Chapter 205: Chapter 205 - A move from the North
PoV: Aurea
Gahhhhhh!
This is so tiresome!
I wanna go hoooooome...
Those times at the beastkin camp... so carefree... life was so simple back then.
I’m in a fantasy world with magic! Why am I back again doing office work with spreadsheets and finances???
"Aurea?"
In the two weeks since my arrival here, I didn’t have one single day of rest. I simply can’t anymooooore...
"Aurea???"
Gladly Lovelace is helping me, and Yaci is taking care of the guard problem, but the more I dig into these numbers, the more corruption I find...
HUH?
My lips...? Huh?
Is Lovelace kissing me?
"Hey, we are in work time."
"I’m sorry, but that was the only way I found to bring you back."
"You could’ve simply called me..."
"I DID call you. Twice."
"Huh?"
"Exactly. But you had dozed off to the point of not hearing me anymore."
"I’m sorry... All of this is simply tiring me so much..."
"I know. And, well, the news I bring means more work. Though it’s at least a change of pace."
"More work? Did you find another embezzlement case?"
"No, nothing like that. Do you remember the thing we saw over the Barren Wilds, which was sucking the mana of the place?"
"The thing... oh! That dark elemental or something? I had completely forgotten about it! What about it?"
"It’s moving. It already crossed the northern border near Amapytu."
"WHAT?"
Someone knocks on the office door before entering. It’s one of the maids, Maria.
"Your Highness. The High Priestess of the Saint is here and wishes to talk to you."
"High... Priestess?"
I can’t deal with all this... this is too muuuuuch!!!
:::
The High Priestess had been waiting for us in the living room. When Lovelace and I enter the room, she immediately prostrates herself. The four people accompanying her do the same.
"Th-there’s no need for that. Please, raise your head and sit normally."
I sit on a sofa, followed by Lovelace. It’s only after I do so that the woman rises and then sits on the sofa in front of us. The other women rise to their feet and stand behind the High Priestess.
She is a bit older than me but still young. She’s probably not even thirty, with a dainty frame and long brown wavy hair. To be appointed as High Priestess at that age, she must be very talented, even if the religion is still a new one.
But what stands out the most to me are her eyes. Not the fact that they have a pretty light green hue, but the shine in it. A shine I know very well from my old life. This is a religious fundamentalist.
In my old world, it could be argued that most bad things that have ever happened are to be blamed on people with that exact same gleam in their eyes.
People who take their own interpretation of whatever religion way too seriously and have the drive and charisma to lead the masses.
People like that give me chills, no matter the world I am in.
And the worst thing... for her, I am an object of religious adoration. I’m the daughter of the Saint, after all.
"I’m sorry for interrupting your sacred duties, Your Arch Holiness. Permit me to introduce myself. I am Ledda Swanhildi, the newly appointed High Priestess of Saint Lily."
Having a group of women prostrating to me was embarrassing already, but being called ’arch holiness’ is in a league of its own. I’m anything BUT holy. And being called that by a High Priestess, no less.
"Please, Lady Swanhildi, no need for such formality. Although my mother became a goddess, I’m a mere mortal myself. To what do I owe the honor of the visit of such an esteemed representative of my mother’s clergy?"
I already knew that my mother had been preparing some women to be actual priests, in the sense of not only performing rituals but also receiving clerical powers. And at some point some sort of structure and hierarchy would have to arise.
But I didn’t expect to be involved in it myself.
"She notified me of a crisis approaching the north of the kingdom. She said that you would be able to give me more information about it and that I would be able to help you solve it."
Well, this can’t be a coincidence. But why...
Before I can even reach the question in my mind, Lovelace has already asked it.
"Are you able to cast high-level light spells already?"
"Well... I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t had the time to properly test it. But if Saint Lily, in her Holy Wisdom, said to me that I will be able to, then I trust her."
Ohhhh... Light magic.
Yeah, that would be helpful against that thing.
Now that I think about it, it’s been ages since I last tinkered with the so-called Cosmic Elements. The war had been taking all of my attention and efforts, so I focused on the easy-to-wield and to weaponize spatial and gravitational magic.
If I simply had more free time in this wretched position of Duchess. It’s more tiresome than the war, to be honest.
Such a pain...
"Then I do think that you will be helpful indeed. You see, the crisis approaching..."
Lovelace is interrupted by a knock on the door. Soon after, Maria enters again.
"Your Highness, Lady Ingela is here to visit."
Ooohhh... aren’t we forming quite the all-star team now?
Without thinking, I get to my feet, with a smile opened from ear to ear, as Ingela enters the room.
"Ingela! Such a nice sight for tired eyes!"
"Aurea!! Lovelace, too! Erm... am I interrupting something?"
"Well, we are in the middle of a meeting, but I think that your arrival is a very fortuitous one. There’s a crisis brewing. Do you want some of that beer?"
"Hoh, a crisis? I was getting a bit bored already in my parents’ house. You never fail to bring interesting things to the table, Aurea."
Ingela sits on an armchair unceremoniously, which earns her some raised eyebrows from the priestesses present. Well, she’s my girlfriend’s girlfriend, so you’ll have to endure it.
Time for introductions again, I guess.