Chapter 16 Power of the Father

If there's one thing I don't like at this moment, it's Eddie's cowardly ways of fighting. His style has gotten so old that it doesn't even faze me anymore. It only took me a month to finally understand it better. He actually doesn't want me to be the good boy that I've been acting like since the beginning. Well, he doesn't necessarily want me to be the same condemned prick from the past either. How he treats me is more along the lines of being like that one kid that everyone makes the loner for the sake of picking on them. He wants me to be better than that and that is understandable. His methods of doing so aren't so understanding though.

As of late, Eddie has thus far introduced me to just about every kid in the area that he has trained. Which is about the whole fucking cul de sac. Most of which are blessed by Might. Most of those being absolute pieces of…

"Today is the day I put your evil aura in the dark forever, Treven Crest!! If that's even your real name, you evil brat!" … That. Pieces of that.

"Sigh~... Hi, Lara." I say to the rude girl in front of me. "I take it you want to spar again today?"

"You damn right I do! I've been training since that embarrassment from last time! And this time I brought my friends with me! They are from the blessed Academy that I will be attending once Monday comes around. So I have to beat you here no matter what! Otherwise you'll bring calamity to the whole blessed world around us!"

"So because you couldn't beat me the past few days, you want to use the trained senior students from the Academy to get the upper hand on me, because you told them that I'm the bad guy for having a dark affinity blessing."

"... uh… y-yeah! Exactly!" How cute. She's confused. "Now be ready to face righteous retobution!" Reto…???

"PFFT!! Heehee heh!!"

"What?? What!? Why are you laughing!!?"

"Heheheh! Oh. s-sorry, just. Hahah… g-give me a second. Gods… that's so funny." oh god I forgot we were still kids for a second cuz of how serious she was. "Okay. it's pronounced Retribution."

"What??"

"You pronounced it wrong so I just couldn't help but laugh. It's retribution. Re-tri-bu-tion."

"Retri… AH!! SH-SHUDDUP!! YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT!!"

"Do you even know what that means? To say I need to face righteous retribution. Exactly why do I need to have that?"

"Well… uh… b-because… you are evil! You obviously don't worship the God of Might. You probably don't even know about the Greatest God."

"The god of Might is the high lord of the skies and the ruler of the heights. His name known to this realm is Norgon Knightfall the Mighty and he is the most worshiped god in the lands, making him the greatest of all the gods of all the realms."

"... !? uh…!! I-if... you… know then why don't you worship him like the rest of us!? This is why you're not blessed by him!"

"Just because he is the greatest, that doesn't make him the only god out there. He just has the most power among the gods of the heights. Also, just because I know of him, that doesn't mean I have to worship him and be part of his factions. I can worship whoever I know benefits me the most in my life, and the god that gave me the most benefit in my life was not the god of Might."

"What… HOW DARE YOU!? ARE INSULTING THE GOD OF MIGHT!?"

"Not even close. Where did you get an insult out of that? I just said he wasn't the one that let me live when I should have died. I worship the god that saved my life. That is all."

"... huh??? Saved your life? Um… but, mommy said you worship an evil god. Evil gods don't save people, do they?"

"There is no such thing as an evil or wicked god. Only evil and wicked people. People that do bad things in the name of a god are the bad ones, not the other way around. Though there are spirits that are evil that try to be in the realm of gods, but I think that's a different thing."

"Uh… um… so. So why do you use dark magic!? That's bad isn't it!?"

"That depends on the person. There are people that use their dark powers and dark affinities for good things. Like… if someone was being chased, they could hide that person with a shadow based ability so the bad people don't find them."

"...huh. That… actually makes sense."

"The same could be said about people with light affinities though, too you know. They could be bad people with light magic because they use it for selfish reasons."

"What!?"

"That's the thing that doesn't make sense to you huh? But it's true. Whether you like the idea or not. Some people just aren't good by nature regardless of their blessings. Though most of the time the gods will remove their grace from that person when it's brought to their attention. And they punish them for misusing their power."

"... oh… so your god isn't really bad then, and with that does that mean that you aren't a bad person?"

