I was silent as the knights guided my way through what used to be my home. The Churchgoers had torn down and destroyed a lot of the One Creator banners and belongings when they occupied the camp and brought their own, so it was nice to see the One Creator insignia returned.
From the direction we headed towards, I assumed that we were heading to the Main Hall of the camp, and on the way, we walked past a few groups of Churchgoer prisoners. Most of them were male, but I was surprised that there were a few women and even children. It was difficult to listen to the sobbing of the children. Some of whom were even younger than me.
"What's going to happen to them?" I asked loud enough for the knight leading — Joseph, I think he said his name was — to hear.
"Hm?" He turned to look at where I was pointing and saw a few women and children shackled, "Oh, we're waiting on a ruling from the central campuses, but unless they have a direct hand in murdering our members, they're probably going to have to only serve a short sentence in jail."
"Even the kids?" I asked.
"The kids?" He shot a glance at me, and I could see that he struggled to find the right words to answer my question. After a bit, he finally spoke, "The investigations as to how much the children did are still ongoing. If they're found innocent, they would be placed in a One Creator orphanage until they come of age."
"And if they're guilty?" I watched his reaction closely.
He quickly turned around to face the front to avoid showing any reactions to me. "Then they would have to bear the consequences of their actions."
Even though he didn't specifically tell me anything, I could tell from his tone that it was an unpleasant subject for him to reflect on. I quickly glanced back at the women and children that were bound.
I knew that Knight Joseph didn't want to talk about it anymore, and I felt a little sick at the thought of the possible outcome for the kids. They probably were only here because their parents were caught up in something nefarious, and if found guilty, they would have to pay the same price as the adults.
We walked the rest of the way to the Main Hall in silence. While we walked, I saw a big, billowing pillar of smoke that seemed to come from right outside the campus.
"Is that…?" I couldn't finish my question, but when Knight Joseph saw I was asking about the smoke, he nodded solemnly.
"When we subdued the Churchgoers, they…" the knight shuddered softly at the thought, "…they disrespected the dead in so many ways. We have just finished finding and discovering the bodies of the victims only recently and have started giving them their deserved burial rites."
I nodded. I fought back the tears that started to form in my eyes. Knight Joseph saw the emotion in them and gave an apologetic, sad smile as he continued to lead the way to the Main Hall. We both knew that the pillar of smoke was only that big because of the number of bodies being burned.
Before I knew it, Joseph stopped before two guards in front of the Main Hall. They saluted to him and stepped to the side to make way. He nodded to them and held the door open for me.
I thanked Joseph and kept my gaze low as I walked past them and into the Main Hall. Surprisingly, the state of the inside of the building was a lot better than I expected. I heard the door shut and saw that Joseph walked into the Hall after me.
"Why don't you just wait here for a moment," Joseph kindly suggested. He pointed at a couple of benches that were placed against the back corner to the left, "I'll let the bishops know that you're here to meet with the Head-Perator."
"What's happened to the Main Hall?" I asked him quickly before he left.
The Main Hall had been a simple building that doubled as the campus' town hall as well as the chapel. There had been benches stacked and put away on one side of the hall. There were enough chairs to seat all 80-odd people that lived on the campus and more to spare in case of visitors and esteemed guests.
They were all gone except for the few around me now. Where they had been stacked is now a line of desks with scholars and religious adults. They looked like they were filling out paperwork of some sort.
Where the pulpit was placed, was now just a couple of steps up to an empty stage. The big Pillar that used to adorn the wall opposite the main entrance of the Hall was now strangely empty, although it looked like they were amid painting over a Churchgoer insignia.
The only thing that seemingly didn't change drastically was the door on the right side of the stage that led to an adjoining building where the campus leader's private quarters are located.
Knight Joseph realised what I meant and cleared his throat, "Well, when the Churchgoers captured the camp, they decided to desecrate a lot of our religious symbols and decided to turn the Hall into an unholy altar of theirs.
