With Sean taking the lead, they began their meeting on how the Silver Garden would treat this delegation from the Church of Light.

  Sean: Since our leader is not here, we shall discuss our topic amongst ourselves. Now, before anything else, does anyone have any objections to these arrangements?

  Everyone just looked around for a bit. Since there was no one who interrupted, there is probably no objections for now. I gave a sigh of relief before I got to the topic at hand.

  Sean: Since there are no objections, we shall begin our meeting now. As the first order of business of our meeting, we should discuss how we should deal with this delegation from the church. Anyone have their suggestion?

  No one spoke out. They all just gnced at each other before returning to face me.

  Sean: If there are no suggestions, I will propose a suggestion of my own to start with.

  I then took out a sheet of paper from inside my clothes. Since we were in a secure pce in the secure meeting room, we were all in our casual clothes and I had rolled up the paper before putting it in my pocket for this meeting. I guessed that the others would not have any suggestions of their own so I had to hurry and make a pn in advance.

  There is a reason that I was elected to be the leader when we were divided into teams. I was not only the most talented, but also the smartest from the initial batch in the base. Now, I have had experience as both the leader of an adventurer party as well as the teachings of the town mayor. All of this culminated in my prestige being the third in the base behind our lord and her maid.

  Since I have the most prestige and experience in leadership, I should bear the biggest burden while those two are away from base. Since I am from the newly developed Light branch of the organization, I had to arrange a meeting with the representative of the other branches to coordinate our strategy.

  Sean: My suggestion is to keep the Light branch active on the surface. We should just do as we usually do while everyone else gets to hiding. Our Light branch has almost no connection to the base usually, after all.

  As long as we are careful, we can avoid any intersection with the Church. We just need to wait for our leader's return and it should all be all right.

  Everyone agreed with my pn for now. Since no one else had any feedback or suggestions, we all were able to rex for a while. Soon the meeting became us catching up with each other. Since we were divided up, we had less and less time to chat amongst ourselves. Especially us, the Ptinum Stars. Ever since we were taken in by the mayor, we were trained at his side.

  When we were all caught up, we decided to adjourn the meeting and hurry to spread our decision.

  Once we were out, we headed back to the mayor for training again. We had asked the mayor for some time to talk to our friends before going back for training and he agreed.

  The mayor of Lily Breath town is a powerful Bronze level Knight. According to what we were taught at base, the Bronze level has a rge disparity in strength compared to the Bck Iron level. We were a little unconvinced and had challenged the mayor to a match between him and our team.

  We had lost that match quite handily. Although the five of us have some decent cooperation ability, he had us beat in both experience and overall strength. That match had all of the knights in the area watching so it was a little embarrassing to lose so handily. This taught us that the information we learned was quite correct and that we still have a while to go until we got truly strong.

  After reminiscing for a bit, we went back to the mayor's house for training. The mayor lives in his house that was built a long time ago as a fortress. That is why we head on over for training. When we arrived, there was already a ptoon of soldiers training on the field.

  Even though all of these soldiers were not extraordinary, their unity and fervor truly infected us the first time we watched them train. Although they are not as strong as the guys at the base, they had their own unique advantages.

  After appreciating their training for a bit, we walked over to the entrance of the fortress and walked along the winding hallways of the building until we finally reached the office that the mayor stayed in.

  I looked at the rge double door in front of me again and then look to the side.

  Office of Mayor William Bright.

  That is what was written on the name pte next to the rge double doors.

  I once again reach my hand out and push open the heavy double doors in front of me. The five of us enter the office and and once again sigh at the simplicity of it.

  The room mainly consists of a rge desk with neatly pced paperwork as well as a shelf full of organized files. Then there are a bunch of chairs on both sides of the room. On the other side of the desk was the mayor who was still finishing off a stack of paperwork. We went and quietly pulled the chairs over to sit opposite of him.

  After some time passed, the old man finally put down the rest of the stack and turned to us after giving a sigh. Although he may not feel like it, this old man in front of us is the famed Bronze Knight of Lily Breath Town. The only hint of his hidden strength is that of the rge and bulking physique of his as well as his eyes that seem as piercing as that of an unsheathed bde.

  William: You have returned. I would have expected you to take a little longer.

  Sean: I just needed to talk to them a little to prepare for the delegation to come after all.

  He gives a small nod before standing up and heading out.

  William: Let me see how you have grown.

