The Church

"We don't have time for this now. Let's talk about it later," said Nicola, still seeming unwilling. She was trying to avoid this invitation that looked like a dangerous trap. 

"It's alright. You're welcome to come anytime. I'll be waiting for you in Stellacity," said Meredith, not giving up. She even added a condition that she thought would be tempting. "I can do a special fortune reading for you."

Then, without another word, she turned and headed for her carriage. 

Unfortunately, I have no interest in fortune-telling at all, so this didn't catch my attention. She failed. Though, to be fair, I wasn't her target anyway...

"Feliciana, it's fortune-telling!" Vivianne, next to me, looked excited, as if the offer was made to her. "That's a fortune reading promised by the fortune tellers of Stellacity!"

"Uh, what's so different about it?" To me, it was just drawing cards and telling fortunes, nothing impressive. Even if it may be a bit more accurate in this world, it still didn't seem like a big deal.

"Of course it's different! The fortune tellers of Stellacity are the most famous on the whole continent. Many countries and royal families go to them for readings, and their accuracy is said to be over 90 percent!" 

That high? I was suddenly struck by how sad that would be if it were true. To me, it was like a paradox - if the fortunes were accurate, then the future would be unchangeable. But if the future could be changed, the fortunes could not be accurate. 

In any case, my curiosity was piqued a little. 

As we watched the carriage speed away, everyone finally relaxed. The trouble had passed.

"Lady Nicola, is that sword really a celestial weapon?" As soon as the carriage was far enough away, Selene couldn't help but start asking about the Condensation sword. Nicola had purposely concealed it from the group earlier, so everyone's curiosity was stirred back up now that the threat was gone. They gathered around her eagerly.

"Can I just say I'm not sure what's going on with this sword?" Nicola responded with an awkward smile, looking very helpless. "This sword was made by me using my own abilities. If you don't believe me, I can make another one right now for you to see."

She started to raise her hand. 

"Wait, don't be hasty!" Adrian immediately stepped in to stop her actions. 

"Based on the astrologer's words just now, that sword of yours seems to give off an extremely strong wind aura. Those tower people haven't gone too far yet. It's best not to reveal it for now."

Vivianne nodded emphatically in agreement. "Also, those people had some hidden purpose in coming here, likely related to that sword. So if not absolutely necessary, it's best not to summon it carelessly."

"Is that so?" Nicola looked very unwilling. With a careless tone she asked, "Are those tower people so formidable that we need to be so wary of them?"

"Actually, that astrologer's strength was quite mediocre. After all, her real specialty is in astrology, divination and such," Brennan pondered for a moment before answering. "But those two sages with her are different. Each has a strength surpassing the fifth order, while Minos, whom we fought earlier, was only fourth order at most." 

So those two sages must be extremely powerful, I realized. It was good nothing happened, otherwise we would have had to face at least two opponents much stronger than Minos, not even including the mysterious astrologer.

"That's still not much," Nicola responded casually, as if she could summon her Condensation sword at any moment and slice those few sages and astrologers into eight hundred pieces. Though, to be fair, fifth order magical beasts were nothing to her at this point. 

"But behind them is the entire Sage's Tower alliance..." Adrian had a grave expression, indicating things were not so simple. "The Tower is a massive organization. Their allied sages rule over at least dozens of cities, including that famed Stellacity."

"And the Tower's highest echelon - the Sage's Council, has over ten sage councilors, all beyond the sixth order in strength, some even approaching the seventh!" 

"As for their leader - Kellan Yates, he's said to have surpassed the seventh order, reaching the middle of..."

I sucked in a breath as I listened. They were all deity-tier experts! Our whole group, not counting Nicola, at most just barely reached the fourth order together.

"Plus... you angels have always been rather covert, but legend says you've maintained good relations with the Tower. So is it alright to suddenly make enemies of them like this?"

"Uh... you make a good point. I was rushed thinking that way," Nicola said as she looked at Adrian's doubtful stare. She wiped the sweat. Her tone instantly lost confidence. 

