Crimson Saintess?
Those blessed by the gods and chosen for a task were usually called either Champions or Saints. Champions would be responsible for handling Divine Quests for their patron god, similar to how Aurena tasked me to restructure her church, while Saints were like preachers, delivering the words of their gods to people around them.
Theodore mentioned Aurena’s Saints would travel the land or stay inside one church or temple to heal wounds and soothe souls, aiming to convey the benevolence of the Goddess of Light. They were the mortal representatives of their god’s ideal.
So, what exactly did a Saint of the God of Fire convey?
“Why are you calling me the ‘Crimson Saintess?’” I asked Keith, baffled when he called me that.
The only time when anybody called me “Crimson Saintess” was when I was still living in Carine Village, and that was ‘cause I was acting as an impromptu priestess for a whole month. I gave out sermons, [Prayers]s, and also healed anybody in need pro bono, well, until Ellaine called me out for it.
Keith’s eyes widened as I said that, making me nervous that he would become hostile, but it was unwarranted. “Ah, I see, so our God’s words cannot even reach you. I apologize then, for your name was written down and sent throughout our faith by letter, authored by one of our Saints! He stated, ‘Look for the Saintess colored crimson. Chosen by our Lord of Fire! Seek her.’ Thankfully, for that water witch, Plesia—”
As Keith continued his over dramatic retelling, Talon suddenly grabbed my arm, unperturbed by my robe of fire heating up his arm. I turned those flames momentarily into white flames, so it shouldn’t hurt him, but it seemed he couldn’t stop shaking as if he was in pain.
His glare was piercing, as if he couldn’t believe what I just did. “What the hell is the—”
[“I TOLD you to TRUST me.”]
“Guck!” Recoiling backwards, Talon let go of my arm to hold his head, pain distorting his anger-filled face.
While he was huffing loudly, I continued talking to him through telepathy, [“Just trust me. Like I warned you, this would be surprising, but still, just trust me on this. If you have an issue with that, then fine, but it’s not like you can do anything right now. Just remember this to calm yourself; I am assuredly a priestess of Goddess Aurena, and I promise I am not a fan of Shiterno or his followers.”]
[Telepathy] wasn’t just a communication ability but it also served as a method to inflict a mental attack. The wargs and garms from Belzac used shouts and weird sounds to discombobulate you, leading into a finishing blow or just to weaken your focus. Talon making a fuss now was expected, so having my parallel minds stun him mentally allowed me to do what I had to.
“—Oh, but our faith and growth have always been weak.” I couldn’t hear what Kieth just said with Talon distracting me, but I continued listening now, wanting to learn what happened to Shiterno. “However, we are blessed that the pantheon itself hasn’t been restricted, Lady Saintess. God Jistrum sent his Saint the message to guide us to you! ‘Close. Find. New flame. Crimson Saintess.’”
That’s one of Shiterno’s subordinates.
He continued, “There was so little information for us to work with! However, I knew of this dungeon! Just like us, a Saint must be drawn to the powerful fire coursing through the veins of this dungeon. I knew I had to bring my disciples here to welcome you, to aid you in their travels, and to create a place fit for training and to enact our faith’s teachings. Ah, and I was right! It is an honor to finally meet someone so auspicious; the honor to guide you down your fate!”
So it was all just ‘faith?’ That’s one way to find me. Hmm, the message didn’t mention being a dragon and he didn’t suspect me when I fought the Slazzigula, huh?
As I could see that Ellaine and the students were confused at what was happening, I had my parallel minds inform them of my intentions.
Ignoring the location of his disciples for now, I directly went into the meat of this matter. “Yes, a great honor, I guess. Anyway, I didn’t receive any information on God Danterno after he gave me … my blessing. I am vastly ignorant of the current state of the mighty God of Fire. So, I ask you, Mister Keith, has our Pantheon’s subordinate gods mentioned anything about him?”
He kneeled down. “Of course, Lady Saintess, it is my role to do so. However, excuse me for my suspicion, but, may I be allowed to learn of your unique skill? I ask you, please, bless me with this learning opportunity!”
Shrugging, I consented and produced a white and purple flame on each hand with the snap of my fingers. Overly excited at what he is seeing, Keith bellowed out his elation, watching the flickering flame like art. With a gleeful smile, he moved his fingers down from his face to his chest like a spider’s crawling.
“Beautiful! Such colors. It is kept alive with mana but, even then, the beauty of these flames is entrancing. Oooh, what form and movements would it make if we were to burn something down with it?”
Burn? Burn? Is that honestly all this idiot can think of how to use them?
“Lady Saintess, would you permit to me to see them burn dow—”
I snapped my hand up, extinguishing the flames immediately to stop his fanboying. “Hold on, were your first thoughts honestly how to use these two flames to burn things?”
“Why, no! Of course, not!” he pleaded, calming me down a bit. “My first thought was how beautiful they were as they flickered in the air! My second thought was how magnificent they will appear if used to purify the land of the tainted and sick! The homes of the corrupt and sinners!”
… Well, okaaaaaay. U-Uhm, maybe he worded that a bit too dramatically. Maybe—
“And the lives of the infidels worshipping the water witch! The grand deceiver of the Origin Gods! For giving them her prayers, they are responsible for violating our God’s divine rights! In ashes they shall repent! By fire, they will be purified! May Jistrum and the whole fire pantheon grow in strength with our offerings, assuring our lord’s authority!”
