Playing Their Roles

Coltia, Rosalind, and Earnest entered Arthur’s house and got settled. There was another wave of shock that spread around when Coltia took her hat off, revealing to the knights and Adeline that the antlers decorating her hat were actually attached to her head. On the other hand, Haziel already knew because of her special gift, and was somewhat confused by everyone else’s reactions.

Once everyone was settled, Garin started off the meeting by asking Rosalind, Earnest, and Coltia to recollect the series of events that led them here. Rosalind shared a timeline of what happened, starting from when she arrived in Knottori and ending when the misfits were jailed in the inn. She hid a few crucial details though, such as Rosalind’s mental and physical changes, as well as the true identities of the minds currently piloting Rosalind and Earnest’s bodies. Along the way, questions were asked and answered, details clarified, and after all was said and done, the knights and priestesses seemed to believe the story.

Adeline then asked another question to Rosalind.

“Where is the journal that you mentioned, and the black magic materials?”

“Coltia is holding onto them at the moment. We thought they would be safest with her.”

“Certainly, for the short term it was a good choice. But Haziel and I are here now. The church is quite adept at taking care of these delicate matters, whether they require protection or destruction. I would ask that the journal and the materials be turned over to us, if you would.”

Coltia herself spoke up to address the issue.

“Ah, well, I’d love to hang on to these if you wouldn’t mind~ The journal is quite interesting, clearly written by a brilliant individual, and the materials are helpful too~ Couldn’t you just leave them with me? I promise I won’t do anything too naughty~”

Adeline didn’t expect refusal from Coltia, but remained firm in her request.

“Well, we came here with certain tasks and priorities. The first was to save Rosalind, who is thankfully safe already. The next was to deal with the source of the threat, and secure it so that the public remains safe from future harm. As much as I’d like to entrust the journal and materials with you, the church would surely see that as a failure to uphold my duty, so I must again ask for them.”

Adeline was stern and steady on the surface, but underneath she was worried that she just angered someone who could kill them all, based on what Haziel described. Coltia looked straight at Adeline. Coltia didn’t look angry, no, it looked like she was looking straight through Adeline’s facade, scrutinizing the worries hidden beneath.

“Well, it seems like we have a disagreement… Ah! I know. My master told me to use this whenever I had a disagreement with any authority in this nation…”

Coltia put a hand under her robe and rummaged around a bit, searching her interior pockets for something. Everyone watched, curious about what she was going to bring out. Coltia seemed to find what she was looking for, as she brought out a silver ring, giving it to Adeline to take a closer look. Everyone at the table looked closely at the shiny ring and the intricate design on it. Adeline, Garin, and Andrion’s eyes went wide as they recognized the emblem engraved on it. Roland and Wayne didn’t seem to understand what the object was, but judging by everyone else’s reactions, it was clearly an object of great importance. Adeline’s hand froze, as if the ring had paralyzed it. She looked at Coltia in disbelief.

“The royal family’s seal… is this real?”

“Well of course~ Don’t you know how much trouble faking these will get you in~?”

Adeline studied the ring again, then returned her attention to Coltia.

“How did you… How did your master get this?”

“Well, my master is quite remarkable~ Master has quite the connections all over the world, with some very powerful people~”

Coltia reached out and plucked the ring back from Adeline’s open palm, and resumed speaking.

“And just like any master, they just want to look out for their precious disciple~”

Adeline thought to herself for a moment, then changed her mind about the journal and materials.

“Well, since the highest authority in the land trusts your master, and your master trusts you, then I am in no position to mistrust you.”

Coltia returned the ring to her robe pocket, and gave a coy smile to all the faces looking at her with shock.

“Don’t worry~ I promised not to be too naughty~”

A silence hung in the air, as no one knew what to say next. After a moment, Rosalind broke the awkward tension that was resting over the room.

“Um, so yeah, Coltia will be hanging on to those for now. Back to the topic at hand, what do you plan on doing with the criminals?”

Garin regained his composure first, and explained the process of transporting the misfits, bringing them back to the nearest city to be held in a proper jail and eventually stand a proper trial. Rosalind asked if she would be required as a witness, but Garin assured her that a written account would likely be more than enough. If they did need her, they would send a summons later. For now, she could stay in Knottori and recuperate in the peaceful village.

Since the misfits were already subdued, the knights had more free time than expected, so they would be leaving sooner than they had initially planned for. Once all the knights were rested and ready to travel again, they would take the misfits into their care and begin the return trip. A good night’s sleep would probably be enough, so tomorrow after breakfast would be ideal.

It dawned on Rosalind that the misfit boys that she had told the knights about in her story were no longer misfit “boys”. She could remain silent and let the knights find out on their own, but coming clean earlier rather than later would probably be the most trustworthy thing to do.

“Um, Garin, there is one thing that I forgot to mention.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“The misfit boys that I told you about… They are, uh… a little… different than you might expect.”

“Different how?”

“Well you see… they’re more… misfit girls now.”

“What?”

