Now that my ban was officially lifted, I followed Isha deeper into the Church.
Light filtered through the stained glass along the red-carpeted corridor, casting a mosaic of colors across the floor.
"Thank you for putting in a good word for me, Isha."
"No, no, it was nothing. Lloyd-kun, you're like a little brother to me. Besides, if you're going to thank anyone, you should thank those two as well."
"Right. Thanks, Ren. You too, Shiro."
"I-I mean, it wasn't much..."
"Woof!"
Shiro leaped at me affectionately, and I gave its head a thorough rubbing. Good boy. You did a great job.
Ren watched us, looking a little envious.
"Hehe, you all get along so well. It’s lovely to see."
Isha gave a gentle smile. It was a little embarrassing, so I decided to change the subject.
"By the way, where are we going?"
"To prepare for the Holy Communion Assembly, of course. You’re going to help out, right?"
"O-Of course!"
Crap, I’d completely forgotten. Since I’d technically become a believer—even if it was a total fabrication—I had to pull my weight.
"Good. Then let’s clean the chapel together."
"Got it..."
And so, I joined the others in tidying up the chapel.
Quite a few people—men, women, and children—visited the chapel to pray while we worked. Dozens of them must have passed through by now.
It was quite impressive. I found it a bit hard to fathom that this many people truly believed in a god.
"Lloyd, do you believe in God and all that?"
"No, not even a little bit."
"I knew it! God is a total sham! No matter how much you pray, He never helps. Why do they come here to pray so fervently? I just don't get it!"
Ren sounded indignant. Her abilities had made her childhood a miserable one, so she clearly had some deep-seated issues with the concept of a god.
"Calm down, Ren. This isn't the place to raise your voice. Besides, I doubt everyone here truly believes in God."
"What do you mean?"
"Humans need some kind of emotional anchor to get through life. Surprisingly few people have that on their own. For people like that, God is a convenient idol—something they can pray to whenever and wherever they need."
Simply put, everyone wanted something to cling to. It calmed their hearts and gave them the strength to keep going.
"...? Hmm."
Ren tilted her head, clearly not quite grasping what I was getting at.
"My, my, I can't let that slide, Lloyd-kun. Speaking like that is blasphemy against God."
"I-Isha!?"
Crap, she'd heard me.
As I hurriedly clamped my mouth shut, Isha spoke with a gentle tone.
"It's true that God doesn't reveal Himself easily. However, He definitely exists. One year ago, He appeared before me and granted me Holy Magic. The divine figure I saw then... it's still etched clearly in my mind."
"Whoa! Isha, you can use Holy Magic?! And you saw God, too?! I want to see Him!"
"Fufu, if you're a good boy, Lloyd-kun, maybe you'll get to meet Him one day as well."
Hmph, she'd dodged the question. But more importantly, there was what she’d just said.
If I remembered correctly, to acquire Holy Magic, one had to serve God as a believer and be recognized by a heavenly messenger. From Isha’s tone, that might not have been a metaphor. Or she was just humoring me because I was a kid.
"Hmm, regardless, I won't get anywhere until I see Holy Magic with my own eyes. If I release Grimo and let him run wild, do you think the clerics would use Holy Magic to drive him off?"
"Wh-What?! Give me a break, Master Lloyd!"
"It's a joke. Just a joke."
Actually, I’d already tried that once before. I’d used an autonomous spell that looked like a demon to cause a bit of a scene at the Church, but the people there had just run around in a panic without even trying to fight back. In my experience, devout believers were "good" people at heart. That was probably why the option of fighting didn't even occur to them when they were attacked. Honestly, what a waste of something as valuable as Holy Magic.
"...Master Lloyd, that's exactly why you got banned in the first place."
"Eh? Did I say that out loud?"
"You were muttering some rather dangerous things, sir."
Oops, it seemed my inner monologue had leaked. That happened sometimes. Must reflect, must reflect.
"Isha."
