#ADRIAN REYNOLDS POV#
"So...what are you going to do with me?" I ask Griselda, still a bit apprehensive due to being attacked by exorcists, even if they were rogue
"That...depends on you," She responds before taking a sip of her tea while I take one from my coffee
This is some good coffee...
"This...situation is rather unusual, you are aware of Sacred Gears, correct?" She asks me, and I nod
"Yeah, I heard about them through some of my contacts and some notes that I stumbled across. They are powerful artifacts bestowed upon humans by God," I say, enough to get to nod at me
"Magician, right...one question, were you aware of your Sacred Gear beforehand?" she asks me, causing me to let out a sigh
"No, I had suspicions about it, but I just wasn't interested in dealing with all of the issues that would come about from having one. Besides, I was busy building up my life," I tell her as I get the feeling in my gut that I am going to have to explain my life story
"How long have you been a magician?" She asks me curiously, causing me to close my eyes for a moment before I take a deep breath while thinking about how to say
"Nearly 4 years now, ever since I escaped from my parents," I tell her, which causes Irina and Xenovia to stare at me
"Escaped?"
"Yeah, the reason I don't really trust the church is because of them, plus all of the horrible things that it does daily put me off."
"The church is not like that at all..."
"Really? Remind me again what your mission was when you arrived at my home?" I cut Xenovia off, making her go silent
"A year ago..." I start as I remember what happened
"I came across an old man who was suffering greatly from arthritis. I took pity on him and healed him from the worst of it without asking anything in return. He was killed a week later along with the rest of his family. I hunted down the exorcists that did it and killed them, except...I didn't humiliate them by stripping them of their clothes and dignity and torture them by making them watch as they kill their family." I tell one of the stories of my encounters with the church
That makes all three of them go silent as I admit to killing the exorcists who killed that old man...
"Now...tell me why should I trust the word of a group that kills innocent people? From what I have had to deal with and stories I have heard about the Church...it doesn't inspire a bit of trust now, does it?" I continue, before shaking my head
"I am sorry. I know that you three are different from the ones I have dealt with before, but...I hope you can understand my hesitation," I tell them
"You said you escaped from your parents, why?" Irina asks
"They are religious, but to the extreme. Whenever I stepped out of line, they would remind me that I only lived because they let me exist, and they were being gracious enough to allow me to have a roof over my head, along with food and water. They reminded me of that pretty thoroughly," I say, grabbing at the sleeves of my shirt and letting them see the faded scars on my arms
"I am sorry you had to go through that," Xenovia says, looking at my scars while something in her eyes tells me that she is rather angry at what I went through
"I am sorry to," Irina says with tears forming in her eyes
"I know that you may not trust the church as a whole, but one thing I will say...is that you can trust us," Griselda says with conviction
"I don't think I have much of a choice anymore, despite my experiences with the church, I know that there are good people there," I wave them off
"If it means anything to you, I am willing to train you and get you in contact with Heaven. If anything, a Sacred Gear that allows one to turn into an angel will draw their attention. They might also be your best bet to master your Sacred Gear," Griselda offers, and I nod after thinking about it
I don't have any other choice
My home is gone, most of the tools and resources that I painstakingly gathered over the years have been destroyed
Despite that, being trained by Griselda Quarta, from what I know, is ranked top 5 among the exorcists
It took me some time to remember who she was, but despite that, I can tell that she is being honest
Being trained by her will be incredibly beneficial to me, especially now...
If she can get me in contact with some Angels, I may even be able to discover more about my angel transformation
"You will not regret it, I assure you," Griselda says with a smile while I just stare at the three of them
#TIMESKIP 1 WEEK LATER#
"We are going to Italy, why?" I ask Xenovia as we start boarding a plane
"We need to make a report and begin looking into accommodations for the near future," She answers
"Accommodations?
" By that, I mean finding a place for us to stay and train..." She stops as she seems to reach for something before shaking her head and relaxing
"Huh, I should also look into getting a new place for myself then," I say, rubbing my chin as I mentally go through my current amount of money
"That might not be a good idea. Considering that we are going to report some of the events to heaven," Griselda says as she comes over to us
"Ok," I say, a bit dejected but otherwise fine, as I still have a couple of million dollars left
"What did you do as a magician?" Griselda asks while blinking repeatedly
"Any job I could really, but the ones I try to get the most are the ones that require the use of Coven Magics. They are the simplest ones to do," I answer honestly
"Coven Magics, I think I have some idea of what that entails, but what do you do in those jobs?" Irina asks while looking thoughtful
"Oh, it's very simple, in those kinds of jobs. I just agree to help another magician with my magical reserves as they cast a spell that would normally be beyond them. With the use of Coven Magics, they can access a group's worth of magical energy to cast a spell. In fact, I was even contracted for a year or so," I say, remembering that in an entire year, I was paid $50,000 a week to be on standby, and I would be paid $100,000 extra each time they called me in, on top of what they paid me weekly
They called me 4 times to use Coven Magic
"Why weren't you in their employ anymore?" Griselda asks as she relaxes
"Simple, they found someone with greater magical reserves. So once the contract ended, I packed up and left. No reason to annoy people who may possibly call me in the future. Even then, I had some smaller contracts on the side," I say, shrugging it off
"That doesn't sound so bad. I mean it definitely sounds like you got a lot of money from it," Irina mentions, which causes me to let out a sigh as we take our seats in first class
Which I paid for
Having money has its advantages in the mundane world...
"Yeah, but it dwindles quickly when one is a magician due to the cost of materials," I tell Irina with a small frown
"Oh,"
"Yeah,"
"Good news," Griselda says
"I managed to get in contact with an angel I am familiar with. She has agreed to meet us at the Vatican once I give her an idea of what you can do. I assure you she can be trusted," She says, reassuring me, but it does the opposite instead
Meeting an angel...a real one
I have mixed feelings about that
On one hand, I can't help but feel excited, but on the other hand...
I can't help but feel some resentment for what I went through when I was younger
Even when I prayed, I never received an answer or aid, and I had to literally fight my parents in order to escape them...
"So...heaven knows,"
"Yes...they do now," She answers, and something about it makes something click with me at the moment
Of course, they know God is the one who made my Sacred Gear, so he probably learned about it being activated by me or something
"Hey, something you said has been in my mind for a bit now," Irina mentions while turning to look at me
"You said that you were aware of your Sacred Gear. But, you never willingly awakened it, why?" she asks me
"Honestly, I was happy where I was. Awakening my Sacred Gear would have gotten me poached by a faction, and I would have had to deal with a whole assortment of issues. I very likely would have been sent to fight some battles, and while I can defend myself at the very least, I try to avoid battles when I can. I only ever fight if there is no other option," I start to explain
"I didn't exactly have to worry too much about getting into fights, as I actively try to avoid getting in situations that would cause me to get into them. Either that, or I would just leave the situation as soon as possible,"
"That is rather common for a magician. I know, they do their best to avoid direct combat, as most of them enjoy their research. Am I correct to assume you do as well?" Griselda asks
"Yeah, I prefer doing research to combat. I don't like getting hurt..." I whisper the last part
Getting hurt sucks...
"Oh...I apologize," Griselda says with a solemn expression on her face as she most likely has an idea as to why I don't like fighting...