one day, Paul reformed himself. Therese reported that his eldest son Rudeus had shown up, beaten him, and made him mend his ways. This sparked within Claire a flicker of curiosity about this Rudeus. This flicker was doused quickly; when the boy didn't present himself to the Latria family, she decided that he was cut from the same cloth as his father and wrote him off in disgust.

It then came to light that Paul had two wives.

His lover Lilia and her daughter Aisha came to Millis. Claire belonged to the Millis Church, and thus could not countenance the perversion of keeping two wives. But Paul was not an adherent, and Claire knew it was foolish to try and press her own religious convictions on another. She permitted the two girls to call upon her a few times a month and instructed them in the Latria family customs: proper etiquette and painstaking rituals. Claire felt she was doing the natural thing by teaching them the correct way of living.

Norn was constantly sulking because she was unable to measure up to Aisha. Claire despised the girl's attitude. She always gave up and refused to try at things she could undoubtedly achieve with sufficient effort. But Norn, afraid of being second to Aisha, stopped trying. Claire saw what was happening and told Norn that there was no need for her to be the best. She needed only to live up to the reputation of a lady of the House of Latria. This was Claire's version of motivation. Norn did not improve. Claire tried every speech she could think of to motivate the girl, but nothing worked.

Meanwhile, she was infuriated to see Aisha, the bastard daughter, teasing Norn. Her anger made her unreasonable, and she was cruel to both the girl and her mother. In the end, both Aisha and Norn left her house as disappointments.

Another few years slipped away without any news of Zenith's safe return. Claire was left with only the memories of her time with her grandchildren. Her eldest son and eldest daughter's children came of age one by one. They all turned out splendidly. Young people she could present in any situation with surety and confidence.

There were no longer any children in Claire's life, and she stopped

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seeing much of her grandchildren. She wondered how Aisha and Norn fared. The two would soon come of age. Now that she thought about it, they were the only two grandchildren who hadn't turned out as she'd hoped. Perhaps that was to be expected of Zenith's children. She wondered how on earth Zenith had raised them...and then it hit her. She hadn't raised her own daughter. The Displacement Incident had occurred just after the girls had been born. Norn had been one, maybe two years old. Zenith had been robbed of the chance to know her daughters as a real person. Norn had been raised by a single father. The Displacement Incident could explain why Aisha had never learned to properly respect her father's legitimate daughter.

Zenith had been wayward, but she was clever. Once upon a time, people had called her the model of a young lady of Millis. Adventurer or not, things could have been different if only Zenith had been there to teach them...

Claire missed Zenith so much that sometimes it made her soppy. She wanted to see her daughter. Claire knew she would probably have nothing but barbed words for her if they did meet, and that Zenith would likely cause nothing but grief for her, but even then. That might be worth it.

That was when it happened. That was when the message came from Rudeus. Zenith had been found. Her memory was gone, and she had lost her mind, but she was alive.

The letter from Rudeus was brief and to the point, stating the facts of where Zenith had been found and her condition. It was so economical that it skimmed right past Paul's death. Rudeus wrote that he planned on getting Zenith treated, but he made no mention of bringing her home.

Claire wrote back immediately. She wanted to see Zenith more than anything.

Several more years passed, during which Claire searched for a way to cure Zenith. She went around the doctors and healing magicians of Millis, and visited the library of the Millis Church time and time again. She even stooped to studying texts written by demons in her research. It was unpardonable, but Claire was convinced that there must have been

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other cases like Zenith's in history.

Then finally, she found one. She had no idea if what she read could be trusted. The case described was suspect, unbelievable, and utterly nauseating. But a method did exist. There was precedent for a cure.

The cure she found was not a demonic one. She read that once there had lived an elf who suffered from a similar condition to Zenith. This elf woman lost her mind, but eventually returned to herself...after having intercourse with dozens of men.

Claire could scarcely believe it. It couldn't be true. She could certainly never try it. But as she continued her research to try and find the basis for the story...she found that the elf woman really existed. And that she was still, even now, sleeping with hordes of men.

Claire didn't know what to do. Could she really attempt such a treatment? Wouldn't Zenith hate it? And yet, and yet. It may be her only chance of recovery.

While she sat paralyzed by indecision, Rudeus brought Zenith to her.

Just three of them came. Zenith, her son, Rudeus, and the bastard daughter Aisha. It had been three years since Claire sent her letter. Claire was unaccustomed to communicating with faraway places, and so she believed that Rudeus had come as fast as he could.

First, she thought, she would tell him how much she appreciated him coming so far, then make her introductions. After that, she would inquire after Zenith's recovery and ask how he intended to proceed with treatment. If there was time, she would ask after Norn and Aisha.

But the moment she saw Zenith, her plan went out the window. When Claire entered the room and saw her daughter's face, she went straight to her, close but never close enough. She saw Zenith's unfocused eyes, and then—feeling as though her heart would burst from her chest— she sighed impatiently and called for Ander, the family doctor. Ander was looking after Claire, whose health had been poor lately. He had counseled her on treatment for Zenith. Claire, after finally seeing Zenith for the first time in so many years, knew it was rude to ignore Rudeus, and turned around to give him her attention. Then she saw who was sitting on a corner of the sofa. A woman in a maid outfit, with dark brown hair, and a face Claire would never forget. Right then her attention was more caught by the outfit, though.

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A maid outfit?

"Aisha, how lovely to see you again. What, er... What capacity have you come here in?"

"Oh! Um, I'm Lady Zenith's, um, I mean, I'm helping look after her."

Claire couldn't help the harsh words that slipped out of her at this response. Look after her? In other words, Aisha was here as Zenith's maid. And if that were true, there was no possible excuse for Aisha to sit while her master and mistress stood. Claire merely reprimanded her to remind her of common decency. Rudeus, however, came between them. As well the boy should. Claire herself was the one who had abandoned propriety.

Now that she saw Rudeus for the first time, she noted his strong resemblance to Paul. She couldn't help but see Paul's face in his. Paul, the drunk. Paul, who'd led Zenith to this state. All her resentment toward the boy's father came rushing back. Perhaps that was why, in the conversation that followed, Claire's less admirable qualities reared their heads. Her vanity and stubbornness took the reins. She brushed aside the dim awareness of her own faults and dug in.

Rudeus, on the other hand, was a forthright young man. He met her spiteful comments with well-reasoned and direct arguments. His frank candidness made Claire revise her opinion of him. After that, their conversation proceeded according to her expectations. First they spoke of the progress of Zenith's treatment, then Norn's situation. She did not ask about Aisha, still embarrassed over her earlier outburst. Rudeus's knowledge of basic Millis customs was a little lacking, but he seemed aware of his responsibility as head of his family and was taking Norn's cultivation seriously. Claire began to see him in a different light. He was young, but he took his role seriously. He was an upstanding young man. At least, that was how he looked to her. She had no notion of how important the role of 'the Dragon God's subordinate' was. Her knowledge of military matters was lacking, but close ties to the monarch of Asura had to imply a certain degree of status, even if a new line had taken the throne. With greater status came greater responsibility, and greater accomplishments. Claire gleaned that Rudeus was a figure of far more importance than she had previously thought.

