Conversing

"We keep finding ourselves in this kind of situation, don't we?"

Waking up, Tom found himself in what he presumed was a sickbed at the academy. By his side was Elizabeth as usual, but this time they were also joined by Dan and Aura.

"Honestly… Why do you keep being this reckless…"

Hearing Tom's voice, Elizabeth broke into tears as she clenched his hand and pulled it up to her head, seemingly thanking the gods for his well being.

"This time was way more reckless than normal, after killing that monstrosity you just passed out just like that."

Being reminded of what happened by Aura, Tom immediately attempted to sit up, but he was stopped by Dan.

"Wow, calm down, you've been unconscious for a week, take it slow."

As Tom got up from his bed he circulated mana through his body to confirm there was nothing wrong with his circuits, and although he felt a little weak there was nothing wrong with his body as of now.

"I don't care, what happened to Lizzy? Where is she?"

Making the point that he wasn't going to stop until he found out perfectly clear, Tom forced a sigh out of Dan as he quickly glanced at the two other presents to find he had been left out to hang and was forced to explain himself.

"She's in the next room over, she's still alive, but-"

All Tom needed to know was where Lizzy was and as soon as he found out he wrested himself free from Dan and rushed out of bed with Dan shouting after him.

Slamming the door to the sickroom behind him, Tom almost ran headfirst into a maid, but he didn't think about that further as he rushed to the room and threw open the door.

"Hiii!"

Scaring the shit out of yet another maid, Tom rushed to Lizzy's bedside. Resting his hand on Lizzy's shoulder, Tom confirmed her condition as Dan and Elizabeth finally arrived from next door.

"You really should stay put Tom."

"I'm fine really, there's nothing wrong with my body."

Seeing how calm Tom was now that he had confirmed Lizzy's condition, Dan also calmed down a bit before turning his attention to Lizzy.

"How is she?"

"Alive and recovering… Except for the single, glaring issue of course."

Although Lizzy was alive and recovering, the entirety of her body hadn't survived the near-death experience and arguably wouldn't have if Tom didn't [bless] her just before the final face-off with the monstrosity.

"From what I've heard, the healer made the decision to amputate after finding that the entirety of her arm was a lost course."

Having lost the use of her arm mid-battle, Lizzy had shifted to using the disabled limb as a shield, so it was a wonder that the limb had even stayed attached until the end of the battle.

"... She's not going to be happy when she wakes up."

With the matter of Lizzy finally settled, Tom finally realized he wasn't at the academy anymore.

"What else has happened while I slept? And where the hell am I even?"

"I think it's better if I explain that…"

With Elizabeth taking over-explaining from Dan, the site of the conversation was moved back to Tom's sickbed as she insisted he get some rest.

"First of all, I would like to formally welcome you to my home residence, Tom, this is a mansion owned by my family situated in the centre of Melby."

"That would explain the maids."

In the few seconds Tom had been back in his sickbed he had spotted no less than 4 different servants coming and going from the room in uniforms that were decidedly not the ones used at the academy.

"After the tragic death of a number of the academy's teachers, instructors, students and sponsors, the semester has been cancelled. Worse yet, many of the surviving sponsors are talking about not returning their kids to the academy's care ever again."

"That's not at all surprising considering what happened."

While the incident hadn't been the academy's fault and the church had even come out to explain what had happened, most nobles didn't want to expose their children to any more danger.

"At the same time as the academy came under attack, there was a massive surge in monster activity at the nearby dungeon, that spike in activity hasn't stopped since so my father has already urged me multiple times to head to our countryside villa until things calm down. "

"... What kind of activity?"

While Tom wasn't entirely sure what was going on, there was no way those two events weren't connected.

"Increased aggression and numbers, along with some stranger cases of monsters that cast magic."

(So monsters like the one I ran into with Dan and Aura… This can't be good.)

Although Tom had so far ignored the mention of restricted information and heretics, his gut told him he could no longer afford to do so. Whatever was going on wasn't going to go away, Tom felt like he was standing on a small isle surrounded by a sea of blood, with the proverbial sea level slowly rising.

