Guild Union
"Alright, here's your reward, and thanks for all your hard work!" Tobi handed off a bag of coins to a group of three adventurers. "Ugh..." Then, he dropped the forced smile he had on and began stacking some papers once they were gone. "Eh? Look who's here?" He smirked at Blake and Rsiabeel as they came up to his desk. "You know I ain't the only quest giver around here?"
"True, but you gave special treatment to Mordecai so I guess we'd get some of that?" Blake rested a hand down on Tobi's desk while his other hand was on his hip. "So, got any work for us?"
"Hah, a bit." Tobi chuckled as he waved over to one of his co-workers. "Hey, the red-haired smith's here! Bring it over!" After he called out to them, they came over with a foot-tall stack of papers. "There you go," Tobi muttered, slapping the top of the pile with one of his large hands.
"Come again?" Blake asked as he took a quick look at the papers every last one of them was some kind of quest; be it to act as a bodyguard or take out a monster or anything in between, all of which were directly asking to be handled by 'the guild lead by a red-haired smith and owned by a young Ovis Lord'. "Some of these have gold as rewards."
"Well, it looks like word got out that some random smith beat the craftsmaster's student, took out a Manticore, has a Dragon, and has personal ties with an Ovis Lord went and started a guild. Safe to say that you've got eyes on you," Tobi explained, seeing Blake's amazement and confusion. "Granted, even I'm a bit surprised at the amount, usually it takes a guild with the rank of Great Ember to get this much work in under a day."
"This is quite the turn of events, Sir Blake, I did not think the word of your endeavors would reach the ears of the masses so quickly," Risabeel commented while she thumbed through some of the quests as well.
"Does gossip really get around that fast here?" Blake looked up from the stack after picking out a few good ones that would keep him and Risabeel busy for the day. "I'm used to it since I came from a small town, but this is the city after all."
"Well...not really...unless someone wants to get it around and they're willing to pay if you get me?" Tobi rested his head in an open hand and waited to see if Blake figured out who he was talking about.
"Seriously? I'm starting to think that guy had all this planned out, damn that thief," Once again thanks to Mordecai's actions Blake was left with more than he could ask for when it came to this guild thing. "I'm guessing we can't just leave these here, right?" He waved a hand over the stack of quests.
"You can, but your box is getting pretty full at the moment if you want we can have it sent over to your Guild House and put them up on a quest board if you have one." Tobi offered, waving over to a messenger boy. "But before you head off for the day mind taking a look at this?" He held up a white envelope with a golden halo made of 12 wings stamped into it. "This one's a special treat."
"Huh, sure?" Blake opened the envelope and found a short well-written letter with the following message...
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To Blake, The Smith-Knight,
Please do not be alerted by the suddenness of this inquiry, but I wish to employ your services for a day. It will be beneficial to both of us as I may be able to deal with some of your worries towards a certain member of your guild.
But before I get ahead of myself, it would be wise to inform you of both the task I have for you and the one requesting said task. I am Kue, an archbishop within the Order Of Elyon, the heavenly Goddess that we all know and love.
There is an upcoming event that shall be taking place at the Cathedral Of St. Barachiel within the next few weeks, and while I see to the daily upkeep of my sacred grounds personally it never hurts to be careful, yes? I wish for your guild to assist in ensuring that everything is in check.
I will give more details at the cathedral when you come in today and be sure to bring the one by the name of Risabeel. You should know why shouldn't you, yes? And you should know trying to get away is not an option Smtih-Knight, make this easier for both of us, would you, yes?
May the light of the Goddess be with you,
Archbishop Kue
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"..." Blake read the last part over again, and only one thought ran through his mind at that moment. "Risabeel's been found out..." A small bit of sweat started to roll down his face as he flipped the letter over finding directions to the cathedral. "Oi, Tobi, what can you tell me about the archbishop?"
"The archbishop? I was wondering why it had that stamp? Did you find a Demon or something? Hah-" Tobi laughed at his own joke but went quiet when he found some uneasiness in Blake's face. "...He's a high-ranking member in the Order of Elyon, does the usual; preach the good word, helps the broke and lost, commands most of the clerics in the kingdom, I could go on, but if you're off to go see him, it'd be better to ask yourself."
