The servants arrived and distributed food to each patron. However, Juliette was lost in thought and didn't notice.
Luka waited until she stirred out of it a few minutes later; he refused to touch his food before then.
Juliette's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh! Don't wait for me to eat!" she admonished her son.
"That's not appropriate," he responded. "What were you thinking about?"
"It's nothing important," she said and shook her head. The mother didn't wish to alarm him about being caught in the pope's power play. "Let's eat!" she urged.
When Luka finished his meal, he noticed that his mother ate very little. Instead, she absentmindedly poked at the food with her finger. "Is everything alright?" he asked.
Juliette smiled at him. "I'm just not hungry today. You should go rest now, or else you'll oversleep again," she warned.
"Yes, mother. I will retire in my room now. Have a good evening." Her son nodded and departed the dining room with his animals.
When they returned to his bedroom, Bel spoke up. [What are you going to do now? Will you be a good boy and stay here? Or do you want to sneak into Trevor's room?] The demon king hoped to lure him to do something naughty to Trevor.
Luka shook his head. "I'm not going to do something stupid like that. If anything happens to him, I will be the first suspect the inquisitors will interrogate," he pointed out.
[You're no fun!] The rabbit pouted. He hopped on the bed and made himself comfortable.
Gripper did the same.
Luka decided to spend some time practicing his light magic to increase its proficiency. Since he reached skill level 9, Luka realized the final tier would be much harder to achieve. Thus, the mage performed the same exercise as during the day: Luka jabbed his fingertip to make it bleed and then cast Advance Cure to heal himself. Before he began, Luka released a Wall of Darkness to surround his room so that light wouldn't escape and alert the servants.
Luka continued his magical practice until he drained half of his mana pool. Then he retired for the night.
* * *
Luka awoke early the next morning and joined his mother for an energetic spar. Unfortunately, he slipped and lost his footing during the fight and earned a big lump on his head for his troubles.
Juliette mercifully cut short their training session because she thought his trouble with the Milstein family still occupied Luka's mind. Thus, she made him run twenty laps around the guesthouse instead in hopes of clearing Luka's head.
Afterward, the son joined her for a light breakfast before leaving for work. Luka felt tired from running and chose to use magic to reach the dormitory. He ate his usual oatmeal and sat in his regular seat with Belinda at the same table.
When he joined the apprentices for morning prayer service in the chapel, Luka made a request. I seek an audience with you, Altima. Suddenly, his soul left his body and entered the divine realm.
The beautiful goddess was overlooking her celestial garden with her back toward the visitor. Altima turned to face him and asked, "What is it, my son?"
The lyrical voice mesmerized him for a moment, and Luka forgot what he wished to say. He shook his head and focused on his problem at hand. "Thank you for granting me an audience. I'm having trouble with a member of the church named Trevor von Milstein. His uncle, Windsor von Milstein, is an archbishop and keeper of church doctrine."
"The conflict began after I healed a woman suffering from Shisinth disease. He tried to scam 10,000 gold from her son for treatment. After I thwarted his plot, Trevor ordered his goons to assassinate the three of us. My pets defeated his men, and we took them to the knights. I filed official charges against Trevor. But Pope Demetrius brokered a deal to have me withdraw the complaint in exchange for Trevor's demotion and to create food and water for a month."
"I ended up working at the food factory this week as part of my church apprenticeship. Trevor tried to attack me from behind at the work place. But my familiar and contracted beast stopped him in time. I'm consulting you because I believe Trevor will try to attack me again, and the knights won't do anything about it because of his status as the heir of a prestigious archbishop family," Luka explained his dilemma.
Altima became livid at his words because her church endangered Luka by ignoring the perpetrator's hostility toward her godson!
The goddess smiled reassuringly at Luka. "Thank you for telling me. You are very precious, not just to me personally but to this entire world. Your existence is a bulwark against a future invasion by the Netherverse. I'm very disappointed in the church leadership for turning a blind eye to your safety. I will mete out divine punishment to the guilty persons." The goddess gently kissed his forehead.
