And (N)one Shall Remain

Alissa and Esperanza mostly remained quiet while they enjoyed the food, which was indeed amazing like Esperanza had promised. For a good while the only sound around the table was that of munching and gnawing as the two girls set upon the roasted suckling pig and sausages without even a hint of decorum, knowing that they were amongst friends and there was nothing to hide.

 

Esperanza even took the pitcher of ale and drank directly from it.

 

Like Alissa said, she couldn’t exactly finish the copious amount of food they ordered. After she ate about a third of the roasted pork and some sausages, Alissa gestured that she was full and could eat no more. Fortunately, Esperanza was not boasting when she earlier told Alissa that she was now a big eater, as she quickly and cleanly devoured the rest of the food on their table, down to the bones, even.

 

All that was left after around half an hour were clean plates that only had some bits of oil left on them. They did keep half a pitcher of ale to drink while they conversed, however, and Esperanza poured for both of them while they settled down after the meal. Both of them knew that it would be time for more serious talks soon, but they chose to savor the moment of peace while they could first.

 

Both of them knew that such chances might be fleeting in the days to come.

 

“So… Zaza… I know you don’t want to describe things too much, and likely shouldn’t either, given that we’re technically on different sides for the time being, but what do you have in mind going forward?” asked Alissa with some worry in her voice. “I get that you don’t consider this kingdom a friend, and that it might well be an obstacle in your way, but I also can’t help but to worry for the people who have nothing to do with all these… conspiracies and bullshit going on around us.”

 

“Well, you can rest assured that I wouldn’t be going around burning villages at random or anything like that,” said Esperanza in a somewhat placating tone. “That said, I cannot promise the same with the temples and nobles, though. I think you can figure out why if you think about it, so I won’t bother to explain the reasoning.”

 

“Yeah, if this whole mess is indeed something ordained by the so-called gods, then there would be at least some of those who are active participants in this, if not most of them,” said Alissa in reply with a shake of her head. “I know how shit like that goes. If it benefits them in the short term, people in power would often do all sorts of shit that makes you wonder whether they even have a conscience at all.”

 

“”You catch on quick, as always,” praised Esperanza with a smile as she took a sip from her flagon of ale. “Anyway, when I do act in the Kingdom, I will try to refrain from harming those other than the ones who really deserve what I will bring to them, though I hope you understand that I cannot promise that there will be no collateral damage whatsoever.”

 

“I expected that,” said Alissa with a nod. “If you were to act like that in the Kingdom’s territory, would that not being unwanted attention your way, though? I thought from what you said, people who still worship the… old gods prefer to remain in hiding?”

 

“They do, and no need to worry about me. I can make any action I take look like they are done by demons, to the point that nobody would even think of such an alternative explanation as those who worship Oldies,” assured Esperanza. “I can say that I am not alone, Allie, and amongst those with me are both humans and demons as well as hybrids from both sides.”

 

“Heh, meanwhile here in the kingdom they make it sound like there is no discussion to be had with the demons, no possible way to coexist, and that all this fighting would only even end when either the humans or the demons are completely wiped out from existence,” scoffed Alissa. “Bet the old priests who preach that would have aneurysms when they learn of the existence of hybrids between demons and humans.”

 

“Then they would immediately try to scour every proof of their existence from this world, probably with fire,” added Esperanza all too nonchalantly. “For what it’s worth, the demons seem to have the same propaganda going on amongst themselves. I was present when some demons put an entire village of Oldies’ worshipers to the sword and managed to eavesdrop on some of them talking… before I put an end to them.”

 

“They seem to consider relations between any of the demon races with a human to be utter depravity, and that those who did it need their soul purified lest they go to the deepest, cruelest hell in their belief,” she continued. “I will let you guess how that purification was done.”

 

“Let me guess… hmm…” mumbled Alissa for a moment, though it was more for show than anything. “Purification by Fire?”

 

“Got it in one. Those demons were lamenting that the villagers were resisting them and thus had to be killed, and that they could not strap them to stakes so they could purify their souls by burning them alive,” replied Esperanza. “I guess to them it must look like a kindness, given their belief, but to anyone else it would just look like unnecessary cruelty.”

 

“What did they do to the human half of such couples?” asked Alissa with curiosity. “I know how the propaganda the temple spreads all over this kingdom goes. The demons are the enemy, soulless fiends who would feast on your unborn children, merciless and capable of the worst cruelties, you get the idea. An enemy that only exists to be destroyed.”

 

“Pretty much the same, from what I can tell,” replied Esperanza. “Whatever propaganda they feed to the demons seem to instill a hatred against humans that would at times even cause them to make suicidal attacks if they spotted a human. I used the form of a human when I struck several of the demons’ bases back then, so I heard their screaming and yelling enough to know that.”

