4 – Savaiv Church’s Holy Maiden

The Kingdom of Largofiely’s royal capital, Levantes.

In the center of the city lies the area where the king and his family lived, and the rest of the city was sprawled around it. The city has a population of about forty thousand people, and is without doubt the city with the largest population in the kingdom of Largofiely.

It was in this city where the towers of the Church of Savaiv stood.

The faith in this world was mostly on a pantheon of four gods, the four great Gods.

Respectively, they were the God of Harvest Savaiv, the God of the Sun, Golaiva, the God of the Evening Moon, Glavavy, and the Ocean God, Dalagarvae. In the Zoisalight continent where the kingdom of Largofiely was situated at, no matter where you go, you would definitely find a church or a cathedral of the four great gods.

It so happens that Harvest God Savaiv was the God with greatest amount of followers.

The main worshipers of this god who grants a good harvest are the farmers. Since the most common profession in this world was farming, it goes to show how large this particular faith was.

In addition, his purview covers childbirth, so he was worshiped as the God of Childbirth too. Other than that, he was also popular as the guardian deity of marriage as well.

In this world, it was common to exchange marriage vows in the churches and cathedrals of Savaiv. This was followed without exception, from the royalty and nobility down to the commoners. Weddings were always performed in the churches of Savaiv and similar places of worship where their priests acted as the marriage witness.

Maybe because of that, among the four major churches, the Savaiv Church was built with the most majesty.

Everyday, a large number of believers would come to pray to the God. For that reason, the gates would be open 24/7. What stood out the most were the fully armed Templars stationed at the sides of the gate on guard duty.

It was in a corridor of this great Savaiv Church that Calcedonia was hastening her way.

Located underneath the temple of Savaiv was the largest concentration of magical power in the entire imperial city and its surroundings. It was a place known as the so-called ‘Holy Land’. This place was used only for special rituals and special acts of worship.

Calcedonia had chosen that basement-room to summon Tatsumi precisely because she needed the great reservoir of magical energy that exists there.

Having left that ceremonial chamber, she headed to her room, which was located in the quarters of the priests who lived in the temple.

Calcedonia burst into her room and quickly changed her clothes, from the special sanctified ritual clothing needed for the summoning ceremony to the normal everyday robes of a priest.

Checking a special large mirror that had been placed in the room, she made sure that her clothing and hair were in order.

This mirror was a quality luxury item made of glass. Only a special group of demi-humans who possessed close affinity with fire could make glass and porcelain goods as the technology was only passed down between them. This made such items extremely expensive to acquire.

Having confirmed that nothing was out of place, Calcedonia then placed the holy crest of Savaiv around her neck and was about to hurry out of her room when she stopped realized something crucial.

She had finally realized that after summoning Tatsumi, and then running off to change, she had no idea where he was now.

But, she knew that he was still with her grandfather, the patriarch of the Savaiv Church. All she needed to do was ask someone and she would already be able to find their whereabouts.

Calcedonia set off in search of someone with a high status to ask the location of her grandfather. Even though there was a lot of people around, considering their status, they shouldn’t know where her grandfather was. But of course, all the seniors would always have a grasp on her grandfather’s location.

And as a matter of fact, she knew all the senior members personally.

Or rather, it was the opposite. There wasn’t anyone in the temple who did not know of her as she was the holder of the title, Holy Maiden. In fact, more than half the inhabitants of the city of Levantes knew her face.

She possesses extraordinary talent and comprehension for magic that far exceeded most people. And she had great accomplishments in that field. Due to her amazing talent in the Holy system of magic, the magic system of healing and purification magics, coupled with her great beauty, Calcedonia had been nominated as the Holy Maiden of that time.¹

And thus, when Calcedonia walked through the corridor, everyone, without exception, looked back to take a second glance at her.

Even now as she was walking, she happened upon two junior priests, who moved to the side while lightly bowing their head. When she passed by them, they looked at her with gazes filled with concealed aspiration.

“Ah, it’s Lady Calcedonia. She is as beautiful as ever…”

“I agree… but doesn’t Lady Calcedonia seem unusually… happy?”

“Yeah, I thought so as well? She did seem unusually cheerful today.”

“Did something good happen to her? But…”

“Hmm, What’s wrong?”

“For someone to be able to make that Lady Calcedonia so cheerful….Just who could that person be?”

The junior priests stood puzzled next to each other as their heads tilted to the side.

Calcedonia was giddy enough that the two juniors thought she was practically almost skipping with joy.

Calcedonia was finally able to track down a bishop who was able to to tell her the current location of her grandfather.

According to that high priest, her grandfather was currently in his parlor with a guest.

The fact that her grandfather would be in the parlor with Tatsumi was an easy enough guess for the normal Calcedonia to make, but before hearing it from the bishop, she didn’t think about that. She was so ecstatic that she missed the obvious.

From the moment Calcedonia had her awareness as a human, all she thought of was one boy. She never forgot him even once.

She had the memories from her past life. Why she had it wasn’t something she knew. But, the fact she had them was without a doubt.

In this world, people believed in reincarnation.

Therefore, having been reborn was not considered that strange, even if it’s from a bird to a person. But, to have memories of a past life was extremely rare. At least Calcedonia had never met with anyone with memories of a previous life other than herself.

But she never cared about such a thing. The most important thing was the fact that she remembered him, and that her previous life with him was an extremely joyful one.

