Once the goblin massacre was done, I reunited with the ducal family and we headed back to the city. Laina was still ecstatic about the books on magic, so I let her and Lena borrow “Gravity Magic and its possible uses in everyday life”

  "Is there somewhere you want to go? It's getting pretty te," Henry asked me as we made it through the gates. He was sitting next to the window as his wife and daughter were absorbing Gravity magic intel with every word written in the book.

  "I'm just going to check on the shop and see if something needs replenishing. What about you, Bnche?"

  "I'm going with you. I don't really have anything else to do, so I can at least help with dinner prep!"

  "In that case, I will send a message to the church so they will prepare a lecture for you about Religious Magics tomorrow. You better prepare yourself for it too, Lena."

  "Understood, grandfather," Lena nodded and clenched her fists as she continued reading the Gravity magic book.

  When we made it to the town entrance, I realized we just so coincidentally took the route to the northern gate, so we could ride the carriage all the way to the shop without taking any detours. jumping off the carriage, Bnche and I waved off the ducal family and entered the shop.

  Huh? Why do they all look so grim?

  "What's going on guys?"

  "Oh… manager… We have a problem. Some ruffians tried to pick a fight with us due to food poisoning from their colleague. When we told them it was just overeating they got violent."

  "Huh?! Is everyone alright?"

  "Ah, yes. Mr. Hugh managed to fight them off, but got scratched. He should be fine now, Mrs. Emma used her magic to heal him."

  "I see, that's good… I guess I will have to hire some guards… I believe three or four should be enough for this shop, but I will probably need someone upstairs too…"

  This might be a problem. I don't know how reliable the people in the city are. Maybe I should ask Grieva?

  To be sure, I hid some Stone slimes on the perimeter and ordered them to notify me in case something happened. I need to think of the windows and reinforce the shutters. Right now I only use pinewood, so I better find a sturdier repcement.

  I took the coins that were accounted for and checked the papers. According to this, we had a lot of sales of the potions, but the water repelling coats are selling nicely too. I guess I should think about adding other items to sell. Maybe dried foods? I guess I could try making the Drying Wind spell into a magic circle.

  "Tomorrow, I have some run-ins with the people of the church so I will look into guards for this pce after that. I will send Nene here for the morning shift and to use her expertise for self-defense. Feel free to ask her to give you some advice and lessons."

  "Thank you, sir," the girls bowed and I went to check the inventory underground. While I was at it, I tamed the new Grime slimes in the septic and cleaned the pce.

  Once that was done, I went to check on the orphanage and delivered the food. The tools I ordered for the kids turned out to be much better than I thought as some of the kids were already hard at training with their masters, Romi hired through the Merchants guild. There were also supposed to be educators, but for that, I first needed to interview them myself to be sure of their character.

  At the same time, I had Romi start pushing Paul to try to reconcile with his mother, or at least to be open to the idea.

  "He is not open to being with her under the same roof, but would be gd if Misha could at least get to know her."

  "Have you told him about her change and trying to look for them?"

  "No. That would lead to him finding out we are communicating and his trust in us might be lowered."

  "Yeah, that is a possibility. Anyway, I want one more thing from you Romi."

  "And what that might be, Master?"

  "Tomorrow, I'm going to the church to learn about Religious magics, so I was wondering about magic in your time."

  "I see, that is understandable, however I never learned much apart from the magic types I know… What I can tell you, is that at that time, the magic csses as you know them today were just starting to appear. Many called the times around my birth as the end of Dark Ages. Back then, undead monsters were much more common as they naturally appeared from those who held strong grudges. Curses were also much more common. Curses of that time didn't need support from Curse stones to work, your evil emotions and dark magical elements were all that was needed. The first necromancer, combined Dark magic and Curses into a single skill we now know as Necromancy, as a way to call back souls and have them finish their grudges and say goodbyes. What evolved from the act is nothing like that at all."