This was Zenith's son. The thought called up a complicated mix of irritation and pride within her.

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Unfortunately, he'd be a problem.

The course of treatment she had planned for Zenith was sure to cause talk. Handing a woman over to a procession of men to have their way with her was an unforgivable sin.

She tried to ask leading questions to probe Rudeus's likelihood of accepting her plan, but in the end only made him explode with rage at her. Claire saw that his love for Zenith, even in her current state, was undiminished. But of course it was. Nothing else could have made him brave the years-long journey to bring Zenith to Millis. Claire's probing also confirmed that he hadn't tried the treatment she planned and didn't know of its existence.

She wondered whether she ought to tell him about it. To explain that while it might strain credulity, it might get Zenith back. It was even possible that if she explained it all, he might give her his consent.

But something gave her pause. This was a young man with a bright future ahead of him. Word had it that he was a close friend of a priest in the pope's faction. She had also heard that the pope's grandson had returned to Millishion recently himself. Given the length of the journey, she wouldn't be surprised if he and Rudeus had made the journey together. Claire herself had no interest in church power struggles, but what if Rudeus began to work on behalf of the pope's faction? What if he made his name in Millishion not as a Latria, but as a Greyrat and follower of Orsted—a member of the papalists? The treatment Claire was planning could ruin his prospects. If it got out that he had done such a thing to his own mother, it would be a scandal. Every citizen of Millis would gossip behind his back. It would be impossible for him to remain in the country.

So, Claire debated with herself, was it right to tell him? Was it right to burden him with it?

No. He had to know nothing. It was better for him to stay ignorant about his mother being forced to sleep with all those men. Better he had nothing to do with it at all.

It would all be Claire's decision. Rudeus wasn't a member of the Latria family, and so he had nothing to do with it. That, she thought, would be best. She never considered giving up carrying out the treatment. She had waited twenty years for this—for the opportunity to see Zenith again, to speak to her.

Thus, Claire set her plan in motion. She would bear the disgrace of

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this by herself.

She deliberately antagonized Rudeus, then disowned him from the Latria family. Finally, she had a servant abduct Zenith.

At this point, however, her plan ground to a halt. Zenith was brought back to the house. She was an adult now, and she was getting older, but she was still beautiful. She was still a desirable lady. Most of all, she was Claire's daughter.

Claire couldn't bring herself to force Zenith to sleep with some untold number of men. It wasn't right. It couldn't be. At the same time, though, it wasn't right to expect Zenith's son to continue to care for his mother in her current state. Claire even made excuses to herself: if Zenith could speak, she would ask Claire to cure her. Surely.

The way she justified herself disgusted her.

She wanted someone to stop her. She was about to do something terrible, but she couldn't stop herself. She wavered, agonized, and fought with herself. She spent every day in Zenith's room, her face buried in her hands.

Zenith sat there blankly, not doing anything. Every now and then, though, she would display a human reaction and Claire would be wracked with indecision once again.

In the end, it was Carlisle who put an end to her suffering. Carlisle heard a summary of events from Therese, then got the rest from the family doctor, Ander. He learned what the treatment was, and how Claire was agonizing over whether to go through with it. When he learned of the unforgivable act his wife was considering, he went to her, and he was kind.

"Before you go through with this," he told her, "first allow the Blessed Child to see her." If they knew Zenith's memories, that might shed new light on the situation. It might be what steeled their resolve. Or maybe it would be the thing that would finally allow them to let go.

Carlisle submitted an application to have Zenith's memories read by the Blessed Child. He wielded all the influence he could muster as a senior captain in the temple knights to procure an audience while keeping Zenith's name off the application. He made sure Rudeus didn't catch wind of it.

The Blessed Child—who officially never examined personal memories—would do exactly that for them that very day. As Carlisle and

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Claire quietly escorted Zenith to the church headquarters to see the Blessed Child, Rudeus abducted her.

Rudeus

"AND THAT IS HOW we ended up here," Carlisle finished. Claire's eyes were red, and Carlisle's face was lined with sorrow.

There were a few different reactions from around the table. A few grimaces, a few frowns and folded arms. Therese had her hands over her mouth in shock. The Blessed Child smiled as though she'd known the details all along. Cliff's face was unreadable, which made me wonder if maybe he'd heard this story before somewhere.

It all made perfect sense now that I'd heard it. What Claire had planned was unforgivable. She hadn't gone through with it, but the fact she'd even thought about doing that to her own daughter was enough. I wasn't about to forgive her for it, and it sure as hell wasn't a cultural difference, or acceptable under Millis Church doctrine. I wasn't sure if it actually constituted a crime in Millis, but from the reactions I was seeing here she'd definitely succeeded in disgracing the House of Latria.

If I'd abetted her, it hardly needed to be said that I'd have kissed goodbye to any hope of doing business in this town. And that was why she disowned me. Why she tried to do it all herself. She struggled over the decision alone and planned to take all the punishment alone.

The thing, though, was that Claire had her facts wrong.

"Was that, um, treatment...was it from two hundred years ago, by any chance?" I asked.

Claire looked up in surprise. "It...it was!" she said. "Around two hundred years ago, it said, there was a woman in the same state..."

"And that woman was driven away from her village for what she did?"

"You know the story... Does that mean you tried it?"

"Of course not," I said. The other case Claire had found had to be Elinalise. The story Claire knew was a pretty generous massaging of the facts, of course. Yes, Elinalise had been in the same state as Zenith, but

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after a few decades, she got better. It wasn't until later that she turned into a total slut.

To be fair, it's in the nature of old stories to get mixed up as they get passed down. It makes sense that it got twisted in the retelling.

"I didn't try that 'treatment,'" I went on, "but I did meet that woman and heard her story directly."

I guess I hadn't put Elinalise in my letter. I'd kept way too much secret back then.

"I...I see," Claire said. Her shoulders slumped like she'd been deflated. In her face, though, I thought I saw something like relief. "Everything I did was for nothing, then..."

"Yep," I agreed.

"...I see."

If she'd told me her plans way back on day one, I wouldn't have gotten so mad.

Whoa there, Grandma, I'd have said, laughing her off. I know the woman you're talking about and you've got the whole story wrong. How could you think that would work?

Yeah. I mean, probably.

"You should've told me," I said.

"If you hadn't known any other way to make her better, would you have been able to resist trying it?"

I didn't reply. I didn't know how to answer. I couldn't just say "no." If Elinalise had told me, "Screwing around cured me," I might have done it. But not right away. I would have tried anything else first. But a few years had passed since I met Elinalise. If nothing had worked, how would I feel now? After dwelling on it for years, who knew what decision I might have reached?

"To think, you knew, and still I... Of all the foolish..." Claire began to cry again.

After finding out she'd tried to subject her daughter to horrible abuse for nothing, maybe she never wanted to see her again. Maybe there was still some bad blood there. Maybe she still had some mixed emotions.