  He then calls all of the knights stationed nearby to head over. Every demonstration by a figure like him could inspire someone to go through a sudden burst strength.

  After a few minutes, we were fit in our gear and prepared for a fight. Opposite of us was William himself in his suit of armor. It was a set that shone with a silver glow and was lined with the fur of a bronze level bear that had invaded the town in an invasion a long time ago. Now it was shown in every battle he has it donned.

  We had taken the training grounds with the knights watching in a circle around us. In the four cardinal directions there are four Great Shielders who worked together to create a Barrier with their fighting spirit.

  As one of the most famous fighting spirits in the world here, the Four guardians spirit is a specially cultivated fighting spirit that works by combining the total fighting spirit and minds of four people to be able to unite perfectly and create a barrier that can apply various affects.

  Things like blocking attacks and knowing the attacks of allies to allow them to pass are mere pediatrics. Although the full abilities and conditions for the barrier are kept private by the Church to prevent anyone from the Dark races from copying them or finding loopholes.

  Whether these practices have worked are not what we can learn as new disciples of Sir William. With the barrier active, William is able to go all out without worrying about destroying the fortress.

  Since the battlefield for our sparring match was already prepared, we all got into positions and awaited the signal to start the match.

  After a few seconds, one of the soldiers outside had took out a whistle and blew it to signal the match.

  I immediately rushed in to defend in the front while the others prepared their attacks. From behind me, two magics were immediately cast.

  They were Lily and Kris, the Ice and Fire type magicians from our team. Lily had cast a freezing on the ground while Kris had summoned some fme nces and aimed them at William.

  The nces burst forth, but the old mayor was able to lift his shield to block the blow.

  While he was distracted, the other two were able to get into advantageous positions to deal with William.

  Mist, our scout, went around William sneakily and unched a few strikes with his bow and throwing knives before quickly maneuvering around to find any gaps in his armor to exploit.

  Millie went and sneakily rushed from behind me to nd a heavy blow on him.

  We constantly shifted our positions and attacked from various different angles to keep him on his toes. Soon he was quite overwhelmed with our tactics and was forced to finally use his own Fighting Spirit in the match.

  An alluring azure glow emanated from his body as his body began to expand. Soon he revealed his true fighting spirit in his actual combat state.

  Azure Bull Bear Spirit.

  That is the name of his fighting spirit that made him so famous in this town of Lily Breath.

  A breathtaking aura was emitted from his body that forced us all back instantly. His already rge body expanded until he became the size of a rge bear. He tossed his shield away as rge cws grew from his fingers and his armor expanded and stretched to still cover his vitals even in his rger state. Finally, bull horns grew from his forehead and shifted into a crown like shape.

  He was able to guard this famous town, not only because of the special lily pnts that grew here, but because he was able to truly dominate the surround area with his absolute strength.

  While he was transforming, we hurried to get into our positions to fight this extraordinary challenge.

  At first, we were unable to even get him into this state from our spars. But now, we can easily force him into this state. The only problem is that in this state, he is able to fully exert is full Bronze level strength. Since he is a step ahead of us, the difference in strength is quite obvious.

  Lily and Kris have already begun to cast their spells. Lily quickly shot ice shards at his eyes since freezing him in his current state would prove to be of little use. We had tried that before and it could only hold him back for half of a second. It would take over a second of chanting to cause this half second dey so we have found it not so important in a spar like this.

  In comparison, although ice shards deal even less damage, it is frequent enough and can block his vision temporarily. Kris went ahead and fired a rge fireball. With the ice shards blocking his vision, by the time he would have reacted, the fireball would be close enough that he would be in its bst radius.

  Of course, I was standing at the forefront with my tower shield to block his way when he tried to subdue our two mages. On the other end, Mist would be firing arrows or throwing knives when he found the chance.

  Finally was Millie, who we were all distracting William for. Millie, as a berserker, was the only one in our group who could actually deal a substantial enough blow to warrant his attention. So we all kept him at bay while she sneaked around waiting for a prime opportunity.

  This pn has been the one with the highest rate of success according to our experience fighting him. With our pn progressing, we slowly chipped away at him until the prime opportunity arrived. Millie took a running start and then leapt into the air with a vertical swinging strike.

  It was then that William's eye glowed an azure blue as he opened his mouth and let out a roar that sent us all back again. Since Millie was in the air, she was sent flying before Mist rushed over to catch her.

