Chapter 4

In the capital city of the Kingdom of Largofiri, Levanthis, the royal castle where the king and his family reside stands at the center, surrounded by the city's sprawling streets. The city is home to approximately 40,000 residents, making it the largest in terms of both area and population in the Largofiri Kingdom.

Within the cityscape of Levanthis, the temple of the Savive Cult loomed majestically. The Four Great Gods, the most revered deities in this world, are known as the God of Fertility Savive, the Sun God Gorai, the Moon God Gravabi, and the Sea God Daragabe. In the Zoisalite continent, where the Largofiri Kingdom is located, one can find temples or shrines dedicated to any of these four gods wherever they go.

Among them, the God of Fertility Savive is considered to have the most followers. The primary worshippers of this god, who oversees fertility, are farmers. Since farmers are the most populous occupation in the world, this is only natural. Additionally, Savive is also revered as a god of childbirth and is beloved as a protector of marriage. It is common for couples to swear their marriage vows before the God of Fertility, and this practice is nearly universal, from nobles to farmers, with weddings taking place in Savive temples or shrines, officiated by the god's priests.

Perhaps because of this, among the temples of the Four Great Gods in the capital, the Temple of Savive was the largest and most majestic. Every day, numerous worshippers visit to pray to the God of Fertility, and the temple's doors remain open day and night. At the entrance, fully armed priest-warriors stand guard, ever vigilant.

Calseonia hurriedly walked through the corridors of the Temple of Savive. The temple's basement, known as the "holy ground" with the highest concentration of magical energy in the vicinity of the capital, is used only for special rituals and ceremonies.

Calseonia chose this basement for the summoning of Tatsuhiko to harness the dense magical energy surrounding it. After emerging from the basement, she first headed to her room in the dormitory where resident priests live, to change from the special ritual attire she had consecrated for the summoning ceremony into her regular priest's robe.

Once in her room, Calseonia quickly changed into her priest's robe and checked her appearance in a large mirror to ensure her hair and clothing were in order. The mirror was a luxury item made of glass, a material whose manufacturing techniques are known only to a select few sub-humans who are close to fire, making glass and ceramic products highly valuable.

After confirming that her appearance was impeccable, Calseonia hung the holy symbol of Savive around her neck and hurriedly left her room. However, she suddenly stopped in her tracks, realizing she didn't know where Tatsuhiko was.

However, she was certain that he was with her grandfather, the High Priest of the Temple of Savive. If she asked someone, she could easily find out where her grandfather was. Thinking this, Calseonia began searching for someone of a certain status.

Lower-ranking priests would likely not know the High Priest's current location, but a High Priest of a higher rank would certainly be aware. Moreover, anyone of a certain status in the temple was acquainted with her.

Actually, the reverse was true. No one in the temple was unfamiliar with Calseonia, known as the "Holy Maiden." In fact, more than half of the residents of Levanthis would recognize her face. Her exceptional magical aptitude and vast internal magical power, along with her proficiency in holy magic, particularly healing and purification, and her outstanding beauty, had earned her the title of "Holy Maiden."

As Calseonia walked through the corridors, everyone who passed her turned to look. Two lower-ranking priests who happened to be walking down the corridor made way for her, bowing slightly, but their eyes followed her with admiration.

"Ah... Lady Calseonia is truly beautiful as always..."

"I couldn't agree more... But didn't she seem unusually happy today?"

"Ah, you noticed that too? Yes, I felt the same. She seemed unusually cheerful."

"Did something good happen? But..."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"To see Lady Calseonia so elated and not even trying to hide it... What could have happened?"

The lower-ranking priests tilted their heads in confusion. Today, Calseonia's steps were unusually light and buoyant.

Calseonia managed to find a High Priest and learned that her grandfather was in the reception room with a guest. It was easy to predict that her grandfather would have taken Tatsuhiko to the reception room. Her excitement had made her overlook this.

