The next morning, Lily felt well enough to do some light sparring with Mia and Rick. She wasn't willing to try Invoke Divinity again, not until she mastered Clara's control technique. Even so, getting more comfortable with a sword was important. After all, the majority of monsters in a starting dungeon could be dealt with without the usage of skills.

Eric was still way out of her league, but as she got more experience, her superior speed and strength were starting to overpower Mia. Her girlfriend still managed to draw their sparring match, but Lily was convinced that was pure chance. The final hit Mia got in was pure luck, and she was confident she would start beating her constantly soon.

That's with no active skills involved. If I have to go up against her lightning, I don't think I will have a great time, Lily thought as she deposited her training sword on the rack. I really need to master Invoke Divinity to have a chance.

Just as they were finishing for the day, the old doors opened with a creak, and Emilia, the High Priestess, walked in.

"Apologies for interrupting, Your Grace, but I wanted to speak with you about an important subject," she said as she approached Lily.

"No need to apologize, we were just about done. What's the matter?" Lily asked, intrigued by her serious expression.

"I am afraid the subject is somewhat sensitive, Your Grace," the priestess responded, glancing at Rick, who was collecting the training gear nearby.

"I see," Lily responded and turned to Rick.

"That's fine Rick, me and Mia can finish cleaning up, you are free for the rest of the day."

The experienced guard understood the situation immediately, and headed outside.

On the other hand, Mia only got more intrigued after she heard Lily's words, and quickly approached to join in on the conversation.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"What are you two scheming without me? she asked as soon as Rick was through the door, and Lily shrugged in response.

"The Head Priestess has something important to talk about, and she wants privacy," Lily said.

"Please call me Emilia, Your Grace," the priestess responded.

"Only if you drop the Your Grace nonsense, at least in private," Lily said with a smile and the girl nodded.

"Well, Your-, I mean Lily," Emilia said uncomfortably, "I wanted to talk to you about the topic we discussed the first time you visited the temple; the ritual to contact the goddess."

I was wondering about that, Lily thought. Hopefully the news is good. She wanted to talk to Dahlia as soon as possible, to get some idea of what it was that she was actually supposed to do on Teras.

"Yes, back then you said you needed some time to get everything organized," Mia chimed in, and Emilia nodded.

"I need to apologize for not talking to you about this sooner. Unfortunately, there were some delays because it turned out that we didn't have all the details here. We had to contact the temple in the capital about the ritual, and due to the sensitive nature of the topic, we had to use special couriers which delayed the process further," she explained, and Lily nodded, motioning Emilia to continue.

"However, I am glad to report that we have solved those issues, and that we are prepared to conduct the ritual one week from now," the Head Priestess said solemnly. "That is if the timing is convenient for Your Grace."

"I don't know much about magic, but I don't think ancient rituals should be rushed. The timing works just fine for me, so we'll do it then," Lily said cheerily, and the priestess bowed in response.

"As you decree, Your Grace. Once again I apologize for the delays," she said, before turning to leave.

"One day, I will get her to drop the 'Your Grace'," Lily whispered to Mia as Emilia left, and her girlfriend chuckled.

"She's trying, the poor thing, but she's still too shaken by the Avatar of her goddess just showing up in her temple one day," Mia said. "That alone is enough to make her the next big thing in the priesthood, if she doesn't mess up and incur your wrath. If this whole ritual thing goes smoothly, she's likely to become the head of the entire priesthood here in the Republic. From there it's just one step to the Great Priesthood, which heads all of Dahlia's temples on the continent. She could only have dreamed of reaching such heights before you showed up in her office, so you have to cut her some slack."

Another thing I hadn't really considered. Of course my appearance would be seen as a sign of divine favour for whatever temple I showed up at, Lily mussed. I just hope Dahlia knew what she was doing when she sent me here. Emilia seems a decent sort so far, but I don't want to help some power hungry person rise through the ranks, even indirectly.

"Politics," Lily said sourly after a moment.

"At least with her you have the whole living deity angle, so you can be sure she is telling you the truth. The real politicians will make your skin crawl. Some of the people my father had to work with would have crossed anyone, Avatar or not, to get ahead," Mia responded. "I will tell you some of the stories when we have more time."

"Wonderful, I can't wait."

"That's the spirit," Mia said with a smile as she grabbed her girlfriend's hand. "Time to hit the showers, and get something to eat.

Clara is coming to start your training tonight, and we don't want to make her wait, do we?"

As usual, Mia was right, so Lily followed her upstairs, past the living quarters and into the bathroom.