CHAPTER 17.

It took nearly an hour before Agatha kicked them out, the old woman had extracted a promise from Adrian to return to her after empowering the Holy Sword further but didn't even bother saying goodbye before slamming the door shut behind them. But despite her rude and cranky behaviour and Adrian's often equally rude retaliations, Andrea had sensed a genuine connection being formed between Adrian and Agatha.

How odd that the first person that Adrian seemed to truly be fond of in her country was the rude old witch that had once slaughtered entire cities.

The surge of satisfaction/joy/contentment from inside the shop and from the man beside her was surprisingly invigorating even if she knew that it would not last long.

Adrian was still looking at his status screen even as he walked past the sparse crowds of the late evening. His conversation with Agatha had led him to change his sword form a dozen times and his emotions were altering between disappointment/annoyance/determination andawe/joy/determination/victory.

He was testing something out and she was beginning to wonder what it could have been to drive away his negative emotions. It seemed however that Bellamy was also considering something but his emotional palette was purely negative. The man had not liked the way that Agatha had spoken about heroes.

"Sir Adrian...," he said, she could feel and hear his hesitation," I don't understand…when Lady Agatha spoke of the Heroes you were amused by it. She insulted you, the other Heroes and all the Heroes of the past…"

Adrian stopped walking and shut off his status screen, turning his full attention to Bellamy, she felt his emotions reach equilibrium again as he entered a near meditative state, "Miss Agatha was quite rude, that is undeniable, but I don't believe that she held any malice towards us Bellamy," the older man tried to interrupt here,Adrain silenced him with a raised hand," think about what she has done, rather than what she said."

Bellamy blinked for a second, unsure of what to say, his anger/frustration giving away toconfusion/contemplation.

"She spoke to you about mundane magic and received payment by gaining an opportunity to study a Divine Weapon," he said finally, with none of his confusion diminished, his tone making it clear that he thought of it as a ridiculously unbalanced exchange.

"Close, but not quite." said Adrian with a smile," she helped me understand some of the particulars of the sword and how it relates to magic and granted me a great deal of insight into the nature of status magic. The only 'payment' she received was to study the weapon, something that she would have had to do just to fulfil my request."

He laughed here and nostalgia/grief/joy mingled together to create a blinding combination of emotion for a moment.

"She was rude, crude and more than a little difficult, but in the end, all she did was a help."

Andrea had to wonder about whom Agatha reminded him off that he was able to pin down her personality so easily.

"Adrian is correct," said Andrea, remembering how the cranky old woman had taught Ethan despite the consistent complaints," I have known Agatha for as long as I can remember, she is not one to bother with people most of the time but she is not a bad person."

Andrea could tell that Bellamy was thinking about what they had said. Truthfully, it was a little impressive. Most of the church's soldiers were little more than brainwashes fools, for Bellamy to be able to even consider the opinion of another when they insulted the Saint Heroes was more than what she had expected of him.

Then again, it was one of those Saint Heroes who was telling him to think. It was probably a significant contributing factor as to why he was even bothering but this was not what she should be bothering with right now. Andrea needed to find a way to make sure that she reduced some of the Sword Heroes doubts regarding herself, and after his conversation with Agatha, she knew just what she had to do.

"I have to apologize to Lady Agatha," he said after they had walked for a minute or so in silence," I did not consider the depths of her actions and merely focused on the surface. Miss Andrea, Sir Adrian." he said, then he walked slightly ahead of them and bowed," Thank you for enlightening me. I will not forget this lesson."

For a moment she was a little confused as to what he was saying, then the previous conversation came up in her memories, a quick check showed that his emotions resonated with his oath and Andrea knew that he would not break his word. Andrea didn't think she could express just how surprised she was that he had changed his mind so quickly, was that wisdom or a simple desire to obey the Sword Hero?

"How very formal," said Adrian, but despite his words he was solemn, she could tell that he was genuinely impressed, "but your thanks are unnecessary. The credit should go to you, it is not easy to adopt a different perspective and mean it."

Bellamy looked like he disagreed," This is not the first time my judgement has been flawed sir. Father Andrew once said to me that 'deeds and not words should be the scale that one is judged by'. I had agreed with him then but it is clear that I have failed to apply it."

Adrian looked a little amused here," That does not change the fact that here and now you acted wisely. Have a little pride in your judgement Bellamy."

He nodded firmly but then looked a little hesitant before he said," Sir Adrian, Miss Andrea I need to reach my dormitories soon. I apologize for leaving abruptly, rest assured that I shall be prepared for our levelling trip on the day after tomorrow."