Luka felt a divine force expelling his soul, and it immediately returned to his mortal body.
Suddenly, light shone through the stained windows in the chapel and blinded the worshippers! A massive beam of light descended from the heavens and directly incinerated Trevor von Milstein!
Simultaneously, a Ray of Enfeeblement struck Archbishop Milstein, who held a meeting with other church officials in the Morninglory archduchy. His complexion turned dark as Altima's divine curse wormed its way into his mind and disabled his intelligence!
The horrified witnesses cast True Sight and activated Appraisal to determine what happened to their colleague. They grimaced upon seeing the following: "Status: Cursed by Altima; Permanently Enfeebled."
"What did he do?" someone cried out in disbelief.
The officials worried that their goddess would punish them next. The attendees held their collective breath. As the seconds trickled away, nothing happened to them.
"We must notify the pope immediately!"
The church officials stared at the archbishop, who was drooling on his refined church robe. The sight of their mentally sharp leader instantly reduced to an idiot made the witnesses very afraid. But they had no idea what Milstein did to incur divine wrath. Thus, the attendees adjourned the meeting without taking any action.
* * *
Luka departed the chapel, clueless of what the bright light meant. When he exited the dormitory with Belinda, the two noticed more pedestrians on the street than usual. And all of them were panicking!
"Did you see that bright light?"
"There were two lights! One of which struck our city."
"Are we under attack?"
"No way! Lumina is an impenetrable fortress! Who would dare attack us?"
The two apprentices listened to the gossip as they trekked across the central plaza. Luka and Belinda began to connect the bright flash of light they saw outside the chapel and the city's unrest.
A siren blared as Lumina took defensive action. Valkyrie patrols flew over the city, which became enveloped in a golden protective barrier. Knights came out of their stations and ordered everyone to return home immediately.
"We have to go back," Belinda said as she turned around and pulled on Luka's arm.
* * *
Pope Demetrius used a secret portal inside the church to reach the control center directly. He looked around the room and saw everyone was staring closely at the screens for signs of further attacks. The large chamber became eerily silent aside from the stream of oral reports coming from the communication desk. The church leader walked over to the commanding officer for a brief update.
Bishop Finn Lawson noticed the pope's arrival and bowed while clasping his hands in prayer. "Your Holiness," the commander greeted.
Demetrius nodded back. "What happened? Are we under attack?" he asked calmly.
The officer hesitated in responding. "I'm not sure." The church official created an illusion showing two beams of light descending from heaven. One struck a residence inside the city while the other ray went elsewhere. "We are still in the process of discovering where the light hit us," Lawson explained, "but it will take some time for the knights to locate the site."
"In that case, I will wait here with you," the pope replied.
"Please
take my chair, Your Holiness," the officer offered.
"Thank you," Demetrius smiled as he accepted the seat.
Bishop Lawson stood attentively behind his leader, and the two waited for approximately twenty minutes before a report came in.
"This is Sir Goren of the Eastern Order. A maid from the Milstein residence claims that her master, Trevor, has turned into a pile of ash. And there is a big hole in the ceiling of his room with burn marks. She also saw a beam of light and thinks it created the hole," the knight reported.
"This is Commander Lawson. Tell the knighthood to keep onlookers away from the house. I will visit the site and investigate what happened."
"Yes, sir!"
"I will join you," the pope spoke up when the line disconnected.
"Yes, Your Holiness," the bishop bowed. He rode with the pope inside the elevator and returned to the surface. They entered the official church carriage and went directly to the Milstein manor. Knights on the streets cleared the way for the vehicle, and the passengers reached their destination within a quarter-hour.
The housemaid led the two visitors to the master bedroom. "I didn't touch anything," she noted nervously.
