Master Of None

"Ahhh, I finally chased off all those merchants. I swear, they come here to see us and make donations but they really think that we will prioritize healing. I will never allow someone with worse injuries to wait just because someone who donated money walks in with a paper cut." The high priest was mostly speaking to himself, but the priests around him were nodding along before they headed to separate tasks. They knew that the high priest was much older than them yet worked much harder and longer so rest was necessary. 

He had just sat down and looked toward the door to see Walker coming in to the cathedral again with Midnight ahead of him. However, when he saw Alice he locked on to the egg in her hands. "Huh, I didn't expect that he would get another tamed monster." The high priest thought that Walker was going to be taming the monster egg and that he was just stopping by with Alice first. 

But when he realized that Onyx was on Alice's shoulders and acting a little protective it made him think again. He also noticed that Alice was hugging the egg a little too tight and that Walker didn't have anything within his hands. There was no reason that Walker wouldn't be holding the egg himself. This caused the high priest to jump right up. The four were headed in his direction anyways. 

His look said it all. There was a little curiosity but Walker could also tell that the high priest was not the happiest to be seeing that his daughter was bringing an egg in. "Now, tell me what, why, and how before I judge this." The good thing about the high priest was that he was not going to run through everything with his emotions. He wanted the logic and the story behind it before he came to judge it all. 

Since Alice was a little afraid to say it she looked at Walker with a sad expression. As tough as he was against Midnight and Onyx, he started to melt right there on the spot. "So I met the egg hunter that works with the tamer's guild. I learned a decent amount about eggs and was introduced to this egg. It is a very rare monster that doesn't live around here any longer. It's a heavenly serpent. It needs to be bathed in pure light elemental mana for one hundred days before it can hatch. I have a theory that we can speed that up by increasing the pre light elemental mana." Walker took a deep breath before he continued under the high priest's watchful gaze. 

"It has no family and is very hard to hatch, therefore, it would most likely not have a home anytime soon. I can not properly care for it as a member of my family so I passed the idea to Alice. The fact that she can manipulate the light elemental mana will go miles for the health and growth of such a partner. It also is a light elemental monster, meaning that it most likely will be able to boost or heal others. It would be an asset to Alice's safety and to her healing endeavors." This was the main point that Walker knew would make the high priest accept this. 

"The heavenly serpent won't be alone and neither will Alice. It's like me." Onyx chimed in and showed a much more hopeful expression which was impressive since he was still a serpent. Walker had no idea how Onyx and Midnight both pulled off these kinds of looks. 

"And you know that the cost of raising such a monster is very high?" The high priest looked at Alice who was looking right back without flinching. She slowly nodded and pointed toward their room. "I know you have your savings. You never spent a single gold unless you had to. But you will need more. I will help since I was hoping to give you a gift for your hard work building this new cathedral up and training new healers. But I expect that someone else will be helping." Walker felt the high priest glare at him for just a second. 

"I have already promised I would help. I even have some light elemental crystals I can donate now. But I plan to take some gold and get some grand light crystals from the forest elves. They should be pure and easy to make use of. It might even speed up the hatching process." Walker knew that Onyx had amazed him with the speed at which he consumed the light elemental mana. If this heavenly serpent was anything like Onyx then there would be a hatching egg in just a fraction of the time. 

"Then I will leave it to you. But if you dare give up on this creature, I will exile you from the church for the rest of your life. You know how precious a life is and you know the values that this city is founded on. That monster no matter what it is like will need you. Whether it is tough, painful, or even something you fear. You are responsible." The last few words made Alice cringe. But after she heard them all she held the egg just a little tougher and looked her father dead in the eye. 

"I will make it the best partner ever." Alice had never spoken so firmly in front of Walker. She would have been embarrassed to act this way but right at the moment, she could only show her steel. 

"Good. Then let's go set up a space in our quarters for our new family member. To think I would have not one but two children in my life." There was a wrinkled smile on the high priests' face. "Well? Are you coming to help?" Walker put some pep in his step and followed. 

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