Fighting knowledge was far more difficult to learn compared to history.
Konnor made progress with his fighting capabilities thanks to the holy knight Jahir’s guidance, but it was little progress compared to what he learned with Mars.
Both sides couldn’t compare.
It was a disheartening fact looming around his heart.
Leaving him alone with his thoughts as he was waiting for his friend to finish gathering the next stack of books for today’s lesson. However, his mind focus shifted when he turned to the right and saw the empty seat of the felis kid. An odd occurrence, as he was always early waiting for Mars to start his lecture.
“When is Tahir coming?” Konnor asked his friend, who arrived with his new stacks of books and placed them on his desk.
Mars looked up, then his gaze shifted to his left to see the empty seat, “I regret to say he won’t be joining our sessions anymore. He proved to have a powerful affinity with the holy arts.”
“What do you mean?”
A momentary silence followed as he moved his chair where took a seat, “He has potential to become an archbishop or become a paladin in the sacred order of Purity of Will.”
Konnor’s eyes widened. While he knew little about the Purity of Will, he knew about the position of archbishop and the importance, “That’s...incredible. He is truly lucky to be so gifted.”
“Is not luck, is devotion and unwavering faith. And we don’t know if he will receive a blessing in a couple of years. If he does, then I don’t know what the future would await for him.” Mars slowly drifted away into these thoughts, his body leaning on the back of his chair allowing his body to slide off the chair but he shook his head to wake up, “Moving on, I’m happy you are making good progress in your training with the Divine shields.”
Konnor’s expression had a drastic turn the moment he heard about his training, “Is not that good...I understand what I’m doing and what I should do, yet I make little progress.”
“You shouldn’t compare the physical training with your studies. They are fundamentally different. You can learn an entire library's worth of knowledge in a month, but you cannot become a weapon master in the same time, blessing or not.” Mars tried to comfort him. The heart needed to be in the right place so his friend could reach new heights.
“I just don’t understand. Why is it hard to learn to fight?” His head buried between his arms wallowing in self pity, his mind lost in the unending questioning and doubt of his capabilities.
Mars opened his mouth but closed it as he came deep into thought, drawing comparisons of circumstances. When the image was clear enough, he was ready to speak, “We come from a peaceful town, a land where no monster has ever set foot. Is a privilege which we should always be thankful to the gods’ great mercy. It will be a slow process as we never felt the need to learn to protect ourselves.”
His friend’s words ticked something in his mind, slowly raising his head to look at him with deep frown since he couldn’t call his life privileged before the blessing as he worked with his family every day in the fields and then worked on other villages fields so they could pay the high taxes.
He wasn’t able to say goodbye to his family for that exact same reason.
“I didn’t grow with any privilege.” The crestfallen boy replied.
“As much as I want to agree, we do have one privilege over many others. Ulsvania’s territory is vast, the reason why it is impossible to guard every piece of land, which is the perfect environment for monsters to breed and attack nearby settlements. Our town never had to face any of these issues since her foundation.”
“But nearby villages are the same.” He recalled all the villages he visited to help during the harvest season, all were like his home.
Mars turned away, looking at the wall, “I’m talking about all the settlements that are closer to the frontier and the south. Monster attacks aren’t uncommon and lives are lost.”
His gaze returned to his friend and clapped both hands. “But we aren’t here to be sad, especially now since we will depart to Santiò for the ceremony of acceptance in a couple of days.”
Konnor’s expression had a drastic turn as he didn’t see a reason to travel again, “Ceremony of acceptance? And why do we need to go to Santiò?”
“Because this ceremony is to be officially recognized by the Trinity church and the Varomor Empire as a blessed child, and is carried out by the pope, there is no greater honor to be in the presence of such a magnificent being!” Mars exclaimed, almost jumping from his chair out of excitement.
“The pope!” The shock of the news almost sent him falling from his chair, but was quick to grab his desk to stop himself.
“Worry not, you only need to assist and hear the teaching of our gods through their messenger.”
“That doesn’t make it any less stressful…”
“Enough chit chat! We must learn about the First Monster invasion!” Mars stood up from his chair and grabbed the first book from the pile, and opened it on the first page, “This event marks the foundation of the Varomor Empire, under the leadership of Saint Grekory, of the Leventhorpe dynasty. He personally led his armies to push back the invasion and liberated countless provinces on his path to victory. His greatest victory was in the valley of unsung heroes, where he struck a blow…”
Three firm knocks came from the door before being opened and the man peeked inside, all his facial features hidden behind a white veil.
“Apologies for my interruption but his excellency Milko requires both of your presence at the hall of prayer.”
Mars cleared his throat, “We will go there as soon as possible.”
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The veiled man nodded and closed the door.
“What a shame, I wanted to teach everything about the First Monster Invasion.” The young priest returned the book back to the pile and adjusted his collar.
“Why would the archbishop need us?”
Mars stroked his chin a few times, but his mind remained devoid of answers. “I truly don’t know, but we shouldn’t keep him waiting.”
He was the first to exit the room and waited for his friend before closing the door and grabbing his hand before they left towards their new destination as fast as possible without resorting to sprinting as it would have been rude to the rest of the people that could be inside the room.
Konnor once again checked his limited surroundings. The same pattern of crystals at unique positions remained. However, after one turn to the left, he saw a large corridor leading to a pair of large wooden doors; the crystals hanging from the roof with an iron chain.
