A full blessing

"So young man, what were you praying to the gods for?" Y.

Not a second after Jay had hurriedly closed his inventory and looked up to her, Yrel blurted her remark out without keeping her voice low. While scratching the back of his head, Jay truthfully answered her that he was just thinking about some things that kept bugging him since a while, bringing her to chuckle to that.

"I really like your honest and straightforward way…

Come, I'll show you around if you'd like." Y.

"Sure!" J.

Glad that she hadn't taken any offense in him not praying in the church and even approved of his answer, Jay rose up and followed her lead.

It felt a bit strange to him, walking behind someone about a head taller than himself, and moreover a woman. But on the other hand, in his memories she had been even bigger when he last met Yrel.

As they strode through the great hall towards the entrance, Yrel told Jay about the Church of holy light and that the Cathedral was built eight centuries ago.

On their tour through long hallways on the first floor leading to balconies towards the central part, she explained further of the churches history:

After the first settlement of humanity on this continent and the then following wars, the church had always fought on the side of the Arathi. At the same moment the Castle of Arathor got built they also started with the Cathedral.

Since then both had gotten damaged and rebuild numerous times, the last had been the fires of Arathor, but that was a different story. But in her narrations, Jay also learned that Yrel had not always been part of the church and only joined them not too long ago how she stated.

But that turned out to still have been over two hundred years back, hinting Jay to better not ask her for her age.

They had by then descended to the area behind the altar and already passed through two smaller parks to the sides of the building, quite high over the cemetery behind it. From there she took Jay to the catacombs under the Cathedral, even deeper than where he had found the statue of Diabella.

The tour ended only when they arrived back at some chambers below the entrance when they passed two men in red and white robes there.

One of them, a middle aged man with a sturdy build, cussed at Yrel and joked that she brought outsiders while not being a human herself. The old geezer next to him didn't step in but even added that a Knight of the silver hand probably would see someone like him as nothing but her personal toy.

Yrel looked a bit pained to their comments, though mostly for the not human part. She asked Jay to leave with her and in no time they got back to the entrance.

Until that point it had felt a bit like she had wanted Jay to join the church, but as he asked she explained that this wouldn't even be possible. At least not until he had received his blessing and would quit being an Adventurer.

Seeing his shocked and at the same time questioning look, Yrel explained that the church was bound to the Kingdom and with that also to the Empire.

As Adventurers are free and unaffiliated parties so to say, they couldn't join a fraction, though they could of course favor some. If Jay really was interested in aiding the church in their fight against evil, there were a few sub-groups one could possibly join without much problem.

The Fist of Argurus from where Yrel formerly originated or the Argentium Crusade were such possibilities to join forces, though only the latter was active outside the empire.

As they had been standing next to the entrance the whole time during this small lecture, Jay saw the light outside slowly dimming.

Yrel was about to finish her explanation of those two sub-groups she had mentioned when the clergyman from before closed in on them and excused his interference. He had come there to inform her that dinner would be ready in fifteen minutes.

To that she looked at Jay and without even asking him, told the old man to prepare a seat next to her for a guest. Giving her a short bow down, he hurried back through the great hall and was out of sight not long after.

Yrel simply stated that she thought it was all right for Jay as she still wanted to talk about the blessing to him like she had previously mentioned. Though he hadn't been to keen eating in the church, Jay agreed to her and the two of them slowly followed along the path the old clergyman had taken.

Until they had reached a door to the side at about half of the hall, she had informed Jay that once he had reached level forty she would introduce him to the Argentium Crusade personally, so he should hurry to grow stronger.

Behind the door they passed, the two of them crossed a long hallway and entered a room on the other side. It was the big dining hall like Jay learned next, equipped with three long rows of tables.

Yrel got waved over by another woman already seated at the furthest table and then asked Jay to follow her. The seats they took were opposite to the stern looking bob cut woman. She seemed to be about forty years of age and very friendly with Yrel.

Jay himself got seated next to a relatively young looking man in priest robes while Yrel sat down to his left, right next to a light hazel haired woman he had already seen in the cathedral.

While the man next to him only greeted him frindly, Jay learned the names of the two women next. The stern one was named Katherine and the other one Angela Leifeld. From what he heard, Jay got to know that latter was responsible for the supply of bandages and other first aid tools to the front lines.

He didn't dare to butt in on the three woman's conversation but listened carefully during the simple but still quite tasty meal of stew and bread.

In between he heard Yrel and Katherine cussing over some guests and what happened a while before. The three women changed the topic the moment they remembered Jay was listening though and after resuming to their meals they went on with some light conversation.

As he had noticed the priest next to him listening as well, Jay silently asked him about the two idiots he ran into together with Yrel. From this he learned that they were guests from the Scarlet Crusade, but the man himself didn't know more than that nearly no one in the cathedral wanted them to be there.

Twenty minutes later they had finished their dinner and half of the hall was already empty. Even Angela had already left after she explained she still had to tend to some of her pupils.

As she left, she had invited Jay that he was welcome anytime if he wanted to learn about first aid. She stressed the "any time" a bit too much so even Yrel threw her a meaningful glance.

Not even a minute later the remaining three also rose from the benches and left the dining hall.

After Katherine left towards her room, Jay carefully asked Yrel about the two priests they had met before and if those were from a sub-group like she mentioned as well.

While her mood visibly soured, she still explained about them while keeping her obvious grudge at bay.

