"That should be enough to cover for cavity I made," Selina bowed to the Inn's owner as he counted the gold coins in his hand. He had followed her and Spencer the moment they stepped outside the door, calling Selina back to account for the gap she left in his wall. She stood up and said, "Once again, I apologize for the damage. My frustration got the better of me last night and I lost control of myself. I humbly ask for your forgiveness."

Howard pocketed the coins once he finished counting them, waving his free hand in the air, "It's fine. At least you actually bothered to pay for the damages, unlike some other patrons."

"This has happened before?" Spencer's head swiveled from Howard to the inn behind him in worry.

Howard shrugged as he replied, "I run a place where people come to get drunk enough to forget their problems. When you're in that line of work, you're bound to get people who get rowdy."

"Oh. Do you need some help dealing with that?" Spencer asked while looking up at the Innkeeper.

"Are you offering?"

Spencer fidgeted in place, biting his tongue as he thought of an answer. Howard laughed before flicking the boy's forehead to get his attention, "Don't worry, little Hero. Iri and Ris can handle anyone who causes trouble. And if not, then I'll take care of them. I may be retired but I haven't lost any of my skills."

Howard flexed his right arm to show off his muscles. Spencer nodded while rubbing his forehead with one hand, "Ah, alright then. Should we get going, Cynthia?"

"In a moment, Spencer. You're certain this will be enough to cover the repairs?" Selina asked Howard, who nodded in response. She breathed a sigh of relief before turning to the young Hero and asking him to continue where he left off. She started walking down the street as she waited for him to speak.

"Oh, right," Spencer ran to keep up with Selina as she walked, slowing down when he got to her left side. He took a moment to remember where he left off before continuing, "Well, after we left the garden we went to a Magic Shop for some supplies. It was run by an Agent of the Order, so the prices were pretty good. Only cost us a hundred gold altogether. We talked for a bit after that, then we headed to our Headquarters in the city and checked in for the night."

"I am assuming that during that time you did not confess your feelings for her?" Selina ventures while idly waving one of her hands.

"N-no," Spencer's head drooped for a moment before he drew it back up with a smile, "But we have gotten closer. She hugged me before we split off to go to bed! Usually, she just says goodbye. So I've made progress."

Selina smiled under her mask and nodded, "That is good, Spencer. Though, if I'm being honest, I'm unsure why you are so hesitant to tell her. Nervousness can only excuse so much."

"W-well...it's because...it's because of our families. Do you know how someone becomes a Hero?"

"No. I only know that you are considered exceptional among your race."

Spencer clicked his tongue and went silent for a few moments. Then he started to explain, "Well, you're right about that, but the way they start is different. According to the Order, Heroes are either chosen by the Chief God and her Valkyries, or born with the Chief Gods' Blessing. Me and Val are the latter, both born into well known noble families."

"And that afforded your families even more prestige than they already had?"

"Pretty much," Spencer's expression fell as he continued, "And along with that comes heightened expectations. From both our families and the Order. While I might be a noble, neither my nor Val's family have any interest in letting us get together. Then there's the leaders of the Order who heavily discourage any and all relationships between Heroes."

Selina nodded and said, "I'm guessing they do this to prevent situations where a Hero's lover is transformed and used to get them to surrender?"

"If that is the reason, then they sure like keeping it secret. Usually they say it's because it's 'improper' or 'unbecoming' for Heroes to let their emotions get the better of them like that," Spencer shook his head in frustration, then quickly looked up at Selina out the corner of his eye while saying, "But-but they do it for our own good! It's just to protect us you know! With the way the Mamono work and all-"

He stopped speaking when he saw Selina's understanding gaze, "It's ok, Spencer. I understand what you mean."

"Oh. Ok," he shuts his mouth and continues walking..

The two are silent for a time, then Selina asks her next question, "So, and feel free to not answer if this question is too personal, but...do you enjoy being a Hero?"

"Of course I do!" Spencer is quick to answer, "Would I be here if I didn't!?"

"Then let me rephrase; Are there parts of being a Hero that you don't like?"

This time, Spencer goes quiet. His head angles towards the stone road below while his left hand grips his staff just below his right. Selina, believing she had overstepped, prepares to continue their walk in silence. That is, until Spencer replies, "Have you ever had people's high expectations heaped on you out of nowhere?"

Images of her first time as a Hunter and everyone expecting her to turn into a mad Beasts like all the others flash through Selina's mind as she nods in response. Spencer lifts his head up and continues, "Double that for Heroes. We have limitless potential if we apply ourselves. The strongest of us has the strength of a thousand trained soldiers. We're not just reinforcements in a fight, we're tide turners. That's the image everyone has of us...and it's because of that image that everyone expects so much from us."

