James thought to himself that Nyx was still watching him and asked quietly, "My lady, do you have any connection to these people?" and the window in front of him confirmed it.
[The Church of Night. The official religion of the Empire of the Sun, I am the goddess they worship. The greatest power in the empire, the power that even the imperial family depends on.]
James was ready to turn and leave after closing this window abruptly when he saw Theseus and slowly started to walk towards him. He wanted nothing to do with church or religion.
"Mr Umbra, good morning, I've had some reports that you must have struggled last night," Theseus said in a very friendly manner.
"Don't ask, it's the talents, they're annoying," James replied, preparing to enter the Olympus Guild, but at that very moment, something happened that even Theseus did not expect.
The church carriage and all the soldiers around it came to a sudden halt. The carriage door opened and a man and a woman got out.
These two seemed to be quite old people, at least 60 years old.
James was about to enter the guild without a care in the world when suddenly the old woman shouted at him:
"Young master, can we have a second please?!"
Shaking his head in boredom, James realised that there was no way out of this and turned to the old woman and asked, "Yes, madam?"
As soon as the woman heard these words, James was aware of the crowd around. Even the Imperial family and the family behind them seemed to be watching him from behind the old woman.
"Are you a worshipper of our goddess?"
James shook his head and then said, "I'm not sure I know who your goddess is, ma'am." He was trying to disappear.
It didn't seem to work on this old woman, though.
"Nyx. Our goddess is the mother of the great night."
When these words reached him, James made a face of ignorance and then said, "Nyx? Never heard of her." and entered the Olympus Guild.
Theseus realised what was happening and couldn't understand why James had lied to them, it was the same for every single person connected to Olympus and Asgard.
As James entered the guild hall and took his seat where he had sat yesterday, Theseus and the others, followed by two elders and the imperial family, entered.
Theseus politely walked over to James and stood to his left.
"Won't you sit down, dear Theseus?" James suddenly said, and Theseus, hearing this, gently approached his ear and said, "I don't know what you are trying to do, but it is obvious that you are trying to establish your authority, let me help you, I have a good place in the empire."
With that, James smiled, crossed his legs, took a glass of ice water out of his inventory and put it on the table.
"I'm not quite sure why you're following me, ma'am, I didn't think you had any more questions," James suddenly said.
With that the old woman took a few steps towards James and a few of the soldiers followed her. Theseus seemed ready to unsheathe his sword just in case.
After all, James's safety was more important than both the empire and the Church of Night, and he would endeavour to destroy each of them.
Of course, the powers of rankers like Theseus would hurt them when used on lower floors, but he had received orders from Nemesis himself to protect James, and even if he died, what had to be done would be done. After all that was a direct order from Nemesis, the one that got full authority from Nyx.
Seeing Theseus reach for his sword, the old woman gestured for the soldiers to retreat and then took a few more steps before she reached the front of the table.
"I was wondering why you were lying. The aura on you is almost 20 times more than the night aura I have collected in my 1143 years of life, but you don't even look over 30 years old."
When the old woman said these words, James made the same expression again and then said, "I don't know what you are talking about. I don't know your goddess, nor do I have any connection with her."
It was amazing how old and well that woman was.
These words alone ordered every ranker or normal climber in the guild to shut up.
"Maybe that is the case but I am refusing the believe that. I have worked for my goddess all my life, and as I said, for 1143 years of my life. My loyalty to my goddess has caused me to hear her voice more than once, which is why the empire has grown to such a gigantic size."
A few seconds passed over these words of the old woman and then she asked "So I can realise, who exactly are you?" without stopping.
At these words James realised that there was no way out of there, so he scratched his head and then spoke as gently as he could, but with enormous authority:
"I am a man who has high loyalty for his lady. For you, she is a goddess that you kneel before but for me, she is a goddess that I admire, love, desire to reach and like to pass. I am literally her shadow, warrior and perhaps maybe even more, I think she is like my mother at this point."
With these words, every single person in the church began to tremble. Even if James didn't know what was going on, Theseus, the guild members and everyone else who had entered could clearly see what was happening.
James' shadow was reflected on the wall behind him. A female figure stood in the shadow, a figure caressing James' head.
Purple shining eyes, jet-black hair with star-like features, a body of enormous beauty with perfectly slim and regular facial features.
The shadow painted the Nyx herself.
James was Nyx's shadow and Nyx was what symbolised James. Their bond had reached an insurmountable level when James chose that card.
"My Goddess..." the old woman suddenly said and fell to her knees. All the members of the guild knelt, even the members of the imperial family and the family with the crow crest.
Even Theseus was about to fall to his knees when James stopped him and shook his head, turning round he saw what had happened and realised that Lady Nyx had helped him once more.
Theseus shouldn't have knelt, James was going to use him authoritatively.