THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

"Commander, I will only ask you once. Tell your men to retract their weapons. Now." Rebecca's face has turned into full anger. Come on, let us have our fun.

"Your holiness." Since when do you call her like that? "It seems there is a bit of a misunderstanding. The men you are trying to protect now are non-*believers that tricked us into thinking they were mercenaries. But they are in fact supporters of the Longinus."

He advances to the saintess and the heroes and stand in front of them without a shroud of hesitation, smiling like the justice he represents.

"What kind of nonsense is this?!"

"This is pure stupidity!"

"Where did you even acquire such an information?!"

The heroes all react vividly and the commander simply kneel in front of them.

"I am dreadfully sorry for our lack of swiftness. This information was confirmed by the pope himself only a few moments ago. He asked me to deliver you his sincere apology as well."

"No, no, no. The pope or whatever, how did you guys came to that conclusion in the first place?"

"Oh…Miss Farner Saint Axelandria, hero of legend, protector of humanity, guardian of our faith, the one ready to give up her life for us at any moment, are you saying you doubt a direct order from the pope? Are you saying you would defy the church?"

"What?! I..."

I didn't know this guy was such a comedian. Though, his comedy is quite good. Bringing the name of the pope in this makes him way more believable and if they oppose it, it will look like they are rebels against the church. That would be an absolute sacrilege coming from the heroes or the saintess herself.

"And do you have an official letter of the pope confirming your words?" Rebecca's voice seems to have calmed down.

"Of course, your holiness." He brings out a paper and gives it to her. Rebecca reads and with trembling hands. I wonder if it is out of anger or fear.

"You guys are organizing a lot of things behind my back, I see." It seems it is out of anger since her voice becomes high-pitched once again.

"Well, we wouldn't want to trouble you."

"And why does it ask for them to be killed without even interrogating any of them?"

"There is no need to waste time since we already know their affiliation."

The heroes aren't saying anything but you can tell the frustration they are holding in from the way their bodies are trembling. Even doggy seems about to burst. If this wasn't about me, I would be happy and even thank you for angering him, Lucas. But too bad.

"Even so…" Rebecca gives the letter back to Lucas then turns towards us.

"Your holiness?"

"I will the warrant of all of them."

"Your holiness?"

"Saintess, what are you doing?"

"I said I will be the warrant of all the people here. If they really turn out to be servants of the Longinus in disguise, then I shall accept any punishment as the one who covered them."

"But the pope-"

"Does my words, which are direct blessings of the goddess herself, holds less power than the pope? Is this what you are saying?"

"N-no, I…I would never." Poor Lucas. She has frustrated you, right? Don't worry, that's just how she is.

I read Lucas's mind and right as he does a little sign with his eye. I turn around to look at Fiz who is the nearest to a soldier right now.

"Duck!"

"Eh?" While being completely taken aback by my sudden order, he still does what I asked and the next moment, a spear passes right where he should have been.

"W-what?!" The soldier is surprised and so is Lucas.

"What is the meaning of this?!!" Doggy almost flies to the guy and grabs his hands then slams him on the ground.

"Argh!"

I advance to Lucas who has stood up now and stands before him.

"Who are you?" He looks at me with rage and annoyance. I extend my hand to greet him and smile.

"Kevin Dragonroad. It was a pleasure to work with you."

***

"You really like to annoy people, it seems."

"Yeah, well, mostly people that are annoying to begin with."

After the stupid commotion created by commander 'I look like a moron now', we are happily walking inside the city while talking. There are various groups that have formed. My own is composed of Rebecca, doggy, the heroes, Lanuvel and Samson. The commander is nowhere to be seen. He fled immediately after the tension calmed down. You could see the humiliation spilling off him as he was speeding inside the city.

"No, you are just naturally annoying." Yeah, Roxcia, I know.

"I don't think annoying is the right term. I would rather say easy to hate." That's not much better Samson. Though, yeah, since the hatred effect is active, I am not too surprised. Though it isn't as strong as I thought it should be sometimes.

