~ Chapter 12: National Treasure ~

A Blessing, huh? I thought as I was looking at the altar, while mother was preparing Cassandra.

As far as I knew, Blessings were often the gifts offered by the gods of a fantasy-like world to the heroes destined to save it from some unfathomable evil. However, judging from what the priest just told us, in Sapherya's world, anyone had a chance of receiving one, no matter their destiny. The tone of the priest's voice suggested that it wasn't such a big deal if we did. At the same time, if I understood this properly, then every child was going to receive a temporary Blessing that was going to increase the chances of them reaching adulthood.

I wonder if it will show up in my status later? I thought.

“Stay here, Cassandra.” mother told her as she placed her on the altar.

With big curious eyes, the little girl nodded in reply and looked around at the runes carved in the stone. The High Priest approached the altar and began to chant something weird. To me, it sounded strange and the accent was different too, but I did recognize a few words, so maybe he was just speaking in an archaic version of our current language?

The High Priest's chanting wasn't just for show, I could feel the Magic Energy in the air stirring around the altar. Even sister noticed it too and was looking around her restlessly.

Suddenly, Cassandra was surrounded by a beautiful golden light and white letters made out of magic appeared in front of her. Surprised and slightly amused by this, the little girl giggled and clapped her hands.

Once the light vanished, only the letters remained.

“As expected, your little angel received a Blessing. Madame Drakarys, you may pick her up. The letters won't vanish until another child was placed on the altar or I disperse the magic.” the High Priest said with a smile.

Mother nodded and went over to pick up Cassandra. The little girl happily returned to her arms, while the priest burned his gaze into the floating white letters.

After a moment of careful reading, he turned around and told us what was written there.

“It's a bit different from what I usually see, but I am pleased to inform you that your daughter received the following blessings: [Blessing of Bountifulness] from our beloved goddess Sapherya; [Blessing of Battle] from Kreatull, the God of War; and the most peculiar one is [Blessing of the Spirits] from Schamreya, the Goddess of Nature and Elves.” Caladeveren explained.

“What? Three Blessings?” father remarked surprised.

Mother looked at him in the same way, while both me and Cassandra had absolutely no idea what the adults around us were on about.

“It appears so.” Caladeveren nodded and closed his eyes for a moment.

“Mama? What wong?” Cassandra asked.

“Well, little one, a Blessing means that you are beloved by a god, and as such, the laws dictate that you should be treated with great care.” mother explained.

“So twee is bad?” she asked furrowing her brow.

“No, on the contrary, that's very good... It's just that with three Blessings, you will be treated as a National Treasure. Two would have been enough as well.” she showed her a soft smile and then gave her a small kiss on the forehead.

“I don get it... Why twee dif... daf... def... special?” she asked while cutely stuttering.

“Erm... one is this many, while two is this... This is three.” father explained as he showed her one finger, then two, and at the end three.

“Um...” the little girl was confused.

“When you are older, child, we will explain this to you again. Just know that we are very very proud of you!” mother said so right before she gave her a snuggle attack.

She giggled joyfully, while the adults melted from the cuteness overdose of this scene.

Well, they didn't need bother explaining all of these things to me. Thanks to my past life memories, I was sort of getting the gist of it.

Basically, one Blessing was akin to a miracle, two was amazing, and three was ultra-rare, a genius. Because of this, those with two or more Blessings were offered a special treatment by this country. It was like being on Earth and finding out that you had an IQ over 200. Universities would flock around you trying to offer you the best they could, with the underlying desire to raise their reputations as well.

“Don't worry, Leo... You can still be with your sister until she is ten.” father whispered to me.

I blinked surprised.

Say what now?! I shouted in my mind.

My cute cuddly sister was going to leave? Then who was I to pamper, cuddle, and spoil rotten?!

OI! SARGE! FIX THIS! I shouted in my mind.

In that moment, unaware to everyone there, a small crack appeared on the forehead of the big sculpture behind the altar. It would go unnoticed for several months to come.