It never really bothered Nirou before to not be treated as an equal, but now was different. It wasn't even a lack of respect in this case, as he knew Laska was being serious when she thanked him in their first meeting. She had trusted him to keep watch half the night when they stayed in the wilderness, and to hold his own with the sword the single time it had been necessary. Normally this would have been more than enough to leave him content with his treatment. But Laska still showed a certain lack of confidence in him, or perhaps in his ability to take action. He could be told what to do, but not trusted to do things on his own? Was that how she thought of him?

Well, for his entire life before now that may well have been true. But that didn't mean he wanted it to be. He had already changed since coming to this world, shouldn't he grasp the chance to keep up the momentum? Of course, it's not quite that easy, but Nirou decided that starting today he was at least going to take a bit of initiative on his own from now on.

Once Tajau came back with the fresh fish she had bought from the market and they had eaten lunch, Nirou asked if he could try something before she cooked the fish.

"Sure." she agreed with a smile. "As long as we still have our dinner afterwards."

Putting his hand close to one of the fish, Nirou tried to use his ability. With a bit of effort, he was able to feel some blood left that he could control and pull out of the body.

"So it even works on the blood of animals." Laska notes, having moved from her spot next to Sahla to see what Nirou would do.

Nirou then started spinning the blood in place while suspended in the air. It started quite slow and took him a bit of time and effort to build up speed, but eventually the blood was moving as fast as it would be in a centrifuge. Everyone else present was extremely confused as to what he was doing, but Nirou was too focused to notice.

And suddenly, in an instant, the components of the blood went flying off in all directions. They splashed all over Nirou's audience's clothes, among other things.

"Eww!" Sahla shrieked as she jumped up and ran off, presumably to go wash off the mess.

"S-sorry." Nirou meekly apologized. "I was just... testing the limit of my blood controlling power. At some point I just instantly lost all control, once the blood had separated. I can't control it as plasma alone, or any of the types of cells. So I guess it's only considered blood when it's all mixed together."

Even Tajau seemed a bit annoyed at his antics, though she lightened up after the apology. The only one laughing was Hurua, who managed to avoid taking any damage. Yet despite Nirou's expectation that Laska would be annoyed as well, her expression wasn't harsh at all. In fact, it almost looked impressed.

"Is that so..." she mused. "It really is a fascinating blessing."

Nirou decided not to try his luck with any further experiments and stay content with that small victory for the time being.

After helping clean up the mess, the rest of the afternoon and evening passed relatively uneventfully. The General and his sons arrived one by one as the day approached its end, and everyone ate dinner together. Nirou was still a bit apprehensive about his ability to get along with everybody, but he would answer any time he was addressed. He was at least less nervous by the end of the night. Slight progress.

Hargujad and Almadju tried to object once night came around and they saw that Laska intended to stay with Nirou in the guest room, but she waved off their concerns without a second thought. Stacking some cushions and blankets on opposite sides of the room, the two of them hit the hay. Nirou assumed he'd have trouble getting to sleep, but once it was all said and done he realized just how tired he was. They woke up extremely early that morning, it only made sense. In just a few minutes, he was off to sleep.

Laska shook him awake the next morning and dragged him downstairs for another day's breakfast.

"Alright, you two are coming with me today." Shilan declared over his morning fruit. "I've informed the proper people that I'll have associates accompanying me today, so we shouldn't run into any trouble."

The General did mention the day before that he had someone he wanted them to meet. If he needed to tell certain people about them tagging along, then that person must be here in the palace grounds. Nirou wondered how important of a person this might end up being.

After eating, the trio bid the rest of the family farewell as they took off first. Apparently earlier was better for meeting the person in question. Shilan led the two of them out of the residential area and close to the palace itself. Nirou thought for a moment that they would actually go inside, but they turned just before the path that led straight to the front entrance. Instead their destination seemed to be an adjoined building right on the side of the palace.

Despite the ridiculous degree to which it was dwarfed by the palace, the place was still impressive in its own right. Intricate stonework, particularly on the pillars framing the entrance. There also seemed to be a huge stained glass window depicting what seemed no be a knight kneeling and bleeding. Nirou only just then realized it was his first time seeing glass in this world. If it was rare enough to be saved for this kind of thing, this building must be pretty important. It reminded him a bit of a cathedral. In fact, he started thinking that might be what this is.

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Shilan opened the massive doors and yelled inside. "Brother Mediator, I've brought guests to make your acquaintance!"

The inside of the building was extremely ornate, with gold-rimmed banners hanging all over, a deep red rug also rimmed in gold that led from the entrance to the front altar, and a statue on the altar that looked to be the same knight as on the window. Strangely, he wasn't facing the entrance, but the back wall. The back wall was a featureless stone face, save for a large red circle right in the middle. On either side of the center rug were lines of pews for people to sit. You could easily fit a couple hundred people in here comfortably.

