“Snows here, winter is about to start
Let’s cuddle up together, around the fire with stew, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh oh!
Have fun, turn this time so merry, yeah
New Year with my family, is all I could really wish for ”
…
“So, how was that, Tasianna? I think that would make a good chorus for what I’m planning for the song. Hmm, the melody would be something like this,” I shoved a wooden slab covered with black letters into my blue-haired friend’s hands before using [Aerokinesis] to reproduce the melody that would guide my lyrics.
“It certainly flows better than your previous attempts, although I must criticize your pronunciation a bit,” Tasianna responded as she scrutinized the slab, correcting any typos I made with a piece of charcoal. “Lady Hestia, considering you have nine extra minds, you randomly made a typo here. I believe Priest Kushlek’zar did mention this was one of your weaknesses you must overcome, if you wish to construct your custom spells more consistently.”
“Uh, I’m sorry …” I responded with my tail lying flat on the ground, scratching my cheek as Tasianna handed me back my slab. “Jeez, you’re so strict now. Did you really have to take Saori’s advice so seriously?”
“Enough complaining, she is doing this for you.” Speaking of the devil, Saori approached us while carrying a plate filled with rice balls, before sitting herself down on the vacant wooden chair. “Besides, to me, she is not as strict as you might think. Anyway, enjoy the onigiri and let me clean your slab, Create Water.”
A light blue magic circle appeared on Saori’s hand, pouring water down on my slab as she wiped away all my typos and Tasianna’s corrections, leaving only my lyrics behind in a more readable state. She then laid it down and joined us for breakfast, eating the onigiri and the other dishes she made for us three.
I believe today was the 20th of AutumnSun, exactly a week after we arrived back at Carine Village after our bandit subjugation Quest. As you might have guessed, the welcome back “celebration” was pretty grandiose as Colwyn, Harriet, Lorena, and the rest of the villagers practically charged at us to greet the formerly captured villagers the moment they saw us.
Family members would embrace and cry on each other’s shoulders, releasing all the pent-up emotions they built up from awaiting their captured relatives’ return. Friends would become raucous as they either cried or laughed with each other, all elated that the nightmare was finally over.
Of course, the mercs and the non-Carine villagers couldn’t exactly do the same. It was pretty awkward for them as they had to look at the wholesome moment with wry smiles, aware they couldn’t interrupt this moment.
Master Kushlek’zar’s party and mine couldn’t help but watch the scene with pride. I mean, look at what we did. It might have been dangerous fighting those bandits, but the results spoke for themselves. Happy faces and reuniting family and friends were already rewarding enough for me. It was a real tear-jerker.
After everything cooled down, the hecticness of getting everybody inside the village was a real headache as the watchmen took their job pretty seriously. Well, they were getting paid for it, and orders were orders, right? Couldn’t be helped that most of the prisoners lost their IDs after getting captured … also couldn’t be helped that I was the reason for everything turning to ash during my rampage … whoops.
Colwyn thanked us for a job well done, ready to write a report so we could hand in the Quest to receive our money from the merc guild. However, instead of accepting it now, Master Kushlek’zar told him that he would stay in the vicinity of the village for a few days to rest. The mercs and outside villagers we saved were also too weak to depart, so they stuck around, wanting to join Master Kushlek’zar on the way back.
We, on the other hand, received the “white grace” money from Colwyn including a report to make us eligible for the reward money. However, as we knew they needed the money for themselves, our party “paid” them to allow us to stay in the village for over the winter.
Of course, Colwyn wanted to deny it, explaining it would be inappropriate for him to take money from us, his benefactors. In addition, he found the idea of us living among serfs unappealing.
He offered us to inform his lord about it so we could find proper accommodations at his mansion, befitting of my “status.” It really seemed like the “formal greeting” I gave him really left him the impression that I was a noblewoman. Well, I technically was one in this life.
I knew there was royalty among dragons as I had the [Princess] title, but Tasianna couldn’t confirm if there was a caste system amongst the dragonewts or not. I did know that Loatryx, the dragonewt country, was a vassal of Kargryx, my supposed home.
Anyway, as that lord of this fief was a noble, I refused him outright. Unless I really, really, had to, I didn’t want to meet an aristocrat. Colwyn still insisted to the very end but eventually caved when Harriet told him it might be “rude” if he kept this up. He quickly recovered his posture and welcomed us to stay at his house if we wanted to.
Once again, our party went against his expectations and instead told him we would like to help him with the construction of the village, in exchange for our very own home.
After we were away for six days, the village made progress with the rebuild, constructing two additional houses in our absence as the villagers were absolutely sure we would save the ones the bandit kidnapped. They were simple designs, so it made sense the villagers were able to finish them so soon.
After Colwyn announced our intentions, the villagers were naturally overjoyed. “A priestess of Aurena wishes to stay in OUR village? OMG, what an honor!” or at least something of that kind was mumbled among them.
It also coincided with the wishes of the people I saved. This “white grace” stuff really was important to the villagers, as the ones I healed at the bandit camp were vehement about repaying me. If left now, they wouldn’t know how to recompense me.
In the end, they agreed to find a free spot of land for me to construct our house and also to share any winter rations if we needed them. Since we gave everything we recovered from the bandits back to the villagers, as it was the right thing to do, it resolved the village’s food problems. With the goods they just received from their lord, things have stabilized for the Carine villagers.
With the help of the saurians and the villagers, we finished my party’s house on the same day, and we were able to enjoy a relatively large feast during the evening. I gotta say, earth magic and wind magic made construction work pretty fast.
Earth spells created a firm foundation with strong walls, while wind magic enabled precise cuts of tree logs. My job in the construction was to create the resources, while Krim-Slak, Grazlahta, Colwyn, and the villagers assembled them. Akasht, the lovable giant, did what he loved and carried all the construction materials.
With that done, I left the construction to the experts, and went to the chefs to prepare for the welcome back feast. Lorena and her mother Linda took the chance to personally thank me for everything I did for their family by promising that they would serve their family recipe to me. Without a doubt, it was a pretty hype-worthy event. I soooo wanted to lend a hand …
… Too bad that a “lady” like me was not allowed to “dirty” her hands. Harriet explained most of the villagers were appreciative of what I did for them, however, they felt nervous that a “priestess of my refined background” would damage her hands while cooking. Not only did I honor them with the “white grace,” but most wanted to treat me as their savior. Saori, too, had a hard time getting into the kitchen due to this latter reason.
Ooooh, the tragedy. If I hadn’t exposed my refined education and formal background, I could have experienced the joy of life with them … Urgh, they really looked like they had a ton of fun while cooking. Sitting around and sipping tea was boring me to death.
Well, watching them cook did entice my appetite, though, and I was rewarded for my patience during the feast. Everything was simple and European-like, not exotic like what the lizardmen made, but it was filling. My taste buds especially loved the rice dishes we got, purely since Saori’s curry wasn’t enough to end my craving for rice. The milk and fried rice were delish!
A few days passed after the feast, where I continued helping the villagers construct more houses while taking different lessons from Master Kushlek’zar or Tasianna depending on the day. I would continue under his tutelage to widen my horizons as a mage when Master Kushlek’zar had time, while Tasianna would continue helping me with my letters. I still had to overcome my illiteracy.
Speaking of houses, our group was in ours right now, enjoying breakfast as the roosters just woke us up. Our home was medieval, I guess you could call it. It was quite minimalistic as you might expect, only having the essential furniture and a hearth in the same room where we were sleeping.
