Chapter 38

Of

The villagers swarm around us, laughing and clapping and cheering. I recognize the wheelwright, the blacksmith, the baker. But just as often, they're noticing our bewildered expressions and pointing and laughing over them.

They're almost deliberately moving around so much that it's impossible to get an answer out of them. I get hold of the baker and she just shoves a basket of pastries into my arms. Ayre manages to grab a man she recognizes as the innkeeper, but he laughs and promises her room free of charge for as long as she's in town.

I'm starting to worry some sort of madness has taken them all when Kyuuga suddenly jumps from Ayre's shoulders to mine and gives a cry, insisting on a direction.

I follow his insistence and spot the mayor and Yorin just beyond the outer edge of the crowd. Graf is his jolly self, clapping at the sight, and the priestess is just giving that expression of motherly bemusement that looks so out of place on her.

Little surprise she's looking me right in the eyes the moment I notice her.

I grab Ayre by the arm again and start pulling. "This way!"

Bewildered, herself, she follows my order without thinking, but I keep a grip on her anyway so we don't get separated in the crowd.

The villagers laugh at how we push through them, but don't try to resist us. They reach out to clap us on arms and shoulders, some women and children hug us, but pull away to let us through before they can drag on us.

At some point, I realize Kyuuga has received a huge kebab of raw vegetables he's gnawing his way through.

I nearly fall forward when we finally break through and there's no longer resistance to my forward momentum, and I take a moment to catch my breath.

"What is wrong, Remmi?" Yorin asks in that knowing way she has. "Cannot bear the consequences of your actions?"

I raise my head to look at her. "What are you talking about, Yorin? What's going on?! What's gotten into everyone?!"

"Why, you have, Gunslinger Hero," she replies. "Nearly the whole village saw that pillar of light yesterday."

My jaw falls open as my mind completely locks down. I can't think of a single thing to say. I can barely process what she's implying.

"Indeed!" Mayor Graf corroborates. "To be honest, we saw the light and were terrified we were under attack! Fortunately, Sacred Yorin recognized it as a Hero's purification magic, and explained that you and your team had encountered and eliminated an invading fragment of Darkness!"

My team?

I glance back at Ayre ... and Kyuuga. Wait, do they think that bratty rabbit was with us for the fight?!

I catch myself and sigh. To be fair to him, he's absolutely powerful enough to have been of aid. I just might have to sit him down and have some words with him so it doesn't go to his head.

... When did he become my responsibility?

... When he became part of my "team," I guess. The answer comes to me as quickly as the question.

Instead, I thumb back toward the gate, and in so doing notice that some guards have already hauled the bar back to storage.

"If you knew it wasn't an attack, what's the big idea with locking us out?"

"That was the wheelwright's idea," Yorin provides. "It started as a precaution in case you didn't actually succeed, despite my insistence that the light meant you had. Then he mentioned picturing your reaction to it, and it turned into a surprise."

"I was worried you wouldn't be able to get in," Graf admits, "but Sacred Yorin reminded us that a simple city wall would never be an obstacle to a Hero!"

I eye the priestess at that, but she's as unflappable as always with that motherly smile. "She reminded you, did she?"

Everything's always a scheme when she's involved, Xuhitana had said. I'm even starting to wonder if the first spark of the idea really came from the wheelwright. And by getting the whole village so involved, she's made sure they all know I'm not just some random adventurer, too.

Instead of looking at all guilty, she just changes the subject. "I'm sure you'd like to tell me all about what happened so that I may relay it in my imperial report."

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"Normally, people wait until after they hear the story to steal somebody else's thunder, Yorin."

"I believe in being proactive," she responds easily. "Will you be joining us, Mayor Graf?"

"Ah, no, I think not," he declines. "I'll get things settled down here. Hero Lee, I am certain many will want to send their gratitude to your estate that couldn't give it to you personally here. I'll arrange it for you."

"Uh, thanks," I fumble. "I, uh ... I'm out of my element on that, honestly. That much attention feels unnecessary."

"Nonsense, nonsense!" he assures me. "It is not just the Imperial Capitol where stories of the darkness have people in fear, dear girl. You may not think much of what your team has done, but there are none among us who won't sleep easier tonight knowing that a piece of that horror was so near, but for the bravery of a Hero."

And as he heads off to sort out the flash mob, Yorin speaks again, drawing our attention back to her.

"The Guild wants to speak with you both, as well," she informs us, "but Guildmaster Kobi thought this sort of display was inappropriate for his station. Depending on what you tell me, it may be best if he speaks with me, instead."

Ayre's eyes are like saucers. "This is big enough that a Sacred Priestess would need to speak for us?!"

