No More Heroes

Having managed to bring Richard to our side for the time being, I invited Xenia and Seri to join us at the large library, our base of operation.

Hopefully Richard's presence along with whatever Shimka has been able to find out will suffice to convince them to help us.
The day after my duel with Richard, Shimka had come with great news. It seemed that in a matter of days she had already been able to collect useful information we would be able to share with our newfound allies.
The following day, and after waiting until nine in the evening in order for everyone to be available, we gathered in the library beyond the back gardens.

"First off, I want to thank everyone for accepting my invitation despite your busy schedules,
I really appreciate it." I started. "I won't consider that you already trust me, and to be honest I would rather you didn't. However, what I want you to verify and to trust, are the information and clues Nika, Shimka, and myself, have gathered and brought to you today."

With the pleasantries and introduction out of the way, I nodded to Shimka who until then had been quietly standing by near the edge of the long table. Catching my intent, she moved around the table and laid down a few sheets of paper of different sizes and colors before us.

"According to my colleague who is in charge of cleaning Head Accountant Veritas' quarters, those yellow sheets contain information he purposely left out of the accounting book he delivers to Her Highness, lady Nika."
This was already a huge reveal, and I glanced towards Nika to gauge her reaction.

"What is most surprising to me is to consider this man of all people would leave such dangerous evidences lying around in his bedroom while he is away on a business trip." Was Nika's first impression.

"If I may," interjected Shimka, politely raising a hand over her chest to suggest she had the answer,
"It would appear that sir Veritas has taken quite a liking to the butler assigned to him. As a result he tends to let a lot slip away in both his presence and in his absence. Going as far as throwing tantrums about this and that and weeping in front of my colleague."

"I-I see..." Shimka was a little repulsed by this information. Imagining a grown man who looked like he was in his late fourties acting like a spoiled brat and being gently admonished by a butler around ten years his junior, had to make her feel strange. Especially since for the longest time she had only seen the man's calm and collected outward appearance.

After that, Shimka revealed the content and origin of all the other reports and notes her colleagues and herself had managed to gather, steal, or suspiciously acquire. "Suspiciously", as in, in manners reminiscent of Veritas' case.
Among said information however, there was quite the variety. Some of the papers were simply love letters which were never sent, some contained records of underground dealings sometimes tied to slavery, sometimes to more traditionnal auctions. There were also the details of the finances of some prominent houses, which had conveniently omitted to report some of their activities through the official data they relayed to Nika. And lastly, there was one particularly worrying report.

"'Today a lost sheep has once again come to me for counseling'". I read out loud. "'His sin, like many other men his age understandably, was adultery. He confessed how ashamed he felt and that he had made sure to cut ties with the maried woman he had slept with, and immediately told his spouse. However, the wench his wife refused to give him a second chance until he had cleansed off his sin at the church, and gone through the proper ritual at a confessional. A most adequate argument in my humble opinion'." The priest added as a comment to his own report.

Though it didn't stop there.
I will not take note of the detail of what came next but, what happened at large was that the proper ritual referred to in this report, involved the priest, or Shepherd, emulating that same sin before the sinner's eyes with the wife as the subject. In short, the priest had his way with the wife of that man, in front of him, to show him what the woman had to have had imagined upon learning of her husband's infidelity. The priest's act being ultimately justified by the belief that; "on top of teaching you a lesson, he bears your sin himself as he already devoted his whole life to God."

Obviously, seeing how the priest had put a large amount of care into recording this experience, everyone around the table, here at the large library, was either disgusted or at a loss for words.

"'Aight, can't say any of this shit was created just for the sake of this meeting that's for sure." Spat Seri with a scowl. To which even the previously skeptical Richard clicked his tongue in spite of himself.

Strangely yet thankfully, this atrocity had managed to put everyone on board for what was to come. Since, as one would expect, these reports had only barely served to scratch the surface of this rabbit hole.

                                                                      ______________

Once we were done going through our findings and had hared our own personnal experiences, we proceeded to assigning everyone a role or a task we, Nika and I, had tailored for each of them under the assumption they would end up helping.

