It took so ti to calm Cally down after revealing that the Church of the Sun knew about the regression, or at least the grand priests did. Even then, she refused to sit back down. She was too agitated. Instead, she paced back and forth.
The rest of my companions were far less upset. I an, it made sense. Anna and Cally themselves were regressors. anwhile, the rest of us had just heard about the regression and the First Tiline. We hadn't experienced it ourselves. However, that didn't an they were happy about it.
After calming Cally down, Anna and I took turns explaining the situation. Starting with how the gods inford the grand priests about the regression. We then moved on to the church's offer, and the price they demanded.
Cally stopped pacing and scoffed once we finished.
"Typical," she said. "The gods inform them that the end of the world is nigh, and they decide to play politics." She made a disgusted sound. "This was one of the reasons why I disliked getting involved with the church in the First Tiline, and my attitude hasn't changed in this one."
"In their defense, the gods aren't above playing politics either," I pointed out.
Cally snorted.
"That's not as much of a defense as you think it is," she said. "If anything, that makes want to get even less involved with the church."
I shook my head, before I turned to the others.
"What do you think?" I asked.
Leroy wore a thoughtful expression on his face.
"It's a good offer," he said. "There is only so much we can do on our own. We'll be able to accomplish a lot more with the church on our side."
"The problem is that no matter who you pick, you'll offend at least half of the grand priests," Kiki pointed out. "Even if we disregard the relationships between all the gods, which we shouldn't, the grand priests are all people with their own goals, aspirations, and agendas."
I sighed.
"Well, I'm open to suggestions," I said. "This is a good offer, and I don't think we can afford to refuse it." I frowned. "That said, I don't want to pay a higher price than we have to."
As soon as I finished speaking, I looked at Kiki.
"What?" she asked .
"You're the oldest and most experienced among us," I said. "Besides, you almost beca a god yourself. Do you have any advice?"
Kiki snorted.
"I'm the last person you should listen to in this situation," she said. "Before I fell, I managed to offend almost all of the gods."
I gave her a mystified look.
"How?" I asked.
Kiki shrugged.
"I was far more arrogant and brash during my younger years," she said. "Honestly, I'm surprised I'm still alive."
Lord Dominic reached over and gave her a pat on the shoulder.
"I'm glad you are," he said. "Otherwise, we would've never t."
"Thank you, Master Dominic," Kiki said, touched.
I shook my head, before turning to the others.
"What about the rest of you?" I asked. "Any suggestions?"
Anna, who still sat in my lap, adjusted her position.
"I say Brand," she said, amused. "He's the god I worship, and he's the most fun."
This surprised not at all.
"Of course you'd say that," Cally said. "In that case, I suggest Khione, the Goddess of Frost and Snow."
Leroy frowned.
"Didn't Khione try to kill Brand?" he asked.
Cally raised an eyebrow at him.
"And?" she asked. "He deserved it. He killed her bear."
That was a rather famous story. In brief, Khione offended Brand for one reason or another. The accounts varied on the specific details. However, all of them agreed that Khione angered Brand sohow. In retaliation, Brand killed Khione's pet bear. She tried to kill him in return, but failed.
Afterwards, Aqua got involved and ca to the other goddess' aid. Not because she had a good relationship with Khione, but because she had a bad one with Brand. Soon the other gods got dragged into this ss, to the point where Sol intervened in order to settle things down.
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Cally, we want to offend the least amount of people," I said. "Otherwise, they can and will make things more difficult for us."
When I opened my eyes again, I found Cally shaking her head at .
"It's a futile endeavor," she said. "No matter who we pick, we'll offend soone important. In that case, we might as well choose the side that either benefits us the most, or the one we believe in the most."
Cally's words sounded tempting. At the end of the day, she was right. We were going to offend soone, no matter who we picked.
"Even so," I said. "I want to make an effort."
"In that case, there's only one thing to do," Cally said.
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"What's that?"
Cally smiled at .
"Research," she said.
