In the Windmill
You watch as Runde leads Tenia off for questioning, accompanied by Robust and his goblin warriors. Arlin watches them go, his brows scrunched in a frown, and his lips curled downwards. You approach the perplexed boy – he must be dealing with a host of complicated feelings in his heart at the moment. Luckily for him, he has one of the foremost experts in matters of the heart at his service. Namely, you.
“Arlin,” you say, “You seem unhappy.”
“O-Oh, Master.” Arlin turns around, putting on a wan smile for you. “Nothing of the sort.”
Glancing over at Tenia and the goblins, you say, “If you are worried that they will harm the girl, don’t be. We just need to find out more about the bandits that her mother leads. After that, she will be set free.” Of course, you do not specify the duration of time that will pass between the extraction of information and the girl’s freedom, nor the manner in which she will be set free. If this queen of bandits is linked to those suspicious people in black, her daughter will certainly be a valuable pawn. You are certain you can make up excuses for her to be your guest for years to come.
“Yes, I understand that,” Arlin replies absent-mindedly.
“Good.” You crouch down and beckon for him to do the same. “Get a little more comfortable while we talk.”
“Talk? Is there anything to talk about?” he says in confusion. “Did my sister not make her report?”
“She wouldn’t have been privy to the juicy details,” you grin. “What went on between you and that loud little girl? She seemed really upset that you would betray her like that.”
Arlin turns red. “N-Nothing. And I didn’t betray her!”
That means something definitely happened. “Nothing? I’m sure you… held hands?”
Arlin’s shoulders stiffen.
“Hugged?”
He looks away, his ears burning.
“…Kissed?”
“W-We didn’t do anything!”
“Oh?”
“Well… I-I didn’t do anything. She did… kiss me.”
You hear Petze squeak out loud and drop something. You hope it wasn’t anything valuable, but you will have Boss talk to her about eavesdropping on your conversations. Arlin’s gaze turns to her and he opens his mouth to call out to the goblin, but you silence him with a wave of your hand.
“Leave her be,” you say. “You seem to be caught between two women, Arlin. I didn’t know you were such a flirt.”
“I’m not!” he says hotly. “I just… I’m just friends with both of them.”
You note that he already claims Tenia as a friend, but you do not bring it up. “That’s how it starts. One day you are just friends, the next day one woman is trying to stab you in the back and the other is trying to bury an axe in your chest. That is what is going to be in your future if you do not tread carefully, Arlin.” You lower your voice, emphasizing the importance of the matter.
“You speak as if you have knowledge of such things, Master.”
“Of course I do. Who do you think I am?” You laugh confidently. You have seen it happen to other men before your very eyes. “Not only do I know of such things, I know how to avert them. Well, what I really want to say is that…”
***
A. “Women – all women – love great men, and a man’s greatness is in turn measured by the size and vigor of his love. Great men are called thusly because they possess a love so great that it cannot be contained, cannot be satisfied, by any lone woman. It is a love that is meant to be shared and spread. All you need to do is to demonstrate how great your love is and they will naturally come around.”
B. “It is fine to be just friends, but you are still young. Things will likely develop beyond your control whether you like it or not. With that in mind, act to construct a firm base for your relationships with them, whether you intend it to be platonic or not. Communication is paramount; clear up any misunderstandings you may have. I suggest that you start with Petze before approaching Tenia. She’s the easier of the two to handle.”
C. “You need to bed one of them immediately and whisper sweet nothings into their ear. That’ll eliminate one problem off the bat, and then you only need to focus on the other quickly, while the first one’s still off dreaming about things to come, like an engagement or a wedding. I’m not sure which one you’d prefer, so that is entirely up to you. You… do know how to do it, right?”
D. “This is one of those moments where you have to find your own path. In the end, the solution you reach for this problem will tell me, and the world, just what kind of man you will become.”
***
The tattered sails of the old windmill turn gently in the wind, creaking as they trace the same circular path that they had travelled ever since their construction. Moss coats the faded brown bricks of the tower. This place had once been farmland supplying the mines of nearby Asteronto, but as cross-kingdom transport grew easier and mining more lucrative, the farming families had abandoned their plows for picks. The land had never been the most fertile even in its best days. Now, weeds have overrun the dilapidated fields. Only the old windmill still stands. The one who had told you all this was Ellen. She stands in the middle of the tall, swaying grass, taking in the view. The sun is bright today, casting its warm light on the vista in front of her.
“It’s beautiful,” she mutters. Somehow, you find yourself agreeing. In its own decrepit, rotting, transient way, it is. You duck to enter the windmill, your hat being taller than the entrance. Rin is already inside, sitting on a dusty old stool in a prim and proper manner entirely unlike her usual self. Behind you, Ellen follows. She looks around curiously and decides to take her seat on a bench, right besides you. The entire building seems to shudder, the sails groaning like a living beast as the wind picks up.
“So, my father will be arriving soon?” asks Ellen.
“Yes. He said noon on this day, I believe,” you answer. “That is not far off.”
