Several days had passed since the incident of the giant fireball and the pillar of water.

Hikaru had since forbidden Yuri from practicing runic spells inside the church, as that would cause even more bills that they can’t afford. In fact, all the damage in the training room has yet to be repaired, so there was still a gaping hole in the wall covered by a thin cloth to mask it.

Yuri had made full use of her time, spending several days cooped up in the room given to her by Mako. She only left her lair to use the bathroom or for dinner with Mako and Hikaru, her other meals consisting of dried rations she received from Hikaru who was worried about her diet.

The time she spent in her room was spent researching as much about this world as possible, but also learning as many runic spells as possible.

Inside her room, Yuri was finishing up with yet another book related to the nature of runic symbols, just as she was about to pick up another one, she was interrupted by someone bursting through the door.

“Ahhhh…Yuriii i’m so booored, all you’ve been doing is reading and reading and reading and reading, let’s go play~!”

Grabbing a hold of Yuri, Mako attempted to drag Yuri away from the mountain of books that covered every corner of the room.

“Nooo…i still have many things to read…to learn…for my goal..”

Yuri tried to resist, but she was weakened from sitting still for almost a weak. Not to mention that her current body wasn’t that strong originally, but now it barely had the strength of a puppy.

“She is right, Yuri, what you are doing is not healthy”

Hikaru appeared from behind Mako while speaking with a concerned voice.

“Listen here Yuri, a young girl should be outside, playing and enjoying the sun.”

Yuri was about to interrupt him to say something about her being a man, but Hikaru continued.

“Who do you think is allowing you to read these books in the first place, giving you free shelter and food, while asking nothing in return. What I am asking of you is simple, just keep Mako some company, it is beneficial for both of you”

Hikaru gave Yuri a kind smile, which caused her to avert her eyes as she felt a small blush developing.

“F-fine…not like I can refuse since I’m a freeloader and all…”

Yuri fell on her behind as she attempted to stand up, having barely used her legs, they now couldn’t support her own body.

“Ahaha…seems I’m unable to move..”

“No more excuses!”

Yuri was lifted up into a princess carry by Hikaru and moved towards the exit with Mako.

“Eeeeehhhhh I wanna be carried too, buuu~”

Mako pouted and complained while being dragged out by Hikaru.

The complaining Yuri was released her embarrassing princess carry once they arrived at the exit of the church.

“Hmmm..what first…oh! Let’s get Yuri some more cute clothes, since today is the harvest day so everything is cheaper and there’s more people selling stuff!”

Yuri was off by Mako towards some bright pink stalls, Hikaru following behind while giving Yuri an apologetic smile.

–

The three finally headed back to the church once the sun began setting.

Yuri was forced to try out countless embarrassing outfits. Most of embarrassing of all, Hikaru, the only male in their group, since Yuri technically wasn’t one anymore, was there to see it happen. Which caused Yuri to feel a strange form of shame for a reason unknown to her.

This time, Mako had forced her to wear something that Yuri thought was a Lolita Gothic style dress, or this worlds equivalent at least, except that this one, was unnaturally pink.

Finally arriving inside the church, Hikaru led the girls to their respective rooms. Their rooms were all in the same corridor, their rooms being the servants rooms that were placed there in order not to be too far away from the bishop. Since there were no servants anymore, those rooms were used by Yuri and Hikaru.

Slowly moving in the dark corridor, Yuri made sure that the two were asleep while she snuck along the corridor carrying a bag of things she had prepared before hand, which were of course stolen form around the church.

She slowly made her way through the dark unlit corridors, which took considerably longer since she kept getting lost in the maze of corridors, that didn’t have a single window to light up the complete darkness.

Eventually however, after many jump scares which turned out to be rats, she arrived where she wanted.

A giant room stretched before her, the ceiling made of coloured glass cast a stream of colourful moonlight upon the item she came for.

The Orb lay in the exact same place it was last time she was here a few days ago. There were no guards anywhere, which was expected.

