Noa held his head in his hands, before rubbing his hands on his face in stress.
His free 3 pulls...
He just should have waited until 12:00 AM passed...
Fucking ballsack.
Even trying to apply Merlin's Magecraft would probably drain his soul out his body. Even Gilgamesh was drained dry, and he was a demigod for god's sake. Even with his increase in mana from the Protection of the Faith, his mana stat was at a solid E, not nearly comparable to Gilgamesh.
Damn it that dick wizard screwed him over...
The only silver lining is the Quest Rewards didn't change. That was still 3 pulls a day. So it was just from his possible 6 a day to 4 a day. That was still 1 more than before he discovered Daily Quests.
Achievements were random as hell, so that wasn't a reliable source of pulls.
Yeah.
...Was he huffing copium?
Probably.
Sighing, Noa leaned back on the floatie closing his eyes to go to bed.
--+--
"Nmm..." Lavinia groggily got up, looking around, finally laying eyes on Noa.
She rubbed her eyes.
...Did Noa change?
Lavinia didn't know how to describe it, but it felt like he was more... purer than yesterday.
Noa didn't know this, but watching Noa sleep was the highlight of her morning. Even though his breathing was quiet and calm, and his arms were slack... it felt unnaturally sexual, his defenseless posture.
However, the innocence of a 9 Year Old, Lavinia only cared a lot about appearances and didn't know much about the birds and the bees. And Noa was quite possibly the most beautiful person she had seen.
A face that seemed to have been sculpted in the image of the perfect human, Noa could simultaneously be the most beautiful woman and man at the same time.
Noa would call this being a twink.
He wore clothing that seemed a few sizes too big on him, but it only accentuated his petiteness further.
Lavinia truly didn't know if Noa was a girl or not when she had first met him, as his voice was as equally androgenous.
However, with his rather... special way of speaking, even though he had said he was a guy, Lavinia inwardly decided to put Noa in his own area. His gender was Noa. The end.
Lavinia laid back down on Noa's legs. While it looked rather thin, it was rather comfortable instead, as if it was made of feathers, a perfect pillow to lay on. She stared at Noa's face, his platinum blonde hair framing his face, his long eyelashes twitching occasionally, as if he was having a nightmare.
Truly a perfect pastime. Just looking at that face made her want to smile.
If Noa could read her mind, he would run away in fright. He was unknowingly attracting children! Please don't arrest him! He didn't even do anything!
Unfortunately he wasn't. He was currently having a nightmare of Merlin chasing him around, trying to take away the Saint Quartz he had.
A few more minutes passed, as the sun rose enough for the light to refract though the ice Noa had conjured up before he slept, creating a kaleidoscopic effect in the cave, causing Lavinia to take a sharp breath in awe.
Regrettably, one of the stray beams of light hit Noa's eyes, causing his face to scrunch up in frustration, instinctively trying to wave that shit away to no avail.
His eyes squinted, looking around groggily, before taking in his surroundings.
Wow... If he had a phone he would probably want to take a picture of this...
But was the smartphone even invented in 1993?
He became depressed again. He couldn't even doom scroll until 30 years passed. Damn it... Looking around for Lavinia, he saw her looking at the spectacle he had accidentally created, poking at the ice.
"What are you doing?" Noa gave an exasperated smile. If he had a kid, would this feeling be similar?
Lavinia froze at the sudden voice. She quickly turned her head to make eye contact with Noa's amused expression, before looking away as if she was caught doing embarrassing.
"Did you eat breakfast?" Lavinia shook her head. "Then let's just eat the jerky then leave. Judging by the effect, the sun's probably out. The sun rises in the west and sets in the east type shi."Noa causally waved his hand.
"...I think it it's rises in the east and sets in the west." Lavinia interrupted.
"...Eh, who cares?" He shrugged. Noa had no shame. He knew he was an idiot but damn it if he didn't live up to that standard!
He waved his hand to shut off the Mana Absorption trait of his skill. As his skills were practically broken thanks to his Protection of the Faith skill, he gained a better control over them.
Taking back the Japanese brazier, he stretched.
"WghAHHH!...Hah. Refreshing as hell~" Noa ignored the incredulous expression of Lavinia at the random stretching noise he made.
[A day has passed. +1 Free Pull]
Well, just doing one free pull feels weird so he'd save it until he finished his dailies. He could feel Genshin Impact flashbacks. Thank god he quit that damn game... Damn that dick wizard...
Daily Quest?
