Chapter 10: Curbing the rebellion

The next morning, after retrieving Trish's armor from the blacksmith, we headed straight to where the caravan we were supposed to escort was waiting for us.

"I'm really pleased to make your acquaintance, Bow Hero!" The leader of the caravan, a plump man in a well-dressed attire greeted Itsuki, "Our humble caravan would be in your care!"

"It's no problem." He told him, "We're sorry for delaying your schedule."

"Oh, it's no big deal. Most of the supplies were long lasting, so no harm in delaying things a day or two."

I looked over the caravan that we would be escorting; it consisted of about four carriages, each being pulled by dragons. A few of the caravan's men gave us a bit of a dirty look, no doubt annoyed that their schedule was shifted last minute.

We better apologise to them when we get the chance to—

"Greetings, Sir Bow Hero."

The sight of a knight walking up to us drew some ire from me, but I kept it to myself as he introduced himself; at least this one appears to be somewhat decent, unlike the last few knights I had the displeasure of interacting with.

"I'm Lindel Drakan, leader of the nineteenth platoon of the Royal Army Corps. We were assigned to this convoy and tasked with assisting you and your party."

"The army is escorting this as well?"

"Yes, Sir Bow Hero."

Judging by the less than a dozen soldiers present, they were probably just here to show that this caravan was under the protection of the kingdom in hopes of deterring bandits from attacking.

Though, I highly doubt bandits would care for it either way; a caravan was still a caravan.

"So, how are we going to go about this?" Trish asked.

"The best way would be to split up the party between the carriages based on our strengths." Éclair suggested, "And then rotate shifts with the soldiers throughout the escort."

"Then… I'll take the second last carriage." Itsuki noted, "If the caravan came under attack, I would be able to provide fire support to both the front and the rear from there."

"Then me and Éclair will take the front and rear." I stated; we were the party's vanguards, after all, "Éclair, mind handling the rear?"

"No problem."

"Then I'll take the one behind Liya." Trish noted.

"Is that alright with you, Lindel?" Itsuki asked the knight.

"Anything you say, Sir Bow Hero." Lindel nodded.

After properly scheduling our rotating shifts, the caravan finally departed on their way towards the northern border.

For the first couple of days of the escort mission, it had been quiet with only a few encounters with low-levelled monsters like Balloons and Eggnug that we took care of rather quickly and with ease.

It honestly felt unnerving to say the least; like the calm before a great storm.

Then again, we were currently travelling on open plains, so there's very little chance of getting ambushed; not when there were not many places to hide.

I decided to make use of that free time to make a few more Recovery Medicine and Magic Recovery potions, as well as some final adjustments to my special equipment.

But when we made it into the mountain path, things truly started to heat up.

"…Mm?"

Just as we were going up the rocky slopes, I took notice of something in the trees; a second viewing confirmed it to be the top of a bandana sticking out from within the leaves.

"Stop the carriage!"

The carriage pulled to a halt and I immediately drew Chain Sword; the soldiers on shift with me were surprised at the sudden shift in my demeanor.

"Is something wrong?" One of them asked.

"…" Taking a glance around, confirming my suspicions, "We're surrounded."

"Surrounded—Bandits!?"

The soldiers quickly drew their swords in response; Itsuki and Trish immediately took to the top of their respective carriages, ready to fire their respective projectiles.

"Show yourself, bandit scum!" Lindel shouted.

Moments later, several men walked out from the shadows of the trees, all armed with various weapons and adorned in a mishmash of armors, the typical bandit getup; they got in front and behind the caravan, effectively trapping us between them.

They also wore the same red bandanna on their head, something that really spooked Lindel.

"Red bandanna…! They're the Red Caps!"

"Red Caps?"

"They are an infamous mountain bandit group that has caused havoc throughout this region for years." He explained worriedly, "Their name came from the fact that they all wore matching red bandannas."

That's… quite the descriptive name to go by. Still, if they were that well-known in the region that the knights knew of them, they were not something to be trifled with.

