☀️ Arselia and Akonia

—Something like that. —the Knight finished his tests. —The first one is somewhat similar to me, but mostly it doesn't resemble me much. —He didn't mention the curse that influenced his choice.

"Feigned indifference? Well, yes, it's like a Clan, with its speeches about how he is a cold and unfeeling Knight of Death, who coldly and unfeelingly cares for the lady of his heart and wholeheartedly cares for his lost homeland."

—And the second one suits better. True, I was speaking on behalf of my homeland, not as a resident of the capital.

"After what happened to Criderar, the desire to isolate oneself from the world is understandable."
— You have such a refined taste for tradition, —said the Inquisitor, —I would gladly listen to your stories about the customs of your homeland. Well, if you happen to have some free time.
"Perhaps, someday I will learn more about Criderar cuisine in order to try to please the already healed Clan with something inspired by it. Yes, it will be nothing more than an imitation of their culture, but still filled with the desire to please a loved one."

—All this is to some extent true, but the hero needs a reward primarily not for the hero, it will never compensate for all the exploits and risks, regardless of its presence and size. The reward is needed by the hero precisely by those who were saved. And no, the expectation of a reward does not undermine the sincerity of my act, because it is not the goal, it is a valuable ritual that makes the action complete. And it is easy to become infamous and receive evil for good, but again, who will suffer from this, who will be the loser? Obviously not the one who is ready to die at any moment of his life, he doesn't care, but those who turn away from those who did good, they deprive themselves of the future with their own hands. If they do everything right and perform the ritual of gratitude, even symbolically, then they ensure their prosperity, first spiritual, and then it will easily be converted into physical. That's all.

— Those who are ready to die at any moment usually don't live long and are looking for this death, —Alaria allowed herself to be a little pedantic, —true heroism requires a sane and balanced approach, and not just bravado. "Ritual" you can't force everyone to perform, unfortunately. Some of them may not even know that this conditional Knight defeated a conditional powerful demon, of which they would otherwise have become a victim. At the same time, it will be difficult to ignore the gossip spread by evil tongues, so they will turn away from the hero not because of their evil intentions. Again, I agree with you, and heroes should be appreciated, but situations in life are different. To be honest, I expected you to evaluate all this from a slightly different angle. That the reward for the hero is needed in order to commit even more heroic deeds. So that the sword does not become dull and the armor is of good quality. So that there are enough supplies. Otherwise, at one point, he will fall victim to villains. Or he will be broke and will be forced to take a break, working in some tavern. Do you and I need to know how unprofitable such a lifestyle is?

—Regarding the ability to live for oneself, I generally believe that there are no altruists in the full sense of the word. Every person lives precisely for himself, some simply find pleasure in something more mundane, such as accumulating wealth, while others are on many steps higher and their happiness lies in what this person does for the world, and I hope to be just such... But in the end, it's about personal feelings, so I don't want to compare who lives how, here you can say that those who seem less selfish in the eyes of others are simply lucky to acquire the right perception. Or they are trying to be like that by force, breaking themselves, but then it is unlikely to lead to anything good.

— I agree with you on this. And sometimes the initiatives of some altruists do more harm than good. And you can't deny a person sincerity, he really acts as he thinks is best. But it turns out, using a popular expression, "as always." You won't go far on good intentions alone, and not everyone may need these good intentions.

Added 1 minute ago

Since the guests somehow smoothly dispersed and the events somehow smoothly moved to after dinner, Beata looks mysteriously at the refrigerator locked with a lock, and Guyon tremblingly considers options for a stop word for the evening interrogation...

Let them knock on the door.