“It’s a great honor to have one of the High Inquisitors visit our small town,” an older man, hunched over, with a head full of gray hair and a bushy beard said, “I hope that it has been a pleasant stay these past couple of days…”
They were inside one of the few large homes of the town. This one had no more than a couple of floors, and at the moment, the small living room was already full with the armored man, the man with the while tunic, a couple of guards, and the town’s mayor, who was standing at the side while the man in the white tunic and the one with the golden armor sat by a small table.
They were both drinking tea; however, both refused to take more than a couple of sips. The man of the golden armor looked rather displeased as he avoided looking at the old mayor. “It has been disappointing.”
A wry smile formed on the old man’s face. “A-ah, is that so… I’m sorry that such a small town doesn’t have that which—”
“The town is fine,” the man interrupted, raising a hand and shaking his head. “I’m disappointed by the people here. None of them have the power that we need.”
“The power that you need?”
“We’re looking for someone to lead the Republic’s armies and liberate the world from the oppression of the Hellborne Empire. We hoped that a small peaceful town would’ve been able to keep its peace due to a powerful person, but, alas, none of the people we’ve seen met our expectations…” the man with the white tunic answered, sighing as he did and shaking his head.
“Well… it has been like that since the old Hero stayed here a few years ago… though,” the old man said, placing a hand on his chin as he considered something, “You might be able to find one of the children in our town to have potential.”
The High Inquisitor scoffed. “We have no use for children.”
“Now, now,” the one with the white tunic followed, “Don’t be hasty. Remember the story of the former Hero. He was picked up as a child and trained since then to become what he was because of his talents at such a young age. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to at least have a look at them.”
“If the adults of this town are this weak, then the children are too. It would be a waste of time. We’re better off moving on to the next town,” the High Inquisitor said while crossing his arms.
“There is a small magic school in this town,” the old mayor said, “We thought it unnecessary at first, but some of the children being taught there might have the talents that you need.”
“Hm? A magic school…?” the High Inquisitor pondered, raising one eyebrow, “I guess we could go have a look.” The man in the white tunic smiled, but said nothing more. After a few seconds, the Inquisitor finally stood back up. “We thank you for your collaboration.”
“Ah, it was the least we could do,” the old man said, bowing his head slightly. “I hope you find what the world needs.”
“We will. The Goddess will guide us,” the man with the white tunic replied, turning around and leaving with the rest of the group; all of them in the direction of Helena’s school.
* * *
“Elder, is it really okay to leave Korr with that burly man…?” Kala asked, her head turned to look back at Korr, who was right next to the burly man from the weapons shop.
Korr was carefully handling one of the weapons, moving it from one place to another, while the burly man pointed in several places for the little disguised goblin child to move things. Korr suddenly dropped one of the weapons and jumped like a scared cat, causing Kala to want to rush over to help him, but seeing the burly man laughing out loud and picking what was dropped, she decided to stop and continue walking behind Helena.
“Mister Kaus might be a rough man, but he’s a good man. He’ll look after Korr in the meantime, and it’ll do good to him to have something to do while we train in magic, since he’s unable to do it,” Helena answered, walking without turning to look back at Korr.
“Hnngg… I haven’t been away from him since we ran away…” Kala said with a worried frown, “He’s gets scared so easily…”
“That might be so, but he needs to look after himself sometimes too,” She said with a soft smile, turning around a corner. “And if anything happens, then I’ll be sure to—”
Suddenly, Helena stopped walking, causing Kala to crash with her. “What’s wrong?”
Kala noticed the sharp look in Helena’s eyes, and she followed the gaze. Up ahead, where Helena’s small school was, some men were standing by the entrance. A handful of them looked like nothing more than adventurers with their hard leather armors, simple clothes, and just as simple weapons. But a couple of them stood out.
A man in a white tunic with a soft smile, and another with a golden armor who had his arms crossed with a serious expression.
“W-who are they…?” Kala asked, slightly hiding behind Helena. “They don’t look nice…”
“A High Inquisitor and a Goddess’ Priest…” Helena replied in a low tone, after which she continued walking, straight towards the men.