One of the better armed men stepped forward with a grin, "Well, well, looks like our name had spread quite far if the knights down at the capital had heard of us. Sure is tough being famous…"

"What do you bastards want!?" Itsuki shouted out, aiming his bow at him, "Your answer will determine your fate!"

"Ooh, how scary! The kid's got a bow! Whatever should we do?"

"Do you even know how to aim with that?"

"Look at how much he's shaking! Poor kid's terrified!"

The bandits laughed and ridiculed Itsuki, obviously not realising who he actually was; if they did, they wouldn't have even dare approach the caravan to begin with.

Itsuki's reddening face looked ready to pop, his anger seemed to reach its peak at any moment; Trish thankfully was barely able to keep him from unleashing hell on these morons and getting pulled in their trap.

A common tactic bandits love to use was a combination of a pincer attack along with a secondary ambush; one group come out and taunt their foe to attack them, and then a hidden group would rush out and attack their flank.

For anyone who wasn't familiar with how bandits operate, it would take them off guard and would get overwhelmed and killed.

Unfortunately for them, bandit attacks were a common thing in long term escort requests; and I had done plenty of them to know what to expect and where they like to hide their hidden forces.

"Three in the bushes! Two in the trees!"

"What the—!?"

Trish immediately cast her binding spell and trapped the ones hiding; the now captured bandits falling out their hiding spots for all of us to see.

"Tch! Caught on, did you? No matter! Men, rush—"

I threw my secret weapon right at the man's face; the pellet exploded in his face and covered it in a special blend of smoke I cooked up for such an occasion.

"Smoke bomb!? Like that… would… urgh…"

"Boss!?"

"Now, when their guard is down! Arrest them all!"

"Raaaahhh!"

"Gaaaahhhh!"

Completely shocked by their leader suddenly losing consciousness, the bandits were unable to react in time when the soldiers charged at them and quickly took them all down; any of them that attempted to run either got shot down by Itsuki, or struck down by me.

Within a minute or so, we subdued every bandit that attacked us.

"That was… way easier than anticipated." The caravan leader noted in surprise.

"That's the thing about bandits." I explained, "Once their plan falls apart, they lose all the advantages they once had."

Almost all the bandits I had encountered were good-for-nothings that never put in the effort to earn the proper skills to get a job, instead choosing the easy way out via stealing from others.

As such, aside from the most basic encircling and ambush, they could do literally nothing else.

There were some bandits that chose this path due to some personal reasons among many sympathetic ones, but it still didn't excuse them from their crimes.

"I thank you, Sir Bow Hero." Lindel approached Itsuki, "If not for your party's quick thinking, we wouldn't have dealt with the bandits so quickly."

"Ah, i-it was no big deal." He told him, "It was only natural for a Hero to apprehend evil doers."

While I was a bit miffed over being looked over in favor of the Bow Hero, I did manage to get to test my secret weapon on a human, so that's still a plus.

"Miss Liya, what was in that smoke bomb you threw at the bandit leader?" Itsuki asked, "Just one hit of it and he's out cold."

"Pollen from the Morpheus Bellflower."

"Pollen? Oh, the one that knocked Mald out cold for days?"

"That's the one."

The idea for it came to me when I saw the Morpheus Bellflower back in the capital; the pollen alone was strong enough that someone as built as that leech was knocked out for days on end.

So, I thought of weaponizing it.

I first mixed the pollen into some ash, and then stuffed it into some empty eggshells before sealing it up with some wax. This was my first field test of it and I was quite pleased with the results.

"Was that what you had been making these past couple of days?" Trish asked me, "I didn't know you knew how to make smoke bombs."

"There's a recipe on it in one of the books back home." I explained, "They are pretty easy to make if you know the method."

"Oh yeah, I remember using them when we were kids to ditch classes." Eclair noted, "We got in so much trouble with dad afterwards…"

"Man, gramps was so pissed at me that day."

He made me swear to make them again; never understood why an apothecary would have a need for recipes on that, but it came in handy now so I wasn't going to question it.