Okay, forget it, this guy is a complete lunatic! A complete psycho!
“Shut up!” Somebody shouted from behind me.
Argh, scheiße, I know how you feel but—
However, it wasn’t Talon who shouted but one of the students. In fact, none of the five looked even remotely fine with what was said.
“You’re just another bunch of selfish fanatics!” Kazumi, the most energetic of the group, shouted loudly as she pointed her dagger at Keith. “You’re just like every other self-absorbed asshole, trying to justify your actions using somebody else! You don’t know anything about your damn gods, and you’re trying to cause trouble to the people following them? I’ve had enough of this! Sorry, Hestia-chan, but this asshole is a bombshell ready to explode inside some village, killing the people inside and leaving only tears and ashes behind!”
Kohaku pulled out her sword, her water rune activated with a simple touch of her fingers. “And we’ll be the ones to have to fix things again, ordered by those condescending priests to do their jobs while they reap the rewards after we leave to fix another problem. Whether it’s some minor deity or one of the major gods, it’s been trouble after trouble since we got here.”
“I agree, let’s unroot the problem now.” Misaki unsheathed her bow, nocking an arrow on it in one quick motion. “We have enough issues we need to deal with already. What's another Danterno cultist preaching his crazed teachings? Tama-chan. Nishio-kun. Your orders?”
Scheiße! I did not expect them to be this bloodthirsty. I haven’t even gotten all the information ou—
“Feeble followers of the Church of Aurena! I see your Aurena amulets!” Keith pointed out the amulets the students were wearing. They could have taken them off here, but they gave good buffs so it would have been a waste not to.
Keith then spread his arms out, looking even more like a preacher as seconds passed. “Ooooh, you call me, a Danterno faithful, selfish but you do not reflect on yourselves? The Church of Aurena only respects those with money and influence, leaving the common priests and priestesses to scrounge for themselves! Regardless of your faith or talents, without a way to appeal to the high-ranking clergymen, a white-robe commoner can never learn their Goddess’ higher magics! They seek silver and gold for their healing, corrupted by the notion of material goods. They determine for themselves the true religious order of us humans, vying for a kingdom’s and country’s control!”
“You burn people you consider sinners on stakes without even presenting a fair trial or judgement,” Nishio countered, glaring intently at Keith in preparation to fight. “The Church of Aurena might be flawed, but at least some seek to heal and mend, while your church seems to only want to destroy. If you see a sick man, you ‘purify’ them in flames. I didn’t want to generalize, since you fanatics honestly believe you have good intentions, but you are just as mad as the one we met before.”
Stakes? Like those during witch hunts? Goodness.
Keith wagged his finger, looking unperturbed by these accusations. “Of course our intentions are pure! We are not blinded by physical, perishable concepts! In the beautiful fire of Danterno, fire consumes fire. From trials and tribulations, you shall grow stronger. In flames, your sins and weakness shall be purified, and the person that survives will be granted strength. Weakness is created through stagnation, the lack of progress. Why keep a single old tree in a lone land that never changes, when burning it down to create more life would be better? That is Danterno’s wise teachings. From the ashes, growth will be created for the survivors to reap. Isn’t that right, Talon? Haven’t you grown far stronger than you used to be?”
“… True,” Talon murmured, holding his head down.
“Yes! Your trials have made you wiser, more confident! When your old, crumbling world was destroyed, you were set free from your cage. Your family was set free from this cruel world and must have been blessed by our gods before their reincarnation. In their ashes, you have risen, Talon! You have found your worth in this world! It is irrelevant if you are a follower of Marsven, my old friend. If you wish to change the world, then come, join me. Help us bring down Plesia’s cult for us to rise!”
Without another word, Talon moved silently towards the overjoyed Keith. “Talon?” I called out for him with eyes widened, but he ignored me.
“Yes, my friend! Hear me, Crimson Saintess—the last of God Jistrum, God of War and Carnage, message shall now be given to you! Our fiery God, Danterno, was imprisoned by the witch Plesia, stripped of his almighty power and wisdom for granting us, his followers, knowledge on how to better the world! The ‘Goddess of Deceit,’ yes, Plesia must pay!” Keith finally spouted what I desperately wanted to hear. “Talon, our meeting must be fate! You have delivered the Crimson Saintess to us, the one the gods have spoken about. The one with flames given to her by our fiery God himself, to aid and teach us lowly practitioners the new power. We shall support her as she leads our faith into a golden age, charging forwards to depose the ‘Goddess of Deceit’ and to change the world for a better for us fire mages. Talon, joi—”
“FUCKING SHUT UP!” Talon exploded in rage, shouting so loud it caused me goosebumps. Charging towards Keith, the scarred man grabbed the fire priest’s coat and pulled him up, glaring daggers at him with unleashed fury. “You dare speak about my family like that? You gave me that dysfunctional custom spell, you fucking madman! You gave me a spell to kill myself, thinking I would be thankful to you? This! THIS! Look at THIS! YOU DID THIS TO ME!”
Talon landed a right hook on Keith’s face, sending him crashing onto the ground as the latter sneezed out blood. Talon stood before the pyromaniac, throwing away the robe he was wearing, unveiling the horrendous burn scars riddled on the right side of his entire body.
