Chapter 7: Chapter 6 – The young female cleric’s huge misunderstanding.

"Would you like to join our religion?" - Asked the slightly blushing yet excited pretty female Cleric of Qagtuna.

"A Cleric of Qagtuna? Great potential and goodness? Join her religion? Eh?" - Jacque's mind blanked a bit as his perfectly trained fake smile slacked ever so slightly, almost failing him.

A Cleric of a god is a magic caster that relies on their mortal vessel and pure force of will and charisma to channel the divine power of their god in the form of divine spells called miracles. These miracles reflect the divine nature of their god and his portfolio and domains. However, to become a cleric, there were multiple harsh requirements.

The first one is that of birthright. Only 1 in about 50 people had enough divine affinity to become an intermediate to their patron's divine power. From them, only a measly 5% have enough affinity to become clerics, with the rest only able to become local priests and holy knights.

The second is finding and recruiting them. On the continent of Udroa, a medieval world with over 80% of its population living in villages and farms across the land, to find someone with a talent of 1 in 1,000 is hard, and sometimes they die young without realizing their potential. This further reduces the number to around 1 in 1,500.

The third is to teach and train them.  Although a cleric is born with a high affinity to the divine, it does not mean that he can channel their power at his whim. He needs years of proper knowledge, discipline, magic training, martial training, and dedication, as well as to be accepted by their god.

Divine power is a potent thing, and without the training, a cleric can easily burn himself out and die. Because of that, gods don't give out their powers wantonly, only gradually giving increased access to their massive divine might as the cleric grows stronger and is more disciplined. Because of this, only 75% receive their god's favor, leaving 1 in 2,000 people as battle-ready clerics, the religious fighters, and leaders of their religion.

Due to their scarcity, they usually gather in cities, being scarce in rural areas, but even then, even in a city with 10,000 people, only around 10 to 20 clerics would be present at most, and not all of them necessarily worshipping the same god. Because of that, a cleric in a small city was usually the de facto leader or vice leader of a religion in that city.

And now, in front of Jacque, stood a cleric of Qagtuna, a young and promising holy leader of the very order that is hounding him, claiming that he has "great potential and goodness in him.", wanting to recruit him into her order.

A few moments later, Jacque snapped back into reality.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?! Like hell I am joining your church, you hypocrites!" - Jacque cursed in his mind as his fake smile almost broke down, his mind drifting to hateful places that he tried to bury.

Among all the dozens of gods and religions that exited throughout the lands, Jacque held some religions in favor and some with contempt. Among them, the religion of Qagtuna was among the ones he hated the most.

Her religion taught her believers that a chaste and honorable man begets a chaste and honorable wife, and vice versa. Many of her believers believed it to an extreme.

Before his mother left them, Jacque's father was a strong believer in Qagtuna, a devout man and husband, and expected his wife to be the same. However, Jauque's mother cheated on his father, got pregnant with another's child, and left them when Jacque was young, emotionally hurting his father and destroying Jacque's childhood. What's worse was that Qagtuna's religious community believed that it was all because Harold was not devout enough, making him an outcast, thus causing Harold and Jacque to become traveling merchants for three years before settling down in a faraway city.

From then on, his father abandoned Qagtuna and converted to Evdarr, the God Of Commerce and Trading, vowing to never touch another woman in his life. Perhaps Evdarr pitied the poor Harold, and so Harold's fortune changed for the better as he received a lucky streak. From being a mere lower-class traveling merchant, he became a wealthy high-class and somewhat influential merchant owning several small businesses in a large city.

As for what happened to his mother? Because of her immense beauty and still being barely 21 at the time, she seduced the richest and most powerful man in their previous city, the only noble-born heir of the late viscount Ulmqar Weststar, named Gregory Weststar. Last he heard, they had their ninth child this year, still happily married in a devout and happy relationship.

The devout man became an outcast, while the cheating couple got a happily ever after. Jacque could only hold contempt in his heart for what he perceived as an idealistic and hypocritical religion.

This and the fact that they were now hounding him made it impossible for Jacque to ever join Qagtuna's religion.

 

"S-Sir?" - Nalmin shyly asked as Handsome Jacque 'passionately' and silently gazed at her with a gentle smile on his face, causing her face to blush a shade redder and her heart rate to quicken.

