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Side Story 8: The Church’s magic is awesome! [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2020-03-18 18:45:02 +0000 UTC“Do you think you guys will be ok?” a person asked me in a girlish voice.
Walking, I, Tatsuya Nagata, looked over at the person who said that and reassured her, “Yeah, that slimy Mikami will listen to Kyouya…probably, and I think Sir Elrick will have it controlled, despite Hanazawa’s reluctance.”
“Urgh, that girl is still acting like an idiot? Even after four months?!” the girl, Aiko Hasebe said in an annoyed tone.
Well, it’s not like I can’t understand her, I said internally. Even if it has been four months, it still doesn’t change the fact that these people have kidnapped us into their world, Peolynca. Being homesick is normal and maybe Hanazawa is dealing with this whole situation by being her bitchy self, arguing against anybody and everybody whenever she can.
On the other hand, Aiko seems to be a bit too comfortable around here, but I guess that happens when the whole clergy is worshipping and treating her like royalty, or like the saint candidate that she is.
Of course, I had enough tact to not say this to her face. She can take a joke but being this blunt will insult anybody. Safer to stay silent.
"Yeah, don't worry Aiko-san. I made a promise, so I won't let anything happen to Sakamoto-san," Kyouya, my best friend, said with a smile and thumbs up.
Hearing that, I turned my gaze at the person walking beside Aiko; Sakamoto-san was pouting with a deep frown, "Ishigami-san, I'm here if you haven't noticed. I'm not the best, I know, but you don't have to treat me like a kid."
"Huh?! Wha-Wait, that's not what I meant…!" Kyouya tried to apologize but was shushed by Aiko.
Combat-wise, Sakamoto wasn’t very strong compared to Kyouya or me. I won’t say that I mastered the spear yet, but I did receive formal training from the Church of Aurena’s knight's Order, and looking at Elrick's status board, I believe that if I kept it up I can become just as a strong, or even more according to Elrick.
Sakamoto-san, on the other hand, didn't have a very athletic physique, to begin with. She merely maintained a healthy body and had a decent amount of stamina for somebody who jogged occasionally and ate healthily.
Honestly, I was also pretty scrawny when I was teleported to this world and my Stamina stat was lower than the majority of the class for that reason. Before I intensively trained in my goal to get those coffee leaves, I was just another lanky guy, so it feels pretty good that I was able to build up some muscles now.
_________________________________________
Name: Haruka Sakamoto Level: 0 Race: Human
Age: 16 Years Job: Archer
Status: Health: 257/257 Mana: 146/146
Strength: 88 Intelligence: 149
Vitality: 54 Wisdom: 59
Agility: 183 Stamina: 234/234
Effects: None
Skill Points: 0
Unique Skill: [Foxian Slyness Lv. 1]
Skill: Magic skills and related:
[Arcane Mind Lv. 1] [Mana Control Lv. 1]
Physical skills and related:
[Archery Technique Lv. 2] [Archery Mastery Lv. 1]
[Mana Strike Lv. 1] [Piercing Enhancement Lv. 1]
Senses and movement skills:
[Stealth Lv. 3] [Accuracy Correction Lv. 2] [Probability Correction Lv. 1]
[Enhanced Auditory Sense Lv. 1] [Enhanced Vision Lv. 2]
[Presence Killer Lv. 2]
Resistances:
[Pain Resistance Lv. 1]
Stat growths and related:
[Stamina Recovery Lv. 1] [Enhanced Agility Capacity Lv. 1]
[Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 1] [Enhanced Stamina Capacity Lv. 1]
Others:
[Singing Lv. 1] [Dancing Lv. 2] [Trap Creation Lv. 1] [Identify Lv. 1]
[Identify Blocker Lv. 3] [High-Speed Calculation Lv. 1]
[Thought Acceleration Lv. 1] [Royal Etiquette Lv. 1]
Ability List: Archery Ability:
[Piercing Arrow] [Curved Pursuer]
Titles: [Otherworldly Visitor]
_________________________________________
Admittedly, she was more fit during the first month of our stay here, but I’ve made a ton of progress, haven’t I? Well, I guess I should thank the “System” of this world for allowing Jobs to help you train. I might have my complaints about this world, but this System is so game-like that I feel like I’m inside an RPG game.
And we are about to do what every RPG player would wish the most; killing monsters and leveling up! Aha, I can’t wait to finally use those stat growth skills to their fullest potential. Without leveling they won’t have an effect so watching the number go up will be awesome.
