Chapter 5: I Just Want to Reflect…?

Once in the capital city, Siennan, which was named after its loving news program which had a tradition of not actually reporting news, Aria and her two best buddies went to reconcile at the local guild. Except, Mallow had other ideas about being their number two side-kick...

"Listen," Mallow said, tensing slightly. "We need to talk."

Aria, still not exactly present at the moment, widened her eyes in the direction of Mallow's face.

"It's about the way that you've treated me, us, as a team..." Mallow said, gesturing to Lorette nearby at the other chair at the table. "Or rather, it's about how you didn't. You know, we had decided on some pretty basic roles since the beginning, it's important to have someone able to scout ahead for the safety of the group." Mallow's eyes pierced into the blob that Aria's face had become. "It's not only risky to forgo that, it's downright insulting, to all of us."

Aria turned her eyes in defiance towards the only remaining source of hope on the table present, Lorette. However, she was given a stern look in response. "He's not wrong... In fact, you had become increasingly unaware over the past several weeks, since we found out about the potion. Our previous coordination was nowhere to be seen, it was..." She let out a breath that anyone could have guessed she was holding. "Pretty pathetic, all things considered."

The recently gender-bent girl sunk into the table, eyes deflated. After a moment, she inflated back into sitting upright, and glanced towards her party members nervously. "I... I wasn't really considering everything at the time, I'm sorry." she said. "I thought that it would be fine since, well, it was only really my life that was at risk and-"

"And you thought it was fine if you died, while we weren't even able to help?" Mallow suddenly spoke up, getting angry for seemingly the first time that night. "Do you have any idea how that would make us feel? If we, the hero's guardians, weren't able to keep them alive when we're not even on a mission? Even if you weren't an irreplaceable asset of the nation, do you think we could live with you dying like that?!"

 “I-I didn’t realize. I didn’t think that it was likely I would die. I mean, I’ve been through plenty-”

“You’ve been through plenty, because we were there to help.” The steam coming out of Mallow’s ears seemed to slowly dissipate as he settled down again. “We want to be there for you, that’s the whole point of a team! We work together! You’re basically just a normal guy-”

“Girl.” Lorette helpfully interjected.

“I didn’t mean that as like a… Fine, a normal girl, with a sword and some skill to go along with it. If it wasn’t for Lorette’s magic and my preplanning, everything we do would be risky.”

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Lorette nodded. It was true, Aria’s physical capabilities had been, up until this point, pretty average with that of a physically adept adult man. After some enhancing, he was able to use strength comparable to that of monsters, but that was with magic applied by herself. There wasn’t really anything in this world that propped one person above another, except for their ability to use their knowledge and techniques. It was possible to use magic on yourself in order to increase strength proportionately, but this could take up some concentration and was less efficient than letting another person help you. Although it was popular trope in ‘fantasy fiction,’ the genre of books that authors here used to describe futuristic dystopias with heavy reliance on technology, there wasn’t anything similar to ‘stats’ that might make one person intrinsically better.

Instead, it was a combination of effort and coordination between a team of people, as well as the equipment on each member’s person, which would lead to their durability and versatility. As the Hero, Aria was basically employed by the Church in order to carry out their holy missions, which for the most part involved dispatching some sort of monster or demonic threat. However, Aria’s continued employment, in a less physically robust woman’s body, was doubtful if she could not even work in a basic team.

Despite all of this, while looking at the girl, Lorette still didn’t think Aria was quite ready to shoulder the emotional responsibility of… her own actions, yet.

“Hey, it’s okay, we just need to work together alright?” She voiced pleadingly. “If we keep at it, we’ll be back to our standard from before in no time.”

Aria gave a slow and measured nod in response, then looked ahead at her teammates. “I’m sorry, Mallow, Lorette. You guys deserved better, I’ll aim to make you proud as the leader again.”

With a cursory glance, Mallow’s expression of ‘eh, good enough,’ and Lorette’s endearing smile as if she was watching a small animal spread its wings, Aria breathed a sigh of relief that not everything had gone awry. There was just one small problem left…

The Church didn’t employ women as Heroes.

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