Chapter 18: [RA] Albert Wingston: Father Fifth of the Serpentine

*Reaper's Arc Chapter 6*

It was a day to celebrate the survival of the holy lady, Agatha.

The palace's internal church was busy, knights in metal armor running around with their spears in a hurry forming a linear formation surrounding the red carpet road. The place was so beautiful and elegant, golden miniature figures of their God and his angels are displayed in the front, and the historical epic of saints and heroes are engraved in the multichromatic colored windows and ceilings.

Strange enough, Malduth is a religious city where it is unavoidable to enter the church if one is going into the palace. The strength of their architectural infrastructure against earthquakes is as strong as their belief in God.

"Prepare yourselves, for the arrival of the holy lady doth approach."

Screamed a priest wearing a white robe. The knights straighten their bodies and clench their fists with the spears. They become a living statues under the priest's single command. Their saint will arrive, and the knights must display their strength through this simple act and provide assurance to the holy lady that she will be safe under their hands.

The child, the saintess walks through the red carpet accompanied by two knights and another young man around her age. The knights looked upon the boy in confusion.

"Prostrate yourselves in the presence of the holy lady!"

All of the knights kneel under her holy presence at the same time, bowing their heads upon the saintess gaze. This in turn makes Theo anxious, holding the back of Agatha's clothes to gain reassurance. He felt out of place.

"A-Agatha, I shouldn't be here"

He said in a rather shaky voice. Agatha never looked at him while she talks with her hands on her hips showing confidence in her voice.

"Just trust me, I'll going to take care of you"

She whispers while she met the priests who are the head of the church. A small and fat old priest confronted her with cold sweat on his cheeks. His lips are thick and his gaze is tired making him look arrogant in others' eyes. He talks in a high tone while he looks at the boy named Theo.

"Pray, tell me, who is this young man?"

"He is known as Theo Maxwell, the savior who shielded me from the minotaurs."

Agatha stated while she pointed her palms at Theo making him the center of attention. Theo felt a degree of discomfort when everyone looked at him with confused eyes.

"Your forgiveness, Saint Agatha. Pray, for what is the purpose of this commoner's presence in the royal palace?"

The priest continued to talk, his voice becoming more arrogant as he proceeds and he looked at the female knight on Agatha's back. The knight shrieks internally and began apologizing.

"I am very sorry! Lady Agatha insists on bringing the child!"

Her apology just boils the internal anger bursting inside the soul of the fat priest.

"Hold thy tongue, knave! Darest thou lay the blame of thy failure at the feet of the holy lady?"

He started with screams and inhuman shrieks. His voice makes Theo afraid that he hides on Agatha's back trying his best to avoid meeting the head priest's line of sight. Agatha could tell that the priest is thinking about how he will punish the knight just by looking at his eyes.

"I AM VERY SORRY!"

The knight screamed in return sincerely.

"Never apologize, my knight. It was my own volition to bring this child, who didst preserve my very life."

Agatha looked behind her back and talked to the knight who are cornered, expressing distress. She met her with an innocent angelic gaze and a crescent gentle smile bestowing her holy power upon her soul. The knight felt cleansed of her sins and got a sense of relief that relaxed and stabilize the beat of her heart.

"But holy lady, he is naught but a mere child of a commoner!"

The head priest said raising his voice to the saintess. It is not some form of discrimination when their religion believes in social equity, the head priest believes that exposing the presence of a commoner to the king without appropriate purpose is just disrespectful.

The saintess raises her voice against him in response.

"Insolent knave! How dare you suggest that my decree is unjust!"

"KEee!"

The head priest was taken aback and accidentally shrieks like a pig.

"Very well, henceforth, this youngling, Theo Maxwell, shall be appointed as mine own personal holy knight. Then, shall we say, there shall be nary a hindrance?"

Agatha said in a confident and elegant tone trying to persuade cunningly the knights and priest in her presence. Because her appointed holy knight died due to the minotaur's attack, there is an empty seat in the role of her personal bodyguard. She planned on making Theo replace her all along as he is the one who protected her during the event.

Because of her declaration, the knights in the church silently murmured to each other.

"The saintess's knight at that young age?"

"That's the first in history"

The noise irritates the priest mentally that a never pop out on his forehead.  His face became tinted with red as if a tomato readying to explode.

"SILE-"

The priest was suddenly interrupted when somebody touched him on both of his shoulders. He immediately jolted leftwards releasing himself to the soft pressure of the hands.

"Can you sense it, everyone? Love is in the air"

"HA!?"

