Considering that she doesn’t have all her tools in this medieval world, it turned out pretty well.
“So? How was it, Nagata-kun?” The person responsible for my meal asked me for my opinion. Respecting my mealtime, she kept to herself while I was eating, but after eating half of it, her glittering eyes were demanding me to answer, pressuring me as the one who fed me.
“Well, to be honest, it was pretty good.” I couldn’t help but smile, tasting nostalgia right on my tongue. “But I still need to ask something, Tsuji-san.”
I was currently eating in a private dining hall, reserved for us heroes only. It was currently empty, as it was a bit past lunchtime, except for the people I was sitting at a table with.
To my side, my ever-faithful best friend, Kyouya Ishigami. Sitting on the opposite side to me, was Aiko Hasebe, and next to her sat the girl who made me this meal, Tamae Tsuji. Also known as “Miss Rep,” as she was our former female class representative.
“The food from the church’s chefs was already pretty good, so why are you doing it?" I continued after Tsuji-san gave a nod to my request.
“Well, doesn’t it bring back memories? Nostalgia from Earth?” Tsuji further added, grinning as I shrunk a bit, thinking she somehow read my mind. “I also wanted to work with the ingredients in this world. Despite looking the same, all their equivalents have different tastes, methods to prepare, and just, in general, they spark my inner chef~”
Tsuji was the daughter of a couple who owned a high-end restaurant, so it was not surprising that their daughter also showed interest in cooking. I never had the chance to try her cooking, but she frequently brought cupcakes and other pastries to class, so I knew she had talent.
Now I knew she was fucking legit.
“Ah, your cooking is good, Tama-chan, but I really wish you’d go back to baking. Nothing beats your sponge cakes!” Hasebe began talking after I was done giving my opinion.
“Urgh, Ai-chan, saying it like that actually hurts my chef’s pride. I’ll forgive you, but only because you helped me get the chance to cook in the first place.” She made an over-dramatic stab to the heart pose, trying to make her friend feel bad.
However, Hasebe just gave a cutesy apology and giggled, before resuming speaking. “Ahh, don’t worry about that. It feels good to be able to use my authority as a saint candidate to help the class out. Haaaaaa, finally, honestly. It took such a long time to impress those robed geezers.”
Hasebe reminded me with her words of that time she told me she nearly died from getting [Holy Magic Lv. 1]. I hadn’t asked her ever since, but from she was implying, she trained enough to impress the bishops and cardinals, where she could use her status as a saint candidate to ask the church to allow Tsuji in the kitchen.
We were initially only served cooking from the church’s chefs, who all formerly worked for nobles. No wonder their dishes tasted pretty decent, completely going against my expectations of medieval food being bland and boring. After all, our food had to be fit for “heroes.”
Still, it was obvious to anybody they did this only to maintain control and favorability with us. I still found the church shady, but it wasn’t like I could say “Please, stop feeding us good food! We distrust you!”
“Tsuji-san.” I called out Miss Rep’s name to attract her attention away from the bantering between her and Hasebe. “Thanks for the food. Sorry for having you make more just for me.”
Both girls looked at each other and chuckled. Thinking that this was her chance to speak to me, Hasebe spoke. “Well, if you’d only come a bit earlier, we wouldn’t have to serve you in the first place, Mister Training Addict.”
I could only moan at my own incompetence.
It has been three months now since my whole class was summoned into this medieval, fantasy world. Two months, if you only counted the time when I started training properly. Hasebe giving me a taste of those coffee-tasting leaves reinvigorated me, giving me the motivation to finally train properly, only so I could earn enough money to buy those leaves from the church.
I was actually so filled with energy that I couldn’t do anything but train. It seemed my addiction for coffee was temporarily replaced with training my stats and skills, to the point I sometimes lost track of time and forgot to eat.
This world didn't have any clocks, so we were reliant on the ringing of bells to determine the time of day. Every hour, the bell would ring, as the priests told me, determined by the bell-bearer’s hourglass. It was supposedly calculated with the positioning of the sun, so I really couldn’t argue against it or anything.
And since it was hard to listen to the bell whilst immersed in my sweat and the beating of my heart, I often missed lunch and dinner. Our meals were scheduled by the church, which meant if you came late, you would get the cold leftovers or nothing at all.
Hasebe, as a saint candidate, would have probably received something warm, even if she came late, but me? I had to sleep hungry a couple times.
Trying my best not to look at Hasebe’s smirking face, I tried to change the subject. “A-Anyways, Hasebe-san, I…” However, before I could continue speaking, she pushed her open palm into my face, prompting me to stop talking.
“No, no. We already went through this, Tatsuya-kun. Drop the formality and just call me Aiko.” She pulled back her hand and then crossed her arms, looking a bit displeased that I called her by her family name. “Just like Kyouya-kun, we’ve been riding the same train for three years now, and you have not called me by my first name once. I think it’s time you do that, with how you’re making me help you with training. You should be happy and proud that a girl allows you to use her first name, hmph!” With her eyes closed, she smirked, proudly waiting for me to obey her wish.
“… Aiko.” She cackled when I caved in.
