Side Story 8: The church’s magic is amazing!

Side Story 8: The church’s magic is amazing!

Do you think you guys will be ok? a person asked me in a girlish voice.

Walking, I, Tatsuya Nagata, looked over at the person who said that and reassured her, Yeah, that slimy Mikami will listen to Kyouyaprobably, and I think Sir Elrick will have it controlled, despite Hanazawas reluctance.

Urgh, that girl is still acting like an idiot? Even after four months?! the girl, Aiko Hasebe said in an annoyed tone.

Well, its not like I cant understand her, I said internally. Even if it has been four months, it still doesnt change the fact that these people have kidnapped us into their world, Peolynca. Being homesick is normal and maybe Hanazawa is dealing with this whole situation by being her bitchy self, arguing against anybody and everybody whenever she can.

On the other hand, Aiko seems to be a bit too comfortable around here, but I guess that happens when the whole clergy is worshipping and treating her like royalty, or like the saint candidate that she is.

Of course, I had enough tact to not say this to her face. She can take a joke but being this blunt will insult anybody. Safer to stay silent.

"Yeah, don't worry Aiko-san. I made a promise, so I won't let anything happen to Sakamoto-san," Kyouya, my best friend, said with a smile and thumbs up.

Hearing that, I turned my gaze at the person walking beside Aiko; Sakamoto-san was pouting with a deep frown, "Ishigami-san, I'm here if you haven't noticed. I'm not the best, I know, but you don't have to treat me like a kid."

"Huh?! Wha-Wait, that's not what I meant!" Kyouya tried to apologize but was shushed by Aiko.

Combat-wise, Sakamoto wasnt very strong compared to Kyouya or me. I wont say that I mastered the spear yet, but I did receive formal training from the Church of Aurenas knight's Order, and looking at Elrick's status board, I believe that if I kept it up I can become just as a strong, or even more according to Elrick.

Sakamoto-san, on the other hand, didn't have a very athletic physique, to begin with. She merely maintained a healthy body and had a decent amount of stamina for somebody who jogged occasionally and ate healthily.

Honestly, I was also pretty scrawny when I was teleported to this world and my Stamina stat was lower than the majority of the class for that reason. Before I intensively trained in my goal to get those coffee leaves, I was just another lanky guy, so it feels pretty good that I was able to build up some muscles now.

Sakamoto's Status Board

Profile:

Name: Haruka Sakamoto

Level: 0

Race: Human

Age: 16 Years

Job: Archers

Status:

Health: 257/257 Mana: 146/146 Strength: 88 Intelligence: 149 Vitality: 54 Wisdom: 59 Agility: 183 Stamina: 234/234 Effects: None Skill Points: 0 Unique Skill:

[Foxian Slyness Lv. 1]

Skill: Magic skill and related

[Arcane Mind Lv. 1]

[Mana Control Lv. 1]

Physical skill and related

[Archery Technique Lv. 2]

[Archery Mastery Lv. 1]

[Mana Strike Lv. 1]

[Piercing Enhancement Lv. 1]

Sense and movement skills

[Stealth Lv. 3]

[Accuracy Correction Lv. 2]

[Probability Correction Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Auditory Sense Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Vision Lv. 2]

[Presence Killer Lv. 2]

Resistances

[Pain Resistance Lv. 1]

Stat growths and realted

[Stamina Recovery Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Agility Capacity Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Stamina Capacity Lv. 1]

Others

[Singing Lv. 1]

[Dancing Lv. 2]

[Trap Creation Lv. 1]

[Identify Lv. 1]

[Identify Blocker Lv. 3]

[High-Speed Calculation Lv. 1]

[Thought Acceleration Lv. 1]

[Royal Etiquette Lv. 1]

Ability List: Achery abilities

[Piercing Arrow]

[Curved Pursuer]

Titles:

[Otherworldly Visitor]

Admittedly, she was more fit during the first month of our stay here, but Ive made a ton of progress, havent I? Well, I guess I should thank the System of this world for allowing Jobs to help you train. I might have my complaints about this world, but this System is so game-like that I feel like Im inside an RPG game.

And we are about to do what every RPG player would wish the most; killing monsters and leveling up! Aha, I cant wait to finally use those stat growth skills to their fullest potential. Without leveling they wont have an effect so watching the number go up will be awesome.

