56 The Lady in Red

"If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after those folk, I shall setteth mine own visage against yond person and shall cutteth him off from 'mongst his people. For I has't given thee enough capabilities to liveth by thy own hands. Thou shalt not useth any of the power, yond thy god hast not bestow'd upon thee. Else, 'twill beest pondered as an act of transgression upon me and mine own authority.

Thus mine own children, consecrate yourselves, argal, and beest holy, for I am the goddess who watches ov'r thee. Thee shalt keepeth all my statutes and all my rules, lest mine own daughters cease their blessings, and turn thy own land against thee."

A few months has passed since the time I fucked up with Mom, winter has passed and spring was currently nearing its end. Without the snow and the cold, thus I was able to travel more and familiarize myself with the city.

Currently, I was reading the Goddesses' tome, or the holy book of Elban's main religion, and was trying to understand what this world defines as heresy. It was a topic that interested and concerned me, because according to Mom, my plant magic is considered as one, and when the humans from back then saw me, they immediately labeled me as a heretic as well.

Which led to me reading this, and after some time I think I've understood it. So the short answer is: 'Well, the book said so.'.

The long story is that, magic and mana, as a whole, was a concept that was only for the gods. However, the world's tribulation was too much for the 'powerless' mortals, especially in a world where monsters, beasts, and demons, roamed the earth. Thus the gods supposedly took pity upon their followers and gave them the ability to control said mana, to make their lives easier and more bearable.

Since lives were much more primitive then, people were only taught the basic elemental magic: earth to build your homes, fire to keep yourselves warm, water, and wind, etc, etc. There were multiple gods but that part remained consistent where they were only taught elemental magic. Even our goddess, Mezzaluna, all the elves' supposed ancestor, said anymore than that was a 'transgression of her authority' and the people who desired more, were greedy mortals that coveted the power of the divine.

Does it make sense? I don't know.

It doesn't sound realistic? It wasn't meant to be realistic. If you don't believe it, you simply don't have enough faith. Even in my previous world where science was advanced, people had religions. Let alone in this dangerous, monster-filled, magic, fantasy world.

What is this all based on? It all goes back to the short answer: 'Because the book said so'.

Even I am starting to have thoughts, that you know, maybe they are real after all. To see is to believe, and even though I haven't seen the gods of this world, I was someone who experienced something as supernatural as reincarnation.

However at the same time, if they were real. Then aren't I like, in the top of their shit list or something? One of the elves' gods literally represents, vegetation and agriculture, and if I'm not already overstepping my mortal authority with what I'm doing, then I don't know what will.

"Haaaa" yawning, I stretched my arms up

I already learned what I wanted, and there really was no reason for me to continue reading further. With that I looked at the sleeping acolyte besides me and finally gave him his tome back.

Unfortunately, the holy book wasn't one that you could just find here and there. From what I've found and heard, It's not exclusive to only preachers and bishops, but it's really difficult to get your hands on one and its distribution is heavily monitored by the church.

I wasn't gonna attend church just to hear what I wanted, not to mention I can't predict what sermon will the bishop preach about. So I had to resort to some rather dubious methods to read what I wanted.

I can't steal it, because every copy might be marked or counted, I'm not sure. So I had to 'borrow' it from the people who already have it. If possible, I wanted to get help from Aerin but I haven't seen her since that time she let us ride on her carriage.

So I befriended an acolyte who was eager to talk about the Goddesses with me, and right now he was asleep in his seat besides me. Since I already found what I needed, I returned the pages back to where he was reading it earlier. Unfortunately, the acolyte I befriended wasn't a mature, hot, busty nun, else I would have made a better effort to get to know him.

"Dude, you fell asleep again." I said as I flicked him in the forehead

"..." Unfortunately, a simple flick in the forehead isn't enough to wake someone up from the sleep-inducing spored that my plants could produce.

I was currently inside the cathedral grounds, just behind the cathedral itself where the garden was located and round tables were placed. I've already been reading for about an hour, and with how much I used in the poor acolyte, it should knock him out for two hours or so.

So I had about an hour left till he wakes up, and I really didn't have much to do. The clothes that I ordered to be made could be picked up later and it would reflect badly on me if this guy were to wake up only to find that I ditched him. Even if he wasn't a girl, I still wanted people to have a positive look at me.