Very saint-like…
Watching us pull this comedic stunt, Tsuji could only give out an exasperated sigh, before explaining the real reason why there was still something warm for me to eat.
To explain this, I had to understand the church of Aurena’s hierarchy.
The culture of this world had been influenced by the availability of magic and mana, and only those who have studied and gained skills like [Mana Control] and [Arcane Mind] could cast spells and control mana. The whole foundation of this church was based on their deity, the Goddess of Light, Aurena, and the usage of her elemental affinity, the holy element.
The clergy was, therefore, divided into two separate categories: the pure white-robed priests, priestesses, and shrine maidens who could cast spells, and the gray-robed priests and priestesses attended them like servants.
The upper echelon, the white robes, were further divided into those who were nobles by birth and commoners with magical talent. While they, fundamentally, have the same privileges, duties, and respect, their status during meetings was different, according to Aiko. Official matters were almost always determined by the noble-born priests
The difference in influence and power was even apparent in their robes. A noble’s robes were detailed and extravagant like Aiko’s saint candidate robe, having golden embroidery. Whereas, the robes of the commoner-born priest were by default plain white, only having fancy embroidery or other fine details if they were rich enough to commission additions.
It was the same thing with the chefs cooking our meals. They were hired by the noble-born group as personal chefs.. Since they weren’t nobles in-name while inside the church, the chefs were only working for the “humble clergy.”
Now with that explained, what were the gray-robed priests and priestesses? They were, essentially, servants and attendants of the white-robed clergy members. They work and assist them in their duties which could range from personal to church work. For their servitude, these gray robes were granted food and a personal quarter.
I was told not all gray-robed priests had a master. Some were master-less and were required to live and sleep in the orphanage, the place where the majority of gray-robes came from. Yup, all gray robes were either orphans who have been raised into clergy members by the church, or were willing or unwilling volunteers.
Now, where did these gray robes get their food? “Master-less” gray robes were given alms in the form of the leftovers from the meals of white-robed priests and their entourage. Whatever we heroes couldn’t eat was also given to them.
I asked the two girls how they knew this as nobody told me about it. They plainly said “That’s because you never pay attention,” injuring my ego, before telling me they just asked a white-robed shrine maiden about it.
Aiko just told me she reached [Holy Magic Lv. 3], stunning the trained mages and clergymen with her rapid progress. The mentioned white-robed was actually a noblewoman who temporarily joined the church to learn [Holy Magic], and due to love for magic, decided to support Aiko as she was enamored by her growth and the fact she came from Earth.
As a result, that shrine maiden became Aiko’s lady-in-waiting. She would follow her anywhere possible; she was even waiting outside our dining room right now, sitting on a chair and sipping tea, being attended by her gray-robeds.
That woman is even waving at us, now! I stared blankly at her.
Aiko was used to having people attend to her, naturally as she was the daughter of a conglomerate owner, so she felt it normal to just ask that woman about most of the inner workings and culture of the church. We were barely told any of this information officially, so our whole class knew these facts only from Aiko…well, besides me, until now.
It really went to show how different this world’s culture was. The gods rule the different magic elements, so everybody in this world was a believer of some god, especially the mages and clergy. You showed some talent in magic and you were instantly respected by your “peers.”
Tch, if only I had learned that earlier.
After Aiko finished her lecture, Tsuji-san clapped her hands together to signify a change in topics. “Anyway, you’re finished, right, Nagata-kun?”
I looked down at my plate, confirming everything was empty, raised my head and said yes.
"Cool. Well, if you boys would excuse us, Ai-chan and I need to deliver the remaining food to the orphanage."
“Wait, Tama-chan.” Tsuji stood up, ready to leave, but was halted by Aiko. “Did you forget what we wanted to ask him?”
“Oh, yeah!” Sitting back down, Tsuji looked at me and spoke. “Nagata-kun, which party did you join?”
Party?
“Wait, there was a party?! Oh, come on! I may not be attentive lately, but you guys could at least invite me. I seriously wouldn’t have minded going wild to unwind a bit.” I felt a bit betrayed by my own classmates. I might not get along with everybody but having fun with the few I was spending time with would have been awesome.
The girls looked at me in confusion, tilting their heads at my answer, before simultaneously facepalming themselves. They briefly exchanged stares, and then directed their gaze at Kyouya, who had been silent the whole time. As if it was peer pressure, I promptly turned my head to the side to see that Kyouya was giving a wry smile while averting his eyes from the combined gazes of three people.
Covering their faces with their hands, the girls shook their heads in exasperation.
“Duuude, did you forget to tell him?”
“Ishigami-kun, what the hell have you been doing!”
Kyouya was visibly flustered when both girls shouted in unison. He was waving his hands in front of himself, stalling for time to figure out what to say. “W-Wait, you two. I was planning to tell him, eventually. Honest!”
Tell me? Tell me what?
“Tell me what?” I raised my hand to stop the girls from grilling Kyouya.
Massaging her forehead, Aiko was the first one to speak up. “We’re talking about the parties that we’re supposed to join. The teams.”
