The apprentice priest nad Alia closed her eyes and held her hands to her chest, as if in prayer. I noticed her hands were resting on a sun-shaped dallion, made from so kind of light brown tal.
Her lips moved, perhaps reciting an actual prayer. With my Awareness, I could distinctly perceive every movent, to the extent I could probably guess the words – if I actually had experience reading lips in this language.
While, for so reason, I could understand the language itself, I had no way of matching her lip movents to actual words. Not that it made much of a difference, as a few seconds later…
whoom
It was as if a sudden gust of wind swept over Alia, and only over her, rustling her robes and stirring her blond hair. However, none of that "wind" touched Bern, who was still standing nearby.
For a mont, I felt a tingling sensation on my skin, like accidentally discharging static electricity when touching a desk drawer, but that montary sensation passed before I could fully grasp it.
I looked carefully at the priest’s expression at that mont, and… it hadn't changed.
This was a good sign.
A few seconds later, she opened her eyes again, and smiled.
"It's done. I found no traces of evil."
Her voice was quieter than before, and her expression a mix of fatigue and relief.
I did my best to not show it on my face, but my relief was much greater than hers. Still, I held myself together. I could not afford to relax yet. Far from it.
Bern silently threw a glance at her and nodded, before shifting his gaze back to . His expression was unreadable, but I could discern he was still deep in thought.
After a few seconds - that stretched into an eternity - his expression finally changed – softening, albeit barely.
"I will speak with my companions."
With those words, he walked away.
Alia threw a faint reassuring smile (at least, it looked like an attempt at one, which ended up more nervous than anything), and swiftly followed.
I felt my ntal fatigue reaching new heights – all I wanted to do was sit down and rest, at least for a mont.
I chased those cravings out of my mind, forcing myself to focus on the potential directions of the upcoming conversation, and my possible plans for each-
…but that attempt was swiftly squashed by another wave of exhaustion.
After a mont, I closed my eyes, and decided to stop thinking for now, and wait for the answers to co to instead.
There wasn't much else I could do, anyway.
***
Behind Bern, Alia was walking back to her temporary companions. It wasn't a long walk, only a dozen seconds or so. But it was enough ti to think.
Priests, by virtue of their Path, had higher Awareness than most other Paths, let alone common people. The potency of many of their abilities relied on it, and without a certain level of Awareness, one could not even establish a consistent connection with their god, at least under regular circumstances.
Alia was no exception to this. In fact, during their swift travels to this mine - which was now infested by goblins - there have been a few tis when she noticed certain things ahead of Xin, who was clearly close to stepping upon a Path with high Awareness, himself.
With more experience, she could probably discern such details, serving the sa role as the half-elf outside of combat. Not that she would actually strive to gain such experience – her goal, after all, was to serve her goddess, not beco an adventurer.
‘...And thou shall deliver my light to the ailing, and my hope to the hopeless; For just as corruption must be cleansed, so should the seed of despair be uprooted before it can bloom; And it is better such darkness has no fertile ground on which to take root at all.’
Out of the many scriptures she has read in her long years at the Sun Temple, this teaching of goddess Selenia was one which was etched deep into her heart, perhaps even more so than many of her peers.
Three years ago, when she had received her first miracle, [Healing Touch], she imdiately volunteered to provide healing services at the temple. Unlike so of her peers, she did not press the temple's visitors for offerings, and did not reserve her strength when treating their ailnts, often stumbling back to her room in complete exhaustion after a few visits.
When she was later recognized as an apprentice priest, and sent to this small town to serve her apprenticeship in the local temple (which would be better described as a shrine), she remained humble, and treated each and every one of the townsfolk as if she would the rich rchants that would sotis co to her old temple.
Occasionally, when the old man would chase her off, saying she mustn't push herself this hard, and take more ti to rest, she would go to the local Adventuring Guild (which, in a town like this, would be better described as a small hub), and offered her healing there, always refusing any of the revitalized n who would offer her coin in return.
On one such evening, an ergency commission ca in. There has been a goblin raid on the town's outskirts, and two won were kidnapped.
Alia, by virtue of her occupation, knew most of the townsfolk, and those won were no exception – Molly, a farr's wife, and Martha, wife of a local tavern owner.
Apparently, the latter was visiting the forr as the goblins invaded their ho, killing Molly's husband and kidnapping the two. It was only by a stroke of luck that their two children were visiting their friends in the city, but that was a thin bright outline in such a grim event.
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There were not many adventuring parties in such a small town to begin with, and with the sudden raid, not one of those present would respond to an ergency commission such as this – rushing to the old mines, now a goblin nest, through the forest, in the late evening.
While there were so decent folk who would want to help, they knew their limits, and none of them had a death wish.
Luck shone on the two won once again, as if in an attempt to make up for their overwhelming misfortune.
Silver Claymore, one of the - if not the - strongest parties in this town, whose leader had even taken more than a few steps on his Path, just so happened to have returned from their latest commission, and was turning it in as everything went down.
Their fourth party mber was recovering from an injury, but the remaining three were quite capable, and contemplated accepting the sudden request, although this level of danger did induce hesitation. There was no telling how many goblins there were, or whether stronger variants were present.