Of course I grasped the situation, since she was also transmigrated here like me, so she knew almost nothing about the power ranks in this world. Just now she had still been confident on the invincibility of her Condensation Sword, but was instantly slapped in the face and nearly exposed herself. 

Luckily the experienced and professional Adrian and the others were here to advise us. Otherwise, just the two of us on our own, we might have offended countless experts before even making it out of this forest, without realizing it.

Because of these events, everyone was rather quiet on the road, seemingly lost in thought about the many secrets hidden behind the incidents. 

I followed along at the back, silently contemplating what to do next. Vivianne had told me that after leaving this forest, reaching Norvale would be much faster. That was the capital of the Astralrealm Kingdom, located to the southwest of the Elara Woodlands. 

What concerned me most was the True Church. According to her, Norvale was the location of the largest cathedral in this kingdom - Preston Cathedral, and Selene was from there. 

"Selene, what relationship do we angels have with your Church?"

I felt I had asked subtly enough. Based on the name of this True Church and her initial attitude, I had assumed the angels might be her superiors or something. But after Nicola appeared, I realized that didn't seem to be the case. Selene's attitude toward Nicola was more like that of a fan toward an idol.

"I'm not too clear on that myself," she responded, seemingly just as uncertain. Tilting her head, her eyes held a trace of confusion. 

"Whether it's scripture or any of the holy teachings and doctrines, they all state that angels are the Lord's messengers. And the holy angel Soraya is said to be the Lord's wife, as well as one of the co-founders of our Church. So logically, the angels should belong to our Church. But before you, Feliciana, I rarely saw angels, and never in the Church. Even the Archbisop only mentioned you lived in Edenmere."

God has a wife? I wasn't too clear, but Soraya definitely should not be God's wife. It seemed things already differed here from the Christian churches I knew on Earth.

"But the angels have never acknowledged having any relation to your god," Brennan couldn't help butting in at this point. As a non-Church member, he seemed to dislike their one-sided view of the angels. 

"They serve no god."

"But the angels have never denied that Lady Soraya is a founder of the Church either. Centuries ago during a battle against magical beasts, the angel leader Eleanora even openly acknowledged this herself." Upon hearing Brennan, Selene immediately retorted. 

It seems this is still a contentious issue after all.

"Why not just ask your god directly to clear things up?" I felt like it would be simple if they had a god, right?

"Hmph, their so-called church god has never shown himself. Whether he exists at all is questionable," Brennan snorted disdainfully.

"That's because the Lord was grievously injured long ago, and has been recuperating since, which is why he rarely shows himself," Selene responded.

Upon hearing this, I immediately glanced at the redhead, but saw he seemed unable to refute this viewpoint at all.

"Is that true?" I whispered to Vivianne beside me.

"It seems to be. Historical records from all nations confirm divine beings did once descend into this world long ago. But then they suddenly disappeared without a trace, for reasons unclear. There is no definitive answer. Their True Church has always claimed it was because their Lord was ambushed by evil dark forces."

Her answer to me was also ambiguous.

"What's the angels' attitude toward this church's god then?" I pondered and asked again.

"That's even more bizarre. The angels seem to avoid mention of the church's god, neither confirming nor denying his existence, and rarely speak of such matters at all."

So after all that, it still wasn't clear whether the angels and the Church were related or not. At least on the surface it didn't seem so, though privately there did appear to be countless subtle connections.

"May I ask, what is the name of your god?" I cautiously posed the question to Selene, taking care not to offend with my attitude.

"Yawee!" She looked at me blankly, as if puzzled why I would need to specially ask such a simple question. 

"Pfft—" Nicola, who had been drinking water nearby, suddenly spat it all out upon hearing this. 

All eyes instantly turned to her.

"Cough, cough..." Nicola wiped her mouth awkwardly. "Sorry, I suddenly thought of something funny."

"What funny thing could make an angel like you choke?" Selene hurried over to pat her back. 

I looked at them speechlessly. It seemed this True Church did have a big mystery...