“The church wanted us to form parties of five because they are planning to bring us to a place to, uh, ‘level up,’ was the word? Nearly everybody is in a team already, and Ishigami-kun was supposed to tell you before it came to this point.”
My head snapped back to the side. My eyes were wide opened, glaring at my supposed “friend” denying me much needed information! I wanted a party so I could finally level up, but this asshole just ditched me for another group?!
“You bastard.” I spoke in a low, growling voice. “Are you trying to sabotage me again, huh? Like that time you literally stole all my kills in that one game?! Better cough up, otherwise I’ll make sure to beat your ass up with my spear!”
"Hehe… eh?" Just a moment ago, Kyouya was looking like he was about to apologize but his personality just did a 180. His previously awkward looking smile transformed into a smirk, showing his annoying competitive side. "Haha, how about you try gaining some muscles first, twig. The last time you hit me with that stick of yours, you barely did any damage."
“Psh, you should be thankful that I held back, you backstabber! I should turn you into swiss cheese for ditching me for another team.”
“Ha! As if anybody wanted to be with you in the first place. You were so bad; I just wasn’t in the mood to stomp your fragile ego after you just got yourself back up. Come on, aim that spear of yours at me and my shield will block it all. I can already hear the ding, ding, ding; the sound of ‘gg ez.’”
Invisible flames rose up from our body, clashing against each other as we continued exchanging verbal threats and abuses, fully unleashing our competitive spirits to one-up each other. Sparks began to flicker as the intensity of our toxic quarrel grew to the point that none of us had the composure to remember why we started this argument in the first place, eventually culminating into our loss of self-control.
We couldn’t restrain ourselves anymore, our willingness to settle this on the battlefield emerged.
“Put on your armor and get your gear. We’re settling this grudge at the training field!” he stated, pounding his hands on the table to push himself up.
“Fine by me, you trash. I can’t wait to pierce your heart with my spear!” I jumped up from my seat, glaring daggers at him.
However, as we were about to leave the dining room, two high-pitched voices stopped us in our tracks. ““Will you guys stop this already!””
We visibly shrunk down when we heard both Tsuji and Aiko shout at us.
“Nagata-kun, you misunderstood. Ishigami-kun only forgot to tell you about the parties, but he hasn’t joined one yet.” Tsuji gave a sigh in resignation after saying that, shaking her head in exasperation.
“Yeah, in fact, my party wanted him to join but he declined because my party leader didn’t want you.” She pointed her finger at me, suggesting I was the reason for Kyouya’s team-less situation.
Hearing the girls say those things cleared up most of my anger towards Kyouya. My wrath-filled eyes vanished, replaced by a sense of admiration and respect.
Both of us dropped our grudges and exchanged high-fives and then transitioned them into a handshake, the clap sound caused by this gesture echoed throughout the hall.
“You scumbag.” I jokingly said while a small tear rolled down my eye, totally overwhelmed by the loyalty shown by my best friend.
“I’ll always have your back, man.” He gave off a smile that was radiant enough to blind me.
““Ohh, geez…””
On the sidelines, the girls looked like they were in pain as they massaged their temples. I could also hear Tsuji-san mumble, "That's a friendship between guys, I guess."
“Ok, before we derail this whole thing again.” Aiko was waving her hand to catch our attention. “You guys do know that out of the five possible five-man parties, four have already been registered. You boys are telling me that you aren’t part of any of these four?!”
Reminded why we even had that quarrel in the first place, I glared at Kyouya, forcing him to speak. “I-I didn’t think everything would have gone by that fast. They only announced it last week, so I thought we still had enough time.”
We all looked visibly annoyed at Kyouya’s idiotic mistake. I even released my hand from his, ending our “bro” moment. I scratched my head and sat back down, asking for Aiko to explain everything to me.
Aiko raised one finger. “In one month, the knights will bring us to a dungeon filled with low-ranked ‘monsters,’ as they call them. They want us to gain some levels to improve our strength and also have us gain skill points, so we can spend them in the skill shop.”
As we haven’t killed a single monster yet, we were all only level 0 without any SP. Being an [Otherworldly Visitor], I had access to buying and upgrading skills using a resource called skill points. I was curious about the skill shop, and I found a few skills I wanted to buy but without SP, I couldn’t.
“As I am a saint candidate, and also the person with the highest magical skill level, I was automatically assigned to the party belonging to the person with the [Hero] title.” Aiko said with a proud smile as she bragged about herself.
“… Tch, that asshole Akanishi, huh? Yeah, we wouldn’t have gotten along.” Aiko nodded to my statement.
Takuma Akanishi, the current holder of the [Hero] title and 100% certified arrogant asshole. He was the stereotypical rich kid who could act all pretentious as hell, just because his father was earning a lot of money. His ego was so over-inflated, during our second meeting together he immediately tried to vote himself in as the “leader” while we were in this world. Purely because he was considered a [Hero] by the System.
I felt bad for Aiko but even I could see the reason for why this would be the best choice. Fantasy stories always paired the Saint with the Hero, and Aiko was the only one among us with a level three magic skill.