“You did this to me! It was so bad that only a priest with [Major Heal] could heal me. Even then, I had to live with constant pain to the point I needed to learn runic tattoos just to deaden the pain and have some relief! You BASTARD!”
Without any mercy, Talon stomped on Kieth’s stomach, kicked him in the head, then furiously wailed onto the grounded Keith. Talon’s soft, mage hands were unused to the constant physical trauma, sadly. The skin on his knuckles split apart, bleeding profusely as his untrained strikes kept him and his old friend. Keith bloated up from the injuries he was sustaining, deforming into a monstrosity.
Talon only stopped when he groaned in pain, falling onto his back as he clutched his hands. The adrenaline might have stopped the pain from reaching his head initially, but he likely reached his limit. From the constant attacks, he must have broken the bones in his hand.
I rushed forward and began healing Talon. Tears flowed only from his left eye while his right glared at the wheezing Keith with unrestrained anger. Keith then pulled out a potion from under his robe, drank it, and the wounds on his face began to disappear, though not all of them.
“Hopefully that is enough to satisfy you, my old friend. For not helping you, I deserved that,” Keith stated, looking earnest.
“Fuck you.” Once his hands were healed, Talon pulled himself up and unveiled the ritual dagger from its sheath. “You never warned me about that spell. If you had, I wouldn’t have even tried casting it.”
Kieth looked at his old friend, almost as if he was asking for forgiveness in this whole matter. “Ah, that spell … It was my first attempt at a mighty custom spell. It was powerful, no? Hahaha … it seems I have made another mistake in my road to appease my god, to bring the Church of Danterno out of the miserable, declining state it is currently in. Only in death can you forgive me?”
Talon pointed the dagger at Keith, pushing the symbol of Goddess of Water ever closer to his eyes, “No. My revenge won’t stop with only your death. A ritual knife to gut fish to offer to Plesia. I will make sure your soul will reach her first before Ilsaphone. Your death and embarrassment … only then will I feel fulfilled!”
As Talon lunged forward with the knife, [Foresight] warned me of something Keith was hiding under his hand. Without thinking about it, I stepped forward, grabbed Talon around his waist, and pulled him to the side with me.
Not a second too soon, as a magic circle emerging from Keith’s hand almost incinerated Talon with a large explosion. Holding onto him like a large chair, I jumped backwards, reuniting with the students, Ellaine, and Quatre—all of them now in combat stances.
Keith looked at what was happening, stood back up, slapped the dirt from his robe before addressing me, “Crimson Saintess, come. We have much to do. Leave these infidels to die in this dungeon.”
Baring my teeth for the first time since this meeting, I shoved Talon to the side and stepped forward. My fire robes disappeared as I put my white mage robe back on, finally done with this conversation. “Yeah, how about a no.”
“Saintess?”
“Don’t talk to me. Do you think I’ll comply with letting my friends die? In the first place, did you really think I was a Shiterno follower when I was wearing my white mage robe and Amulet of Aurena so brazenly in the open? Yeah, too bad, how about you stop calling me ‘Crimson Saintess’ and how about you tell your stupid gods to fuck off? Shiterno is better off in a cage so he won’t bother me ever again! I am a Champion of the Goddess of Light, Aurena!”
“I see …” Keith said solemnly. “I have lied.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“I lied when I recited the messages. ‘Find. Crimson Saintess. Persuade or kill.’ I lied that I came here through my feelings alone, for I am not a blessed. I cannot track down a single person? Haha … in fact, I didn’t expect to find you here. Thank you, though, for showing yourself,” he answered before a smile creeped onto his face. He pulled out a small red orb. “I’m here for a job. May your fire serve our strength. Fire consumes FIRE!”
In Keith’s right hand, a large magic circle was forming; however, my [Foresight] told me he wasn’t the issue here. [Danger Perception] wasn’t activating, meaning whatever [Foresight] was telling me was of no threat to me, but it might be to everybody else.
“To the side!” Ellaine shouted, pointing her finger at giant fireballs being launched at our location from afar.
“My disciples and I might have been separated during the appearance of that spider, but we found each other soon enough. They hid while I would talk with my good old friend, and if he were to betray my trust, we would strike!
Oh, maybe I should have asked about his followers first before revealing everything. Welp.
Nishio instantly took over command. “Tamae-san, we need a wisdom buff! Miss Ellaine, we need an earthen dome! I’ll materialize—huh? Hestia-san?”
While I was impressed that Nishio was able to give out orders almost immediately, defensive orders weren’t needed right now.
“Nishio-san!” Ellaine—for the love of all that is cringe—called him to catch his attention. “Let Hestia-chan handle this; we need to prepare for the counter attack!”
Yameroooooo, Ellllllainnnne! (Stop, Ellaine!) You’re Peolyncian, you should not be using Japanese honorifics! You’re destroying my worldview!
While we were occupied with our squabbles, a miniature sun began to grow above Keith’s staff, growing larger and larger. “Oh, great pyro in the sky, shining bright upon the world. I call for your aid, to scorch the worlds of my enemies! Scorching Sun!”
The nostalgia. My favorite fire spell before I lost it.
“Hestia-chan!” The students called for me.
Oh, that’s right.
Stopping myself from continuing looking at Keith’s spell, I flapped my wings, spreading scale-dust around us until it surrounded everybody like a veil. I then cast the spell [Sanctuary] around us, materializing a bright dome of light for everybody’s protection. I stated, “Stay inside until the fire is gone” before I rushed out of the barrier, worried that the students didn’t know my skill set. There I stood before Keith.
“A custom light spell? I wanted to believe otherwise when I saw your white robe, but maybe I was too optimistic. I wanted to stop making mistakes that harmed my church. God Danterno and every fire mages deserve more respect! As a fire mage yourself, you should know this, right?”
“… Did you know Macklemor Talsyn?”
“Macklemor?” His voice cracked. “Y-yes, of course, I would. He … was one of my mistakes. I did not teach him well enough, I did not help him suppress his anger. Oh, the beauty of fire I showed him, but as his professor, his magic master, I failed him. The nobles forced his hand, but I couldn’t stop him in time. With his failure, I have made people’s opinion on fire mages even worse.”
I remembered the fire slinging bandit during Aurora’s first Quest. I remembered him despising killing people, although the laugh he had when he burned the wagon down really made me think he was a madman. I didn’t know who Macklemor was during his years at the royal academy, where he supposedly killed a noble with fire magic, but he seemed like a good kid who got himself in the wrong crowd.
He first met Keith, who gave him the power to do the crime, which probably angered the noble kid’s parents. He was probably sentenced to death but made it out, finding his way into that bandit crew. He was an avid Danterno believer, but he seemed like the only “upstanding” bandit among the people he traveled with.
It was a bit sad.
“I don’t care,” I replied to Keith’s heartful words. “I only know two fire spells, and those are [Ignite] and the custom spell your God ‘helped’ me make. Shiterno stripped me of all my fire spells and I haven’t been able to get the [Fire Mage] Job thanks to that. I am no fire mage. Would you like to know who I actually am? An idol.”
“‘An idol?’”
I raised my hand to the air. Now it was time for me to preach. “Yeah, an idol. A singer and dancer whose job is to entertain people! Even if your intentions are good, you are a threat to the many people I wish would hear my voice, Keith!”
Sadly, he didn’t take my little speech too well. “Tch! Then, become our flame’s sustenance, Priestess of Aurena!”
Keith threw the [Scorching Sun] at me but I didn’t blink. Artillery fire rained on us from every direction, showering the ground in ever burning explosions, destroying the land around us … but I didn’t blink.
As the dust settled, I could audibly hear Keith’s voice of bafflement, stuttering as he saw flames floating above my light barrier, undeterred and sentinel as they guarded Ellaine, the students, Quatre, and Talon from harm. However, I guess his biggest surprise was the fact that I came out of his [Scorching Sun] without a scratch.
After all, a small sun was nothing in front of a sunfang dragon.
With my high agility, I quickly closed the distance between the both of us and ripped off his left hand holding his staff. Keith screamed from the top of his lungs, sounding very much like the felgheists I’d fought before. Wanting no more trouble from this guy, I swiped both his staff and the red orb in his right hand and placed them into my storage for now.
When I did that, I also noticed a pouch on his belt, enlarged by the content inside it. After grabbing the bag and opening it up, I found the molten rock Grimnir was looking for. Figuring it shouldn’t count as stealing when this guy tried to kill us, I took it from him and placed it in my storage also.
Mission finished, Grimnir!
“I should kill you for endangering my party and me, but you are somebody else’s target,” I looked at Talon, still gripping onto his dagger as if it was glued onto him.
“Hehehe, maybe … maybe I am to be consumed today to finally atone for everything that I have done in my life. Maybe this is the only way forward … but my plans have been set in place. A favor to assure support for our church!” Trembling, he then pointed up with his remaining arm. “Urgh … the beautiful spider caged in this dungeon for her entire life, fending off anything that dares to harm the dungeon core, was set free by me.”
“What?”
“Our benefactor, he gave me that orb. An orb to enrage and empower the mighty fire monsters of this dungeon. To release the strongest rank B monster in this dungeon from her prison. It doesn’t matter how strong you are, for everybody is an ant before her Territory! The queen shall engulf this feeble land in an inferno, her kingdom will rise against the Griffon King! The ‘Rebellion Orb’ will bring about her ascension and the rise of her minions!”
Territory? What?
“Grigrigria!”
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Loud warning sounds erupted inside my head. Instinctively, I looked to the side and there I saw an acquaintance. White scales like snow, two carapace scale gauntlets, a slender bipedal form, and the head of a dragon with demonic horns.
The slazzigula!
Laughing as if it was happy to see me, the giant monster stretched its hand in front of it and challenged me with a “come and get me” hand motion. But before I could respond, a notification appeared in my head, one written by my “boss.”
A headache. I turned around to see the air rupture apart. The red orb belonging to Keith appeared first, held by a tanned slender arm a female model would have. When the air rupture closed, what came out of my storage wasn’t a woman, but the black orb I got from the onnikai Quest. The one Aurena wanted me to deliver to Griffonpeak.
The one that was supposedly sealed tightly … according to Aurena.
Ah … there is the flag.
AbyssRaven Oh no, I set the flag up!
