Varewulf The first Resident-only chapter. I thought it was interesting to write from a completely different perspective for once, but Sara will be back next chapter in case you're worried.
Mirielle remembered to collect a flower from the glade before she left, and stored it in her magic pouch, then started her brisk walk back to the city.
She'd had a lot of surprises in that meeting. Even though Sara said she was just acting as the Guardian Beast, she was fulfilling the role just as the legend said. It wouldn't surprise her if the fairy tale of the Mystic Wolf helping people was based on the Guardian Beast legend. And she just realised she had forgotten to follow up on the whole 'previous life' thing. So much else had come up.
That final bomb rock though...
Not just the wolves, but the Night Ravens too? If they are actually willing to help us, that would be a big deal.
They weren't hostile on sight. but anyone who had tried attacking a Night Raven knew how fearsome they were. It would be a big boon to a potential alliance to be able to lay forth that they might be willing to come to their aid. It seemed like it was a bit early to promise that, but she could at least mention it as a possibility.
Now if only she was able to convince someone at the church to listen, then they could actually get this going. And if she got the Temple on board, then they could talk to the Palace. But they would absolutely want to verify this themselves. How would that go?
And on Sara's side... she had said she knew the wolf boss in the south. What if she could convince it... him, and maybe also the one in the west to cooperate with the elves too... the elves might be able to regain a significant amount of control of all four zones of the forest. Opening the south road would be an even bigger deal than the north. But one step at a time.
There was also the matter of Sara's god. Mirielle had learned about the different religions in the different nations, and pretty much everyone accepted there was more than one god, even if it was looked down upon to show reverence to more than one. Especially anyone who was part of a religion's ranks should not have an interest in other gods.
However none of the major ones were named Norax, nor were any of the gods she knew of related to fortune. So Norax was powerful enough to create Sara, but did not have a big enough following that their name was widely known. It was a mystery in its own right. If she wanted to ask about it at the Temple she would have to be careful.
She had been a little nervous when Sara had said she had copied some of Mirielle's skills, but thankfully it was only harmless ones. If she had copied something like the Eye of Truth, that might have been troublesome. Unless she had lied about it, but she chose to trust her. The thought of a scholar wolf still amused her.
* * *
By the time she was at the city gate, she had decided that Luneria was probably the best choice to talk to. She was a respected Bishop, and one of the few prominent figures that did not think Mirielle was weird. She had always seemed like a reasonable woman, but they hadn't spoken in private before. So it was hard to say what she was like behind closed doors. Yet she couldn't think of any better candidates with enough authority to actually have a significant say.
Mirielle didn't have any physical evidence to speak of, so she could only lay forth what she and Sara had talked about in as good of a light as possible, and hopefully convince Luneria to come talk with Sara herself.
There was also the matter that she wasn't able to bless a flower in order to make it an accessory herself, but the Bishops, the Head Priest, and the Holy Shepherds had that skill.
The roles, and ranks within the Temple did not correspond directly with your class as such. They were related, but you also needed certain achievements. Each class had several ranks, and even if you had a higher class, you still needed to rise through the lower ranks first.
As a Priest, Mirielle had been able to become an Apprentice Priestess, and then a full-fledged Priestess, which is what had allowed her to learn Diagnose, and Treatment. But she had never advanced beyond that rank. Above her were Holy Priest, and High Priest. She needed to reach that rank before she was allowed to become a Shepherd. And even if she had managed to to attain the Shepherd class in some other way, she would have still needed to rise through the ranks to reach the Shepherd rank in the eyes of the Temple.
So they were linked in the sense that you would get the Shepherd rank if you earned the Shepherd class through your religion's trials. But you needed to reach High Priest, and level 30, before they let you take the trial. Mirielle was close to level 30, but not to High Priest.
There was only one Head Priest per city, whose position even outranked the Shepherds. The current Head Priest in Komeron was a Shepherd in class, which was most often the case, so there was no 'Head Shepherd'. It went Shepherd, Holy Shepherd, Head Priest, and then Bishop in terms of authority. There was a limited amount of Bishop seats available, so someone could only rise to that rank after one of the seats became vacant. Either because an existing Bishop stepped down, or one of them was elected Archbishop. Or in very rare cases expelled. There was one Archbishop in each major city, which for the elves meant three. One in Komeron, one in Milheen, and one in Larien by the coast. And at the very top was the Oracle.