"Alright then, can I assume everyone here is ready to lend us a hand in dismantling the various schemes and dealings lurking in the shadow of our Kingdom ?" At Nika's inquiry, everyone nodded.
"Wonderful, then after I run you through the whole plan I will begin to assign each one of you a task to complete."

By order of priority, the main plan would go like this;
-from this point on, every knight commander would prepare their monthly report themselves.
-Each sub-leader in a platoon will now have to submit one of their own as well.
-Under the guise of conducting a yearly examination, Nika will make the rounds of all of her underlings and visit all the nobles living in the castle's premises to make sure nothing else remains concealed.
-Taiyo will fervently appeal to the king in order to be sent to the front again, preferably at Fort Vinki, since it is the closest to a village under Glursem's rule.
-Regardless of the answer to his request, Taiyo will speak with Court Mage Prakia to hopefully convince him to lend us his help. If he could stay at the castle for it, that would be ideal.
-Shimka will lay low for a while and, in tandem with Silvia (Nika's personnal attendant), will prepare a storage room where they will hide every bit of information that was, and would be gathered.
-Once enough information gathering and reckoning has been done in Glursem, raid their palace.

"Before then, I will personally meet with sir Avery before he departs for the front again to try and present him with our near completed investigation. As for my brother, I will ask you to let me handle it as well." 

At her words, nobody objected. I didn't know then, but apparently it was common knowledge that while mostly introverted, Avery was a man with both a strong sense of justice and unparalleled patriotism. As for Tokesa, he was simply hard to impress in that sense. Hence why Nika had elected to wait until we had gathered enough evidence and support to consider approaching them.

"Now for the last task I would like to allocate while we are here, Seri," she called, "would it be possible for you to see with your adventuring mates if it would be possible for at least two of them to remain stationed in Glursem for a while ?"

Narrowing her eyes in annoyance, Seri began. "Possible, it is. Tho' that also means we won't be able to work in the meantime, can you compensate us ?" She was the party leader of a group of adventurers hired by the local guild after all.

"Once we are done with this plan, there shouldn't be any war for some time I would imagine."
She prefaced with a small smirk, as Seri began tapping her foot on the floor impatiently.
"If so, then by that point it should be fine for ser Xenia to take a small break from her duties.. or at least I would encourage it." She finished. And the third princess instantly turned to look at the person in question.

"If Her Highness allows it then," turning towards Seri this time, she continued, "then it would be my honor to have the luxury to be able to spend some time with Lady Seri." She finished with an elegant smile.

Hey where's your tomboy attitude !? I've never received such a gallant and warm look from you !
Complaining inwardly, I turned to look at Seri. The third princess immediately put one of her hands over her eyes and heaved a long sigh.

"Oh and of course I'll also give you the equivalent of three whale rank quests' worth of money for your troubles. What do you sa–" But before she could finish, Seri lifted her scabbard that had been resting against the table and cut her sister short as she made to leave.

"Tch ! Yeah sure, whatever is fine with me. Just send word to Chris if you need to give me any additional instruction. And you," She addressed Xenia with only a glance over her shoulder, 
"I already told you to stop calling me 'Lady'."

Having done what she had been asked to, she left the building.

With Seri's support now guaranteed, we had a lot more leeway in our plan. So we began the preparations right away.

                                                                        ______________


"Master, do you have a moment ? I have an important matter to discuss with you." 

Those were the words of my disciple from yesterday.
Judging from his serious expression, it must truly be concerning. I thought absentmindedly at first.
What came next however, quickly forced my brain to allocate all of its attention to his every word.

Born in a mountainside forest south of Matrio, the largest city-state of the continent, I never really managed to feel at ease with my breathren.
Elves, by nature, are intelligent species. But with higher intelligence, or with a higher than average capacity in anything in general, inevitably comes pride. As a result and more than any other race, it is fairly rare for elves to from clans or to band together to conduct researches.
We elves, have the highest affinity, and proficiency as a result, with magic. As such, and thanks to our already longer than average lifespan as well, we usually end up researching magic as a main occupation. Which is what led me to eventually become the foremost magic user known to exist in the kingdom of Ispron. Landing me the position I have been occupying for several decades now.

