Eithne sat up on the bed. Her head lightly dangled on the tired neck that did not want to hold still.

“It’s already afternoon…”

She tried to open her eyes as wide as possible to figure out the time on the wall clock, then she dropped her body onto the bed again. Eithne was aching all over, as if she had been rolling around a gravel ground but not sleeping.

Blazing sunlight drew a vague shadow of windowpanes on her white blanket. The priestess slid her feet out of the warm zone and stretched.

In the moment of tiredness, Eithne contemplated her life.

She had only been in this world for more than one month, yet so many dramatic things happened.

At first, Eithne’s goal was to run away from death, which she did not even know the true reason that the priestess must die in the comic. She just ran in fear of the High Priest.

‘I’m ashamed of my cowardice…’ – Eithne thought. ‘… also my tardiness.’

In common plots, those characters reincarnated in comics and novels already firmed their resolution to change their fate from the first chapter, didn’t they? Yet what was she doing here, wandering around without a future plan?

All Eithne could think of was fleeing from conflicts so she did not have to deal with the original priestess’s affairs.

“Hu—— To be a main character, I must not run away from danger…” – She sighed deeply at the thought.

Eithne wrapped herself in the blanket again.

“Maybe I will do it tomorrow…”

Her eyes slowly closed.

Knock! Knock!

“Eithne… you’re up yet?”

A reluctant child spoke from outside the door. The priestess rolled down from the bed. Right, she should not sleep in the middle of tension. Eithne Noceur already got entangled with the fate of Rigel Oranim.

The priestess dragged herself to open the door and saw Rigel standing with a tray of delicious food in his hands. The wounds on his forehead were closed and almost healed, owing to Eithne’s sacrifice last night.

“You haven’t had lunch so I brought it to you.” – Rigel said. “But … but if you don’t want to eat right now, I will bring it another time. Just call me.”

The severe fatigue made Eithne look like her soul had left the body, so Rigel worried that she might collapse during her meal. However, the priestess shook her head and signaled him to come in.

Eithne was enjoying the food wholeheartedly when she heard a child’s sniffle.

‘Oh no, please don’t cry while I’m eating…’

Rigel was sniffing and wiping his eyes with both of his arms. The priestess wanted to pacify the boy, but she had no idea why he suddenly cried so she just sat there awkwardly with a piece of bread in her mouth.

“Sniff… I heard Rogers say that you saved me… Thank… Hic … Thank you. I thought I would have died back then. Sniff…Sniff…”

Eithne gave him a tissue to clean his nose. She swallowed the food and gently patted his head.

“You’re alright now.”

“Hic! … Hic! Thank you…”

Her expression was probably too stiff to cheer Rigel up. The boy was still upset that his tears were relentless. This must be the hardest challenge of dealing with a child for Eithne. She remembered one of the most famous lines from the stories she had read: ‘I promise I will protect you from now on.’

‘I guessed it’s time to say it to calm him down.’ – The priestess thought.

However, there was a lump in her throat blocking that sentimental line. Eithne could not promise something that was impossible. She failed to be conscientious, just yesterday, the god of Death almost stole Rigel away in a few hours of her ignorance, and it could be worse if she did not make it on time. The priestess could not guarantee something like that would not happen again.

‘Sorry, Rigel. I’m not reliable enough for you.’

In the room of two people, only the sob of young Rigel could be heard, while the priestess was silently waiting for his tears to dry up.

Rigel left after he vented all his emotions, carrying the food tray with him. Eithne looked at the closed door for a while. Determination rose up in her eyes.

If she was not reliable enough, she would find a stronger shield for him. Eithne decided to contact the Solinue household sooner than the time in the original plot. Everything was happening at a fast rate so she could not slow down to match the plot’s timeline.

The priestess took out a small cubic device from her suitcase. It was the magic messenger mainly used to contact the noble houses. The current head of the Solinue house was Rigel’s aunt, Astraea Solinue, whom the comic depicted as someone truly caring for her niece. If the ducal house officially involved in Rigel’s safety matter, assassination attempts would be much harder to succeed.

