Arc#5 Chapter 16: Sun

[Author's Note]

Merry Chrismas, everyone~!

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Reivan's party arrived in Lageton as fast as they expected and without any issues.

The only unsatisfying part was how there wasn't really much fanfare to welcome them—which was somewhat understandable, given how bleak the general situation was. Some of the people either experienced or heard about entire families getting wiped out for various reasons. Add to that the apparent monster problem spawning from literally underneath the ground. Nobody was in a very welcoming mood and even Reivan didn't particularly want a festival or something.

Really, it had been two months since the Sage King died but the effects of the battle were still felt.

'Hm? It feels as if it's less hot than before. Or is that just me? Ah, maybe it’s because it’s 4 pm and the sun’s about to set?'

As he alighted from his sky ark together with his entourage of close associates, Reivan subtly touched his neck and felt slightly less sweat than he expected. After a moment of contemplation, the heat hadn't died down, but its nature had changed since the last time he was here.

It felt as if the heat had become more normal. Essentially meaning that people like him—who possessed extremely refined physiques that should be resistant to this level of temperature—could now resist it more easily.

'Ah, but it's not quite there yet. I honestly shouldn't be sweating at all.'

But it was an improvement, and that was what mattered. The improving climate conditions would make it easier for the knights to do their jobs, at least.

"It's not as hot as you said," Helen said from beside him, dressed as a knight rather than as his wife for reasons he could not be bothered to argue with her about. She even walked a step behind him as if she was his guard. "Did you lie again?"

"I didn't, okay?" Reivan grumbled a little. "It just got better. Right, Gwen?"

"His Excellency is right, Lady Helen," Gwen backed him up—and rightfully so because he was both correct and her boss. Though she was a knight, she had already donned clothes that made her look like an important official, all billowy and totally different from what hot secretaries usually wore back on Modern Earth.

"Look alive, people," Jiji announced in a tone loud enough for only them to hear, wearing an elegant dress that should have been similar to what Helen should be wearing as his lady. "Stop goofing off in front of our subordinates."

Despite not having the entire city throw confetti at them, the arrival of a royal family member anywhere couldn't just be treated as if some nobody showed up from the Worgon Outpost. Some of the personnel that had already been here in advance were waiting for them in the port where the sky arks would be parked until they had to be used—which was practically the Samsara Palace's private port, given its position at the easternmost edge of the city.

With the temporary banning of all voyages between Lageton and Worgon, the ports previously dedicated to this had been integrated into his new home until further notice.

It was here that his government's staff awaited. Most of them were handpicked by Jiji and Gwen, so Reivan had already been introduced to them about a week ago before they got shipped off to Lageton in advance. Hector and Mimi would have been part of the group too, if Reivan hadn't successfully convinced them to wait in Aizen until the atrocious weather conditions didn't pose a threat to the child in his sister's belly—which was a point heavy enough for both of them to immediately agree. Mira should have also been here, but was probably playing coy by not showing up. As for the darkin and warbeasts, they were also not present because they were probably hard at work already.

In essence, everyone here was already familiar with everyone else and nobody else was watching them now. That meant they didn't need to make a show of playing niceties and whatnot.

There were some exceptions though.

'Priests of Sormon...? Did Frey send a delegation?'

Reivan easily spotted a group of white-robed individuals in priestly garb.

At the head of their group was a charming woman who noticeably had a motherly figure and a mole near the right side of her lower lip. She gave off an air of maturity, and though he couldn't explain it, kindness. Or maybe it was just because she was wearing priest robes that Frey seemed to abhor wearing in everyday life. Though even when surrounded by priests wearing similar clothes, she still managed to come off as especially benevolent.

Upon a quick look with [Supreme Insight], he discovered that she was named Isolde and was surprisingly 152 years old. Aside from that, there was nothing extraordinary in her status page other than the fact that she was a half-ascendant. Scanning the other priests around her revealed that they were also all half-ascendants or close to the limit of human physical development.

This was a very beefy group of priests even though they all looked like bookish people who couldn’t hurt a fly.

Reivan glanced at Gwen for answers but found that she didn't seem to have any. That meant that the priests weren't expected to be here at all.

He shared glances with Jiji and Gwen, nonverbally deciding to split up. While he and Helen headed straight for the unexpected group of priests, the other two women went off to say hello to their subordinates. The two valued practicality and they planned to get to work as soon as possible.

As Reivan and Helen neared, Isolde stepped forward as the group's representative and bowed.

"May the light of the sun warm your path, Your Excellency," she greeted.

"Same to you, priestess." Reivan also gave her a respectful dip of the head. Not too much though, because he was the nation's leader now and a ruler's crown should never sink too low.

'I'm not wearing one right now though.'

With their greetings out of the way, Isolde was the first to introduce herself. “This humble servant is named Isolde. I am a daughter of the kingdom who chose to dedicate her life to the Saintess’ cause instead of following in my father’s footsteps as a knight. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Excellency.”