  With that the match was set. Our best strategy yet was once again thwarted. As we sat down to catch a breath, William walked over with a ugh.

  I have to admit, although the education and skills taught were inferior to back at base, the combat experience he taught us was the real deal.

  He shrunk down to his previous form with his armor colpsing back into pce as he went and patted me on the shoulder.

  William: You did well! You almost nded a complete blow, but I still have the upper hand.

  The four barrier builders then closed the barrier as William waved and thanked them.

  Soon the knights around all left and it was just us and him in the training grounds.

  William: The four of your cooperation really shocked me. This match almost lead to my defeat, but I still got my spunk.

  He then sat down in front of us and took off his armor.

  William: Phew, getting into these scuffles really gets your blood pumping and sweat flowing. Now, let us review your match today.

  He then began is lecture on our performance this time.

  Soon after, his lectures then became him telling us about his adventure stories from when he was a free adventurer. We listened attentively as stories were not something that we were taught and told about at the base. And so, these stories were then copied down and written into our communicators when we went back.

  When we were all fully rested, he finished his stories too and left to go back to his office. We took this time to go back while the training grounds was slowly becoming more active with more knights entering.

  After a while, we came back to our guild group's base. Now that we have grown to a certain extent, William did not really bother us besides his occasional invitation to spar when his hands got a little itchy. Now, we were still a somewhat active adventurer group with the others also growing.

  Since we haven't gone on a real expedition since we were called to work under William, our status as the best adventurer group in town has been contested. Of course, now that we have been training under William, we would likely still be the strongest, but there just has not been enough time for us. Especially since that Church delegation would be arriving soon.

  Because of this, we all decided to take a break to prepare to meet the delegation.

  Tomorrow arrived and the five of us received a set of clothes to wear to meet the group once they arrive. The clothes were fitted by the clothes maker that makes clothes for many noble families so they were not only high in quality, but also in comfort and appearance as well. We, of course, thanked the seamstress and deliverer before keeping it at base and going back to training at William's house.

  Days passed and it was finally time for us to meet the Church group. We made sure to put on the prepared clothes and checked each other to make sure that everything was in the right order.

  When we confirmed everything, we headed over to William to wait for the Church's arrival. When we got there, the whole entire fortress was completely decorated and even the knights responsible for protecting the base were in top condition.

  As we headed into William's office, There was a faint scent of vanil coming from candles lit in the room. Did this pce have things like this?

  On the desk, William greeted us and invited us to sit by his side when the group arrived. We agreed and we rexed in his office for a while until we eventually heard a knock on the door.

  Butler: Sir William, it is I.

  William: Enter.

  The butler walked into the room and informed us that the Church delegation was at the entrance of the city. William gave a nod and brought us over to the door of the building to wait for the Church delegation to arrive.

  This time passed quite slowly as the delegation took a little time to arrive.

  Soon, there was the sound of hooves on the stone road. Then gate at the entrance of this fortress opened and we could see the Church's carriage coming in.

  When they got closer we were able to take a closer look at the Carriage they were riding on. It was pure white carriage with various golden accents that glimmered under the light of the sun. Pulling the carriages were pure white horses with a group of knights on horseback surrounding the carriage in all directions in a square formation.

  They arrived in front of us and one of the knights on horseback jumped off and opened the door for the ones in the carriage. Out first was another knight. Then that knight turned around and held out his hand to help the next one down while the first one remained holding the door.

  Out went an old man in a Bishop robe. He is the main person the delegation has been guarding all the way here. When I looked at him, he looked back and showed a friendly smile before turning back to look at the carriage. William secretly pat my shoulder to let me not keep on staring at him.

  Surprisingly, the old man was not the st one to disembark off the carriage. The final one to disembark had a dainty and slim hand that was stretched out. When they came out, I noticed that William's muscles tensed up and when I turned to look at him, his eyes were dited.

  I looked back and saw the one he was looking at. She was a dainty woman wearing a veil that hid her face. She wore even fancier clothing and had long flowing bck hair. When she fully stepped out, all of the knights on horseback all uniformly jumped off and kneeled down on one foot with one hand on their chest. They all chanted the same word in unison.

  Knights: Saintess.

  I could feel everyone's shock at this revetion. At first, I thought this would be a simple delegation that would be led by a bishop. Judging on William's reaction, this saintess figure must be even more important than I can imagine.