‘Thanks to Astraea that the original male lead could survive from the harsh conditions of the aristocratic world.’ – Eithne thought as she pushed the device’s button to send her message.

__

Evening.

Eithne stood in the front yard of the house, trying to concentrate her power in the loud chirping of crickets. She was going to meet the High Priest, so Eithne thought she should prepare beforehand.

The attribute of Eithne Noceur’s mana was Earth, so she was thinking of creating some magnificent scenes of earth magic that she had seen in comics and novels.

‘Something like earth thorns or giant rock spears…’ – The priestess imagined.

However, reality was cruel. The effect of Earth mana strengthened her flesh as hard as the rock surface, but nothing more. The High Priest was able to attack her mind, so it would not be much help. It was disappointing that Eithne could not perform tricks like Hesata playing with his fire, but she had not given up yet. The priestess tried to find back her Chaos holy power. As she was focusing, a faint grey power appeared in her right hand in the form of a machete.

“Huh… A knife as thin as paper…”

Eithne could not help but felt ashamed of her tiny bits of divine power. Contrary to Hesata’s vigorous crimson spear, the grey knife resembled a wisp of smoke that could be blown away at any moment. Eithne guessed the holy magic was almost useless now, leaving the power triggered by desperation being the only thing that was dependable.

The priestess blinked. Her golden eyes instantly turned into the dimmer shade. In the dark, her figure seemed like a lifeless statue which might be easily overlooked.

‘Hiding ability? Check.’

The strange power escaped Eithne’s body and formed a hemisphere barrier around the front yard. Inside the barrier, everything was silent. Even the crickets were muted mercilessly. Eithne waved her hand to create ripples in the air, several invisible blades were formed and flew forward at light speed.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

They cut deeply into the nearby hill’s side and pierce through the soil to reach the other side. The priestess controlled them to turn back before they could mince someone else’s house.

“Quite impressive… but I doubt it will work on Demir Noceur.” – Eithne thought when she rubbed her chin. “Hm… How about combining powers?”

The priestess summoned her Earth mana. Her muscle hardened, but nothing more happened despite Eithne driving mana out of her body.

“As expected…” – She sighed. No earthquake, boulder spears or earth crack for her then.

Eithne withdrew the dark power and mana. She turned back and was about to go inside the house, but something quickly shot from the ground under her feet.

“!!!”

A sharp rocky thorn suddenly rose up. The priestess tripped over the thorn and fell on her left arm which was still hurt. Similar to normal injuries caused by holy power, those sacrificed flesh did not heal with potions.

“Damn it!”

Why did the thorn appear so late? Her magic must have lagged.

“Unbelievable…” – The priestess mumbled as she hugged her left arm.

Next morning, an extravagant carriage stopped in front of the old house of Nesta Oranim. A noble woman carefully stepped out of the carriage, supported by the coachman. Both of them looked tired as they had been rushing here all night without a resting minute.

“Is this the place…?”

The noble woman was reluctant when she saw a bizarre thorn of rocks in the front yard. Her coachman was not sure either, he remembered there was no such detail mentioned in the destination’s description they received yesterday. Nonetheless, they avoided the thorn and knocked on the house’s door.

“Who are you?”

A middle-aged man opened the door.

“We came from the Solinue Duchy to meet Rigel Oranim. Is he available right now?” – The noble woman spoke gently.

Rogers Monre visited today to take care of Rigel, who was still terrified of the previous assassination. Unexpectedly, some strange guests also came looking for the boy. The veteran could tell at a single glance that they are aristocrats, based on their luxurious clothes and fancy horse-drawn carriage. However, due to Rigel’s abduction happening not long ago, Rogers became wary with unfamiliar people coming to the Isny village. As a result, his tone turned hostile.

“What’s your business with Rigel?”

The noble woman flinched and stepped back. Luckily, Eithne came on time to resolve the awkward situation.

“I invited them. They don’t come here to harm Rigel.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Rogers finally calmed down when he heard what she said.