Compared to the other villagers’ houses, ours didn’t have a place for livestock to live like theirs. Instead, that space was occupied by our very own garden and work out space. Hehe, Tasianna and I couldn’t help but stay up through an entire night just so we could finally plant all the seeds and plants we gathered in the Belzac forest. It would take a while, but, oooooh, just imagining all the fragassas I could eat again! Fragassa smoothies, ice cream, milk shakes; the fragassa diet was back!
Saori did say, “We can finally live like normal people, so why not enjoy it until spring comes?” As a former city girl, I wouldn’t call living in a village where people threw their bathroom business out of the window “normal,” but I got her point. It was certainly peaceful enough that I could deactivate [Detection Sensor] for the nights.
Naturally, just ‘cause everything was peaceful didn’t mean I could drop my guard completely. Those bandits did just raid this place, after all.
Still, the feeling of sleeping on a bed, an actual bed instead of on a pile of foliage, was … comfortable. The villagers were nice enough to share some good bedding with us. There was a certain charm of knowing that you could sleep without fearing for your life. I slept like a boulder on the first day, even oversleeping, and it felt amazing.
Not the best, but at least not a cave or a bush. Also, we can bath in peace now, without having to worry about random frogs or toads. Still wish we could solve our bathroom problems. Living without proper plumbing is kinda cursed.
As my party was enjoying breakfast, a sudden knock on the door drew our attention. A woman was calling us. “Hestia, uh, Lady Hestia. Saori. Tasianna. I wish you a wonderful morning on this fine day of the Goddess! Chief Colwyn asked me to call for you if you are ready.”
… Urgh, verdammt.
A loud wooden bang filled up our house as my neck lost all strength, letting my head crash on the table. Ignoring my dramatic showing of despair, Saori stood up and went to answer the door. “Oh, good morning, Lorena. I wish you a fine LightDay, and may the Goddess find you well.”
“May the light guide your path on this brilliant LightDay, Saori.” Despite digging my face on the wooden table, I could audibly hear their conversation. “Excuse me if I disturbed your breakfast but Chief Colwyn told me to inform you that everybody is awaiting Lady, uh, Shrine Maiden? Lady Shrine Maiden Hestia? Uhm, he said that everybody is waiting for her sermon.”
“Oh, right, thank you for informing us. We will be ready in a moment,” Saori answered before closing the door. Once she was back to the table, she tapped my head with a finger, ?You opted into this so do not think you can just run away, Hestia. If you have anybody to blame, then it would be yourself.”
I raised my head with a mix of exasperation and reluctance, glancing at the book with the leather cover laying on my bed. “Frankly, I have no idea why I agreed to Chief Colwyn’s request. I’m not even a priestess or a shrine maiden. I don’t even know the difference between them, so how am I qualified to preach about ‘Aurena’s majesty’ to a bunch of REAL followers?”
Tasianna watched me swing my hands up in defeat before opening her mouth to comment, “But you are [The Light], Lady Hestia. You have been chosen by the Light Goddess herself to be her blessed, evident of her missive to you and the awakening of your title’s true powers. There is nobody inside this village who is more qualified than you.”
“I agree with Tasianna, Hestia,” Saori said with an encouraging smile. “You knew nothing about Aurena’s religion, besides the tidbits that Tasianna was able to teach you. However, despite needing to test your new body, learn how to read and write to construct custom spells, and also prepare for your concert, you still took the time to memorize the ‘bible’ in the past week.”
Placing my arm on the table, I used it to support my unenthusiastic head. “… I needed it to learn how to read, and it was a better practice material than the books I found in the Belzac forest. It was so annoyingly hard, though …”
I let out a fatigued sigh, remembering the request that I, unfortunately, promised Chief Colwyn and his wife Harriet.
It happened the day after the feast while I was conjuring up [Terra Walls] and using [Wind Slash] to slice through tree logs, having decided to help in the construction work of the village. A few of the older villagers were a bit nervous about me helping out but as I wasn’t part of the assembly itself, only the magic casting, no one outright refused my help.
That was when one of Colwyn’s kids, a young boy around six, asked me to come to their home. Arriving there, I was greeted by Harriet and her twelve- and ten-year-old daughters, who quickly showed me to our seats where Colwyn was awaiting us.
After serving me some of that ale Saori liked so much, we had some small talk about our home and if I needed something for it. It was pretty pleasant which kinda reinforced my opinion that he was pretty well-educated and informed compared to the image that I had for a medieval serf, or villein.
Colwyn and Harriet were both able to write, read, and do simple calculations, unlike the vast majority of the villagers. They were also the reason why Lorena began addressing me with “Lady” instead of just my name as we agreed with each other when we first met. I didn’t think it was a coincidence that Harriet herself kicked me out of the kitchen, and why the villagers were nervous that I would do manual labor.
They were pretty educated and knew proper, although lacking, etiquette. Both of their daughters were trying to imitate their mother, but you could see the difference between them. I did wonder where they got this level of education.
Well, that was beside the point as the main reason why Colwyn invited me wasn’t to pry into their history. The reason why they called me there was to perform a sermon.
“Wandering priests are rare and they usually do not come during winter due to the weather,” Colwyn explained. “Until spring, when the church’s clergymen bring their grails to celebrate the end of WinterMoon and the start of SpringSun, we are used to not being able to receive sermons and the white grace. Although we aren’t worthy to receive you, Lady Hestia, it honors us that you decided otherwise.”
He gave me a short prayer bow before raising his head with nervous eyes. “From the depths of our hearts, could we request you to perform a sermon to honor our Goddess in these dire times?”
Considering they just survived through a bandit raid and their captured villagers had just come back after a month of imprisonment, I guessed they needed religion to soothe their souls. I understood that, however …
“I refuse,” I plainly answered. “I’m neither a priestess nor a shrine maiden, nor do I even know what I should even say during a sermon. I have never done one.”
“If you do not remember the words, then please take my ‘Light’s Guidance.’ It should tell you all that you need,” he responded immediately, placing a book in front of me. The book had a leather cover and the symbol of a long-haired woman with two feathered wings wearing a silk dress. According to what I learned afterward, this was the official appearance of Aurena.
“B-but I’m still not a clergy member, like I said a thousand times already,” I stammered.
“I don’t understand how our Goddess’s religion works in other lands but you must have learned your magic from the church, correct? You might not be an official woman-of-cloth, but your belief must be,” he answered.
“I’ve never done one, like I said,” I uttered, slightly unnerved by his determination.
“There is always the first try,” he answered.
Argument after argument, he always had an answer against my rejections. I couldn’t complain, as he did it as politely as posisble. In the end, I told them that I would do it, although that they shouldn’t expect much.
… And that was how I got myself into this Scheiße.
Saori glanced at me for a second, before grabbing the book from my bed and placing it in front of my plate. “Hmm, then how about this; think of this as a chance to gain followers for [The Light].”
“Huh?” I let out a, brows all crooked.
“Think about it. Do you know what the average population of a medieval village is?” Saori asked me with a teacher’s gaze. “Admittedly, after the attack, the population has decreased since some died. However, most of the villagers are villeins, non-free men and women bound to their lord’s land, which means that a certain number will always be there.”
Now that I thought about it, there were a lot of people here. If I remembered it correctly, we saved around 25 Carine villagers during the bandit raid. However, if I included the masses of kids and teens, there were around 150 or even more people here.
