I helped Lemuen sit up, after such a long coma, even if I resolved any issues, her body was still rather stiff.
-"Any discomfort?"
-"It's alright."-She smiled softly.-"How are you two? And my sister, where did you ditch her to be lovey-dovey by yourself?"
-"Hey, don't speak like we would do something like that in the past. It was for work. You know how Lemuel is."-Mostima defended our innocence.
-"Right, so why would you always be in some new café every time Lemuel and I would look for you?"
-"After work treat."
-"Heh."-Lemuen looked at Mostima with squinted eyes.
-"Your sister is busy helping me finish something I could attend to."-I decided to explain.
-"Right! Listen to this. This playboy of a Saint disappeared, then suddenly he returned and managed to secure three beauties as knights for himself. You need to help me, or he'll extend his evil hands even further. Kuranta, Lupo, and even a Sarkaz, I'm afraid, who would be next."-Mostima started to perform a tragedy.
-"Oh? So he ignored his childhood sweethearts and started to look for greener grass outside? And who it was that boosted that she could keep him in check back then? I'm disappointed in you, Mostima."
-"Hey, it's not my fault. Who would expect that the introverted Saint could suddenly become such a smooth talker? I was present when he charmed that golden pony, but I still barely believe how good he is. First, he acted concerned, but added the wood to the fire, exploiting her fear, then he stepped in, acting as if it was nothing, resolving the problem on the spot, finally, using sweet words to make her his by using the gratitude he just created."
-"Truly? That sounds more like something you would don, not our Eno."
-"Its true! I could see through it, but that naïve pony has fallen head over heels; there is no saving her."
-"That's only one, what about the remaining two? I don't believe he could charm Sarkaz and Lupo so quickly."
-"Ugh, don't even get me started. I still can't wrap my head around how he managed to do it. That Lupo is one thing, remember that friend he would write letters and messages regularly?"
-"Yes, his 'bro', wait, don't tell me..."
-"Yup, that Lupo is his dear brother. Quite a beauty at that, even I feel a little ashamed next to her. Add to the equation a tragic background, a cold and stoic personality, and lastly, Lupo's loyalty. I don't need to explain the rest, right?"
-"As expected of Son."-She nodded.
-"Please don't be impressed by that."-I spoke from the side, only to be ignored.
-"But that Sarkaz, this is something I think even Yanese novel authors wouldn't dare to write. That woman was a Confessarii! Can you imagine? Enemies turning into friends? And he managed to do so in those short four months. I'm afraid to even think about other women whom he met during his travels."
-"That is indeed a problem."
-"That's why I asked him to wake you up quickly, if I alone can't keep him straight, two of us would have to act together. I already consulted the Old Man. If you can quickly finish rehabilitation, then you can resume your status as his priestess."
-"Thank you."
-"No problem, I hope you can keep an eye on him in my place, after all..."
-"You're not going anywhere, Mostima. I made Sarkaz my knight, I can easily make a Fallen my priestess."
-"See, he got really good at it."
-"Indeed."
I felt my eyebrow twitch because of those two.
-"Ok, enough with that. I'll be in your care again, Eno."
-"It's us who will be cared for by you, don't we. Throughout all those years away, I missed your homely food more than you can imagine."
-"Then I can't leave my dear Son be left carving it any longer, can't I?"-She slowly stood up, carefully holding the bed for support.
-"Careful."-I stood up and supported her.-"Don't rush."
-"Would you mind helping me for a stroll, Son?"-She invited me.
-"It's my honor."-I smiled in response.
After spending the rest of the afternoon with Lemuen and Mostima, I returned to residence that was my 'home' since I can remember. The whole building was the size of a manor, but if one were to describe it in one word, it would be called empty. There was only necessary furniture present, and aside from the bakery and the study, they were in minimalistic and utilitarian style.