  "So original necromancy was more akin to ceremonies for calming souls of the deceased? It sure went off the rails pretty hard…"

  "Yes. You can say that. Only a handful of the returned souls wished to stay alive, as, they could not. Once someone dies, their soul returns to the gods, but emotions remain with the body. Whether the emotions are good or evil doesn't matter, when they are strong, the body —or just a soul fragment— reanimates as an undead monster. Ghosts, Whisps and other incorporeal undead are usually an accumution of emotions trying to regain the physical body. Though there are times when the soul itself refuses to return to the cycle of reincarnation and creates Wrathful creatures more akin to demons then undead."

  Bad emotions I can understand, but good emotions too? Does that mean wishing to protect someone? Like a knight protecting his lord? This seems complicated. Wait…

  "How are vampires cssified, actually? They are considered undead monsters according to my Appraisal, but that can change depending on the person's experience."

  "Yes, Vampires are undead monsters. This however, brings out the duality of the undead. The type I just described to you is called 'Natural undead'. Undead like those become monsters on their own. Vampires like me are different from that. I was born from the union between Ancestral Vampire and his living bride. The Ancestral vampire in question, Adolf Vermillion Dutka, came to existence as a spawn of the Demigod of the Undead."

  "And those who came to exist as the spawns of the Demigod…"

  "Are not just empty husks like other undead, they possess a soul as well. Not to mention that they are much closer to the living than the first type of undead."

  "Hmm… does that mean the Demigod of Undead is something like your grandfather?"

  "One could think of our retionship as such, but that would mean he has as many children as there are undead. I myself don't think of him as such. Maybe the Wombat of Afterlife, Wisp Lord or the seven Ancestral Vampires think of the Demigod as their father, but us who came from them refuse to consider ourselves as grandchildren. We are much weaker than them as well."

  "Shouldn't you be able to evolve into Ancestral Vampire though? I can only base it on the fact that you evolved before."

  "As it is with my own servants, the more I have, the stronger I become. Their strength pys a big role in this as well. And since I am an offspring myself, strengthening them makes my ancestors stronger as well. That is why Ancestral Vampires don't have stable rank. They can be anywhere between A and Disaster ranks."

  "I see… Ah! It's getting te, I should be getting back to the inn. Let's discuss curses ter, okay?"

  "Understood, Master." Romi bowed politely and went back to check on the kids and I teleported over the city to the inn, just in time to enjoy dinner with Bnche and the ducal family.

  ***

  In the morning, I sent a letter to Mr. Gemma and asked him to get me more saplings for all kinds of fruit trees and seeds for vegetables. I already had Apples, Plums, Peaches on top of wheat, potatoes, tomatoes, red grapes and white grapes. I would like some pears, lemons, carrots, strawberries, currants, raspberries, peas, barley, malt and hops too, though. I don't really need herbs, as I collected quite a lot in the forest and have my Dryas look after them.

  I should check on the barrels with wine… I could also try making cider from apples… Though I really want that beer to get going…

  The carriage was going at a steady pace towards the church. Once there, we entered the main hall. The sky was clear, so the sun was shining through the colored gss, giving the pce a mystical feel. The statues of the Gods in the back stood majestically and felt commanding. In the middle was a statue of the Creator God Atan, on his right was God of Life Lodite and on the other side was Goddess of Death and Slumber Ghounna. The statues on sides of Creator were rotating depending on the month and as we currently had te June, the statues would be soon exchanged.

  "What a surprise, lord Duke. Who would've thought I would meet you here," Ingrid smiled at Henry as she welcomed us.

  "Sister… Why are you so cold?"

  "Yes, I am a sister of the clergy, but why 'cold'? I can't ever understand you, sir Duke," Ingrid smiled softly.

  "Aaah, you are always the same… anyway, we came here because Bnche here awakened her Druidic magic, so we would like someone here to tell her more about it and other Religious magics."

  "And to Lena and Arito too, while they are at it," Laina smiled at Ingrid.

  "In that case, please follow me, I know of the perfect candidate. She is well suited for the task," Ingrid smiled and led us to the back of the altar. We passed a few sisters who were newly in charge of the church, so we nodded our heads in acknowledgement as they bowed gracefully. We are always praying before going to sleep, it might be a nice change of pace by going here… maybe next Sunday? This world doesn't really know the concept of free days— crap! I forgot about it too! If I don't do something I might turn into one of those Bck companies! Crap, crap, crap…

  "Is something the matter, Arito?" Bnche saw right through me and asked with an innocent look.