None of them paid her any attention as she did, as most people still needed to use the road for their daily chores; however, all of them avoided them after a certain distance, so when Helena continued walking directly to them, they all finally took notice of her.
“Are you the teacher of this so-called school?” asked the priest with the same smile.
“I am,” Helena answered, raising her chin slightly. “What reason could the Faith have to be blocking the way?”
“Ah… that isn’t the case at all,” the priest answered, taking a step to the side and revealing the children already waiting inside, “We’ve simply been waiting for the instructor of this place.”
“We were told that there were children with promise being taught magic in this place, and as per the request of Her Light, we are here to seek out Her next chosen hero,” the High Inquisitor proclaimed, uncrossing his arms and looking down on Helena.
She refused to be looked down upon and raised her chin slightly more while keeping a sharp look on her eyes. “None of my children are to be taken away. They deserve to live a peaceful life, and all I do is teach them the tools to do so.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“You dare question my authority?” the High Inquisitor threatened, lowering his gaze with a frown. “Any act of heresy must be punished if deemed as such.”
Helena refused to back down and stared back at the man’s threatening gaze. However, before anything could happen, the priest got in the way of their sights. “Please, nothing of the sort is being considered here. So I’d ask you both to calm down.”
“Father Sieg, as a High Inquisitor, I cannot allow anyone to—”
“And you won’t,” the priest interrupted, turning to look at the man, “But the Goddess respects a woman that will protect her children with the same fervor as She does, so we cannot act in such a way to a good woman.”
The High Inquisitor looked defiantly at the priest, but after a moment, he calmed down and looked away. “Fine. I’ll forgive it this time.”
With a smile, the priest finally turned to look at Helena, who was still carrying the same sharp gaze from before. He ignored it and continued smiling. “Please forgive us. You must understand, we’re aiming for the same thing. We also want peace; not only for the people here and the Republic, but for everyone in the world. If there’s a possibility that a gifted child could help the world, then every child here could live in everlasting peace… And what’s more, it could be a dream of any child,” he then slightly bent to the side to smile at Kala, “isn't that right?”
The girl, however, quickly hid behind Helena. The priest simply chuckled and stood straight once more, waiting for Helena to say something. She just looked sharply at the man for a moment, but then looked at the kids inside the building, who were looking with some expectations at both the Inquisitor and the priest, and she sighed with a slight nod.
“Fine. I’ll allow you to watch, but nothing more,” she answered and brushed past the priest and the Inquisitor to go inside the building with Kala sticking close to her.
“As if we needed to be allowed by such a—”
“We appreciate the understanding,” Father Sieg interrupted the High Inquisitor again, prompting the man to look at him with annoyance, but refusing to say anything else as he simply scoffed.
Once Helena reached the front of the classroom, she inspected the children. Most of them had their heads turned to look at the golden armor of the Inquisitor, who walked in to stand at the back, close to a wall, while the priest did the same soon after.
“Children,” she called out to them, and most of them turned to look at her, “Today, as you can see, we have some visitors. However, they’re here to watch, so we’ll be doing the same as yesterday and continue refining the water casting spell. First—”
“No,” the High Inquisitor interrupted, causing Helena to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “I’d like to see what the kids can do.”
“I’m sorry, Lord, but you claimed you just wanted to—”
“Ah… we did, but I think Lord Theius is right—besides, it’ll get us to leave faster, wouldn’t you agree?” Father Seig interjected this time, keeping as much of a polite smile as he could.
Helena considered them for a moment, and after a sigh, she nodded. “Fine…” she then turned to the children. “I’ll call you up here, and you’ll show them what spells you can do. But don’t worry, just do your best, and don’t try to do something that you can’t do, okay?”
“Okay!” most of the children agreed.
“Make a line on the wall, and I’ll call you forward,” Helena ordered, pointing to a wall on the side, and every child rushed to it.
Kala hesitated, looking at Helena while wringing her hands. Helena obviously noticed the fear in her eyes, but she assured her with a nod, so with short steps, Kala stood at the back of the line, right behind a just-as-worried Ellie.