"Right, good to know, then I'll take this one for today, the rest you can have dropped at my Guild House the others should be willing and able to take on a few of them without me." Blake put away the letter for now and walked out for the Guild Union with Risabeel in tow.
"Sir Blake, what manner of quest are we embarking on today if it requires you to ask about a holy man?" Risabeel asked as they got outside and found Nash waiting for them.
"Hopefully nothing too big but..." Blake trailed off as he got up on Nash and held out a hand for Risabeel. "...it shouldn't be a problem for us." He decided to keep his worries to himself. "Even if I told her she'd just say something like it's my duty as a guild leader to take on such an important quest."
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Common District
"This is magnificent! Is it not, Sir Blake!" Risabeel with eyes aglow cheered as they had just arrived at their destination.
The Cathedral Of St. Barachiel, a towering building of pure white stone, adorning its rooftop were statues of Angels bearing roses in their hands. Four bell towers were placed at each of the building's corners with large white bells at their tops, leading into the cathedral's massive doors was an archway of white roses with some petals falling to the fleshly cut grass on its large yard.
"This place needs upkeep?" Blake muttered as they walked under the archway on foot with Nash being pulled along by his reins. "Hmm?" He took some time to check out the rest of the place, and from what he could tell everything seemed like it was in perfect condition. "So, the only reason this Kue guy picked us was because of...huh?" With his suspicions starting to act up, he didn't notice that they had reached the entrance of the cathedral.
"Greetings," A pair of clerics in white robes with small iron shoulder pads, each holding a wooden staff with a white rose as a figurehead. "May the heavenly Goddess bless you on your way." They both bowed and then pulled a pair of levers, causing the large doors of the cathedral to open. "The archbishop is awaiting you at the main altar. Please try not to keep him waiting." One of them said before returning to their posts.
"Uhm, thanks? Nash, you be good while we're in there got it?" Blake brought the horse's head in to look at him closely. "Be ready to make a run for it just in case something bad happens. I have a bad feeling about Risabeel going in there." He whispered to the horse, but for some reason, Nash was staring ahead at something. 'What is it? Did you see a statue of a mare or someth-!" When Blake turned around, Risabeel was already inside looking at everything as if she was on a tour. "Goddess dam-!" He was about to cuss when the clerics suddenly turned to him. "...Goddess be praised!"
"Ah, this is all so wondrous!" Risabeel spun herself around as her eyes went to statues, paintings, and stained glass patterns of Angels, priests, clerics, and paladins doing grand deeds such as protecting the weak, healing the sick, and teaching the misguided. "Sir Blake, do you not agree? Hmm, Sir Blake? Are you well?" She stopped in her ogling to find Blake panting next to her while supporting himself on a pew.
"Are you well?" Blake stood up straight and leaned in on her. "Feeling sick? Pain? As if you're burning from the inside out?"
"I am? I am completely fine?" Risabeel backed away from him and waved her arms around to show that she was fine. "Why are you so concerned, Sir Blake?"
"Uh, nothing, let's get going." Blake shrugged it off and continued. "Ok, looks like that thing about Demons bursting into flames once they step foot on holy ground was a myth." He breathed a sigh of relief, glancing back at Risabeel to be sure. "Huh?"
Risabeel was looking up at a large painting of a battle between Angels and Demons with the winged saints driving the horned sinners back to the pits of hell as they were ripped apart, burnt to ash, and chained to the earth. "Hmm?" She was only pulled away from it by a hand going to her shoulder.
"I'm not going to let that happen to you...so don't worry about it," Blake promised, lightly squeezing the Demon's shoulder until she nodded. "Good, stay calm, keep your hood up, let me talk and everything will be fine."
"Kind words for one to give a Demon, yes?" A soft calming and warm man's voice came from behind them. "Now please turn around would you, I would like to see the faces of my newest helpers, yes?"
"I'm guessing you're the guy, huh?" Blake and Rsiabeel turned to him, and they both froze.