“I see. You do look like one of ours,” Reivan chuckled goodnaturedly before asking the questions he wanted answered. “And to what do I owe this pleasure, if I may ask? I did not expect to see the faithful here.”

Given their inherent desire to help any who needed healing and their sheer ability to do just that, it made perfect sense to invite the Sormon Church into his budding nation. And he did, in fact, want to do so too.

There were some very glaring problems that may get away from that, however.

First, because of past incidents in their history, all religions were banned in Arkhan. The people also inherently avoided them, the aversion to anything related to gods becoming ingrained into their very psyche.

Second, given the Sormon Faith’s reach all over the Argonia Empire, the people of Arkhan never had a very good impression of it, even when compared to other religions. It is said that the banning of all religions is mainly to prevent one of Argonia’s staunchest allies from spreading its influence into the republic.

Reivan did not know how the citizens would receive any Sormon Priest that arrived, even if said priests only wanted to help them. Quietly walking away and refusing treatment was one thing, but what if the Arkhanians tried to attack the priests while they were busy healing someone? What if they threw slurs at the relatively pure clerics?

Not wanting the priests to suffer any trauma from such an experience, Reivan chose not to invite them here at all.

Funnily enough, it seemed as if they’d invited themselves.

“The Saintess was waiting for you to send us an invitation,” Isolde sheepishly smiled as her pretty brown eyes met his. “But she realized that you may have some reservations about inviting us to a potentially unwelcoming environment. That is why I and a number of volunteers journeyed here to directly ask you for permission to operate in Lageton.”

“I would have liked to have this conversation back in Aizen.” Reivan shrugged, not really minding how they had done things. He really did want them here. If they volunteered, knowing what to expect, then he had nothing else to say. “Sormon’s faithful are welcome here. I’d tell you to be careful, but I can tell that all of you are quite capable of taking care of yourselves.”

Isolde giggled, demurely covering her mouth. “I was told that the prince was extremely perceptive. It seems the praise is well-deserved.”

“Oh, it’s just a talent I’ve always had… In any case, you have my full support here.”

“Thank you very much, Your Excellency. Now, as for where we’re staying…”

Reivan nonchalantly flicked his wrist. “You and the others can temporarily stay in the palace while I have a church set up here.”

Isolde’s shoulders jumped and she hastily shook her head. “That would be far too much, Your Excellency. I was thinking something along the lines of an inn recommendation letter or some such…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll have a portion of our budget allotted to it.”

“No, that wasn’t the problem… Or rather, that makes it even more of a problem if you intend to pay for the construction…”

Seeing her reluctance, Reivan sighed and offered a reasonable compromise. “Then let’s go with this: there are many vacant buildings or ones made irrelevant given our current situation. We’ll perform quick renovations to it so it can be made into a chapel.”

“But—”

“This will also function as a treatment center, so it’s fine. You and the other priests get a roof over your heads while we are freed from the fear of diseases and injuries. We are the ones who benefit more from this, Priestess Isolde.”

Isolde seemed to think on it for a few moments before reluctantly nodding. “Then we’ll have to impose on the prince’s—I mean, the hierarch’s generosity.”

Reivan ignored her verbal slip and smiled. Honestly, he really did come out as the winner in all of this. He would get to choose where the site for the chapel would be too, and there were many options to go around.

Having a Sormon Priest anywhere nearby was a massive load off his mind. It was not beneficial only to his constituents, but also to himself and those he loved.

As for the costs, he couldn’t care less about that. It was just money. He had a lot of it and no amount of the stuff could bring someone from the dead if they died from not having a priest save them in time. Plus, he already had knights stationed in the city, so he could just ask those who had the [Earth] attribute for help in fixing up the building.

Said knights were on the Aizen Kingdom’s payroll, so it cost Reivan nothing.

With that, he exchanged a few more pleasantries with the kind older woman and proceeded toward his palace, with Helen staring very hard at the back of his head.

“What is it, my lovely wife?” Reivan asked with a hint of playfulness when he couldn’t take her silent glare any longer. “Did you fall in love with me again? You can’t keep doing that every day, you know?”

Helen impassively rolled her eyes. “Priestess Isolde seems nice.”

“Oh, her? Well, Sormon’s devotees normally end up like that, no? Most of 'em are really nice people.”

“She was big too.”

Reivan didn’t need her to elaborate, because he had obviously noticed as well. He also couldn’t get out of this line of conversation without addressing it. “They were, but they were a little too big… I like yo—”

“They were around as big as Elsa, though?”

Swallowing his words, Reivan shut his mouth. It seemed that making it out of this undamaged was not in the cards, so he would have to try to mitigate some of the damage. He could have cited the ridiculous age gap, practically disqualifying someone older than his own mother from becoming a romantic partner. But that honestly would’ve made him sound like a bit of an asshole and he didn’t like that.

Besides, all things considered, Isolde looked amazing despite her age. He wouldn’t have even noticed if he didn’t have [Supreme Insight].

Obviously, saying all that wasn’t going to help his case. “Just so you know, I didn’t stare at her lewdly at all... It was all business.”

