“Why is he naked?”

“Well,” Manos begins with the hesitance of a man understanding how silly the explanation he is about to give, “when we arrest people, proper procedure is to make sure any weapons or enchanted items are removed from the person.”

Rathos shifts his gaze away from the naked man to his [Captain]. “Are you telling me that every item the man wore was enchanted, even his undergarments?”

Manos shrugs. “Possibly. We didn’t get to check as he had removed all of his clothing and given it to his companion for safekeeping.”

Rathos frowns. “What about the throne?”

Manos blushes under the [General]’s stern gaze.

“It just appeared. We’ve no idea how.”

Rathos continues staring at the [Captain] for many a long second. Eventually, he concludes that Manos was saying what he believes to be the truth, and that even if it isn’t, that they are dealing with something incredibly dangerous.

Rathos looks back at the fit man with slightly glowing violet eyes. The soft, steady glow is a sure sign that his body hosts an extremely large and potent mana pool. The individual before him is clearly at the second tier, otherwise holding such a large pool of mana would be impossible.

[Silent Analyze]

The [General] frowns when his skill fails to activate. Either this man before him has a skill to make him difficult to analyze… or he has impeccable control of his aura.

“You said he used aura, correct?”

“Yes [General],” Manos responds.

Rathos grunts, his hand slowly moves towards his sword at his hip. He takes a couple of steps towards the bars, stopping just a foot away.

“Who are you?” Rathos asks, his hand firmly upon the pommel of his blade.

The naked man chuckles and flicks back his medium length hair.

“Who am I? Really now, of all the possible things you could have asked, it’s such a boring question. Like really, would it have killed you to start off with a nice little speech? Maybe something of a self-introduction…”

Rathos’ hand tightens hard around his sword’s hilt. The feeling he gets from this man puts all his instincts on edge.

The naked man stands and takes a moment to do a quick stretch.

“Me, you ask. Who I am matters little, but it is what I represent, or what I strive to represent.”

The man’s back is ramrod straight. He stares directly into Rathos’ eyes.

“Because I believe I bring a ballad of change, a boniface, beckoned forthwith by befuddled gods who beleaguer this bleak bastion. No braggart am I nor braggadocio do I utter, but burdened am I with boisterous boons, ones which betrothe me to bellicose benefactors. Yet a burgeoning bane billows forth to blight this blessed blue ball and I shall brook no bureaucratic browbeating nor shall belligerent bravado break me from my burden.”

The man chuckles as he takes a calming breath. He pauses. Then he frowns….

His frown worsens.

“Shit. What was the next part?” he asks, looking at the now startlingly confused [General].

His face turns slighty red.

“Shit, I forgot the rest of the line… um. Fuck.”

He scratches his left butt cheek.

“Well fuck, this is kinda awkward.”

________________________________________________________________

“Absolutely, this map is very up to date. A high level [Cartographer] made it about thirty years ago, so it contains most, if not all of the kingdoms, cities, and borders.”

Jessica looks at the female [Trader] who had unfurled an old map that looks to be far older than thirty years. The location on the map where the date should be written has faded so much that it’s been rendered illegible.

Jessica sighs and shakes her head. This is the fourth map she has seen so far, and it’s just as antiquated as all the others.

“I’m going to keep looking.”

The [Trader] panics. “Are you sure? The map might be sold before you return…” Jessica’s silent stare pushes the [Trader] further. “Maybe I can offer you a discount? How does ten percent less sound?”

Jessica leans away from the table. “I’m going to continue looking around.”

“Twenty percent.”

Jessica walks away.

“Thirty!”

She continues walking.

“Fifty!”

Jessica sighs. It’s not the first annoying [Trader] she’s dealt with and it probably won’t be the last. She continues her search for a map, looking at the various stalls and stores around her. As she travels through the city, her eyes fall on a small but freshly painted sign with an arrow pointing down a street.

Chapel of the Goddess Eir. →

Jessica mouths the words slowly. She reads the sign several times before changing direction.

