I Reincarnated as an NPC Witch

A Glimmering Hope

Abigail looks at him. She has seen a Radiance before in her gameplay. But, she has never seen the proud work of Count Alzrus. They piled up in front of the mansion where there’s a big grassy space in the middle of the road. Yris was beside her dad, excited for this small event. All of them are behind them in an arc formation. “Are you all ready?” They all nod in agreement. “Super ready!” Keeana shouted. The count smiles as he turns his back at them, facing where the Radiance will be placed. “Since hope has been prominent lately in the city, our Radiance’s size will still remain the same! A little bit bigger even. This is going to be fun to show you.” He looks at the staff that glows white as he smiles. “Brace yourselves!”

He points the staff on ahead of him. Small magical sparkles started to go out of their bodies. Abigail’s mouth was agape in amusement. The small cluster of magical sparkles emerges from her chest and slowly floats in the air. It’s approaching the staff. Abigail looks around as it happened as well to her friends and every servant that’s with them. As she kept looking around, she can even see some clusters of it in the air floating towards them. She was amazed by how magical this is. She had never seen a Radiance getting built in the very moment. So, it was all new and shocking to her. All of the clusters of magical sparkles went to the place where Count Alzrus is pointing his staff. The first ones form a circle on the ground. As more of it arrives, the radiance slowly gets built up. The magical sparkles weren’t bright enough to blind them, just enough for their eyes to be pinned on its brightness. A lot more of these clusters come as the Radiance slowly gets finished. They look like clouds when they arrived. Without the glow they are giving of, Abigail would mistake it as one.

Minutes later of standing there in awe, the last clusters of these magical sparkles were blue ones. They came from the count and her daughter. It slowly floats to the top, finishing off the Radiance. It was a tall and big blob of light in a shape of a teardrop. Count Alzrus withdraw the staff and raises it in the air along with his other arms. All of the magical sparkles merged together, finishing the structure of the festive landmark. Suddenly, the staff’s color became purple in color, as is the bottom of the Radiance. This purple color slowly makes its way to in-between the halfway point of the Radiance and its top part. It was now a gradient of purple and white, making it more magical.

Count Alzrus slowly opens his eyes and was shocked with the color of the Radiance this year. He gasps, “This… This is a miracle!” He lowers down the staff as he slowly goes to the Radiance. “Purple. This year will be a luxurious one for the city! This is great!” Yris looks at her father, “Is this the first-ever purple that this city has since you were here?” He nods, “It means this year will be great. The citizens will be happy with the color of the Radiance! This makes this year’s Festival of Light more special.” He turns to the heroes and the servant behind him. “Our decorations will be a little extra for this year! And, tomorrow, I need you eight to be with me and my daughter to visit Mount Gleam. To make this Festival of Light more special, you will join us to offer in the Radiant Grotto.” Yris claps happily, “This is going to be great! Make sure to get your offerings.”

“What kind of offerings?” Abigail asked them. “Anything that resembles or brings you hope. A small offering to light would be great to give you more prosperity and hope in life. Anything that brings back the greatest memories that you have. Don’t worry, it will be all worth it when you offer it to Vivid.” The name rings something on her. The known goddess of light and hope. “I guess this event is to celebrate something about her nativity?” Count Alzrus shakes his head, “It’s about the time that Vivid gave us the first-ever light source we have in this earth, the sun itself. It’s also the day when the Somber Era ended. It was a beautiful one with lights flying everywhere.”

Abigail looks at the Radiance once more as she looks at its misty appearance. It was yet the most magical thing she saw in the days she have been in this game. After they talked about some questions and some plans for the event, they went back to the mansion. They either went around or helped the servants with the decorating to entertain themselves. The day was uneventful apart from Abigail trying to cover her suspicious talking and playing with Teria. Except for that, everything was just the boring normal stuff. It was a calm day for Abigail.

The next day, it was the day that the heroes will go with the noble family to attend their annual devotion. They were woken up at three in the morning. They all did their morning routines rather hastily since Count Alzrus wanted to arrive there before even the sun started rising. They all packed the things they need. In the case of Abigail, it’s all of her things. As they were done, they met in the courtyard, in front of the carriages that were waiting for them. “I am sorry if I need you all to be awake in a much earlier time. It has been our tradition to go there early.” Lavena smiles, “It’s fine, Count Alzrus. We are used to not sleeping at all.” Gallant snickered, “Yep, a minor inconvenience in sleeping is no problem for us.”