My companions and I spent the next few days researching and debating theology. Unlike with many religions on Earth, the Church of the Sun didn't have just one bible or holy book. Instead, it had one written by each god. These holy books not only detailed the relevant god's laws and commandnts, but it was also a collection of stories and legends about that god.
We procured all of them.
The problem was that the Church of the Sun worshiped a lot of gods, each with their own holy book. Many of them contradicted one another, often giving different accounts of the sa event. Sotis this was on purpose, such as when two gods had grudges against one another. Sotis this was because different gods had different perspectives. And sotis the conflict resulting from differing ideals.
This led to many argunts between our group as we debated which god was in the right and wrong. Even Anna and I got into a fight because of an incident involving Tempest and Brand. We made up in the end, but still.
It didn't help that the gods weren't always the most reliable of sources. Despite their power and wisdom, the gods were people, flawed people even. This was sothing that most of the gods recognized and admitted.
In the end, we used the closest thing that the Church of the Sun had to a universal bible: the Book of the Sun, written by Sol. As the king of the gods, Sol's words carried more weight than the rest, at least here in the Solarian Empire. The only one that ca close was the Book of the Moon, written by Luna.
Starting from there, we took over one of Grand Priest Darius' rooms and created a board that showed the various relationships between the gods. We used different kinds of colored string to differentiate between friends, foes, lovers, and so on. Soon, the board resembled a complex web of alliances, grudges, and more.
This revealed to my companions and I that the gods were a… Complicated lot. The sa two gods could be simultaneously lovers, the best of friends, and the worst of enemies all at once. Granted, this was rare, but it still amazed that this happened at all.
An example of this was Amara, the Goddess of Love. All of the gods had a grudge against her. At the sa ti, all the gods favored her. It was… Baffling.
Grand Priest Darius often checked in with us during all of this, growing more and more amused as the web of relationships grew in complexity. Curious, I asked him about it one day.
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"What's so funny?" I asked. "I thought that as a grand priest you'd find this distasteful at best, and heretical at worst."
Grand Priest Darius snorted.
"Do you brats think that you're the first to co up with sothing like this?" he asked, gesturing to the board. "The Church of the Sun teaches this to junior priests and priestesses during their first year of service. This is the sort of knowledge they need in order to fulfill their duties."
I gave him a questioning look.
"The Church of the Sun worships and venerates the gods," Grand Priest Darius explained, answering my unasked question. "However, it doesn't advocate for blind faith. The gods do not claim to be perfect, nor do we expect them to be. That doesn't make them any less worthy of our worship."
This answer caught off guard. While my family had strong ties with the Church of the Sun, I didn't have much experience with the church itself. I found this glimpse of its inner workings fascinating. I never realized just how nuanced the Church of the Sun was.
Of course, none of this made our decision any easier.
In the end, after several days of ntally taxing research, we finished with the board. It was a little after noon, with sunlight streaming in from a nearby window. I stood in front of the board, which took up an entire wall.
The rest of my companions lay sprawled out over the furniture which we had brought into this room. They all appeared exhausted, with dark circles under their eyes. I doubted I looked much better. Even Kiki seed tired, and she was a spirit inhabiting a stone body.
"I hate to say this," I said as I studied the board. "But Cally was right."
After putting everything together, I realized that my earlier statent had been generous. No matter which side we picked, we wouldn't offend at least half of the gods. We would offend at least two-thirds of the remaining ones. In so cases, picking the wrong god ant offending all the others.
"I told you so," Cally said, laying down on a couch with her head on Leroy's lap. "You should've just listened to in the first place."
Anna, who sat in a nearby chair, shrugged.
"At least it wasn't a complete waste of ti," she said, yawning. "If nothing else, we have a clearer picture to work with."
I nodded. While we would offend the majority of the gods no matter who we picked, at least we had a better idea of the overall situation. That made the past few days sowhat worth it.
"So," Cally said. "Which direction should we go in? Benefits or ideals?"
"The two don't have to be mutually exclusive," I said, glancing back at her.