"Right now, we're in the middle of a lot of investigations, that's why there are a lot of people here working, and ultimately, we're working on figuring out whether or not we'll keep this campus or to merge the resources to the Shinobu City branch."
Knight Joseph surprised me when he asked, "What do you think we should do about the campus?"
I hadn't expected the question and I froze up as my mind went blank. Then I remembered what happened the night that the Churchgoers attacked. The night I managed to escape the campus. The night my parents and everyone I knew died.
"I," I spoke slowly, "don't think the campus should stay."
The knight simply nodded and watched me closely. I kept my eyes low and stayed silent.
"Okay," Knight Joseph finally said softly, "I'll make sure your opinion is also taken into consideration when we get to that discussion."
The knight nodded and made his way towards one of the bishops that sat at a desk on the other side of the Hall where I sat. I watched as the bishop nodded quickly as Joseph spoke. They were too far for me to hear what was being said. After Joseph gave a quick point towards me, the bishop glanced over, saw me, and bowed to Joseph before the bishop stood and walked to the door to the campus leader's private quarters.
The bishop's knocks echoed through the hall, and I realised that everyone that had been working diligently had suddenly stopped and watched the door-knocking bishop.
The man walked into the private quarters, and everything was suddenly deadly silent. Knight Joseph walked back to me and smiled.
"Come," the knight beckoned, and I stood and followed close behind him as he walked over to the door.
By the time we were a couple of metres away from the door, the bishop stepped out of the quarters and opened the door for us. Knight Joseph walked in first, and then I did. When we walked through, Knight Joseph stepped to the side to stand by the door and motioned for me to go towards the two wooden seats that were placed in the middle of the room by a large study desk. The bishop excused himself to Joseph and shut the door softly.
The room that I found myself in seemed like an office of some sort. Like the one my father used to have when we lived in the previous campus location, but bigger and with more shelves filled with religious texts. The desk was also huge compared to the small one father used to have.
I looked down at the seats that were placed next to each other directly in front of the desk and turned to Joseph.
"Pick a seat. The Head-Perator will be out shortly." Joseph explained.
I nodded and I sat down on the left chair and waited in silence.
I don't know how long I waited, but after an almost-maddening amount of silence, the door diagonally left to me at the back corner of the office clacked open.
The man who walked out looked to be in his late-60s. He was light-skinned, quite heavy and wore the shiny religious silver robes with gold threading that my teachers taught me were the official Head-Perator robes. The ones that the Head-Perator wears when conducting official One Creator business.
"Oh goodness gracious!" the man's commanding, deep voice exclaimed when he saw me, "She looks terrible, why hasn't she been given replacement clothes?"
I looked down and realised that I still wore the tattered, plain dark grey robe that I had on when I escaped the camp during the attack. It looked even worse now after all that's happened in the Tower as well. I also didn't have a chance to bathe so I was covered in grime and dirt and sand. I felt self-conscious then and I crossed my arms to cover my chest and tightly pressed my legs together.
The reality finally dawned on me that someone as small and insignificant as me, dirty and dressed in rags was meeting with the most important figurehead in the whole Pjanic region of the Religion of the One Creator: The Head-Perator.
"We're still trying to find anything suitable. The Churchgoers destroyed almost everything One Creator when they captured the campus." The knight behind me said.
"At least grab a spare blanket that we took with us and let her cover herself up!" the Head-Perator ordered, "And tell Kale to come in as well!"
"Yes sir," Knight Joseph bowed and quickly exited the room.
The Head=Perator shook his head as he slowly made his way towards the desk. His weight and his age meant that he was quite slow and deliberate with his movements. When the door to the room opened again, he finally sat down on his study chair. He sighed in relief as the wood of the chair creaked and settled.
I almost jumped when Knight Joseph suddenly appeared next to me and quickly draped a blanket that was big enough to cover most of my body over me. He looked apologetic and I thanked him quietly for the blanket.