  "Urm, I just thought we could come here for a prayer when we get some free time and realized that I should give some free time to the guys in the shop too. Always working without time to rest isn't really healthy."

  "Yeah, good thinking," Lena nodded sagely next to me.

  As we walked through the corridors, we came upon a square garden with majestic willow in the middle. From the leaves of the willow, water was dropping down into a circur pond. There was a bridge connecting the small isnd with the willow to the rest of the garden and near the trunk of the willow was a seat big enough for one person.

  On it was sitting a woman, seemingly in her thirties. Her skin was pale white with bluish shine to it, her hair color was a deeper shade of blue than her skin, but still fairly light. Her eyes though, they were dark purple. Somehow… I don't feel good about this woman… she is… I don't know, it feels like she is simir to me and at the same time simir to Bnche…

  "Oh, what do we have here? Child of Wind and Child of Evolution? What a rare sight," the woman spoke in a melodic tone that sent shivers down my spine.

  "Sister Shimo, you are scaring the kids," Ingrid reprimanded the woman.

  "Oh, my~ I'm sorry sister Ingrid, I haven't realized," she smiled and bobbed her head towards us before she started talking again, "You came to hear about religious magics, correct? You are in luck, as I am the only practitioner here who can use all four main religious magic csses. Come, sit around me and I shall tell you all you want to know."

  "Well suited? More like overqualified…" Kalvig ughed silently.

  The woman called Shimo snapped her fingers and three chairs appeared in a half-circle before her. They were originally made from sand and turned into stone, so it had to be an application of high leveled Earth Magic. We carefully stepped across the small bridge connecting the garden to the willow islet. I sit down in front of the woman with Bnche to my right and Lena to the left. This way I can do something if she tries anything funny.

  "Don't worry, child of Evolution, I won't do anything that would put you three in harm's way," Shimo smiled at me.

  "Are you reading my mind?"

  "Oh no, nothing like that. It's your face. You seem unsettled ever since your eyes fell on me. I'm not bming you, I would be worried as well, were I in your pce. I'm not really your everyday person."

  "Then what are you?"

  "Arito," Lena's eyes hardened a little as she gave me a side gnce.

  "It's fine, little one. I will tell you why you feel unsettled. It is because of my eyes and skin color. You see, I was born on the night of Blue Moon and received its mark. As for my 'race', you could say I'm an Albino Ancient."

  "Just like Kirin Del Marka, hm? Though I never heard of people being affected by the Blue moon as well. I thought it worked only on monsters."

  "Arito!" Lena exploded at me again.

  "It's fine. I'm used to hearing that. And it is true I'm the only documented person who was affected by the Blue moon in the entire recorded history."

  "I'm sorry if I offended you," I bowed my head, "I couldn't help thinking of the possibilities this opens up. If people can be affected by the Blue Moon too, it can open many more possibilities for research and the future of us all. You said you were born on the night of the Blue moon, right? That actually confirms my theory about the Blue moon variants. I thought to become a Blue moon variant you needed to be conceived on the Blue moon night, but being born means that blue moon affects newborns, not developing fetuses."

  "So you are the research type… that expins why the Goddess of Evolution took such a liking to you," sister Shimo nodded with a smile, "now, let's get to the topic. You want to hear about religious magic, correct?"

  "Yes. Bnche here came up with a spell that is capable of maniputing pnts like Druidic magic."

  "Oh? What did you do?"

  "I-I used the roots of pnts in the surroundings to dismobile a Death Knight," Bnche stuttered.

  "Oh? That is quite a feat. Druidic magic worships nature, so maniputing it is one of the basics, yet vital components. We should have some books about it, so feel free to browse it. Now then, let me ask you something, have you ever heard of Curses?"

  "They are apparently one of the oldest types of magic I heard. Undead generate a lot of cursed energy too."

  "Indeed, Mr. Arito. That is correct. The existence of Curses gave birth to two kinds of jobs. First being Warlocks, who use dark magic to expel the curses and second being Exorcists who destroy them with Light and Religious magics. This is where the difference between Religious magics comes into py. Druidic magic is the least compatible with destroying curses of humanoids, but it is perfectly suited for cleansing forests and the nd. The second most unique magic is called Song Magic. This type is purely supporting and is more effective the more singers there are. Though there was this one time an army was sent running for hills by enemies tenth their numbers just by their battle song," Lady Shimo smiled at the memory, almost as if she was there when it happened.

