"So you're telling me a shrimp fried this rice?"
Noa asked the server with a serious expression, eyebrow raised.
"...Excuse me?" The server looked confused. "Are you talking about the shrimp fried rice?"
"No I'm asking if-" Dulio covered Noa's mouth.
"Sorry for my friend here, he's kind of..." Dulio waved his finger around his head, and Lavinia, who was sitting next to Noa nodded rapidly.
The server gave a wry smile. The gold lined robes they wore signified them as VIPs, but they sure didn't act like it. He gave a bow and quickly left their vicinity.
With the retirement of the user of Excalibur Transparency and several other swords such as Excalibur Galatine held by the Vatican, there was a Vatican wide event to choose possible successors.
This large event meant that even though other Holy Sword Wielders hadn't retired yet, their swords were checked for compatibility with the younger generation.
As the event happened only a few times every decade, every person of any age is required to check their innate Light Factor. This meant that even children who weren't even young enough to go to school were tested.
While back then this wasn't a thing, with the Holy Sword Wielders of the past generations getting older and older, there was concern regarding the current state of young Holy Sword Wielders.
The higher ups, who were getting nervous, even brought potential children from Church funded orphanages who wanted to fight or had potential due to some movement from the Grigori. While they didn't know what they were planning, it put them on edge.
With Cardinal Priest Vasco Strada putting on years, even Durandal was one of the blades for the choosing.
This meant that the The Longinus Wielders Dulio, Noa, and Lavinia were able to leave the bland slop and eat a wide variety of foods, as even foods from different cultures were served.
Then Noa, who saw what looked like Shrimp Fried Rice wanted to make a food joke after so long of eating overly healthy slop. Unfortunately, Dulio and Lavinia who were paranoid that if Noa was too disrespectful, they wouldn't get the chance to eat good food, didn't feel the same.
So Noa unfortunately ate his food with Dulio and Lavinia watching him to stop him from making vulgar jokes and getting attention.
As VIPs(unwillingly), the three were held up to a standard as the Vatican's rising trump cards due to their possession of a Longinus.
Unfortunately, having such high investment and high expectations resulted in some dissent and jealousy of the existing newbie exorcists and even older exorcists, who even after years of service, hadn't even got a sliver of recognition.
This was because the Church glorified the outliers, not the norm. Technically, these outliers were the main force against the other factions, so it was expected, but despite this, there were some exorcists who saw this as nepotism.
Noa couldn't fault their thinking. But if they really wanted to be like him they should have been better, seeing as he wasn't even born with Incinerate Anthem. It chose him. He was that guy.
The Holy Sword Compatibility Selection Festival, what a long ass name. They even said that if there wasn't enough new Holy Sword Wielders, they would have another festival in 5 years.
With some Holy Swords obviously having more requirements than others, it was set in a leveled format.
There were multiple rooms filled with Holy Swords of different levels of requirements.
Obviously, some Holy Sword Wielders couldn't attend, such as Touji Shidou, who would rather spend his time in Japan with his wife and daughter than attend this Festival.
So while it was unfortunate they couldn't have Hauteclere, with consideration with Touji Shidou's young age, they didn't press the issue.
Seeing as the actual Festival started after the representatives and candidates of the different churches arrived, the trio just decided to watch the people on the floor below them to see if they could guess any new Holy Sword Wielders.
As VIPs, they sat with the more older and experienced Exorcists, such as Vasco and Ewald, despite only being 9. Rather, Noa and Lavinia were 10, as it was already March, while Dulio was still 9.
"Oh that guy looks pretty strong." Lavinia pointed at a rather serious looking teenager with slicked back hair.
"Now that's got to be stereotypical. Automatically looking at a man and thinking he's strong? I bet on that woman over there." Noa pointed at a talkative woman who reminded him of Astolfo. Wait. That could actually be a man...
"I don't think that's what Lavinia meant... and why are we even betting? What money do we even have to bet?" Dulio interjected.
"How about the winner chooses someone to write a complaint about the food?" Noa proposed. That caused both Dulio and Lavinia to go silent.
"...No, how about the loser has to write a complaint?" Dulio did a 360. The food was horrid, but he didn't have the courage to give a complaint to the church. Noa didn't want to because he couldn't be bothered, and Lavinia had the same issue as Dulio while also not being that picky.
Dulio knew that if anyone except him won, he would probably be chosen. Noa would definitely choose him cause it was funny, and Lavinia had a higher chance of picking him over Noa.
"...I agree." Lavinia may not be picky but even she was getting sick of the slop.
"Then how about..." Noa looked at all the prospective exorcists below him.
