Novice priest Berat had never experienced the Lord’s providence before.
The Lord, master of the Sacred Fla, always stood beside those who kindled the sacred fire. Yet, perhaps because the fla he carried was still too dim to illuminate His presence, Berat had never felt it.
He still had much to learn.
However, it seed participating in this journey of enlightennt, guided by High Priest Bardros, had a profound effect. For the first ti, he could feel the Lord’s providence.
As the sunset bathed the world in its golden glow, its light flowed through the window, filling the room. In the center of that room, now drenched in red, stood a man. A soft yet powerful radiance radiated from him, emanating from every part of his being.
The blending of the sunset’s warmth and the man’s light ford the Sacred Fla. He, standing in its midst, was the steadfast wick that sustained it.
It was a sight that exuded reverence—a vision of sothing holy, sothing supre.
Overco with awe, Berat imdiately fell to his knees and lowered his head in deep reverence.
“...”
Berat, the youngest among them, unknowingly set the tone for the others. The other priests, unsure of how to react to the surreal sight before them, found themselves following his lead. One by one, they knelt down.
“We behold the Apostle of the Lord...”
Berat’s voice resonated through the room, and the priests echoed his words in unison.
Could the light refracted through the cathedral’s stained glass ever be more dazzling than the vision before them? Could the hymns of the choir ever hold more majesty than the profound silence that filled the space?
For reasons they couldn’t quite explain, the young priests were reminded of the day they first entered the grand cathedral.
But as their bodies and souls were enveloped by the warmth of the Sacred Fla...High Priest Bardros, feeling a faint headache, broke the stillness.
“...Everyone, please stand up. It’s not like that.”
“...”
Ehh?
The priests, still basking in the warmth of the Sacred Fla, blinked in confusion before turning to glare at Berat.
Oh, it’s not? I thought it might be because it felt so holy. Since everyone else enjoyed it too, it’s not entirely my fault, right?
Berat smiled awkwardly, glancing nervously at his seniors.
The priests closed their eyes, silently confessed to the Lord about the base sin they would commit tonight, and received forgiveness.
It ant Berat was dead at.
At that mont, Bardros let out a short sigh, bringing their focus back. She turned to speak to the glow-in-the-dark man, who still shone with a blinding brilliance.
“I apologize. We’ve shown you sothing rather embarrassing.”
“Not at all. If anything, I should be the one apologizing for the unnecessary glow. I hope it’s not too hard on your eyes?”
“No, it’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad? I suppose it would be strange if my pride were hurt over that?”
“Yes, it would be.”
“Alright, then. Let’s set aside the matter of shiny Risir and get straight to business.”
“...”
But that was easier said than done. How could anyone just ignore it? He was still glowing right in front of them.
And more importantly, Risir’s current problem wasn’t just his radiance.
“Excuse for a mont.”
The High Priest’s calloused hand gently closed around Risir’s.
“...”
Through touch, she began assessing his condition. As the information settled in, her composed expression gradually gave way to bewildernt.
Noticing this, Risir questioned her worriedly.
“Is my condition bad? Like a final flare before burning out?”
“Ah, I’m sorry for the confusion. It’s nothing like that, so don’t worry.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s just, you’re in too good of a condition.”
“...!”
Risir’s face twisted with offense.
I’m so healthy it actually concerns you?!
“That’s not quite it either, so don’t fret.”
“Ah. Right. I was worried I might’ve been too much trouble while I was unconscious.”
“Haha. Well, you did cause quite a bit of trouble in more ways than one.”
“My companion told how you tended to my injuries, and I sincerely thank you for that. I will never forget this kindness.”
The young priests, who had been keeping their heads bowed, looked up at Risir in shock.
What did I just hear?
A typical tower mage would have been mortified at the thought of being indebted to a priest of the Church.
If one of them managed to grumble, “Grrrgh...! Given the circumstances, I have no choice. Just tell what you want...!!!”—that alone would have been considered remarkably polite by their standards.
And yet, here was Risir. Even if he was speaking to a high priest, soone who couldn’t be treated carelessly, for a tower mage to express gratitude so sincerely for a priest’s aid?
As a man hailed as a born genius by his peers, they had expected him to embody the very essence of a tower mage. And yet...
So the High Priest had her eye on him for a reason...!
When she claid that he, a mage, had preserved the pristine white of a Purity Bird’s tail feather, the priests couldn’t help but harbor doubts. Though it was disrespectful, they had assud she had so other motive.
After all, as soone who represented the Church in external affairs, the high priest sotis had to make politically driven decisions out of necessity.
But the mont they witnessed Risir’s actions, their perspective shifted.
They didn’t expect that a man with such innate magical talents wouldn’t turn out to be an obnoxious prick. It would be no surprise if he had accumulated as much good karma as the priests who had devoted their lives to the Church since childhood.
After all, even those destined for priesthood could lose their way and beco arcane asshats upon entering a mage tower.