"Kale," the Head-Perator greeted a second man that came into the room behind Joseph.
From the light-grey religious cloak that Kale was wearing and his stout, light-grey head garment that he had, it seemed that Kale was a Head Bishop. He carried a big pile of papers with him as he walked.
The man glanced at me with judgemental, serious, brown eyes and nodded curtly. He moved around the desk and stood next to the Head-Perator.
"Do you still have the notes that you took?" the Head-Perator asked without looking at Kale. He had already started to look at documents of his own.
"I have," Kale said in a flat voice as he flicked through a few pieces of paper before placing the one that the Head-Perator asked for in front of the old leader.
"For One's sake, why do you have to write so small!" the Head-Perator joked as he struggled to read Kale's writing. His eyes flicked up to just above the piece of paper and scanned something invisible to me from left to right.
"Thank the One Creator that Paradigm has an easy-reading function," the Head-Perator laughed heartily.
The Head-Perator scribbled something on top of an empty piece of paper and then glanced at me.
"So, you must be Katsumi Koru, daughter of Masahiro Koru and Hoshi Tonobe, correct?" the Head-Perator asked kindly.
All I could do was nod. My throat felt dry, and I was so nervous I could feel myself tremble a little bit.
The Head-Perator watched me and smiled kindly, "Don't be nervous, child. Just tell us your story. That's all we need."
I nodded but my throat was still dry when I tried to speak. The Head-Perator quickly ordered Kale to go and get some water for me. The Head Bishop nodded silently and walked out of the room.
When the man came back, he carried a small leather canteen, smaller than Ryuu's, and gave it to me. I shifted under the blanket to grab the canteen from him and thanked him with a croaky voice. As soon as my lips touched the water, it was like my body realised it was thirsty and I gulped the rest down quickly. My throat felt mildly better.
"Are you feeling better now?" The Head-Perator asked as I held onto the canteen underneath the blanket.
"Yes, Head-Perator." I meekly said.
"Now, I'd like to hear what happened, from your point of view, the night that this campus got attacked."
Even though I didn't think my story was of any importance, as I spoke about my parents' actions helping my escape, the Head-Perator wrote furiously on the piece of paper that he had. When I talked about witnessing the campus leader escaping, I noticed the Head-Perator glanced at Kale, the Head Bishop with raised eyebrows, before he continued writing. I almost forgot to add a little bit to explain how Sophia ended up with Ryuu and me.
I explained how I met Ryuu and Mr Saizo and the others in the forest, and how ultimately, they ended up with the plan to pretend that they captured me when they got close to the Churchgoer camp.
"That was exceedingly reckless," the Head-Perator had chimed in, "And the party couldn't think of any better ideas?"
I explained that some of the members of the party seemed to be more interested in completing the Quest they had travelled for and that since the party had to be intercepted by the Churchgoers, the group thought it best to create a diversion and escape to the Tower.
"And what were their plans for when the Crimson Tower Quest was completed?" the Head-Perator asked as he wrote.
"I—" I started but quickly stopped when I realised that I had no idea what Ryuu and the others had planned to do after the Quest, "I'm not sure. It felt like they were going to use the time in the Tower to think about that, but it didn't go exactly to plan."
And when I got to what happened in the Tower, I made sure to avoid talking about what Ryuu. From how the Head Pastor was reacting to him, I had the feeling that the monster that he turned to in the Tower had something to do with their religion. After all that he's done for me, I didn't want to drag him into any more trouble.
Like what really happened in the Tower, I blamed the Churchgoer incursion to be the cause of the Tower Quest messing up for the party. I was relieved when I could see the Head-Perator nodding in understanding at my explanation.
At the end of my story, the Head-Perator finished writing all his notes in silence. I looked around to gauge the reaction of the other people in the room. The Head Bishop still looked as stern as he was when he first entered. Knight Joseph seemed horrified and angry at what I had to go through.