Pope Demetrius smiled gently to put her at ease. "Thank you."
She curtsied and stood in the doorway to avoid disturbing the investigation.
The pope took out a crystal ball from his magic bag. "Show me the past hour inside this room," he ordered and poured his mana into the device. The orb turned bright as it slowly absorbed the user's magic. The ball lost its brightness and began to depict the recent events inside the bedroom.
The two men watched Trevor get out of bed and enter the washroom. He returned, put on his church uniform, and spent an extraneous amount of time checking himself in the mirror. Suddenly, a ray of light broke through the ceiling and burned Trevor's body into a pile of ashes! The magical assault took an instant to occur.
The two observers felt fearful as they recognized what happened to the young man: he received divine punishment!
Pope Demetrius understood why Altima punished Trevor. The goddess viewed Luka as her son, and she wouldn't tolerate a church member trying to harm him. Moreover, her divine punishment against the perpetrator was a direct rebuke of the pope's lenient response. He suddenly remembered there were two beams of light. With dread in his heart, Demetrius realized who was the second target of Altima's ire.
The pope looked at Bishop Lawson and said quietly, "Issue a public notice informing the residents that this morning's incident appears isolated, and Lumina is not under threat. Citizens should return to their normal lives. Also, cancel our defense alert."
"Yes, Your Holiness."
Chapter 91
Aftermath
While Luka was at home practicing his light magic, the church's upper echelon was in an uproar, trying to understand what happened this morning. The most astute observers recognized those heavenly rays as Altima's divine wrath, and the membership began to gossip over who were her recipients and how they offended the goddess.
Word began to trickle out that Archbishop Milstein was one of the culprits because attendees of a morning meeting with him informed their colleagues of his fate. After all, the late official held the esteemed position of the Enforcer of Church Doctrine. He was the last person anyone expected to incur Altima's wrath! Later on, the armchair detectives used their connections to confirm that the problematic nephew, Trevor, was the second victim.
This new element made the church officials understand what happened. They speculated, correctly, that the heir was the troublemaker who offended their goddess. Archbishop Milstein became collateral damage. The Milstein faction lost its leader and quickly disbanded before the contagion spread to the followers.
Pope Demetrius successfully cut off critical information regarding this incident to protect Luka from reprisal by Milstein's followers. Furthermore, the rest of the church refused to maintain ties with the Milstein faction. They assumed that the pope knew why Altima became upset, but he declined to share his knowledge. The church leader took this opportunity to elevate a loyalist, Bishop Xulin Yanra, as the new enforcer.
Luka wasn't aware of the stir he caused within the church hierarchy. Instead, he resumed working the next morning at the food factory and amazed the supervisor and team leader with his high productivity. Moreover, Luka inadvertently created a new problem: the factory was running out of storage bins to contain more grain!
Duncan quickly came up with a radical solution; he contacted the pope and received permission to end Luka's factory work early. Instead, they sent him to the church basement for a new assignment: create holy water.
Demetrius originally planned to send Matty to accompany Luka as his escort. However, Jasodra complained loudly that this would make her team lose two productive members (in addition to the deceased Trevor) and unable to meet its daily quota. Thus, the pope allowed Matty to remain at the factory and assigned templars to guard Luka instead.
When Matty heard about the new arrangement, he grimaced because the church official felt it defeated the purpose of why Matty worked in the factory -- to accompany Luka. Hence, meeting Team M's daily quota was a secondary consideration compared to keeping Luka safe. Additionally, Matty had a cordial relationship with Luka and his pets. He worried that the templars might treat those animals poorly and offend the owner in the process.
After all, a significant portion of the templars came from noble backgrounds. Thus, they might take Bel and Gripper lightly and ridicule these intelligent creatures. Matty fervently prayed to Altima that the rest of the week would be peaceful.
Luka took an interest in his current assignment even though he was stuck in a basement because the apprentice just learned how the church creates holy water. This process involved distillation in purifying the water and then a magical blessing. And Luka was quite surprised by the intensive labor involved.