Me, though—I felt great. Everything Claire had said and done finally made sense. When she said, "For the good of my daughter and my

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family," Claire had been telling the truth.

And now here we were. And this huge production was because our falling-out got picked up and used to gain the upper hand in a power struggle. Claire did her best to keep everyone else unaware of (and therefore not involved in) her plan, to her credit. I guess she wanted to protect the Latria family from disgrace—Therese, and the uncle and aunt I still hadn't met. But she'd gone about it all wrong. There just wasn't another side to this. There had to have been a better option. All kinds of better options.

Even so, she'd done it for Zenith. And for me.

For the good of my daughter, and my family. I guess that was why Zenith slapped me and Carlisle.

I sighed. Then I remembered Cliff. Cliff, who'd tried to protect Claire.

"So, Cliff, when did you first hear about all this?" I asked.

"This morning. I ran into the three of them when they arrived at the church this morning," he replied.

"...And you didn't try to stop them then? You know all about Elinalise, don't you?"

"The only thing they told me about the treatment was that it was something no decent person would condone."

Hm, all right. I guess that follows. After all this time confiding in no one, Claire wasn't about to just spill the entire thing to Cliff.

"I meant to tell you today, but then..." He trailed off. "I'm sorry."

Then all this went down, and you never had the chance.

This was Cliff we were talking about. I was prepared to bet he really laid into Claire and Carlisle. What you're doing is wrong. Return Zenith and apologize to Rudeus. That sort of thing. Then Carlisle, cowed by Cliff's anger, confessed. Cliff probably felt uneasy at "something no decent person would condone." Maybe they made him swear confidentiality.

That was why here, in front of all the others, he'd tried to argue with me instead of saying any of this out loud. He thought that if he could just stop things here, if he could get it through to me that Claire really had Zenith's best interests at heart, there'd be the chance for reconciliation.

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I couldn't exactly say it was a good plan... Still, it was drafted out of consideration for Claire and Carlisle. It was Cliff, through and through.

The important thing here was that I had all the pieces at last. Talk about a relief.

Just as I was feeling good about things, Cliff looked around the whole room and said, "All right, allow me to ask again. We heard that all of this came down to a mother trying to help her daughter. Do you still mean to claim that ganging up on this woman to use as a scapegoat in your schemes is the will of Saint Millis?"

The pope wore his ever-friendly smile. The cardinal still looked sulky. The Cathedral Knights and the Temple Knights looked relieved, if anything. All eyes were on Cliff.

"This incident was all a big misunderstanding," he continued. "Fortunately, not one person was killed. This affair all started with a mother's love. I admit, time was wasted and losses were sustained in the confusion that ensued. Some of you have suffered temporary discomfort or injury. But is any of that so important? Can't we let bygones be bygones? Can't we forgive this woman, show some mercy?" Cliff looked at me. "Rudeus, the power to decide is yours. You have suffered the most here, and you have won the right."

I let go of the Blessed Child ages ago, I thought. But she was still sitting beside me, and still smiling like nothing she'd heard had surprised her. Like she was a real smarty pants, seeing through it all.

"That sounds fair to me," I said calmly. There was still some bad blood between us, but I'd make time to have a good, long chat with Claire later. If she was the person I thought she was, we should be able to sort that out if we talked it out. She'd probably do something to irritate me along the way, but that was a normal part of knowing people.

"However, I have three conditions," I said, then laid out my demands: "First, I want the Blessed Child to look at my mother's memories and see if she can fix her." I addressed this to the cardinal, but it was the Blessed Child who replied.

"Of course I will. We already had it scheduled, after all." She still had that knowing attitude. Had she known she was going to examine Zenith today? Did she let herself get kidnapped because she knew, then manipulated this meeting? It was plausible.

"However," she added, "I do not have the power to restore lost

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memories. I doubt that it will be within my abilities to cure her..."

"Even so, I'd like to try it. No objections from you, Your Eminence?"

The cardinal made a noise of assent. He seemed to be in a good mood. Probably because he saw his allies, the Latrias, were getting out of this more or less scot-free.

"Second, in exchange for my letting all this go, I expect your full and unqualified cooperation with the Dragon God Orsted."

"It shall be so," the pope said.

He was a given, but the cardinal nodded too and muttered, "Fine."

I might even be able to demand the Ruijerd figures, I thought. Part of me wanted to try it, but I decided it was better to wrap up on a positive note. Things were fine for now. If I got greedy, it'd bite me in the butt later.

"Now, my third and final condition," I said. I looked over at Claire and Carlisle. They stood still as stone, staring back at me. "I ask to be reinstated as a member of the Latria family."

This was how the Millis incident drew to a close: the first to react was Therese. Her hand went to her breast and she gasped. Carlisle lowered his head, looking ashamed, and Claire started crying with big, hiccupping sobs. She was saying something that could have been "thank you" and could have been "I'm sorry." It was hard to tell through the sobs. As Claire wept, Zenith laid a hand on her head.

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Chapter 7: What is Owed

WE PUT THE AGREEMENT in writing. It spelled out everything that

had happened, the whole sordid affair, and it said only Rudeus's good character had kept the Blessed Child from harm. It placed the blame with the Millis Church, and stipulated that in accepting liability, the Holy Millis Church would make restitution by comprehensively supporting the activities of the Dragon God Orsted and Rudeus Greyrat. The contract wrapped up with something along the lines of: the pertaining "activities" may involve demons, but shall not extend to any act that violates the laws of Millis.

The two principal culprits, the pope and the cardinal, signed it like it was no big deal. The nervous sweat rolling down the cardinal's face was honestly kind of adorable.

The contract was signed, my hostage returned, and the gathering concluded.

Apparently, the decision reached by our provisional court would later be reviewed by an evaluation council that would assign liability to all the relevant parties. Whatever that involved, I bet the cardinal would find a way to wriggle out of it. Chasing down the guilty wasn't my job. If they weren't disciples of the Man-God, they weren't my enemies, just annoyances. Also, taking out the cardinal wasn't the same thing as wiping out the Demon Expulsionists. I'd gotten what I came for and sorted out the attack in the garden. Call that a win.

Zenith and Cliff and I set out for his place.

On the way, Cliff blurted out, "I'm sorry."

"Wait, what are we talking about?" I replied, a bit lost.

"When I thought about it, I realized it's my fault Zenith remained captive as long as she did," he said. "I wasn't careful enough. Everything worked out in the end, but I feel like I just made it worse by thinking I could smooth everything over."

Isn't that your whole schtick? You use a bunch of mistaken assumptions to make a big, logical speech, but in the end, everyone ends up happy. This is who you are as a person, Cliff.

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"I'm not holding it against you. Let's try to learn from this, so we can do better next time."

"Yes. Of course," he replied. Cliff was feeling down...but personally, I was more worried about what this was going to do to his career.

Wendy was waiting for us when we got home. Just Wendy, alone.

