Chapter 104 Arriving At The Church

"I had a few arguments with some of them, saying I was the reason that Tel-, I mean, one of us died.

Our relationships were pretty strained at that point and our party leader was too depressed to try and smooth things over.

So, when Laurene came over at that 'Oh So Convenient' timing, I accepted her offer and left them."

"Whoa...that sounds rough."

"It was, but I was able to get through it. Let's just say that the death of one of us, served as a huge wake up call for us who were still illusioned about reality.

Especially myself."

Hearing her words, Evan was able to figure out the reason for her sudden change in attitude and discovered this was not exactly a topic she liked talking about.

He changed the subject of the conversation to something else as the trio navigated through the streets and made their way into the busy adventurer's guild building.

Upon entering, they attracted a bit of attention but that attention was gone in a few seconds as the adventurers went back to whatever they were preoccupied with.

Evan felt this was better than being stared at like he was some sort of animal in a zoo as he walked up to the free receptionist desk.

"Hello, welcome to the Adventurer's guild. How may I help you?"

Taking a seat on the stools prepared in front of the desk, Evan gave a simple made up lie about how Pride lost her means of identification and needed a new one.

"I see...So you wish to register her and then have her join your party, am I correct?"

"Yep."

"Can I see your own guild cards to confirm your identities?"

Evan and Eliza presented their guild cards, which the receptionist took and scanned them with a magitech device built into the desk.

Beside the card slot was a screen where Evan and Eliza's data were displayed, making Evan wonder how a world that was capable of creating such devices didn't have TVs yet.

'The technological advancement of this world is all over the place.'

Evan thought to himself as he collected his guild card back form the receptionist and stood on the sidelines while waiting for Pride to complete the registration process.

After this, they registered their party, not before Eliza spent nearly twenty minutes trying to come up with a party name for them.

In the end the trio settled on something quite simple; The Rangers.

It was a random word that Evan thought of when he realized that the queue behind them was getting a bit too long.

"I feel like I wasted the last twenty minutes of my life."

Evan remarked outwardly as he dragged the dissatisfied Eliza out of the guild building. The duo was followed by Pride who still staring at the giant 'F' on her guild card with twitching eyebrows.

While she understood that the guild could not give her the rank she wanted or deserved as they knew next to nothing about her martial prowess, accepting the fact that she was considered and 'F' rank in something was impossible for the Demon of Pride.

'Should I wipe out a horde of monsters, I've recovered my aura so I can at least kill a few hundred before tiring out.'

The demon would most likely have acted upon her thoughts if she wasn't pulled out of them when they arrived at their inn to stay the night.

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Bonas City

Great Western Empire

December 10th

Year 1051

The trio awakened from their slumber the next day, deciding to go over to the church first thing in the morning before a crowd gathered.

On their way, they passed a few adventurers setting off on long distance quests and saw dozens more returning from their adventures.

As the temple entrance came into sight, Eliza decided to ask the question that had been on her mind ever since Evan changed their destination from Kasteblum to Bonas.

"So, Evan. How exactly are we gonna heal the spirits by going to the church?"

"Well, to be honest, I don't know."

"Huh?" "What?"

Pride and Eliza let out voices of surprise upon hearing Evan's answer but the young hero ignored them and kept on walking towards the temple, his mind going back to the advice of the foreign godly being that directed him here in the first place.

By the time the two recovered from their surprise, Evan had already walked up to the knight of the church standing guard by the entrance and asked to meet the bishop, naturally, he was rejected.

"So, you're saying its not possible to meet them?"

"It's not that it isn't possible, but you have to make an appointment days before. The bishop is a very busy person and does not have the time to meet with the likes of every random adventurer that comes over."

"What if the person is not an adventurer but a nobleman, one of a fairly high rank at that? Are you still gonna deny the noble entry?"

As Evan replied, he held up a badge in his hands, something he had even forgotten he had, nevertheless, it was something very handy.

Every member of every noble or royal family possessed a badge that was attuned to their magic power from birth.

This badge contained either the family's coat of arms or their crest and would only light up if the person whose magic was attuned to it, poured magic power into it.

It was something that Evan had on him ever since he left the Duke's mansion and something, he had almost forgotten he had.

Thankfully, he was not disowned by the duke and the badge was still active.

So, when the knight saw the crest dark bronze crest of two crossed swords overlaid by a roaring lion head, his face rapidly paled due to fear.

However, before he could even say a word, another voice rang out, one he was all too familiar with.

"No need for that, Lord Eris."

Hearing that voice, Evan turned to the side and was met with the figure of a woman clothed in white ceremonial robes standing at the door of the temple building.

He stopped pouring magic power into the badge and tossed it back into his inventory before narrowing his eyes to study the woman.

She was a fairly young golden eyed woman who had long black hair tied up into a braid. Her robes were decorated with the church of Artemisia's symbol, the 'Golden Rose'.

"Lady Bishop!"

The knight's exclamation revealed her identity to Evan as he tilted his head in confusion.

'Why is the bishop here?'

"I'm sure you have your questions but this is not the place where they can be answered. Shall we go to my office?

Of course, your companions are welcome too."

Evan concurred with her words and followed her into the temple building. They passed by a few priests on the way who bowed lightly to the bishop while giving Evan and the two girls looks of confusion.

Upon arriving at a beautifully designed door, the bishop opened it up and gestured for the trio to follow suit.

The insides of the office looked more like a library than an office due to the number of bookshelves on the walls, each one stacked full with books.

The cracked spines of the books showed how frequently they had been read, instantly divulging one of the hobbies of the owner of this office.

In the middle of the office was a small centre table with three couches around it in a 'U' formation.

Evan took a seat on the couch on the left, with Eliza and Pride seating opposite him.

"I was just about to enjoy some early morning tea. Care to join?"

Evan nodded in affirmation as he scanned around with his mystic eyes, studying the flow of magic power in the room.

He was astonished when he discovered that besides the defensive inscriptions on the wall, there was barely any magic power in the room.

**CHINK!

? The sound of the teacup being placed in front of him brought him out of his thoughts as he turned his gaze to the golden eyed woman giving him a warm smile.

"The room has quite a few defensive inscriptions on the walls, along with sound proofing, so rest assured that the contents of our conversation would not get leaked out."

Evan took a sip of the tea after blowing lightly. He then dropped the cup afterwards and rose his gaze to meet the woman.

"So, are you ready to answer my questions now?"

"Although I may be able to answer some of them, I cannot provide all the answers you seek."

The bishop responded as she took a sip of her tea, before adding a few more cubes of sugar and mixing it.

"It's better than nothing.

First of all, how is there barely any magic power in this room? It is simply impossible for a place devoid of magic power like this to exist."

Evan's question caused the Bishop's eyes to widen in surprise, she then muttered a few things to herself before asking Evan a question in return.

"Lord Eris, have you never been to a temple before?"