His sword stuck fast in the training dummy.

He kicked it loose, pulling with a good deal of his strength.

" Hard at work, aye, Sir Merrow?" a passerby knight called to him.

" I never rest," Henry replied.

The thought had crept into his mind when he bid Aislin good night.

That maybe Aislin wasn't the demon lord after all. Maybe it was his brother, the one him and Ornstein had spoken of.

Yes, that would explain it all!

The brother had been the one to kill his master, then he had destroyed the village out of spite, and then when Aislin, a knight, had gone to fight him, he'd perished too, and so Henry had never really crossed paths with him at all.

They were brothers, after all, and so were bound to look similar!

Aislin was... a good person. He was just withdrawn from the others because he was hiding his identity to protect the Order.

Maybe if he... really did stay and protect Aislin, they could defeat the demonic kingdom Altaer together.

He wished that Mariposa was there to guide him. She knew more about these sorts of complicated politics than he did.