“I wonder why Master Joshua asked me to come to the Cathedral today. The Autumn Awakening Ceremony isn’t until next week. Does he want me to help with the setup this time?” Scarlet pondered aloud as she walked through the halls of the Grand Cathedral, along with her mother.

The both of them were wearing the sky blue robes of the Priestesses, simply because Scarlet and her mother kind of liked them. They contrasted well with the pair’s red hair and green eyes. Though of course, these outfits had been enchanted by Scarlet to the highest degree her skills would allow.

After 8 months with a Talent Point in [Arcane Mana Resistance], the skill had reached level 100, and she could even wear Tier 7 mana regenerating equipment comfortably. The full set of it theoretically allowed her 126 mana regeneration per second, though the limited supply of mana in the air around her made it more like 60. She’d need to go to a more mana rich location if she wanted to make full use of it.

Though she honestly found herself struggling to find something to do with all that mana she was currently getting.

She was having to wear mana storage items and switching them out every few days. She was wondering what exactly she was going to do with all the mana she refined.

She wondered if there was a way she could use it to artificially age a monster’s Magic Stone. Since that would cause the monster to grow a few levels. The same way absorbing an individual’s mana caused a Bond to level up.

Scarlet wanted to have a method like that in her back pocket for when baby Thomas became old enough to need his first few levels.

The use of farm grown monsters to allow noble children to get through their first few levels wasn’t an uncommon practice. Though since all such animals were herbivores and didn’t receive EXP from hunting themselves, they grew slowly. Three years to get to level 2, so the EXP they gave was nothing great.

Actually, Scarlet’s suggested method of putting mana regeneration collars on the animals had caused them to grow much faster. So the monsters would grow to level 5 in just 2 years.

Scarlet was making a LOT of money on that patent. Though the limits on the number of people who knew how to make such mana regeneration items meant that it was still a costly method. But since a monster raised by such a method would end up producing a more valuable magic stone, more meat, and would be worth around 8 times as much experience when it was full grown, and the collars could be recycled to another monster, it was considered to be well worth it.

“I’m sure that Master Joshua just wants to check in on you before the hunting season starts again.” Maria chuckled as they walked together, getting stares from those they passed.

Of course people would stare! Her mother looked like a Saintess in those robes!

“Do you think he changed his mind about escorting us to the ruins of Azuros?” Scarlet said, somewhat excited.

She had asked the man if he would take her and her mother to the ruined capital in order to grind up EXP during the hunting season, since no one would complain if they were in the company of one of the Big Ten as an official part of the reclaiming efforts, but Joshua had claimed that he would be too busy managing the affairs of the Church inside of territory for him to be able to this year.

“Maybe he has.” Maria said.

She’d been a bit iffy herself about the idea of returning to that place, but if the one escorting them was someone like Joshua, they probably couldn’t be safer.

Reaching the Archbishop’s quarters, Scarlet knocked on the door. “Master Joshua, it is Scarlet.”

“Come in.” The elder man’s voice called back, and Scarlet and her mother entered Joshua’s quarter’s, a few joint rooms the size of a penthouse.

It was very humbly furnished, but the man had been gifted more than enough chairs and coaches over the years for there to be plenty of places to sit, even when he was hosting a large group.

And that day, he did seem to have quite a few guests, since as well as the man himself and a few attendants who she recognized from prior visits, there were a dozen others in the room. One was an older woman, seemingly in her eighties, with a wrinkled, grandmotherly face, though her hair was jet black, with no signs of gray. 

She sat across from Joshua on a coach, while the rest of the strangers stood behind her at attention, each of them wearing armor or fancy robes bearing either a black wolf or a white raven.

Though, one of the individuals, a woman towards the end of the group, was somewhat familiar to Scarlet.

It was Aqua, the brown haired young woman who had been one of the bodyguards of Vittorio.

Seeing that Scarlet had spotted her, the woman had a look of horrible embarrassment on her face.