"Whatever even gave you that idea in the first place? Do I act like a bad person to you to begin with?"

"N-no… you don't. B-but that doesn't mean you're a good person!"

"Same goes for you and your friends, you know. I never wanted to really fight you when Eddie introduced us to a sparring match the first time. You just freaked out when you saw I don't use mighty powers like you and the others here and beat you with it. And now you won't stop bugging me and calling me a bad person when I haven't even done anything. Now does that sound like something a good person would do? If I went by the idea you were using up till now, I'd have been calling you a bad person for trying to hurt me for being different." Oh wow, does she look ever disturbed. I better stop before I make her cry and really get made into the bad guy here. "However, I'm not going to do that, because I don't think that way. I just think that you have some cool powers, though I don't really want them myself, since I don't envy you at all."

"... you're… not mad at me for being mean to you all this time?" Gods, stop. Don't give me that pitiable face. Smile, just smile back.

"Of course not. I think you're a good girl for following what you think is right. Although you were wrong."

"Th-that was unnecessary!"

"Hehe! Alright? Do you understand then? I'm not bad because of my magic. You should judge a person by who they are, not by their blessing and power."

"... yeah… that makes sense. Okay! With that said, let's have our fight!"

"You still want to fight me!?"

"HAHAHA!! That's how a Mighty Blessed should act!" Eddie was coming from down the road. He was returning from his training regimen for the day with his troops. I am so done with the mighty. "Yo. Stinger. How's the neighborhood treating you so far? You get enough fight in you for a spar with me later?"

"No!" I answered immediately. "I refuse to be anywhere near you since you still won't listen to the pope. It's already been a month. I don't need your training anymore."

"Oh~. You could always use more of my training. You still have a few weeks until school starts for you and the others."

"No thank you. I'm good."

Eddie stands nearby the house and calls for one of the maids to grab him a chair. "Now , why don't you give the little lady and her friends a good show? I'm watching." hardy har. Very funny. But I don't have any options to back out now thanks to him. So now I have to deal with little Lara and three Might seniors from the academy ganging up on tiny lanky me, while Eddie sits in the yard eating snacks ready for the show to start. Mights. It's always showing off your strength with the Mights.

"Alright! Are you ready, Treven Crest!?" ready as I'll ever be. Not like I have a choice.

I ready myself for an unfair fight and take a stance with my hand on my chest. As soon as I take the chain from under my shirt, the seniors rush me as fast as war horses.

"No hard feelings, kid?" one of them shouts. Well fuck you too then!I yank on the chain around my neck and sommon artimon. I dodge most of the hits thrown at me and do my best to block the rest. I've gotten about as fast as I used to be before this life. But I'm far stronger than I was then. My darkness levels have grown exceptionally greater than before too. I purposely chose not to use my blood magic since there's really no point in it at the moment, but I have been practicing it in the privacy of my room through meditation. I've also developed a new skill that most Might people use. Body enhancement. This is mostly seen as a neutral ability but mine is more closely related to theirs for one big reason. Like the Might's in front of me, I can summon a light barrier call from it.

Barrier is a type of shock wave that forces one's surroundings to stop from the tremor caused by a specific action like stomping, clapping, things that make a shock of sound, and turns that sound into an actual barrier that stuns the opponent for a short time. It's usually used to throw someone off balance and falter to give a counter, which is what I would like to do if it was strong enough. It's not as strong as theirs but it does enough to force me back away from them if I jump at the same time. I was able to land a kick on one of the seniors but ended up in an enclosure. Shit. Mistakes were made. Lara flanks me from behind and knocks the wind out of me. They did this on purpose. I guess they had a plan. But the other seniors seem to have an odd look on their faces. For some reason I had to glance at Eddie and my instinct told me this was completely his idea of letting me get a taste of cruelty. That was the face he had.

