Elliot stood there shocked not sure what to say or what to do, he didn’t know how to comfort a grieving father. He couldn’t just say it's alright as it isn’t, he couldn’t give advice as he had none, he couldn’t do anything so he could only sympathize with him.

“I am so sorry…”

“Don’t be, it was my mistakes that brought me this suffering, not yours.” The old man said as he released a small laugh.

Elliot took a moment to look at the old man once more before asking, “...Why did the duke destroy the Blueheart family? Was the mine so profitable you said that the family can be in danger but this, is extreme…”

“It was actually, we didn’t know it yet but we discovered one of the ten riches crystal mana mines in the empire. The duke found out about the small mine that we discovered but didn’t really care, he still sent a small ranking mage to check it out though.”

“When the results came back about the depths of the mine the first thing he did was kill the mage, the second thing was to create fake evidence against the family, and prepare his army. But again it was in the past so it doesn’t really matter.”

The old man came closer to the grave and placed his hand on the cold tombstone.

“You know, you actually remind me quite a lot of her, she was really clever just like you...” After a small pause, he continued.

“She was my everything… But she was taken away from me and no matter what I do, nothing will ever bring her back.” The old man clenched his fists so strong that his nails started to pierce through his skin, and if he used a little bit more strength, blood would surely drip from his palms.

“But for my journey of revenge for my brother I couldn’t see the bigger picture, there were many signs that I ignored, but I was blinded and this was the result.”

The old man stood for another moment in thought and then he looked straight into Elliot's eyes and asked, “Elliot can you promise me something? Never seek revenge and I don’t mean for something petty, I mean for something big because revenge brings only misery for both of the parties and for all those innocents that are in the middle.”

Elliot stood for a moment before nodding his head. “I promise.”

The old man knew that the promise Elliot made is almost impossible to keep as who wouldn’t seek for revenge if they could, so he didn’t say another word about it and left it be.

“Alright, let's go back to the church.” He gave the grave another look as he started to slowly walk away, Elliot did the same as he followed suit.

As they came back to the church they met again with the crazy priest it turned out that his name was Will. He and the old man talked for some time while drinking tea, meanwhile, Elliot was asked to stay near the entrance because the old man wanted to talk to Will in private.

“You know they are still looking for you, and actually they were here two weeks ago.” Said the priest.

“Really that persisted bastard so many years passed but he still wants to show an example from me.”

“No, he already has long forgotten about you, but his sons are the problem. They want to show that they are worthy of being the successors, and what better way to close a loose end for their father. Well, and there is that part that it's so easy to recognize you with your stupid smile.” Will pointed right at the old man's face.

The old man's smile became crooked and weird for a moment, looking as if he just barely holding his hand from slapping the other.

The priest looked at him and said, “What? I am just telling the truth, but don't worry the villagers will never snitch at you, they still remember what you did for them.”

“It was just avoiding the invadable.” The old man shook his head.

“It doesn't matter they still own you and the least they could do is keep your existence a secret.” Will held the tea cup with both of his hands while looking at the tea as if he was seeing in it the old good times.

The old man looked at Elliot that was standing at the entrance holding up a crumbling book.

“Am going to die soon.” Whispered the old man.

*Cough* The priest choked while drinking his “tea”.

Elliot was holding a crumbling book and flipping its pages but he was completely focused on something else, he was eavesdropping on the conversation that was happening around the table he heard everything until suddenly the priest *coughed* and the church became completely quiet.

Elliot looked up and saw a faint curtain of light was enveloping the table and the duo. To his surprise, it was completely blocking any sound from escaping.

“A miracle.” Elliot whispered, it was something he read about in one of his journals. It was something different from magic, it was power borrowed from God and faith. And with it, priests and priestesses could do all kinds of miracles from healing to even blocking an arrow.

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Elliot continued to look at the golden curtain a little bit mesmerized by it, he still could see inside it. In it for some reason Will’s face became really serious for the first time, it even looked like he was raising his voice a little bit.

While the old man was completely calm and still smiling, he held his cup while thinking something over, and after a few minutes though he raised his head and gave out a sad nod as he said something.

They talked for a bit more and then the light curtain vanished with a flick of the priest's hand, the old man called Elliot to the table with a sigh.

“*Sigh* Elliot came here.”

Elliot came over to the table and for some reason, the old man looked at him with sadness in his eyes as he spoke, “This is Will if anything ever bad happens, don't hesitate to come and ask for his help.”

“Alright…” Elliot answered slowly as he was a little bit confused.

