Chapter 5: Ch 5: Seraphina’s Trust
"Here is your room. Unfortunately, the hero is out for training. We will take you to meet him tomorrow."
The priest led Kael to his temporary room and gave him this news. Not that Kael believed a word of what the priest was saying to him.
He already knew that the temple was trying to brainwash Leon so that he would remain loyal to them.
But as much as Kael wanted to break him out, he knew he had to show patience and smile at the priest.
Finally, the priest left him alone and Kael breathed a sigh of relief.
After making sure no one was around, Kael decided that it was time for him to start his mission. And the first thing he needed to do was find Seraphina.
He created a familiar using his magic. The bird leapt out of his palm and immediately followed the trail of Seraphina’s mana.
That was how Kael found her in an abandoned corner of the temple. She was sitting with her knees hugged to her chest and everything about her told Kael to stay away.
He ignored the obvious signs and decided to approach her anyway.
Since he did not bother to hide his presence, Seraphina noticed him and tensed up. But she did not try to run away.
Instead, she pushed herself to her feet and pressed a smile onto her face.
"Hello...can I help you? Are you lost?"
Seraphina asked in a gentle voice with a blush on her face. Her smile was fake, but it still made her face light up.
Kael knew that he needed to handle her with care, so instead of being frank with her, he decided to take things slowly.
"I am not lost. Rather, I was following my familiar and it led me to you. Your mana must be pure because my familiar likes being near you a lot."
The bird made of mana nuzzled Seraphina’s cheek at his command and she let out a gasp at the sensation.
Her guarded eyes softened a little which was a good sign.
"A-Ah, is this bird your familiar? I did not even notice that it was sitting on me. Do you want it back?"
Seraphina asked and Kael immediately shook his head.
"There is no need for that. Since my familiar is made of mana, it will disappear on its own once it runs out of mana. Why don’t you keep it with you until then?"
The girl looked shyly at the mana bird and longing filled her eyes. But she ultimately pushed those desires aside.
"I cannot do that. I cannot care for a familiar, so please take it back."
Seraphina looked torn between wanting to keep the bird and returning it. And Kael decided to push her a little more to get her to talk about her problem.
"A familiar is not that hard to care for. All you need to do is be with it for some time. Is that too hard to do?"
The future Saintess’s eyes fluttered in hesitation. She was debating whether to trust him.
Since it was a decision she needed to make, Kael decided to give her time to think.
"I..."
[A new tab with the target has opened.]
[Trust: 10%]
The system popped up but Kael ignored it since he wanted to pay attention to Seraphina.
She struggled to get her words out initially. But after seeing how patient Kael was, her words finally left her lips.
"I don’t know how long I will be able to stay here. I-I was brought here with my...friend. But the priests were saying that they are going to send my friend away. The priests only gave me shelter because of my friend. I-If he leaves, then I will be thrown out..."
Seraphina finally confessed. She did not tell Kael about the identity of her friend, but he already knew who she meant.
Kael wanted to tell her that she was worried about the wrong reason.
There was no way the temple was going to get rid of her. They were going to hold on to her tightly since she was Leon’s friend and a potential weakness.
Instead, they would exploit her until she was submissive to them and break her under the pressure. And things would only get worse once she awakened as the Saintess.
Kael wanted to avoid this, so he decided to take a risk.
"Miss Seraphina, is the friend in your story the chosen hero, Leon? Before you get suspicious of me, allow me to clarify why I know your name. It’s because I’m the hero’s chosen teacher, so I did some research on him beforehand. That’s how I know about you as well."
Seraphina’s eyes became instantly guarded again.
[You have lost trust with the target.]
[Trust: 5%]
It looked bad, but this was a calculated risk Kael took.
If he wanted Seraphina to trust him, he first needed to show her that he was worthy of her trust. He knew he could gain it all back, so he was not that worried about the small loss.
"What do you want from me? If you are trying to use me to get to Leon, then..."
"That is not what I am trying to do here, Miss Seraphina. The person I want to help right now isn’t Leon. It’s you. Since you are worried about your place here once Leon leaves, then would you like to leave together with him?"
Kael asked and Seraphina’s eyes flashed with surprise and hesitation. But he could see the desire in her eyes.
A small push would be enough to make her do as he wanted her to.
"I am going to choose someone from the temple to accompany me and the hero outside tomorrow. If you can find a way to become a member at that time, I promise I will choose you. I know you have no reason to trust me right now, but I promise I am not lying to you."
Seraphina looked uncomfortable at the reveal. She immediately looked around to see if anyone else was nearby, but Kael had already made sure no one else would overhear their conversation.
"Why...are you telling me this?"
She asked again and Kael answered.
"I am doing this because I want to. If you would rather not get selected, then it’s up to you. But I would rather have someone familiar around the hero to support him. And I would like to help you as well. Someone like you deserves more kindness in her life."
After saying that, Kael went back toward his room.
Knowing the temple, they would send someone to get him soon. He did not want to give them any reason to grow suspicious of him.
’I laid out my cards. Now the rest is up to Seraphina.’