They just didn’t have the houses up yet. Most households were living with each other in a single house, and I even heard whispers that a few people serving at the lord’s manor were coming back to the village, once the buildings were up.
“Oh my Goddess …” I uttered once I came to the realization.
“Exactly, and they are all followers of Aurena, which means this might be easier than the time we did it with the lizardmen,” Saori pointed out, tapping her finger on the table. “You used your holy magic in front of the prisoners, healing them with the ‘white grace.’ Haven’t you noticed how friendly they are to you, regardless of the fact that they are repaying a debt.”
I picked up the ‘bible,’ or the Light’s Guidance as they called it, and turned to a certain page to read a paragraph for a second. After I was done, I raised my head with widened eyes.
“You’re a genius Saori,” I admitted with true admiration. “If I were able to get [Venerated Saintess] from [The Light]’s milestones, then that would replace my missing [Holy Amp] and [Holy Magic Efficiency].”
At that point, another idea appeared in my head.
“… Why haven’t I thought of this before? A concert!” I shouted with energy, jumping off my chair to put on my white cloak to turn myself into a white mage.
“Are you guys coming?” I asked my companions as I was standing next to the door.
Saori put her jacket on and opened the door for me while Tasianna shook her head and went to the garden, telling us goodbye before beginning to take care of our herbs and plants. She might have stayed around humans for over two weeks now, but her hatred was as glaring as ever. Until now, she had never allowed a single person to enter our home.
As Saori and I walked through the village, we noticed a few villagers, adults and teens, greeting us with, “A blissful LightDay to you” before walking towards the location of my “sermon.” A few kids imitated them, but it was obvious they did it ‘cause the adults did it instead out of respect, as they ran away with their friends, giggling.
“Adorable,” I muttered with a wry smile.
“True. Walking through the street, suppressing our actual speed to the point that little children can outrun us, is certainly nice,” Saori said with a smile.
Immersed by the atmosphere, we walked silently with each other, only speaking when we had to greet a villager. It had been a while since we just enjoyed our presence together. The hectic nature was gone from our days, at least for now.
After a while, we arrived at the place where my “sermon” would be held. It was a wide area where a church once stood, however, it was burned down during the bandit raid and the rubble had to be removed. As the villagers considered the area still “sacred,” Colwyn decided I should perform here.
The first to notice us was Colwyn, who ran towards us, swinging his lumberjack beard around while he did it. “A blessed day of the Goddess, Lady Hestia and Miss Saori. I hope the Goddess has treated you well today?”
“Good morning, Chief Colwyn. May the light guide your path on this brilliant LightDay” Saori greeted him with a short bow, reciting the religious greeting we had learned for LightDay.
Each day had a religious greeting, like “May the eternal fire fuel your body on this warm FireDay” or “May the earth nourish your body on this bountiful EarthDay.” They weren’t important in a casual setting, but if you wanted to be formal, using them was advised.
“It has found me well, Chief Colwyn. May the light guide your path on this brilliant LightDay,” I answered with a curtsy.
Saori gave me an annoyed glance with a slight blush before looking away. I mean, sorry that my greeting was grander, but blame it on Tasianna if you were that uncomfortable about it, Saori.
In any case, we waited for a bit longer until the plaza was filled with villagers, before Colwyn quietened everybody down. There was a wooden platform with a podium placed on it, probably the spot where I should go as all the villagers were standing in front of it.
After Saori gave me a few encouraging words to scare away my stage fright, I took in a deep breath and walked up to the podium. I gazed in front of me, into the crowd of people, ranging from small toddlers to old, hardy adults. As I inspected this sight, I noticed that there weren’t any elderly people among them, almost all were around Lorena’s age, although middle-aged people like Colwyn or Lorena’s parents were plenty.
Oooooh, goodness. There are quite a lot of people here, I thought nervously, fiddling my fingers as everybody was staring at me with both curiosity and expectation. Why are you people putting so much pressure on me?! Colwyn I thought you told everybody to not expect anything!
“On this beautiful day of the Goddess of Light, I welcome all of you standing before me with gratitude for accepting me,” I started out, planning to stay safe as I meekly retold a few preset lines I practiced beforehand. “Everybody from Carine village, may the Goddess bless you with bountiful light.”
As I assumed a praying position and bowed, everybody followed up with me. I honestly had no idea why they did this. it felt flabbergasting. I honestly wished a priest would actually educate me on this or, better yet, do it for me.
Master Kushlek’zar was technically a priest but he admitted that he never gave a sermon in his life before. His “priest” status was purely restricted to his role as a mage among the Depths Guard and Tide Watchers, nothing like a clergyman.
“Although I am quite inexperienced with giving sermons, Chief Colwyn has given me the honor to perform one in front of all of you, fervent followers of our Goddess of Light, Aurena,” I continued. “That is why-”
I paused for a bit as I suddenly noticed people whispering, and due to my enhanced hearing, it was pretty easy to distinguish what they were saying while it was this silent. They were stuff like, “Did the priestess just forget to mention something, or am I imagining things?” or “I know Colwyn said she was inexperienced, but she already messed up the beginning.”
Most of the gossiping came from people that never witnessed my introduction at the entrance of the village or those who didn’t have any of their relatives or friends kidnapped by the bandits. The village was huge so most probably only thought of me as a fancy girl deciding to “play” around in the village.
“T-that is why—” I stuttered as I opened up the holy book, turning pages and pages, trying to find a reminder on what I was missing, however, I couldn’t. In addition to my parallel minds also not knowing, I was beginning to feel a bit anxious.
“Didn’t know beastmen worshiped the Goddess. Heard most preferred the God of Darkness.” and “Urgh, having beastmen adventurers visiting Tobbes’ tavern already spoiled my drink, but having one live here wouldn’t have happened before Colwyn became the chief. Even if she’s cute.” were a few more things I overheard.
I looked over at Colwyn who was scratching his beard and Saori who was giving me a worried expression. If I didn’t do something soon, the crowd would only get louder and louder, eventually splitting up. I didn’t want to do this initially, but I’ve already decided to gain some followers out of this, so I wasn’t planning to waste this opportunity.
I took another deep breath before slamming the holy book close. Amplifying the sound with [Aerokinesis], I drowned out the sounds of the slowly displeased congregation.
“Ok, this isn’t working out too well,” I complained as I scratched my head, dropping my formal tone. “I’m sorry everybody if I made a mistake somewhere, but I don’t know what it was.”
A commotion was slowly starting to form as people looked at each and the whispers started to sound like talking. They were displeased.
However, I kept talking, keeping my voice loud with [Aerokinesis]. “That’s why I’m doing it my way now, and not like what the Light’s Guidance or Chief Colwyn or what you are expecting from me. I don’t know what a normal priest would say here, so sorry. If you are here for your usual sermon, then please leave. May the Goddess bless you on this auspicious day, of course."
The commotion suddenly quietened down from my direct tone. The complainers had an expression mixed with nervousness and uncertainty, unsure if they should take my word seriously or not. I personally wasn’t expecting them to stay after I changed my attitude, but beggars couldn’t be picky.
However, the look of those who witnessed my healing magic, among them Lorena and her parents, never wavered their attention. They were respectful through the entire sermon.
“For those willing to stay with me, let me prove my worth to you. Let us pray,” I announced as I conjured up a white magic circle.
The combined gasping sound of the crowd was audible to all, none were more surprised than my naysayers. However, this only lasted for a second as everybody quickly understood what I was planning to do, clutching their hands together as they prayed.