"Right?... I told him the same. There is something about him that just makes him look a bit foggy at some point. And you just feel like cursing and hate him when you are close." Miss Lanuvel, didn't we go through this before already?

"What do you think, protector?" Why did you involve that piece of shit, Excia?

"Yeah, that's true. You seem to be the one to hate him the most from what I have seen so far." You haven't seen anything yet so stop it, Farner.

Doggy looks at me for a long while, he really fixates me like he wants to see through something.

"What? Don't tell me you have turned blind now?" This is becoming stupid.

"Well, he does seem ugly enough for my eyes not to discern him properly."

"What?!!" Gnoll 1 and 3 go off at that. Good, you have successfully changed the subject.

"How can you say that?! He is the cutest." Thanks, Lanuvel.

"Yeah, he is as cute as a selpie." No, that's not a good comparison, Farner.

"Pfff..." And there is no reason for you to laugh, Rebecca. "A selpie, is it. Pfff…" I am going to punch this woman in the guts.

"You guys better-"

"Everyone, we have arrived."

Doggy points at a building. It is the building where we were called as group leaders for the mercenaries.

"I will see you guys later. There are some things that I have to handle here." Rebecca bids us farewell then rapidly enters the building, followed by doggy. I am really surprised at how reckless the pope was. Trying to silence anybody who has seen that book even though there aren't any secrets inside. And doing so even though the saintess and the heroes are here. Did he turn senile? Or was it a plan?

"Fuaa…I am so tired."

"Me too. All I want right now and bathe and sleep."

"Guys, let's all sleep at our place today."

"No, I will decline."

"Why?"

Farner grabs my hand immediately. Your proposal would have been a good one if I didn't know better. But you guys are not going to sleep at all. It will be games until morning and I don't want to be part of it.

"Because-"

"Because he is a boring guy. Come on, leave him alone." Thanks, Roxcia, you are the only one who understands me.

"Yeah, something like that."

"That's not true! Come on, it's going to be fun."

"It will be all the same without me. I am sure of it."

"No, it won't!"

"Stop being such a killjoy already!" Lanuvel seems annoyed as well. I won't be able to get out of this one.

"Sigh…Okay, okay. I got it."

"Yeah!!"

"Tch." Yeah, I know, Roxcia. I know.

We resume walking and soon reach the house where the heroes are staying. The other group of mercenaries continues and Willhem waves his hands as he passes by. I return his greetings then we enter the house, followed by K'nor which I had forgotten and left with Willhem. You are becoming rather distant with me now boy. Is that your rebellious phase starting?

"So, what should we play?"

It seems these guys don't want to think about what happened at all. In fact, I think the reason why they are doing all this is to forget it rapidly. To erase the doubts that are building inside their hearts. The doubts about the church they are trying to represent and protect. Since it is the case, I won't say anything then. I am sure that sooner or later, they will realize that something is wrong inside the church. And whatever it is, Dilt and the pope are involved. I am sure of it.

"How about some board games. I brought dices with me." Samson brings out dices from his bracelet. Five of them.

"Board games?" Now that I think about it, I never played anything else than one game mom showed me once. Chess, was it? It was way too difficult and I understood nothing so I don't even remember what it was talking about.

"You don't know board games?" Don't look at me like that, Excia. Please, don't look at me like that.

"Yes, I don't."

"But…Everybody knows-"

"I didn't have a lot of free time to play around so do excuse me for not knowing about it, Miss Farner."

"Sorry. I didn't want to be mean. I am just surprised you don't know about it."

"I am not angry so stop with the little afraid kitten face. Just explain to me how to play."

"Come and sit then."

I walk to the couches but before me, K'nor appears and sits right next to Farner. He instantly occupies the whole couch where she was sitting alone until now. Then he starts licking her face with the face of a dog who wants to play. As I said, you are entering your rebellious phase, it seems. You don't even recognize who is your daddy.

"I guess we know where you aren't sitting." Excia, I won't answer. I  won't.

"This dog might be useful to keep around."

"It's a wolfider, Roxcia."

"And a good one at that."

"Sigh…" This night will be really agitated.