I stretched before greeting Melly. “Good morning.”
“Morning. You look well. Did you sleep, well, better than usual?”
“Yeah, it was quite mild this time. I should finally be free!” I exclaimed. These nightmares have been going on for, like, two weeks. I am so done with them.
“Congratulations! I’m sure the Cardinal and Samuel will be happy for you.”
“Yeah. Haa, that’s one thing done. Sadly, I still have another issue to deal with.”
“Don’t worry, after everything you’ve been through, that’s nothing.”
“Yeah! So, let's hurry up and eat breakfast; we don’t want to be late for the meeting we set up.” I lead with a bounce in my steps.
After eating breakfast, and gathering our allies, we headed towards our meeting.
Okay, let’s go! Knock knock.
“Come in.”
As we entered, we noticed that Cardinal Caitlyn was joined by Samuel and a few others.
“Greetings, I’m told you needed to talk to me?” Our party turned towards Melly and me as we were the ones who set up this meeting. I turned to Melly, who nodded.
“Yeah, Eli and I had two things we wanted to ask. First of all,” Melly starts, “we have been experiencing a sort of weird ‘hunger.’ Do you happen to know what that is? Even eating extra food isn’t fixing it.”
“Truly? How marvelous.” Cardinal Caitlyn exclaimed. “While there is no name for what you are experiencing, I do know what its cause is.”
“That’s good. So, why are we always ‘hungry’?”
“Simple, as you are growing too fast, your body lacks the needed resources to improve you. While quite rare conventually, it’s fairly common among those fused with monsters, particularly at such low levels.”
“And, while undocumented, it’s theorized that activating the hero’s ability can also cause the same thing. Having both at once? That’s unheard of!” Samuel exclaimed.
“Right. So, the ‘hunger’ you are experiencing comes from a lack of, what we believe to be, Divine energy.”
“What?” Everyone exclaimed. I thought I was essentially the only source of that present in the mortal world.
“While I understand your shock, that’s our best guess. As you know, our ability to Level Up was delivered to us by the Gods to reward our hard work and talent. What you likely don’t know, however, is that such a blessing requires energy. An energy that we mostly lack the means to create. Luckily, it appears to be rewarded to you whenever someone proves themselves.”
“That’s also why singular feats rarely increase one’s level on their own; you usually require multiple feats to generate enough energy to fuel your growth,” Samuel added.
“So, as long as we acquire that energy, we can keep Leveling Up?” Melly asks, looking at me. Uh, that’s worrying.
“Incorrect. No matter how much energy you have, if you don’t fulfill its other requirements, you can’t Level Up.” Samuel corrected.
“Even if? So you have other means of acquiring said energy?” I asked. Well, that or there are more requirements to Level Up than I thought.
“Yes.” Cardinal Caitlyn confirmed. “The most accessible method we’ve discovered is through true food. Though, again, no matter how much you eat, it can only reduce the amount of extraordinary feats necessary, not cut them out entirely.”
“Accessible… So, um, am I involved somehow?”
“Yes.”
“Oh! Then I ca-”
“By drawing out power.”
“Uh, oh, okay. That’s… not very useful, right?”
“That’s disappointing. Why would you sacrifice lifespan just to save a few days?” Melly questioned.
“Well, it does reduce the difficulty of Leveling Up, even if only slightly,” I answer. When I got weird looks, I added. “Not that I would! Besides, it’s only particularly useful for those that have already reached their limit anyway!”
“Correct. And, it suppresses the addiction for potentially months, which should be longer than the time you lose.” Samuel added. Oh, that’s better, but still not worth it, for now at least. To an elder, though? I can see the value.
“So, true food, surpassing feats, or lifespan, that’s how you deal with the ‘hunger.’ Wait, if that’s the case, why isn’t this common knowledge, other than the restricted stuff.” Melly asked.
“That’s because this only happens when you’ve passed the requirements for multiple levels simultaneously. Your body wants to grow multiple levels but lacks the energy needed, causing you to get ‘hungry.’” Cardinal Caitlyn explained.
“If the Hero was here…”
“I’m not certain he could help. While true chefs are capable of infusing Divine Energy into their food, they have to sacrifice some of their own energy to do so.”
“In that case, asking him would be quite selfish,” Rapunzel stated.
“Yeah. That's too bad, though.” I sighed. True food is really good.
“While disappointing, we shall not abuse our relationship with the Hero.” Greg agreed.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
“Indeed.”
“Yeah, we’ll just have to keep on training.” Melly finished.
“Good. So, what was the next thing you want to discuss?” Cardinal Caitlyn asked.
Melly looked towards me. I nodded my acceptance. “So, Eli’s mana density is no longer increasing.”
“And the result?” Samuel asked nervously.
“It is still too much for my veins.” I start before getting interrupted by everyone's worry. Haa, can’t you see how calm I am?
“I’m sorry, Saintess, we couldn’t help you.” Samuel bowed. Oy. Even if that were the case, I would still have other options! Even if they are far from ideal…
“Ehem! As I was saying, before I was interrupted, while it is currently too much for my veins, learning the third spell, normally, and becoming slightly more proficient with the density technique, will be enough to fix my problem.” I explained.
“Haa, that’s a relief.” Samuel sighed.
“It really is, even beyond losing the saintess.” Cardinal Caitlyn agreed. Uh… I kinda want to ask about that, but I'm way too scared to hear the answer.
“So, yeah. I’m fine now. And while I do have some things to deal with, even the nightmares have weakened.” I smiled. “Oh! Could I go to the temple to try on the robes soon?”
“Of course, though, I don’t know if you will succeed.”
“Well, even if I fail, at least, I should better understand what I’m missing.” I reason.
