Meeting the local priest

Riverbend is a small village, so it was only a few minutes of walking with some stares from the locals before you reached the towering church. It is easily the tallest building in town, and one of two or three that you saw were made of stone. Walking alongside Kara, you breath heavily, a bit exhausted between the lack of blood and the flying.

You pass the open archway allowing you to enter the temple, briefly noting that even if someone attacks you in here, you'll need to take the fight outside before you can do anything in retaliation. It doesn't sit well with you, but you're the one that took the oath.

It's not the biggest church, but it's big enough for at least a hundred or so people to fit comfortably in its pews. At the altar, you spot a man facing in your direction as he performs some kind of blessing on the woman kneeling in front of him. Looking up at the stained glass window behind him, you see an unfamiliar human-esque woman holding her hands on her stomach with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

"That's Romel, goddess of love and fertility; both kinds. We're on the frontier, so we worship her to make sure we have a good harvest and plenty of children to feed with it." Kara whispers to you. "What they're doing now is probably a pregnancy blessing, giving a greater chance of, well, pregnancy." She doesn't look at you for any of her explanation.

"Thanks. I'm not up to snuff on the gods, yet." If they actively worship a god, that's probably a decent part of why I was able to take down those hornets so quickly. Between both oaths, my race, and the Pure Land blessing, that's...a 1600% boost. You smirk. If only I could stack that with Final Form... Your internal monologue is cut short by the woman the priest was blessing running past you, a smile on her face. "I guess she's happy to get pregnant..."

"Many women in this town would be. It's considered an honor among worshippers of Romel."

You turn your head to her as you both make your approach. "You say that as if you aren't one."

"I am. But I'm a bit young and most of the suitors in town are taken, not that any of them interest me anyway." She says it so nonchalantly, you wonder if she's resigned herself.

You nod. "It's important to find the right partner. Don't worry, though. Your knight in shining armor will come someday."

The conversation is left there, as you approach and are addressed by the priest. With God's Eye, you quickly determine he's a lvl7 Priest named Gilford. "Greetings, young ones and traveler. I appreciate your patience, despite your wounds." He steps to you and removes the makeshift bandage as his hands begin to glow. It stings, no, hurts, but similar to before when you healed yourself a bit, your flesh seems to stitch back together. "I see..." His tone turns more serious. "Young ones, why don't you head home. This may take some more time than I thought." You share a look with Kara, and Connor looks upset that he can't hang out with you more, but they both wordlessly turn and leave. Once they're out the door, Gilford continues speaking. "It takes courage for a monster to come to a human village for help. What I don't understand, though, is that you're powerful enough to make yourself look like a human, but somehow not powerful enough to heal your own wound." He continues healing you, and you have to grit your teeth to ignore the pain. How does getting stabbed hurt less than healing the wound? And why does it hurt now more than before?

"I...can explain..." Your pained breath limits your talking speed. Wait, why did I not heal myself? It couldn't have slipped my mind; the first time I thought about it was in the middle of combat... "I took...an oath...to Ariel..."

"I don't believe you. Why would a monster swear an oath to an angel?" The pain intensifies.

"Agh! I can show you!" You'd have stopped him sooner, but only now did you feel the wound entirely close. You step back, panting, to prevent him from inflicting more pain. "Your name is Gilford. You have three children. Your wife was taken last year in a hornet raid. You were part of a gathered militia to raid the hornet hive, but...she had died by the time you got there." God's Eye provides a lot of the significant history... "Since then, you became a priest of Romel and, kind of counterintuitively, you took an oath of celibacy, probably to respect your wife's memory." The shock on his face is evident, followed by grief and anger. "I know all that because of another blessing from Ariel..." You take a breath, waiting for his delayed, but thoughtful response.

"And who's to say that you haven't just been spying on the town all this time?" Gilford clenches his fists at his side, staring you with fury. "You're a monster, after all! This could just be some kind of trick!"

"If I wanted to hurt you, why would I have saved Kara and Connor from the hornets? You saw my wound. You should know similar ones from the hornets' lances." I gulp, hoping our dialogue would help him see reason.

He stops and stares for an eternity, his expression softening at the end. "You're low on mana. You should rest for now." He turns away from you. "If you go to the inn, tell Garth I sent you. He'll get you some work so you can spend the night there." He moves to kneel at the altar, and goes silent.

"Thank you." You gather the remnants of your shirt (and Kara's skirt), turn and leave, feeling a bit more relaxed once you leave the sacred grounds. Apparently my devil side makes healing painful, but I was able to heal myself just fine before. He also said I was low on mana, so is that why I didn't think to heal myself more? But then how does the Polymorph work? I would think it's constantly draining my mana, but is it only a one-time cost for the casting?