Restaurant

2:13 p.m.

At a restaurant.

Vivian, Kara, Uliah, Sally, Diane, Samantha and Earl along with one other male classmate of theirs called Ejaz were at the restaurant having lunch.

Since they were already done with their Basic Training, they were now free to enter and leave the Training Camp.

Everyone except for Vivian and Samantha was talking and sharing stories.

Vivian sliced off a piece of meat with her knife and fork and ate it.

She let out a sigh internally.

"Sister Platoon Leader, are you okay?" asked Kara.

Vivian swallowed and then turned to her.

"Hmm?"

"You seem down."

"Sister Platoon Leader, don't worry about it. With your brains, I'm sure you'll do just fine at the Inquisitory Division," said Earl.

Everyone except Vivian looked at him with a deadpan expression.

"What? Did I say something wrong? And plus, if you really think about it, being at the Inquisitory Division is one of the safest places she can be."

Ejaz placed his hand on Earl's shoulder.

"You'll never be popular with the ladies."

"I already have a fiancee. Why would I care about other women?"

Ejaz let out a sigh and shook his head.

"Brother Earl, if you continue doing what you're doing, you're going to die as a virgin!" Uliah said and grinned before drinking a glass of beer.

"Sister Squad Leader, not you as well!"

Everyone chuckled.

Their class already heard about what happened to Vivian and how she was rejected from applying to the Exploratory Division.

"But in all honesty, I think it's unfair," said Kara. "Why can't they let Sister Platoon Leader join the Exploratory Division and assign 2 powerful Priests to guard her? She's smart, has 4 Affinities, and her Physical and Magic Force is already Adamantite and Orichalcum-Adamantite despite still being her age."

"The more reason why the Temple of Priests wouldn't allow that," said Ejaz. "Look, just with the Affinities alone, how many people do you know have 4 True Magic Art Affinities that aren't part or related to the Aristocratic Noble families and are still alive?"

Everyone was silent.

"Sister Platoon Leader, you're not part of the Aristocratic Noble families, right?" asked Uliah.

"As far as I know, I'm not."

Vivian didn't have a last and middle name which suggests her humble background. On top of that, the average Magic Art Affinities of people was 2 without considering whether they were True or False Affinities. 

In regards to talented people with humble backgrounds, once in a while, a distant relative far removed from the main Aristocratic Noble family would awaken their bloodline talent. And these talents could be Affinities or Lore Magic, or both. And when that happens, the main Aristocratic Noble family would "retrieve" that distant relative.

"By the way, Sister Platoon Leader, I've always been meaning to ask this," said Ejaz. "I heard that you just joined the Temple of Priests last month. What was your Temple before that and what kind of life or profession you were doing?"

"I used to be part of the Temple of Thieves and I was an Adventurer."

"So it's really true that you were an Adventurer?"

"I still am an Adventurer."

"But why, Sister?" said Earl. "I mean, why did you choose to be part of the Temple of Thieves and an Adventurer?"

Although Adventurers have a positive reputation among the commoners because they aren't allowed to hold any political positions so are therefore independent, most commoners who had the Light Affinity, especially those who only had one Magic Art Affinity, would choose to become a Priest or Priestess because it was the quickest path in getting social status and money.

"I don't know. I can be stupid sometimes."

"But don't Adventurers have to complete Quests or they would lose their license?"

They do…?

I didn't know that…

"It's actually just one year. If they don't do any quest for a year, they will automatically lose their license. And once they lose their license, they would have to start at the bottom," said Uliah. 

Everyone looked at her with a surprised look.

"Why are you guys looking at me like that? You guys know that the Temple of Priests isn't the first Temple I joined, right?"

"Now that you mentioned it, I now remember," said Ejaz. "You joined like about a year ago, right? What was your previous Temple again?"

"One year and 2 months. My parents wouldn't agree to let me join the Holy Crusade unless I had [Greater Heal]. And I used to be part of the Temple of Warriors."

In Platoon 3, everyone except Uliah had the Light Affinity. She was 21 years old and she had 3 Magic Art Affinities: Fire, Earth and Lightning.

"Sister Squad Leader, I didn't know you too also wanted to become an Adventurer. But wouldn't you lose your Nobility if you become an Adventurer? Or is it different there at the Heisen Kingdom?" said Earl.

Out of everyone here, only Vivian and Kara weren't Nobles. However, Kara was from a rich merchant family.

"It's the same as the Luxen Kingdom or any kingdom. And as for becoming an Adventurer, I'll admit, the idea did cross my mind because I got annoyed and tired of all the pressure I was getting from my family about getting married and all the suitors hounding me," Uliah said and then turned to Vivian. "Sister, I just want to ask, did you also feel the same way as me?"

"More or less," said Vivian.

"No, what I'm saying -- I mean, since we're talking about it, I figured you already talked to someone about this already in the past. Some people believe that choosing a Class is instinctive, that it must match your personality or else you will struggle in learning its Class Magic."

Everyone, except Vivian and Uliah, gasped.

"Sister Squad Leader, you should be mindful of what you're saying. Someone might hear you," Kara warned.

Uliah scoffed.

"Sister Vivian and I are already Priestesses and we're part of the Holy Crusade. We're simply talking about our past and the ideas we've learned or heard from our previous Classes.

"And since Sister Platoon Leader learned her Class Magic in less than a month, it means she's probably most suited as a Priestess rather than a Thief. So I'm very curious what her opinions are about this topic."