“You seem to be excited Tatsuya…,” said Kyouya.
“Aren’t you? It’s time to grind, bro!” I responded.
Kyouya shrugged his shoulder but he couldn't hide his twitching mouth, slowly forming a smile. He might not have played as much as I did but once a gamer, always a gamer. We saw our stats two days ago and we've been training like madmen these past days, always trying to one-up each other, and now was our chance to do it on the field of battle!
“…I know exactly what you two are thinking about. I also know that I should chide you guys but…,” Aiko tried to hide her reddening face with a hand, but I was tall enough to see it. “…I also like watching the level of my [Holy Magic] go up. I wonder if I could ask the church to show me some of this world’s clothing. That would be a wonderful reward.”
While I and Kyouya were motivated by self-improvement and our rivalry, it seems like Aiko was willing to go train solely to stay in the favor of the church. It seems her [Holy Magic] stayed at level 3 for a whole month until it was improved when she changed her Job to [Cleric].
I heard from Kyouya the church was still quite pleased that she made this much progress in four months, while others would need years of training to equal her growth.
She seems to disagree for some reason, wanting to accelerate her leveling as much as possible.
I wonder why she’s in such a rush to level up, but then I thought, Wait, normal people actually need years to level that shit up to level 4?! Couldn’t they just abuse the Job change System?
Yeah, I don’t have the patience to learn something for that long. Compared to the gifted magicians like Aiko, Mikami, and, surprisingly, Hanazawa, it seems a plebian like me will have to be content with learning magic through the SP system.
Oh god, how could I forget that fact?! Once I level up, I can get some Skill Points to spend on skills! Ha ha, this will be great!
"My Lady, Saintess Aiko, if you wish I could bid my family to send a few of my dresses and casual clothing upon your request. They will be delighted to do so, absolutely," a woman in a white-robe spoke to Aiko from behind our group.
“Thyra, I couldn’t possibly ask your family to do something like that. I have no money to my name and the cost for the transportation must be too much,” Aiko responded to the woman while wavering her hand to reject the request.
“Nonsense, my Lady,” however, the woman quickly shot down her worries. “I would commit a great sin on House Morgiana if I couldn’t help a Champion of one of our Gods. Also, the country that I origin from, the Kingdom of Artorias, train Hippogryphs as mounts and my family does own a few personally. They will have no problem with the delivery, so allow me to aid you one last time.”
This purple-haired woman was called Thyra Nimue Morgiana and she is the self-appointed lady-in-waiting for Aiko while she is here in the church. From what I heard, she seems to only be a temporary member of the Church of Aurena, here in the holy capital Aureolis.
Aiko told me that she was an extremely gifted magician, a magical prodigy coming from a noble house focused on the arcane arts.
“…I see,” Aiko stood still, forcing everybody else to also stop. “You will be leaving the church soon, correct?”
“Yes, most likely I will not be there to greet you when you come back from the dungeon,” Thyra said with a wry smile. “My two-year stay has benefitted me quite a lot, but I am at the age of marriage and my family is requesting me to come back to take on my role as a member of House Morgiana.”
“Then…then how could I not accept your assistance,” Aiko said with teary eyes. “Thank you, these four months have been amazing just because of your help, Thyra.”
“Oh my, Saintess Aiko, we still have plenty of time left and you can always visit me when you arrive in the Kingdom of Artorias. It is to the west and borders the elven kingdom, so your duties as a hero will demand you to visit my country,” Thyra said to reassure Aiko. “Also, don’t be too worried about your progress, alright? It took me over a year to obtain [Holy Magic Lv. 4]. I’m quite envious of your progress.”
A year?! Yeah, forget about learning it at this point. If a magical prodigy like her needs this long, then I should just forget about it.
After their little talks, our group resumed walking. In no time, we reached the rendezvous spot where our whole class would meet with the knight's order and some of the big-shot priests.
Looking at the area, it was filled with clergymen and knights. While the knights stood in a row, guarding our path like a red carpet, the grey-robed priest congregation stood behind them and prayed.
As we approached the scene, a white-robed priest greeted us, “Welcome, our Goddess’ Heroes. My name is Michalis Astolfus and I shall guide you to your positions.”
Looking at the man, it was clear that he was someone from a noble house. His robe’s design was typical of a noble-born clergyman, filled with adornments and golden embroidery while an emblem, probably his house’s insignia, sat cleanly in the middle of his chest.