Spencer's grip on his staff tightens as he speaks, "We're taught to always look up and smile because they can't have people lose morale. We're taught to never let our emotions get the better of us, because that will lead to corruption. And while there isn't a power requirement, people do expect every Hero to be able to wade into a tide of Mamono and just win without any trouble. If you can't reach that level, then get ready to let a lot of people down and make others resent you for existing. Not every Hero is bothered by it. I know some who enjoy the attention, revel in it. But me...it's only ever brought me trouble."

The young mage was positively shaking with repressed emotions now. His staff clanked against the road, people started giving him a wide berth, and Selina could see small sparks of electricity dance beneath his fingers. She could tell he was in distress and did the only thing that came to her mind to calm him down. She reached down and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. He stopped shaking and walking for about three minutes with Selina's hand squeezing his shoulder. People stepped around them as they stood there, a few stopping to stare at the frozen Hero. Selina paid them no mind. Eventually, Spencer told her he was fine and apologized for causing a scene. Selina removed her hand and replied, "It is fine, Spencer. Let us continue our walk."

The two lapse into silence, simply focusing on walking through the busy Vinvers Streets. Every now and then they would pass by a Mamono who would either pause to stare at Selina, yelp in surprise as she walked by, or move to the other side of the street to stay away from her. Spencer broke the silence as a black furred kobold led her master as far away from them as she could, "You really stand out when Mamono are around, don't you?"

Selina shrugged her shoulders, "One of the many side effects of my nature. At the very least, it only affects Mamono and certain humans rather than everyone I come across."

"How exactly does...your situation work anyway?" Spencer asked while keeping his gaze locked on the road in front of him, "Like can you 'turn it off' or something?"

"In a manner of speaking," Selina looked at her black-gloved hands, "Did the Inquisitors relay what I told them to you?"

"Only that you had no Mana. They were too busy to tell me anything else," Spencer shrugged with indifference.

Selina nodded and began to explain, "It is more than me simply having no Mana. If I make skin to skin contact with someone, I can drain the Mana from their bodies into mine. And all the Mana that enters my body is destroyed. Thus how I am able to face the Mamono without worry of corruption."

"Wait...what?" Spencer nearly tripped over himself as what Selina said registered in his mind. He regained his balance and quickly asked, "But..but how is that possible? Is it something about your body's composition? Were you born in a Mana deprived area? Do you come from a as yet undiscovered continent?"

Selina kept silent for a time as she carefully weighed her response to the young mage, "I...am not sure. These discoveries are still recent and I do not know the full extent of their power, nor where exactly they came from."

"Either way that is amazing! It explains why you were able to defeat the werewolf pack and the Demon last night! Does this mean you're immune to normal magic too? Would an enchanted blade do nothing if it hit you? What do you think would happen if-"

Selina raised an eyebrow at the young man as he continued to rattle off possible applications of her abilities. It was the first time she had seen him so lively since they had met. He was so focused on guessing possible applications of her power, that he didn't pay attention to where he was walking. Selina had to pull him out of the path of a large, half-naked woman that almost ran into him. Her legs were covered in fur and ended in hooves, while her arms and upper body had muscled human skin. Spencer shook his head to regain his senses and quickly apologized to the Mamono as she walked past them, seemingly in a hurry.

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"You seem very interested in my abilities," Selina observes while raising an eyebrow, "I understand when others see them as unnatural, but you seem to view them as...curiosities?"

"Well, they are," Spencer admits, "There have been people with above average resistance to monsterization, dead bodies don't have any Mana in them, and the Undead Mamono are created by putting Mana into a dead body. But never, in recorded History, has there ever been someone who could absorb Mana into their bodies and then destroy it. The things it could mean for our world are too many to count. To tell the truth, it's both terrifying...and remarkable."

Selina was unsure how to respond to the young mage. She looked down at her torso and placed a glove hand on her stomach. Certainly, her powers afforded her a great advantage over the Mamono. As Spencer said, she was the only person to ever have this much power. Things that would be impossible for others to accomplish, she could do without issue.

Yet, despite that, she could only see them as a curse.

An errant touch could drain someone's Mana, she had no conscious control over the power, and any Mamono or human magic user could tell what she was the moment she entered their field of view. To make matters worse, she doesn't even know where this power came from. She was certain that the Old Blood flowing through her veins was connected to it. But she didn't know how or why. It had never behaved this way before...then again she had never encountered actual magic before. Simply the Arcane power of the stars discovered by the Church. But why did it begin to act like this when she came here? Was there something else to it? If so, what was it?