I heard from Tsuji she wasn’t able to learn an elemental magic skill yet, despite practicing day and night on it. She was complaining how her unique skill was useless, causing her instructors to chide her for not giving enough effort despite supposedly having affinity for magic casting.
Signs of stress were showing in her ears, perfectly hidden behind her joy with cooking. Although Tsuji wasn’t the most academically gifted, she was still around my level. She became one of our class representatives because she liked working with people and taking responsibility. If she was saying she was working hard, but the results weren’t showing, then I believed her.
After we comforted her a bit, Aiko went back to the previous topic. “Akanishi-san really wanted Kyouya-kun to join us, as he has the best defensive unique skill among our classmates. However, he outright declined after he learned that you two were a package deal.”
"You're the fucking man, Kyouya." I fist-bumped him, thanking him for standing up for me. Kyouya just gave a proud, “I know.”
Once we were done, Aiko continued, “Tama-chan founded a party with Kudo-kun, so we knew you two weren’t in theirs.”
Nishio Kudo was our male class representative. Wherever Tsuji went, four-eyes would follow her like a duckling. Not to a stalker’s level, but he was a big simp.
Aiko then raised three fingers.“A third party was formed by Yuuko-chan, although she didn’t tell me who her party members were. However, doing some eliminations in my head, I can figure out who they are after learning you two aren’t in a party. Which leaves us with the party made by Akabane-san. I don’t think it’s presumptuous of me to believe that you weren’t even interested in joining his party in the first place, right?”
“Daisy? That fucker can go to hell.” I clicked my tongue and turned my head away, now biting my nails in annoyance.
“Daisy” wasn’t this guy’s real name. Daisy was literally a nickname I gave him just so I could trash talk him without trying. Ironically, I had to learn the kanji of his name before I could do it. One of his kanji was “Orchid” so I thought “Daisy,” the name of a weak flower, would be the best way to insult that dick.
If Akanishi was a spoiled asshole, then Daisy was the true definition of a piece of shit. Due to his father’s reputation as a jerk and the most influential prosecutor in the whole of Japan, Daisy seemed to have developed a superiority complex. He was literally one of the few students our homeroom teacher Segawa-sensei wouldn't even dare scold, as his father could ruin her career.
That said a lot, since our school was backed by rich investors, who probably knew the parents of the school’s students personally. To the school, attacking one of its teachers meant attacking the reputation of the school itself.
“You really shouldn’t say that when he’s around,” Aiko said in exasperation, holding her head in one hand, rubbing her hand on her face.
“Ai-chan is right. You should have realized even before our “one-way trip” to this world that his mood has been terrible for a month already. I don’t know what caused it, but the stress has even turned most of his hair white,” Tsuji added, but it only made my mood worse as I had to think of him.
“Yeah, dude.” Even Kyouya pitched in to dissuade me from looking for a fight with Daisy. “Just avoid him completely. Now that his party is formed, he’ll be able to power-up his already strong posse. My old man told me that his father would backstab you in a heartbeat if it meant he could win a case. Dunno if Akabane would follow in his father’s footsteps, but he’s grouchy enough to make me worried.”
I didn’t care if his mood had gotten worse or not. It really didn’t matter to me. To me, this person was an enemy, somebody I could never get along with, even if it meant our lives. For what his father did to my mother, I couldn’t forgive that prosecutor bastard ever, but even after I begged Daisy for him to help me, he just outright refused my plea right in my face.
As if I wasn’t worth his time. Like father, like son, in my opinion.
“I’ll avoid him just because I can’t stand his face.” However, I was also scared of him. Being one of the best students at our school, who could know what that tainted mind could think of?
Everybody gave a collected sigh of relief when I said those words. As a way to change the subject, Aiko made an exaggerated “surprise” face as if she just remembered something.
“That’s right. You two! Since you both are party-less, you pretty much have to form a party with our remaining classmates, right? Only three left, if I guess correctly. Haruka-chan doesn’t have a party yet!”
Haruka Sakamoto, the youngest girl in our class at the age of 16. I didn’t know much about her as she seemed to be quite reserved besides when she talked with the other girls in our class. The only thing I did know was that her father did business with Kyouya’s and mine.
Tsuji-san further added. “You guys will have to protect her, ok? You two seem “normal” enough so don’t let anything happen to her, especially with your two remaining members.”
“Uhh, alright?” I agreed to Aiko’s and Tsuji-san’s requests kinda reluctantly. “Who are our remaining party members though?”
The two girls looked displeased when I wanted them to tell me who my other teammates were.
“The first is that perverted sycophant, Daichi Mikami. He somehow was the fourth fastest when it came to learning an elemental magic skill. He’s starting to really creep me out with all the fire he’s playing around, you know?” Aiko shivered a bit.
“Well, at least he managed to do so… The church was pretty happy with his progress.” Tsuji looked at it with a more envious perspective.
Since I didn’t want her to be sad again, I asked them who the last person was.
“The other is Asaka Hanazawa.” Aiko’s frown deepened as her displeasure grew more and more. “The other holder of the [Saint Candidate] title and Miss ‘Go fuck yourselves’ Delinquent.”
