I looked at Paterinia with an exasperated smile as she smiled back in embarrassment while being swaddled by her grandfather

Paterinia: I'm sorry that you have to see this hehe... my grandpa is a bit too attached to me. But I introduce to you the Pope of the Heavenly Snow Wolf Religion, his Excellency Pope Strivon Deia

Strivon: EH?! WHO THE HELL IS THIS LITTLE BRAT?! GETTING SO CLOSE WITH MY LITTLE RINA IS THE HIGHEST HERESY!!!

Oh no... I felt a strange disturbance and immediately knew a storm was coming

Dad: WHO HAS THE BALLS TO TALK TO THIS LORDS SON IN SUCH A DISRESPECTFUL MANNER?! SEE HOW I END YOU!

Strivon: ...Oh for the love of- Hello Yin Sang

My Father was  floating above the group of people with his arms crossed

Dad: Well well well, it turned out to be that old scam artist Strivon... how's the holy life? or should I call it unholy considering a branch of yours recently committed a few... less than moral atrocities BWAHAHA!

Strivon: Looks like it's been too long since I educated a certain little brat, after all it's easy to make fun of the good for having a couple bad apples when your entire tree is rotten!

Dad: BWAHAHA! Saying dangerous things is liable to send you to meet your god very quickly

They were clashing heads with extremely evil expressions until Paterinia and I spoke

Paterinia and Xin: PAPA/GRANDPA! YOU'RE BEING ANNOYING!

The two men stumbled back with shocked faces 

My father tried to appeal to me while Strivon went and coddled Paterinia

Dad: OH darling Xin! Papa is so sorry! You're right... this old meanie is annoying.

Strivon: Oh my darling Rina, Grandpa swears to atone for this injustice against your beautiful ears! And swears to protect you from that dastardly Yin Sang and his malicious brat!

This old man spoke harshly but I could tell from his words he held no actual malice towards my family 

Dad: EH?! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE CALLING BRAT YOU OLD FOGEY! IF YOUR TEMPTRESS WASN'T SO ENAMORED WITH MY DARLING BOY-

My father manifested his purgatory soul flame in each hand and looked at Strivon prepared for war

Strivon: TEMPTRESS?! MY BABY RINA IS AN ANGEL DESCENDED FROM THE HEAVENLY SNOW WOLF HERSELF!

As he yelled I saw frost white energy disks open up around him and start transforming into a variety of shapes, I immediately noticed two things ridiculous here

Xiao Ya: 'MASTER! T-That's my aura?!'

She was correct, these discs were partly made with the divine aura of Xiao Ya and her bloodline

Xin: 'Not only that... those things are almost purely "Belief Qi"!'

Zi Lin and Xiao Ya were just as shocked as I was... how the hell did such a backwater universe have such supreme potentials on it?! if this world had even half the world essence as my old universe then many of these figures could reach mid rank of the true god realm

The purgatory soul flame was an extremely powerful skill however it was like comparing the heavens and earth when put against the power of "Belief Qi" even in my old universe not much was known about how this rare Qi worked other than it was the way lower beings formed a mutually beneficial relationship with a true god realm cultivator or the holy beast equivalent. "Belief Qi" was the name most knew it by but that was a simplification, a great many beings below the true god realm could offer their prayers and belief in a true god realm cultivator which fostered the growth and foundation as well as unique skills of the true gods; In return the true god offered his assistance and power on lower worlds by allowing those deemed as a "Holy Conduit" to use their power. These Holy Conduits were already exceedingly exceptional individuals however among them there was an extremely rare 1/1 quadrillion chance for someone to be able to manipulate Belief Qi without a true god by manipulating the passive belief Qi in any power a society believed in. 

I immediately grew worried for my father but relaxed upon seeing that Strivon not only had no intent to kill and that... his Belief Qi was too weak, the power of Belief Qi was directly tied to what was worshiped after all, and they believed in a weak being.

I took Paterinias hand and motioned for her to be silent before smiling and leading her into the building while the guards were busy either taking sides or trying to calm the two titans down

Once we made it into the main building we looked at each other for a few seconds before giggling. Paterinia coughed after we stopped laughing and stuck out her hand

Paterinia: For what I hope is the final time... I am Paterinia Deia, nice to meet you Yin Xin!

I shook her hand and smiled brightly

Xin: Please call me Xin, after all you're my first friend!

Paterinia blushed a bit before looking off and talking to herself for a bit

Paterinia: HM?! F-Friend?! Oh Lord Heavenly Snow Wolf was this a test this whole time?! Did I pass?! Wait!

She looked back to me  and got very close to my face with bright eyes

Paterinia: IS THIS STILL PART OF THE FRIENDSHIP TEST?!

Xin: B-B-BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I tried to hold it in but burst out laughing at her determination while she was pouting

Paterinia: You didn't have to laugh at me...

I wiped the tear from my eye and smiled

Xin: I wasn't... you're just very funny. There was never a test silly, I just want you to be my friend

This whole exchange really took me back to the old days of when I was really a child living on the street and how Xiao Jingyu was so timid about being friends while she practically forced me to be her friend... huh, I haven't thought about her in quite some time. Maybe this girls defiant but innocent nature reminded me of her.

Paterinia immediately grew embarrassed and turned around

Paterinia: AWAWAWA! I'm sorry! I just- I just haven't been able to make any friends before due to grandpa

Xin: Do you dislike him? 

