“What are those fools doing?”

  “There’s only one fool here…”, murmured Tess.

  “Did you say something?”

  “No, sir.”, she looked at him sideways, “I was wondering whether Babour would survive for so long without its prime minister.”

  “You really want me gone, don’t you?”, he laughed and smiled, “Oh, how I miss the little miss Tess waiting for her teacher to impart her with knowledge about the world.”

  Tess smiled an empty smile, eyes full of rage which she tried to hide.

  “Oh! I am grateful for the past to remain the past.”

  Esting scoffed, “The king is not a… fool.”

  Tess chuckled.

  “Tess. Remember what I taught you about rumours?”, he smiled.

  “Are you going to try and talk the new Duke into your schemes?”, asked Tess, ignoring what she heard.

  Esting laughed, “No. The new duke isn’t much of a businessman sadly.”

  “Ironic, isn’t it?”, he smiled.

  “I-“

  Esting tipped his hat, “I must excuse myself. I’m quite busy you see.”, he walked away without waiting for Tess’ response.

  “Is he going back to his schemes?”, asked Dave who suddenly appeared behind Tess.

  Tess scoffed, “I believe that he can’t wait.”

  “You know that I could just…”

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  “No. Leave him be, he has a small army stationed nearby waiting for his orders.”

  “I could just fight them off.”, Dave laughed.

  Tess laughed too, “You just might… but I don’t want to retire so soon as a Countess after declaring war.”

  “Wait… Where are the cadets?”, she added.

  Dave shrugged, “Well… I asked them to explore the county.”

  “Aren’t they under your jurisdiction?”

  Dave shrugged again.

  “I honestly don’t know if it’s your charm or…”, she sighed.

  “The county’s pretty huge…”, exclaimed Orph.

  “I mean not as big as the capital but…”

  “It’s more beautiful?”, Cess added.

  “Yea… that.”

  “Helping me finish my sentence isn’t going to make me give you my rightful win…”, added Orph.

  “Your rightful win? You didn’t even hit me once?”

  “Oh yeah? Whose wall is still standing?”

  “You didn’t even have a wall!”

  Meanwhile, a statue caught Eric’s attention.

  “This reminds me of something…”, he thought to himself.

  Orph noticed Eric deep in his thought, “That’s the Hero.”

  Eric nodded, “I think I’ve seen him somewhere…”

  “You mean… the statue in the castle…?”

  “There’s a statue in the castle?”

  Orph and Cess looked towards Eric, dumbfounded.

  “Let’s just go in…”

  The church of the Hero. A relatively new phenomenon in Babour, people flocked over and prayed for redemption and the destruction of evil. All under the man who destroyed the demon king.

  The Hero. Our one true savior.

  “Did you know that he was a thief before being selected as the Hero?”, said Orph.

  “Did you just read their slogan?”, asked Cess.

  “Redemption and destruction.”, she added in a corny voice.

  “I take it you’re not a fan of the guy?”

  Cess smiled coyly, “Barely knew the guy…”

  Orph laughed, “Fair enough… For me, he was a hero.”

  “That he was… wasn’t that his name?”, asked Cess.

  “Who even names their child hero? Him being a thief is just…”, she added.

  “No one knows his real name, it’s been lost for ages.”, replied Orph.

  “He seems important to you.”

  Orph looked over to her and sighed, “His stories… They motivated me to keep surviving back when I was in the orphanage. I still hope that I can get close to being a hero…”

  “That’s a noble reason.”, Cess smiled.

  Orph smiled again and looked towards Eric, who was busy doing something else entirely.

  He stared at a sword. The Hero’s sword.

  “Wow… I didn’t expect them to have it… maybe it’s a replica?”

  He pondered longer, “But why would it be in a glass cage?”, he asked himself.

  “To create an illusion that it’s the real deal?”, Cess chimed in.

  “Maybe…”, Orph looked at Eric again, who was lost in his thoughts again.

  “Does this look similar?”, asked Orph.

  “No…”

  “Maybe it’s because there’s no statue of it in the castle…”