I had also made several other variants of it using most of the non-healing herbs we had purchased at the apothecary.

We made a detour to drop the bandits off with the soldiers of the next town over; it turned out that there happened to be a bounty for their arrest which the caravan leader happily gave to us(read Itsuki) before carrying on our way.

After receiving the bounty, and sneakily spreading the rumor of the Shield Hero's innocence among the townsfolk, we set off once again.

The rest of the trip had no more interference aside from the occasional monsters which I decided to use to test my other smoke bomb variants to various level of success.

"How many types of smoke bombs did you make?" Itsuki asked me.

"Quite a few of them; there are quite a lot of quality herbs back in the capital." I replied, "I have even made ones that irritate the eyes, and ones that paralyze those that inhale the mist that comes out."

Though I may have to lower the toxicity of the paralyzing mist; it ended up killing the monsters instead of paralyzing them.

"…Miss Liya, are you secretly a ninja?"

"…What's a ninja?"

"Oh, i-it's nothing…"

He never elaborate on that; I wonder if that's a term from his world.

This lull of peace carried on all the way till we crossed the border and entered the allied kingdom.

"…This is… really bad…"

When we entered the kingdom, it became very clear why there was a dire need for relief supplies.

The past few towns we passed by were hauntingly empty, with an atmosphere that just screams death and despair; no shops were opened with some looking abandoned, and the few stalls that were opened had almost nothing to sell.

The tilled fields were barren with nothing but dying seedlings that were barely hanging on; the soil was dry and crumbly to the touch when I checked, a sign of the lack of nutrients in them.

There were barely any signs of people around, not even kids playing outside their curfew. And the ones that were out and about, they just sat around dejected and starving.

I saw an entire family, all skin and bones, just sitting there with dead looks in their eyes; even the kids had those eyes.

These people… they had long given up hope.

"How awful…" Eclair gasped, "All these people are starving to death…"

"The famine was worse than I had thought…" Trish noted in worry, "It's a miracle that some of them hadn't starved to death yet."

"A-At least they can get some relief from the food we brought for them…" Itsuki noted in a relatively calm tone, though it was clear from the stutter that he was shaken by the sight.

Whatever life that kid had back in his world, it must be a relatively peaceful one if he was shaken up by this scene; why would such a kid be summoned by the Bow to fight for our world?

After arriving at the capital, we were all brought to the castle to have an audience with the kingdom's ruler; a middle aged man in a similar regal attire as our king, though both him and his clothes have seen better days with how it was hanging loosely on him.

Rather, even the castle looked to have seen better days; compared to the somewhat luxurious decor of Melromarc's castle's audience chamber, the one we were currently in had nothing of that sort decorating its stone walls.

Sole exception being the silk banner with what I assumed was the kingdom's crest behind the king's throne.

"Welcome to Frenca, Sir Bow Hero. I am this kingdom's ruler, Duncull Von Frenca the X." He greeted us, "My apologies for being unable to receive you properly. The kingdom has been going through some harsh times as of late."

"Yes, we are aware of the famine that plagued your people." Itsuki noted, "I only hope that the supplies we brought you would help relieve it."

"That is our hope… Please give my thanks to the kingdom of Melromarc for their aid in these trying times."

"We will."

"That's said… I'm sorry if this is too much to ask you, but could the Bow Hero assist us in dealing with another crisis?"

"Another crisis, your majesty?"

Was the kingdom wide famine not the only problem this kingdom was facing? But what could be worse than that?

"Yes, unfortunately." The king let out a sigh, "I had gotten word that there had been an uprising and formation of a revolutionary army within the kingdom's borders. I want you to put a stop to it."

…I stand corrected.

"A revolutionary army!?" Trish cried out, "What kind of idiots are they to rise up now during a famine!?"

I had to agree with Trish on this; who in the right mind would rebel when they could barely put food on the table!?

"It's because of the famine, I'm afraid." The man standing next to the king spoke up, "According to what we had managed to gather, the lord responsible for that region had been embezzling supplies we had issued to help the peasants."

