Lucky Prodigy

13: Saints' Intervention

^^ Saint Maria ^^

— Mika —

I spotted Zoken stomping up the mountain towards me, growling obscenities to himself, and I frowned, standing up from my meditative position and grabbing his shoulder. "What's going on? I hear talk of humans? I wanted to investigate, but I was told to guard the Mountain until I saw you?"

He nodded, still baring his fangs. "The Templar Hero Waylon warned us about? He's here, with a Priest, an Archer, and a Saint. He came here to kill us, because his twisted religious indoctrination tells him that a 'Monster playing False Hero' is sacrilege. Oh, and he apparently thinks you're the spawn of Satan, and a Fake Saint. So, I kept my cool, I didn't insult them, I was kind and generous and polite and a good host, AND I AM DONE!!!" He roared in my face, baring his fangs, then shook my hand off of his shoulder and stalked further up the mountain.

"And that's it? They just... what'd you do? Did you kill them? I suppose I can't blame you, they sound terrible." I sighed, keeping up with him.

"No, I didn't; as I said, I kept my cool. The Hero challenged me to a Duel, I declined, he insulted me, I declined, he called me a liar and a weakling, and I reluctantly relented, and said 'if you can lift my sword, I'll accept your challenge', and he barely lifted it, so now we Duel at Dusk, when the Sage is here to officiate." He growled, and I saw a few of his teeth elongate, and stay that way, which was new. Perhaps as a Goryō, he grew extra Fangs?

I nodded. "Alright then. Just don't kill him, and everything is fine."

He snarled softly, and walked away faster, jogging towards the Silver Grove and leaving me behind.

I sighed and looked down at the main house, walking towards it. I monitored the village on the way down, and found everyone mostly going about their business, but not-so-secretly glaring at the main house. I nodded, stomping into the foyer and looking at Sakura and my Father, Ken. "And NO ONE thought that letting a RASCIST, CRUSADING TEMPLAR PRIEST into our village was a BAD IDEA?!?" I roared at them instantly, breaking the ice.

Father frowned, quickly recovering from his fright. "I admit, that was badly handled, but what all were my options, hmm? Kill another Hero, and his whole party? Fight my children's battles for them?!? That is not our way!!!" He snapped in return.

I stewed for a moment, then calmed down marginally. "You're right... but we can't let Zoken Kill a Hero; as a Hero Himself, he'll lose his Divine Protections and Class, and possibly be Smote from existence!"

Sakura shook her head. "Only the Sage or you could stop him, Mika. But I agree; we're not strong enough for a War with the Humans."

"... Was there any member of their party that seemed decent?" I asked, sighing and rubbing my face.

She nodded seriously. "The Saint; she is quite calm and collected, she's taking a bath now. According to her, she's here because her father is a Cardinal, and she Awakened the Saint's Seed. That meant she was essentially sold to the Hero's Party, and is meant to be the Hero's Mate."

"You've spoken to her?" I asked.

She giggled softly. "Zoken was a bit of a darling, he tried to make her a bath, and he placed everything from my cabinet near her bath, but she couldn't read the labels! It was quite adorable, yes, so I helped, and we talked a bit. She's not like the others, I scanned her mind and didn't find any real hatred for us, though she does have a traumatic fear of Orcs; apparently her father kept a pair as gladiators in their Capital, and they were more beast than men... some very bad memories of those creatures; I didn't pry too deep, for fear of being rude."