Chapter 22: This Church Needs a Champion Part 4

Released:

The mirror was flawless, without the slightest distortion.

Reflected in it was the image of a knight clad in luxurious armor, black as the base with gold accents added for emphasis.

Although it was indeed elegant, it wasn’t the type of elegance meant purely for decoration. The twisted horns and the spikes protruding from the gauntlets made it clear that this armor had been forged for battle.

The black armor possessed both the refined quality of a masterfully crafted weapon and the imposing aura of fear it could instill, combined with its solid defensive strength.

In my mind, I imagined what kind of weapon would pair with this armor. A charred black greatsword. Or perhaps a small horn sword that was slightly sinister in aura and crafted from the very horns of a Bicon.

If not those, then a demon sword with an ashen blade overlaid by a faint blue glow.

No matter which weapon I envisioned, it was impossible to project the image of someone fighting for justice. Honestly, it might be better to ditch the armor altogether and travel in plain clothes for the sake of first impressions.

[Master, it’s an impressive outfit.]

Yup.

It’s over. No matter how anyone looked at me, this was the spitting image of a dark knight.

“Uh, Kriel?”

Morgina approached me hesitantly. She was holding something that looked like a black cloth in her hands.

“This… this is the cloak we give to the paladins of our church.”

Half resigned to my fate, I took the cloak without protest.

[Aha, because it’s the goddess of ravens, the cloak is black too!]

Instead of ending in a neat, straight line, the cloak’s hem was cut into jagged, diagonal edges that seemed to mimic feathers. This gave it a raw, untamed appearance. Black armor paired with a black cloak.

Now, every step I took would probably give the impression of shadows rippling in my trail.

It was the kind of look that made one imagine passing monsters bowing their heads in submission and every gatekeeper in a nearby city rushing out to resist me with their lives.

I wouldn’t look out of place as a mid-level boss on the Abyss faction in Tirnanog RPG. This was the classic dark knight look.

“…Can I return this?”

“Wait a second. I didn’t expect it to turn out like this either.”

Morgina replied with an equally bewildered voice. Wasn’t she the one who made it?

“Damn it. I must’ve been half out of it while designing it.”

I decided to take off the armor. The armor, with its well-balanced weight distribution and perfect fit, was definitely excellent.

However.

[Wise decision, my friend! Walking around the temple in that thing does seem like the best idea!]

Just as Orishin’s words suggested, if I was to be seen wearing the armor by some well-meaning worker dedicated to abyss extermination, disaster was likely to follow.

For once, Morgina couldn’t even muster the energy to be angry at Orishin’s snarky remark. She simply rested her forehead on her hand and lowered her head in silence.

As the sound of clinking metal echoed while Kriel removed the armor, Morgina began picking up items like the helmet and gauntlets.

“Hey. Put it back on.”

“Was there something wrong with the plate connections?”

“No, it’s not that. Just put it back on for now.”

I put the armor back on as instructed. Morgina let out a sigh and lightly tapped various parts of the armor with her hand.

It was a type of laying on of hands. Traditionally, this referred to the act of a cleric gently placing their hands on a follower’s head while offering a prayer. In this case, however, it was a ritual of contact to bless the entire set of armor.

She started with the helmet. Stretching her legs as much as she could and raising her arms high, Morgina placed her hand on the crown of the helmet. As divine power imbued the armor, a peculiar sense of pressure settled over me.

Next was the shoulder. Strangely, despite her hand being beyond the layers of plate, I felt warmth as though her touch reached me directly.

That strange warmth lingered like a residual heat even after her hand moved away. Morgina continued the ritual across the various parts of the armor: arms, chest, waist, thighs, and all the way down to my feet.

When her hands had finally touched every part of the black armor, it was done.

“…This is as good as it’s going to get. Eve Kaha, start!”

“Start? Start what?”

Morgina closed her eyes and brought her hands together in front of her chest. She positioned them so that the backs of her hands faced forward and crossed her thumbs while spreading her remaining fingers. For some reason, the gesture evoked the image of a bird’s wings.

At that moment, red light began to emanate from the armor and cloak.

When the red glow subsided, I felt my body grow somehow lighter.

The same went for my vision. What had previously been a slightly narrowed field of view due to the helmet was now completely clear.

The armor I had been wearing just moments ago had disappeared without a trace.

[…Wait. Even with a prayer like that, a god actually responds? What the heck is going on?]

Orishin’s muttered words were filled with disbelief.

Morgina casually brushed past the head of the tilting spirit horse nearby and approached me from behind.

“Sit down. You’re too tall. I can’t adjust the cloak properly like this.”

Pulling over a chair from near the mirror, I sat down, and Morgina knelt before me; she started carefully straightening the hem of my cloak. Her movements were deliberate and gentle, and a strange tickling sensation crept over me as her fingertips brushed against my back hidden beneath the cloak.

Her touch wasn’t random or careless. There was an almost artistic grace to her motions, as though she was tracing the holy symbol of Eve Kaha’s church.

Once she stood up, Morgina reached over my shoulder and adjusted the cloak once more, securing it into place.

