Like a Dry Branch in the Wind

The Archduke of Axias confirmed that he would entrust Rietta with the position of Chief Priest. As soon as the Archbishop and the high-ranking priests heard the news they had been waiting for, they invited Rietta to guide and inform her of the ceremonial procedure. But instead of taking Rietta out, Killian brought them to their dwelling.

A light refreshment table was set up in the spacious drawing room and meeting room on the first floor of the dwelling, Killian himself went upstairs to Rietta’s room and escorted her down. As Rietta had an injured leg, Killian followed her pace so that she would not have to move too much. After seeing his careful escort, the priests whispered to each other that he was very fond of her and that he had become a very different person to her.

After greeting each other, the Archbishop hurried to leave, asking to be excused to prepare for the ceremony, and told Rietta to do her best for the ceremony. It seemed like he had barely managed to get time to greet Rietta. They let him go and talked.

After the Archbishop’s departure, the high-ranking priest mainly led the meeting and began to explain the procedure of the grand blessing ceremony. Although there were parts that were modified due to the characteristics of Grand Temple Havitus, the grand blessing ceremony was generally similar without being too complicated. Rietta listened to them and occasionally nodded, remembering the procedure and things to be done.

As the meeting progressed to some extent, a high-ranking priest asked.

“If I may say so, can you tell what level is your divine power?”

“I can cast blessing and do purification. I’m relatively familiar with blessings but my purification ability is still poor.”

“Then, can you exorcize and heal?”

 “I can’t.”

The priest said.

“Oh, yes…”

He extended the ends of his words and added.

“Have you ever encountered an aggressive demon?”

Rietta shook her head again this time.

“No. I have no experience in facing intermediate demons. I have only ever seen either spirits or low-level demons that were slow and submissive.”

The high-ranking priest said.

“Oh, I see.”

He just nodded. He thought that, since Rietta was born with the spirit eyes ability, she could see demons with her eyes. But compared to the rumors floating around, she was not that great. The high-ranking priest had no healing abilities, but he could perform exorcisms and he had experience in dealing with demons. Rietta added cautiously.

“I’m afraid that my lack of experience may prove troublesome for the sacred ceremony.”

The high-ranking priest explained as if he was showing mercy.

“What you can already do is enough. When the moon rises, all the priests will gather around the Goddess statue and begin to pray. Then, your divine power will be multiplied several fold for a short time with the divine power overflowing the entire altar.”

Though Rietta already knew those theories, the high-ranking priest still explained them from scratch. Still, Rietta nodded her head and listened carefully, wondering if she might have missed something.

“Then, you will become more spiritually sensitive. It’s an unfamiliar feeling where your nerves will be on edge about everything around you, but you don’t have to be too surprised. In severe cases, your senses may be slightly distorted… But you won’t have to worry that far. I’m just telling you in advance that there are such cases where it just happens, so don’t get too surprised if it feels weird.”

In any case, he had a kind attitude.

“If you fast and abstain properly, you may feel it from early in the evening. But you might not be able to feel it because it’s that time of the month for you in the first place…”

Killian glanced at the high-ranking priest. He wondered about who told him about Rietta’s physical condition; the paladin or the priest. Rietta asked carefully.

“Does that matter?”

“Of course. Don’t you know? During that time of the month, your divine power and spiritual sensitivity will decrease.”

The high-ranking priest acted like a know-it-all by saying that since the chief priest in the temple was also a priestess, the other priests sometimes gave consideration to her, he also said that it was rare for a priestess to stand as the chief priest in a ceremony, and he wondered if Rietta knew this was an exceptional case.

“It’s beyond our control after all. But it’s a pity in many ways because we have carefully prepared for it. You can even do purification, so the fact that you won’t be able to show your abilities as usual…”

Rietta replied cautiously.

“Fortunately, I don’t have a lot of ups and downs. I will do my best.”

He smiled, shook his head a little, and leaned back.

“Originally, a priestess who is having their period will be considered impure and can’t even lead a ceremony. So it is already breaking the rule when we decide to appoint someone who is not even a priest as the chief priest for a ceremony. Even His Imperial Majesty’s deputy said so and His Grace also…”

“Why is a priest talking so much about a woman’s body?”

Killian interrupted after listening to their conversation. The priest corrected his posture with a startled face.

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything else. From an academic perspective…”

“Whatever your intention is, it’s still rude if it sounds unpleasant. Apologize to Rietta.”

Rietta calmly replied.

“I’m fine, Your Grace.”

Killian said with an expressionless face.

“I am not fine.”

The high-ranking priest could say nothing.

“What are you doing?”

Killian kicked the priest’s leg under the table. The priest was shocked but he could not even scream and just flinched his back.

“Go on.”

The priest stammered and apologized to Killian and Rietta with his head hung low.

“My, my apologies. I was being insensitive.”

Rietta was flustered and accepted his apology and said that it was fine. Killian smirked and then spat out as if he was showing mercy.

“Keep going. If you want to run away, you can go out.”

The priest’s face changed color without him being able to either sit or stand up. Rietta, who was flustered, changed the topic to calm down the mood.

“Is the prayer starting early in the evening? There’s not much time left then.”

Another high-ranking priest noticed Rietta’s intention to let it go and move on, he replied.

“Yes. Soon, 120  faithful priests will be convened in the square.”