The man who was holding the priest said and Agatha became flustered that she unconsciously raised her voice. The knights looked at her after and she became embarrassed that she closed her mouth with her hands.

The man moves while his eyes are closed.

The man's movement was theatrical yet elegant and appropriate. He walks towards the saint with a playful footstep and hops. He is also wearing a priest robe yet with other intricate designs, especially the tattoo-like image of a snake eating his tail.

"Oh praise the holy name of the lord and his appointed saint"

He ecstatically said further looking at the ceiling.

"Insolence! L-love, what do you mean by... mafu mafu"

Due to her sheer and strong embarrassment that she can't even deny, she was so baffled that her words are a jumbled mess of unintelligible whispers. Theo can't help but become worried about her actions that he didn't understand.

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"Oh right, Forgive mine ignorance, my beloved holy lady. I am Fifth, a holy priest from the church of the Serpentine, and I am here to serve as thy protector. If it please thee, I shall accept this young one with open arms."

He stated while literally opening his arms to both of them.

The Church of Sepertine is a different religious organization rooted in the country of Neldan while the church of Malduth in the country of Fediora believed in the Church of Saxon, but even though their beliefs are a bit different, the Church of Serpentine unconditionally supports what they teach and help them spread their holy words.

After all, the Church of Serpentine believes that every religion is right in its own way and will lead them to the ultimate truth. They believe in only one path and everybody is going there no matter who or what he is.

The priest opened his eyes and the number '5' can be seen glowing in the center of his green iris.

'He's eyes are... '

Theo's jaw dropped from his mouth and his eyes widened in shock at the glitter in the priest's eyes. Everybody else except Agatha felt discomfort looking directly at it.

Agatha smiled at him before saying.

"I am glad we have reached a mutual understanding."

After that, Theo and Agatha left the church accompanied by two knights led by Fifth. The rest of the priests and the knights bow their heads upon their leave.

They proceed to walk to the entrance hall.

"Father Fifth, where are we going?"

"Dearest Holy lady, the fated hero doth request an audience."

Agatha asked even if she already knew the answer. She sighed upon hearing Fifth's response, closing her eyes as she breathe out.

"Agatha is fine, no need for such formality. After all, you'll be our guardian and live with us for a looong time."

She stated while opening her arms and showing acceptance to the priest. Fifth turned his head to look at Agatha's innocent face and he smiled, while Theo accidentally looked at his eyes and then immediately looked down avoiding his gaze.

"Very well. I shall do that..."

Theo still felt out of place, looking below the ground and feeling isolated but Fifth felt his introversion and deliberately include him in the conversation by calling out his name.

"Agatha and Theo"

Hearing his name, Theo became perplexed and responded fastly in a brief stutter. His tone was imbalanced and he appeared anxious or shy.

"Eh!? Y-yes"

Agatha can't help but giggle at how he acted. She found his behavior rather amusing. The priest turned his head to look at the way and talked jokingly.

"In return, call me Daddy"

"Huh!?"

Agatha and Theo both exclaimed in embarrassment that the priest laughed abruptly.

"I jest, Father is fine. From now on, you two will be going to be my child and God's"

After a while, they reached a huge door ornamented with a golden engravement of spears, swords, and flowers. It is the throne room of the king they were supposed to meet.

"Are you ready, children?"

Before Fifth opens the door with his arms, Theo gathered the rest of his courage to speak. He can't hold his expression inside his chest anymore.

"M-may I have a word with you, Father"

"What is it, Theo?"

The priest turned his back to properly talk with Theo. He could see that Theo is struggling to express what he have in mind, and he waited patiently with a gentle smile on his lips.

"You're eyes..."

Theo said.

"Does it bother you? I should have worn my contacts"

The priest asked, then closing his eyes.

Even in the past, Fifth often find himself disturbing other people. They can't hold eye contact with him long enough as they found it creepy and malicious, over-time, they avoid looking at his face because of it, and he founds himself lacking deep relationships with people because of his appearance.

But he didn't resent his eyes because it is a supposed gift from his God.

"No... It's so pretty!"

Because Fifth didn't expect his response at all, he instinctively open his eyes widely. Agatha and the knights protecting them only said 'eh?' upon hearing it.

"It's so gorgeous! And sparkly! It's beautiful!"

Theo further added, his childish, innocent, and untainted beauty preference is pure and just that Fifth felt admiration for Theo's glittering eyes.

'Just what in the world is this child seeing'

Fifth thought to himself. He turned his back to Theo and ready himself to push the door of the throne room.

"Beautiful... huh..."

He whispered to himself, then he turned his head and said.

"Thank you, Theo. Your eye's as well, they are beautiful"

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