"What a foul man!" Eclair growled, "To line his own pockets instead of feeding his people in times of crisis…! Such a person doesn't deserve to be a lord!"

"I agree." He nodded, "But by the time we had found out; the peasants had already overthrown him and started taking over the entire region. They even began calling themselves the revolutionary army about a week ago and even declared their desire to overthrow the crown."

"Can't you send your soldiers to deal with them?" Trish asked.

"If we did that, it would spark an actual civil war which we don't have the resources or manpower for right now."

"That would be bad…"

"And… I would much rather not have to kill them." He sighed, "The fault had been my negligence over dealing with the corrupt nobles that sparked the uprising to begin with. If only I had done something about him…"

"Your majesty, it's not your fault." The man told him, "You have done great for the kingdom, it's just that the famine and the Wave have to take priority before anything else."

Looks like he was quite a good ruler with a good heart, unlike our own; we did saw some points at the towns we passed by distributing food to the starving people.

I turned over to our party's leader and asked, "So, what's the decision?"

"It's only obvious that we will lend our aid." Itsuki noted with a frown, "I understand if they punished the corrupt lord for his evil acts, but to take over and then declare war on the kingdom that was trying to help them? That's going too far! We must put a stop to them!"

"I agree!" Eclair nodded, "No matter the reasons, to go against the very people that are trying to help you would do you no good! I swear by my sword that they will face judgement!"

"Okay, both of you, calm yourselves."

In hindsight, this was probably something the kid would love to do; serving out justice and preaching against evil doers and all that.

"That's great to hear." The king then gestured to the man next to him, "Minister Glenn here would provide you with all the intel we managed to gather on them."

"I once again thank you for your support, Sir Bow Hero."

"It's only natural for a Hero to help!"

He then brought us to another room and began telling us all they knew about the revolutionary army:

Obviously, it mostly consisted of peasants of the region that were disgruntled and irritated with how they had been treated by the corrupt noble that eventually boiled over about two weeks ago; I was surprised they didn't sooner.

Still it was quite a feat for them to even be able to get to him to begin with.

For one, despite being corrupt, the knights the noble had at his disposal had at least gotten a Class-Up, giving them an advantage over the uprising commoners in terms of levels; there was no possible way the rebellion would be successful.

And yet, they had managed to completely overpowered them and seized the lord before killing him via public stoning.

"They had help." Trish concluded, "Someone must have aided them against the noble."

"That's what we thought as well." The minister nodded, "There had been word of a mercenary that was passing through a day before the uprising. We believe he is the one that assisted them in taking over the region."

"A mercenary, huh?" I mused; those guys' job scope was exclusively combat related, so their levels and stats would probably be a match for the average knight.

"So, he's the leader of the rebellion?" Itsuki noted.

"No, the leader is a farmer by the name of Duncan."

"Oh… really?"

"Even then, it doesn't make sense." Eclair noted, "I heard that mercenaries would only fight if you pay them the right price. There's no way they would fight for a bunch of poor, starving peasants with no money to their name."

"Ec—I mean, Theresa has a point." I felt something dying inside of me when I say that stupid cover of a name.

"You're right; it doesn't add up." Trish nodded, "But what's more ridiculous was them declaring war against the crown in the first place; what reasons do they have to do so?"

"They got a taste of power and now they want more?" I theorised; I believe there's a saying for this, I think it goes something like… Absolute power corrupts absolutely?

"No, I think it is more than just that. While the famine is putting a toll on everyone, it's not enough to push someone to revolt against their own kingdom. There had to be another reason…"

"Well, why don't we ask them?"

We all turned to the Bow Hero and his rather bold suggestion, "That's the only way for us to know, right? Just speculating here isn't going to change anything."

"…That's not a bad suggestion." Trish noted, "The Bow Hero is widely believed to embody justice; there's no reason for them to be hostile towards him. If anything, they might be more willing to answer if he's the one asking."

"Then it's settled." Itsuki turned to the minister, "Tell me where the revolutionary army is located."