“I have heard about the spirituality of the grand temple. With the Havitus goddess statue and 120 priests, it will be a really great ceremony.”

Rietta smiled at him. On behalf of the tongue-tied high-ranking priest, another priest naturally continued to speak.

“A tremendous divine power will be concentrated in one place. An ordinary person will not feel it but priests and divine power users can feel considerable spiritual pressure. It’s a precious experience. When the ceremony reaches its peak, dense divine power will weigh on the body and it will make it difficult to speak.”

Rietta nodded carefully and responded. The priest continued to explain the precautions and procedures of the ceremony.

“It can be a little too much for someone with extraordinary spiritual sensitivity. You may want to instinctively relieve the pressure, but you should refrain from suddenly moving your divine power during the ceremony. The amplified divine power is unstable and can have a lot of influence on the surroundings.”

Other priests also added helpful advice.

“The power reaches its peak only for a short moment. When the grand blessing is cast, the pressure will soon be fine and the temporary side effects from concentrated divine power will be slowly resolved, so don’t worry.”

“Thank you for your advice. I will keep that in mind.”

Rietta replied with a smile. Killian no longer intervened and silently let Rietta talk to them.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

After Rietta and Killian returned to their bedroom, the priests came and delivered the ceremony clothes. They said that the prayers of the 120 priests to prepare for the grand blessing ceremony would soon begin.

Killian nodded casually and accepted the ceremony clothes. After a while, they realized that they were looking down on the ceremony.

“Rietta.”

Killian was about to hand Rietta her ceremony clothes before he suddenly approached her. Rietta was flustered and almost dropped her clothes. Her nose was oozing blood.

Rietta hurriedly put her ceremony clothes down on the sofa and tried to tilt her head. Killian’s hand wrapped around her back to strengthen her head.

“Put your head down.”

Killian led her to the bathroom. Rietta washed her forehead and nose with cold water. Killian stood behind her, frowning.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. I think the prayer ceremony has begun. I will be fine soon.”

“Is it because of the ceremony?”

“Yes, I think so.”

Even though the square where the ceremony took place and their dwelling were somewhat apart, the divine power that was heavily spread began to affect Rietta’s body. Whenever her heart beat, the divine power flowing in the blood began to tap inside the body as if it would penetrate the body. Her body trembled slightly.

It was only after her nose bleed stopped that Rietta could change her clothes. However, after changing into the ceremony clothes, Rietta had to talk to Killian again with a troubled look.

“Umm… Milord, my apologies but…”

Killian realized at once what was wrong with her. The wound on her leg was split again and blood was flowing. Killian approached her with a frown.

“Let me…”

Killian stopped mid sentence.

“No. I will call Giselle.”

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Giselle rushed up from downstairs. The blood was somehow handled with a blood-stopper and bandages but Rietta’s face was flushed and cold sweat was flowing.

“Rietta, do you feel pain?”

“Yes…”

“When was the last time you took painkillers?”

“I swallowed one more tablet about an hour ago.”

Giselle bit her lips.

“…This won’t do. The only painkiller that has a better effect than that is aluccino painkiller, I will at least prepare that for you.”

Upon hearing that, Killian wriggled his eyebrows. Only then did Killian realize that the clothes Rietta was wearing looked like the ritual clothes he saw when he first met her. The clothes she wore on her way to be buried alive in Casarius’ grave.

Just before Rietta opened her mouth, Killian’s answer came out first.

“Don’t do it.”

Seeing Killian who immediately refused, Rietta mumbled and replied to Giselle.

“Yes, that’s difficult. If I drink aluccino, it’s hard to keep up with the ceremony with a clear mind.”

Killian looked at Rietta with a look of anger. An unexpected word popped out of his mouth.

“I will stop the ceremony.”

Rietta was surprised and looked at him.

“The ceremony has already begun. There’s no way the temple would accept it.”

“Then, I will ask them to change the chief priest. This is a temple, there are priests all over the place. I can just let other people be in charge of it.”

Rietta shook her head. She calmly faced him and refuted him.

“Is there anyone we can trust and the temple can accept?”

Obviously, there was no one like that. Rietta was a blessing caster–someone who did not usually have a chance to be a chief priest. The reason why the temple accepted someone like Rietta was purely because of the recommendation Lectus Justin made, who is also the Emperor’s deputy. And both Rietta and Killian also knew about that. 

“I’m the only one who’s prepared, it will be difficult if we let people know that there’s something wrong with my body. And above all, perhaps Her Imperial Majesty has already prepared another person to replace the chief priest from the beginning.”

She was annoyingly correct. 

Slam!

Killian could not control his anger, he kicked the table and turned around. Rietta flinched and bowed her head.

“My apologies, I… I will get used to it soon. It takes time for my body to adjust…”

“Don’t be sorry!”

Killian shouted. Giselle looked at Killian and Rietta alternately without understanding why he was angry. However, Rietta also looked like she did not know the reason why Killian acted like that. Giselle carefully opened her mouth.

“Aluccino painkiller is different from just aluccino. I can prepare it without making it interfere with the mind, while still having an analgesic effect. As long as the current painkillers don’t work, I think this is the only way.”

Killian frowned and stared at Rietta, and then went out. Giselle sighed.

“That’s his permission. But why is he so angry?”

Even Rietta could not know.