While the ranks were generally the same across the various religions, the top position had several different terms. Oracle for the elf nation, Pope for the human nation, Chief Forge-Speaker (commonly just called the Chief) for the dwarf nation, and so on. Not every religion had a unique term, like the troll nation also called theirs the Oracle, and the gnome nation also had a Pope.
There was also a spot for a Holy Saint, but it was vacant at the moment. It was a very special position, and required a special candidate to complete a challenging trial. They hadn't had any good candidates for a while.
Considering how Sara received direct messages from her god, that technically made her Norax's Oracle by the definition of the Temple of the Moon, but since Norax didn't have an organised religion, the same rules probably didn't apply.
To Mirielle's great relief, Luneria was not busy, and she was allowed to go knock on the door. If she had been busy, she would have gone to look for a suitable flower first, but getting the Bishop to hear her out was much more important.
"Yes?" came the reply from inside.
"Priestess Mirielle is here to see Bishop Luneria."
"You may enter."
Mirielle drew a deep breath to try to steel her nerves, and then opened the door.
Luneria sat at her desk, with her hands resting on top of some paperwork. She leaned back, and moved her arms to the armrests. She was a mature, and beautiful woman with purple hair, and golden eyes. Her ears were a little longer than average, which was considered a blessing, and quite attractive among the elves.
"How may I help you, Priestess?"
"I have some news, Bishop," Mirielle said. She had wanted to say 'important news', but didn't want to start off too strong, in case she gave off a poor impression.
"Oh? Please, have a seat, and tell me." Luneria gestured to the chair in front of her desk.
Mirielle sat down, and wondered how to begin.
"Are you familiar with the legend of the Guardian Beast, Bishop?"
Luneria raised an eyebrow.
"As a matter of fact I am," she replied. "Why?"
Mirielle wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Hopefully it meant less explanation was needed, but there was the insecurity of whether they had heard the same version of the legend.
"I was looking through the books at the Great Library, and came across this legend, along with mention of a glade in Nyolund that was said to be connected to the Guardian Beast. So I went to investigate," she explained.
"Oh? To what end?" Luneria was maintaining a neutral expression, but there was something underneath that Mirielle couldn't quite grasp. She could only hope it was nothing bad.
"I will admit that at first it was mostly curiosity, but I wanted to see if I could find the Guardian Beast. I thought that maybe I could get it to help us with our troubles in the forest," Mirielle said.
"The Guardian Beast is just a legend, Priestess. I do not blame you for being curious, but it is a waste of your time," Luneria said.
"See, that's the thing. I found it," Mirielle said.
"... what?" Luneria suddenly looked sharp, but Mirielle could only keep going at this point.
"On the third time I visited I was attacked by a wolf unlike any I had ever seen before, wielding several types of magic. I lost, but I was certain it was the Guardian Beast, so I headed back out there to apologise for any offence I had caused. I did not want my actions to have made things worse, when I intended to help. Thankfully the Beast was willing to speak to me, and we were able to come to an agreement."
Luneria stared at her for an awkwardly long time, and then rubbed her forehead as she sighed.
"If it wasn't for Eye of Truth verifying what you are saying, I would have asked you to go home, and sleep off your fever," she said. "Though it's possible you only believe it so strongly that the delusion has overtaken your mind." Those weren't very kind words, but maybe fair considering what she had just heard. "So you're saying a beast, a mob, spoke to you?"
"Not exactly..." Mirielle had to admit. "She can't speak, but she can write. In elven no less. She scratched letters into the dirt of the road to communicate with me. So I know for sure she's no normal mob."
"That isn't really any less outrageous, you know. And you keep saying 'she'. Is it a mob, or isn't it?" Luneria asked.
While it wasn't a written law or anything, it was common practice to not use gendered terms for mobs, unless it was a pet or something like that.
"She introduced herself to me, so I think it's just polite to refer to her as such," Mirielle replied.