"Oh, o-of course!" The minister nodded, "But… pardon me for asking, but why do you want to know why the peasants had rebelled? Can't you just take them down by force?"

"…because just seeing it from one end wouldn't truly be called justice." He explained, "True justice can only be established when we hear both sides."

Huh, what do you know? I guess the revelation about the Shield Hero's 'crimes' had a good impact on him.

"And… if possible, I would rather not resolve it by force. These people were only doing it to survive, not out of malicious intent."

"…I see. The Bow Hero truly is the embodiment of justice." The minister bowed, "Rest assured, I'll assist you in that endeavour the best I can."

After informing us of where the revolutionary army was located, we departed the capital with a carriage we borrowed from the caravan leader; thankfully, he was happy to lend it to us without asking too much.

"They… sure put those embezzled funds to good use."

It took us about a day or so to reach the town that the rebels had made their base of operations; the town of Rimgrave.

The town was originally one of the areas in the region the famine had hit the worst; their fields couldn't even grow the sturdiest of produce and the closest river was too far away for them to bring water by foot.

But now, having been taken over by the revolutionary army, it had turned into somewhat of a fortified camp.

While poorly built, they had put up wooden fences around the town along with spiked barricades near the fortified gates that had men guarding them armed with good quality spears.

Not only that, they even had built a watchtower and had their lookouts armed with those new crossbows from Shieldfreeden.

"Whoever thought of this must be either a really smart fellow, or well experienced in warfare." Eclair noted, "Definitely not something the average commoner will know."

"There's no doubt about it; that mercenary is involved in the revolutionary army." I concluded.

As we approached the town, the guards immediately pointed their weapons at us, "Who goes there!?"

"We are of no threat!" Itsuki quickly told them, raising his arms to show our 'powerlessness', "We're sympathizers to your cause and wish to donate supplies."

"S-Supplies, you say!?"

Trish had the idea of us acting as sympathizers and taking a small portion of the relief supplies to give to them under the pretense of donating to their cause; she even had us remove our armor to make us even more convincing.

"All armies need food and supplies to run; with how bad the famine had been on them, they would be in dire need for some." Was her explanation.

And like she said, the guard looked almost ecstatic from hearing the word; his eyes reminded me of starving Dire Wolves, he was even drooling a little.

"Hey, open the—"

"Wait, wait!"

His partner, however, didn't seem to be so trusting on the matter, "Remember what Grif said; don't believe everything you can see with your eyes. Remember what happened last time?"

"Oh yeah… can't have that happening again. Show us these supplies of yours."

Grif… that must be the mercenary that had been helping these rebels.

The guards did a quick check of the very real relief supplies; satisfied with it, they opened the gates and allowed us into the town.

"All supplies have to go through Rosiette first; she should be at HQ right about now." The guard then turned around and shouted, "Hey, Kyle! Mind escorting these good people there?"

"Huh!? Why do I have to go!?"

"Everyone else is on duty, unlike a certain lazy sonofabitch."

"But I'm on break—urgh… follow me…"

We followed the armed man and entered the town proper.

Compared to the many desolate towns we had passed by, Rimgrave looked to be better off at least in terms of food scarcity.

There were hardly any starving villagers sitting around consumed by despair; in fact, they all looked rather well-fed and healthy. I would argue that they were somewhat hopeful for the future.

However, there were also many armed men prowling about the place, some giving us a wary glance when we passed by; though that was to be expected, considering that they were revolutionaries.

"Methods aside, you can't argue that they are doing better than most." I noted.

"Yeah, but for how long?" Trish mused, "No matter how much food the nobleman had embezzled and kept, it wouldn't last very long."

"…maybe that's why they declared war on the crown? To get more supplies by force?"

"…It's a possibility."

If that's the case, we may have a way to end this rebellion without going into arms; the only problem now is finding a solution that works with it.

We were escorted to what looked like the town hall, one that had been heavily fortified with many barricades and surrounded by armed guards; I even saw several archers on the roof, some staring at us with a hand reaching for their quiver.