  "That's… really something," Lena looked surprised.

  "Do you think the Kobolds could learn it?" Bnche whispered to my ear.

  "It's worth the shot," I nodded back at her.

  "Now we are getting to the two most spread Religious magics. Ritual magic is mostly used by exorcists against possession, but there is a big problem with it. Blessings from the gods affect the rituals you can do. For example, when you have the blessing of God of Academics Matra, you can't use ritual magic at all. Same goes for the various Demigods…" Shimo went 'ahem' and smiled softly with hand covering her mouth, "Sorry, I got distracted, I still have one magic to cover. The st type of magic is Holy magic. This type is perfect for soothing souls and striking back evil with spells like Holy Javelin, Purifying Light and others."

  "Question! There is a light magic spell called Purification, is it different from Purifying Light?" Lena asked enthusiastically.

  "Purification uses light to clean surfaces as well as destroys undead and cursed energy they produce," I answered Lena and sister Shimo nodded.

  "Purifying Light cleans souls on top of destroying undead and their cursed energy, however they do not clean physical objects like Purification does. Are you a light magic user, Mr. Arito?"

  "Yes. I can use some Light magic spells, Purification among them," I answered her honestly, yet a little vaguely.

  "If you want, you can list through some of our tomes on light magic. I'm sure the girls would also like to learn some spells on their own. I believe we have books on Druidic magic," Shimo waved her hand and a familiar bck portal of Item Box appeared next to her.

  "Th-thank you!" Bnche accepted a book from Shimo's item box and started reading.

  "I have books on Holy magic, Song magic and Ritual magics as well. Do the two of you want to look at them?"

  "If I could, may I take a look at Holy Magic tome?"

  "If possible, I would like to take a look at the Ritual Magic," I added after Lena and we received our respective tomes. When I touched the book, I felt a small jolt of static electricity hit my finger as Lady Shimo’s finger grazed mine.

  [For as long as evil ghosts and spirits exist, there will be rituals to banish them. This book is but a simple manual for those who want to learn some basic rituals of each of the gods. Be mindful, that just having a blessing is not all you have to get for a successful ritual. Your faith in your deity is also important, as well as having needed materials.]

  Materials? Who would have thought I would need something on top of my titles…

  "God of Life, God of Wine, God of War… ah, here Goddess of Evolution…"

  [Goddess of Evolution oversees all evolution in our world and holds one of the most powerful rituals in the world. She however has very little blessed children and many of those refuse to learn holy scripts, showing their faith through other means. There are only very little known rituals from one of her followers, the first king of Dragonfolk.]

  So the first king of Dragonfolk was her follower? Interesting…

  There were three rituals written in the book. [Body strengthening Ritual], [Body growth ritual] and [Synthesis Ritual]. If this thing is to be believed, I could use these three rituals to create chimeras or evolve monsters that can't evolve any other way… Maybe I could give Shizu the smaller body she always wanted… Well, she can't really make good flower decorations because she ruins most of the flowers with her raw strength.

  Hm? Does the Goddess of Love have a Soul binding ritual? It seems like a step above Wedding ritual, basically binding the couple together with body and soul. Oh, it also causes death to those who cheat and to those they cheated with? How much would I love this in my past life…

  I looked up and my eyes fell on Bnche, who also looked up and smiled brightly at me. Cute.

  "Hey, stop flirting in the temple," Ingrid looked down at me as she returned with the exhausted looking ducal pair.

  "I'm not doing any such thing, and if I would, Lena would be calling it out already."

  "Nah, I'm already used to it," Lena said without looking up from her book.

  "…" Feeling my cheeks turning a deeper shade of red, I closed the book on ritual magic before returning it to Lady Shimo. Another bolt of static electricity struck my body.

  "I'm sorry I cannot let you keep the books, but under normal circumstances only clergymen can read it."

  "I thank you for your hospitality," Lena bowed to Shimo and Bnche and I followed suit.

