The Holy Kingdom's Lich

Chapter 3: Judgement

With my hands tied up and gagged, I was brought to a rather spacious room. There were no other ornaments than a carpet and a throne, accommodated by a thickly robed old man possibly a king. The knights wait in line, armed to the teeth with thick armor and halberds. Beside the King, are a few men who possibly poses as the King's advisor, the Pope and a general. Surprisingly I do not see any figure that handles the economy of the country, perhaps they are stationed somewhere.

"Welcome, dear guest sent by the Goddess. As abrupt as it may be, I hope my men are able to welcome you properly? Hmm?"

The King greeted sarcastically, perhaps a poor attempt for a joke. As he can see, I am both tied up and gagged, or perhaps this is a sick custom.

"If I may your majesty. We indeed have summoned the saviour from another world with the last bit of artifact we were able to recover however, it turns out that this person was blessed with something peculiar for a guide of light."

The Knight earlier stepped up or rather, kneeled and reported. The Pope raised its eyebrows and eyes me closely.

"Interesting, a guide of light blessed with darkness. Are you sure he is not a counterfeit?"

The Pope asks.

"Yes, your holiness. I tried to take away the Necronomicon, however it wasn't tangible. I was able to hold it, but never take it away as it simply slips from my touch."

"Take him to the Church. I trust that you are able to confirm whether he can be our ally or not, Pope Dante."

"As you wish, your majesty."

The general remained silent and simply checked. The group then followed the Pope and took me to the church, of course while parading like a criminal in the streets. The people looked me in scorn, of course, with the suspicion that I am an offender, therefore it cannot be helped. However, I am not as forgiving to those who have no consideration.

We then arrived to the church and was greeted by the priests and nuns maintaining the sacred structure.

"The Church is a place of prayers and home to those in need, but we do not simply provide shelter. At times we are the judge to decide the morality of a person, and at times we offer services that may aid adventurers on their travels."

"In other words, we are here to see your soul. Your life would depend on your alignment."

"Thank you Ms. Enrietta. I suppose having known too much of the words of the Goddess has made me unable to conjure a proper conversation with other people of today's age."

The Pope thanked the Dwarf. Bringing me onto a room, I was greeted by a large pool of water. It was unbelievably clear and serene.

"Firstly, we must see how pure your soul is. A soul continues its travels as long as they live, before they go home to the arms of the Goddess. Along these travels, trials and tribulation would come, and we would eventually collect dirt on our feet. In this pool of water, it could reflect the amount of dirt you have accumulated on your travels. Of course you need not to worry, as the water will then soon clear as you remove your feet."

"Alright, you go take off his shoes Enri.", the furry commanded.

"But why me?!", the dwarf answered back.

"Beast kinds have a lot more sensitive nose than you think. Then there's this big ass knight will all the armor that she has, I doubt she can even kneel and do a delicate work such as untying the strings."

"Big as--?! Could you please not refer to me like that!?"

The three argued before the Dwarf noticed the seemingly silent elf. Noticing the stare however the elf simply raised their guard.

"Customs."

"Ugh, fine. I'll do it!", the Dwarf gave up.

The dwarf then reached onto my foot, to make it easier for her I raised it and wiggled my feet out of the shoes.

"Such weird socks, do people in your land wear this short?"

Unable to answer, I only simply nodded.

"Hehe, this guy's a good guy. Enrietta knows it!", she said gleefully while smiling cheek to cheek.

After taking off my socks I dipped my feet into the water, praying that it is clear as to represent my conscience. Deep down in my mind, I try to search if I ever did anybody wrong, despite being rude to others however, I don't recall purposely wronging somebody.

Different from my prayers however, the pool of water slowly tainted and became dirty.

"That is enough. Now dry your feet and we shall proceed to the next. A test of your inner discipline."

Feeling dispirited however, I remained compliant. Reaching the next room, I see a table in the middle. It was not large and perhaps only big enough to fit a vase. In the middle of it however, there seems to be some kind of a box.

"This is a test of your inner disciplines. It could be something you have potential in, or perhaps an element you are trained. In here we shall see what elements you are best affiliated with."

"Been a while since I went to something like this."

"That is true, we've been in the front lines for too long. But even so, we don't really had a need to visit again anyway."

The Knight and the Furry chattered. Paying them no mind, I approached the table. The Pope noticed that I have no idea what to do next, then he approached me from behind and took my hand, pushing it onto the box. Slowly the box lit and revealed all sorts of colored bubbles, slowly these colors fade, leaving but one color. A darkish blue color remains in the bubbles. The Pope then slowly approached these bubbles and looked closely, before taking note of it.

"Thank you, you have been compliant so far and specially quiet. I suppose we can rid of the gags and ropes."

As the Knight silently loosens the rope and gag, the Pope took the book that was floating but instead of taking it however, they simply opened it.

"As much as this would have been the only proof you need. We had to first know if you are truly humane."

The Pope then turned the book to our sights, showing that neither of its pages are filled with anything.

"This may have been a Necronomicon, however it does not have the spells nor scripts that could be inside a heretical text. Meaning that this is a book that simply appeared to you just now."

"But how about the tests? Did I not fail the test on the pool of water?", I asked.

"The dirty water reflected your character. As we travel, trials and tribulations would arrive. Imagine a mountanious trail, should we chose to righteously face these challenges, our feet would naturally become filthy, but should we try to easily make our way by evil means, our feet would remain clean, to reflect that one stepped onto others to get past these challenges."

"I believed you were not evil, even after we disrespected your presence and went as far as paraded you in the city you remained compliant."

"And the test of inner disciplines showed that you have the potential for dark magic yet its translucent appearance implied that you have not been trained in it. While the Church does frown upon the use of dark magics, that is only because most of its users are criminals that do not respect the travels of the spirit. As you are indeed the guide of light sent to us by the Goddess we worship, that would mean that you have been given the permission to do so. Therefore we shall tolerate it, so long as you remain sane."

Like an angel of death huh.

"Lady Alessandra, would you please give this report to the King?"

"Yes, I could your holiness. But how about him?"

"I'll take him onto the care of the Church. Dark magics such as necromancy are dangerous, it would be at everyone's peace of mind were practitioners of light are by his side."

The Pope then gave a scroll to Ms. Alessandra, the Knight. The group then went back to the castle, though most of them are awkward, the dwarf warmly waved back good bye. As such I feel much at ease with her rather than the others.

"Well, then...?"

"Louise Franco."

"Louise Franco, good. Shall I give you a tour at your new home?"