"Oh, welcome home!" she said. I was struck by sudden unease. Were Aisha and Geese all right?

When the contract was being written up, I'd tried to casually ask after them, but the cardinal and the Temple Knights had basically said "Don't know, don't care."

"Miss Aisha and Master Geese are both safe and sound!" Wendy continued, and my paranoia evaporated. The two of them came up from the basement.

"Big Brother, you're back! And...and oh, Mother Zenith!"

The two of them told me what had happened. They got word that Claire and Carlisle had left the house early that morning to go to the church headquarters, so they headed to the church headquarters themselves to try and tip me off. By the time they got there, though, it was already too late. The Temple Knights were in an uproar; Claire was at the church. I was there too, trying to get close to Therese. They put two and two together and assumed we'd run into each other and clashed. At that point, they remembered the orders I'd given them and went back to Cliff's house. They got our things packed for a quick escape, then hid in the back of the house. They planned to get out of the city when night fell.

"Those Temple Knights showed up a few times, but I sent them on their way this time!" Wendy said. She was doing her job properly now—a small mercy.

But the cardinal had tried to get to Aisha and Geese. What a nightmare.

"Anyway, you've got Mother Zenith back. Does that mean...?"

"Yeah. It's all over," I said. I told Aisha and Geese everything that had happened.

After I finished, Aisha sighed with admiration. "Big Brother, you're like, totally the hero or something," she said, her eyes sparkling. "Everyone is just screwing everything up then one day, bam, call to

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adventure, a stranger comes to town, then he mysteriously returns where he came from."

Don't be stupid, I thought. I'm not handsome enough to be the leading man.

We arranged to take Zenith back to see the Blessed Child the following day. Carlisle and Claire came to Cliff's house by carriage to get us, and the five of us, Cliff included, set off together.

Inside the carriage, I had a chance to talk to Carlisle. He seemed majorly cut up about everything and kept apologizing to me. I wasn't interested in pointing fingers. Maybe he could have handled things a bit better, but hey... People make mistakes. The important thing is that you learn from them, so that you can do better in future, right? Besides, I couldn't claim to be doing too well on that front. Who was I to start harping on at other people about their screw ups? How was anyone supposed to move forward if you kept digging it up? Not that it was my job to make sure any of them were moving forward.

Carlisle talked a lot, but Claire didn't say anything. Jammed in with the other four of us in the carriage, she stayed silent the whole time.

What's she thinking? Should I ask? I wondered. I was still going back and forth on the question as we arrived on church grounds.

After going through some official procedures, we were granted entry into the inner sanctum for the audience. We were escorted to a room that seemed to be the Blessed Child's quarters.

A transparent barrier was set up in the middle of the room just like when I'd met with the pope. There were also two chairs and a window. Six guards stood at attention under the dim lights.

Therese wasn't there. Maybe she'd been transferred. Regardless, it looked like the examination would happen with the Blessed Child's fanboys standing by. They didn't seem hostile. Just a little tense and unwilling to meet my eye.

I'm not looking for an apology, guys. It's your job, I get it, I thought.

Besides, I beat them all unconscious. They'd started it, and I'd finished it. We were even. They were probably going to see some professional consequences too, so I was happy to let things go. I hoped I could leave here with us on friendly terms, actually. I didn't like the idea

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of these guys holding a grudge against me. "Shall we begin?"

The Blessed Child and Zenith sat down opposite each other. Dust gently supported Zenith's head, positioning her so she was still, her eyes open. Then, the Blessed Child leaned forward and gazed deep into Zenith's eyes. It reminded me of an optometrist's exam.

"...Whoa."

The Blessed Child's gaze shone as she gazed at Zenith. It literally shone. I can't think of a better way to put it. Faint threads of light connected them, eye to eye.

The otaku were all oohing and aahing over her. "That's our Blessed Child..."

"She really is blessed..."

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That light didn't appear before. Was she putting on a show? Or does it take effort?

Maybe it was like fire magic. As your magic gets stronger, the fire gets hotter and brighter. Maybe this phenomenon only happened when she was pushing her power to its limit. She'd switched from basic cable to fiber optic.

Claire clenched her fist over her heart, like she was praying. I tried to pull myself back on task. Right now, all of Zenith's past was being laid bare. The Blessed Child might even be able to see the memories that had been devoured by her magic crystal prison in the depths of the labyrinth. If Zenith's memories revealed the cause, maybe they could shed light on a solution.

Just one clue. One little clue might be enough for one of my brainier friends to think of something. Orsted, or Kishirika maybe.

"Oh," The Blessed Child said softly, then shivered. Dust released Zenith's head, then gently touched the Blessed Child's shoulder.

Does that mean 'download complete'?

The Blessed Child stood up, her eyes still wide open. She was looking straight at me.

"Rudeus Greyrat."

"Yes?" I replied. The use of my full name made me sit up straight. "I have seen the memories of Zenith Greyrat."

"What did you see?"

"Until the Displacement Incident, she lived in the village of Buena in Fittoa, where she lent her services to the local healer while raising Aisha and Norn."

We're going all the way back to that? Okay, no, fair enough. She's got to go through everything in order or it'll sound like she's just talking at random.

"After you left, not a day went by that she didn't worry about you. She worried that you weren't eating properly, that you weren't doing your laundry, that you were chasing after lots of different girls..."

Oh wow, sorry, Mom. Least I didn't cheat on anyone!

The Rudeus Continent was a peaceful land...up until it was

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conquered by the bits below the waist. It even managed to hold off invading the unsuspecting Land of Sylphie for a while. Hard as that might be to imagine for anyone who knew of Rudeus's, uh, troop movements over the past few years.

"In the midst of her worries about you, her memories cut to white."

The Displacement Incident. I remembered that moment. Most people, though, were displaced before they realized what was happening, or why. That's what happened to Paul, and I heard the same was true for Lilia.

"For some time after that, only darkness."

"Uh... 'some time'?"

"Yes. It was as though she remained deep in a dreamless sleep as a great deal of time passed around her."

So she had no memories of that period. In which case she must have been sent straight into the labyrinth by the Displacement Incident. The chances of that happening had to be tiny...but it wasn't impossible. A random teleportation to anywhere in the world had a small chance of burying you inside of a wall. If you did it on purpose, set up an entry and exit circle in advance and so on, that would mostly eliminate that kind of risk...

The Displacement Incident had really blown our lives apart. It was apparently the aftershock of Nanahoshi arriving in this world, but that didn't really matter. It was all over and done with now.

If humanity hadn't made teleportation circles taboo and managed their use responsibly, if they'd only done that much, they'd have weathered this crisis without panicking.

I'll tell Ariel that next time. Ariel will get things worked out if I write up a report on teleportation for her.

...Wait.

How did Geese find Zenith, then? He told me he went asking around and heard she was in the depths of the teleportation labyrinth...hold on.

"Then, she had a dream," the Blessed Child said. I refocused.

He's not even here right now. You can question Geese later.

"A dream?" I asked.

"A dream. She began to feel like she'd been turned into a rag doll."