He could be called pudgy. His robe was trying to hide his protruding stomach but without a mask, most people will be able to see it from his chubby face.
Otherwise, he looks very classy. He looked close to his late thirties, had styled orange hair and a well-kempt mustache.
He first gave us guys a look and then directed his gaze to the two girls, where his eyes suddenly widened before striking a praying pose, “Oh, Saintess Aiko! My apologies for my lack of formality! I hope you and your companions have had a blessed day of the God of Fire, Danterno!”
Aiko then curtseyed, “Blessing to you from the Goddess of Light, Aurena. May today’s flames fuel your body with heavenly power and vigor as a servant of the gods.”
“May the light of our goddess be with you, Bishop Michalis,” Thyra also curtseyed but gave a different greeting.
Michalis smiled friendly and reciprocated his own greeting, before leading us all to the center of everything. Once we were there, I was able to see that the rest of our classmates have already settled in their individual groups.
Our own group was then split at this point. Aiko went to her own party, which was standing in the middle, while I, Kyouya, and Sakamoto-san went to our own. Thyra and Michalis both joined with the congregation of white-robed priests and shrine maidens standing before a platform, where a large man in shining white armor and an old man in an extremely gaudy robe were standing on.
As we three joined our party, the “Misfits”, we were greeted by the obnoxious slime Mikami, “Yo, you guys are always the last ones. Even Hanazawa got here early. You guys are making our party look terrible.”
“Tch, you want to start something this early on, Mikami?” I said with scorn.
“Ha, always the first to start a fight, Nagata,” Mikami said with contempt. “You’re the reason for holding back Ishigami-kun from reaching his true potential! I heard you forced him to train your sorry ass, again.”
Hearing him insult me like that made my head burst in fire, so I shouted “What the hell are you talking about, you fuck? We were training seriously and he’s benefitting a lot more from training with me than whatever the hell you’re planning to do with him. You want to duel me you bastard?!”
Kyouya tried to stop me from escalating it any further, but my hand was already readying my spear due to anger. I wasn’t planning to hit Mikami with it, but I sure could at this distance, especially when Mikami as a mage won’t have the time to cast his spells in time.
Doesn’t this idiot recognize that a [Spearman] like me could one-shot him if he’s stupid enough to provoke me into a fight? Somebody should teach him a lesson, so he doesn’t endanger himself once we leave the church.
“You two, please, that is enough,” before we could continue this quarrel, a knight came over to stop us. “You are disturbing everybody with your outrage. This is an important day so please settle down.”
The knight that called us out was Elrick von Karstein, our party instructor, and Hanazawa’s knight attendant.
Hearing this from him, I and Mikami looked around and saw that some of the grey-robed priests' gaze was directed at us. Their silent chattering would normally not be heard by us from this distance but the combined gossiping of all these people quickly built up, growing loud enough that it was understandable with my [Enhanced Auditory Sense].
Reluctantly, I also turned my head to my classmates. Expectantly, some of them were clearly embarrassed for us while others just mocked us with laughter.
Aiko was one of the former. She closed her eyes and shook her head while letting out a sigh, exasperated that I fucked up on this important day.
As he was the leader of her party, I could also see that moron Akanishi trying to suppress a laugh, probably ridiculing me from being in the same party with Mikami of all people.
Hanazawa, on the other hand, laughed at the scene, probably as it was more interesting to her than the speech that we were about to get.
Sakamoto-san’s was covering her face in embarrassment, reddened to the point that she looked like a tomato. I wasn't sure if she was ashamed of my outburst or if she didn't like that all the eyes were looking at our party, she is a shy girl after all.
Kyouya smacked me in the back, visibly looking annoyed as his eyes told me, “What the hell are you doing, idiot?!”.
We knew that the reputation of our party was quite low due to Hanazawa’s brash and unsaintly personality, while Mikami was known to cause a lot of fire accidents due to his training. The church wasn’t looking at us very favorable, but they still had hope due to Kyouya and Hanazawa’s awakening into a real saint.
If Elrick and the two other party members, me and Sakamoto-san, could show decent results then they would have no problems with us. However, it was very likely that I just further stomped it into the ground.
No idea what they will do with us if we plunged our reputation to the abyss, but I really don’t want to know about it…especially after the warning that I got from Elrick.
…Still, while nearly everybody was looking at us, the only person that didn't was the party leader of another party. The guy standing in front of his laughing posse, whose hair suddenly turned white a month ago on Earth, who still wore a set of glasses.