The center of the hollow chamber contained a large water fountain. Workers used buckets to pour the water through a filter; the liquid slowly dripped into a barrel. Once the container filled up, the employee used a dolly to transfer it to another workstation.
Church officials cast Bless repeatedly to convert the plain water into the sacred version. Then workers bottled up the precious liquid in clear flasks. Finally, a supervisor collected these vials and used Appraisal to confirm the contents before storing them. The overseer also maintained careful records of who produced how many bottles of holy water.
Runners assisted in all phases of this operation by distributing empty vials and barrels and transporting the fulfilled containers. The helpers also cleaned spills and broken glass when a vial occasionally dropped on the floor.
Luka received an initial allotment of four barrels and eighty flasks; each wooden crate would fill twenty vials. Due to his superior magic proficiency, the mage needed just one casting of Bless to convert the entire barrel's worth of holy water. Luka furtively watched his colleagues cast the spell several times to achieve the same outcome. From such exertion, Luka realized that their skill levels were relatively low.
Luka carefully dipped each vial into the barrel and filled the small container with holy water. Then he put a stopper on it and placed the newly finished vial in a storage tray on the table. Since Luka required only one casting of Bless per crate, he completed his assignment faster than everybody else.
The apprentice raised his hand to page a nearby runner. "I finished creating the holy water," he declared.
The runner looked at Luka with skepticism because the newbie spent far too little time on the assignment than the other workers. Nonetheless, he accepted Luka's claim at face value. "I will call Supervisor Tulo over." The boy ran over to his boss and notified Tulo.
The priest glanced over at Luka's workstation. Using his eagle-sharp vision, Tulo counted four trays of potions on the desk! The supervisor calmly strolled to Luka's work area with the runner tagging behind. Tulo wordlessly activated Appraisal to verify the apprentice's
work.
His thin, white brows twitched as the skill confirmed that each vial indeed contained holy water. What amazed Tulo most was that Luka took under two hours to create three hundred and twenty potions. However, Tulo kept his excitement in his heart and calmly addressed the apprentice. "Do you need a break to recover your mana?" he inquired.
Luka shook his head. "I wish to continue making more holy water. May I have more barrels and flasks?" he requested politely.
"Very well," Tulo nodded. The supervisor was curious to know how long Luka would last without taking a rest. "Penny, bring this apprentice another batch. Ask the other runners to assist you," he ordered.
"Yes, sir!" Penny ran off to acquire more barrels and trays with empty flasks. With the help of another runner, he brought four of each to Luka's workstation.
The supervisor remained behind. Tulo turned toward Luka and said, "Please continue." He watched as the apprentice resumed his work. The supervisor was shocked when Luka used only one Bless spell to convert an entire barrel into holy water! Moreover, the apprentice worked quickly to bottle up the vials.
Luka didn't understand why Tulo was observing his work. But the man's presence motivated the apprentice to work faster. Thus, Luka finished creating three trays worth of holy water in a little over an hour.
"May I ask what is your light magic proficiency?"
"I'm at Level 9," Luka answered honestly.
Tulo's jaw dropped because his proficiency was much lower! But then he remembered that Luka came into the basement mid-week. This occurrence was extremely unusual for an organization that valued structure and rotated the apprentice assignments weekly. Thus, the supervisor assumed that Luka possessed a unique but undisclosed identity. Tulo hadn't bothered to learn this apprentice's name and planned to rectify this mistake.
Tulo paged Penny again. "Bring two new batches every hour," he ordered.
The runner's eyes widened in disbelief because this meant Luka was creating eight trays of holy water and a hundred sixty vials of holy water per hour. Penny wondered if Tulo was punishing the apprentice by making the newbie use up his mana ASAP. The boy looked at Luka with pity.
The Divine Summoner: Godson of Altima Page 74