“The Goddess watches over us
In her name, we pray, we sing, we love
For her merciful light, protects us all
Purify the ground, wherever her feathers touches ”
The song went on and on as everybody followed my singing with their own, eventually sounding like a choir. Blue particles also began escaping everybody’s bodies, as they streamed to my magic circle. Although not visible to the naked eye, I could see them through [Mana Eyes], confirming they were mana.
After a bit, I released the magic circle from my hand and sent it into the air, all magic runes having been filled up already. Honestly speaking, from a mage’s point-of-view, the spell was already ready to be activated.
As strange as it was to say, this was my second custom spell. Not just any custom spell, but one that I learned inside the bible. You wouldn’t believe what a face I made when I realized this truth while reading the chant out loud. To a layman, it sounded just like a song a choir would sing, but if you inspected and analyzed the words used for the lyrics, it would become obvious how descriptive they were. A bit too much.
When I questioned Tasianna and Master Kushlek’zar about it, they helped me decipher the magic runes and chant from the bible, writing it all down for me to learn. The spell’s name was [Prayer], a fitting name as it was a buffing spell that would become stronger the more people prayed.
A pretty strong buffing spell if I may say so myself, although it required a long process to hit its maximum potential.
The spell granted all those underneath the field-sized magic circle Aurena’s blessing, which essentially was a spell’s activation effect. I did make me question a bit if this really was created by the Goddess of Light, but stranger things had already happened to me. For example, Shiterno.
From the point-of-view of a mage, the “lyrics” wasn’t very truthful. The way they described it sounded like they were trying to glorify everything, especially once you understood some of the intricacies of it. And when I mean “intricacies,” I meant how this custom spell actually worked.
I’ve tested this spell with Saori and Tasianna, and we noticed that the “prayer” wasn’t needed. You see, whoever made this spell gave it the function to absorb the mana of those under its magic circle while they sang along with the caster. While singing wasn’t a prerequisite, the spell required people to willingly donate mana if the caster couldn’t pay the mana costs themselves, and I would guess this song was an effective way to do so without revealing the truth of the spell.
Pretty sneaky, you had to admit.
By my second cast, I was personally able to grant both of them [Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Moderate)] by purely using my own mana, although I did have to admit how taxing it was. The important part was that I didn’t need anybody to “pray” with me.
However, that didn’t mean that praying together was completely useless. The mana cost for this spell was immense, and a single normal priest might not be able to satisfy the requirements to even cast it in the first place. I could do this ‘cause I had an abnormal amount of mana.
It was pretty obvious that somebody from Aurena’s church made this spell and that they spread this song to reinforce the faith one had to the Goddess of Light. Most villagers here were illiterate, so song lyrics were a great way to have them remember those words, seeing as everybody here aside from the really small kids could keep up with me.
Still, I did wonder why they had the instructions for the spell in this holy book. Was it an instruction manual for priests in case they forget? Then why spread it through publicly sold books instead of personal, church-issued bibles?
It was weird, sure … but not really my problem to think about. I was only interested in its effectiveness as a buff. Both Saori and Tasianna agreed that the stat increase was powerful, despite how much work and effort it demanded for a single cast.
I would definitely want to use it more often but unless I wanted to spend the mana to cast a “major” version which grants a 30% increase of stats, it would still be more effective to use the individual System buffing spells for that job.
Still, thanks for the custom spell, bible!
Thinking that enough mana was poured into the magic circle, I stopped singing and started the chant, “Oh Goddess of Light, Aurena. I bid you, hear our prayers of gratitude and ardent worship so it may empower you ever more in your duties of overseeing us. I beg of you to hear us and grant upon us your blessing of light, Prayer!”
As mentioned, chanting was completely redundant since I had [Chant Revocation]. This was purely for show. A performance.
Watching the white magic circle glow for a solid second after I was done before it released its effect was a beautiful sight. Light began descending on the congregation of villagers, basking them in warm white particles as everybody was quickly granted a powerful buff.
“Woah! A ‘miracle’ of the Goddess! Blessing to the shrine maiden!” a villager screamed.
“We are your servants, Goddess! Praise be to our Goddess!” another shouted.
“Thank you very much, Lady Shrine Maiden! Thank you,” another villager screamed almost hysterically, helping me recognize him as one of those I rescued from the bandits.
Appreciation was predominantly given to Aurena, as I expected. Still, it calmed down my unsettled heart to hear a few giving thanks to me. Those I helped were especially thankful, since they all knew what I could do. This included Lorena, the 25 Carine villagers we saved, and the mercs.
“Thank you so very much for everything, ‘Crimson Saintess’,” one of the mercs shouted … wait what?!
‘Crimson Saintess’? Oh come on, what is that nickname? That’ll just cause a ton of trouble for m-!
…
“Heh.” I smiled, happy to see those System messages. “… And I would like to announce one more thing before this sermon ends. On the eve of the year”s end, I will be performing an idol concert for everybody in the village. On that night, I will become your shining light to welcome the new year, so I ask you from the depths of my heart to attend!”
It was clear that everybody was confused about what “Idol concert” meant, so I knew that I had to do something to give them a taste. So … I danced and sang. It was only a sneak peek of what I would be performing on that day but I showed them everything I had prepare up until now.
The still unfinished lyrics, the mumble-jumble that was the music, and the chaotic mess that was my dance choreography. It was so imperfect. It was embarrassing. It was killing my soul as I was doing all of this … but I didn’t stop. Seeing everybody’s eyes locked onto me was nerve wracking, but no one looked at me with disgust. Instead, their eyes were filled with interest.
The moment I was finished, I thanked everybody and immediately ran off the stage and rushed out of the plaza with my natural, unsuppressed Agility, speeding through the village like a speedster before arriving at my house. I opened the door, closed it, identified where Tasianna was and jumped at her.
“Lady Hesti-AAAAHHHHHH!” Tasianna screamed, almost falling on the ground ‘cause of me.
“Tasianna, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg. I can’t believe I just did that,” I cried out in embarrassment, feeling like I would turn into ash at any moment now. “OMG, kyaaaahhhhh! What went through my brain that I would even think about showing anybody sensible that terrible stunt. Ahhh, I can’t believe that I showed that in front of a whole crowd! Ahhhrgh, I want to wrap myself under my blanket and just die there!”
“OW! Lady Hestia you’re actually starting to burn me here! Also, please, don’t say that you want to die!” Tasianna scolded me, trying to push my face away as my cheeks were burning hers.
Suffice to say, my embarrassment was burning me up. It was one of the pitfalls of this new body of mine, since it was far easier for me to gather up heat due to [Dreadflare Aura]. It was a good reminder to keep up my training, but at this very moment, I wasn’t thinking like a predator or dragon. I was acting like a normal teenage girl, too flustered to think straight.
Tasianna nodded, responding with, “As expected from you, Lady Hestia” as I told her everything. She seemed really proud of me, but I just wanted to get away from the village for the day. I didn’t want to hear anybody comment about the sermon at all.
As such, we left a message behind for Saori. It was to inform her that we were going to meet Master Kushlek’zar. Not only for my daily training, but also to test out what [Venerated Saintess] could do.
Oh yeah, maybe today would be a good day to evolve.
AbyssRaven I nerfed [Prayer], halving all its initial values since I thought getting a 100% boost in stats at the highest potentially was a bit OP.
