The eighth month was the Month of Nemu. This female Saint used to have a bad reputation, as she was known during her lifetime to be extremely manipulative and scheming. She also had the ugly flaw of being an extremely possessive and overindulgent mother to her son Seorn, also a Major Saint. Seorn had committed countless crimes before settling down, sowing enemies and victims all over the Forsaken Lands, and Nemu had cleaned up after him every time without exception. Incidentally, she was also a very powerful Sacred Magus expert in Nature Magic and she had left behind valuable relics that the Confederation still used today. She was known nowadays as the Saint Matriarch.
The ninth month was the Month of Kinah. Being part of the most recent generation of Major Saints, she was renowned for her beauty, virtue and intelligence. During her lifetime she had advanced the knowledge of the Forsaken Lands by leaps and bounds, but mysteriously few of her accomplishments had survived her death, not even as an archive. According to Magnus, this was the work of a dastardly plot orchestrated by the shadowy hand of the Confederation. She was known as the Knowledge Saint.
The tenth month was the Month of Asanah, Kinah's older sister. She was a very romantic and hedonistic woman, arousing the desire of men and reciprocating it. She was very different from her sister, who was inclined towards science and the pursuit of knowledge, yet on the other hand they also had a lot in common. Asanah was not a scientist, but an artist. What she loved was to create, to invent by following her instinct and her heart. She and her sister were very close, never separating. Making use of her sister's knowledge and discoveries, she was able to invent all sorts of things. Unfortunately, as for Kinah's discoveries, very few of them had survived the test of time. She was known today as the Art Saint.
An interesting tidbit was that both of these Saint sisters had died within a few days of each other and well before the end of their presumed life expectancy, making their deaths even more suspicious. For Magnus, there was no need to think any further. They had been framed.
A telling and overlooked clue was that they were quite generous when it came to answering offerings and prayers, but kingdoms choosing to worship them exclusively often had both abrupt and unhappy endings. Some were invaded by their neighbors, others broke up in civil war, while sometimes the original kingdom or empire survived, but its original Lord was deposed in a coup. There were some rare exceptions of course, but these Lords were often isolated, taking refuge in enclaves like the Warring Lands to survive.
Unlike Veel, the worship of these two sisters was not forbidden and they were very popular. It was just that things always ended badly when a Lord chose one of them as his state religion.
The eleventh month was the Month of Seorn, the son of Nemu. Although he was the son of the Saint Matriarch, he had become a Major Saint several thousand years after her. His extraordinary longevity was due both to his species and to his mother's tireless efforts to give him the best life possible. After his mother's death, he had mellowed but his disposition had never really changed. While he was alive, he was known to be ridiculously handsome, and no woman could resist his charm. In the temples that worshipped him, all the priestesses were gorgeous young women... Because otherwise he wouldn't even accept the offerings... According to Magnus, this guy was a whimsical, unreliable and extremely petulant prick. He was known as the Earth Saint.
Coming last was the twelfth month, the Month of Elsisn. He was the youngest Major Saint, his presumed death only a few thousand years ago. Therefore, he was also the Saint that was best documented, as the records mentioning him were abundant and detailed. He was the inventor of the Steles, and many other tremendously powerful relics. He was also a phenomenally powerful Psychist and Creation Sacred Magus. His reputation stemmed mainly from the fact that he had managed to create an empire so powerful with his great powers and his Steles that even the Confederation could no longer control him. Because he had managed to receive the approval of the other active Major Saints, he was known as the Mediator Saint. Alas, upon his death all his secrets had leaked out and his empire had been divided among his descendants and trusted subordinates and then reconquered by the Confederation's allies.
Yet it was common knowledge that Elsisn had a younger sister with whom he was extremely close. She too was very talented, and although her brother's brilliance overshadowed her somewhat, she had nonetheless become a Minor Saint. Her name was Nyr and she was known today as the Sky Saint.
After her brother's death, she had hidden his relics before the collapse of his empire and no one knew where they were now.
Magnus also introduced him to the other 71 Minor Saints and the Vampire was admittedly an excellent orator. Ikaris didn't see the time fly by and even before he thought he'd better sleep or train his magic, the sun was already about to rise.
"You mentioned several times those Saints' relics." Ikaris murmured in a sleepy voice, his eyes brightening as he saw the mass of darkness blocking the cottage's entrance was starting to recede. "What's so special about them? You must know some of them, right?"
"I do." Magnus admitted quietly. "But let's go outside first. I'm sick of this cramped thatched cottage.
It was summer and the nights were short. Ikaris had pulled an all-nighter and the first signs of dawn were just beginning to show.
A few minutes later, the first rays of dawn shone on the valley and fed up with telepathically chatting with the Vampire, the teen tiptoed out of the cottage so as not to wake the two women.
When he stepped outside, the Tartarus Enforcer exited immediately after him, following him like his own shadow. Ikaris shuddered, but in the end he shrugged it off and convinced himself that at least he was safe.
They walked a few hundred meters and the boy took the opportunity to carefully study the flower field around him. After all those Skeletons, Demon Wraiths and other abominations had passed through, he would have expected to find a grass and flower field that had been trampled underfoot, but it was not so. The plain was as lush and flourishing as when they arrived.
When he picked one of the poppy-like flowers, he noticed unique patterns on its red petals. These looked familiar, and as he looked more closely he was startled when he realized that the patterns bore a striking resemblance to the runes written in the booklet.
"What kind of sorcery is this?" Ikaris wondered, the mystery of Cutthroat Island only thickening.
"Who cares. Didn't you want to know about the relics of these Saints? I do know one or two..." The Vampire boasted coquettishly.
The boy momentarily forgot his misgivings about the flower in his hands and pricked up his ears. Sadly, it was at that very moment that his long-suppressed hunger decided to rack him again.
Gurgle...
Ikaris fell to his knees, his face pale and emaciated. He hadn't noticed it, but overnight he had lost several more kilos, his metabolism far too high at fault.
Great Vitality was not all it was cracked up to be, and the last few days of travel had prevented him from eating his fill. If he hadn't diligently practiced his I Am Me Spell, he would have long since tried to devour one of his traveling companions.
"Your weight is concerning." Magnus conceded in a slightly worried tone, "Let's forget about the relics for now. We'll discuss it again once your stomach is full. Let's go hunting."