AbyssRaven
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Considering that she doesn’t have all her tools in this medieval world, it turned out pretty well.
“So? How was it, Nagata-kun?” The person responsible for my meal asked me for my opinion. Respecting my mealtime, she kept to herself while I was eating, but after eating half of it, her glittering eyes were demanding me to answer, pressuring me as the one who fed me.
“Well, to be honest, it was pretty good.” I couldn’t help but smile, tasting nostalgia right on my tongue. “But I still need to ask something, Tsuji-san.”
I was currently eating in a private dining hall, reserved for us heroes only. It was currently empty, as it was a bit past lunchtime, except for the people I was sitting at a table with.
To my side, my ever-faithful best friend, Kyouya Ishigami. Sitting on the opposite side to me, was Aiko Hasebe, and next to her sat the girl who made me this meal, Tamae Tsuji. Also known as “Miss Rep,” as she was our former female class representative.
“The food from the church’s chefs was already pretty good, so why are you doing it?" I continued after Tsuji-san gave a nod to my request.
“Well, doesn’t it bring back memories? Nostalgia from Earth?” Tsuji further added, grinning as I shrunk a bit, thinking she somehow read my mind. “I also wanted to work with the ingredients in this world. Despite looking the same, all their equivalents have different tastes, methods to prepare, and just, in general, they spark my inner chef~”
Tsuji was the daughter of a couple who owned a high-end restaurant, so it was not surprising that their daughter also showed interest in cooking. I never had the chance to try her cooking, but she frequently brought cupcakes and other pastries to class, so I knew she had talent.
Now I knew she was fucking legit.
“Ah, your cooking is good, Tama-chan, but I really wish you’d go back to baking. Nothing beats your sponge cakes!” Hasebe began talking after I was done giving my opinion.
“Urgh, Ai-chan, saying it like that actually hurts my chef’s pride. I’ll forgive you, but only because you helped me get the chance to cook in the first place.” She made an over-dramatic stab to the heart pose, trying to make her friend feel bad.
However, Hasebe just gave a cutesy apology and giggled, before resuming speaking. “Ahh, don’t worry about that. It feels good to be able to use my authority as a saint candidate to help the class out. Haaaaaa, finally, honestly. It took such a long time to impress those robed geezers.”
Hasebe reminded me with her words of that time she told me she nearly died from getting [Holy Magic Lv. 1]. I hadn’t asked her ever since, but from she was implying, she trained enough to impress the bishops and cardinals, where she could use her status as a saint candidate to ask the church to allow Tsuji in the kitchen.
We were initially only served cooking from the church’s chefs, who all formerly worked for nobles. No wonder their dishes tasted pretty decent, completely going against my expectations of medieval food being bland and boring. After all, our food had to be fit for “heroes.”
Still, it was obvious to anybody they did this only to maintain control and favorability with us. I still found the church shady, but it wasn’t like I could say “Please, stop feeding us good food! We distrust you!”
“Tsuji-san.” I called out Miss Rep’s name to attract her attention away from the bantering between her and Hasebe. “Thanks for the food. Sorry for having you make more just for me.”
Both girls looked at each other and chuckled. Thinking that this was her chance to speak to me, Hasebe spoke. “Well, if you’d only come a bit earlier, we wouldn’t have to serve you in the first place, Mister Training Addict.”
I could only moan at my own incompetence.
It has been three months now since my whole class was summoned into this medieval, fantasy world. Two months, if you only counted the time when I started training properly. Hasebe giving me a taste of those coffee-tasting leaves reinvigorated me, giving me the motivation to finally train properly, only so I could earn enough money to buy those leaves from the church.
I was actually so filled with energy that I couldn’t do anything but train. It seemed my addiction for coffee was temporarily replaced with training my stats and skills, to the point I sometimes lost track of time and forgot to eat.
This world didn't have any clocks, so we were reliant on the ringing of bells to determine the time of day. Every hour, the bell would ring, as the priests told me, determined by the bell-bearer’s hourglass. It was supposedly calculated with the positioning of the sun, so I really couldn’t argue against it or anything.
And since it was hard to listen to the bell whilst immersed in my sweat and the beating of my heart, I often missed lunch and dinner. Our meals were scheduled by the church, which meant if you came late, you would get the cold leftovers or nothing at all.
Hasebe, as a saint candidate, would have probably received something warm, even if she came late, but me? I had to sleep hungry a couple times.
Trying my best not to look at Hasebe’s smirking face, I tried to change the subject. “A-Anyways, Hasebe-san, I…” However, before I could continue speaking, she pushed her open palm into my face, prompting me to stop talking.
“No, no. We already went through this, Tatsuya-kun. Drop the formality and just call me Aiko.” She pulled back her hand and then crossed her arms, looking a bit displeased that I called her by her family name. “Just like Kyouya-kun, we’ve been riding the same train for three years now, and you have not called me by my first name once. I think it’s time you do that, with how you’re making me help you with training. You should be happy and proud that a girl allows you to use her first name, hmph!” With her eyes closed, she smirked, proudly waiting for me to obey her wish.
“… Aiko.” She cackled when I caved in.
