Why Did You Summon Me?

The Church’s attention had always been on Hope, not other Voidwalkers. After this incident, however, the organization understood the gravity of its mistake. Saint Joel’s skill and power outmatched Saint Jola’s, even though the latter was amongst the best in a group of individuals in the Church that could use the Word of God. Despite this, Hantai of the Holy Knight fame had effortlessly knocked out a group of templars using a hammer!

This left the Pope completely baffled. How could two heretics, who had turned their backs on God, still possess the powers the Lord, which was supposed to be reserved only for the most faithful?

Forced to fit the other Voidalkers into his consideration, the Pope soon realized in dismay that those two were far from his only headaches. It suddenly became frighteningly palpable that the Voidalkers were never just a ragtag band where the skilled mixed with the skillless; the most famous of them, second only to Hope, was the first human to achieve Demigod-level and an enduring idol to sorcerers even today — the Sage-Emperor of the Magi. Then, there was the pioneer in conquering new realms, as well as the founder of the art of Soul Armature, Syphrose. After that, there was that bloodthirsty knave known only as The Thane, who made history by setting the Holy City ablaze for three days and nights and had thus cemented an irrevocable blood feud with the Church ever since.

None of them was an easy target. Not only that, placing those together made the Pope wonder if, unsurprisingly, the other Voidwalkers the Church had not yet known about included an actual dragon, a despicable lich, and even an ex-papal candidate. The more he wallowed in it, the more he began to wonder if the Church was actually going against every facet of humanity.

“Power! We need more power!” The Pope mumbled to no one in particular. As his train of thought tore through his mind, he relayed it to his personal assistant, “Pass my order to all relevant personnel; I want them to speed up the progress to summon Angels! We need more Angels, and we will get them at all costs! If it means we have to bow our heads before those fools in the Sorcerers’ Associaton, then so be it. Furthermore, relay my message to the Paladin Grand Cross: recruit more crusaders and relax some of the qualifications for one to join the templars…”

He delivered commands after commands, some of them unprecedented, to the rest of the Church. They were the proofs of his devotion to the most righteous cause in the service of the Lord!

The question was: did all of the lay followers share his conviction?

The captain who had previously joined the ill-fated mission to escort Noirciel was sitting in a quiet bar. Set on the table before he was a pint of ale so bland one would think it was plain water and a plate of grilled meat slices.

While he disliked the insipidity of his food, there was little he could do; every establishment in Canningham served it the same way. The One True God may not have forbidden alcohol consumption, but it did seem to command his believers never to be intoxicated.

A beautiful young brunette with chestnut-brown hair sat next to the captain. She was his lover and a practicing cleric. At the moment, however, it seemed that the two were having a one-sided spat about his last mission.

“Brutes and savages, the lot of you! What have you done to Mr. Hope?” She hissed, anxiety hiding behind her displeased tone. She had been asking her boyfriend the same question repetitively, yet the man was stubbornly tight-lipped.

“Hush, can’t you be a bit mindful of how you address him? He’s the greatest enemy of the Church now,” the captain said, reminding her.

“He saved my life. He saved yours ! Blast, he saved countless others just on that fateful day! If it wasn’t for him, neither you nor I would live to see daylight outside that Ancient Rohlserlian emperor’s secret dimension. Do you remember all those years ago?” The brunette retorted indignantly. “The Scripture commands us to be grateful for those who had lent us their hand, and yet, you repay the hand that feeds with your sword!”

‘Me, pointing my sword at him? Poppycock ! As if I wasn’t the only one who didn’t unfairly beleaguer him precisely because I remembered his deeds! Then, without even a brush against him, I blacked out after some brute bonked me on my head with a hammer!’ The captain fumed silently in his mind. Due to the confidentiality nature of his last mission, however, he could not voice it out.

Apparently, the couple was two of the people the Church had sent to join the wild goose chase for the Archmage’s Book of Servitude all those years ago. Unbeknownst to them, Baiyi had deliberately scripted the perils they and countless others had faced in the Archmage’s old, personal micro-dimension, which culminated with Baiyi’s staged rescue to safety. As a result, the brunette was one of the Fifth Walker’s very first fangirl; the captain, meanwhile, was only an unspectacular crusader back then.

The couple admired Baiyi greatly and were among the first group of God’s Grace believers to hold him in high regard. Unfortunately, when the Church and the VoidWalkers had turned against each other, people on the ground, like them, were caught in between religious fidelity and gratitude and admiration to the man who saved them.

As his girlfriend became increasingly accusatory and grating, the captain felt more and more glum and frustrated. Then, suddenly, Jola the apostle, appeared and joined their company unexpectedly.

After a brief greeting, the old man took his seat around their table. He ignored the outsider to their mission and began immediately, “I’d gone to see the Pope, and suffice to say, his answers were vacuous and unsatisfactory. From the way he had reacted to my questions, though, I wager that our suspicions are right.”

The captain froze in stunned silence. A moment later, he replied in a hushed voice, “You’re telling me… Those two were really Saint Joel and Sir Hantai? Did we really… Did we really just cross blades with those two?”

“Congratulations, you have met your hero,” Jola replied slyly. “I’m afraid I’m no better. I had a brief duel of magic with my lifelong idol, and yet, he never once looked at me as though I was worthy of his attention…”

The cleric could no longer stop herself and began to ask, “Wait, what is going on? Why bring up two of the most legendary figures— ”

She was promptly cut off when the captain pushed his girlfriend’s head into a plate of macaroni.