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"A rag doll...?"

"Still, it was a pleasant dream," the Blessed Child said, then closed her eyes. Her voice flowed on, as though she was watching a film play on the inside of her eyelids.

"She dreamt of living an easy life in a house she didn't know. She and Lilia sat in the sun and tended to the garden."

The Blessed Child's voice had subtly changed. She sounded like Zenith.

"Paul was gone, but Rudy and Sylphie got married, and then they had a baby. But then, well, like father, like son! Rudy went off with Roxy, then it was Eris—they just kept coming! But they all seemed happy at least. Even Sylphie.

"Norn moaned a lot, but she still went to school and kissed me goodbye every morning. Aisha and I are getting to be such good friends! Did you know she likes flowers? I tell her I like apples and daffodils and she turns to me and says, 'Miss Zenith?' You can call me Mom, I told her, but Lilia looked a bit unhappy at that. I guess she wants Aisha to see her as Mom too.

"Roxy is teaching at the local school. Norn says all the kids love her. She must be pretty old, given she's a demon... But oh, well. Rudy adores her, so I guess I shouldn't worry about age too much.

"I got to meet Eris for the first time. It was plain as day how much she loves Rudy. She came to see me when no one else was around, her face bright red, then said something like 'I'm... I'm still figuring stuff out, but... I'll do my very best.'

"Honestly, I just burst out laughing. I told her to try saying it to Rudy instead. There was no point being all formal around me. Then Eris went bright red again and bowed her head. It was the sweetest thing. She's always so bold, you know?"

Those were Zenith's memories of the past few years. They didn't quite match up with mine. Norn hardly ever spoke to Zenith. And while Aisha talked to her in the garden frequently, Zenith never replied.

But does that mean that in Zenith's eyes... Did it feel to her like she was talking to everyone, and they were replying?

"Then, there's Rudy's children. Lucie is the most precious little thing. She's still so little, but she's doing her best to be a big sister. She

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listens so carefully to everything Sylphie says, and she practices her magic every day to show Rudy. With me, though, she doesn't act so tough. She says she's not as strong as her mama. She's hard on herself. I told her she has nothing to worry about. One day she'll be able to do it all, and even if not, she'll find her own talent. After that, she said she'd do her best. Oh, she's so sweet! Lara really likes me. You know she was talking from the moment she was born! She calls me over every little thing. Granny, Granny...she says, then next thing I know Leo comes over saying 'Miss Zenith, help! Miss Lara wet herself!'

"Lately, she climbs up on my knees and we sit in the sun with Leo and talk. About the countryside around the house, or about their daddy's hometown. That sort of thing.

"Arus loves breasts. Just like Rudy when he was little. Whenever I pick him up he grabs at mine and he looks so pleased with himself. I suppose even the breasts of an old granny like me will do! He's a little bit bad, just like Paul and Rudy. I told him if he's going to make all the girls cry like Rudy, he has to make sure they're all happy in the end too."

I realized my eyes were hot. Tears were streaming down my cheeks. Lucie hardly ever went near Zenith, and Lara couldn't talk. More than half of the scenes the Blessed Child described were just Zenith's delusions. Hallucinations playing behind her empty eyes. But the world she saw was so kind.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Rudy started working for this really amazing guy. The Dragon God Orsted, he's called. One of the three Demon Slayer Heroes and a distant apprentice of the Dragon God Urupen. He's supposed to be suuuper strong and suuuper scary. Everyone seems terrified of him, but he doesn't seem so bad to me. I think deep down he just wants to make friends. He's hung up on Rudy in particular. He keeps coming to see how our family is getting along. I talk to him sometimes, but he doesn't seem very used to talking to people. He gets all tongue-tied. He's a good person, though. He teaches Lucie tricks to help her with her magic when she's struggling, though they're a bit complicated—I don't think she understands him very well.

"Once, I asked if he wanted to hold Lara. He was so nervous about it! But he was very careful when he took her. He's not so keen on Leo and Arus though, I think. The other day he made Arus cry, then left without greeting Eris. I wonder what sort of work Rudy is doing for this man who's so strong, and yet so kind. Whatever it is, I'm proud of him. I'm

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sure Paul would be too."

How much of that is true? Orsted almost never comes to the house... Is he coming by without telling me?

"Rudy's grown up into such a wonderful young man. Norn and Aisha are grown up too now, and Sylphie had her second baby. Lilia was so worried, saying now she had that on top of looking after me! How silly. Obviously, the children come first. I'm going to visit my mother, so I'm leaving Sylphie to you, Lilia, okay?

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I used to be an adventurer, you know! We're going with Rudy and Aisha and Rudy's friend Cliff. Hah ha, I'm getting all excited, thinking about going on a trip with Rudy!"

Zenith's memories were approaching the present day.

"Mother has gotten so old. She's nothing like how I remember! I thought she'd yell at me for sure, but instead she comes up to me saying, 'Zenith, oh, Zenith,' and looking all weepy! She was worried I was hurt or unwell, so she brought a doctor to see me. I mean, as you can see I'm in perfect health! But Mother does like to worry. She brought the doctor in every day! She was always so hard on us, but now she looks at me like she might cry. She doesn't scold me at all.

"She comes by so often because she's worried. Oh, Dad came too. He's grown out his beard, can you believe it? He never used to wear it like that. When I asked him about it, he said he let it grow because he got promoted. It looks so awful on him, I have to laugh."

I shot a glance at Claire and Carlisle. Claire had her face buried in his chest while Carlisle stroked her hair. His eyes were brimming with tears.

"The only thing is, Mother doesn't get on with Rudy at all. Rudy hates people looking down on him and telling him what to do. He and Mother got in a fight. I wish they'd find a way to make up... Then Rudy went and backed Mother right into a corner! Paul was always like that when we fought back in Buena. Rudy really doesn't pull his punches... Well, I'll just have to get them to make up!"

The Blessed Child's eyes opened.

Is that the end, then?

"Whew," she said, rubbing her eyes and exhaling, before she collapsed back into her chair. The otaku rushed to her side, one with what

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looked like hot towels, another with a glass of water. One started massaging her shoulders. It was like she was some ancient empress or something.

"My apologies. That was all I saw. Did you hear what you wanted?" the Blessed Child asked. She sounded wiped out. Using that power really drains her, huh, I thought.

I guess it would. She'd read through all Zenith's memories, downloaded them into her own brain, then her brain had converted the whole thing into a little simulated Zenith monologue for us. Having all that information rush into your brain at once had to be exhausting.

For once, I thought maybe I should join the otaku. She deserved that shoulder rub.

"Yes, thank you," I replied. I still didn't know how to fix Zenith. But now I knew how she'd felt after becoming like this. Just knowing that made coming to Millis worth it.

"It may not mean much, but she is happy now," the Blessed Child said. "She knows that Paul is dead, and she understands what is happening around her."