[Daily Quests: Refreshes at 11:59 PM]
[Daily Quest - Hunt 1 [Evil Alignment] entity - +1 Free Pull - Incomplete]
[Daily Quest - Talk to a human who isn't [Lavinia Reni] - +1 Free Pull - Incomplete]
[Daily Quest - 100 Push Ups - +1 Free Pull - Incomplete]
[Weekly Quest: Refreshes at 11:59 PM, Sunday]
[Weekly Quest - Make the equivalent of 20 USD- +2 Free Pulls - Incomplete]
Hmm...? What the hell? I have to fight an evil guy and talk to someone who isn't Lavinia? How was he supposed to do that?
[The system does not make an impossible quest.]
...So was the system saying that he was going to run into some evil people?
The system didn't respond.
Fine, be a bitch. Noa huffed, before looking back at the cave to make sure he didn't forget anything. "You ready?" He looked at Lavinia, who nodded in response.
He picked her up much easier than yesterday, which was a good thing, even if she weighed like absolutely nothing, seeing as she was a 9 year old.
Leaving the cave, he squinted as he looked into the sky. Walking on top of the nearest tree, he looked for where the sun was.
"Ack!" He looked directly at that shit. "Ma... mah fucking eyes..." He squinted. If that was east, then...
Never Eat Soggy Waffles...
He looked to his right.
"Lavinia, just making sure, but that direction is south, right?" Noa nodded in a direction. "Uhh..."
Lavinia turned her eyes to look at the sun. "Kyak!" Her hands rose to her face. Heh, she probably looked directly at the sun too.
She squinted, before looking in the direction he nodded towards earlier.
"Mhm," She nodded. "That should be south."
Noa walked in that direction, using Furthest Earth, he followed the process of walking to the nearest high ground, looking for any sign of civilization, and then repeating the process. This process continued for the next few minutes.
As Noa was slowly going insane at the sheer white landscape, Lavinia stopped him before he was going to take another step.
"Wait I think I saw something." Noa blinked. He took a step back, looking around for any signs of smoke. Was Lavinia going insane too?
"Loooook! Lavinia extended her o, leaning back, her head upside down, pointing in a direction.
He looked in that direction, squinting to see a little further. All he saw were trees, trees, and more trees.
Noa gave Lavinia a pointed look. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not delusional. Don't you see the stone road under the trees?" Lavinia glared at Noa, reading his mind.
He crouched to be at Lavinia's head level. Oh, she was right.
"My bad, I'm just too tall, nothing we can do about it," Noa shook his head side to side in mock exasperation.
"We're the same height." Lavinia argued. Unfortunately, Noa just ignored it.
He walked in that direction, arriving at what looked to be an abandoned town.
Hmm, there's just a random ass town in the middle of nowhere...? This was undeniably suspicious. Noa didn't put Lavinia down for now, just in case he got bumrushed out of nowhere.
The buildings didn't seem like they were that old, but there were no signs of any humans at all.
Noa approached a nearby building, opening the door to see what resembled a war zone, scratches all across the walls, broken furniture, and random stains on the wall that looked eerily reminiscent of blood.
He set Lavinia down, before looking around the building to see if there was anything to ransack.
What? The owner was probably dead.
Hmm... Was there some monster in this town? Was that why his Daily Quest told him to kill an entity with the [Evil Alignment]?
Lavinia looked rather pale at the blood stains on the walls.
"I would tell you to close your eyes but you're going to have to get used to this eventually if we tryna be the Winter Duet~" Noa commented, looking to see if the man left any money around.
He found a pickaxe.
He sighed. Now all he needed was some flint and steel and he would be jolly.
"Chicken Jockey..." Noa mumbled, to the confusion of Lavinia. "Hmm?"
Noa shook his head. "Nothing."
This was probably a mining town. The clothes in the broken closet were dark gray with ash. But he was still surprised. A mining town in this day and age...? Wait they were in 1993. But wasn't that the time of like... damn, he was bad at history.
If this was a mining town, then there was probably a road leading to a bigger town, just covered by all this fucking snow.
The two looked around the town, inspecting every portion of the buildings just in case the possible enemy thought they had presence concealment. They got a few rubles on the way, though he didn't really know the conversion rates, inflation and all.
Arriving at the abandoned town center, there was a trail of blood leading to the abandoned church, as if a bloody body was dragged into the church. Next to it was a larger building.
It was probably the village chief's house. They were probably already dead though.
Lavinia grabbed onto Noa's sleeve, looking at the entrance to the abandoned church, her body tense.
If this was a horror movie, this was probably where the main characters get jump scared by the door suddenly opening.
Noa really wanted to do nothing other than just demolish the entire church. Why should he willingly enter the enemy's turf if he could just destroy the entire thing?
But there was something stopping him, like a shackle preventing him from destroying the church.
"God damn it Noah." Noa sighed, complaining. "Like the shit's already abandoned. What's wrong with finishing the job?" Noa mumbled, glaring at the entrance to the church.
