episode_0005

Time passed quickly.

Two years passed by in the blink of an eye, and Arthur and Alice turned ten years old.

10 years old, the age to receive blessings.

To understand what blessings were at this time, we had to look back to the distant history.

That was in ancient times, before the empire even existed. That is, before the Blessing existed.

If we talk about humanity at that time, it can be explained in one sentence.

The weakest race on the continent.

In reality, it is an accurate description, as they were a race that ran away from the demons and barely managed to survive day to day like beasts. However, as spring comes after winter, a change came to humanity. By a woman who called herself the representative of the goddess.

The woman gathered a large crowd in the square and claimed that if they believed in the goddess, she would give them the strength to overcome the situation.

It was obviously a story that was hard to believe. After losing their land to the demons for a long time and having nowhere left to retreat, humanity built a church with a deceived mind and prayed to the goddess.

Please help them so they and their children can live and dream of tomorrow.

Then, pillars of light of different sizes fell from the sky toward the people, and countless people began to gain great strength from the blessing.

At that moment of destruction, humanity gained new strength and won the war against the demons, barely managing to drive them into the demon realm.

After that, the ‘First Saint’, the Goddess’ representative, traveled around the continent and informed the existence of the only god of mankind, ‘Goddess of Creation Atea’. Thanks to the blessing, mankind became stronger and prospered, and numerous human kingdoms were created on the continent, and after many years, the current empire was born.

Because of this, everyone living in the empire had to believe in a religion, and that religion was the goddess Atea.

* * *

“Arthur. You’re 10 now, so you know it’s time to start receiving blessings, right?”

Arthur, who was sitting at the table reading a book, opened his eyes wide when he heard Hilda speaking next to him.

“Of course! How long have I waited! Are you going today? Will Hilia come with you too..?”

It was the moment Arthur had been waiting for ever since he learned of the existence of the blessing.

Although he didn’t show it on the outside, Arthur, who wanted to receive the blessing related to Mana as soon as possible, was already holding Hilda’s hand and moving out the door.

“I’m not going.”

“Huh? So you’re saying I should go alone..”

Arthur, who was taken aback by Hilda’s blunt response while sitting still, unmoved by his own power, began to look around. Only when he saw Hilda’s face suddenly burst into laughter at the sight of him like this did he realize that she was joking.

“No way? I already talked to Milia, so you can go with Alice. We’re leaving tomorrow morning. Don’t play too late today, and go to bed early.”

“Yes!”

Arthur, with a smile on his face, ran straight to his room and lay down on his bed. He wanted tomorrow to come quickly.

The next day, early in the morning.

Rattle rattle.

Millia set off with Arthur and Alice in the carriage. Their destination was Padun, the nearest city with a church.

“I have something to ask you..”

“What are you curious about, Arthur?”

“What if… I don’t receive a blessing..?”

Maybe it was because he had experienced many bad things since he was young. Milia answered Arthur kindly, who was worried for nothing.

“Remember, the Goddess will bless anyone who believes in her? I’m not testing your faith in particular. Don’t worry about that, Arthur.”

“That’s right! Arthur is so kind! The goddess knows that and will give him good blessings!”

“Then that’s fortunate..”

Arthur looked relieved, his anxiety somewhat relieved by what Millia and Aris had said, and Aris quickly changed the subject.

“Arthur. What kind of blessing do you want?”

“Hmm… I think it would be nice if I had a blessing that increases my mana. Then I could use magic too, right?”

“Hehehe, you’ll definitely get the blessing you want, right? What if you leave me later when you become a wizard? Then I’ll chase after you all the time-!”

Arthur smiled as he recalled his own image as a wizard at Alice’s words.

“Why would I abandon you? Aren’t you the one who’s going to become an adventurer later on?”

When Arthur thought about it, he had no intention of leaving Alice, even if he really became a wizard.

Rather, it was more likely that it was Alice, who often expressed boredom with her daily life in the countryside. So Arthur asked jokingly,

“… ”

“Aris.. Why aren’t you answering…?”

“Huh? Then, there’s no way I’d leave you behind, right?”

Arthur swore to himself as he watched Alice strangely avoid eye contact and answer in an uncertain voice. He would never let her go.

After that, Arthur and Alice spent some time chatting.

Arthur, exhausted from the six-hour carriage ride, fell asleep in the carriage.

After confirming that Arthur was asleep, Aris went to sit next to Millia in the driver’s seat to talk to her. Millia also turned around and confirmed that Arthur was asleep, then began whispering to Aris.

“Aris, so when are you going to confess?”

“That, I’ll do it when I feel more confident..”

“My daughter’s clumsy appearance was cute,” said Milia.

“Daughter.. I didn’t raise you like that.”

“You could confess and get rejected. If you make Arthur fall in love with you first, then you’ll be 100% sure!”

“When Mom sees it, Arthur seems to be interested in you too? Can’t you tell just by looking at how kind Arthur is to you?”

“Arthur is kind to everyone, right? If you confess to him for no reason, he might say, ‘I thought we were friends, but you thought of me like that? I’m disappointed!’ ”

In Milia’s eyes, it was obvious that they were interested in each other, so she continued to tease Aris. However, seeing her daughter being more cowardly than she had thought, she shook her head.

“… Okay, do whatever you want. Oh my… I raised my daughter wrong… To be such a coward. ”

“What, what did you say? Mom!!!”

As I was talking to Alice about love advice without realizing how much time had passed, the carriage arrived at Padun.

While Millia was showing her identification to the guard, Alice was waking up Arthur.

* * *

Arthur, who arrived in front of the podium, let out an exclamation of admiration.

“Wow! Is this the Goddess Church? It’s huge!”

“Arthur. Let’s go in quickly!”

“Don’t run, go in slowly.”

