Chapter 252: Vol 4.5 Nicole’s Tale Chapter 1: The Battle Priestess

Dorheas, one of the many, many small cities that existed in the northern part of the Holy Continent. Thanks to the ravages of the endless war amongst the so-called Feuding States, no cities could last for very long before a rival kingdom decided to burn it to the ground in a display of strength and cruelty. And that included Dorheas, where, if you looked around carefully enough, you could still see remnants of the old city that used to stand on its place.

And it was where the pilgrim, Nicole Blanchimont, was staying for the night.

Her trip had taken her numerous months—close to two years even—and it hadn’t been easy. Not in the slightest. After she separated with her benefactor, the Second Princess of the Holy Milicis Empire, she resumed her journey all on her own. Many times she was beset by danger—danger that she had to face by herself. Thankfully, she was more than ready. The last Grand Priest she visited, the one overseeing the Order of Galahad, used to be quite the fighter in his youth, and he wouldn’t give his blessing until she was sufficient enough as a battle priestess. It took her several months of hard training until she reached that level. However, never a complaint escaped her lips. She knew how hard her friend, the princess, must be training as well, even though they had no chance to meet before she had to leave.

She met with the Grand Priests of Udomia, Korobevia, and Grannesia, before arriving in the Feuding States region, making her way to the far west where the Holy Land was. Fiania’s Grand Priest had died a few years back, and his seat had yet to be filled by another. After all, it wasn’t easy to find a priest or priestess that could reach Grandmaster-level at their Holy Magic. So she opted not to visit the kingdom altogether, which, in retrospect, was a good idea. She had heard the news, how the kingdom’s army and the Inquisitors who came to visit were wiped out by a necromancer. And in secret, they killed the king, making him to be an undead puppet they could control the kingdom with. The necromancer survived, after being aided by some adventurer who turned out to be their underling all along. And now, they had disappeared into the four winds.

She didn’t get the details. Or any names even. But it was enough for her to make the decision to hire adventurers as her escorts. Thankfully, after heeding the advice of the Galahad Grand Priest, she learned that it was foolhardy to spend all her money to help every poor person she found in her travels, thus she was able to afford their service with all the savings she had.

“Don’t be foolish, girl! They’re poor because the Dragon gives them the fate to be poor! Light and dark, good and evil, rich and poor — all that are simply part of the balance of the world. You cannot ever eradicate the other, and trying to do so will only invite chaos and disaster. Say that a benevolent king decides to force his rich subjects to give all their wealth to the poor. It’s only a matter of time until he’s assassinated in his sleep, plunging his kingdom into a bitter power struggle. His good deed ends up doing more evil than good.”

“But, charity is part of the Church’s teachings,” Nicole argued back.

“Giving all your belongings to the poor isn’t charity! It’s madness! You think you’ll be able to make it all the way to the Holy Land with an empty purse?! Impossible!”

After having such debates with him nearly every day for several months, Nicole couldn’t help but look back at it with fond memories.

Still, even with the money, it wasn’t that easy. Thanks to the distance of the task, an escort mission all the way to the far west, to where Damatiel, the Holy Capital, stood, the receptionists she met all recommended her not to make such a request. They told her that even if there were a party of willing adventurers, they might just abandon or even kill her in the middle of her trip. Each branch of the Guild there was being run independently from each other, since there was no cooperation between the warring kingdoms and states, thus making it hard to keep adventurers accountable if they ever turned into banditry.

And then, she met them. They called themselves the Flaming Arrows. They were an A-rank party that hailed from the Holy Empire.

Their meeting was a complete accident. One day, Nicole took a quest for goblin extermination. And not just for one goblin, but an entire tribe of them. A dangerous quest for her to do alone, but she took it anyway, knowing the evils the creature had mustered. They had raided multiple villages, killing all the men and kidnapping all the women. The local king was too busy with his war to send any soldiers, thus the quest was given to adventurers. Unfortunately, the reward being offered was awfully low, thus higher ranking adventurers were not interested in the quest in the slightest. Especially since it wasn't just extermination, but a rescue mission as well, meaning, they would have to enter the goblin caves instead of just burying them alive with earth magic.

