AN: Hey guys, I'm trying a new style of writing in this chapter so do give me your thoughts on how it goes!

Happy New Year everyone!

“… T-that’s impossible. There’s no way you could have learnt everything in just two days! A-and you did it with no incantation! Show me again! You must be cheating somehow!”

“No. Thanks for your help. I’m going to practice elsewhere now.”

Wow. Brother and I are now staying in the library! There are sooooo many books in here and they have pretty balls of light floating around so it’s always bright inside! Like tiny stars!

It is as amazing as I thought, at first I thought we will be able to get some more cookies if we joined the Church the nice man talked about… but we got a nice bed and food every day now!

And all we have to do is follow what the big sisters and brothers say! At first, we mostly sat around and listen to them argue but big sis Alicia saw us and got us to help her out.

She’s nice! She gave me a pretty dress and a stuffed puppy! She said he’s called Leo and will protect me from harm… Silly big sis, Leo is just a toy. ‘Sides, I got Brother to protect me.

Even when Mama taken to the big red house with a lot of big sisters and we were chased out of our hut, Brother always found me the best corners to sleep where it’s not as cold when its winter… and saved me from the bad men who always talk funny when they sometimes came to our alley…

Mmm, I just wish Brother would relax and enjoy this place more. He is always muttering about being careful, that they must want to sell us or something. He even keep some of the bread away under his bed and say that is for if we need to run away! Silly Brother. Big sis Alicia will never do anything bad to us, her eyes says so!

All the bad people always have a scary look in their eyes… But big sis has a warm and bright look, even though she can be REALLYYY scary when she caught me trying to taste some of the funny grass stuff we were helping her move to the basement.

She said it was a ha-loo-see-notion and can’t be eaten. She didn’t allow me to go near the grass stuff and got me to move the small wooden racks for the little glass bottles instead… I wanted to help with the cool-looking bottles with all those funny shapes and sizes but big sis said I was too little and might drop them.

Brother helped her with it instead and they put them up on tables and other big brothers and sisters helped big sis to make pootions. I asked a big brother why they are called poo-tions when they aren’t made from poo and he just laughed and said it’s because they taste as bad as poo… Big sis scolded him a lot for some reason.

Oh, we also get to help out in the kitchen, there are SOOOOO many barrels of food in there! Although, Nia says it is not really a proper kitchen and can’t feed so many people so they are gonna make it even bigger.

YAY! Maybe then I’ll be able to find the barrel of cookies, the nicest thing so far is only this really hard to chew meat which tastes nice. We eat a lot of that meat and bread especially when Nia tries to cook! Nia is really bad at it… Big sis Alicia will sometimes make tasty food like stew but she’s mostly too busy.

Nia tries to follow her but always fails. She always says she’s an adult and must learn to cook but she shouldn’t try so hard after all she’s a kid like us too! She got really upset when Brother said that though. She says we should call her big sis Rania but Nia should stop trying so hard to pretend to be an grown-up!

After all she joins us when we are with all the other kids and stare at the squiggly stuff in the books, while big brother Arggy speaks a lot and says what the squiggly stuff is supposed to be… Big brother Arggy says his name is supposed to be Ar-ah-goon or something but was not allowed because of something called coffee-right law.

But what’s really fun after what the big brother Arggy calls a reading lesson are the cool stories he tell us! He says it’s from a book called the Bible. It’s mostly about this really nice man who does amazing stuff to everyone. But big brother Arggy also sometimes tells us about stories of boys fighting and defeating big men and becoming kings and so on…

Brother really likes those stories but they sound mean and scary. But the nice man and God who is big brother says is supposed to be our loving Father always shows up to save everyone! *sniff* I miss papa... but big brother said Daddy God won't leave us and there was this warm tingly feeling like getting a big hug...

Big brother Arggy also tells us the nice man is called Jesus and had many mean things done to him and died even though he was so nice so that we don’t have to suffer the same mean things!

Brother asked what we need to do because all the other Gods and priests always want stuff if people want their help, but big brother said we only need to believe that the nice man rose again to watch over us in the sky and we will be safe forever and no one who believes in him will die… Brother says it’s too good to be true.

But we are safe now… Maybe… you can save Mama too?

“Hmm… You aren’t the first person who tried to employ magic in assassination but… this. Even while watching you, I can see no signs that can possibly trace it back to you. Incredible.”