The guy that I saw as more of an asshole than Mikami or Akanishi. The bastard with the father that nearly ruined my mother’s life and her coffee shop.
That piece of shit, “Daisy” Akabane.
At this point, it was hard to remember his real first name, but I couldn’t care less. I will keep calling him “Daisy” just so I wouldn’t forget the shit that he tried to do to my family.
“Ahem, please let us all settle down. This is a great day, after all,” like it was all choreographed, all the priests and knights stopped talking.
Noticing this, everybody in our class forgot about my feud with Mikami and turned their gazes towards the man that said those words.
Standing on the platform, the man in the gaudy robe continued, "Let us please forgive our Heroes for their temperament. They are destined for a truly great task that nobody could possibly be ready and worthy of. It is understandable that some are uneasy."
He was the pope, or some sort of leader, for the Church of Aurena and also the one that greeted us when we were transported here. I didn’t catch his name, but I guess calling him the Pope is good enough.
“Now that quiet has finally returned to us, I shall now order the begin of this ceremony,” the Pope said, directing his eyes at the congregation standing beneath him.
At that moment, all the white-robed priests and shrine maiden simultaneously began chanting a spell. Looking back to the mass of grey-robed priests, I could see white particles escaping from their body which flew towards the magic circle that was materializing in front of the chanting mass of white-robes.
As time went by, the synchronized chanting began sounding like a choir. It wasn't my imagination that all of them have started singing as they continued reciting the cast for whatever spell they were trying to activate.
I never was in a Christian church or even participated in a choir session but this one felt soothing. As if their voices entered my soul and cleansed it from all the anger that it had for Mikami just a few seconds ago. I felt…released.
At the climax of this spell, the magical circle began to float upwards into the sky, before growing in size, rotating around once it reached a certain height.
As the voices of the white-robed reached their peak, multiple grey-robed shrine maidens handed each of them a white marbled staff.
Once they were done, the white-robed stopped singing and raised their staffs up higher, offering more white particles to the giant white magical circle floating above us, large enough to fill this giant religious gathering.
With the preparation done, the Pope stood in front of the stage to finish the ritual, “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!”
With the cast done, the magical circle activated, and a warm, bright light started to envelop everybody under it.
<[Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Moderate)] inflicted on [Human, Tatsuya Nagata]>
<Blessing of the Goddess of Light: A magical blessing granted by the spell [Prayer]. Using the combined prayers of the follower of Aurena, the Goddess of Light, this status effects alleviate any status ailments inflicted on everybody involved, if possible. Also empowers Health, Mana, and Stamina regeneration. Increases Strength, Intelligence, Vitality, and Wisdom by 10%/30%/60%/100% depending on the strength of the blessing. The strength of this blessing depends on how many prayers are given during the cast time of the spell [Prayer]>
If the choir was soothing for my soul, then this was enough to fully invigorate it. All the fatigue I gained from these past four months was washed away, seemingly as if they were never there in the first place.
Strength was filling my body and a certain amount of newfound courage erupted from the space that was left behind from all my negative emotions. At this point, I believe I could conquer anything I wished and that nothing could stop me.
Holy shit, 30% increase of my stats and it’s an AOE, too? Of course, the Church always has the most broken buffing spells.
“This is a blessing from our beloved Aurena. Our heavenly mother sitting in her divine realm above us, as she continues watching over our short lives,” the Pope said zealously. “What a great day for us all to gather around Aurena’s chosen heroes, as we send them off for their first mission.”
Cheering, loud enough to drown any other sounds, and clapping, numerous enough to send shockwaves, exploded from the sides and behind us, as all the grey-robed priests and shrine maidens celebrating from being granted this spell’s effect.
“Now, now my fellow brothers and sisters, we the church have given our respect to our Heroes, so we would like to ask for our two Saint Candidates, pure maidens that have been chosen by our goddess herself, to honor us with some of their words,” the Pope announced, holding his hands outstretched in front of him like some preacher.
Both Aiko and Hanazawa were then given staffs by two grey-robed shrine maidens. I could hear them mumble, “These are manatech rods that amplify your voices, oh graceful Saintesses.”
I’ve noticed this for a while now but although both of them still had [Saint Candidate] and, officially, there weren’t any saint or saintess yet, yet everybody is treating them like one at this point.
Wanting to take a better look at the rod-like manatech, I direct my identify ring at it and silently called out “identify”.