I know why. Pope Henderson told me that even though the school is mixed with many other chosen children, the discrimination is currently strong within the light families while the dark families have a hierarcy system within their own. No matter what class you belong in, if you're light you're one of them. If you're dark, you better establish yourself somewhere so you can have a shield. And the teachers are the ones who made this system a reality under Henderson's nose. He's currently trying to fix some of that problem before I get there but it's obviously not getting any better. Thus Eddie decided to give me a few surprises every now and then. I've caught him talking to some of the older kids in the cul de sac, and moments later they start ganging up on me. I wonder what he paid these seniors off with? Eddie is only doing this to make me stronger faster so I know what to expect in the school. Since it's not as much of a safe heaven as Henderson wanted it to be.

He's also forcing me to tolerate the bullying by holding myself back because of what I did to him the first time we trained. I'm around children. People that don't know better. Pampered people that don't understand what survival really is. I have to hold back on them. That doesn't mean I have to put up with getting tossed around by greedy dumbasses.

I've used black shield, barrier, dark drape, cloak, shadow dance, night step, and anything else I could use for my defense, because I didn't know what else to do so I could avoid their attacks and think of a way to counter properly without hurting them. They may be stronger than me, but I know how to fight dirty, and I need to avoid that. I have to stand strong and collected to the very end. Just don't lose your cool to the torment. I need to face it… Like I'm the one hunting it. I have to be cunning.

Two of the seniors rush means I use artimon to block their attacks. I'm training to be a battle mage. Artimon is, in actuality, a battle staff. A weapon. He's made of white steel and volcano iron. He may be a thin weapon but that's only because the metals on him are heavy. So his purpose matched my strength. I can't hit them with his staff, but I can still use him to block them. I suddenly hear metal on metal when it collides with one of the seniors. I saw that she had a small knife hidden in her sleeve. So that's what he told them to do. Alright. I better knock Lara out of bounds so she doesn't get caught up in this one.

I have to meditate to keep my composure. After throwing Lara out onto the distant grass,I use artimon to create a barrier which gives me enough time to take a breath before the seniors rush me all at once. I use a skill that I haven't used before called collection. It was developed during my meditation sessions. This allows me to think faster than normal so long as I keep my heart rate steady while I think, so I can only activate it subconsciously when I meditate. I can read their movements and see the small openings that I can slip through. My timing was a bit off though, so I'll need to drop Artimon for a moment. Let's see if all that mind guiding during meditation can help me counteract them all at once.

First, the one behind me. His arms are high so aim for his chin as he falls, dodge the girl next, trip and disarm her. Finally, the boy decided to summon his knight weapons. It's a single blade short sword, so he's using the blunt end. He was planning on knocking me unconscious and ending it. I follow the flow of his blade and make him drop his sword, then judo throws him over my shoulder. Finally, Eddie decided to join in and flanked me from my right with his mighty weapon, white knuckles. I was barely able to dodge it. He topples and tackles again with a faster punch. I couldn't get to Artimon on time, so I did the first riskiest thing that came to mind and stepped into his swing, danced around his arm and sent my own flurry of punches into his stomach just under his ribs. As he falls forward from the attack, I send one last jab into his chin with a hardened fist and finally spin a fist into his right side. He flies off the ground and lands on his shoulder. I was finally able to step on Artimon and send his ring into my hand to catch and hold his staff at Eddie's head.

Eddie is now looking me in the eyes with a prideful smile. He was proud of me for that counter. Good. I tap him on the head for that smile, then return Artimon to his necklace form and walk over to Lara, who had seen the rest of the fight after I sent her to the grass.

"Are you alright?" I ask her. She was covered in grass stains from the topple but she hasn't cried yet. "Can you stand up?"

"Uh huh." She took my hand and I helped her to her feet. "... You beat all of them like… like you know what they would do." Well, this is my second life. Fighting a crowd is nothing new to me. Except I don't need to beat the old for food. "There's no way I'll match you at this rate is there?"

"Well, I have been training in my room to raise my levels faster."

"... Why haven't I thought of that before!? That's so obvious!"

"Pfft heh heh heh. Well. Are you satisfied with today's spar?"

"I am after you told me that. I'll definitely kick your butt next time."

"Yeah, sure. You keep telling yourself that."

