“So, let me be there for you, Alicia. I’ll lean on you when I need to, and I want you to lean on me too. I think things’ll work out better for us that way.”
Faced with her earnest, point-blank show of affection, my heart was pounding and my cheeks were flushed. Somehow, while I’d been dragging my feet worrying about the Gods and the Church, Cion had jumped ahead and slipped free of everything holding her back.
That’s not fair.
I’d still been struggling to make up my mind, but when she held out her hand to me like that, I hardly had a choice anymore.
“Just so we’re clear, Cion, we’re up against a monster who attacked the capital and fought head-to-head with Veiss. Heavily injured as you are now—”
“It’s okay, Alicia. I’m not leaving you alone.”
I was still hesitating over whether to take her hand, but she kept standing there with a look of total calm.
It pissed me off, just a little.
I sighed. “All right. I give up. Please help me, Cion. Things are going to get rough from here on out—or rather, judging by the evidence, the situation is already dire. We’re going to charge in there, find whoever’s behind it all, and punch them in the face until they’ve learned their lesson. I don’t know whether it’s the archbishop or the Black Birdbrain of Whatever, but either way, we’re going to punch them good and hard.”
Honestly, if punching them were all we needed to do, I could probably handle that much on my own. The problem was what came after. Whoever we were beating up, they had both the tactical skill to plot out this scenario and the raw violence to make it into reality.
“I’m not asking you to protect me. That’s my job. But no matter what, don’t let the culprit get away.”
My thoughts went to the running battle from Arshelm to here, to the slaughter last night with Veiss and Cion, and to the clash that was likely already underway at the foot of Spirit Mountain. The scale of the death and destruction was immense—the damage was already irreparable. If I cast my gaze farther, out to the plains on the opposite side of the central mountain range, the casualties would be twice as large.
So we were going to put an end to this, here and now. Someone had to stop these idiots playing with fire, before the entire continent was engulfed in flame.
“The Gods are a bunch of lazy slackers, so it’s up to us to stop this war in their place.”
Whether or not that was what the Gods wanted...it was what I wanted, what I wished for.
“Doing the Gods’ work for them sure sounds like a job for a bride,” Cion said.
She had a knowing smile, but she was brushing a little too close to the truth; I couldn’t exactly laugh along.
“Hey, Cion. Once this is all over, let’s go to a hot spring together.”
So I decided to bully her a little.
“Huh?”
“There’s a little hot spring district near the orphanage where I grew up.”
The Snowell Orphanage was out in the cold northeast, so the hot springs were a local treasure. Even though we’d been right near the demons’ territory, there’d been a constant stream of visitors coming out to relax and recuperate in the hot water.
“The whole place is probably in ruins thanks to the invasion, and the people will all have evacuated. So I’m going to take my time and clean every last inch of you.” I smiled sweetly as I looked Cion over. She was covered in blood and dirt from top to bottom. “You’d better prepare yourself.”
“You’re scaring me a little...”
“Oh, you should be scared. After all, you really do stink.”
I hadn’t bothered her about it before—I’d assumed it was just a mercenary thing. In any case, we’d been spending all this time on long trips where the most we could do was wash off in lakes and streams, and Cion couldn’t even do that much without risking her cover as a man. We could heat up water and wipe off with damp cloths, but things still got smelly.
“Besides, I’ve been wanting to try dressing you like a girl at least once. I’m sure the Gods will allow us that little bit of fun.”
As I spoke, I realized that part of me was genuinely looking forward to it more than I’d expected. She needed room to spend some time off relaxing, not as the Hero Elcyon but just as Cion—as a regular girl. I wanted to give her that.
Huh. It’s all so simple, in the end.
I felt like an idiot for wasting my time thinking around in circles, worrying about how I really felt and what to do about it. I just wanted to give this girl a normal life.
But first, we needed to do something about all the adults who wouldn’t allow her that. It didn’t matter whether they were humans or demons; it didn’t matter what prophecies they delivered, what reprisals they demanded, what reasons they made up to act all high and mighty like they spoke for the entire world. We’d knock them out flat. We’d tell them we were fed up with their bullshit, and we’d stomp them into the ground. Not because that was the will of the Gods, but because I wanted to make this girl smile.
“Please lend me your strength, Cion. Not as the Hero, but as a mercenary who I know and trust.”
I didn’t take Cion’s hand. Instead, I held out my own.
As we stood there holding out our hands to each other, staring into each other’s eyes, the whole thing started to feel a little silly.
“Should I kneel and pledge my service or something?” Cion joked.
I smiled back at her. “Very well. Make it so.”
Her fingers were warm and soft as they touched mine.