Noth hadn’t seen his angel in about two weeks.
Serris had suddenly disappeared. The teen could only speculate that it was because of the slip of the tongue she’d made about the God-dess, prior. It wasn’t the first time that she’d let him in on some secretive information that he presumably wasn’t supposed to know. However, none of those times had Serris directly told him the truth; He’d always had to feebly grasp for it on his own and hope that she’d hint him into finding the right answers. Now that he saw what happened when she told him the answers with her own mouth… Well, maybe he shouldn’t have faulted her for all those times she teased him with information.
At least, he hoped that she’d been taken away for spilling secrets, and not because the almighty god that everyone worshipped was petty enough to be upset by an angel’s insults.
The questions he’d never gotten to ask had swum around in his head again and again over the past two weeks, and they only managed to create more and more to swim around in there with them. He knew he must have been brooding, but they were such a cosmically important set of questions and answers that he couldn’t help but feel a heavy burden under them all. He was only a teenager; He didn’t feel like he was the right person to be the one uncovering the ancient, mystical secrets of their mysterious god. At the very least, he felt like he needed his angel there to give him any right to reach into such divine territory. And yet, where was she? Where was his angel? It was like he was a bird who had lost his wings; An integral part of him was missing and was impossible to retrieve.
…Was the God-dess ever going to let her return to him?
Noth had no confidence handling this suddenly complicated life of his on his own.
***
Dellan couldn’t help but twist up his nose at the sad little excuse for a town. Yes, there were plenty of fancy and special looking houses around the place for some reason, but all of them sported some kind of devil-rune rimming along their roofs. The people looked happy, but they almost all wore disgustingly simple clothes. The streets here weren’t even paved! His shoes were purely for show, and Dellan’s delicate feet weren’t used to walking on such unfinished terrain. The roads weren’t wide enough for him to safely ride a coach to the lord’s mansion without possibly accidentally scraping the nearby buildings, or he would have never set foot on such a dirty, unpolished path.
The heat from the local volcano kept the town nice and toasty all year long. The townspeople who were born there and had lived there all their lives barely even noticed such a heat, but for Dellan it was like he had been placed inside of an oven. The coach he'd rode in until he reached the town had been temperature treated, and so he'd never even felt the sweltering heat he'd had to get through just to reach the moderately hot town. He had no idea that even this simple amount of heat was practically a miracle; He already felt like he was being cooked alive! He was sweating enough under his ceremonial robes that he almost wished he could just strip them off where he stood. At the very least he was able to get one of the younger escort knights to wipe the sweat from his brow every few minutes, but doing any more than that might just ruin the majestic image he’d worked so hard on over the past few decades.
The leader of the holy knights who were escorting him seemed quite capable of seeing past his faux composure, however, and the worried looking man rushed to reassure the practically lobster-red bishop.
“We’re almost to the mansion, your holiness. I’m sure that the count wouldn’t let such awful weather run rampant inside of his own home.”
The bishop’s boiling eyes swept over the pristine face of the guard who was speaking to him. He almost wanted to spit on and ruin the unburdened visage, but instead he closed his eyes and sighed, preaching to himself in his head that he mustn’t show his bad side to the ones who were protecting him from the savages currently surrounding him. He knew from the fact that the spies he’d hired had never returned that this town and its lord were more dangerous than they might have first seemed. He wasn’t going to weaken his own defences from the inside first before he met with his opponent. If he wanted the pope to look favourably upon him in the future, then he’d have to make sure that he got this job done as perfectly as possible.
~~~
A small but gorgeous girl greeted bishop Dellan at the door of the mansion. She curtsied flawlessly in the style that a maid should, although her clothes were a bit too fancy and well made to be just a simple maid. However, even throughout the entire greeting she didn’t offer the esteemed group even a single smile like she should have. Dellan couldn’t help but feel a bit irked over the slightly rude display, despite how pleasing she was to the eye. However, none of the holy knights seemed to give a single care; They all just continued to ogle the beauty in awe. This is why Dellan never liked associating with those with lesser [Gifts]; They were always so vulgar and crass. They could never reach the regality of the elites with higher [Gifts] like him. He would simply have to turn the other cheek and be magnanimous, as only one who was truly one of the God-dess’s chosen could do.
While Dellan’s mind swam with his inner delusions, Jean finished sizing up the crowd in front of her and decided to speak.
“Lord Noct Kieran will only allow the bishop into the mansion. The rest of you must wait out here until he returns.”
Of course, Dellan and his escorts didn’t take kindly to such words.
“Young [Maid], I can’t believe I’m hearing such an outrageous thing. Bring your master here so that he can tell us those words himself, otherwise I won’t believe them.”
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For a second, a tiny smile lit up Jean’s face, but it was soon replaced a slight displeased frown. She looked the bishop up and down again in an unimpressed manner as if she might just cross her arms at any second, and then responded in an absolutely bored tone.
“I won’t be doing that. The lord will be staying inside unbothered until you come in to see him alone.”
