“Well then, what will you do?” Lucius turned towards his guests as he spoke. “I’ve given you time – I left the two of you to get settle into this new world and heal your wounds. Now you need to make your decision.”
Sunlight streamed in through the stained glass windows to illuminate the large room, highlighting the many engravings over the dais he stood upon. Last time he had been in this room, one of Lucius’ guests had spent his time curled up in the other’s lap, although now he appeared to be healthy and whole. Liam and Ginger stood close together this time, and instead of priests a dozen plate-armored knights filled the cathedral, each wearing a white tabard emblazoned with a great red cross.
“I will follow Liam,” Ginger said. “No matter what he chooses.”
“There you have it, Liam,” Lucius said. “Truthfully you’d personally be more useful on the battlefield, but Ginger is absolutely adamant that you aren’t to be separated, so… how do you feel about joining the Templars?”
“You disgust me,” Liam replied. “Progress, too.” He looked around at the Templars as they stood to attention around the trio. “Do you really think that this boy is fit to lead simply because he was chosen by a fickle god? A living saint? This is ridiculous!”
The Templars had stiffened at Liam’s words, but remained silent. “I couldn’t care less about what you think of our Lord, and neither does he,” Lucius said. “I also don’t know what he said to you before sending you here, but he gave me a purpose. I will secure humanity’s place in this world. Magic, however, remains a threat. Ginger especially is invaluable in negating this problem.”
“And if I say no?” Liam said.
“You have nothing in this world. If you lose support of the church, there is only the guild, and I can change that as well.” Lucius bowed his head. “I’m not asking for a lifetime of service, just to have you here if need be. Think of it as a preliminary quest to enter the guild.”
“We already suffered through your god’s preliminary quest,” Liam hissed. “People died needlessly. One of your gods’ champions slaughtered innocent people by the dozen.” He turned towards the Templars “If she appeared here, would you worship her too?”
The knights shifted uneasily, but Lucius was unshaken. “That woman was not the champion of our lord, and he chose us all very carefully,” he said.
Liam shook his head. “I will not join the Templars,” he said. “I have no faith in your god. Ginger and I will join the guild.”
Lucius opened his mouth to speak, but Liam raised a hand to silence him. “If you want our aid, make a request.” He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t take us lightly. Even this many knights could not stop us if we wished to leave.”
Lucius tilted his head for a moment, but Ginger glared back at him and he felt his vision slowly blurring. Taking off his glasses, he blinked to clear his eyes, laughing softly. “I didn’t think we’d be able to defeat you,” he said with a grin. “The knights here are those that were willing to serve you.” He replaced his glasses and the smile disappeared from his face. “Very well – join the guild. But don’t think that you’ll be able to deny our requests when they come.”
Liam ignored Lucius’ last remark, turning to leave the church with Ginger in tow. Pausing before the door, he turned back towards the dais. “Progress did tell me something before we came here. He told me to know my place in this world. You should do the same.”
“He told me something similar,” Lucius said. “Make no mistake, this is my place.”
After Liam and Ginger had gone, one of the Templars approached the dais. “Is this really okay?” he asked.
Lucius sighed, stepping off the platform and looking over the knights that had gathered. “Those two have been through more than I can imagine, Gideon.” he said. “I never expected them to accept my command. This is more than enough.”
“Could you not have just asked them politely?” Gideon asked.
Lucius shook his head. “Smiling sweetly and asking them to suffer for our sake would only push them further away,” he replied. “It’s far better for them to think of me as devoted to my cause rather than a manipulative liar.”
Gideon bowed his head. “What of the other?” he asked. “He may still be alive – we’ve received reports of a suspicious traveler in the Paw that matched his description, although he bore beast crystals upon his hand. It is suspected that he may have slain the Guardian of the Forest.”
Lucius fell silent for a moment. “There’s no chance that the Archbishop or the Pope will be swayed?”
Gideon shook his head. “This is something they cannot accept. More than their personal beliefs, they must act with the will of the people in mind.”
Lucius made a sound of frustration. “Our Lord is a great being, but fickle. I had thought that Christoph was somehow chosen as we were, but the alternative is also just as likely.” Sighing, he stepped through the door. “No matter what, we cannot allow him to cross the border into the beast lands. If they make a claim to him, we will be forced to get him back, even if it means an invasion.”
…
“He denied having met you before.” Cliff said, sitting cross-legged in front of the smoldering campfire.
“Of course he did!” Emilia laughed as she replied, spending an equal amount of time eating as she did talking. “I’m sure you would have said that too. Humans are all the same in the end.”
“I still find your story hard to believe,” said Henry. “Although we took Luke into our camp, if he turns out to be the summoned demon we will slay him without hesitation. If you are protecting him in that case, you will make enemies of both the guild and the church.”
Emilia laughed again, clear notes of hilarity rising into the trees as she devoured the last of their fish. “I’m a guild member, remember?” she asked. “Besides, the adventurers and the church are forbidden from messing with our property.”
