Justice sits on the edge of a cliff, gazing down upon the recovering village.

This is his favorite part of the day. He loves to see the progress the villagers made picking themselves up from their earlier downtrodden state. They've brought their small home way past what it was before.

The people are lively, dashing around to repair the battered town. Bushes sprout across the village, gorgeous arrays of flowers blooming from them. Previously all wooden buildings are now enforced with steel, allowing them to withstand larger amounts of both elemental and constructed force. The progress that's been accomplished in just half a year is amazing.

When he first arrived, he only had a small team of five. Because of how shorthanded he was, he was working constantly. Running back and forth between taking care of the villagers' needs and trying to rebuild the structures.

The latter was difficult by itself, the only source of income that they could use was the lumber they got from the forests around the village. The problem is that the trees were also their primary source of food. Every few months they were forced to restrain the number of trees they cut down, then wait for new ones to grow in. This created a period in time where they had little to eat. They called it "the month of forced fasting." They become more susceptible to sickness and disease, making it the most dangerous time of the year for them.

Hoping to prevent it, Justice began sending men in twos out into the forest each week to search for another resource they could rely on.

For weeks, nothing. His hopes dwindled as the next month of forced fasting inched closer. Until, like messengers of the gods, his men ran into his tent and threw a chunk of steel onto his desk.

They found a steel deposit.

The mine provided metal to improve their tools. This sped up the repair progress by a large margin and gave them a new form of trade, which eased the burden of the month of forced fasting immensely.

But the other task of breaking the villagers out of their depression was a challenge of an entirely different level.

He didn't know that the death of one man could single-handily destroy the morale of an entire village. Most of the inhabitants had become shut-ins, while anyone who could leave their house had barely enough energy to gather the food to survive. Thankfully, psychology and therapy were his majors back in his education days. But even with that on his side, it was still a nigh-impossible task.

He set up lectures every third day of the week and had one-on-one sessions for each person. Letting him teach them positive habits to get past their trauma, while also giving them a place to talk about and understand their worries and fears.

The sessions gave him a better grasp of why they were so affected. He found that some were mortified by the shades and the weapons they used. Some were very close to Lander and losing a friend forced them to face the reality of death. But he found the most common problem was the idea of not being able to protect or avenge the one who had kept them safe.

The new understanding was helpful, but it only cracked their shells. He needed one last push to bring them back into the light. As it happens, the last push was Eileen, the chief's daughter-in-law.

Compared to all of my patients, Eileen was in the worst shape from the beginning, only becoming worse after her father excommunicated himself. She locked herself into a room, refusing food, and rarely taking water. Her eyes became empty and her hair long and unkempt. At night you could hear her talk to the doll of Lander she created with her fallen hair and wax from the candles that filled her room.

He believed she might never come back from the dark void of her mind.

But one day she slammed open her door and charged towards the center of town. Grabbing Lander's spear from his grave, she cut through her long threads of amber hair, therefore declaring herself a warrior.

Justice has never seen anything like it. Not only had she consoled herself through the doll of her dead husband, she then tore herself from the powerful grip of despair with nothing but pure willpower.

With renewed vigor, she marched towards the town hall, calling for the villagers to meet her. Appearing like that of a war goddess, she slammed the blunt end of Lander's stone spear into the ground. With a powerful voice, she gave an empowering speech that made his veins burst with a flow of immense strength. And the way the eyes of the surrounding villagers glued onto Eileen showed that they felt the same.

It was clear she was a born leader. In a matter of minutes, she had doubled the progress he made in months.

That wasn't the only bonus received from her sudden revival, though. When he reported what he saw, Ambrosio immediately saw the potential the village, especially Eileen, had for becoming a vital resource to the light empire. With that, he promoted Justice on the spot, along with appointing two lieutenants and five more common soldiers under him.

With the villagers' morale returned, and his force doubled, Justice could divert the efforts of his team to increasing the villagers' knowledge on weapon technology and teaching them how to fight back against future attackers.

As time went on, Justice had less and less to do, to the point where now he's basically a supervisor. There to make sure everything goes along smoothly. Although he misses how involved with the people he used to be, he's content with gazing at the newfound beauty of the healing village.

But one thing still bothers him... Something the chief said before leaving on a "journey of self-understanding," as he called it.

The death of his child crippled him, but the way he took the experience and what he learned from it differed in one drastic way compared to the other inhabitants of the village. He said he felt responsible for the death of his child, while the reports show the opposite. This is common for those in his situation. But what bothers Justice was how he mentioned the shades, which he saw as monsters, did more than he ever had to protect their family.

He saw emotion in them.

That should be impossible according to everything Justice has learned about them. They send their children into dangerous trials while they're young. Their culture is built around war and combat. They're dangerous barbaric creatures... but the chief could somehow see a semblance of emotion embedded in their actions.

It's not because he lacks understanding of the issue. Justice can tell from their sessions that the chief is an intelligent person. He doesn't think he could be easily mistaken by something like that.

Could everything Justice learned about the shade race been taught with built-in lies?

No... that's blasphemy. Remember the words of Ambrosio.

He closes his eyes and chants,

"Beware the shades' crafty nature."

"For they will make you doubt your convictions".

"To be cautious of the way they manipulate your emotions",

"you must rid yourselves of those very emotions."

"As guardians of the light,"

"it is our duty to support our brethren."

"Correct them when they see good in the dark,"

"and reveal to them the evil that hides within."

He finishes with a deep breath to clear his mind.

They must have used some trick to convince the chief they have good in them. He reportedly helped them escape. Eileen had mentioned the shade-ling examined and copied the actions of the villagers, so they must have learned how to copy the use of emotion. They must have deceived the poor man.

Justice mumbles to himself, "their tactics are getting dangerous, I must strengthen my resolve."

"Sorry to interrupt your meditation, Captain, but Eileen has requested you to meet her," announces a voice from behind.

Justice turns his head to find an elegant white centaur. He pushes himself up to his feet, and with a carefree smile, responds, "well, if the chief is calling for me I should probably stop lazing around, huh, Filib?"

"I would agree, sir," the centaur responds, bowing his head slightly.

No matter how many times Justice tells him to call him by his name when they're alone, Filib insists on speaking respectfully. Which, for what it's worth, is better than how his second lieutenant Gavriil speaks to him.

"Hurry up, you pathetic excuse for a captain, Eileen's got something exciting in store for us," a deep voice shouts from further down the hill.

Speak of the devil.

The battle-hardened cyclops comes into view, stomping his way up the hill.

"I apologize, sir. I told him to wait below, but as you know his patience is quite... lacking," Filib says, kicking dirt into Gavriil's face.

His eye reddening, Gavriil grabs at his war hammer. "You dirty mule, you picking a fight?"

Justice chuckles as the Cyclops takes a kick to the chest. "Alright, enough fighting. What does Eileen have planned?"

Gavriil, now on the floor, flings his torso up, his head turning to meet Filib. A malicious smile appears on their faces as they speak simultaneously, "You'll find out when we get there," the only difference being Filib ends with a respectful, "sir."

A sense of deep worry sweeps over Justice.