A brief moment of silence was held before it was broken again.
"No I have not seen anyone related to the luck realm. Rochelle".
Apathy briefly glanced at the people behind Rochelle. Her eyes lingered a tad longer on the little boy in the middle who was still drowsy before continuing.
"What does the Church of Stella want with someone of the luck realm?"
Rochelle let out a soft grunt.
"A fellow Priest had his wallet stolen".
A small yelp escaped from behind her. Her eyebrows slightly twitched but she didn't say anything.
Wills face felt like it was melting he subconsciously checked his back pocket and patted the wallet he took from the man's body. He swore in his head and his palms became increasingly sweaty.
The girl who introduced herself to him as Stell looked down at the boy. She thought he must be nervous for his big sister. However, Noah who Stell also introduced looked at the boy suspiciously before returning his gaze to the altercation in front of him.
A loud laugh was heard in the room.
"You came into my store tried to threaten me using your witchcraft…For a wallet?"
Rochelle sighed. The church was understaffed right now all the low ranking members at the church maintaining operations and all the high ranking ones were sent to the capital for their annual mass.
The only reason they were tasked with looking for the stupid walled was because they knew what it looked like and the priest who lost it was recently promoted to a bishop. They had to follow their orders.
She then looked around the store to see any signs of hiding places. She looked at the back room and threw away any thoughts of getting in there.
The fluctuations in her spirit told her that the girl in front of her looked to have recently advanced and was now at the same realm as her despite being more than half a decade younger than herself. This slap on the face hurt her pride as a priest of the Church.
But she knew better that battles of the same realm usually ended up with one man standing and she didn't like her odds even with the two sprouts behind her.
After all she didn't even know about the little boy's realm. She could tell that he was of a lower realm than her due to his reaction after she used her witchcraft and the fluctuations of his spirit. This however was negligible because in battles between similar realms it's not always the higher realm wins. If the lower realm had a contrasting ability or used their abilities effectively the battle could be lost almost instantly especially for this young girl whose realm is one of the most dangerous within the lower realms of witchcraft.
She then turned to look at him looked at him again. His features were very striking even though he looked as if he had not eaten in a few weeks his gold hair and eyes still oozed life. He seemed to be a bit more nervous than earlier but she assumed it was because it was the first time he has experienced a clash in witchcraft. She thought his willpower was incredible.
Even Noah and Stell fainted the first time they experienced a clash and they're supposed to be candidates future Archbishops of the Church. Although the boy did receive some help from Stell; Rochelle couldn't help but compliment him. She might even try to rope him into the ranks of the Clergy.
Stell bent down and the dress under the robe fluttered in front of Will. Her brown eyes looked deeply into the golden eyes before her. She then smiled and pinched his cheeks which quickly reddened.
Noticing that it was time they left Rochelle was walked to the entrance past Will. She signaled for Noah and Stell to follow her.
Noah scoffed and did as he was told. He looked back at Will and his 'big sister' and was about to say something under his breath when he noticed something in the boys back pocket. It was the priest's wallet. His vision was excellent in darker areas so he knew what he was seeing wasn't a mistake. He then immediately acted.
Sensing the killing intent from her subordinate Rochelle instinctively looked at who it was directed towards and she saw the wallet through the holes of the boy's pants and became increasingly serious.
Right as she was about to take action. She noticed something odd. Her hands would not move. She looked down and saw that they had 'coincidentally' gotten stuck in her robes.
However, Noah's stride had already begun. Seeing this Apathy's eyes grew deep and said in an almost intoxicating voice.
"I think it's time you sleep now Noah".
Noah's eyelids immediately began to droop but he was already prepared for this. He stabbed his left palm and the pain allowed him to maintain consciousness for a split second longer than he was supposed to.
Apathy scoffed at his crude methods and then signaled for Will to run towards her. Will didn't need to be asked twice he immediately begun sprinting towards his savior. His eyes which glowed for a brief second dimmed.
Noticing she had control of her hands now Rochelle sprinted towards the boy. She moved like she weighed less than a penny easily passing Noah whose movement had already become too sluggish to maintain a straight path.
Right behind her was Stell who looked a bit disappointed in the boy who she seemingly had a good impression of. They both reached the counter slightly after the boy.
It was too late though Apathy said two words "Dreamy Summer". Sounds of cracking glass was heard and. Rochelle and Stell's vision immediately went blurry and returned.
They were now in a meadow. Their vision engulfed by fields of roses and poppies. They felt indescribably happy. They ever relaxed their guard a bit and stopped to smell the flowers. The sweet scent of the roses made the two girls blush in ecstasy.
Stell began picking roses while Rochelle began to pick poppies. After 3 minutes of picking Rochelle's intuition told her something was not right here. She looked closely at her hands and saw nothing wrong. She glanced over at Stell who was having a merry time and questioned herself.
'I don't even like flowers…' The reality was broken and she found herself on the floor of an empty store. Next to her was a bleeding Noah and a Stell who was happily 'picking flowers' with her eyes glazed over.
She then muttered to herself… 'Shit'