“I can’t wait to see him!” Her voice trails off as she looks around the building. Then, her gaze settles on Rin. “I have been wondering about this, but Miss Rinnefiela… do the two of you have a relationship?”
Rin turns her head politely, looking every bit like a well-mannered, upper-class beauty. “Oh, we do indeed have a relationship. If you must know, we are sworn to each other, Miss Hastwell.”
“Oh my. Oh my.” A blush creeps into Ellen’s cheeks. “So-“
“Sleep.” You catch the dozing Ellen in your arms before she tumbles over and hits the floor. Carefully, you lay her out on the bench.
“You seem to like putting her to sleep, Mercant. You did so before we left, too; she’s practically been sleeping the whole journey.”
“It’s to avoid any unnecessary questions. Also to avoid you filling her head with strange ideas,” you reply. “I did tell her that one of the side-effects of her healing was that she may find herself nodding off at random moments for a while.”
“Truly, you are scum, Erdrick Mercant,” says Rin with a fully self-satisfied voice. “A real hero would have led the maiden on an amazing and wondrous tour of seeing the countryside before delivering her home safe and sound. Free of charge, might I add.”
“A real hero knows when to extract payment when he needs it for his noble goals,” you retort calmly. “It worked, did it not? I reached your father’s doorstep after all. I am not so sure the shining paragon approach would have been as effective. Heroes need to eat after all.”
“Yes, I do wonder how the human nations rallied around one such as you. Such an unlikely, tarnished icon, more of a brute than a knight,” she ponders.
“I got results,” you explain. “Oh, and a healthy dose of blackmail with regards to stubborn generals also helped where I could not use religion to push my way. Don’t think I have forgiven you for forcing me to miss out on the opportunity to mine Yuiria’s brothels for their wealth of information. I may yet ask you to recompense me for that.”
Rin laughs brightly. “I am sure I can nab a person or two to pay that off. You would have made for a terrifying demon. Somehow, I’m glad that you are human…”
“I am not a human anymore. The past is irrelevant,” you remind her, cutting that line of conversation short. “Anyway, I put her to sleep because I need to talk to you about something. Those cloaked figures you encountered in Virtue Forest and in Erise... what are they?”
The demon princess’s face grows solemn. “Yes. Them.”
When she does not seem to be forthcoming with any further information, you raise your arm. “Barbatos. Know anything? They seem to be on speaking terms with your friend Athos, at least, judging from the shard that they stuck in Rin.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t know, boy,” says the gauntlet lazily. “Thousands of years pass, you will get all sorts of strange little cults springing up all the time centered around us, mighty weapons and objects of worship that we are, and of course they never accomplish a damn thing. This group is probably another of those.”
“They are not from the human kingdoms, this much I can tell,” says Rin finally. She seems to have been struggling with something.
“Demons? Beastmen?” you ask.
Rin shakes her head. “I do not know. Ever since the second encounter in Virtue, I have felt a presence calling me, promising power and wealth and whatnot. It is not the Demon Lord that afflicted my mind before, yet it feels strangely familiar. Of course, if they can contact me, with some work, I can sense them right back. I think… I am aware of where these cloaked figures are. Vaguely, of course. To the east. That is where they are. They don’t know that I am able to trace their location just yet.”
“And you didn’t see fit to tell me this before?”
“I only managed to turn this about on them recently,” she scowls. “Besides… I was not sure whether or not to tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because the less you know about this, the better. Don’t forget, you are carrying my father’s legacy. If they are interested in me, what would they think about you, a human turned angel? It is best that you stay out of their sights, particularly if we don’t know who they are and what they are planning. I was planning on leaving on an expedition by myself to hunt them down, even had a letter prepared to be left at your door and all, but you just had to call me out here, didn’t you?” she says impatiently. Upon seeing the surprised look on your face, Rin goes slightly red and continues quickly, “Don’t act so shocked! Since they know where I am, the longer I stay around, the more we risk having them discover Grahferde. Never let the enemy-“
“-attack on their own terms,” you finish the sentence together with her. It is an age-old military saying passed down in your world, and one that you know well. “I see. Why have you not told Zayan about this? She might be able to find a way to cut the link.”
“I can solve my own problems, and who knows how long that crazy bat will take? She’s also busy with other work for the village,” she says heatedly. “Anyway, no harm will come to me. They know of me and have been sending me harassing messages, but they have not uncovered where I am. Not yet. That much I can tell from my senses. Now that I’ve crossed blades with them twice, I already have the measure of their abilities. So, don’t worry. After we meet with the governor, I’ll immediately leave on my hunt. There’s no time to waste. Wish me luck, Erdrick.”
***
A. She’s not going anywhere. At the very least, she should stay until the adventurers have been dealt with; you can decide what to do about the link after that problem has passed. You’ll take the risk that the cloaked figures discover Grahferde’s location to keep Rin at your side, and appeal to your mutual oath to make her stay.
B. You agree to let Rin go off on her expedition east. If she stays around and the cloaked figures decide to act at the same time that the adventurers arrive, you would be facing trouble on both fronts. Since Rin would be entering non-human territory, she should be able to handle it herself.