He stood still in thought. He looked back at Lavinia. "Wanna come with?" Lavinia nodded, her expression serious.
Noa shrugged.
He was confident that he would win.
'He might cause me a little trouble. But would you lose...?' He inwardly joked.
If the thing inside was [Evil], his abilities would increase by another rank, bringing his abilities to the next level.
Noa walked up to the church, opening the door, the bloody hinges creaking as he opened the door to be face to face with someone on the altar, chewing on human flesh.
He didn't know why, but instead of being disgusted at the fact that the monster was eating human flesh, he was more mad at the fact that the bastard was desecrating the church. Maybe the Protection of the Faith influenced him more than he thought.
"The fuck are you supposed to be, Hannibal?" Noa commented, looking at the woman eating the the human with undisguised disgust in his eyes.
The woman paused, before looking up and meeting eye contact, revealing her crazed eyes.
"A a a a a a a a Exorcist? Exorcist? Exorcist?" she mumbled.
Noa frowned, while Lavinia flinched. She didn't expect her first fight to be so gruesome... Noa didn't expect it to be a B-List horror movie either.
Taking out Marie Antoinette's dress and tossing it over Lavinia's head, Noa looked back at the crazy psycho in front of her.
"Hey!" Noa ignored her, keeping eye contact with the psycho. "I know I said it's better to get used to this, but we're still children. How about you do this shit after we hit like... I don't know, 12?"
"I'm not a child!" Lavinia complained, but didn't take the dress off her head, instead further hiding her head. She could see herself getting nightmares from this experience.
"I'll tell you when you can take it off," Noa added.
Their conversation wasn't ignored, as the monster tilted her head grotesquely.
"Food food food...?" She gurgled out.
"Hell no, no, no." Noa could feel a boost in his power, but the thing in front of him looked pretty weak anyways.
It was probably a Stray Devil. If she was able to run away, then it's master was probably weak. But if only High-Class Devils could get a peerage, then it was probably decently strong. Hmm... Decisions decisions.
Ah he hated thinking.
Well, it could possibly not even be a Stray Devil at all.
Let's just kill it.
Noa raised his hands.
"Bang."
Unlike Glenda, the monster immediately pushed itself to the right, feeling danger.
But Noa wasn't fazed.
"Bang."
"Bang."
"Bang."
"Bang."
"Bang."
"Bang."
"Bang."
"Bang."
Whenever the monster tried to run toward him, he released a wave of ice, pushing back. Eventually, the devil ran out of stamina, and she got hit by one of his ice spears, spelling out her doom, her movement slowing down from the cold.
"Bang."
The spear rammed into her head, freezing it solid.
The main benefit of ice abilities is the lack of blood everywhere. As the devil went limp, Noa got a notification.
[Daily Quest (1/3) Completed: Hunt 1 [Evil Alignment] entity - +1 Free Pull]
[Killed a Stray Devil for the first time. You have obtained the Achievement [Doom Slayer - Level 1] - +1 Free Pull]
"Huh." Noa hummed in surprise. Something this easy warranted an achievement?
"Noa? Did you kill it yet?" Lavinia nervously asked, as the church went silent as Noa killed the devil.
"Wait. I'm almost done." Noa looked around the church, filled with human bones and the lingering scent of rotten flesh.
The Noah in him was begging for him to clean it, and he also wanted to lowkey clean it up too.
He raised his hands, preparing to use Merlin's Magecraft. Fixing the church wouldn't take much. It would only take 95% of his Mana reserves.
Noa inwardly clicked his tongue. 95% to just fix up a church? What a scam.
He felt his Mana leave his body, flower petals creeping up the church walls, leaving pristine, oiled hard wood in it's wake, taking the human parts and the scent with it, leaving the faint scent of lavender.
The smell confused Lavinia, who prematurely took off the dress on her head, taking in the new church in astonishment.
"Wha...?"
Noa, on the other hand, felt faint. He made his way over to a pew and sat down on it, massaging his temples.
"When could you do that, Noa?!" Lavinia marveled, admiring the craftsmanship of the church. "Since Yesterday."
Lavinia pouted, unbelieving. But it was true. He pulled Merlin's Magecraft just yesterday...
Noa closed his eyes. He really wanted to take a nap right now...
Changed positions to laying down on the cushioned pew, closing his eyes.
He would never willing use the dick wizard's Magecraft ever again, Noah be damned.
--+--
Lavinia explored the newly refurbished church, until she heard the entrance of the church opening. She froze before reacting. Noa was still asleep! It was her chance to protect him!
She quickly ran to the entrance, preparing to activate her Sacred Gear.
Referencing Noa, she could use the doll to use ice attacks too, even though she couldn't use it that long. Entering the general church area, she was face to face with a young girl who looked only a few years older than her.