"And when I do finally get as strong as you, I'm gonna make you mine. You wait and see." what?? Her cheeks are pink when she tells me that.

"Huh!? Wait. where did that come from!?"

"You just wait for me, got it? And don't go getting a girlfriend before then either!" what the everloving hell!? No!!

"Now wait just a-"

"Haha!! Look at you getting more acquainted, stinger boy??" Eddie suddenly rustles my head and makes me dizzy before I could retort to that statement.

"HUH!!? N-no! Hold on a second!"

"Come on. Lord Henderson is gonna love the good news of your training today."

"Eddie!!!"

"Sanderson, stop teasing him." Pope Henderson says as he approaches us.

"Hey, this is a genuinely good thing. At least we know he can make friends."

"She did not want to start as just friends. Eddie." I interrupt.

"Even better."

"EDD!!!"

"Alright alright. Geez. I'm kidding."

"Anyway, Stinger." Henderson calls for my attention. He seemed unnerved about something.

"Yeah?"

"I need you to come with me for a while today. There's something you must see back at the penitentiary."

"... is it the followers?"

"Yes. and, well, others."

Others? What does that mean? We get to the penitentiary and Henderson guides me to a new area where the remaining followers left from the… Imma say cleansing, were in a special room meant for the luxurious ones like Eddie. High class rejects that were caught trying to take advantage of the law. I don't know why we have to go here of all places. These guys have no fucking chill when it comes to their blessings. They are the kind of people that think the world revolves around them like they should be the lords of the world. Watching the recent news from time to time with the maid currently has me thinking this way about them since the ones that I see here are all high ranked figures that were caught in acts that go against their teachings. It's sad that they get such a good penthouse bunk room here. Even got several entertainment sections with games and stuff to keep them occupied.

At the end of the large room was a meeting room in soundproof glass that you couldn't see inside. I almost thought it was a black wall if not for the door contrasting the tint. Each side of that room had two narrow doors along the walls and it took me a moment to realize there were two more doorways into the wash rooms. Eddie and three other guards that came in with us started to escort people to their cells to allow me and Henderson to pass by to the meeting room while most of the nobles here stared daggers at us as we passed. One in particular gave me chills with how calm he was. In fact he was smiling at us. And to my surprise, his eyes were pumpkin. What is his blessing though?

"Stinger? What is that face for?" Henderson suddenly calls me and breaks my trance from the man that was watching us as we enter the room. What face am I making to have him say- OH JESUS!! FUCK! I LOOK LIKE I'M CONSTIPATED!!! What the fuck!

"I-ignore me! Let's just go!"

We enter the room to see the four chosen sitting around a coffee table in silence. Why? You'd think these three would- "BLUFF!!?"

"Lord stinger!!" Victoria suddenly jumps me out of nowhere and suffocates me in her ballpit of tits. Also fucking why!?

"H-hello… victoria." I can't fucking breath, girl!

"Oh my heavens! You have no idea how surprised I was when Lucinda told us it was you in this little body! She was like 'The father didn't leave after all. We better greet him properly when we see him again.'" Oh my fucking god, she sounds just like her, but she's RIGHT THERE, Victoria!

"Vicky, be careful with your words if you don't want to be jinxed again." Markus tells her. The scaredy cat just gave this girl a scolding.

"Also, let go of me please." I can not deal with this suffocation. She's crushing my shoulders with those boulders. How does her back not hurt from lugging those around all her life?

"But lord! I missed you so much! You have no idea how much your death hurt me!" Woman!! Let me go!!

"MMPH!! MMN!!" Can't breathe!!

Someone grabs me from her finally and sits me in their lap. I feel more balloons on my shoulders now but they're not as big. "Vicky, you're gonna kill him again if you keep holding him that tightly." Lucinda says. Why are you holding me!? "Anyway, welcome. You got some explaining to do. The hell was all that about ``Do you wish to repent and shit``?"

"I-is that not what I'm here for??"

"Well, there's that too." Henderson says. "But the current issue now is what we wish to do with these four… as well as ask you what you think about the new addition that wishes to join your cause."