Rosalind looked to Coltia, hoping for some help in explaining. Coltia made eye contact and received Rosalind’s signal, speaking up to give an explanation.

“Oh yes, you may have guessed, but that was my doing~ What can I say? They were being awfully stubborn and horribly rude when I was asking them some questions~ Besides, it’s not like I was harming them. They used dark magic to possess a woman’s body, so I’m sure they don’t mind~”

Garin thought to himself for a moment. Should he ask Coltia to turn them back? Was it even possible to do so? It’s not like it really made that much of a difference if the criminals were men or women, if anything they would probably get a lighter sentence. But then he would have to explain this to the court. But then again Coltia had the support of the royal family, so it was probably just easiest to take her words and actions as law, no matter how eccentric.

Garin accepted Coltia’s explanation with no resistance, and said that it wouldn’t be a problem. With that, there was nothing else to be discussed, and after checking for last minute questions, the meeting officially ended. There were still a few hours before sundown, so everyone hung around, splitting into smaller groups to chat.

Earnest was about to converse with his comrades, when the young knights Roland and Wayne approached him, asking if they could talk to him alone. Earnest froze up for a second, then nervously looked at Rosalind for help.

Rosalind knew that Earnest was hoping she would stay by his side, but it seemed like a pretty low stakes interaction. The two young knights were probably just interested in a colleague that was a younger knight as well. Rosalind wasn’t too worried, as Earnest’s impersonation was probably good enough to handle some casual chatting after all the preparations they did together. Besides, Rosalind had someone she wanted to talk to herself, namely Haziel.

Rosalind remembered yesterday, at the dinner table, sitting across from Haziel while secretly sending magic energy to a vibrating crystal inside of her. Well, at the time she thought it was discrete. Rosalind just learned earlier that Haziel was able to perceive the flow of magic, so… did she sense it then? If anyone was going to be suspicious of Rosalind and Earnest, it would be her.

Rosalind quietly assured Earnest that he would be fine, before going with Coltia over to the priestesses at the table. Earnest looked almost like an abandoned puppy, but he sucked it up and went with the young knights into the back yard. During the meeting, he hardly had to say anything, but now he was in the spotlight. Sure, it was a smaller audience, but his heart thumped with anxiety nonetheless.

Once the three men were in the backyard and the conversations in the house weren’t too loud, Wayne asked Earnest a question.

“You’re Earnest right? No wait, I mean like, Earnest Pierce of the 7th squad right? Under commander Roland right?”

Earnest nodded, and let out a short response.

“Yup, that’s me.”

Wayne and Roland looked at eachother with excitement, speaking quickly to each other.

“See! I told you! I’d recognize him anywhere!”

“Okay, yeah, but what if you were wrong?”

“But I’m not wrong, it really is Earnest Pierce!”

They both faced Earnest again, and introduced themselves.

“I’m Wayne Ferant, and this is Roland Moss, not to be confused with commander Roland obviously. It’s really a great honor to meet you Sir Earnest! We’ve been following news of your successes over the past year, and greatly admire your strength and skill, especially in the face of the nobles that look down on commoners.”

Roland was nodding along with every point that Wayne made, as Earnest realized that these two young men were his fans. Well, fans of Earnest.

“Oh, why thank you. I really appreciate you two fine young men telling me this. I didn’t really know that I had fans, it’s a pleasure meeting you Wayne and Roland.”

The two young men shared another excited glance with each other, before Wayne spoke up again.

“Sir Earnest, if it isn’t too much of a bother, could we ask you some questions? We both look up to you, and would love to learn as much as we can!”

While Earnest’s face didn’t show any changes, he could feel his stomach drop. This was bad, really bad! Questions? What kind of questions? Questions that he wouldn’t be able to answer? Questions that would expose him and Rosalind as being frauds?

Wait, he could just decline them couldn’t he? He could say that he was busy or tired or something! Earnest opened his mouth, preparing to deliver a flawless excuse, but stopped when he saw Wayne and Roland looking up to him. They looked nervous, yet hopeful. It probably took some courage between the two of them to talk to him, and they probably really hoped he would answer their questions. In fact, Alesia was a bit of an Earnest fan herself. What would it feel like if Earnest snubbed her? Turned her away?

Earnest felt a pang of guilt in his chest, and an unexpected answer emerged from his mouth.

“Yeah, sure. Anything for you guys.”

Both of his fans visibly brightened up, and started to ask him questions. What kind of training do you do? Do you have a role model? Where were you born and raised? What is commander Roland like? What do you think about the nobles?

Earnest did his best to recall the information he learned in the past days from the original, and was able to give decent answers to the bombardment of questions he was faced with. For things that he was unclear on, he managed to avoid going into detail, or filled in with a reasonable assumption. He was surprised by how well he was doing, and was glad to see that Wayne and Roland were genuinely happy to be meeting and talking with their hero.

There was a small inkling of guilt remaining, coming from the fact that the Earnest in front of them wasn’t the original, but an impersonator, but there was nothing that could be done about that at this point. For now, Wayne and Roland were enjoying themselves regardless.