Perhaps...he really did preserve the purity of a tail feather.
The priests, who had previously harbored considerable resentnt over aiding those they considered outsiders—naly, mages—suddenly found their attitudes shifting.
Their gazes toward Risir shifted, not just to that of a colleague, but perhaps sothing even more fond.
Oh no, how could a treasure like him be in a mage tower...!
anwhile, Risir and Bardros wrapped up their formal exchange of thanks and returned to the matter at hand.
“You ntioned your companions informing you about your condition.”
“That’s right. I’ve taken it so deeply to heart that it’s already a part of .”
“Is...that so? I suppose you could call it a coincidence...but as of now, you may forget everything you’ve been told—your depleted energy has been fully restored.”
“High Priest?!”
Rotrang, the ordained priest who had tended to Risir’s condition the most after Bardros, practically shouted in response.
“What do you an, fully recovered?!”
“Exactly as I said.”
“Good heavens...Oh, Lord...”
Rotrang clutched his chest and instinctively made the sign of the cross.
Watching this, Risir mused to himself: The Lord bro must really treat them well, considering how often they call on him.
That aside, he could understand their shock sowhat. The hollow feeling consuming his entire being had vanished completely, leaving no trace behind.
It was surreal—like sothing out of a ga, where drinking a potion instantly restores everything with a cheerful ding~.
“Risir. What exactly did you do?”
Bardros asked, not as a priest concerned for a patient, but as a scholar intrigued by a mystery.
Energy was a finite resource, sothing one was born with. Even priests, who wielded divine power, could do little to restore it.
“Your energy depletion was a condition that should have taken years to recover from. How could it be resolved overnight like this...?”
The novice priest Berat added a quiet remark from behind.
“And you were all glowy too...”
Risir answered nonchalantly.
“An elental I know gave sothing like a bead. When I ate it, this happened.”
It was a statent made as if it were nothing special, but the priests had to struggle for a while to understand its implications.
“You seem to be talking about...an elental core?”
“But did elental cores have such effects?”
“I, at least, have never heard of it.”
The most important virtue that the Church pursued was the ability to do good.
The ability to save those who walk the right path, and to enlighten those who walk the path of heresy.
If elental cores had the power to restore energy, the Church would have discovered it long ago and used it actively. In fact, the uses of certain elental cores had already been discovered and were being used for specific purposes by priests and healers.
But an elental core capable of completely restoring severe energy depletion? Even interdiate elental cores—precious treasures so rare that even high priests and tower masters handled them with caution—didn’t have such effects.
If Risir was telling the truth, the implication was clear: he had consud the core of an elental ranked higher than interdiate.
“...”
The priests were left speechless.
High elentals were transcendent. One could not simply reach out to these entities on a whim. With thoughts shaped by eons of existence, their perspectives were beyond mortal comprehension.
According to common lore, even among the elves of the Grand Forest—beloved by elentals—only a select few could communicate with high elentals.
And yet...not only had he spoken with one, but he had also received its core as a gift?
It was beyond belief. A core was the crystallization of the energy that ford an elental’s very essence. Losing it ant a drastic fall in power, and for so, complete dissolution.
An elental gifting its core? That was akin to a human offering up their own heart.
Because of this, even among the exceedingly rare interdiate elental cores that occasionally surfaced, those with fully preserved energy were almost unheard of.
In short, cores of elentals ranked interdiate or higher were typically spoils of a hunt, not tokens of goodwill.
Even the most exceptional elentalists rarely received cores as gifts.
“Are you certain...?”
Even hardened sinners, steeped in lies, beca as transparent as naive children before her. With Divine Sight, a power that revealed the essence of all things, the high priest never had to ask twice.
...But it was different this ti. Actually, this was another exception.
Bardros found herself repeatedly thrown off balance whenever she dealt with Risir. But what could she do? If fault lay anywhere, it was in the sheer existence of a man who strayed so far from the norm.
By now, she understood the nature of the radiance emanating from his body. It was the result of unmastered divine power, reacting to so unknown elent within him.
Indeed. This man had, out of the blues, awakened to divine power.
“What would I lie for?”
Since he claid it happened because he ate the core of so elental...
“...So that’s how it is!”
The high priest, who considered herself an interpreter of supre beings, finally gave up on understanding the glowing man before her. Having followed the sa path as her predecessors, she arrived at the sa conclusion.
I should just accept it as it is.
Afterward, Bardros decided to teach Risir how to suppress divine power.
It was suppression, not control, because control clearly fell under the category of divine magic, which wasn’t sothing one could master overnight.
On the other hand, simple suppression of divine power could be learned in a week, if not overnight, depending on one’s innate talent.
Bardros made her position clear. With little ti left at the mage tower, she couldn’t turn Risir into a proper priest, but at the very least, she wouldn’t leave him looking like a night light.
And so, the high priest’s unexpected teachings began.
