I was just eating a nice meal with my friends while gazing at the wider mall outside and the throng of people passing through. Most of them were humans, though there was the occasional towering ogre or slouching belfegor, and it was all so peacefully mundane. But then everything suddenly changed.

  I felt it just a moment before it arrived. Fire rained down from the sky, except this was still indoors, and there was supposed to be a ceiling there. The people looked up, and they froze in their tracks. Their day had suddenly been upended, and some ran away in fright, but a few actually ended up running towards the fireballs rather than away from them.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

  “Nooo!”

  “Fuck, fuck!”

  “MOM!”

  “Baby!”

  “Help… help me…!”

  My chair clattered to the ground as I sprung to my hooves and drew my sword. My head swiveled this way and that in search of the threat, but all I could see were the people who burned beyond the windows as they were engulfed by the flames. I could feel the heat from my seat, despite the glass that was in the way. I listened to their screams of pain and cries for help. I didn’t know who I was angry at yet, but I was fucking enraged. It was a wrath towards the world and the fucking chaos of it all, unwilling to even let me have my fucking lunch in peace!

  “Guy! Let’s go!” Berry was already moving while I tried to intimidate the flames into submission. My power was not quite there yet, so I followed her with the rest of the team through the restaurant. We rammed through chairs, tossed away the tables on our way, and shouldered past the panicking people. Some of them ran for the door, while others hid further inside, particularly towards the counter and kitchens. None of them had a clue what they were doing.

  We left the restaurant and exited out into the dry and burning air of the greater mall. We stopped to survey our surroundings and the sheer panic within. Stalls were destroyed, stores were set aflame, and the whole building burned. People who could’ve been saved were abandoned as everyone rushed towards the exit in clumps, which only made them easier to take out with a single strike. But not all were left to fend for themselves, as there were moments of heroism too amidst all this chaos.

  “Everyone! To me!” A Templar shouted, the typical guarding force of the wealthier districts. People flocked towards him, and he led them to hug the walls as the projectiles were predominantly coming from my side of the building. That was to say that the assailants were somewhere on the upper floors, and they could not get a good aim here. I led my team towards the center of the space to get a better look, and there all the way up on the fifth floor, we saw a larger group of casually-dressed people who were clearly the source of this sudden devastation. Some of them repelled the templars and other forces that were already streaming toward them, and the fireballs occasionally ceased to scatter against their more immediate foes.

  “DIE!”

  “DIE YOU ANGEL FUCKERS!”

  “FUCKING SCUM!”

  The language they spoke was not angelian but varyalan, and they carried the peach and green and even deeper green flag of New Grandera. A fireball made it our way, but we easily dodged it upon Granuel’s instructions, and Moonwash blew the projectile off course just a little with wind magic. Another fireball dropped from above, and I saw a confused centaur boy along its path. My mind pulsed and throbbed as I considered for a moment if I should do anything at all given that I hated Edengar, and I was, however loosely, allied with the forces currently enacting this attack. I dismissed it all the moment those thoughts entered my mind, and I did not think any further as my wrath consumed me and I rescued the kid from the blast.

  These were just regular people. All it would do was galvanize Edengar’s population further against its enemies. There were no heroes among those terrorists, only thoughtless scum who had no actual fucking plan. And most of all, I was just angry and I wanted to fucking kill them.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!”

  My friends heard my furious roar, and instantly they recognized what was about to happen.

  “GO!” Therick shouted. “We’ll help with the evacuation here!”

  I was already running before he finished his sentence. The rest of my party stuck together and helped out the people in great need. Granuel lingered motionless for a moment, but that soon passed as a look of resolve crossed his face and he went on to help the defenseless people of the mall.

  I made my way up the stairs. I made my way up another flight. A belfegor man stabbed a little girl through the heart, and then I stabbed him in his own. The kid was still dead, however, and I wouldn’t have had the means to heal her quickly enough regardless.

