Chapter 41 - Your Grace

Ahahah what dumbasses we are. I nearly started crying from laughing as I was looking at Vi.

...Indeed… Psaï was trying very hard to not laugh too.

Vi had discovered that her hand could fully turn on itself if she wasn’t careful and give it too much input, which was something both me and Psaï absolutely overlooked when creating the design, and my little sister was now fighting with her prosthetic to put it back correctly.

It wasn’t a problem per se, as with enough training this would turn(ah!) out to be one more option to deal with instead of something wreaking havoc but, for now, it was really hilarious to look at her trying to puzzle how to deal with a hand that could do that.

And so, when two people entered the warehouse, one being Ophelia and the other an old man who was, probably, Father Birkard, I had the very rare (and hilarious) sight of a religious man stop dead in his tracks to look at a little girl cursing while trying to make her green and glowing prosthetic behave.

What a life.

Dad should really restrain using all those curses, that bad for the children.

True.

Two or three seconds later, the holy man snapped out of it and, raising his blue-and-gold gown a bit to facilitate walking, he quickly went toward the children.

“Hello children.” He stopped short of jumping on them and, remembering his standing, actually introduced himself.

“Hello?” Only Noa answered, Vi still focused on her problem and Cris hid behind her usual silence, even if she did nod at him.

“You don’t know me, I am Father Birkard, in charge of the Goddess Church in Valince…” He looked at them and frowned. “I’m Sister Naie and Brother Alar’s… leader.”

“...Okay. Nice to meet you, I am Noa!” Answered Noa, throwing a rather heavy elbow at his sister, startling her.

Half her eyes looking at her brother, the rest on Birkard, she figured what Noa was asking her by reading his eyes.

“H-hello. I am Vi.” She said while focusing all her eyes on the religious man, a flash of uneasiness appearing over Birkard’s face before he could snuff it away.

“Greetings, I am Crisnée Valince.” Cris was the slowest to react, but her answer was the most refined, as usual, and she was the only one who actually curtsied to him.

“No need, child, we’re not in public, and those kinds of demonstrations can become exhausting quite fast.” He then turned his eyes from the polite young lady back to the artefact.

“Besides, I am here for a very clear purpose. So it is true. You have an artefact…” He frowned again and looked at Ophelia.” ...but you’re not telling me everything, right?” His question was punctuated by a gentle yet mischievous smile.

“I knew you had a sharp mind. Yes, I didn’t say everything. As you see, this artefact was made with our wood and steel, not anything as fancy as what the church holds.” His gaze was back on the blowing hand but his attention was still focused on her.

“That’s because someone here made it.” She finished.

“...Excuse me?” This time he was surprised, his eyes like saucers as he turned around.

“You heard me right. Take the chair, I think you’ll need it.”

The old man was indeed shaking a bit and, following Ophelia’s proposition, he sat down.

“But first, can you read the Sacred Tongue?”

“Of course, my child. Any priest should be able to read it.” He answered in a tone that was, indeed, often used to talk to a foolish kid.

“Good…” However, Ophelia did not seem that bothered, even if she rolled her eyes. “...that will make things easier.” She then looked at me, biting her lips.

“Sooo. Erhm. Ayna, here…” she pointed at me. “...built this artefact.”

“Ah?” He looked at me. “ahah, ahahah! Okay, I won’t take it badly but you know that I have things to do right? You’re not forced to lie to me if you don’t want to say who built… this.”

Ophelia was taken aback for a second and quickly gathered her wits.

“Father, I am not lying. Just ask her…” She extended her hand toward me.

Birkard eyed the Shi user suspiciously, then stabbed his gaze in me.

“Are you the one who created the artefact…?” He asked, adding. “By the Goddess, how dumb I feel…” in a whisper, talking to himself probably, or maybe indirectly berating Ophelia’s foolishness.

YES.

The word appeared and the holy man took a step back, mouth agape. He then put a knee on the ground.

“Goddess, this humble vessel greet your magnificent aura.” He exclaimed, eyes on the ground, waiting a bit before casting his gaze back at the word.

I tilted my head, surprised.

“...Father, it’s not our Goddess talking to us.” Ophelia softly said, to which the clergyman reacted violently.

“Blasphemy! This is a divine oracle sent by our Goddess Radiance herself!” He accused Ophelia.

No. I am the one talking to you. Ayna, the baby.

Seeing new words appearing, he read them like a thirsty man drinking water.

“...Goddess? I… don’t understand…”

I am not Radiance. I am Ayna, the baby in Crisnée’s arms.

He slowly read the words, once, twice, then his gaze wandered toward me.

Hi. My name is Elayna, nice to meet you.

He looked at me with all the focus he could, and I waved my hand at him.

“...I-impossible.”

It is possible. I am a reincarnation from before the Ashen Night. I was taught by Radiance herself how to create oracles.

I sprinkled a bit of lie and easy-wording here and there, but it wasn’t that far from reality.

