Bzzt.

“Dauma…”

Mm…

“Dauma!”

Huh?

“Can you hear me?”

Anten? How…

“Don’t you remember what Sir Michael told us?”

… oh right, our ‘connection’. I didn’t think we could talk to each other though.

“Well, seeing as how I’m probably unable to reach you otherwise, I think it’ll be better off if we used this to talk for now.”

Unable to? Are you in trouble? If so…

“No, no. Not in any trouble at all, Miss Yuu and I are fine.”

So then… what’s happening right now? Why are you unable to return?

“A lot of stuff happened. I think I’ve been recruited by the Church or something.”

What?

“It’s all good, I think. It’s perfect for us anyway, because now I can learn more about them and the Particle they are hiding.”

You sure it’s a Particle this time?

“My senses are going off like crazy here. I’m almost certain there is one close to me, though I don’t want to sneak around to find out just yet.”

…

“Dauma?”

… Blake asks if we should enact Plan B now.

“No! I mean, tell him no. Again, Miss Yuu and I are fine, we haven’t gotten caught yet, and I hope to keep it that way. We also need to find the exact location of the Particle before we can do anything first, so… please do not come in until I ask you to, alright?”

What about you?

“I’m attending some kind of ‘Initiation’ in a few days. From what I heard supposedly, it’s to find someone who is worthy to receive some kind of Gift, and I imagine this Gift might be the one.”

And the Church?

“They’re fine, for now. A bit off-putting though. I still don’t know much about them, but they are really into worshipping their Goddess. It looks an awful lot like an angel.”

You mean…

“Well, even if it is who we think, I can’t just ask them too many questions anyway. I need to make sure I can find out naturally without drawing too much attention to myself.”

So… blending in and making friends, huh?

“Seems like it.”

… hm.

“… Dauma.”

What?

“Do you ever think that—”

Oi! Blake! Where the hell do you think you’re going?

“… what?”

False alarm. He’s just grabbing something from his bag. What did you want to say?

“… it’s nothing. It can wait for now. I guess there’s nothing else we need to talk about. See you again soon.”

Anten, wait. Before you go…

“??”

Stay out of trouble. If not… then I’ll take matters into my own hands.

“It’s ok. Me and Miss Yuu will do my best to make sure this doesn’t become another Silver Fox situation again. I will NOT let it happen.”

I’ll take your word for it then. See you.

“Goodbye, Dauma.”

Bzzt.

**********************

Okay, Anten. Make sure the situation doesn’t become worse like last time. Keep it cool and well. I can manage that, right?

…

First, I have to make sure I don’t stand out among the rest of them. Be normal, act normal, and no one will look too much. Just follow what they do, and everything will be fine.

“Next!”

Much like the rest of her new acquaintances, Anten had queued up for the Goddess Initiation, apparently one of the biggest events the Church had been hosting for many years now, and one that she knew she had to attend, lest she be called out by anyone.

Following where the crowd went, she decided not to queue at the very front or the very back of the line. Instead, she settled for a spot around the middle, which she figured was most likely the best place for her to stand without drawing attention to herself.

Slow and steady…

“H-hello, sir…”

As soon as she entered the tent, she immediately bowed and greeted the person inside as politely as she could, only to be met by a cold reply.

“Give me your hand, please.”

It was the old man himself, the one who had questioned her and Yuu when they had first arrived, the man who was now sitting behind the table and waiting for her to place her hand on his open palm.

“Right, yes, of course, sorry.”

Am I blowing it? I think I might be blowing it.

Putting on an apologetic smile that came off more as sheepish and clumsy, she stepped forward and extended her own hand out, unflinchingly following his instructions.

“Hmm… let’s see…”

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Breathing deeply and concentrating, the old man began to mumble to himself in fragmented words, words that she did not fully understand the context of even though they were spoken in clear English.

“Life… relationship… fate…”

As he continued muttering, he suddenly stopped, his eyes shooting open and widening as his hand began to tremble.

“…”

“Sir… Father...?”

He said nothing. His mouth was open and agape with shock. He was not looking at her anymore but was instead blankly staring up at the roof of the tent, as though he had gone into a catatonic shock.

“Are you…”

“…”

Then, without any warning, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he went limp in an instant. Realizing his sudden response, she reacted quickly and grabbed onto his hand to prevent him from fully falling to the ground and accidentally hurting himself even further.

“Father!”

Oh god, oh god, what did I do?

“One of the Judges collapsed!”

As she panicked, she could hear the people behind her loudly yelling, which only further exacerbated her worries. Despite everything though, she did her best to gingerly lift the unconscious old man up and place him gently onto the table, putting him in a comfortable position such that he would not fall again.