Lavinia was tense, wearily looking at the young girl in front of her, who had a Light Sword in her hands, and a tight fitting outfit where if Noa saw, he would be asking who made it, so he could kill them for the creation of the pedo bait.
It was a skin tight black leotard, with the only grace being that she was wearing a white cloak which covered most of her body.
The girl had only just entered the church, having not noticed Noa yet. That was a relief.
It seemed the girl noticed her at the same time, her eyes narrowing in preparation, her hand on the hilt of her Light Sword, before one of her eyebrows raised in confusion. This girl didn't look like a Stray Devil...
All the signs in this abandoned town was pointing to this church housing the Stray Devil, but as she got closer, there were unusual signs. Despite the entirety of the town looking relatively run down yet still fitting the aesthetic, the church alone looked like it was built just yesterday with a completely different architect.
It was like finding a big ass pineapple next to a cottage.
"You, did you kill the Stray Devil here?"
The girl had a serious tone which didn't match her high pitched voice, nor did it match her appearance either.
Lavinia was unfamiliar with the term, but it suited that monster Noa had fought an hour ago. But Lavinia hesitated to answer, seeing as Noa was still asleep.
Looking at the hesitation on Lavinia's face, the girl was confused.
Why was she hesitating? Wasn't she human too? Was she in cahoots with the Stray Devil?
She made her way down the aisle, with her hands on her sword hilt. While the girl herself didn't look threatening, she had a gut feeling that there was more to her.
"Don't get closer!" Lavinia warned. If the girl walked a few more steps, she would be able to see Noa.
The exorcist froze. What was she trying to protect?
She rose her hands in a gesture of peace. "I don't want to fight. I was dispatched here by the Vatican to exorcise the Stray Devil in this town, but it seemed the info was too outdated..." The girl trailed off.
However, Lavinia was still tense.
The exorcist took a few steps back, only then did Lavinia slowly relax.
"I didn't kill it! It was dead by the time I got here..."
Lavinia blurted out, trying to think of a good excuse, not realizing that the exorcist wasn't her only audience.
The sudden increase in volume made Noa stir, causing Lavinia to freeze up. Shoot...! She paled. All that effort just for Noa to wake up.
Noa slowly opened his eyes and rubbed it, the movement garnering the attention of the exorcist.
Her hands neared the hilt of her light sword.
"Yo, why are you looking at me like dat...?" Noa mumbled at Lavinia, causing her to sweat drop.
He got up, looking around, before locking eyes with someone who resembled an older Lavinia, but with a lighter shade of blonde hair with a darker shade of blue for her eyes.
The girl froze as they made eye contact.
"Who you?" Noa mumbled. She didn't feel like an enemy, rather the Protection of the Faith skill was probably making him feel that way, so she was probably an Exorcist.
The question knocked the girl out of her stupor.
"U-uh... I'm an exorcist, and I was looking for the Stray Devil reported to be in this town..." Her voice got more quiet as she repeated what she said to Lavinia.
She hadn't expected for the girl to be protecting another girl.
She didn't know why, but it felt like she was in front of the Pope. Or when she was training under Vasco Strada. That sense of pure holiness. However, the unusual part was that despite that, she couldn't feel any Holy Power emanating from him. Just an underlying feeling of purity.
Noa rubbed his eyes again, fiercely trying to blink away his grogginess. He finally got a good look at her...? What the hell was she wearing
"Yo why is you dressed in that pedo bait outfit? You look underage for God's sake. You should investigate the Vatican artisans." His voice was flat, causing both Lavinia and the girl to freeze.
"...What?" The exorcist couldn't believe what she heard.
[Daily Quest (2/3) Completed: Talk to a human who isn't [Lavinia Reni] - You have talked to Vatican Exorcist [Griselda Quarta] - +1 Free Pull]
...Who was that again?
--+--
A/N: Right now, Griselda is only 13 years old, and she'll be 28 when canon starts. I don't actually know the age, but the appearance in the wiki says she looks like she's in her late twenties and early thirties, so eh. Xenovia is 3 right now and Griselda will take care of Xenovia as her guardian when she hits 20, when Xenovia is 10. That's what I decided.
Also, Lint is 8 years old right now. I know she looks really young in the novel, but i see her as Freed's Twin and and there's no way freed isn't a grown ass man at the start of canon.
If this is inaccurate, than just call it AU. Idc.
I also said I would make this 2000 chapters but I was uber inspired this chap.
No character sheet cause Noa didn't gacha this chapter.
If you enjoyed, please gimme a review, power stones, and comments. Thanks for the support for my first fic.
I'll keep spam uploading chapters cause I have a flight this saturday so I won't be able to write for a day. I'm not the type to have a backlog either.