LogFAQs > #952956355

However the Swordsman has detected Michel's presence, and confronts him. Pretty sure we gon' die. Yuuuup.

The Swordsman swings his sword, we parry it briefly with Maria's knife and run. He THROWS HIS SWORD and manages to stab us through the chest as we're running away. He sees Maria's name on the knife handle and demands to know who it is as you know, blood is gurgling through our alveoli. Great time to interrogate someone, y'know. He has his short list in hand: you, Nellie, Mell, and whoever "Maria" ends up being. Blood sprays repeatedly across the screen, and he presses his boot into your back. You die in agony.

If you LEAVE IT BE, Maria says she appreciates the thought. You make plans to chat about Morgana tomorrow night, and she leaves. Michel makes it back to his room at the chapel, and chats with Giselle in his mind. Michel is surprised by how normally the conversation flowed, after having been treated like a freak for so long. Giselle says that Michel IS a normal man. He savors the feeling. Giselle offers to release him here, allow him to live out a normal life without being tied to trying to free her, and Michel is having exactly none of that. Michel muses that perhaps he would have ended up the same as Morgana if he had no one with him in his final moments. Instead, he had Giselle, and that made all the difference. Giselle tells Michel that she would have always accepted him, no matter when she discovered his secret.

Michel wakes up totally disoriented and in the cellar, his hands tied behind his back. Even more troubling is the fact that he can't hear Giselle in his mind. The Swordsman comes into vision. We realize that supper was to determine if anyone would miss us if we went missing. The Swordsman assumes Mell has told Michel, his friend, everything. He starts interrogating Michel on what he knows, what the plan is, what the goal is. Michel tries telling him the truth, but the Swordsman starts breaking fingers. I know that the Swordsman deep down is not 'normal', but the average Japanese person, especially of this time period [if he has any similarity to that of Yukimasa], would be genuinely freaked about anything having to do with a vengeful spirit.

Amazingly, Michel pushes through the pain to continue to tell the Swordsman the truth. Since he gains fuel for this cruelty from people begging for their lives, this takes the wind out of his sails a bit. You tell him of his next life, in which he loses his memory and becomes fully beast-like. Michel explains that one day, you will accidentally kill Pauline, your lover, your tether. His eyes glow - how do you know that word??

He can't stand how much you know - he calls you an evil spirit, sent to manipulate him. The Swordsman won't stop, he breaks more fingers and then threatens to cut off your arm before he's stopped by - Pauline! And Mell! I guess they were both looking for you two, and eventually narrowed it down to the locked cellar where the screaming was coming from.

Pauline asks for the truth, and the truth is that Morgana is still property of the Lord, so they were obfuscating the truth moreso than lying. Pauline is hard on herself for not realizing sooner, or for questioning the veracity of anything she had been told. She begs the Swordsman to set Morgana free - he reminds her this will deprive them of the Lord's patronage, and the church will suffer as a result. Pauline has no use for a church that isn't saving anyone. In fact, she has no use for the church in general. Ah. It seems the Swordsman has been placing Pauline on a pedestal unnecessarily. Yeah, don't do this, y'all. If there's any takeaway from my writeups, it's this one. Let people be human. Let them make mistakes. Don't place them so high up that they're sure to shatter when they inevitably fall.

Pauline explains that she didn't have the nerve to do anything else - being a nun and obeying what she was told came naturally to her. Pauline says she did it for selfish reasons for so long that she lost sight of what she really wanted - to be an ordinary girl. The Swordsman recalls that in her next life, she wanted to live in a city on the sea, and live a quiet life with the man she loved. He figures Michel isn't lying.

Apparently, Pauline had wanted the Swordsman to take her someplace far away, where they could live a normal life. He had no idea this was what she wanted. Pauline insists that the Swordsman must set Morgana free. The Swordsman admits that he must suffer the consequences for what he's done, and he imagines his race will make it all the easier for people to call for his execution. The two promise to meet again in their next lives.

The Swordsman turns to Michel, offering to cooperate. Michel insists that the Lord must be kept alive if possible. The goal is to save Morgana's soul by dispelling some of the hatred she holds there. Michel asks for the Swordsman's story, and he promises to give it later that day. Pauline shows some interest in being present, but the Swordsman warns against it - he loves her, he's done some despicable acts and doesn't want her to hear any of that. I'd be like 'too bad, bucko' but Pauline ain't me.

Pauline apologizes to Michel and offers to find him a doctor and help with redressing his wounds later. Mell encourages you by complimenting your unflagging dedication to the cause, and says he's becoming more convinced that you'll be able to do something about the Lord.

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Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius