“For a city designed with nobles traveling around on flying mounts, I guess having flying guards was to be expected. Good thing Svena warned us about it before I caused another incident.”
Tasianna giggled, nodding in agreement. “True. Regardless of your status, breaking the law constantly would create animosity with the local law enforcement, which could cause us trouble in the future. You must use your new ability to fly with care, my lady.”
As I looked around in the sky, the sight of various people riding on griffons, hippogryphs, gargoyles, and flying carriages came into view, either traversing the upper part of the city built on the mountain or landing in the lower city’s merchant district. In Artorias, flying mounts were plentiful, so Griffonpeak was built with this very thought in mind. Unlike Firwood and Cedaraille, the fantasy of a flying society was the most prominent in the kingdom’s capital.
As a consequence, law enforcers were needed for this flying traffic. Similar to how guards patrolled the ground or guarded gates for inspections, knights were also keeping the peace in the sky. It sounded weird for knights to do guard duty, but as most of the people flying around were nobles, being stopped by a knight, most of whom were nobles themselves, was more acceptable than being stopped by a “lowly guard.”
As I wanted to go to the temple today to speak with Saintess Eshe, Tasianna came along with me. Since she didn’t want to expose her fairy wings, I took to the skies while carrying her with [Unheiliger Engel]. After what happened with Ellaine and how I fed myself with it, the flexibility of this spell surprised even me.
While [Unheiliger Engel]’s normal form was a pair of purple slime wings, I could morph their shape and turn them into solid obsidian or a viscous liquid. Therefore, I turned the spell into a chair for Tasianna to sit on, using its levitating ability to carry her around as I flew with my scale-dust boosters and [Tailwind].
While we were leaving the noble district, a few knights stopped us at the gates, so we handed them our IDs. This district was the home of a bunch of nobles, so security had to be tight. While we were waiting, I noticed that one of the knights was somebody I’d met four days ago, back when I was arrested for trespassing Griffonpeak. When our eyes met, I couldn’t help but apologize again for disturbing their night.
“Ah, there is no need for an apology, Lady Shrine Maiden. We were simply doing our duty, haha,” the knight responded with a nervous laugh. I guess having Count Helvas barge in with a letter from the royal palace to release me without any consequence must have left quite an impression on him.
Anyways, after we got past the checkpoint, we landed a bit away from the temple, choosing to walk the remaining distance. There were two entrances to the temple, one for the nobles and the other for commoners. Since nobles entered theirs with carriages, we opted for the commoner entrance. It was too embarrassing to be the only one to stand out.
After arriving at the gate, Tasianna reminded me of something, “Lady Hestia, do not forget that Count Helvas planned to bring everybody from Aurora to the knight’s order’s building to register our IDs’ mana signal today. This should prevent any more issues flying in and out of the city, so please do not take too long. We also have to meet up with Miss Saori and register at the mage’s guild.”
Scheduling, scheduling. Well, that was how bureaucracy worked and this huge, peaceful, prosperous city wouldn’t survive without some order and annoying paperwork.
Then again, we also were hurrying since we wanted to be done with the annoying bits of our stay here after we had a party talk last night. I told Saori, Tasianna, and Grimnir everything about my meeting with Aurena and Kargryxmor, including the latter’s advice to me to keep the information a secret from outsiders. Ellaine wanted to tell her parents about it, but even she understood they would be obligated to inform the king, so she agreed to keep quiet for now.
As I expected, nobody was thrilled to hear who our enemies were or what they were up to. Saori herself couldn’t help but tremble at the idea that her students were working for the enemy, and what they were planning to do with them. Why did the demonkins summon her students to Peolynca? Neither Aurena nor Kargryxmor could answer this question, they only knew that the demonkins did it with the help of their otherworldly gods—the Origin Gods’ former acquaintances.
Currently, Aurora was just five people and four garms, that was it. Saori’s students and Yorshka were occupied with something else and, although we could inform them about everything, increasing our numbers by a couple more wouldn’t help our goals. We needed more allies, or if we couldn’t get more people, we needed to become so strong nothing could stand in our way. The Kargryxmor style, essentially.
For now, it was future Hestia’s issues.
As we passed relatively easily through the commoner entrance, I asked one of the grey-robed priests where the Saintess was. As he was stumbling on his words, looking anxious about answering my question, I instead asked him where High Bishop Theodore was, as I had a meeting with him. Thankfully, this seemed to be something the grey-robe could answer.
Making our way around the church with the grey-robe’s help, we did meet a few white-robes on our way. Considering I only needed to give them a generic greeting by praising Aurena and informing them that I came from Loatryx on a “pilgrimage” before they let me go, any rumors coming from Firwood or Cedaraille probably haven't made it to Griffonpeak yet. Thankfully.
After stopping at a door, the grey-robe rang a bell and informed whoever was behind the door about us. Without a single delay, we were let in and I gave my thanks to the grey-priest. Inside, the sight of a lilac-haired white-robe working on documents behind an office desk felt nostalgic.
Without dropping his mana pen, High Bishop Theodore greeted us, “Lady Hestia, I welcome you Griffonpeak’s cathedral once again. I apologize but I did not expect you to arrive today. Please, enjoy some tea and allow me some time to finish these documents.”
Overworked as always. The bags under his eyes are worrying.
His grey-robed attendant guided Tasianna and me to the couch before offering us a look into his tea leaf box. Tasianna, who knew my taste well, gave the attendant the instructions he needed, even informing him of how many spoonfuls of honey I wanted, how long the tea leaves should be boiled, and how much mana should be poured in without ruining the taste. It was baffling to hear how meticulously Tasianna made my tea, but I guess that was why it tasted so uniquely good to me.
“You have a refined taste, Lady Hestia. A tea connoisseur behind that fiery visage, I see,” Theodore praised me, although I had little to no input in how Tasianna made my tea. I thought I should speak up about it, but Tasianna stopped me with a proud smile.
Well, if Tasianna is happy about it, then there is no need to do anything.
The tea tasted almost as if Tasianna had made it herself, although it lacked that little “chillness” attached to it, probably since Tasianna’s didn’t pour her mana into it. Not surprisingly, seeing everything ensue, Theodore stopped writing for a moment and asked if he could taste some for himself.
“Mhmm, how pleasant,” Theodore murmured, causing his attendant to ask further questions on how to improve the recipe. As expected of Tasiann and her [Brewer] skill.
Once Theodore was finished with his work, he walked over to me and asked me to pray with him. “Good morning, Lady Hestia. May this auspicious RestDay bless you with brilliant light, and may you rest your weary body at the end of this week. On these sanctified grounds of the Goddess, allow me to pray with you in our Goddess honor.”
It was the standard greeting I have been giving to all the priests I met on my way here, even doing the whole praying part until I was sick of it. I was glad I learned the prayers from Manuela to fit in better with all these priests.
After we were done, Theodore bid his attendant to leave so we could speak in private, and asked me if I had read the Church of Aurena’s holy book, or just the bible, before. I told him I had read one when I stayed in Carine village, given to me by the local village chief. Giving me a nod, he then took out a book from his desk drawer and handed it over to me. It was another holy book, just thicker in size.
“There are two variants—the commercial one and the one given to the clergy. While the commercial book is intended to allow those outside the clergy to learn the Goddess’s tenets and the tales of her subordinate gods, the ones given to the clergy also acts as a grimoire,” Theodore then opened the book for me, pointing at a familiar-looking paragraph. “A newly welcomed white-robed is taught holy magic through this book. Similar to ordinary mages, a new white-robed must learn one of the easiest custom holy spells—[Apply Light]. After gaining the [Holy Magic] skill, they will learn—”
“This is the incantation for [Prayer] right? I already learned it with the other book when I first got to Artorias back then.”
“… Pardon?” He let out in bafflement, prompting me to explain I had deciphered this paragraph with the help of Master Kush. His exhausted lilac eyes widened so much it honestly looked like he was angry at me. “Well, your magic master is a depth priest, correct? He is a man of faith dedicated to Goddess Plesia, so it would make sense if he understood it. Ahem, but I find it fascinating you were able to decipher it through intuition. Did your world incorporate magic incantation into their holy text?”
“High Bishop, Earth did not have magic or mana. Also, I wasn’t much into religion since I was more preoccupied with my idol training than anything else, to the point it was more an obsession really,” I explained. “The reason why I thought it was an incantation was because the wording was conspicuous. Too magicky. If there were any other spells in the commercial holy book, then I haven’t found them yet.”
“… I have this feeling that your otherworldly mindset is the cause for this, but I cannot be sure. After all, these books are produced by scribes from Aureolis, and we haven’t had such an issue until now.” The bishop massaged his temples as I nodded to his statement, causing his expression to distort between impressed and slight fear. “Well, nothing is impossible when mortals can become divinity. A scribe might have made a mistake and it was overlooked, so I will send a notice of this to the holy city. Our cardinal should know, as well.”
“Our cardinal?” I asked.
“Do you know how the church hierarchy works, Lady Hestia? As a faith ruled primarily through human nobles, the system should be easy to understand if you are aware of the aristocracy.” Theodore then placed his hand on his chin, pausing, before continuing to speak. “Lady Hestia, I had promised to teach you about Her Holiness’s religion. Pray, tell me, would you have time to spare today?”
I explained what business I had with him, that I wanted to meet Saintess Eshe. Since it was still early in the morning, Theodore agreed to bring me to her later on, as she was currently not inside the cathedral. As such, I brought out a wooden slate and prepared myself to write information down like a good student.
First things first, the clergy system and the hierarchy of the church.
As I had already learned, the church was split between two types of priests—the grey-robes and the white-robes. Grey-robes were commoners or disgraced nobles who joined the clergy either by their own will or as a permanent punishment from their country, acting as servants or attendants for the white-robes. However, if a grey-robed were to show talent as a mage, those few chosen would be allowed to study with the white-robes to aid their future masters in their tasks.
“Their robes do not change, but they do receive an amulet with a catalyst in it for their magic casting.” He then pulled one out from his desk. Looking inside, there was actually only one there. “If a grey-robe is worthy, their master is obligated to train and commission their catalyst. To not do so would demand a punishment. Whether former royalty or nobility, the white-robe must follow the noble path paved by Erithia, Goddess of Wealth and Nobility.”
White-robed priests and shrine maidens were the core of any temple or church. While Theodore mentioned the church of Aurena was mostly managed by pious aristocrats, it was actually common for magically talented commoners to join their local temple for teachings. From lowly laborers to wealthy merchants, the church welcomed commoners and allowed them to take a more managerial role in the temple.
“Really? I’m pretty sure these white-robed commoners were mostly excluded by their noble clergymen. I met quite a few white-robed priests who became adventurers, and most of them were far more subservient than I expected,” I recalled.
“It is a possibility inside this system for commoners to rise up through the ranks, unlike in a kingdom where becoming a noble is an extremely rare occurrence. Yes, I do understand nobles would rather exclude a commoner from their circles, something my temple in Firwood is guilty of,” Theodore nodded. “However, it is not as if white-robed commoners are redundant. Nobles dislike mingling with farmers or joining sweaty, rowdy adventurers even after joining the clergy. Commoners are less squeamish and without them, there would be far fewer healers working with parties of hunters and mercenaries. Meanwhile, the reverse is also true. Even after joining the clergy and learning the appropriate etiquette, commoner priests often remain uncomfortable around nobles.”
Within the white-robed circles, there was also another division between the politically-minded priests and priestesses and the managerial shrine maidens. Shrine maidens and caretakers have made the decision to remove themselves from their temple’s political sphere, so there wasn’t a promotion path for them. Priests, on the other hand, could become bishops, high bishops or archbishops, cardinals, cardinal vicar, and possibly even the pope.
Moving forward, Theodore opened the holy book again. After he was done turning pages, he turned the book around and showed me three sentences. These were the Church of Aurena’s doctrines.
First—there is only one Chief amongst the Origin Gods, and that is the Goddess of Light, Miracles, Healing, and Kinship, Aurena.
Second—all subordinate gods of the Pantheon of Light are part of the Goddess of Light’s powers, as such, worshippers of one subordinate god must not diminish the faith of the others.
Third—the miracles of the Goddess must be shared with those with a gift for magic and the faith to support it. Unless a sinner, the white grace must be taught to others, for this is to honor the majesty of the Goddess.
Simple and understandable.
“The doctrines were written down and spread by the first apostles during the descent of the Origin Gods to our world. There, the Goddess’s whispers breathed new life into our world’s religious teachings, bringing together those of a similar mindset into a union we call today the Church of Aurena,” Theodore preached. “Her white graces and miracles gave us hope in those heretical times, for the demons had descended upon our world to shatter what happiness the Origin Gods brought. However, we have persevered with her teachings and these three doctrines.”
“I believe ‘whispers’ and ‘teachings’ must be the symbolism in her System spells, correct? Your ability to teach new followers magic without the need of elementals, correct?” Tasianna questioned Theodore.
“That is correct. Elementals were known before the advent of the Origin Gods as the most common way to learn how to channel the mana inside and outside our bodies. However, with the Divine System, we mortals are now able to harness the power of magic through simpler training. Is it not wonderful?” Theodore answered it with the mixed attitude of a teacher and priest. However, this seemingly only caused Tasianna to scowl at him.
“High Bishop Theodore … Goddess Aurena is not the chief Origin Goddess. That is the Goddess of Water, Plesia.” Tasianna raised her head up, displaying her amulet of Plesia with pride. “Even when I was still a follower of Goddess Zephira, it was widely known among the elves and fairies that Goddess Plesia is the true chief of the Origin Gods. She is the most powerful and influential.”
“Ah, I understand,” Theodore nodded understandingly. “I forgot both the Church of Plesia and the Church of Danterno both named their revered Origin God the one true leader, and for that, I must apologize. The doctrines of our churches aren’t always similar.”
“What? No, that’s not what I meant, High Bishop!” Tasianna raised her voice. “It is a fact, Goddess Aurena isn’t the chief goddess purely because Goddess Plesia’s power and influence is so widespread around the world, to the point the favors and prayers she receives far outweighs what Goddess Aurena receives. The oceans are far larger than the land!”
“However, how many of these followers actively pray and fight in their patron Goddess’ honor? While Goddess Plesia is widely prayed to daily by the people of Caedhul and any city or town with a port, Goddess Aurena is prayed to from here in Artorias to the far east of the empire. Even if Goddess Plesia has the most followers, the sheer dedication we show to ours far outweighs something like numbers. Quality over quantity, Tasianna.”
Tasianna clicked her tongue, irritation was covering her whole face like makeup. “Tch, you humans especially should not underestimate the power of numbers—”
Seeing as Tasianna was about to blow up, I forcibly intervened in the discussion before it exploded. For an ice mage, Tasianna sure could be hot-blooded at times. “I’m not here for a religious debate, everybody, please. Ahem, I just heard the church bells ring, your lecture has been quite long and informative. How about we continue this tomorrow or whenever it suits you?”
“As you wish, Lady Hestia,” Theodore said before standing up. “Before I make the schedule for your continued religious education, we should first go and speak with Lady Eshe. Allow me to call for a carriage.”
“Carriage? Oh, if it’s possible, how about I carry you over there?”
Waiting for some carriage to come over and then drive us to the saintess would have been comfy but, even after getting used to carriage seats, I still preferred walking or, in this case, flying. Grimnir’s RV was excluded since it felt more like a car than a medieval carriage.
While I had my wings out the whole time inside the church, hiding them inside my robe, Theodore hadn’t mentioned them although they were conspicuous as hell. I was keeping my wings together similar to how Kargryxmor did his by intertwining the spikes on the end to make a cape, so they made my silhouette bulkier than usual. When I finally pointed out that I could fly, Theodore finally understood my intentions but believed it inappropriate for me, a girl, to carry him, a man. I personally believe he was just embarrassed to be carried around in a princess carry, ha!
After casting [Unheiliger Engel] and showing my ability to turn it into two chairs, Theodore finally accepted my proposal. With Tasianna and Theodore sitting comfortably in them, I flew off using [Tailwind] and my boosters.
While Theodore was giving me directions, I also noticed this was the limit to how many people I could carry with this spell. I wasn’t sure why but using [Unheiliger Engel] to carry those two made it “heavier” for me to keep the spell levitating. Who knew spells had an encumbrance limit, right?
After some time observing people riding flying mounts and arvisians flying around the city, we finally arrived at a church-like building close to the entrance of the city, which was quite far away from the cathedral. Surrounding the building was a medium-sized garden and backyard enclosed by wooden gates where kids of various ages were playing around while others were helping out grey-robed priestesses with chores.
While observing them from the sky, I asked the High Bishop what this was.
“This is Griffonpeak’s orphanage, funded and maintained by the cathedral. Shrine maidens and grey-robes are stationed here to aid those parentless children who have chosen to put their future in the Goddess instead of living on the streets. Saintess Eshe is currently residing with the personnel of this small church-turned-orphanage.”
“Huh? ‘Residing?’ Why isn’t she staying at the cathedral like everybody else?”
“That is because Saintess Eshe wished for it personally. A commoner with plenty of talent as a mage who chose the life of a white-robed priestess and, unfortunately, had to take up the robe of a shrine maiden due to some temple drama in her home city, Sarkafiina. The ‘Saintess of Orphans,’ that is her title,” Theodore explained as we landed.
When the eyes of a few kids caught us, I decided to use [Humanize] to put away my wings, just to be sure I wouldn’t scare some of them. There were those below kindergarten age amongst them, after all.
“Hey, hey, look, a priest, a shrine maiden, and a pointy-ears are coming. Come on, make way, we shouldn’t disturb them.”
“Ooh, another shrine maiden? Is she joining Mother and the sisters? Why does she have a tail and horns?”
“What’ya think they are? She’s a beastman, not a human, are you blind? You see us every day.”
“Enough, come on, show some more respect, guys. If one of them is a noble, we’ll cause Mother and the sisters a lot of trouble.”
The squabbling of the kids was made through whispers but even whispers became audible for the human ear if everybody did it, let alone my [Idol]-enhanced hearing. Aside from their ages, there were also different types of beastman kids standing around. Well, there seemed like a nearly equal split between beastmen and humans on the way over here, so I guess it shouldn’t be weird to see these beastmen kids here.
After waving at them and handing one over a bowl of honey-glazed toffel chips, telling him to share, our group entered the orphanage. There, Saintess Eshe’s male guard was waiting at the entrance like a watchdog. Seeing me, he quickly understood what our purpose was and led us into the kitchen, where a brown-skinned woman wearing a white-red robe was cooking something with a few other shrine maidens.
It was Saintess Eshe.
“Oh, Lady Hestia! High Bishop Theodore!” Eshe noticed us after her knight, Alikar—I believe—addressed her. As a result, the shrine maidens working with her had to curtsy to greet the High Bishop. “I wish you two well on this auspicious RestDay. I hope it has allowed you to recuperate from your weary labors.”
Theodore bowed to Eshe’s curtsy before speaking on my behalf. “Thank you, Lady Eshe, I would say this day has found me well,” Theodore said with baggy eyes. “May the Goddess’s light bless your path forward on this peaceful day. Pray, would it be fine if we had some of your time now? I believe you and Lady Hestia must talk?”
After delegating her cooking duties to the other shrine maidens, Saintess Eshe led us to her room while Sir Alikar returned to his post while Dame Anivh, Eshe’s second knight, followed us. Once inside, Eshe asked if we wanted any tea but we declined as we didn’t want to take up too much of her time.
Eshe’s room wasn’t in any way grandiose; in fact, it was kept pretty simple with the bare necessities. Unlike the High Bishop’s office, which was filled with books and manatech, her room reminded me of the vow of poverty monks and nuns used to take during the medieval time.
Once we were seated, I talked first. “First, thank you very much for your help four days ago, Saintess Eshe.”
“Oh, there is no need, Champion Hestia. I did what the Goddess instructed me to do, so you must give your thanks to her for guiding us on that fateful night,” she responded, causing me to smile awkwardly.
Well, she isn’t wrong. Aurena did give me direct instructions and expedited Ellaine’s recovery.
She continued, “If it isn’t rude to ask, may I learn what you spoke about with Goddess Aurena on that night?”
Hmm, I should probably listen to Kargryxmor. I shouldn’t reveal about the demonkins for now, so let’s give some white lies.
Excluding any information Aurena or Kargryxmor told me about the actions of the demonkin, I began telling Eshe a gist of what I did in Aurena’s heavenly domain. That she managed to help Ellaine with her problem, while not mentioning Klea’Hatma, that Aurena had ordered Eshe to come over to Artorias to support me in my Quest, and to reiterate my Divine Quest.
Once I was finished with my retelling of the events, both Eshe and Theodore looked at me in wonder. Eshe’s azure blue eyes closed as she smiled, looking ecstatic as she gave a small prayer. “Oh, Goddess Aurena, I thank you for your kind words. I shall do my utmost to support Lady Hestia.”
Once her eyes opened, she asked me with youthful curiosity what my Divine Quest was. Since I was following Kargryxmor’s advice on this matter, I was wondering what I should say but the answer was already on the tip of my tongue. “Being her first idol.”
Eshe’s curiosity quickly turned into confusion at my remark, looking over at Theodore to see if he knew what I was speaking about. Fortunately for her, he already knew. “… Lady Hestia, are you possibly speaking about that singing idea you spoke to me about?”
“Ah, High Bishop Theodore, it’s not just singing, it’s also dancing!” I then asked Eshe if the room was soundproof, which she denied. I was a bit worried somebody might eavesdrop on us, so I asked Tasianna to cast an [Air Shield] around us after getting Lady Anivh’s permission. “An idol! You two already know I’m an otherworlder, right? That I was reincarnated to Peolynca by Goddess Aurena to become her champion, right?”
They nodded.
“My dream on Earth was to become an idol, an entertainer who sang and danced in front of millions of people through our world’s technology. Goddess Aurena’s quest for me was to act on this ambition of mine, to travel around the world and perform idol concerts to garner followers and to reinforce the Church of Aurena!” With how Aurena told me to garner more followers, this was one objective I had to fulfill.
I gave the confused Eshe and bewildered Theodore a quick summary of what idols did on Earth, telling them of the fantastic shows I managed to experience live. Once they got a good enough picture of what I meant, I proceeded to ask them for help. I have only performed two concerts in Peolynca, which wasn’t nearly enough if you asked me. As a result, my follower count was stagnating.
Now, Saori and I have been talking about this topic for a while now. There were two goals we wanted to fulfill while we were in Griffonpeak—first, it was to get some support from the church to promote these concerts since I was a Champion, and, secondly, it was to perform in front of nobles. Performing before commoners was nice and so on, but if we really wanted to spread the word, we also needed nobles attending my concerts.
I had an idea how to solve the second issue, but for the first one, I needed Theodore and Eshe.
“That sounds wonderful, Lady Hestia. You would have my support.” Gaining Eshe’s support was easy but Theodore frowned as he thought about it.
As I was worried he would decline, he had something entirely different to say, “Lady Hestia, I don’t see any issues with supporting your idea but this will probably take some time to sort out, especially since the cardinal managing Artorias’s Church of Aurena is a hard man to ask favors from.”
“If he isn’t willing to support the idea then it’ll be annoying, but it’s not like he can stop me from performing, right? I am a champion and even Lady Eshe is supporting me. He can’t say much.”
However, my bold statement didn’t sway Theodore very much, who was still looking conflicted on the issue. “I will try my best to persuade him.”
Once done, I was about to thank them for their time and say my goodbyes, but Theodore stopped me. He informed Lady Eshe that I had little information on how the church worked and asked her to work with him in educating me. Eshe was reminded at this moment that Aurena had asked her to teach me about the Empire, since I would need a more complete picture of how the human world functioned outside Artorias.
After spending some time working out a schedule, it was agreed upon that I should find some time every day up to the royal ball in two weeks so they could pound all the information into my head as soon and fast as possible. This would ensure I would learn the most important parts.
After leaving the orphanage, Tasianna and I moved to the mage’s guild with the help of a few guards, where we found Saori waiting for us.
Master Kush, I will make sure to register this time.
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“For a city designed with nobles traveling around on flying mounts, I guess having flying guards was to be expected. Good thing Svena warned us about it before I caused another incident.”
Tasianna giggled, nodding in agreement. “True. Regardless of your status, breaking the law constantly would create animosity with the local law enforcement, which could cause us trouble in the future. You must use your new ability to fly with care, my lady.”
As I looked around in the sky, the sight of various people riding on griffons, hippogryphs, gargoyles, and flying carriages came into view, either traversing the upper part of the city built on the mountain or landing in the lower city’s merchant district. In Artorias, flying mounts were plentiful, so Griffonpeak was built with this very thought in mind. Unlike Firwood and Cedaraille, the fantasy of a flying society was the most prominent in the kingdom’s capital.
As a consequence, law enforcers were needed for this flying traffic. Similar to how guards patrolled the ground or guarded gates for inspections, knights were also keeping the peace in the sky. It sounded weird for knights to do guard duty, but as most of the people flying around were nobles, being stopped by a knight, most of whom were nobles themselves, was more acceptable than being stopped by a “lowly guard.”
As I wanted to go to the temple today to speak with Saintess Eshe, Tasianna came along with me. Since she didn’t want to expose her fairy wings, I took to the skies while carrying her with [Unheiliger Engel]. After what happened with Ellaine and how I fed myself with it, the flexibility of this spell surprised even me.
While [Unheiliger Engel]’s normal form was a pair of purple slime wings, I could morph their shape and turn them into solid obsidian or a viscous liquid. Therefore, I turned the spell into a chair for Tasianna to sit on, using its levitating ability to carry her around as I flew with my scale-dust boosters and [Tailwind].
While we were leaving the noble district, a few knights stopped us at the gates, so we handed them our IDs. This district was the home of a bunch of nobles, so security had to be tight. While we were waiting, I noticed that one of the knights was somebody I’d met four days ago, back when I was arrested for trespassing Griffonpeak. When our eyes met, I couldn’t help but apologize again for disturbing their night.
“Ah, there is no need for an apology, Lady Shrine Maiden. We were simply doing our duty, haha,” the knight responded with a nervous laugh. I guess having Count Helvas barge in with a letter from the royal palace to release me without any consequence must have left quite an impression on him.
Anyways, after we got past the checkpoint, we landed a bit away from the temple, choosing to walk the remaining distance. There were two entrances to the temple, one for the nobles and the other for commoners. Since nobles entered theirs with carriages, we opted for the commoner entrance. It was too embarrassing to be the only one to stand out.
After arriving at the gate, Tasianna reminded me of something, “Lady Hestia, do not forget that Count Helvas planned to bring everybody from Aurora to the knight’s order’s building to register our IDs’ mana signal today. This should prevent any more issues flying in and out of the city, so please do not take too long. We also have to meet up with Miss Saori and register at the mage’s guild.”
Scheduling, scheduling. Well, that was how bureaucracy worked and this huge, peaceful, prosperous city wouldn’t survive without some order and annoying paperwork.
Then again, we also were hurrying since we wanted to be done with the annoying bits of our stay here after we had a party talk last night. I told Saori, Tasianna, and Grimnir everything about my meeting with Aurena and Kargryxmor, including the latter’s advice to me to keep the information a secret from outsiders. Ellaine wanted to tell her parents about it, but even she understood they would be obligated to inform the king, so she agreed to keep quiet for now.
As I expected, nobody was thrilled to hear who our enemies were or what they were up to. Saori herself couldn’t help but tremble at the idea that her students were working for the enemy, and what they were planning to do with them. Why did the demonkins summon her students to Peolynca? Neither Aurena nor Kargryxmor could answer this question, they only knew that the demonkins did it with the help of their otherworldly gods—the Origin Gods’ former acquaintances.
Currently, Aurora was just five people and four garms, that was it. Saori’s students and Yorshka were occupied with something else and, although we could inform them about everything, increasing our numbers by a couple more wouldn’t help our goals. We needed more allies, or if we couldn’t get more people, we needed to become so strong nothing could stand in our way. The Kargryxmor style, essentially.
For now, it was future Hestia’s issues.
As we passed relatively easily through the commoner entrance, I asked one of the grey-robed priests where the Saintess was. As he was stumbling on his words, looking anxious about answering my question, I instead asked him where High Bishop Theodore was, as I had a meeting with him. Thankfully, this seemed to be something the grey-robe could answer.
Making our way around the church with the grey-robe’s help, we did meet a few white-robes on our way. Considering I only needed to give them a generic greeting by praising Aurena and informing them that I came from Loatryx on a “pilgrimage” before they let me go, any rumors coming from Firwood or Cedaraille probably haven't made it to Griffonpeak yet. Thankfully.
After stopping at a door, the grey-robe rang a bell and informed whoever was behind the door about us. Without a single delay, we were let in and I gave my thanks to the grey-priest. Inside, the sight of a lilac-haired white-robe working on documents behind an office desk felt nostalgic.
Without dropping his mana pen, High Bishop Theodore greeted us, “Lady Hestia, I welcome you Griffonpeak’s cathedral once again. I apologize but I did not expect you to arrive today. Please, enjoy some tea and allow me some time to finish these documents.”
Overworked as always. The bags under his eyes are worrying.
His grey-robed attendant guided Tasianna and me to the couch before offering us a look into his tea leaf box. Tasianna, who knew my taste well, gave the attendant the instructions he needed, even informing him of how many spoonfuls of honey I wanted, how long the tea leaves should be boiled, and how much mana should be poured in without ruining the taste. It was baffling to hear how meticulously Tasianna made my tea, but I guess that was why it tasted so uniquely good to me.
“You have a refined taste, Lady Hestia. A tea connoisseur behind that fiery visage, I see,” Theodore praised me, although I had little to no input in how Tasianna made my tea. I thought I should speak up about it, but Tasianna stopped me with a proud smile.
Well, if Tasianna is happy about it, then there is no need to do anything.
The tea tasted almost as if Tasianna had made it herself, although it lacked that little “chillness” attached to it, probably since Tasianna’s didn’t pour her mana into it. Not surprisingly, seeing everything ensue, Theodore stopped writing for a moment and asked if he could taste some for himself.
“Mhmm, how pleasant,” Theodore murmured, causing his attendant to ask further questions on how to improve the recipe. As expected of Tasiann and her [Brewer] skill.
Once Theodore was finished with his work, he walked over to me and asked me to pray with him. “Good morning, Lady Hestia. May this auspicious RestDay bless you with brilliant light, and may you rest your weary body at the end of this week. On these sanctified grounds of the Goddess, allow me to pray with you in our Goddess honor.”
It was the standard greeting I have been giving to all the priests I met on my way here, even doing the whole praying part until I was sick of it. I was glad I learned the prayers from Manuela to fit in better with all these priests.
After we were done, Theodore bid his attendant to leave so we could speak in private, and asked me if I had read the Church of Aurena’s holy book, or just the bible, before. I told him I had read one when I stayed in Carine village, given to me by the local village chief. Giving me a nod, he then took out a book from his desk drawer and handed it over to me. It was another holy book, just thicker in size.
“There are two variants—the commercial one and the one given to the clergy. While the commercial book is intended to allow those outside the clergy to learn the Goddess’s tenets and the tales of her subordinate gods, the ones given to the clergy also acts as a grimoire,” Theodore then opened the book for me, pointing at a familiar-looking paragraph. “A newly welcomed white-robed is taught holy magic through this book. Similar to ordinary mages, a new white-robed must learn one of the easiest custom holy spells—[Apply Light]. After gaining the [Holy Magic] skill, they will learn—”
“This is the incantation for [Prayer] right? I already learned it with the other book when I first got to Artorias back then.”
“… Pardon?” He let out in bafflement, prompting me to explain I had deciphered this paragraph with the help of Master Kush. His exhausted lilac eyes widened so much it honestly looked like he was angry at me. “Well, your magic master is a depth priest, correct? He is a man of faith dedicated to Goddess Plesia, so it would make sense if he understood it. Ahem, but I find it fascinating you were able to decipher it through intuition. Did your world incorporate magic incantation into their holy text?”
“High Bishop, Earth did not have magic or mana. Also, I wasn’t much into religion since I was more preoccupied with my idol training than anything else, to the point it was more an obsession really,” I explained. “The reason why I thought it was an incantation was because the wording was conspicuous. Too magicky. If there were any other spells in the commercial holy book, then I haven’t found them yet.”
“… I have this feeling that your otherworldly mindset is the cause for this, but I cannot be sure. After all, these books are produced by scribes from Aureolis, and we haven’t had such an issue until now.” The bishop massaged his temples as I nodded to his statement, causing his expression to distort between impressed and slight fear. “Well, nothing is impossible when mortals can become divinity. A scribe might have made a mistake and it was overlooked, so I will send a notice of this to the holy city. Our cardinal should know, as well.”
“Our cardinal?” I asked.
“Do you know how the church hierarchy works, Lady Hestia? As a faith ruled primarily through human nobles, the system should be easy to understand if you are aware of the aristocracy.” Theodore then placed his hand on his chin, pausing, before continuing to speak. “Lady Hestia, I had promised to teach you about Her Holiness’s religion. Pray, tell me, would you have time to spare today?”
I explained what business I had with him, that I wanted to meet Saintess Eshe. Since it was still early in the morning, Theodore agreed to bring me to her later on, as she was currently not inside the cathedral. As such, I brought out a wooden slate and prepared myself to write information down like a good student.
First things first, the clergy system and the hierarchy of the church.
As I had already learned, the church was split between two types of priests—the grey-robes and the white-robes. Grey-robes were commoners or disgraced nobles who joined the clergy either by their own will or as a permanent punishment from their country, acting as servants or attendants for the white-robes. However, if a grey-robed were to show talent as a mage, those few chosen would be allowed to study with the white-robes to aid their future masters in their tasks.
“Their robes do not change, but they do receive an amulet with a catalyst in it for their magic casting.” He then pulled one out from his desk. Looking inside, there was actually only one there. “If a grey-robe is worthy, their master is obligated to train and commission their catalyst. To not do so would demand a punishment. Whether former royalty or nobility, the white-robe must follow the noble path paved by Erithia, Goddess of Wealth and Nobility.”
White-robed priests and shrine maidens were the core of any temple or church. While Theodore mentioned the church of Aurena was mostly managed by pious aristocrats, it was actually common for magically talented commoners to join their local temple for teachings. From lowly laborers to wealthy merchants, the church welcomed commoners and allowed them to take a more managerial role in the temple.
“Really? I’m pretty sure these white-robed commoners were mostly excluded by their noble clergymen. I met quite a few white-robed priests who became adventurers, and most of them were far more subservient than I expected,” I recalled.
“It is a possibility inside this system for commoners to rise up through the ranks, unlike in a kingdom where becoming a noble is an extremely rare occurrence. Yes, I do understand nobles would rather exclude a commoner from their circles, something my temple in Firwood is guilty of,” Theodore nodded. “However, it is not as if white-robed commoners are redundant. Nobles dislike mingling with farmers or joining sweaty, rowdy adventurers even after joining the clergy. Commoners are less squeamish and without them, there would be far fewer healers working with parties of hunters and mercenaries. Meanwhile, the reverse is also true. Even after joining the clergy and learning the appropriate etiquette, commoner priests often remain uncomfortable around nobles.”
Within the white-robed circles, there was also another division between the politically-minded priests and priestesses and the managerial shrine maidens. Shrine maidens and caretakers have made the decision to remove themselves from their temple’s political sphere, so there wasn’t a promotion path for them. Priests, on the other hand, could become bishops, high bishops or archbishops, cardinals, cardinal vicar, and possibly even the pope.
Moving forward, Theodore opened the holy book again. After he was done turning pages, he turned the book around and showed me three sentences. These were the Church of Aurena’s doctrines.
First—there is only one Chief amongst the Origin Gods, and that is the Goddess of Light, Miracles, Healing, and Kinship, Aurena.
Second—all subordinate gods of the Pantheon of Light are part of the Goddess of Light’s powers, as such, worshippers of one subordinate god must not diminish the faith of the others.
Third—the miracles of the Goddess must be shared with those with a gift for magic and the faith to support it. Unless a sinner, the white grace must be taught to others, for this is to honor the majesty of the Goddess.
Simple and understandable.
“The doctrines were written down and spread by the first apostles during the descent of the Origin Gods to our world. There, the Goddess’s whispers breathed new life into our world’s religious teachings, bringing together those of a similar mindset into a union we call today the Church of Aurena,” Theodore preached. “Her white graces and miracles gave us hope in those heretical times, for the demons had descended upon our world to shatter what happiness the Origin Gods brought. However, we have persevered with her teachings and these three doctrines.”
“I believe ‘whispers’ and ‘teachings’ must be the symbolism in her System spells, correct? Your ability to teach new followers magic without the need of elementals, correct?” Tasianna questioned Theodore.
“That is correct. Elementals were known before the advent of the Origin Gods as the most common way to learn how to channel the mana inside and outside our bodies. However, with the Divine System, we mortals are now able to harness the power of magic through simpler training. Is it not wonderful?” Theodore answered it with the mixed attitude of a teacher and priest. However, this seemingly only caused Tasianna to scowl at him.
“High Bishop Theodore … Goddess Aurena is not the chief Origin Goddess. That is the Goddess of Water, Plesia.” Tasianna raised her head up, displaying her amulet of Plesia with pride. “Even when I was still a follower of Goddess Zephira, it was widely known among the elves and fairies that Goddess Plesia is the true chief of the Origin Gods. She is the most powerful and influential.”
“Ah, I understand,” Theodore nodded understandingly. “I forgot both the Church of Plesia and the Church of Danterno both named their revered Origin God the one true leader, and for that, I must apologize. The doctrines of our churches aren’t always similar.”
“What? No, that’s not what I meant, High Bishop!” Tasianna raised her voice. “It is a fact, Goddess Aurena isn’t the chief goddess purely because Goddess Plesia’s power and influence is so widespread around the world, to the point the favors and prayers she receives far outweighs what Goddess Aurena receives. The oceans are far larger than the land!”
“However, how many of these followers actively pray and fight in their patron Goddess’ honor? While Goddess Plesia is widely prayed to daily by the people of Caedhul and any city or town with a port, Goddess Aurena is prayed to from here in Artorias to the far east of the empire. Even if Goddess Plesia has the most followers, the sheer dedication we show to ours far outweighs something like numbers. Quality over quantity, Tasianna.”
Tasianna clicked her tongue, irritation was covering her whole face like makeup. “Tch, you humans especially should not underestimate the power of numbers—”
Seeing as Tasianna was about to blow up, I forcibly intervened in the discussion before it exploded. For an ice mage, Tasianna sure could be hot-blooded at times. “I’m not here for a religious debate, everybody, please. Ahem, I just heard the church bells ring, your lecture has been quite long and informative. How about we continue this tomorrow or whenever it suits you?”
“As you wish, Lady Hestia,” Theodore said before standing up. “Before I make the schedule for your continued religious education, we should first go and speak with Lady Eshe. Allow me to call for a carriage.”
“Carriage? Oh, if it’s possible, how about I carry you over there?”
Waiting for some carriage to come over and then drive us to the saintess would have been comfy but, even after getting used to carriage seats, I still preferred walking or, in this case, flying. Grimnir’s RV was excluded since it felt more like a car than a medieval carriage.
While I had my wings out the whole time inside the church, hiding them inside my robe, Theodore hadn’t mentioned them although they were conspicuous as hell. I was keeping my wings together similar to how Kargryxmor did his by intertwining the spikes on the end to make a cape, so they made my silhouette bulkier than usual. When I finally pointed out that I could fly, Theodore finally understood my intentions but believed it inappropriate for me, a girl, to carry him, a man. I personally believe he was just embarrassed to be carried around in a princess carry, ha!
After casting [Unheiliger Engel] and showing my ability to turn it into two chairs, Theodore finally accepted my proposal. With Tasianna and Theodore sitting comfortably in them, I flew off using [Tailwind] and my boosters.
While Theodore was giving me directions, I also noticed this was the limit to how many people I could carry with this spell. I wasn’t sure why but using [Unheiliger Engel] to carry those two made it “heavier” for me to keep the spell levitating. Who knew spells had an encumbrance limit, right?
After some time observing people riding flying mounts and arvisians flying around the city, we finally arrived at a church-like building close to the entrance of the city, which was quite far away from the cathedral. Surrounding the building was a medium-sized garden and backyard enclosed by wooden gates where kids of various ages were playing around while others were helping out grey-robed priestesses with chores.
While observing them from the sky, I asked the High Bishop what this was.
“This is Griffonpeak’s orphanage, funded and maintained by the cathedral. Shrine maidens and grey-robes are stationed here to aid those parentless children who have chosen to put their future in the Goddess instead of living on the streets. Saintess Eshe is currently residing with the personnel of this small church-turned-orphanage.”
“Huh? ‘Residing?’ Why isn’t she staying at the cathedral like everybody else?”
“That is because Saintess Eshe wished for it personally. A commoner with plenty of talent as a mage who chose the life of a white-robed priestess and, unfortunately, had to take up the robe of a shrine maiden due to some temple drama in her home city, Sarkafiina. The ‘Saintess of Orphans,’ that is her title,” Theodore explained as we landed.
When the eyes of a few kids caught us, I decided to use [Humanize] to put away my wings, just to be sure I wouldn’t scare some of them. There were those below kindergarten age amongst them, after all.
“Hey, hey, look, a priest, a shrine maiden, and a pointy-ears are coming. Come on, make way, we shouldn’t disturb them.”
“Ooh, another shrine maiden? Is she joining Mother and the sisters? Why does she have a tail and horns?”
“What’ya think they are? She’s a beastman, not a human, are you blind? You see us every day.”
“Enough, come on, show some more respect, guys. If one of them is a noble, we’ll cause Mother and the sisters a lot of trouble.”
The squabbling of the kids was made through whispers but even whispers became audible for the human ear if everybody did it, let alone my [Idol]-enhanced hearing. Aside from their ages, there were also different types of beastman kids standing around. Well, there seemed like a nearly equal split between beastmen and humans on the way over here, so I guess it shouldn’t be weird to see these beastmen kids here.
After waving at them and handing one over a bowl of honey-glazed toffel chips, telling him to share, our group entered the orphanage. There, Saintess Eshe’s male guard was waiting at the entrance like a watchdog. Seeing me, he quickly understood what our purpose was and led us into the kitchen, where a brown-skinned woman wearing a white-red robe was cooking something with a few other shrine maidens.
It was Saintess Eshe.
“Oh, Lady Hestia! High Bishop Theodore!” Eshe noticed us after her knight, Alikar—I believe—addressed her. As a result, the shrine maidens working with her had to curtsy to greet the High Bishop. “I wish you two well on this auspicious RestDay. I hope it has allowed you to recuperate from your weary labors.”
Theodore bowed to Eshe’s curtsy before speaking on my behalf. “Thank you, Lady Eshe, I would say this day has found me well,” Theodore said with baggy eyes. “May the Goddess’s light bless your path forward on this peaceful day. Pray, would it be fine if we had some of your time now? I believe you and Lady Hestia must talk?”
After delegating her cooking duties to the other shrine maidens, Saintess Eshe led us to her room while Sir Alikar returned to his post while Dame Anivh, Eshe’s second knight, followed us. Once inside, Eshe asked if we wanted any tea but we declined as we didn’t want to take up too much of her time.
Eshe’s room wasn’t in any way grandiose; in fact, it was kept pretty simple with the bare necessities. Unlike the High Bishop’s office, which was filled with books and manatech, her room reminded me of the vow of poverty monks and nuns used to take during the medieval time.
Once we were seated, I talked first. “First, thank you very much for your help four days ago, Saintess Eshe.”
“Oh, there is no need, Champion Hestia. I did what the Goddess instructed me to do, so you must give your thanks to her for guiding us on that fateful night,” she responded, causing me to smile awkwardly.
Well, she isn’t wrong. Aurena did give me direct instructions and expedited Ellaine’s recovery.
She continued, “If it isn’t rude to ask, may I learn what you spoke about with Goddess Aurena on that night?”
Hmm, I should probably listen to Kargryxmor. I shouldn’t reveal about the demonkins for now, so let’s give some white lies.
Excluding any information Aurena or Kargryxmor told me about the actions of the demonkin, I began telling Eshe a gist of what I did in Aurena’s heavenly domain. That she managed to help Ellaine with her problem, while not mentioning Klea’Hatma, that Aurena had ordered Eshe to come over to Artorias to support me in my Quest, and to reiterate my Divine Quest.
Once I was finished with my retelling of the events, both Eshe and Theodore looked at me in wonder. Eshe’s azure blue eyes closed as she smiled, looking ecstatic as she gave a small prayer. “Oh, Goddess Aurena, I thank you for your kind words. I shall do my utmost to support Lady Hestia.”
Once her eyes opened, she asked me with youthful curiosity what my Divine Quest was. Since I was following Kargryxmor’s advice on this matter, I was wondering what I should say but the answer was already on the tip of my tongue. “Being her first idol.”
Eshe’s curiosity quickly turned into confusion at my remark, looking over at Theodore to see if he knew what I was speaking about. Fortunately for her, he already knew. “… Lady Hestia, are you possibly speaking about that singing idea you spoke to me about?”
“Ah, High Bishop Theodore, it’s not just singing, it’s also dancing!” I then asked Eshe if the room was soundproof, which she denied. I was a bit worried somebody might eavesdrop on us, so I asked Tasianna to cast an [Air Shield] around us after getting Lady Anivh’s permission. “An idol! You two already know I’m an otherworlder, right? That I was reincarnated to Peolynca by Goddess Aurena to become her champion, right?”
They nodded.
“My dream on Earth was to become an idol, an entertainer who sang and danced in front of millions of people through our world’s technology. Goddess Aurena’s quest for me was to act on this ambition of mine, to travel around the world and perform idol concerts to garner followers and to reinforce the Church of Aurena!” With how Aurena told me to garner more followers, this was one objective I had to fulfill.
I gave the confused Eshe and bewildered Theodore a quick summary of what idols did on Earth, telling them of the fantastic shows I managed to experience live. Once they got a good enough picture of what I meant, I proceeded to ask them for help. I have only performed two concerts in Peolynca, which wasn’t nearly enough if you asked me. As a result, my follower count was stagnating.
Now, Saori and I have been talking about this topic for a while now. There were two goals we wanted to fulfill while we were in Griffonpeak—first, it was to get some support from the church to promote these concerts since I was a Champion, and, secondly, it was to perform in front of nobles. Performing before commoners was nice and so on, but if we really wanted to spread the word, we also needed nobles attending my concerts.
I had an idea how to solve the second issue, but for the first one, I needed Theodore and Eshe.
“That sounds wonderful, Lady Hestia. You would have my support.” Gaining Eshe’s support was easy but Theodore frowned as he thought about it.
As I was worried he would decline, he had something entirely different to say, “Lady Hestia, I don’t see any issues with supporting your idea but this will probably take some time to sort out, especially since the cardinal managing Artorias’s Church of Aurena is a hard man to ask favors from.”
“If he isn’t willing to support the idea then it’ll be annoying, but it’s not like he can stop me from performing, right? I am a champion and even Lady Eshe is supporting me. He can’t say much.”
However, my bold statement didn’t sway Theodore very much, who was still looking conflicted on the issue. “I will try my best to persuade him.”
Once done, I was about to thank them for their time and say my goodbyes, but Theodore stopped me. He informed Lady Eshe that I had little information on how the church worked and asked her to work with him in educating me. Eshe was reminded at this moment that Aurena had asked her to teach me about the Empire, since I would need a more complete picture of how the human world functioned outside Artorias.
After spending some time working out a schedule, it was agreed upon that I should find some time every day up to the royal ball in two weeks so they could pound all the information into my head as soon and fast as possible. This would ensure I would learn the most important parts.
After leaving the orphanage, Tasianna and I moved to the mage’s guild with the help of a few guards, where we found Saori waiting for us.
Master Kush, I will make sure to register this time.
AbyssRaven Hestia and Eshe!
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