A Demon in Priestess’ Clothing – Part 1

After agreeing to temporarily work together, Yzara and I started discussing what to do next. We had a common enemy and a common goal—survive this situation and beat the White Death back to its maker. If we could just restore Yzara’s Dark Ruler class, she’d get all her busted skills back, which would allow us a real fighting chance against it.

That was what I told her, but naturally, I had no intention of ever letting Yzara get her class back. That would not be conducive to remaining alive, something I quite appreciated. I wasn’t sure how and if I could get rid of her permanently, but that would be a problem for future me to solve.

“Don’t ya need to visit a Diviner to unseal classes?” Yzara asked after I set out our basic plan. “So we’ll need to go to a Polis anyway.”

Diviners were unique “utility” NPCs that could do various class-related tasks. They existed at Temple of the Seven in medium to large-sized cities, which were agnostic when it came to which god people worshiped inside. The main use of Diviners was to—you guessed it—divine your class and your skills, and they could also unseal classes. After your Polis got to a certain size, you could invite a Diviner to take residence inside, and join all their services at a discount.

“How’s the Polis situation ever since the Heroes disappeared?”

“Humans have been keepin’ some of ‘em runnin’, exploitin’ resources and what-not. Apparently, they appoint governors, who take on the Heroes’ roles by proxy. We’re deep in the Wastelands, but I think there’s a city with a Diviner nearby.”

Getting to a city wouldn’t be too bad. I’d at least be able to get stronger there more easily. Also, we’d be able to get food.

But that presented another problem.

“We’re just too darn weak…” Yzara pointedly said, clearly distraught by the situation.

We really needed some firepower, and fast—at least enough to get us out of here. However, I was a freshly-spawned player, with a leg injury on top of that, and Yzara was little more than a pretty ornament.

“Actually, there’s a really easy way to get you some power right now.”

“And what’s that?”

“Holy Magic.”

The Demon Queen instantly frowned at the mention of her biggest enemy.

“How are ya even going to get it? Don’t ya need to pray at a church first?”

“You do, yes.”

Like any good RPG, Arcforge also had its own religion system. The biggest religion, tied to Holy Magic, revered Elr, the God on top of Arcforge’s pantheon. The easiest way to get Holy Magic was to pray at a church and ask Elr to give you the Holy Mage class.

“And as it turns out,” I continued, “there’s a church right here in Luribel.”

“Well, ya go out there and get it, then.”

“I think it’s smarter if you—and only you—get it.”

“And why is that, pray tell?”

“For once, you have a lot more MP than I do,” I said, pointing out her absolutely ridiculous MP reserves. “So we’d be able to get you powered up much more quickly. And if we both got it, we’d have a redundant skill set. I might as well hold out and get Profane Magic myself later.”

Holy Magic and Profane Magic were mutually exclusive; it was nigh-impossible to have both types of magic in a single character. There were multiple ways to obtain either entry class, but the design intention was for players to make this crucial decision early on when deciding on their character’s magical play style.

To get Profane Magic was a bit trickier than to get Holy Magic—you had to defeat a Dark Beast and have it drop a rare Profane Magic crystal that you could use to gain the class.

But Profane Magic is way cooler anyway, so I don’t mind holding off to get it later.

“…Ya must be joking.” Yzara’s eyes seemed about ready to dump her curses on me if she could, but I stood my ground. “Are ya seriously expecting the Demon Queen to get Holy Magic?!”

“Well, do you have any other ideas? Because your Profane Magic classes are locked. Or are you expecting a freshly-spawned Hero to defend you until we get out of here?”

“Ughh…”

Yzara’s Dark Ruler class was unique to her. She was the only being in the entire game who could have it—not even players could have that class. It worked basically as the equivalent to Profane Mage X, while giving her some unique skills, like <Dark Control>. The problem for her was that Dark Ruler was intended to be the ultimate Profane Magic class. It was already “perfect”, and it could not be upgraded, nor could she learn any other Profane Magic-related classes. But Dark Ruler wasn’t immune to being sealed, which was exactly what the White Death did to her.

Essentially, the White Death used her title against her—as long as it was sealed, she couldn’t use any Profane Magic, nor gain any Profane-magic-related skills. Talk about torturing her where it hurt.

“Fine! I’d feel like shit if I didn’t get at least some power back. So I suppose that’s not a bad plan. But still, what about my curses? I’ll not be goin’ anywhere like this.”

I checked Yzara’s stats again. Those three curses had really long timers of multiple days before expiring. At this rate, we’d probably die of starvation before they disappeared.

“I dunno much about clearing curses,” she said with a frown. “I’m always the one inflictin’ them, and I had a skill that gave me immunity from ‘em anyway.”

“Well, there’s basically two options. The first is to get a Holy Mage to—”

“Stop right there. Don’t ya know Profane and Holy Magic don’t mix? Holy Magic frickin’ hurts! Ya’d just be torturing me!”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, Miss Former Demon Queen,” I said with as much snark as I could. “Your Dark Ruler class is sealed, is it not? Pray tell, what exactly is left to make you affected by Holy Magic?”