The bishop’s eyes that had already been slightly reddened from overheating seemed to grow ever redder. He had to stop himself from grinding his teeth over the disrespect that this little girl in the middle of nowhere was giving him. Had she grown up being pampered because of her beauty? Had no one taught her her place? Even in the event that she was somehow a high ranking [Maid], in the end it meant nothing against someone with a status like his! Dellan opened his mouth to order his knights to detain the outlandish little tart, but the sound of every blade behind him suddenly being drawn made him quickly clamp it shut. Out of the corner of his eye he could even make out the sweat cloth of the young knight who’d been wiping his brow during this trip dropping down forgotten onto the muddy ground.
Each and every one of the knights had the tips of their swords gently placed against the bishop’s back.
Not a one of them said any words, they just stared strangely and longingly towards the small girl in front of him, as if looking for her approval.
All Dellan could do was gulp in fear.
“Right.”
Jean sneered at the sweaty man like she was looking at someone stupid, and then turned around and started walking away.
“Like I said. Come with me and let’s go see the lord already.”
The bishop walked cautiously at first, as if any of the knights might suddenly decide to attack if he moved too quickly. However, when he saw that the gap between himself and the small girl was getting a bit too wide, he rushed off in her direction as if she were his only lifeline. Jean’s glanced towards the pitiful scene as she turned the corner, and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Before she disappeared from sight she gave the knights one last order.
“Make sure to close the door behind him, guys.”
Of course her puppets did as they were told.
~~~
Dellan had been led to a large, sitting room, deep inside the mansion. He couldn’t help but frown as he entered the room, noting that it wasn’t the official, office-like meeting place that he’d imagined he’d be taken to. If anything it looked like the bishop had simply caught the young lord in the middle of tea and a book. The count didn’t even bother to stand up and greet him either, and simply stayed sitting in a leisurely position. His eyes looked completely unconcerned about the oh-so-important bishop’s visit, and if anything, the monotone way he spoke to the bishop seemed to convey that he was quite bored with the whole affair.
“So you’re bishop Dellan, then.”
The unenthusiastic words of the lord, almost said like a sigh, brought a crease to the bishop’s brow. He was already slightly on edge from the previous show the maid had put on with his holy knights, but now he had to reign in his frustration and give a proper reply; This child in front of him, although immature and churlish, was someone who was technically of higher status than him. Even though he might have been on the lower tier as a noble, count Noct Kieran was still a noble. Only a cardinal or higher would be able to outrank such a thing so blessed by the God-dess. If it wasn’t for the backing of the pope, Dellan wouldn’t be able to stand tall against someone of such high rank. He felt reassured with this undeserved power; No snot-nosed upstart was going to be able to trample over his pride today! After all, he’d just been given supreme authority as the messenger of the pope!
Dellan brushed off his renewed pride and brought back his previously lost air of importance.
“Yes. I, bishop Dellan of our holy country of Odessia, have been sent with a decree by our divinity, the pope!”
The bishop stood proudly with a sense of arrogance, waiting for the young lord in front of him to finally understand how superior he was over him now that he knew the importance of this visit. He expected the inexperienced boy to cower in fear at all the power Dellan must have over him right now! Perhaps he might beg for mercy for his previous rudeness, or kowtow towards him. Yes, Dellan couldn’t wait to see how this upstart’s actions would change!
Sadly, however, count Noct’s reaction was lukewarm at best.
The teen simply leaned his head on his hand as if he were tired. His eyes scanned over the man in front of him as if trying to understand something, but eventually they simply looked away as if unimpressed.
“Right. And the decree is?”
Dellan couldn’t help the slight frown that returned to his face. Where was the surprise? The kowtowing? Why didn’t the stupid boy react at all? Shouldn’t he have noticed how important Dellan was by now?! This was a decree from the pope, the pope! His face began to scrunch at the lack of respect he was being given. He could only think that this stupid boy hadn’t been educated properly since he grew up being a forsaken child, and that he simply must teach him about how important he was right now!
Before the bishop could open his mouth, the small beauty who’d been quietly preparing a cup of tea for him suddenly swung the cup of tea she’d brought over into his stomach. Most of the hot liquid managed to stay inside of the cup, but some of it still splashed onto his ceremonial robes.
“You look thirsty, good bishop. Please, take some tea.”
The monotone delivery as if she were reciting lines was the icing on the cake of humiliation for bishop Dellan. He smacked the teacup away, the weak porcelain breaking against the hard wooden floor when it hit. Jean’s previously slightly pouty face immediately turned to rage when she saw the mess that the bishop had made. Her eyes swept up from the floor to his face, and two pairs of angered eyes stared into each other. As Jean ground her teeth to try and hold back from shouting, the bishop began to raise his hand as if to smack her.
“Stop.”
The voice was low, but somehow it was loud enough to fill the room. Dellan turned his eyes with a hint of fear towards the owner of the commanding voice. Something about it almost felt… off, and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge. The count hadn’t moved at all, and he was only looking at the ground in front of Dellan, but those eyes… Oh, those oddly glowing eyes… They seemed otherworldly, as though they might suck out his soul if they turned towards him. He could only thank the God-dess that those eyes weren’t looking at him right now.