Slowly making her way towards the altar in the middle of the room, she saw the items littered on it. Around the orb were smaller miscellaneous accessories of various kinds.

She took a step back in order to admire the Orb in all of its glory, a simple looking object, but with an aura worthy of representing a god.

She held out the ornamental knife from underneath her pink dress, and took put a piece of parchment from her bag. The parchment was filled with many different kinds of Runes and similar symbols, which she began to slowly etch onto the altar, the runes focusing around the Orb as the center.

It took several hours to finish etching the massive amount of runes on the altar, but when it was finished it truly looked impressive.

Yuri took a step back in order to admire her work in its full glory. The entire altar was filled with spiraling lines of runes of various geometric shapes, it looked like an obscure art piece.

“Heh, Those days of reading are paying off nicely..”

Spending the last few days locked away in her room while studying about this world, she had in reality been busy trying to find runic spells that could be used in order to stop the curse of the relic from being applied to her.

She had discovered a mass of various protection spells, none of which seemed to be at the level to stop the wrath of a god. Which is when she had an idea, if there weren’t any spells that could do what she wanted, she would just create her own.

She already knew that adding runes from her world would multiply the spells effect, but only that wouldn’t be enough. She created a runic circuit out of seven different spells, that when combined, would hopefully have enough power to block the curse.

This magic circuit was something that would have taken years if not decades to create, due to the extreme precision and skill required when drawing the runes. Not to mention the need to figure out a pattern for it to have a realistic mana cost.

Since Yuri had the dagger that could supply an insane amount of mana into her runes, she didn’t need to worry about the details, and only needed to create a rough template of the spell she needed to use.

“Fingers crossed…”

Having obviously never used it before, she had no idea if it would work or not.

“It’s now or never…”

Quickly swiping her hand across a large rune that was connected to all other runes by small lines of incredibly small runes, the rune lit up with a dim red.

The light slowly began to travel along the smaller runes, activating the rest of the runes on the altar and causing the altar to light up with an ominous red from the mass of runes.

The runes gave off a low humming noise, slowly increasing in brightness, almost blinding Yuri. They eventually disappeared and ceased glowing, leaving behind them trails of purple smoke.

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“Did it fail…?”

Unsure of what this sort of reaction actually entailed, Yuri observed the altar with suspense. Her question was answered as soon as she saw the orb through the trails of smoke.

It no longer possessed that distinct aura which seemed too holy to touch. Yuri was unsure of how long this effect would last, so she quickly took out a piece of cloth riddled with runes of various forms and sizes and wrapped it around the orb.

The cloth was something she had prepared before hand to seal the orb for an indefinite amount of time. Since using the same giant spell every time she needed to move it would be a slight annoyance.

“Hehe…first godly item…GET!”

Swiftly putting the cloth covered orb into her bag, she began to collect some of the smaller items that lay on the orb, jewelry and ritualistic items, all made from gold.

“I’m going to need some money for traveling..”

Busy stuffing her bag with goods, she didn’t notice the figure approaching her from behind.

“Impressive work Yuri, as I thought you are no ordinary person….”

A calm voice from behind her caused Yuri to jump onto the altar in fear.

“W-what, who’s there!”

She held out her knife in a threatening manner while standing on the altar.

“Hikaru…? how..?”

“You didn’t honestly think I was unaware of what you were planning right…?” Hikaru sighed “And here I thought you were a bit smarted than Mako…”

“H-huh? What do you mean! You knew!? Since when!?”

Yuri was completely shocked by that fact, she was sure to have hidden all the papers containing any spells pertaining to the capture of the orb, and she made sure no one saw her acquiring the items from around the church.

“You shouldn’t underestimate me…once upon a time I used to be one the strongest knights in the realm you know.”

Hikaru sighed and looked up at the moon through the glass ceiling above.

“Before we were disbanded and I was forced to be a bodyguard of course, but that doesn’t mean my skills have become rusty.”

Looking into Yuri’s eyes while saying this, Yuri shivered slightly in fear.