The news, or rather the report, I received yesterday from the Hero, my disciple, has unfortunately had the effect of threatening that stability I thought I had achieved. Well, I knew it was bound to happen at some point anyway. I conceeded after the fact. For in fact, none of the information the hero had provided me, incriminating the people in charge of this kingdom, had truly shook me. 
As a matter of fact, I was actually already familiar with some of the schemes in place behind the scenes. The nobleman making money off underground slavery for example. And while I had simply happened to learn about it by chance at some point, at the time I let it go. Figuring this was both none of my business and that regardless of my involvement, and that nothing guaranteed it wouldn't bring me more trouble later down the line, I made the safe choice and held my tongue until I forgot about it entirely.

"I see. So what do you intend to do then ?" she asked me.

"For now I will stick to the instructions they have pepared for me and have the summoning chamber ready in case they or we need to use it." I answered.

Having been given the choice to either help or hold my tongue until it was over, I spent the previous night agonizing over what to do. On the one hand, I risked the barely stable position I was holding on to at the moment, but had the promise of an even better one depending on the success of their plan. On the other hand, I could remain seated while I counted down the days left for me to spend enjoying the last of this unhealthy lifestyle.
Needless to say which sounded the more promising. However, I also considered the more simpler option of not choosing and just vacating the place asap. Hence why the insomnia.

Ultimately though, I decided to accept their offer. The reward was alluring enough and I was comfortable living in this country. I also figured that if push came to shove, I could simply fly, or rather warp away thanks to the very special dimension magic I had managed to master. That being said, to provide us with something of an additional insurance, I elected to explain the situation that had been presented to me, to the young Neil.
As my other disciple, and a fellow elf, she is aiming to take my place once I retire or move on. So my plan was to use this ambition of hers to present her with the benefits she would be able to reap if she decided to hop on the revolution train.
Although...

"I see. That is unfortunate." She began. "I thought you put a little more faith into the humans who had so readily accepted you for your talent despite the former disputes between our races."

I was at a loss for words. A proud elf vowing fidelity to a leader, not only that but one from a different race ? I couldn't understand her reasoning.

"What are you saying Neil ? It would have played against them if they had refused my candidacy in the first place." I asserted. "Imagine somebody of my caliber working for their politic opponent ? They simply made the wise call." 

"I guess it would appear that way to you." She delivered, emotion absent from her lovely face.
"Too bad, I thought we had similar roots. That you would be able to appreciate this feeling too.. but in the end you are not any different from the rest. Prideful and ungrateful to a fault."

Leaving me white as sheet and stunned, Neil, without even a bow, exited my office.
Will she denounce me and the whole plan to the higher ups now ?! I need to stop her ! 
Feeling the urgency of the situation, I rushed out of the room after her and tried to resonate with her, leaving my ever so important wand behind in the panic.

                                                                       ______________


"Lady Nika ?" A hoarse voice echoed from behind the doors to my office.

"You may enter Chris."

Making his way in, Chris, the personnal attendant of my sister, proceeded to relay the information he had been entrusted with.

"Her Highness Seri sent me your way to pass on to you the confirmation that her trusted comrades have safely arrived in the neighboring fiefdom of Glursem."

That was fast.

"Great, thank you Chris." I answered, barely lifting my head from the pile of paper I was trying to organize.

I imagine they were in its vicinity on their way to procure fresh ore for their blacksmith huh. Talk about good timing. I marveled as I found a good stopping point allowing me to take a break from the tedious paperwork. Let's get that out of the way now that I have the time.

The day before, I had managed to convince Third General Avery to help us prepare the raid in Glursem. His first reaction, or his whole attitude I should say, when I explained everything we had managed to discover and find irrefutable evidence of, had been uncharacteristically calm and understanding.