The brunette was red with anger and embarrassment when her head reemerged from the plate. “You bastard!” She cried before dashing into the bathroom.

Taking her leave as an opening, the captain quickly asked, “What should we do now?”

“For one, you really shouldn’t have excluded her from our conversation. She, and many others, deserve the truth!” Jola replied in a low but determined voice.

Thus, another woe was added into the Pope’s pile. This was precisely what Baiyi had hoped for when he brought two degenerate gentlemen out of their confinement to travel with him.

At the moment, however, he was disinterested in marveling at the success of his scheme. After all, he was pretty occupied by the latest addition to his collection.

As planned, Baiyi had brought Noirciel to the old Aegis mansion in Arfin City, where Laeticia and other students from Da Xue’s Theological Faculty had waited. The students had assembled to act as a knockoff version of the Church’s choir as per the welcoming custom for an Angel. Finally, the ceremony ended with Laeticia — who was still considered a Saintess — kneeling before Noirciel humbly.

Noirciel had watched silently, though her brightly-lit face and her genuine smile were hints to how she felt. It made one wonder if her apparent equanimity was indeed just a pretense; in truth, she was just as particular her welcoming party like any other mortals.

The Kitty Cat Maid — who had spent half the day cleaning the mansion, just for their seraphic guest — stood by the door, spying curious glances at the Angel. When Noirciel caught her in the eyes, she was visibly startled before exclaiming, “Isn’t this… The messenger of Bella? How are you here? And why are you wearing something like that?”

She trailed off and looked at Baiyi questioningly.

‘What the? Who’s this now? That goddamned War God?’ Baiyi inwardly groaned as he escorted the Angel into the house. After settling her down in the living room, Attie approached Noirciel in curiosity and began to examine her gawkishly. Her eyes darted to the silver strands framing the Angel’s face, and suddenly, she reached her hand out and began to disturb a few tuffs of her hair.

Noirciel tensed up and stammered, “P-please c-c-cease…”

“Aw, c’mon. You’re too old to be this shy over this!” Attie replied slyly, leaning close to her and showing no sign of backing away. “Maybe it’s just that no one has ever shown you how good it feels…”

Baiyi yanked the misbehaving kitty away before she could continue. “Behave yourself, man. At least follow Laeticia’s example.”

Laeticia’s had not once sat nor stood too close to Noirciel since she tailed the Angel into the room. Right now, donning her full Saintess armor and holding a holy flag tall, she stood erect at the corner of the room like a Queen’s Life Guard on duty. She even bore an expression graver than Baiyi had ever seen from her.

Laeticia really saw Noirciel as an Angel worthy of her respect and protection.

“She looks like she could be one of us! She’s short, and look at that bust size,” Attie, who was still being held up high, said in protest. She also could not help staring at Noiciel’s chest. “That means she’s someone I can befriend!”

‘ That’s your friendship requirement? Is this why you were never that close with Vidomina? Seriously, who even taught you to filter potential friends by their bust size? Is this a testament to my failure in parenting?!’

Baiyi broke his attention from Attie and considered Laeticia. “Where are the rest? Why aren’t they here with us?”

“Sir, yes, sir! They are required to attend their classes, Sir. They shall be present when their classes are over,” Laeticia replied with a straight face and a very soldier-like flair.

Noirciel watched Baiyi fooling around with Attie from her spot. Her curiosity — along with questions that arose from it — grew until she blurted, “I don’t understand. Why is Bella’s Messenger with you? Lady Bella has been absent from the Divine Realm for such a long time. She ceased all contacts with us much as Lord Nehemiah did. However, here, their two messengers exist…”

She began to up her hands on her head as if she was trying hard to solve the mystery, but failed almost immediately and got herself a headache instead.

‘My dear, if you’re not terribly good at using your head for things like these, then just don’t,’ Baiyi quietly sneered while placing Attie down, signaling the Kitty Cat Maid to prepare some snacks. “Listen, you can have something light before the evening feast, okay?”

Noirciel emerged from her reverie and shook her head hard. “I cannot eat a mortal’s food by myself. ‘Tis is the start of an Angel’s fall.”

“Not by yourself? Well, what happens if we feed you instead?” Baiyi upped the ante.

“I… I shan’t…” Noirciel trailed off as an alluring taste seized her nose and pulled her to its source. There, on Attie’s hand, was a batch of freshly-baked cookies shaped in different animals. Golden, crunchy, and visually heart-melting, a young girl of Noirciel’s age would not be able to hold up a defense against them!

“Since Lady Noirciel can’t eat these by herself, you should feed her instead, Attie,” Baiyi stated. Turning to the Angel, he argued, “She’s Bella’s messenger, right? You know that means she represents Bella’s will. So, you wouldn’t reject Bella’s goodwill, would you?”

Baiyi’s command was just the thing Attie wanted to do, so she wasted no time picking up a bear-shaped cookie and held it between her teeth instead of handing it to Noirciel directly.

With a mild crimson flush on her cheeks, she leaned close to Noirciel’s face and puckered her lips, inching the cookie towards the Angel.

Noirciel could only let out a squeal in panic, “W-wh-what is going on? P-P-Please n-not like t-t-this!!!”

She was saved by Baiyi when the unimpressed Soul Armature yanked Attie backward by her collar. “I did not mean feeding her like a bird!”