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“Snows here, winter is about to start
Let’s cuddle up together, around the fire with stew, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh oh!
Have fun, turn this time so merry, yeah
New Year with my family, is all I could really wish for ”
…
“So, how was that, Tasianna? I think that would make a good chorus for what I’m planning for the song. Hmm, the melody would be something like this,” I shoved a wooden slab covered with black letters into my blue-haired friend’s hands before using [Aerokinesis] to reproduce the melody that would guide my lyrics.
“It certainly flows better than your previous attempts, although I must criticize your pronunciation a bit,” Tasianna responded as she scrutinized the slab, correcting any typos I made with a piece of charcoal. “Lady Hestia, considering you have nine extra minds, you randomly made a typo here. I believe Priest Kushlek’zar did mention this was one of your weaknesses you must overcome, if you wish to construct your custom spells more consistently.”
“Uh, I’m sorry …” I responded with my tail lying flat on the ground, scratching my cheek as Tasianna handed me back my slab. “Jeez, you’re so strict now. Did you really have to take Saori’s advice so seriously?”
“Enough complaining, she is doing this for you.” Speaking of the devil, Saori approached us while carrying a plate filled with rice balls, before sitting herself down on the vacant wooden chair. “Besides, to me, she is not as strict as you might think. Anyway, enjoy the onigiri and let me clean your slab, Create Water.”
A light blue magic circle appeared on Saori’s hand, pouring water down on my slab as she wiped away all my typos and Tasianna’s corrections, leaving only my lyrics behind in a more readable state. She then laid it down and joined us for breakfast, eating the onigiri and the other dishes she made for us three.
I believe today was the 20th of AutumnSun, exactly a week after we arrived back at Carine Village after our bandit subjugation Quest. As you might have guessed, the welcome back “celebration” was pretty grandiose as Colwyn, Harriet, Lorena, and the rest of the villagers practically charged at us to greet the formerly captured villagers the moment they saw us.
Family members would embrace and cry on each other’s shoulders, releasing all the pent-up emotions they built up from awaiting their captured relatives’ return. Friends would become raucous as they either cried or laughed with each other, all elated that the nightmare was finally over.
Of course, the mercs and the non-Carine villagers couldn’t exactly do the same. It was pretty awkward for them as they had to look at the wholesome moment with wry smiles, aware they couldn’t interrupt this moment.
Master Kushlek’zar’s party and mine couldn’t help but watch the scene with pride. I mean, look at what we did. It might have been dangerous fighting those bandits, but the results spoke for themselves. Happy faces and reuniting family and friends were already rewarding enough for me. It was a real tear-jerker.
After everything cooled down, the hecticness of getting everybody inside the village was a real headache as the watchmen took their job pretty seriously. Well, they were getting paid for it, and orders were orders, right? Couldn’t be helped that most of the prisoners lost their IDs after getting captured … also couldn’t be helped that I was the reason for everything turning to ash during my rampage … whoops.
Colwyn thanked us for a job well done, ready to write a report so we could hand in the Quest to receive our money from the merc guild. However, instead of accepting it now, Master Kushlek’zar told him that he would stay in the vicinity of the village for a few days to rest. The mercs and outside villagers we saved were also too weak to depart, so they stuck around, wanting to join Master Kushlek’zar on the way back.
We, on the other hand, received the “white grace” money from Colwyn including a report to make us eligible for the reward money. However, as we knew they needed the money for themselves, our party “paid” them to allow us to stay in the village for over the winter.
Of course, Colwyn wanted to deny it, explaining it would be inappropriate for him to take money from us, his benefactors. In addition, he found the idea of us living among serfs unappealing.
He offered us to inform his lord about it so we could find proper accommodations at his mansion, befitting of my “status.” It really seemed like the “formal greeting” I gave him really left him the impression that I was a noblewoman. Well, I technically was one in this life.
I knew there was royalty among dragons as I had the [Princess] title, but Tasianna couldn’t confirm if there was a caste system amongst the dragonewts or not. I did know that Loatryx, the dragonewt country, was a vassal of Kargryx, my supposed home.
Anyway, as that lord of this fief was a noble, I refused him outright. Unless I really, really, had to, I didn’t want to meet an aristocrat. Colwyn still insisted to the very end but eventually caved when Harriet told him it might be “rude” if he kept this up. He quickly recovered his posture and welcomed us to stay at his house if we wanted to.
Once again, our party went against his expectations and instead told him we would like to help him with the construction of the village, in exchange for our very own home.
After we were away for six days, the village made progress with the rebuild, constructing two additional houses in our absence as the villagers were absolutely sure we would save the ones the bandit kidnapped. They were simple designs, so it made sense the villagers were able to finish them so soon.
After Colwyn announced our intentions, the villagers were naturally overjoyed. “A priestess of Aurena wishes to stay in OUR village? OMG, what an honor!” or at least something of that kind was mumbled among them.
It also coincided with the wishes of the people I saved. This “white grace” stuff really was important to the villagers, as the ones I healed at the bandit camp were vehement about repaying me. If left now, they wouldn’t know how to recompense me.
In the end, they agreed to find a free spot of land for me to construct our house and also to share any winter rations if we needed them. Since we gave everything we recovered from the bandits back to the villagers, as it was the right thing to do, it resolved the village’s food problems. With the goods they just received from their lord, things have stabilized for the Carine villagers.
With the help of the saurians and the villagers, we finished my party’s house on the same day, and we were able to enjoy a relatively large feast during the evening. I gotta say, earth magic and wind magic made construction work pretty fast.
Earth spells created a firm foundation with strong walls, while wind magic enabled precise cuts of tree logs. My job in the construction was to create the resources, while Krim-Slak, Grazlahta, Colwyn, and the villagers assembled them. Akasht, the lovable giant, did what he loved and carried all the construction materials.
With that done, I left the construction to the experts, and went to the chefs to prepare for the welcome back feast. Lorena and her mother Linda took the chance to personally thank me for everything I did for their family by promising that they would serve their family recipe to me. Without a doubt, it was a pretty hype-worthy event. I soooo wanted to lend a hand …
… Too bad that a “lady” like me was not allowed to “dirty” her hands. Harriet explained most of the villagers were appreciative of what I did for them, however, they felt nervous that a “priestess of my refined background” would damage her hands while cooking. Not only did I honor them with the “white grace,” but most wanted to treat me as their savior. Saori, too, had a hard time getting into the kitchen due to this latter reason.
Ooooh, the tragedy. If I hadn’t exposed my refined education and formal background, I could have experienced the joy of life with them … Urgh, they really looked like they had a ton of fun while cooking. Sitting around and sipping tea was boring me to death.
Well, watching them cook did entice my appetite, though, and I was rewarded for my patience during the feast. Everything was simple and European-like, not exotic like what the lizardmen made, but it was filling. My taste buds especially loved the rice dishes we got, purely since Saori’s curry wasn’t enough to end my craving for rice. The milk and fried rice were delish!
A few days passed after the feast, where I continued helping the villagers construct more houses while taking different lessons from Master Kushlek’zar or Tasianna depending on the day. I would continue under his tutelage to widen my horizons as a mage when Master Kushlek’zar had time, while Tasianna would continue helping me with my letters. I still had to overcome my illiteracy.
Speaking of houses, our group was in ours right now, enjoying breakfast as the roosters just woke us up. Our home was medieval, I guess you could call it. It was quite minimalistic as you might expect, only having the essential furniture and a hearth in the same room where we were sleeping.