Technically, Gaïdal Kan taught the both of you how to do this, but it’s still fair game I think.

Thanks.

“...Of course. This makes so much sense. The crafted artefact, your oracle that looks like those of the Goddess, and why Elody didn’t say anything. A reincarnation that was in direct contact with Radiance…”

Exactly.

“This servant humbly presents himself in front of the reincarnated Saintess.”

Saintess?

He frowned once again.

“Weren’t the people surrounding Radiance Saint and Saintess, your Grace?”

No. We were comrades. I wrote, using more complex sentences than with Elody, the clergyman seemingly able to keep up with this level of verbosity.

Friends.

“...You were friends with Radiance?” He closed his eyes a second. “...No, this makes sense too. After all, our Goddess is known for her love of everything. Of course her Saint and Saintess would have been her friends. Can I… ask you some questions, your Grace?”

Yes.

“I humbly thank you. Could I know whose Saintess you were?”

Whose name do you have, for those Saints and Saintesses?

“You don’t know them?”

Time changes things.

“...” He opened his mouth and closed it as quickly, seemingly baffled by the simplicity of a thought that, right now, carried such a weight by the sheer virtue of its truth.

“Yes. It is true, and the Ashen Night was a long time ago. I apologize for my lack of insight, your Grace.

Accepted. Proceed.

“Of course. We know of Leyli the all-protecting, Kendakan the all-seeing, and the World-walker”

and changed things were indeed. Do you want to have their true name?

His mouth went agap once again, before he gathered his wits and quickly answered. “It would be an honour, your Grace.”

The one you call Leyli was named Lily Deschamp, Kendakan was Geïdal Kan and the World-walker was the Wanderer.

“I deeply thank you for this knowledge. I will keep this truth at the bottom of my heart and, once you will wish to announce yourself, I will bring them to the High-priestess to reveal her the truth.”

Thanks.

...wait.

Announce?

What are you talking about when you said “announce yourself”?

“...The wasn’t any reincarnation before the Ashen Night, for you to ask this?”

Indeed.

“...I see. By Divine Decree, reincarnated people have the right of Absolute Silence. So long as a reincarnation wishes to stay hidden, our Goddess ordered us to help them at all cost and keep the secret no matter what…” He thought for a bit, fingers on his shin. “...This was given to us nearly three centuries ago, during the Sacred Scripture Third Oracle, but I don’t remember why exactly…”

Thank you for your knowledge.

“You don’t need to thank me, your Grace. As a Saintess, you’re but one step behind the Goddess, a truly divine being, if only a mortal one. So, are you Lily Deschamp? Or maybe were you one of the Saint? I heard that, sometimes, people got reincarnated in a body of the opposite sex…”

None of them. My name was given by Radiance herself, never spoken, never said, a secret for the world that bound us, me and the Goddess, together.

“...By the Goddess… Were you by her side when she vanquished the Eldritch Queen? When She saved the world?”

During the final showdown, just before the Ashen Night, by my name and my bond, I sacrificed myself along the Goddess to save the world, dying in her embrace as her mortal shell died in mine.

Which eluded the question about the Eldritch queen, who I was more and more sure that it was me, all the while being pure truth.

And the clergyman just stood there, looking at me with a light I last saw a long time ago. Adoration, hope, absolute faith.

It was before I got betrayed, of course.

“What is she saying, Father?” Finally asked Ophelia, growing restless and quite a bit curious about my answer.

I did avoid their questions the first time around, so it made sense.

“...Can I give them your answer, or do you prefer keeping it between us.” The man asked, already taking the Absolute Silence vow to heart.

Go ahead. But only my siblings, Ophelia and Elody can be made aware of it. In fact, those are my people of reference. You can talk with them about me all you want. And rise, please.

“Understood. Of course, your Grace.”

“So can we know?” This time, it was Vi that asked, her curiosity overshadowing the best of herself.

“She said that I could talk freely with you. The answer to my question was the…Saintess… Elayna died by sacrificing herself along Radiance to save the world, in her literal embrace…”

“...Wait, so you knew the Goddess, and was even kin or friend with her?” Exclaimed Ophelia in disbelief.

She was my adoptive big sister. I answered truthfully.

“You were her what now?” And the clergyman to lose is pants, not literally thankfully.

“What did she say?” Pressed Ophelia.

“That she was our Goddess adoptive little sister.”

Ophelia took some time to process the information, finishing while the children were still wrestling with it trying to understand what this meant.

And, of course, she took a step back, now looking at me like a was a fucking dragon, or maybe the holiest person alive. Heck, she was surely thinking both at the same time.

“R-Radiance adopted you…”

I nodded once, as usual.

“Sooo… since Elayna is Radiance’s little sister, and we are her big sister and brother, does this mean we’re part of Radiance’s family?” Asked Vi, thinking very hard about it.

A question that profoundly puzzled the old man, as the answer was shaping to be a hard one.