"What did you just say?" Arthur asked quietly, because he couldn't believe his ears.

  "I said that the War in the Heavens was the great cataclysm at the end of the Age of Heroes about three thousand years ago." She repeated, surprised by his reaction. Even seeming slightly scared by it. "For days, seemingly without end, the sky over the western horizon was set ablaze and the legends say the Gods were fighting some calamity. You haven't heard about it?"

  He smiled far more confidently and almost wanted to jump up and cry in celebration.

  "During the final years of the Age of Heroes, there was indeed a war, but it didn't take place in the Heavens, Cate. It was waged in Aderon." He said, his smile huge as he stood up, lifted her effortlessly, and hugged her tight. "I know the direction back home now. Thank you, my Kitten!"

  "Arthur..." She whispered but clung to him greedily.

  They stood there for a moment before he reluctantly let her go. He dropped back into his chair with a wide smile, nodding slowly.

  "Our home lies somewhere there." He looked towards the west.

  She gave him a soft, happy smile and sat on her blanket. She still wanted him to explain more to her about the Gods and how he might have been so casual about them. She just couldn't believe his story that he had been drinking with the Gods, and it seemed that for him, they were no different from anyone else, which was absurd. For her, the Gods were unapproachable beings who ruled the mortals from above, before whom the people could only bow, scrape, and beg.

  "So about you and the Gods..." she began, her curiosity winning over her caution. "What is your... I don't know. Who are you for them?"

  "I'm their Paladin." He answered, clearly without a clue what she meant.

  "Yes... I heard the name when you introduced yourself the first time. I'm asking what it means?" She rolled her eyes.

  Arthur looked at her and considered her question for a moment.

  "You want to know who I am from the standpoint of faith?" He asked with an uncertain voice, as if he wasn't sure he understood her question. She nodded with encouragement and he started speaking more confidently. "A Paladin is, essentially, a warrior priest. As such, I can channel the power of my Patron plus the standard usage of Holy Magic. There is no easy distinction between Paladins as you have here with the Cleric classes. It's easy when you can introduce yourself as a Priest, Bishop, or Cardinal. However, Paladins are similar since we hold similar authority to priests. So, answering your question, as an Inquisitor Captain and one of the highest-ranking Paladins of Arcadia, I'm equivalent to the Archcardinal of the Pantheon."

  "How does that even work?" Cate asked, the only thing she understood from his explanation was that he was extremely important. "Shouldn't you be responsible for some important stuff inside the Arcadian Temple or something?"

  "What? Gods, no!" He looked panicked for a moment. "I'm a combat specialist, Cate! I work in the field."

  "I never truly believed in Gods... Not after my father was killed, and what happened to me. But even before, Gods were... " She said quietly and leaned backwards, supporting herself with her hands as she tilted her head up towards the sky. "They were unapproachable, distant, silent... They weren't truly real."

  "I understand you." He said with a nod. "There are reasons for that... However, things are far different in Arcadia. Gods are living among the people, everyone can see them, talk with them, or even work with them in some cases. Our Pantheon is actively working to help the people of Arcadia, and they support the Emperor as much as they can. But the fact that they can do what they do is thanks to the Emperor, who allows them to freely manifest. Normally, they have to use a lot of faith to manifest physically. Faith is akin to mana, a magic power for the Gods, and it comes from the people who pray to the Deity."

  She blinked in shock. There was a lot to put together and her head started to ache after his explanation. So... Arthur was important, powerful, and on top of that, he was so close with the Gods that he was their drinking buddy. Anything flies with Arcadians, right?

  "Right..." She put her hand on her forehead and rubbed it slightly.

  "How is your training going?" He asked cheerfully as if his revelation were something as mundane as breathing.

  "I maxed the Fire Bullet, Wind Bullet, Earth Bullet, and I'm close to finishing with Water Bullet." She answered, glad that he had changed the subject.

