Arche walked along the halls of this strange and large cathedral. The walls were painted grey. The floors were spotless. The windows along the halls were made of stained glass, and depicted many fights and other such things about the gods that they worshipped.
Arche looked at them as she passed them by. Her mind wandering to what she was about to do and ask. Her parents had spent all the money that she had saved up. All the gold, silver, and even the last dregs of coppers they had spent. It was a wonder how they hadn’t been taken by the many loan sharks that they owed money too.
She sighed as she looked on ahead. The long hall stopped, and then abruptly turned right. The light of the moon casting light into the large area. The sermon area was lit by the light of the stars and moon.
It was barely longer than it was wide. It had stone pews along the sides of a central isle, where the marks of many feet shone under the light. The pews were also slightly angled towards the center. A podium was at the far back, where a book was placed there upon.
The ceiling was tall, and had a multitude of lightless lanterns hanging from it. The rafters were all decorated with images, carved images of different people from the scriptures. It reminded her of some of the different caves that she had explored in the past. That had never been fun.
The walls of this large room were even more decorated than the halls. They had stained glass windows reaching from the floor, all the way to the ceiling. These images depicted in the glass showed many battles, scenes of emotional and spiritual growth, among other things.
It made her shiver. There was weight here. It was like a blanket made of iron, draped over her. Death had touched this place, the very air seemed to shiver with it.
At least, that was the best way to describe it. Here, she felt like she was being watched, passively. It was as if the eyes watching her didn’t truly care what she did here. She shivered as the weight lifted slightly from her shoulders as she looked on at the woman standing behind the podium.
There she was, Lady Calvaria. The Adamantite ranked adventurer often times wasn’t even in the newly built temple. Yet tonight she was. She was here mainly to preach of the different lessons that she herself had learned in life since becoming the champion of the Goddess of Death, who Arche was fairly sure was real.
In reality, the woman standing there was Pandora’s Actress. The girl herself liked dramatics, and being a preacher helped her evoke those feelings. It was also rather easy to build up faith and fervor when the person giving the sermon could read the surface level thoughts of the people in the room.
Calvaria looked on at her. Her own eyes drinking in the woman’s form. her face was riddled with scars. Her hair was pulled into a braid, that wrapped around her head. She was gorgeous. Her eyes were locked onto her own as she walked forward, towards that podium.
She tried to speak. Yet, as she tried and failed to sound out, the other woman spoke. Her voice was deep, and buttery. It was like she was being lulled to sleep in a tub of warm hug, if those words made any sense.
“What do you need, young Arche?” the woman asked, and Arche finally could speak.
“I was thinking on asking you a question, but I don’t know if you’d be fine with it,” she said haphazardly.
The woman in question simply raised a brow. Why would she actually consider it? It was such a foolish idea. At least, that was what she was thinking.
“What is it? If it is such a foolish question, I won’t mind you asking me it,” she said, and crossed her arms underneath her rather large bust.
Arche scratched her cheek, a slight blush coming to her face as she watched the woman. It was a bit of a topic of discussion for the people both in the church, and outside of their believers like her, Calvaria’s look. How did she become like how she did.
She rarely talked about her past before meeting her goddess. It made some people think, and the some people was really only Arche, that she didn’t really have the best before. She opened her mouth to speak and asked her question.
“Could I leave my sisters here? I’m a Worker, so I was planning on going to a rather long job. It’ll pay a lot, but I don’t want to leave my little sisters with my parents. I don’t trust them, not really. Will you take them, just until I get back?” she asked, and the woman smiled.
“Of course I will. Everyone is welcome in the temple of death. All deserve her mercy,” Calvaria spoke, her tone kind.
“Thank you,” Arche said, and she really meant it.
…
Albedo, or rather Anna, looked over the camp that had set up shop outside of the surface of the tomb. Her eyes trailed over everyone there. Calvaria wasn’t there, as Pandora’s Actress was playing the part right now, she wasn’t there. Calvaria herself was in the imperial capital.
Anna had been tasked with looking over these workers by both her mistress, and Her peers. The plan was simple. Have the workers invade the tomb, if they failed and did a poor job of it, the tomb would rise up as a theocratic monarchy, and become a real nation.
If the Workers proved to be at least a little promising, then they would declare this area of the map worthy, and then spread out the faith with an even greater fervor. It was a simple plan. The trouble was, was that only a single group of these workers showed any promise.
Said promise was that they simply had a person on their team that had a legitimate reason to become a Worker, and try to raid the tomb. The others were simply there for greed. Greed to rob the dead. If any of them wanted to simply explore the tomb and figure out its weight and history, then that would have been fine.
Yet, not a single one, other than Foresight, wanted to do anything other than try and fail to rob them blind. It was a disgrace. She could confidently say that they would fail to live up to any moral standards.
Sighing, she went back into the tent behind her, just as Nabe got back from talking to the rest of the battle maids. They would have a part in this plan yet. It simply wasn’t the right time. Some of them would stay upon the surface, yet some would be on the sixth floor. Ready and waiting for the tests ahead.
…