Cally raised her head and looked at .
"What do you an?" she asked.
"The grand priests want to use this opportunity to expand their respective god's influence," I said. "In that case, why not use this to our advantage?"
Cally looked thoughtful for a mont, before she nodded and laid her head back down. Leroy started stroking her hair. I raised an eyebrow at that. Did I sense a burgeoning romance between these two? Or was I over-thinking things? I thought Leroy had feelings for Corrie, Lorelei Frostheart's friend.
I shrugged. Eh, it wasn't any of my business. Leroy was my retainer, but that didn't an I planned on interfering with his love life. Unless he asked for help. Now that I thought about it, this didn't sound like a bad idea. I found the thought of playing wingman appealing.
Of course, I didn't have much experience with romance. I had been in exactly one relationship, and she pursued . All I had to do was say yes.
Hmm, maybe I wouldn't make a good wingman after all.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts and focused on the problem at hand.
"In that case, who did you want to focus on?" Anna asked.
I studied the board and frowned.
"Let's see if we can't narrow it down as much as possible," I said.
A god's influence was determined by two factors: their personal power and the domain they ruled over. For example, Brand ruled over Fire, making him one of the more important gods. Tempest, on the other hand, ruled over Storms. His domain was less important overall, but his personal power more than made up for it.
At the top of the hierarchy were Sol and Luna, the king and queen of the gods. Both wielded a lot of power and their domains included celestial bodies.
Below them were their children, as well as their most powerful servants. This included, but wasn't limited to, the elental gods such as Brand, Aeros, Tempest, etc. This group also included gods that ruled over certain concepts, such as Justin, the God of Justice.
After that ca the gods who were still influential, but less so than the ones above. In terms of personal power and domain, these gods couldn't compare at all. Even so, they still had a fair amount of worshipers.
And at the bottom of the hierarchy ca the minor gods. These gods didn't rule over any domains, nor did they have enough personal power to make up for the lack.
After much deliberation, my companions and I all agreed to focus on Sol, Luna, and the group of gods just below them.
"This still leaves us with a lot of options," I said.
"We should just go with Brand," Anna said, grinning at . "As I've ntioned before, he's the most fun."
Cally raised her hand.
"I object," she said.
"On what grounds?" Anna asked.
"To spite you."
Anna snorted, but didn't respond.
"Let's narrow it down further," Leroy said in a tired voice. "For example, I don't think we should pick Tempest." He looked at . "He already has enough influence over our group through you and Lady Kaylee. If we picked him, the others might take action to keep him in check."
I nodded.
"True," I said. "Though I don't think the grand priests know that Kaylee is a regressor."
Unlike Anna and Cally, Kaylee's actions over the past months weren't that unusual for her. So while the grand priests might suspect her of being a regressor, they didn't know for certain.
"In that case, you should also remove Terra," Kiki said.
We all looked at her with questioning looks.
"Why?" I asked. "Aren't you a world serpent?"
Just as Tempest favored storm dragons, his wife favored world serpents.
"Yes, and I rebelled against her," Kiki said in a solemn tone. "Picking her is just asking for trouble."
"Fair enough," I said, before I marked off both Tempest and Terra.
After that, we continued narrowing down the list of candidates. Everyone contributed, giving their own thoughts and opinions. Even Lord Dominic offered so useful insights. By the ti we finished, we had over half a dozen gods to choose from. Still a lot, but better than before.
However, just as we were about to make our final decision, a junior priestess arrived. She inford us that Grand Priest Darius requested our presence in the drawing room. We had visitors.
After a quick discussion, Lord Dominic and Kiki chose to remain behind while the rest of us decided to see the visitors. The forr still had difficulty interacting with strangers, while the latter didn't want to leave him behind.
My companions and I made ourselves presentable, before we headed to the drawing room. When we arrived, we found Grand Priest Darius facing off against two other people with a frosty expression on his face. Based on the robes they wore, these two were also grand priests.
