“Pardon?”

The superhero smile Charleslyt originally had when I saw him at the guild the first time had fallen away when he began arguing with his father. I don’t know if he kept it on every time he appeared in public, but, as an entertainer, I could imagine and sympathize with smiling all the time.

That’s why you know a public icon is being truthful when they finally drop their smiling mask. Just like with nobles. Just like with politicians. Not like I had any right to say any of this, but being truthful with each other makes discussions so much easier.

“A duel? You are challenging me to a duel, Saintess?” Charleslyt’s baffled expression twitched into a smile, causing him to chuckle a bit. “Surely you jest, my lady? There is no need for a saintess to show her strength. If you wish me to show my abilities, then please send forth your champion. Then I will show—”

“It seems you are misunderstanding something here. The cardinal, too, apparently.” I interrupted him. “Who ever told you that I was a saintess of the Goddess of Light?”

Charleslyt and the cardinal fell silent. They had this expression on their faces that clearly told me, “Shouldn’t be obvious?” What was obvious about it, I wonder?

“I already told everybody at the ball that I was an idol of the Goddess of Light. I am not a saintess.”

“Pedantic. Aren’t they the same concepts?” the cardinal argued. “A saint is the mortal representative of the Goddess, who seeks to teach and spread her message. They are our Goddess’s mouths. Your actions up until now have only shown us that you are a saintess, Lady Hestia. There is no need to categorize each saint individually, otherwise it would be impossible to group them.”

Technically speaking, the cardinal was right, I had to admit. What was the real distinction between a saintess and an idol? Both try to capture the hearts of people, only the saintess does it through religion while the idol does it with entertainment, according to modern terms.

It wouldn’t be wrong to call me pedantic. After all, an idol’s job was to become idolized by the people. That was where the origin of the word came from, causing people from Earth to develop a rather toxic view of the performers.

“Idols have to be pure and perfect” or “Idols should serve their fans.” The same also applied to pop stars in the western countries, where their every action was scrutinized to the extreme, wrecking their mental health for monetary gain or fame. They were not only tools to their company but also their own fans, whom they wished to only make happy.

And so, I was not about to let myself become a tool for Charleslyt’s ambitions. That will not be how I spread the image of my ideal idol.

“The difference is that an idol is the best of both worlds,” I answered. “Saints aren’t expected to be strong combatants, only competent priests with a high level in their faith’s elemental magic. On the other hand, champions are not expected to become known or be popular. I heard from Lady Eshe that while all champions of the Goddess of Light are known in the Empire, most of them rarely make public appearances. They are expected to fulfill their divine Quests or protect a saint or holy place.”

Theodore’s and Eshe’s theology lessons really shone when I was talking with a clergyman or speaking about religious matters. While they didn’t have an accurate idea of how the other Origin God churches actually functioned, there were still enough similarities they shared with Aurena’s religion for me to know and learn.

After all, they were there to help me understand my duty as a champion and priestess.

“Champions are known for their strength and ability to overcome any challenge, correct, Cardinal? Their feats are sung by bards for the common people to learn about, but most of the time, they aren’t expected to participate in church matters, right? Even during a church meeting, if there is a saint on site — even if they were multiple years the champion’s junior — the saint is to take the lead for the prayer, correct?”

“W-Why, yes, that is obvious enough. A saint must train their [Sacred Magic] skill to its peak. That is their responsibility, so it is only obvious they should lead the welcoming ceremony. Any ritual led by a saint is a great fortune,” the cardinal agreed. “A champion, though, is expected to train their martial prowess. Being a priest or mage is not a must, in fact, being well-rounded, like Lord Charleslyt, here is a virtue, yes.”

I nodded. “It is as you said, Cardinal Bennard. As such, I am not a saintess, wouldn’t you say, Duke Equevanna, Duke Olivus?”

“Why, yes, My Lady. The reports His Majesty has graciously given us and the personal commendation Duke Greenveil gave me full trust that you are a qualified blessed of the Goddess. May the light banish the shadows in your path, Lady Hestia,” Olivus prayed for my health and success.