“…So….are you going to kill me now….”

Her legs gave out and she ended up kneeling on the altar.

“F-fine then…i know I can’t escape anyway..i saw you cut that giant fireball…well whatever… at least I managed to steal one relic…that should be worth a tale at least…hah…”

Swiping her hair away, she exposed her pale slender neck with a low sigh.

“At least make it painless, I don’t want to feel the pain of dying…it wasn’t pleasant the first time..and won’t be the second time either I reckon…”

Closing her eyes and clenching her small fists, she waited for the sound of a sword being drawn. But that sound never came. Instead she heard the sound of loud laughter, making her open her eyes in fear.

Hikaru was laughing with a heartwarming smile that almost made her forget the situation she was currently in.

“W-why are you laughing…” Yuri timidly asked while glancing at him.

“Because of how cute you looked when you resigned yourself, it would only have been funnier if you still had the body of a 28 year old man!” He continued Laughing.

“…..”

Unsure of how to respond to that, she braced herself to be stabbed or worse.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t come here to arrest or kill you. If I wanted to do that I would have done it before you had the chance to even come near the orb”

He slowly patted her confused tilted head.

“So then why are you here..if not to stop me..?”

Realising she wasn’t going to die, Yuri finally began to calm down.

“To join you of course. You are stealing a relic of the gods, if you’re stealing one then you must have the resolution to steal the rest of them, and I plan to help with that”

Calmly proclaiming this to Yuri, he slowly stepped forward towards her.

“….Is that so…i never really took you for someone like that…”

She couldn’t understand why someone would want to steal the relics of the gods, who would want to risk the gods wrath. Yuri was an exception as she was from another world, the gods meant nothing to her. She also didn’t consider herself as normal.

(But why would an honourable knight like Hikaru want to do something like this…?)

“You are probably wondering why I would want to do something like that. I don’t approve of thievery and I despise criminals.”

A flame filled with righteous honour flickered in his eyes.

“But you see…long story short, I just don’t approve of the way things are handled right now.”

“Huh? That is pretty short. Vague too.” Yuri squinted at him with a thoughtful look.

“Simply said. I think the gods have too much influence on mortals. Their petty arguments tend to develop into full on wars that end up in the mortal realm.”

Hikaru looked at the sky with disdain.

“Many die and suffer because of their incompetence, the world even ended once thanks to them. So ridding the world of their influence…is the only way to make mortals independent and able to rule themselves. Without having to go to holy wars and crusades because of the gods, the world would finally be at peace.”

Tightening his grip on his sword handle, Hikaru wore a very serious and longing expression on his face.

(Ah…Hikaru…my world mostly consists of non-believers and we still have wars..if not more wars than here…ahahaha….)

Yuri kept that thought to herself.

“So you are trying to rid the world of the relics..”

“Exactly, the relics are the way the gods communicate with their respective churches, giving out prophecies, choosing leader, giving out indirect commands. Without their control, the churches wouldn’t have to go to random wars.”

Lightly shaking his head, Hikaru sighed at the thought of the gods aloofness and inconsideration of lives.

“I see…trying to bring peace to the world..”

Muttering slightly to herself, she looked down. She did not wish to say anything about the fact that it is in human nature to wage wars, as evidenced by her world. And she didn’t as she couldn’t afford to miss the chance to earn a reliable travel companion.

“So you want to team up with me to steal all the relics?”

“Yes, I hoped you would accept me as your companion, if you do so then I shall pledge to protect you with my life, no matter what!”

Sincerely Proclaiming this to her, Yuri felt herself blush slightly. She cursed her new hormones.

“Yeah…in that cause…i shall accept you as my companion”

She proclaimed in what sounded to her as an official sounding statement.

“Hmmmm…whats going on…?”

Yawning loudly, Mako suddenly appeared at the entrance of the room, clutching a giant plushie oddly similar to Yuri.

“I heard noises…”

“Ah crap….this is your fault, she heard us!”

Yuri loudly whispered to Hikaru.