One was a tall and lean woman with sharp, hawk-like features. I guessed she was around my parents' age, or a bit older. She had pale skin, short tawny hair, and amber eyes. Along with her features, the way she carried herself reminded of a hawk. Proud, majestic, and dangerous. There was sothing predatory about her gaze. My intuition warned not to underestimate this woman.
She matched Grand Priest Darius' frosty expression with one of her own. The tension between the two was almost suffocating.
Her companion seed far more amiable. He looked around the sa age as her. They even shared the sa lean build, though he stood a little shorter than her. From his brown skin, dark hair, and dark eyes, I guessed he was from the southern end of the continent. He wore a soft smile, though sothing about it unsettled . It was like looking at the surface of a seemingly placid lake. Who knew what dangers lurked beneath?
This man appeared unaffected by the tension in the room. However, since he stood beside the woman, it was clear that he was on her side.
When my companions and I entered, the three of them turned towards us. Annoyance and guilt flashed across Grand Priest Darius' face, while the woman gave us a sharp look. As for the man, he continued to wear that soft smile of his.
"Gabriel," Grand Priest Darius said. "Thank you for coming." He gestured to the other two grand priests. "May I introduce you to Grand Priestess Quinn and Grand Priest Horatio?"
Ah, I knew who these two were. While I had never seen them before, I had heard of them. Grand Priest Quinn served Aeros, while Grand Priest Horatio served Aqua. That explained the tension, as well as the frosty reception from Grand Priest Darius. The other two were among his bitterest rivals.
"Greetings, Grand Priestess Quinn," I said, bowing to both. "Grand Priest Horatio."
My companions followed suit, greeting them as well.
"To what do we owe this pleasure?" I asked.
Grand Priest Horatio's smile grew a fraction wider.
"Such a polite young man," he said.
"We are here to ensure that a certain old coot isn't trying to pull any tricks with you lot," Grand Priestess Quinn said in a blunt tone.
Grand Priest Darius gave her a sharp look.
"We already agreed to not to influence the children's decision," he snapped. "I've kept my word. Don't insult my integrity by saying otherwise."
Grand Priestess Quinn snorted.
"I might've believed that," she said. "If you hadn't kept the regressors sequestered in your private residence over the past few days." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I can't help but find that suspicious."
Grand Priest Darius rolled his eyes.
"Where else was I supposed to house them?" he asked. "Or should I have left them with you?"
"Yes," Grand Priestess Quinn said without an ounce of sha. "Your connection with House Sturm is well known. If the regressors stayed with , there would've been less chance of…" She glanced at . "… foul play."
Grand Priest Darius looked ready to spit fire.
"You-!" He cut himself off and took a deep breath before continuing. "Just because you're twisted and conniving doesn't an everyone else is."
Grand Priestess Quinn held her hands out, palms up. Two orbs made of Air ford above her palms, both radiating with Holy magic. In response to this, Grand Priest Darius released his own Holy magic. The sound of thunder and lightning filled the drawing room.
A storm was about to erupt, and it looked like the rest of us were about to be caught up in it. I looked at Grand Priest Horatio, hoping he would step in and diate between the two, but no. He just stood there with that soft smile of his, not saying a word or taking action. It looked like it was up to us to defuse the situation.
I tapped Cally on the shoulder and gestured for her to take the lead. She raised an eyebrow at , but followed my instructions. I would've done it myself, but given my family's affiliation, I feared this would've escalated the situation.
"Grand Priestess Quinn," Cally called out. "There has been a misunderstanding. My friends and I have all been busy conducting research."
The grand priestess glanced in her direction and frowned.
"Research?" she asked. "What kind of research?"
"It would be faster if we showed you," Cally said. "If you would follow us."
For a mont, it wasn't clear what choice Grand Priestess Quinn would make. However, after a few monts, she relaxed her posture and the orbs of Air disappeared.
"Very well," she said. "Lead the way."
Grand Priest Darius relaxed as well, though he continued to glare at Grand Priestess Quinn
The rest of us let out a collective sight of relief, before we turned and led them to the board we created.
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