When Grand Priestess Quinn and Grand Priest Horatio saw the board we created, they looked sowhat impressed. The part of that hoped for a more dramatic reaction felt disappointed. I an, we put a lot of work into creating it. Still, a positive reaction was better than nothing.
While his two peers studied the board, Grand Priest Darius glared at them from a nearby corner with his arms crossed.
"You put all of this together?" Grand Priestess Quinn asked, tracing one of the colored strings.
Cally, our group's spokesperson for this matter, nodded.
"Yes," she said. "We collected all the holy books of the gods and pored through them in order to create a comprehensive picture of the gods' relationships with each other." She sighed. "It took us so ti. We spent a lot of sleepless nights on this."
Grand Priestess Quinn, still studying the board, nodded.
"Impressive," she said. "It's a sha that you're not a priestess. You would've done well in the church as an archivist." She glanced at Cally. "Unless you're willing to join now. It's not too late. If you're worried about your magic, don't be. Holy magic and wizardry aren't mutually exclusive."
Cally shook her head.
"I prefer to focus on wizardry," she said. "I know my limits. Stretching myself too thin will only hurt in the long run."
Grand Priestess Quinn nodded, before she returned to studying the board.
"Why did you create this?" Grand Priest Horatio asked, his smile no longer evident.
He looked my way as he spoke, making it clear that the question was directed at .
"On the surface, the church's request seems simple," I said. "We simply need to pick a mber of the church to join our group. However, deep down, we realized that this was a way for one god and their worshipers to increase their influence. So, we decided to put all this together to make a more inford decision." I looked at the board and grimaced. "Unfortunately, the deeper we dug, the more we realized just how complicated the situation was."
Grand Priest Horatio nodded.
"Mortal relationships are complicated enough," he said. "This is even more true for the gods, since they share a history stretching back several millennia." He glanced at Grand Priest Darius and smirked. "Of course, so relationships are exactly as they appear on the surface."
Grand Priest Darius snorted and didn't respond.
"What are these marks?" Grand Priestess Quinn asked, tracing the mark over Tempest's na.
"Those are the gods we decided against," Cally said. "Take Lord Tempest, for example. We don't need one of his priests since we already have Gabriel."
Grand Priestess Quinn traced her fingers over Aeros' na, which remained unmarked.
"So the unmarked nas are those you are still considering?"
Cally nodded. Grand Priestess Quinn turned around and gave Grand Priest Darius a smug look. He just rolled his eyes at her.
"It appears that my worries were unfounded," Grand Priestess Quinn said.
"I'm amazed that a woman of your age can be so childish," Grand Priest Darius said with a sneer.
"Hmmph, I don't want to hear that from you, old man."
The two glared at one another, the tension in the room rising again. Grand Priest Horatio ignored them and focused on .
"Which god are you leaning towards?" he asked.
That caught the attention of the other two grand priests. I crossed my arms and smiled at him.
"That depends," I said. "What are you offering?"
The three grand priests all stared at .
"Are you trying to extort us?" Grand Priestess Quinn asked, incredulous.
"Of course not," I said in a self-righteous tone. "I'm just letting you know that we're open to bribes."
The three grand priests blinked at in surprise, before Grand Priest Darius started laughing. It started out as a chuckle, before bursting out into a full-blown guffaw.
"You never fail to amaze , Gabriel," he said, wiping tears from his eyes.
Grand Priestess Quinn narrowed her eyes at .
"What do you want?" she asked.
I shrugged.
"Resources, personnel, political favors," I said. "Anything that you, as grand priests, can offer us." I gestured to my companions. "As for wealth, we already have enough of that. We aren't lacking in funds."
Grand Priestess Quinn wore a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Very well," she said. "I shall return tomorrow with an offer."
"And so shall I," Grand Priest Horatio said.
Grand Priestess Quinn gave him a sideways glance.
"As for , I'm going to let the others know about your plans," Grand Priest Darius said, nodding towards the board. "I want to give them a fair chance."
Grand Priestess Quinn glared at him. He gave her a smug grin in return. All three grand priests left. As soon as they were gone, I walked over to a nearby couch and collapsed on it. Anna joined , putting my head on her lap.
"That went better than I expected," I said.
"True," Anna said, stroking my hair. "It could've gone worse." She raised an eyebrow at . "What exactly do we want from them? As you said earlier, we're not lacking in funds."
I took a mont to mull it over.
"Personally?" I asked. "Spirit Elixirs and similar resources. If we're to stop the invasion from the Infernal Lands, we need to grow stronger. Allies and political clout are well and good. However, none of that matters if we're too weak."
I had the spirit core, which I still needed to consu, but that would only help . While I wanted to beco as powerful as possible, I also wanted to elevate my companions. I didn't want to leave them behind.
Cally pinched her chin. The gesture reminded of Francis, and I felt a pang in my heart.
"You're right," she said. "The events in Eastwatch have proven that our enemies are already more powerful than us, and they'll only get stronger in the future. If we don't find a way to match them, we'll fail. We need to gain as much strength within the shortest amount of ti."
