Chapter 26 The Ceremonial Party Had Come To An End
Divine grace is the divinity given by God to their follower, the priest. The rank of a priest is decided by both the quantity and quality of the divinity they have.
The divinity of the gods have different properties, like the sun god temple.
The sun god divinity has the property of extreme heat but it still grants the power of healing. Divinity is a higher form of energy which can be used for multiple purposes.
With divinity's superior quality any type of power can be nullified as long as it is used at an appropriate level.
And it doesn't matter if the person who becomes a priest has talent, divinity is a force that doesn't belong to that person's body. It is only being temporarily borrowed from the god.
Even with all these benefits Zick never thought of joining any of the temples. The first reason being, belief matters a lot in a temple.
Zick knew that no matter how hard he tried there was little chance of him getting granted divinity from any of the Gods.
And the second reason why he didn't join a temple is that, the divinity granted isn't something that will belong to him.
Because of everything that happened to Zick, his trust in people is almost nonexistent. he will probably never be able to trust anyone completely for the rest of his life.
Zick could see two people who entered the party hall a while ago.
One was a woman who looked to be in her 20s with indigo hair and dark blue eyes. She wore a pure white robe with the crest of the goddess of fairness, Fiona's drawn in it.
From the things Zick could hear around the hall, the woman name was jessir messih, she was a cardinal of the goddess of fairness, Fiona's temple.
The other one was wearing a black hood, he had black hair and bright green eyes. His age was hard to say as his face was filled with weird black marks. Just from his appearance it could be said that he was still young.
He is also a cardinal of the death God temple, Cardinal is a rank which is one rank below bishop.
Jessir had a soft smile on her face as she conversed with the others.
While the person in black hood sat in one corner of the hall just like Zick.
Zick waited for this party to come to an end with a glass of juice in his hand. He could see Stella and the second prince talking to each other at the end of his view.
Now that the ceremonial party had begun, with everyone present the hall looked a lot more crowded.
Zick walked to the balcony with a glass of red juice in his hand and the cat followed beside him. The balcony entrance was covered with white curtains.
Spreading it open with his hands, Zick walked past it. A garden lay below the balcony with flowers shining in the moon night. He sat upon the marble railing and looked at the sky.
It was the same as ever since the day he came to this world.
Star filled the sky as far as he could see and a half red moon could be seen in the sky.
The cat also jumped up on the marble railing and Yawned.
After becoming a middle rank knight, Zick could hear a lot clearer than ever before so he was able to hear and even feel what was happening through his mana within the party hall easily.
In the middle of the hall, couples started dancing along with their partners. A ceremonious song rang out in the hall.
Stella and the second prince also danced happily along with the others. Stella had a big smile plastered on her face as she held the second prince's hand.
Searre sat at one of the tables and looked at the couples dancing with envious gaze. She was still a young girl and it was her first time coming to a Ceremonial party, which made her want to participate in the ball dance along with others. But in the end it was just wishful thinking on her part.
She is a Duke's daughter, this brings a lot of benefits but there are disadvantages like this along with it.
With a frustrated look on her face she began looking for Zick. With her enhanced sense of the lowest rank knight, she found him easily.
He and the black cat beside him were sitting on the marble railing of the balcony and looking towards the sky.
'It's because of him.....'
Almost all the people in the hall had heard their conversation even when they talked in a quiet voice.
In this world all the people who can begin their journey to become a knight have senses that surpass any common human. With no magic blocking their voice from spreading everyone had heard their conversation.
Even if the nobles in the hall couldn't do or say anything disrespectful to Searre, they could still talk to each other.
Searre had heard them all speaking about her behaviour clearly.
("how can she say such a thing to the Melvix family?")
("Just how much disrespectful can she be")
("she didn't even apologise to mister Zick")
They just wanted to tarnish the velscar family name and nothing else.
Even though she knew about it, she could not do anything about it.
All the nobles in the hall never said a word about Zick's disrespectful behaviour.