"First off there is no cause. We are just a family that will be going through some rehabilitation. Second of all I only have these four in the line of the house as a direct family while the others that survived are part of each of them directly."

"Could you explain that?"

"The house of blood will be built like a family tree of descendants. These four are going to be the first lines of each of their own faction. Anyone that wishes to follow after them in the line I have chosen will pick a head to follow out of these four."

"What about those that wish to follow you?"

"They will become the head of their house. Because all the heads are under my rule as the father of the house of blood."

"... is all of this in the book I gave you?"

"No. I was told by the goddess to make a set of rules for the house to regulate the household so I decided that the ones with the mark from the blood will be a direct head of the house under me. This way they each can make their own rules as well and build a family through their own means."

"So you mean to say you wish for them to have the freedom to do as they please?"

"So long as it does not go against the promise of the house, they can do as they please to keep our goddess's favor with them."

"Hm…"

"Ugh… basically she gave me permission to make a bible for the house to follow. So long as their actions stay within these rules of the book, they should be fine."

"What if there are loopholes in the rules?"

"The rules are direct. So of course there are gonna be loopholes. Every book or bible has a loophole or contradiction in it. If anyone wants to do something with that loophole, it better be for the betterment of the house according to the main rule. Else you will be found and punished. I am no exception to any of these rules. If I go against the teaching of the promise, I will suffer for it."

"... hm…"

"So what is this about those that wish to join the house? I take it there was some out there that wanted to talk to us?"

"Yes. A few of the former figure heads you saw out there wished to speak to you."

"Sounds like this will turn into an interview… well, before I do that. I need to talk to these guys for a while. Can we have the room to ourselves for a while? Or is that a no?"

"Sure. Just don't take too long."

"Wait really??" Eddie stammers. Of course he doesn't think this is a good idea. "You sure this is fine, leaving them like this??"

"Yes. If I can trust anyone in this room alone, it would be you and him."

… well… that's nice of Henderson to say.

"Of course you can trust our savior! Lord Stinger is never one to break or make a promise he can't achieve." Alright, Vicky, we get it.

"Savior??" Eddie says confused. "How many others did you convert to your church with that logic?"

"Aside from Lucinda, he basically helped all of us to an extent." Markus says. "Honestly, I'm ashamed of myself for being the way I was." was or are?

"We can discuss everyone's back story another time." I interrupt.

"Right. We can hear that later. For now we'll leave you all to catch up. Let's go, Eddie." Henderson and Eddie leave the room.

For a moment everything was quiet. Vicky sits back down next to me and Lucinda, who was still holding me, is now patting my head. I still refuse to move because I don't wanna get jinxed!

"So, it truly is you, huh?" I feel a murderous disturbance as Makoto spoke. He is not happy with me. "Stinger-san." san he says.

"... yes. It is me. I'm sorry it took so long for us to meet again after what I just put everyone through."

"Why are you sorry for that?" Markus asked suddenly. He was too calm though. "You basically saved us from damnation. The pastures and the judge couldn't find a single sin in us anymore after you purged our guilt. If anything we are very grateful to you. We all had a death sentence before that, so if anything that cleansing saved the four of us from staying in the underground."

"R-really? You're not mad that I didn't say anything myself?"

"Oh, we're not mad at that." you are mad though. He's smiling but his eyes say he is going to kill me. "We are quite upset at the fact that you decided to offer yourself in the heat of the moment. Why exactly was it necessary to say 'I'm sorry for being incompitant' and then offing yourself in the middle of everyone's view? Do you realize how devastated the four of us were the moment that blade went through your heart like a bullet?"

Oh, he is livid! Why for that though!? "Right? You couldn't think of anything else to do?" Lucinda says. Why are you so frustrated!? You hated me!

"W-what else was there to do?! It's not like I knew this would happen."

"And what about that wish the goddess said to you!?" Vicky, come on. "She said to try again and out of nowhere you got turned into a baby! Your old body wasn't even there anymore! I kind of miss the old you but you're super cute now. Oh! But we're still mad at you for leaving us behind!"