 

“Wait… You can understand the demon language?” Alissa asked in complete surprise. “My [Language Understanding] skill doesn't allow me to understand what they’re saying, other than that one time we ran into a demon [Champion] who happened to speak english!”

 

“Mine allows me to speak and understand both the human and demon tongue, yeah. Both I and Oldies suspect that your skills are sabotaged on purpose by the gods so that you would not be able to come to an understanding with the demons and vice versa, though I guess they sometimes missed things if what you said about the [Champion] is right,” noted Esperanza. “Though, I’m guessing by the look on your face that you didn’t get to discuss much if anything with that person when you met them, huh?”

 

“We were in the middle of a vicious battle where every moment counts and a great many lives were on the line,” said Alissa with her head down. “I only even realized that I could understand what she was saying after the battle was done, so the thought of talking with her never even entered my mind at all at the time. I also felt really dumb when I realized it back then.”

 

“It happens,” placated Esperanza. “While skills and the like help, it is far from easy to change our mindsets in such a short time. You were never trained or prepared for anything resembling what you had to deal with here until we all were summoned all of a sudden, so it’s no surprise that you miss things every now and then.”

 

“I’ll be honest with you, Allie,” said Esperanza with a more solemn tone. “I had considered many possible scenarios in my head on how our meeting might go, practically all of them being far less pleasant than how it actually went,” she added. “But when I actually saw you, I knew that things would be all right, since you were looking for your own way to deal with this mess we were brought into.”

 

“Wait a moment there, how bad are the scenarios you imagined in your mind? What was the worst scenario you imagined and how would you have dealt with it if that was what happened?” asked Alissa with more than a little amusement in her voice. “Also… I’m not sure I get what you mean in the end there. Care to elaborate?”

 

“Oh, my worst case scenario would be if you ended up being sort of a puppet to the new gods and was doing their bidding like a good puppet would,” replied Esperanza honestly. “If that was the case, I would have fought you, and if I somehow managed it, restrict and abduct you while I try to figure out a way to get you away from their grasp, somehow.”

 

“That is a very plausible scenario, actually. In my class choices I’ve received classes that promised a lot of power each time, but they also make it sound like I would be pretty much a tool for those so-called gods to wield at their discretion if I picked those classes, so I always avoided them,” noted Alissa. “Also, you haven’t answered my other question.”

 

“Ah, right. Back when we met at the library I let you see my classes, remember?”

 

“Yeah, what about it?”

 

“Well, I did that partly to make things even. You see, Allie, one of my skills is a very high grade variant of [Analysis] or [Identify]. It can pretty much block any such attempts, or pierce through skills that hide or cover your classes in some way as long as they’re of lower rarity. Apparently, whatever skill you used to cover up your classes are lower in rarity than mine,” explained Esperanza. “So yeah, I’ve seen your real classes and from them, know that you were also trying to find the truth and your own path in this world.”

 

Alissa was at first alarmed and her hand instinctively went for the sword she wore at her waist at Esperanza’s unexpected proclamation, but she halted her movement halfway as she realized what Esperanza was saying. Part of her was panicking at her secret being revealed like that, but she used [Weather the Storm] to help suppress that part of her and keep her calm.

 

“Sorry… just wasn’t expecting you to say that of all things,” said Alissa as she breathed out slowly and moved herself back to a more relaxed pose. She also took a long drink out of her flagon of ale to further help calm herself. “I guess that explains why you were so open with me from the start, then. You already know that I have my own doubts about this world.”

 

“We are kindred spirits in that matter,” admitted Esperanza as she poured more ale into Alissa’s flagon and then her own. “As much as I trust Oldies, I still confirm as much as I could out of what they told me, just to be sure. Though the way they encourage me to not believe in things I have not confirmed myself also goes a long way to make them feel more trustworthy, I guess.”

 

“One thing I have yet to find a way to confirm one way or another but feel that they are very likely telling the truth is about how the ritual to ‘send you home’ is likely a trap of some sort, though,” she continued “If you ever do find yourself in a position where you’d be involved in such a thing, please exercise the utmost caution, Allie, and trust no one.”

 

“I know, Zaza, and thanks for the warning,” replied Alissa. “That said… How will we see each other again in the future? It would probably be hard for me to try to find you, given my position and all that…”

“Don’t you worry about that. I’ll find you when we happen to be in the same area and the situation allows. I have more ways to go about such things than you do, so it shouldn’t be too hard… unless if you’re in the middle of a military camp, of course.”