'But he is at fault too.....'
She thought that Zick was disrespectful at their first meeting. He didn't even get up from his chair when they greeted him with their family name.
"sigh.....don't worry about it, it doesn't seems like he has any intention to harm our family"
Denis misunderstood her as she was staring fixedly at Zick.
"No, that isn't it..."
A dejected voice left her mouth.
Without Zick noticing, he had accelerated Searre's growth by a large extent. In the future it would become even harder for changing her way of doing things.
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Zick could feel gazes landing on him but he ignored them and waited for the ceremonial party to end.
Now that the ball dance had started, the party would end soon.
The black cat looked at Zick who was looking at the stars lost in his thoughts.
'In the end I couldn't understand him at all'
The cat had watched Zick closely the whole time but he never did any irrational action. He was so normal that the cat doubted its skills for the first time.
There were only a few instances where Zick acted differently but it isn't anything that deviates from his normal behaviour by much.
It was the moment Zick talked with Searre, the cat could feel that for some reason he didn't like that girl.
Leaving that nothing unusual happened the whole time which was worth mentioning.
"sigh...I guess our contract is coming to an end but still you lied that you needed my protection."
The cat had noticed that the person named Zick was a very cautious human.
'he probably needed my protection just in case.....'
"...I wanted to ask you something."
Zick didn't bother hiding the reason why he needed the protection and instead asked a question he was thinking about for a while.
The cat looked at Zick with its vertical eyes, it didn't know what he wanted to say but it felt that it was something important.
"Ask what...?"
"If in the future the Garcia family is destroyed, will you sign a contract with me?"
"...."
The cat was left speechless hearing what Zick said.
"haha.....there is no way that will happen..."
The cat's voice was shaking as it said this.
It regretted getting fooled and signing a contract with the Garcia family.
Before it signed the contract, the Cat was known as one of the eight disasters that is known as the five disasters now.
The five disasters are at a level that surpasses the human limit to a degree that they are considered undefeatable by any humans.
The Garcia family had become famous because it had defeated one of these disasters in the past. But in reality they had formed a contract with it instead of killing it.
Being stuck in this mansion for centuries the cat felt so indignant that it felt that dying was better.
But it was impossible for it to kill itself, a mythical never dies until someone kills it.
Even with its enormous strength it was bound by some weak human. Just this fact made it feel shameful to no end.
'.....and now he says i will be freed?'
The cat didn't want to believe it but still hope rose from deep within it.
'but....'
"but that would be no different than my current situation, my freedom would just be taken by you again" 𝑓𝑟eℯ𝒘𝗲𝑏n𝑜𝚟𝙚𝒍.𝒄o𝐦
"no, I don't need you to become my slave or something like that, i just need two things. First, you will not harm me in anyway and the second help me if you want to sometimes"
Zick just needed these two things, as long as he knew that the cat cannot harm him it didn't matter to him what this mythical beast did.
"So will you form a contract with me?"
Zick extended his hand towards the cat.
".....hmph, why should I form a contract with you even if the Garcia family is destroyed?"
"so you won't form a contract with me?"
Zick felt that it was a let down if the cat didn't form a contract with him. In the future the Garcia family is going to be destroyed so forming a contract with it can give him a lot of benefit without doing anything.
"no.....I wasn't saying that i wouldn't form a contract with you...sigh....."
The cat knew that there was no reason for it to form a contract with Zick but it still decided to form it. Zick didn't give an excessive demand that could be too detrimental to it, so forming a contract didn't feel too bad to it.
Extending its black paw, the cat put it upon Zick's hand.
"I shall vow upon all my 9 lives, if ever the whole Garcia family's bloodline is destroyed I will form a contract with you. I shall not harm you in anyway and help you if I am willing to do so"
Zick felt a connection similar to the contract he made with the cat before. But at the same time it felt incomplete.
Feeling content, Zick looked at the party hall.
The ceremonial party had come to an end and people were already starting to head back.