"I'm going to the church."

Interrupting Elizabeth mid-sentence, she briefly looked confused before taking a deep breath.

"Okay, I'll prepare a carriage."

"You're not going to ask why?"

Faced with the kind of blind thrust he would expect out of a cult, Tom couldn't help but ask where Elizabeth's thrust came from.

"I don't feel the need to, I like you remember?"

Leaving the room with a thin smile plastered all over her face, Tom couldn't help but sigh deeply as Dan added his condolences.

"Yeah, you're not getting rid of that woman."

"I just realized that as well…"

---

([Status].)

On the way over to the church, Tom took the time to check his [status] for the first time after waking up.

Tom Laplace

Title: [Saint] [Chosen of war]

Race: Human

Age: 19

Vitality: 207/207 (UP)

Strength: 166/166 [+100]

Dexterity: 131/131 (UP)

Agility: 109/109 (UP) [+50]

Intelligence: 215/215 (UP) [+50]

Luck: 18

Mana: 36.414/36.414 [+10.000] (UP)

Skills:

[Cooking 4/10] [Housework 4/10] [Memorization 2/10] [Pain resistance 6/10] (UP) [Etiquette 1/10] [Mana control 4/10] (UP) [Fine motor control 4/10] (UP) [Strengthening 6/10] (UP) [Combat awareness 6/10] (UP) [Sense potential 10/10] [Saint 2/3] (UP) [Self-defence: royal knight academy of Laurence 3/10] (NEW) [Offensive magic: royal Laurence intelligence bureau 4/10] (NEW)

Magic affinity: Gravity

(So that's why I suddenly feel so much stronger, that must be that new title doing its work.)

[TITLE: CHOSEN OF WAR, INCREASES TARGETS STRENGTH, DEXTERITY, AGILITY AND INTELLIGENCE. FAVORED BY THE GOD OF WAR, SHE WILL ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS.]

In addition to the natural growth of his [status], Tom's [stat's] were also improved by his new title, making his strength and agility on par with that of a soldier while his mana had reached even higher levels of absurdity. If all that wasn't enough, the second part of the title's description was even worse.

(Please don't tell me that means what I think it means… Well, only one way to find out.)

Although not very pious by upbringing, since Tom had become a [saint], he had felt like there was something watching over him, at times guiding him and at times watching over him.

"How is your [status]?"

Figuring there wasn't anything else he could possibly be doing with eyes closed, Dan struck up a conversation to help kill his own boredom.

"It's getting increasingly absurd, what about yours?"

"Something like that yeah, after killing that monstrosity the other day it really got a boost."

"Same with mine, what was that thing anyway?"

In the time Tom had been sleeping, Dan and Aura quickly noticed just how strong they had gotten after helping defeat the monster that day.

"We're going to find that out right now, at least I'm not leaving until someone explains to me what the fuck is going on."

"That sounds like a plan, let's get going."

As the carriage came to a halt, Tom, Aura and Dan immediately exited and headed straight for the church which they had packed in front of. With the city of Melby having recently become a hotspot for monster activity, the city's church was abuzz with activity. Recently arrived adventurers, as well as adventurers from the town, were coordinating and forming teams with each other, with the adventurers who already knew the terrain offering their services as guides and scouts. With new teams being formed, nothing was more important than written up [stats] the church offered.

Heading in at the same time as a group of adventurers left, Tom briefly locked eyes with a brown-haired elver, the golden eyes typical of her race showed nothing but scorn for Tom with his lack of any gear, making him seem like a newbie adventurer.

(What the hell?)

Meanwhile, Tom had quite a different reaction as his [sense potential] skill activated for the first time since he had met Dan and Aura.

(Well, it's not like people of outstanding potential are rare among adventurers…)

"Welcome esteemed guests, please come right this way."

As a group of nuns arrived to guide Tom and the others, he soon forgot all about the elver as they were led to a luxurious waiting room. While Tom wouldn't normally have paid attention to the decoration of the meeting room, this time a burst on the main table caught Tom's attention.

(Is that?... Might as well try it.)