"Why is he staring at me so passionately and silently? Wait, did he fall for me as well at first sight and is too stunned to respond? Yes, this must be it! T-This means that our attraction is mutual!" - The innocent cleric gleefully thought while being completely off the mark.

Her voice finally snapped Jacque out of his hateful thoughts, returning him to reality.

"Ah, my apologies, your holiness. I was a bit stunned, that's all." - Jacque bowed slightly and lied, not forgetting to give his trademark fake smile that could devastate most women.

"Ah, I see." - Nalmin replied in a demure voice as her imagination ran wild.

"Kyaaa! So handsome! But wait, doesn't that mean he really was stunned by my beauty?! Oh my, what should I do?" - Nalmin wrongly assumed again as her body started to wriggle uncomfortably and cupped her burning cheek with her hand while averting her gaze.

Seeing her act like this, Jacque confirmed his suspicion as he felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing his heart with a knife.

"Again, another girl after my body. Just leave me alone..." - Jacque cried in his mind but didn't show it on his face.

The innocent nun didn't notice Jacque's pain and discomfort as she tried to calm herself down.

"Okay, Nalmin. Relax and act naturally like you were taught all these years. You can do it..." - She tried calming herself while taking a deep breath.

"Kind Sir, as I have said before, I would like to invite you to join our religion in the worship of our deity, Qagtuna, the goddess of purity and chastity. Is sir willing to consider joining me in her worship?" - The pretty cleric repeated her offer. As she said that, she tried to appear as friendly as possible, giving a gentle and benevolent smile, a skill all proper clergymen learn for missionary work.

At her words, Jacque started to analyze his situation at a frightening speed and realized that he was in a crisis.

"I am now being randomly offered by an influential young cleric of Qagtuna to join her religious order, possibly to be courted after. Just this means that she does not suspect me of having the book, as she would have already attacked me if she did, regardless of her attraction to me. Accepting her offer might lead to an uncontrollable series of events that might contribute to exposing that I have the book, and I might get imprisoned or even executed for it, as I am not currently inside the tower and its jurisdiction. I need, no, I MUST reject her." - Jacque concluded with extreme rationality.

However, as he reached that point, he also found a problem.

"But, if I just say no without a proper reason, it might offend her, and she might make things difficult on me and accuse me of being a suspect, possibly detaining me and doing a body search. If they do that, I will be 99% found out. I need to think of the gentlest and most polite way to reject her..." - For the first time in his short life, Jacque thought on overdrive about how to politely reject a girl, lest he faced almost assured death.

After around a second of lightning-fast thinking, Jacque thought of a way out.

"I am sorry, but no. I worship Odea, the goddess of magic. You see, I am a wizard apprentice of the nearby magic tower." - Jacque politely rejected while inwardly praising himself for his quick thinking.

He expected that this will be enough to deter the cleric, but he didn't expect that it would be the opposite.

"Ah, so you are a wizard! How wonderful!" - Nalmin beamed as she clasped her hand.

"Hah?" - Jacque's mind short-circuited.

"There are no problems for worshippers of Odea to also worship Qagtuna on the side, as their divine dogmas don't contradict each other. Our order even has some wizards in our employ." - Nalmin explained while smiling excitedly.

"A wizard, he is a wizard! Okay, an apprentice wizard, but it is still a commendable occupation. He might even advance to being an official wizard. Not only will I be contributing to the order, but also nobody would object to our union! Oh, Joy!" - The nun blushed excitedly as she raised her opinion on Jacque by a few points.

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After all, although wizard apprentices are more common than clerics, only being 1 in a few hundred, they are still capable and valued people nonetheless. If they manage to become an official wizard, then they have many prospects ahead of them.

"Oh, dammit. I forgot about that..." - Jacque mentally facepalmed, feeling as if he shot himself in the foot with a crossbow.

Polytheism was widespread across the lands, and many worshipped more than a single god, including clerics. Of course, a person could only have a single patron god at a time, and not several.

Jacque then restarted his mental gears and put them on overdrive.