“Is that so? Sorry for my rudeness, please come in.”

__

“I will introduce myself again. My name is Astraea Solinue, and I’m currently the Head of Solinue Duchy in the Southeast border of Lumovas Empire.”

A beautiful talking noble woman with charcoal hair falling down her waist and fair skin, while her clear chartreuse eyes focused on the two people sitting opposite.

“My name is Rogers Monre. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Eithne Noceur.”

Astraea Solinue smiled dazingly. It was accurate to say that she was the prettiest lady of the Southeast land.

“I am Madam Oranim’s sister-in-law, in other words, Rigel is my niece.”

Hearing the surprising statement from the aristocratic woman, Rogers furrowed his eyebrows. He suspected that she was spouting nonsense, since Astraea gracious appearance seemingly related nothing to the rustic boy.

“As Rigel’s guardian, I’m happy to see the family of the late Madam come looking for her son. But how do you prove that Rigel is truly your niece?”

“Indeed. It wasn’t easy to trust someone claiming without evidence. The Madam had never announced her pregnancy before she left the family, so we had a hard time looking for the heir of my brother.” - Astraea sipped the warm tea. “However, I’m hoping Rigel’s guardians would give me permission to test his blood with the Solinue’s heirloom. The heirloom will react if Rigel possesses Solinue’s blood.”

She exchanged eye contact with the quiet priestess.

“What do you say?”

Rogers also looked at the host of this meeting to expect an opinion from her. Eithne simply nodded.

‘No need to consider long and hard when I know everything…’

Eithne was in a torpid mood this morning. Black coat lazily draped over her shoulder, it slid down when she leaned back to cover the bandaged left arm. Her white blouse’s collar was loosely buttoned, revealing the shapely neck and visible clavicles at its end. The woman crossed her long legs. Her idleness turned the plain armchair which she sat on into an elegant throne of the living room.

“I’m glad that you agreed.” – Astraea said.

The noble woman silently admired the liberated aura of the priestess. She lightly tilted her head to the last person of the meeting. The lady’s earrings dangled as she moved and rested on her smooth cheek.

Rogers thought for a bit, eventually he approved. It would be a loss for Rigel if the boy missed the chance of acknowledging his true family. Besides, Rogers trusted Eithne would not call somebody to harm him.

“Rigel Oranim greets the prestigious Matriarch of Solinue Duchy.”

Rigel bowed his head toward Astraea Solinue. The noble woman was impressed, since she did not expect a country boy to have such courtesy. They began to exchange some words enthusiastically.

In the meantime, Eithne was leaning nonchalantly against the wall. The relaxed ambience between aunt and niece made her relate to the moment when the nurse was trying to deceive the child with sweets before she extracted his blood by a scary needle. Of course, it was for the sake of the child.

Rogers and Astraea managed to convince Rigel to test his blood on Solinue's heirloom. Astraea signaled her servant to bring up a long silver box, then opened its lid to reveal a beautiful sword inside.

It was a blade without a handle. Countless ancient symbols filled up its surface, highlighting a huge white gem at the center of the blade.

Rigel gulped. The boy hesitantly swiped his finger on the sharp edge of the sword. Red blood quickly flowed out from the cut, but the artifact absorbed it cleanly like a dry sponge touching water. After a few seconds, the symbols on the sword shone brightly and the gem heated up in a vivid red color like a burning charcoal.

“Woah…” – Rigel dropped his jaw in surprise.

Although the result was in Eithne’s expectation, she had never seen this scene in the comic. Eithne rubbed her chin, she found those ancient letters understandable since learning ancient language was a compulsory subject for every priest. Those symbols worked as a magic matrix to identify a specific bloodline, which was not that impressive. However, Eithne was not sure about the gem, as the comic had yet to mention it in the latest chapter.

‘Heh… It belonged to Solinue. None of my business.’ – She thought.

Astraea Solinue requested Rigel coming back with her as the official heir of Solinue Duchy. While the boy was too young to know how to react, Rogers Monre had not trusted Astraea completely. He was afraid that the harsh ducal household would disturb Rigel’s life greatly.