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Crimson Saintess?
Those blessed by the gods and chosen for a task were usually called either Champions or Saints. Champions would be responsible for handling Divine Quests for their patron god, similar to how Aurena tasked me to restructure her church, while Saints were like preachers, delivering the words of their gods to people around them.
Theodore mentioned Aurena’s Saints would travel the land or stay inside one church or temple to heal wounds and soothe souls, aiming to convey the benevolence of the Goddess of Light. They were the mortal representatives of their god’s ideal.
So, what exactly did a Saint of the God of Fire convey?
“Why are you calling me the ‘Crimson Saintess?’” I asked Keith, baffled when he called me that.
The only time when anybody called me “Crimson Saintess” was when I was still living in Carine Village, and that was ‘cause I was acting as an impromptu priestess for a whole month. I gave out sermons, [Prayers]s, and also healed anybody in need pro bono, well, until Ellaine called me out for it.
Keith’s eyes widened as I said that, making me nervous that he would become hostile, but it was unwarranted. “Ah, I see, so our God’s words cannot even reach you. I apologize then, for your name was written down and sent throughout our faith by letter, authored by one of our Saints! He stated, ‘Look for the Saintess colored crimson. Chosen by our Lord of Fire! Seek her.’ Thankfully, for that water witch, Plesia—”
As Keith continued his over dramatic retelling, Talon suddenly grabbed my arm, unperturbed by my robe of fire heating up his arm. I turned those flames momentarily into white flames, so it shouldn’t hurt him, but it seemed he couldn’t stop shaking as if he was in pain.
His glare was piercing, as if he couldn’t believe what I just did. “What the hell is the—”
[“I TOLD you to TRUST me.”]
“Guck!” Recoiling backwards, Talon let go of my arm to hold his head, pain distorting his anger-filled face.
While he was huffing loudly, I continued talking to him through telepathy, [“Just trust me. Like I warned you, this would be surprising, but still, just trust me on this. If you have an issue with that, then fine, but it’s not like you can do anything right now. Just remember this to calm yourself; I am assuredly a priestess of Goddess Aurena, and I promise I am not a fan of Shiterno or his followers.”]
[Telepathy] wasn’t just a communication ability but it also served as a method to inflict a mental attack. The wargs and garms from Belzac used shouts and weird sounds to discombobulate you, leading into a finishing blow or just to weaken your focus. Talon making a fuss now was expected, so having my parallel minds stun him mentally allowed me to do what I had to.
“—Oh, but our faith and growth have always been weak.” I couldn’t hear what Kieth just said with Talon distracting me, but I continued listening now, wanting to learn what happened to Shiterno. “However, we are blessed that the pantheon itself hasn’t been restricted, Lady Saintess. God Jistrum sent his Saint the message to guide us to you! ‘Close. Find. New flame. Crimson Saintess.’”
That’s one of Shiterno’s subordinates.
He continued, “There was so little information for us to work with! However, I knew of this dungeon! Just like us, a Saint must be drawn to the powerful fire coursing through the veins of this dungeon. I knew I had to bring my disciples here to welcome you, to aid you in their travels, and to create a place fit for training and to enact our faith’s teachings. Ah, and I was right! It is an honor to finally meet someone so auspicious; the honor to guide you down your fate!”
So it was all just ‘faith?’ That’s one way to find me. Hmm, the message didn’t mention being a dragon and he didn’t suspect me when I fought the Slazzigula, huh?
As I could see that Ellaine and the students were confused at what was happening, I had my parallel minds inform them of my intentions.
Ignoring the location of his disciples for now, I directly went into the meat of this matter. “Yes, a great honor, I guess. Anyway, I didn’t receive any information on God Danterno after he gave me … my blessing. I am vastly ignorant of the current state of the mighty God of Fire. So, I ask you, Mister Keith, has our Pantheon’s subordinate gods mentioned anything about him?”
He kneeled down. “Of course, Lady Saintess, it is my role to do so. However, excuse me for my suspicion, but, may I be allowed to learn of your unique skill? I ask you, please, bless me with this learning opportunity!”
Shrugging, I consented and produced a white and purple flame on each hand with the snap of my fingers. Overly excited at what he is seeing, Keith bellowed out his elation, watching the flickering flame like art. With a gleeful smile, he moved his fingers down from his face to his chest like a spider’s crawling.
“Beautiful! Such colors. It is kept alive with mana but, even then, the beauty of these flames is entrancing. Oooh, what form and movements would it make if we were to burn something down with it?”
Burn? Burn? Is that honestly all this idiot can think of how to use them?
“Lady Saintess, would you permit to me to see them burn dow—”
I snapped my hand up, extinguishing the flames immediately to stop his fanboying. “Hold on, were your first thoughts honestly how to use these two flames to burn things?”
“Why, no! Of course, not!” he pleaded, calming me down a bit. “My first thought was how beautiful they were as they flickered in the air! My second thought was how magnificent they will appear if used to purify the land of the tainted and sick! The homes of the corrupt and sinners!”
… Well, okaaaaaay. U-Uhm, maybe he worded that a bit too dramatically. Maybe—
“And the lives of the infidels worshipping the water witch! The grand deceiver of the Origin Gods! For giving them her prayers, they are responsible for violating our God’s divine rights! In ashes they shall repent! By fire, they will be purified! May Jistrum and the whole fire pantheon grow in strength with our offerings, assuring our lord’s authority!”