“Come on… come on…”

The crowd, who had already noticed what she was doing, had now gathered around the entrance of the tent, looking in out of curiosity or panic, and giving her no chance to leave or hide.

“What is she doing?”

“Do you think she did this?”

“Please be fine… please be fine… please be fine…” she urgently muttered to him as she continued to hold his hand tightly amid the strong looks and whispers of suspicion.

She knew that she could heal him if he was injured, but what if that gave away her true identity? On the other hand, wouldn’t this have already placed her in a bad position in the eyes of the Church members? She did not know what the correct answer was with them.

“… uuuu…”

She gasped in surprise as soon as she heard the groan, and her hand began to get lightly squeezed. Miraculously, the old man was waking up on his own, and from the looks of it, he seemed to be fine for the most part.

“Oh, thank god…”

“You…”

“Eh?”

The moment he opened his eyes and looked at her, he had begun to speak once again, and right as he did so, his free hand moved up from the table, and he pointed a trembling finger directly at her.

“You… are by far the worthiest candidate to receive the Gift… your aptitude score… is 110 per cent…”

“… eh?” she immediately questioned; her face filled with confusion.

She had not even realized it yet, but the words that came out of his mouth had already doomed her chances of being a ‘normal’ member of the Church and propelled her to unwanted fame, along with even more scrutiny and suspicion.

**********************

Okay. Next, I must make sure I don’t reveal my real intentions. They already know what I’m here for, and I may have attracted some unwanted attention, but I just need to hide why I am here for it. I can’t take any more risks.

Two days after the Initiation ended, Anten was called up by a Church member right outside her dorm room.

“Uh, yes?”

“Come with me.”

He looked to be in his late 40s, with short, blond hair and sullen green eyes that seemed to stare right into her. Without any prior notice, he had come to her room before the daily prayer session commenced and promptly ordered her to follow him without asking any questions.

Even though he did not say anything else, the presence of the markings on his habit indicated to her that he was a elite member of the Church, much like the old man, and was therefore in a position of relative importance, so that meant to her that his words were most likely important.

Blend in, act normal. That means, don’t say no when someone important asks you to listen to them.

So, she obeyed him without hesitation and followed, despite once again having no clue where she was going or why she had to go, all to maintain the obedient appearance.

“…”

Since he had not specified whether anyone could come with her, Yuu, who she had designated as her official ‘mentor’ for the trials the day before, silently accompanied the two of them as they made their way down the hallway, making as little commotion as possible.

“It’s Sister Anten…”

“Where is she going?”

“Let’s follow…”

However, in spite of their attempted secrecy, the other followers of the Church had also begun to stir at this time, and as they opened their doors and noticed them walking, they unsurprisingly became incredibly curious and followed, especially considering that she had been the talk of the town for the past few days.

Understandably, after he noticed the new and unwanted audience that they were drawing in, the elite member stopped walking and looked at her with his dead-eyed stare.

“We cannot continue. Lose your followers.”

“I don’t think they’re my—”

“Deal with them.”

“… okay,” she hesitantly replied before turning to Yuu and hurriedly confiding in her, “can you handle them for me, Miss Yuu? I don’t think I’ll be able to stop them. Please just… lead them away, show them my room if you need to.”

“… alright…”

The plan went off without a hitch, as after a few rounds of silent staring with them, Yuu remarkably seemed to be able to convince the nosey members to stop their snooping and lead them away, providing the opportunity for Anten and the man to leave without drawing any more eyes.

“Keep up,” the elite member coldly remarked, not bothering to stop any more as he headed towards the entrance of the dorms leading out to the compound.

The sun had not yet risen, so it was still quite cold out for them. Taking that into account, he quickly picked up his pace as he walked in the direction of the library, prompting Anten to do the same.

Throughout the past week that she had been staying in the Church, she had slowly learnt that its layout was not as simple as she had thought. There were a surprising number of buildings inside the compound, with a few that she believed had been unoccupied when the Church had settled down, and with the sheer number came numerous tight alleys and secret passageways that commonly served as shortcuts for the knowledgeable followers.

“In here.”

Just before they hit said library, they made a left turn into the space between two adjacent buildings before going through several tight alleys snaking left and right, making turns upon turns along the twisty path.

It was not until they made a right turn for the fourth time that they finally started to descend down a set of narrow steps, seemingly going down deep and far into the bowels of the Church.

“…”

“…”

After multiple flights of zigzagging stairs, the both of them came to another long passageway lined with torches on both sides, although unlike the ones above, this one was straight and easy to walk through.

“Hmm.”