"I see..." He had said in a resigned tone and after a long pause. "I thought that that one time had simply been an isolated case but, now presented with this much information and by you of all people, I cannot simply wave it off..." He had concluded with apparent grief.

For as long as I knew, Avery had always been a fervent upholder of justice.
He was a soft-spoken man with pale golden hair, his large body that of a seasoned warrior, and the most loyal and straght-laced soldier I had ever seen. Which is why I expected him to be the most difficult person to convince as I exposed the ugly side of the people he had to have trusted for decades past. 

I hate to say this but, this unfortunate experience he's had to go through involving the discovery of that one merchant who had tried to steal from his wife within the castle's premises, turns out to have been a great experience as far as wake-up calls go. 

But that wasn't all. Beyond accepting, albeit hardly, the facts I presented him, he had insisted on bringing down himself the hammer of justice on the people involved in these crimes and schemes.

"...I fear that if I don't take it upon myself to shoulder this burden, I will never really be at peace with this reality." He had confessed. "Unless I see their faces laden with despair or conversely, distorted by greed, I won't be able to cast away this illusion of peace brought forth by my ideals."

As a result, and as a first order of business, Avery shared with me his decision to put an end to the offender's streak with his own two hands. Starting with the lecherous priest featured in the reports.

Now, where is my brother ? As I left his quarters empty-handed, I asked the various servants and nobles passing by me if they had any idea where the first prince, Tokesa, had gone.

"That boy ?" It was Nelly, the chief cook at the castle. "Apparently there was a commotion of some sort near the lodgings behind the church, so as soon as he caught wind of it he rushed there without missing a beat."

I don't know what this is about but, if he happened upon one the priests doing one of their questionable counseling, it could actually work in our favor. As cold as it sounds.
With this information and these unorthodox prayers propelling me forward despite the context, I reached the aforementioned location in no time.

                                                                       ______________

"You might not be able to trust the words of the man who dirtied his hands to hold true to his beliefs but..." In between bloody coughs, the handsome figure lying there and clinging to the last thread of his life, smiled weakly and continued. "...but promise me to listen to your sister at least.. if it's her surely, even you–" But before he could finish, the man standing above him gave his former comrade, Avery, one last thrust and finished him off.

"T-Tokesa ?! W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING ?!"

I was in a state of panic. And while innumerable scenarios played inside my head, trying to help my brain come to terms with the situation before my eyes, I rushed towards the body of the fallen knight.

H-he's already dead !... Turning my now tear-streaked face in the direction of the unmoving man towering above us, I implored him to explain what happened.

"He's a traitor, Nika." He started. Holding back tears as he went. "I don't know what led him to resort to such extreme violence but.. the evidence is right there." Barely managing to allign his words and make sense with his speech, my brother, Tokesa, gestured towards the now upturned cross made of steel, and more precisely to the body affixed to it, devoid of its heart.

"He appeared to have had his reasons.." my brother continued, "..but regardless of what he felt was right to do, taking a life and putting it on display like this is unforgivable." He finished, his tone resolute despite the tears rolling down his cheeks.


After we had wiped our tears on our way to my office and had left the cleanup to the servants,
I motioned for him to sit on the couch before my desk; the place were I always sat my guests.

Laying down the key documents regarding the priest Avery had manifestly assassinated earlier on the low table, I gestured for him to examine the reports.
And sure enough, after he was done with the first sheet of paper, he read the rest with always more haste and bewilderment, a hand covering his mouth in the process.
Once he was done, he jumped to his feet, unsheathed his beloved rapier and forcefully snapped it in two. Throwing one end of it through the room.

"I have no more right to call myself a commander, much less a prince..." He deplored.

After slumping back down on the couch and burying his head in his hands, he continued.

"I am nothing more than a filthy murderer." He finally confessed.

There was nothing I could say in response. For he had in fact killed an innocent person. A man who had taken it upon himself to wield the hammer of justice when the authorities in place had chickened out.
He had indeed murdered one who was also his comrade in arms, a foster brother even, and more importantly one of the heroes of this country.