A dignified voice echoed through the chapel. I looked over and saw Saria.
"It's almost time for our rehearsal."
"Oh, is it that time already? Well then, Lloyd-kun, Ren-chan. I'll see you later... Oh, and Lloyd-kun? You might just get to see some Holy Magic today."
Isha gave me a wink before trotting off.
By evening, the cleaning was done, and we sat down to wait in the chapel. Since a concert was about to begin, the pews around us were starting to fill up.
"Still, I wonder what Isha meant by that. The bit about getting to see Holy Magic... I forgot to ask earlier, but Grimo, have you seen Holy Magic before?"
"Only a few times, sir. Now that I think about it, singing seemed to be the key to activating it."
"Heh, so it's a type of magic that functions through a Ritual."
Methods for activating magic are broadly divided into two categories: Spell Formulas and Rituals.
A Spell Formula involves imbuing mana with various equations to manifest a phenomenon. In contrast, a Ritual relies on songs or dances performed by those with significant magical power. They have existed since antiquity and are said to have originated from practices like rain dances. Nowadays, they are often used alongside Spell Formulas, and many have been incorporated into magic theory itself.
"So that means we might see Holy Magic during the concert. Grimo, will you be okay?"
"That sister doesn't have that much mana, so it wouldn't affect me even if it hit me. I can't imagine she'd use offensive Holy Magic, either. ...Well, even if she did, I'm inside your body, Master Lloyd, so there’s no problem at all, boss."
Holy Magic is supposedly quite effective against Majin, so I’d been worried about him getting purified, but... if he was that confident, it should be fine.
"Well, let's just wait and see... Hm?"
A noise from near the entrance caught my ear. Looking over, I spotted the group of Adventurer Men who had tried to pick a fight with me earlier.
"I knew it. The brat's here!"
"Acting all smug... disgusting little runt. I don't care if it's a Holy Communion or whatever, I'm gonna wreck the whole thing!"
Whoa, whoa. Wreck the Holy Communion? Just when I was about to finally see some Holy Magic, what did they think they were doing? ...Guess I have no choice. I'll have to show these interlopers the door.
I suppressed the mana throughout my body and slowly stood up. Having masked my presence with Magic Isolation, I walked toward them.
"Lloyd...?"
I put a finger to my lips, signaling Ren to stay quiet. No one in the area seemed to notice me moving.
I walked straight to the entrance, but the men didn't even glance my way. Just as no one pays attention to a pebble in their path, they wouldn't notice me unless they were specifically looking for me.
I stepped right past the men and stood behind them. Then, I released mana into both of my palms.
In an instant, the two men vanished.
I returned to my seat while still suppressing my presence. Ren whispered to me.
"...Was that Spatial Transfer just now?"
"Yeah. Jade showed me the Spell Formula itself, so I analyzed it."
Jade, the boss of the Assassin's Guild, had possessed the ability to use Spatial Transfer and controlled it through a Spell Formula. By absorbing it with my Sword of Magic Absorption—which could take in, store, and analyze any kind of mana—I’d become able to use it myself.
That said, I was still far from having complete control over it. I didn't even know exactly where they’d been sent... but based on the feeling of the spell, I expected they’d landed somewhere on the outskirts of the city.
"That's amazing, Lloyd! ...Sigh, I wish I could turn my ability into a Spell Formula soon, too."
Ren let out a heavy sigh. Her ability to generate poison could be used as medicine if controlled properly. I’d been encouraging her and helping her study, but she seemed to be struggling quite a bit.
Ren had never received a proper education, so for now, I was reading simple Magic Books to her, though it was questionable how much she actually grasped. It might be faster to just construct a spell that could copy my knowledge and paste it directly into someone's brain.
However, if I did that, there was no telling what kind of effect it might have on the person. Well, I’d keep it in mind as a last resort.
"...Lloyd, were you just thinking about something scary?"
As the thought crossed my mind, Ren looked at me with frightened eyes.
How rude. I was the same as always.