She sure does, I thought. She understands a lot more than I ever imagined. It all still felt a bit dreamlike, and the Blessed Child's voice had lent it this fairytale quality, but—I mean, she knew how many kids I had, and her description of their personalities had been pretty solid. Except for Lara, maybe. Lara did like Zenith, though. Maybe from Zenith's point of view it looked like she was trying to communicate.

"There was one more thing I learned," the Blessed Child said. I looked at her questioningly. "Zenith... I don't know how much she sees, but she can read minds."

Read minds?

"Because of her current condition, she doesn't always interpret what she reads correctly, and I think she may be filling in the parts she can't read with her own stories..." The Blessed Child's voice trailed off.

She beckoned to me, gesturing to me to bring my ear to her mouth. The otaku all immediately covered their ears and turned away.

I leaned in toward her. She whispered, "She is a Blessed Child."

I nodded slowly. I'd known from the start that it was likely she was cursed. And I knew all too well that a Cursed Child and a Blessed Child

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were, in essence, one and the same.

"If this gets out, things will get out of hand again. I recommend you keep it safe," she said.

"No question about that," I agreed. "I'm a follower of Orsted. I'll protect her, no matter what."

"Total commitment... That's who you are, isn't it?"

I probably don't need to tell her I go all out, given that I did try to kidnap her. But yeah. Those are the words I'm trying to live by.

I knew two things now. The first was that Zenith had power. She could read minds. It wasn't clear how much she could read, but it probably wasn't killing her. It was more like she didn't know how to communicate what she saw. No immediate danger. I could relax a bit knowing that.

The second was that something was up with Geese. Some of what he'd told me didn't fit, and honestly, his behavior throughout this whole incident had been a bit off. Going to the Latria estate even though he knew they favored demon expulsion, then blindly following Claire's orders to bring Zenith out into the open. I needed to talk to him soon—today, if possible.

"Blessed Child, I'm really glad we met," I said. "I'd like to thank you somehow."

I still didn't know how to get Zenith's memories back—or rather, how to get her back to her old self—but I'd learned that things were nowhere near as bad as I'd feared. She was conscious, just dreaming. That meant that one day, she might wake up. And even if she didn't, so long as she was happy like this, maybe that was okay.

"You are very kind. In that case, I do have two requests. May I make them?"

"Go ahead."

"Will you give me that bracelet?"

"Bracelet?" I looked down and saw Orsted's bracelet shining on my arm.

"Yes," said the Blessed Child.

"Um, see... Thing is, I can't take this off. Isn't there something else?"

"Anything will do, so long as it identifies the bearer as a follower of

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Orsted at a glance."

So long as it identifies the bearer as a follower of Orsted at a glance... Does she mean what I think she means...?

"You want to join Orsted?"

"I do. I would prefer to live past thirty." "Fair enough."

That's right, her destiny is weak. She's fated to die unless something changes. She wasn't in the best shape, but she didn't seem especially sickly either. That left assassination as the biggest worry. Considering her power and the sheer number of schemes going on in the Millis Church, that was the likeliest cause. If she were under Orsted's protection, though, the cardinal (who had a guilty conscience about this whole thing) and the pope (who thought I was on his side now) would find it a lot harder to move against her. Still, it wasn't a guarantee.

Heh... All right, then let's upgrade it to a guarantee.

"Okay, I'll bring you something in the next few days," I said.

"Oh, thank you! With that, I might even make it to fifty!" she replied.

She'd seriously helped me out at every turn. I wouldn't bring her a meager mark of the Dragon God. I'd summon a guardian beast for her.

"What about the second thing?" I asked.

"I want you to get Therese off on a lighter sentence. Unless we do something, she's going to be demoted and sent far away."

"I mean, doesn't she kind of have it coming?" I pointed out. Not only was she 'just following orders' but she couldn't even carry those orders out.

"That's not unfair. But you must understand, Rudeus, her loss to you was a rather humiliating defeat for the cardinal. If she is sent away, she will be killed. And I want her in my guard."

I could see how the cardinal might kill her out of pure spite when she wasn't useful anymore. But she stuck to her role as his henchman, and this is what happens to henchmen who fail...

Still, I couldn't deny she'd done absolutely everything she could for Zenith. Death was a tall price to pay for following orders and being manipulated.

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"All right," I said.

"Thank you. May I have your signature?" One of the fanboys brought a document over to me. They were on top of everything, those guys.

"I do look forward to working with you in the future, Sir Rudeus," she said.

And that's the story of how the Blessed Child became a follower of Orsted.

"Rudeus."

We were waiting for the coach in a side room when Claire addressed me. Her face was as stony as ever. That was just how she looked. Unless that was anxiety I was reading in her face?

"This is far from an appropriate place to discuss what I have to say," she continued, "and I'd hoped to talk to you when things had calmed down somewhat, but you are sure to only grow more busy as time wears on. May we speak now?"

I nodded.

Is she mad at me for having three wives? Two was bad enough, but three! The Millis Church will never stand for such a thing!

"It's regarding the mess I caused."

"Okay."

Huh, so it's not about the wife thing. She wants to talk about herself. Fair enough. She wasn't about to come chew me out for my life choices after what she tried to pull. That would be ridiculous. Duh.

Her expression remained firm as she went on. "I know that what I tried to do was unforgivable."

"Yep," I said.

It might have been for Zenith's sake or whatever, but her treatment plan was way overboard. If she'd gone through with it, well...let's just say we wouldn't be chatting as amicably as this.

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"I want you to punish me," Claire said.

"P-punish...?"

"Yes. I stole Zenith from you, and I tried to do something utterly inhuman to her. I should be punished accordingly."

"Can't you just apologize?"

"What would that solve? Sins must be punished," she insisted.

I saw where she was coming from. If sorry made everything better, there'd be no need for the police. Pretty much everyone who'd contributed to that mess had received some sort of punishment. But not Claire. And Claire herself wasn't satisfied with that.

"Okay, then... What kind of punishment do you think you deserve?"

"You could beat me with a whip, or a staff, or cut my arms off. You could even kill me. I don't care."

Um... That's a bit much. I didn't want to become known as a grandma killer. Plus Zenith would be so mad at me.

"You heard what Zenith said in there. You saw how self-righteous I was, how little thought I gave to anyone else. You saw how she trusted me like a baby, and I was going to throw her into hell. Fools like me don't need to be pitied, only to be crushed by the hammer of justice."

Her hands were clenched into fists and shaking.

So that's what she heard back there. It sounded a little different to me.

Zenith forgave Claire. I don't think she knew what Claire planned, but she knew that Claire was suffering over some decision, and she knew it related to her. That was why, when she saw Claire trying to take all the blame herself back at the trial without anyone standing up for her, Zenith had forgiven her. Then, she'd slapped Carlisle and me, but not Claire.

Okay, maybe I'm twisting that logic a bit far. That's not how it went down either.

Maybe it was right that Claire received some kind of punishment. Claire herself seemed to want punishment more than forgiveness anyway, and she wasn't going anywhere until she got it. Fine, then.

"Well, okay... If you insist..." I said. Claire looked at me nervously. Sorry, but if it's all the same to you, I'm gonna use this to my

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advantage.