"Fair enough," Luneria said, but she was rubbing her temples now. "And?"
"It turns out she is not the guardian beast of legend, but a fledgling guardian beast come to lead the wolves in the north."
"Pardon?" Luneria gaze was sharp. "Are you saying there's a new boss in Nyolund? That's unprecedented, Priestess. We need to tell people." She started to get up.
"W-wait. As I said, we came to an arrangement," Mirielle said to hopefully stop Luneria from rushing out.
"Okay, I'll hear you out." Luneria sat back down, and relaxed her stance. "What sort of arrangement?"
"She, and her wolves are willing to not attack us, so long as we don't attack them. We are still in the negotiating phase, but it is possible they are even willing to help us. We could expand our hunting grounds, and maybe even reclaim the road." Mirielle was in a cold sweat, but she had to keep talking. "She even has the Night Ravens on her side."
Luneria slumped back in her seat. "I can't believe what I'm hearing," she said. "And yet you still haven't told a lie. Okay then." She straightened back up. "Why does this 'Guardian Beast' want to help us in the first place?"
"I..." Mirielle thought about it. "I'm actually not sure... I was too excited to ask. But I honestly believe she is genuine about it. And I am certain of her position. The first time we talked she had only just arrived, and her status read as a Mystic Wolf, but when we talked today it read as Nyolund Guardian Beast. She has the boss buff as well. So she has definitely taken over."
"Great..." Luneria didn't seem like she knew what else to say.
"I should also mention that Eye of Truth told me she is hiding her full status, but the concealment is so strong that I wasn't able to see what the true status is. So I will admit it is possible I am wrong on some points, but everything I have seen has convinced me she is indeed the new Guardian Beast." Perhaps that was dangerous to admit, but she wanted Luneria to meet Sara, so she knew that Luneria's Eye of Truth would see it as well. She couldn't withhold that information.
"By the Goddess do I desperately wish you were lying to me, Priestess." Luneria groaned. "Because this being true is too much to swallow. I dread to ask this, but why come to me with this information?"
"Well... there are two main reasons," Mirielle said. "The first is that the wolves wish for us to wear a symbol to indicate we mean no harm when we enter the forest. Then they will know not to attack us, since because of the Adventurers they can't blindly trust every Resident or Wanderer that enters the woods. Sara suggested something both easily visible, and with a clear scent, like a flower with a preservation blessing cast on it, and made into an accessory. But I do not have that skill. So I was hoping you would help me create one."
"Wait... Sara?"
Mirielle flinched. She had been dancing around not actually saying Sara's name, since it wasn't really an impressive one, but she had slipped up. And now there was no going back. "Yes. That's the name she introduced herself with. I know it's not very... um... legendary, but... it's still a mob with a name."
"Yes... that is interesting." Luneria stroked her chin, and her attitude seemed to have shifted a little. "And what's the second thing?"
"I... I was hoping you would be willing to meet with her, Bishop."
"Priestess..."
"I know!" Mirielle burst out, then clapped her hand over her mouth. "I know," she said in a calmer volume. "I know it's asking a lot, but... I really think this could be an alliance that would bring about great change for the kingdom. If it proves to be successful, maybe we can even ask Sara to negotiate with the other wolf bosses on our behalf. In time we might regain a stable presence across the entire forest. But I don't have the power, or authority to push for this on my own. I need allies. Please, Bishop."
"Those are some pretty big mights and maybes, Priestess, but I can tell you are passionate about this, at least. And it is true that you have been held back more than is necessary. Something like this might actually be what would finally force them to acknowledge you. But if I thought your only motive for doing this was personal advancement, I would have thrown you right out of here." Luneria sighed again. "I want to call you naive and idealistic, because you are, but you are also quite serious about this. Alright. I guess this qualifies as something I should see for myself. If we get killed, I can just suspend your pay for a month," she added with a grin.
Mirielle went pale. Even if she was quite sure that wouldn't happen, the threat alone was enough to give her a chill. She had been saving up for another trip to the ocean on her next vacation, but without pay she'd have to dip into her savings.
Please let this work out, she prayed to the Moon Goddess, and to Norax too while she was at it.
