After a rather... eventful back and forth between Regal and Rosel, Rosel gave up on the stubborn Archmage and turned her attention to the heroes.
After affirming their safety, William was requested a healer and the lot of them were taken by Rosel to have their own conversation.
Watching them walk away, Regal sat down and sighed. "That woman is relentless... I wonder if maybe she has a problem with me?", Regal tilted his head. Pamel had no response. They then remained as they were for a short while.
Eventually the silence was broken.
"Would you like a beverage to relax, Sir Regal?", Pamel changed the subject with one of his favourite lines.
"So you finally decide to look this way? I don't accept drinks from traitors!", Regal closed his eyes and turned his head with folded arms.
"That's unfortunate, I had a tea prepared at this moment...", Pamel was standing with a sad expression with a teapot and cup ready on his arm.
'Already!?', Regal showed blatant surprise.
"Well... If it's already prepared, then I have less reason to refuse", Regal was actually quite thirsty, so he gave in rather easily.
Pamel walked next to the table and gently placed the cup by Regal. Regal watched with his legs and arms crossed as Pamel poured the steaming hot tea into the cup. Once he was done, he stepped away from the table, "Please enjoy".
'It's steaming, so it must be actual tea, right?', Regal sceptically picked up the cup and gave it a sniff. 'It's actually quite fragrant'.
He decided to take a sip, this caused his face to brighten up as he turned toward Pamel and asked, "What sort of tea is this? It has a pleasant taste, very refreshing".
Pamel smiled as he answered, "Hahaha, what do you mean Sir Regal? You have had a similar drink before, no?".
Suddenly a drop of sweat appeared on Regal's forehead and his hand started shaking, causing the liquid in the cup to spill slightly. "You don't mean... no... no not again!".
Maintaining the blatant smile Pamel adds, "It's juice".
"DAMN IT ALL!", Regal slammed the cup onto the table and stood up. He faced Pamel with a determined look on this face. "Prepare yourself you bastard!", he lifted his hand as a 6 layered circle appeared before him.
Pamel showed slight worry as he saw Regal prepare for some sort of spell... which happened to also be facing him... "Uh... Sir Regal?".
"6TH CIRCLE MAGIC: LEVIAT-"
Meanwhile, the heroes and Rosel arrived at their accommodations.
"What was that noise just now?", Hikari asked as she heard an explosion from behind them.
"It's probably a mage practicing magic. If you're worried it's an enemy then relax, our kingdom is more or less the front line against the demon king's army, so the other countries aren't stupid enough to try anything", Rosel explained with a kind smile.
'She's nicer than I thought', a few of the heroes had the same thought.
"These will be your rooms for tonight, be assured that the servants will attend to all your needs, if you need anything in particular then you may ask at any time", Rosel treated the heroes with care, unlike someone else.
"Miss Tempest, the healer has arrived", a butler spoke with a white robed person behind them.
"This is... someone from the temple?", Rosel looked surprised for some reason when she noticed the mans clothes.
"Indeed, I have been delegated as the one to complete the request of the king", the robed man clarified.
'Ah... the temple is surprisingly quick to respond, perhaps they were informed beforehand about the hero summoning', Rosel thought to herself. She had expected a healing mage, but this is more effective.
"In that case, this hero, his name is William Relish. He had sustained a small wound due to... circumstances. I would like you to look at it", Rosel introduced William as she raised one arm in his direction.
The holy man simply smiled, "Of course".
"The rest of you can rest in your rooms for now, I will let you know if anything arises. Unless of course you have any more questions?", Rosel had been answering a few of the heroes questions as they walked, she also learned that they had surprisingly decided to comply with them. It was a shock to her as she expected them to want to be sent back to their own world.
She wasn't wrong, however Regal made quite an impact in changing their perspective of their current situation. With the help of Rosel, they are also starting to feel more like guests.
They shook their head, they were satisfied with the questions they had asked for now and decided to rest after this... unique day they've had.
The holy man walked to William but noticed one of the heroes walking into their room, the one named Hikari. "M-my word! You there, young lady!".
Anne had already entered the room so Hikari knew it was directed at her and turned around, "Do you perhaps mean me...?".
Rosel noticed this but wasn't surprised, there was a reason they had summoned someone from the temple here.
William was confused as he was still expecting some sort of check up, though he isn't sure why someone from a church would be doing it. Perhaps the kingdom didn't have many doctors to spare, or what was it, a 'healing mage'?
"Y-yes you, could I perhaps examine you for a moment?", the man spoke with some urgency which only seemed to make Hikari a little uncomfortable by hearing it.
"Um... alright. But please treat William first before doing so", Hikari walked away from the doorway back to where William was standing.
"Of course, thank you", he seemed happy for some reason, Hikari was getting chills, she didn't really understand what was going on, and neither did William.
The holy man then approached William and rolled up his sleeve, examining the cut. He was surprised that it was nothing serious, the hero in front of him didn't look in bad health but he thought that his powers would be needed for something more dire.
William watched as the man raised a hand to his arm, only a slight distance away from touching. A faint white glow then appeared as a warm aura felt like it was being released from his hand. The aura and glow eventually seemed to wrap around his arm.
He began to notice that his pain was being eased, he looked at his arm and saw the cut there was now gone.
"Whoa...", William was impressed, he figured there would be some sort of magic related to healing in this world, but this seemed different than what Regal showed them before.
