“Where can I see job requests?” Ed asked the receptionist at the city hall. The kind lady pointed him towards a bulletin board. There were lots of papers hanging on with a lot of different requests.

  Ed walked to them and began sifting. He was here on an experiment to see if doing good deeds would increase his divinity. It was a long shot, but it was an idea to go off of. He figured that if he did something hard that he didn’t have to, it might give him some divine favor.

  “I am not certain if your idea of divinity works,” Auranna said. The ghost lady floated over his shoulder as he tried to decide. “Admittedly, I never paid much attention to religion back in my day either.”

  “Look, the governor and her priests must have become divine through some way. If we assume Midnas is benevolent, then isn’t doing good deeds an obvious way to curry his favor? Plus, Teddie’s blood lasted the longest and he’s the biggest goody-two-shoes in the entire group.”

  “Adelyn lasted the least,” Auranna countered. “You’d be saying that you are more pure than she is?”

  “I don’t know, it’s the best I’ve got,” Ed shook his head. He needed to be doing something, at the very least. They had been waiting around the city for far too long. “Instead of complaining, can you help me pick out a job to do?”

  There were a lot of small tasks, both in reward and difficulty. None of them seemed all too appealing to Ed or his overall goal. What kind of god would give you brownie points for picking up litter or killing a raccoon? He needed a quest of tangible difficulty, something that doesn’t constitute free pickings.

  “How about that one?” Auranna pointed to one on the corner of the billboard. It was already covered up by a fair amount of other papers, but Ed saw a bright red warning sign peeking out. He removed the other sheets and found exactly what he was looking for.

  The sheet had a big note explaining it, saying that only adventurers who could pass a physical exam were allowed to take part. A monster that dwells in an abandoned mine not far from the city needs to be slain—an animated set of ancient armor that has been unleashed within the caves, constantly wandering.

  The request would include returning the armor to the hall, which would likely involve destroying the magic that possessed it in the first place. This has got to be what could earn some holy points, if anything.

  Edward took the poster and headed to the reception. He presented it to the lady at the desk, whose eyes opened wide.

  “Are you sure you want to take that one? We were planning on taking it down tonight,” the lady said.

  “Yes,” Ed responded.

  “Right. This is the second time today when nobody else has taken it…” the receptionist girl muttered. She thought for a moment before speaking further to Edward. “To make the job easier for you, I’m going to pair you with the other adventurer who requested this. This is pretty dangerous, so two is better than one. Assuming you pass the physical exam, of course.”

  “How do I take the exam, then?”

  “I’ll take you to the room, we’ll see if you’re physically up to the task.”

  “And that’s how you do it,” Ed said. The training dummy that he was given was cut in half, as he took off his mask. Auranna manifested next to him, seemingly satisfied, a rare emotion from her.

  “We really ought to get a more durable dummy,” the receptionist said. “I suppose you pass.”

  The physical exam itself was simple enough. First was a measuring of his physique, which wasn’t too impressive. Ed’s power always came from Auranna’s magic entering through his body. However, with the constant action that he was put through, his body was lean and well-trained enough for a thirteen year old boy.

  It also just meant he had to compensate enough with magic, which Auranna more than made up for. In the demonstration, he got to show off his speed and strength all at once. He sliced the dummy into a thousand pieces, all within the blink of an eye. The dummy broke apart, leaving just a mess of parts.

  “You pass,” the receptionist told him. “This mission is pretty dangerous, so…”

  The woman pulled a gem out of her pocket, before handing it to Edward. Ed looked at it, a small purple crystal that he could easily crush with his hands.

  “Accelero Crystal,” she said. “It’s hard to fight while under its effects, but it's good for running away. I gave them to your partner-to-be, too.”

  “Thanks,” Ed responded. He pocketed the gem. “Before I go, though. Who is my partner?”

  “You’ll have to meet them tomorrow. It’s a girl and she’s also very strong. I think if the two of you work together, you might actually clear this quest.”

  “Sure. I’ll be back tomorrow, then,” Ed waved. He got his one job, and now he was ready to call it in for the day. Maybe he could relax at an inn or something. The boy headed out of City Hall, before being interrupted by Auranna.

  “You’re not seriously trying to relax already, are you?” Auranna said, as if she read his mind exactly.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “What? What made you think that?” Ed said.

  “You immediately began walking towards the nearest inn. It wasn’t difficult to tell,” Auranna said.

  “Well, the inn just so happened to be… on the way to the library where Adelyn was at. I was going there.”

  “Sure.”

  Ed sighed. His plans had been derailed because he didn’t want to listen to another Auranna lecture. He might as well help Adelyn with her research, if nothing else. At least that way he wouldn’t be yelled at.

  He saw the grand library in the distance. It looked a lot bigger than Pugna’s own library, which was already quite hefty. Knowing Adelyn, she probably cleared out half of the entire collection already. So hopefully, the work wouldn’t be too much.