Ten minutes of power walking later, she arrives at a small chapel with a white ornament shaped like a raven hanging from the entrance.

For over three years, Jessica has not been able to visit any shrines to her goddess, nor could she build any due to the dungeon’s influence. But now, after three long years, she can finally pray.

As she slowly walks towards the door; she marvels at how well cared for the building is. The grass and bushes are trimmed, the flowers are blooming, and the chapel appears to have been recently painted. As she enters, her eyes are drawn towards the other end of the room where a large basin filled with water sits surrounded by burning candles. Then, her eyes notice a woman in exuberant heavy armor kneeling down in prayer with her eyes closed.

Jessica silently walks between the pews towards the basin. She can feel it, the potential, the faith gathered here. It calls to her, a whisper on the wind, guiding her..

And it speaks Eir’s name…

The [Abbess] Jessica raises her hands above the warm water of the basin and closes her eyes.

“[Divine Blessing],” she intones.

It begins at her fingertips, a soft and steady glow that spreads up her wrists and arms, then envelops her entirety. Upon covering her feet, the air in the chapel stills. Silence reigns within the room.

With a blinding flash, it spreads across the room like wildfire, spreading out from Jessica like ribbons. The chapel and the surrounding land are engulfed by a pillar of white light reaching up into the sky.

The residents of the city stop to stare at the shining beacon.

The effect lasts for about half a minute before Jessica’s body stops glowing. She opens her eyes to find that the basin she stands before is changed. The water that once filled the bowl has frozen into an ice sculpture. The transparent statue of Eir kneels, its hands clasped in prayer and its wings spread behind her back.

“Thank you, child.”

From nowhere and everywhere, a woman’s voice resonates, resounding with a divine strength at its core, a voice that Jessica had only ever heard once before.

“Eir,” Jessica exclaims as tears form and fall down her cheek. Her goddess speaks to her. Unfortunately, her moment is ruined as invisible glowing boxes cover her view.

Jessica takes a step back, overwhelmed by the messages popping up. She quickly reads them, but before she can digest what they are saying, someone speaks behind her.

“You, what did you do?”

Jessica turns around and finds the woman, who had been praying, staring at her in bewilderment. She looks at the tall woman in plate armor and notices her crimson red hair, a very rare color, which strikes Jessica with deja-vu.

Jessica smiles and waves at the sculpture of ice which will never melt so long as the building stands.

“I am an [Abbess] of Eir. I have blessed this chapel with her power.”

The armored woman opens and closes her mouth as her own eyes gaze at the sculpture of ice. The ice seems to pulse with soothing energy. She clearly feels Eir’s power all around her.

After a good ten seconds pass, the armored woman drops to her knees and completely surprises Jessica by hugging her around the waist.

“Thank you. Thank you. Eir listened. She actually listened.”

Jessica stares down at the grown woman holding her waist and crying into her robes.

“I hoped. I prayed every day. I-I made sure the chapel was taken care of. I helped people. I prayed so much and I hoped. Thank you.”

Unsure what to say, Jessica begins patting the grown woman softly on the head.

“It’s alright. Everything is ok. You don’t need to cry.”

The woman cries harder as she hugs Jessica even more.

“Eve- ever since a [Priestess] of Eir saved my life. I devoted my beliefs to her. I-I was going to die. I bled so much. A-and Eir saved me.”

Jessica stops patting the woman as a memory comes to mind, one from before she was a slave. One where she healed an officer with the same build and hair color as the one around her waist.

“You’re that [Lieutenant].”

The armored woman stops sobbing, raises her tear-streaked face, and matches eyes with the blonde [Abbess].

____________________________________________________________

[Lady] Rose stands on her balcony and stares up at the blindingly bright light shining into the sky. The brilliant white pillar extends up to the clouds, a radiant signal visible for miles around. The light show lasts for about half a minute before fading, leaving behind no sign of existing in the first place.

Rose scowls as she feels an area affecting skill spread from the location, enveloping the entirety of her city. She focuses her aura to suppress the effect, but the strength behind the skill is too strong for even her.