And so, it fell to Nicole to take it on her own. She was still a mere D-rank back then, yet the quest was B-rank. But, knowing that no one else would help those poor villagers, the receptionist decided to give it to her anyway. Bending the rules in such a manner wasn't unheard of, if a request remained untaken for too long.

She would have gone out to face the goblins on her own afterwards, if not for Anton, who overheard her conversation, stopping her.

"Stop." He grabbed her left hand. "You'll die if you take that quest. Or worse."

"Unhand me." Nicole scowled. "As a priestess of the Milicis Church, it is my duty to alleviate the masses of their suffering."

The two fell silent, as each stared at the other’s eyes unflinchingly. But eventually, Anton was the first to yield, releasing her hand in the process.

"A priestess?” He folded his arms. “Hmm, that explains the attire. Still, never met one who would willingly charge to her own death just to save a bunch of people she doesn’t even know about. I only know one person who would do such a thing, and he’s certainly no man of faith like you.” He chuckled.

Nicole raised her eyebrows. What is he talking about?

“Well, I thank you for your advice.” She gave a short bow. “I shall take it to heart when I fight those goblins. Now, if you would excuse me—”

“Take us with you.”

The priestess paused in her steps. “I’m sorry?”

“I’m the leader of the Flaming Arrows, an A-rank party. We can help you with your quest.”

Nicole raised her eyebrows.

"It's what my old friend would do." He smiled.

The sadness behind that smile didn't escape her notice.

-------------

The goblins never stood a chance. No matter how many they are, and no matter what ambushes and traps they sprung, they never managed to land a blow on Nicole or the three adventurers. Nicole's barriers protected the party completely, even blocking the poison gas the goblins employed. Meanwhile, Anne and Amelie rained their arrows and spells without a care in the world. The only thing they had to be careful of was to not bring the cave down. Anton? Well, he was just there as the leader, mostly, giving out orders while blocking the occasional goblin attacks with his shield.

It would have been an easy and exciting job, if not for one single, unfortunate fact.

The kidnapped women—none of them survived.

They were too late. There was no one to rescue but corpses.

And with a swarm of goblin younglings they found in the cave, it was all too easy to put two and two together.

They had all been used as breeding stock for the goblins.

Goblins females were extremely rare, so there was always a need for them to use other races to breed with. With just the thirty human females they kidnapped, they had made more than a hundred of goblin litter. Impregnation to birth for goblin babies was far quicker than their human counterpart. And with every birth, a female could produce three to five new goblins. And they would die from it, their womb rupturing from the inside, and that was after a really painful few days of pregnancy.

A horrific truth, from a monster so weak.

And so, when they found the goblin younglings, hidden away from their fathers in the furthest room in the cave, they didn't hesitate.

...No, not quite. Anne, Amelie, even the pragmatic Anton — all of them hesitated. The goblin children were cowering in fear at their arrival. None of them tried to attack even though there were more than a hundred of them in that room, even though they could have easily overwhelmed four adult humans by sheer numbers.  They couldn't just massacre a defenseless opponent like them in cold blood, could they?

But Nicole — she did not hesitate in the slightest.

"O Lord of Light! Purge us from these foul evils that plagued our lands! Grant us your miracle and turn the impure ones into dust! By the name of the Holy Saint, I beseech you! Holy Barrage!"

She killed them all with a single holy spell, leaving nothing but dust behind.

"Abhorrent filth… thy kind should not exist in this world."

It wouldn't be the last time they saw her do such a thing.

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Two months later, inside the small town of Seda, west of Dorheas...

"This seems to be a good place. How about it, everyone?"

