Chapter 46 - Rallying Call

Jessica realized that Gren was confused and pulled him close to her. "I'm telling you now, this boy is already married to my daughter. I won't allow you to take him away from her." Jessica was being defensive of him to allow him to realize that regardless of his identity there were people that would remain by his side.

The head priestess rapidly shook her arms and head side to side. "I wouldn't dream of it. It's written that the Mother said she wanted her child to live a happy life. He is the reason that the Mother improved our world so if anything we owe him a great debt."

Gren still didn't believe that his mother was the goddess. "How can she be a goddess? She had no powers. She died trying to protect me. A goddess shouldn't die so easily."

"Dead? What do you mean?" The high priestess wasn't told about Gren's circumstances yet.

"She was killed in Newton. Her body was cut into two from her right shoulder to the left of her waist. They even burned her body so there will be nothing left of her by now. I don't even know her name so I can't even create a memorial for her." Gren couldn't control his emotions. It had only been a day since he had assimilated the old Gren's memories. Everything he did since then kept him distracted so that he didn't have time to process the pain.

Jessica wrapped him up tighter in her arms and pulled him on to the bed. "It's okay. You don't need to hold it all in. You can let it all out."

The high priestess was processing the information that she was told. Two days ago part of the Duke's army left towards the village of Newton to take out the bandits. If they were allowed to reach Newton first then it was possible that the goddess's body--if it remained--would be unrecoverable.

However, the high priestess realized that Gren was in no condition to converse with her at this time. She would need to call for the Church's knights to prepare for a grueling trip to Newton and then inform Gren when their preparations were complete. They wouldn't be able to have any supply wagons if they wanted to make it there in time but if they carried their own food and brought their water magicians then they might make it.

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Gren felt much better after crying in Jessica's bosom. Jessica rubbed him on the back as he was recovering from his sniffling and asked him if he was alright now. "Thank... you. I'm feeling mu... much better now."

Jessica finally let go of him after confirming that he was okay. "Remember that you have people that are willing to be there for you when you need somebody to talk to." Jessica snuggled up next to Gren. "I'm glad that we met. Jasmine is much more cheerful now than she was a few days ago."

Jessica abruptly sat up. "Ah! I forgot. Ahk and Yasinia are waiting for us outside." She started to pull Gren up. "Come on, let's get going before they start to worry about us."

Gren straightened out his robe after getting on his feet. The two of them walked out from the high priestess's room and encountered a female knight standing in the hall. "Gren and Jessica? Gabriella asked for me to bring you to her as soon as you woke up." Seeing that they didn't respond she added one more thing. "Gabriella is the high priestess."

The location they were brought to was an underground area similar to the one under the bakery even though it didn't go as far down. "This is the special entrance to the city that only Church personnel are able to use. Gabriella will explain why you've been brought down here." The female knight bowed before walking towards the other knights that were currently preparing.

Gabriella noticed the two of them and quickly rushed up to Gren, hiding his face. "I want you to help me inspire the knights before their mission but you should change your clothes first." Gren was moved to a small room and inside was an outfit that he was familiar with.

"I have to dress up like an acolyte?" He was finally being treated like a man or--at the very least--like a boy. If he wore the Acolyte robe and veil then he'd definitely look like a girl. "Can I refuse?"

"You could but then I won't be able to protect your identity. This way allows you to both use the Church and live your personal life." Gabriella did bring up a good point. If he shows his face now then it would be hard to show himself in public in the future.

"Can you exit the room while I change?" After he was left alone he decided to scour through the Advanced Arsenal for any clothes he could wear. Unfortunately he hadn't unlocked any dyes yet so he could only get cotton clothes in white. Wool was too itchy so he didn't want to wear it. In the end he decided to give up and just wear the acolyte clothes. Even if he looked like a girl wearing them he could always use his body language to show everyone that he was actually a boy.

Gabriella had prepared a new pair of boots for Gren. They weren't as nice as the ones he used to have but at least these ones didn't have a hole in them. Gren had to inspire the troops and to do so he decided to act like a general would. He would need to ask Gabriella what the mission was before he could give a speech.

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The knights were told to line up by Georgia, the high priestess's sister and leader of their order of knights. Earlier she had guided two people to Gabriella but they were too far away to see what the two people looked like. Gabriella then guided the smaller one into a side room and after a couple of minutes the person came out wearing different clothes.

The smaller person walked over to Gabriella and spoke with her for a while before giving out a small shout. "Ehhhh!?" The soldiers agreed that the small person's voice was adorable.

After a while of the two of them talking, the small person made their way over to the knights that were lined up. "Attention! Soon you all shall be sent on a top secret mission." The small person had their feet spread apart and their hands positioned behind their back. "This mission will be dangerous and nobody will sing about you regardless of whether or not you succeed."

"However! If you succeed then you will be doing your goddess a great service. Her current status is not yet known and an army marches on her position. Will you just stand by as a villain tries to harm your goddess?"

Only one of the knights responded. "No!"

"Will the rest of you just stand by?"

"No!"

"Louder!"

"NO!"

"That's more like it! Now let's get ready to go save my mother!"

"Eh?" "Her mother?" "Who's her mother?" "The goddess's daughter!?"

The knights that were hyped up quickly lost steam once Gren revealed his relationship with the goddess. None of them expected the goddess to have given birth already so only a few caught on. However, Gren didn't care about his speech failing at the very end right now.

{Like I thought, every single one of them thinks that I'm a girl!}