“Alissa!?” muttered Esperanza in surprise as she kept her eyes glued to the distant figure. In her surprise she even lost control over her shapeshifting for a moment and multiple eyes sprouted up along her cheeks and neck, all focused towards the same thing. She managed to get herself under control and hid all the extra eyes once more before anyone could react, though.
Which was fortunate, because people at high levels tend to have sharp enough senses to notice if they were being watched. From the way Alissa had not reacted, she was probably too far away or the feeling of being watched was too brief for her to register it.
“What happened, Exalted One?” asked Iryl with caution. The girl noticed how Esperanza briefly lost control over her shapeshifting and was naturally alarmed as a result. Within the short moment that passed after her noticing it she already stood up halfway from her bed and drew a small dagger she carried for self-defense. “Are we in danger? Should I warn the rest to prepare to evacuate?”
“Ah? Oh, no, no, calm down, Iryl, there’s no danger,” said Esperanza as she got over her surprise and turned to address Iryl. “Though I guess her being present would mean there’s more of them and that would be a threat to us, in some way… that said it could present us with a unique opportunity as well… I wonder if…”
“Who have you seen to affect you so, Exalted One?” asked Iryl more quietly, now seated once more on her bed. “I do not think I have seen you flustered like this… ever.”
“Oh, it’s someone from my previous world,” said Esperanza openly. She had never hidden the fact how she was originally from a different world from her allies, and they understood that her coming to this world was rather analogous to how the [Heroes] and [Champions] were summoned. “One of the very few people I would call a friend there…”
“Someone from your world? Wait… then that means…” muttered Iryl as she quickly put two and two together in her mind. It was obvious that she understood the implication of Esperanza’s words given the way she fidgeted and couldn’t seem to sit still as she pondered about it.
“Yes, she should be one of the summoned [Heroes],” admitted Esperanza. “In fact, I saw her once before, when I arrived in this world, as we ended up arriving in the same temple. At that time I had far less control over my body and instincts, however, and things got rather… messy in the end. I distinctly remember seeing her from afar there, so yeah, she should be one of the [Heroes] from this batch.”
“Does that mean the [Heroes] are in the city!?” asked Iryl with more urgency. It was obvious from the way the girl sat that she was tense and worried, even to an amateur at reading body language like Esperanza. “Do they know that we’re here? Are they looking to hunt us down or-”
Iryl’s half-panicked rambling was something rather understandable, as for the worshipers of the Deities of Yore, the [Heroes] and [Champions] were mostly known to them as those who executed the will of the new gods, or the usurpers as they called them. It definitely didn’t help that there was a [Champion] present amongst the demons that raided and destroyed Navef, even if the [Champion] in question had not actively participated in the atrocity in question.
“Calm down, girl, I also know the other two [Heroes], the [Warrior] and the [Mage], and they’re not with her. Alissa was walking with a couple girls who looked rather friendly with her, so they’re probably people from the kingdom she got close to in her time here,” said Esperanza in an attempt to soothe Iryl’s worries. “Besides, if she had been present in that fort where the humans won just a while ago and is now taking her turn to take a break, it would make her presence here understandable, don’t you think?”
“I- I see, thank you for the explanation, Exalted One,” said Iryl with a nod after she calmed down somewhat. “If that’s the case and we’re still safe here, then what should we do about it?”
“For now? Nothing. We’ll need to discuss this with all the rest as well, so we’ll do that as soon as they all return,” answered Esperanza with a shake of her head. Murad and Mora were still out in the city, though she heard Kurt and Leo return to the inn just a short while ago. They were presently downstairs in the tavern part of the inn, chatting and drinking with some locals.
“Understood, Exalted One.”
They waited a few more hours before the middle-aged couple returned shortly before dinner time, and gathered together around a larger table to eat their dinner together as a group. Mora happened to have a convenient skill that would hide their conversation from anyone else in the vicinity, with everyone else only able to hear what sounded like small talk between them if they were to listen in.
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Under the skill’s umbrella – coupled with a light helping from Esperanza’s [Veil of Entropy] to make them less noticeable – the eight of them talked about Esperanza’s sighting of her old friend… who was also one of the summoned [Heroes] on the human side.
“So one of the [Heroes] are in the city… I guess that matches what we heard from many of the soldiers, that they’ve won a great victory at the frontlines and were taking turns having their break here,” noted Murad thoughtfully. “They never mentioned anything about the [Heroes], but it wouldn’t be strange if the kingdom tries to keep their location a secret when possible. Every war we know of had been decided by which side lost all their [Heroes] or [Champions] to the other first.