After Vittorio had been dragged off, the three bodyguards had been at a loss for what to do and had ended up reporting everything to Joshua who sent them all home, after restoring the two men’s missing teeth, which Scarlet herself hadn’t been able to heal with her current level of magical knowledge.

They had been soldiers, assigned to guard a VIP on a mission so secretive, that they hadn’t been told anything beyond that he must be guarded. And while they would have died for the man, as was their duty, without him around they were guilty of nothing. Joshua showed more pity for them than contempt, having been steam rolled by Duke Bryce and left unconscious on the floor, having to be nursed back to health by the girl the man had tried to kidnap.

But what was Aqua doing here with this woman? Was she another official of the Church?

She wasn’t wearing the red robes of a cardinal, but she wasn’t wearing normal sky blue robes either. Her clothes were white with a golden trim on them.

“Hello there dear. You must be Scarlet.” The old woman said with a soft smile. “Funny. I thought you would look like her, but it seems that you are different.”

“Um… Okay.” Scarlet said, not entirely sure how she was supposed to react to that statement.

The woman chuckled a bit before waving Scarlet over. “Come and sit down. While I don’t plan on taking much of your time if you don’t want me to, there is no need for you to stand for it.” The woman said, seemingly disregarding the group she was having stand behind her.

Scarlet and Maria moved awkwardly to a seat, one closer to Joshua, who was sitting quietly, his eyes on the elderly woman. His large dog of a Bond getting up and moving to sit straight in front of Scarlet and Maria, as if to be a shield for them.

“I suppose I should start with introductions. I am Pope Francine the Third, head of the Holy Empire, but you can just call me Fran if you’d like.” The woman said with a gentle smile.

“...It is a pleasure to meet with you.” Scarlet said with a swallow.

The Cardinal had been a high ranking dignitary, on the level of a foriegn Duke. But the Pope could arguably be called more influential than even the King within his own Kingdom.

And while the old saying went that a far off King was no King at all, having the woman in the room suddenly made things look and feel a lot more bad. Scarlet honestly hadn’t expected the Pope to ever come in person, if only because of the inconvenience of it all.

And if Scarlet was nervous, Maria had turned to stone. Worried that they were about to suffer the consequences for what happened with Vittorio.

“That’s alright. You can calm down.” Francine said with a slow bobbing of her head. “I’m not here to cause you any trouble. I came to apologize for what happened. Regardless of my own intentions, I was the one who sent Vittorio to invite you to come and see me. So it is my responsibility when things go wrong.” She said, hanging her head. “Of course, because of the… sensitive nature of what had happened, I was not able to make public the man’s crimes, but he has been stripped of his title and excommunicated from the church.”

“...I see.” Scarlet replied, not feeling comforted at all.

“Is something the matter?” Pope Francine asked the young girl.

“...Forgive me, Your Holiness, but I lack any sort of skills that would assist me in helping to judge the character of others. So when people confront me, I can only look at the facts and do my best to make sense of them. A person of your status coming all this way in order to apologize to a young girl is… hard to believe.” Scarlet said, trying to be as polite as possible, while telling the woman that she simply couldn’t be trusted no matter what. “Logic dictates that you are here for more than that.”

“I see.” Pope Francine said, her face downcast. “It is unfortunate when a child has to live with such paranoia. You truly have had it hard.” 

Scarlet looked from the woman to Joshua, and then used invisible coils of mana in order to tap morse code on the man’s shoulder. It wasn’t telepathy, but after years of trying to achieve that Bond Skill resulted in nothing, Scarlet took what she could get, and just taught the people around her morse code so that she could send secret messages to them.

‘Am I right?’

Joshua shrugged and gave a heavy sigh before replying in a similar manner.

‘Probablx.’ Joshua replied, his code a little off, but understandable.

“Scarlet, have you ever heard of the Oracle, Jessica? The Duke’s younger sister?” Pope Francine asked them.

“I’ve heard her mentioned, but I don’t know much.” Scarlet admitted.