"I'm sorry you felt that way. I didn't know what else to do. We were looking for her for so long that I thought I should at least give it a shot…"

"Before disbanding the church, right?" Makoto says. Still cold. Still mad. "... ever since you became the father, things started to slow down and get quieter, and the older members didn't like that so they started doing their own thing. When you noticed this you thought it would be best to just stop all of it since there were too many incidents that wouldn't be noticed right?"

"... well, that too."

"So you wanted to take the responsibility to end it with you without telling anyone anything?" Lucinda asked. She sounded confused.

"... That too. I thought everything we've been doing was wrong… but I was more ashamed of myself for not trying to stop it."

"... so you thought your sacrifice was going to solve it?" Makoto, still upset.

"Well, in a way, it did." Marcus says. "But I wish you would have said something to us at least. We all saw you were thinking something wasn't right."

"... tell you? The four of you?" I didn't think anyone would listen to me. To begin with, Lucinda scares me and she was an absolute bitch. Marcus I never thought I could rely on because of his cowardice and Makoto and Vicky were new to the whole thing.

"Speak up!" Lucinda's voice suddenly got loud behind me. Heavens below! "We can't know what you're thinking unless you say something."

"Don't tell us you thought we wouldn't listen to you. You were the father. Whatever you say must be the word of the god we serve… Goddess." Marcus explains as if that was the most natural thing for them but…

"... honestly. No. I didn't. Lucinda continued doing what she was doing, Markus stayed in fear of it all and Makoto and Vicky were just victims of the circumstances. I didn't know what to do as the father since I never asked for the title. I wanted to stay in the shadows doing what I wanted as before. I couldn't do it anymore after watching all of those things happening. I didn't think I had the right to punish or change much since I was no different, so… I thought it was best to just end it."

"... you thought you would stay dead?"

"So you wanted to send a message to the church that way then?"

"... that was the best I could think of."

"... well, I guess that would make sense."

"I don't like that you didn't use the authority you had as the father to change things to your liking like the others before you did."

"To be honest, Lucinda, I don't think he had a chance to."

"Aah?"

"Think about it. We've been doing things the same general way of taking sacrifices from others while he went off to hide them or send them away somewhere."

"What?? You knew!?"

"Of course we did. But only the four of us noticed."

"Markus was the first to notice and he told me later on."

"After you threatened me several times to find him."

"He kept disappearing on us when it got to his turn for the rituals and you're the one that stayed around him more!"

What is happening all of a sudden??

"Anyway, after that, the two new recruits that came after your rise were always watching you."

"You always treated me like the kid I was, and even became sad or upset on my behalf whenever the others ganged up on me. Of course I'm gonna notice something's off with you. And I'm not even that smart."

"I will always wonder what you think. You're the first friend I made since I came here. I thought if there was anything that could change, you would be the first to show it. So it was easy to catch on to what you do in your free time."

"You had a shit habit of being a goody two shoes in the weirdest scenarios. I would have noticed you doing something behind everyones back eventually."

"You would have told the father then wouldn't you?"

"... If I hadn't noticed how fast your power grew from the things you did, yeah. I would have told him."

Huh??

"Since Lucinda can see the state of someone's blessing and abilities, she was able to watch you grow over time."

"Personally, I was the most upset when you decided to off yourself." I noticed when you were cursing me out in your cell underground. "Do you realize all of the expectations that we had for you? I really thought you had the power to do what we always wanted. And you did it! But why did you have to suddenly take your own life for it!?"

"Woman, my first thought was I could since I'm a virgin! And using an unwilling person was just wrong to me. I couldn't bring myself to do what everyone else was doing! I didn't feel necessary. Not that it was right to begin with."

"Then how was your power growing so much!?"

"Right, you never actually participated in the rituals."

"That doesn't mean I haven't killed others."

"But they weren't sacrifices. You were just trying to live. Not actively trying to kill others for a cause."

"Or the pleasure of it."

"Not even when you were a father. You just stopped the rituals all together, which is why the others started doing their own thing."

"That was the first ritual you were active in since any of us met you."

"And you've been there since you were super young."

