Odesday, 22nd of Febrinna, 5662 AE, 468th Year of the 5th Era

As soon as the notice was given that the Lord-Bishop had arrived, Hunt and the rest immediately made their way outside the office and down to the first level of the main hall. From the stairway, they could already see an older-looking man with a full-on white beard and shoulder-length white-hair and had a very slight hunch to his stature and some prominent wrinkles to his face. He looked something more akin to a wisened old wizard than a clergyman and Charles would’ve mistaken him as such if it weren’t for the fact that he was wearing a black cassock and a prominent gold crucifix upon him. Around the old man were several other younger men wearing similar clothing.

“Blessings of the Lord upon ye, Sir Hunt!” the old man said with a big smile as he stretched out his arms towards the branchmaster as he approached. Hunt laughed as he returned the gesture with a warm embrace of the old man.

“It’s been quite a while, your Eminence!” Hunt said as he embraced the old man “It heartens me to see that your eminence is still in good health!”

“Bahahaha!! The Lord is kind to me as always! Ninety six years have I walked this Worldband each day I wake up disappointed the Lord has yet to see fit to take me up to the Eternal Kingdom!” The old man said with much gusto though his sentences were interjected by coughs every now and then and his voice sounded a little hoarse “Regardless, there's still much for me to do besides just this regular cleansing especially with news of cults springing out left and right under our noses and some sinister subversive power supporting them from Lord knows where.”

“Aye, Your eminence. It is for that very reason that the Prince-imperial has seen fit to join this year's Emperor's Day celebration and to convince His Majesty to convene a Great Extraordinary Council in Parliament.”

“Pfft! Finally that boy decides to do something useful for once. Bloody lazy dole, that Alfred! He’s been like that since he was a child, did you know that? Hahahaha…! Used to drive my mentor insane, that child - God Rest the Late-Archbishop. To think that Alfred would now be the most senior Elder of the Dynasty. If anyone would tell me that sixty years ago, I would've thought the Lord had abandoned Feldonia!”

Hunt gave a hearty laugh as he shook his head towards the Bishop’s comments. “I think it's for that very reason that we should refrain from insulting the Lord-Prince Imperial. Especially calling an old man of four and seventy a ‘boy’.”

“You know I was the one who baptised that child right?”

“You never miss the chance to remind us.” Hunt could only bow and smile

“Good man! Hahahahah!” The Bishop patted Hunt’s cheek like a grandfather would his grandchild before he motioned for another older man who looked to be in his sixties wearing similar clothing to approach closer with a clean-shaven face, short neat hair, as well as silver-coloured glasses “You remember William here, right?”

“Auxiliary-Bishop William Tallant. It is good to see you in good health, as well!” Hunt said as he too exchanged greetings with the other bishop.

“Likewise, Sir Hunt.” Bishop Tallant gave off a friendly smile

“Truly God has blessed you with the patience of the saints for you to take care of Bishop Mortimer all this time.”

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men…Hahahaha!” Bishop Mortimer clasped his hands together and looked to the ceiling before he snorted and laughed along with Hunt to the Old man Bishop Mortimer’s annoyance.

“You damned whippersnappers! As if I’m a babe fresh out of his mother’s womb to be such a burden of care!” Bishop Mortimer crossed his arms as he feigned annoyance before he finally cleared his throat. “Anyhow, how goes the guild’s preparations for the annual cleansing ceremony?”

“We have prepared an exceptional party of adventurers to escort you all as usual. As always, it will be led by Sir Mallory here. In addition, we will have several other third iron-rank adventurers as well as another Steel-ranked adventurer ready for the mission here.”

“A pleasure to greet you again, your eminence.” Sir Geoffry Mallory gave a respectful bow towards Bishop Mortimer before Hunt eventually gestured towards Charles as he looked to introduce the guild’s newest Steel-rank.

Charles bowed towards the two bishops in a respectful manner before he greeted them, “It is my honour to meet with your eminences.” As Charles introduced himself, he couldn’t help but notice that Sir Geoffrey was once more giving him a disdainful side-eye but in the presence of such esteemed guests, he decided to not bother taking issue with it.

“Ah… Charles, yes… where have I heard that name before… It’s like I’ve been hearing a lot about it recently.” The nonagenerian bishop scratched his chin and furrowed his brows as he looked like he was trying to remember something. This was until Bishop Tallant had leaned in and explained to the old man.

