Chapter 36
The night deepened. Darkness blanketed the Pyreflame Woods.
Near the edge of human-held territory, campfires studded the black forest.
The brightest of them burned outside Elise's tent.
Once Archbishop Norias arrived, plenty of people had come around hoping to make themselves useful, and the campfire outside the tent had been fed until it resembled a tower of flame.
Chirp, chirp, chirp.
Insects called from deep within the woods.
Their cries rang out with unusual clarity, because the human camp had gone completely silent.
A moment later—
Tap.
Norias descended from the air.
"Good evening, honored Archbishop Norias."
"Archbishop Norias, may our god be with you."
"It is an honor to see you, Archbishop Norias."
Elise and the others stepped forward and saluted.
As Norias landed and Elise's group made their greetings, the commoners began whispering among themselves. The knight squires quickly barked them back into silence.
Quiet settled over the area once more.
Norias drew in the mana fluctuations around him and asked, stern-faced, "Why did you use the [Holy Light Prison] scroll?"
Everyone understood what it meant when a superior questioned someone first.
It meant that person had been granted the first chance to state their case.
By asking Elise before anyone else, Norias was making his position plain.
Grandfather Archbishop trusts you.
Lofnar saw it too. His heart had already climbed into his throat, but he still clung to a different hope.
He had heard the rumors.
Archbishop Norias was displeased with Elise's defiance. Perhaps the Archbishop had questioned her first because he meant to discipline her.
"Archbishop Norias, because our god was protecting His faithful." Elise swept her gaze across the commoners and answered in a clear, carrying voice. "As a servant of our god, I could not stand by and watch His people be hunted by a monster."
"It was only an injured high-level Second-tier monster," Norias said, the corner of his eye twitching.
He wanted very badly to ask whether she had any concept of what that scroll cost.
But her next words nearly drove him to beat Lofnar to death with his staff.
"The dwarf Lofnar refused to fight. I had no other choice."
She did not pass up the chance to twist the knife.
Norias's gaze snapped to Lofnar.
The dwarf forced out an explanation.
"My first duty was to protect High Cleric Elise. I did not refuse to fight. Dwarves are a brave people!"
By the end, he was fighting only to keep the matter from spreading to the entire dwarven race.
He could make a mistake.
He could not drag the dwarves down with him.
"So you admit you erred, Lofnar?" Norias cut straight to the heart of it.
"Yes, I misjudged the battlefield, but—"
Norias did not let him finish.
He raised a hand. "I will speak with Rofhak. He will deal with you. As for Elise..."
Cold despair washed through Lofnar.
Once this reached Rofhak, the golden dwarf would make him pay dearly.
And the scroll Elise had burned was worth more than ten thousand gold coins.
Archbishop Norias clearly intended for the dwarves to bear the cost. Rofhak, as a Prime golden dwarf, would absolutely wring it out of Lofnar.
Lofnar did not have that kind of money. Which meant a very long stretch of working off his debt.
"I will be assigning you several punitive tasks," Norias said, indifferent to whatever the dwarf was thinking. He turned to Elise, expression grave. "You will devote yourself to the purification of hellspawn."
"Ah..."
"That's one of the most dangerous duties there is."
"Archbishop Norias really does have it in for Elise."
"Poor Elise."
Lina, Chalmers, and the others turned looks of sympathy on her.
Norias nearly cursed out loud.
What are those faces? I am handing Elise more chances to obtain Pure Mana Crystals!
Elise found their reaction odd as well.
Surely they hadn't forgotten [Light of Megalith].
With that staff in hand, hellspawn purification missions were a windfall.
Why were they pitying her?
She had come to Crimsonwood precisely for missions like these.
She didn't understand, but she bowed all the same.
"Honored Archbishop Norias, wherever our god's radiance shines, hellspawn shall be cleansed utterly."
"Very good." Archbishop Norias smiled. "For your safety, you will obtain my permission before taking any mission. In the meantime, if you have questions, you may bring them to Bishop Honorius."
"Thank you for your care."
Elise was delighted.
Since her advancement to High Cleric, Teacher Helena and Teacher Nolan could no longer keep pace with her progress.
Having Bishop Honorius on hand to answer her questions was an exceptionally thoughtful arrangement on Norias's part.
But through the eyes of Chalmers, Lina, and the rest?
Thoughtful?
This was surveillance.
Everyone knew Archbishop Norias fiercely opposed Elise taking the field. Now she needed his permission before accepting missions—plainly a leash on her movements.
And appointing Bishop Honorius to oversee her studies amounted to forcing Elise to play the "model student" in Crimsonwood.
In the end, she had slipped one net only to land in another.
Even in Crimsonwood, she remained under Archbishop Norias's thumb.
"Poor Elise."
"Archbishop Norias is far too stubborn."
"I'm worried she'll end up clashing with him."
Lina and the others regarded Elise with deeper sympathy than ever.
In that moment Norias, for all his age and experience, felt frustrated enough to put his head through a wall.
He genuinely cared for Elise.
So why did every last one of them believe he was holding her down?
Wake up.
I arrived and immediately shifted the blame for the spell scroll onto the dwarves.
Then I assigned Elise well-suited missions and arranged for a Third-tier Cleric of Light to guide her studies.
Her own grandfather could scarcely do better.
So why are you all still pitying her?
"Enough. This must be my god's trial for me. Perhaps I am fated to end up a footnote in Elise's legend."
Norias, a Fourth-tier Exalted Cleric, could only sigh in silence.
The instant he sighed, Chalmers and the others read it as disappointment and grew even more guarded.
Archbishop Norias said nothing.
Elise very nearly lost the battle against her own laughter.
This time, Norias was genuinely annoyed.
Very well, Elise.
I have treated you handsomely, and somehow I am cast as the stubborn villain.
And now you dare to laugh? Let's see how I deal with you.
He fixed her with a glare, then said with deliberate severity, "You are coming with me. Now. Crimsonwood camp has many matters requiring a High Cleric's attention."
"As you wish."
Elise had come to Crimsonwood to study, train, and gain combat experience.
She understood perfectly well that the Archbishop meant to teach her personally.
Under the pitying gazes of Lina and the others, Archbishop Norias swept Elise into the sky and flew straight for Crimsonwood camp.
Before long, the great camp built for the future city came into view.
Amid the vast Pyreflame Woods, a broad swath of forest had been felled and cleared, temporary wooden buildings rising across the open ground.
Elves, dwarves, and humans lived there in uneasy harmony.
Commoners, Awakened, and nobles each kept to their own quarters, minding their own spaces and steering clear of needless trouble.
At the camp's center stood the first structure they had raised: a simple church.
The crest of the Church of Light hung above its spired loft like the eye of the God of Light, watching over the newborn city.
Elise had arrived at last.
Excitement and anticipation stirred in her chest.