When the Head-Perator finished his notes, he waited for the ink to dry and then gave the papers back to Kale. He shared a knowing look with the Head Bishop and mumbled, "It seems that the poor man's story omitted an important fact. Let's bring him out here, so we can bring a formal end to this investigation."
Kale placed the papers on top of the pile that he held and bowed slightly, "Yes, Head-Perator."
The man exited the office quickly.
"Excuse me," I said quietly.
The Head-Perator had leant back into his chair. He smiled at me kindly, "Yes, child. What is it?"
"What do you mean 'the poor man'?" I asked.
The Head-Perator continued to smile at me, "Well, for better or worse, you weren't the only survivor of the massacre that night."
The smile disappeared as he looked solemn for a moment, "I do apologise that you had to go through what you did. Nobody should have to go through all that.
"I'll make sure that proper burial ceremonies will be done for everyone that lost their lives here." The man continued.
I didn't know how to react. So many things have happened to me in such a short amount of time. It was at that moment, I felt like a heavy weight had been taken off my shoulders and I felt incredibly tired. I realised that like my thirst and the water in the canteen, I realised that I hadn't slept in the Tower at all.
One thing was for sure though, I was glad that my parents' burial rites would be respected. The Religion of the One Creator spoke about how as people who worshipped the One Creator that created the world as well as the System, that when somebody died, their bodies were to be cleansed by fire and their dust to be returned to the earth from where we were originally created.
"While we're waiting," the Head-Perator spoke, "I know you're younger than when we usually allow, but I assume you've been Registered already?"
I nodded.
The Head-Perator shook his head and sighed, "It's heartbreaking to me that the trauma you've had to endure has led to a premature Registration like that."
He leant back forward and prepared another sheet of paper and dipped his quill in the ink, "Will you be able to share your Status Screen with me? I will have to add you to the Registration Census."
I remembered one of the older campus members talking about the Registration Census one day. It was a practice that the religion borrowed from the government to keep track of what kind of Users they had in any region. For our religion, the Attribute Points you're allocated by Paradigm primarily influence your future career in the religion.
I nodded slowly and concentrated on allowing the Head-Perator to see my Status Screen. It was a good chance for me to look at it closely as well. It's been a while.
[NAME: KATSUMI KORU
AGE: 14
LEVEL: 9
STR: 7 | VIT: 10
AGI: 10 | INT: 6
WIS: 7
AVAILABLE ATTRIBUTE POINTS: 8]
I was still shocked at how quickly I had levelled up from level 2 to level 9. I had placed a few points in my Vitality and Agility during Task Two to help with the Watchtower effect, and a couple for my Wisdom and Strength as well, but I'm at a loss as to where to put the rest of my available points.
The Head-Perator diligently wrote down my Status on the sheet of paper that he had taken out and clicked his tongue.
"I see you're already level 9. That just brings a whole other level of magnitude to the dangers you faced from the attack to what happened in the Tower." The Head-Perator half mumbled to himself.
"Hang on," he continued to mumble as he moved his arm seemingly to scroll up the Window that he was looking at, invisible to my eyes, "What's this? 'Holy Faith'?"
He swiped the Window away and stared at me with eyes of wonder and disbelief, "Do you have any idea what this means for you?"
I scrolled up my own Window and saw that under a separate section labelled 'PERSONAL USER EFFECTS' the 'Holy Faith' buff that I unlocked during the fight with the Head Pastor was listed.
I shook my head slowly.
"With this buff, you're able to join the Holy Knighthood if you wanted to!" the Head-Perator exclaimed excitedly.
"I—" I started to say, but the door to the office opened.
"He's here Head-Perator," Kale's flat unaffected voice said behind me. I turned around and I could almost feel the colour leaving my face as a shiver ran through me. The man — the 'poor man' that the Head-Perator had talked about — was none other than Kazuhiro Hata, the campus leader that abandoned his post during the attack.