Stepping out of the carriage, Sol approached Chloe with wide open arms and a charming smile on his face, “Chloe! How have you been?”
Chloe smiled brightly as she reciprocated Sol’s hug with one of her own before taking a step back and looking at him up and down. Sol was still in his hybrid form and Chloe had to admit that she found it quite charming.
But more than anything else, the aura of power he was emanating astonished her. As a friend, she was happy to see the changes in Sol as the stronger he became the more at ease he would be.
“I am good.” She was a woman of few words and her life had been pretty simple in the church.
“Sorry, we didn’t really have much time to talk during my welcoming party.”
“It doesn’t matter. It was quite an enjoyable gathering and seeing you come back in good health is enough as it is.”
At the end of the day, their relationship was just that of friendship. Quite a shallow friendship too as they had not spent much time together. But still, they were friends. She, of course, understood that he needed to pass some time with his loved ones and prioritize them over his friends.
Sol smiled and followed behind Chloe as she brought him to the Church of Castitas.
Like any other Blessed, the most prominent features of this girl were her long golden hair and her charming blue eyes.
No matter how Sol thought about it, the tastes of those high and mighty Goddesses were pretty hard to understand. Even though there was some deep explanation for this, hair golden like the incandescent sun and eyes blue like the vast and deep sky. He sometimes wondered if they had just chosen this because of the prominent fairy tales of earth.
After all, in those tales, the prince and princesses were always golden-haired with fair complexion and deep blue eyes.
Chloe was not currently adorned in her usual set of armor. What she was wearing instead was a simple one-piece white robe that reached just below her ankles.
“Why the change of attire?”
“As you know, I came here as a sort of an exchange student. So, of course, I need to learn the ins and outs of the church. I was about to hold a mass alongside Aurora today and it demanded a wardrobe change.”
Aurora Highland. Gerald’s granddaughter.
Sol frowned slightly at hearing her name. He had not particularly liked her vibe when she introduced herself yesterday after he came back from the Astral Realm.
Though he didn’t know if it was because of her origin or because she had interrupted his moment of fun with his close ones.
Sol did not want to judge people with a biased mindset. But it was hard to look favorably at the reason he lost the closest person he ever had to a father figure in this world.
‘Speaking of a father figure… Gerald should have joined the frontlines by now.’
Wratharis had sent some probing personnel to the border of Lustburg but did not go too far with their provocations…yet. Most likely they were just observing the situation and sending in spies to learn about the overall atmosphere of the human kingdom. Since Lustburg had a high percentage of foreign races, it was very easy for spies to mix in without being noticed by the guards or anyone for that matter.
He wondered if the old man was still alive. After all, he had been exiled because of his crimes and lost all his noble titles.
‘Then again, if he had died, Milia would have informed me by now.’
He massaged his forehead before focusing on Chloe…
“So. How have your days been in Lustburg?”
She shrugged, “I am getting used to it, you know… When I first came to your kingdom I was surprised by how backward the countries outside were. But thankfully my mother had already warned me about it.”
Sol laughed out loud. Calling Lustburg a backwater country was quite a stretch. Thanks to the different kings who came before him, even though the kingdom still had a medieval lifestyle, there were many kinds of infrastructure that did not suit the style and catered more to the modern side of things.
The roads were clean and well-paved. The kingdom did not stink to the high heavens, which was a blessing in itself. People took baths regularly and agriculture was well ahead of its time.
Furthermore, thanks to Magitech, they had something akin to electricity and even TV. Medicine was well-developed as well.
“Well, I guess when compared to the literal city of science and innovation, my country does seem like your average backwater nation.”
Chloe chuckled slightly, “It’s pretty normal you know. We, the angels, are lazy yet extremely stubborn when it comes to certain matters. So we need to be lazy in an efficient way.”
Science was developed by lazy people. People who had the imagination necessary to dream of a better world. This was a funny way of saying it but the truth was that most scientific discoveries were made in order to make life easier and inevitably it profited the lazy people the most.
Running is hard? Create a carriage. Raising horses are a pain? What about a bicycle? You don’t want to use your legs to ride it and want something more comfortable instead? Then how about a car?
It was an extremely simple and crude way of putting but it was still the unavoidable truth.
“True laziness isn’t laying down and doing nothing. But ensuring the fact that…even when you lay down and do nothing, something else is doing the job for you.”
