{Fuan - Hideki Taniuchi}
As long as I lack MP and a way to help out, I've got no business standing outside; I'm just another burden to watch out for. Once I accept the ceiling of my limits, I simply walk away from conflict by choosing to hide away inside the mansion's walls, which are next to empty if it weren't for the maids who were all praying along the corridors.
I'd never believed much in prayer or in a god up until one of them saved me from whatever a demon wanted from me back then when I died. If there is a god out there to whom we could ask for help, I suppose it would not harm for these people to pray to them for help.
Soon, one of the maids notices me and quickly pulls me away from visibility, away from everyone, to be more precise. "You've shown up at the right time. Lord Auri has been in bad shape since this began; please, you have to save him." The maid suddenly dropped responsibility into my hands, but what could I do? I had almost no MP left.
"Take me to him," Without being able to say no to a distressed maid, I simply chose to act tough for her sake and the sake of everyone inside the mansion; I had to pretend everything was fine, as panic is never the correct answer to anything.
We quickly hurtle between corridors inside the mansion, walking alongside the praying maids who are genuinely praying their hearts out like there's no tomorrow; I had to respect their conviction. Yet, their prayer gave me a sudden idea of what happens to worship. What is holy power?
As we walked some more, I started having a crazy idea about how holy power might work in the first place. I know for a fact that if I want something done and I don't know how to get it or do it, the Ruler of Hope will quickly come in and lend me a hand because it runs on Hope, but Hope is not all there is to holiness. Is there?
Holy power could be said to derive its power from simple faith; therefore, where does unused faith go? If the people are praying to a god, in this case, it sounds like they are praying to some sort of bird flame god, then did all their prayers just go toward that god, giving them power?
It was a crazy theory, and what I was thinking of doing next was even more crazy. What if these people prayed to me instead? I'm already considered a holy saint, and I do have two sacred titles. Could these people then power me up with their prayers? How much MP would prayers turn to?
"Have you guys ever prayed to anyone else but the flame goddess?" I ask the maid while they slowly open the door to Lord Auri's chamber, and we finally arrive at our destination. The maid is speechless, not knowing what to answer for a second until she simply says. "Technically, yes, most of us have done so during war times."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Could I ask something crazy from you just to test one of my theories?" I ask the maid, who simply bows down when I ask and responds very quickly and solidly. "Of course, my lady." As soon as the maid responds, I nonchalantly give her my crazy pitch.
"I need you to pray to me as I take a look at Lord Auri's condition," the maid is startled for a second like I expected from such a sudden request. Still, she immediately gets on her knees and starts praying the same flame goddess prayed, but she is now replacing the name of the flame god with my holy saint's name. 'Saint of the North, Yoimiya'
I don't feel anything for a second as I rush toward Lord Auri, who is bedridden. Auri is profusely sweating and twitching, yet once I'm next to him, I don't see anything wrong with him when it comes to his outside symptoms; Auri's temperature feels normal, and his heart rate is also average, with no black spots, the things at all, and then.
[Prayers received, converting prayers into usable MP. (MP transferred, you've obtained a 500 MP battery)]
[Prayer MP is limited to Holy power.]
[Conflcit of interest between regular MP and Holy MP, sending a request for another category for the higher individual]
[Request denied, resending Request for approval to another administrator]
[Request denied, resending Request for approval to last known administrator]
[Request approved, Holy Ruler of Hope and Temperance Yoimiya has acquired unique MP paths. Regular MP has been separated from Holy MP]
Woah! What the heck did I just do? I can feel the different paths within me now. But something was off; my regular MP was basically all gone now. So, the only MP I had left from the start mainly was Holy MP and not darkness; that would have made sense if I had thought about it for a second.
[Holy MP: 2,800/Unreadable}
Unreadable, uh? I remember back to some appraisals ago, I had a weird message next to some of my bars that said, 'Limitless with enough Hope,' could it be that I could simply add more and more people to my cause and possibly use holy power in battle first instead of relying on that chaotic dark power?
If one person's prayer is worth about 500 MP and there are at least around seventy maids down there, that would roughly convert to, uhh, hold up, let me do some quick math in my head. I was never the brightest tool in the shed, so it took a little longer. Ugh! YES! It's around 30,000 MP! More or less! I'm bad at math, I don't know!
"Could I ask you to do something even more crazy?" I turn my head toward the maid who looks at me and my conviction to help Auri, yet her eyes tell me all I need to know. "What is it, mam?" The maid responds as she prepares to run downstairs, grabbing her long dress and holding her hands up.
"Tell the maids downstairs to also pray to me; your prayers might just help me revitalize Lord Auri's fighting capabilities." The maid soon runs off downstairs as I place my hand over Auri's forehead and begin doing a close-hearted prayer of my own.
Suppose I believed in it enough, which I did. Ruler of Hope should quick in to show me a path to Lord Auri's cure; it always quicks in, and just moments later, it does.
[Ruler of Hope analysis]
[Analyzis complete. The problem found with the subject is internal MP dysfunction.]
[Ruler of Hope has a solution, but you do not currently have enough MP to use. Do you wish to use Soul and EXP points? (Yes/No)]
No, I just had to wait for them to do their part, and perhaps maybe then it would be enough so I didn't have to go into near-death again.