The sight of his old lecturer had made Cris pause for a moment as recently abandoned habits kicked in and he resisted the urge to raise his hand and ask a question. A solid hand on his shoulder reassured him as Ren stepped forward and nodded to the portly High Priest with a smile.

[Thank you. I can see that Maxton Ge has clearly already given you a clear understanding of our ways. Your devotion to your Goddess of Light and Purity is a welcome sight. Please understand for us that we worship the Celestial Emperor, may he reign eternal. It appears that my new comrade here Cristiano is familiar with you, were you perhaps a personal tutor or an advisor to his noble family household?]

Past Ren, Cris through the forced open double wooden doorway Cris saw long benches and seats and even a lectern at the front of the room. The entire area was illuminated by alchemical lights, the same type which he had seen throughout the building and on each bench was positioned a writing set and ink, along with paper and stacks of what appeared to him to be fresh but blank books.

From his perspective an entire room had been changed into a classroom, likely by the robes figures rushing around with their papers, documents and materials. The fact that one of the main lecturers who always wanted students to engage and learn and had the nickname of the bellows was present made Cris consider that likely he was in for another lecture.

Despite being kicked out of his studies due to his inquisitive nature he had truly wanted to find his own path in life and had been at a loss. He hadn’t expected quite this quickly to end back in front of a teacher who encouraged every single one of his trainee priests and priestesses to talk despite his obviously loud tone of voice.

After he stared openly without shame at the construct, High Priest Schmid rubbed his fingers through his thick beard after giving Cris a bright smile. His face was composed in deep thought as he continued scratching his beard before a light lit up in his eyes as he raised both arms up as though conducting a lecture and the construct was one of his favourite students.

‘THE CELESTIAL EMPEROR? AH, I KNOW YOUR TYPE. ONE OF THE CHILDREN OF HEAVEN? I VISITED YOUR EMPIRE ONCE WHEN I WAS A YOUNG MAN. BLESS YOU, BLESS THE FOREIGN HERETICS FOR VISITING OUR BLESSED KINGDOM. BLESS THE GODDESS ALIZA, BLESS HER GUIDANCE IN TRYING TIMES.’ came the voice of High Priest Schmid.

A voice from behind him inside the room spoke softly but with clear authority. Cris didn’t detect a single pulse of light energy but the rotund man in front of him dressed in the fine clothing of a High Priest of the Goddess Aliza deflated for a moment as an inflated animal bladder with the air removed.

‘High Priest Schmid. You are here at my discretion and mine alone. This is not your lecture and we are not all young trainee priests and priestesses who need lessons drilled into them. Young Cristiano is an exception of course, he has recently left his service as a trainee priest for reasons entirely private to himself which we do not need to discuss. I have been tasked by our Queen and your Head of the Church of Aliza to do necessary work for the kingdom. I would ask one time only, do you want to reduce the volume of your voice and conduct an actual impromptu lecture as I requested or would you prefer to go on sabbatical leave form your duties?’ said the woman who Cris recognised as Lady Joanne Dee Mawr.

The rotund man paused for a moment before he shook his head and then clasped both hands over his mouth as he immediately nodded and gave Cris a suggestive wink before he edged himself to the side and then gestured for the two to enter the room.

The construct Ren said a few words in the same lyrical language which Cris had heard him speak with both Ren and Alessandro although High Priest Schmid didn’t respond his face reddened under his beard and Cris was certain that he was in fact blushing.

When Cris entered he saw that the entire room had indeed been set up like a classroom, the front of the room had a large lectern with various maps and drawings pinned up and a large pile of scrolls and parchments on a large side table next to it.

The woman Lady Joanne Dee Mawr had changed her face and appearance once more, this time she was wearing black leather armour with ridges and a fur collar with short blonde hair and a pale face with blue eyes.

If Cris hadn’t recognised her voice he would have sworn that she was an entirely different woman but he supposed that given her own magical abilities she would also be able to change her voice. Her body was something else but he had only seen the degree of melded corruption inside her facial area which had become deeply interconnected but showed no physical signs of degradation or damage which was usually the case.

Even cultists who opposed the rule of the Goddess Aliza wore robes or masks to disguise how their features had been worn and the flesh underneath marred due to the corruption interacting with both their bodies and their souls.

‘Master Cifesborn. Take a seat. You’ll find that Ren and Maxton Ge have taken theirs already, would you like to sit at the front? I’m sure it can be easily arranged. After all, we have plenty of space and your old tutor would be most pleased to see you paying attention. I will be attending as well in a supervisory capacity, as for why High Priest Schmid is here, you can call it a test of his abilities as a teacher. We’ll be needing his services later to inform other students as they arrive and our little group grows. Please. Take a seat. I see your fresh clothing suits you and you appear far more refreshed after a little rest, the rest of us have been waiting for quite some time though.’ said Lady Joanne Dee Mawr.

