["We have to do what we have to do to finish a mission"... That kind of all-or-nothing thinking could get sloppy real quick. Sven mulls over Jingyi's assurances--he opens his mouth a couple of times, inhaling like he's about to spit out a rebuttal, but one never comes.]

Sure. Maybe.

[Maybe he'd feel better if he could still free his patron's holy presence in this place. Now that Sven actually thinks about it, his god never did offer their divine approval--nor reprimand--over any of Sven's choices. But he was given this power to protect. So he always assumed, or had faith, that divine right was on his side. If he were to lose his way, his patron would surely sever their arrangement. As long as his god was behind him, he could feel confident in his moral choices.

It's a lot more difficult to trust in such fairy tales now. His god isn't here but still his powers remain...and he's been cosigned into following somebody else's agenda. That alone is enough reason for him to question.]

I hope you're right. I want you to be right. But we're interlopers in these places. We can shield innocents, but I can't blindly trust that we're not killing people who wouldn't have surrendered instead if given the option. I swore my oath to defend life and speak up for those who can't. I never asked to join a war.