The establishment she chose was a decently well-kept inn. Not too small and filthy, but not too luxurious either to be expensive.

"Looks good to me." Anton smiled. "How about you two? You like it?" He turned to look at his companions.

"Aaw, can't we stay in a bigger one?" Amelie pouted, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Don't be such a spoiled princess." Anne glared at her blonde friend, her hands at her waist. "I thought you've decided to leave your noble heritage for good.”

“Oh, stop being such a spoilsport for once. With the money we have, we should be able to afford a better place than this!”

“Yes, that might be true, but that would just be a waste of money. And you know how our priestess here hates wasting money.” She gave a smile towards Nicole.

“She is correct.” The priestess chimed in with her own smile. “As a priestess of the Milicis Church, I am not allowed to spend my money frivolously.”

“And by that, you mean you want to spend more on your charities.” Amelie sighed, before she smiled as well. “Well, you are our employer. We don’t really have a say on your money, do we?”

“Oh, please don't say that.” Nicole protested. “You are my companions as well. My friends. You even willingly help me with my quests. I would be wrong to ignore your advice, after all that we had gone through."

The priestess had decided it was a good idea for her to join the Adventurers’ Guild herself so she could fund her trip. Now that she was no longer with her princess, she had no other option. Thus, technically, she was an adventurer hiring the help of other, more experienced adventurers. It wasn’t unheard of, though most high-ranking adventurers had no interest in babying their lower-level counterparts. She had only reached C-rank, while the Flaming Arrows was an A-rank party, with all A-rank adventurers. They told her not to mind the gap, however, since they apparently had only reached the rank recently. Still, after the goblin extermination, they had been together for months, so she didn't know how recent it really was, since they were already A-ranks when she first met them.

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As for why she decided to hire them to be her escort, well, she heard news of a revolution going on in a small kingdom west of here. Apparently, the peasants there revolted, wiping out all the nobles, including the king and the princess. And now, it had become a lawless land where mob rule ran rampant.

Unfortunately, if she were to avoid the ex-kingdom entirely, she would have to take a long detour. And that would take months to do. And so, she decided she might as well hire these vaillant souls to protect her.

"Shall we get inside?" Nicole smiled. "I am really quite sleepy. I think I shall skip dinner for tonight."

The three all nodded in agreement.

------

The three girls shared a room, while Anton had his own. Nicole said she didn't mind sleeping together with them, even though the small bed barely supported two persons. They didn't do this at first, but after Nicole began to trust them more, she decided saving her extra room money was more important than her privacy.

After putting her bag down, the priestess stretched her arms upwards and yawned. "You two are going without dinner too?”

Anne shook her head. "I'm not hungry. Dunno about her though." She glanced at Amelie.

"Not hungry either!" The mage answered. "In fact, I feel I can just—huaaahhhh..." She yawned. “—collapse to that bed in an instant!”

“It seems we three are in agreement.” Nicole smiled. “Then, let us change to our sleepwear. Keep the bed clean from our dirty garments, alright?”

“Aaalright…” Amelie rubbed her sleep-deprived eye.

The trio undressed themselves. Nicole’s attire had changed compared to the robes she wore when she was still traveling with the princess. She had gotten bigger in these last two years, so naturally, she needed a new outfit, one that would fit her new figure. She had gotten taller, with puffier lips, fuller hips, and bigger breasts. Her hair, once tied into a twin braid, now rested freely over her shoulders, reaching down to her waist. Anne and Amelie on the other hand hadn’t changed that much, to the former’s chagrin. Even now, as Nicole’s breasts popped out of her cassock, she couldn’t help sending a glare of envy at the two bouncing mountains.

When the three finished, they were standing in their underwear. Curiously, each wore different colors for their panties and bras, almost as if they had coordinated it beforehand. Anne wore pink, Amelie wore white, and Nicole wore black.

“U-urghh, can I just sleep like this?” Amelie moaned.