Compared to the other villagers’ houses, ours didn’t have a place for livestock to live like theirs. Instead, that space was occupied by our very own garden and work out space. Hehe, Tasianna and I couldn’t help but stay up through an entire night just so we could finally plant all the seeds and plants we gathered in the Belzac forest. It would take a while, but, oooooh, just imagining all the fragassas I could eat again! Fragassa smoothies, ice cream, milk shakes; the fragassa diet was back!
Saori did say, “We can finally live like normal people, so why not enjoy it until spring comes?” As a former city girl, I wouldn’t call living in a village where people threw their bathroom business out of the window “normal,” but I got her point. It was certainly peaceful enough that I could deactivate [Detection Sensor] for the nights.
Naturally, just ‘cause everything was peaceful didn’t mean I could drop my guard completely. Those bandits did just raid this place, after all.
Still, the feeling of sleeping on a bed, an actual bed instead of on a pile of foliage, was … comfortable. The villagers were nice enough to share some good bedding with us. There was a certain charm of knowing that you could sleep without fearing for your life. I slept like a boulder on the first day, even oversleeping, and it felt amazing.
Not the best, but at least not a cave or a bush. Also, we can bath in peace now, without having to worry about random frogs or toads. Still wish we could solve our bathroom problems. Living without proper plumbing is kinda cursed.
As my party was enjoying breakfast, a sudden knock on the door drew our attention. A woman was calling us. “Hestia, uh, Lady Hestia. Saori. Tasianna. I wish you a wonderful morning on this fine day of the Goddess! Chief Colwyn asked me to call for you if you are ready.”
… Urgh, verdammt.
A loud wooden bang filled up our house as my neck lost all strength, letting my head crash on the table. Ignoring my dramatic showing of despair, Saori stood up and went to answer the door. “Oh, good morning, Lorena. I wish you a fine LightDay, and may the Goddess find you well.”
“May the light guide your path on this brilliant LightDay, Saori.” Despite digging my face on the wooden table, I could audibly hear their conversation. “Excuse me if I disturbed your breakfast but Chief Colwyn told me to inform you that everybody is awaiting Lady, uh, Shrine Maiden? Lady Shrine Maiden Hestia? Uhm, he said that everybody is waiting for her sermon.”
“Oh, right, thank you for informing us. We will be ready in a moment,” Saori answered before closing the door. Once she was back to the table, she tapped my head with a finger, ?You opted into this so do not think you can just run away, Hestia. If you have anybody to blame, then it would be yourself.”
I raised my head with a mix of exasperation and reluctance, glancing at the book with the leather cover laying on my bed. “Frankly, I have no idea why I agreed to Chief Colwyn’s request. I’m not even a priestess or a shrine maiden. I don’t even know the difference between them, so how am I qualified to preach about ‘Aurena’s majesty’ to a bunch of REAL followers?”
Tasianna watched me swing my hands up in defeat before opening her mouth to comment, “But you are [The Light], Lady Hestia. You have been chosen by the Light Goddess herself to be her blessed, evident of her missive to you and the awakening of your title’s true powers. There is nobody inside this village who is more qualified than you.”
“I agree with Tasianna, Hestia,” Saori said with an encouraging smile. “You knew nothing about Aurena’s religion, besides the tidbits that Tasianna was able to teach you. However, despite needing to test your new body, learn how to read and write to construct custom spells, and also prepare for your concert, you still took the time to memorize the ‘bible’ in the past week.”
Placing my arm on the table, I used it to support my unenthusiastic head. “… I needed it to learn how to read, and it was a better practice material than the books I found in the Belzac forest. It was so annoyingly hard, though …”
I let out a fatigued sigh, remembering the request that I, unfortunately, promised Chief Colwyn and his wife Harriet.
It happened the day after the feast while I was conjuring up [Terra Walls] and using [Wind Slash] to slice through tree logs, having decided to help in the construction work of the village. A few of the older villagers were a bit nervous about me helping out but as I wasn’t part of the assembly itself, only the magic casting, no one outright refused my help.
That was when one of Colwyn’s kids, a young boy around six, asked me to come to their home. Arriving there, I was greeted by Harriet and her twelve- and ten-year-old daughters, who quickly showed me to our seats where Colwyn was awaiting us.
After serving me some of that ale Saori liked so much, we had some small talk about our home and if I needed something for it. It was pretty pleasant which kinda reinforced my opinion that he was pretty well-educated and informed compared to the image that I had for a medieval serf, or villein.
Colwyn and Harriet were both able to write, read, and do simple calculations, unlike the vast majority of the villagers. They were also the reason why Lorena began addressing me with “Lady” instead of just my name as we agreed with each other when we first met. I didn’t think it was a coincidence that Harriet herself kicked me out of the kitchen, and why the villagers were nervous that I would do manual labor.
They were pretty educated and knew proper, although lacking, etiquette. Both of their daughters were trying to imitate their mother, but you could see the difference between them. I did wonder where they got this level of education.
Well, that was beside the point as the main reason why Colwyn invited me wasn’t to pry into their history. The reason why they called me there was to perform a sermon.
“Wandering priests are rare and they usually do not come during winter due to the weather,” Colwyn explained. “Until spring, when the church’s clergymen bring their grails to celebrate the end of WinterMoon and the start of SpringSun, we are used to not being able to receive sermons and the white grace. Although we aren’t worthy to receive you, Lady Hestia, it honors us that you decided otherwise.”
He gave me a short prayer bow before raising his head with nervous eyes. “From the depths of our hearts, could we request you to perform a sermon to honor our Goddess in these dire times?”
Considering they just survived through a bandit raid and their captured villagers had just come back after a month of imprisonment, I guessed they needed religion to soothe their souls. I understood that, however …
“I refuse,” I plainly answered. “I’m neither a priestess nor a shrine maiden, nor do I even know what I should even say during a sermon. I have never done one.”
“If you do not remember the words, then please take my ‘Light’s Guidance.’ It should tell you all that you need,” he responded immediately, placing a book in front of me. The book had a leather cover and the symbol of a long-haired woman with two feathered wings wearing a silk dress. According to what I learned afterward, this was the official appearance of Aurena.
“B-but I’m still not a clergy member, like I said a thousand times already,” I stammered.
“I don’t understand how our Goddess’s religion works in other lands but you must have learned your magic from the church, correct? You might not be an official woman-of-cloth, but your belief must be,” he answered.
“I’ve never done one, like I said,” I uttered, slightly unnerved by his determination.
“There is always the first try,” he answered.
Argument after argument, he always had an answer against my rejections. I couldn’t complain, as he did it as politely as posisble. In the end, I told them that I would do it, although that they shouldn’t expect much.
… And that was how I got myself into this Scheiße.
Saori glanced at me for a second, before grabbing the book from my bed and placing it in front of my plate. “Hmm, then how about this; think of this as a chance to gain followers for [The Light].”
“Huh?” I let out a, brows all crooked.
“Think about it. Do you know what the average population of a medieval village is?” Saori asked me with a teacher’s gaze. “Admittedly, after the attack, the population has decreased since some died. However, most of the villagers are villeins, non-free men and women bound to their lord’s land, which means that a certain number will always be there.”
Now that I thought about it, there were a lot of people here. If I remembered it correctly, we saved around 25 Carine villagers during the bandit raid. However, if I included the masses of kids and teens, there were around 150 or even more people here.