  "Excellent! Once we are done with it, we will start practising with weapons." He grinned.

  "Sure..." She nodded, but despite her previous optimism, Cate doubted that she was going to unlock a class.

  However, even without a class, the magic she learned already was great for convenience if nothing else. By increasing and decreasing power, she could use the fire spell to start a fire, warm water, or even quickly dry her clothes. The same went for other elements, with water being arguably the most precious in the arid Saftian climate. Creating water out of thin air was quite literally life-changing, even if she could produce only a buckets-worth of water a day. She could easily see now why Arthur had been so carefree when she met him. With his seemingly bottomless well of mana, he could probably summon a storm or something... She looked at him with curiosity.

  "Can you summon a storm?"

  "What?" He paused, looking at her with surprise. "Why?"

  "You can?!" She was more than shocked.

  "Well... Technically..." He very slowly admitted. "As I told you, I can borrow the power of my Gods like any other high-ranking member of the clergy. However, contrary to most of the priests you know, I don't serve a single Deity. I serve the Pantheon. That means I could technically pull off such a big scale spell, but it's unbelievably dangerous, and I would be fully drained after something like that. Hmmm… I would call in the power of Zephyr to gather clouds and ruinous winds. Then I would weave in the might of Zeus to command lightning and rain it down over my enemies. I could borrow the power of Hestia to make the flames resist the water. Then I would add the power of Tuul'kara and Kaa'lani, who rule over the ocean, to add a devastating rain that would drown the entire battlefield."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  She looked at him in horror and awe, unable to say even a word as he casually listed the Gods and their domains. He said it all as if he were pondering aloud what they should eat for lunch, or what places nearby were worthy of going sight seeing at.

  "Well... Of course, at the heart of all things being considered here, is if my Gods would grant me that much power to begin with. I'm certain that they can't hear my prayers from here; otherwise, I would have been home a long time ago." He smiled awkwardly down at her. "Honestly, I'm quite glad they couldn't hear me... Otherwise, I would never have met you, my dearest Kitten."

  She blushed fiercely, and looked at him with dreamy eyes before the realisation dawned upon her. The very idea that she could have never met him in the first place had way too severe consequences to be considered. She shuddered with dread at the thought, but quickly shrugged it off and smiled.

  "I'm willing to worship one of your Gods. I'm pretty much sure I couldn't worship your entire Pantheon, but I could worship Goddess Hestia..." She fell silent as she noticed Ben and Val'narii heading their way.

  He followed her gaze and sighed. "I'm pretty much sure you can ignore them and behave as if we were alone..."

  "Maybe." She reluctantly agreed. "But in Saftia, we shouldn't display our affection publicly. It's not seen well."

  "That's stupid..." He shook his head ruefully as the two continued to approach them.

  Ben appeared slightly worried, but Val'narii was almost in a panic.

  "Sir! I found traces of a big monster in the area. The prints are quite fresh. Val'narii confirmed it." The boy saluted.

  "It's some kind of big feline. A lion or a tiger-like monster most likely." The Dark Elf added with concern.

  "The camp is surrounded by warding spells and alarm barriers." Arthur slowly nodded as he checked his radar skill with closed eyes. "I don't sense anything hostile nearby."

  There was only the same weird reading he had picked a few times already. Something was playing on the edge of his skill, but it wasn't malicious or even really dangerous.

  "I don't really want to meet anything you would consider dangerous, Sir..." Ben slowly shook his head. "However, the monster seemed to be observing us from a distance. Too far for my sister to see it, but we know that it is somewhere out there."

  He raised his hand and pointed perfectly in the direction where Arthur had gotten the strange reading. With a sigh, he stood up and summoned his gear as he looked at Cate and then at the rest of his party.

  "Stay here. I will try to hunt the monster, but I don't think I'll be successful. It has avoided us so far, but it was stalking us, so I guess it's better to go check on it."

  "Be careful, Sir..." Val'narii said with a sheepish voice and instantly received a flat stare from Cate.