They've been talking about me like I'm some miracle for a while now. I don't understand. I'm no better than they are. If anything I'm worse. Why praise me for the hiccups?

"You just thought those nice things you did for the sacrifices were hiccups, didn't you?" geh! Makoto.

"Come to think of it. You said that a lot when something doesn't go as planned whenever you're involved in the choosing. You even called me a hiccup. I thought you were calling me out for something I did wrong."

"If I did, I wouldn't use such a roundabout way of telling you that."

"Right, I figured that out eventually. But I still don't know what you mean by that."

"I call them hiccups because it was an unintended incident. I didn't really do most of it on purpose, but eventually it became a habit to actively cause them."

"... wait, so you saving them wasn't intentional??"

"The first time I started doing it, no. At some point I just didn't want to see them so scared so I turned a blind eye to those that successfully escaped. Even gave them hints on where to go to stay out of sight."

"Have you been using your power to help them then?"

"... not that often, no. The most I would do is use a trail to guide them out when they had the chance to leave."

"Don't forget you've cleansed their wounds before too. How'd you do that?"

"He has?"

"He's done it for me once. I didn't understand what it was but you had the same bruise on you the following day."

"Ah… that was… I don't know what it was either. I only used it three times."

"Three!?"

"Why is that so bad?"

"He basically traded his health for mine when he healed my wounds. That's not good if he does that to a dying person you know."

"I'm not that reckless."

"When you did it I instantly realized you were sick because I ended up with your illness. How were you walking around like that to begin with??"

"Uh…"

"Wait, you mean his healing ability is a condition transfer?"

"I didn't even know he could heal others."

"I only found out about it after he did it to me when I came back from a fight."

"Wait, which fight, Lucinda??"

"T-the one with that muscle head father. It was after Stinger got chosen."

"You had a fight with the late father Bernard and he beat you senseless. Of course I wasn't going to leave you like that. You were supposed to be Makoto's guide."

"But you disappeared for a week after that! I was wondering why I couldn't find you! I thought you were just dumping him on-!? I-I seriously didn't know he had that ability! It was so out of left field for him that I was trying to find him to know when he got that power! Since only light god worshippers had healing abilities."

"... I've always been able to use it. The first time I used it was to heal myself. I was about to die from starvation and sickness when I saw this kid getting beaten by someone in fancy clothes. My first thought was that guy looked healthy. It's not necessarily a healing ability. Makoto was the second one I used it on."

"Yeah. But why? I got your cold because of it but it wasn't as bad as the fracture I suffered."

"Hey Hey can I say what he did for me now, since we're talking about all of his good points?"

"We are talking about what abilities he has, Vicky."

"We should be asking what all of them are. Aside from the blessings you have that are visible to Lucinda, what else can you do?"

"... every blood based power I had as the priest. Since those are handed down."

"Not all of them. Father Biron didn't get a few when he was made father and the one after him only got two of those abilities."

"What?"

"Yeah, I thought you would have ended up with none of them but you got all of them and even showed more than what you were given."

"Huh… I didn't know that. But well the others I have I've developed before I was part of the church. That condition transfer was one of them. Another one I got was 'spirit whisper' and 'grave step'."

"Don't necromancers have those abilities?"

"I have them because I always traveled in the graveyards or abandoned areas that most people tend to avoid. Like the marked grave town by the wall."

"... that's scary! What the fuck?!"

"What!? You wanted to know!"

"I'm not even that desperate to run from my problems to those places!"

"To think you were so bold, Father Stinger."

"... I didn't mind it since all those rumors of ghosts and stuff were my fault."

"I swear to the third realm…"

"Hey! I don't see you getting death's protection from hanging around the dead for twelve years of your life."

"So why the life transfer??"

"Are we gonna keep talking about how weird I'm getting or get to more important things!? Like the bastard that's been watching us talk in here smiling to himself like a pervert?!"

"Ah…"

"Absolutley not." Why not!? "We want to know more about that old ass introvert that kept to himself up till now. Tell us everything about you from then to now."

All four of them were staring at me with anticipation. You gotta be fucking kidding.