  With a rumbling growl, I turned away from their falling corpses, and climbed up another set of stairs. There was only one way this conflict would end, and I would be the one to finish it.

  ~~~

  I made it to the fifth floor, which was the last before the rooftop. My furious eyes met that of the attackers who were still holding strong, as most of the people around them had either fled or died.

  “Fuck!”

  “IT’S HER!”

  “I thought she’s on our side!”

  “Idiot! Where the fuck did you hear that!?

  “Of course she isn’t! She’s the daughter of the fucking hero!”

  “Who cares!? Just blast her!”

  I was already running by the time their mages aimed their wands and staves at me. I did not stop when faced with a veritable wall of fireballs, and I did not break against the furnace of heat that enveloped my armor and threatened to cook the tender red flesh within.

  “Did we get her!?”

  “You did not.” The fire and smoke parted upon my passage, and I came out the other side whole and hale. My sword was already raised, and I cut down the warrior in front of me whose mouth still gaped open. I did not give them the time to organize themselves as hellfire and wrath surged out of my flesh, and became a twisting conflagration that slammed against my foes. Their flesh sloughed off, what remained caught aflame, and they screamed from all the sheer agony of it all.

  “C-calm down! She’s right there! GET HER!”

  A few of them managed to remain calm enough through the pain, and I cut through all in my way to get at them first. The magic continued to surge all around me, for I had loads of mana to spare. I grabbed people through flames, and I gutted them with a greatsword wreathed in curses. The wrath blinded them, their eyeballs literally fell off, and it all culminated into a great panic. They broke and tried to run away, but there was no escape. A fire greater than their pathetic own consumed them, and a curse more sinister than whatever hate they felt ensured the death and destruction of all they had ever dared to dream.

  I roared again, alone. There was no one left to listen.

  ~~~

  “It is… not a wonderful evening, my people. For a great tragedy has happened today,” Countess Sida began her speech. We were currently inside the mall that had been cleared up just enough for proper seating. I and my friends had front row seats because we were personally invited by Sida, else I wouldn’t have come at all. “The cowardly rebels of New Grandera have snuck into our city, our home. They rained fire upon the innocents, and they tried to destroy that which we have built. Just look around, and see the devastation that they have wrought! It is all they’re good for, and that’s why they rebel against Edengar, Angelore, and the very Angels themselves! They cannot create, and only destroy, but we will not let them! We’ll answer their vile hatred with righteous fury! And today, like the great hero before her, the granddaughter of Golex responded quickly to this unbelieving heathens and with great prejudice. Haell Zharignan slew the terrorists, and saved the good people of our proud and strong Sidarin City!”

  Oh. OH SHIT.

  Sida spoke some more about the devastation wrought upon this mall today, and offered condolences to all the bereaved families. Some of them came up on stage, most were very wealthy, but a few also came from more modest families as the mall still needed its workers. Hell, the people around us were actually of all varying walks of life as the city’s management really wanted everyone to hear this. It was almost like how they approached church attendance.

  A shepherd military officer then came up on the stage next, and he talked about the building threat and how we should address it.

  “This is not the first time they’ve used such vile and blasphemous tactics such as this! I was there in the battle against the roaming bandits when they unleashed goblins upon the rainforest just to get their way! I saw it myself, the monster they created, and to this day we still haven’t found her, the strongest of all the goblins. She could still be out there, and it’s all because of our enemies who are willing to make use of cursed monsters in battle! And that is why we need your help. The Angels will protect us, but first we need to take up arms and protect ourselves.”

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  “For heaven!” someone in the crowd shouted.

  “For the Angels!”

  “For the Angelic God!”

  “YEAHH!!!”

  My head turned mechanically to the side, and I saw that it was Therick who shouted ‘Yeahhh!’ like a fucking prancing prick. He gulped, but it wasn’t just him as most of my friends looked needlessly enraptured by this speech. My hearts pumped faster, and so did those of the ones on stage. I had parlayed with the same faction as those of the terrorists that killed so many innocent bystanders today, so I knew the secret anatomy of the shepherds. That constant grating aura of mental manipulation was tied to their hearts, and I ought to rip them out of their chests right fucking now!

  “...and a word from our hero of the day. She who is the grandaughter of Hero Golex. And she who singlehandedly slew all the terrorists that rained fire upon out people! Please, come up on stage, Haell Zharignan.”

  Sida finished, and stared at me from the stage with genuine respect in her eyes. I stared back, I almost glared, but I only crossed my arms and I did not move from my seat.

  “Oh? Do you wish to be modest and to show humility? I can understand that, but you have saved so many people today, Haell, and you deserve to be celebrated for that. Nay, it is your duty! So please, allow us to thank you for your service. You are what an adventurer is supposed to be!”