“This is Charles of Dansville, the one Lord Alfred had described, the Hero of the Expedition.” Bishop Tallant explained before he looked back to Charles and gave a smile and nod of approval.

“Ah yes!! Charles! Strong-looking boy indeed! Hahahaha.” Bishop Mortimer had patted Charles’ cheeks as well before he mushed them as Charles was at first confused but eventually only mildly annoyed at the old man’s endearing antics “Though Alfie’s lacking in many things, he’s always been a wonderful judge of character! I’m sure you’ll make even more of a name for yourself in the coming days, yes. It’s always a pleasure to see such talent being discovered and developed among the youth! God has truly blessed our Empire, hahahah!”

“Speaking of promising youths…” Bishop Tallant had a proud smile on his face as he said this “It is with great pleasure and honour that we make the announcement here in public first that our Church has had the pleasure of discovering a Holy Maiden!”

Hunt’s and Sir Geoffrey’s eyes widened at the announcement made by the Bishop as such a thing was a rarity to hear in most countries that had the robust institution of the Catholic Church of Sanctum behind it let alone a Protestant Institution like the Church of Feldonia. Charles didn't know what a Holy Maiden was but he could take a few guesses. Perhaps a girl with latently powerful light magic or whatnot. Regardless of what he thought, there was no denying that what he was about to see should be interesting. Bishop Tallant had immediately directed for a few of the other clergymen who accompanied them to go outside and accompany the holy maiden inside. Not long after that, the priests had returned along with a few other people, several women of varying ages who were donning nun’s habits and at the center, a young woman who was wearing a simpler blue-coloured tunic without a scapular and with a crucifix as well as a modest transparent veil over her visibly ong auburn hair. Her skin was of the fairest complexion, her eyes chestnut, and the aura around her exuded an extremely regal and elegant air. However, for whatever reason, though her lips were smiling, her eyes seemed melancholic and her gaze as if distant. For all intents and purposes, such a woman was extremely beautiful especially to Charles’s eyes, but this wasn’t the reason that he was currently stunned into silence with his mouth agape as he saw the woman.

“...Isabella…” Charles muttered under his breath as his eyes widened. From the moment she walked in, Charles couldn’t help himself but to lose his breath as his heartbeat increased in both a mixture of surprise and excitement. Though it perhaps had only been a couple of months that he’d been summoned to Feldonia, it was still too long for his liking that he hadn’t seen one of the people he cared for the most in the world - especially after reawakening in the modern world - and that was the Incredible Isabella I of Castile, Queen of Castille and Leon. It took everything within him to restrain himself from not immediately rushing and embracing the girl. Instead, Charles took a deep breath and with his wind affinity, he blew out a whisper towards the woman. “Estoy aqui, Bella.” Charles' action didn’t go unnoticed though as Hunt ever so slightly felt the pressure of the air change next to him as he immediately gave Charles a look to which he only got a smile in return.

As soon as Charles had whispered it out, Isabella - who all this time had a distant and disinterested look - immediately began scanning the area as she had never experienced this before. She knew she recognised the voice but she couldn’t start to believe it herself. She thought her mind was playing tricks until after a few seconds of observing her surroundings, she finally caught sight of a face she had grown to miss and recognise. Isabella’s eyes widened as they became a bit glossy as she almost blurted out Charles’ name. Charles only gave her a wink and a smile before he averted his gaze to avoid attention.

“...This is the one we mentioned.” Bishop Tallant - oblivious to whatever was going on between Isabella and Charles - continued as he gestured to introduce the woman “Lady Isabella was among a group of refugees that had been displaced from a village after a nasty Wyvern attack near Talltree. Though she was in no better a spot herself, she tirelessly worked to alleviate the refugee camp of any hardship and when some of our priests came by, she displayed powerful healing magic as she helped the other refugees. After Bishop Mortimer assessed her himself, he found that she indeed had an extraordinary amount of light mana stored within her and the natural aptitude to utilise it without any prior or proper training before. Though we are sure of her abilities and natural talent, official recognition from Skysea and the Lord-Primate is still required to officially name her a holy maiden.”

“With such favour from God evident with the appearance of such a figure, we can better solidify our legitimacy as a valid Church in spite of any claims made by the antichrist at Sanctum.” Bishop Mortimer said impassionately as he interjected after Bishop Tallant. His scathing and venomous words of course were directed towards the Bishop of Sanctum and Head of the Catholic Church in Orbis, the Pope. “Come now, girl, don’t be shy and introduce yourself.”

