Part 33: The Dawn of Victory

Frey has returned victorious, and Salum comes up to congratulate him in person. (music)

And you immediately joined forces with General Novum and put them to rout?! H-How very, very impressive!

Curious that Euram didn't make it here before us. I wouldn't put it past him to forget his horse and run all the way on foot, though.

Oh, just what one would expect of His Royal Highness the Prince! Oh, allow me to express my eternal admiration!

Why, thank you! But it's the duty of any Falenan to bring justice to the Armes dogs whenever they show their faces on the wrong side of the border. Surely you would have done the same!

What the heck were Armes soldiers doing in those woods? They weren't there on vacation, that's for damn sure!

Yes, it doesn't make sense at all. It's so far from the border to here... How could such a large force make it all that way without being seen?

Cowardly Armes magic (as opposed to the righteous and noble magic we used to ruthlessly strike them down) of course!

...Unless someone was... protecting them.

Oh. Well. Yes, I guess that would work, too.

...Yes, yes, protecting them. Er, probably those despicable Godwins, y...

Oh, my, Lord Barows. You don't look very well. Is something the matter?

Oh-ho! Hardly, hardly! Why, I was just reveling in the triumphant victory that His Royal Highness has granted us! No, no! I, Salum Barows, have never felt better!

At this moment...



...Euram decides it's time to show his face.

Euram?!

It looks like he really did run all the way.

Euram!



What happened to you, Euram?

My, my! Oh, I've never been so humiliated in all my life! It was just so...
After I met with Jidan, Dilber's forces spotted me and chased me all over the countryside!

Ah. That would explain matters.

It would also be hilarious. Not just because you decided to blurt out the dumbest thing you could think of.

No wait, second dumbest. We'll see the dumbest in about three...

Jidan...?

...two...

Dad! I have to get my revenge! They'll rue the day they humiliated Euram Barows like that!

...one...



...blastoff!

Dawn... Rune?

...You damn fool!

Oh... Oh, no...

(music)

Euram... What did you just say?

I-I just meant that if we ever FIND the Dawn Rune, we should use it on them!

Yes, yes, that's it!

Oh, come on.

You're lying.


Please come with me! Hurry!

Okay...

Okay, but... where are we going?

The basement of the storeroom!

Luserina! You mustn't!

My precious daughter! There's nothing to see down there! Please, do what your daddy says and DON'T GO DOWN THERE!



That's right. We've got questions for you. Lots of them, in fact!

Questions...?

Questions...?

Questions!



We will, but while Georg is glaring menacingly at Salum, I think we have time look around here a bit first.

Could the House of Barows... really have stolen the Dawn Rune?

Well someone has to have the fucking thing!

Y-Your Highness... This is... uh... well... you know...

Embarrassing?

Hilarious?

Karma?

All of the above?

I'll go with all of the above.

To think that even Senators could be so despicable!

You shittin' me? "Despicable" is in the job description.

W-What's going on?! I still don't quite understand what's happening!

Stop thinking about it, you'll hurt your little head.

L-Lord Barows...? I don't believe it...!

You don't have to believe it until I find the evidence.

...be right back.


...I'll wager those FILTHY GODWIN DEVILS are behind IT!!!

In this case, Egbert, I'm afraid you are mistaken.

The D-Dawn Rune is inside this mansion?! B-But, how could that be?

Some of the others have new lines as well.

Pardon me? Really, you are positively vociferous!

None of it helps us right now, though, so it's basement time.



'course, the place is guarded...

Chuck! We're going down into the basement. Please stand aside!

Excuse me, milady...?
N-No, milady, I'm afraid you can't! Your father told me to never let anybody go down into the basement!

We don't have time for this! Please let us by, Chuck!

Hmm...
No, no, no! Even if you beg, milady, I just can't let you go down there!

Chuck!

If you guys wanna go down there, you'll have to get through me!



I don't want to hurt you, Chuck...

Prince, be careful...

You're a nice guy and all, and I really appreciate you looking after my salt.

