The End of Childhood (4)
The Divine Stones Uncle Dominic handed me were incredibly rare and unique minerals. In a world where magic and holy arts were everyday occurrences, their existence made perfect sense. These stones naturally contained holy power. Just as mana stones let ordinary people cast spells, Divine Stones allowed those without any holy power to use holy spells. The catch was that they couldn't be mass-produced and the refining process was ridiculously difficult. They only turned up occasionally in ruins connected to the Lumentis Church, so there were never enough to spread around. On top of that, only dwarves could process them in a way that let anyone wield holy arts. Because of all that, the stones ended up being used mostly by clergy who could already use holy power. The main applications were creating semi-permanent barriers when combined with high-level holy spells, or restraining priests who had committed crimes.
Funnily enough, I'd both witnessed and experienced both uses. The Entat Parish's barrier was the first case, and the Circle of Judgment I'd gone through recently was the second. Though calling it an "experience" felt weird since it had zero effect on me. My guess was that it didn't work because, unlike normal priests, I could use holy spells without praying. It didn't make sense to me, but apparently holy power was only borrowed from the gods, so you had to ask permission every time you used it. That permission-seeking process was what they called "prayer."
Uncle Dominic explained that the Circle of Judgment was originally deployed by inquisitors to restrain and punish holy knights who'd sinned. The whole principle was to block the gods from hearing those "prayers," preventing the use of holy spells. Even if someone tried to use holy power through some loophole.
Yeah. A loophole. Grandpa Carlo had been using a kind of loophole to wield holy power all along.
I picked up one of the five Divine Stones Uncle Dominic had given me.
"This is what's embedded in Grandpa's body?"
"That's right."
I remembered what Bowt, the captain of the Holy Front Knights and my instructor, had said. He'd warned me not to use holy spells the way Grandpa did. That it wasn't even proper holy magic. His words finally made sense. At the same time, I understood why Grandpa could use holy power similarly to me.
"Levia. You'd be better off not trying to copy it."
"I wouldn't do it even if you begged me. Why did you do it anyway? No side effects?"
Both Grandpa and I had fully recovered and were heading back to the Entat Parish. We were riding in an automatic carriage just like before. While I was bored out of my mind and pulled out a Divine Stone to fiddle with, Grandpa decided to share one of his secrets. It was a warning, really. The process had been incredibly painful, so he was telling me not to embed any Divine Stones in my own body. He'd apparently noticed that I wasn't just interested in making my body stronger but also in increasing my holy power, and wanted to stop me from doing anything dangerous. So he revealed his secret and warned me in one go.
"The side effect is... that the mana inside your body gets converted into holy power."
But since the change was acquired rather than natural, the holy power didn't reinforce my muscles the way it did for me. And except for his special version of the Divine Punch, other holy spells still required prayer. That was how he'd been able to understand my body so well. When I asked why he'd done it, Grandpa stayed silent. It seemed he didn't want to talk about that part. I didn't feel like digging into it either, so I let the subject drop naturally.
"We're kind of alike. If someone didn't know better, they'd think I was your actual granddaughter."
"That's right! So alike! Kahaha! What do you say? Why not become this old man's real grandchild while we're at it?"
What the hell? I was just joking, but why does he look so happy?
"I'll think about it if Benedict starts calling you Father."
"Kahaha! Is that how it works? Well, it's not exactly wrong!"
"Lady Levia, what do you plan to use those Divine Stones for?"
Venica asked while Grandpa and I were trading banter back and forth. She was traveling with us in place of Uncle Dominic. The automatic carriage we rode in wasn't his. It was a newer model that Venica usually used. Unlike Uncle Dominic's, it was sleek and looked almost exactly like the cars I remembered from Earth. The kind of design you'd see in the 19th century. Honestly, if it's going to look like that, just call it a car. Didn't the Alchemy Hero label the blueprints as "car"? I'm sure he did.
Anyway, the reason Venica was with us instead of Uncle Dominic was because he'd gone to the Papal Court in the Eliaque capital. He needed to report everything we'd uncovered this time—the revival of the Chaos Sect that everyone thought had been wiped out, and information about the Clown. As a result, we ended up using Venica's carriage on the way back to the Entat Parish.
Venica's carriage was much bigger, roomier, and faster than Uncle Dominic's. It was the ultimate product of his doting-father tendencies and his obsession with tuning... I mean, magitech modifications. Thanks to that, unlike last time, we could all sit comfortably in our own seats.
Just to be clear before anyone gets the wrong idea—I was not disappointed about not being able to sit on Cheska's lap and feel that soft, squishy cushion. Really. I mean it.