Thinking about it, I was pretty ballsy using 'heretical magic' right inside church grounds. But it was pretty easy, since I was at a garden and it was so easy to hide my magic usage. Without much left to do, I took back the Goddesses' tome and continued where I was reading earlier.

Whether it was coincidence or not, but the very next verses were lines about the punishments for the different kinds of sexual immorality, and it almost felt like it was directed to me.

"if a man doth take his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees that lady's nakedness, and the lady sees his nakedness, tis a disgrace, and they shalt beest cutteth off in the sight of the children of their people. He hast uncover'd his sister's nakedness, and he shalt bear his iniquity.

"if a man lies with his father's wife, he hast uncover'd his father's nakedness; both of those folk shalt certainly beest putteth to death; their blood is upon those folk. "

Apparently, I am a disgrace and should be put to death as well. It wasn't the only one though, there were lines forbidding adultery, taking a woman and her mother, taking an animal, taking your daughter, etc, etc.

In fact, the entire chapter was dedicated to the Goddesses' punishments for all kinds of sins. Heresy, murder, sexual immorality, and the like.

"Haauughh~" as I read about the punishments of all the sins I've committed, I couldn't help but yawn. I wonder what Mom and Celine's face would be like if they read this. By the looks of it, it seems like we're a family of heathens.

Mom would probably shrug it off since she treats it as an affair anyways, but Celine kind of want to make the status between us official so even if she wasn't religious maybe the people around her were. So no doubt she'd be affected by this.

…

…

About half an hour later, the acolyte finally showed signs of waking up.

"Hubert, you fell asleep again" I called out to the elf who had just opened his eyes drowsily

"Eh? Haa?" He looked a little confused, waking up all of a sudden outside

"Are you sure you're catching enough sleep?" I asked him with a worried voice "Falling asleep in the middle of talking to me, for the second time no less."

"Ehh… how long was I asleep for?" he still was out of it, but he couldn't help but ask

"About an hour and a half? Maybe two? I'm not so sure" I replied to him with a wondering face

Hubert was a lanky person with blonde hair and looked like he was in his early 20s, but then again he was an elf so I couldn't be sure exactly. He looked apologetic when he found out that I waited for him the whole time he was asleep and was just about to apologize when another elf came running towards him.

"HUBERT! Where have you been? A noble is donating so we need you for the ritual." A nun came and called out to Hubert with heavy breaths

"Now?!" Poor Hubert couldn't catch a break, he just woke up and was already being yelled at. He hurriedly apologized for sleeping and wasting my time, before rushing off "I'm sorry, but I'll have to teach you some other time. Thanks a lot for watching over me though"

"It's fine" I waved him goodbye as I watched him leave.

To be honest, I don't think we'll meet again. We were only talking because he was the first one to approach me when I was looking to befriend someone with the Goddesses' tome. I didn't have any good reason to continue talking to him.

So with that, I headed out of the cathedral grounds but just as I stepped out of the gate. I saw a luxurious looking carriage parked near the Cathedral. The carriage's beast was a large Silverwing raptor and the carriage itself had a familiar looking emblem. Immediately, I recognized to whom it belongs to.

I remember earlier that the nun spoke of a noble who was donating and something about Absolution. In the few months I've spent here, I've learned of just how powerful the church and the clergy was in this country.

Even nobles needed to donate large sums of money to the church, because an archbishop was powerful enough to, and often did, threaten a noble, or a town, with excommunication. There was no clear hierarchy between the nobility and the clergy, which makes their relationship even more delicate.

However, that wasn't my main interest for now. Seeing the familiar carriage, and hearing that there was a noble who came to donate. It didn't take much for me to connect the dots.

Just as I was about to retract my steps, a somewhat familiar looking woman in a clean suit came out of the cathedral's doors and started to walk back to the place where the carriage was parked. When she saw me who just about to leave, she looked surprised before immediately going back to her work as she headed towards the carriage.

Meanwhile, I paced around the cathedral thinking of how can I make the meeting feel more natural. After all, I didn't want to look like I waited for Aerin to come out just because I saw her carriage parked outside. I wanted it to look like it was a coincidence.

Looking around, since the Cathedral was located at the city square, there were no shortages of shops in the surroundings. Just as I was about to think which one should I buy from to act like I was hanging around in the area, a refined voiced suddenly called out to me.