“What do we do now!?”

Hoping he had a brilliant plan of escape as this has been his goal longer than her. Yuri placed her hope on Hikaru. What she heard next caused her jaw to drop with shock.

“Tell the truth, obviously.”

Answering as if that was the natural answer, Hikaru raised an eyebrow at Yuri.

“Wait, what do you think you’re doing!?”

Attempting to pull on his arm in order to stop him, Yuri ended up being dragged along as Hikaru walked over to Mako.

“Mako, I have served you for many years now and believe that you deserve the truth.”

He knelt down on one knee in front of Mako in a knightly manner.

“Mnn…? what’s going on…?”

Wobbling slightly due to her sleepiness, Mako slowly sobered up once she heard the seriousness of Hikaru’s tone.

“You didn’t commit adultery with Yuri..did you…”

Her gaze shifted between the two and examined them seriously.

“W-w-what NO! I would never do something like that! I was a man dammnit!”

Blushing heavily, Yuri denied the accusation with a heavy stutter.

“Tch…well that’s boring..”

Mako clicked her tongue, noticeably disappointed.

“No Mako. The truth is… we stole the relic of Freiya and are planning to steal the rest of the godly relics, I hoped we could receive your blessing.”

Hikaru bowed slightly deeper than before.

“He said iiiiiiiiiiit-”

Yuri was unsure of what to do as her eyes turned into spirals of confusion.

“You. Idiot. Why would you say that, now we are doomed! Do you really think she would just accept you steal the GOD damned relic of her GOD that she follows, she’s going to send the guards after us and we will be hanged and…”

She clutched her head and let out a worried ‘awawawawa’ sound.

“Sure, you have my blessing”

Mako gently patted Hikaru’s head and mumbled a blessing of some sort.

“Wait…hueh…?” Yuri tilted her head, her eyes still spinning and slightly teary.

“Calm down Yuri, even if I were to send the g guards after you, there are only 3 of them if i don’t include Hiki…”

She calmly spoke to Yuri, causing her to relax.

“Besides, I wouldn’t do that even if I had a whole army at hand” She glanced at Hikaru. “ So you have my blessing”

She rubbed Yuri’s head gently with a faint smile.

“What..no that’s too easy..there’s a trap right..why would the master Bishop just excuse the theft of the most valuable item belonging to the church..!?”

“Geez Yuri…first of all the master Bishop is supposed to be understanding..besides, it’s not like I chose to be the Bishop or anything, I was simply forced to because the orb chose me. I also doubt Freiya cares about this, she trusts in her believers, otherwise why would she consent to me giving you her beloved knife”

Mako’s smiled radiated warmth and comfort that could calm a mob.

“I see…”

Yuri was unsure whether Mako was incredibly wise, or if she was just an airhead. She simply accepted her good luck that she had learned to trust in the past.

“Well we should prepare for your escape then, even I may be understanding. The other citizens won’t be and will try to burn you on the stake when they find out…”

Mako led them towards a back exit.

“I see..”

Paling at the thought of being chased by hundreds of angry pitchfork carrying people, Yuri was incredibly thankful for not having to go through that.

“Thank you Mako..”

“Ehehe, so do you now realise how amazing I am in reality, huhuhu~”

Somewhere along the way, Mako had reverted to her usual air headed self.

“Yeah…sure..” Yuri gave her an awkward smile.

“Okay..this is as far as I can take you”

She stopped once they reached the exit.

“I need to go prepare for the oncoming crisis that will happen when word gets around about the relic, follow this path and you will find a balloon boat docked at the end”

Mako smiled gently at Yuri before she headed back inside.

“Don’t worry, Hikaru will protect you for sure. I trust him. Come back and visit me soon okay?”

She disappeared inside the dark church before finishing her sentence, unable to bring herself to say goodbye to the two.

This is Yuri and Hikaru before they set off. Except in this drawing its day and not night. [https://kalbobzone.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/kalbob-commission-final.jpg?w=748]