Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/Creak…/

Dale slowly opened the door to the Church's interior, taking a step inside.

Nothing much had changed since the last time he had been here.

Some of the old and broken Pews that were too damaged to be repaired had been replaced with new ones while the ground and walls had also been somewhat repaired.

It wasn't a uniform repair, but that would be too much to ask given their circumstances.

Most of the stone of the Church, just like everything in it during its golden days, was made of a particular type of valuable marble that needs to be mined in a quarry East of Resko.

It's located near many other Mines related to Jyter's Quest, as such, it wasn't possible to collect them, much less process them properly...

Although it has been in his plans to one day visit the area and see if there's anything to be recovered from within.

The windows had also been fully replaced with wooden ones, they weren't very fitting given they were once made of decorative glass with metal frames, but they took what they could.

Either way, the place looked tidy which was enough, and with the windows open, moonlight came gushing in, making the place look holy and serene.

The only problem, however, was how chilly it was inside.

In the dead of the night, as the cold winds blew atop the Hill, without any heating, the Church was no different from a graveyard due to how cold it was.

"..."

As he closed the doors behind him, Dale looked around, immediately noticing a girl sleeping in the back of the Church…

"Hm?"

'What's that in her hands?... Is she holding David?...'

'This is... Problematic.'

'Who barges into a Church and grabs its holy icon? Is she Super religious by any means and needs to hold the Icon to sleep properly?'

Regardless, from her calm expression and the fact David wasn't protesting in any way, Dale assumed she had no bad intentions.

It would be strange for her to have any considering what she was supposed to be…

'She's sleeping rather soundly…'

'From what I heard from the others she's been here the entire day.'

'Her guard had been with her until a few moments before, in fact, I saw her on the way here.'

'She was staying on an old house's roof with a view to the Church.'

'She must be waiting for her to descend… She's very hardworking given how cold it is right now, hopefully, she doesn't get sick, treating people in this Village isn't impossible, but it's rather expensive.'

'All materials need to be retrieved from within the surroundings, and that's not exactly a safe task.'

'I do wish to make a Herb Field one day if possible... But that's something for another day.'

'As for the sleeping beauty…'

'She seems determined considering she stood here all day…'

'Either that, or she's very patient, or Religious.'

'Perhaps all at the same time and a bit more.'

/Step step… Echo.../

'It's oddly silent…' He thought to himself as he took a step forward, each of his footsteps leaving behind echoes in the Hall

Normally, even at this hour, the Church would've been brimming with people.

The players had a lot to do here, from Class Change to other things like the Community Market...

Dale might've constructed a few side rooms around the Church, but those still weren't enough to reduce the density within the Church, in fact, the contrary seemed to be happening as more and more people chose Resko as their starting zone.

As such, to prevent trouble from brewing, Dale implemented a simple rule where the Church would be off limits every day from 9 Pm to 10 Pm to allow the Villagers to climb the Hill and pray in peace without having the bothersome eyes of 100 players on them.

This activity was extremely important to maintain their morale and mood, it was one of the few things they could do to alleviate their stress at the end of the day.

As such, considering it's around 11 Pm, the Church should've long been open to all…

But today, for the sake of his Quest, Dale extended the closed time to 1 Am just in case, a simple action with his authority.

The wonders of his position, every day he seemed to learn something new as particular situations happened one after the other.

Though in the end, he finished all of his business sooner than expected, allowing him to be here way ahead of time...

"It's getting quite chilly..." He mumbled to himself as drew in a deep breath

'When the game started, Winter had pretty much just ended so we're in the middle of Spring, and that shows itself with the many flowers in the forest.'

'This cold might be from the cold airs that move during Summer since it's during that season that the floods happen.'

'I don't quite remember the specific term for this, but Resko's Summer has a lot of rain.'

'I wonder if we can apply modern Geography to determine other characteristics of the Continent, though I imagine it wouldn't be accurate to try and determine it by using the knowledge from a completely different world.'

'The Quest tells me to come at Midnight but it's 11 Pm, hopefully, that won't be a problem?'

