The sun falls on a simple village as the day winds down. The shining lights begin to brighten the darkening streets as oil lamps light the streets of the town. Shopkeepers begin to finish their days and adventurer and those that work outside of the village return. Truly it is the definition of a peaceful village. Even with the demon lords return they are not truly effected. The monsters are kept from it by the adventurers and a blessing by the high priestess.
Looking closer you find a simple fisherman. He carries his poles, a tackle box and a few fish. He quickly makes his way to the temple of the god of life a nervous expression plaguing his face. The clergy smiles seeing him waving with delight as word quickly spreads that the fisherman has returned. Even those looking for help smile as they see him.
"Blessed be the children of our great God for he shows his kindness by giving such a kind man the will to support those in need" a priest says as the fisherman passes. Hearing someone question what makes him so kind the priest looks to the man "why he goes out every day and returns to town. He never asks for reward from us. He just is happy to help those in need. Even the high priestess is unable to convince him to accept even a copper for his efforts."
Those questioning the mans intentions look back at him then the priest. One being blessed as a merchant seems to be in awe. His face is tired and broken as his goods were stolen, but he smiled. "Truly he is a righteous man. Perhaps he will even help one such as I."
The priest nodded "if he can help he will. Just be truthful with him and may the gods will it you will have the help you need." He chuckled as a group of adventurers followed in soon after. Battered and bruised they approach the priest in search of a blessing of recovery. Though most know it is magic they still call this particular form a blessing as it is not common for anyone to have the ability to heal. Normally it takes days of rest if you cannot find a person capable of healing. The priest doesn't even look away from the merchant. "It's because of that fisherman we can handle so many needing the blessing. We do not worry about ensuring those that need food are nourished so we can keep our heroes and those injured at work in their best shape."
The merchant nodded as he watched the blessing being delivered. "Well I thank the heroes for keeping the monsters at bay. I do hope that it can remain like this forever."
The party nods smiling as they ramble on to both the priest and the merchant of their day. Though they are relatively new heroes they still make a merry show recounting todays battle.
Meanwhile our fisherman approaches the high priestess without any interference. His face beet red as he nervously speaks. "I-I apologize today wasn't as good as I had hoped. There was a lot of noise nearby the lake." He fidgeted with the fish as he gave half his catch as an offering. "I will make sure to bring you something better tomorrow. Maybe I'll go out for bass since they have more meat!"
The priestess happily giggled as she looked at the fish. Even if this was a bad day she knew they were the best of his catches and he wasn't one to get small fish. " Enough with that Michael. You know very well I appreciate everything you do. It's a wonder you still won't take my offer."
Michael blushed deeper as he shook his head. "Stop that! You're the high priestess and I am a simple fisherman there is no way it would ever work between us!" His outburst may have sounded rash and rude, but it was easy to see he did not think of himself as good enough.
'Why does she always do this? I brought in a horrible catch and it might be good enough to feed a cat, but she shouldn't have to subject herself to this trash' he thought to himself.
"You do this even when you haven't been asked at least allow me to pay you for this." The priestess said with a smile. "It isn't hard to tell you're living below your means just to give us this harvest every day."
"No I will never take money that can go to help others. It is the only true way to handle this. I want to make sure even if the merchants are evil and put a high price on my catch anyone is able to enjoy it." He looked down "and I'm sorry they keep marking my catches so high, but I do not have any blessings in the ability to fairly market my fish."
He wasn't wrong. He had no idea what his fish were worth and had tried to sell at a fair price to his own thoughts before, but always would end up seeing them sold elsewhere for 10 times what he thought they were worth. So he would just donate half to ensure everyone could enjoy. Seeing the people at the temple so eager to eat what he caught made him happy beyond his wildest dreams.
Smiling at the repeated statement she had heard multiple times before the high priestess smiled. "Fine then new rule. If you are going to continue to refuse payment then you will pay by not calling me by my title. You will call me by my name." She smirked as she watched Michaels face turn even more red. " That would be Kayla for your reference."
Balling his fist around his gear he couldn't hide the embarrassment. Being treated so special for doing the bare minimum had driven him mad. He wanted to refuse, but she was the high priestess. So he mustered his courage and stared her down. Making a simple declaration. "Fine from today forward I will call you Kayla. Now I need to go to market before everyone goes home and the other businesses open." He didn't give room for response as he quickly turned around and bolted out the temple.
Kayla, the high priestess, smiled as she waved as once again her bright and cheerful smile had driven Michael to leave in a flustered mess. Watching as he ran she looked at the fish he left. "He's so sweet, but I don't think the merchants are wrong. We could fund the church for months on these alone."