But to hear someone call her powers remarkable despite all these things attached to them? It was...comforting.

"Are you ok, Cynthia?" Selina turned and met Spencer's worried gaze.

She shook her head to clear it and then nodded in affirmation, "Yes, Spencer. I am fine. I just...didn't eat breakfast this morning."

"You didn't? That's not good. Hold on, I think I see a Bakery over there," he pointed towards a shop built into a brownstone building. Steam wafted through an open window while citizens were seen entering the establishment and leaving with warm bread in their hands. The young mage immediately started to walk towards the building, leaving Selina to follow after him.

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Humans and Mamono alike stopped in their tracks as Nikon walked the streets. They would wave and smile at her when she passed by, and she would return the gesture with a grin of her own. She walked tall with her red hair tied in a long ponytail as it flew in the morning breeze. Her bow was strung across her chest, quiver full of arrows, and sword strapped to her side. The tanner had spent all last night fixing her armor and her injuries had healed.

Walking down the busy streets of Vinvers, she was the picture of what a proper Guard Captain looked like.

Yet, looks can be deceiving.

If anyone bothered to look closely at Nikon, they would see the sweat dripping down her brow. The bags under her eyes that were red from crying all night. The shakiness in every step she took. If the people around her could see such things, they would wonder what was wrong with her. What had happened to the one of their fair city's Guard Captains?

The answer? The events that took place while they were all sleep in their homes.

Nikon had gotten little sleep after what happened last night. Every time she closed her eyes, the events would play out in front of her. The Mamono falling to the earth with a hole in her chest, her former mentor dying to a single blow from a stranger, and then said stranger lopping the Demon's head off with one slice. She would wake up shaking, her bed covered in sweat as her heart hammered away in her chest. And they only got worse each time she tried to sleep. The worst was the one when she tried to save Edward, only to be rooted to the spot by stone hands that erupted from the earth.

And getting up in the morning wasn't any better. The moment she stepped into the Main Barrack, the other two Guard Captains started asking her what had happened. They had given her time to calm down and get some rest, but now they needed something to report to the City Council. So, she told them everything. About the fight, the stranger, Edward's betrayal, all of it. She made sure to focus on what the Demon and Edward had said about the Order, and the Mamono force supposedly camped outside the city. Her fellow Captains were just as shocked as she was and promised to bring the matter up with the City Council before deciding what to do...while looking to the Order and seeing if they are planning something. Until then, they would had to keep the matter to themselves until they could ferret out all the turncoats in their ranks.

As for the Demon and Edward's bodies? They would be buried in the graveyard directly across from the main Guardhouse where the other former Captains lay. Partly out of respect, and partly to keep watch over them just in case a Mamono tries to bring them back from the dead. Officially, Edward had died fighting against a Mamono that was planning to force Vinvers into the thrall of the Demon Lord. None of them liked lying to citizens, least of all Nikon, but they had to be careful. If the truth came out, it might lead to both the traitors and the Order accelerating their plans. And the Guard was in no shape to handle both of them at once.

So, here Nikon was.

Walking through the city streets, acting like everything was fine to keep people from panicking.

When in truth, she was the one who was hurting.

When she was sure no one was looking, she ducked into the shadow of a building and cupped her head in her hands as despair made its way into her heart. Why did Edward betrayed them? She had been his student for as long as she could remember, and he was nothing like what she saw. He was a kind soul. He loved this city and its people. He fought to defend them from humans and Mamono alike. Not just in the streets, but even in the City Council meetings. He was the one who would explain the troubles facing the citizens to the Councilmen and the one who offered his own suggestions. While they wouldn't always implement his ideas, they were always sure to listen to what he had to say.

How could that man, the one who would gave so much of his life for Vinvers, who trained her to defend the city in his absence, be the same as the one she saw last night? The one who would consign an entire populace to forced monsterization, because a Mamono said it was for their own good?

She felt tears form in her eyes and immediately wiped them with her arm. Once her vision was clear she walked back into the streets...and stopped in her tracks.

There, standing in front of Ivalice's Bakery with a piece of fresh bread in her hand, stood the black clothed stranger from the night before. Nikon lost all sense of those around her and, unconsciously, started to walk towards the figure.

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This...was bad.

"What is it, Cynthia?" Spencer wiped the crumbs from his mouth as he spoke, "Is something wrong with your bread? Or are you upset that you couldn't go inside?"

"No, no, Spencer. Everything's fine," Selina smiled while lying through her teeth. It turned out the Bakery was owned by a Harpy and Werecat (Spencer explained they were the feline version of Werewolves) duo and was regularly visited by Mamono...which the two discovered after Selina entered the building and nearly gave all the occupants a heart attack.