  My eyes narrowed. I continued to glare. The silence stretched on, and the atmosphere grew awkward and strained.

  Granuel elbowed me to get going, and I finally stood.

  I took to the stage, and stopped where indicated.

  Sida handed me the mic with the sound enchantments on it that worked like a megaphone. I stared at the thing, at her urging smile, and then at the expectant audience.

  Bullshit, bulllshit. Fucking bullshit!

  “Thank you all. I did only what was right.”

  There. Bullshit.

  They fucking ate it up and cheered. Despite myself, I grinned, but I quickly schooled my expression back to a simmering neutral. They could see nothing anyway, because of my mask.

  “Are you done?” Sida asked quietly.

  I nodded… respectfully.

  “Really? Nothing more to add?”

  I shook my head.

  “Hmm… The reports about you are really confusing. Come see me at my manor later.”

  I stared at her for longer than necessary but eventually acquiesced with a nod. I held myself back from making any scathing remarks.

  “A woman of a few words. Not quite like her grandfather Golex, but her actions speak louder. Today, Haell has saved many of you, and she will do so again…”

  ~~~

  I went to the manor with my party, but Sida apparently wanted to meet with me alone, so I gave a meaningful stare to my friends just in case. The manor itself was beautiful, from how it melded architecture of wood and stone, to the artworks, armor pieces, and materials on display that almost made it seem like a museum. Aswaldo, the templar who was my guide, was very nice and explained every piece in detail. Moonwash was especially happy about this when she was still with us, and I made a mental note to make it quick if this ever turned into a fight.

  Finally, I reached the white wooden door to Sida’s office, and I sat on the couch across from her table in a better mood than I thought I could possibly be in.

  Naturally, she had to ruin that.

  Oh, not immediately. It started with small talk about the city itself, current world events, nearby settlements, and then my exploits. It was just the two of us, and I found myself actually having fun listening to her, for I still kept my mouth shut as best I could. This was when I took a step back from the scenario and examined my emotions, but the strength of my brain held true. Her passive aura had no dominion over me. I was still more angry than anything else.

  But there was something wrong here. Something wrong about this setup. And when my senses finally guided my head to tilt upwards and to the right, I spotted a belfegor that had somehow perfectly blended himself into the corner of the room.

  I tore my eyes away, but Sida had already noticed.

  “So you managed to see through Aran’s disguise! How fascinating. He’s a level 40 belfegor and a master of his field.”

  “I’ve been sitting here for a while. I was bound to notice at some point.”

  “Except I’ve had guests who have stayed for hours, and they never felt something amiss.”

  “Fair enough,” I shrugged. I already knew the potential enemy was there, which meant that any chance the level 40 belfegor ever had of taking me out was now forfeit. I did appreciate how Aran continued to just act like a piece of wall and ceiling without ever twitching a single muscle, despite how I had noticed his failure already. He was unfazed by how he had been exposed.

  “Well, I’m glad you took no offense. He’s always here, in order to protect me so I’m never truly alone with anyone. Not that I think you’re a danger at all! But you must know how it is, there could be all sorts of malicious sorts anywhere.”

  Oh, I’m a fucking danger. More than anyone you’ve ever met.

  “Yes. I’m aware.”

  “But you are the exact opposite!” she repeated. “I truly mean it when I say that I’m grateful for your timely intervention in saving my people.”

  “And I believe you,” I nodded simply. “You are welcome,” I remembered to add.

  “I still can’t get a read on you,” she looked at me. “Would you mind showing me your full face?”

  I shook my head. My mask was already off, but my helmet was still in the way. “I don’t want to.”

  “Is it true that you are traumatized which is why you do not wish to ever remove your helmet?”

  “Yes,” I lied through my teeth.

  “I can help you, then. I may not look like it, but I’m one of the best mind healers around. I’m the one who heals the worst traumas from our brave surviving soldiers. Would you like me to do it for you now?”

  “No.”

  “Oh? When would be a good time, then?”

  I looked at the belfegor hidden in the wall, and then back at her. “I don’t want any help.”

  “...But why? I know there must be other shepherds who have made you the offer to provide guidance through the difficult trials of life. We are yet mortals before we can be uplifted unto heaven by The Angelic God and His Angels. And the mind is the shepherds’ domain, so that we may ease this burden. So why? Why do you refuse our help? I promise to you that it wouldn’t hurt, and you’ll feel so much better afterwards.”

