The Path's End/Story


Hilda	Ugh! Where's Shez? She said she'd meet me here, but I don't see her anywhere... Aha! Took you long enou—
Hey there, Hilda.		Shez
Hilda	Excuse me? What are YOU doing here?
Florina had a request, and since she's still not great at dealing with men, the other Shez and I decided to swap jobs.		Shez
Hilda	You two are still taking on jobs as a pair? Kind of weird, if you ask me.
Is it? Gender aside, we are still pretty much the same person. So why not take advantage of that?		Shez
Hilda	Huh... I mean, I guess you have a point. It still seems a little weird, though.

May I have a moment? I have a small favor to ask of you, Shez.		Monica
Shez	Me? Well, not like it matters much. I'm sure either of us is fine, so I'll hear you out.
Oh, well, I meant to ask the other Shez, but if you say it's all right, I would be happy for the help. That being said, isn't this his room?		Monica
Shez	Yeah, but it's no big deal—we're not usually in the castle at the same time. Anyway, I can handle anything he can. At the end of the day, we both follow the merc creed of using whatever we can as a resource.
You're both mercenaries through and through, aren't you? I doubt I could work with another me so easily. And yet, the two of you have simply accepted it and, what's more, even made use of it. I'm truly impressed.		Monica


Alfonse	I’m a little surprised to see the two of you so eager to work with a version of yourself from another world. Normally, when something like this happens, it takes a little longer to accept the situation.
Well, yeah, but at the end of the day she’s just another me, and a second set of hands can get jobs done faster.		Shez
Shez	Agreed. Besides, what was there to doubt? It was obvious who he was. After all, I should be the only one with this sword, but he’s got it too.
Speaking of which, is that sword like one of Askr’s divine weapons?		Alfonse
Shez	Maybe? It’s not like we know much about it either. Just that we’re the only ones who can use it.
We don’t know where it comes from, and it disappears the second we let go of it. Can’t exactly loan it, can we?		Shez
Hilda	Our home continent, Fódlan, does have legendary items known as the Hero’s Relics. But I don’t think your swords are quite like those. Something just feels different, I guess.
Hubert actually looked into this, and found that, if anything, they are more like the opposite of Hero’s Relics.		Monica
Alfonse	Hmm... How intriguing. Regardless of what that means, the two must be far from ordinary mercenaries.
Of course! They’re clearly incredible. Why else would they have been called to Askr?		Sharena


Monica	You’ve been quiet for a while now. Is something the matter?
It’s the Shezes, they’re... Well, see for yourself.		Hilda

Monica	Hmm... So, while you two agree on almost everything, it turns out there is one vital difference between you.
Yeah, that’s about the gist of it. It’s like we started from the same point, but ended up taking different paths.		Shez
Shez	Ultimately, we just can’t seem to wrap our heads around how the other one made those different choices.
Hmm... Well, I suppose butting heads might be kind of inevitable, given the circumstances. If there were two of me, you’d better believe I’d try to get the other one to do my chores for me. And the other me would probably do the same, with it going back and forth and nothing ever getting done. At least, until both of us end up passing it off to Holst.		Hilda
Monica	Competing with only Hubert for the position of Her Majesty’s right hand is already difficult enough. I cannot imagine having to compete with myself in addition to that.
Uh-huh... Well, we’re the same person, so I guess I just figured we might as well help each other.		Shez
Shez	Normally I’d agree, but seriously, why did you choose THEM?!
Hey, if anything, I feel like that should be MY question!		Shez
Hilda	Wait, wait, hold on. Just calm down, you two.
Yes, please. Still, this is a rare sight. I don’t often see you getting so worked up, Shez.		Monica


Hilda	Hmm... It seems like things have gotten pretty awkward between the Shezes lately.
I’m afraid there isn’t much we can do to fix that. As similar as they might seem, they are still two different people, with differing perspectives and histories.		Monica
Hilda	I suppose that’s just how it goes. We change based on our surroundings. Who we meet, where we live... Even something like what house you got placed in could end up drastically changing the course of your life.
Sometimes, we make choices without realizing their true significance. It can be hard to look back on decisions like that without feeling some measure of regret.		Monica
Hilda	Well, whatever it is, I hope they can find a way to go back to getting along. Listening to them argue is the WOR—
Isn’t that them over there?		Monica

Shez	All right, so you’ve got your way of doing things, and I’ve got mine. Just means we can learn from each other.
Exactly. We’re similar enough that observing each other should help us to see how we can still improve.		Shez
Shez	“Use whatever you can.”
That is the mercenary creed.		Shez

Hilda	Huh? They seem totally fine! Why were we even worried about them?
That’s Shez for you—always striving to improve and become someone others can count on.		Monica

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