“That’s why we welcomed you here to have your beauty rests for a while. I know that and I know to myself that you all deserve a better sleep and a much longer one as well.” Keeana pats the count’s back, “It’s fine, Count Alzrus! Devotion is devotion. And, this is a special one for us.” Lavena nods, “We are pleasured to be accompanying you to offer to the goddess you believe and lean on to.” Wren smiles, “I am sure she will be pleased as well with our offerings. We might have a bigger adventure and a great one in the future when we offer some of our dedicated things.” Lavena shakes her head as the count had a good laugh. “Come on, let’s go now. Let’s not let the goddess wait for us in there. We must be there before the sun starts to rise.” Yris giggles, “Hey, it’s a good view anyway. I love that part.” They start to board the carriages with the royal family going in first. They are in a big carriage that the count uses when he has someone with him.

The carriage starts moving as the door closes. They start going their way to the Radiant Grotto on The Great Stairs. It’s a mountain that has slopes that are so rugged and eroded that it made a convenient path that looks like stairs up. An hour later or less, they arrived in this magnificent mountain. They can see some of the stairs that were made of nature—or at least believed made by nature in the world. They have no sharp edges that make them look unnaturally natural, even a carved in this mountain isn’t natural in the first place. “We’re here. I hope you got some hoods in your robes. It gets so misty and foggy up top there. We don’t want any of you to have a headache on the way back.”

Abigail looks at Teria, “Are you okay with cold environments?” She whispered to her as the fox happily nodded. “Aren’t you going to be freezing or much more appropriate, wilting?” Teresa shakes her head in disagreement. Abigail smiles, “Don’t forget your hood.” She giggles as Teria squeaks happily. The little one has its own robe on its body with a hood. It was like a small version of her robe. Abigail was happy with the result of her sewing. She thought she was already rusty. She never got to sew these past months with the projects and workload she had that she made. She’s the only one who’s making herself busy, anyways.

The count leads them to the mountain, using the stairs that this mountain has. It was good hiking for Abigail and another activity to distract her from all of her problems. There is some forestry at the foot of the mountain but it slowly fades as its elevation increases. Minutes later, they arrived in the mystical and magical Radiant Grotto. It was engraved to the mountain with some pillars on it. Some fireflies are roaming around the place. But, not just normal fireflies. They were blue ones and their light is much brighter. They are encircling the area that makes this more magical.

“Woah—“ She was immediately silenced by the count. “We should be in silence as much as possible. To preserve the sacredness of the place and not to disturb the animals that live here.” They approached an altar that was made of crystals or it appears to be. It has some weird things jutting on it as if they were crystals that are just mashed together. It also has more edges on the surfaces where it should be flat. As a firefly landed on it, the light radiates and refracted in the crystal table. It made the surroundings of the firefly much colorful. The count stops as he turns to them. “Place all of your offerings in this table.”

He sets himself aside as they placed theirs one by one. Abigail was last with a Crocus flower. It was the first flower that she ever grew and it resembles herself. Teria has hers as well. She gave it to Abigail. When she was about to place it, the Count stopped her. “Why are you placing one more?” She looks at him, “Oh… uhm. Is it not allowed?”

“Are you dedicating that to someone?” She nods, “They can’t go here in this place. So, I will be the one to bring it here.” Count Alzrus nods, “Okay then. You may offer it. Especially if that’s your intention.” She nods as she puts down a ball that’s made of flower petals. Teria squeaks happily as Abigail smiles. She went back to her place and let the count do his things. He and his daughter placed theirs last as he went in front of the altar. He raises his arms up and wide, “Accept these offerings of our own hope, Goddess Vivid. Let it be a sign of our gratitude towards your blessings. Take all of these as our thank you to you for giving us the purple aura of the Radiance. Don’t worry, we will help you grant luxury and prosperity to our city. With these gifts, we thank you and we ask you to guide us more. Especially these heroes that are behind me. Guide them in their adventures and give them hope when they are out of it. Give them motivation when they are feeling low. Accept these gifts that we offer to you, Goddess Vivid.”

Silence ensues as all of the fireflies surround the altar. Abigail’s mouth was agape in surprise and amusement. Count Alzrus slowly lowers his hands. As he opens his eyes, he smiles at the results. He looks at them with a wide grin on his face, “I hope the goddess will be pleased with our offerings, especially yours. You need her guidance to your travels.”

Suddenly, they heard something shouting. “Charge!” The count suddenly was knocked out and fainted on the ground. “Father!”