“Lady Hestia has done more martial deeds than religious feats, fitting a champion more than a saintess. Although, from what I’ve heard from Lord Greenveil, her ‘concerts’ and charity healing has been quite popular. People in Cedraille and Firwood call her the Crimson Saintess for that reason,” Duke Equevanna answered, although that Crimson Saintess stuff seemed unnecessary to add.

“Do you understand now, Cardinal Bennard?” Eshe finally interjected herself into the discussion. “The Goddess deemed it suitable to add another classification for us blessed — the idol. Someone who represents both the virtue of a saint and the prowess of a champion mixed into one person. Lady Hestia does most of her religious gatherings through her singing and dancing at her concerts, while always aiming to help others and solving their problems.”

“Grk!” The cardinal groaned, unnerved by how the dukes and Eshe were supporting me. “S-Still, even then. W-We the church cannot just introduce a new category out of nowhere! Aureolis must be informed and then a decision has to be—”

“Cardinal, you are dismissing the decision of the Goddess! How can you say this as a pious man!” Duke Olivus rebuked the cardinal. “As a man of faith, how can you continuously disrespect Her Holiness’s newest champion like this?!”

“C-Champion?!”

The duke’s reveal of my actual classification shocked not only the cardinal but also Charleslyt.

As the cat was out of the sock thanks to the duke’s temper, I had to speak up, “The Goddess informed me that my official duty is to fulfill her divine Quests while also encouraging me to continue my ambition of becoming an idol. She is the one that coined me an ‘idol.’”

“The Goddess informed you, Lady Hestia? Personally?” Eshe raised a brown.

“S-Speaking with the Goddess? Heresy!” the cardinal declared but I ignored him.

O-Oh right, I forgot. Blessed usually cannot speak with their deities since their soul would explode. I didn’t tell her about it before.

“Y-You know my circumstances, Lady Eshe. My soul, remember?” I finally revealed it to her, now that I trusted her enough. The dukes probably knew what I meant, but I stayed vague enough that both the cardinal and Charleslyt couldn’t figure it out.

“O-Oh? Huh, oh! I-I’m sorry, that does make sense now that I think about it. I apologize for interrupting you.” We both let out nervous chuckles as I told everybody to just forget what I had said.

“An idol is there to be idolized by others. Through my performances and actions, I wish to support people. To brighten their days and lives whenever possible, while also encouraging those to fight through my voice.” I pointed at Charleslyt. “You want to become loved and respected, right? That is why you are doing all of this. Actions speak louder than words. If you want that fame, then you need to grab it for yourself. Don’t believe it will just sit there, waiting for you. There are more than enough people who will do anything to fulfill their dreams.”

I asked Eshe to stand up. It was a short meeting, but it was time for us to leave.

“Next week. LightDay on the 28th. I’ll ask King Drangleic to reserve the arena for us. If you have what it takes, I’ll give you the stage to show the world what you can do. I’ll make sure not only the nobility but also the common people will know your name and your face, Lord Charleslyt.”

As we turned around, Duke Equevanna shouted for us to stop.

“W-Wait, Lady Hestia!” He ran up to us. “Please, do not do this! M-My son only misspoke and the cardinal did this believing you were a saintess. There is no need for the duel.”

“Your son wishes to prove himself, Duke Equevanna. As his father, shouldn’t you be more supportive? He proclaims himself stronger than my friends, even calling them out as weak? If his words are true, then a week is enough for him to prepare to give everybody a good show.”

I was petty with my reason, but I could kinda sympathize with Charleslyt’s desire to prove himself to his father. If he can back up his words, he should be able to make it worthwhile.

When I turned around again, Duke Equevanna suddenly grabbed my shoulder.

