LogFAQs > #952993016

Michel has to navigate without Giselle now. Ughhhh.
At some point, this definitely said 1 Day Left, so yeah:

Idk if y'all even remember this show - Early Edition was a 90s dramedy where one man would receive the NEXT day's paper, and then he felt this responsibility to figure out how he can fix stuff before it happens. I saw a parallel.

The Swordsman shows up to his door to tell him about his backstory. He bluntly tells Michel that he does not believe in the local god, and considers the priests/etc. to be nothing more than con men. He asks Michel if Michel is an angel, the one in the stained glass window. Michel does know things he shouldn't know, and he is very interested in soul salvation. Fair. The Swordsman admits to not having a strong sense of direction in his life, and asks Michel to give him clarity. Michel reluctantly agrees to do so.

The Swordsman admits he does not love Pauline, he merely admires her. But he feels it would be not great to tell her that, knowing how she feels, so he continues to lie by omission.

The Swordsman's story. He does not have many strong memories older than 5 years ago. He recalls being a slave and doing hardened physical labor. He was on a slave transport when he met Morgana. That is when he killed all but her. He asked her to unshackle him, and she did so, but without saying a word. The Swordsman imagines that her voice at that time could have calmed him, but instead, once he had killed the guards and slave traders, he turned his blade on his fellow slaves in the transport. Morgana was his first tether. He spent the next few years freely killing and stealing from others to stay alive.

The Swordsman was struck with a disease, and fell ill by the side of the road. People passed by without a second glance. The only person who stopped was Pauline, as the Nun Marie. She offers the Swordsman a place to stay, and visits him as he recuperates. He's back on his feet after 3 days [ha ha] and tries to pay Pauline for services rendered. She says she'll accept it as a tithe, and they part ways. Pauline encourages the Swordsman to stop by and chat sometime. Pauline's smile is his new tether.

The Swordsman comes to desire peace, and Pauline's smile brings it to him. They start spending time together for longer periods, and more frequently. He comes by with fruit for the children once, and they get talking - Pauline points out that their only difference is their race. She wishes she was half his race, and he insists she shouldn't long to be any closer to him [isn't Pauline half-Asian in the future?]. I may be a little late to the party here on this observation, but does this game just repeatedly punch you in the gut emotionally? and that's by design?

The Swordsman straight-up asks Pauline why she's so obsessed with being like him, and she unhelpfully replies "I just am". Wow, all right. The Swordsman then starts to realize her feelings for him. He confesses to her one night, and urges her to turn him down [this was probably why Pauline headed this situation off at the pass when she started her convo with Michel ]. She immediately tells the Swordsman her true name, Pauline [so weird saying a phrase like 'true name' outside of the Fate franchise, ahaha].

The Swordsman narrows in on how it feels to be in love, and has Pauline describe it, much to her embarrassment. This helps the Swordsman realize that all he wants is her smile. Her smile, to keep him from burning up with bloodlust. He knows that if it were to ever overtake him when he was with her, if he killed her, he'd lose his tether and truly become an untamed beast. So he spent time with her in the capacity of her lover, without telling her that he truly didn't love her in the same way. Dang.

He talks about how Pauline was so generous that she was self-destructive. She gave away so much that the church's finances dried up. She starved herself so others could eat. MEME TIME:


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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