Isabella seemingly snapped out of her stupor after seeing Charles as she immediately curtsied and introduced herself. “This humble servant of the Lord is Isabelle, milord. I may not remember much of my past but all I know is wherever the Lord’s children are in crisis, I shall do my best to be the vessel through which His Grace be poured unto His children.”

Isabella’s words were quaint and said in a soft yet firm tone so as to present herself as a capable individual living up to the bishops’ appraisal of her character. As she finished introducing herself, Isabella once more lowered her gaze but as she now had confirmed Charles’ presence, she couldn’t help herself from stealing a few glances his way and a few times their eyes met which caused her to giggle slightly but she quickly closed her mouth with her hand to obfuscate it.

“With Lady Isabelle’s inclusion in this cleansing, we aim to give her a good practical experience in regards towards her full abilities as a Holy Maiden.” Bishop Tallant continued to explain “However, it is also due to her inclusion that we require the guild to assign extra precautions for the protection of the lady. We need a skilled hunter to act as her personal guard to protect her from any unfortunate incident, but we can’t very well bring ourselves to delegate such an important role to the newer Iron-ranked Adventurers. Thus it is because of that that I feel it would be most prudent for-...!”

“I’ll do it!” Charles said excitedly without even realising he had interrupted the bishop speaking. When he noticed this, he quickly cleared his throat to further explain himself. “Ahem! I mean, firstly, I apologise to the Lord Bishop for interjecting myself as well as to the Branchmaster, but I believe - given my relative inexperience as a newer member of the guild - that I would be well predisposed to a more background role in guarding the Lady Isabelle as a steel rank adventurer whilst I believe the more experienced Sir Geoffrey Mallory would be well in his element to lead and coordinate the party as he always had.”

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Seeing this, the bespectacled Bishop Tallant was first very mildly annoyed by Charles’ interjection but then quickly grew intrigued at the young man’s reasoning and the noble-manner he conducted himself with. As Bishop Tallant was still thinking it through, Bishop Mortimer laughed heartily as he wheezed and grew out of breath shortly before he gave Charles an endearing pat on his shoulder.

“Ahahahahah! The joys of being young! You remind me a lot of myself when I was younger.” The old bishop laughed “Don’t worry though, I don’t blame you! With a pretty girl like that in the room, I wouldn’t miss any chance I’d get either, hahahahah!!”. Many of the other people laughed along with the old bishop including Isabella herself who giggled a little. Everyone was quite amused except for Bishop Tallant who was still in deep thought.

Eventually, Bishop Tallant nodded as he scratched his chin, “I can accede to your offer, Sir Charles. It’s a reasonable enough request, though I must remind you that there is a lot on stake should the Lady be harmed in any way possible so I suggest you take your part seriously as an escort guard. Do I make myself clear?”

“I thank you for your consideration, eminence.” Charles bowed respectfully before he turned towards Isabella and bowed as well. “If the Lady would have me, allow me to introduce myself, I am Charles of Dansville and if I could be allowed to act as your guard for this particular mission, I would be most honored.”

“I would be happy to oblige, Sir Charles.” Isabella bowed back, holding in a laugh at the site of the two of them acting as if they didn’t know each other.

“It’s settled then!” The older Bishop Mortimer clasped his hand “With that particular item settled, I believe there is more for us to talk about regarding the mission, Hunt. Let’s leave the younger folk be and allow them to acquaint themselves with each other.”

“Of course, Your Eminence.” Hunt said with a bow as he motioned for the rest of the group to follow him to his office but not before giving Charles and Isabella a connected glance “Charles, if you could be so kind as to accompany the Lady Isabelle and the rest in the lobby.”

“It would be my pleasure, Sir.” Charles nodded as he gestured to Isabella towards the set of couches and tables in a smaller room adjacent to the main hall that acted as the guildhouse’s lobby.

And with that Charles had led Isabella to sit with him at the lobby. At first Isabella was surrounded by a couple of the nuns who acted like chaperones but after a few pleadings from Isabella, they smiled, bowed, and made their way a little further from the two outside of the lobby on the guise of searching for a restroom to allow the two some space. Charles was impressed at the respect she was afforded by those around her. At the very least, Charles could be glad that she didn't seem too much like a prisoner against her will. It was only after the two were left alone within the lobby outside of anyone else’s notice did Charles immediately get up, sit beside Isabella and embrace her tightly. Isabella reciprocated this action as she held the back of Charles' broad shoulders.

