Hiding in the woods the entire time, I was flabbergasted by the exchange between Lucia and the Duke of Tibeonia. It was truly great news, but I felt like we needed to formulate a plan to make the most of it. I also had other questions and concerns I hoped would finally be addressed, so with this readiness of mind, I stepped out of my hiding spot, only to find Lucia running up to me on the verge of tears.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I feel like I've made a huge mistake!" She lamented. I mean, we didn't exactly go into this expecting the Duke to be such a nutcase, but what could you do? From the looks of it, a new religion is going to be formed with Lucia at the head of it, I thought to myself with a devious smile as a couple interesting ideas started popping up in my mind.

"Actually, you didn't," I countered to her surprise.

"How so?" She asked with curiosity written all over her face.

"We want the Grand Duchy of Tibeonia to become a Theocracy. There are way more benefits than there are drawbacks if you really think about it," I endeavored to explain. However, she seemed to be confused, so I chose to elaborate further, "As the god of the new Theocracy, your word essentially becomes law, and all you'd really have to worry about is keeping the faith of the people alive."

"What about running the affairs of the state? I know a thing or two about politics, but I'm not confident in my ability to undertake such a task," She explained it quite well, but I quickly pointed out her mistake,

"You won't have to run the nation yourself. The Duke will do that for you. He can at least be trusted with that much." As much as I joke about the Duke, the man knows what he's doing. By overhauling the government like this, he will elevate himself above all other nobles, essentially making him the Pope and King of the Grand Duchy of Tibeonia. "So, you see? Benefits everywhere you look!"

"It truly does seem like it," She remarked as she slowly nodded with her right hand cupping her chin.

"Just don't ditch them when they need your protection. You're their guardian deity now," I joked about it, but we both knew it to be true. 

"How were you able to spot him from so far away?" Lucia changed the subject after a moment of silence. 

"Before I tell you, I want to confirm something."

"What is it?" She inquired.

"What you told him about your class... was it true?"

"What? About me being a Holy Sage?"

"Yes."

"I'd have no reason to lie to him about my class. I wouldn't even be able to in that state of mind. I was so confused!" She exclaimed before bursting into a fit of contagious laughter. After it died down, she gazed searchingly into my eyes and said, "Don't worry! I'll tell you all about the magic I created."

"H-how did you know?"

"You can be so easy to read sometimes, Daphne" She said before giggling to herself for a good minute. "The intrinsic magic I created is called [Inscribe], and with it, I can easily modify any magical Tome to my liking. I can add new spells or change the effects of already established spells, but I can't destroy or erase magic in any capacity," She explained.

It's like a magic pen, I concluded before telling her about my [Reclassing] skill, essentially answering all the questions she had about it, even questions about the purpose of my research. With a solid understanding of our skills, we'll be better able to deal with any situation, was my firm belief as we started making our way back to the Dhampir castle.

Kureous

Happy New Year, guys!