"Hello~" I could hear the woman's voice from behind me. Turning around to see who it was, I was surprised to see the familiar face because I thought she was still inside the cathedral. But it turns out she just got out from her carriage.

"Teac-…?" I was about to call her when I finally noticed some disparities

At first glance, I thought it was Aerin. But taking another glance, I realized that it was not my lovely teacher. Although she had a similar face and hair color to Aerin, she exuded an air so different around her that I almost felt like an idiot for getting the two of them mixed up.

As I looked at her, the differences that I missed at first glance, was made apparent to me. Although she was just as tall, her hair was a lot wavier and was tied to a bun with a braid wrapped around it. She had two distinct side bangs that hung on either side of her face.

Her lips were glossed red as cherry, and she had light-green emerald eyes as opposed to Aerin's sapphire blue. Her chest was just as well-endowed, perhaps even more. But I didn't want to look like I was ogling at her, so with sheer will and determination, I brought my eyes up to her face instead.

But the reason she had such a different air from Aerin, is in her clothes, is that while Aerin would often wear conservative, light colored clothes. She exuded passion, desires, and luxuries, whether it was from the bright-red dress she was wearing that made her stand out as the center of attention, or the ornate and expensive accessories that was on her body.

It was such a stark contrast, that it almost felt like it was a conscious decision to do so.

"-Teacher?" The alluring woman was quick to notice when she heard my slip-up. She mused for a second before asking "Did you perhaps mistake me for someone else? Fufu~"

Wondering why this lady suddenly called out to me, I took a look at the surroundings. Just behind her, I saw the same familiar looking woman coming out of the carriage, this time with a fairly sized box on her arms. It looked somewhat reminiscent of a treasure chest, and if my thoughts are correct then that is what is being donated and this lady was the noble that is offering it.

But the insignia in the carriage, was no doubt, the same one as Aerin had. Even the carriage, I recognized that it was the same as the one Teacher used before. And considering this lady's similar traits, she had to be a relative or at the very least, a family member of Aerin's.

With that in mind, it'll be best if I tried to leave the best impression possible.

"Uhm… Sorry, I kind of mistook you as my teacher" I apologized but the lady didn't seem to mind

"It's fine, it was a harmless mistake" she said as she waved it off with her hand, before continuing "But you made me curious~" she spoke as she brought her thumb up to her lips in thought

"Very rarely do people mistake me for someone else." like she was interested, she tilted her head seemingly in thought. "Do I bear any semblance to your teacher?"

"Um, kind of." I didn't know how to reply to that one. Would she take it well if I said that she looked like Aerin? Or would she take that as an offense instead?

"That's quite the coincidence~" she let out a chuckle before asking "What's your name, boy?"

"It's Maelriel" I replied honestly.

"Well, boy, you seemed eager earlier when you thought I was your teacher." she said before letting out a small giggle and then continuing as she asked "Haven't seen your teacher in quite a while?" to which I could only nod.

"Miss Laurel..." finally the female elf who was holding the offering called out to the lady who was talking to me.

"I understand, you can go first. I'll follow shortly" Understanding that she was taking a lot of time outside, she nodded to her attendant's words before turning her attention back to me

"Since I look like your teacher, why not keep me company for a while? I have plenty of time to chat later~" she had an enticing smile as she proposed her suggestion. "You wouldn't mind spending some time with me now, would you?"

"Eh?… sure."I acted surprised before taking her offer

I know if Mom was here seeing this, she'd probably faint in anger seeing her son just take a stranger's offer. It was the same as seeing your kid get inside the 'Free Candy' van. To be honest, I still don't know why she talked to me. From the way she was talking, it doesn't seem like she's aware that I knew Aerin, but if it wasn't for that, then what other reason would she have to suddenly strike up a conversation?

I am pragmatic enough to know what I'm worth when looking from the outside. I was still pretty young and no matter how good I looked at this age, was it really enough for a woman of her status like her to suddenly just start talking to me? I know I look better when compared to my previous life, but I wasn't that delusional.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself." As if she finally remembered something she put her hand over mouth. "My name is Laurel, and for now just accompany me inside the cathedral." she said before walking ahead of me.

If she really knew who I was or the fact that I'm Aerin's student, then I don't think she'll do anything to harm me. So for now I'll just play along with her. After all, this is a rare chance to get to know more about Aerin and maybe get a little closer with this other lovely rich lady as well.