The bakery was a place akin to a hobby room to me. Because it was unbecoming for Holy Son to cook, I never learned it, but for Sankta, making sweets was something entirely else. Let alone unbecoming, the moment I showed any interest in it, countless masters were recruited to teach me. In the end, I truly became one of the best sweet-makers in the city, but this skill could only remain unused during my journey. But here, the first thing I did was to clean my hands and start preparing something sweet.
Working with my hand allowed me to quiet down, finally relaxing and clearing my mind. It's not every day that you uncover something that can turn your identity on its head. I made a quick job of the filling and the crust. After preparing the base and placing the filling on top of it, I placed everything in the fridge for it to solidify. Leaving it there, I moved to my study, finding in exactly as I left it.
On the table, there were still countless papers about the history of the Law and other artifacts, as back then, I was trying to find some other artifact that might be able to help with my predicament, but after uncovering the Lock and Key that is in Mostima's hands, everything went awry. I looked through the papers, recording many different items and rumors, but after looking through them, I tapped my finger on the table surface, burning everything on it clean.
On the now clean space, I brought a few books from the bookcases by the walls, the first one recorded characteristics of the Teekaz tribes, the next few were about Originium Arts, and its ancient forms, the Witchcraft. Lastly, I took out my books on sorcery and miracles, expanding my already sizable collection present here.
With them prepared, I could start delving into my origin, looking for a way to move from here. The first step was to understand what it means to be Teekaz. The differences between the Sankta and modern Sarkaz are so great that it's hard to find similarities; maybe only their high talent in the Arts can be a shared characteristic. As for the rest, be it physique, weaknesses, or even traditions, they were entirely different.
Those differences became even more apparent when comparing modern Sarkaz and Sankta to ancient Teekaz, who lacked humanoid forms and appeared almost animal-like in comparison. But their forms also brought them enormous advantage, both lifespan and power they possessed allowed them to stand as the only race that could contend with Feranmuts, completely dominating Terra before the arrival of Terrans, and the advent of Originium they brought with them.
This meant that the field of Teekaz Witchcraft was a promising place to start with. While Witchcraft has a bad reputation in modern times because it's dependence on life-force and bloodline, modern Sarkaz were able to combine it with Originium, so I don't see why I shouldn't be able to achieve similar success, not to mention that life-force was not something I lacked. As for Bloodline? That's even less of an issue now.
Cyclops are one of the royal tribes, known for their 'third' eye and high Arts talent. The problem was that without anyone to teach me how to tap into those, I could only wander in blindly. But at least I already had some foundation, knowing the basics of divination and astrology should be enough to awaken my third eye. Yet, I still needed to seek more knowledge about Cyclops, as records about them were limited, making the knowledge about their Witchcraft sparse.
Next, I needed to understand the influence of the Law on my bloodline and my other characteristics. The most obvious influence was my form, being far from the tall Cyclops, let alone animal like Teekaz, looking like any other Sankta. This made me much weaker then Teekaz, but human like form was rather important, so I needed to be careful not to cause some trouble in this field.
But the most important thing that Law gave me is its ability to control. Thanks to Gaia, this ability manifested as control over spirits and magical energy, but it shouldn't end here. By understanding how Law could manipulate minds and even twist forms of ancient Teekaz, I might be able to extend my control to many more things.
I also needed to check for the connection between Law and miracles and divinity. Since I entered Laterano City, I felt my miracles became much more powerful, even without actively using them. So there must be some link, but of what nature is something I needed to uncover.
This brings me to the next point, I had to unify the theory behind sorceries, magic from my dreams, magecraft from Britain, Arts of Terra, and Witchcraft of Teekaz. Each of those had advantages and disadvantages, so by unifying them, I could create a magic theory balancing all those, benefiting from the advantages while mitigating the weaknesses. But this was a task far beyond my current available resources, needing both time and support I lacked now, so before attempting that, I needed to first prepare many things.
As such, I needed to put on the agenda many things, such as building my Tower or even turning the whole Laterano City into my Magical Workshop. Modernizing the Laterano also needed to be mentioned, as by utilizing knowledge from the times, the Grail War took place, I could make Laterano replace Columbia as the center of economic growth in a few decades.