Standing tall, proud, and with a powerful build was an elderly man with pale, wrinkled skin, steely grey eyes accompanied by sliver eyebrows, and a seemingly shining bald head. He was dressed in a white cassock trimmed in gold, red buttons running down the front side with a red sash around his waist. On his shoulders was a white pellegrina that was styled in the likeness of a rosebed, finally dangling off his neck was a rosary with a halo of wings as a pendant.
"Greetings, Smith-Knight, Blake, and young maiden Risabeel, I am Archbishop Kue, The Holy Fist." Kue greeted with open arms showing a black glove on his right hand and seemingly divine light came down on him or was it coming from him? As everything around him was bathed in light.
"Uh, good day to you si- I mean archbishop, we've come as you ask, so where shall we get started?" Blake rubbed the back of his head as he spoke to Kue, trying to act official while pushing Risabeel behind his back. "Of course, he figured it out like that." He glanced back at Risabeel and the exit behind them, trying to guess how hard he'd need to run if given the chance.
"We shall come to that in time, more importantly, I would like to handle the girl, yes?" Kue walked up to the two, towering over them by a good two feet yet looked as caring as a grandfather would to his grandchildren. "I must say it is no surprise that she went unnoticed for so long, her level of mana barely passes for a Demon, Valdre was right I thought you were just some young witch of black magic." He held his beefy gloved hand over Rsiabeel's head. "Now, come this way, it will only take a moment I assure you."
"Wha?" The whole time Kue stood over them, Blake was holding a fist at the ready, but now this wall of a holy man had his back to them and what was that thing about the Lich?
"Sir Blake, I believe he wishes to aid us somehow," Risabeel said meekly and poked her head out from behind her protector to look at Kue's back. "And I feel no sense of danger from him despite his status."
"You should listen to her boy," Kue called out having stopped to turn back to them. "If I wanted her gone, she would be in the Underworld before you or she knew it." He bashed a right fist into his left palm, and the sound of a bell ringing was heard. "Hmm? It's nearly noon we should hurry this up now, I have a class later on."
"Okay, okay, I get that you don't want to banish her but what's got you in a hurry?" Blake asked following Kue up a short flight of stairs that went to an altar where a giant golden idol of a naked woman in prayer was found. She had 12 large wings around with 10 on her back that appeared to form a halo behind her while the last two were wrapped around her face hiding it from view. "Whoa!" Even if he wasn't that much of the religious type or had any taste when it came to art, Blake still had to admit that it was a sight to behold.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"May I ask who this statue is made after?" Risabeel asked more enamored by the idol than Blake was while scanning every part of it for reasons she did not know; all she knew was that she needed to remember this form. "Remember?" She whispered to herself almost in a trance. "But why this of all things?"
Kue put on a small smile and held a hand to the idol casting the light he had on himself to it. "That would be the heavenly Goddess Elyon, Generator Of Divinity, or simply the Goddess to most of the world. The embodiment of the good within the world, first of the heavenly beings and leader of all to come, the power to both protect and destroy the world lifetimes over, a beacon of hope and peace to all who know of her...but?" He paused to hold a hand to Risabeel. "What does that mean to you, Demon, yes?"
Risabeel's once amazed and bright face went pale and cold at the question, hiding behind Blake at first.
"Hey, that's..." Blake tried to help her out of it, but a raised hand from Kue and a tug at his back from Risabeel stopped him.
"I am not quite sure why, but..." Risabeel began in a whisper, slowly working her way up to speak loudly. "...I feel a sense of fear...and...and...and h-h-hatred from the mere sight of it and that name. I feel ill just hearing it called out and I do not know why but there is an urge at the back of my mind that wishes to see this thing in pieces..." And with those final words, Rsiabeel actually glared at the idol with her stern look and balled her hands into fists on Blake's back.
"She's only using that on me, that means...?" Blake never knew Risabeel could hate something sure she got annoyed by him when he didn't share her standards of goodwill, but this was his first time seeing her hate something or rather someone.
Archbishop Kue had lost his warm smile with a small line taking its place on his hardened face. "Good to hear, you have passed and now we can move on." But in the next moment, he was smiling again and beckoned them to come closer.