“David!” she shouts, her voice blasting throughout the castle. Not a minute later, her [Viceroy] arrives, sweaty and out of breath.

“What is it, my [Lady]? Is it about the light?”

Rose nods. “Yes. Something doesn’t feel right. Get my carriage ready with a contingent of [Guards].”

“Understood,” David exclaims before he rushes out.

_______________________________________________________

“An [Abbess]. Wow. That’s like an [Archpriestess], right Jess? It’s okay to call you Jess, right?” Scarlet asks. She sits on a bench, her gayest smile directed at a very uncomfortable Jessica seated next to her, made the more uncomfortable by the tall woman’s arms draped around her neck to keep the [Abbess] from running off.

“I, uh… Yes?” Jessica peeps.

Scarlet giggles at the woman’s reaction, enjoying every second she has right now. Because right now, she is living her dream.

Ever since she was saved, she prayed and wished she could meet her savior. To thank them for saving her. To give them the biggest of hugs.

“So, what’s been happening with you. Have you been well? When did you get to the city? Is everything alright? Do you need me to help you with anything?”

Jessica quickly shakes her head, “No, I’m fine. Everything’s alright. I just saw the chapel and I wanted to use a skill on it.”

“And that really was quite the skill young lady,” an old, elderly woman declares as she strolls towards the two. She wears a nice and pleasant smile, but Jessica shivers when her eyes make contact with the old lady’s. For over a century, those eyes have watched the world, witnessed sunrise and sunset, weal and woe, tallest mountain and farthest sea, love, war, birth, death, things that have come and things that have past, the beginnings, but not yet the End.

The old lady saunters to the two girls and then she surveys the chapel and the many curious people strolling inside.

“Only twice in my life have I seen a conduit made, but I can safely say that this one is far grander than the others.”

“Really?” Scarlet asks curiously

The old lady nods, “Oh yes. The light never reached the clouds and it only lasted five seconds at most.”

Jessica blushes as Scarlet’s borderline worshipping gaze is directed at her, a gaze so similar to that of the obsessive centaur [Healers] whom she is currently avoiding.

“Make way! Make way! [Lady] Rose is coming through.”

Before Jessica’s cheeks can get as red as Scarlet’s hair, all eyes turn towards a large, sturdily built carriage pulled by no less than ten horses and accompanied by four and a score [Guards].

The pedestrians move out of the way as the carriage and [Guards] come through. Eventually, the carriage stops at the entrance to the chapel. From the driver’s seat, a well-dressed Rat demihuman jumps down and opens both doors of the abnormally large carriage.

Jessica quickly realizes why the carriage is so large as a massively obese woman steps out and lands on the floor. Her weight causes the tiled stone to crack when she lands.

The fat woman’s eyes scan the chapel, and then her surroundings. Her eyes finally fall on Jessica and her [City Defender]. She also notices the old lady, but pays her little mind.

“Rose,” Scarlet yells, waving the arm not currently hugging Jessica, “She listened! Eir listened!”

The [Lady] sighs. She begins walking towards the women.

“Scarlet, what was that light. Did you cause it? Did you get a new skill?”

“Hah, no. It was actually Jessica here. She’s an [Abbess] of Eir.”

Both the old lady and Rose immediately frown as they hear the class.

Scarlet notices the immediate change in mood. “What’s- what’s wrong?” Scarlet asks.

Rose sighs as she gets near the two, making sure that she can react quickly if need be.

“Scarlet, an [Abbess] is a class over level two hundred… That woman next to you is probably the strongest and most dangerous person in the whole city.”

Three sets of judging eyes regard Jessica, making the [Abbess] look away in a combination of embarrassment and panic.

Thankfully, or perhaps not, an extremely loud and violent explosion echoes from the direction of the city gates.

Thanks to the chapel’s elevated location, the women have a clear view of exactly where the explosion happened.

A building made of stone is half-destroyed and dust now covers the entire area.

“Scarlet, what building is that?”

The [City Defender] frowns, “I believe that’s the prison.”

Jessica’s hands cover her face as she groans.