(Author's Note: I normally do these at the end, but given the negative reaction the previous chapter got, I do want to address a point real quick. Namely, talking with some privately, it was that speech that a lot took issue with, as it paints Naofumi in a pretty awful light, and I do have two reasons for it.
The first is simply, he does say things like that to the village elders on two different occasions, in Lute and the plant village, and something similar in nature to the leader of the dragon zombie one too, all three times he threatens to not help if they can't pay. Same thing with Ake squad where he's standoffish and forces them to pay him a 'lot of money' just to join him.
He doesn't actually go through with what he says of course, abandoning them if they can't pay or anything of the sort, as put him in front of someone suffering, and while he will try to get paid afterward, he won't not help. In fact he goes out of his way to help on several occasions.
The second is that while we've been following Bard, Canon has been happening outside of it. So Naofumi still ended up only hearing bad things about the other heroes, and was mostly confronted by Motoyasu, so his opinion of them is low, and he's confrontational because of that.
I won't remove the speech he gives, but I do understand the objections. I already wrote a scene later on where he apologizes for his point there to Bard, who apologizes for his own behavior, as there were better ways to handle that event. Still, this is just so people know where I stand on the issues involved.)
The paperwork to get the jobs set up, especially with ones as nebulous as helping refugees, was time consuming, and Ren eventually took his own party and left the Hall to go on one last hunt for some balloons, stating that he wanted to see just what they could do now. A positive sign, in my opinion, as I don't think he would have cared before, just that they didn't slow him down would have been enough.
For my own group, I allowed them to filter out as the paperwork piled higher and higher, Ray feeling some sympathy, but not enough to help, while Lucia and Souka felt this was what was needed to keep too many bad faith jobs from being made. The brothers did try to stay with me, but after a while, I told them to head back to the Inn, that I would be there when I was done with business.
It took until long after the sun had set for that to be true, and by the end, my hands felt sore, more so than I think they ever had before, and I wanted to rest for a while. I also wanted to clear my head, as being within the Guild had kept me from thinking on what Naofumi had said, but while I hadn't let it be known then, it was a point I couldn't stop my mind from turning around and around.
'What was the right thing to do in that situation with the Queen?'
The direct answer was…to take control. If I was taking full responsibility for my choices, I would have not only killed the queen, but then taken over her nation, ensuring the heirs were not as bad or worse than her. But that felt…evil in a way I didn't like either. It felt like I was forcing them to conform to what I felt was right, and that was just as bad, wasn't it? Even if I was doing it to lessen the suffering later.
I wandered for a while, thinking it over and over again, but I was suddenly brought up short when I realized that, at some point, my feet had guided me to a most unexpected place without me realizing it. I was standing right outside the cathedral of the Three Heroes church, and with a single moment of hesitation, I decided to head inside, and then sit down at one of the pews.
This late at night…well it was early still, but after the sun went down, this place was all but empty. One of the nuns was pushing a broom around, sweeping the floors, and seemed to smile at me. I wasn't sure if she recognized me, but I figured she did, as I took my seat, and then picked up the book again, this time slowly turning the pages, really thinking about them as I did.
The others had informed me that Melromarc followed the Three Heroes faith, but in other nations, they worshiped all four weapons equally. I had yet to find a way to get my hands on that holy book, but for now I started reading this one, letting my mind truly comprehend the meaning of the words, rather than simply storing them away. The book was…quite poetic in its phrasing, but spoke mostly of the value of keeping moving forward, regardless of the consequences.
"Ah, now that's a face I know well. Someone who is thinking hard, their mind racing round and round, and coming to no conclusions," said a fatherly voice, and I started, having been engrossed in the book, and its stories of the Heroes of the past. Nearly dropping it, which I could only assume would have not been a nice thing to do, I was shocked as the hand of Pope Balmus reached out, not shot out, but simply reached, and easily caught the tome.
"Heh, and to see one of the Heroes so enamoured with the scripture, truly this is a blessed moment," he said with another chuckle, looking at the page I had been on, a story of the Shield and Bow from five hundred years ago. It was mostly an allegory type of tale, about how the Bow had gone hunting, when the Shield had wanted to stay put, and allow the prey to come to him, the moral showing that the Shield caught only small game, but in the end, the Bow was able to bring enough back to feed the entire kingdom.
"I…I was looking for a bit of guidance, Your Eminence, and felt this might be a good place to start," I said, and his smile actually brightened somehow, as he sat beside me in the pew, closing the book, and placing it on his lap as he looked to me.
"Oh? And what guidance would one like yourself need? While the other Heroes flail about, doing minor things and slaying a few monsters, you are building a place where people can be safe and free. Does that not speak more of a guide, than one who needs to be shown the way?" he asked, with a smile on his lips.
"I…I am doing my best, but as the Shield Hero demonstrated today, sometimes our actions spiral out," I said, thinking of more people suffering, because someone wasn't there to save them.
"And yet, would you change anything about what you did?" he asked me, and I opened my mouth, about to say something, only to close it again. Knowing what I knew, would I have done anything different? No, no I would not. There were people in front of me who needed saving, but that didn't mean I didn't feel like I should have done more.
"I know that look well, too. My own followers have it, when we must pass by a village, with starving children, with no way to help them. We live in such opulence, and yet, we cannot spare a single copper for them?" he asked, and I had to wonder why, before he placed his hand on my shoulder.