  This woman was sincere. I knew that now. From her gratitude, to her fanaticism. I doubted she would do anything untoward to my mind, and mind reading was actually extremely rare so I was likely safe from that. The best most shepherds could do was mind control someone into spilling all their secrets, and I doubted this Level 20 was any different.

  I didn’t want anything to do with her. I wanted to kill her. She was hateable, but strangely, I could respect her convictions. I hated it… but I had to admit that solving shit like PTSDs had their appeal. Not that I needed her or anyone’s services for that matter.

  “I have my reasons. I just don’t want to, that’s all.” I clenched my hand and gritted my teeth for the next words I was about to say. “I’m sorry if I caused offense.”

  Sida sighed. “Well, fine. I will not force you. Will you consider taking a quest from me, instead?”

  “Depends on the quest.”

  “To reinforce the frontlines. Things have really accelerated ever since those fucking bastards from this so-called ‘New Grandera’ decided to seed goblins everywhere in our borders. Fucking terrorists, the lot of them. Did they not know the monsters will attack them too? Well, that’s literally what happened!”

  I almost winced at the reminder of what I did, but I held myself back. I felt some measure of respect when she actually expressed some anger, even if it was really nothing compared to mine. And then I mulled over her words in my head again.

  “You do mean the battle of… a year ago I believe, when a nomadic tribe tried to escape, right?”

  “Bandits,” she corrected, and I calmly prepared myself if my cover was blown. “But no. It isn’t just that battle. There are now goblins near our borders, and it’s chaos.”

  “Huh.” I did notice a small uptick in goblins during our recent travels, a year after I thought I’d eradicated the ones I’d released. It appears I might have fucked up harder that I thought.

  I hoped that the issue truly was just an outbreak from myself… rather than the alternative.

  “And that’s the secondary reason why I called upon you here today. You clearly have what it takes. You are living up to being the granddaughter of Hero Golex. So name your price, and I’ll give you the personal quest to charge into the frontlines.”

  Name my price? That’s a generous offer.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

  She narrowed her eyes and recrossed her legs. “But why not? I’ve seen the records, and I’ve noticed that you have not taken any of these quests at all. No bandit subjugations or anything. Why is that?”

  “I don’t like fighting people.” That was… only a half lie. I did if I had to, and I wouldn’t really feel too torn up about it afterwards, but it was all too complicated. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy slaughtering the armies of Edengar, as I had before, but those opportunities were still scarce for now.

  “Ah. I understand. You are a kind person, Haell. I know this from how you tried to save my people. It is only natural that you would hesitate, and I do not blame you for your lack of resolve. But that’s precisely what we are here for, to give you the courage to do what is necessary. To help you move past the natural weaknesses of the mind. So please, won’t you reconsider?”

  …Are you fucking calling me weak!? I can destroy you and everyone in this fucking building if I wanted to!

  I only tensed, but hardly moved.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

  “Can’t?”

  “I do not wish to.” I shook my head. “I won’t. Violence between people is just so tragic, when there are already so many problems in the world.”

  “And that’s why we’re trying to unite everyone, so we can find peace and proper moral values under the guidance of the Angels.”

  Crap. I overplayed my hand!

  I snapped my mouth shut and stared at the ground so that I may not dig another grave for myself.

  The silence stretched on.

  “Fine. So be it. I will not try to force you, nor hinder your path. I remain grateful for your help today, and I hope you’re one day able to move past your issues so that I or someone else of my peers can help you.”

  My eyes narrowed, but I hid it in a bow as I left.

  She would end up giving us a personal quest anyway, but it was only for a barkbark subjugation nearby with a very generous reward. I was almost annoyed at first because she could have told me when we were face-to-face, but I ultimately just shrugged and accepted our good fortune.

  Sida. It’s pronounced Psy-da. As in psyker.

  Sida is the Haell understander. Knows just how kind-hearted and soft inside she truly is. That’s what’s hidden in all that armor.

  ...I have now forgotten who Sida is. Ahahaha bad memory. Oh well. Patreon shill time!

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