Arc 3 - Chapter 16: Morning Prologue

They left the Leoral dri Vermilia in a rage after the maddening information they had received and went out into the backyard of the church to calm down and think about what to do next.

The snow was falling again, whitening their heads and shoulders as they walked. The pointed leaves of the pine trees were also painted white by the snow as they rose into the sky. Other trees were not hardy enough to protect their leaves and the snow accumulated on their brown branches, not on their green leaves.

They walked through the snow to a spot where they could see the sea. After Yu cleared the layer of snow from the bench in front of them, the three of them sat on the same bench.

The trio looked rather strange with Kigaro sitting next to them, but Kigaro was particularly funny. Next to his big body, both the bench and Yu and Yurine were tiny, and half of his buttocks protruded from the bench.

They were dressed in winter clothes, but Yurine still felt the cold. She wanted to hug Yu to fight the cold and warm her little body, but...

"Stupid."

In fact, Yu was still angry, just like Yurine, but the two words Yurine had blurted out brought a crooked smile to his face. After watching the sea for a while, Yu closed his eyes, his face softened and his expression became mournful. He looked like he was in a bittersweet dream.

Yurine did not know what to say and was in a state of emotional turmoil. She wanted to be angry right now and swear death oaths for Cecilus dri Vermilia, but those words kept distracting her from it, not allowing her to think about anything else.

"Stupid Yu."

A part of her that she was afraid to confront was pleased with the words she spoke. Her pride would not have allowed her to say those words directly and sharing her feelings, even indirectly, was like confessing a secret that had been gnawing at her.

Yet her pride was still there, still bothering Yurine. When Yurine tried to ignore her pride and accept it, she felt ashamed.

"You can…" Yu tried to speak, but Yurine wouldn't let him speak.

"Shut up."

Yurine's sudden answer made Yu's softened cheeks tense again, his eyes still closed, but this time with an annoying smile on his face. Did he find this too amusing? They both should be going crazy with rage right now.

"…call me…"

"Hmph!"

Yurine folded her arms across her chest and turned her head to Kigaro to show that she wasn't talking to him, but Yu said his last word.

"…father."

When Yurine didn't answer and kept looking in a different direction, Yu put his arm around her neck and pulled her into a hug. Yurine didn't hug him back, but she didn't try to break free as Yu kissed her hair. She just waited and tried to be happy with the moment.

"You should be more respectful to your father, that's how our people are."

Yurine had gone quiet and was trying to enjoy the moment, but Kigaro's words embarrassed her, and as embarrassed, she became angry again.

"Why are you suddenly supporting him? You're keeping his noose high, so shut up and Yu, you're hugging too tight! They'll see us!"

Yu hugged her tighter and she had to push him away to breathe. Her efforts made her look even sweeter as Yu turned Yurine's face towards her and began to play with her cheek like he was playing with playdough.

"Kigaro, Yurine will be embarrassed if you say such things. She's a girl who doesn't express her feelings easily."

When Yurine was free, she turned her head in a different direction again and folded her arms across her chest, sending the message that she was closed to conversation. She wanted the day to end as soon as possible.

"So~ are we gonna be like this all day? Come on, look at me."

"No."

"But it's nothing to be ashamed of." Yu's voice suddenly became serious and deeper. "I'm really happy."

Yurine turned her head and looked at Yu. She was just realizing that making him happy made her happy too. She wiped the slight smile from her face and continued her silence.

"We will talk about important matters," Yu said. He took Yurine by the chin and turned her towards him again.

"W-well... Have it your way... I'll give you the right to kiss me if you talk to me."

"WHAT KIND OF A DEAL IS THIS! DON'T TALK STUPID!"

She jumped to her feet and, as she had done so many times before, straightened her tail and pointed her index finger at Yu.

Yu laughed again at her attitude, but without his usual arrogant expression on his face, in fact he looked like he was about to explode at any moment.

"I just thought you would want it because I'm so handsome, so gorgeous, so cool, so charismatic."

Anyway, Yurine did not refuse any of this and would normally have welcomed a kiss.

"Oh, I see... He's trying to calm himself down."

When Yu closed his eyes again and took a deep breath, Yurine understood the reason for his sloppy behavior. He couldn't think clearly when he was angry, so he struggled to calm himself down.

"Aren't we going to talk about the Vermilias? Tell us what to do."

Yu should have calmed himself down enough, it was time to take things in a different direction and talk about the Vermilias.