"We cannot. There are more souls in need of help than stars in the sky, my son. You cannot be there for them all. But we help those we can. All the works of the church go to that mission, to try and bring hope to the hopeless, and perhaps leave this world just a bit better off than it was the day before," he answered his own question.
"As to your efforts, I am aware of some of them. You have brought one-thousand souls from the brink of utter desolation, into the light. In my eyes, whatever cost that might have had to those around them, it is worth it," he said with a fatherly chuckle.
"Even though they are mostly demi-humans and beastmen?" I asked, opening the book to one of the pages on that, and his expression, despite himself, darkened. At first, I thought into anger, as it had whenever the Shield Hero was mentioned…but looking at him now, I saw shades of something else, and he took in a deep breath, before sighing it out.
"I will admit, our scripture is not kind to those of the other races, but perhaps…just perhaps, that was in error," that proclamation, nearly a whisper though it was, caused the nun who was still sweeping nearby to start, her whole body going rigid at it.
"It's true, Sister. We felt, in their worship of sloth and indecency, in their reverence for the Shield, that they were bathed in sin," he said simply, leaning back and crossing his fingers before him.
"But the Bow Hero, has he not shown that beneath those furry bodies beats the hearts of warriors? That if offered the hand of friendship, that they can pull themselves to stand with us against the darkness?" he asked, to no one in particular.
"I myself am as guilty of that belief as any other, I'll admit now. When the King preached against their kind, when he told us how vile and repugnant their faith was in the Shield, I allowed my own biases to blind me to the facts that were right before me, allowed him to convince me that their lot was only to be beasts of burden, rather than allies at our side," he said, looking downcast for a moment, before turning to face me.
"But you have opened my eyes once more unto the truth. That the virtues of the Three Weapons are for all the people of the world, and leaving them with no choice will drive those outside the faith to the Sin of the Fourth. If we are to unite everyone, if we are to make a nation whole so it can stand against the power of the Waves, we must not turn away those who were born not as we were, but embrace them as brothers and sisters in arms," I noticed as he spoke that several church members were standing in the wings now, nuns, monks, and other such, listening to his words.
"So you see, Bow Hero, even if in fighting the darkness we do not destroy it all, there is no reason to stop our fight. You have rekindled that spark in me, and I, humbly, request that you continue on this path. The Church of The Three Heroes stands behind you, and should you falter, we will do our best to come behind and pick up the slack," he finished, and then bowed his head towards me, standing up, and I saw several of the others do the same, causing me to feel…something.
Embarrassment maybe? It was something though, and as I rose, there was a flicker of something in my interface, making me think that this was the right way. Standing myself, letting the light of the braziers catch on my silvery armor, I placed my hand on the pope's shoulder, in what I hoped was a supportive way, and then smiled at him, having him stand strong before me…well short, though taller than one might expect.
"I will look towards you then. Do what you can to help those I must leave behind, guide them along the trail towards righteousness and plenty, while I blaze a trail against the darkness," I said this knowing the others were watching, and he seemed thrilled with it. I seriously think I saw a sparkle of light from his face as he smiled at me…could have been some kind of showy magic thing.
"It shall be as you will it, Hero of the Bow," he said, and it was only then that I noticed that we'd actually attracted quite the crowd from the edges of the pews. Citizens and church members, all of which bowed their heads as if in prayer, and while I had no particular god to pray to, I decided to join them, before we rose up, and the Pope walked towards the front of the church, and stood at the pulpit.
"All ears, attend these words well, for they are the Holy Writ, as passed down from long ago. We, the Church of Three Heroes, shall no longer neglect our brethren who have fallen from the Path that Leads to Tomorrow. No, no matter their skin, fur, feathers, or scales, we shall reach out our hands to all equally, and offer them a guiding light. Is that understood?" he said the last as a question, but given his position, I doubted it was anything less than a command.
"As you say, Your Eminence," came the reply from dozens of voices, and suddenly I had the feeling this was being staged. There were too many here to have simply wandered in as we talked, not without someone rushing all about to rouse them and bring them here. Whose benefit was it for though? Mine, or theirs? To see the Bow Hero in confidence with the Pope would strengthen his position amongst the faithful, and hearing him speak these honeyed words had influenced me.
And yet…did it matter? Foul or fair, if he followed through on this proclamation, it would be to the benefit of all, and begin to really help heal the rift between races that was born of…well oppression and strife. It wouldn't happen overnight, of course, it would normally be lifetimes, but the threat of the Waves, and the fact that Heroes were roaming the land dealing with dangers, might be enough to bring that process down to years instead of decades.
In the end, as he spoke on, intoning his desire for peace for all the peoples of not just this nation, but the entire world, I nodded along, and when finally he called a halt to his impromptu sermon, which had started to fill the pews by that point, I slipped off into the night, arriving at the inn, and getting a quick meal, before heading up to the room, where Lucia was already asleep in her bed.
Slipping into my own, I braced myself for a long day tomorrow, as we would again wake before sunup, to anticipate the moment when the Wave would strike, and we would be taken to it. I was prepared, as much as I could be, and I smiled at the gear in the corner of the room. With that, and with my companions, we would beat this Wave, and all that came after. Perhaps not easily every time, but we would win, no matter the challenge.