"The requisition process is finished, please return the book in two weeks or request an extension of the time before that time."
After confirming the requisition of the book he had chosen to start his research with, Ray and Mara left the Library.
She was now carrying a dozen books in a bag that seemed to be about to rupture.
"Are you sure it's alright to carry them like that?"
"Yes, it's alright. I wanted to enchant a bag with spatial storage, but I took some time choosing a bag that I liked and got distracted trying to add a few extra uses, so the magic circle isn't finished yet. I am also lacking a special string that I want to use to engrave it onto the bag, but the delivery is late."
"I see."
"Still, are you sure you don't want a more interesting topic for the Magic Studies Final Project?"
The book that he had brought from the library was titled "Magical Race: Magic Circles vs. Magic Cards". It was a book that served as both a historical recounting of the "Magical Race" and a dive into the magecraft discoveries made during that same race.
The Magical Race was known as a race to see which mage could achieve the greatest form of magecraft. It happened while he was still alive, around two hundred years into the Age of Monsters.
The two mages that were the center focus of this were Astra, known at the time as The Witch, now known as The Sage, and an old friend of his, Kurama, a nine-tailed fox spirit that Ray had met around the time he had fought in The Gap.
She was also the same Eastern Spirit Fox that Tiana had talked about when they first met.
As a nine-tailed fox spirit, one of her greatest strengths was her ability to create illusions as well as change her own body.
After reaching adulthood, she had gained the habit of acting as a magecraft researcher and had gone head-to-head with Astra for who was the greatest mage of the time.
Naturally she lost, even so, she dragged the battle on for a few decades, almost a century, after her apparent defeat. Just remembering the times she visited him just to sulk was giving him a headache.
"I am pretty knowledgeable about it, so I thought I should give myself an easier time."
"Really?"
After that, they continued to walk in silence in the direction of the dormitories.
On the way, they were able to see a church that seemed out of place on the campus. It was a simple chapel meant to serve as a religious place for those of great belief.
"Oh right, I almost forgot!"
Mara suddenly exclaimed.
"Arianne asked me to deliver you a message. She said it wasn't urgent, so there was no need to seek you out and only tell you once we cross paths."
"Arianne? What does she want with me?"
Ever since meeting Arianne, things have not been very simple. Although he had fought with some of his current classmates and was on good terms with them, his relationship with the Saintess was uncertain.
In one hand he acted cautiously and refused to approach her. People who were recognized as Saints were highly sensitive to demonic energy and demonic beings. Even if one could consider Ray's current body to be mostly human, he was still at his core a demonic dragon and therefore a demonic being.
On the other hand, he had left a deep impression on Arianne after their conflict during the Practical Test. The way he had dealt with her group of followers, which had gone out of her control to attack him, was, in a few words, not the best.
Things were going just fine, but his own mental turmoil and childish reaction led to a somewhat hostile impression.
So why was she seeking him out?
"She didn't say much. I believe it has to do with something related to the church. I believe it is an outing of sorts to a far-out temple, so perhaps she wants to invite you?"
"An outing? Who else was invited?"
"Everyone else? It is quite a weird way she is going on about inviting you, though. Everyone else she either went to invite them personally or through the phone. Thinking about it, I never saw you two speaking with each other."
"I see. Where can I find her?"
"Well, she normally is in that one chapel, but surprisingly enough, she actually seems to enjoy going shopping as much as any girl our age."
"Then I guess I'm going to make a detour today. See you later, Mara."
She nodded and waved.
"Yup, see you later, Ray."
He then started to walk towards the chapel.
Although it was a simple church and not a cathedral or a temple, it still carried a heavy holy presence that tickled his demonic instincts. Not that it bothered him that much, something like that was not that dangerous to someone like him. There was no problem in approaching.
He reached the tall wooden doors and opened them without any ceremony.
There were not that many people inside, there were some students, teachers, and some of the staff. All of them seemed to have been in a deep state of focus in their prayers.
That's right, "have been", because Ray's entrance completely disrupted their focus.
It was a common behavior to only open one of the doors of the church and make sure to make as little sound as possible, and yet, Ray had opened both of them like he was looking inside his own pantry. The tall wooden doors made a noisy screeching sound as their old hinges moved faster than ever in their old life.
He looked around, searching for the pink hair of the Saintess that he wanted to find.
He completely ignored the frustrated stares of everyone there, his gaze completely locking on to the only figure that hadn't stopped praying amidst his interference.
Ray walked leisurely towards her and sat beside her.
Once he sat, her murmuring prayers stopped not long after.
"Walking in like that is highly disrespectful, you know, Ray?"
"Is it? Sorry about that."
They stayed silent for a moment.
"So, I heard about the outing from Mara. But why invite me like this?"
"Well, there was something that I wanted to talk about with you."
She looked up at the Church's ceiling where several artistic pieces that depicted religious moments could be seen.
"Ray, what do you think is the role of a Saintess?"
Ray thought for a moment. There was no clear role for a Saintess. Before the appearance of the First Hero, Saints and Saintesses were seen as messengers of the gods and prophets of their teachings, however, ever since the appearance of the First Hero, whenever a Saintess was discovered, the population eagerly started looking forward to the appearance of the new Hero.
"Since Saintess Benedict from the Last Hero's Party, I'm the first Hero to have been born. A lot of people believe that means that a new Hero is bound to appear soon, but I refuse to believe that this power serves only for the sake of a Hero, I want to be more."
Ray stayed silent, simply listening to her, confused about what he had to do with this.
"I want to help people. If I could, everyone, but I'm not naive, so I will only try to save who I can, but I must work hard to increase the number of people that I can actually save."
Finally, her head turned towards him, looking into his eyes.
"And I will start with you."
"..."
Ray's eyes widened.
"Me?"
"Yes. I've noticed this on our last encounter, when you 'killed' Joshua. I was first slightly mad, after all, there was no need to escalate things when things were going to end peacefully. But, as I thought about it, I realized..."
Her look grew deeper as if she started looking at something deeper.
Ray knew it wasn't his karma that she was seeing, not only because he was masking it with demonic power but also because he didn't sense any fluctuation of divine power.
"You are lost. You don't know who you are, or rather, who you are supposed to become. Ever since I figured that out, I just couldn't let that go out of my mind."
She took a breath and looked away.
"What you did that day was a way to try and convince yourself that whatever change you were trying to go through was not 'weakening' you, am I right?"
Ray sighed with frustration.
It was annoying how she had looked through him.
"Something like that. I want to become better, but I can't let go of what I was. So what is my true self?"
"I don't know."
She looked straight ahead at the figure of the Goddess depicted in a sculpture behind the altar.
"I have been told to follow a single way of life since I was born. And there is nothing different that I want to become. So I can't tell you the answer."
She once again turned toward him, a determined look in her beautiful blue eyes.
"But I will help you find it."
*********
Author's Note: Another Chapter, what are your thoughts on it? I'm trying my best to deepen character interactions without screwing the whole story, so I hope that it has been enjoyable so far. I also planted a hint for the next arc this chapter.
Please comment and leave a review
Check Out my other Novel: This Novel's Plot has Completely Changed