Well, I'm not gonna hold back, you know. I don't care if you ARE the Prince! I can't let you go down there!

But you're a warehouse guard and I'm the goddamn Tenkai star. I think I can handle





lyon

I'm not feeling this right now

can we please trade places for a bit



Double KO!

...not quite yet.



Come on...



Oh, Frey, that's not very sporting of you!



That's what you get.



I think you made him mad...



*push*



Chuck is a good guy, though. He won't kill you even if you lose.



He'll even offer you a rematch.

What, you want some more, Prince?

Yeah, I won't lose this time!

It's too bad he won't see reason.

You can fight me as many times as you want, but I'm still not gonna let you go down there!

We'll see about that.

Watch Frey kick Chuck's behind, and his face too!



It's a more acceptable target.



Definitely looks like it hurts, though!



Whablammo!



"Prince... You're really tough, man."



You can barely stand. Don't make me beat on you more. I'd feel bad.

I'm sorry, Chuck... But I just have to know! I have to know what my father is hiding down there!

*pant* *pant*
Milady...
I... lost, fair and square. You can do whatever you want now, Prince...

Thank you, Chuck.



We could in fact have tried to go down these steps earlier, but all that happens is that Chuck tells you he's the only one allowed in the storeroom. Now though, we have a reason...



...and a really suspicious-looking chained-up thing in the corner.

Watch the video!



Fat lot of good those chains did. They break without anyone having touched them, and the doors swing open...



...revealing a statue inside.



If you watched the intro, you may remember seeing it being carried off by mysterious individuals.



There is no longer any mystery involved.



Unsurprisingly, the Rune chooses its host...



...and Frey has his signature Rune. Here's to hoping it's less terrible than his predecessor's!





"I thought those were just old wives' tales!"

*gasp* The Dawn Rune...

That's the Dawn Rune...?

Then I guess that means... my father must've...



Oh, no. Fuck, no.



You! The one from the East Palace!

I finally find it, only to see this child has taken possession of it...!
But remember this!


That will release the Rune from you. I can then give it to someone more... suitable.

Please pick a fight, I'm dying to find out what this thing can do.

Not if I can help it!

Who the hell are you, anyway?!



Witch Bitch glides around the corner...



...and disappears.

Where did she go?!

Just like the East Palace... What's with that lady anyway?

I don't care, as long as she stays away. More importantly!



We have a plot device! Let's see what it-



...does...

...oh.

Oh. It's one of those, is it? I guess it's a good thing the crazy lady didn't pick a fight.

Well, as you can probably guess, the Dawn Rune unlocks its spells at set points as the story progresses, just like Punishment before it. However, its growth is basically the inverse of Punishment's in that its first level spell is terrible but it gets a lot better.

Anyway, we're going to have to take it out of here.



Chuck, we found something. Something that should never have been down there!



What's THAT?!

It's the Dawn Rune. The same Dawn Rune that was stolen from the East Palace during the Lordlake uprising.

Dawn Rune...?

N-No, your father told me he was hiding a "special gift" down there! He told me he was gonna give it to you when you got married, so I had to keep it a secret from you, milady!

Does... this mean your father was... lying to me...?

Salum has been lying to an awful lot of people.

Ooooohhhhh...! I trusted him! I trusted him so much!

Please, don't worry about it, Chuck! You haven't done anything wrong! How were you to know?

Milady...

No, there's only one person to blame...

...And we're going to confront him right now.



Poor bastard.

Lord Barows even deceived Luserina and Chuck.

And we're going to have Words with him.



Do I ever. (music)



Feast your eyes on this little thing!

I don't believe it!

No, and you don't have to. I told you about evidence, Boz. Now you know. And that's better.

The Dawn Rune...

My, my, what have I...?

You've fucked up majorly, Salum! That's what you "have." And now it's gonna bite you in the arse. Fun times.

Father! Please explain!

Yeah! Explain what the hell YOU were doing with the Dawn Rune!

Well, well, you see, uh, I was...