"I want you to convert," I said.

"You mean to your religion? You want me to worship demons?"

Crap, that wasn't the right word. Not convert. I really don't want you joining the Roxy cult. How the heck do I explain this? Oh, well. I guess I can spell it out for her.

"No, sorry. That's not what I meant. You don't have to leave the Millis Church. I mean I want you to leave the Demon Expulsionists."

"The whole of the Latria family?"

"Just you would be fine with me. One of my wives is a demon, so I'd rather you didn't call her 'filthy.' Also, I'd like you to recognize my religion and keep your opinions about my family to yourself."

Claire didn't reply.

"And one more thing. If you ever end up facing that sort of decision again, talk to me about it, okay? I have the power to solve most things... At least, I like to think so," I finished. Claire stared at me, shocked. But she nodded.

"Very well," she said.

She didn't look convinced. She probably wasn't sure if she'd actually been punished. Neither was I. I basically listed off everything I wanted from her and she interpreted it as a punishment.

She nodded, even so. I guess she decided that if this was my judgment, she'd go along with it.

"From this day forth, I, Claire Latria, shall be a demon integrationist and do everything in my power to assist that cause. I will trust in you, Rudeus, and make no comment on your religion or your educational methods, nor shall I permit such words from any other."

"Thank you..." I replied. "Just don't overdo it, okay? Pushing your thoughts on others never goes well."

"I understand."

If I could get the old bird to be a bit more flexible, then I could rest a whole lot easier. That way, I could know for sure that she wasn't going to start any fights with my wives or daughters. She was all obedient now, but what's the saying? Vows made in storms are forgotten in calm... When we met again...or rather if we met again, I really didn't want to get into

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another argument.

"That's all I have to say," I said.

"Thank you for your kindness," she replied curtly, then nodded. Could you be any worse at apologizing? I thought. Honestly...

Right, so back to Cliff's place. I would probably have to show my face at the Latria estate later, but first I would deal with Geese. I had serious questions—about this trip and the last time we ran into him. When I thought back, I realized that the guy had a real knack for showing up at just the right moment. I was fascinated. He was going to explain that trick to me.

"I'm heading out to go find Geese," I said to Aisha and Zenith as I went to leave.

"Big Brother, hold up!" Aisha called out, rushing over to stop me with her hand outstretched. "Look at this!"

In her hand was a letter. It was sealed with wax, and on the outside was written Rudeus. "Wendy said that as soon as you left, Geese came by and left this!" Aisha explained. I took it without a word. A letter, right at this moment.

Oh, I had a bad feeling about this. I broke the seal and began to read.

Rudeus,

Hey, Boss. If you came back to the house from talking to the Blessed Child and you're reading this letter, well, you probably worked out what's happened.

You have, yeah? Worked it out, I mean. There's no way you haven't. Right? If you haven't I really messed up by writing this. But what the hell.

I reckon you've got some questions, right, Boss? Like how come I knew where Zenith was when there was no way I should? How come I took Zenith outside just at the right time?

This is going back a bit, but the time we first met was like that too. Quite the coincidence, me just running into you like that in Doldia village...

Well? How'd I do it? There's some stuff even the mighty S-ranked

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adventurer Geese just shouldn't be able to do! How 'bout I tell you?

It was all thanks to the Man-God's instructions. Everything I did, I was following the Man-God's advice.

Basically I'm what you'd call a 'Disciple of the Man-God.' I was pulling one over on you, Boss.

Well? Surprised? Are you thinking 'I knew it'? Or are you pissed off?

Yeah, you're probably pissed. Ah well, that's only fair!

Just so you know, though, I've been hearing this god's voice since I was a kid. That voice got me out of some tough scrapes and a few near- death situations too boot. I'm weak. I can't get by on my own. That voice was my savior, y'know?

Wasn't it the same for you, Boss?

The Man-God helped you out when you came back from the Demon Continent. He brought you together with old Ruijerd, then made sure you got your hands on the Demon Eye. He got you out of that cell and saved your little sister's life. It was the Man-God who told me where to find Zenith too.

All of that. He did it for you, Boss. You're a traitor.

What, did you have a little falling-out?

I know the Man-God isn't benevolent. All the advice he gives is just so He can use us for His own ends. We're like toys to him, honestly. I guess you think you're too important for that. Really got under your skin, huh? But betraying Him, smashing everything up—don't you think ya went too far? Okay, so He used you. But we owe Him everything. That's the only way this all makes sense.

That's how I saw it after my hometown got wiped off the map.

The Man-God manipulated me, then He wiped out my home. And He laughed about it! Told me all about how he'd played me. Of course I was pissed off! Like, what the fuck, dude?! What is wrong with you? Get screwed! I let him have it, y'know?

But this is what He told me.

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"After everything I've done for you, this is nothing."

I reckon He meant to piss me off more, send me over the edge, you know? Drive me crazy, just so He could laugh at me.

But when He said that, it hit me like, wham.

He's right, I thought.

Thinking about what I owed Him after all the times He saved my ass, and I figured I could just...let it go. I mean, there's a little grudge underneath it all, but that's normal, ain't it?

Anyway, I reckon you don't get it, huh Boss? You're probably reading this like, 'Newbie, you are out of your mind.' And maybe it feels wrong to you. But not to me.

Far as I see it, you're turning your back on your debts. Biting the hand that fed you. So sorry, Boss, but I think I'm team Man-God now.

This time I was testing the waters, seeing what you were capable of. I got you right in my trap, then set the Temple Knights against you. Looks like you blasted straight through them in the end, but hey, now I know what doesn't work. You messed up. You showed me every trick you got. I'm off to get enough allies so I know I can beat you, then I'll be back to fight you head-on, fair and square. It's war, Boss. Plan your funeral.

I don't hate you or nothing. We had a good time back at the prison, and I'll never forget our journey on the Holy Sword Highway. The labyrinth hunt too! That was the most alive I'd felt in ages. I haven't forgotten any of that.

But that's as far as it goes. I don't hate you, but I don't owe you nothing. I might have my little problems with Man-God, but I owe him. Even when there's hard feelings, you gotta pay what you owe. That's a jinx for both of us, Boss.

Yours, Geese Nukadia

I sprinted out of the house.

"Geese!" I yelled as I ran.

Geese. Geese was my enemy. I didn't know how, but he'd seen the

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Magic Armor. He said he was getting ready to face me. How?

Next time, he'd fight me fair and square. Could I trust that? It didn't matter. If that's what he meant to do, I would stop him.

I had to kill him.

I kept running all the way to the Merchant District until I burst into the mercenary office. I immediately sent a message to Orsted about everything that had happened in Millis, the identity of the Man-God's disciple, and the contents of the letter.

I wasn't going to wait for an answer. I was going after Geese. One problem: I had no way of knowing where he'd gone. Working alone would be foolishly inefficient. I went back to the church and had them put out a warrant for Geese's arrest. Then I went to the Temple Knights and demanded they send out search parties throughout Millishion and the surrounding area.

