A large gate blocked Yuri’s path. Attached to the gate was the largest church Yuri has ever seen. It was closer to a castle than a church, or at least some bizarre combination of the two.
“We still haven’t gotten inside and you’re already amazed by something as insignificant as the gates”
Sighing dramatically she continued “You sure you aren’t just some farmers daughter?” Mako smiled mischievously.
“Hah..that joke again..I’m a man damnit..”
Yuri slowly climbed the stairs towards the giant gates with a long sigh.
They were greeted by two guards with the now to Yuri familiar phrase “Welcome Master Bishop”. The gates opened faster than what one would believe possible for something of that size.
The gates, now fully open. Revealed the almost barren inside of the church. The walls were decorated with paintings of their goddess. The rest of the place however was filled with enough free space that their footsteps echoed in the large expanse of the hall.
The over sized church appeared to be devoid from both servants, priests or any kind of living being. The halls were not even lit up, Mako was forced to resort to summoning her floating fireball in order to light their way.
“Hm…Mako..? Is it normal for churches to be this creepy..?”
Glancing at the cobweb covered hallway there walking through, Yuri kept looking around due to the occasional squeaks of rats.
“Not really, all the servants quit, so now there’s no one to clean up the place, most of the guards have quite too, we only have four left. So we can’t really spare any of them on lighting the place up everyday”
“Eh…why did they all quit..? “ Yuri paused for a moment “Wait. Does that mean those two guards outside the church were half of your entire soldiers!?”
Yuri looked at the nonchalant Mako with a shocked expression.
“Well….our budget has been kind of low lately…hehe..”
Mako dropped the subject and started playing with her fireball as if it were a softball, causing the shadows in the hallway to grow and change randomly.
“So you’re in a state of financial trouble huh. That explains the sorry state of your shopping district which only consists of four stalls that sold junk…”
Rubbing her chin thoughtfully, Yuri began to fit everything together.
“But that’s weird…then how come your city is so large and full of castles and of the impressive looking things..if you can’t even pay your servants?”
Scratching her head, Yuri found herself at a loss as to possible reasons for this city’s strange situation.
“Ahhh..well you see. All those impressive things and buildings..well that’s the reason why we are so broke right now~”
Gingerly doing a small twirl, Mako hugged Yuri and started dragging her along the hall.
“But who cares about that, we still haven’t gotten to the cool bits of the church~!”
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“Hey. Don’t change the subject. Why the hell would you spend so much money on useless architecture?”
Staring at Mako, Yuri waited for an answer while tapping her foot.
“Ehm…well…you see..since Freiya is the goddess of all things pretty…i thought the city should look worthy…and stuff..so I kind of used up all the city’s funds…which made it so we weren’t able to pay most of the people working for us..and most people started moving out of the city..Teehee~”
Mako tapped her head with her fist, whilst making an amusing face.
“………”
Yuri could only be amazed by the sheer amount of stupidity radiating from the supposed Arch Bishop, so thick Yuri could almost see it.
“It’s not contagious is it..?”
Yuri slowly backed away from Mako.
“Ehhhhhhh, you’re so mean…you’re talking about me being stupid aren’t you!?” Mako cried out. “I know it’s my fault..but I have been trying to make things better for those that still live here..so…so…”
Her eyes began to tear up while she looked down on the ground.
Thinking about it, Yuri realised that all the people she saw on her little tour through the city, were extremely friendly to Mako.
It wasn’t the sort of friendliness that you show to someone of a higher position. It was a more honest sort of friendliness. Similiar to how one could not get angry at their own daughter for breaking a vase, when she felt sorry enough to give you all her measly pocket money for it.
“I see…I’m sorry for calling you stupid…you’re trying your best aren’t you..”
Tip toeing in order to reach, Yuri patted her on the head with an apologetic expression.
“Tch..now it’s like I’m the child here..”
Clearing the tears out of her eyes, Mako quickly straightened her clothes.
“Well…it’s okay, let’s keep going, there is still something amazing I have to show you on this tour~”
Back to her usual air headed and cheerful self, Mako continued to drag Yuri along the dreary halls of the giant church.
–
Finally arriving at the center of the building, they stood in a huge room larger than any warehouse.
The roof was made purely out of coloured glass, depicting the familiar goddess in a serene posture.
The walls were a golden white colour, that seemed to glow in the dark with the faint glow of the setting sun.
A lone plain white altar stood in the middle of the room. What drew Yuri’s gaze however wasn’t the altar, but rather what was on it.
The altars surface was filled with a collection of various rings and bracelets that rests atop a red piece of cloth. In the middle of the small accessories, lay a large golden orb, covered in familiar Viking looking runes.
Yuri had seen many amazing items during her adventures in her original world. She had stolen many thing that would make this orb pale in comparison. But the fact was, none of the items she had encountered before had ever given off such an amazing feeling upon being observed.
The orb seemed to have some kind of aura enveloping it that drew everyone’s gaze towards it.
“hmmm~ I see you’re impressed~”
Mako commented on Yuri’s obvious reaction of awe. It was only when Mako had spoken, that Yuri realised her body was shaking slightly, her knees almost giving out. Causing her to stand in an awkward position with her knees almost touching each other.
“What is that…that aura.”
Muttering to herself, which Mako overheard due to her closely observing Yuri, She quickly answered Yuri’s question.
“That. Is the Globus Cruciger, every church has an item given to them by their respective god. It’s used to determine who the next bishop will be, it’s said it can do other things..but no one uses them for anything but choosing the next leader of the church.”
Mako glanced at the orb.
“The church and the people consider them holy objects that must be protected at all costs. It’s said that the gods gave these away in order to stop the humans from fighting each other over the who the leader would be, and now this is how the next leader is chosen~”
Mako entered her History mode, and began babbling on about the history of the relics. Yuri, however, had much more important things on her mind than to listen to her History lesson.
Biting her lip so hard that it bled, Yuri thought to herself determinedly (This will be the starting point of my new reputation as master thief in this world…) She clenched her small fist tightly (I will steal…the relics of the gods.)