She gave a proud smile before shaking her head. “Still, I like the atmosphere of Lustburg more than Slothein. At least here even the weak are taken care of by the kingdom.”
She gave a wistful smile as she spoke the last bits of her speech. Slothein was an extreme meritocracy where all citizens were classified depending on their results in sciences or combat. It was not a city worth living for the weak and untalented. In a world where talent meant everything, not everyone could fit in.
“No kingdom is without its flaws. At least yours suffer from no war.”
The only one who even dared to defy the angels was Echidna and even then she made sure to not cross their bottom line. No one wanted the angels to go crazy and start dropping weapons of mass destruction on their kingdom.
Since angels did not bother anyone, other kingdoms made sure to not disturb them. They were also the ones to make sure that all the Warlaws were properly enforced. In a way, one could call Slothein the ultimate police organization of this world.
“Indeed. I guess the pasture always seems greener from the other side.”
Chloe conceded with a nod and continued to chat calmly with Sol.
“Speaking of the Holy Daughter… What do you think of Aurora?”
“Aurora is… I guess she makes me uneasy? Sometimes I feel like she is just pretending to be someone else, someone she is not. But every time she holds a mass, she seems so sincere.”
She shook her head, “I don’t want to talk ill of people behind their backs. But just be careful around her. I think she is hiding a huge secret.”
‘Don’t they all do in the end?’
Sol smiled. At this point, he would be more surprised if he met people who didn’t have some kind of deep secret identity or things of the like.
“Well, I guess I will decide once I meet her.”
Sol did not want to judge Aurora before having a personal discussion with her. After all, the two of them would become the leaders of Lustburg in the future. So they needed to at least get along well and not be at each other’s throats. The last thing he wanted was to be mortal enemies with the future leader of the church. Unless absolutely necessary, he intended to be on good terms with her.
“Well. We are here.”
Sol looked at the huge gate that showed the goddesses facing each other.
The first time he went through this gate, his life had completely changed in its entirety. Now once again he was about to go through this gate and he hoped that the change that would happen would be in his favor once more.
———
[South District, Milaris’ Mansion]
While Sol was about to meet his destiny. Someone else was making preparations of their own.
“Are you sure that you want to enter the tower?”
Pandora, sitting on a stool as she prepared herself, looked at Arachne from the reflection of the mirror.
“Of course. That little boy invited me, didn’t he? It would be rude to not go, right?”
“It could be a trap.”
“Heh, I am sure it is. But he is underestimating me. He thinks that I am only a Duke, after all. Furthermore, Lilith hates things like that. If she wanted to catch me, she would directly come at me. As for Camelia, that snake is in her church currently. I have nothing to fear.”
Arachne’s expression did not change even after Pandora had ignored her goodwill. She had already given her enough warnings. No matter what happened next wasn’t her problem.
“Well, it’s your choice.”
She didn’t plan to intervene more. There were lines that should not be crossed after as a vassal. After all, the information about the tower was top secret. She did not have all the details, but she knew that Persephone and the other four directions should be present in the tower.
‘Well, I guess this would be a good lesson for her.’
Arachne was not worried about Pandora. She knew that they had no reason to hurt her as Pandora could become a staunch ally in the long run. Still, she was sure that it was a prank from Sol when she invited her to his stronghold.
Hopefully, this would give her a lesson in humility and information gathering.
‘The young boy became quite the cunning man.’
She was now more and more sure that Sol had pierced through Pandora's identity. But once again she simply stayed silent and observed from the sides.
Once Pandora was ready, she changed into Anastasia’s form and patted Arachne on the shoulder.
“Let’s go. You will at least accompany me to the carriage, right?”
Arachne nodded her head while she silently prayed in her heart, ‘May the goddesses be with you..’
This was the only prayer Arachne Milaris made for her long-time friend as she watched Pandora step into the carriage that was brought by Ketia…
———
(AN: I am keeping Slothein away currently for obvious reasons. I think next month I will try writing 2x1K chapters per day rather than huge 1.5-1.7K chapters. This is basically the same but will help in advancing the plot faster. Furthermore, small chapters cost fewer coins. So it will make things easier for both privilege and paying readers. What do you guys think? Of course, even if I say this I don’t know if I can really implement it or not. As I also write MP every day.)