You seem to be excited Tatsuya, said Kyouya.

Arent you? Its time to grind, bro! I responded.

Noticing this, everybody in our class forgot about my feud with Mikami and turned their gazes towards the man that said those words.

Standing on the platform, the man in the gaudy robe continued, "Let us please forgive our Heroes for their temperament. They are destined for a truly great task that nobody could possibly be ready and worthy of. It is understandable that some are uneasy."

He was the pope, or some sort of leader, for the Church of Aurena and also the one that greeted us when we were transported here. I didnt catch his name, but I guess calling him the Pope is good enough.

Now that quiet has finally returned to us, I shall now order the begin of this ceremony, the Pope said, directing his eyes at the congregation standing beneath him.

At that moment, all the white-robed priests and shrine maiden simultaneously began chanting a spell. Looking back to the mass of grey-robed priests, I could see white particles escaping from their body which flew towards the magic circle that was materializing in front of the chanting mass of white-robes.

As time went by, the synchronized chanting began sounding like a choir. It wasn't my imagination that all of them have started singing as they continued reciting the cast for whatever spell they were trying to activate.

I never was in a Christian church or even participated in a choir session but this one felt soothing. As if their voices entered my soul and cleansed it from all the anger that it had for Mikami just a few seconds ago. I feltreleased.

At the climax of this spell, the magical circle began to float upwards into the sky, before growing in size, rotating around once it reached a certain height.

As the voices of the white-robed reached their peak, multiple grey-robed shrine maidens handed each of them a white marbled staff.

Once they were done, the white-robed stopped singing and raised their staffs up higher, offering more white particles to the giant white magical circle floating above us, large enough to fill this giant religious gathering.

With the preparation done, the Pope stood in front of the stage to finish the ritual, Oh Goddess of Light, Aurena. I bid you, hear our prayers of gratitude and ardent worship so it may empower you ever more in your duties of overseeing us. I beg of you to hear us and grant upon us your blessing of light, Prayer!

With the cast done, the magical circle activated, and a warm, bright light started to envelop everybody under it.

[Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Moderate)] inflicted on [Human, Tatsuya Nagata]

Blessing of the Goddess of Light

A magical blessing granted by the spell [Prayer]. Using the combined prayers of the follower of Aurena, the Goddess of Light, this status effects alleviate any status ailments inflicted on everybody involved, if possible. Also empowers Health, Mana, and Stamina regeneration. Increases Strength, Intelligence, Vitality, and Wisdom by 10%/30%/60%/100% depending on the strength of the blessing. The strength of this blessing depends on how many prayers are given during the cast time of the spell [Prayer]

If the choir was soothing for my soul, then this was enough to fully invigorate it. All the fatigue I gained from these past four months was washed away, seemingly as if they were never there in the first place.

Strength was filling my body and a certain amount of newfound courage erupted from the space that was left behind from all my negative emotions. At this point, I believe I could conquer anything I wished and that nothing could stop me.

Holy shit, 30% increase of my stats and its an AOE, too? Of course, the Church always has the most broken buffing spells.

This is a blessing from our beloved Aurena. Our heavenly mother sitting in her divine realm above us, as she continues watching over our short lives, the Pope said zealously. What a great day for us all to gather around Aurenas chosen heroes, as we send them off for their first mission.

Cheering, loud enough to drown any other sounds, and clapping, numerous enough to send shockwaves, exploded from the sides and behind us, as all the grey-robed priests and shrine maidens celebrating from being granted this spells effect.

Now, now my fellow brothers and sisters, we the church have given our respect to our Heroes, so we would like to ask for our two Saint Candidates, pure maidens that have been chosen by our goddess herself, to honor us with some of their words, the Pope announced, holding his hands outstretched in front of him like some preacher.

Both Aiko and Hanazawa were then given staffs by two grey-robed shrine maidens. I could hear them mumble, These are manatech rods that amplify your voices, oh graceful Saintesses.

Ive noticed this for a while now but although both of them still had [Saint Candidate] and, officially, there werent any saint or saintess yet, yet everybody is treating them like one at this point.

Wanting to take a better look at the rod-like manatech, I direct my identify ring at it and silently called out identify.