Varewulf The first Resident-only chapter. I thought it was interesting to write from a completely different perspective for once, but Sara will be back next chapter in case you're worried.
Mirielle remembered to collect a flower from the glade before she left, and stored it in her magic pouch, then started her brisk walk back to the city.
She'd had a lot of surprises in that meeting. Even though Sara said she was just acting as the Guardian Beast, she was fulfilling the role just as the legend said. It wouldn't surprise her if the fairy tale of the Mystic Wolf helping people was based on the Guardian Beast legend. And she just realised she had forgotten to follow up on the whole 'previous life' thing. So much else had come up.
That final bomb rock though...
Not just the wolves, but the Night Ravens too? If they are actually willing to help us, that would be a big deal.
They weren't hostile on sight. but anyone who had tried attacking a Night Raven knew how fearsome they were. It would be a big boon to a potential alliance to be able to lay forth that they might be willing to come to their aid. It seemed like it was a bit early to promise that, but she could at least mention it as a possibility.
Now if only she was able to convince someone at the church to listen, then they could actually get this going. And if she got the Temple on board, then they could talk to the Palace. But they would absolutely want to verify this themselves. How would that go?
And on Sara's side... she had said she knew the wolf boss in the south. What if she could convince it... him, and maybe also the one in the west to cooperate with the elves too... the elves might be able to regain a significant amount of control of all four zones of the forest. Opening the south road would be an even bigger deal than the north. But one step at a time.
There was also the matter of Sara's god. Mirielle had learned about the different religions in the different nations, and pretty much everyone accepted there was more than one god, even if it was looked down upon to show reverence to more than one. Especially anyone who was part of a religion's ranks should not have an interest in other gods.
However none of the major ones were named Norax, nor were any of the gods she knew of related to fortune. So Norax was powerful enough to create Sara, but did not have a big enough following that their name was widely known. It was a mystery in its own right. If she wanted to ask about it at the Temple she would have to be careful.
She had been a little nervous when Sara had said she had copied some of Mirielle's skills, but thankfully it was only harmless ones. If she had copied something like the Eye of Truth, that might have been troublesome. Unless she had lied about it, but she chose to trust her. The thought of a scholar wolf still amused her.
* * *
By the time she was at the city gate, she had decided that Luneria was probably the best choice to talk to. She was a respected Bishop, and one of the few prominent figures that did not think Mirielle was weird. She had always seemed like a reasonable woman, but they hadn't spoken in private before. So it was hard to say what she was like behind closed doors. Yet she couldn't think of any better candidates with enough authority to actually have a significant say.
Mirielle didn't have any physical evidence to speak of, so she could only lay forth what she and Sara had talked about in as good of a light as possible, and hopefully convince Luneria to come talk with Sara herself.
There was also the matter that she wasn't able to bless a flower in order to make it an accessory herself, but the Bishops, the Head Priest, and the Holy Shepherds had that skill.
The roles, and ranks within the Temple did not correspond directly with your class as such. They were related, but you also needed certain achievements. Each class had several ranks, and even if you had a higher class, you still needed to rise through the lower ranks first.
As a Priest, Mirielle had been able to become an Apprentice Priestess, and then a full-fledged Priestess, which is what had allowed her to learn Diagnose, and Treatment. But she had never advanced beyond that rank. Above her were Holy Priest, and High Priest. She needed to reach that rank before she was allowed to become a Shepherd. And even if she had managed to to attain the Shepherd class in some other way, she would have still needed to rise through the ranks to reach the Shepherd rank in the eyes of the Temple.
So they were linked in the sense that you would get the Shepherd rank if you earned the Shepherd class through your religion's trials. But you needed to reach High Priest, and level 30, before they let you take the trial. Mirielle was close to level 30, but not to High Priest.
There was only one Head Priest per city, whose position even outranked the Shepherds. The current Head Priest in Komeron was a Shepherd in class, which was most often the case, so there was no 'Head Shepherd'. It went Shepherd, Holy Shepherd, Head Priest, and then Bishop in terms of authority. There was a limited amount of Bishop seats available, so someone could only rise to that rank after one of the seats became vacant. Either because an existing Bishop stepped down, or one of them was elected Archbishop. Or in very rare cases expelled. There was one Archbishop in each major city, which for the elves meant three. One in Komeron, one in Milheen, and one in Larien by the coast. And at the very top was the Oracle.