"What's with the carriage, Kyle?" One of the guards asked.

"Some sympathizers wish to donate supplies."

"Supplies? What kind?"

"Food, mostly. I think there is some medicine in there as well…?"

"…I'll go get Rosiette. Kyle, come with me."

"Oh come on, really!? I'm supposed to be on break here!"

He turned to his fellow guards, "Keep an eye on them. If you see anything suspicious, end them."

"Understood!"

Yikes; talk about harsh. Though to be fair, we were strangers that they knew nothing about, so such a precaution was understandable.

After a tense moment of being glared at, that guard returned with a lady who introduced herself to us as Rosiette; she must be one of the army's leading figures.

"I've heard that you wish to donate supplies?"

"Yes, we do." Itsuki told her, "It's not much, but I hope it would ease your burden."

"It most definitely will, thank you!"

"On another note, is it possible for us to meet with your leader?"

"Our leader? Why do you wish to meet with him?"

"On the way here, we happened to get some information about the Royal army's weakness that might be quite beneficial to you all."

"On the royal army's…!?"

The stunned look on their faces was enough to tell us that they got hooked by that bait; of course, we have no such information, but just the idea of getting it was no doubt enticing to them.

"I-I see! Well, you can just tell me and I would inform him for you—"

"No, it would be for the best if we inform your leader in person." Trish insisted, "After all, there's no telling who might be listening in."

"Ah, yes! O-Of course! Right this way!"

Leaving the unloading of supplies to others, we were led into the town hall and to a large room where a few men were discussing something over a large table filled with maps and charts.

One immediately stood out, for he was the only person wearing armor with a full face helmet; judging by the state of his armor, I would wager that he would be the mercenary, the one they called Grif.

I knew he would be quite the character, but to wear his helmet indoors?

"Is there something the matter, Rosiette?"

"Duncan, these people claimed to have information about the royal army's weakness."

"Weakness!?" The man named Duncan turned to us and asked, "Is this true? You have such intel?"

"Yes, that is true." Itsuki told him.

"Well then, tell us! What is it?"

"Before we do, allow me to properly introduce myself." Raising his hand, he changed his Bow to a more recognisable form, "I am Itsuki, the Bow Hero."

"The Bow Hero!?"

"One of the Heroes of legend!? Here!?"

"Why is he in this kingdom!?"

The room immediately burst into murmurs and whispers at the sudden revelation, as was expected if someone introduced himself as one of the Heroes of legend.

"S-Sir Bow Hero! What purpose do you—.

"How can we be sure you are the real Bow Hero?"

"G-Grif!?"

The mercenary, on the other hand, looked to be skeptical about it, "Last I've heard of it, he's supposed to be in Melromarc. I find it hard that the Wise King of the West would let one of his greatest assets leave the kingdom."

"But his weapon changed forms!"

"While rarely seen, there are transforming weapons outside of the four Holy weapons; he could be using one such weapon to masquerade as the Bow Hero."

He made a decent argument; a form changing weapon wouldn't be enough to prove his identity as one of the Heroes. This mercenary was definitely sharper than he appeared to be.

But if that's the case, then how do we prove it otherwise…?

"Should Sir Itsuki use a skill, then?" I suggested.

"Hold on, is that such a good idea!?" Trish cried out, "Those things could wreck the place!"

"I'll aim away from the town, then."

"S-Sir Itsuki, wait!"

Itsuki made his way to the window, drew his bow and aimed outside, "Thunder Arrow!"

He unleashed the same skill I saw once before out of the window, which was followed by a loud boom of whatever that powerful attack had hit.

"…okay, I'm convinced." The mercenary noted tensely, "Apologises for my discourteous behaviour, Sir Bow Hero."

"It's alright. You're right to be skeptical."

"May I ask why you came here?"

"The king had requested for me to stop your army." Itsuki explained, "But I wish to know the reason behind your rebellion first before doing anything else."