When Yurine started pacing in the snow, Yu looked around to see if anyone could hear them. When he saw that there were some unexpectedly beautiful priestesses nearby, he didn't speak until they were gone.

"Revenge will be taken, sooner or later. You can be sure of that, Yurine. I will keep every one of my promises."

"Because it pisses you off too?"

"For endangering your life, for hurting your mother, for still being a threat to you."

Yurine was happy that Yu acted for her and her mother. Since sword fairies replace what they lack with love, Yu's care for her was satisfying and made it possible for her to continue living.

"You said sooner or later, when will that be?"

"I don't know, maybe right now, maybe a long time from now. We have other things to worry about before that."

After a few seconds of silence, Yu checked again to see if anyone was around.

"Kigaro, look around and make sure no one can hear us. If anyone approaches, tell me."

"Okay."

In fact, Yurine could sense if someone approached them because of the mana in their bodies, but she didn't say anything, thinking that Yu was only doing it because he didn't want his words to be overheard not only by others but also by Kigaro.

Yu checked his surroundings one last time and motioned Yurine to sit next to him again.

"I don't remember Virgo Cathedral having any supporters except Vermilia."

Yurine nodded her head in agreement.

"The Vermilia family is our only supporter and most of those baptized in Virgo Cathedral are from their retinue. The rest are servants hired by my mother."

He didn't want to repeat how miserable Virgo Cathedral was compared to other cathedrals. The moment the Vermilia family withdrew its support, the cathedral would lose both its tiny influence and its financial support.

"Isn't the House of Bishory vassals of the Vermilias? Don't they support us too?"

When he heard the name Bishory, Sharley came to mind. It was disturbing. She had to look Yu full in the face to erase his mummified image from his mind.

"Some of them belong to the Libra cathedral and some to the Aquarius cathedral. The Vermilias also used to belong to the Libra cathedral."

"Leoral has one foot in the grave, he could die at any moment. He may even be dead as we speak. If Cecilus takes over the family after his death, and I assume he doesn't like us, he will withdraw his support from Virgo Cathedral. A duke is worth more than a common lord and his support is crucial to our reputation. Of course, we can rise with our current treasury, but it would be hard to find anything again that would give us as much clout as the support of a duke. The support of the Vermilias is essential."

"Our revenge?"

She was more interested in Cecilus's death than she was in the support of the duchy or Leoral's death. Cecilus had to die as soon as possible.

"Yurine, our priority is to reach Nekoverine. That's why we have to think about the cathedral first. Just killing Cecilus won't help us reach the Nekoverine. To get there, we need to expand our cathedral, and if killing him will help us, only then can we prioritize it. And don't worry, my plans don't include keeping him alive for long."

Yurine kept listening to Yu. He knew best, so she said nothing.

"Can you heal Leoral? As long as he's alive, it really looks like he can support us."

"I have told you before, I can heal wounds, I can comfort the human body, but I cannot cure diseases. I especially cannot help someone who has reached the end of life. Nefaera must be waiting to take his soul."

Healing magic was a rare type of magic. Even for light users, predisposition to it was not uncommon, and there were different levels within healing magic.

Being able to heal diseases was a rare ability, even among the rare users of healing magic. If Yurine could do that, she would have already healed Yu and he wouldn't have to suffer from seizures or take that foul-smelling medicine.

"If Leoral's daughter Cornelia takes over from Cecilus, perhaps she will follow in her father's footsteps and the Vermilias will continue to support us. I have heard that Cornelia has her supporters too, so it might be possible for her to take over and that would be better for Virgo Cathedral. At least I hope so."

Kigaro continued to walk around them, while Yu occasionally looked around. Yurine understood that no one but themselves should hear what was being said.

"We must not let Cecilus take over the family. We need to finish him off before that happens if we can, because it is clear that nothing good will happen for us with him in charge. We need to kill him before Leoral dies, and if we can't, we need to offer our support to Cornelia dri Vermilia to take over the family. We can even kill Leoral to control her more easily if Cornelia will be useful to us."

Yu averted his eyes from Yurine.

"She's a girl after all, maybe I can try to control her."

"I don't want you to do these things."

Yurine stepped on Yu's foot. It was not very effective because of the hard boots on Yu's feet.

Yu wasn't laughing, he started to watch the sea as he thought. For a brief moment Yurine thought that she was putting too much on Yu, but she quickly pushed the thought out of her mind. She knew it was selfish, but she wanted Yu to do these things, not anyone else.

"The sea is beautiful," Yu said.