While the ranks were generally the same across the various religions, the top position had several different terms. Oracle for the elf nation, Pope for the human nation, Chief Forge-Speaker (commonly just called the Chief) for the dwarf nation, and so on. Not every religion had a unique term, like the troll nation also called theirs the Oracle, and the gnome nation also had a Pope.
There was also a spot for a Holy Saint, but it was vacant at the moment. It was a very special position, and required a special candidate to complete a challenging trial. They hadn't had any good candidates for a while.
Considering how Sara received direct messages from her god, that technically made her Norax's Oracle by the definition of the Temple of the Moon, but since Norax didn't have an organised religion, the same rules probably didn't apply.
To Mirielle's great relief, Luneria was not busy, and she was allowed to go knock on the door. If she had been busy, she would have gone to look for a suitable flower first, but getting the Bishop to hear her out was much more important.
"Yes?" came the reply from inside.
"Priestess Mirielle is here to see Bishop Luneria."
"You may enter."
Mirielle drew a deep breath to try to steel her nerves, and then opened the door.
Luneria sat at her desk, with her hands resting on top of some paperwork. She leaned back, and moved her arms to the armrests. She was a mature, and beautiful woman with purple hair, and golden eyes. Her ears were a little longer than average, which was considered a blessing, and quite attractive among the elves.
"How may I help you, Priestess?"
"I have some news, Bishop," Mirielle said. She had wanted to say 'important news', but didn't want to start off too strong, in case she gave off a poor impression.
"Oh? Please, have a seat, and tell me." Luneria gestured to the chair in front of her desk.
Mirielle sat down, and wondered how to begin.
"Are you familiar with the legend of the Guardian Beast, Bishop?"
Luneria raised an eyebrow.
"As a matter of fact I am," she replied. "Why?"
Mirielle wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Hopefully it meant less explanation was needed, but there was the insecurity of whether they had heard the same version of the legend.
"I was looking through the books at the Great Library, and came across this legend, along with mention of a glade in Nyolund that was said to be connected to the Guardian Beast. So I went to investigate," she explained.
"Oh? To what end?" Luneria was maintaining a neutral expression, but there was something underneath that Mirielle couldn't quite grasp. She could only hope it was nothing bad.
"I will admit that at first it was mostly curiosity, but I wanted to see if I could find the Guardian Beast. I thought that maybe I could get it to help us with our troubles in the forest," Mirielle said.
"The Guardian Beast is just a legend, Priestess. I do not blame you for being curious, but it is a waste of your time," Luneria said.
"See, that's the thing. I found it," Mirielle said.
"... what?" Luneria suddenly looked sharp, but Mirielle could only keep going at this point.
"On the third time I visited I was attacked by a wolf unlike any I had ever seen before, wielding several types of magic. I lost, but I was certain it was the Guardian Beast, so I headed back out there to apologise for any offence I had caused. I did not want my actions to have made things worse, when I intended to help. Thankfully the Beast was willing to speak to me, and we were able to come to an agreement."
Luneria stared at her for an awkwardly long time, and then rubbed her forehead as she sighed.
"If it wasn't for Eye of Truth verifying what you are saying, I would have asked you to go home, and sleep off your fever," she said. "Though it's possible you only believe it so strongly that the delusion has overtaken your mind." Those weren't very kind words, but maybe fair considering what she had just heard. "So you're saying a beast, a mob, spoke to you?"
"Not exactly..." Mirielle had to admit. "She can't speak, but she can write. In elven no less. She scratched letters into the dirt of the road to communicate with me. So I know for sure she's no normal mob."
"That isn't really any less outrageous, you know. And you keep saying 'she'. Is it a mob, or isn't it?" Luneria asked.
While it wasn't a written law or anything, it was common practice to not use gendered terms for mobs, unless it was a pet or something like that.
"She introduced herself to me, so I think it's just polite to refer to her as such," Mirielle replied.
