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Maybe he was just trying to help the watchman who helped him.

What about you, Mister Friar? Do you think he was a hero?

What is a hero, Cecelia?

I thought about it for a long time... but I know that the answer to this question doesn't tell us who the Sarkaz man was. Rather, it tells us who I am.

I don't think he himself climbed up the bell tower to be a hero.

But it doesn't matter if we sing his praises, look at him with scorn, or even forget about him. None of that changes anything about him anymore.

All the questions that I pondered have nothing to do with him. Only me. Why did I witness this? What does it mean to me? How is it going to guide me forward?

It is always the living who are questioned.

But I kept thinking and thinking, what if he didn't do what he did?

What if he did it, but led the fanatics... the bad people to the bell tower?

What if the townspeople couldn't fend the bad people off even after they got woken up?

And what if... what if he even died on the bell tower, and no one ever found him?

There are no guaranteed successes, and there are no choices that are certain to be right.

So I came to this conclusion. On that rainy night, he climbed up the bell tower because he wanted to.

It's the most straightforward conclusion, out of somewhat stubborn goodwill.

Whether that's true or not doesn't concern him.

He was a hero, no different from the hero in the song.

The winds through hills on high...♪ Tail the hero's farflung stride...♪

Over long ways long...♪ Over briars and thorns...♪

Everyone starts humming the song.

Their quiet singing drifts throughout the room.

I feel peace.

In this Lateran evening.

A peace that I have not known for a long time.

Are you thinking something, Mister Friar?

No, nothing at all.

Thank you, Cecelia.

You're looking at something...

Is that a bell tower?

It's Laterano's bell tower. A very, very old tower made of stone. I often went there when I still lived in Laterano. It was so close to Heaven.

Heaven... Is that where Mamma is?

If that's where you wish for her to be, that's where she is.

Mister Friar, could you help me with something?

Oh, Ezell, good morning! Off to work?

Good morning. I don't... have work today. I'm taking a couple days off.

Up so early on your day off? And look at you frowning like that. Is something bothering you? Getting bullied at the Notarial Hall?

I told you, it may look like a decent place to work, but it's total misery over there!

Hahaha...

Here, Ezell, I just bought some cupcakes. Take some. Let your worries go!

It doesn't matter if work is bothering you. It's just a job. Don't think about it on your day off! Besides, aren't you still a trainee? If the ceiling caves in, it's gonna crush all your bosses up top before it ever reaches you. Don't make it so hard on yourself.

Cheer up! It's not worth getting upset over!

Not worth it, huh?

Still letting it bother you? Haha, anyway, I'mma get going.

Thanks for the cupcakes.

It's an early morning that couldn't be more normal. Hardly anyone on the streets yet.

But it shouldn't take much longer for the crowds to form and the usual hustle and bustle to return.

This is exactly what... Lateran life is.

How about a crepe?

No thanks... I've got these cupcakes...

It's you?!

The crepe shop on the corner there only sells two hundred of their signature crepes each day. You need to get up early to have a chance at buying one.

Thankfully, their hours haven't changed.

What are you doing here?

I'm out for a walk.

In a city that has an arrest warrant out for you?

Sure.

What happened to the people at the Ecclesia Requietum?

They're all in a safe place. Once everything is over, they'll leave Laterano with me.

Where to?

Who knows.

Are you going to take Cecelia with you?

No, she left.

H-How did you...?

She has something she must do. It may seem trivial right now...

But she's found her path, and she will continue down it, overcoming obstacles we could never overcome, treading into predicaments that we wouldn't dare to face, and making it to faraway places that we could never imagine.

What are you talking about?

Relax, Brother Ezell. She's far more brilliant than you and I could ever dream to be.

But she might need you.

Why me? I'm nothing special.

This is pretty embarrassing to say, but I was playing hero in front of her the whole time. I told her my word is my bond, and I wouldn't mind losing my job...

But after I got home last night, I spent the whole night freaking out about everything that happened.

A mixed-blood Sankta, a fallen angel, a Legatus, the conference at the Basilica, the Sarkaz, and a strange heretical group...

How did I get mixed up in all this?

I thought I just wanted a decent job. A desk job would be all the better. I would go to work and leave on time, live a quiet, peaceful life... I figured that'd be pretty good for me.

Everything that happened the last couple days could be just like an interlude. I should count myself as lucky for being able to get away from it all before it's too late, and in a couple decades, I can tell stories about it to my friends...

That'd be a pretty solid life, wouldn't it?

Maybe I shouldn't even be talking to you right now... I should just turn and run.

Aren't you going to run, then?

There's no need to fool yourself.

How am I supposed to know... what it is that I really want?

You and Cecelia both asked the same question.

She asked you that too?

Phrased a little differently.

And how did you answer?

I told her a story.

Suddenly feeling like I shouldn't listen to you...

Why?

I just get the sense that you know how to influence people. What if you're about to sucker me into something here?

As long as you don't want to, you won't be.

That sounds awfully sketchy...

I'm here only to give you a message.

What comes next is for you to decide.

Cecelia is going to the old bell tower.

What is she doing there?

Saying her goodbyes.

Is something wrong?

Oh, Cecelia, aren't you scared, walking the streets all by yourself this early in the morning?

Where are those friends of yours?

Guide, it's Oren.

No matter. We'll see what he's planning first.