She excused herself while Spencer ordered food for them. A few minutes later he came out carrying two loaves of spherical bread, one for each of them. However, the reaction she got from entering the Bakery wasn't what was bothering her. It was what she discovered after she bit into the hot bread.

The fact that...it was extremely good.

The texture was perfectly soft and it had been buttered to perfection. She wanted to get back to eating it rather than speak with Spencer. In fact, it was the best piece of bread that she had ever eaten.

And that made her realize something...it was the first piece of actual food she had eaten since she became a Hunter.

Which raised the question, did she even need to eat anymore? Would eating do anything for her? The only times she's run out of energy since becoming a Hunter were during prolonged fights against powerful Beasts or other Hunters. Even then she would regain her stamina at an abnormal rate. It was how she survived in Yharnam. Move in, attack the foe as fast and much as possible, back off and then formulate the next plan of attack. She had to adopt that style of fighting as she almost never got a break in between fights. Unless she went to the Dream or the Chapel, there was always something waiting to attack her around the next corner.

But here there was no need for her to constantly be on edge. To constantly be prepared for a fight...at least not as much as Yharnam.

She could afford to do things that she didn't need to do. Eating, drinking, bathing, and more had now opened up to her.

But the question was, should she do those things? Wouldn't such actions be a waste of time considering what she was?

Selina thought about this for a moment...then shrugged the thought off and took another bite of the bread in her hand.

It tasted good, and she wanted to eat it.

Who cares if she didn't need to do that?

"This is delicious. Thank you, Spencer," she said through mouthfuls of her meal.

The young mage chuckled while biting into his own food, "No problem. Glad you...like...it?" Spencer looked up from his meal to see the towering figure of a Centaur standing before him. There were heavy bags beneath her puffy red eyes that were locked onto Selina. He saw the weapons strapped to the Mamono's human half, with a green cloth stamped with the symbol of the City Guard.

He looked up at the Centaur and forced a smile, "Is something wrong, Guard..."

"This is Guard Captain Nikon," Spencer turned to stare at Selina in confusion. The woman took another bite of her bread, chewed it for a bit, swallowed, then let out a happy sigh before continuing, "She was there last night when I killed the Demon and Hero."

"What?!" his gaze darted between the two females as his mind recalled what the Order had told him about the bodies being found, "But-then you two-"

"Hello, Nikon," Selina ignored Spencer and approached the Mamono. Shaking breaths left Nikon's mouth as her hands trembled against her sides. Selina stopped when she was close enough to look the Centaur in the eye and spoke, "You are here about what happened last night, aren't you?"

With a shaky voice, the Guard Captain answered, "Yes."

"You're thinking about arresting me for the murder of the Hero Edward, correct?"

"Y-yes."

"But you don't want to, because you know if I hadn't done that he likely would've gotten away, informed his allies, and the city would've been attacked."

"...Yes."

"You don't konw what to do now, do you?"

"...No," Nikon's gaze turned to the ground. She felt all her emotions leave her. She wasn't angry, sad, or even distraught.

She had simply given up. What could she do? How could she continue in the face of this? Her mentor was dead, the Guard could be compromised, there were Mamono but a day away from Vinvers, and the Order might soon be initiating its own assault. What could she do in the face of all those things?

She felt lost...until Selina reached up and placed a hand on the Mamono's head. Nikon looked into the stranger's shining black eyes as Selina said, "Now, tell me. Do you want to protect Vinvers? Do you want to defend your city?"

Nikon felt something well up inside her heart. She remembered the day she became a Guard Captain. The day she swore an Oath to defend the city, no matter who or what threatened its citizens. She felt her blood boil and straightened her back with a renewed purpose. She spoke with no uncertainty in her voice, "Must you ask? No harm will come to Vinvers while I have the power to stop it."

"Good," Selina nodded, "Then I must ask for your assistance in a matter dealing with that exact thing."

"And the least I could do is offer my help, after what you did for me last night."

"Can one of you explain what's going on? Please?!" Spencer yelled, drawing the women's attention to him, "What do you mean 'defend your city'? Is Vinvers under the attack?"

"Not yet. But it will be," Selina responded. She approached Spencer and gazed down at the boy. With no hesitation in her voice she said, "The Mamono I slayed last night informed us of a Mamono Invasion Force camped a day away from here. Guard Captain Nikon and I plan to find it and destroy it. And we'll need your help, Spencer."

And at the sudden reveal of so much information, Spencer reacted in the only sensible fashion: By proceeding to cough up the bread he was trying to swallow in shock.