"Okay! Timeout! Seriously!? What do you want with her, holy man!?" Blake yelled at Kue if this guy kept switching between kind old man to banisher of evil every time he talked Blake's heart might give up on him.
"Up until now, this was a test to see if she has the right to stay in this world and she went over the final step, so be proud of her," Kue answered, coming up to slap a hand down on Blake's shoulder which would have knocked him down if Kue didn't hold him up. "And if you wish to address me then it is Archbishop Kue not 'holy man' understand, yes?" He smiles, warmly at Blake with his eyes closed.
"Mom does that before she breaks a few bones..." Blake nodded at the massive man holding him in place at the moment. "Good to know, but what made you do this over just sending her down to the Underworld?"
"Hmm? Did Deller not say that he would find some way of help in handling the Demon, yes?" Kue asked, leaving both himself and Blake confused.
"Ah, Sir Blake, I do believe Craftsmsater Deller said that my situation would require going through the right pathways." Risabeel reminded Blake of when Deller found out about her and Blake's powers.
"Oh! Then that means..." Blake trailed off after remembering that fact then looked up at Kue, currently sending a stoic gaze back at Blake. "...but why help a Demon anyhow, Archbishop?"
"There is a passage in the Order Of Elyon that I love very much would you like to hear it, yes?" Kue offered, pulling away from Blake and Risabeel for the two to nod after seeing a glint in the holy man's eyes. "Very good! It simply goes as follows; 'See one not for their race, not for their age, not for their status, not for their sex, not for their past, but for the one they hide inside their hearts. For the one who lives in one's heart is their true self.' One of my duties as a member of the Order is to protect the world from all manner of wickedness, but my highest responsibility like any other member is having the ability to look past everything else and offer help to anyone who is in need of it." He held out a hand to Rsiabeel and Blake once again beckoning them to come closer. "Please, allow me to fulfill that duty today, yes?"
"Okay, got all of that...kind of? What's next?" Blake asked if this was going to make Risabeel's and by extension, his life easier he was down for it, but they should at least know what they were getting into.
"I am going to perform what is known as a Soul Binding Ritual on the two of you," Kue explained, holding his hands up and then pressed them together.
"Huh?" Which was when Blake noticed that the black glove on Kue's right had two S's on the back.
"By doing so I will turn this girl from stary Demon into a bound one," Kue added, seeing some confusion in Blake's eyes but it was still there even after his explanation.
"Archbishop Kue, I do believe that neither of us knows what a stray or bound Demon is?" Risabeel came to help Kue understand what do two did not.
"Right, you have no memory of your past, yes? This is starting to feel like my other class." Kue muttered softly to himself, then cleared his throat. "You see when a Demon enters our world, they are divided into two classifications. The first more common ones are bound Demons, these are the Demons who have been summoned by spellcasters to aid them by putting said Demon under a form contract, therefore, binding them to another's will. The other classification is stray Demons; these are Demons that break free from their bindings or very rarely were strong enough to step into our world under their own power."
"Okay, that clears some things up but what does turning Risabeel into a bound Demon do for us?" Blake asked, waving a hand between himself and Risabeel.
"Simply put it forms a nearly unbreakable link between the two of you. You will be able to tell when the other is in danger, sense where they may be in a general area, and finally the one I believe you will be most interested in is that as long as a Demon is bound, they can not be sent back to the Underworld until the binding is undone..." Kue explained but less like a holy man and more of a teacher at a school. "...Also, it may allow you to give her any command of your choosing, but I'm going to take that part out, yes?" He looked only at Blake as he said that.
"That wasn't anywhere in my mind archbishop..." Blake started to sweat a little with Kue bearing down on him even when there was a Demon right next to him. "...anyhow that all sounds fine with me..." He turned to Risabeel. "...but what about you? You'll be stuck with me for a while if we do this thing."
"I'm perfectly fine with that outcome, Sir Blake." Risabeel smiled back in answer.
"Excellent! Now turn to face eachother and hold up your writing hand, yes?" Kue asked, seeing as Blake and Risabeel were ready.