Voice Amplification Rod

A manatech that uses a mana battery to continuously activate a magical rune inside it that creates wind. By activating the object, the user may have their voice amplified depending on how loud they want it to be

In other words, its a microphone.

Aiko graciously accepted it and then went towards the platform. Hanazawa wanted to decline but it seems Elrick who was standing beside her, accepted it in her place, giving her no room to say anything. She dejectedly walked on the platform with Aiko, giving Elrick a sour look.

The first to speak was Aiko, who did it energetically, Thank you so very much for everybodys efforts today. Your prayer was wonderful, and it evoked my desire to rise up to your expectations for me as a saint candidate.

Multiple priests and shrine maidens, both grey and white-robed, cheered at her natural charisma. Being the daughter of a family with a prestigious legacy as hers would mean that she must have had some speaking lessons.

Despite her Idol-like personality, she is quite a studious person. I don't know what her true ambition is or what is driving her, but it can't be disputed that she works hard for the things she wants.

Aiko continued once the cheering settled, Although, I am still so very inexperienced, I received the merciful opportunity from the Goddess of Light, Aurena, to become somebody that can save everybody. In my time in Peolynca, I will do my best to fulfill my role as both a saint candidate and hero to aid you in this dire time. Please, I will require your support to change this world!

Just like how she gave a perfect greeting, showing-off the things she learned from the church to the bishop Michalis, she now just said the perfect words to rouse the whole congregation of clergymen and women.

Even some knights dropped their guard and participated in the cheering. They had those crusader-like bucket helmets on that blocked their faces, but I can imagine them silently weeping from hearing Aikos speech.

As Aiko finished, everybodys gazes turned to Hanazawa, who flinched back from the overwhelming expectations directed at her. This girl never did well under pressure and absolutely hated it when she was given even some bit, outright denying to do it.

Aikos effort to create such a large excited crowd was now backfiring at Hanazawa, the expectations for her were now at an all-time high.

Looking at Hanazawa struggling to get a word out of her voice, fidgeting on stage; it was pitiful to look at. I dont like her at all, honestly, I found her a waste of oxygen, but even I can feel some sympathy when the supposed delinquent looks like a scared cat, right now.

I-II als-also am-m, Hanazawa was shivering like crazy, desperately trying her best to form the words she wanted to say.

I could also hear Elrick mumbling, Come now, Asaka. You can do it. Please, we practiced this for a whole day. You can do it.

Hanazawa, in all her anxiousness, looked at Elrick who was biting his lips, trying to ask for support but nobody could save her from this. She was all alone on that stage, nervously trying to speak, while every single priest and shrine maiden expectant eyes pierced her like sharp spears.

AhhhI wish t-to say-say that Iahhhhhhhhhh, fuck everything about this! suddenly, Hanazawa threw her rod at the ground and ran off the stage.

Lady Asaka! Elrick cried out and ran after her.

The whole congregation went silent. Shocked at what just happened. Among us, everybody quietly mumbled their own thoughts.

There goes our reputationagain, Mikami said, giving me a stink eye.

Well, I cant fault her. I would freeze up too, but throwing the rod on the ground? Nope, Sakamoto-san said, conflicted.

"I guess that would be too much. Literally, everybody was expecting her to give the same speech that Aiko-san gave," Kyouya agreed to Sakamoto-san.

I stayed silent. I felt pity and sympathized with her whole situation, but it didnt go further than that. I didnt like her, and it seems my bias has affected me enough that I didnt feel anything more than too bad.

As the silence continued, the Pope told Aiko to go back to her party so he could diffuse the situation, As I have said. It is a very nervous day for our Heroes. Let us not forget that these children will be sent on their first mission today so it should be expected that some are more nervous. Our Saintess Asaka wanted to give us a rousing speech but her feelings overwhelmed her. Please, let us show her kindness and patience until she has accustomed herself to her role as a saint candidate.

After everybody calmed down, the Pope continued with a calm smile, "Now, we mustn't dally any more. We still have important work to do today. Knight-Commander, please inform our heroes before we start our trip through the city.

Of course, honored Pope Gwyn, at that moment, the burly man in shining white armor walked in front. Now, honored Heroes, I shall now tell you what our plans for the dungeon trip will be!

His bellowing voice, fitting for somebody on the top of a knights order, made all of us tensed up.

The serious part is coming now, huh?