“Please think about the boy’s future. He will receive better education and have a wealthy life quality.”

Rigel’s aunt tried to persuade Rogers as much as she could, but he did not seem convinced. The veteran clearly knew that behind the glittering wealthiness, those aristocrats were rotten to their bones.

Rogers cared more about Rigel’s opinion, so he crouched down to ask the little boy.

“Do you really want to leave with her?”

“I… I…”

Rigel fidgeted his fingers. After all, he had just met Astraea today, so he actually did not want to leave. However, at the same time, Rigel thought he must go to see his father’s family. The boy then came up with an idea; if he traveled with someone whom he knew better, it would not be too bad.

“Can you come with me?”

He grabbed Eithne’s hand and looked at her with pitiful eyes. The priestess sighed.

“I’m sorry, Rigel. I can’t go with you.” – She said to Rigel, then faced Rogers. “It’s unfortunate that I cannot abandon my duty as a god’s servant. I will have to leave soon so it would be dangerous to let Rigel stay here. He is the son of the late Duke, so there will be more assassinations coming.”

Rigel became sullen as he heard her decision. Eithne glanced at the small boy and continued to talk.

“Therefore, I sincerely ask you to accompany him on his journey, Rogers.”

“M… Me? Is it okay for a commoner to stay in a noble’s house?”

The man was surprised by Eithne’s request. Astraea quickly nodded her head after she met the gaze of Eithne. She must comply with the request of an esteemed priestess, otherwise it might negatively indicate that the Solinue family opposed the temple of War.

“Of course! We welcome the dear guest coming to our land. I wholeheartedly believe that Rigel needs mental support in his early age.”

Rigel cheered up again because he was not alone anymore. Eithne patted his head, there was one last thing she could do for him before he left. The priestess told Rigel to go pack his luggage, after that, she asked Astraea and Rogers to follow her. They went to the forest where Rigel was kidnapped.

“What are we going to do?” – Astraea curiously asked.

She had heard about Rigel’s abduction from Rogers, that the boy was found severely injured and almost dead in the forest. Therefore, Astraea anticipated that they would go to the crime scene. She was right.

Eithne led them to an empty ground in the woods. The hole intended to be used as Rigel’s grave was still there. Astraea and Rogers were confused about what Eithne was going to do when she scanned the nearby trees looking for something. However, the matriarch of the Solinue household quickly realized the unusual atmosphere. Astraea might seem like a fragile lady, but in order to hold the Head position of a prestigious duchy, the woman had more than met the eyes. She could feel the twisted mana flow under a tree’s roots.

“The forest’s… spirit?” - She whispered to herself.

Astraea had some prior experience with tree spirits. They were normally beautiful and jovial creatures, but rather than that, those existence peeking from below the tree roots only gave her a spine-chilling feeling. The woman stepped back to get out of the tree’s shade, she felt more secured in the warm protection of the Sun god. Rogers also backed away when he noticed some tiny, hideous figures crawling from the ground.

“Screechhhhh….”

Those spindly creatures let out a sinister shriek when Eithne reached her hand into the dark hole on a tree trunk. They seemed angry as she was taking away their food, so they pulled the thing backward inside the hole. Eithne furrowed her eyebrows.

“Let go.”

“Screech… screech… skriek…”

The spirits sounded disappointed, but they had to withdraw back into the tree’s trunk. Finally, Eithne pulled out an upper half of a man’s corpse.

“Is this…” – Rogers gulped.

“The kidnapper.” – Eithne answered.

She carefully placed it on the ground. The corpse had shriveled up as if the tree absorbed all his life force. Astraea’s expression grew solemn, she stepped up to examine the body.

The woman was about to lift up his shirt’s pocket, suddenly, the dead man winced.

“HE…LP …HELP ME!”

“!!!”

Astraea was so shocked that she fell down on her knees. Rogers violently kicked the man aside and swore.

“Goddamn!”

How the fuck that he was still alive?

“So… Do you still need him to investigate?”

