A frown crossed my lips, as I began to feel a sense of impending dread.

Meanwhile, Jason started ranting drunkenly at me. “I trusted you!” He screamed, swaying from his own inebriation and keeping an accusing finger pointed at me. “And all along you were one of THEM! Youuuu…you were one of those evil BASTARDS FUCKING EVERYTHING UP!”

Most of the aid workers in the surrounding area had stopped what they were doing to watch the confrontation at this point, and the shouting was drawing in even more people. A crowd was forming to watch. While not every look thrown my way was as accusing as Jason was being, there were some decidedly unfriendly ones in that mix.

“I let you into my HOME!” Jason bellowed, spit flying from his mouth. “And now it’s GONE! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” At that, the proprietor of Jason’s Magical Brews staggered up to me with outstretched hands, as if to try and strangle me.

A frown crossed my lips as I caught and held them effortlessly. Jason had once told me he’d never been serious about his Status, and it showed. The man was pathetically weak in comparison to me. I didn’t even budge as I held the struggling man in my grip.

Still, I sighed. In a way…he was right. Nerexxa had only kicked off her plan after the arrival of the Division here in Elderwyck. Everything was still her fault, of course. But we had factored into that plan, and even if it was nonsensical, I felt a measure of guilt over it. “I’m sorry, Jason,” I said quietly enough that I wasn’t sure he heard me. But he did, and stopped his struggling long enough to glare at me with hate painted across his face. “I can talk to some people about finding you a place to stay, if you need one. And I have…a little money that you can take to build a new life.”

It was the best I could do for him, at this point.

But Jason didn’t want to hear it. The drunken man sneered at me. “I don’t want your PITY!” He shouted, before rearing back his head. He drove it forward in an attempt to headbutt me in the face, but it was easy enough for me to lean backward and dodge it.

That was a mistake.

It was only after I heard gasps from the surrounding crowd that I realized what had happened, in my evasion of the drunken headbutt.

My hood had fallen backward with the movement. My altered features, including my ears, had been exposed to the astonished eyes of the crowd.

I tensed up while Jason finally tired out in my arms. He stopped struggling and went limp in my grip, now sobbing loudly. I numbly let go of him, and he slumped to his knees and buried his face in his hands. Meanwhile, I started to hear whispers from the mob.

“Weren’t there rumors about an elf?” My new ears heard one man mutter to another. “Somethin’ about one freein’ all the Sculpted about the city?”

“An elf in the Order?” I heard another say.

Abruptly, one Uprising soldier shoved forward out of the mass and gaped at me for a moment, “Don't I know you? I swear I saw you in Helstein a few months back. You look a little different, but aren't you Sir Nathaniel Hart? I heard you were the one that killed the Calamity!"

My heart dropped into my stomach as the crowd went abruptly silent. Suddenly, everyone in the mob was looking at me with confused awe in their gazes. Slowly, I reached back and drew my hood up, but the damage had already been done.

Heartbreakingly, a dirty little girl stepped out of the crowd, escaping the grasp of his exhausted mother. “Is it true, mister Elf?” She asked innocently. “Did you kill the monster?”

“I…” I said aloud, paralyzed by the guileless curiosity in her young eyes. The rest of the crowd hung off my every word. “I…”

I couldn’t get a word out. Panic was welling up inside of me now, in a way I thought I’d gotten past. White noise filled my head as I groped for something, anything to say.

But then more fuel was thrown on the fire, from an unlikely source.

“I heard it was true,” A voice said unexpectedly, drawing mine and everyone else’s attention. An Order member stepped out of the crowd, and to my dismay, he was looking at me with near worship. “The higher-ups have been saying that it was a member of our Order that killed the Calamity. Supposedly, it was Headmaster Greycton’s apprentice who did it.”

What?

What the fuck? Who was saying that?! Had Woodrick or Leopold let that fact slip ‘accidentally’? Was I being used as a…PR campaign, or something?

Suddenly I was feeling much more sure of my decision to leave with Azarus.

“Are you him?” The Uprising soldier said breathlessly. “Sir…Hart?”