"Have a goodnight Bellamy," said Adrian honestly," and thank you for your help for these past few days. I cannot easily convey how valuable it was."

Andrea just nodded to him and Bellamy gave one last bow before bounding away towards the main church building. Adrian watched him leave, a complex set of rapidly changing emotions rising in his mind, Andrea didn't manage to catch all of it but what little she picked up made it clear that he was conflicted regarding Bellamy.

Andrea sighed, once again the lack of trust was rearing its head.

She honestly wishes that the Hero was completely right or absolutely wrong with his mindset, but Andrea knew that his current state of mistrust was probably the wisest way for him to think right now. The problem was that instead of the situation improving with time the Church, through Bellamy, and Princess Malty were likely to make it worse.

"Adrian I need to inform you of a few critical pieces of information." she said before she lost her courage.

Andrea could sense exactly when Adrian processed her sentence, his emotions spiked for a single moment before he entered a state that was quite similar to his combat mindset, but when he spoke it sounded almost normal," I see. And this information is about?"

"The current political situation in Melromarc and the world, the reason why I joined you and who helped me do so as well as some information on Bellamy and the Princess," she spoke as plainly as she could, trying to keep her senses fully trained on him while preventing herself from losing control. It was foolish to bet so much on this one conversation but she could tell that Adrian needed someone to trust or he was likely to abandon the whole party. He may have meant his promise back in the forest, but that had been impulse not thought. It was far from a guarantee.

Her eyes told her nothing but her empathic sense screamed at her loud and clear.

Surprise/wonder/concern. Perfect.

"And what is it that you wished to say about them?" he asked, his body tense but his expression clear.

"Melromarc was not meant to summon all four heroes, instead each major nation, Siltvelt, Faubey, Melromarc and Zeltoble were meant to be able to summon one each." she said, stating the most inconsequential fact first, a fact that affected her the least but would guarantee that he would certainly not trust Malty or Bellamy fully," from what my father said had it not been for the waves, we would have already been at war. Even now we are on the brink of war, and if anything goes wrong from here on out, war shall be inevitable."

She paused to see if he had anything to say and gauge his emotional state, but he simply waved for her to continue, she nodded and said,"I joined you because I need to fight the waves but that was only possible thanks to my father helping me out," she tried not to think about her friends and thedespair/determination/anger that they felt in their last moments," My father is the Head of the Adventurers Guild here in Melromarc, he has more than enough influence to ensure that I had a chance to join you. It's part of my deal with him, I can only fight with a party powerful enough to keep me alive and if I class up before the next wave."

"I see, so you have been spying on me on behalf of your father while gathering the strength you needed to be able to avenge your former party," he said calmly, but what stunned her was that she could feel a sense of approval/interest coming from his mind.

"You don't seem to mind," she asked before she could stop herself.

She felt his surprise before she could even realize that she had reacted to an emotion he had not shown at all, but he didn't react beyond a shrug and said,"It is not that I like being spied on Andrea, but it is something to be expected, after all the Legendary Heroes have the potential for a lot of power, it would be utterly ridiculous for the people of this world to just summon us and then leave us without any monitoring whatsoever. You telling me this is a little odd, but I suppose that there are more subtle spies watching over us as well."

"There probably are," she confirmed, the shadows of the Queen and the Church were a risk, but this late in the evening, the mindset of a shadow was like a beacon, all devotion/determination/focus of a very particular flavour, it was hard to miss. And right now there were no watchers, it was part of the reason why she had jumped into the conversation at this instant.

Adrian nodded, his emotions were odd,impatience/determination/concern rather than he curiosity and caution she had expected, "Let's continue this conversation at another time Andrea." he said," And thank you for telling me a part of the truth I appreciate it."

"Don't you want to know more," she asked, a little puzzled as to why he was willing to wait until he got some information from her.

"I do, and we shall speak of this tomorrow." he stated," meet me out in the fields to the west of the city at about 6 in the evening. Goodbye."

"Wai-" she started but before she could finish the word he vanished, one of his more commonly used skills removing him from her sight in an instant and worse out of the range of her empathic skills as well.

What had just happened?!

Andrea had been certain that he would have drilled her for information not just run away at the moment she had been about to tell him about the Church and the Royal Family.

There was something very odd about this, but there was little she could do right now, she just had to hope that Adrian hadn't decided to just leave. Hope that she hadn't just ruined the best chance she had of fighting the waves.