Witnessing the situation, Alia volunteered to accompany them on this mission – the mine was not too far, and they couldn't move too fast at night either, so she wouldn't slow them down, and her healing, ager as it was, would greatly reduce the risk.
In the end, her persuasion managed to tip the scales, and so, after a long and grueling journey, they managed to rescue the kidnapped won before anything terrible happened.
However, in any such mission, unexpected situations were prone to happen, and indeed, with their triumphant return in sight, sothing unexpected occurred.
When they first noticed the traces of this strange lone creature, her first reaction was natural – fear, even more so intensified once she heard the lone man was a human.
Any adventurer that lasted long enough would learn to distrust the unknown, and restrain their curiosity – those who don't will most often carry that curiosity to their graves.
While not an adventurer, Alia read many stories during her study – stories that involved contracts with devils, demonic possession, and grand conspiracies orchestrated by the cults of evil gods.
A lone human in a goblin infested mine, far from most civilization but close enough to a small town? Such an event sounded like it would fit many of those stories.
Yet, looking back to her goddess’s teachings for guidance, she decided to at least glance at that man with her own eyes.
And when she did, what she saw did not look like an evil spirit looking to deceive a group of adventurers, or a cultist desperately scrambling to reenact his evil plans.
To her, the young man seed more like a wounded animal backed against a wall, the faint cracks in his cold expression showing only a desperate will to survive.
That is why, despite initially reluctant to interfere in the party's affairs, she volunteered to use her second miracle - the one she had recently been granted - to affirm her suspicions, despite the toll it would take on her.
And now, she resolved in her heart she would do what she can to alleviate that despair – because any man this desperate, if untainted by evil, deserved the light of hope.
The two sets of footsteps shortly ca to a halt.
Once they stopped, a short silence followed.
Bern looked at each of his companions, who had heard everything, waiting for them to express their thoughts.
The half-elf sighed.
"This eliminates the worst possibilities. But.. you know it doesn't change the heart of the matter, right?"
"...agreed. Even if he aint so sort of demon worshiper, who in the hells would erge from dark tunnels, leading to the Dark Regions for all we know, in the middle of an old mine turned goblin nest?!"
For once, the dwarf seed to be in complete agreent.
The direction this conversation was heading in was sowhat predictable – and yet, that didn’t an it was the right one. Nor that its conclusion was forgone.
"Still!.. We cannot just abandon him. He has no traces of evil influence, and you even checked out his story! What if he really just appeared here?"
Breaking the short silence that followed Ornir’s words, a different voice spoke, the early hints of nervousness slowly replaced by unyielding resolve.
"And how, exactly, would that happen, young priestess?"
So of the confidence drained from Alia’s voice, yet, after a short pause, she still made her best attempt to find a retort.
"M-maybe he got caught in a temporal rift. There were stories like this before! Or maybe he escaped so evil wizard's tower through an unstable portal, and found himself here. Or maybe-"
"Enough. I don't always agree with this musclehead, but you know you're grasping at straws here."
"I hate to admit it, but maybe the tree hugger's paranoia was on point this ti."
"But!.."
Once again, she was outnumbered. But giving up at this point simply felt… wrong.
"Stop. Be quiet for a second, all of you."
Then, the leader had finally spoken, and a smothering silence enveloped the derelict shaft once more.
After a few more seconds passed, Bern spoke again.
"Alia. You've held up well so far. I didn't get to say it until now, but good job."
"T-thanks?"
The apprentice priest's voice was clearly flustered, clearly not expecting the leader's remark.
"You haven't spoken up much during this mission. But, even if just temporarily, you are still a companion. And even if just an apprentice, you are still a priest."
Bern turned to face his companions.
"To tell you the truth, I'm unsure of this situation myself. This young man, appearing out of nowhere in a place like this – even by itself, it raises suspicions."
A shade fell over his eyes.
"Moreover, I've noticed from that stance of his – he was definitely ready to use so sort of sword Technique. He didn't feel like soone who'd stepped on a Path yet, but he is definitely not so low-level adventurer either. And if soone like this was staying in Pine Harbor, at least one of us would know him, but, evidently, we have no idea who he is or where he's from."
But just as the shade had fallen, so did it suddenly lift.
"Still, what little he told us checks out. He has indeed co from that tunnel, and according to you, he does not appear to be under evil influence."
He sighed, turning his eyes to the apprentice priestess once more.
"Look. You've helped many adventurers in this town. Many common folk too, at that. You've t many people, and you are a follower of the Sun Goddess."
Bern paused, as the smoldering embers of determination on Alia’s face slowly reignited. It looked as if he reached so conclusion in his mind.
"I will ask you two questions. Once you answer them, I will decide how we proceed from here."
During the short pause that followed, the young priestess looked at the swordsman. Her gaze, not without a hint of nervousness, was nonetheless burning with conviction.
"Do you believe this young man ans us no harm?"
"Yes."
The first reply ca almost instantaneously.
"If your judgent were to be wrong, before Molly and Martha here, and before the rest of us – do you acknowledge the responsibility your previous answer carries?"
A brief mont of hesitation - or perhaps contemplation - passed before the next reply.
"...yes."
A few more seconds of silence, stretching endlessly, have passed.
"Then I have made my decision."
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