“The human side is fighting with a handicap then, since they are short one [Hero],” Esperanza said with a nod of her head. “I was likely supposed to be their fourth, but Ol- the Deities of Yore managed to get to me before the usurpers could,” she added, as she almost accidentally used her pet name for the Deities of Yore and quickly corrected it. “Do you all think there’s any chance I could convince Alissa to help us?”
“We… have never heard of any such case ourselves, though in the distant past our ancestors did hear of a rumor that supposedly one of the [Heroes] was on the run and that the humans were turning everything upside down searching for them,” admitted Kurt. “The incident made it to the records we kept because it was the time when the humans came closest to discovering our hideout.”
“So they don’t always execute the will of the usurpers then,” Esperanza noted with interest. “Yet what your elders and the priests conveyed to me before indicated that it was more normal for them to act as faithful agents of the usurpers… Do any of you know the reason? Do you think it’s likely that when the [Heroes] and [Champions] are fresh to Ephemera they might not be under the usurper’s control at all?”
“That is a possibility,” said Mora with a nod. “While our tribe managed to gather information from the human kingdom, most of what we get are just superficial information, hearsay and rumors, at most. Things that their common populace could hear as well,” she admitted. “Such things like matters that touches on the [Heroes] are something we never managed to get much information on.”
“So it’s possible that they only fall under the usurper’s control some time after they arrived here, and it might be a gradual process even so, huh?” Esperanza noted with a more hopeful voice. The worst case scenario in her head was if the new gods somehow brainwashed the [Heroes] and used them as pawns from the moment they arrived in Ephemera.
Esperanza only had vague impressions from the short moment she saw Alissa and the others back at the temple. At the time, she was not really in control of her body, and all she managed to get were glimpses of them in the distance. At the time, Alissa seemed to cower, perhaps afraid of her grotesque form, while Ethan and Joshua looked like they were affected negatively by her passive skill’s effect.
She was uncertain if they were under any controlling effects at that time, and couldn’t tell anyway as she had no way to detect such things. At the present, if she got close to them she might be able to notice something with her [Soul Sight], but Esperanza was certain that such an act would likely alert a [Hero] about it.
If it turned out that she could not reason with Alissa, it would risk the rest of the group for her to make contact. On the other hand, if she could reason with Alissa, or even get her help or turn her to their side, it would be an unspeakable boon for her mission, even if she would have to wrack her brain to think of a way to send Alissa – and maybe the others – home first if there was a way to do so before she could carry through with the mission.
Either way, it was worth the shot, even if she would need to arrange for some precautions first before she made the attempt.
“Morad, Mura, Kurt, Leo, I will need you four to discreetly look for the [Hero] and observe her from a distance, but don’t risk yourselves,” said Esperanza after some thought. “She’s a tall girl, pale skin with straw-blonde hair, and moves like a warrior. I’m not sure whether she would be going around with the others I noticed with her or not, those two look like locals, and Alissa’s pretty noticeable in this crowd so I think even if you get caught looking at her you can make a believable excuse.”
“As you will, Exalted One,” said Murad with a slight bow. “Do you happen to know where she might be? It would help us narrow the search.”
“She was walking to the north when I spotted her earlier, so she’s probably going to the northern district? It would make sense for a [Hero] to stay in the better part of town, even if she’s keeping her presence here a secret,” replied Esperanza. “Like I said, don’t risk yourselves, keep your distance, and stay safe. I just need a general idea of where she would be going towards in the city.”
“Are you planning to meet the [Hero], Exalted One?” asked Tiara with some apprehension in her voice. As she was a native who only knew vague things about the [Hero], her worry was understandable. Esperanza knew Alissa as a person, though, and she was willing to bet on her friend’s character to at least give her a chance to make her case.
“As for the rest of you, be extra cautious while you’re going around. I’m not sure if a [Hero] would be more sensitive in detecting us than a priest would, but don’t take the chance,” she added as she addressed the other three. “Once we’re reasonably sure where I could find the [Hero] and confront her in relative privacy, I want all of you to leave the city and regroup with the rest. I will meet the [Hero] alone.”
“But-”
“No buts,” said Esperanza as she raised a hand and stilled the protests before they could be said. “All of you are going to leave the city and regroup with the rest before I attempt to make contact. ¿Entiendes?”
“Unlike the rest of you, I have [Respawn]. Even in the worst case, I would just die and come back in a while. None of you can do that, and this is not the place or situation to risk your life in,” she continued as she persuaded the group. “So do as I ask and wait for me with the rest of the group while I do this, por favor. I’ll be fine, and I would very much prefer if all of you are out of potential harm’s way as well.”