Okay, forget it, this guy is a complete lunatic! A complete psycho!
“Shut up!” Somebody shouted from behind me.
Argh, scheiße, I know how you feel but—
However, it wasn’t Talon who shouted but one of the students. In fact, none of the five looked even remotely fine with what was said.
“You’re just another bunch of selfish fanatics!” Kazumi, the most energetic of the group, shouted loudly as she pointed her dagger at Keith. “You’re just like every other self-absorbed asshole, trying to justify your actions using somebody else! You don’t know anything about your damn gods, and you’re trying to cause trouble to the people following them? I’ve had enough of this! Sorry, Hestia-chan, but this asshole is a bombshell ready to explode inside some village, killing the people inside and leaving only tears and ashes behind!”
Kohaku pulled out her sword, her water rune activated with a simple touch of her fingers. “And we’ll be the ones to have to fix things again, ordered by those condescending priests to do their jobs while they reap the rewards after we leave to fix another problem. Whether it’s some minor deity or one of the major gods, it’s been trouble after trouble since we got here.”
“I agree, let’s unroot the problem now.” Misaki unsheathed her bow, nocking an arrow on it in one quick motion. “We have enough issues we need to deal with already. What's another Danterno cultist preaching his crazed teachings? Tama-chan. Nishio-kun. Your orders?”
Scheiße! I did not expect them to be this bloodthirsty. I haven’t even gotten all the information ou—
“Feeble followers of the Church of Aurena! I see your Aurena amulets!” Keith pointed out the amulets the students were wearing. They could have taken them off here, but they gave good buffs so it would have been a waste not to.
Keith then spread his arms out, looking even more like a preacher as seconds passed. “Ooooh, you call me, a Danterno faithful, selfish but you do not reflect on yourselves? The Church of Aurena only respects those with money and influence, leaving the common priests and priestesses to scrounge for themselves! Regardless of your faith or talents, without a way to appeal to the high-ranking clergymen, a white-robe commoner can never learn their Goddess’ higher magics! They seek silver and gold for their healing, corrupted by the notion of material goods. They determine for themselves the true religious order of us humans, vying for a kingdom’s and country’s control!”
“You burn people you consider sinners on stakes without even presenting a fair trial or judgement,” Nishio countered, glaring intently at Keith in preparation to fight. “The Church of Aurena might be flawed, but at least some seek to heal and mend, while your church seems to only want to destroy. If you see a sick man, you ‘purify’ them in flames. I didn’t want to generalize, since you fanatics honestly believe you have good intentions, but you are just as mad as the one we met before.”
Stakes? Like those during witch hunts? Goodness.
Keith wagged his finger, looking unperturbed by these accusations. “Of course our intentions are pure! We are not blinded by physical, perishable concepts! In the beautiful fire of Danterno, fire consumes fire. From trials and tribulations, you shall grow stronger. In flames, your sins and weakness shall be purified, and the person that survives will be granted strength. Weakness is created through stagnation, the lack of progress. Why keep a single old tree in a lone land that never changes, when burning it down to create more life would be better? That is Danterno’s wise teachings. From the ashes, growth will be created for the survivors to reap. Isn’t that right, Talon? Haven’t you grown far stronger than you used to be?”
“… True,” Talon murmured, holding his head down.
“Yes! Your trials have made you wiser, more confident! When your old, crumbling world was destroyed, you were set free from your cage. Your family was set free from this cruel world and must have been blessed by our gods before their reincarnation. In their ashes, you have risen, Talon! You have found your worth in this world! It is irrelevant if you are a follower of Marsven, my old friend. If you wish to change the world, then come, join me. Help us bring down Plesia’s cult for us to rise!”
Without another word, Talon moved silently towards the overjoyed Keith. “Talon?” I called out for him with eyes widened, but he ignored me.
“Yes, my friend! Hear me, Crimson Saintess—the last of God Jistrum, God of War and Carnage, message shall now be given to you! Our fiery God, Danterno, was imprisoned by the witch Plesia, stripped of his almighty power and wisdom for granting us, his followers, knowledge on how to better the world! The ‘Goddess of Deceit,’ yes, Plesia must pay!” Keith finally spouted what I desperately wanted to hear. “Talon, our meeting must be fate! You have delivered the Crimson Saintess to us, the one the gods have spoken about. The one with flames given to her by our fiery God himself, to aid and teach us lowly practitioners the new power. We shall support her as she leads our faith into a golden age, charging forwards to depose the ‘Goddess of Deceit’ and to change the world for a better for us fire mages. Talon, joi—”
“FUCKING SHUT UP!” Talon exploded in rage, shouting so loud it caused me goosebumps. Charging towards Keith, the scarred man grabbed the fire priest’s coat and pulled him up, glaring daggers at him with unleashed fury. “You dare speak about my family like that? You gave me that dysfunctional custom spell, you fucking madman! You gave me a spell to kill myself, thinking I would be thankful to you? This! THIS! Look at THIS! YOU DID THIS TO ME!”
Talon landed a right hook on Keith’s face, sending him crashing onto the ground as the latter sneezed out blood. Talon stood before the pyromaniac, throwing away the robe he was wearing, unveiling the horrendous burn scars riddled on the right side of his entire body.