As they entered, a priest welcomed them both.

“The little believers came today? Did you come to receive blessings?”

““Yes!””

“Then, you should stand in front of the statue of the goddess over there. We’ll have to do it one at a time, so who will go first?”

“Aris!! I want to go first!!”

Before Alice could answer, Arthur was already running towards the statue of the goddess.

“Goddess… I listened to the adults. I studied hard.. I didn’t do anything bad..”

As Arthur prayed with his hands clasped and his eyes closed, a large pillar of light fell through a hole in the ceiling.

“Eek!! It’s so bright-!!”

Arthur rubbed his eyes for a moment because of the unexpectedly bright light. He barely opened his eyes when he heard the priest’s voice next to him.

“Follower. Now that it seems like it’s time, would you please come to where I am?”

As Arthur was about to approach after hearing the priest’s words, a light came down from the sky once more. This time, it was incomparable to the previous one.

Arthur, who was puzzled by the incomprehensible situation, asked the priest.

“Huhk!!! What, what is this.. Is this how it’s supposed to be..? Priest, is it supposed to be done like this twice?”

“… No. This is the first time this has happened.. Receiving a blessing twice… I’ve never heard of this before. I think it’s probably the first time. I feel so lucky to see this with my own eyes. And the pillar of light was also the largest I’ve ever seen in my life. It seems like the Goddess cherishes her followers a lot.”

Arthur, realizing that there was no exaggeration in what he had heard, approached the priest, unable to hide the corners of his lips rising.

Arthur could see him holding a large crystal ball forward, but he was curious as to what it was.

“What does this crystal ball do?”

“A tool to measure the level of blessing. When touched, the better the blessing, the brighter it shines.”

“That’s amazing.. Can you tell me how much of a blessing I’ve received?”

“There is no absolute standard. Since I have a lot of experience, I can roughly tell the extent of it. Since the size of the light pillar 2 is huge, you can probably expect it. It was said that it was so bright during the Pope’s time that it illuminated the entire inside of the church, so I think it will be similar.”

Arthur, hearing the priest’s words, was so excited that he snorted and reached for the crystal ball.

“… ”

But nothing happened.

Arthur was the first to break the silence.

“Oh, my lord. There’s no light at all…? Is this broken?”

“Wait a minute.. This can’t be happening..?”

The crystal orb had never broken before, but just in case, the priest placed his hand on it to check, and as if by magic, it began to glow brightly.

“Huh? Why is it like this… Would you like to raise your hand again?”

“… ”

Arthur placed his hand on the crystal ball again, but there was no change in it.

The meaning of the unlit crystal ball was so simple that the priest swallowed hard and carefully opened his mouth.

“That… Believer? It seems like you didn’t receive the blessing… This happens very rarely..? But the Goddess protects everyone. Don’t be too heartbroken-”

The priest, seeing Arthur’s frozen expression, offered words of comfort. Arthur, already in a state of shock, quietly left without saying a word and sat down in the empty chair.

“… Next believer? Would you please come to the front of the statue?”

Alice, who was waiting outside, didn’t know about Arthur’s situation. She was so excited that she ran towards the statue.

“Goddess!! Please give me a really strong blessing. I can even shoot lightning out of my hand!! I want to fly in the sky!”

At Alice’s words, a pillar of light similar in size to Arthur’s second pillar of light fell from the ceiling.

Startled, Alice covered her eyes and screamed.

“Ugh… My eyes hurt so much.. Isn’t it too bright?”

Seeing the light pillar of Alice, the priest thought to himself. He had said it calmly earlier, but in fact, in all his blessings, he had never seen such a huge pillar. But this time, two of them appeared at the same time, so he was very surprised.

‘Surely… it’s not like there’s no light this time either?’

“Ahem.. My lord? Would you please put your hand on the crystal ball here?”

Upon hearing the words, Aris immediately raised her hand. At the same time, a tremendous amount of light emitted from the crystal ball, gently shedding light even on the outside of the podium.

“Wow! It’s so pretty. Is this the original?”

“… Are you, by any chance, the next Pope?”

“Huh? That’s not me..”

Alice quickly left the priest whose eyes were starting to roll back and approached Arthur.

“Arthur!! You saw the light leaking out ‘twice’ earlier, didn’t you? Didn’t the crystal ball shine so brightly? How does it feel? Does it seem like your mana has increased? Did you see my light? It was so bright that I thought I was blinded. The priest inside said I was the next pope! Hehe.”

“… ”

“..Arthur? Are you feeling unwell? Did you ride the carriage too long?? I’ll call mom-”

At that moment, Arthur’s sobbing reached Alice’s ears.

“Huh?? Arthur, are you crying? Why are you crying all of a sudden.. Did you receive a bad blessing? I’m sorry.. Did I brag too much? ”

Arthur answered with a voice that sounded truly sad.

“Aris… I didn’t receive a blessing. The priest said that this happens sometimes, so maybe I did something wrong in my past life? I didn’t want much… I just wanted a blessing to be able to use magic once… What did I do wrong…”

After speaking, Arthur wiped his tears and stood up.

“Let’s go back, Alice..”

* * *

Milia said that the kids had a hard time coming out and that they should go back now. She was about to ask what kind of blessing she had received, but Aris whispered in her ear and quickly explained the situation.

When Milia heard this, she couldn’t say anything, and the carriage started off quietly. And none of the three said a word until the carriage reached the village.

After arriving in the village, Arthur headed to Hilda’s house without saying a word.

Hilda welcomed Arthur back with freshly baked bread and fruit, and asked if he liked the blessing.

“I didn’t receive any blessings…”

With those words, Arthur went into his room, and the food prepared for him grew cold without any decrease.

That night, in Hilda’s house, the only sound that could be heard was Arthur crying under the blanket.