Hero

Charlotte's declaration sets the nobles roaring, several complaining that she has acted rashly and without weighing the consequences. Owen quiets them, reminding his peers that while they sheltered in neighboring lands from the Kushan, Griffith labored to free Midland and has earned the supreme command. The nobles from outside Midland object on different grounds: as Charlotte's intended, Griffith effectively stands next in line for the throne, and her survival wrecks every scheme to carve up Midland's territory.

Federico interrupts the wrangling to address the couple. He grants that Griffith deserves the title of hero, but argues he cannot lead all forces in Midland, since the struggle against the Kushan is also a holy war belonging to the Holy See rather than to Midland alone. The reasoning leaves Charlotte without a reply, yet Griffith remains untroubled. The Pontiff's private carriage is wheeled forward through the assembled mercenaries.

When it halts, the Pontiff climbs out. Griffith bows to him, and in answer the Pontiff throws himself flat to the ground before Griffith, spread wide across the earth, sending yet another shock through the nobles of Vritannis. Griffith raises him to a kneeling posture, and the old man's fanatic reverence becomes plain in every gesture between them. Griffith asks the Pontiff to back him in the dispute, and the Pontiff consents, telling the nobles that a divine revelation has shown him they must follow Griffith. The deeply devout soldiers who fill the crowd sink into bows on hearing that Griffith is their heaven-sent deliverer, the Falcon of Light.

Owen defends Griffith's appointment against the protesting nobles. Foreign nobles object that marrying Charlotte makes Griffith heir to Midland and ruins their territorial ambitions. Federico argues the war belongs to the Holy See and challenges Griffith's authority over all forces. The Pontiff arrives and prostrates himself before Griffith, revealing his fanatic devotion. At Griffith's request, the Pontiff proclaims a divine revelation commanding the nobles to follow Griffith, and the religious soldiers bow to him as the Falcon of Light.

Running twenty-two pages within the Millennium Falcon Arc, this chapter was published in Young Animal issue nine on April 27, 2007. It marks Griffith's consolidation of both secular and religious authority, with the Pontiff's public submission signaling how far his influence over the Holy See extends.