"What now? I lost the excuse of the patron god. If I say I worship another god now, she would see me as a liar. If I tell her I also worship a god that is at odds with Qagtuna, it might flare her missionary spirit and I would be dragged to her temple. Any polite excuses I make will be seen as openings for more missionary work. I need to reject her firmly. If I lie to her and then don't go, she will inquire and find me within hours, as I am well-known in the city due to my status and looks. If that happens, a lot of trouble will follow." - Jacque concluded.

"But how? How do I reject her without offending her? How do I stop her from bothering me for good?" - Jacque began turning desperate, the clock ticking against him.

After a few moments, he begrudgingly decided on his course of action, "Although it's beneath me, desperate times call for desperate measures. I must use THAT."

Having decided on what to do, Jacque audibly sighed and tried to infuse his voice with as much emotion as he could muster.

"Your holiness, no, sister Nalmin, I have a confession to make." - Jacque placed his right hand on his heart and said with heavy emotion in his voice.

"C-Confession?!" - The young cleric panicked as her pretty face gradually turned crimson, her grey and golden eyes darting everywhere as she took a step back.

"W-Wha? C-Confession?! And that deep and emotional voice... Is he going to confess his love to me?! I-Its too soon! We just met for the first time less than three minutes ago!" - Was what she thought in a panic.

Jacque, however, didn't give her a chance to make coherent thoughts.

"Yes, your holiness, a Confession. You see, I-" - Jacque said with emotion, preparing to say something very personal.

"D-Don't say it!!!" - The panicked 19-year-old girl shouted in a flustered manner, frantically waving her hands in front of her like a barrier.

"E-Eh? But, sister Nalmin, I just-" - Jacque was confused and wanted to continue his words, but was stopped by the panicked nun.

"N-No! Stop! You don't have to confess to me now! I am not emotionally ready yet!" - The romantically inexperienced nun clumsily took a few more steps back, her legs feeling slightly jittery and weak as her artificial golden eye randomly glinted with magical light as her eyes began to water.

"Hah? Emotionally ready? No, sister, I really only want to confess-" - Jacque felt that she might have misinterpreted him and attempted to clarify himself as he took a step forward.

"NOOOOO!!!!!" - The cleric suddenly screamed and ran in the opposite direction, passing by her two stunned guards, and continued running with all her might while leaving a spray of tears behind her.

"Y-Your holiness?!"

"Wait for us!!!"

The two fully-armored knights shouted as they chased after her, metal boots clanking on the stone floor, leaving a crowd full of stunned people, as well as Jacque who could only blankly stare at their departing figures.

"But I only wanted to guilt-trip you..." - Jacque thought blankly, his plan coming to a premature and weird end.

What he wanted to do was to tell her about his family circumstances and give a moral and personal reason for why he doesn't want to join her religion, to firmly cement the fact that he doesn't want to join it.

Unexpectedly, before he could even begin, the cleric ran away.

"I guess this also works? would there be any future complications?" - Jacque warily thought.

"Oh well, what's done is done. I should head back to my room before more shit happens." - He thought but then noticed the weird gazes and murmurs directed at him from the surroundings.

"Handsome Jacque just broke that innocent sister's heart, poor girl..." - One guy interpreted.

"No, didn't you see how he acted? He wanted to confess his love, but was rejected." - The woman beside him argued.

"Hah... Love..." - Sighed an old woman.

"I'm so jealous..." - A young woman bit her lower lip as she stared at Jacque with desire.

"That sister was weird." - A young boy pointed in the direction where Nalmin and her knights ran.

"Hey, don't point at people. That's rude." - His mother chastised him as she lightly slapped his hand but secretly agreed with him.

"I will probably get a new nickname after this, won't I?" - Jacque warily thought as he walked back to the tower.

Perhaps the goddess of luck decided that Jacque had enough misfortune for today, as he managed to walk back to the tower into his room safely and without any more obstructions.

Upon closing and locking his door, the first thing that Jacque did was collapse on his bed.

"Home sweet home." - He sighed in relief on top of his pillow.

After a few minutes of relaxing, Jacque straightened himself up again as he thought about his next course of action.

"I now have a cursed book, as well as a closed Mythril box holding a treasure. For the time being, I can't deal with the book, so I should first open the box and see what's inside." - Jacque decided as he took out the box from his pouch and placed it on his lap.

Taking a deep breath to calm his excitement, Jacque slowly opened the lockless but expensive box.

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