“You did this to me! It was so bad that only a priest with [Major Heal] could heal me. Even then, I had to live with constant pain to the point I needed to learn runic tattoos just to deaden the pain and have some relief! You BASTARD!”
Without any mercy, Talon stomped on Kieth’s stomach, kicked him in the head, then furiously wailed onto the grounded Keith. Talon’s soft, mage hands were unused to the constant physical trauma, sadly. The skin on his knuckles split apart, bleeding profusely as his untrained strikes kept him and his old friend. Keith bloated up from the injuries he was sustaining, deforming into a monstrosity.
Talon only stopped when he groaned in pain, falling onto his back as he clutched his hands. The adrenaline might have stopped the pain from reaching his head initially, but he likely reached his limit. From the constant attacks, he must have broken the bones in his hand.
I rushed forward and began healing Talon. Tears flowed only from his left eye while his right glared at the wheezing Keith with unrestrained anger. Keith then pulled out a potion from under his robe, drank it, and the wounds on his face began to disappear, though not all of them.
“Hopefully that is enough to satisfy you, my old friend. For not helping you, I deserved that,” Keith stated, looking earnest.
“Fuck you.” Once his hands were healed, Talon pulled himself up and unveiled the ritual dagger from its sheath. “You never warned me about that spell. If you had, I wouldn’t have even tried casting it.”
Kieth looked at his old friend, almost as if he was asking for forgiveness in this whole matter. “Ah, that spell … It was my first attempt at a mighty custom spell. It was powerful, no? Hahaha … it seems I have made another mistake in my road to appease my god, to bring the Church of Danterno out of the miserable, declining state it is currently in. Only in death can you forgive me?”
Talon pointed the dagger at Keith, pushing the symbol of Goddess of Water ever closer to his eyes, “No. My revenge won’t stop with only your death. A ritual knife to gut fish to offer to Plesia. I will make sure your soul will reach her first before Ilsaphone. Your death and embarrassment … only then will I feel fulfilled!”
As Talon lunged forward with the knife, [Foresight] warned me of something Keith was hiding under his hand. Without thinking about it, I stepped forward, grabbed Talon around his waist, and pulled him to the side with me.
Not a second too soon, as a magic circle emerging from Keith’s hand almost incinerated Talon with a large explosion. Holding onto him like a large chair, I jumped backwards, reuniting with the students, Ellaine, and Quatre—all of them now in combat stances.
Keith looked at what was happening, stood back up, slapped the dirt from his robe before addressing me, “Crimson Saintess, come. We have much to do. Leave these infidels to die in this dungeon.”
Baring my teeth for the first time since this meeting, I shoved Talon to the side and stepped forward. My fire robes disappeared as I put my white mage robe back on, finally done with this conversation. “Yeah, how about a no.”
“Saintess?”
“Don’t talk to me. Do you think I’ll comply with letting my friends die? In the first place, did you really think I was a Shiterno follower when I was wearing my white mage robe and Amulet of Aurena so brazenly in the open? Yeah, too bad, how about you stop calling me ‘Crimson Saintess’ and how about you tell your stupid gods to fuck off? Shiterno is better off in a cage so he won’t bother me ever again! I am a Champion of the Goddess of Light, Aurena!”
“I see …” Keith said solemnly. “I have lied.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“I lied when I recited the messages. ‘Find. Crimson Saintess. Persuade or kill.’ I lied that I came here through my feelings alone, for I am not a blessed. I cannot track down a single person? Haha … in fact, I didn’t expect to find you here. Thank you, though, for showing yourself,” he answered before a smile creeped onto his face. He pulled out a small red orb. “I’m here for a job. May your fire serve our strength. Fire consumes FIRE!”
In Keith’s right hand, a large magic circle was forming; however, my [Foresight] told me he wasn’t the issue here. [Danger Perception] wasn’t activating, meaning whatever [Foresight] was telling me was of no threat to me, but it might be to everybody else.
“To the side!” Ellaine shouted, pointing her finger at giant fireballs being launched at our location from afar.
“My disciples and I might have been separated during the appearance of that spider, but we found each other soon enough. They hid while I would talk with my good old friend, and if he were to betray my trust, we would strike!
Oh, maybe I should have asked about his followers first before revealing everything. Welp.
Nishio instantly took over command. “Tamae-san, we need a wisdom buff! Miss Ellaine, we need an earthen dome! I’ll materialize—huh? Hestia-san?”
While I was impressed that Nishio was able to give out orders almost immediately, defensive orders weren’t needed right now.
“Nishio-san!” Ellaine—for the love of all that is cringe—called him to catch his attention. “Let Hestia-chan handle this; we need to prepare for the counter attack!”
Yameroooooo, Ellllllainnnne! (Stop, Ellaine!) You’re Peolyncian, you should not be using Japanese honorifics! You’re destroying my worldview!
While we were occupied with our squabbles, a miniature sun began to grow above Keith’s staff, growing larger and larger. “Oh, great pyro in the sky, shining bright upon the world. I call for your aid, to scorch the worlds of my enemies! Scorching Sun!”
The nostalgia. My favorite fire spell before I lost it.