Sitting down in front of the statue, Tom reached out to touch it as he closed his eyes to focus.

The second Tom touched the statue, everything around Tom came to a halt as if someone pressed the pause button. While the sight of Aura stuck mid-blink or Dan frozen in place right before he sat down would be creepy enough on its own, a figure entirely covered in a bright red veil had also appeared in one corner of the room.

[It sure took you a while, but I guess that's understandable given the injuries you suffered.]

With an ethereal voice that came from both directly inside his head and from the cloaked figure at the same time, Tom hardly felt the need to ask who he was talking to, that much was apparent from how he felt his very soul shake every word the goddess uttered.

"Good morning, or I guess nice to meet you would be more appropriate?"

In response to Tom's failed attempt at appearing calm, the goddess of war lifted her hand to cover her mouth as she let a slight chuckle escape her lips.

[It is great that you at least have a sense of humour child, please have a seat so we can talk, time is limited.]

Sitting down next to the still-frozen Dan as he had been ordered by a literal god to do so, the second Tom blinked he found that the veiled figure had done the same across the table from him.

[You require answers from me, yes? I permit you to speak.]

With limited time to formulate his question, Tom started with the question he had been wondering about the most.

"Okay then… Why make me of all people a saint? I'm sure you know I don't particularly like the church."

[Likes or dislikes have nothing to do with it. System compatibility requires certain rare prerequisites to be met before activation and even then it is only a handful that are approved for modification of the outer layer.]

Receiving an answer he hardly understood, Tom decided to think about it later and use the time he had effectively.

"What do you need me to do? I can't imagine that I've been given this power just because."

[How observant. The system is used for a variety of directives, including information processing, monitoring, direct subroutine bypass and patching. Your system subset modifications are to enable effective combatants of out-of-network threats.]

Switching entirely to what seemed like gibberish, Tom was about to ask the goddess to elaborate as it raised its hand in protest, forcing silence over Tom as an intense pressure settled all over his body.

[Time is short. You are to choose only one more follower, but first travel south from the current location on foot for two days, eliminate the incursion and destroy the anchor there. Failure to do so will lead to a significant portion of the subnet becoming inaccessible from a delta level breach.]

"Wait, slow-"

Becoming more rushed in its words as the outline of the veiled figure started to distort, the goddess's words increased in speed until it was almost like noise.

[Time until the loss of the local node is 72 hours, with it, incursions like the heretic you purged from the system a week ago will become the norm instead of the exception. Failure is inadvisable, strike and eliminate the anchor.]

Just like that, the world which had been frozen around Tom started moving again as the veiled figure disappeared without a trace. From Aura and Dan's point of view, Tom had suddenly disappeared, then reappeared in a different place without warning.

"What the fuck!?"

"T-Tom, are you okay?"

Needless to say, it freaked them out a fair bit. While his comrades were freaking out, Tom huddled down as he started mumbling as to make sense of the mass of information he had just received.

"One more follower, south on foot for 2 days, anchor and subnet? loss of the local node in 72 hours, that's 3 days, heretic incursions?... Strike and eliminate the anchor…"

Repeating the goddess' almost-too-fast-to-understand-speech, Tom didn't exactly make more sense of it, but he still realized what he needed to do. Standing up from his seat, Tom turned to the nun who was busy preparing tea for the group.

"You there."

"Y-yes? Wha-"

"You know what kind of [catalyst] I prefer to use right? Get any of those you can find in this town and deliver it to me before first light tomorrow, the goddess of war has given me an urgent task I need to do. Dan, Aura we're leaving."

"Tom, did you hit your head or something?"

With Tom making absolutely no sense, not only the nun but also Aura now saw him as a slightly insane person, although what he said next only made him more insane in Aura's eyes.

"I just talked with the goddess of war, we need to go somewhere and kill something."

"... Are you serious?"

"Extremely so, they said the heretic from a week ago will be the least of our troubles if we don't."

"Shit."

Seeing Tom was entirely, 100 percent serious, Aura could only swear as the weight of responsibility hit her like a bolt of lightning from the clear sky.