Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation(Vol 4)

Vol 4/ Chapter 5: The Multipurpose Holy Water

"I heard that you angels have a subtle relationship with the True Church, so it's understandable that you all don't know much about the Cresthaven Papal Dominion..."

The steward said with a smile, thinking that none of us were too fond of the True Church, not knowing that one of us was an exception, although he had joined a different world's True Church.

"We're here!"

With Nicola's reminder, the lengthy descent finally ended. We stepped out of the elevator and saw the main entrance and exit of the royal castle right in front of us, not too far away.

"We won't trouble you anymore after this. We've been to Norvale downtown a few times before, so we're quite familiar with it."

The steward still wanted to continue serving as our guide according to the king's orders, but Nicola and I firmly declined.

"Then I bid the three angel guests farewell!"

The steward didn't insist. After leading us out of the main gate of the royal castle, he bowed deeply to us, then saw us off as we left.

The main gate of the royal castle was usually quite crowded, with many commoners and officials entering the city to run errands.

But now, the passageways in and out had been completely sealed off. It was clear that the assassination attempt had alarmed all the guards in the entire royal castle. There were also noticeably more soldiers standing guard than usual. If it wasn't for the steward clearing the way for us, I reckon even the two of us would have had trouble getting out.

"Let's go home first!"

Walking on the familiar streets, I finally felt a sense of relief, eager to return home.

"I wonder if our rented apartment is still there, or we could go ask Adrian and the others about the situation?"

"There are shops everywhere along the streets, it's almost like cities on Earth!"

Cyra didn't seem to be listening to me at all. She curiously looked around at the city sights, casually asking:

"Is there an area with concentrated eateries, like a food street?"

"...Didn't you just eat so many snacks?"

I was exasperated by this girl. How could she eat so much? I decided to ignore her for now and turned to Nicola for advice instead.

Just as I was pondering our next step, I caught from the corner of my eye that Cyra had suddenly disappeared.

"You gotta be kidding me. Where did she run off to? What if she gets lost?"

Nicola and I were dumbfounded. We could only look around everywhere for her.

"She was just asking about places to eat, she probably ran into some restaurant."

"But she doesn't have any money on her. "

I anxiously looked around, but the pedestrian traffic on the streets was extremely dense. The carriages passing through the middle of the roads further obstructed visibility, making it difficult to spot our target.

"Cyra!"

I called out loudly as I walked, but this girl was so much trouble! She didn't know the way to our home either, and we weren't even sure where we would be staying tonight. What if we get separated again?

"There!"

Luckily Nicola had sharp eyes. Not long after, amidst the churning crowds, she spotted Cyra.

Turns out she wasn't in a restaurant but at a roadside stall selling religious items. We finally found her there, squatting and closely looking at the various goods being sold by the peddler, including crucifixes and holy water.

"Can you pour some of this holy water out for me to take a look?"

When we arrived behind her, Cyra was pointing to a small bottle on the mat and asking.

"Of course! This is authentic holy water, wholesale from the Paddington Cathedral. Even the packaging is original from the True Church, absolute quality is guaranteed! Not the fake inferior products conjured up by second-rate light magicians."

Upon hearing this, the peddler eagerly opened up the bottle cap and dripped some onto Cyra's hand, shrewdly tempting her:

"Young lady, seems like you're not too familiar with this holy water, probably your first time coming across something like this right? Let me tell you, this holy water doesn't just combat monsters, or get used in True Church rituals for baptisms. Just sprinkle a little bit on wounds out in the wild, and it can slow bleeding and reduce inflammation. And that's not all, just add a little spice and it instantly becomes a strong beauty product, many noble ladies are my regular customers!"

"So it's that incredible?"

Cyra lifted her palm to her nose and sniffed. She looked somewhat tempted.

"Stop looking, you don't have money to buy any! The cheapest bottle of holy water is at least a few hundred silvers!"

Seeing this, I impatiently pulled her up from the ground, repeatedly reminding her:

"This is the royal capital after all. Norvale is massive, if you keep wandering off like this, what if you get lost? You're so much trouble!"

"Tch, I'm not a kid, how could I get lost!"

Cyra pouted as I dragged her away. She kept looking back longingly, seemingly reluctant to leave.

"It's because I don't have money now! But I'm already here, earning some pocket money should be easy."

"Dream on!"

I was ready to toss this girl into the lake by the roadside. I remember when Nicola and I first arrived in this city, we worked from dawn to dusk taking adventure guild quests just to get by. Even so, our average daily income was only a few hundred silvers. We might not even have enough for a bottle of holy water! Let alone how easy she made it sound!

Moreover, this was not Edenmere. Out in the main world, angels still needed to eat every day because of the day/night cycle. So that was another big expense!

"Let's just bring her back home first! It's been some time since the rental due date, if the landlord cleared our stuff out we can just find an inn to squeeze into for a night or two. We're only staying for 1-2 more days before setting off again anyway. Finding a temporary place to crash shouldn't be too difficult."

Nicola frowned, just wanting to get rid of this troublesome girl quickly. Once we found a place to stay, Cyra could wander the city however she wanted.

"That works too!"

I agreed after thinking about it. Our savings were on us anyway, staying at an inn for a few nights shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, there was an even cheaper option - crashing at Vivianne's place. But that would be very inconsiderate of us, not something to resort to unless necessary.

Moreover, we didn't even know if Vivianne had returned safely. And it seemed like Nicola and Adrian's relationship wasn't great right now, just thinking about it gave me a headache.