Inside the room, Cris saw Maxton Ge sitting right at the back with both feet on the table in front of him as he played with torn pieces of paper in front of him and folded it into strange shapes. He pulled out a similar green small-size sphere from under the table before throwing it into his mouth and swallowing it with a single gulp.

Cris realised that he was the only person who was armed inside the entire room, none of the others showed any visible weaponry. Not even a dagger for self-protection as was common in his kingdom. Likely, due to their own power levels he was little threat to any of them.

High Priest Schmid alone had managed to entirely block off his own extended magical senses from a decent distance but held enough control that all Cris would see were purely visual effects.

I’m glad I freshened up for this at least. Not many of us though, what did she mean about other students? More ex-trainee priests like me? Guess I’m not a special chosen one after all.

Then he tore off a larger piece and spat on it before throwing it in the direction of Ren who caught it without looking and crumpled it before dropping it on the brown wooden planks which made up the mock classroom floor. The construct gave an expression of disdain as green drops of liquid ran off the surface of his palm and onto the wooden floor causing it to burn for a second before the smoke evaporated.

‘More? There are the three of us...six if you include. Maxton Ge, Alessandro, yourself and High Priest Schmid. Actually, where is my grandfather? I need to apologise to him.’ said Cris as he hesitated over where he should take a seat. He didn’t want to sit too close and become deafened and the fact that he was in classes only a few short weeks ago was both a reminder and a minor humiliation of his failure training as a priest.

Alessandro would have told me to get back into the good books of a tutor. Try for another chance to make something of myself. Where are you old man?

The thought came into his mind that he had been quite selfish and only thought of himself when he had chosen to enter the building with Ren, directly considering his own needs and tiredness when he had left his Head Servant and surrogate grandfather outside with Lady Joanne Dee Mawr to deal with the injured guards. He still hadn’t quite gotten over the fact that the old man used to be an assassin of some renown. That was a whole issue which he wasn’t prepared to deal with at the present time, at the least he knew that Alessandro wasn’t going to be in any serious danger from his acceptance in an attempt to save the kingdom.

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Cris never realised that he had remained standing as the construct Ren had already taken a seat directly at the front only a short position away from the lectern where further materials had been stacked as robed figures entered through the double doors and left immediately after depositing them.

‘Someone, make him take a seat. Please. Doubtless his youth precedes him as he was unable to complete a full breadth of education due to necessary complications. Cris, I asked you nicely. You are in a classroom and whether or not you are in the academy you will show due respect to your lecturers. High Priest Schmid, please take your position at the lectern at the front and begin when ready. I would be most keen to hear your revelations and observations on the power of our blessed Goddess Aliza and the continued absence of all other gods within our kingdom.’ said Joanne Dee Mawr.

She adopted a straight backed posture and strode to the back of the classroom taking a seat next to Maxton Ge before she rested her hands on the desk in front of her adopting a more relaxed pose as her gaze swept the room before her eyes fixed on High Priest Schmid with a slight frown on her face.

Maxton Ge called out from his position at the back of the mock classroom as he sat next to Lady Joanne Dee Mawr as the High Priest adjusted his clothing and cleared his throat before with surprisingly agility and energy for his rotund figure went to the front of the classroom and took a position on a lectern with maps and drawings on the board behind him.

He took hold of several of the parchments and stacks of materials, picking up some and discarding others to the side letting them fall on the wooden floor of the room paying no attention.

The High Priest muttered to himself under his breath, but with his magical senses essentially reduced and the massive feedback from energy use Cris simply accepted it. When they had tried it back in the academy the old rotund man hadn’t been too strict as long as they listened and showed him the notes that had been taken during his classes.

‘Young Master, come to the back with the bad boys and girls. You too Ren, wait you like to stick to the rules. You can go to the front. All those Imperial Exams you got to skip just due to being born didn’t make you a good student. Get on with it then old man. I’ve tolerated this enough and I have a kingdom to explore and poisons to sample, I’ve heard in the foreign merchants sector of your small city there was certain specialists with some good stuff on sale.’ said Maxton Ge.

A crackle of light and purity energy lit up the room for a moment as the hair of the High Priest turned pure white and his voice altered.

‘All students will take a seat. The lecture will begin.’ said the older man with a soft tone before Cris experienced a presence of light and purity energy easily overpowering his own and his body moved to an available seat directly next to Maxton Ge.