The eyes of the crowd swung my way once again, and I was disturbed by the level of awe now radiating from them. I took a step back almost instinctively from the attention before I bumped into something and felt a hand fall on my shoulder. I whipped around in panic, only to see that it was Azarus behind me. Said dwarf leaned in closely. “We should probably get out of here,” He whispered next to my long ear. “We don’t want this to turn into a riot. Pretty sure Grey is at the Guard Headquarters. Go on, get. I’ll meet ya there. I gotta find some things if we’re headin’ out.”

That knocked me out of my panic long enough to nod at him and start backing away from the crowd. Near worshipping gazes were being directed my way that were so disturbing that I felt my skin crawl from them. I had to get out of here.

And so I did.

Throwing out an arm, I cast Thorn Grapple at a nearby rooftop and reeled myself in. Once up there, I started sprinting and hopping my way towards the guard HQ.

Away from the reverent masses.

…………………………………..

The Uprising and the Order seemed to have taken over the guard headquarters, when I finally reached it. They were very clearly in charge of things now that they’d occupied the city. Honestly, it didn’t look like the Loyalists or the guards themselves were too bothered by it. Instead, they looked a bit relieved to be ordered around like they seemed to be.

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However, one thing did bother me.

I was recognized.

Again.

Disturbingly, even though I was being careful to keep myself concealed, the Order and Army forces had zeroed in on me once I’d touched down in front of the HQ. They were quiet as they parted before my form, leaving a clear path through the former chaos of the refugee efforts. Some of those refugees were visibly confused at the deference that was being paid to me, only for some of the soldiers to lean down and whisper to them. When those people looked up at me again, awe was visible on their tired, dirt-streaked faces.

I grit my teeth at the attention, doing my best to hide how it bothered me. With my Acting level, it wasn’t that hard.

The soldiers guarding the door to the manse actually saluted me when I reached them. “Sir Hart,” one of them said respectfully. “How can we help you?”

I just looked at him for a moment, causing the soldier to fidget slightly from my attention.

‘Sir’ Hart.

I hadn’t been called something like that since Rhoscara. But I had been bullshitting about that then, and now…now I wasn’t too sure.

“I need to see the Grand Marshal,” I said finally.

The soldier saluted again. “Of course, Sir Hart. Private Maloney can take you to him. Maloney!” He barked at a nearby pimply-faced teenager of a soldier who had been not so subtly eavesdropping on the conversation.

‘Maloney’ straightened up and saluted sloppily. “R-right away, sir!” He said eagerly, before turning to face me with worshipful eyes. “This w-way, Sir Hart!” At that, the private jogged through the doors the guards had opened up for us, without even waiting for me.

I stifled a sigh and followed the kid through the opening, finding him waiting almost impatiently for me. He brightened up and then motioned for me to follow him.

It was damn busy in here, and as we walked through the halls of the manse to wherever Grey was hiding, people stopped to watch us.

Or rather, me.

Conversations stopped, and heads turned, leaving pockets of quiet that followed in my wake. Always, furious conversation erupted wherever I passed.

Just being here, I was disrupting operations through my presence alone. Even if people were just curious about who they had been told was the person to slay a Calamity, I felt like a liability.

I did my best to hurry the Private along.

Eventually, he led me to a small office near the top of the building, before departing.

Inside, I could hear low conversation, indicating that Grey wasn’t alone in there. I was…simultaneously relieved and disappointed that I couldn’t hear Sylvia in there.

Instead, there seemed to be three people in there that I could recognize easily enough, even though Lifeblood Sense told me there were four. Two were somewhat expected, while the other two weren’t. But I had wanted to see one of those other two before I left.

If only to tell the little shit what I thought of him.

I knocked on the door, causing the conversation to cease for a moment. “Enter,” I heard Grey say from within. I opened the door and stepped through, finding exactly who I had expected on the other side.

Grey was here, obviously. My mentor was sitting behind a desk absolutely stacked with various scrolls and reports, looking grateful for any kind of distraction. He looked relieved to see me. Honoka, too, because she was standing right behind Grey, with her arms crossed over her chest and looking as annoyed as ever.

She didn’t look relieved to see me.

Instead, she looked away in almost shame. I…didn’t want to unpack that right now, in front of the other people in the room.

Prince Oskar, and his asshole guard Augustine.

