After dragging us to a nearby cafe we were immediately given free service, which was nice, but hardly answered any of our… Or I guess my questions. Mochi wasn’t bothered by it all, enamered by sweets.
The waitress brought over our coffee, making it extra sweet with cream for the other two, smiling, and even shaking a bit, no doubt nervous that a saint was there… ‘I feel bad for her… If only people realized how much of a child Plutia really is they wouldn’t be so anxious…’
Just before Mochi gulped it down I quickly covered the mug with my hand, stopping her from raising it. “It’s hot… Be careful not to burn yourself.”
She nodded confidently, giving me enough confidence to at least take my hand away, but then she just stared at it drooling. ‘Maybe I should just teach her water magic… If she can learn it well enough to use ice… This won’t be a problem anymore. Hm… Since she already knows earth and air, it should actually be easy, as those provide boons to her learning it. But… It would make learning something like fire incredibly difficult.’
I suddenly felt a finger poking into my cheek and slowly turned back to Plutia who was smiling mischievously. “Boop.”
‘I feel like I have better things to be doing…’ I muffled my own slight growl as I leaned back away from her and against my chair. “Right, what exactly did you need Plutia?”
Mochi’s eyes shot up in an instant and posture suddenly became perfect. ‘Did she not know? Who she was?’
Plutia leaned on one of her hands, placing her elbow on the table as she spun her other finger, dipping it in Mochis drink to cool it off and trailing divine light through the air. “Maybe I just wanted to see you two. You are both my little sisters aren’t you?”
“Don’t put your finger in someone else drink, that’s disgusting.” I slapped her hand away and she suddenly recoiled, holding it like a puppy with an injured paw. “You could have just touched the outside of the mug…”
Everyone fell silent and the atmosphere didn’t so much change… As much as break into tiny little pieces. Mochi was no doubt confused and shocked, likely soon to be disillusioned, and Plutia was now too busy pouting to answer my questions.
“If we’re sisters, then why does it feel like I have to mother you… Were you really going to make these poor people serve you for free too?” The waitress nervously came back and handed me the bill that I had discreetly asked for earlier. “Letting people give you free things just because you’re a saint is irresponsible. One is probably fine… But seeing as how you know everything on the menu I doubt this is your first time coming here…”
“I… Uh… Well that’s…”
I sighed, handing the waitress a couple of silver coins. ‘And she ordered something expensive too…’ “They aren’t giving you free things out of kindness, they would simply lose their reputation if they demanded payment from you.”
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She started tearing up but held back.
‘Honestly… She’s not doing it on purpose but… No, why does it even bother me? If anything it probably helps their business with a saint being a regular… I guess I’m just really touchy right now…’ I let out a deep breath. “I mean really… People donate so much, it’s not like you could be broke right?”
She timidly glanced to the side. “Oh well… I mean, all the donations get sent to heaven, I don’t keep anything for myself so…”
“All of them?” My voice cracked as I slowly lowered my head to the table. ‘She really is hopeless… But I guess that’s why we love her…’ I raised my head again, squinting. “Wait, saints get their power from God, right? The one we call the creator, that’s why reverent people reserve that title only for him, even though some people would refer to someone like you as a god. But… What’s the point of sending money to heaven… Does he like, give you more power the more money you give him?”
“Lots of reasons…” Mochi mumbled. “We give as a symbol of faith and an expression of sacrifice. It’s a symbol of letting go of material attachments, and reminds us that they are so insignificant that we should be able to give them up freely, without getting anything in return… Statistically, people that donate money are happier, and they spend less money on bad things like alcohol.”
We both stared at her for a moment until Plutia started to nod. “Yeah! What she said. It's like that.”
‘Just who exactly is the saint here…’ “Ok… But why does it have to go to heaven… Why can’t it stay here and be used to like… Feed the hungry or something…” I sighed as they both froze again. ‘It’s not like I’m picking a fight… I seriously want to know… Whatever…’ “By the way, Mochi, where did you even hear that stuff?”
“Oh uhm…” She nervously looked to the side. “From… My mom… I guess…”
“So you have memories from before?”
“Just one… Otherwise, I wouldn’t even know what my parents looked like.”
“Was your mom a cleric then? Or a priestess?”
She shook her head. “We were just there to pray… At the same shrine, we were at just now. My dad hated giving money so my mom had to explain why it was important. Then she taught me how to pray.”
‘That’s her only memory… She cries so often I was almost expecting it… But I guess it was so long ago it doesn’t even bother her to think about it anymore… This is all making my head hurt…’
Plutia chuckled poking her in the forehead until she lifted her eyes again. “I remember.” She folded her hands and closed her eyes. “Please make all of the money come back so Daddy's happy.” She said with a grin before unfolding her hands again. “That was your first prayer right?”
Mochi suddenly turned bright red, her body unmoving.
‘Well… It’s still better than her crying, so I’ll take it as a win.’ “If you actually had no real reason for bringing us here, then I’m going to make one up, you can answer some questions for me. Starting with… What the heck is a Yeladot…
She raised her eyebrow. “Oh, yeah. I guess you wouldn’t know, your circumstances made you mature rather quickly so of course you would have never been one.”
‘What…’
“It means divine child, or, someone with childlike faith. Someone pure, innocent, and still a bit immature… You’ve never really been any of those things, so it would make sense you weren’t one, even as an actual child.”
“That’s… Kinda harsh…” ‘I’m not really a bad person am I?’
“It’s not a bad thing, it just means you grew up too fast… Although in her case… It’s kind of the opposite. Even though she’s in her 20s she has the mental and emotional maturity of something more like a 8 year old. Uh… On average. Some things will come more naturally than others. But… Because of this, despite her overwhelming pure soul and physically mature body, she will only be able to cast low-tier miracles, all be it extremely potent low-tier miracles. In essence, that is what the class means.”
“And once she matures?”
“She’d receive a normal class. At her current divinity, She’d be an abbot.”
“You’re saying she can cast 12 insanely strong lesser heal spells a day? And once she matures she’ll be able to use tier 7 miracles?” ‘That would be insane on its own… But combining that, magic… AND fighting skills?”
She slowly looked back and forth between us, clearly not understanding much of what we were saying, but suddenly flexing her biceps, appearing to at least pick up on what I was thinking.
“That’s right, you’re strong,” I smirked rubbing her head before relaxing again. ‘I definitely don’t have to worry about her anymore. She could get practically any job she wanted and live a pretty good life. I guess all I have to do is help her figure out which path she wants to choose. Obviously, I want her to go hunting with me… But if I tell her that in this state she’d do it without thinking… That would be like taking advantage of her.’