Solar Mage

Chapter 8: Church of Pyro

In the continent of Aegela, there exists a legend known to all—the revered tale of Pyro's Apostle. Three hundred years ago, a swordsman, devoid of any elemental affinity, faithfully served as a Holy Knight within the esteemed Church of Pyro. After many years of unwavering devotion and tireless service, he finally chose to visit the sacred temple and offer a heartfelt, earnest prayer.

On that fateful day, as he knelt in deep reverence, the temple was suddenly bathed in a radiant, blinding light that outshone the sun itself. When questioned afterward, the Holy Knight recounted an extraordinary vision: he had been transported to a searing, blazing realm where everything around him glowed with an intense, fiery orange light, as if he stood within the very heart of a sun. Amidst the overwhelming inferno, he glimpsed the silhouette of a woman, her figure resting in peaceful slumber. Her face and body were as beautiful and radiant as the sun itself.

With this divine revelation, the Church of Pyro declared him to be the first Apostle of Pyro and the only one to this day. The true reason why Pyro chose him remains an enduring mystery, and the temple has never again been graced by that brilliant, celestial light.

If this myth is true, then the way to become Pyro's Apostle is obvious. The Holy Knight was not the true Apostle because Pyro never exchanged words with him. It is clear that the requirement to gain an audience with Pyro is to have the Sun attribute.

How do I know this? Because Pyro is the God of the Sun. There is no way to find out if one has the Sun Elemental Affinity, a Combination Element, today and three hundred years ago alike. Which explains why everyone thought the Holy Knight had no elemental affinity. And because of the rarity of being born with the Sun Elemental Affinity, or randomly discovering the combination requirements, it's no wonder why no other "Apostle" has ever shown up at the temple.

That just leaves the last issue with gaining an audience with Pyro, whether she's asleep or not. This is my last option to help my father because if what the stories suggest about Pyro being a kind and righteous Goddess is true, then she will surely cleanse her church of the corrupt. So if she's asleep today, then I'll just have to come again tomorrow and the day after that if she still refuses to meet me.

No more time to waste, time to leave this place.

I walk out of my room and into the hallway

Oh right, I've never left this room before. Where exactly is the reception desk?

In the beginning, I walked relatively slowly, searching for the reception desk turning corners left and right but to no avail. Eventually I start running to find it but still, minutes pass by without me finding it. Then as I give up and sit down, a young female nurse around my age walks by. I am refilled with hope and happiness.

"Excuse me miss, could you please direct me to the Reception Desk?"

She smiles cheerfully.

"O-oh... of course! Follow me"

At first I was happy following her around because I would finally be able to leave, but then after we made a left four times in a row and went in circles, I got worried.

Still, I smile brightly.

"Miss? Are you sure we're going the right way? We've been going in circles."

She clumsily falls down and scrambles to get up.

"O-of Course I know the way!"

We stare at each other in awkward silence for a while.

"Okay, I don't know the way, but!"

She scrambles through her pockets.

"I have a map!"

Why didn't you just use that to begin with? And why is this clinic so big anyway that it has a map that even those that work here need to use for directions?

She stared intensely at the map for a few seconds.

"Uh let's see, we need to get to the reception desk so... we go... we take a... I don't know how to use a map!!!"

And she falls down to the floor and starts bawling her eyes out.

"It's okay. Here, give the map to me and I'll find where we are."

She hands me the map, now covered in her tears as she continues to cry.

"Look, we're at 132 right now and 133 is over there"

I say as I point to the next room's sign on the right side of us.

"So we just need to go backwards, take a left, a right, another left, and go straight after that. Simple right?"

I reach out my hand to her as she stops crying and looks up

"T-thank you."

I continue greeting her with my signature bright smile as she takes my hand and I pull her up.

We make small talk as we walk to our destination.

"What's your name kind sir?"

Ack, she just called me sir. Her words are painful. Do I look old?

"Haha young lady, please don't call me sir I'm just around your age. My name is Arthur. What's yours?"

"My name is Lillian Mint and I am a first year at Wolkan Royal Academy. I'm just here to help the clinic as per my mother's instructions to help her retainers here and gain experience."

"Really huh? I am a second year at Wolkan, so maybe we'll see each other around school sometimes.

We approached the reception desk with her smile fading as we got closer.

"It was nice speaking with you, have a good day."

I wave her goodbye and turn around to face the cold emotionless receptionist.

"Hello, my name is Arthur Ventrike, I was a patient at this clinic and now I'm leaving. I'm assuming my medical bill was already paid?"

"Yes Arthur, the headmaster has already paid for your stay here.

"Great, can I get my clothes back? I'm assuming they're clean?"

She hands me my clothes that I wore on the day of my poisoning.

"Of course, we always give our patients the best treatment."

I take my clothes out of her hands and put it up to my face to smell it.

Hmm, smells clean enough.

I place a gold coin on the table for her as a tip.

"Thank you, is there anywhere that I can change into these clothes?"

"Thank you for your generous patronage. The changing room is over there."

As she points to the room behind and to the left of her.

I go into the room and change into my attire from a month ago, still in relatively good condition and begin leaving for the Church of Pyro when suddenly I hear a scream.

"WAAAAAAIT!!!"

I turn to the direction that the sound is coming from and see William sprinting at full speed towards me.

Ah, he must be seeing me off. I really should treat him better the next time I see him.

When he got to me, it took him a while to catch his breath.

"Huff, huff, huff, huff... Arthur..."

I thought he was going to say something really meaningful to me and give me motivation for the hard times to come so I greeted him warmly.

"Take your time."

"Huff, okay I'm fine now. Back to business, you still haven't paid me for helping you create the antidote! Where's my payment!?!?!"

My facial expression quickly changes into that of disgust as I look at him.

"What? I couldn't just let you leave without paying me what you promised."

"Sigh, fine here you go."

I hand him one of the rectangular shaped platinum cards that I obtained from the letters from the Imperial Court and watch as he freaks out. For reference, one gold coin is 100 silver coins which is 100 copper coins. One platinum card is worth 100 gold coins and you could easily buy a normal sized house in the Imperial Capital City of Dragos for just 5 gold coins so I essentially gave him twenty times his annual salary.

I wave him goodbye as I walk out the door, stepping outside for the first time in a month.

"Now, where am I?"

It turns out that the clinic was inside the Mint family's estate in the capital city. I took a carriage to the Grand Temple of the Church of Pyro because I had no idea where I was and paid the coachman one silver coin since I had no copper coins on me.

So that girl was a noble huh?

Back in the clinic the young lady of the Mint Viscounty was curious.

"Retainer Martha, who was that boy that just left our clinic?"

She responded without emotion, as always.

"Young lady, that boy was Arthur Ventrike, the top student of Wolkan academy's second year."

Lillian let her facade slip for a moment and grinned intently

"Oh my, the genius swordsman who is said to be the most talented in our generation? I must have him."

Before quickly altering her personality and putting on a smile once more.

"He did look like a swordsman on the outside with his refined muscles and the calluses of a swordsman but... I sensed magic from his body."

Martha did not respond.

Arthur felt a chill through his spine for reasons he did not know yet.

After thanking the coachman for the ride, I stepped off the carriage and admired at the temple of Pyro.

"The name Grand Temple of the Church of Pyro is fitting for this place, it is undoubtedly grand.