Paterinia: NO! Grandpa is so sweet, he bakes for me, plays with me, comforts me, even when running the holy empire he still finds time to drop whatever he's doing and be with me.

I walked with her with my hands behind my head as we tried to find the classroom

Xin: Yeah I get it, my family obsesses over me a lot and wants my friends to be "loyal" in the sense of meatshields and not as normal friends. but I still love them more than anything

How could I not, they were everything I wished for and more.

Paterinia: RIGHT?! Grandpa just wants me to hang out with people he deems worthy and pure but they always become servants more than friends due to me being the saintess.

Xin: OH RIGHT! I was gonna ask how you became a saintess even though we're both so little

Paterinia: ummm... my mom was the last saintess, and it's a tradition that the closest blood relative to the Pope becomes the Saint or Saintess

Xin: You Mean?

Paterinia: Yep... LIVING blood relative. Mom and Dad were killed when trying to exterminate a cult during a mission Grandpa gave them a year ago so he feels responsible

I had to say she seemed almost as advanced as I was for a 5 year old

Xin: Do you think he's responsible?

Paterinia smiled bitterly

Paterinia: No No No... of course not. Mom and Dad knew the danger and went anyway to try and help those who the cult had hurt. But Grandpa refuses to put me in anything exciting or dangerous which is why we moved down here, away from the bad guys!

Xin: Why? I mean I like that you're here but I think my papa is one of those bad guys

Paterinia laughed

Paterinia: Grandpa may have looked mad but he actually likes your dad. he was talking about how he made the city a lot safer by eliminating all the gangs and making his own to regulate crime.

Xin: Wait so fighting isn't against your religion?

Paterinia: Technically yes but we also fought 57 holy wars in the last 3,000 years. The Ancestor of our religion believed that "violence properly harnessed was far safer than lengthy talks"

Xin: Huh... pretty smart.

Paterinia: Yeah!

Just as she was about to continue however, a pompous laugh could be heard from a nearby room causing us to turn our heads. I looked up in worry to see... yep, this was the room where our class would be. I sighed and looked to Paterinia as we stood at the door and smiled bitterly

Xin: Ladies first?

Paterinia smiled sweetly so I figured that she understood my words and would walk in first to attract all the attention. She suddenly snatched Xiao Ya and pushed me in catching me by surprise. the door opened and I quickly caught my footing so it just appeared as if I was entering the class unwillingly. I then heard the arrogant laughter stop and sensed 23 eyes looking at me. Instead of looking at them however I looked outside towards Paterinia who had a smile that just screamed "Oopsie Daisy" while holding Xiao Ya. I chuckled at the ferocity of this little girl and sent a message to Zi Lin

Xin: 'Zi Lin, time for some payback'

Zi Lin laughed mischievously in my mind and looked deep into Paterinias eyes which pulled her into the door mindlessly causing her to stumble and fall into the room

Xin: HA! 'A mere child thought they could prank ME and get away with it?! strike me with a blade and I shall stab your whole bloodline!'

As the eyes moved towards Paterinia however she stood up with tears welling up on her face and an extremely demure smile on her face causing her to look like an innocent lamb while my little laugh made me appear to be a wicked demon!

Xin: 'HATEFUL!'

Zi Lin: 'This girl is a very good actor, she made the room turn against Master in an instant'

Those eyes on me seemed to have split expressions, half of them radiated hostile intent while the others appeared to be deeply infatuated with me. I finally turned to look at them and saw 22 children, 10 girls and 12 boys all staring at me. wait... 22? I looked to my right and saw the teacher, a short haired young woman staring at me with a cold smile

Teacher: Well Well Well... are you two little cubs our missing students Yin Xin and Paterina Deia?

Paterinia: I sorry I late Ms. Teacher. I got scared for first day of school...

Paterinia may have looked demure on the outside but I had to stifle my laughter at her inner frustration from her difficulty at speaking the language correctly

The teacher saw her nervous expression and broken pronunciations and immediately drew her own conclusions

Teacher: Oh now now Madame Deia, there is nothing to be ashamed of, please come in and find either an empty desk or a desk buddy!

Her soft expression was like a thing of the past however as she turned to look at me with clear frustration

Teacher: And where were you rustling about Mr. Yin? yes this is a first year class but we strive for excellence from all our little geniuses!

Paterinia stopped in her tracks and looked backwards

Paterinia: M-Ms. Teacher? Xin help Paterinia find you classroom

Xiao Ya: 'MASTER! she I like this mortal!'

Xin: 'I think I do too Xiao Ya... she is a worthy friend'

That being said however many of the hostile gazes retreated from me and were instead replaced by looks of fear! even as children these were all children born into wealth or had knowledge beyond their age which meant many of them either had parents who worked for mine or knew enough to know who to mess with and who to not. On one hand this would reduce any annoying encounters... on the other it meant my dream of making friends grew farther and farther away. the only hostile gaze left on me was no longer hostile but not fear... it was prideful!

I looked back and saw what looked like an arrogant young boy who had hair similar to fire and a wild smile.

Xin: 'I just wanna be normal!!!!'

AN: Hey guys, I know we didn't quite reach the 15 favorite goal from last time but that's alright! we are almost at the 10K view mark! I mean I've gotten a fair amount of traction on stories I write on other websites but this one holds a unique place in my heart as it's very wholesome! so once again for our 10th chapter... 10K views... lets try and hit 20 FAVORITES! 10+10=20 afterall! Thanks so much you guys. it means the world!