Divine Arts

Divine Arts. They did not head toward the academy. Instead, led by Klayr, they went to the Back Street behind Elf Academy.

The entire street was lined with all kinds of shops, and there was even a small flea market.

Klayr found a Potion Shop. Some of the students on the street stared at them with strange looks, making Klayr feel ashamed. He kept wanting to lower his head so acquaintances would not recognize him.

Only after entering the Potion Shop and plopping down on a high stool in front of the counter did Klayr feel like he had come back to life.

At least in front of the pharmacist, he did not need to hide the bruises on his face.

"Two Minor Life Potions... Oh, no! Make that two Regular Life Potions!"

Klayr said to the Potion Shop Boss.

The Potion Shop Boss was an elf mage. Wearing an apricot yellow magic robe, he stood behind the counter and looked at Klayr and Roy in surprise.

At Klayr's request, he turned around and took two pale-red potions from the shelf behind him.

"Want ice packs? They're free!"

The Potion Shop Boss said casually.

"Yes..."

"One hundred and twenty Kole." The Potion Shop Boss named the price.

Klayr paid, then handed one bottle of potion to Roy. The Potion Shop Boss handed them two ice packs wrapped in gauze.

Roy had personally seen him conjure the ice just now. Each chunk was as large as a palm, and he had simply found some gauze beneath the counter and wrapped them up.

Although there was a Potion Shop at the entrance to Brown Street, this was Roy's first time seeing magical potions.

The bottle was shaped like a test tube, with a cork stopper at its mouth. There was even a wax seal over the stopper, though it was so thin that it was impossible to see without looking closely.

"Life Potions won't do much for bruising and swelling. If you want to recover faster, you'd be better off asking the Moon God Temple for a cup of Tree of Life Sap. Otherwise, Water Magic Hydrotherapy works quite well too." The Potion Shop Boss rolled his eyes at Klayr.

"Then could you cast Hydrotherapy on us twice? I'm willing to pay you for it." Klayr immediately understood and asked the Potion Shop Boss.

"Of course. Fifty Kole per casting." The Potion Shop Boss narrowed his eyes and smiled at Klayr. "Running a Potion Shop is getting harder and harder these days. It isn't easy to keep one going."

Klayr readily took out the money.

The Potion Shop Boss led Klayr and Roy behind a curtain. There was not only a single bed there, but also a long bench.

Klayr and Roy obediently sat on the bench, watching the Potion Shop Boss take a Cedar Staff from a drawer and stand before them like a conductor.

The moment he raised the staff, the somewhat dull-looking Potion Shop Boss seemed to become a different person, radiating an indescribable aura.

Roy could sense that something was flowing from the tip of the staff, yet he could not see it.

As the Potion Shop Boss recited a fluent incantation, a sparkling light enveloped Klayr...

"Ow, what is this... It hurts!"

Klayr let out a miserable cry. Roy saw a stream of silver, sparkling lights like tiny bubbles cover Klayr's body before disappearing a few seconds later.

Hydrotherapy seemed extremely painful for Klayr, but Roy was astonished to see the bruises on Klayr's face fading at a visible rate.

The Potion Shop Boss said smugly, "See? I'd say there's no magic more suited to reducing bruising and swelling than Hydrotherapy."

Then he raised the staff again and pointed it at Roy.

Roy asked Klayr uneasily, "Does it hurt a lot?"

Before Klayr could answer, a string of tiny bubbles landed on Roy. This time, Roy did not even hear an incantation...

Instant cast.

Roy only felt as if countless hands were viciously twisting his body over and over. The pain was clearly beneath his skin and flesh, yet it was unbearably agonizing.

"Fuck..."

After finishing the spell, the Potion Shop Boss casually tossed the wand into the drawer, pulled open the curtain, and returned to the counter.

Roy and Klayr, two fellow sufferers, endured their discomfort as they walked out of the Potion Shop.

At that moment, Roy was thinking that if he learned Minor Healing, he might not need to spend money on magical potions after getting into fights. Maybe he would not even need Hydrotherapy.

He wondered whether Minor Healing would hurt like Hydrotherapy after it was cast.

He could ask Jasper and Abbott after returning to the temple.

But clearly, the bruises and swelling on their faces and bodies were rapidly fading.

Other than the pain, the effect was quite good.

After leaving the Potion Shop, Klayr sat down on a bench by the street and complained bitterly:

"This is what you meant by drawing our swords?"

Roy still clutched the Life Potion in his hand and replied as if it were only natural, "Yeah. If they dare come after us again, we'll beat up whoever throws the first punch. However they hit us, we'll hit them back the same way. Since it's just a fight, what's there to be afraid of? Let them come... Ah, damn!"

When Roy swung his arm, the strain in his upper arm hurt so badly that he bared his teeth.

Hearing Roy say that, Klayr, who had felt that they had gotten the short end of the stick, became spirited again and said excitedly:

"That's right. I gave Steve a black eye just now. It felt amazing! If he dares cause us trouble again, we'll beat him up hard. When I get back, I'll practice the dismantling moves we learned today. If they come again, we'll beat them back again. Tonight, I'll get some Tree of Life Sap..."