Another important matter was to end the isolation of Laterano, finding allies among other countries. But opening Laterano to outsiders would make us vulnerable to those wishing us harm, so finding or creating some deterrent. With my magic knowledge, making something that would make others think twice before acting wasn't hard, but the required resources to do so weren't something to scoff at either.
And lastly, the Originium. I still needed to understand it, as it is not only implicitly linked with my origin, but is the core of my current power. If all previous points were my plans for the future, then this one is my current job. The problem was, there was almost no knowledge of Originium in Laterano, and looking around for those in the know, I was able to find only three factions that might have some understanding beyond the common knowledge.
First were the Sarkaz, but for obvious reasons, they won't cooperate with me willingly, so I put them as my last choice. The second faction was connected to Sarkaz, but was much more amiable and might cooperate if given enough in exchange. They are a medical company that emerged when I was gone, Rhodes Island, but due to some matters, while I decided to contact them, they were only my second pick.
My first choice was actually the Leithanien, as they were leaders in the field of Originium Arts; their understanding of Originium can't be underestimated. With an agreement that allowed me to visit their biggest library, I didn't have to pay the price I would have to access similar knowledge from Rhodes Island. And so, this will be my focus in the near future, but before I depart there, I need to make some plans for the future here in Laterano.
Taking out books from the modern times of the Grail War, I wrote a note about what I wished to achieve and ordered someone to deliver it to the Tribunals of the Lateran Curia. With my order, they should be able to mobilize enough resources to start making some changes that would wake the Laterano from its current stagnation.
At the same time, I also wrote a series of orders for both the high command of the Apostolic Knights and the Pontifica Cohors Lateran as a whole. I demanded that they increase their numbers, as well as fully allow Liberin into their ranks. I included some books and scrolls about miracles, hoping that they could develop a new force using those.
Lastly, I prepared a document to be delivered directly to the Old Man Pope, asking him to prepare an edict in my name that I planned to implement during the knighting ceremony. The edict would allow all believers of the Lateran Church to become citizens of Laterano if they lived in the territory of the Laterano long enough and accepted the Sacrament of Confirmation. I also gave him the copies of the books I gave others, so that the Old Man could read something in his free time.
After sending everything to be delivered, I stood up and exited my residence, entering an entrance to the catacombs that stretched underneath the city. After walking few minutes, I found myself face-to-face with the Law itself. It looked like a pillar with cubical constructs forming a halo above it, but rather than invoking any Holy feeling, it only made one feel chill.
Walking in front of it, I placed my hand on what looked like a terminal, closing my eyes to focus. Soon, I established a connection with the Law, trying to make an exchange with it. While not alive or even sentient, the Law's first priority was to remain active and then sustain the existence of Sankta; as such, I prepared a project of magical formation that would support the Law by utilizing the land on which Laterano was built. In exchange I wished to create the Sacrament of Confirmation I wrote about to the Old Man, a process that would allow one to join into the Sankta Empathy.
The Law quickly judged it as something that agreed with its precepts, so it granted me the 'Right to Convert', and created the Sacrament of Confirmation based on it. With that in my hand, I could prepare for creating my first miracle, cementing my name as the Holy Son in the international scene. After taking one last look at the object that was my sword of Damocles, I left this silent chamber.
On my way back, I ran into the old man who received my message, so I walked with him while explaining my plans. He agreed with my ideas, especially those on opening up Laterano and accepting believers other than Sankta, but he also had a few ideas he wanted to do, such as an international Summit of Nations to address global threats and problems that wouldn't be hard to resolve with some cooperation.
I agreed to that, even giving him a book about something called UN from the depths of my unsorted book collection, I had Luvia to prepare for me. After seeing the Old Man off, I returned to my study, planning the layout of the magic circles over the entire Laterano City in preparations for building my Tower here. At the same time, my orders rousted the dormant Laterano from its silence, making many people wonder what changes the name Holy Son would bring to Terra.