Having long regained her memories of her past life, she held a long-cherished wish to be reunited with him.

To that end, she studied the summoning rituals and myths for many years. Of course, not a day had passed that she did not spend enhancing her personal magical ability.

Now having succeeded in summoning him to this world and reuniting, she had to explain to him her reasons for doing it.

Tatsumi was called to this world one-sidedly. In other words, he was pulled away from his own world, without being able to choose to give up his old life.

He might hate her. He might detest her. But for her, reuniting with Tatsumi was the greatest happiness she could even receive.

In her past life, she was but a little bird. Even so, she loved him.

She was the happiest when she was by his side, to the point that she didn’t wish for anything else in her life.

They grew up together, they lived together, and they were always together.

Whenever she thought of him, she was filled with joy.

It was at this time that someone called out to her.

“Oh, if it isn’t Lady Calcedonia. I couldn’t believe that I would get a chance to see you today. Would this not be the blessings of Lord Savaiv, governer of marriage?”

The one who interrupted her was a well clothed youth.

If her memories served her right, he should be the oldest son of an earl house, a person who sent her marriage proposals numerous times.

He walked up to her, kneeling at her feet to gently kiss the back of her hand.

Feeling that this act was a bit rude, Calcedonia involuntarily narrowed her eyebrows into a beautiful frown, but the person in question was not aware of it.

To be honest, Calcedonia had no idea what this person’s name was, even though she faintly remembered him. She received too many marriage proposals for her to remember every single one.

Her grandfather, the patriarch of Savaiv Church, received many proposal letters every day. Among them were also letters from direct royalty.

Still, Giuseppe had refused all of the suitors that came to him asking to marry her. Since her grandfather knew her heart, he respected her feelings.

As the church was an organization to serve the doctrine, it was not part of any country. That’s why, within the temple, even royal status was something of no value.

Therefore officially as people who serve the gods, priests do not have to lower their heads in the presence of the even a king. However that was only an official stance. So before the kings, they customarily showed due respect.

All this time, Giuseppe had been the shield that protected her from the all of the suitors that came from the royalty and aristocracy. Since Calcedonia was also a priest, no one could make her marry forcibly. Not even the royalty and aristocracy.

Repeatedly, Calcedonia ignored the praises from the youth before her.

She wanted to go where Tatsumi was as quickly as possible, and yet this man continued to delay her.

At first, the youth was praising Calcedonia. But somewhere along the way it turned into self-boasting. Honestly, it was something Calcedonia had no interest in at all.

‘I want to go accompany my master rather than listening to this boring speech!!’ was what Calcedonia was screaming on the inside, but on the outside she put on a magnificent false smile and threw in some words appropriate for the conversation.

The idle talk continued to the point when finally even Calcedonia could not stand anymore.

It was at that moment a certain person approached them.

“Calsey.”

He called out to Calcedonia in a fond tone with a nickname. Seeing him, Calcedonia’s face lit up, on the other hand the youth’s face cramped.

“Morga.”

“I-If it isn’t sir Freedom Knight…No, I mean Lord Morganeich”

The newcomer was tall and sleek, with an incredibly virile yet exceedingly handsome face. With red hair and reddish-brown eyes, he cut an impressive figure despite being a fairly young man. He was not wearing the clerical vestments of the priests in the temple, but rather a suit of metal plated armor and a long sword hung from his hip. The armor was engraved with the holy crest of the Savaiv Doctrine on the breastplate, and possessed a number of other holy symbols of protection as well.

A plated armor with the holy crest of Savaiv, this meant he was a templar.

The Templars, an organization of knights who are charged with the duty to protect the temple and it’s priests.

As it was mentioned before, the temples do not belong to any country. Because of that, in a crisis they cannot ask any country for assistance.

That’s why the church needs it’s own security force for protection. And that force is the Templars.

But of course, these were all official stances, and if the temple really did encounter any crisis the local authority would manage the investigation with the temple’s permission.

“What are you doing here? His Holiness Chrysoprase is awaiting you.”

“I understand, Morga.”

After replying to the young man called Morga, Calcedonia once again faced the noble youth.

“I am sorry. Grandfather, I mean His Holiness the Patriarch Chrysoprase has called for me. I apologize for my rude and sudden departure.”

She gracefully bowed towards him. And the noble realized that he could not detain her any longer.

The youth replied,

“No—no, it can’t be helped if you’ve been called by His Holiness Chrysoprase. I mustn’t keep you any longer. If we have the chance, let us meet again.”

With that he bowed in farewell towards Calcedonia. After bidding farewell to Morganeich too the youth finally walked away. And in her mind, Calcedonia stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry² at him. She then turned towards Morganeich.

“Thank you, Morga. Really, that person just now was too obstinate…”

“No worries, though it is true that his holiness is waiting for you. Should you also not be on your way?”

“Ah! Oh no! I shouldn’t be keeping Master waiting any longer—”

Said Calcedonia in fluster, walking off quickly in a panic.

Watching her back rapidly shrinking off into the distance, Morganeich stared at her with a certain deep feeling in his gaze.

1. TL note: TheCatWalk : Hole….Not intentional ↩
2. I had no idea either until I searched this up. Imagine the part in an anime where the girl or boy would stick their tongue out at someone and blow. Now, take the tongue away but keep the sound effect. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnAh8OR4qPk if you want an actual example ↩