You've been scheming with Armes behind the scenes, and now we find out you've been hiding the Dawn Rune! At least we knew the Godwins were against us! But you've gone and stabbed us in the back! That's even worse!

???: Precisely!



Oh! Oh!

I was asked to look into the truth behind the Lordlake uprising. I've come with my report.
Your Highness, I have a man here who will help us solve our little mystery.

Final fucking nail in the coffin!

A detective? What's going on?

Lord Wilde, let's listen to his story. I'm sure everything will become clear after that.

You think so? Well, if you say so, Lucretia. C'mon, Detective! Spill the beans!

With pleasure.
Now, the matter in question wasn't anything as serious as an "uprising" at first. After Lord Barows started building his dam, lots of debris washed down the river.

Somehow, I had managed to forget all about this.

Lordlake was downriver from the dam, so this contaminated their water supply.

So yeah, I stand corrected.

The people of Lordlake decided to make a public protest. THAT was the reason for the initial gathering.

(Well, it's more like I'm sitting corrected, actually, but you know.)

Oh, and the rumor that Lord Rovere led the uprising? Not true. He did his best to convince the group to remain calm.

(Why am I even talking? Listen to the ninja space detective!)

...I think I'll leave the next part of the story to a man who was there at the time.



Norden...?

No, not Norden!



Silence, you damn fop! I'm telling the whole story! I won't keep secrets for the Barows family any longer!

Norden!



Damn you!

Kyle pushes Euram back to his place.


It was far too big for us to control, so he panicked. He ordered us to seize the offensive and scatter them.
Keep in mind, this was just as Lord Rovere was trying to calm them down!

Unbelievable...

I knew what would happen. I tried to tell the captain, but he just wouldn't listen...

Incidentally, the "captain" Norden is speaking of is... young master Euram over there.

Euram! How thoughtless and rash could you be?!

Dammit!

Soon, not even Lord Rovere could calm the mob... In the end, we were the ones who got scattered.

The mob smashed up the dam, but they still weren't done with their rampage. Someone insisted that they head directly to Sol-Falena to lodge a formal protest with the Queen. And so they went. When Lord Barows received this report, he gave a secret order to his private soldiers. He commanded them to mix in with the rioters and incite them to attack the East Palace!

It was all Barows?!

I didn't go to the East Palace myself, so I honestly don't know the whole story there...

Well, finding the Dawn Rune in the basement here helps fill in some of the puzzle pieces.

Norden, thank you for sharing your story.

I just... couldn't keep this inside any longer.

Oboro, if you would...?

Oh, right. Certainly.
Okay, Norden, great work. Why don't we take a break outside? It'll help you calm down, I think.

I... could use it.





Now, now, just calm down, Luserina! You must understand that there are two s--

Were you going to use the Dawn Rune to make some kind of deal with Her Majesty or the Godwins?

Or were you going to use it as an offering to Armes when you went over to their side?

...Or were you going to use it yourself?

Lord Barows... To think that I called you a friend! You're nothing but a traitor!

I...

Shut...


How do you think you've managed to keep fighting this long?! It's all thanks to Dad, that's how! If you have so much to complain about, then you can all just get out! GET OUT! NOW!

Father, Euram... It sounds like you two want to be left alone.

Um...

Your Highness, let's get out of here. Even being in the same room as my father and brother besmirches your honor!



*nod, nod*

That's a good idea. I think we should leave, too.

Everybody is invited to Raftfleet, then. It's not as luxurious as this place, but it's a good deal more comfortable.

Thanks! I think we might just take you up on that offer! ...How are the ladies there, by the way?

Trying too fucking hard, Kyle. Get out.



Wow, he actually listened!

Lord Barows... My former friend. I'm leaving, too. I can't believe I ever worked with a man like you.



Luserina, no! Wait!


Hmph! I've wanted to call you guys that to your faces for years now! Feels good, finally letting loose like that...



It's over, Euram.



Ahahaha.



God fucking damn it I love this sequence. It's satisfying, it's brutal, and it's exactly what the slimy bastard deserves. One noble faction down, one to go!

...next, we start working on that. Join us then!