In the private cathedral of the Church that is inaccessible by the public, a lone figure stood eyeing a marvelous marble statue of the Goddess. He was the man of the highest rank of the Church: the Prophet. His facial expression was relaxed with ashen grey hair due to his old age and experience. As he stood there, marveling at the wonder of the Goddess statue, a young priest soon entered the cathedral from the side door.
"Sir," the young priest said. "The Angelization Project is nearing its success. Today, the bishops had decoded the ancient codex."
"What is it that we need?" The Prophet asked without taking his eyes off the statue of the deity. "What is it that we need to bring Angels to our world?"
"According to the ancient texts," the priest paused and looked up at the Prophet. "We shall need souls. Lots of souls."
"Souls, you say?" The Prophet repeated to himself as his brain began formulating ideas around the concept.
"Yes sir," the priest responded. "And in addition to that, we will need a body to host the Angel."
"A body to host?" The Prophet nodded. "I had expected so. The divines should not have a mortal body in their innate form. They will need a body to reside in if we were to bring the Angels into our world."
"Sir," the priest started speaking, knees trembling slightly. He wanted to provide an idea to the Prophet about the available resources for their plans, but he was afraid that the Prophet might scold him for his immoral thinkings. However, this young priest decided to risk it for the chance at being rewarded greatly. "There's a small village nearby the Capital City that is in decline. I've met with some villagers from the village who had came to Astalan to post a request at the Adventurer's Guild on taking care of an unknown creature that's been ravaging the village. From what I gathered, the village houses only the elderly and young children. I believe if this village is wiped off the map, no one would bother to care."
"..." The Prophet remained silent as he listened carefully to what the young priest has to say.
The young priest, frightened by this mysterious silence, was somewhat reluctant to speak further. However, he knew that what he had suggested had already pushed him forward and that there's no going back.
"There's also a vessel that is ready to use," the young priest continued. "The body of a girl in her late teens that has her soul lost due to a curse by an Elder Lich during the Ekeletas Expedition a year ago."
"Hmm?" The Prophet turned his head slightly and glanced at the young priest in an expression of his interest.
"And according to Paladin Grant," the priest continued. "It seems like she's a servant of a young man who Paladin Grant sees as potentially dangerous to our order for the traces of Demon that Paladain Grant had sensed from the young man. I believe if we use this girl's body as a vessel, if that young man ever posed to be a threat to our order, we can use her as a leverage over the young man. This way, we can both bring an Angel to our world and also restrain a possible threat."
"..."
The Prophet was silent and was breathing heavily as he stood there, motionlessly eyeing the statue. He then started mumbling a prayer, a gesture that the young priest believed was one that asked for mercy on his soul for the Prophet was going to punish him severely for suggesting such immoral actions. Therefore, the young priest's knees trembled as the Prophet slowly turned and faced him.
"I like your idea," the Prophet said with a pleasant and kind smile on his face. "Let's do just as you had planned. Go inform the bishops of your plan and I want the Angelization Project completed as soon as possible. And as for you, you will be rewarded greatly for this idea."
"U-understood sir," the young priest let out a happy smile as he quickly rushed off to initiate the plan.
"Angelization..." the Prophet turned to face the Goddes. "Don't worry my Goddess. Once we have the aid of your Angels, we will eradicate all Demons and convert all on this world into your believers, by their own free will or by violence."
***
"Are those...Knights of the Church?" Sheriel pointed out as they walked down the road that led from the village to the Capital City of Astalan."What are they doing here?"
The party was returning home early in the morning after having completed their quest the day before. However, as they walked back towards Astalan, excited about the large reward they shall receive at the Guild, they were met with an odd sign. Marching down the road in the direction opposite to theirs, meaning away from the city of Astalan, were many trained soldiers dressed in shining armor with the Church's symbol painted on their chestplates.
"It must be cold underneath all that metal," Kaz said as the entire party stopped and watched the armored group walk past them.
"They'll usually wear some clothing underneath to make sure that their skin don't make contact with the cold metal," Tetsuya explained.
"Do you know why these Knights are out here?" Sheriel asked Tetsuya.
"Probably for a small crusade of some sort," Marilin replied for Tetsuya. "It's not uncommon for the Church to send out troops to quell barbarians who committed sacrilege against the Church or answer the call for help from desperate civilians."
"You think they might be headed in the direction of the village we just came from?" Kaz asked.
"Not likely," Marilin responded. "Since not that many people have died yet. So it's probably somewhere further down."
"Probably," Kaz said as he turned around and resumed his march back to Astalan.
As the party walked, Loganel turned and looked over his shoulders at the flag that one of the men carried with the Church's symbol drawn on it. For some reason, he felt quite ominous about that flag and that symbol.
***
Once the party had returned to the city and had picked up their reward from the Guild, they gathered by the warm fire that was burning in the fireplace of the Guild lobby. Numerous other Adventurers and Academy students were gathered in the same building, exchanging information or merely enjoying some alcohol from the small pub that is located within the Guild. Everybody seemed to be in a great mood and the Adventurer Guild sounded even livelier than usual. This is all due to the fact that the next day will be New Year's Eve.
"We've made quite a large amount of money today," Tetsuya announced to his party members. "And since the holidays are arriving, I think all of you would like a few days off to enjoy your New Years. Therefore, we will not be engaging in hunts in some time since the first thing we do next year is head out on our Vampire Slaying quest. The exact date will be two days after New Years Day, so in the mean time, enjoy yourselves and make sure to prepare for our most challenging mission yet. That's all."
The party then dismissed and everybody in the party started slowly streaming towards the entrance. As they walked though, they talked about having a celebration feast to celebrate their year's achievements.
"So it's decided then," Kaz said. "We'll have the feast at Jerry's Eatery that's not too far from the Academy later today."
"Alright," Marilin, Sheriel, and Tetsuya all said.
"Loganel you better come too," Kaz said. "You can bring your fiancee too."
"That would be great," Sheriel exclaimed. "We still have to thank her properly for healing your arm."
"I would like to meet her as well," Tetsuya said with an unnatural smile.
"...We'll see," Loganel responded with a forced smile.
"You need to show up, Loganel," Kaz said as he brought an arm over Loganel's shoulder. "I know you got family here as well but you guys can be together tomorrow during New Year's Day."
"I'll try to go," Loganel said.
"You have to go," Kaz corrected him with a smile on his face. "There's no choice for you here. If you don't show up, Tetsuya and I will go to your dorm and drag you and your fiancee there."
"Fine," Loganel sighed. "I'll show up."
"See, it's not that hard, is it?" Kaz let go of Loganel as the party finally exited the Adventurer's Guild. "See you all later today."
Then, the party separated, with some people like Kaz running off to the market to see what he could get with his newly acquired wealth and Tetsuya, who was half-dragged by Sheriel to spend some time with her. This left Loganel and Marilin being the only two to start heading back to their dorms.
"You're not going to go shop with them?" Loganel asked as the two walked side by side.
"No," Marilin shook her head. "I need to make sure I have enough money just in case Kaz is stupid again and blows all his money."
"You're quite responsible," Loganel observed.
"It helps when you've known someone like him ever since the first day of school seven years ago."
"You've must've had a rough seven years then," Loganel laughed.
He then looked up at the clear blue sky, thinking about how he will handle this forced celebration dinner that he will have to attend.
Author's Note:
Please vote and comment if you've enjoyed. Thank you!!!
Also, if any of you have time, please check out this new book that I'm writing called My Eighteen Year Old Father. It's about a seventeen year old girl that is adopted by an eighteen year old boy and the story that happens between them. Thank you!!!