I hadn’t seen the knight at the meeting earlier, and that had made me wonder if the man had even survived the Breaks. But no, he was here now. Maybe the Prince, or rather, King-Elect, had just ditched his bodyguard earlier.

I wouldn’t put it past the kid.

I exchanged a nod with Grey as I stepped inside the room. “Nathan,” He said in a relieved tone, standing up from his chair. “I see Azarus found you. Are you…?” He trailed off.

I’m guessing he was about to ask if I was fine.

Not really.

Oh, whatever.

“Not really,” I said out loud, uncaring about the presence of the Prince. Grey winced, while the Prince just looked confused. Honoka still wouldn’t look at me. “But yeah, Azarus found me. We talked, and came to a decision. He sent me on ahead while he got some stuff together,” I took a deep breath. “I need to talk to you about something. But first…” I turned to the Prince and met his eyes. “I have something to say to you, your Highness.”

Prince Oskar winced. “Ah, if It’s about my earlier accusation, Sir Hart, I do apologize. I was merely concern-” He stopped in surprise when I held up a hand to cut him off. He was so shocked that it made me wonder if the kid had ever been interrupted like that in his life.

“I don’t care,” I said bluntly, causing Augustine to tense. I paid the attack dog no mind and just kept my eyes trained on Oskar. “I’m going to be the bad guy here and say something that you need to hear, Prince Oskar. You need to get your shit together.”

The Prince’s lips parted as he blinked repeatedly. “I’m…sorry?”

“You’re not, and I don’t blame you for it,” I said unflinchingly. “I’m not sure if a royal like you has ever been told off in your life, so I’ll do it since everyone else has failed you. If you’re going to be the King of this fucked up country, you can’t be a kid anymore. I don’t know what kind of problem you have with me,” I said, causing Oskar to wince. “I don’t care if you jump to conclusions in my case. I can take it. But the people of Herztal don’t deserve that kind of carelessness. Not after being put through a civil war. If you’re going to be a King that can hold this country together when everything is said and done, you need to be more careful with what you say and do.”

Silence descended on the office for a moment, as all four occupants stared at me in shock at the way I’d just backtalked the boy who was going to be King. I stifled a smirk at how that little rant had made Honoka finally look at me if only to gawk at my audacity.

Well, whatever. I didn’t have the instinctive deference that most Veredenese seemed to have for royalty.

My people had cast off the trappings of crowns and thrones centuries ago.

Augustine audibly growled at that, stepping forward with a tight hand gripping his sword. “You dare?”

I just met his helmeted eyes with a bored gaze, completely unfazed by the knight’s rage. It took more than the anger of a toady like him to intimidate me.

Still, he backed down when Oskar cleared his throat awkwardly. “Ah…I will…take your words under advisement?” He said almost meekly, not meeting my eyes. “I…thank you both for your candor, and for the mercy you showed to Isolde. Rest assured, she will…not be a problem in the future, as we have…reconciled our differences.”

“Good,” I nodded sharply, before turning away from him to look at Grey. “Then, if you don’t mind? Grey and I have business.”

Prince Oskar took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes, of course. I have just one more thing to say, before I leave. It is in regard to my…previous accusation, back in Helstein. There, I informed you that impersonating a knight was illegal. However, that is…no longer an issue. Although a formal ceremony has not be held, I have decided that for your service here in her Elderwyck, you are to be knighted.”

I looked back at the Prince abruptly at that. “Is that why everyone has been calling me ‘Sir’ Hart? Were you the one to leak that I was the person who killed the Calamity?” I said, narrowing my eyes at Oskar.

Said Prince held up his hands almost defensively. “Ah, no. I believe the decision to inform the soldiery of that fact came from Commander Woodrick. I merely tacked something on to the announcement. I simply wanted to tell you that a ceremony for your knighting can come after the conclusion of the war. I will…leave to your business then, Sir Hart.” At that, Oskar shuffled backward out of the room, never taking his eyes off of me before he disappeared out of the door. Augustine followed after him after one last attempt at an intimidating stare, which I completely disregarded.

Leaving me alone with Grey and Honoka.

I took a deep breath before walking over and sitting in the chair before Grey’s desk and meeting his eyes. “We need to talk.”

Grey sighed, set his hands down flat on the desk, and nodded.

“Yes, I believe we do.”