“First one, Jon, go ahead,” Helena gestured to an older boy standing at the front.
He walked forward with a confident step and his chest puffed out while looking at the High Inquisitor, who in turn, looked unimpressed by the child. The kid didn’t pay it any mind—or simply didn’t understand that gaze—and with the same confidence, he pointed his hands at the same rock wall they used to practice. The same rock spell from a few days ago quickly formed, and the rock hit the wall with explosive power, making a loud sound and leaving a small dust cloud.
“How’s that!?” he proudly proclaimed while pointing a finger at the cloud and looking at the Inquisitor.
The man said nothing, while the priest softly smiled with a nod.
“Good job, Jon. You can go back to—”
“Try something stronger,” the Inquisitor suddenly ordered, causing Helena to frown this time, “Do some fire spell.”
“Lord Theius, I don’t teach children anything that could put them in danger, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to—”
A fiery explosion engulfed the area in front of Jon, which threatened to consume the child as well, but Helena quickly acted and with a Fire Spell of her own, she took control of the fire, quickly dissipating it.
“Jon!” she shouted, “I told you that you shouldn’t be…” Seeing that the child was breaking into tears, Helena sighed, put aside her anger, and walked closer to him. She placed a hand on his head and spoke softly: “It’s okay. Everything’s fine. So just go ahead and sit down, okay?”
The child nodded and with a thud, dropped to the ground on his butt and kept his head low.
The High Inquisitor scoffed and Father Seig just formed a smile of pity.
“Next one should be…” Helena said as she called the next child.
* * *
Every child did their best, some of them having their spells fall down in front of them, while others trying to do a fiery spell or anything that the High Inquisitor asked of them, but in the end, neither the Inquisitor nor the Priest showed any interest in them. Ellie also used the same Earth Spell she managed to learn, showing the same results as last time, but it didn’t interest the men. Still, she sat down with a satisfied smile.
Finally, it was Kala’s turn. She looked at Helena with worry, but Helena simply nodded and gave her the go-ahead with her hand.
Kala took a deep breath, and repeated the same thing that other children did. In her case, however, Helena aided by matching the spell that Kala used with an appropriate magic circle, so when the rock spell was formed, no suspicions arose.
It shot with slightly more speed and power than the other children, but nothing so strong that anyone would notice, so once it was done, Kala looked at Helena, and she just smiled with a nod.
“Hold on,” Father Sieg said when Kala was about to join the other kids, causing her to stop. “Can you do another spell?”
“U-um, what—what should I do?” Kala hesitantly asked.
“A fire spell,” Lord Theius ordered, uncrossing his arms for the first time.
Kala looked at Helena, who with a frown, nodded to let her know it was okay. Kala stood back in the same spot, aimed her hands at the battered wall, and readied a Fire Spell. Helena matched it once more with a magic circle and a powerful fire torrent shot from the spell.
Kala turned to look at the men. The High Inquisitor had one eyebrow raised, while the priest was widely smiling.
“How about a water spell?” Father Sieg asked, and Kala once more looked at Helena, whose brows were deeply furrowed by now. She still nodded and Kala repeated the same.
A water bubble was shot, matched with a magic circle. This time, the priest clapped in praise, while the Inquisitor nodded.
“That was very impressive! Did you see it, Lord Theius?” Father Sieg praised with excitement, turning to look at the man.
“I did,” he answered, nodding once more, “This one might be worth something.”
“What are you talking about?” Helena interjected, taking a step forward and covering Kala behind her. “Her spells weren’t any different from the other children.”
“Ah, that might be so for the untrained eye of a small town teacher,” the Priest answered with a nod, “But the spell formation… Those magic circles are nearly perfect. They are akin to the best scholars the Republic has to offer. With the proper training from the capital, this girl might just be what we were looking for. Wouldn’t you agree, Lord Theius?”
“I do,” the man said, finally removing himself from the wall to stand in front of Helena, whose eyes had widened, “We’ll take her.”