Luna stared at her hand and made a fist. Joshua walked over to Luna and nudged her slightly, “Hey, what’s up with the long face?”

“Huh? Oh, hey, Joshua. You’ve been busy lately.” Luna smiled. “Nothing’s wrong; I’m just nervous, is all.” Luna decided it would probably be best to keep these emotions to herself. She didn’t think anyone else would understand. 

Joshua laughed, “There’s no need to be nervous! I’m sure you’ll make a great leader during the pilgrimage!” 

“Still, I’m surprised to see Lady Raiza accompany us on the pilgrimage. Normally, only four adventurers are brought as bodyguards, but a whole Magic Knight is kind of overkill….” 

Joshua rubbed his chin, “Well, considering that C-rank Dark Beast was slain so close to the city, I’m not surprised. “More and more of them have been spotted roaming around the area lately.”

“Hmm…” Luna hummed. Was that really the only reason?

After everyone got settled, the two of the four adventurers hopped into their own carriage. At the same time, the other two, alongside Raiza, climbed onto their horses. A third carriage, full of supplies, followed from behind. Luna, Joshua, and the six kids climbed into their carriage. After the kids finished taking their seats, the carriage lurched forward and began making its way out of the city. 

This carriage was unlike the one Luna rode on into the city when she was young. This carriage had no windows, hard wooden seats, and only a cloth fabric overhead to keep out the weather. Luna shifted uncomfortably. Pilgrimages weren’t supposed to be comfortable and were meant to test one’s faith in the face of hardship. Luna understood that. But would it really have killed HighFather Jedri to at least equip the carriages with some cushions? 

Luna grumbled as she thought this. 

After some time, Luna pulled out a map of the country Abigail had given her. The city they lived in was called Edronta. It was a coastal city and the Capital of the Moncontian Empire. The Empire sat in the farthest southern section of the continent of Ayul but had the most land mass. The other three countries that shared the land of Ayul were the three principalities. The principality of Asa sat to the Northwest, the principality of Velegia sat to the far North, and the principality of Valania sat to the Northeast. 

The three principalities were once one united kingdom but broke up around six hundred years ago. Since then, they’ve become so involved in fighting one another that it left the Empire in just enough relative peace. Thanks to that, the idea of war can be safely kept off everyone’s minds. Of course, the Empire has undoubtedly found a way to make money from the fighting. It frequently does business with the three warring nations. 

Luna didn’t know too much about the three principalities. Her education primarily focused on her religious studies and the local area. One could easily call Luna sheltered. All Luna knew was what she was told by the locals in Edronta and what she found in the Monastery library. Apparently, the barbarian beast races lived in Asa, and the dwarves lived in the northern country of Velegia, deep in its mountains. Finally, the rumored Dragon King ruled over a land of various races in Valania. 

Other countries were outside Ayul, but Luna knew even less about them. The only country outside of Ayul that Luna knew anything about was the country of Abricoria in the middle east. Though technically, Abricoria is not a separate land mass due to the large land bridge connecting it to the mainland. Abricoria is a theocracy ruled by the Grand Pope of the Alloran church. Under the Grand Pope is the Archbishop, overseeing all of the HighFathers in each country. Each branch of the Church is ruled by a single HighFather. A Head Priestess, like Abigail, usually serves under each of the HighFathers. 

HighFather Jedri is, of course, the head of the Moncontian Empire branch of the Alloran Church.

“What’cha looking at?” Joshua scooched himself closer to Luna and took a closer look. 

“I’m just looking at the travel route HighFather Jedri planned out for us. As long as we continue at the pace we’re going, we should reach Abadi’harnek in about ten days.” 

“Joshua wiggled around in a contained celebration. “I can’t believe we’re going to Abadi! I’m so excited to visit the hot springs! They’re apparently magical!”

“Shh!” Luna hissed into Joshua’s ear. “That’s a surprise for the kids!” 

Joshua laughed apologetically, “Right, Right. Sorry.”

***

Abigail’s soft steps clacked lightly against the marble floor of the Monastery. After moving down the hall, Abigail rapped lightly on the door to HighFather Jedri’s office. 

“Come in.” Jedri’s soft voice creaked quietly from behind the door as Abigail began to open it. 

“I’ve prepared some tea for you, HighFather.” Abigail sat the hot cup of tea on Jedri’s desk next to a pile of archaic books. 

Jedri stared intensely at his notebook; without taking his eyes off the pages, he picked up the cup of tea and sipped. “Thank you, Abigail.” He muttered. 

“So, how’s the research going? Any luck?” Abigail poked Jedri softly. 

Jedri pinched his brow, leaned back, and gave a drawn-out sigh.

Jedri grabbed the notebook and flipped to a page full of Alchemical symbols, scribbles, and depictions of various substances. 

“Nothing’s adding up, Abigail. I get to a certain point in the alchemical process, and then it all breaks down again and again. Something is missing, something important.” Jedri suddenly stood up and moved over to his bookshelf sitting behind him. Jedri grabbed an old book off the shelf written in Elvish. 

After plopping the book onto the desk, Jedri flipped to the middle of the book. The book’s pages contained various unknown devices, strange symbols, distorted beings, and a butterfly. 

“Our forefathers possessed a technology that gave us the upper hand in the Human-Elf War. It's because of them that the Moncontian Empire rose up from the ashes of the land of Urcro oal.” Jedri closed the book, placed his hands on his desk, and laughed. “A lost technology, is it? Or suppressed?”

Jedri flipped through his notebook until he landed on a sketch of a golden and blue sword with an intricate design. The sword’s Blade was covered in beautiful designs and knot patterns. On the sword’s hilt sat a glowing golden gem. 

“The Sword Saint’s Blade. It’s the only Blade that can be used by anyone willing to make a contract with Allora. All other Spirits forge a Blade combined with their own power and their partner’s soul. Because of this, each Blade is unique to the user. So how come Allora is different?” Jedri pushed some of the books on his desk until he found the one he was looking for and opened it up.

“Look at the markings here on this device.” Jedri pointed to a picture of a box covered in intricate knot designs. “It’s the same as the Sword Saint’s Blade design. That sword is connected to ancient human technology. I’m sure of it.” 

Jedri then moved his finger to the gem on the Blade’s hilt. “It’s this part that I’m struggling the most with. From what I can tell, the Etheron in this hilt is the only one in all existence!”

“During the synthesizing process, I can reach Stableized Albedesium through processing Viridite dust. But after that, the whole structural chain just breaks down.” Jedri closed the various books and sighed again. “I’m in a rut.” 

Abigail smiled softly. “Don’t worry, HighFather. You’re a smart man. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Have you visited our remaining friend down in the catacombs today? I’m sure he’s growing quite restless.”

Jedri laughed. “No, I haven’t. I guess I should do that while I have the chance.” Jedri cleaned up his desk, gulped the rest of his tea, and headed towards the door leading down into the catacombs. Once inside, Jedri grabbed a lamp on the wall powered by a small stone carved with light magic incantations and closed the door behind him.