However, he didn’t need to wonder as Mars pulled him towards the corridor in the direction of the doors. The entire path had portraits hung on the walls with scenes of battles, one that caught his interest was a colossal wall that dwarfed any human, beastfolk and even monsters that were represented in the portrait, but the wall wasn’t just enormous but was spitting fire from every direction.
“Is that the Colossus?” He pointed to the portrait.
Mars turned and looked at the piece of art before nodding in confirmation, “Indeed, this portrait commemorates the battle of Red dawn from decades ago. Where the Colossus was able to withstand the combined effort of multiple green-skins tribes alone. All thanks to the leadership of Commander Zelteris.”
Konnor stepped closer, looking for more details but his time was cut short as a hand pulled him away from the portrait, dragging him to the entrance to the hall of prayer.
Mars soon pushed one door open and lowered his head as soon as he entered, his friend following suit, “We have arrived, your excellency.”
“Good, good.” The archbishop was standing at the other end of the room behind the square altar and pointed to one bench from the right side with his golden staff, “Please take a seat, we need to wait for another guest.”
The two friends took the invitation and sat in the middle of the rows of benches.
Konnor took the opportunity to look at his surroundings. The shape and decorations showed to be very similar to the church back at Marigo, except some statues were golden, with colorful gems encrusted on the base.
The large doors were opened again, catching everyone’s attention, and turned to see the entrance of the newcomers. The first to enter was a young woman wearing beige robes over white garbs, both laced with silver outlines and a large golden cross sewed on the chest. However, what caught most of the attention was the teal skin color, her long black hair interlaced into a single braid reaching down past her waist.
And the most definitive feature, a pair of small tusks coming out from her lower lips.
“That’s an orc girl.” He whispered to his friend.
Mars narrowed his brow and softly elbowed Konnor’s stomach, “Don’t be rude, Konnor.”
“Sorry.”
“Ah Maui, it is great to have you here but, where is your friend?”
“The honor is always mine, your excellency. Yvrel will arrive soon, she is praying at the entrance.” The orc named Maui lowered her head in respect for a moment before she could continue to her respective seat.
Except she stopped next to where Mars was waiting.
“Greetings brother, may the light of Lidae guide your path.” She gave her blessings.
Mars quickly stood up, flashing a smile, “And may Uteus protect you, sister.”
“So we may both rest on Ysanh's mercy.” Together, they recited the last sentence before they parted ways.
Soon after, a new pair of footsteps were heard, and the attention turned to the source. A tall woman with ivory skin walked inside wearing a long indigo right shoulder cape with silver lining that covered the left side of her body. She was wearing a leather gilet above her long white shirt and a pair of pants hugging tightly her legs. But just like the priestess, the most prominent features were on her head, a pair of long brown rabbit's ears pointing upwards with a slight crook, matching her short straight chestnut hair.
She gave a quick bow before moving towards the priestess, passing the duo without bothering to glance at them.
Konnor’s eyes were glued to her back as he saw the small brown round tail.
He leaned closer to whisper in his friend’s ear. “Is that Lepus girl just like me?”
Mars let out a long sigh. “If she weren’t, she wouldn’t be here.”
“I wonder what her blessing is.” He commented as his eyes looked to the roof, thinking of the many possibilities.
“Marksmanship.” Yvrel sharply turned around with her blue eyes locked into Konnor’s, making him freeze on the spot as he never expected his whispers to be heard.
“Don’t whisper behind my back, it is rude.” Her right hand went under her cape and pulled out a small round object from one of her pockets and flicked her fingers.
Almost immediately a sharp pain came to be right between his eyes, “Ouch!”
One of his hands reached to rub the sore spot, as the Lepus girl left with a scowl towards her respective seat next to her priestess, who watched the exchange in silence.
The priest let out a long sigh as he held the bridge of his nose, “I warned you.”
The archbishop kept his silence as he watched the minor scene play out. When the blessed girl reached her seat, he tapped the floor with his staff to gather everyone’s attention.
“Since everyone is here, I can explain the reason for your summoning. We are to rehearse the ceremony of acceptance.”
His announcement raised a couple of brows from his limited public.
Yvrel raised her hand. “A rehearsal?”
“Of course, my daughter, in the messenger's presence and voice of our gods, we must be at our best and make no mistakes.” His free hand went under his many robes and pulled a small book that fit in the palm of his hand, with a single hand he opened the little text and brought it closer to his face so the words were clearer to him, “So first let’s recite the 5 verses of our beloved Mother Lidae.”
His gaze shifted to the small crowd, “On your knees my children, we cannot be standing when reciting the sacred words.”
Everyone complied and kneeled as they as their hands clasped, adopting the ideal position to pray to the gods.
“Eternal Mother, my keeper, I need to relieve my heart of darkness.
Magnificent Mother, light of our lives, I wandered from your path and come to confess my sins
Illustrious Mother, infinite light of the world, I need you in my troubled hour
Gracious Mother, my shepherd, your humble child, calls to you. Show me the way, so it may fill me with joy.
I beg you, anoint me with your almighty light.”
The archbishop tapped his staff twice, signalling the end, “Well done, but do not stand up yet. We need to practice fifty more times before we proceed with the Litanies of repentance and then the rites of acceptance.”
Konnor held his breath after hearing the ridiculous high number but as he checked his surroundings, he was the only one who didn’t like the number while the rest remained with their heads low. Except for the archbishop, who had his stoic gaze fixed on him, mounting silent pressure to comply with his words.
He quickly returned to pray.