“Ugh!” That sure shut her up. “I-I guess ya have a point there.” Her expression turned somewhat sad, but only for a brief moment. “Still, where are ya gonna find a Holy Mage powerful enough to clear curses in the middle of the Wasteland?”

“Guess that’s just not going to happen. So our only solution is to go to a church and make you drink Holy Water.”

Holy Water was a powerful item, bless with Holy Magic by a Cleric, that you could obtain in churches, cathedrals, and the like; it instantly cleared most curses when you drank it.

“Holy Water? As if that’s gonna be any easier,” she quipped. “Even if there’s a church here in Luribel, we’d be barging straight into the same problem as before, right? The church doesn’t have any Holy Water, just furniture. It’s just an item, right?”

If things still work as I remember, then…

“Yeah, the church won’t have any Holy Water in neat little bottles, that’s true. But,” I said with a grin, “we won’t actually need a Cleric to make some for ourselves. All we need is some water and the church itself.”

* * *

After exploring the house a bit, trying to find any sort of container I could use, I eventually found a large bucket. Thankfully, although my leg still hurt, the bleeding had stopped for now. After getting back to the living room, I turned to Yzara.

“Need me to carry you again?”

“…Keep provoking me, and I swear when I get my power back, I’ll send ya straight down to meet Baelrak.”

Somehow, I had a feeling she wasn’t joking.

Instead, I gave her a walking stick I found lying around. While she slowly made her way to the church, I went to the village’s well and fetched some water with the bucket. I got to the other side of the village square just as Yzara got there herself. The church was standing much like it had been in the game—a stone brick building with colored glass panes representing each of the five elements. Elr’s Mark—similar to the Japanese kanji for “tree”, but with a loop on top—was etched on the wooden front doors.

“Do I really have to do this?” She said, making a frown as if she was staring at a pile of manure.

“Are you chickening out now? That’s not becoming of a Demon Queen.”

“Shut it. I just don’t want to get exorcised. Even the air inside the building itself is like poison to me.”

“You’ll be fine. As long as your Dark Ruler class is sealed, you are just a freaky demon cosplayer.”

“‘Cosplayer’? Somehow, I feel like that’s an offense to my integrity.”

Hey, apologize to all the cosplayers of this world! Or I guess… the other world… whatever.

I elected to ignore her as I stepped inside. The structure was exactly the same as every Arcforge church I ever entered, if a bit on the small side. The cool air and echoes of our shuffling feet really sold the tranquility of it all.

Yup, it’s a church, alright.

The wooden pews and the altar had been completely restored, but, as expected, the rack holding the Holy Water by the entrance was gone. Yzara took careful steps behind me, probably still afraid she’d get “exorcised”.

“See, you’re totally fine.”

“Guess so… This majorly sucks. I feel like I’m losing my identity here.”

“Stop complaining and sit down while I prepare your curative.”

“I’m curious to know what yer cooking with that.”

Unfortunately for her, there wasn’t much to “cook”. I went to the altar and placed the bucket full of water there.

“Done.”

“Wait, that’s it?!” She said, her mouth agape.

“Yeah.”

“No frickin’ way.”

“It isn’t exactly Holy Water, but it should do the job.”

“Ah. I see what yer getting at,” Yzara said when she figured it out. “Blessed Water, eh? But isn’t that stuff super weak and only used in rituals and stuff?”

“True, but it can still clear curses.”

Water was an important part of the cult of Elr, and so all water inside churches were blessed by him. This was reflected in the game systems, too—plain water inside churches was turned into Blessed Water. This was a weaker form of Holy Water that also didn’t retain any of its curative properties for long outside the church. In fact, it was quite the rare item to get permanently, and some players found creative ways to have it “just because.”

Anyway, the conversion was faster the closer one was to the altar, and that was why I placed the bucket there. And sure enough, when I pointed the Debuggun at the bucket, it said <Bucket of Blessed Water>.

“Here, bottom’s up,” I said, presenting her with the bucket. She scrunched up her nose like I was giving her <Dubious Food> made with monster parts.

“Ugh. That’s repulsive.”

“You can actually tell it’s Blessed Water?”

“Yeah. Curious that, huh?” She only seemed to have noticed now. “Despite havin’ my class sealed, I guess some lingerin’ darkness remains.”

“Maybe it’s your title?”

“Could be, yeah.”

I suppose you can’t separate the “Demon Queen” from “Yzara” that easily.

“Alright, alright. Gimme that. I’m drinkin’ it.”

She truly seemed to be revolted by the idea of drinking the Blessed Water. I almost felt sorry for her. To her credit, she did actually drink a fair bit of it—in one big gulp, no less. Immediately after, she put her hand over her mouth.

“Ughhh. That’s nasty. I wanna barf. It’s like my insides are burnin’ up. How much do I have to drink of this?”

“Hmm…” Considering how weak Blessed Water is, then… “I’d say all of it.”

Yzara just stared at the multiple liters of water in the bucket, and then shot daggers at me. If looks could kill, I’d be already dead.