Secret Agent Chapter 085 - Life Comes At You Fast (Patreon)

The next morning, Zack Adder awoke sore when the maid Nerezza called out to him.

“Breakfast is ready, Master Jack.”

It was a hearty breakfast of steak, eggs, and freshly baked muffins, and she forced him to eat every bite.

“The Master of the House also engaged in strength training for a time,” she explained as she loaded up his plate. “Adequate nutrition is essential.”

“Thanks, Nerezza,” Zack tried to thank her, but she only pushed another muffin towards him.

“If you have time to thank me, you have time to eat.”

Sienna remained asleep in her terrarium, and Zack departed for the slums shortly thereafter, his belly full for the first time in a while. He was starting to miss those catered buffets the Director provided at the Theater…

Today when he reached the slums, it was almost second nature to adjust his [Intimidation] as needed, and even despite Sienna’s absence, nobody sought to challenge him. And when he reached St. Bella’s orphanage, he toned it down, smiling as he saw the children just emerging from the dilapidated, damaged building to play outside in the rapidly warming outside air.

“It’s Mister Jack!”

“Where’s Misses Snake?”

“Mister Jack look at me I can do a cartwheel!”

The cries of the children alerted Sister Paula, and she came out at the same time Zack passed through the gate.

“Good morning, Sister,” he greeted her, and she smiled in return.

“Good morning, Mister Jack,” she said. “I will tend to the younger children, so you can teach the rest.”

The cutoff appeared to be roughly seven or eight years old. Those younger than that were too energetic to pay attention for long, and craved physical activity. Those older…

Zack was surprised.

They had a very adult-look in their eyes. Like they had an understanding of their position in life, and the need to take responsibility for themselves.

Maturity comes fast to children in such situations.

Still, the ten older children of St. Bella’s had a very different look compared to the foster children Jack had seen in school, growing up. Mature, but not abused. Not traumatized.

Just, aware that they needed to take some things seriously.

Henrietta was the oldest of the assembled children. Most appeared to be around ten years old, and there were two children who might have been eight years old, though most of that impression came from their serious expressions rather than their physical development. They had dark brown, light brown, sandy blonde, and white blonde hair colors, and the usual range of eye colors, and none of them had any weird hair colors like that fiery red Princess from the Campus Martialus Gate, or Cori with her blue.

“Okay, Henrietta, can you fetch some of the paper from yesterday? We’ll use it to make examples of the alphabet, and draw pictures to go with the letters.”

Zack Adder was no teacher, but classrooms had pictures to go with the letters, right?

Like a Tiger to go with T, or a Key to go with K.

So for about thirty minutes they created the references the children could use to study on their own time, and hang up within the orphanage, and then they headed outside to a quieter part of the yard, where he started to teach them to recognize the letters and the sounds they represented.

“So this says, ‘The Fat Cat Sat on a Hat’…”

Henrietta [Sketched] an illustration into the dirt so the children could see an example.

He wasn’t sure if he was doing it right, but soon enough…

*ding!* The skill [Teaching] has been acquired!

The teaching continued until almost lunchtime.

Sister Paula called from the front of the building.

“Mister Jack, it’s almost time for lun—”

She was cut off by a flash of light, followed almost instantly by a wave of air pressure and heat and a tremendous rumbling.

It was like a bomb had gone off in the northwest, beyond the Castle and Grand Cathedral.

***

Bradley Northcourt awoke early that morning, just after dawn, and was cleansed, dressed, and scented with fine oils by the attending maids.

Today was the day of departure.

He had made decent progress on his magic skills. Both [Magic Control] and [Magic Perception] had advanced to level five, and even [Divine Favor] had advanced to level seven. All the praying and miracles he’d done had paid off. And his mana compression had doubled the size of his mana pool, at least, according to Ruby.

Still not enough to cast a Sanctuary over the entire city, but he was assured that was unreasonable. It had taken all the assembled Cardinals and the Bishops to cast it with a Ritual, and finish off any hidden thurgenrats within the city itself.