“Hestia-chan!” The students called for me.
Oh, that’s right.
Stopping myself from continuing looking at Keith’s spell, I flapped my wings, spreading scale-dust around us until it surrounded everybody like a veil. I then cast the spell [Sanctuary] around us, materializing a bright dome of light for everybody’s protection. I stated, “Stay inside until the fire is gone” before I rushed out of the barrier, worried that the students didn’t know my skill set. There I stood before Keith.
“A custom light spell? I wanted to believe otherwise when I saw your white robe, but maybe I was too optimistic. I wanted to stop making mistakes that harmed my church. God Danterno and every fire mages deserve more respect! As a fire mage yourself, you should know this, right?”
“… Did you know Macklemor Talsyn?”
“Macklemor?” His voice cracked. “Y-yes, of course, I would. He … was one of my mistakes. I did not teach him well enough, I did not help him suppress his anger. Oh, the beauty of fire I showed him, but as his professor, his magic master, I failed him. The nobles forced his hand, but I couldn’t stop him in time. With his failure, I have made people’s opinion on fire mages even worse.”
I remembered the fire slinging bandit during Aurora’s first Quest. I remembered him despising killing people, although the laugh he had when he burned the wagon down really made me think he was a madman. I didn’t know who Macklemor was during his years at the royal academy, where he supposedly killed a noble with fire magic, but he seemed like a good kid who got himself in the wrong crowd.
He first met Keith, who gave him the power to do the crime, which probably angered the noble kid’s parents. He was probably sentenced to death but made it out, finding his way into that bandit crew. He was an avid Danterno believer, but he seemed like the only “upstanding” bandit among the people he traveled with.
It was a bit sad.
“I don’t care,” I replied to Keith’s heartful words. “I only know two fire spells, and those are [Ignite] and the custom spell your God ‘helped’ me make. Shiterno stripped me of all my fire spells and I haven’t been able to get the [Fire Mage] Job thanks to that. I am no fire mage. Would you like to know who I actually am? An idol.”
“‘An idol?’”
I raised my hand to the air. Now it was time for me to preach. “Yeah, an idol. A singer and dancer whose job is to entertain people! Even if your intentions are good, you are a threat to the many people I wish would hear my voice, Keith!”
Sadly, he didn’t take my little speech too well. “Tch! Then, become our flame’s sustenance, Priestess of Aurena!”
Keith threw the [Scorching Sun] at me but I didn’t blink. Artillery fire rained on us from every direction, showering the ground in ever burning explosions, destroying the land around us … but I didn’t blink.
As the dust settled, I could audibly hear Keith’s voice of bafflement, stuttering as he saw flames floating above my light barrier, undeterred and sentinel as they guarded Ellaine, the students, Quatre, and Talon from harm. However, I guess his biggest surprise was the fact that I came out of his [Scorching Sun] without a scratch.
After all, a small sun was nothing in front of a sunfang dragon.
With my high agility, I quickly closed the distance between the both of us and ripped off his left hand holding his staff. Keith screamed from the top of his lungs, sounding very much like the felgheists I’d fought before. Wanting no more trouble from this guy, I swiped both his staff and the red orb in his right hand and placed them into my storage for now.
When I did that, I also noticed a pouch on his belt, enlarged by the content inside it. After grabbing the bag and opening it up, I found the molten rock Grimnir was looking for. Figuring it shouldn’t count as stealing when this guy tried to kill us, I took it from him and placed it in my storage also.
Mission finished, Grimnir!
“I should kill you for endangering my party and me, but you are somebody else’s target,” I looked at Talon, still gripping onto his dagger as if it was glued onto him.
“Hehehe, maybe … maybe I am to be consumed today to finally atone for everything that I have done in my life. Maybe this is the only way forward … but my plans have been set in place. A favor to assure support for our church!” Trembling, he then pointed up with his remaining arm. “Urgh … the beautiful spider caged in this dungeon for her entire life, fending off anything that dares to harm the dungeon core, was set free by me.”
“What?”
“Our benefactor, he gave me that orb. An orb to enrage and empower the mighty fire monsters of this dungeon. To release the strongest rank B monster in this dungeon from her prison. It doesn’t matter how strong you are, for everybody is an ant before her Territory! The queen shall engulf this feeble land in an inferno, her kingdom will rise against the Griffon King! The ‘Rebellion Orb’ will bring about her ascension and the rise of her minions!”
Territory? What?
“Grigrigria!”
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Loud warning sounds erupted inside my head. Instinctively, I looked to the side and there I saw an acquaintance. White scales like snow, two carapace scale gauntlets, a slender bipedal form, and the head of a dragon with demonic horns.
The slazzigula!
Laughing as if it was happy to see me, the giant monster stretched its hand in front of it and challenged me with a “come and get me” hand motion. But before I could respond, a notification appeared in my head, one written by my “boss.”
A headache. I turned around to see the air rupture apart. The red orb belonging to Keith appeared first, held by a tanned slender arm a female model would have. When the air rupture closed, what came out of my storage wasn’t a woman, but the black orb I got from the onnikai Quest. The one Aurena wanted me to deliver to Griffonpeak.
The one that was supposedly sealed tightly … according to Aurena.
Ah … there is the flag.
AbyssRaven Oh no, I set the flag up!
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