"Hmm… Now that you mentioned that, that does make sense," Sally said and turned to Vivian. "Sister Platoon Leader, you're a few years older than us and you're quite powerful even for your age or for Priest's standards. You must be a really popular Adventurer."

"I too would want to hear it now. And what was your Adventurer Rank and your Class Magic spells when you were still part of the Temple of Thieves?" said Ejaz.

Diane, Samantha, and Earl nodded in agreement.

Kara didn't nod because she knew from Marie that Vivian was only a Copper I Rank Adventurer. However, she too was curious why Vivian didn't choose to join the Temple of Priests right away and spent years being part of the Temple of Thieves.

What the fuck…?

How should I know…?

I've only been in this world for only a couple of weeks…!

And why is Earl nodding…?!

You're from Luxen City as well…!

If I was a really popular Adventurer, everyone in the Luxen Chapter Temple would've known me…!

But dammit…!

I don't know how to explain this…

"Um… To be honest, I don't really want to talk about my past that much because it's not really that interesting. However, I will answer why I decided to quit the Temple of Thieves and join the Temple of Priests.

"The truth is, let's just say something happened that made me realize that if I really wanted to make a huge contribution to this world in making it a much better and safer place, the fastest way I could do that is by joining the Temple of Priests to eradicate the demons, demon-kins, the Cult of Infinity and heretics."

"Wow… That's so noble of you, Sister Platoon Leader," said Kara.

The rest nodded.

A waiter pushing a cart approached them.

"Please excuse me, Honored Priests and Priestesses."

Everyone turned to the waiter.

The waiter gestured over to one of the tables.

"The Honored Priest over there would like to offer these fine wine."

When they laid their eyes on the "Honored Priest", it was a very handsome red-haired Priest in his mid-20s and he raised his glass. He was accompanied by 2 Priests and 1 Priestess who were also around the same age as him and all of them wore White Cloaks.

"Each is at least 50 years old and made from the famous vineyard of Priest Naisea of Gisea Town."

There were 6 bottles on top of the cart.

"Do any of you know them?" asked Uliah.

"I don't personally know him, but we've bumped into each other on a few occasions," Ejaz said as he played with his glass of wine. "His name is Earo, a known womanizer, he's from the Holy Chapter Temple and supposedly related to the current Light Saint."

Among the classmates of Vivian, there were 4 male Priests who were constantly looking out to woo women -- Ejaz, Brava, Daler and Jergen. And out of the 4 of them, Ejaz and Daler were the most good-looking ones in their platoon.

The others looked at each other.

Their faces said that they too didn't recognize Earo.

Everyone then looked at Vivian.

She let out an internal sigh.

Why do I have to deal with this…?

Vivian turned to the waiter.

"What is this for?"

The waiter was only caught in surprise for a split moment before managing to recover his bearings. 

"A token of friendship, Honored Priestess," he said and smiled.

"Remove it from our sight. And don't let anyone bother us unless it's an emergency. Also, I would like to order another of this," Vivian said and pointed at her plate.

The meal on her plate was a large steak drizzled in a sweet-sour sauce and spices that was enough for 3 people.

"As you wish, Honored Priestess," the waiter said and bowed.

"More drinks for me as well," said Uliah.

"As you wish, Honored Priestess," the waited said and bowed.

Seeing that no one wanted to order more, he finally left with the cart.

"So even a relative of a Saint doesn't interest you, eh?" said Uliah.

"I have no interest in such things," said Vivian.

"So if he's a relative of the Saint, does it mean he also has 6 Magic Art Affinities?" asked Sally.

"All I heard is that he has 4 Affinities. And as for his Physical and Magic Force, I don't recall hearing about it," replied Ejaz.

"So he must be at least as strong as Sister Platoon Leader, right? I want to try fighting him and beat him into a bloody pulp," Uliah said and licked her lips.

Everyone became quiet.

"Let's talk about something else," Kara said and then turned to Samantha. "Sister Samantha, I heard that your older sister recently gave birth?"

"Y-Yes… A healthy and strong boy. He even has the Light, Fire and Earth Affinities but we have yet to see if they're True or False."

"Wow! Congratulations, Sister Samantha!"

"Congratulations!" said the rest.

"And given your family tree, I'm sure he will be blessed by the God of Light and will have True Affinities," said Kara.

"Indeed," everyone said and nodded.

"What are you guys going to do after this?" asked Uliah. "Since it will be our last day here together before we leave for our respective Divisions, wanna go hunt in the forest?"

"I'm going to pass. I need to prepare for tomorrow," said Kara.

"Me too," said Sally.

"Same," said Diane.

"I'm going to meet with Crew and Zean after this," said Earl.

"I have some personal appointments to attend to," said Ejaz.

"It's the Priestess you danced with last night, isn't it?" Sally said and grinned.

Ejaz smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell, cousin."

"You're far from a gentleman."

They all chuckled.

"I need to prepare for tomorrow as well," said Vivian.

Uliah turned to the remaining person.

"Sister Samantha?"

"Hey, don't bully Sister Samantha," said Kara.

"I don't mind accompanying you…" Samantha said in a small voice.

"Eh? Seriously?" asked Earl.

Everyone had the same expression as Earl.

"Hahaha~! That settles it! Sister Samantha and I are going to hunting in the forest! Let's pray to the God of Light that we encounter some bandits! Or better yet, some demons!"

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Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

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Please note that the chapters posted there are only drafts. So when those said Chapter Drafts will be published here, there will be some edits. They also involve a few secret outline notes/details that I won't publish here because they contain spoilers or dispel some of the mysteries. And at the moment, Chapter Drafts 263-267 are posted there.

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