“No! Lady Hestia, please, be reasonable! I’ll make my son apologize for speaking ill of your companions so y—”

“Father!” Charleslyt dashed over to his father and grabbed his arm, inadvertently causing the former to release my shoulder. “Is there not an ounce of trust in your heart? Have I not proven myself by raising my strength and advancing through the adventurer guild? Why are you like this? Why must you and mother always condemn me?!”

“You fool! I am trying to prevent you from embarrassing not only yourself but our house! How can I trust a person who only thinks about himself instead of the people he should work with? Do you honestly believe all your skirt-chasing would benefit our house one day?” the duke replied by slapping Charleslyt’s hand away. “Stronger or not, you brother is a worthy heir because he knows how to act like a proper noble, not like a debauched dilettante who mingles so much with even the scum of those damn peasants!”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

So he is a commoner hater, or something? These two… whatever.

Charleslyt pushed his father to the side to walk up to me to bow. “Lady Hestia, I apologize for my discourteous actions from before. I ask that you forgive me for my rudeness, even if the words have already been said. That said, I accept your challenge. Next week, we meet at the arena. Not as a nobleman and lady, but as rivals.”

Even if it was only for a second, I saw his trembling smile. The eyes he looked at me with were those of somebody who was embarrassed and angry about it. I did make a scene, so it was understandable, but it only made me not trust this person any more than before.

When he stood up straight, only a bright smile could be seen on his face. He managed to recover his superhero face.

“… See you there, Lord Charleslyt.”

I ignored Duke Equevanna’s scolding of his son and opened the door, noticing who the person was who was standing right outside the room.

“High Bishop Theodore?”

“Ah, I see your meeting is done. Here you go, Lady Hestia. You asked me for material on Aureolis, correct?” He wasn’t smiling much, just as usual. His attitude honestly fit his sleep-deprived eyes.

“Yes, I did. Thank you.” I accepted the offered books. Since it was the seat of power of the church of Aurena, it would be best if I learned more about it, especially since I had to reform it somehow.

“These are my journals of when I visited the Holy Capital myself. They detail not only the capital city but also the different villages and towns. Of course, the names of the higher clergy and also a small recap on the country’s history. May they serve you well.”

Meticulous as always. He was serious when he said he would teach me everything I needed to know.

“High Bishop Theodore?” Duke Olivus exited the room, noticing us speaking. “I had heard House Sirius was acquainted with Lady Hestia, but I did not expect you to be waiting for her.”

“Saintess Eshe and I are her tutors, Lord Grand Duke Olivus.” Theodore bowed. “As such, Lady Hestia’s theological education is a priority for me. As a priest, that is a very important duty, no?”

Eshe nodded, supporting Theodore’s claim. “I was sent here by the Goddess to support Lady Hestia in her studies, but I wouldn’t have made as much progress without Lord Theodore’s aid, Duke Olivus.”

“Ahhh, I see,” he nodded his head, intrigued. “High Bishop Theodore, would you be preoccupied at this moment?”

“I was about to return to my work after seeing Lady Eshe and Lady Hestia off.”

“Oh? I see, then let me accompany you. As a duke, I must make sure His Majesty’s guest departs safely.” He quickly said farewell to the cardinal and walked next to Theodore as we went to the entrance. “High Bishop Theodore, would you have a fiance?”

“Pardon?”

In Peolynca, the clergy were allowed to marry, especially those of the church of Marsven, Eshe emphasized during my lessons. While joining the priesthood meant giving up your right to inherit noble titles, unlike on Earth, there was no stigma with priests or priestesses marrying. If they could continue their duties, there would be no conflict of interest.

After saying goodbye to all the priests and priestesses, Eshe, her knights, and I departed from the church and headed to the orphanage. I played with the kids a bit — making sure Abi and those who were kidnapped had a good time — until it was time for me to go back home.

When I was about to leave, Eshe pulled me aside to ask about something. “Lady Hestia, when you mentioned that you had talked to Goddess Aurena at the church. Were you speaking the truth? Or was that just deception?”