The man who had been in her heart since she was a child. She had never forgotten him. As she had told Tatsuhiko, she retained memories from her previous life. She didn't know why these memories persisted, but they were undeniably real.

In this world, it is believed that people reincarnate. Therefore, being reborn was not considered strange, even if one were to be reborn as a bird and then a human. However, retaining memories from a previous life was extremely rare. At least, Calseonia had never met anyone else who had such memories.

But to her, this was unimportant. What mattered was that she remembered him and that their previous life together had been very happy. She had been thinking about him for years, and for years, she had been working on the summoning ritual to reunite with him. She had never neglected to improve her magical abilities.

Now, she needed to explain to Tatsuhiko why she had summoned him to this world. This explanation might make him dislike or even hate her. By summoning him, she had forced him to abandon his previous life without his consent.

The thought of him disliking her made her hesitate, but the joy of reuniting with him was supreme.

When she was young, she had loved him deeply. Being by his side was all she needed. They had grown up and lived together, always together.

Thinking about him, Calseonia walked happily, but she was suddenly stopped by someone.

"Oh, Lady Calseonia! I never expected to see you today. Perhaps this is the guidance of the God of Fertility, who oversees marriage?"

The well-dressed young man who spoke was a noble's heir, who had proposed to Calseonia multiple times. He approached her, knelt at her feet, and kissed the back of her hand. Calseonia frowned slightly at this presumptuous act, but the noble's heir didn't notice.

To be honest, Calseonia remembered his face but not his name. After all, he wasn't the only one who had proposed to her. Her grandfather, the High Priest of the Temple of Savive, received marriage proposals for her almost daily, some from people with royal succession rights.

However, her grandfather, Giuseppe, had rejected all of them. He knew about Calseonia's feelings and respected them. The temple serves the gods, not the state, so even the royal authority couldn't override the temple's decisions.

Therefore, priests, including Calseonia, didn't need to bow before the king. However, this was a formality, and in practice, priests would kneel before the king.

Giuseppe had used this formality to reject all marriage proposals from the royal family and nobility. As a priest, Calseonia couldn't be forced into a marriage, even by a noble.

Calseonia listened to the man's flattery half-heartedly. She wanted to see Tatsuhiko as soon as possible, but he kept her talking, praising her beauty and achievements, and then boasting about himself. It was boring and uninteresting.

She wanted to go to her master, not listen to this nonsense! She smiled and nodded, but inside, she was frustrated.

Just as her patience was about to run out, someone approached them.

"Calseo."

The man who called her by a nickname made Calseonia's face light up, while the noble's heir's expression twisted.

"Morga."

"Y-You, the 'Free Knight'... No, Lord Morganaik..."

The tall, lean man with striking features and red hair and brown eyes was dressed in plate armor, not a priest's robe, and carried a longsword. The holy symbol of Savive was emblazoned on his chest.

The holy symbol on the armor marked him as a priest-warrior. Priest-warriors are the protectors of the temple and its priests. Since the temple and its priests are not part of the state, they cannot rely on the state for protection in times of crisis. Therefore, the temple has its own military force, the priest-warriors.

However, this is also a formality. If, for example, robbers attacked the temple, the state would obtain permission from the temple to investigate and apprehend them.

"What are you doing here? His Holiness Chrysoprase is waiting for you."

"I understand, Morga."

Calseonia turned to the noble's heir.

"I'm sorry, but His Holiness Chrysoprase, my grandfather, is waiting for me. I must take my leave now."

The noble's heir, realizing he couldn't detain her further, bowed.

"Of course, if His Holiness is waiting, there's nothing to be done. I'll see you another day."

He bowed to Morganaik and left. Calseonia stuck her tongue out at him in her mind and turned to Morganaik.

"Thank you, Morga. I really needed your help. He was so persistent..."

"Don't worry about it. But His Holiness is really waiting for you. You should go to him quickly."

"Ah! I can't believe I almost kept my master waiting—"

Calseonia hurried off, and Morganaik watched her go, his eyes filled with a certain emotion.