“Oh no, you won’t!” Anne fired back. “You think I want to sleep near those smelly underwear you’re wearing? Change them! And go wear your nightgown too!”

Nicole smiled. It seemed there was no need for her to play the big sister this time. Compared to them, she was the oldest, and the most responsible as well. If Anton was their big brother, then she would be their big sister.

Her nightdress of choice was just a plain white one, with no frills or ribbons like the one Amelie was wearing. It was pretty much similar to the one Anne was wearing.

Once they were all dressed up in new clothes, unsullied by the dust, sweat, and grime that they had gathered in their trip here (they had been walking pretty much from dawn to dusk today), they climbed up to the small bed. Or rather, Amelie threw herself into it first, making a worrying creak that showed the bed’s days were not for long. As for how they slept, Nicole slept in the middle, acting as a mediator between the two.

Just like she had declared, Amelie fell asleep first, not even a minute when her head touched the hard cotton.

Anne, however, remained wide awake.

"Hey, Nicole.”

“Hmm?” Nicole replied, still with closed eyes.

“What do you think about Anton?"

"...What do you mean?"

"Just answer my question."

Nicole paused for a few moments before replying.

"I think he's a good man. And a skilled fighter. The way he took the lead in battle is really inspiring to behold. He defended you two perfectly with that shield of his."

"No, not like that. I mean…"

"...?"

Anne swallowed.

"Look, he has a crush on you, alright?"

Nicole's eyes sprung wide open. She turned her head to face the redhead, her cheeks reddened.

"W-what? You can't be—"

"I'm dead serious." Anne narrowed her eyes. "He can't take his eyes off you. Never I see him react like that to a girl, no matter how many big-breasted blondes we met on our travels."

"B-big breasted?" Nicole's face reddened further as her hands instinctively covered her chest.

"Oh please." Anne's hands reached forward, peeling off her hands before giving her breasts a squeeze.

"Kyah!"

"Your chest here *squeeze* is even bigger *squeeze* than Amelie *squeeze*. You have no idea how jealous I am with you two. *squeeze*"

"S-stop it! This is indecent!"

"Really?" Anne cocked an eyebrow as she removed her hand. "We're both girls, no? Hmph, I don't understand how the Church's teachings work."

Nicole was now panting, sweat making her white nightgown cling to her body, revealing her teal bra and panties. She had never been touched like that. The closest she got was that one time when Hugo tripped and grabbed a handful of her right breast.

"Look." Anne locked her eyes with hers. "I know the pain of unrequited love. I liked a boy once. I confessed but he already had another. Heh, even though the perv loved stealing glances under my skirt to look at my butt." She chuckled. “So I ask you, do you already have someone you like? And how do you feel about making him your lover?”

Nicole, who just catched her breath, didn’t know how to respond.

“I… well…”

“I know he’s quite a bit older than you. But I heard marrying old men is popular amongst noble girls. And since you’re a priestess of the Church, you’re up there with their status.”

“That’s… that’s not true. We’re not like the nobles. We don’t live in large mansions.”

“Really?” Anne narrowed her eyes. “I’ve seen a lot of gaudy churches and cathedrals in my journey. All while hungry folks live just one block away from them.”

“That’s not right! A good priest or priestess of the Church would never live like that!”

“Meaning, you want them to donate all their wealth to the poor. Just like you.”

Anne broke out to a giggle. She had to cover her mouth with her hand to not wake Amelie up.

“Oh, Nicole. You really are something else.” She smiled. “A good young woman like you — I won’t regret leaving Anton to you.”

She turned away from her, cutting the conversation short. She knew she wouldn’t be able to give an answer right away. Her only goal was to tell her. She knew that shy man would never tell his feelings himself.

Her smile quickly disappeared, however, as she was reminded what it would mean if Nicole agreed to take Anton as her lover.

The Flaming Arrows would lose its most valuable member.

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