Chapter 28: Shoot
After much contemplation, Adeline finally summarised her situation. Dimitri is indebted to her, so if anything goes wrong in the future she has someone to turn to. She has healing powers now and can help people. She knew that if she exposed her powers, the Holy Temple would try to take her away. Her father wanted to protect her innocence by not telling her the implications but Adeline knew to some extent what the consequences are.
She needed to hide her powers but she also wanted to help. Medicines and doctors exist but they are only human, these powers came from beyond and can create miracles. The Temple hoards these powers to monopolise it. She could be the one who breaks those chains but for that to happen, she needed to be more powerful. Just being the daughter of a Marquess wasn’t enough to shake the Holy Temple. She needed to do something big to ensure her safety. It was time to scheme.
The only power that could rival the Holy Temple was the Royal family. Approaching the royal family meant that she was willingly going into the lion’s den, so that was a big fat no.
What else could she do? She looked out her window and saw the lush garden, to the side some of the training arena was visible. She could clearly see her brothers practising sword fighting. Suddenly it clicked! She remembered the new friend she made a while ago, Benedict. His family controlled the North which was known for its fertile lands and raging rivers. His family was almost like the lifeblood of the empire, they fed the empire. Numerous industries had been set up to manufacture items made from the freely available raw materials, that is crops. One of the problems Benedict had to solve was their source of income slowly dwindling because the infertile lands soon turned barren.
Benedict could’ve had an easy life as the Duke to such fertile land but because of this, he had to adapt quickly. This wasn’t something they could’ve solved easily, so instead of trying to fix the soil, he abandoned it completely. No use spending resources on something that can’t be fixed, he thought. The crops that could grow easily still grew, but the profession changed from farming to fighting pretty quickly. He focused his resources on gathering the fit farmers and turning them into soldiers for the Empire.
He waged wars and earned lots of recognition, this wasn’t without hardships of course. But Annora was with him through it all.
If Aaron and Alaric could infuse their powers into the swords, couldn’t she infuse her powers into fertilisers? It was worth a try! With this wouldn’t they be indebted to her? Helping Benedict go home to his mother was a favour sure, but it wasn’t enough for them to stake their lives and go against the Holy Temple, but this was different, this would be enough.
The idea sounded great but where would she even start?
"Try making Holy water."
This time the Goddess’ intrusion didn’t startle Adeline. She got used to it.
"You know what that isn’t a bad idea."
If this worked she could maybe even commercialise it, but if any of those priests saw these products... They might go after her. Adeline pouted. "You suck." She muttered. She secretly scolded the Goddess for writing such an annoying plot setting.