An ache filled his body as he struggled with the instant influx of energy into his own body as he was still recovering from the self-inflicted damage he had caused. Maxton Ge gave him a strange look at he pulled down his feet from the desk in front of him, taking writing instruments and the blank book in front of him and moved to a non-torn page. Then he raised a hand straight in the air.

‘No questions. Listen first then discuss.’ said High Priest Schmid as he began to cough heavily before smacking a hand on his rotund stomach before crackling white energy ceased to flow across his beard and skin.

Cris prepared himself for a full-on outburst from the man, he had usually began each lecture as he spoke, passionate and shouting at the top of his voice as he would berate them for their lack of interest in spiritual and wordly affairs.

‘I would ask for your attention to this particular map. We lack a current, updated type but this is mostly due to the lack of people willing to venture beyond our fair capital city, past the countryside and the war-corrupted areas and then die a horrible death’ said High Priest Schmid as he took a long metal rod which had been placed behind the lectern and spoke with a grave tone.

The rest of the room were paying rapt attention Cris noticed until he was nudged by Maxton Ge who tilted his head to the front and the map.

‘As far as we can tell, the corruption magic unleashed during the death of the Dark Lord and the severe contamination of the lands surrounding his final stronghold are fixed to strict barriers. This is not the case for those poor souls, evil ones and scum who do not deserve to see the blessed light of our Goddess Aliza who retain a portion within their very forms as they exit. Thankfully, after a few experiments run by the Church of Light and Purity which were gracefully adopted and fully understood after a few mishaps and the direct intervention of Queen Ferberg we understand that they suffer and become drained rather quickly, then death swiftly ensues as the corruption magic is simply drawn out of their bodies towards a fixed point in our kingdom. CRIS ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?’ said High Priest Schmid as he increased the volume of his tone as Cris was trying his best to write down notes in his own book as fast as he could.

Simply nodding his head and keeping his mouth shut had worked before and he was certain that it would work again. Thankfully man simply nudged his head forward slightly before tapping on the map once more, this time on an artists rendition of the final stronghold and death of the Dark Lord.

The image was a hellish imagination of twisted creatures rising from the ground as they worshipped a figure dressed in a mock-style of armour sitting on a throne with a lamp emitting black smoke next to him.

‘Good. Back to the topic, I have no need to discuss the events of the last fifteen years. If our esteemed guests from the Celestial Empire wish to know more they can talk to me after I finish or as I’m sure, Lady Dee Mawr has her own sources for them to take in which are far superior to mine. Back on topic, there are two issues. One, we now fully understand that there was a fixed point of corruption magic which caused the severe damage surrounding the final battlefield on which most of our fighting soldiers, nobles and other supporting baggage trains died. A tragedy which all but weakened our kingdom but also came as a blessing as our Queen and her King-Consort were able to ascend to the throne.’

The only sound within the mock classroom was all of those present except for High Priest Schmid writing down within the large books with writing tools. Both Maxton Ge and Ren had produced brushes and their own ink as Cris saw the man with golden eyes next to him drawing strange lines, more akin to alchemical marks than any script that he had seen before.

He decided to raise his hand to ask a question. Partially out of nostalgia but also because he wanted a question answered. It had been the type and number of questions which he raised which had kicked him out of the academy according to the Headmistress and by this point he doubted he could do worse unless he directly contravened heresy against the Goddess or her kingdom representative in the form of the Queen.

‘As ever young man, ask your question. An open mind leads to more answers but this isn’t a formal lecture and I am no longer your direct teacher. Be aware of real dangers when you receive answers you may not appreciate and which shake your world view a little. Go on then boy, ask.’ said High Priest Schmid with a sad look on his bearded face.

‘You said two issues but only raised one. I want to ask why the Goddess Aliza doesn’t simply cure all of the corrupted in our kingdom and then we simply raise another army to destroy whatever the true source of the corruption magic is?’ asked Cris.

Ren turned his head backwards while sitting forwards while staring at Cris and both Maxton Ge and Lady Dee Mawr turned their intense gaze on him. The latter had turned her hair a shade of silver when he hadn’t been paying attention and matched her eyes into a deep golden hue the same as Maxton Ge.

‘An easy and difficult answer. I do not deal with the affairs of state nor temporal matters. I am concerned with the souls of those in our kingdom and the faith. You are too young to remember that once we had many gods within our kingdom before they vanished. You will ask Lady Dee Mawr for her truth about armies and bands of heroes striding forward to vanquish forgotten evil. As for the Goddess Aliza, in truth she has simply reached her absolute limit and can do no more than she is presently. Her presence covers the entire capital city, parts of the countryside and enables priestesses and priests of her faith like myself to protect and ward off corruption. She cannot do more. Even a Goddess has limits.’ said High Priest Schmid.