The apprentice priest named Amelia closed her eyes and held her hands to her chest, as if in prayer. I noticed her hands were resting on a sun-shaped medallion, made from some kind of light brown metal.
Her lips moved, perhaps reciting an actual prayer. With my Awareness, I could distinctly perceive every movement, to the extent I could probably guess the words – if I actually had experience reading lips in this language.
While, for some reason, I could understand the language itself, I had no way of matching her lip movements to actual words. Not that it made much of a difference, as a few seconds later…
whoom
It was as if a sudden gust of wind swept over Amelia, and only over her, rustling her robes and stirring her blond hair. However, none of that "wind" touched Bern, who was still standing nearby.
For a moment, I felt a tingling sensation on my skin, like accidentally discharging static electricity when touching a desk drawer, but that momentary sensation passed before I could fully grasp it.
I looked carefully at the priest's expression at that moment, and… it hadn't changed.
This was a good sign.
A few seconds later, she opened her eyes again, and smiled.
"It's done. I found no traces of evil." She said, voice quieter than before, and her expression a mix of fatigue and relief.
I did my best to not show it on my face, but my relief was much greater than hers. Still, I held myself together. I could not afford to relax yet. Far from it.
Bern silently threw a glance at her and nodded, before shifting his gaze back to me. His expression was unreadable, but I could discern he was still deep in thought. After a few seconds that stretched into an eternity, his expression finally changed – softening, albeit barely.
"I will speak with my companions." With those words, he walked away.
Amelia threw me a faint reassuring smile (at least, it looked like an attempt at one, which ended up more nervous than anything), and swiftly followed.
I felt my mental fatigue reaching new heights – all I wanted to do was sit down and rest, at least for a moment.
I chased those cravings out of my mind, forcing myself to focus on the potential directions of the upcoming conversation, and my possible plans for each-
…but that attempt was swiftly squashed by another wave of exhaustion.
After a moment, I closed my eyes, and decided to stop thinking for now, and wait for the answers to come to me instead. There wasn't much else I could do, anyway.
***
Behind Bern, Amelia was walking back to her temporary companions. It wasn't a long walk, only a dozen seconds or so. But it was enough time to think.
Priests, by virtue of their Path, had higher Awareness than most other Paths, let alone common people. The potency of many of their abilities relied on it, and without a certain level of Awareness, one could not even establish a consistent connection with their god, at least under regular circumstances.
The gods themselves could, of course, choose to send their revelations, or bestow their divine abilities onto whoever they deemed fit. But those were rare, near-mythical exceptions, not the rule.
An apprentice priest, even one who hasn't stepped on their true Path yet, but was officially recognized as such, would thus also possess a certain level of Awareness -- especially so if they have already been granted a miracle.
Amelia was no exception to this. In fact, during their swift travels to this mine - which was now infested by goblins - there have been a few times when she noticed certain things ahead of Xin, who was clearly close to stepping upon a Path with high Awareness, himself.
With more experience, she could probably discern such details, serving the same role as the half-elf outside of combat. Not that she would actually strive to gain such experience – her goal, after all, was to serve her goddess, not become an adventurer.
'...And thou shall deliver my light to the ailing, and my hope to the hopeless; For just as corruption must be cleansed, so should the seed of despair be uprooted before it can bloom; And it is better such darkness has no fertile ground on which to take root at all.'
Out of the many scriptures she has read in her long years at the Sun Temple, this teaching of goddess Selenia was one which was etched deep into her heart, perhaps even more so than many of her peers.
Three years ago, when she had received her first miracle, [Healing Touch], she immediately volunteered to provide healing services at the temple. Unlike some of her peers, she did not press the temple's visitors for offerings, and did not reserve her strength when treating their ailments, often stumbling back to her room in complete exhaustion after a few visits.
When she was later recognized as an apprentice priest, and sent to this small town to serve her apprenticeship in the local temple (which would be better described as a shrine), she remained humble, and treated each and every one of the townsfolk as if she would the rich merchants that would sometimes come to her old temple.
Occasionally, when the old man would chase her off, saying she mustn't push herself this hard, and take more time to rest, she would go to the local Adventuring Guild (which, in a town like this, would be better described as a small hub), and offered her healing there, always refusing any of the revitalized men who would offer her coin in return.
On one such evening, an emergency commission came in. There has been a goblin raid on the town's outskirts, and two women were kidnapped.
Amelia, by virtue of her occupation, knew most of the townsfolk, and those women were no exception – Molly, a farmer's wife, and Martha, wife of a local tavern owner.
Apparently, the latter was visiting the former as the goblins invaded their home, killing Molly's husband and kidnapping the two. It was only by a stroke of luck that their two children were visiting their friends in the city, but that was a thin bright outline in such a grim event.
There were not many adventuring parties in such a town to begin with, and with the sudden raid, not none of those present would respond to an emergency commission such as this – rushing to the old mines, now a goblin nest, through the forest, in the late evening. While there were some decent folk who would want to help, they knew their limits, and none of them had a death wish.