"Like thi-Ah!" Blake tried to ask as he and Risabeel did as they were told but the moment they held up their right hands Kue clapped his hands over theirs completely covering them with the booming sound of thunder.
"Hmm? A storm is coming, yes?" Kue muttered, looking up at the ceiling of the cathedral. "Now then let us begin. Many become one, One made of many, share life, share death, share love, share hate, and live one life that understands eachother forevermore! Soul Legion!" Once Kue was finished with the spell two barely visible auras came off Blake's and Risabeel's hand, red for Blake and purple for Risabeel.
"Whoa!" Blake gasped, watching the two auras wrap around eachother becoming a dark magenta that got darker and darker and darker. "Wha?" Until it went pitch blackness and it wasn't the aura around Blake's and Risabeel's hands everything around him went black, no Riasbeel, no Kue, no light, only absolute darkness anywhere he looked. "What's going on?"
"I do not believe you need to be concerned about that, Sir Blake." Risabeel's voice suddenly came into earshot after Blake asked the darkness.
"What!?" And made him turn this way and that to find her.
"Oh? Look at you so confused, so simple. It makes me scratch my mind on how you got this far like that, hehe!" Risabeel's voice giggled at Blake's action, still not showing herself.
"Come on, Risabeel, this isn't something to laugh at!" Blake yelled into the blackness, hoping to find Risabeel if she talked some more but in the back of his mind. "It sounds like her, but something's off..." He couldn't tell why, but for some reason, he was sure that whoever he was talking to wasn't Risabeel but at the same time was. "Ugh!" Making him hold up his arms in case something jumped him and kept his head turning from left to right.
"Oh? Maybe I was too quick to judge you? I mean you were able to take care of that useless Demon brat at your every encounter with him, and even now you show your smarts, but the most important thing right now is if I am Risabeel or I am not?" Risabeel(?) admitted before letting out another soft giggle.
Blake snapped to his right with the faint feeling of cold breath at his ear, but nothing was there. "If you want something out of me, mind not using my friend's voice or acting like a creep!" He shouted into the darkness, starting to feel uneasy from all around. "Ugh!" Then it all went to his back as a figure pressed itself against him.
"Oh, how rude, this voice is my own, I have had it since the moment I came into this world you have no right to say that it is not mine!" Risabeel's(?) voice became louder and louder until it echoed inside Blake's head so much that he held on to his ears to ease the ringing. "So weak and so fragile, yet you have fought man, Elf, Dragon, beast, and Demon. I can see why one would follow and trust you, but will and courage will only get you so far, Sir Blake." What felt like a pair of hands came over Blake's chest trancing around it for a bit until they came to rest around his heart. "How long will you last, I wonder? You need to get stronger and stronger still, if not..." Risabeel(?) went silent, sounding saddened by her own words.
"Argh!" But Blake groaned in pain to fill the soundless void as the hands on his chest turned into claws, claws that were digging into him slowly. "The fuck's going on!" He threw out an arm behind him, but nothing was there along with the pain he felt earlier. "Where the hell are you, fucker?!"
"Everything you hold dear will be ripped from your heart..." Ignoring Blake yelling Risabeel(?) whispered right into his ear again.
"Fuck off!" Blake swung at her, and he actually hit something. "Wha?" He blinked a few times as the world had come back to him or did he come back to it? "The hell was that?"
"I would like to know as well Smith-Knight, yes?" Kue asked with Blake's fist jammed into the side of his face, but it didn't so much as move him or make him flinch.
"Huh, holy man?" Blake stared up at Kue, but something was off he was a lot closer than before, and when Blake tried to take a step back, he found that his legs and the rest of his body were lying on a pew while his head was in the hands and lap of the Archbishop. "Did I get knocked out or something?" He clutched his head just as a headache was coming on as he sat up too quickly.
"Not quite you did bang your head against the floor when you passed out after completing the Soul Legion." Kue got up and walked around to face Blake. "While you were out, I was performing a healing and curse removal spell on you, but none of it seemed to help, were you experiencing anything strange while you were out, yes? You seemed to be having a nightmare at the time."