They just didn’t have the houses up yet. Most households were living with each other in a single house, and I even heard whispers that a few people serving at the lord’s manor were coming back to the village, once the buildings were up.
“Oh my Goddess …” I uttered once I came to the realization.
“Exactly, and they are all followers of Aurena, which means this might be easier than the time we did it with the lizardmen,” Saori pointed out, tapping her finger on the table. “You used your holy magic in front of the prisoners, healing them with the ‘white grace.’ Haven’t you noticed how friendly they are to you, regardless of the fact that they are repaying a debt.”
I picked up the ‘bible,’ or the Light’s Guidance as they called it, and turned to a certain page to read a paragraph for a second. After I was done, I raised my head with widened eyes.
“You’re a genius Saori,” I admitted with true admiration. “If I were able to get [Venerated Saintess] from [The Light]’s milestones, then that would replace my missing [Holy Amp] and [Holy Magic Efficiency].”
At that point, another idea appeared in my head.
“… Why haven’t I thought of this before? A concert!” I shouted with energy, jumping off my chair to put on my white cloak to turn myself into a white mage.
“Are you guys coming?” I asked my companions as I was standing next to the door.
Saori put her jacket on and opened the door for me while Tasianna shook her head and went to the garden, telling us goodbye before beginning to take care of our herbs and plants. She might have stayed around humans for over two weeks now, but her hatred was as glaring as ever. Until now, she had never allowed a single person to enter our home.
As Saori and I walked through the village, we noticed a few villagers, adults and teens, greeting us with, “A blissful LightDay to you” before walking towards the location of my “sermon.” A few kids imitated them, but it was obvious they did it ‘cause the adults did it instead out of respect, as they ran away with their friends, giggling.
“Adorable,” I muttered with a wry smile.
“True. Walking through the street, suppressing our actual speed to the point that little children can outrun us, is certainly nice,” Saori said with a smile.
Immersed by the atmosphere, we walked silently with each other, only speaking when we had to greet a villager. It had been a while since we just enjoyed our presence together. The hectic nature was gone from our days, at least for now.
After a while, we arrived at the place where my “sermon” would be held. It was a wide area where a church once stood, however, it was burned down during the bandit raid and the rubble had to be removed. As the villagers considered the area still “sacred,” Colwyn decided I should perform here.
The first to notice us was Colwyn, who ran towards us, swinging his lumberjack beard around while he did it. “A blessed day of the Goddess, Lady Hestia and Miss Saori. I hope the Goddess has treated you well today?”
“Good morning, Chief Colwyn. May the light guide your path on this brilliant LightDay” Saori greeted him with a short bow, reciting the religious greeting we had learned for LightDay.
Each day had a religious greeting, like “May the eternal fire fuel your body on this warm FireDay” or “May the earth nourish your body on this bountiful EarthDay.” They weren’t important in a casual setting, but if you wanted to be formal, using them was advised.
“It has found me well, Chief Colwyn. May the light guide your path on this brilliant LightDay,” I answered with a curtsy.
Saori gave me an annoyed glance with a slight blush before looking away. I mean, sorry that my greeting was grander, but blame it on Tasianna if you were that uncomfortable about it, Saori.
In any case, we waited for a bit longer until the plaza was filled with villagers, before Colwyn quietened everybody down. There was a wooden platform with a podium placed on it, probably the spot where I should go as all the villagers were standing in front of it.
After Saori gave me a few encouraging words to scare away my stage fright, I took in a deep breath and walked up to the podium. I gazed in front of me, into the crowd of people, ranging from small toddlers to old, hardy adults. As I inspected this sight, I noticed that there weren’t any elderly people among them, almost all were around Lorena’s age, although middle-aged people like Colwyn or Lorena’s parents were plenty.
Oooooh, goodness. There are quite a lot of people here, I thought nervously, fiddling my fingers as everybody was staring at me with both curiosity and expectation. Why are you people putting so much pressure on me?! Colwyn I thought you told everybody to not expect anything!
“On this beautiful day of the Goddess of Light, I welcome all of you standing before me with gratitude for accepting me,” I started out, planning to stay safe as I meekly retold a few preset lines I practiced beforehand. “Everybody from Carine village, may the Goddess bless you with bountiful light.”
As I assumed a praying position and bowed, everybody followed up with me. I honestly had no idea why they did this. it felt flabbergasting. I honestly wished a priest would actually educate me on this or, better yet, do it for me.
Master Kushlek’zar was technically a priest but he admitted that he never gave a sermon in his life before. His “priest” status was purely restricted to his role as a mage among the Depths Guard and Tide Watchers, nothing like a clergyman.
“Although I am quite inexperienced with giving sermons, Chief Colwyn has given me the honor to perform one in front of all of you, fervent followers of our Goddess of Light, Aurena,” I continued. “That is why-”
I paused for a bit as I suddenly noticed people whispering, and due to my enhanced hearing, it was pretty easy to distinguish what they were saying while it was this silent. They were stuff like, “Did the priestess just forget to mention something, or am I imagining things?” or “I know Colwyn said she was inexperienced, but she already messed up the beginning.”
Most of the gossiping came from people that never witnessed my introduction at the entrance of the village or those who didn’t have any of their relatives or friends kidnapped by the bandits. The village was huge so most probably only thought of me as a fancy girl deciding to “play” around in the village.
“T-that is why—” I stuttered as I opened up the holy book, turning pages and pages, trying to find a reminder on what I was missing, however, I couldn’t. In addition to my parallel minds also not knowing, I was beginning to feel a bit anxious.
“Didn’t know beastmen worshiped the Goddess. Heard most preferred the God of Darkness.” and “Urgh, having beastmen adventurers visiting Tobbes’ tavern already spoiled my drink, but having one live here wouldn’t have happened before Colwyn became the chief. Even if she’s cute.” were a few more things I overheard.
I looked over at Colwyn who was scratching his beard and Saori who was giving me a worried expression. If I didn’t do something soon, the crowd would only get louder and louder, eventually splitting up. I didn’t want to do this initially, but I’ve already decided to gain some followers out of this, so I wasn’t planning to waste this opportunity.
I took another deep breath before slamming the holy book close. Amplifying the sound with [Aerokinesis], I drowned out the sounds of the slowly displeased congregation.
“Ok, this isn’t working out too well,” I complained as I scratched my head, dropping my formal tone. “I’m sorry everybody if I made a mistake somewhere, but I don’t know what it was.”
A commotion was slowly starting to form as people looked at each and the whispers started to sound like talking. They were displeased.
However, I kept talking, keeping my voice loud with [Aerokinesis]. “That’s why I’m doing it my way now, and not like what the Light’s Guidance or Chief Colwyn or what you are expecting from me. I don’t know what a normal priest would say here, so sorry. If you are here for your usual sermon, then please leave. May the Goddess bless you on this auspicious day, of course."
The commotion suddenly quietened down from my direct tone. The complainers had an expression mixed with nervousness and uncertainty, unsure if they should take my word seriously or not. I personally wasn’t expecting them to stay after I changed my attitude, but beggars couldn’t be picky.
However, the look of those who witnessed my healing magic, among them Lorena and her parents, never wavered their attention. They were respectful through the entire sermon.
“For those willing to stay with me, let me prove my worth to you. Let us pray,” I announced as I conjured up a white magic circle.
The combined gasping sound of the crowd was audible to all, none were more surprised than my naysayers. However, this only lasted for a second as everybody quickly understood what I was planning to do, clutching their hands together as they prayed.