***Risir shone so brightly that they didn’t realize the day was fading outside.
Noticing that twilight was coloring the window, Bardros was about to call a stop for the day and ask Risir to clear his schedule for the next week.
But then...
“Uh, hang on...”
Risir’s face tightened, as if sothing was caught in his throat, and he fell into deep thought.
After a while, he looked down at his hand and muttered to himself.
“Oh, it worked.”
The glowing stopped. Risir had mastered the thod of suppressing divine power.
For so ti, Bardros had been teaching Risir with a strange look on her face. The onlooking priests had worn equally strange expressions as well.
All of them nodded benevolently together.
It worked my foot.
For a very brief mont, they doubted the existence of the Lord.
“Risir.”
Snapping back to her senses, Bardros began to speak as if entranced.
“By chance, do you have any thoughts of devoting yourself to the Lord? Your existence will be an example to many, and in itself, beco a bright holy fire guiding those who have lost their way to the right path.”
The priests were startled and ca to their senses as well. They were shocked that the high priest personally engaged in proselytizing, and to a tower mage of all people.
If Risir accepted the offer, it was highly likely to escalate into a political issue between the Church and the Gray Tower.
Nevertheless, the priests didn’t question the high priest’s judgnt. After witnessing the anomaly called Risir firsthand, they all shared a common thought.
Ohhh, how could such a rare creature remain in a mage tower...! We must definitely take him!
The priests’ righteous gazes glead in the darkness, fixed on Risir.
Under the growing pressure, Risir began to glow once more.
“Argh!”
The priests, who had been getting used to the darkness, quickly turned away from the blinding flash.
“Ah, so sorry. It seed a bit dark, so I did it without thinking.”
“...Illuminating the dark is also a part of divine magic.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“However, there are no cases of using one’s body like a lamp. We’re not fireflies, after all.”
“Ah, I see...Well anyway, to answer your question...As you can see, I’m not soone who fits with the Church.”
Bardros shook her head without the slightest hesitation.
“I stake my na on this. There aren’t many people more suited to the Church than you. You can set aside so of your self-doubt. You are a far more noble person than you think you are.”
“But I’m already—”
“I know. The mage tower intends to appoint you as an honorary mage.”
“...”
Risir stared blankly at Bardros. A small voice started whispering from the corner of his mind.
Isn’t this against business ethics? Isn’t the Lord watching?
Bardros cleared her throat, feeling guilty sohow, and averted her gaze.
“The Lord would also desire this. There’s no need to worry about any of the consequences that may arise from your choice. I shall take responsibility in the na of the Church and myself, High Priest Bardros.”
“...”
Feeling the determination in Bardros’ gaze, Risir began to seriously consider her proposal.
Eventually, he opened his mouth with a solemn atmosphere.
“It might be a rude question, but may I ask one thing?”
“...!”
That solemn attitude...surely, a profound question encompassing his beliefs and philosophy would co out.
And that question would probably contain doubts about religion.
Bardros nodded without hesitation. The faith and wisdom she had accumulated over the years would surely provide sufficient answers to his religious doubts.
“For a priest of your rank, High Priest, what would your annual inco be?”
“Oh...”
Oh Lord.
Bardros closed her eyes tightly and confessed to Him.
It was a lantable situation. The Church was not prepared to embrace the talent that He absolutely needed.
***Late at night, I got up from bed and left my lodgings.
I couldn’t sleep at all, bothered by what the priests had said about elental cores.
Elentals that lose their cores greatly diminish in power, and so even cease to exist? I never imagined that what I assud to be a hairball was actually the equivalent of guts.
I walked briskly across the courtyard towards the Alchemy Wing where Feryn was staying.
As I was approaching my destination, a shadow fell from the roof and darted straight towards .
It was Feryn, who had been moonbathing(?) in wolf form.
Transforming into human form, Feryn imdiately rushed to and did what she always did.
First...
“Hnnnnn...”
She charged herself with my energy.
Second...
“You must really have nothing better to do, huh? Wandering around this late at night.”
Imdiately distancing herself and treating harshly after finishing her business.
Seeing her healthy, if not shaless, appearance, I felt sowhat relieved and started talking.
“What about you?”
“Idiot, I’m a wolf. It’s natural for to be nocturnal.”
“Most humans are nocturnal too.”
“?”
“Anyway, Feryn. About that thing you gave before.”
“...Oh. Did you eat it?”
Feryn huffed, her posture radiating indifference, but the gleam in her eyes betrayed anticipation.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Thanks. It was a big help.”
“...Really? Is that so.”
“Huh? Uh...wait. Feryn?”
I didn’t have ti to stop her.
“Bleeeeh...”
Feryn suddenly doubled over and vomited sothing—while still in human form, no less.
After hacking up yet another hairball, she proudly held it out to .
“How about it? I think I made this one a bit better.”
“?”
Feryn looked completely refreshed, as if she had just emptied an overfilled tank.
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