“Good, now come over here I heard you have a gift for finding…*cough* people in need.” The priest scratched his head as if trying to find a softer world for corpses.

“You mean dead bodies? Yeah, I do.” Elliot didn't beat around the bush and answer without much thinking.

It took the priest by surprise, he looked at the old man for a second and back at Elliot, “Well you are direct, to tell the truth to you Elliot it's more than a curse than a gift and a lot of people would be really angry at you if they ever found out about it.”

“So you need to promise that you would never tell anyone about it, not to a friend, not to your neighbor, or not even your wife if you get one when you get older of course. Or you will be hunted and killed by the church or worse.” Will's voice became somewhat cold with a strange hint of something scary.

Elliot looked at the old man, who gave him a nod.

“Of course, I will keep it a secret.” Answered Elliot.

“Good, now it doesn't mean that your weird feeling is bad or anything but it's still something that people would fear. Come let me check it out for a second, being a priest I easily look through a person's nature.”

Elliot gave the weird priest a look then at his grandpa, “I trust everyone that grampa trusts.”

“Good good, you see, even as a priest I can do it only with your help. Oh, you may feel a little bit lightheaded afterwards. Are you ready?” The priest asked Elliot with a smile.

Elliot nodded still unsure what the priest was talking about.

“Good now, do you have anything you love to do with a passion?”

Elliot thought for a moment and answered, “I am not sure… I guess I like to read my journals.”

“Ha so you seek knowledge, it looks like the apple didn’t fall far from the tree… Well, relatively speaking.” He looked at the old man knowing that Elliot wasn’t his biological grandson.

“I need you to focus on those books that you love so much and please, don't resist.” The priest placed his hand on Elliot's head.

A bright light shot out from his palm as it made contact, the priest himself was standing there with a calm expression but Elliot's face turned ashen as if his soul were being sucked out.

All what Elliot could see was a blinding light that was going through his mind, as if searching for something. Elliot remembered what the priest told him and he immersed himself in his world that was filled with books, but to his surprise, there were many more than he could remember.

So many that he couldn’t count, he never seen them before and for some reason, there was something out of place in this world of books. Something that wasn’t supposed to be there, it was an empty canvas.

Elliot never touched a canvas in his life and had not even seen a glimpse of it, but for some reason, he knew how it looked. He knew its texture, its feeling for the touch, and the smell of paint that always came with it.

Elliot's face calmed down and color was slowly coming back to it, although there was barely any difference in his skin tone because he was always pale from the get-go.

A minute passed and the light from the priest's hand vanished, while his other hand moved to catch Elliot falling small body as he fell unconscious.

The priest's face was quite serious and a little bit pale, the old man came closer and asked, “How is he?”

“He has a pure soul and he is completely fine...” The priest gave the old man a concerned look.

“It's not a curse for sure, but there were some traces of something I can't explain or even understand.”

“What does that mean?” The old man asked in surprise.

“That means there is a chance that presence can be something that is worse than a curse, better not to play around with it though, just think of him as gifted same as all the others.”

*Sigh*

The old man could only sigh as he picked up Elliot from Will’s hands and went outside the church, the priest followed suit.

“Don't you want to stay for the night?” Asked the priest as traces of sadness could be seen deep in his eyes.

“No, I don't want to endanger this village with my presence.” The old fool placed a bag on his back and placed Elliot on a sled.

The priest gave Elliot a look and said, “Good kid, he is too smart to be a priest but maybe he can become a scholar or even a mage.”

“A mage? Pfff the chances are almost non-existent and till this day I don't know how you became a priest with your …ehm quarks.” The old man said as he started to walk away from the church without looking back.

“Goodbye Leo, see you in the next world.” The priest said as the old man was leaving the church garden as he took out his flask and took a big gulp out of it.

“I'll be back in three months, you asshole.” The old man grumbled as he left, while the priest was smiling and quietly laughing to himself.

Time passed and it was already night, Elliot slowly opened his eyes and jumped in fright thinking about what happened, but to his surprise, he found himself in a forest in front of a campfire.

“You awake, good.” The old man said without moving his smiling gaze from the fire.

“What happened?” Asked Elliot.

“You fainted, it can happen sometimes as a holy light enters a person's mind for the first time.”

He gave Elliot a look and continued as he moved a few ambers with a stick, “You can rest a little bit more, we will have a long trip tomorrow.”

“I am not tired.” Elliot stood up and came over to the fire and sat beside the old man.

“Suit yourself.” Said the old man, as his smile became a little bit more natural.

The duo sat quietly in front of the fire, completely in silence till morning only listening to the cracking ambers in the campfire.