Unlike her usual playful demeanor, she now moved with a composed and solemn air, devoid of unnecessary emotion or mischief. Her behavior made it clear that what she was doing wasn’t mere tidying but rather a part of some kind of ritual imbued with meaning.

“All done!”

“What about the armor from earlier?”

“It’s stored inside the cloak. You can retrieve it whenever you need it.”

Morgina explained that this was a special feature of the armor bestowed upon the Champion. The black-winged cloak, designed in the image of the Raven Goddess’s wings, allowed one to borrow the goddess’s shadow to store the armor within it.

“Just to be clear, though, this only works with items issued by our church. It’s not some universal storage system where you can throw in anything you like. That armor is the only thing you can store.”

“That’s impressive. Something like this is even possible?”

“Well, you could call it a privilege granted exclusively to the Champion. Want to officially join the church?”

I laughed and shook my head, but my thoughts drifted back to the appearance of the now-vanished armor.

“…By the way, is there any way to modify how the armor looks?”

Morgina avoided my gaze.

“Morgina.”

She hesitated before answering.

“The creation of holy relics like this reflects the thoughts and emotions of their maker. I simply imagined what would suit you best, and, well… this is the result. Even if I tried making it again, it’d probably turn out the same.”

“Well, if that’s the case…”

I quickly accepted the situation. Thinking about it carefully, I was in a situation where I had received a luxury armor that was hard to obtain even if I paid for it. If I wanted armor of similar quality, I would have to go to a dwarven craftsman.

There was no way I could discard such a precious piece of armor just because I didn’t like its design.

“I’ll make good use of it, gratefully.”

“What? Oh, mhmm. It’s nothing. Actually, it’s tradition for a Saintess to provide her appointed Champion with a full set of equipment. I should’ve prepared weapons along with the armor, but, well, you’ve got that chattering horse for now.”

[Oh, so does that mean I can enter that mysterious pocket dimension inside the cloak too? Since I’m a sword?]

“No way. You’re tainted by the Abyss. What makes you think you can dirty the Goddess’s wings?”

[How stingy!]

As she exchanged lighthearted banter with Orishin, Morgina suddenly clicked her tongue quietly, as if she just remembered something she had forgotten.

“I need to tell you how to retrieve the armor. You’re wearing the Champion’s pendant, right?”

I lifted the raven-shaped ornament hanging around my neck to show her. Morgina smiled in satisfaction. Ever since Morgina had fastened the cloak around my shoulders, I could feel a stronger divine power flowing through the Champion’s pendant.

No, this wasn’t just the divine power embedded in the pendant.

“Oh, you’ve got sharp eyes. Through the pendant, you can access the pocket dimension. Just focus on the item you want and send your energy into it. It’ll be retrieved.”

To test it out, I concentrated on the gauntlet for my right hand and infused it with energy. In the next instant, with a flash of red light, a dark gauntlet appeared and it fitted snugly on my right hand.

“This is incredible!”

I couldn’t help but marvel at the effect. On the surface, it was no different from transforming!

It reminded me of the TV show Heroes back on Earth. I practiced summoning individual parts of the armor, and finally, I summoned the full set all at once.

The room filled with a whirlwind of crimson light. Feeling the reassuring weight of the armor enveloping my body, I turned around to take it all in.

It was then that I met my reflection’s gaze in the mirror.

“……….”

[Kriel, can I say just one thing?]

“No.”

[Honestly, didn’t that just look like a scene where a demon of the Abyss, who had been hiding its true nature, finally revealed its colors?]

I stayed silent.

[It’s fine, Master. I think it looked cool.]

Tuon’s voice was devastatingly sincere.

***

Morgina finally saw Kriel off. In her heart, she wanted nothing more than to join him on his journey to the Empire to find a cure for that chattering horse. However, she had her own reasons for being at the church’s main temple and couldn’t leave right away.

“So, Grandma. What’s the reason you called me here?”

The High Priestess closed her eyes as she sat before Morgina. Where should she begin her explanation?

“Our church has always been the first to detect the movements of the Abyss. Wherever they appear, war is sure to follow, and war inevitably leads to death.”

“Damn, so it really is a serious matter.”

“It’s not unrelated to the mission you recently carried out at the request of the Priest King.”

The High Priestess studied the celestial signs. The constellations of the Abyss were stirring. Behind the reappearance of the Seven Demon Swords, which had long vanished from the world, there could only be the work of the Six Archdemons.

“At first, I was planning to urge the swift appointment of the Champion, given the current state of affairs.”

Morgina cast a slightly pouty gaze at the High Priestess. The High Priestess met her look with a soft, amused smile.

“Since that matter seems to have been resolved, I suppose it’s time to move on to the next.”

The High Priestess turned her gaze toward the east. She wasn’t just looking out the window but far beyond it, toward the Empire that lay in the distant eastern lands.

One response to “Chapter 22: This Church Needs a Champion Part 4”

  1. Zack Avatar
    Zack

    Nah, that’s just pure drip and aura, bro. overwhelmingly so.

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