"What about Holy magic?" Leroy asked.
We all turned towards him.
"Grand Priestess Quinn ntioned that Holy magic and wizardry weren't mutually exclusive," he said. "The sa applies to martial arts." He gestured to Cally. "We've seen what paladins are capable of during the battle of Icefall City. If we had that power for ourselves, it would help close the gap between us and our enemies."
Cally grimaced.
"That's not a bad idea," she said. "However, that ans tying ourselves even more to the Church of the Sun. I'm not sure I like that idea."
"Not necessarily," Kiki said. "Holy magic cos from the gods themselves. If you find a way to contact the gods directly and gain power from them, you won't need to deal with the Church of the Sun any more than you need to."
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
All of us stared at her in astonishnt. The idea of bypassing the Church of the Sun to talk with the gods directly seed sacrilegious sohow. I found it difficult to swallow, and I was a transmigrator who interacted with gods from other worlds. It must've been even more unbelievable for the others.
"What?" Kiki asked, amused by our expressions. "My idea isn't as far-fetched as you think. You're regressors, chosen by the gods themselves to save the world from destruction. In fact, granting you Holy magic may have been part of their plan in the first place."
Leroy gestured to himself.
"I'm not a regressor," he said.
"Neither am I," I said.
"Nor I," Lord Dominic said.
Kiki snorted.
"And?" she said. "You're still tied to the regressors by fate." She gestured to the board. "Besides, we already know that the gods want to increase their influence through this group. Granting all of you Holy magic gives them another avenue to do so."
That made a lot of sense, now that I thought about it.
"Even if the gods are willing, the only ones who can talk with them directly are the grand priests," Cally said. "We would still have to go through the Church of the Sun."
Kiki didn't respond right away.
"I know of… certain thods you can use to contact the gods," she said in a solemn voice.
Silence fell over the room as everyone stared at her.
"How?" I asked, breaking the silence.
Kiki looked at .
"Did you forget who I used to be?" she asked. "Or rather, what?"
Right. Kiki was a spirit who almost beca a god herself. It made sense that she knew how to contact the gods.
So did I, now that I thought about it. I had contacted gods before, back on Earth. However, the thods I used were specific to those gods, and they weren't on Lumina.
"Be warned, however," Kiki said in a serious voice. "You will have to pay a price for contacting the gods. There is a reason why most can't do it. The gods may shoulder the burden in your place, if they so chose, but I wouldn't count on it."
The rest of us nodded at her.
"I can also create enchanted items for everyone," Lord Dominic said. "While not as powerful as Holy magic, they can still help."
I nodded. True. One of the reasons why we had made it as far as we had was because of our gear. Take Leroy, for example. He still had the enchanted armor that he received from Lord Icefall.
As for , I needed a new sword. Lady Isabel broke my old one.
"Anyway, let's talk more about this later," Anna said. "We've been working hard for the past few days, and we need a break. Don't underestimate the importance of rest."
With that, she picked up in her arms and stood up. I flailed around a bit, trying to escape her grasp, and failing.
"What are you doing? Put down!"
"No," Anna said in a tone that brooked no disappointnt. "We are going out and having a good ti."
"Fine, but put down!"
Anna gave a mischievous grin.
"I don't know," she said. "The idea of carrying you around like this in public sounds appealing. You're cute when you're flustered."
I stared at her, mortified. The thought of people watching as Anna held in a princess carry filled with so much embarrassnt that it felt like my face would catch fire.
"See?" Anna said. "Like that."
I turned to our companions.
"Leroy!" I called out. "Help!"
Leroy gave a helpless look.
"I'm afraid I can't, my lord," he said in a remorseful tone. "Lady Annabelle is too powerful a foe."
I turned towards Cally and gave her a pleading look. However, instead of helping, she just smirked at .
"Kiki?"
The spirit tilted her head, resembling a confused cat.
"I don't understand what the problem is," she said. "What's wrong with Lady Annabelle carrying you like this?" She picked up Lord Dominic and held him in a princess carry. "It seems fine to ."
Other than an initial yelp, Lord Dominic seed unperturbed by this situation. He gave a questioning look, as if to say "What's wrong with you?"
"I hate you all," I said through gritted teeth.
Traitors, the lot of them!
"Now co along, Gabriel," Anna said, a smug expression on her face.
I sighed and stopped struggling. Why not? At this point, I might as well give in to my fate and accept it. I wrapped my arms around Anna's neck and sighed in resignation.
With that, Anna carried off so we could get ready for our outing.
To my relief, Anna didn't bring outside while holding in a princess carry. She said that she didn't want to share my cute and flustered expression with strangers. Thank the gods for that.
That said, I felt a pang of disappointnt when Anna put down. Being held in her arms felt nice, as long as it wasn't in public.
After leaving the others, Anna and I got ready before we headed out. Leroy, as my bodyguard, accompanied us. To my surprise, a pair of paladins wearing full armor appeared as soon as we stepped outside, one of whom was Paladin Charles.