“Well, Jessica was a girl much like you, who at a young age showed an unbelievable talent for [Holy Magic] and [Divination], to the point where she was able to actually predict the future.” Francine explained. “With such abilities, all three of the royal princes who were vying for the throne wished to have her hand in marriage, believing it would show that they were fated to rule the country. But they were all more than twenty years older than her and Jessica hated them. So to get away from them, when she turned 15, she ran off with her older brother and his friends on a journey across the world. They used her [Divination Magic] in order to find and help people who were in trouble and to track down and slay powerful monsters. Without her, the Big Ten would have never gathered together at Azuros, and without her abilities, they would have never emerged victorious.” 

“...I really need to read more about modern history.” Scarlet mumbled. The story was completely new to her.

Francine chuckled a little at the child’s words. “At the time, nearly every organization in the world was vying for the girl’s favor, myself included. I have offered to make her the next Pope if she would use her abilities for the sake of the church. Of course, she turned me down.”

“Understatement of the century there.” Scarlet heard someone say. The familiar voice of Typhus, who was watching them all, unseen. “She told you that she would rather drink a bucket of monster piss than put up with you manipulative, lying bastards.”

Francine didn’t seem surprised at all by the man’s voice and only smile. “Yes. Yes she did. It’s a pity the world doesn’t have more people like her.” 

Scarlet couldn’t read people. She couldn’t know when someone was genuine and when someone was lying, but she thought that Francine had a sense of nostalgia about her, and Joshua wasn’t even trying to hide his expression of deepest shame.

“Vittorio probably thought that taking you before you become as sought after as Jessica was would be what was best for the Empire, so he disobeyed my orders to deliver very important information to the King, Duke Bryce and Joshua about something that was discovered during Jonathan’s Inquisition. He wanted to get you into our territory before anyone would try to stop him. But rest assured, I would not have allowed you to be held against your will, and would have sent you back.”

Scarlet didn’t respond. She had no way of knowing if the woman was telling the truth or not. Her heart wasn’t ready to trust her, regardless of her kind appearance.

“The truth is, I believe that like Jessica, you will make a large impact on the world, and my objective is not to control you, but to prepare you for what is to come. If you do not wish to come to the Holy Empire, that is fine, but please, accept these gifts.” Francine said, gesturing to the large number of guards behind her.

Each of the eleven guards brought out a large chest to be placed in front of a startled Scarlet, who stared down at them.

The old gamer instincts caused her heart to beat a little faster as she smelled the unmistakable smell of the mysterious loot box.

The Pope was SO generous!

The care package that she had received from Her Holiness was nearly as good as the one she had gotten from Professor Typhus!

It seemed that Aqua had reported how Scarlet had been begging the Half-Demon for more materials for her work and Francine decided that a large quantity of such materials was the best way to try to win Scarlet’s favor.

She had no idea why an organization as large and powerful as the main body of the Church of the Earth and Sky would believe her favor was so worth buying, but she was not going to complain. Nor did she mind Aqua sticking around to assist in teaching her. Aqua had a good deal of basic knowledge, even if she did lack a certain amount of vision. She would just have to be indoctrinated into the ways of higher thinking and optimization. 

With the surplus of materials, Scarlet had no problem making her magic weapons for everyone before the next Hunting Season.

Plus, the care package had some magic equipment of its own.

“Mama is so beautiful!” Scarlet gushed as Maria tried on the Tier 8 magic armor that they had gotten. The armor was sky blue with gold trim, made to fix someone with a womanly form, like Maria’s.

To Scarlet, her mother looked like a warrior goddess.

“Is it really okay for me to use this?” Maria asked, fully aware of just the kind of value the armor had. It was a sacred piece taken from within the Holy Church’s personal vault for Scarlet’s use in the future, and was in no way inferior to the equipment used by Joshua.