Blake thought about telling Kue what happened to him inside that...whatever it was, but he chose against it. "No, I went out then I came to like that, sorry about the punch, that was just a...reaction..." He shook his head, trying to get his mind working right. "If I told him about that it'd just make it look like Risabeel did something to me...did she?" Thinking of said Demon, she wasn't around the two. "Where's Risabeel, holy man?"
"Archbishop Kue," Kue warned, bringing his face to Blake's as if going in for a headbutt that would put the smith back under. "While you were out I had her take care of the work I tasked you with today. If you are feeling well, then please go and assist her, yes?"
"Huh? You actually wanted our help?" Blake muttered as he got up slowly making sure he wouldn't fall over himself.
"Why, of course, I do! If I only needed you to perform a soul-binding spell I would have said so in the letter, the reason why is that some of my section's members are off on duty outside the city, so I am short on hand at the moment, usually, I am able to handle it on my own..." Kue rolled up one of his sleeves to show an arm pulsing with muscles. "...but, I have been called upon by some of my fellows for another matter of importance. By giving you a quest, I was able to forgive two sins with one prayer. Your payment shall be sent to you by the end of the day."
"Got it, well I'm off." Blake started to walk out of the cathedral, having a feeling that Risabeel was out there and not inside. "Looks like the binding thing worked."
"Ah, be sure to have young Nathan know of anything that goes wrong with you over the next few days he will report it to me," Kue informed Blake as he was about to leave but made the smith stop in his tracks. "Something wrong, yes?
"You know my mage?" Blake wheeled around with a raised brow at Kue.
"Yes, I know of him quite well, in fact, you see I am the head professor of light magic at Le Fay," Kue answered holding up his gloved hand to Blake with Le Fay's insignia appearing after some gold mana came off Kue's palm. "I'm also a member of the Sigil Sect as well..." He turned his hand around, showing the double 'S' symbol of the Sigil Sect. "To teach as a man of the Goddess and to teach as an educator of magic are my callings."
"Huh? Good to know..." Blake shrugged at Kue, he was wounding about that glove for a while, but now that was cleared up he could get to Risabeel.
"Sir Blake!" Or maybe she could get to him since the Demon called out to him.
"Oh, hey, Rsiabe-!" Blake turned around to wave at her. "Wha?" But he stopped at the sight of her covered in dirt, holding a broom and her hood down with her black horns in full view of all the holy men and women within the cathedral. Vas was there on her head the only part of her not covered in dirt. "What are you doing?!" He ran up to her and pulled her hood back up nearly crushing Vas under it. "Keep that thing on!"
"You do not need to worry, Sir Blake, all is well, hehe..." Risabeel giggled at Blake, pulling her hood back down, but Vas had jumped to the pulled-back hood using it as a bed. "...and so are you." Risabeel reached out a hand to the side of Blake's head.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Blake tilted his head to one side as a few clerics went by them without batting an eye at Risabeel. "Are they blind or something?" He asked, making one of them turn to him. "That doesn't tell me anything you could've just heard me."
"They simply do not see her as a threat, young Blake." Kue came up to them to clear things up. "Bound Demons give off a different sense of mana to differentiate themselves from strays, she may still turn a few heads and worry some but those who you would worry about such as we of the Order Of Elyon will not trouble you..." He explained then leaned in on Blake. "...unless you have sinful thoughts in your head that is, yes?"
"Why me?" Again Blake didn't get why Kue was more imposing on him than Risabeel, but all he could do was go with it. "But of course not Archbishop Kue the only thoughts within me are ones of my love for the Goddess! Now, sister Risabeel, we must make haste with our work, for cleanliness is next to godliness!" He took Risabeel's broom away from her and fast-walked out of there before Kue tried seeing into his heart with some spell.
"Ah, Sir Balke! There are more if you ask! And please wait for me! Many apologies, Archbishop Kue." Risabeel yelled at Blake then bowed to Kue before trying to catch up with Blake.
"Hmm? Quite the pair?" Kue put on a smile as the two went off to work before returning to his own duties.
Chapter end