Let me tell you a story.

I’ll start from the beginning:

Once upon a time there was a boy. The small boy, Kess, had grown up in the orphanage his whole life. However, because the orphanage was deeply impoverished and only had one elderly caretaker, it was more accurate to say that Kess grew up on the streets. The streets were hard and unforgiving, and it wouldn’t be a lie to say the boy routinely saw crimes and demise happen around him almost every day. He was hungry, and his friends were dropping left and right like flies. He was scared that any day he’d be next. And even as he worried over himself and the others, every dead child at the orphanage seemed to be quickly replaced with a new one.

But when Kess turned 7, things suddenly turned around.

An older child who had managed to get a job and escape would sometimes come around to visit the others and help out. They’d lectured that as soon as Kess turned 7, he should immediately go to the temple and learn what [Gift] he’d been granted. Apparently the whole thing was free, by the grace of the loving God-dess. There was no reason not to go, especially with how firmly he’d been told that he had to. Besides, he’d heard of everyone else having a [Gift] once they were old enough, so why shouldn’t he?

The church was dazzling. Growing up in the slummy streets didn’t allow Kess to see a lot of beautiful things, so seeing such a large and beautiful building looking so immaculate and clean on every inch, was a first for him. It truly felt ‘holy’ compared to everything else he’d witnessed. Everyone inside of the building was kind and helpful. No one scorned him for being a kid who showed up alone and didn’t know anything, and soon enough the priests and acolytes had ushered him into the correct room. The priest inside had explained to the confused boy that the purpose of these rooms was for privacy, as sometimes it was better to keep certain [Gifts] a secret. Kess wasn’t sure why he’d said that, but he’d never expect anyone in such a holy place like this to lie to him. Plus this had all been vouched for by one of his own who’d been successful.

It was really odd to Kess how nothing special or ceremonial seemed to be happening. It just felt a little hot in the room and that was it. Maybe he felt a little tingly compared to when he first came in? In the end he just wrote that off as him being nervous, however. He was afraid to ask the details of what was happening, lest he somehow ruin everything or make these nice people mad at him in some way. So instead, he just sat there and waited, watching over everything as closely as he could to see if maybe he could find a clue. The only obvious thing that happened, however, was just the priest writing something down on a piece of paper and giving the boy a small smile. The boy took the paper from him, but squinted his eyes and turned the note in all different directions before the priest understood what was happening and leaned down to whisper what it said to the illiterate child. After a brief congratulations, Kess was shown to the door and told to take as long as he needed on the way out, and that seemed to be it.

It was almost disappointing how mundane it all seemed.

Kess had gone home very confused. He held on to the note for dear life, like if he somehow lost it then everything would be over. He’d trudged over to the caretaker and tugged on her dress, getting the elderly woman’s attention, and motioned for her to lean down. When she’d complied with a worried look on her face, Kess came in close and whispered into her ear, telling her that he’d been to the church today, and asking what it meant to be [Lucky]. The sweet old caretaker patted the young boy, explaining kindly that it meant that the God-dess had blessed the boy with great luck. She gave him a heartfelt wish that his luck would give him a better life, and then sent him off on his way.

Having [Superior Luck] didn’t really make sense to him. How did one use ‘luck’? It didn’t seem as defined and reliable as having some kind of career or skill as your [Gift] like he’d heard of others having. It was very disheartening having such a confusing thing be what he’d been blessed with. If only he had something like [Servant] or maybe [Chef], then maybe he could be just like the successful orphans who’d finally gotten out of the slums and had enough to feed and take care of themselves. It would have been even more amazing if he could have gotten a great enough [Gift] that he suddenly became nobility! Everyone had heard of that fairytale-like story happening on occasion. Why couldn’t it be Kess?

A night of apprehension passed, and in the morning things suddenly took a very odd turn. The lord of the area had coincidentally come by yesterday, seen that the orphanage was in such dire straits, and had unveiled a corruption scam that had been leeching away most of the orphanage’s money. He was such a capable man that the whole thing was solved in only just a day, and the orphanage was returned all of its money promptly. The children and their old caretaker rejoiced, having now been given enough money to afford food and new clothes, and they all got together to have a nice small feast that night.