Eithne asked, pointing to the amputated body with her thumb. Astraea was shivering when she turned to look at the priestess.

“Ah yes!... Yes of course…”

“Are you ok?”

Astraea held up her thumb to confirm her status, but the finger was shaking too. The woman was wondering what kind of black magic kept that person alive.

“Alright then.”

Eithne sat in the tree’s shade while Astraea was interrogating the kidnapper with Rogers’s help. It was a matter of confidentiality that a priestess, who represented the temple’s power, should not intervene in an internal affair of a noble family, but if Eithne wanted, the spirits of trees would eavesdrop on the process for her. Rogers was not affiliated to any party, so Astraea allowed him to join in the interrogation.

The priestess could see from afar that the Solinue lady was using a recording orb to note down the criminal’s confession.

It was boring to wait, so Eithne picked up a tree spirit. The creature looked like it had just walked out from the horror movie about bloodthirsty tooth fairies: malnourished body, no eyes, wrinkled grey skin and saw-like ivory teeth. When it was caught, the spirit’s transparent wings dropped down in sullenness.

Eithne clicked her tongue.

“My bad.”

She guessed it used to have a cute appearance, but after being affected by her dark power, the spirits had turned into a horrendous species. Eithne put the spirit down next to her seat, but it did not run away, instead, the spirit also sat down and sighed as if it was fed up with life.

The creature began lamenting about its atrocious life in spiritual language. Eithne did not really understand, but somehow she knew it was bemoaning: Not only did she turn it ugly, but she also took away its meal.

“…”

Eithne felt extremely guilty. She wished there was a guidebook about how to reverse this strange magic.

After a long wait, the interrogation finally ended.

“I’m done.”

Astraea came back with a cold face. Rogers also had a taunt expression and he did not say anything after that. Both of them looked oddly at the priestess. Eithne guessed they likely have heard the exhortation of the kidnapper about her gruesomeness. Even so, she did not care.

Eithne lightly flicked her finger at the sullen spirit sitting next to her. It stood up in a grumpy mood. Astraea found the creature quite interesting, but it disappeared quickly before she had a closer look.

The half-dead man whom they had just met was dragged into the tree hole again. The people except Eithne observed the process in amazement, at the same time, it gave them goosebumps to think about those human-eating spirits. They questioned Eithne on how she stored the kidnapper in such a place, but the priestess only shook her head.

“I don’t know?”

Eithne had no idea. Those fairies did not tell her about their food container. She found the corpse’s location by following the blood trace on the tree trunk. However, Astraea mistook her word as a promise of secrecy that a spirit-contractor must keep. The matriarch of the Solinue household had seen some cases that the spirits requested contractors to hide their true power.

‘As expected of the War temple…’ - She nodded.

Eithne did not notice that she had become an amazing spirit-controller in Astraea’s eyes. She flicked her finger to fling a devil-like fairy off her shoulder.

It was time that Eithne departed from the Isny village. Rogers and Rigel also sat in Solinue's carriage to travel to the Southeast land of Lumovas Empire. The young boy tried his best to hold back his tears, he waved to the priestess.

“Will we meet again?”

He had been with her for almost two months, but so many things happened during their time together. Rigel had not started his journey, yet the homesickness already swirled up in his mind. Eithne smiled at the boy.

“Of course. See you at the capital.”

“Sure.”

The boy sounded sulky, but the thought of seeing her again partly comforted his mind.

“Goodbye, Rigel. Take care.”

“You too! Bye!”

The boy was still waving when the carriage moved far away from the village’s entrance. Eight years of his childhood spent in this tiny place. From a country boy to the heir of the prestigious duchy in a distant land, his life changed dramatically. At least his future would be brighter than the original plot, since now Rigel had his trusted people guide and encourage him.

“I should practice calling him Rigel Solinue now.” – Eithne smiled.

She also began her journey back to the War temple.

__

Seeing the familiar gate of the temple, Eithne remembered something was missing.

She forgot to buy Hesata a souvenir.

“Ah… That punk will nag at me for the rest of my life.”