It turned out that Grand Priest Darius had instructed his paladins to escort us whenever we went out. I just never realized this because I hadn't left Grand Priest Darius' residence since I arrived.
A part of wanted to protest, since I wanted to spend ti alone with Anna, but I decided against it. If Grand Priest Darius felt the need to assign paladins to escort us, there must've been a reason for it. I trusted his judgnt. Besides, Anna and I were already bringing Leroy along. Two more paladins made little difference in the end.
Hand in hand, Anna and I wandered around Templeton with Leroy and the paladins following close behind. It was a little after noon, with the sun just past its zenith. There was a slight chill in the air, reminding us that winter was just a few months away.
As we explored the town, the sound of prayer and theological debates filled the air. At least, I think they were theological debates. It was difficult to tell at tis. We saw a pair of priests, both serving Brand, having a drinking contest outside of a tavern. I couldn't tell if they were just having fun, or if this was part of their faith. When it ca to the Followers of Brand, it could be either
In addition to exploring Templeton, Anna and I also spent so ti shopping. The town catered to pilgrims, with tens of thousands of people flocking here every year. Plenty of rchants decided to take advantage of this to set up stalls and shops, turning Templeton into a trade center. There was even a large plaza that served as a marketplace.
It was a lively and bustling place, full of all kinds of people. This included a large number of adventurers. The marketplace was loud too. People had to shout at each other in order to hear one another. The sll of spices, sweat, and dust filled the air.
As we wandered through the market, Anna and I found all kinds of souvenirs and rarities from all over the Solarian Empire. The two of us spent a lot of ti haggling while we purchased gifts for our loved ones. Not because we needed to save money, but for the love of haggling itself. There was just sothing fun about it.
In the midst of this, my intuition warned that sothing was wrong. It was a subtle feeling, easily dismissed, but I paid all the more attention to it because of this.
I took a look around, taking care not to alert any potential enemies in the area. However, I didn't notice anything amiss. I trusted my intuition, which ant that the threat was sothing hidden. I glanced at the paladins. From their expressions, they hadn't noticed anything wrong.
Anna and Leroy, who knew well, noticed my odd behavior.
"What's wrong?" Anna asked in a low voice.
"I don't know," I said. "I feel like there is so kind of threat nearby, but I can't see it." I smiled at her. "Act naturally, to avoid alerting any potential enemies."
"What would you like to do, my lord?" Leroy asked.
"Keep an eye out," I said. "And alert the paladins. We don't want to leave them in the dark. Be subtle about it."
Leroy nodded, and didn't go to the paladins right away. Instead, he just took a few steps back. In the anti, Anna and I continued with our shopping spree. While we haggled with the rchants, we watched our surroundings from the corners of our eyes.
As this went on, Leroy moved closer to the paladins, making it look as natural as possible. He soon reached them. I didn't know what he said to them, but I had to admire their discipline. Despite learning that there was a potential threat nearby, neither paladin reacted. Instead, they continued acting like normal while keeping an eye out.
However, despite our best efforts, none of us noticed anything. The market's general chaos didn't help matters. It was a loud and noisy place, filled with all sorts of people. This made it more difficult to keep track of our surroundings.
"Maybe we should leave and head back," I said.
Assuming this didn't cause the threat to attack us.
"Why don't you use the Eyes of Truth?" Anna suggested. "Maybe that will help."
It took a mont to realize what she ant. I commissioned the Eyes of Truth from Lord Dominic back in Eastwatch in order to help deal with Lady Isabel's thralls, since they kept using invisibility enchanted items. However, I never got a chance to use them for their intended purpose.
Still, the Eyes of Truth were so useful that I decided to keep them anyway. I an, they could see through all forms of magical concealnt. Who wouldn't want sothing like that? However, with everything that had been going on, I had forgotten about them until Anna reminded .
I gave Anna a grateful look, before I took the Eyes of Truth out of my inventory ring and put them on. When I looked around, I saw that there were several people in the marketplace who wore disguise rings.
The Eyes of Truth showed both people's true appearance as well as their disguised appearance, with the latter superimposed over the forr. This took a little getting used to, but it made it easier to pick out who was disguised.
So people looked like they just wanted to go shopping without revealing their true identities. Others looked like they were up to no good. A few looked like Clan scions disguised as adventurers.
One group in particular caught my eye. There were ten of them in total, moving about in separate areas of the marketplace. The only reason why I knew they were together was because their behavior matched each other.
They walked about, pretending to browse, but every now and again they glanced in our direction. However, they switched disguises in between each glance. That was why I hadn't noticed them before.
Thanks to the disguise rings, they kept watch over our group while pretending to be several different people. The transition between each disguise was so quick and smooth, I wouldn't have noticed anything without the Eyes of Truth.
Whoever these people were, they were well-equipped and cunning. I dared not underestimate them. Worst of all, they all wielded Holy magic. I guessed they were all the equivalent to Third Ranked Awakened.
Altogether, it wasn't difficult to guess who these people were. It appeared that certain elents of the Inquisition remained hostile to , even though the Grand Inquisitor himself let go.
Well now. Things were about to get interesting.
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