But Geese was a disciple of the Man-God.

He could see the future.

Geese. The guy who got to S-ranked with zero combat abilities. There was no way in hell I was catching him.

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Chapter 8:

The Traitor Gets Away

GEESE NUKADIA. The last of the Nuka tribe. Weak point: combat.

Strong point: everything else. Despite being hopeless with a sword and a dunce at magic, he persevered and managed to become an S-ranked adventurer.

That was the Geese who Orsted knew.

"Geese had always been consistent, regardless of my movements, and so I decided that he could not be a disciple...until now."

That was how Orsted operated. He acted, watched how the world and the people in it reacted to him, then used that to identify the Man- God's disciples or whatever else he was looking for. Orsted witnessed how history progressed when he intervened and when he did not, but in all the loops Geese's actions stayed the same. Geese lived his life as an adventurer and died as an adventurer. Regardless of what happened around him, he'd never done anything to arouse Orsted's suspicion.

Orsted was good at sniffing out the Man-God's disciples. There weren't a lot of disciples like Geese—not much good in a fight, specializing in collecting information and manufacturing disinformation— but they did exist. They kept to the shadows, carrying out their plans in the darkness, lending a helping hand to other disciples at crucial moments. These disciples were always careful not to reveal their true nature. Orsted killed all of them. He had the time loops. With enough repetitions, it wasn't hard to work out who was a disciple and who wasn't.

Geese alone was different. Geese alone failed to rouse suspicion; Orsted said that he had never been a disciple. No matter what Orsted did, he never acted like one. Not even when he was on the verge of being killed.

"But what that means," Orsted told me, "is that he was a disciple in every loop, but hid it perfectly."

Geese had never admitted to being a disciple in any previous loops. Orsted had suspected and killed him before, but even moments from death, even with a knife at his throat, Geese never cracked.

"I deluded myself that this was the normal course of history...

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Hence these defeats."

When we communicated through messages I could always tell when Orsted was feeling sorry for himself.

Orsted never so much as suspected that Geese was a disciple until my message. The Man-God had to be pissing himself laughing: It still hasn't clicked for him! Pfeh heh heh!

I think Orsted didn't consider Geese to be all that important at first, that was all.

"Still. You did well, Rudeus," he told me. "He was the Man-God's trump card...but no longer."

There couldn't be any other disciples like Geese, though. At the end of the day, Orsted had the loops and the Man-God didn't. The disciples acted more independently than you might think, anyway. Even if the Man- God wanted more disciples like Geese, acquiring them would be easier said than done.

Which meant Geese was more than likely the Man-God's last line of defense. The last disciple he'd kept hidden was Geese... I was still struggling to get my head around it.

Orsted thought he was just a few turns from an easy victory, now. Which...yeah. He had the time loops. Even if we screwed it up this run, though, he could just kill Geese in his New Game. Then he'd be one step closer to victory.

The only thing was, if Orsted lost and went on to the next time loop, I only had this one. Game over.

"I want to win in this loop," I sent back, anxiety balling in my chest.

Orsted's answer came: "I merely meant he's already played his trump card."

I snorted. Nice recovery, Orsted. *

A month had passed since Geese had outed himself as the Man- God's disciple.

Afterward, I tried to find him. With the help of the knight orders, we

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hunted for him up and down the Millis Continent. The Millis Church and the Latrias went out of their way to lend us a hand and the search was still ongoing. It seemed likely, though, that he'd gotten away clean.

Needless to say, I wasn't only focusing on Millis. I got in touch with the Doldia tribe straight away and got them to put out a wanted notice for the Great Forest. I also notified Ariel and had her do the same in the Asura Kingdom, then asked Roxy to put in a request in the Ranoan Kingdom.

Even then, I was pretty sure we wouldn't catch him. From the south and northeast of the Central Continent, to the Begaritt Continent, to the Demon Continent and the Divine Continent, it was a big world. There were lots of places my influence didn't reach. I didn't even know which way he'd fled. North? West? If he had contacts in the King Dragon Realm, then that would mean he'd gone to the Demon Continent for sure. But after the death of the king, that place was a bit of a mess. The Demon Continent was broad, and Geese could blend in there. Maybe he'd used a teleportation circle I didn't know about, and then he could literally be anywhere.

Geese, gone completely to ground. I felt ill. Honestly, I'd hoped we might catch him right away. Eventually, though, I had to accept that wasn't happening and start thinking about how to protect myself. In his letter, Geese said that next time, he was going to fight me fair and square. Ridiculous. This was Geese; he lied as easily as breathing. What am I, a sucker?

But then again.

When I looked back, I realized that Geese could easily have killed me at any time in Millis. I let my guard down around him. I'd trusted him. But he hadn't done it. All he'd done was try to trick me into falling into his trap, and even after the trap fell apart, he still didn't move on me. Hell, he could have taken Aisha as a hostage. Aisha could defend herself with a sword and magic, so he might have thought that was biting off more than he could chew, but he'd had the opportunity. Yet he didn't do it.

Maybe I could trust the letter. Maybe, despite the fact that he was working on the Man-God's orders, Geese himself wanted to fight fair and square.

When you gotta kill someone, you better play fair or you'll mess it up. That felt like one of Geese's jinxes, right?

But I could be wrong. He might want me to think that while actually

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plotting the opposite. For all I knew he was actually hiding out in a cupboard in Cliff's house, waiting to slit my throat with a poison knife when I fell asleep.

Imagining guys in the walls isn't helping.

I hadn't been attacked yet, which meant Geese hadn't gathered his forces in advance. He was probably out there somewhere right now, gathering allies. He was coming for me, but not yet.

That was what I tried to tell myself. In reality, I couldn't shake the feeling that I might get attacked at any moment.

I was scared.

Now, while I was busy hunting for Geese, Aisha had all the work setting up the mercenary band office under control. She chose a branch manager, recruited members, and came up with a plan for business going forward. Usually everything needed my approval, but Aisha handled all of it. The Latrias helped take care of Zenith, so it took a lot of pressure off of her, but even when taking that into account, her efficiency was off the charts.

She even thought of me in the middle of this. A month after Geese went missing, Eris arrived on dispatch to the Holy Country of Millis. She came via teleportation circle. She came to protect me.

When she arrived, she was in full battle mode. Rather than normal civilian clothes, she wore the overcoat of a Sword King and carried two swords—a bold announcement to anyone in viewing distance that here was a warrior they ought to know about.

"Now that I'm here, it'll all be fine! I'll cut them all in half!" Eris boasted. "Dumb move on Geese's part, turning against you! Wormy guy was right when he was all 'Aw, no, I'm no match for the boss, no way!'"

Hearing her chatter away, cheerful as anything, settled my nerves a bit. I wasn't going to get caught up in a battle and murdered this week, I consoled myself. On some level, I probably even believed it.

"Eris..." I said, then wrapped her in my arms. That turned into fondling her breasts, at which point she beat me to death. As my

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