The man then retracted his hand. "How does your arm feel?".
Before giving an answer he moved his arm a few times to check if it hurt at all. "No, thank you very much!", he responded with a still amazed face.
The holy man turned his attention to Hikari, who was also rather amazed by this power. He walked closer before bending a knee and lowering his head, giving her yet another shock as she wasn't sure what to do.
Now that he was this close, he was positive, this girl is exactly what he thinks she is, he could feel it.
"The Saintess has descended", as he spoke his voice sounded strangely loud, it wasn't particularly loud in reality but the words seemed to easily reach their way throughout to corridor, as if there was power behind them.
This time Rosel was shocked. 'The Saintess!? I had expected one of the heroes to possess holy power... but to think they would turn out to be the 'Vessel of God''.
Hikari started to panic somewhat, she didn't know what was happening, too many things have been occurring on the same day.
The man continued to be silent as if waiting for something.
"Um... what is going on?", Hikari said to Rosel who was currently in her own train of thought.
"Hm? Oh, that's right. Your name earlier... you said it was Hikari Hikari correct?", Rosel recalled the talk they had on the way here where they introduced themselves once again.
Hearing her full name she felt embarrassed once again. "J-Just Hikari is fine".
"Yes, of course.
Hikari, this man is from the temple, they are the largest religious group in this world known as 'God's Word'. He just called you the Saintess... which means you are the most powerful person in that religion.", Rosel explained with her face now returned to a serious one.
"Me? B-but I'm not really that religious or anything!", Hikari made a sound argument, but this time it made the holy man react.
"Saintess, if I may speak?", he was in fact waiting for permission.
Hikari was surprised to be asked such a question, but she answered to the title 'Saintess' regardless. "Go ahead, and please stand up!".
So the man arose to his feet but kept his head down.
Hikari was annoyed almost, thinking that he still had his head down because she hadn't said otherwise.
"The Saintess is the one that is the perfect vessel for God's power, the power that you had witnessed earlier.
You may not have been the most faithful person to God, however, he has chosen you to represent him, and if that is his whim then the rest of 'God's Word' will follow.", he explained, but only what was needed before returning to his silence.
'So I'm the most powerful person of their religion even though I'm not part of their religion? Was I perhaps born this way? Is this God the same in both our worlds?', Hikari naturally had a few questions but she was worried about something else overall, the thing which interested her the most from this world.
"Can I still learn magic?", this question brought surprise to both Rosel and the holy man.
This time, instead of waiting for permission to speak, the man panicked.
"S-Saintess! Why would you wish to use magic? With the amount of holy power you possess, you would be capable of the most powerful miracles within the temple! You could cure incurable diseases, restore lost limbs, strike down demons with holy light!", he also reflexively lifted his head while explaining but quickly lowered it again once he realised he got too worked up.
Rosel knew of this too, and she could understand why someone from the temple would panic from losing an individual who would represent their whole religion. But regardless of this mindset, there was a whole different problem.
"Hikari... you can't use magic", Rosel had to make it clear, these words also eased the holy man as he now recalls that Hikari is in fact from another world... and therefore ignorant.
"W-why?", Hikari was beginning to get worried, her motivation for putting up with this situation was starting to be ripped to shreds.
"It's hard to explain... we haven't yet taught you the basics of mana, holy power, and aura. However, fundamentally storing these powers in your body is the same.
To put it simply, your body has so much holy power that you could never store a significant amount of mana, and you can't store either in the same place in your body". Rosel made it somewhat easy to understand, but she also had her own question.
"But why magic?
I'll say this because you probably have the wrong idea, but while they are very different powers, they can be used for similar things."
This eased Hikari's worries a bit, but it also made her slightly sad.
"You're also quite lucky, the only training you will need compared to the others is 'how' to use holy power, you won't need to do anything to increase it."
'Right... maybe this isn't so bad, it's not like I knew much about magic anyway, I just happened to see it first', she tried to reason with herself, but she definitely felt a different impact from seeing magic than seeing holy power.
"Do I... need to go to the temple?", she figured it was obvious but wanted to make sure.
"No, not for now at least. We have made arrangements based on the assumption that you heroes will have certain talents, holy power included. But I'm afraid there will be a point in time where you will need to go there.", Rosel answered honestly.
William was waiting for an opportunity, but now he wasn't sure whether to congratulate Hikari or cheer her up.
"U-uh... maybe we should talk about this more another time, it's starting to get late and we should probably get some rest. There's clearly a lot waiting for us in the future.", he instead decided to put the subject at hand to the side with a reasonable suggestion.
Rosel agreed. "You may now leave, however do not report this to the temple yet. I'm sure that you are just as aware as I am that the Saintess isn't ready to publicly represent you.", she dismissed the holy man.
He was hesitant to move since it wasn't ordered by the Saintess, but he was in the royal castle so a royal court mage could tell him as much.
"Indeed, you are correct. Then in the name of Bishop Opera, I will protect the Saintess's identity until she is ready", he introduced himself before walking away.
'They seriously sent a bishop for this...?', Rosel thought.
Rosel sighed, "I'm sure this day was especially busy for the two of you. Go and rest for now, if you want anything such as a meal or drink, ring the bell by the doorway and a maid will be there immediately."
Both William and Hikari also sighed, thinking about what they've got ahead of them, this is much-needed rest.