Luck shone on the two women once again, as if in an attempt to make up for their overwhelming misfortune. Silver Claymore, one of - if not the - the strongest parties in this town, whose leader had even taken more than a few steps on his Path, just so happened to have returned from their latest commission, and was turning it in as everything went down.
Their fourth party member was recovering from an injury, but the remaining three were quite capable, and contemplated accepting the sudden request, although this level of danger did induce hesitation. There was no telling how many goblins there were, or whether stronger variants were present.
Witnessing the situation, Amelia volunteered to accompany them on this mission – the mine was not too far, and they couldn't move too fast at night either, so she wouldn't slow them down, and her healing, meager as it was, would greatly reduce the risk.
In the end, her persuasion managed to tip the scales, and so, after a long and grueling journey, they managed to rescue the kidnapped women before anything terrible happened.
However, in any such mission, unexpected situations were prone to happen, and indeed, with their triumphant return in sight, something unexpected occurred.
When they first noticed the traces of this strange lone creature, her first reaction was natural – fear, even more so intensified once she heard the lone man was a human.
Any adventurer that lasted long enough would learn to distrust the unknown, and restrain their curiosity – those who don't will most often carry that curiosity to their graves.
While not an adventurer, Amelia read many stories during her study – stories that involved contracts with devils, demonic possession, and grand conspiracies orchestrated by the cults of evil gods.
A lone human in a goblin infested mine, far from most civilization but close enough to a small town? Such an event sounded like it would fit many of those stories.
Yet, looking back to her goddess's teachings for guidance, she decided to at least glance at that man with her own eyes.
And when she did, what she saw did not look like an evil spirit looking to deceive a group of adventurers, or a cultist desperately scrambling to reenact his evil plans.
To her, the young man seemed more like a wounded animal backed against a wall, the faint cracks in his cold expression showing only a desperate will to survive.
That is why, despite initially reluctant to interfere in the party's affairs, she volunteered to use her second miracle - the one she had recently been granted - to affirm her suspicions, despite the toll it would take on her.
And now, she resolved in her heart she would do what she can to alleviate that despair – because any man this desperate, if untainted by evil, deserved the light of hope.
***
The two sets of footsteps shortly came to a halt.
Once they stopped, a short silence followed.
Bern looked at each of his companions, who had heard everything, waiting for them to express their thoughts.
The half-elf sighed.
"This eliminates the worst possibilities. But.. you know it doesn't change the heart of the matter, right?"
"...agreed. Even if he aint some sort of demon worshiper, who in the hells would emerge from dark tunnels, leading to the Dark Regions for all we know, in the middle of an old mine turned goblin nest?!"
For once, the dwarf seemed to be in complete agreement. Another short silence followed, before a different voice spoke.
"Still!.. We cannot just abandon him. He has no traces of evil influence, and you even checked out his story! What if he really just appeared here?"
"And how, exactly, would that happen, young priestess?"
"M-maybe he got caught in a temporal rift. There were stories like this before! Or maybe he escaped some evil wizard's tower through an unstable portal, and found himself here. Or maybe-"
"Enough. I don't always agree with this musclehead, but you know you're grasping at straws here."
"I hate to admit it, but maybe the tree hugger's paranoia was on point this time."
"But!.."
"Stop. Be quiet for a second, all of you."
The leader had finally spoken, and the smothering silence enveloped the derelict shaft once more.
After a few more seconds passed, Bern spoke again.
"Amelia. You've held up well so far. I didn't get to say it until now, but good job."
"T-hanks?"
The apprentice priest's voice was clearly flustered, clearly not expecting the leader's remark.
"You haven't spoken up much during this mission. But, even if just temporarily, you are still a companion. And even if just an apprentice, you are still a priest."
Bern turned to face his companions.
"To tell you the truth, I'm unsure of this situation myself. This young man, appearing out of nowhere in a place like this – even by itself, it raises suspicions."
A shade fell over his eyes.
"Moreover, I've noticed from that stance of his – he was definitely ready to use some sort of sword Technique. He didn't feel like someone who'd stepped on a Path yet, but he is definitely not some low-level adventurer either. And if someone like this was staying in Pine Harbor, at least one of us would know him, but evidently, we have no idea who he is or where he's from."
But just as the shade had fallen, so did it suddenly lift.
"Still, what little he told us checks out. He has indeed come from that tunnel, and according to you, he does not appear to be under evil influence."
He sighed, turning his eyes to the apprentice priestess once more.
"Look. You've helped many adventurers in this town. Many common folk too, at that. You've met many people, and you are a follower of the Sun Goddess."
Bern paused, looking as if he reached some conclusion in his mind.
"I will ask you two questions. Once you answer them, I will decide how we proceed from here."
During the short pause that followed, the young priestess looked at the swordsman. Her gaze, not without a hint of nervousness, was nonetheless burning with conviction.
"Do you believe this young man means us no harm?"
"Yes."
The first reply came almost instantaneously.
"If your judgement were to be wrong, before Molly and Martha here, and before the rest of us – do you acknowledge the responsibility your previous answer carries?"
A brief moment of hesitation - or perhaps contemplation - passed before the next reply.
"... yes."
A few more seconds of silence, stretching endlessly, have passed.
"Then I have made my decision."