Eshe didn’t like noble politicking at all, as that was the main cause of her anguish back in her home city Sarkafiina. I guess she would be rightfully suspicious since speaking with a deity is not merely rare, but downright impossible for most people.

As the cardinal said, it was heretical to even suggest it. A normal mortal’s soul wasn’t strong enough to endure being in the god’s realm. As such, a new champion like me bragging that I could speak with Aurena personally when her other blessed and pope couldn’t, seemed crazy like a lie. If you didn’t know my situation, it made sense to not believe me.

“No, that was all true. I’m sorry for not revealing this before, but when I was reborn, my soul had already been blessed by Goddess Aurena. Apparently, it made my soul strong enough for me to speak with the Goddess outside of System messages,” I explained.

“Y-You mean, your soul can enter her divine realm? You aren’t just speaking with her through the Divine System while praying?” I nodded to Eshe’s guess. “S-So you do not even have to interpret her words?! Lady Hestia, you do not know how incredibly jealous I am right now! W-What does the Goddess look like? Like the statues?”

Eshe shot out questions like a machine gun, asking me about everything when I had visited Aurena. I kept the demon part out of my explanation, as I think having Ellaine explain it herself would be better.

“A-Amazing, so the Goddess created your blessing to help you fulfill your unfulfilled dream in your old world? As expected, she is beyond generous!” Eshe praised her Goddess. “Hmm, intriguing.”

“What was intriguing?” I asked.

“Well, Lady Hestia, isn’t your blessing more like a saint’s? Usually, champions receive blessings that directly improve their combat prowess while the blessings saints receive are mostly supportive or indirect. Like mine, for example.”

Honored, Sworn Knights

A unique skill granted by the Goddess of Light, Aurena. Through this skill, knights are able to link themselves to the life force of the user, creating an oath of loyalty to the latter. By binding their link to a body part, the knight is able to gain immense power and transformations, depending on the level of this skill and the body part used as the binding. While this skill is in effect, the user may not use those body parts. Spells activated may be cast through these knights

The more crucial the organ, the more potent the skill. Eshe bound Alikar and Anivh to her eyes, turning her blind while the skill was active. In return, her knights were able to transform themselves into those hulking metal monsters.

Blessings usually reflected the personalities of the blessed. Eshe’s selflessness and willingness to go through hardship to help others gave her a skill where temporarily sacrificing a body part would grant her knights immense power to rival even giant monsters.

“However, the skill has a weakness, Lady Hestia,” Anivh spoke up. “When I was injured two years ago protecting my lady, we noticed that she was bleeding from one of her eyes once I dispelled the transformation. It was the eye I was bound to. It led to no permanent damage, but we suspect if I had died in that battle, Lady Eshe might have lost her eye.”

Alikar nodded. “We suggested changing the binding to a less important body part like her fingers, but Lady Eshe refused.”

Why couldn’t the blessing be more beneficial and overpowered? I thought, but then I remembered how the Origin Gods acted as game masters. They probably didn’t want to hand out too OP skills.

[Idol], for example, was really, really strong but it was restricted by a low number of song slots and the skill couldn’t be leveled up by SP. In addition, if I didn’t have [Aerokinesis], I would have been forced to physically sing and play the instruments for every single spell song. I would have had to fight like a passive bard if it wasn’t for my skill set, maybe able to cast the occasional spell thanks to my chantless casting.

“Enough about me, everybody!” Eshe stopped the current discussion to return us to what she wanted to say. “As I mentioned, your blessing seemed very similar to that of a saintess despite you being a champion, Lady Hestia. [Hestia’s Retainer], as you see, is almost as similar to granting others a part of your blessing to turn them into a champion candidate.”

“… Is everybody in my party a candidate then?”

If that were true, then Aurena was sneaky to hide that fact.

“I’m not sure, Lady Hestia. I couldn’t detect the Goddess’s blessing on them. But it matches with what I heard the other saints can do. Miss Saori and the others might not be official candidates, but they might be something similar. I do wonder if they could speak with the Goddess as a result?”