A few curses and remarks still slipped her tongue, but Jay thought this was the first time he saw her this human, if that was the right term at all.

"Those guys really are from a sub-group, but since the moment they 'blessed' us with their visit, those idiots made nothing but trouble for everyone else.

From making fun of veterans to bullying adepts, they don't even stop from teasing the old ones…" Y.

She then continued to explain about the Scarlet Crusade, still venting her anger in between as they walked along the next hallway.

It was a growing faction that saw the fight against anything undead and cleansing the wold of anything the likes as holy goal. While those goals in themself were pretty much the same as the Argentium Crusade's, their methods were not. They had even gone so far as to eradicate whole villages just because there had been undead spotted and rumors had stated that some had gotten infected by the plague.

Those extremists had even taken over an old Monastery in the middle of the plagued lands as one of their main bases of operation. From there they started countless raids and by then had practically eradicated all live from the close by towns.

For the Church though, any life was precious and like this an internal conflict had arisen quite a long time ago.

Yrel went on explaining that there is never only black and white, but those extremist are nothing but hypocrites that needed to be stopped. To her misfortune, the Church had forbidden her and others that thought likewise to bless them with a visit as it would only take countless more lives.

After she was done explaining to Jay, he looked around and wondered that they had still not reached the exit. Yrel seemed to have understood the look on Jay's face and couldn't help but chuckle. She then got back to a topic she had already brought up once before.

"Say, have you thought about receiving your blessing as well? It doesn't mean you have to join the church or anything, but at the same time you most certainly would be able to get a few more jobs to choose from…" Y.

"I honestly still don't get the whole system of blessings and related jobs." J.

"It's not that complicated. Through a god's blessing that you receive via a Saint or Oracle you get marked as one of their pupil tasked to do their work on this plane.

Of course that is only if you are deemed worthy! That's why I stated you wouldn't be bound to the church." Y.

"Doesn't that mean I'd have to still bind myself to a certain god? And couldn't the gods give their blessing to people they think to fit directly upon birth?

But most importantly: why did you come up with it again now?" J.

"There are many gods and goddesses, but only the high ones of the light can grant the holy blessing. You are right that you would have to choose one of those and I have a hunch that mine would fit you perfectly.

As for why they don't give the blessings right in the beginning, that is simple:

On one hand, everyone has to prove their worth before and on the other, they have to choose carefully as well. Only the god who gave one the holy blessing perceives their pupils deeds, and every god places significance on different aspects…" Y.

"Sounds logical… So, which god's Saint or Oracle are you then?" J.

"Follow me…" Y.

Unbeknownst to Jay, the two had arrived at a thick wooden door that Yrel opened with a key. His first guess was that he would get brought into some kind of ceremonial chamber where she had already planned to grant him his blessing.

That thought wasn't all too wrong, but instead of some cold dark room with an altar in the middle like he had expected, the room turned out to be a normal guest room.

On one side was a small table set up and on the other wall a relatively big wardrobe. Even the bed in the middle didn't look to shabby or small.

From behind him, Jay heard Yrel's voice as she started to explain what this was about.

"As you know, Mia is a very old friend of mine… We trust each other with our lives and so she had told me about you and your… let's say very special traits. But at the same time she still has no idea how exactly your ability to gain skills works." Y.

"How it works?" J.

"For example: have you never wondered why you learned Light Magic to a certain degree from her, but only basic abilities? And do you really think someone like Mia has those skills at mediocre levels?" Y.

"To be honest, I never really thought about it. Back when I learned them, those skills seemed sky high to me, but now that you mentioned…" J.

"See? I had spent some time thinking about it, but only got a lead once I learned you didn't have any blessing. If I'm right, all you got until now is something like the empty shell of a skill up to the then possible level.

That would mean that once you receive your blessing, it should be possible for you to get the corresponding abilities as well!" Y.

"Oh, really? But that still doesn't explain why you brought me to some guest room first though." J.

"This is no guest room but my personal chamber!" Y.

"What?" J.

"Listen, there are different way's to acquire a full blessing. The first is obviously learning about the history of our world and praying to the gods until one of them deems one worthy. Though it is the purest way, it takes decades so all children of the church start from young age.

The second way is to test the candidates in a ceremony. It still requires the tested person to have already received a part of the blessing which happens to be the case at baptisms. From then on the respective god can perceive them and judge the candidates over quite some time.

That was the case for the ceremonies you had witnessed and the reason not all of them went well...

But as I am pretty sure you didn't receive such a baptism, this option is out of the count for you!" Y.

"Then is there a third method?" J.

"I wouldn't have brought you here if there wasn't! The last option to grant another person a blessing depends on the God that is worshiped.

The Saint to the God of war and combat for example can set a challenge for a candidate and later in a duel grant the holy blessing to the candidate if that one proves worthy. The same applies to every God and their traits." Y.

"I guess all you told me is no constricted knowledge, right? So I still don't get why you brought me here then!" J.

"The Goddess I am an oracle to happens to be Diabella…" Y.

It took Jay some split seconds to comprehend what Yrel had said just then. Though he still wasn't entirely sure what this all meant, he at least knew the God perceiving him was one of the faction that had send him there.

While he was still thinking and not moving or saying anything else, the blue woman had already closed in on him from behind and leaned a bit down so her mouth was right next to his ear and she then whispered:

"You do know that Diabella is not only the Goddess of beauty and art but of love and sex as well, right?…" Y.