  "Good hunt, my Lord." Catherine smiled brightly at him.

  Arthur smiled back and walked straight towards the monster, but he knew that, once the monster realised he was coming, it would flee. He looked at his shadow once he was far enough from the camp and asked with a muted voice.

  "Can you conceal my presence?"

  "Hmmm... I can do it for just three minutes in this bright sun. It would be a different story at night, but right now..." Shade answered without even poking his head out.

  "That would be enough." Arthur agreed and felt the chill touch on his skin when the Veil of Shadows covered him.

  He used all his mobility skills, rushing toward his last sense of the monster, which he could now tell had suddenly stopped. It must have realised that Arthur was doing something, but suddenly he was too close. This shock tactic was a crucial principle drilled into any recruit in Arcadia. They learned how to do things quickly, how to make immediate decisions, and how to adjust instantly to changing circumstances. The Guardsmen were a very flexible fighting force, constantly training and improving with the help of non-lethal weapons developed just for them to train with. They sparred against each other with very real weapons, as individuals, as teams, and even as entire regiments. His Inquisitorial training took him even further as he was drilled in various combat tactics by the Emperor himself. The gruelling lectures, and even more exhausting training, were meant to make them the most fearless weapons of Arcadia.

  And the blinding speed of a Paladin, was nothing anyone ever expected to see.

  It was indeed a large feline, but to Arthur's surprise, it was simply lying on the sand. It looked distressed, panicked even, but nevertheless, Arthur drew his sword and prepared for a fight. Before he could strike, however, Shade pounced out of the Paladin's shadow, slammed the white lynx to the dune with his massive paw, and held it like that. To his surprise, Arthur noticed that the monster started mewling in fear while the Fenrir stared at it menacingly.

  "I'm sorry, Arthur, I acted without your permission, but killing it would be a waste." Shade said once the lynx stopped meowing. "But this almost-grown cub is the monster that appeared back in the city. Since then, it has been observing us, and I want to know why."

  "Meow..." The lynx said with a pitiful tone full of desperation. It started meowing rapidly at the Shadow Fenrir as Arthur looked between them in disbelief.

  "You think that I'm that naive? You think I believe that you just wanted to help?" Shade growled at the feline as it unsuccessfully tried to sink into the sand under his glare.

  The meowing intensified for a moment and, while Arthur didn't understand it as a language, the lynx was saying plenty, and it was obvious that Fenrir understood it perfectly. At least it was slightly amusing. The creature was fairly intelligent for a wild monster, albeit its level was low.

  "So you don't like the local Temple?" Shade interrupted the meowing, and Arthur laughed, seeing the lynx nodding like a person. "Why?"

  Just a few meows this time, but the Fenrir sat back on his rear and took his paw off the lynx with a sigh. The silvery feline didn't move, but continued to look at the Fenrir with fear. Shade turned to Arthur with a tired gaze.

  "So far, by this one’s story, the lynxes were considered a semi-divine creature in Saftia," Shade relayed. "They weren't bothered by the people and they, in turn, left the people alone. However, with the rise of the new Temple's faction, their mercenaries have started hunting lynxes. It's a practice shunned by the populace, but that doesn't stop the Temple's hunters. She just sensed the opportunity, and used it to strike at those who killed her family. But that wasn't enough. She figured out that if she followed us, she could kill more of the Templars, but you were always faster."

  "Okay..." Arthur resheathed his sword. There was no need to kill the monster after all. "So that's why she was lurking around on the fringes of my skill?"

  "She is an excellent tracker and a great hunter." Shade begrudgingly admitted. "But she knows she is weak. She was afraid of both of us, Arthur. She knew that we could kill her without a second thought, the same as we killed that mindless lion."

  Arthur ruffled his hair at the back of his head as he scratched at his neck. He sighed heavily.

  "What should I do with you..."

  Thank you all for reading.

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to and who edited the chapter!