"Hm..."

'Is that why she's sleeping?...'

'Should I just let her sleep and wait? I do have the time... But I would've preferred to finish this as soon as possible so I can log off and finish a few things in the real world.'

'I have the inkling I won't be able to be so free in the next few days, I may have to be in the Capsule for extended periods of time.'

'At most, I'll have to log off to relieve myself, but that's it.'

/Open.../

As Dale scratched his head as he pondered over the issue, David opened his eyes and the two met gazes.

?andas /Blink…/

He blinked a few times, indicating for him to get closer, and so he did.

"Psst, try not to wake her up if possible." David said as he whispered to Dale when he got close enough

"..."

'His tone is a bit different from normal.'

Dale did not reply, instead, he grabbed David and slowly pulled him out of Erile's arms.

"Hm… Grandma…"

As he did so, she moved slightly, her expression changed a little as it seemed she was having a nightmare.

But in the end, Dale successfully got ahold of David, dragging him to the other side of the Church where they could have a talk…

...

"So… How did you end up in her arms?" Dale asked in a low tone as he put David beside him

"How you ask? Simple, I'm just too irresistible, girls look at my shinning head, and they…"

"..."

But seeing Dale's serious expression, David stopped joking.

"I talked with her, just that."

"We were having a conversation and she slept midway through it, she's quite stressed due to her troubles and journey so I just listened to her and kept quiet after she closed her eyes." He replied in a low tone as he thought about it

"If we remove you, she has been the first person I've listened to in the past 100 years, that's quite a while... I forgot how tiring it was..."

"Listening to a Woman talk can be confusing and harrowing, and I can't even move if I want to!"

"Now that I think about it, our previous talks don't count as your confessions were lackluster and boring."

"... You… What?"

Dale's expression went through a few changes before he stuck with one of confusion.

"I thought you couldn't… Or rather wouldn't reveal yourself to just..."

"She's not anyone… Well, that was bound to happen anyway." He said as he interrupted Dale

"I imagine you already had this in your mind, but she's the Saintess, do you know what that implies?"

"..."

'If I take it based on how things were in the past game…'

"She's an... Oracle of some sort?"

"Correct, to be precise, she's a medium through each Boss manifests as otherwise, a lot of problems would ensue."

"As a comparison, the Pope of a Religion is usually the Voice and Ears of God. being the leader, making decisions, managing things in the mortal world."

"Depends on the Religion really, not all have one, it depends on their structure mostly..."

"Regardless, the Oracle is the conduit for more... Direct approaches, though she can still act like the Pope if necessary, so in a sense, she's better than one..."

"Albeit I would say that is highly subjective."

"In a sense, her purpose is similar to mine, but the difference between us is that I'm… Well, a talking Head..."

"While she's quite the 'baddie' if you know what I mean, hehe." David added as his expression twisted a little

"I heard that word from one of the outsiders... I liked it."

He then rolled his eyes as he smacked his lips.

"... Ooh boy, only when she grabbed me did I realize how much I missed my old silk Pillow."

"Those legs were... God dam…"

/FWOOSH!/

As David said things very unholy, the wind started blowing very fast through the cracks of the windows, creating noises rather macabre…

"D-Don't you think it's getting rather chilly in here?"

"I-I mean... Cough… I mean, she's a nice girl." He said with an innocent smile after stuttering a little

"..."

'A Saintess huh… Honestly, she doesn't look like one.'

'Perhaps it's her bulky clothes to protect her from the sand, once she takes them off maybe...'

'Wait, something's wrong...'

"What now?" He asked as he looked at her

"That's quite the hard question…"

"So far, we've been going while holding at straws since we had no one to take proper care of the Church..."

"And although we still have no Priests... And likely we won't have for a little while unless fate brings some to us, she'll be able to cover their absence just fine."

"A Saintess has the same position as the Pope, after all… And that's why I… Boss has a request for you."

"... What?"

[DING]

Dale's vision flared as a beautiful Quest pop-up formed in front of his eyes.

[Main Quest, Lone Saint has activated]

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Notes

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