“Te eché de menos, amor…” Isabella said as she laid her head against Charles’ chest “...You don't know how long it's been for me…!”

“Yo también, amor. Yo también…” Charles said as he caressed Isabella's head and placed his chin on top of her head and kissed it. “I’m so glad to see you’re safe!”

“I thought I would never see anyone I knew ever again! It was terrifying. In one moment, I was in my dorm talking with Cyra then all of a sudden I felt an earthquake then an explosion and the next thing I knew I was in this strange land filled with all sorts of things that I couldn’t even explain…!”

“Está bien, amor… I’m here now, we have each other here now…” Charles started to feel something wet on his chest as he noticed Isabella had started crying while her face was still buried in his embrace. Charles let her be as he continued to hold her and caress her to calm her down.

Soon enough, the two managed to calm down as Isabella recomposed herself in order to not draw any more attention from outside the lobby as they were still the only ones there. Charles and Isabella continued on with their conversation - all in Spanish so as to avert any unnecessary problems from any potential eavesdroppers though it would also be a headache to explain how the two were able to converse in a foreign language. The two began catching up as Charles wanted to hear every detail of when Isabella had been summoned into the world and he wanted to know what she had been up to all this time as well as all the ‘Holy Maiden’ business the bishops had been so excited about.

Isabella began to tell the story of her experience in Orbis thus far. Between the three people Charles now knew with certainty were in this world, Isabella turned out to have been in Orbis the longest. It would seem she was summoned some time before Christmas day last year in this world into a remote village within the Ardunon Dukedom. Like Charles, Isabella had been first met by an old ‘Goddess’, the Lady Lumina. Isabella had not believed it at first and thought she had a vision from the Blessed Virgin Herself or at the very least an angel, but Lumina had the sense to not call herself a God or to pose any other divine being from our world.

While Isabella was apprehensive at first in believing the words of what was essentially a heathen god at best or a vile demon masquerading as an angel of light at worst, the Spanish Queen was not stupid enough to foolishly cling on to useless notions like that when it was evident that what she was experiencing an entirely different world than what she had been accustomed to.and her own experiences at the academy had tempered her more zealous inclinations somewhat.

At first, the village folk were very wary of a strange woman wearing strange clothes suddenly appearing within its borders and were perplexed on what to do with her and she was only taken in by a kindly old priest within the village. Isabella was shocked when she found out how similar the religious culture and teachings were in Terradome compared to her previous world but was a little shocked that they considered themselves to be a form of ‘protestant’. Isabella was slightly conflicted as she could not very well expose herself as a catholic - but even then she didn’t know how much that mattered considering she wasn’t on Earth - but all of that were put aside when a few villagers had come to the church after being injured in a hunting accident. The old priest of the village never had any talent with healing magic and it was at that moment that Isabella decided to use the skills ‘gifted’ to her by the system to repay the old priest and healed the people. Soon enough, the whole village began bringing in their sick and ailing to her as she did her best to try and heal them and not long after, she gained a reputation as a ‘miracle-worker’ and ‘healer’. Such rumours began circulating around to the surrounding villages until eventually it reached the ears of the Talltree Bishopric which decided to send out a delegation to investigate the appearance of this unknown healer.

However, things took a turn for the worst when, like what Bishop Tallant had told everyone, the village was suddenly attacked by a couple of wild and aggressive Wyverns some time after the New Years’. It was the first time such a thing had happened and the village was unprepared for it. Though Isabella was gifted with healing abilities, she lacked any notable combat prowess outside of the training she had during the academy in some martial arts and an astounding ability to manage and coordinate logistics but she had little physical power to prove useful to defend the village and so she opted instead to open the doors of the church to allow the villagers to take refuge. Eventually, the bishopric’s investigation comission had reached the village alongside a squadron of knights and they managed to fend off the attacking wyverns but by that time, it was too late as the damage had been done and the village of a couple-hundred people was greatly decimated with its crops ruined and its livestock eaten or killed.

Isabella did her best to help out the many injured villagers during this time and proved a rallying point of the villagers with them even calling her ‘saintess’. Confirming that her powers were legitimate and that there was indeed a healer working in the village with unknown origins, the church’s investigation team approached Isabella with a directive from the Bishopric to submit herself for a more thorough investigation. Isabella was supremely concerned as being who she was, she was far too well aware of the investigations medieval religious institutions were known for and she felt like she'd know an inquisition when she saw it and this was exactly that.