He counted around 50 who actually looked trained, and another 100 who looked nervous and much younger. They must be the children from the orphanages that had even the smallest amount of affinity towards Holy Energy.
Since devices that measured specific Holy Element in a person's body was both expensive and delicate, they probably shipped them over to the Vatican the moment they had some potential.
Noa found that a little morbid, but he already knew the Church was kind of iffy. Noa didn't really know what the Angels were really doing either...
Not his goat Gabriel tho, she chill.
His Holy Power lessons with Gabriel devolved into playing random board games she brought from who knows where and just talking with each other. She seemed pretty satisfied with it though and Noa wasn't actually doing any work so he didn't mind either.
"Let's choose 5 Exorcists down there and another 5 newbies, and the person with the least amount of people chosen by a Holy Sword has to send the complaint." Noa explained.
"That's kind of fair..." Dulio reasoned. "But who's choosing-"
"Me first." Noa interrupted, and before Dulio could even register what Noa said, Lavinia spoke up.
"Me next."
"..." Dulio looked at Noa and Lavinia, who both looked like they were innocent. He sighed. "Yeah, yeah."
"Then I choose that strong looking guy-" Noa pointed at the person who Lavinia pointed at earlier.
"Hey! What happened to stereotypes!" Lavinia complained. She was going to choose that guy.
"Are you talking about David Cerro?" An unfamiliar voice could be heard behind them. The three froze. Noa looked behind him to see the Holy Hulk, Vasco Strada.
"Uh... Your Eminence..." Dulio started, confused whether to bow or not.
"We're all VIPs, no need for formalities." Vasco waved it off. "So, you think David can get a Holy Sword?" Vasco asked again.
"Yeah. I mean he looks pretty strong." Noa shrugged. It was more because he wanted to steal Lavinia's pick, but there was no reason for him to admit that.
Vasco laughed at the rather childish reasoning. "Well, his master is the one retiring with Excalibur Transparency, so I'd say your pick is valid!" He explained. "But I bet on that young blonde girl over there-"
"Y-Your Eminence! Why are you here instead of with the other Cardinals?" A nun walked over to Vasco, who was making the younger exorcists on the first floor nervous just by his presence.
Noa looked at Vasco with disbelief. This guy just sneaked out of his station and didn't get caught with that kind of build? Respect.
The three watched awkwardly as Vasco was led back by three sisters.
They awkwardly looked at each other before looking back at the people below, as if that conversation never happened. Noa scanned the faces below while Lavinia was contemplating which exorcist to choose.
"Wait isn't that Griselda over there?" Noa pointed to Griselda, who was talking to a group of the younger untrained group.
"Oh that is Griselda, maybe that was what she was doing until now," Lavinia murmured. Griselda was one of the few exorcists who were able to visit the three, and she visited at least a few times a month. However, a month ago, Griselda was dispatched for a long term mission, and now that they saw her, it was obvious what her mission was.
Looking at Griselda kindly talking to a group of children who looked like they were familiar with her, it seemed she was one of the people organizing the Festival.
Griselda noticed the three and waved at them, and the three waved back.
"I choose Griselda." Lavinia said.
"Dang it." Dulio complained. He had seen her first and was planning to choose her, if only Noa hadn't called it out...
The three continued to call out random people who looked confident or if they had a gut feeling until the Festival actually started, with the exorcists down below stopping their socializing, and patiently waiting in their seats.
"Wait, aren't we supposed to participate as well?" Lavinia asked.
"Oh yeah we're supposed to be the first ones since it's our big debut or something like that..." Dulio trailed off. Wait. Then what were they still doing here?
Noa looked behind them to see Ewald walk toward them with an exasperated expression.
"...Oh shit."
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A/N: I know I have 2 bonus chapters to do. I'll finish them tomorrow. I went somewhere today so I couldn't write until now. So this is the daily chap. They're short because I'm still setting up the first actual arc so this is more of an interlude and introducing more characters that you may or may not recognize.
The next goal is 3000, 2 reasons. I need time to write and I don't think it's possible, lol. good luck.
Noa is finally 10! If you're curious about his birthday it's January 15th.
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We have Powerstone Goals!!!
500 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
800 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
1100 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
1400 PS - Extra Chapter (Writing in Progress)
2100 PS - Extra Chapter (Writing in Progress)
3000 PS - Extra Chapter
Extra chapters will be released the day after the goal is reached, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM KST cause that's when I'm free. They'll also be generally shorter than normal chapters.
Normal Chapters will be released every day during the times from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM KST cause I normally get inspo throughout the day.
Also, comments, powerstones, and reviews are always appreciated.