  This library felt barely any different from a church. The massive glass windows with the deity of the moon looking down upon him as he walked through the sea of bookshelves. He was looking for one thing though.

  An entire empty shelf. Not a small shelf either, one taller than him. He knew that this could only be the work of a certain book obsessed girl, and his assumption was correct. The girl was flipping through pages at lightning quick speed. Skimming, if he had to guess.

  “Hey, Adelyn.”

  “Oh, hello Ed!” Adelyn looked up from your book. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

  “Yeah, big task. Me and another girl are gonna fight a monster,” Ed explained.

  “Do you need us to help?” Adelyn asked.

  “There’s a whole fitness test, and I don’t even know if my plan is necessarily gonna give us divinity. I think you’re better off researching until we do get an idea.”

  “I see. Well, good luck with that!”

  Ed nodded at Adelyn’s encouragement, then looked at the mass amount of books that Adelyn had read through. Considering the sheer volume of content, she had probably found something.

  “Anything interesting?” Ed asked.

  “Well. I started with searching for notable figures with divine blood. The royal family for example, it’s passed down through the generations,” Adelyn explained. “But, there’s no mention of if that’s entirely hereditary.”

  “I have to bet that it was. What about non-royals?”

  “Some priests, some speakers, a few adventurers actually. Some pretty big shots,” Adelyn said. “Much bigger than what we currently are.”

  “How’d the adventurers achieve their divinity?”

  “Noooo clue. This seems to say it stems from their many acts of heroism over the years. It took a long time for them to get it.”

  “That does not bode well for your plan,” Auranna spoke up.

  “Hey, it’s something. Maybe I can do it faster,” Ed suggested. “But if it takes multiple years, then do we have any knowledge of a shortcut?”

  “Priests do vary in divinity, but I do believe their worship tends to bring them closer to that divine essence,” Adelyn said. “These books are so vague…”

  “How did royal divine blood start?” Ed said.

  “That’s a thing, actually. A lot of the books say that there were rulers that weren’t necessarily too religious themselves, but all of them had divine blood. It just seems to be a thing inherent to them…?”

  “Ugh. What an annoying task,” Ed sighed.

  “Hello,” a soft voice spoke behind them. It was Teddie and Cozy, both looking like they had talked to a lot of people.

  “Hey Teddie! Hey Cozy! Did you guys find something that could help us get that divine blood?” Adelyn said.

  “Uhh… not really,” Teddie said.

  “Yeah, we met a lady at a chapel and she was just as vague as everyone else was. It’s annoying. It’s all like, ‘find yourself and understand the connection to the moonlight and nature’, which is the worst thing ever,” Cozy added.

  “So you guys weren’t lucky either,” Adelyn sighed. She closed the book that she was reading and began sorting them back onto the shelf. “Perhaps we’ll find something tomorrow. I still have a lot of books to read, this city really likes talking about itself.”

  “Tell me about it,” Cozy rolled her eyes. “This place has worn me down too much to think of a good plan. Maybe we should bug the other churches tomorrow. Or at least, sneak around.”

  “If you think you can do that…” Teddie said. “Though that seems scary.”

  “We just need to not be caught,” Cozy said. “I’m sure the churches are hiding some kind of secret.”

  “I didn’t think of that. This test does feel a little bit suspicious,” Ed said. “Then again, that Luan lady seemed to be very firm in her beliefs. Unshakably so.”

  “Yeah, I guess. Her smile outdoes mine,” Cozy sighed. “Eugh. Only a true believer could pull that off. Even still, I believe there’s something to be gained from sneaking around.”

  “Well,” Adelyn had finished sorting all of the books. “I think after all the hard work we can relax just a little bit. Soon enough, we’ll get that approval.”

  Adelyn was as optimistic as ever. It was a bit infectious, as Ed could go along with it. Luckily, it meant that he could relax as well.

  “Let's go to an inn. Maybe the inn has a bath too, I could do with a bath,” Ed said. Auranna didn’t have a comment to say, thankfully. A moment to breathe was always nice.

  “If there’s one thing I’ll give this city, the baths are very good. The best in the country, even. It might make all of the other problems with this city worthwhile,” Cozy said.

  “Ohhh, group bath! That seems fun, we’ve never had one of those,” Adelyn said.

  “Well, me and Teddie had one back at Pugna,” Ed said. “Sorry that we didn’t invite you two.”

  “It’s fine,” Cozy said. “You guys are boys after all. We’d still be separated.”

  “Still. It’ll be nice, moonlight makes water better. At least, that’s what I’ve heard,” Teddie said.

  “Mhm,” Cozy nodded. “This place is unparalleled. The water makes your skin feel smooth.”

  “Oh is that why your skin is-”

  Cozy shot a glare at Teddie before he stopped speaking. Ed didn’t really process what Teddie said, nor did he care. He just wanted some time to chill, throughout this entire festival. If a bath was a way to do it, then he’d take it.

  He had work to do tomorrow, anyways.