Helen snorted in annoyance. “I won’t say anything about Elsa and the other concubines. But she better not—”

“She won’t! She won’t, I assure you.” Reivan held a hand to his chest. “Promise. You can literally leave me if I do that.”

She groaned. “I don’t think I can go that far…”

Honestly, her words made him feel great but the context made his mood fall. He grabbed her hand and didn’t let go until they made it into the palace.

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Reivan and Helen together with Jiji and Gwen—who reunited with them once their business was done—toured the important bits of the palace but he wasn’t really invested in it because he’d been there once before. Though brief, he’d managed to get a pretty good idea of where everything he needed to know about was.

Obviously, Gwen didn’t need the tour either, but she still came along anyway.

The biggest surprise was how large the section of the palace dedicated to his concubines was. But he supposed that made sense given how he was expected to have a lot. And probably some more, if good candidates continued to volunteer.

‘Sweet mother of… I should have a palace dedicated to just my concubines and the kids I have with them…’

Eventually, the tour wrapped up and the four of them decided to have dinner in a veranda overlooking the bleak landscape of Lageton and its surrounding areas.

"Burn this all into your retinas, ladies," Reivan said as he willed a few flying swords to release a pleasant chill that staved off the incessant heat. "We're the ones who have to fix this mess. Somehow."

"I mean," Jiji gracefully guided a spoonful of soup into her mouth, only speaking afterward. "While this was a tragedy, we essentially eliminated a competitor for the domination of the continent just as they were getting close to ending the game once and for all. We're also in a slightly superior position against the empire. Cleaning up any mess resulting from that is but a minor inconvenience."

Gwen nodded as she efficiently put away her food. "I agree, Advisor Jiji."

"Glad to hear it, Secretary Gwendolyn." the cat-eared princess grinned. "It'll take some getting used to. These new titles, I mean. Don't you agree, Your Excellency, the Grand Hierarch Reivan Aizenwald? Or should it be Reivan Samsara? How about Reivan A. Samsara?"

Reivan groaned under his breath, careful of the eyes around them. "Can you give it a rest with that?"

Jiji giggled. "Why? I am merely addressing you with your well-deserved title. Anything less is disrespectful to your hallowed station."

"One of these days..." Reivan sighed before turning to Gwen while pointing at something in the distance. “Anyway, care to explain why there’s a giant floating fireball on the horizon that’s not the sun? It’s seven o’clock so the sun should be long gone anyway.”

Gwen finely chewed on her mouthful before answering with a casual wave at the nearby sun. “It and a number of smaller versions pop out of a volcano every once in a while. Worry not, for size does not always mean it is strong. It’s a bit troublesome given their lack of a weak spot, but they can be taken out by sheer persistence.”

“You said they come from volcanoes?” Jiji clarified. “Even the ones that are supposed to be dormant?”

“Upon recent scouting trips, all volcanoes are now active.”

‘Shit. I can already tell that it’s somehow because of that elven Transcendent who got offed by Sir Rolf.’

Reivan didn’t even know it was possible for that to happen. Transcendents were really the stuff of both nightmares and legends if their mere presence could awaken dormant volcanoes.

‘Seriously, what the fuck.’

Squinting a little, Reivan looked into the distance and used [Supreme Insight] on the giant ball of fire and—now that he was looking at it—was surprised to realize that there was no result.

Or rather, it was as if he couldn’t target anything with it when he looked.

“Well, that’s strange…” Reivan muttered to himself. Is the real body somewhere inside, and that’s why I can’t counter.”

Jiji seemed to notice his confusion, but chose to ask questions instead. “What do you call it?”

“We are going with Lava Demons for now,” Gwen said nonchalantly. “It paints a good picture when we’re fighting these monsters. Because they’re so big, their demise can be seen even by ordinary people. Because of that, we can improve our reputation.”

“Two birds, one stone. I like it.” Jiji snickered in approval.

“How strong is that one?”

Gwen took one look at the distant ball of fire and the faint traces of tiny shadows buzzing around it. “It is stronger than me, at least. Though it can be taken down by sheer numbers. It’s relatively good teamwork training for the knights, so I have assigned knights to be the ones to take care of them.”

Reivan continued to look into the distance. “Seems they’re having trouble. You think I should help?”

“There’s no need. But if His Excellency wishes to do so, then by all means. Just please remember to head out with a guard escort.”

“Great! I’ve been wanting to stretch my fingers for a while now.”

“Me too.” Helen tapped him on the shoulder. “I’m coming too.”

“No, you are not. What if you’re pregnant?”

“I’m not. Not yet.”

“Yeah, but what if you are?”

“I’m not though. I know my body better than you.”

Reivan clicked his tongue, not really capable of a decent retort. Since she didn’t seem like she’d give in, he just shrugged. “Fine. But you’re only offering ranged support, got it?”

Helen frowned in dissatisfaction but nodded in acceptance.

And so, he summoned Zee and both of them rode the giant winged serpent toward the equally enormous sphere of burning lava.