"The reason? Isn't it obvious!?" Duncan stood firm as he said with conviction, "To overthrow the corrupt nobility and take back our land from them! Those bastards only cared about filling their own stomachs while the rest of us are forced to starve in this famine! Well, we're going to take it back, even if we have to go to war over it!"

"But even then, declaring war against the royal crown wouldn't solve anything!" Trish noted, "It would just cause more deaths than the famine!"

"And you're not the only ones that are suffering in this famine!" Eclair added, "We have met the king, and he is just as thin and starved as the rest of you! And he didn't even want to start a war with you!"

"So what!?" Duncan screamed, "He's the reason that noble was appointed here to begin with! The reason we have to watch that bastard ruin all of our lives for his amusement! He's just as guilty!"

"That's right! That bastard had my son killed for bumping into him!"

"I have to watch my own daughter get taken by him!"

One by one, the people in the room all voiced out their anger and frustration towards the corrupt noble, and the system that put him here; this was more than just surviving the famine, this was about overthrowing the corrupt nobility in general.

Although out of all of them, Grif looked to be rather uncomfortable with all of this; he didn't even appear to share the same sentiments as them, quite the opposite, in fact. If that's the case, why was he helping them at all?

"Sir Bow Hero, you are the Hero that stood for justice." Duncan noted, "Well, what could our cause be but justice!? Please, join us, and help deliver justice on those evil bastards!"

In a sense, they were justified in their anger, in their frustration over the kingdom that had failed to help them in their time of need.

Even so…

"This isn't justice." Itsuki stated, "All of this, isn't justice at all!"

"How can you say that!? How can it not be justice!?"

"How can it be justice!? You had overthrown your evil lord and punished him for his cruel deeds, that's justice! But here you are declaring war on the kingdom that is trying to help all its citizens through the famine! How can that be called justice!?"

They all were stunned quiet at his words, some even began to look guilty for suggesting as such; even Duncan looked to be conflicted about it.

"You still have a chance to stop all of this." He added, "Stop this foolish war, before it is too late."

"…No, we can't afford to." Duncan stated, "If we stop now, everyone would starve to death. The supplies we managed to get so far wouldn't last us till the next harvest, or if there is a next harvest."

Looks like he shared the same conclusion on the soil as I did; there was no way any crop would be able to grow in them, no matter how sturdy they were.

In the end, the root cause of all of it was still the famine.

"…what if we have a way to solve that?"

"""Huh?"""

We all looked at Itsuki with shocked looks as he continued, "If we solve your food crisis, would it be enough to stop the war?"

"I-It would, but how do you intend to do that?"

"I have my ways, don't you worry!" Itsuki told him, "Give me some time, um… about three days worth! I'll have your solution by then!"

"Err…"

It's only natural that they would have doubts about his suggestion; even I had my doubts of whether he did have a solution to the famine or was just bluffing to get them to stop.

"…I'll go with him." Grif voiced out, "If he tries anything, I'll be sure to let you all know."

"Oh, that's a good idea!"

"If Grif goes with him, it would be reassuring."

All seemed to be in favor of Grif joining us in this; they must really trust this guy.

"Then it's settled!" Itsuki noted with a smirk, "Once we return with the solution, you all must stop the rebellion at once!"

"O-Of course, Sir Bow Hero!" Duncan noted, "You have our word!"

Whatever Itsuki had planned, it better work; or there will be dire consequences if he failed.

…
To be continued…

Heya! This chapter took quite a while to write out; the dialogue sure was hard to get right without sounding too forced or cliche.

The whole rebellion thing took a bit of thinking and brainstorming before I got here; it's hard to pick how to go about with this arc.

I originally planned for the king to be a corrupt ruler and their rebellion was justified so that Itsuki joining them made sense; but after a bit of thinking, I feel like that's a bit too cliche and changed it to something like this.

Instead, I paint the rebellion as something of an overly rash decision by frustrated and angry individuals who hadn't considered the implications of their actions.

With that, I thank you all for reading this!

*Sup! So, this is the rewrite of my rewrite of my Shield Hero OC fic. This time, I'm going to make a few changes so that it would be more than just a Canon rehash.