Not exactly liking her chances of resisting, Isabella had little choice but to comply despite some protests from the villagers who compared the investigative forces with the hated papists. The investigators, however, assured Isabella that nothing unbecoming would befall her. Once she complied and followed the investigators back to the bishopric, she was met with Bishop Tallant and Bishop Mortimer. While Bishop Tallant had bombarded her with all sorts of interrogations regarding her origins, intentions, and what not to which she maintained that she had no recollection of her past prior to when she arrived at the village, the old Bishop Mortimer always took grandfatherly and caring approach, treating her like his own granddaughter. Eventually, the bishops had relented and recognised her as a ‘Holy Maiden’, a title used first by the Church of Terradome for women of outstanding piety and forbearance but now meant women extraordinarily blessed by powerful Light Magic and so they began to give her adequate training both in Scriptures - in which Isabella excelled due to her past as one of the two Catholic Monarchs - and in magic which ranged from healing magic to basic defensive spells. All of this culminated in Bishop Mortimer’s desire for Isabella to be recognised by the Church of Feldonia as a whole to further the cause and legitimacy of the Protestant Movement throughout Terradome and Orbis. Which brought them to Ashfell on the way to Skysea.

After all of that, Charles gave a short summary about his own experience thus far and all the plans that were in store for him to be adopted into the Royal Dynasty and all the people he had grown to trust in Orbis. He also didn't forget to mention that Ivan was also headed for Skysea for the ceremony. If the Emperor's Day celebration was as big an event as everyone had made it out to be, there should be an even bigger chance to meet with other awakened at the capital.

“...So this whole Holy Maiden business…” Charles said as he looked to Isabella with a difficult expression “Are there any specific requirements you need to adhere to for that role or…?”

“What do you mean?” Isabella cocked her head to the side and asked back with a curious expression, looking at Charles with her big emerald-coloured eyes “There aren't any particular requirements that I could think of…”

“You know… like vows of poverty, silence or… celibacy. That sort of thing.” Charles couldn't help but be worried because of the thoughts in his head. Only after understanding his questioning did Isabella finally understand what he meant before she giggled. Without a second thought, Isabella pursed her lips before giving Charles a peck on his and laughed after.

“Does that answer your question?” Isabella asked with a smile

“...To be honest, not really.” Charles said without noticing his face had slightly reddened and he had the dumbest smile “What was your answer again?”

“Pfft! Tonto!” Isabella laughed before pulling Charles’ collar for a deeper kiss. Needless to say, Charles enjoyed it quite a bit as he had been starved of affection for the past couple of months he’s been in Orbis. He held Isabella closer as they continued their kiss and he would’ve thrown reason out the window and go further if it weren’t for the fact that when he opened his eyes he saw Hunt with a shocked expression on his face as he was standing by the doorway to the lobby.

Noticing this Charles immediately pulled himself away from Isabella and straightened himself out. When Isabella saw this and noticed as well that they had been caught, her heartbeat started racing as her face was flushed red in embarrassment and fear at the consequence. Luckily for the two, Hunt only gave an exasperated sigh before he rubbed his temples.

“You must be one of Charles and Ivan’s friends.” Hunt said in a tired tone “It’s a pleasure to meet you, but I’d like to advise that we hold off on any scandalous behaviour especially with a lady as important as the Holy Maiden. Now, the bishops will be arriving here in exactly 10 seconds so…”

As soon as Hunt said that, Charles and Isabella both straightened their outfits and after exactly 10 seconds, Bishop Mortimer and Bishop Tallant had arrived in the Lobby as Hunt had said. The Bishops had thanked Hunt for his hospitality and gestured for Isabella to follow them out. The plan had been settled for the cleansing raid to be conducted on the morrow and that they would use this day to further prepare themselves for the endeavour. And with that, the Church’s entourage had said their farewell and left the Guildhouse but not before Isabella stole a final glance and waved at Charles. After they left, Charles had prepared to make his way out after to get some fresh air.

“Now that that’s settled, I think I’ll be on my way too, as I have many things to prepare for-...!” As Charles was about to walk out the doors, Hunt had activated his own skills and in a flash appeared before Charles and held his hand to his chest, preventing Charles from leaving. Charles gulped a bit as he had an idea of what the Branchmaster could want from him “Mmmm…??”

“That was a bold move, Charles, I won’t lie…” Hunt said in a serene yet frightening tone “But I believe we now have quite a bit to talk about in private, no?”

His business at the guild for the day, it appeared, was still far from finished.