“Of course it is. It’s not like it fits me anyways.” Scarlet said, insisting that her mother use it. She felt pride as the other children stared in wonder at her mother. Even Mehal was unable to take his eyes off of the woman, causing her to blush. “Now for everyone else, we need to talk about plans for the future.” Scarlet said, dragging out a large chest and opening it. To reveal a mountain of large crystals.

“Are those… Mana Storage Crystals?” Mehal asked, looking at the massive number of valuable stones.

“That’s right. I made them to help everyone with their future training.” Scarlet said with a nod. “Starting out at Tier 1, we could probably reach the level requirements for Tier 3 within a single season, at our current rate of hunting, meaning the biggest setback will be mastering our Class Skills. According to my research, going from Tier 1 to Tier 2 should take 2,000,000 units of mana, with the amount quadrupling with each Tier. So I want everyone to start storing as much mana as they can so that we will be able to power through the lower levels once we get our Classes.”

For Scarlet, 2,000,000 mana isn’t that much. She spent around 5,000,000 units every day. But for the others, 2,000,000 units was two to three months' worth of mana expenditures. For a commoner without any equipment to speed things along, at least 20 years would be needed to master all of the Tier 1 Class Skills, leaving going from Tier 2 to Tier 3 simply impossible, even if they did get the levels.

The time it took to max out skills would definitely be the limiting factor in the beginning, even with magic weapons to simplify hunting a little.

“Is this really okay?” Raphaela asked, looking over the crystals in the chest. There had to be at least five hundred of them, and they were Tier 5 crystals.

“Of course. If you need more I can always make more.” Scarlet said with a reassuring smile. “I also have Tier 6 holy attribute mana pendants you can use. So don’t be shy about taking them.”

One by one, the children stepped forward to take some of the crystals and started to store away mana for the future.

All except for one.

“Aren't you going to take some?” Scarlet asked Caesia, who was sulking a little by herself.

“I… I’m sorry. I’m not going to be taking a Tier 1 Class with the rest of you.” The girl said, her head falling. “The truth is… I’m not going to be a soldier. I’ve been training my level and magic so that I could get a high Tier Class and… get married. I wanted to get the highest Magic Class possible so that I could marry any man that I wanted without having to worry about status.”

Her eyes moved to where Charles stood with a mana stone in his hand, his warm mana filling it with a pure and soft orange light. An embarrassed blush spread across her face as she realized he was watching her.

“I’m sorry. But for me, who will be a wife and a magic focused retainer, Class Tier and Skill Levels are more important than stats.” Caesia said, her rapidly reddening face contrasting with her silver hair. “I need to use all of my mana now for training. I can’t save it for later.”

“There is no need to apologize.” Charles said with a kind smile as she saw the slightly older girl shrinking down. “We all have our own methods and are doing what we feel is right. I am just glad to have you supporting me.” 

“Charles.” Caesia said, tearing up.

“That’s right! And we will support you too!” Scarlet said. “If you ever need help don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll make sure to make something really great to help you with your training. And when you finally do get married, mama and I will work together to make you the best wedding dress you have ever seen!”

Memories of the wedding dress that Charles’ aunt wore at her own wedding to a prince, the one made by Maria herself, came to Caesia’s mind, quickly followed by visions of herself in such a dress, with Charles beside her.

“Oh, thank you!” Caesia cried, throwing her arms around Scarlet in a hug.

“Ah… Hahahaha...  It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay.” Scarlet said, to herself rather than Caesia, as the emotionally touched girl cried onto her shoulder, oblivious to Scarlet’s trembling body, until Scarlet’s rapidly numbing legs gave out on her, and the pair fell to the ground, Caesia stunned, and Scarlet hyperventilating.

She didn’t know how to handle it when people got touchy.

DyslexicWriter

Que the time skip.

DyslexicWriter

For some reason, after I posted Chapter 29, the number of 'readers' this story had went from 200ish up to 400 in a single night. And I woke up to see a message saying that I have 100 new alerts. My story got more views in that single night than it had in the last two weeks prior.

...Why?

Well, what ever. I'm just going to pretend that didn't happen for the sake of my sanity.