The hero and the army would return in a few days, and the advance notice had reached Peter Errama's ears. Reluctantly, Edmund ordered Peter to proceed with the attack on the Demon Lord Karras. Edmund thought about his new ability.

The clone. The clone needed a human sacrifice, that would be fairly easy. He had so many captives as a lord of a province that he could easily use any of them. 

But what was the use of the clone? 

The very fact that the clone is a human, meant the power was meant to approach the heroines, since, it could act around the hero without raising any suspicion. 

The next question then, was whether he wanted his clone to be male, or female? If male, he could use it to seduce the girls directly. If female, he could use his clone to assault the hero directly, thus pushing the rest of the girls to him. He wasn't sure he could pull off a seductive female. The idea of imagining himself as female and throwing himself at the hero somehow didn't appeal to him. Therefore, the only option left was to create a male clone.

But he couldn't create the clone here in Errama. He didn't have the sacrifice needed, or the facilities. The creation of a clone involved a magical ceremony, and this was way too close to the hero for comfort. He'd have to return back to Natar. 

***

Hannah watched as Kiara walked out the next morning. With all the residual lust energies dispersed, she couldn't help but a level of clear-headedness she didn't have before this. 

"Are you alright?" Hannah asked, concerned. 

Kiara nodded, and answered with a friendliness that was long missing. "I'm fine. I had a rough time yesterday. Apologies for that." 

"Phew. Good. The hero should be on the way back." Hannah said. "I can feel him coming closer." It'll be a few more days before they return, together with the Sodenterland, Northengard and Natarian forces. 

The knight looked at Hannah briefly. She knew that Hannah's gift partly involved some kind of linkage to the hero, so this wasn't too unusual. "The soldiers seem tense yesterday, not sure whether it was me, or just the coming attack."

The tank naturally noticed. "Probably you. You're a ball of flames yesterday."

"Ah." Kiara sighed. "My bad, then."

"Yeah. What's up with that?" Hannah probed, sensing that Kiara was probably ready to talk. 

Kiara paused a while, ordered a coffee for her morning drink, and then looked at Hannah seriously. A look that the tank noticed. 

"Shit. It's serious. I'm all ears." Hannah straightened herself. "What is it?"

"-I'm thinking of leaving the party after this attack."

Hannah froze. "-what. Are you serious?"

"Yes. I- I need to talk to my mom, and also the Count of Natar, but yeah. I've mostly decided that I'm going to leave."

"Woman, you can't drop shit like that on me." Hannah said, nearly fumbling off her chair. "You need to talk to Aman about it. Like- I don't know-"

Kiara shook her head. "It's not something that's going to be solved. My family needs money. I had hoped that by working with the hero I'd get that money, but-"

Hannah froze. She had long suspected that Kiara wanted a piece of that hero's prize, but Kiara was usually more subtle about it. This was the first time she heard Kiara admitting to financial problems. Yet, over the past few weeks, Hannah thought Kiara had moved on from that-

"-the real prize, I suppose, is the King's reward at the end of all this." Kiara answered. "If there is one."

"It's all about money?" Hannah countered. "Despite all the fights we've been through together?"

Kiara paused, realizing this would heavily affect how they viewed her. "My family is in debt, Hannah. Deep- deep debt. In the hundreds of thousands."

The heroine was shocked by the sum. "-what."

"I know." The knight gave out a long sigh. "I found out about it recently too. So, the best way forward is to work with those who can help me with my family's debt."

"-that Count you mentioned?"

Kiara felt her nether regions twitch at the mention of the man that claimed her. But she nodded. "Yes. He's rich, and he's offered me a good deal. One that I've been thinking about all this time."

Hannah sighed. "If it's what makes most sense for you, I guess it can't be helped. Talk to Aman, at least. I'm sure he'll try to promise you something?" 

Kiara nodded. "Sure."

***

Edmund followed Nysta into the old prayer halls. Since that night, she's been coming here to pray. 

Though she was heavily in the mood for sex, the next day all she felt was guilt.

Guilt for giving into her bodily desires.

Guilt for lusting after the hero.

"Oh goddess, I have succumbed to the sin of the flesh."

Edmund once again transformed into a small rat and prayed. He waited. 

"I've let my needs get to my head."

He decided to just state it upfront, sounding like a spirit. "I'm not the goddess, just an old spirit. But why are you trying to control your needs?"

"Because our needs are- are bad. It makes us do things that are sin." 

"Why do needs lead to sins?" Edmund asked, and Nysta paused.

"Because-" She wasn't sure why, either. "Because we are supposed to rise above our needs?"

"Why?"

"Because that is what our goddesses wants us to do."

"Are you sure that's what your goddess wants you to do?"

"It's what the scriptures say-"

"Look around you. Look at your party. What does your goddesses' actions tell you about what they want?"

Nysta stewed, as she realized the party really was the hero's little harem. She blushed at the thought. "Our goddesses-"

"Do you believe that the goddesses' permit their faithful, their chosen, to behave wrongly?"

"No." Nysta answered firmly.

"Do you believe in their hidden hand? That all things are the goddesses' will." Edmund was fairly familiar with the churches' teachings. 

"Yes." Nysta answered, reciting her own old pledges to the goddesses.

"If these are all plans of the goddesses, what is it that they've planned for you girls?" Edmund's questions were naturally leading her along a path. If she took it. Nysta sat. She didn't answer for a while, her mind trying to wrap her head around the question. Did the goddesses really want to see who would win in a dating interview with the hero?

Really?

"There are more pious, more faithful men. There are many good people, good women and men more suited to receive the goddesses' blessings. And yet they chose so many young, beautiful women to accompany a young, good looking, powerful man, to defeat the demons?" Edmund felt he was a little on the nose there, and it was a repeat of the sentence he said the last time he spoke to her this way.

But he had to hammer it in.

Nysta's energies swirled within her, as the realization dawned on her. "it's- It's alright to desire the hero. The goddesses want us to desire him."

He waited.

"There's nothing wrong with our desires. The goddesses knew this would happen." Nysta relaxed, and then she smiled. "Thank you, strange spirit! I have not sinned! This is all the goddesses' plan!"