Those foul demons… Attacking the innocent people of the city like that.

Unforgivable!

But, he controlled himself.

First things first.

Bathed and hair styled, he let the maids dress him in silk underclothes, then a padded off-white gambeson emblazoned with the symbol of the True Church of the Goddess on the front, and the coat of arms of the Royal Family of Forti on the back. Then a set of chainmail, and heavy metal plates over those, and finally a tabard with the same design as his gambeson. The outer short coat was blue with gold trim, to match his blue eyes and golden blonde hair, but none would see it.

He was keeping his helmet on.

Well, for the most part.

He would remove it for the Consecration, but only for that.

The [Priests] had tried to assure him that there were no threats in the Grand Cathedral itself, but when he had reminded them that Zack had been kidnapped in the Royal Castle, that settled that.

Besides which, he was the [Hero].

Let the nobles and priests complain.

He had bigger concerns.

Once fully dressed, he dismissed his maids and once the room was clear, he took a knee and prayed for his buffs.

Defense.

Speed.

And Luck.

At first he had been a little bothered that his Luck growth rate was only A, while the rest of his attributes were S. But once Rosimund had explained how Luck worked, he had been satisfied.

“First of all, a Luck growth rate of S is vanishingly rare,” Rosimund had said. “As rare as an SS rate in any other attribute. Second, Luck doesn’t mean what you might think. It doesn’t affect probability, like rolling dice. This has been tested thoroughly.”

Someone with more Luck wouldn’t get any more favorable rolls than someone with less Luck, in most circumstances.

“Luck refers to someone’s ability to overcome their Fate,” Rosimund said. Bradley could hear the capitalization of Fate. “Normally one’s Fate is known only to the Goddess, however, so practically speaking it’s impossible to measure. Take, for example, an Adventurer fated to die on an expedition. Nobody would know that ahead of time. And even if that Adventurer had a growth rate of A in Luck, and plenty of levels, that would only give him a chance to overcome his fate, depending on his preparation and many other factors.”

It had been a little hard for Bradley to wrap his head around.

“And it’s only big stuff, right? Like life and death?” he asked.

“Generally speaking, yes. But the effect of Luck is small. Many with a growth rate of A in Luck perish, likely due to their Fate, and many with low growth rates of Luck survive. Fate seems to be the dominant factor, perhaps even more so than preparation. There is a Knight, for example, with a growth rate of F in Luck. Yet he has had a very successful career and lived a fortunate life. Hard work and one’s choices still matter.”

“So the effect of Luck is just small, then?” Bradley asked to confirm.

“It seems so,” Rosimund nodded.

Still, Bradley prayed for Luck.

It couldn’t hurt, right?

Overcoming Fate…

Well, his Fate was obviously to slay the [Demon King] and save the world. Goddess Arianna had told him that, straight out.

He didn’t need to overcome that.

But it was still good to be prepared.

At the very least, buffing his Luck didn’t have any chance of giving him bad luck. Maria had said so.

His prayers done, he [Meditated] a moment to recover some of his mana. And then it was time to meet with his [Party].

Rosimund, the [Guide].

Ruby, the [Mage].

Liz, the [Ranger].

Su, the [Warrior].

Anny, the [Assassin].

And Maria.

Really, this whole ceremony was mainly for her, and to show off the [Hero] to the people.

Everyone seemed to be in top condition. Well rested, dressed to the nines in their best gear, and Bradley spent the rest of his mana pool buffing everyone except Maria.

“I’m perfectly capable of my own blessings, Sir Bradley!”

She was a little protective of her role in the party, and Bradley felt a little bad about that.

He hadn’t given any thought to how she would react to a [Party] full of other women…

Some girls didn’t get along with other girls so well. He knew this from high school. Still, Maria was doing her best to be polite and get along with everyone, so he tried to be encouraging, but subtly.