Most landscapes are more beautiful when viewed from high up. The same was true of the sea. Watching the deep blue waters from afar felt better than being inside the sea.

"Hey, are you done talking? No one's coming."

Realizing that the two had stopped talking and were just watching the sea, Kigaro called out to them. He was tired of wandering idly.

"Yes, and we have nothing more to do here, we can go now."

They stood up, shook off the snow and went inside the church. As they entered the building, the warmth gently caressed Yurine's face.

"Yu, do you want to see the Star Altar? That's where I will be given the Virgo Cardinalate."

She had to show it to Yu before they left. It was good to see it in advance as they had made their plans based on that dais.

"I want, come on, show me."

"Follow me!"

She had forgotten what had just happened and started running towards the center of the church, excited to show Yu something he had never seen before. Yu and Kigaro followed her.

After some running, they entered the main hall of the church, where the Star Altar was located, without meeting anyone in the almost empty church.

The Star Altar was directly in front of the center of the Andromeda Church. It was half a meter above the ground and surrounded by a golden fence.

The altar looked like a table on the floor, raised a little off the ground. It had thirty corners and a candle was lit in each corner. The altar was big enough to hold several people and the floor was completely black.

"As soon as the Blessed One sets foot on the altar, the pulpit begins to shine, that's how you know that someone has the Blessing."

"I was expecting something more grandiose. Anyway, thank you for showing me this, Yurine. I hope nothing goes wrong with our plan."

If their plan didn't work, there would definitely be trouble.

"Kigaro, I want to try this thing. Can you take a look around?"

***

"Well, what is that?"

After their work, Yu's attention was drawn to the statue standing in the center of the church.

The statue was white and stood two meters high, including the base. The statue had been here before the Zodianists conquered this city, and it had remained here for centuries during the centuries of Zodian rule.

There were various legends about the statue and the most accepted one was that it belonged to a king or hero who lived a long time ago.

The statue was holding the most legendary sword of all time. The sword was in a scabbard so they could not see it, but they knew what it looked like.

That sword was the whitest being of all time. It was so white that it was claimed to appear as if it was a separate piece of reality.

The hilt of the sword was white and the guard was made of pure gold. Men called the sword as the Morning Sword.

"A statue of a legend who lived hundreds of years ago. Because his name and identity were unknown, people called him the Morning Knight, and those who were worthy to carry his sword gave up their own names and became known by this name. That statue is the Morning Monument."

The statue had an invisible wall of mana, so the unworthy could not approach it. Yurine's mother, Rie, could see this wall thanks to the Hunter's Blessing.

"So this is where that legendary story comes from, huh? Like Excalibur, a sword that only the worthy can draw. It's beautiful." Yu checked that no one was inside. "There's no one around, do you think I should try it? Maybe I'll draw it."

"Yu, many have tried and failed, including Yu Zao Long. I don't think you should try, those who are not worthy will be pushed back."

"What do you mean?"

"There is an invisible wall around the statue and those who are not worthy are pushed back against it."

Yu put his left hand to his chin and studied the statue with his eyes.

"I still want to try. And who knows? Maybe it'll accept me because I come from a different world. I think I should have fantasticomystic qualities now. All isekaisers have a thing like special ability or the holy sword of overpowerness, but I'm the only one who didn't get anything except a cute little girl."

"Cute little girl enough actually, you shouldn't try it."

Ignoring Yurine's warning, Yu circled around the Star Altar and arrived in front of the Morning Monument.

"How do I do it? Do I have to extend my hand? Or am I going to walk normally? Let me extend my hand first."

"Yu, don't."

He ignored Yurine and approached the Morning Monument with his hand raised. The moment his fingers reached the edge of the dais, Yu was violently thrown back. If Kigaro hadn't run up and stopped him, there was no telling how long he would have been dragged along the ground. He might even have broken bones.

"YU! I TOLD YOU SO! WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME!"

Yurine ran to Yu, who was moaning on the ground, and began to cast a healing spell on him. She couldn't bear to see Yu in pain.

"I didn't expect it to be so harsh..."

"I am listening to you and you should listen to me! I told you so!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't think it would happen anyway, but it's a hope... And you know, even if I did, I didn't know how to use the sword anyway."

Standing up with Kigaro's help, Yu turned to face the exit. It was time to go.

"But we should check with Sivina sometime. Since she is a knight, maybe she can draw the sword. If Sivina becomes a Morning Knight, who knows what kind of fame Virgo Cathedral will get. Maybe Kigaro can try too."

"No, that sword is too small for my hands."

"So be it."