  While I was imagining so, the saintess had gestured for the knights to rise and headed on over with the Bishop on her right side and a knight on her left.

  They walked up to us and William gave a bow. We quickly followed suite as to not seem out of pce. When we raised our heads, William greeted the group before inviting them in.

  William: Welcome this dy as well as Bishop Farrell. We welcome you here to our humble town of Lily Breath. Please come in and have a seat.

  He then went to open the door and gestured them inside. The carriage and horses were gently corralled over to a stable to park with dedicated personnel to take care of them.

  With them being taken care of, the saintess and bishop both entered along with a few knights. We went in afterwards and the remaining knights they brought were directed to a guest house nearby.

  Once we were in the house, we were all lead to a rge conference room to communicate in private. When we all entered, the servants all left and closed the door behind them.

  Now that we were all in a more private environment, William was able to let out a sigh.

  William: Farrell, if someone like the saint was going to arrive here with you you could have at least given me a warning in advance.

  Farrell responds with an equally pronounced sigh.

  Farrell: If I knew the saint would be barging into out delegation team, I absolutely would have warned you.

  The five of us were a little confused at the current situation. William saw that we were a little confused and began to expin.

  William: Farrell here is an old friend of mine from way back in the day. We still sometimes get together to drink and chat. A few days ago, he sent a letter that said he would be coming here as the leader of the Church delegation heading to the border. In his past letters, he also told me about the saintess so you don't have to worry about the both of them. Since you five are my students, you can call Farrell uncle.

  Farrell then gave a disgruntled sigh before responding.

  Farrell: Only you would tell your students to call someone like me uncle. You kids, since William has agreed to call you as students, you can call me Senior Brother Farrell. I am, after all, also taught by him. Now, let me introduce you all to this one.

  Taking that as a cue, the saintess lifted her shawl to reveal a beautiful face underneath. After a moment of being in a daze, I felt a pinch on my right side and saw that it was Kris who looked at me with a dissatisfied gaze.

  Farrell: This is the Saintess Marianne. She insisted that I bring her with me while I was already prepared to go. That's why I couldn't warn you of anything.

  Farrell directs his disgruntled gaze towards William before sitting to the side.

  Marianne: Hello, I am Marianne. Although I am a saint for the church, please don't treat me so formally here. The environment of the church is quite stifling so I wanted a change of pace. Don't mind me here.

  Farrell simply sighed in response.

  Farrell: I can't simply do that, saintess. Because of your position, even in a pce like this, you still have to be treated as such otherwise-

  William: There there Farrell. You kids, how about you take the Saintess around while catch up to this old man?

  Farrell: Like I said, I am not old!

  William then puts his arm around Farrell's shoulder before giving us a wink. We take the cue and bring the saintess out of the room.

  As we left the room, I could see that the servant guarding the room had a weird expression on his face when he saw the saintess with us, but he didn't say anything. We took the saintess over to our shared dorm in the fortress before addressing her once more.

  Sean: Let's introduce ourselves. I am Sean, I am the leader of our little group and I am a padin in css.

  The saintess showed a slight flinch from my introduction. Maybe she has a dislike towards padins? Although I am likely not like the group of padins that she knows.

  Lily: I am Lily, I am the ice attribute mage for our group.

  Kris: I am Kris, I am the fire attribute mage for our group. Also, Sean is mine, you can't take him!

  She excimed with a shout that startled all of us. Lily Mist and Millie gave a ugh in response while I sighed. The saintess gave a yelp before composing herself and giving a nod in response.

  Marianne: Got it.

  Mist: The name is Mist. I take the role of both archer and scout for the team. Nice to meet you.

  Millie: I am Millie, I am a berserker! Nice to meet you!

  The saintess nodded in response to their introductions before finally giving her own.

  Marianne: I am Marianne, I was a small vilge girl before I was found and taken in by a priest in our vilge. After I showed my talents, I was taken to the Headquarters of the Church for training before I was officially certified as the Saintess. Now I am here as just an ordinary person who wants to see the world.

  She gave a bright and infectious smile that stunned us for a while. When we recovered, she kept a neutral expression on her.

  Afterwards, we looked awkwardly at each other before Kris finally could not take it anymore.

  Kris: Hey saintess, you said you want to see the world right? How about we go and see the world now?