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The adventurers made faces of disgust. “That’s correct,” said Henry. “But slave or not, we will kill any demons we find. Non-hostile interactions with their kind are forbidden by the Convention.”
Emilia scoffed past the fish and waved a hand. “This Luke of yours is a human, is he not? There are no rules against enslaving stray humans who wander into our lands.” She grinned over at the group, eyes pausing on Henry. “Or half-elves for that matter.”
“How long ago did you meet with Luke?” Sierra asked, cutting off Henry’s indignant reply.
“A couple of weeks ago,” said Emilia. Leaning back, she relaxed onto the rock ledge she was sitting against, her fur puffing out as she stretched. Shaking it back down, she looked back over towards Sierra. “I baited him over the border and claimed him as mine. He fled shortly after, and I followed along until something else caught my eye.” She winked over in Henry’s direction.
“Just to clarify,” Sierra said, “had you won that duel you would have claimed that the meat you referred to had been Henry, and taken him as your reward. Is that correct?”
“Of course,” Emilia said. “The quicker I can get this over with and return home, the better.”
Sierra glanced over at the half-elf. “In the future, you should not take any duel so lightly.” Henry paled as he listened to the exchange.
“In any case,”Cliff said, “your story is suspicious. For a traveler to have wandered all the way to the border alone and unarmed, escape capture and chance upon the dying Guardian of the Forest, and then join our camp hours before you just so happen to find Henry so alluring… In the first place it’s even suspicious that you’d be undertaking your First Trial at such an age.”
“Watch your mouth, human,” Emilia said with a scowl. “Your party has already broken a duel, I could demand one of you to make up for that.”
“Why did you stab him, then?” asked Henry. “He would have died from that poison had we not intervened.”
“Ah.” Emilia shrugged, holding up her hands with a half-grin. “That was the wrong knife,” she said, pulling another from her belt and winking at Henry again. “This is the one I meant to use.”
“Paralysis,” Cliff said in response to Henry’s silent question. “Most people wouldn’t make that mistake twice in their entire lives, but I guess that it’d be possible for you.” He grinned over at her before frowning and raising an eyebrow. “Still, you stabbed him in the chest to paralyze him?”
“He’s got some sort way of healing up any damage you do to him,” Emilia said. “Do you really think I’d go this far to chase after some sort of normal pathetic human?”
Cliff rose to his feet. “Very well,” he said. “We will attempt to capture him alive, and if you can prove your ownership we will turn him over to you. If not, he will be executed, and the guild will decide on your punishment.”
…
Christoph crouched high above the meeting, the lower branches of the enormous trees still almost too high for him to hear the conversation below. Wouldn’t this have been outside of his normal range of hearing anyway? He brushed off his concerns and sat silently. He had no idea how sharp the cat-girl’s hearing was, or Henry’s for that matter. Sierra might have been the most likely to notice his mana signature if she wasn’t still recovering from having healed him earlier. Her own glow of mana was only a fraction of her usual capacity as a mage.
As the meeting went on, Christoph tried to make sense of what happened. The beast clans kept humans as slaves? Does that mean that humanity is considered weaker than the other races? Emilia also claimed to have ownership over him. That much was possible considering the time he had spent rampaging mindlessly through the forest. Or was she lying so she could kill him and claim the guild reward for herself? Maybe she was even after the unicorn horn? Christoph sighed. Had Progress brought him here for some reason other than to watch him suffer? Eventually, Emilia finished eating waving goodbye to the party, blowing a kiss towards Henry before leaving.
Christoph made sure to keep an eye on her flickering glow of mana, but after a while it vanished as if it had been extinguished. She had controlled it during her duel with Henry as well. Was that a trait of the beast clans? Below him, he heard the adventurers begin their conversation anew.
“You know that we cannot hand him over to her if he is the summon, right?” Cliff asked.
“Of course I do,” said Henry. “If need be, I am prepared to take his place.”
Sierra frowned at his proclamation. “I’m sure you are,” she said. “But do not forget your duties to the church.”
“Well,” said Cliff, “if he does turn out to be no more than a lost traveler we could turn him over without worry. If he really was chosen by the Guardian it would be better to leave him to the beast clans.”
“There little chance of that, though,” Sierra said. The group fell silent for a moment, the fire slowly dying in between them.
“I’ll kill him,” Henry said. “I will not forgive you if you interfere.”
“I have no qualms with leaving that to you,” Cliff replied, “but if you fail then we will take no chances.”
“That’s how it should be.” Henry stood from the fire, heading down the rocky steps towards the river. Because of that, Christoph almost missed his final words.
“Make no mistake, though,” Henry said. “I will not fail.”
A sour taste filled Christoph’s mouth, and he turned away from the camp to head further into the forest. Behind him, a gray-furred cat-girl crouched down on the tree branch, a dagger held lightly in her hand.
“Hi there,” Emilia said with a toothy grin. “Did you miss me?”