Very saint-like…
Watching us pull this comedic stunt, Tsuji could only give out an exasperated sigh, before explaining the real reason why there was still something warm for me to eat.
To explain this, I had to understand the church of Aurena’s hierarchy.
The culture of this world had been influenced by the availability of magic and mana, and only those who have studied and gained skills like [Mana Control] and [Arcane Mind] could cast spells and control mana. The whole foundation of this church was based on their deity, the Goddess of Light, Aurena, and the usage of her elemental affinity, the holy element.
The clergy was, therefore, divided into two separate categories: the pure white-robed priests, priestesses, and shrine maidens who could cast spells, and the gray-robed priests and priestesses attended them like servants.
The upper echelon, the white robes, were further divided into those who were nobles by birth and commoners with magical talent. While they, fundamentally, have the same privileges, duties, and respect, their status during meetings was different, according to Aiko. Official matters were almost always determined by the noble-born priests
The difference in influence and power was even apparent in their robes. A noble’s robes were detailed and extravagant like Aiko’s saint candidate robe, having golden embroidery. Whereas, the robes of the commoner-born priest were by default plain white, only having fancy embroidery or other fine details if they were rich enough to commission additions.
It was the same thing with the chefs cooking our meals. They were hired by the noble-born group as personal chefs.. Since they weren’t nobles in-name while inside the church, the chefs were only working for the “humble clergy.”
Now with that explained, what were the gray-robed priests and priestesses? They were, essentially, servants and attendants of the white-robed clergy members. They work and assist them in their duties which could range from personal to church work. For their servitude, these gray robes were granted food and a personal quarter.
I was told not all gray-robed priests had a master. Some were master-less and were required to live and sleep in the orphanage, the place where the majority of gray-robes came from. Yup, all gray robes were either orphans who have been raised into clergy members by the church, or were willing or unwilling volunteers.
Now, where did these gray robes get their food? “Master-less” gray robes were given alms in the form of the leftovers from the meals of white-robed priests and their entourage. Whatever we heroes couldn’t eat was also given to them.
I asked the two girls how they knew this as nobody told me about it. They plainly said “That’s because you never pay attention,” injuring my ego, before telling me they just asked a white-robed shrine maiden about it.
Aiko just told me she reached [Holy Magic Lv. 3], stunning the trained mages and clergymen with her rapid progress. The mentioned white-robed was actually a noblewoman who temporarily joined the church to learn [Holy Magic], and due to love for magic, decided to support Aiko as she was enamored by her growth and the fact she came from Earth.
As a result, that shrine maiden became Aiko’s lady-in-waiting. She would follow her anywhere possible; she was even waiting outside our dining room right now, sitting on a chair and sipping tea, being attended by her gray-robeds.
That woman is even waving at us, now! I stared blankly at her.
Aiko was used to having people attend to her, naturally as she was the daughter of a conglomerate owner, so she felt it normal to just ask that woman about most of the inner workings and culture of the church. We were barely told any of this information officially, so our whole class knew these facts only from Aiko…well, besides me, until now.
It really went to show how different this world’s culture was. The gods rule the different magic elements, so everybody in this world was a believer of some god, especially the mages and clergy. You showed some talent in magic and you were instantly respected by your “peers.”
Tch, if only I had learned that earlier.
After Aiko finished her lecture, Tsuji-san clapped her hands together to signify a change in topics. “Anyway, you’re finished, right, Nagata-kun?”
I looked down at my plate, confirming everything was empty, raised my head and said yes.
"Cool. Well, if you boys would excuse us, Ai-chan and I need to deliver the remaining food to the orphanage."
“Wait, Tama-chan.” Tsuji stood up, ready to leave, but was halted by Aiko. “Did you forget what we wanted to ask him?”
“Oh, yeah!” Sitting back down, Tsuji looked at me and spoke. “Nagata-kun, which party did you join?”
Party?
“Wait, there was a party?! Oh, come on! I may not be attentive lately, but you guys could at least invite me. I seriously wouldn’t have minded going wild to unwind a bit.” I felt a bit betrayed by my own classmates. I might not get along with everybody but having fun with the few I was spending time with would have been awesome.
The girls looked at me in confusion, tilting their heads at my answer, before simultaneously facepalming themselves. They briefly exchanged stares, and then directed their gaze at Kyouya, who had been silent the whole time. As if it was peer pressure, I promptly turned my head to the side to see that Kyouya was giving a wry smile while averting his eyes from the combined gazes of three people.
Covering their faces with their hands, the girls shook their heads in exasperation.
“Duuude, did you forget to tell him?”
“Ishigami-kun, what the hell have you been doing!”
Kyouya was visibly flustered when both girls shouted in unison. He was waving his hands in front of himself, stalling for time to figure out what to say. “W-Wait, you two. I was planning to tell him, eventually. Honest!”
Tell me? Tell me what?
“Tell me what?” I raised my hand to stop the girls from grilling Kyouya.
Massaging her forehead, Aiko was the first one to speak up. “We’re talking about the parties that we’re supposed to join. The teams.”