  The saintess gave an excited nod and we all had a sigh of relief. That awkward feeling was gone with Kris's interruption. Now the mood between us all was more rexed. We first went to the knights of the Church and the fortress to tell them we were going to wander around the town. Although the Church's knights wanted to stop us for a bit, when the saintess ordered them to obey, they sullenly went back to their positions.

  Soon, we got permission from William as he felt that it might be a good opportunity for us to get connected with the saintess and the church. Plus, with the five of us by her, there is not much that can threaten her.

  What we did not know, is that while we were leading the saintess away, Farrell was finally able to talk truthfully in the fortress.

  Farrell: Did you notice it?

  William: Yeah, the moment she left the carriage, I noticed that the saintess is at the tipping point. Why is she following you instead of preparing to breakthrough to Silver at your headquarters?

  That's right. The Saintess Marianne was almost at the Silver level in strength. As the most talented child that was sent directly to the headquarters for training, her growth rate was even beyond the church's imagination.

  She was a prodigy who could remember anything at a gnce and had a strong faith and blessing from the light element. She was almost destined to become the strongest being of the church eventually.

  The only problem with that is that she suddenly had a bottleneck in her strength. That in addition to her impatience led her to start a foolish sort of rebellion where she would begin to disregard the teachings of her teachers and ran over to the delegation to show her independence.

  Of course, she was found, but the higher ups of the church eventually agreed to allow her to go. The only condition is that there would be Farrell going along and supervising her.

  As one of the stronger and more talented priests in the Church, he is one of the very few people who can keep up with and was avaible to watch to watch the now rebellious Saintess.

  The most important reason is that having the extra combat power at the border to the Dark Race Alliance would also be helpful since the amount of movable combat power in the Church was currently not enough to handle a full on scuffle.

  So, the higher ups decided that since she was still in a bottleneck period, that she can be allowed out with supervision.

  Farrell then retold all of this to William in a compining mood.

  Farrell: I mean, what do they expect from me, to actually restrict that girl in anyway?

  He gave a sigh before finally proposing something to him.

  Farrell: Could you, let her join with your disciple's group temporarily? From what I have seen, they are quite suitable to be friends with her. It could be like how we were. They could help to teach her about the world and inform her of the importance of her decision.

  William merely sat there in contemption. He was inwardly calcuting the pros and cons of the situation. With his five disciples, as long as they do not face the threat of a peak bronze then there should not be any danger. They were indeed able to force me into my Azure Bull Bear form after all.

  On the other hand, should I be pulling the five of them into this whirlpool? Although I have only known them for some while, their talent and skill as well as their character really speak to me. After thinking about it, I finally decided to leave the choice to them.

  William: I can't decide for them. I will tell them their options and they will choose for themselves.

  After saying that, I felt like a burden was off my chest. I looked straight at Farrell and awaited his thoughts. He merely chuckled and nodded.

  I then called a servant in to bring some alcohol over. Although he refused symbolically, he eventually caved and we had a small drinking party while we awaited the return of the saintess and my students.

  Meanwhile...

  We were out there shopping in the town while they were there drinking. The girls were all able to get real close unknowingly while Mist and I were stuck on carrying duty. I gave a sigh as they entered the fourth store today.

  Sean: When will this all end? If I knew this would happen, I would have just stayed at the base. Even if it meant disobeying and getting punished by teacher.

  Mist: Well, we can't really do that can we? We have to act normal while the Church is here. We can't let any opportunity of exposure to get out.

  We both sighed in unison as we waited at the entrance of the store for them to finish. Soon enough, they left the store and they finally stopped their shopping spree. They all put their stuff aside with Mist and I as they asked us what we wanted to eat for now. We responded with what sounded good and the Girls left to get food for us while we took a table to sit at.

  Sean: They are finally done. I hope to never be put through such a chore again.

  Mist agreed as we sat exhausted at the table. Soon we were able to smell a good smell as the girls were coming over. We looked up and saw the food that they had bought. We went to help pce all of the items and all sat around together.

  We all pced our hands together as thanks for the meal. Marianne had her own prayer before meals so we patiently waited for hers to be over before digging in.

  While we were digging in, we had the time to chat amongst ourselves. Soon, we were all mingling together until I felt a vibration in my pocket. In it was my communicator and so I asked the others and mainly Marianne for a moment.

  I stood up and left a distance and when there were no longer people in view, I took out my communicator and saw the message and let out a smile.

  Celine: Do what you want. I believe in your judgement, and if all else fails I am still behind you.