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Kess couldn’t quite tell what to make of the events.

Everyone kept repeating how lucky they’d been.

Yes, it sure was a lucky coincidence…

The following few days were filled with just as much luck. On the first day, Kess went out for a stroll through the slums he knew so well and stumbled upon a small hidden chest of coins. The boy was kind enough to hand the chest over to the caretaker, in thanks for all that the old woman had done for them, and soon enough repairs were underway on the orphanage, and the caretaker had even managed to hire two assistants to help her take care of all the children. Soon after, a well off and loving couple that was unable to conceive showed up to the orphanage, fell in love with Kess faster than light, and adopted him the very same day. A few days later when Kess felt a bit lonely and went to visit his friends, he found out that a number of them had also been lucky enough to get adopted. Even the parents who had adopted him had a subsequent stroke of luck and discovered a gold mine on a patch of land that they owned. The sudden deluge of luck left no room for doubt any longer. The boy had to accept that all of this was the work of his [Gift].

And so, the years passed.

Kess grew.

Kess was loved.

Kess learned how the world worked.

Kess became proud of the amazing [Gift] he was given.

And as he grew into a young teenager, a thought wedged itself into his mind:

The church didn’t give his [Gift] the credit it deserves.

He’d learned that people with amazing and useful enough [Gifts] would be granted a noble title and assist the nation and the church. He’d even once wished that his blessing would have been great enough to achieve such a feat when he was young and didn’t know what an amazing power he’d been given. But now? After all these years of seeing it in action? Kess was certain that both he and the church had underestimated just how astounding his [Gift] could be. If they’d only known what he now knew, Kess would have easily been conferred a noble title at 7 and have become full nobility at 16. And now that Kess had reached that exact age, he felt that he was owed what was coming to him. He was confident he could awe them all!

And so, with this prideful train of thought, he set out to the church, determined to meet with the highest tier of priest he could, firm in the belief that he would do anything to show them the brilliance that was his [Superior Luck].

Sadly, however, things rarely ever go how you expect them to. For the first time in 9 years, Kess was having trouble getting what he wanted. Instead of immediately recognizing his amazing [Gift] and giving him the title he deserved, they proclaimed that such a late declaration of nobility was rare, and only happened under very special circumstances. Even if they had thought that he deserved a title, no one in this particular church had the authority to grant such a thing. For the first time, Kess’s luck had failed him.

A month passed, with Kess desperately petitioning his parents to take him to the capital so that he could meet with the higher ups of the church, and when he was certain that his concerned parents weren’t going to give in to his pleas, he grit his teeth and set off on his own, the pouch of money in his hand and the bag on his shoulder his only companions.

With that, Kess’s journey for nobility began.

He was met with many an adventure on the way to the capital.

He made unexpected friends.

Many coins were found and earned.

And eventually, he reached his destination.

His luck finally redeemed itself when he made it to the church that housed the pope. By complete coincidence, the pope himself was making rounds through the corridors when Kess began petitioning the priests. The man took an interest in Kess’s bold claims about his [Gift], and made a proposition to him; If he could solve a small problem that the church was having, then he, the pope himself, would listen to what Kess had to say.

Of course, Kess completed his mission flawlessly.

The pope was pleased by the boy, and met with Kess in his office. Kess’s respectfully delivered request to be made nobility elicited a small laugh from the pope, but when he saw how serious Kess was, he reconsidered. The pope let him know that it would be possible, but the path would be hard, and so he made yet another proposition to the boy.

If he could prove himself to the pope by completing a handful of important tasks for him, then Kess would be given a title immediately. Furthermore he would sweeten the deal. Each task would rise in difficulty, and any of the tasks that Kess completed after the second one would raise the rank of the nobility that he would be conferred. It would be absurd to think that Kess had possibly turned down such an offer.

And so he blazed through the challenges placed before him-

That is, until he was set upon Noth.