“The Goddess watches over us
In her name, we pray, we sing, we love
For her merciful light, protects us all
Purify the ground, wherever her feathers touches ”
The song went on and on as everybody followed my singing with their own, eventually sounding like a choir. Blue particles also began escaping everybody’s bodies, as they streamed to my magic circle. Although not visible to the naked eye, I could see them through [Mana Eyes], confirming they were mana.
After a bit, I released the magic circle from my hand and sent it into the air, all magic runes having been filled up already. Honestly speaking, from a mage’s point-of-view, the spell was already ready to be activated.
As strange as it was to say, this was my second custom spell. Not just any custom spell, but one that I learned inside the bible. You wouldn’t believe what a face I made when I realized this truth while reading the chant out loud. To a layman, it sounded just like a song a choir would sing, but if you inspected and analyzed the words used for the lyrics, it would become obvious how descriptive they were. A bit too much.
When I questioned Tasianna and Master Kushlek’zar about it, they helped me decipher the magic runes and chant from the bible, writing it all down for me to learn. The spell’s name was [Prayer], a fitting name as it was a buffing spell that would become stronger the more people prayed.
A pretty strong buffing spell if I may say so myself, although it required a long process to hit its maximum potential.
The spell granted all those underneath the field-sized magic circle Aurena’s blessing, which essentially was a spell’s activation effect. I did make me question a bit if this really was created by the Goddess of Light, but stranger things had already happened to me. For example, Shiterno.
From the point-of-view of a mage, the “lyrics” wasn’t very truthful. The way they described it sounded like they were trying to glorify everything, especially once you understood some of the intricacies of it. And when I mean “intricacies,” I meant how this custom spell actually worked.
I’ve tested this spell with Saori and Tasianna, and we noticed that the “prayer” wasn’t needed. You see, whoever made this spell gave it the function to absorb the mana of those under its magic circle while they sang along with the caster. While singing wasn’t a prerequisite, the spell required people to willingly donate mana if the caster couldn’t pay the mana costs themselves, and I would guess this song was an effective way to do so without revealing the truth of the spell.
Pretty sneaky, you had to admit.
By my second cast, I was personally able to grant both of them [Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Moderate)] by purely using my own mana, although I did have to admit how taxing it was. The important part was that I didn’t need anybody to “pray” with me.
However, that didn’t mean that praying together was completely useless. The mana cost for this spell was immense, and a single normal priest might not be able to satisfy the requirements to even cast it in the first place. I could do this ‘cause I had an abnormal amount of mana.
It was pretty obvious that somebody from Aurena’s church made this spell and that they spread this song to reinforce the faith one had to the Goddess of Light. Most villagers here were illiterate, so song lyrics were a great way to have them remember those words, seeing as everybody here aside from the really small kids could keep up with me.
Still, I did wonder why they had the instructions for the spell in this holy book. Was it an instruction manual for priests in case they forget? Then why spread it through publicly sold books instead of personal, church-issued bibles?
It was weird, sure … but not really my problem to think about. I was only interested in its effectiveness as a buff. Both Saori and Tasianna agreed that the stat increase was powerful, despite how much work and effort it demanded for a single cast.
I would definitely want to use it more often but unless I wanted to spend the mana to cast a “major” version which grants a 30% increase of stats, it would still be more effective to use the individual System buffing spells for that job.
Still, thanks for the custom spell, bible!
Thinking that enough mana was poured into the magic circle, I stopped singing and started the chant, “Oh Goddess of Light, Aurena. I bid you, hear our prayers of gratitude and ardent worship so it may empower you ever more in your duties of overseeing us. I beg of you to hear us and grant upon us your blessing of light, Prayer!”
As mentioned, chanting was completely redundant since I had [Chant Revocation]. This was purely for show. A performance.
Watching the white magic circle glow for a solid second after I was done before it released its effect was a beautiful sight. Light began descending on the congregation of villagers, basking them in warm white particles as everybody was quickly granted a powerful buff.
“Woah! A ‘miracle’ of the Goddess! Blessing to the shrine maiden!” a villager screamed.
“We are your servants, Goddess! Praise be to our Goddess!” another shouted.
“Thank you very much, Lady Shrine Maiden! Thank you,” another villager screamed almost hysterically, helping me recognize him as one of those I rescued from the bandits.
Appreciation was predominantly given to Aurena, as I expected. Still, it calmed down my unsettled heart to hear a few giving thanks to me. Those I helped were especially thankful, since they all knew what I could do. This included Lorena, the 25 Carine villagers we saved, and the mercs.
“Thank you so very much for everything, ‘Crimson Saintess’,” one of the mercs shouted … wait what?!
‘Crimson Saintess’? Oh come on, what is that nickname? That’ll just cause a ton of trouble for m-!
…
“Heh.” I smiled, happy to see those System messages. “… And I would like to announce one more thing before this sermon ends. On the eve of the year”s end, I will be performing an idol concert for everybody in the village. On that night, I will become your shining light to welcome the new year, so I ask you from the depths of my heart to attend!”
It was clear that everybody was confused about what “Idol concert” meant, so I knew that I had to do something to give them a taste. So … I danced and sang. It was only a sneak peek of what I would be performing on that day but I showed them everything I had prepare up until now.
The still unfinished lyrics, the mumble-jumble that was the music, and the chaotic mess that was my dance choreography. It was so imperfect. It was embarrassing. It was killing my soul as I was doing all of this … but I didn’t stop. Seeing everybody’s eyes locked onto me was nerve wracking, but no one looked at me with disgust. Instead, their eyes were filled with interest.
The moment I was finished, I thanked everybody and immediately ran off the stage and rushed out of the plaza with my natural, unsuppressed Agility, speeding through the village like a speedster before arriving at my house. I opened the door, closed it, identified where Tasianna was and jumped at her.
“Lady Hesti-AAAAHHHHHH!” Tasianna screamed, almost falling on the ground ‘cause of me.
“Tasianna, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg, omg. I can’t believe I just did that,” I cried out in embarrassment, feeling like I would turn into ash at any moment now. “OMG, kyaaaahhhhh! What went through my brain that I would even think about showing anybody sensible that terrible stunt. Ahhh, I can’t believe that I showed that in front of a whole crowd! Ahhhrgh, I want to wrap myself under my blanket and just die there!”
“OW! Lady Hestia you’re actually starting to burn me here! Also, please, don’t say that you want to die!” Tasianna scolded me, trying to push my face away as my cheeks were burning hers.
Suffice to say, my embarrassment was burning me up. It was one of the pitfalls of this new body of mine, since it was far easier for me to gather up heat due to [Dreadflare Aura]. It was a good reminder to keep up my training, but at this very moment, I wasn’t thinking like a predator or dragon. I was acting like a normal teenage girl, too flustered to think straight.
Tasianna nodded, responding with, “As expected from you, Lady Hestia” as I told her everything. She seemed really proud of me, but I just wanted to get away from the village for the day. I didn’t want to hear anybody comment about the sermon at all.
As such, we left a message behind for Saori. It was to inform her that we were going to meet Master Kushlek’zar. Not only for my daily training, but also to test out what [Venerated Saintess] could do.
Oh yeah, maybe today would be a good day to evolve.
AbyssRaven I nerfed [Prayer], halving all its initial values since I thought getting a 100% boost in stats at the highest potentially was a bit OP.
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