“The church wanted us to form parties of five because they are planning to bring us to a place to, uh, ‘level up,’ was the word? Nearly everybody is in a team already, and Ishigami-kun was supposed to tell you before it came to this point.”
My head snapped back to the side. My eyes were wide opened, glaring at my supposed “friend” denying me much needed information! I wanted a party so I could finally level up, but this asshole just ditched me for another group?!
“You bastard.” I spoke in a low, growling voice. “Are you trying to sabotage me again, huh? Like that time you literally stole all my kills in that one game?! Better cough up, otherwise I’ll make sure to beat your ass up with my spear!”
"Hehe… eh?" Just a moment ago, Kyouya was looking like he was about to apologize but his personality just did a 180. His previously awkward looking smile transformed into a smirk, showing his annoying competitive side. "Haha, how about you try gaining some muscles first, twig. The last time you hit me with that stick of yours, you barely did any damage."
“Psh, you should be thankful that I held back, you backstabber! I should turn you into swiss cheese for ditching me for another team.”
“Ha! As if anybody wanted to be with you in the first place. You were so bad; I just wasn’t in the mood to stomp your fragile ego after you just got yourself back up. Come on, aim that spear of yours at me and my shield will block it all. I can already hear the ding, ding, ding; the sound of ‘gg ez.’”
Invisible flames rose up from our body, clashing against each other as we continued exchanging verbal threats and abuses, fully unleashing our competitive spirits to one-up each other. Sparks began to flicker as the intensity of our toxic quarrel grew to the point that none of us had the composure to remember why we started this argument in the first place, eventually culminating into our loss of self-control.
We couldn’t restrain ourselves anymore, our willingness to settle this on the battlefield emerged.
“Put on your armor and get your gear. We’re settling this grudge at the training field!” he stated, pounding his hands on the table to push himself up.
“Fine by me, you trash. I can’t wait to pierce your heart with my spear!” I jumped up from my seat, glaring daggers at him.
However, as we were about to leave the dining room, two high-pitched voices stopped us in our tracks. ““Will you guys stop this already!””
We visibly shrunk down when we heard both Tsuji and Aiko shout at us.
“Nagata-kun, you misunderstood. Ishigami-kun only forgot to tell you about the parties, but he hasn’t joined one yet.” Tsuji gave a sigh in resignation after saying that, shaking her head in exasperation.
“Yeah, in fact, my party wanted him to join but he declined because my party leader didn’t want you.” She pointed her finger at me, suggesting I was the reason for Kyouya’s team-less situation.
Hearing the girls say those things cleared up most of my anger towards Kyouya. My wrath-filled eyes vanished, replaced by a sense of admiration and respect.
Both of us dropped our grudges and exchanged high-fives and then transitioned them into a handshake, the clap sound caused by this gesture echoed throughout the hall.
“You scumbag.” I jokingly said while a small tear rolled down my eye, totally overwhelmed by the loyalty shown by my best friend.
“I’ll always have your back, man.” He gave off a smile that was radiant enough to blind me.
““Ohh, geez…””
On the sidelines, the girls looked like they were in pain as they massaged their temples. I could also hear Tsuji-san mumble, "That's a friendship between guys, I guess."
“Ok, before we derail this whole thing again.” Aiko was waving her hand to catch our attention. “You guys do know that out of the five possible five-man parties, four have already been registered. You boys are telling me that you aren’t part of any of these four?!”
Reminded why we even had that quarrel in the first place, I glared at Kyouya, forcing him to speak. “I-I didn’t think everything would have gone by that fast. They only announced it last week, so I thought we still had enough time.”
We all looked visibly annoyed at Kyouya’s idiotic mistake. I even released my hand from his, ending our “bro” moment. I scratched my head and sat back down, asking for Aiko to explain everything to me.
Aiko raised one finger. “In one month, the knights will bring us to a dungeon filled with low-ranked ‘monsters,’ as they call them. They want us to gain some levels to improve our strength and also have us gain skill points, so we can spend them in the skill shop.”
As we haven’t killed a single monster yet, we were all only level 0 without any SP. Being an [Otherworldly Visitor], I had access to buying and upgrading skills using a resource called skill points. I was curious about the skill shop, and I found a few skills I wanted to buy but without SP, I couldn’t.
“As I am a saint candidate, and also the person with the highest magical skill level, I was automatically assigned to the party belonging to the person with the [Hero] title.” Aiko said with a proud smile as she bragged about herself.
“… Tch, that asshole Akanishi, huh? Yeah, we wouldn’t have gotten along.” Aiko nodded to my statement.
Takuma Akanishi, the current holder of the [Hero] title and 100% certified arrogant asshole. He was the stereotypical rich kid who could act all pretentious as hell, just because his father was earning a lot of money. His ego was so over-inflated, during our second meeting together he immediately tried to vote himself in as the “leader” while we were in this world. Purely because he was considered a [Hero] by the System.
I felt bad for Aiko but even I could see the reason for why this would be the best choice. Fantasy stories always paired the Saint with the Hero, and Aiko was the only one among us with a level three magic skill.