<Voice Amplification Rod: A manatech that uses a mana battery to continuously activate a magical rune inside it that creates wind. By activating the object, the user may have their voice amplified depending on how loud they want it to be>
In other words, it’s a microphone.
Aiko graciously accepted it and then went towards the platform. Hanazawa wanted to decline but it seems Elrick who was standing beside her, accepted it in her place, giving her no room to say anything. She dejectedly walked on the platform with Aiko, giving Elrick a sour look.
The first to speak was Aiko, who did it energetically, “Thank you so very much for everybody’s efforts today. Your prayer was wonderful, and it evoked my desire to rise up to your expectations for me as a saint candidate.”
Multiple priests and shrine maidens, both grey and white-robed, cheered at her natural charisma. Being the daughter of a family with a prestigious legacy as hers would mean that she must have had some speaking lessons.
Despite her Idol-like personality, she is quite a studious person. I don't know what her true ambition is or what is driving her, but it can't be disputed that she works hard for the things she wants.
Aiko continued once the cheering settled, “Although, I am still so very inexperienced, I received the merciful opportunity from the Goddess of Light, Aurena, to become somebody that can save everybody. In my time in Peolynca, I will do my best to fulfill my role as both a saint candidate and hero to aid you in this dire time. Please, I will require your support to change this world!”
Just like how she gave a perfect greeting, showing-off the things she learned from the church to the bishop Michalis, she now just said the perfect words to rouse the whole congregation of clergymen and women.
Even some knights dropped their guard and participated in the cheering. They had those crusader-like bucket helmets on that blocked their faces, but I can imagine them silently weeping from hearing Aiko’s speech.
As Aiko finished, everybody’s gazes turned to Hanazawa, who flinched back from the overwhelming expectations directed at her. This girl never did well under pressure and absolutely hated it when she was given even some bit, outright denying to do it.
Aiko’s effort to create such a large excited crowd was now backfiring at Hanazawa, the expectations for her were now at an all-time high.
Looking at Hanazawa struggling to get a word out of her voice, fidgeting on stage; it was pitiful to look at. I don’t like her at all, honestly, I found her a waste of oxygen, but even I can feel some sympathy when the supposed delinquent looks like a scared cat, right now.
“I-I…I als-also am-m,” Hanazawa was shivering like crazy, desperately trying her best to form the words she wanted to say.
I could also hear Elrick mumbling, “Come now, Asaka. You can do it. Please, we practiced this for a whole day. You can do it.”
Hanazawa, in all her anxiousness, looked at Elrick who was biting his lips, trying to ask for support but nobody could save her from this. She was all alone on that stage, nervously trying to speak, while every single priest and shrine maiden expectant eyes pierced her like sharp spears.
“Ahhh…I wish t-to say-say that I…ahhhhhhhhhh, fuck everything about this!” suddenly, Hanazawa threw her rod at the ground and ran off the stage.
“Lady Asaka!” Elrick cried out and ran after her.
The whole congregation went silent. Shocked at what just happened. Among us, everybody quietly mumbled their own thoughts.
“There goes our reputation…again,” Mikami said, giving me a stink eye.
“Well, I can’t fault her. I would freeze up too, but throwing the rod on the ground? Nope,” Sakamoto-san said, conflicted.
"I guess that would be too much. Literally, everybody was expecting her to give the same speech that Aiko-san gave," Kyouya agreed to Sakamoto-san.
I stayed silent. I felt pity and sympathized with her whole situation, but it didn’t go further than that. I didn’t like her, and it seems my bias has affected me enough that I didn’t feel anything more than “too bad”.
As the silence continued, the Pope told Aiko to go back to her party so he could diffuse the situation, “…As I have said. It is a very nervous day for our Heroes. Let us not forget that these children will be sent on their first mission today so it should be expected that some are more nervous. Our Saintess Asaka wanted to give us a rousing speech but her feelings overwhelmed her. Please, let us show her kindness and patience until she has accustomed herself to her role as a saint candidate.”
After everybody calmed down, the Pope continued with a calm smile, "Now, we mustn't dally any more. We still have important work to do today. Knight-Commander, please inform our heroes before we start our trip through the city.”
“Of course, honored Pope Gwyn,” at that moment, the burly man in shining white armor walked in front. “Now, honored Heroes, I shall now tell you what our plans for the dungeon trip will be!”
His bellowing voice, fitting for somebody on the top of a knight’s order, made all of us tensed up.
The serious part is coming now, huh?