Feng withheld his impulse to jump as the voice drifted right over his shoulder and replied with a controlled toned.

“… Shadow. When did you enter?”

“Hours ago… Come apprentice, your patience and skills may have improved much but there are still many tricks of the trade you have yet to learn. I will teach you the ways of the shadow. Oh and Mistress says that you are only allowed to take up to a hundred cookies a week, else she won’t have en- OW! I mean else everyone else won’t have enough. ”

Staring at Shadow who suddenly doubled over and clutched his side in pain, Feng looked around wildly for the aggressor only to find no traces of anyone else in the training room.

“Errr… sure. So training?”

His mind quickly made the connection given the timing and incomplete statement and Feng could not help but sweat drop at the eccentricity of the Mistress. Idly wondering if he can reach those same heights, he quickly brought the focus back to the subject at hand.

“Ahem. Yes. Training.”

Grrr! I can’t believe Feng didn’t come to see me! He just vanished into the basement with that cunning witch who didn’t even tell me about his arrival until he left! I can’t believe she did that… to think I trusted her…

And she said it was only fair since Feng rode off to rescue me. Ugh, if only I had been stronger…

And I was looking forward to telling him how much I learnt in classes and how I managed the library and talk to him about our future while he scratches my ears… I mean about the future of the library and-

Sigh, why am I even denying it… His scratches are heavenly… Ahhhh…

Mreowww, no no no. I need to focus and get stronger so that I can support Feng!

Feng said he needs to get stronger to overcome the enemies, so I’ll need to regain my former strength to protect him as well!

These weights… are too weak. I won’t be able to get back to form at this rate. Four sets should do it!

HHHHHHNNNRRRRGGGGGGGGG!

Woof Woof Woof.

Arrrrrooooooooooouuuuu!

“Awwww, you look so cute with that red neckscarf! You must really like it with all the howling you are doing, aren’t we lucky to have the nice lady give us that as a quest reward?”

Cythe happily patted Shaggy’s sides as the giant wolf shook his head furiously, only to be completely ignored by both Cythe and a group of girls patting him.

“Rise fledgling, you are nearly a full member of the Church of Light now. You only have the final trial left. The trial of Purging. Go forth and cleanse the miscreant Feng, let the light of Ralos illuminate the darkness shrouding Tyward.”

“Huh? Shouldn’t the purging trial be something like purging my own impurities and cleansing my person to be worthy? This is a really odd quest, I mean I signed up to be a priest so why are you assigning me some paladin’s quest… Besides, clerics are supposed to heal and stuff right?”

“… Just go help the men hunting down the criminal and don’t come back till you succeed.”

“Um? Alright?”

“My fellow gents, the merchants and commoners have been getting uppity and there are even rumors of a revolt against their rightful rulers, us! With everything we have done for them, providing them their homes and farms, they now protest our rightful taxes and the prices of our businesses.

All because of the library suddenly opening up their services for the poor and educating them for free!

Pah, now I have serfs complaining about unfair contractual terms and saying they should be free of their bonds! I say we should make an example of the lib- ACK!”

The pudgy man dressed in gaudy robes on the stage suddenly stopped speaking and started clutching at his neck and fell over convulsing for long moments before abruptly seizing up. The gathered nobles looked around bewildered and confused with their body guards instantly closing ranks on them, only to see no signs of any hostile movements.

“O Ralos, let your healing light wash over this man...”

An equally fat bishop waddled over to the fallen noble and begun to chant healing spells over the man only for nothing to work…

“No. It can’t be, I tried everything from curing poisons to my highest ranked healing spell but nothing worked… It seems that he died of natural causes…”

The servants were called in to clean up the mess and the surviving nobles looked worried and flustered and quickly broke up the meeting to hole themselves up in their mansions. No one noticed two dark shadow in the clinging to the rafters blend into the surrounding shadows and abruptly vanish.

“Puaahhh, I hate shadow travel.”

“Good work Feng, your assassination spell is pretty amazing for even a bishop to be unable to cure it.”

“Heh. Water in the man’s lungs isn’t something that you can cure away and since it’s gathered from the environment it can’t even be dispelled.”

“Too bad, none of us have the magical training necessary to wield this spell… Regardless. Congratulations Feng for passing your graduation trial. You are now a full member of The Order. May the shadows always cover your presence and your enemies fall silently. We will be in contact with new missions.”