I heard from Tsuji she wasn’t able to learn an elemental magic skill yet, despite practicing day and night on it. She was complaining how her unique skill was useless, causing her instructors to chide her for not giving enough effort despite supposedly having affinity for magic casting.
Signs of stress were showing in her ears, perfectly hidden behind her joy with cooking. Although Tsuji wasn’t the most academically gifted, she was still around my level. She became one of our class representatives because she liked working with people and taking responsibility. If she was saying she was working hard, but the results weren’t showing, then I believed her.
After we comforted her a bit, Aiko went back to the previous topic. “Akanishi-san really wanted Kyouya-kun to join us, as he has the best defensive unique skill among our classmates. However, he outright declined after he learned that you two were a package deal.”
"You're the fucking man, Kyouya." I fist-bumped him, thanking him for standing up for me. Kyouya just gave a proud, “I know.”
Once we were done, Aiko continued, “Tama-chan founded a party with Kudo-kun, so we knew you two weren’t in theirs.”
Nishio Kudo was our male class representative. Wherever Tsuji went, four-eyes would follow her like a duckling. Not to a stalker’s level, but he was a big simp.
Aiko then raised three fingers.“A third party was formed by Yuuko-chan, although she didn’t tell me who her party members were. However, doing some eliminations in my head, I can figure out who they are after learning you two aren’t in a party. Which leaves us with the party made by Akabane-san. I don’t think it’s presumptuous of me to believe that you weren’t even interested in joining his party in the first place, right?”
“Daisy? That fucker can go to hell.” I clicked my tongue and turned my head away, now biting my nails in annoyance.
“Daisy” wasn’t this guy’s real name. Daisy was literally a nickname I gave him just so I could trash talk him without trying. Ironically, I had to learn the kanji of his name before I could do it. One of his kanji was “Orchid” so I thought “Daisy,” the name of a weak flower, would be the best way to insult that dick.
If Akanishi was a spoiled asshole, then Daisy was the true definition of a piece of shit. Due to his father’s reputation as a jerk and the most influential prosecutor in the whole of Japan, Daisy seemed to have developed a superiority complex. He was literally one of the few students our homeroom teacher Segawa-sensei wouldn't even dare scold, as his father could ruin her career.
That said a lot, since our school was backed by rich investors, who probably knew the parents of the school’s students personally. To the school, attacking one of its teachers meant attacking the reputation of the school itself.
“You really shouldn’t say that when he’s around,” Aiko said in exasperation, holding her head in one hand, rubbing her hand on her face.
“Ai-chan is right. You should have realized even before our “one-way trip” to this world that his mood has been terrible for a month already. I don’t know what caused it, but the stress has even turned most of his hair white,” Tsuji added, but it only made my mood worse as I had to think of him.
“Yeah, dude.” Even Kyouya pitched in to dissuade me from looking for a fight with Daisy. “Just avoid him completely. Now that his party is formed, he’ll be able to power-up his already strong posse. My old man told me that his father would backstab you in a heartbeat if it meant he could win a case. Dunno if Akabane would follow in his father’s footsteps, but he’s grouchy enough to make me worried.”
I didn’t care if his mood had gotten worse or not. It really didn’t matter to me. To me, this person was an enemy, somebody I could never get along with, even if it meant our lives. For what his father did to my mother, I couldn’t forgive that prosecutor bastard ever, but even after I begged Daisy for him to help me, he just outright refused my plea right in my face.
As if I wasn’t worth his time. Like father, like son, in my opinion.
“I’ll avoid him just because I can’t stand his face.” However, I was also scared of him. Being one of the best students at our school, who could know what that tainted mind could think of?
Everybody gave a collected sigh of relief when I said those words. As a way to change the subject, Aiko made an exaggerated “surprise” face as if she just remembered something.
“That’s right. You two! Since you both are party-less, you pretty much have to form a party with our remaining classmates, right? Only three left, if I guess correctly. Haruka-chan doesn’t have a party yet!”
Haruka Sakamoto, the youngest girl in our class at the age of 16. I didn’t know much about her as she seemed to be quite reserved besides when she talked with the other girls in our class. The only thing I did know was that her father did business with Kyouya’s and mine.
Tsuji-san further added. “You guys will have to protect her, ok? You two seem “normal” enough so don’t let anything happen to her, especially with your two remaining members.”
“Uhh, alright?” I agreed to Aiko’s and Tsuji-san’s requests kinda reluctantly. “Who are our remaining party members though?”
The two girls looked displeased when I wanted them to tell me who my other teammates were.
“The first is that perverted sycophant, Daichi Mikami. He somehow was the fourth fastest when it came to learning an elemental magic skill. He’s starting to really creep me out with all the fire he’s playing around, you know?” Aiko shivered a bit.
“Well, at least he managed to do so… The church was pretty happy with his progress.” Tsuji looked at it with a more envious perspective.
Since I didn’t want her to be sad again, I asked them who the last person was.
“The other is Asaka Hanazawa.” Aiko’s frown deepened as her displeasure grew more and more. “The other holder of the [Saint Candidate] title and Miss ‘Go fuck yourselves’ Delinquent.”
AbyssRaven
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