Yorin smiles at the question. "Heroes are a Heavenly product, Ayre. But I am also a designated representative of the Imperial Throne. In both capacities, I may be required to ... interpret some aspects for layman ears."

"You mean filter them for classified information," I challenge flatly, arms crossed.

Again, not even a flinch of guilt. "Well, let us go somewhere quieter first, where we can speak in something vaguely resembling privacy, hm?"

* * *

[Yorin]

The children's story starts out innocently enough, and in territory with which I am already familiar. They set out for a simple Iron mission to clear out a monster nest of giant rats, a task far below either of their skills, to test their teamwork.

I still hold that this was a wise course of action that more new parties should engage in, and despite my earlier teasing, it did not surprise me at all that it was Remmi's idea. For all of the problems her Outsider status brings with it, she does not possess an obsession with status, want of material reward or impatience for preparatory labor.

Is the girl wise? On that, I am as yet unconvinced, but it is clear that her naivety of our world permits her to jump to ideas natives too often wouldn't bother considering. There is no reason in her mind to even second-guess such a measure. It is the heavy side of the scale to the same reason that she creates such terrible devices.

Unfortunately, it seems things soured rather quickly.

"... You realized the nest's monster type had changed and been empowered, and couldn't explain why, yet you kept going?"

This is exactly the sort of recklessness that ends up getting people killed.

"Remmi, I know that, as a Hero, you are unusually hardy, and your Heavenly Artifact is powerful, but even you should have recognized that proceeding without support was a bad idea. You cannot allow yourself such overconfidence. That is the very reason that I didn't want you inflating your status! But not only did you go, you took someone with you that you knew didn't have the same protection!"

I motion to said other and turn my attention to the archer. "Ayre, you are a Bronze-rank adventurer! You should have known immediately that the proper course of action was to report the elevation to the guild."

The young elf wilts under my reprimand like a drought-stricken plant, and even Remmi seems a little penitent.

"Actually," the Hero puts in delicately, "we ... had pretty much that exact conversation."

I let my surprise raise one of my eyebrows. "You did? And yet you went along, anyway? Why?"

I know I'm not going to like the answer when they both immediately turn and look at each other. I too easily forget how poorly the young regulate their expressions.

Rather than allow my own frustration to show, I take the opportunity to lift my tea and take a single, precise sip. They've been drinking theirs at uneven paces with little decorum, which is good. I want them to be comfortable with me. Ayre is probably just following Remmi's lead, anyway. I can take the time to teach the Hero proper tea ceremony etiquette when it actually matters.

When I set my cup down, I slide the plate between us toward them both again. "Another cake?"

Their looks nearly drive me to assure them they aren't in trouble ... yet. Predictably, however, Remmi's gluttony drives her to take the offer regardless, and, confirming my suspicions, Ayre follows soon after.

I understand the Hero's initial concerns about her appetite when she first arrived, but I am glad she is listening to her body when it says it is hungry, anyway. Even Heavenly Essence cannot provide her the endless energy she seems to have on tap from nothing. If she tried to deny it and starve herself, I'd have to speak with her about the harm she risks.

Once they've had a moment to settle down, I raise the subject again, careful to keep my tone gentle. "So, what was it? What drove you to keep going in spite of better sense?"

They look to each other again, but this time, it is a mutual search for words. I expect Remmi to speak first, but Ayre actually takes the initiative.

"The System told us to, Sacred Priestess."

... I'm immediately grateful my tea is on the table before me and not in my hand. I fear even my self-control isn't quite that strong.

"... The System did?" I repeat. "Directly?"

"Gave us a proper quest and everything," Remmi confirms with much less formality. It's a bit ironic, but next to Ayre, the girl is almost boyish. No doubt something cultural. "Both of us. Mission, objective, rewards. Interrupted us right when we were talking about going back."

I take a deep, slow breath. "Just to be certain that I understand, you each received separate quest notifications, with independent rewards dispensed directly to you?"

They both nod.

"Mine promised bonus points, a new power and item, and a bunch of affinity increases," Remmi confirms first. "Told me to find and eliminate the cause of the undead."

"Mine just offered me bonus points and affinity," Ayre notes, "but I've never seen such things from the Essence System before. My mission was to assist Remmi in finding and eliminating the cause."

I really should stop being so surprised all of the time. I, of all people in this village, and perhaps most of the empire, understand the myriad ways that Heroes can inadvertently make life miserable for those around them.

But I doubt there has ever been another Hero like Remmi. If there had, it would have been an era in history not soon forgotten. Whether that is a mark in her favor or against it, I've yet to determine.

"Remmi?"

She blinks at my simple, short address. I don't think she realizes she does this little owl face when she's confused. "... Yes?"

"Kindly please stop breaking everything."