The entire layout of the whole thing reminded Anten of the underground temple Dauma had told her about; strenuous, confusing, and overall hard to navigate. However, despite its unusual location, it only made her more confident that she was being brought to a very classified area, and there was really only one thing that she knew had to be stored in such an area.

Reaching a metal door with multiple padlocks at the end of the passageway, the elite member took out a large set of keys from his pocket and began to use them to unlock each lock separately and very slowly.

“…”

The entire process seemed to be incredibly long and tiring, especially given how cramped and hot the torch-lit passageway was, but he never once broke a sweat as he skillfully finished it, unlocking and opening the door with relative efficiency and ease.

“See for yourself,” he finally spoke again after he was done, stepping aside to let Anten pass through the door and into the room behind it first.

“… ok.”

The first thing she saw when she entered was a giant face. Carved out of stone, it was a familiar face that she had seen in the main square during the daily prayers. The face of the Church’s Goddess herself was casually sitting at the back of the room, her blank eyes lifelessly staring at her as she entered.

The entire room, or chamber as she believed it to be, was seemingly also made completely out of rocks, illuminated only by light from small openings carved into the ceiling. Taking those into account, it was much dimmer and more ominous than anything else she had seen in the Church compound, yet at the same time more natural, almost like she was standing in a cavern.

In front of the ominously creepy face was a white pedestal supporting two hands that were placed together, with their palms cupped and facing upwards.

But it was the thing that floated above the two hands that was the main draw of the entire chamber. The crystal-white orb, freely suspended in mid-air, had caught her attention almost immediately, and it did not even take a second for her to figure out what it was.

“The Goddess’ Gift,” she heard the elite member say from behind her as he entered the chamber as well, quietly shutting the door behind him as he did so.

It’s… it’s…

Right away, the first thing she thought of when she saw the Particle was how unprotected it was. Of course, there was the matter of getting to this chamber, which was certainly not easy to remember, and there could have been some hidden traps in it that she was not aware of, but other than that, it was just sitting there, free for anyone’s taking.

Maybe I could…

“Do not approach. Look only.”

However, as soon as she heard the elite member’s stern warning, she reconsidered taking a step forward towards it and instead took one backwards.

Not yet, Anten. Not yet.

She kept her mouth shut as she watched the white orb bob silently on its ‘throne’, glowing bright like one of her light arrows. Without even needing to get closer to it, she could already feel its aura, strong and powerful, and a sense of comfort soon washed over her.

She had an idea on what the Particle was based on what the god Michael had said to her, but she did not know its full identity or the extent of its powers at its current stage. Despite this, she knew that it was important that she obtain it as soon as she could before something bad could happen.

I guess I could take it now… but if I can win it later anyway, why should I do that?

Knowing that she would be putting herself in a more dangerous position if she waltzed over and snatched it, she put her Particle plans on hold and continued to silently observe it until the elite member opened his mouth again.

“I want to ask you a question.”

“Huh?” she responded in surprise.

“You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to. I was just curious.”

“… no, no, I can answer!” she hastily remarked, caught off-guard by his sudden chattiness, “please, ask away!”

“You look incredibly similar to the Goddess, you know. Your appearance, your mannerisms, they are almost the same. Your aptitude score during the Initiation was also off the charts.”

“Oh, um…”

“So then, let me ask you,” he bluntly continued as he turned and looked at her again, “who are you exactly?”

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. Quick Anten, answer the question but do it normally!

“Well… a lot of people here have told me the exact same thing,” she smiled and tried her best to laugh the question off, “but I don’t really mind it. I think it’s just a coincidence! After all, there’s no way I can be a Goddess, right?”

“Hmm…”

“Ehehe…” she let out a nervous chuckle as she began to sweat, unnerved by his sudden determination.

Stop staring at me, please!

“So… you don’t know who the Goddess is?”

“O-of course I do! She’s the most important figure of the Church! She’s the one who gave you the Gift! But I promise you, I know nothing else besides that!”

“…”

Please…

“Then, I suggest that you better start reading up on her as soon as you leave this chamber. I can see that your knowledge on the Goddess needs to be improved.”

“Y-yes, Father…”

“Now, time’s up. Move away.”

“Got it.”

That was too close, I need to be more careful next time.

At the very least, even if she had almost been found out, she had uncovered the location of the Particle, which meant that if she needed it, Plan B could already be enacted as a contingency.

“…”

But she stayed strong and determined to maintain her cover at all costs. Even if it meant lying to other people, even if it meant more close calls, she still kept true to her character no matter what could happen to her.

That was just what she had to do, not just for the Church, but for herself as a person.