The Great Temple of Light was a magnificent building.
Everywhere you looked, both inside and outside the temple, there were towering, snow-white stone structures. And right in the middle of the courtyard before the temple gates stood an enormous, majestic, lifelike statue of the Goddess of Light, Lucilis, perhaps a hundred meters tall!
At a glance, its luxury and grandeur put the castle palace of the Kingdom of Karthus to shame.
But on second thought, that was only to be expected.
After all, the "Church of Light," or the "Church of Lucilis," was one of the few large churches on the continent of El Sallia—indeed, it could be called the only one. The Goddess of Light, Lucilis, was known to nearly everyone on the continent. She could even reveal her divine power, answer her followers, display Divine Magic, and perform miracles. So it was only natural that she had so many followers, and that they had built such a grand temple here.
Today, Annie had been wandering around and had naturally ended up here. This was Aestel, a place people called holy ground, and the site of the Great Temple of Light.
Annie had heard of this place. Supposedly, after she rescued that fool Elwynn, Hein, and Liana outside some little village, the three of them had made their way here at the first opportunity to seek shelter.
As for how that had turned out...
The Imperial Army had openly attacked this holy ground without showing the slightest mercy, and driven Elwynn and the others out.
After that came the whole series of events: the three of them running to Karthus, Karthus nearly being destroyed, and their near-death encounter with a great mage who practiced reincarnation magic.
Of course, all of that had happened in the past and was no