Chapter 107 High Septon Elise

[Elise's POV]

"High Septon! High Septon Elise!"

I stopped and looked over at Nikolai, who was running to me while catching his breath. He was already twenty-four but looked like sixteen because of his scrawny arms and short legs.

His brown hair was cut like a coconut husk, but it was so shiny and so straight, which bounced up and down, unlike my blonde curls that would never coordinate with me. That's why I raised them into a bun, so they wouldn't get into my face.

Nikolai was my sidekick since all High Septon must at least have one Septon to tend to them. We've been together for four years since the moment I became a High Septon.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "What is it?"

"A-are you really going to Roselake?" he stuttered. His legs were already shaking with fear.

I patted his shoulder and smiled. "Of course. Someone has to investigate what happened there."

"B-but . . . that town is rumored to be cursed! And I heard that the neighboring towns burned Roselake to the ground by order of the Kingdom and church. You won't have anything to find there but burned rubbles and scorched corpses.

"My father also told me that Roselake is now haunted by ghosts and demons. He said that every night, the ghost of the townsfolk's cries and screams echoed in the area until to the neighbouring cities. And whoever passed there at night would never see morning again."

"It's just rumored," I said, placing my hand on Nikolai's shoulder. "No one wanted to know what happened with the town and I intend to investigate it. We have to know the origin of the disease if ever it was a disease or at least know what had happened to prevent it from happening again."

Nikolai's eyes shook and watered. "B-but . . . d-does it have to be us?"

I like that he was already going with me even though he was scared. "Yes. Since the others are busy and we have time on our hands. We'll go and investigate what happened there. It is our job to make sure that something like this won't occur again."

I looked over at the light passing through the open windows lining the corridors.

"And besides, we need to answer the people's fear, or their faith in us would weaken. The Septons have the responsibility to serve the people according to Goddess Zephora's teachings. If we ignored them, then we ignored the Goddess."

"Ugh. . ." Nikolai's eyes went wide open as if he had seen something terrifying. He then groaned but closed his mouth shut.

"I-I know." he sighed in defeat. "I just thought that maybe we should do something less . . . dangerous?"

I stifled a laugh. "Our job is always dangerous," I told him.

I then shook my head. "Rumours are just rumors. We'll be fine like we always have," I assured him.

"Now go and make the necessary preparation. We will be leaving after an hour," I said, waving him away.

"R-right . . ." He nodded, then ran off again, this time without looking back.

I turned around and continued walking towards my chambers to make the preparations for our leave. I already filed a formal letter to the management that I would be investigating Roselake Town, so there won't be any problem if we were away for a month.

No one wanted to investigate the place since they were afraid that this curse that even the clergy and people of the church couldn't cure would get them too.

My letter was immediately approved because of it. The people wanted answers for what happened, and they wanted to know that the curse or disease wouldn't spread. The Church and the Kingdom needed someone to volunteer and ease the people's unease.

I looked over at the window.

It was still early morning, and the sun was shining brightly through the clouds. The sky was blue, and the grass was green after the never-ending rain. A few birds were singing their songs in the trees. I could hear the sound of water from the nearby river, which was a good sign of the weather.

The only thing that didn't seem right was Creg, who blocked my way. His buzz-cut hair was sharp as his eyes, and his grin was as concerning as always.

He was tall and rippling with lean muscles. He was handsome to boot, and his smile could get any woman under him.

Fortunately, I was not one of those women.

His good looks was a curse if you asked me for he could never find someone to settle. There was always a woman to replace the other if he wasn't contended.

Creg was notorious for collecting women into his harem. It seemed that it was his goal, apparently. He has women in every village and city that he visited.

He didn't care if it was another race or creature as long as they were women and they were beautiful.

And now, he was barging my way with his signature grin.

"Elise, I heard that you're going to investigate Roselake," he started.

"That's right," I said with my usual pleasant tone.

Creg smirked and leaned closer to me. "Are you sure? You might want to rethink your decisions. You might catch some curse there that not even a Septon could heal. If you want, you can ask for my help. But there's a price."

He said those words while running his lascivious eyes all over me.

I wasn't fazed since this type of man would only feel empowered the more you gave the reaction they wanted.

I blinked slowly while the smile on my face didn't lessen. "It's fine. I can take care of it."

"Is that right? Then before you go to your doom, how about we pass by my bedroom first? It's such a shame that you'll die without even experiencing the caress of a man."

He wiggled his brows, and I stifled a laugh. "It's fine. I'm sure there are other women that needs your attention better than I do."

"You know what the problem is?" he said, his voice low so no one else would hear us. "I don't have enough time to fuck all these women." He laughed like it was funny joke.

"Is that so? Then I won't hold you anymore."

Creg laughed some more and patted me on the back. "Just remember that if you change your mind, you know where to find me. For you, I would definitely make time."

( . . . continuation on NOTES)