“You’re tearing my adventuring party apart!” shouted Lensa. Her face was red and lungs puffing entire breathfulls of air with each heave.

  The backyard suddenly turned frigid, with all of the orphanage’s residents freezing in place.

  Artyom, on the other hand, just looked at her with a disinterested expression.

  “Well, what do you have to say for yourself for being such a terrible teammate?!”

  She was aware of the kids behind them. Despite all the anger in her voice, Artyom could make out a sense of satisfaction in her mannerisms. A ping of blank aura didn’t hurt to confirm it either. It had to have been an intimidation tactic he figured, to make him look bad in front of the crowd of impressionable kids. But he wasn’t so young as to care about anyone else’s approval other than those he truly respected.

  “All I have to say is that you’re barking up the wrong tree. Anything I’ve done that you consider ‘wrong’ is only so by your own feelings.” It felt like such a weird thing to say, but here at least, it was the truth.

  “You’re sending one of us away, that’s literally tearing the team apart!”

  Oh. Yeah, she had a point there. Even Sister Elery let out a shocked gasp at the revelation, while the other kids were on the edge of their seats.

  “Tommy’s the one who demanded it, because innocent people keep dying while you’re all on your scavenger hunt. There’s no reason why we can’t have both.”

  “You mean, the hero has…” began Sister Elery as her voice began to break. “He’ll be stopping the Dark Lord from hurting any more children?”

  “That’s right!” exclaimed Artyom with a cheerful smile. “But we can’t really do that until we’ve found the armor piece here, since splitting the party in the middle of trouble is a bad idea.”

  Lensa opened her mouth to counter him, or at least rebuke him for making team decisions like that, but she paused when she saw Sister Elery.

  The older priestess was openly weeping. Her hands were clasped in prayer and a gentle smile caressed her lips. “Thank you. Thank you so much,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

  Lensa looked between Siser Elery and Artyom with a conflicted look. Her eyes betrayed her unsurety in how she should feel. Angry at Artyom? Relieved or happy for the woman who helped raise her? She eventually settled on something a little different.

  “I hate how you’re making me have to choose between family and the party,” the lavender haired priestess finally said between gritted teeth. “I was tasked with keeping you away from Tommy so you can’t fill his head with any more nonsense, but your nonsense…”

  Artyom remained silent, letting her continue.

  Suddenly Lensa’s frustration bubbled over as she raised her voice. “It’s your fault everything is going so terribly! The others hate me and are going to get rid of me forever because you made me pick wrong every time!”

  He let her words hang in the air for a long moment, giving a chance for even her to properly consider what she just said. But in that time, there was no change in her demeanor or anything else from her lips, so he spoke up.

  “Bullshit,” said Artyom with a frown that cut through Lensa’s funk. “You chose to save your family when the zombies attacked instead of following orders. You didn’t even endanger Tommy because you left him to me and Neitra, so you’re not guilty of anything actually bad. Why are you mad for just being human?”

  Something about his response angered Lensa even further. “You really know nothing. It’s because it isn’t the goddess’ will! My entire being is supposed to be devoted to her and her will, but my actions have been a blatant denial!”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Artyom couldn’t help but look back at her with a mix of confusion and pity. “What kind of loving goddess would make you put what others tell you to do for their personal benefit over protecting your own family? You have a heart, and I’m sure she does too. You know the answer.”

  Lensa looked at him in quiet contemplation for several seconds before letting out a sigh.

  “Why did I even bother confronting you?” she said with a sneer. “Your words are filling my head with poison too.”

  Without another word between the two, the lavender haired priestess turned around and made her way back into the manor, and likely out of the grounds back towards town.

  Artyom could only look at her retreating figure with a single question on his mind.

  “And she’s the one who tried to kill me?”

  He didn’t have much time to dwell on the thought as Sister Elery soon approached him to speak.

  “Apologies for eavesdropping, but is what I heard true?” she asked with doe-like eyes. “That you’ll be fighting against the warbands?”

  “That’s right,” said Artyom with a slow simple nod. He almost felt a little guilty for having leveraged Lensa’s feelings for her family to further push the party split, but

  “But oh, even with all of the current children at the orphanage now, I can’t forget about poor Lensa. She still means a lot to me, and I to her.”

  Artyom could see a look of guilt on her face that she quickly shook away.

  “But thank you for trying to comfort her now when I couldn’t, since I’m the source of her woes.”

  “Yeah, don’t mention it,” said Artyom, giving her an inquisitive look. “How are you the source of her woes, by the way? I know she’s chosen to protect her father over fighting with the rest of the party, but how has she chosen you over the others?”

  “Well, I was at the church when you all first arrived in town. She immediately rushed to save us, from what I heard.”

  “Right… You know, for the few days I’ve known her, the way she treats me is a complete 180 from the love she shows you and her father. Did something happen to make her that way?”

  “Goodness, I can’t imagine her being anything less than kind to anyone! She has always been polite, kind, and charitable. One time, a fisherman lost his wedding ring inside one of the fish he’d caught that day, and it was his biggest haul of the year with over a hundred fish. Lensa was able to pray to the goddess to divine which specific fish it was inside within the hour!”

  Artyom nodded. “Hmm, but why does she treat me the exact opposite of that? If anything, I could see her cursing instead of helping me like that.”

  “As for her distrust? There is one thing that comes to mind,” said Sister Elery, as her gaze fell towards the ground. “A year before she left to join the hero, she got close to two young men. A priest in training, and a fisherman who often attended church. The three became close friends, but one day we were attacked by a warband.”

  “I wouldn’t call this town out-of-the-way enough to warrant an easy attack for them,” said Artyom. “That’s how I’ve heard they operate, at least.”

  “And you’d be right. The fisherman I told you about? He betrayed us and had convinced almost every member of the local militia to leave that week. I don’t remember what excuse he gave, but the result was that the warband was able to easily enter the town without any resistance. And one of their first victims was Lensa’s friend.”

  “So one friend’s betrayal led to the death of another…”

  “That’s right. Lensa flew into a rage, and used her divine magic to strengthen the few remaining members of the militia to incredible strength. They could each fight off ten men at a time, and take attacks that would kill even a level forty adventurer! At one point they truly did look like dead men walking, but they weren’t dead. After the battle, they were all perfectly fine.”

  “Huh…” said Artyom, suddenly deep in thought.

  “This may have affected Lensa greatly, but I do not know for certain if it is the cause for her treatment of you. Though you are a new would-be friend, and she already has plenty whose hands she would put her life in. Perhaps she doesn’t want to make the same mistake once more? But seeing your devotion to the children, I do hope she realizes your true nature soon.”

  And just like that, the last of the pieces were added to the board, and fit right in place. Almost all the other loose clues fit around them like a growing clot, soon becoming a solid mass of understanding within Artyom’s mind.

  “Hey Sister Elery, are you going to the church service with the kids later today?”

  “Of course, we always go! It wouldn’t do any good for me not to spread the good word of the goddess to the children here.”

  “Would it be fine if I had lunch here? I know the kids are going to copy my lessons to Rotte and I want to make sure none of them do anything to hurt themselves.”

  “Certainly!”

  “Perfect,” said Artyom with a growing smile. He was right where he needed to be.