"Fair enough," Luneria said, but she was rubbing her temples now. "And?"
"It turns out she is not the guardian beast of legend, but a fledgling guardian beast come to lead the wolves in the north."
"Pardon?" Luneria gaze was sharp. "Are you saying there's a new boss in Nyolund? That's unprecedented, Priestess. We need to tell people." She started to get up.
"W-wait. As I said, we came to an arrangement," Mirielle said to hopefully stop Luneria from rushing out.
"Okay, I'll hear you out." Luneria sat back down, and relaxed her stance. "What sort of arrangement?"
"She, and her wolves are willing to not attack us, so long as we don't attack them. We are still in the negotiating phase, but it is possible they are even willing to help us. We could expand our hunting grounds, and maybe even reclaim the road." Mirielle was in a cold sweat, but she had to keep talking. "She even has the Night Ravens on her side."
Luneria slumped back in her seat. "I can't believe what I'm hearing," she said. "And yet you still haven't told a lie. Okay then." She straightened back up. "Why does this 'Guardian Beast' want to help us in the first place?"
"I..." Mirielle thought about it. "I'm actually not sure... I was too excited to ask. But I honestly believe she is genuine about it. And I am certain of her position. The first time we talked she had only just arrived, and her status read as a Mystic Wolf, but when we talked today it read as Nyolund Guardian Beast. She has the boss buff as well. So she has definitely taken over."
"Great..." Luneria didn't seem like she knew what else to say.
"I should also mention that Eye of Truth told me she is hiding her full status, but the concealment is so strong that I wasn't able to see what the true status is. So I will admit it is possible I am wrong on some points, but everything I have seen has convinced me she is indeed the new Guardian Beast." Perhaps that was dangerous to admit, but she wanted Luneria to meet Sara, so she knew that Luneria's Eye of Truth would see it as well. She couldn't withhold that information.
"By the Goddess do I desperately wish you were lying to me, Priestess." Luneria groaned. "Because this being true is too much to swallow. I dread to ask this, but why come to me with this information?"
"Well... there are two main reasons," Mirielle said. "The first is that the wolves wish for us to wear a symbol to indicate we mean no harm when we enter the forest. Then they will know not to attack us, since because of the Adventurers they can't blindly trust every Resident or Wanderer that enters the woods. Sara suggested something both easily visible, and with a clear scent, like a flower with a preservation blessing cast on it, and made into an accessory. But I do not have that skill. So I was hoping you would help me create one."
"Wait... Sara?"
Mirielle flinched. She had been dancing around not actually saying Sara's name, since it wasn't really an impressive one, but she had slipped up. And now there was no going back. "Yes. That's the name she introduced herself with. I know it's not very... um... legendary, but... it's still a mob with a name."
"Yes... that is interesting." Luneria stroked her chin, and her attitude seemed to have shifted a little. "And what's the second thing?"
"I... I was hoping you would be willing to meet with her, Bishop."
"Priestess..."
"I know!" Mirielle burst out, then clapped her hand over her mouth. "I know," she said in a calmer volume. "I know it's asking a lot, but... I really think this could be an alliance that would bring about great change for the kingdom. If it proves to be successful, maybe we can even ask Sara to negotiate with the other wolf bosses on our behalf. In time we might regain a stable presence across the entire forest. But I don't have the power, or authority to push for this on my own. I need allies. Please, Bishop."
"Those are some pretty big mights and maybes, Priestess, but I can tell you are passionate about this, at least. And it is true that you have been held back more than is necessary. Something like this might actually be what would finally force them to acknowledge you. But if I thought your only motive for doing this was personal advancement, I would have thrown you right out of here." Luneria sighed again. "I want to call you naive and idealistic, because you are, but you are also quite serious about this. Alright. I guess this qualifies as something I should see for myself. If we get killed, I can just suspend your pay for a month," she added with a grin.
Mirielle went pale. Even if she was quite sure that wouldn't happen, the threat alone was enough to give her a chill. She had been saving up for another trip to the ocean on her next vacation, but without pay she'd have to dip into her savings.
Please let this work out, she prayed to the Moon Goddess, and to Norax too while she was at it.