Before Klayr could finish, he saw Roy hugging his two books again and running quickly toward the street entrance.

"Hey, Roy, where are you going?" Klayr called after him.

Roy turned around and said:

"I have something to do this afternoon. I'm leaving first."

With that, he sped up and ran off. A Long Carriage was approaching from afar on the other side of the street entrance.

Roy ran over, panting, and managed to board the Long Carriage just as it stopped. Then he poked his head out of the carriage and waved forcefully at Klayr.

Klayr stood where he was. In the past, whenever he had followed his sister around, he had always felt that Steve, who was a little older than him, was one of the tougher youths of their generation. But thinking about it again now, Steve did not seem all that frightening.

Looking at his torn sleeve and the Light Leather Armor stained with blood, Klayr felt that he really should drink a cup of Tree of Life Sap to recover...

Sitting in the carriage, Roy stared blankly at the scenery rushing past on either side of the streets as they passed through the Lower District.

He had not expected the thief who stole the Holy Grail to die. When Roy heard the news that morning, he had been stunned. He had merely stolen the temple's Holy Grail. Even if he had been caught, as long as he returned the stolen item, under the Elven Kingdom's lenient laws, the lightest punishment would be an unremovable iron ring placed on one finger, while the harshest would be a period in prison.

No matter what, there was no reason for him to die...

Now Roy realized that things had become serious. The elf thief Pelius had rushed to the tavern at noon that day, perhaps to meet Jefferson. Roy was also certain that the package in Pelius's hands had most likely contained the Holy Grail.

But now? Both the elf thief Pelius and Jefferson were dead, and the Holy Grail's whereabouts were unknown.

The trail of clues leading to the Holy Grail had been cut off just like that.

The Long Carriage stopped beside the Da Nei River bridge at the entrance to Brown Street. Roy got out of the carriage and headed down Brown Street toward the Goddess of Freedom Temple.

There was not much going on at the temple that afternoon. He would probably be studying divine arts in the Study Room.

When Roy arrived at the temple entrance, he found that the temple's large iron gates were indeed shut tight.

A luxurious carriage was even parked outside the temple. The carriage had gold and silver patterns, and even its wheels were coated in a thick layer of gel-like resin.

Roy tried pushing open the small side door and entered the temple's front courtyard.

As he passed the temple's Main Hall, Roy faintly heard people talking inside.

"How can this go on!"

Priest Anderson's voice reached Roy's ears and gave him a fright. It sounded somewhat hoarse.

Then Priest Theodore's voice came through. "Has there been any reply from the High Priest?"

High Priest Reed answered:

"The messenger will not be back so quickly. We will probably have to wait a few more days. Anderson, you need to rest more lately. I feel that your condition is somewhat unstable."

Priest Anderson's voice came again. "Maintaining the miracle always comes at a price. Don't worry. A few days of rest will be enough."

"I'm in a hurry, so I'm leaving first!" Priest Theodore's voice said.

Roy had just reached the well when he saw Priest Theodore, dressed in red-and-white priestly robes, stride quickly to the temple entrance and board the carriage outside.

Roy went to the rest room, where the Novice Priest robe he had washed yesterday had already dried.

After changing into the Novice Priest robe, Roy went to the Study Room.

Jasper and Abbott were both in the Study Room, silently reciting prayers. When Roy entered, they opened their eyes one after the other.

Jasper could never keep things to himself. The moment he saw Roy, he said:

"Roy, did you know? They found the thief who stole the Holy Grail. He was actually murdered in a filthy ditch in the Lower District. They just couldn't recover the Holy Grail..."

Abbott also chimed in at that moment:

"I heard someone witnessed the entire theft. They even hired an artist to make a portrait and handed it to the patrolmen, which was how they identified and caught him. But unfortunately, by the time they brought him back... he was already dead."

"Really? Are there any new clues about the Holy Grail?" Roy asked curiously.

"Not for now. It seems the Guard Post intends to shelve the case."

Jasper spoke softly. Feeling that praying had little effect and could not gather much Holy Light Power, he simply took a book from the shelf. It happened to be the one Roy had studied yesterday, Strength Blessing.

"I've realized this divine art is actually pretty good. Why didn't I notice before?" Jasper said regretfully.

"Are you going to be like Roy and aspire to become a Combat Priest too?" Abbott asked in surprise.

Jasper gave a chuckle. No matter how one looked at it, his smile was somewhat lecherous and did not resemble one a Novice Priest should wear.

"I don't want to work that hard. Becoming a Priest would be enough for me. If I could go a step further, I'd want to become a priest..." Jasper said.

Abbott asked even more perplexedly, "Then why do you want to learn Strength Blessing?"

Jasper pushed the book in front of Abbott, turned it to the page with the annotations, and said proudly:

"Haven't you noticed? This divine art can strengthen the entire body. Though twenty minutes is a little short, it's barely enough..."