In front of the altar was a single man, the sole occupant of this room. Presumably also the target of the General's greeting. He was wearing white robes that had red line patterns on them. The way they branched out made one think of a very artistic take on the circulatory system. The man also had short brown hair, at least as far as could be seen from the back. He didn't turn around to acknowledge his visitors right away, but waited until the giant doors had shut behind them and they had walked partway to the altar.

It was then that he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Instantly, he had disappeared. For a moment, that is. A couple of steps later and the man was back in view. He seemed to just pop back into existence the moment they stepped closer.

"As always, it's an honor to receive a visit from the great Commander General." the man says as he turns around. Once facing the group, it's easier to get a good look at him. Around his neck is a golden necklace, with a golden ring hanging from it. He also has two golden rings on each of his hands, on his ring and pinky fingers. But his most striking feature was his face. His grin stretched from ear to ear, and his eyes practically looked like they were smiling too with how narrow they were. The man looked fairly young though, Nirou wouldn't have pegged him for a day over 30 at most.

"Enough with the empty formalities." Shilan demanded bluntly, a harsh change in tone from his earlier greeting. "You already set up your little barrier, so there's no one we need to be fooling."

"You're the only one that considers common courtesy a nuisance, General." the man replies, wagging his finger. "But if you insist, I'll try to cut to the chase. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting today?"

"This is Laskadia, Leonear's daughter." the General holds his hand out towards the girl before moving it along to the young man beside her. "And this is her companion Nirou Tetsugawa. They are in my care for the time being."

"Well it's nice to meet you Laskadia, Nirou." the man clasps his hands together before bowing slightly. "I am a priest of the Holy Church, a Brother by the name of Trustworthy Mediator."

Laska returns the gesture, but Nirou stands dumbfounded. His head cocks in confusion, and he raises his finger as if to object.

"You-your name is Trustworthy Mediator?" the young man lets his question out without the slightest thought as to whether or not it could be taken as rude. All names up until now might as well have been just random sounds. This one was literally two actual words.

"That's right, young man." the priest says with a smile. "My parents thought it was a fine name, and I'm inclined to agree."

"You must be confused because of the translation." Laska butts in to save things. "Brother here is from a people known as the Firstblood. They were the original speakers of the language most people use today, also known as Firstspeech. As well as the creators of our writing system, Firstscript. It's tradition for their names to be proper words in Firstspeech to this day, despite some potential confusion. It's considered quite poor taste for people not of the Holy Land to take a name from Firstspeech, so regional linguistic conventions survive in a way through names."

"Hmm? This boy seems far too uninformed." Mediator wonders aloud. "Is there something about him that you're not telling me?"

"I summoned him from another world with a spell I received from tribute." Laska explains. "So forgive him for missing some information that would usually be a given."

"An otherworlder? That's quite rare." the priest chuckles a bit. "The whims of God are truly a wonder, are they not? With loyal offerings to Him, fantastic things can happen that you would never dream of! We are truly blessed to receive Your favor, Lord."

The man stops to pray for a moment, before Laska speaks up again.

"Speaking of blessings..." she gets the priest's attention. "What was the ability you used when we entered here? When you snapped your fingers?"

"Ah yes, that was my three star blessing that He saw fit to gift me, Stealth Barrier. Within a certain radius around the point that I snap my fingers, people can't be seen or heard from the outside. It's quite convenient when one has to hide, or in the case that we're in, discuss a topic that needs to be kept secret."

"That's right." the General finally speaks up again. "Since we're discussing the overthrowing of this nation's King that I'll be doing soon."

"We came here to discuss that?" Laska asks, surprised. "Is Brother Mediator a collaborator in this plan?"

"That's right, young lady." the priest assures. "The good General has been running me ragged helping him with diplomacy both in the region and out. Luckily for him, the Holy Church has never been a fan of King Kadjakul. Even with the rumors of the General's heathen beliefs, he would still make a far more beneficial leader for the sake of us continuing to proselytize in this nation."

"Proselytize? Is that really needed at this point?" Nirou blurts out. "Everyone speaks your language, uses your writing, and tributes to your god. Are there actually still people you need to convert?"

The smile fades from the man's face for just a split second. But it's back to its regular size before the mood can be completely ruined.

"A priest's work is never truly done, my boy!" Mediator assures. "Even if all Men tributed to Him, there is more to faith than that. Take this cathedral for instance! It's completely empty most days of the year. Only on holidays does it fill up to bursting. The people here could always stand to be more pious. How about you? If it's your first visit here, you would do well to learn a bit, right?"

Nirou hesitated a bit. It's true that he kind of wanted to know more about this religion and all, but didn't they have more important things to do here? He turned to Laska and the General for some kind of sign, but they just shrugged. Seems like they didn't mind taking up time for this.

"Well, alright then." Nirou replied. "Go ahead and tell me about your faith, Brother Mediator."

"With pleasure, my friend." the priest smiles even wider than before as he prepares for his impromptu sermon.