“Possibly, and it’s not like you really need a specific reason anyway. Understood, I’ll take you there after lunch.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem. Now then, did anyone else have any questions?”
“May I ask why Eli is seen so unfavorably by the church?” Greg asked. Greg!?
Cardinal Caitlyn tenses, before sighing. “Okay. So, while there are a few reasons, her situation is primarily caused by simple bad luck.”
“Yes, that’s probably the best way to describe her situation.” Samuel agreed. “It mainly comes from the divine mission she received though.” WHAT!?
Before everyone could ‘respond’ to that, Cardinal Caitlyn quickly corrected, “Only indirectly!” She quickly continued. “It just happened to cause a myriad of problems, especially with its suddenness!”
“Like what?” I nervously ask.
“To start, while we can’t directly choose the next saintess, us Cardinals are usually able to lower the potential candidates, so instead of the forty-two we had this time, the Gods usually only have to choose between the best six or so. That being denied to us made people feel that the Gods didn’t trust our judgment.” Ah, that would do it…
“Doubly so when you proceeded to ’hide’ that you were chosen,” Samuel added.
“Hey! I didn’t hide anything, I genuinely didn’t know!”
“So you claim.” WHAT!? “While we know that now, many didn’t believe you, deciding that you were deliberately slighting them.” He then added, “And with how you acted before being chosen, like refusing to stay at the temple, not only was everyone completely unfamiliar with you, you seemed to be actively looking down on the Cardinals, most of them still don’t believe you.” Yeah, I can’t argue with that…
“Correct. So, it makes sense that they would dislike her, just from her accidental actions. And, we, sadly, do have to add her lack of not only good pedigree; but any, to her list of issues.” She sighed.
“Truly? In the church?” Greg questioned.
“Sadly,” Samuel confirmed. “And while Cardinals are notably quite capable of putting such behind them, people are only human, it’s hard to ignore what you have been taught to believe. Especially since those with better families do have a better chance of achieving higher ranks, even with their pedigree not being able to assist them directly.”
“For example, hiring exceptional tutors can easily make you the most qualified for a position. And that’s not counting any training in politics and the like. So, yes, the various cardinals are usually biased, albeit only slightly and fairly subconsciously. The church is decent at bringing people of different origins together, though, so it isn’t nearly as bad as it could be. Sadly, disliking someone can make you quite petty, causing you to go after things that you otherwise wouldn’t care about.” Cardinal Caitlyn explained.
“Yeah, and even with the church’s help, people still look down on orphans anyway,” I added. “That’s why when you see orphans outside of the church we usually in a group. Especially in our more visited locations.”
“Is it that bad?” Rapunzel asked.
“Not usually. Adults tend to know that they can’t mess with us, as that’s a surefire way to summon some unhappy deacons. Kids though… kids don’t usually think of possible consequences before acting, so they can be quite annoying. Until it blows up in their face,” I finish with a laugh.
“Oh, that’s why the deacons were occasionally dispatched here.” Cardinal Caitlyn said in realization. “Anyway, normally all of that wouldn’t be too big of a problem. Sadly, as you were immediately given a divine mission upon your appointment, you were too busy to help alleviate everyone's worries, exasperating the situation.” Caitlyn continued.
“How were things supposed to have gone normally?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“Well, normally whenever a new saintess is appointed, they usually set up some initial plans for what they plan to do while they occupy the position, as well as dealing with the backlash of their blessing.”
“Backlash!? Did I somehow miss that!”
“Not from your power.” Cardinal Caitlyn explained. “From you occupying the position. New saintesses tend to cause conflict with the Cardinals for a myriad of reasons. And the suddenness of your appointment sadly exasperated that…” She sighed. “Anyway, to alleviate that, it has essentially become a tradition for new saintesses to at least try to appease the Cardinals, to become more familiar with them at the very least, even if you don’t actually accomplish anything.”
“So the goal isn’t to actually appease them, but to get to know them?”
“More or less. You still should, at least, try to appease some Cardinals, though, or you will be seen as disrespectful.” Samuel added.
“Okay.” I then thought about what I’d just been told and came to an annoying realization. “So, I just missed out on talking to everyone, while trying to, what? fulfill some weird requests as if I was calming down a bunch of children?”
“Well…” Cardinal Caitlyn was stunned. Meanwhile, Melly and Samuel were laughing.
“Ha ha, that does sound about right. Though in actuality, it is a bit more serious.” Samuel corrected.
“Yes, especially since you, usually, don’t just sit down in a room and chat with the cardinals. Instead, you start understanding them through your early meetings. The ones that decide things like what information to send out about you and so on.”
“That’s why so little information was spread about you. You, quite simply, weren’t there to tell them what to add. They then used the excuse that they don’t have permission to include any information beyond the bare necessities to do just that.”
Seeing my confusion, Cardinal Caitlyn explained. “So, for the things that you have authority over, the cardinals are not allowed to make decisions in your stead, so, they either wait for you or try to make the mildest decision they can find. They, sadly, abused this rule to show their dissatisfaction.”
“Ah, I see. That’s, quite petty of them. Though if all that was going on, it makes sense why they would dislike me.” I sighed. “Well, as long as they don’t cause us any problems until after we defeat the demon lord.” I once again relented. Haa. If it weren’t for the prestige I’d gain for accomplishing my mission, I’d dread that. I mean, I’m still not looking forward to dealing with politics, but at least it should be a good bit easier.
“Yes, I hope so as well.” Cardinal Caitlyn agreed. “So, I presume the rest of you have even more questions?”
Now more confident from Greg’s question, everyone began enthusiastically asking their questions.
Haa, this is going to take a while…