"Is it something you can't talk about?"
Oops. Better answer her.
"I don't know."
"Pardon?"
"I don't know what I'm going to use them for."
"Then why...?"
"They just looked expensive, so I asked for them."
"...A prospective Saintess shouldn't be so obsessed with material desires."
Venica suddenly hit me with a serious burn. Wait, what did I do wrong? Why is she insulting me with that shocked expression?
"Huh? Levia. Did you really ask for the Divine Stones just for money?"
"Yeah. They're super rare, right? I was planning to sell them on the way back and use the money to buy some good food for the Holy Front Knights guys."
My suggestion to stop by the parishes we hadn't visited last time for some sightseeing had been accepted too. I was going to buy local specialties and stuff like that. Whatever money was left would go into the subspace pouch as emergency funds. Speaking of which, that extra-large subspace pouch Uncle Dominic gave me is seriously amazing! So convenient!
"Khup...! Lady Levia, for us...! I have no regrets even if I die today...!"
Jacob was so moved he actually started crying.
"But, Lady Levia. While I appreciate the thought..."
"Hey~ Don't turn me down, Jacob. I realized something this time. How great all of you in the Holy Front Knights really are. So just accept it~ Accept it~"
Our Holy Front Knights are way better than those sanctimonious priests with garbage personalities. No question about it.
"So you really didn't know."
"Oh my, Lady Levia. You're too cute."
"Goodness... I see. Your behavior is so mature that I completely forgot you're still young, Lady Levia."
"Huh? Why are you all acting like this?"
What don't I know? And what exactly is Cheska looking at to call me cute?
"Um... Lady Levia. Divine Stones are items that cannot be traded for money between individuals."
Thankfully Jacob cleared up my confusion. The problem was that the explanation was incredibly shocking.
"...What?"
"Divine Stones are considered part of the Goddess of Light Lumentis's body. They're essentially holy relics."
"And?"
"Therefore, while individuals can possess them or transfer them without compensation, trading them for monetary gain is strictly forbidden."
In other words, don't you dare sell a god's flesh for cash.
"Only in Eliaque?"
If it was only forbidden in Eliaque, I could work with that. It's the headquarters of the Lumentis Church, after all! I could just stash them and sell them in another country later...!
"No. It's prohibited across the entire continent."
Damn it.
"Then what am I supposed to do with these? It feels like a waste to just give them away after I went through the trouble of getting them. Maybe I should use them to strengthen the Entat Parish barrier?"
It seemed like a good idea. I couldn't sell them anyway. Might as well use them for the parish.
"I don't think that's necessary. Cardinal Benedict already poured everything he had into reinforcing the barrier after the previous incident."
"To strengthen it any further, we'd basically have to rebuild it from scratch. Since we don't know when the magic beasts might attack, that seems like a rather dangerous choice."
It was shot down for an extremely reasonable reason.
"How about donating them to the church, Lady Levia?"
Venica offered a very practical suggestion. This was also a good idea. If I couldn't sell or use them, donating them to the Lumentis Church where they could actually be put to good use seemed best.
"Should I?"
"Yes. If you donate not one but all five Divine Stones to the church, it would definitely strengthen your position as a Saintess candidate..."
"Rejected."
I take back the "good idea."
"Pardon?"
Wow... How can someone with such an innocent-looking face come up with such a devious scheme? Venica, you've been really suspicious since earlier. Going on about how a prospective Saintess shouldn't obsess over material desires, or how donating the Divine Stones would raise my position as a candidate. You're talking like you're supporting me instead of competing with me. Come to think of it, Uncle Dominic's attitude when he saw us off was suspicious too. When I asked if it wasn't too little to have Venica guarded by only two escort knights (drivers), he just grinned and said, "If it's you, Levia, I can entrust my daughter to you without worry!" The whole vibe felt fishy.
"It's not urgent, so think about it later. If you keep them, you might find a use for them someday."
Cheska neatly suggested putting it off since there was nothing I could do with them right now anyway.
"Cheska's right. Can't be helped, I guess."
I'd hoped to make immediate use of them since I'd gone through the trouble of obtaining them.
"Without doing anything as dangerous as what Grandpa Carlo did, isn't there a way to just absorb the holy power inside? That would be perfect..."
I muttered it absentmindedly, full of regret, but...
The Divine Stone's holy energy surges out like an explosion and flows directly into your body.
"Huh?"
—Crack...
Soon, once every last bit of holy power had been drained, the Divine Stone that had been glowing with a soft golden light turned gray and crumbled away.
"It... actually got absorbed...?"
Why did that actually work? Why?!