CHAPTER 12.

He had not realized just how inadequate their methods had been until today.

The Sword Hero was unstoppable, every monster he faced died quickly in a single series of hits, not a one was allowed to escape, and they maintained a constant yet calm pace through the forest, ensuring that none of them tired out. Regular breaks, magic and stamina boosting waters made by the Holy Sword and the fact that it was the Sword Hero who did most of the work had all but ensured their smooth flow. Then Bellamy had realized that the Sword Hero was growing as the day passed on, monsters that were fast enough to dodge a strike or two from the Hero fell instantly unable to match his pace, monsters large enough to take two strikes to fully kill or cripple were torn apart in a single strike, skills from the Hero were used more frequently and most of all his sense of battle grew.

It was inspiring to see visible improvement as the Hero fought, Bellamy had not participated in a wave but he had seen some of the refugees, he had felt grief when he had realized that for all his skill with Light magic and healing he could do nothing to help them, for the very reason those refugees had come to the capital was because they had nothing left of their homes. But now Bellamy was certain, the three Heroes would defeat the waves. There would be no more orphaned children created due to those horrific dimensional rifts.

"It's done." the Hero said, his words breaking Bellamy out of his thoughts,the Hero then got up and handed a small plate with some roasted meat and herbs to each of them, he had even given them a small pair of forks and knives with which to tear at the meat," Let's eat."

The smell of the simple fare in front of him was a surprise. The Hero had done nothing but roast some meat with a few spices he had picked up from here and there, but the aroma was beyond anything he had ever eaten. Bellamy knew that he was used to simple foods, as a member of the Church he was bound to eat simple food whenever possible and growing up as he had, high-quality food was never present, indeed food itself was far from guaranteed, and here he was, blessed enough to be served food by a Saint.

Bellamy quickly sent a prayer to his God, grateful that he had seen fit to serve him food made by God's avatar. Truly he had been blessed.

The aroma quickly grew to be too tempting and once he was done with his prayer he took a bite, the flavour exploded in his mouth and he was unable to stop the hum of appreciation. Truly the food blessed by a Saint was the best! The Princess Malty did not seem to appreciate the meal, as expected of a sinner like her, her false smile obvious to Bellamy. But young Miss Andrea took a hesitant bite and then quickly began to finish the rest.

The Hero had started eating but Bellamy found him carefully looking at Andrea, whose full attention was on the food, the expression on his face was grave.

For a moment Bellamy wondered why, and then he felt ashamed that he had not realized it immediately. The Hero was attempting to judge how he could help the young lady who had no doubt been traumatized by the first wave.

Bellamy had read the reports, the first wave had not truly been stopped for several hours, thousands had died in the initial hour or two after the Wave had started despite the best efforts of all the people there, but what had been worse in Bellamy's eyes was just how the devastation had continued for days afterwards, even after the anchor to the portal, the greatest monster of the wave had been defeated, the massive number of monsters unleashed prior to the closing of the rift had spread out throughout the region, entire fields of crops, small villages and various travellers had paid the price, even now most of those monsters were still alive, with only those closest to large population centres having been dealt with.

Despite this he had not expected to meet a monster from a wave, truthfully the insects earlier had been weak. But in swarms he could imagine the danger they posed even to experienced adventurers, let alone to the common folk who would likely be their preferred prey. He did not know what Miss Andrea had been doing there but if she had been there then there was no doubt that she must have lost someone, and it seems that seeing those insects again had sent her off into flashbacks, causing her to freeze.

In that state, had the Hero not saved her, she would have died without a doubt. But Bellamy still felt that it was unacceptable that she needed to be saved, it was one thing to be traumatized it was another to make things difficult for the Hero. After all, they were his companions, if they could not prove to be his support what right did they have to stand by his side and benefit from his blessings?

It was the same reason that he despised the Princess. The arrogant sinner who had killed innocent men by accusing them of raping her or simply mistreating her, was no doubt attempting to use the Hero just as she had chosen to use them. After their first day of adventuring when he had returned to the church dormitories to rest, Father Andrew had called him to his office and explained the true nature of the princess to him, and warned him that she would attempt to influence the Hero and control him and possibly even try to have the Hero remove Bellamy and any other party members who were not under her control.

It shamed him now that he had been worried about the Saint, throughout these three days he had witnessed countless attempts of the princess to influence him, and the Saint had wisely managed to navigate every one of her traps!

"Now Andrea can we speak of what happened there?' the Hero said," And make no mistake, this is a request. If you do not wish to speak, tell me that and I shall not bring it up again."

Miss Andrea said nothing for a long moment.

Then," Are you going to remove me from the party?"

"If you are willing to work to improve your reaction to those monsters, then no." he said, "but Andrea, we will face a great many enemies, it is one thing to face that small swarm, it will be another thing entirely if you freeze during the waves when countless enemies seek to kill us all."

"It will not happen again," she said, gritting her teeth."I will not be weak again. The next time I'll kill them all."

"There will be a next time Andrea, and in all likelihood a time after that, I can see that you wish to avenge something that the waves took from you." said the Sword Hero,"But if your reaction is to freeze up or to go into a frenzy then I'm afraid that you will only be a liability."

"If you want me to leave, then tell me to leave." she said, glaring at him, her tone shifting from sullen anger to sudden fury, "don't play around with me!"

It was the very first time that he had seen such emotion from the young woman. He could see her face twist and her subconsciously reach for her sword.

"Don't speak to Sir Adrian like that," said the Princess, her voice full of venom," he has shown nothing but kindness to you and you are spitting on it!"

"Enough" came in a flat tone from the Sword Hero, and both girls turned towards him, about to say something.

"Malty please do not interfere in this matter. This is between Andrea and I and no one else," he said and then glared at both the Princess and then Bellamy, Bellamy quickly nodded.

"But Adrian she is insulting you, don't waste your time on-"

"Enough princess." he said, the princess looked stunned, he turned towards the other girl "Andrea, I have no intention of removing you from the party for a single event. My concern is the possibility of this happening again and nothing more. If you wish to leave, then you are always free to do so, but I will not ask you to leave because something reminded you of what is likely one of the worst days of your life."

"The worst," muttered Ms Andrea, but the Sword Hero nodded.

"The worst then," he said, Andrea looked a little surprised that he heard that, "but it is something that has to be addressed, and so I ask if you wish to face those things again today or at a later date?"

Andrea looked stunned," Wh..what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that this is something that we need to overcome if you are to fight in the waves to come. So either we can fight them today and hope that we can improve or if you do not think it wise we shall leave and train elsewhere and one day before the Waves start again, we go to the location of the first wave and fight the remnants that are clearly present," he stated.

"Frankly this method is crude, and any psychologist would probably be furious with me but I believe that we need to do something or the first wave may very well lead to your death or someone else's"

When she didn't answer for a long time, he spoke again, " So what shall-"

"Let's do it." she said, her tone calm again, her face etched with determination "I will beat them this time."

The Hero smiled, "Then let's start."