And Rosimund was helping with that, too.

Team Management!

“Places, everyone!” A [Priest] called them all to take their places, and they began the procession from the Castle, across the army’s marshaling field, past the upper class common folk of the city who had been invited to catch a glimpse, and up the hill to the Grand Cathedral.

The Cathedral was massive.

It had to have been bigger than any Cathedral on Earth. Supported by massive stone columns inside, the ceiling was hundreds of yards above, and yet painted and decorated with precious metals and stones. Massive paintings hung on gold chains depicting the Church’s history and the glory of the Goddess, and statues carved of sparkly white marble depicted…

Er, people, Bradley guessed.

He didn’t really think he needed to know Church history so much.

After all, he had met the Goddess personally.

And Maria could talk to Her at any time.

It wasn’t like back on Earth, where God didn’t talk to people directly and so everyone argued about what God wanted…

Anyway, the procession finished, and they arranged themselves once more in the Cathedral’s vestibule, and the Pope called them forth for the Consecration.

First, the [Hero], Sir Bradley Northcourt.

They had given him the noble rank of Marquess, which he didn’t really know what that meant, but he was told it was very high ranking.

He strode forward confidently, helmet firmly on his head, shield on his arm and sword arm free, ready for anything.

There was a little song and dance at the end, not literally, but the Pope had a lot to say, and the King too, and Bradley had to genuflect and stand and genuflect again and stand again and then turn to the people and they all cheered.

Next was Maria.

Bradley watched this closely.

This was her moment.

Until now, she had been merely a [Priestess].

But she walked forward in new, dazzling white robes with blue and gold trim, and the Pope…

“I hereby Consecrate you as the [Saintess] of the [Hero’s Party]. Protect him and all the Goddess’ creation as you go forth to slay the [Demon King].”

[Saintess].

There was a flash of holy light, and the Goddess bestowed the blessing and [Title] upon Maria.

Bradley had never seen her so sincerely happy.

She took her place next to him, and the rest of the party followed with a bit less divine hullabaloo.

Rosimund, then Ruby, then Liz because of her father’s rank of Baron, then Anny who looked uncomfortable with all the attention, and lastly Su, carrying that massive axe she had brought to the tryouts. Unlike Anny, Su took everything in stride and walked confidently, though mainly because she didn’t understand that all the people in the benches looking at her were the nobility of the Kingdom and the highest ranks of the Church.

That, or she didn’t care.

And, frankly, Bradley thought that was the right way to look at it.

They were the [Hero’s Party].

They were the main characters.

“Take these talismans,” the Pope said in his soft, high-pitched voice. A Cardinal brought them embroidered cloth strips with weird patterns on them, glowing with a magic aura in Brad’s vision. “They will alert you to the nearby presence of demons, and prevent ambushes outside the Sanctuary of the city.”

The talismans were pinned to everyone’s left shoulder, just in the corner of their vision, and apparently they would glow red if any demons were nearby.

The ceremony finished and Bradley led them all out of the Cathedral where their carriage was waiting. He circled it once, giving it one final check, and climbed aboard last. Rosimund took the driver’s seat, and Liz sat next to him, keeping an eye on their surroundings, Su and Anny sat next to each other on one side and Maria had kept a spot open for Bradley next to herself, with Ruby on her other side.

Rosimund snapped the reins and the carriage jerked forward, and a tremendous cheer rose from the outside.

The people were going wild.

The carriage made its way north, to a gate in the wall on the other end of the Campus Martialus that was normally kept closed except in times of war.

Beyond was the road, surrounded by forest on either side as it made its way north and then west, into the foothills of the mountains that marked the country’s border with the rest of the continent.

They passed through the gate.

“Close the gate!”

“Closing the gate!”

The guards cried, and there was a loud creaking as the heavy, metal-banded wooden gate was closed and a portcullis dropped, and that was it.

They were outside the city.

Their journey had begun.

And in unison, all their demon-detecting talismans flared red.