Hmm, Aurena did mention turning me also into a saintess during our first meeting. It kinda makes sense now.

As such, maybe defining “idol” in the way I did today makes sense. I was a hybrid between a saint and a champion. I make people idolize me like saints but I also have a divine Quest like a champion. Another difference, maybe, is that I include little religious connotations in all my concerts.

With that thought in my head, I said goodbye to the orphanage and went to the mage’s guild, asking Maverina to hurry up with the enchanting, and that I was willing to pay more if she could return it before the 28th. She agreed.

I then returned to the manor to give everybody a breakdown of what transpired at the cathedral. I was expecting some scolding from Saori, but all she did was sigh before warning me to train more so I don’t accidentally embarrass myself by underestimating him.

“Huh? No lecture?” I asked almost as a reflex.

“Considering how much trouble our party always faces, I do not have the energy to do it anymore, Hestia. Besides, it is just a show match, correct? Nothing serious,” Saori explained. “Just make sure to train harder. We cannot have the reputation of Aurora fall because our party leader was being lazy.”

Kinda feels unfulfilling without a scolding. Hollow, as if my actions had no meaning… Not a good thought.

“I guess you want to tell me to rush the job on your glaive, too, right?” Grimnir asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I told Maverina to hurry up with the catalyst enchantments, so we should have them back before the 28th. Do you think you can get the enchantment done in time?”

“Pah, who are you talking to, lass? If it’s to make Bleidla seethe in anger, I’ll gladly finish your weapon even faster, hahaha! Probably can’t leave the smithy until I’m done, so don’t get yourself into even more trouble, lass! I don’t have the time to bother!”

Ahhhhh, there we go. The scolding I needed, now it feels like I’m doing the correct thing! … This is bad, why am I so used to getting scolded?!

Despite everybody else talking with me about the upcoming match, I couldn’t help but notice that Ellaine was staying silent. When I asked her what was wrong, she mentioned that she was thinking about the trash talk Charleslyt had thrown out.

“Everybody, I hadn’t mentioned this before, but yesterday, I saw Lord Charleslyt speaking with Amelia behind a building. He was offering Amelia his hand in marriage, informing her how marrying him would boost her reputation. Amelia rejected him and asked me to not tell this to anybody, since she knew it could blow up in her face. But…”

“After hearing what this Charleslyt was actually planning, you are not just upset but also angry, correct?” Saori stated.

“Yes. I mean, I know noble’s marriages are mostly political, but not only is he planning to potentially interfere in the Sarlenzia company but also he fully knows that he will have to leave her after becoming a champion candidate. That is scummy, even for a noble. I don’t like it at all.”

“There is also the fact that he spoke badly about us, correct, Lady Hestia?” Tasianna pointed out. “I mean, us, inferior to those human scum in his party? Preposterous. Sure, they might be those rumored wyvern slayers, but so are we, no? And a high-leveled B rank as such.”

“Who knows how strong they really are, lasses. Have you checked their profiles? Arrogance ain’t bringing anybody back home,” Grimnir tried to calm Tasianna down. “But you know what will? Luck, sweat, and effort. Especially luck.”

“Grimnir is right, Tasianna. After meeting with Eithalr, we should accept that our party still has a long way to go. We are not at the top of the food chain yet, so we need to be careful. Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer, after all.”

Saori was probably speaking about the necromancer fight she had just experienced, where that necrotic spell nearly cost her a hand. There were so many people in this world, so who knows how strong our next opponents would be?

“Death waits for the slightest lapse in concentration is all we needed to learn from being in the Belzac forest, Tasianna. Cool yourself.” I shared Saori and Grimnir’s opinion.

“I-I apologize, but they did speak ill of us without having seen what we could do. It is slander.”

“Yeah, I know, but we shouldn’t be outraged. Talk is cheap, action pays for itself in gold,” I stood up from sitting and began stretching. “Well, time to go change my class and get some training in. Everybody, how about a trip into Griffonpeak’s dungeon?”