  We moved back to the main hall and decided to pray to the gods. I had Bnche and Lena on either side of me as I closed my eyes and started praying. My eyes were enveloped by white light and I opened my eyes. The next moment I got to see the smiling face of the Goddess of Evolution, Tunetia.

  "Huh?!"

  *** ※ ???'s POV

  "My dy, was that alright? To take such a tone with someone of your status…" one of the padins inside the inner garden grumbled when Arito and his entourage left, his hand holding a spear shaking.

  "When he looked at me, he was readying himself for anything. One wrong move and my head would roll, yes, but that wrong move wouldn't be pointed at him, rather at that companion of his."

  "That girl of white?"

  "Were we to strike, we would end up like the Puritarians who attacked the duke during the st Blue Moon, and above that…" Shimo held a bottle of translucent, blue liquid against one of the leaves of the Willow. A drop of water from the tree fell into the blue liquid and the entire bottle shone with blueish gold light. "Liquor with the power of Holy water… this might move us one step closer to creating Eternal Fme, as the great Creator requested from us."

  "I don't understand, my dy."

  "Aaah… this liquor was produced by the boy. He is currently the only one who can make it."

  "Huh?! I thought it was a gift from his Majesty the King!"

  "It was. But the bottle was gifted to him by his brother, duke Nomille, who got it from this boy. I believe the duke said to the king: 'I got this unique liquor from one of my subjects, I hope it will bring you happiness as it did for me.' In other words, I got this for cheap, but I won't tell you how or where. I know you need it, so just come by if you need more."

  "To think the duke would do that to his own brother…"

  "You are a commoner, correct? You might not know it, but nobles often resolve to kill their brothers and sisters to stabilize their succession rights. Assassinations are daily bread on nobles' ptes. What happened with our current king and his siblings is unnatural and please forgive me for saying it, weirdly twisted."

  "First princess joined the clergy, the second princess became a witch, the second prince took the position of duke for his heirless grandfather and the third prince is traveling the world on his own. The four of them practically strongly armed the first prince into becoming a king."

  "Strong arming isn't really a nice way to put it. It was more like —do it or else you sucker! I ain't giving up my fiancé to become a king; Wanna taste how unreasonable I can be, big brother?; It is Divine will, brother. Please accept it; You are meant to do this work! I will make sure to bring souvenirs from my travels, okay?— that kinda thing," Ingrid entered the conversation with a soft chuckle, while impersonating her siblings and herself as well.

  "L-dy Ingrid… we…"

  "Oh please. I don't mind talking behind someone's back. Only as long as you speak truth though, lies lead to gates of Hell, after all. Anyway, the reason I came here is to ask about the liquor I brought. Have you figured anything out?"

  "No. I couldn't even ask about it. He was too wary of me."

  "That was what we expected, after all. You do have the Curse of Stagnation on you and as a curse pced on you by a Demigod, no regur person can take it off. It makes sense that someone with the blessing of Evolution would be wary of you," Ingrid shrugged her shoulders.

  "Demigod of Undead… Stagnis… it's been over two hundred years since our failed expedition to the Farthest East… I'm starting to feel like we will never be free of the curses they create every day," Shimo smiled emptily as she gazed at the moons in the sky that were barely visible due to it still being afternoon.

  "Have you continued with your investigation of Reversed Sun?"

  "I did, but nothing was found. Our investigators found some vilges that were used by them as bases, but nothing promising showed up."

  "Well, I guess I will leave it to the Lady of Holy Blue, then."

  "Hahah, you are much more worthy of that title, Hidden Apostle."

  The two girls called themselves by their nicknames within the church and continued debating how to get help from Arito. None of them realized at the time that Arito visited the divine realm just minutes before they started chatting amicably.

  Still, that shock I received from his touch… I never thought I would feel it again, Shimo smiled at the memory of her old friend as she continued chatting with Ingrid.

  Tony_Raven

  Hey guys, TR here. First of all, sorry for the dey in chapter release, Christmas is always such a busy season, isn't it? Anyway, I wish you all happy holidays, no matter your religion. Before the end of the year I will release the second half-chapter of side stories, so look forward to it. Anyway, be safe and enjoy the holidays, your Tony Raven