"Ahh... this feels nice. Nothing beats warm water after healing." Matilda stretched her arms as she relaxed in the hot water. Right now, she was inside the bath Merlin made for them in the private quarter. A stellar mountain peak with a starry sky, flowing hot water, and a few of endless mist.

Of course, she wasn’t alone. Mira was there, as well as Selina, Camilla, Roana, and Alicia. All six of them needed to rest and get cleaned up after everything that happened today. Mira had spent the entire day working and sweating in the workshop, and Matilda had even fought a Tallneck today.

"A lot happened so quickly..." Mira cracked her neck as she sank nose-deep into the water. "Too much is happening all at once, I can barely keep up."

Selina looked at her. "Your father became the god of war, your queen got a lot of work, and you even have to deal with being a demigoddess and your church." She waved her hand. "That is too much for you to handle alone."

"Isn’t that why we’re here?" Camilla looked at them, then her face twisted into a sad smile. "But... I guess we’re useless. No, I’m useless. Roana and Alicia might be able to help, but I’m just unnecessary."

After watching Mira and Matilda fight, Camilla became certain that no matter how much she trains, she’ll never be able to reach them. One was a demigoddess who would eventually become a true divine, an untouchable being, and the other had the same blood as the emperor, meaning she could become just as powerful.

A talentless, bloodless, and commoner girl like her is destined to have no power, wealth, or status to speak with.

"I don’t think you’re useless." Selina looked at her, and Matilda waved her hands. "Yeah, you can... carry luggage... maybe skin a deer or two!"

"No, she is right." Mira spoke, and they all fell silent. "At this rate, she’ll get killed in the first real fight we’ll face. She is strong for a human, but that is nowhere near enough for what we would be facing."

Camilla looked even sadder, maybe even regretting being here in the first place. She came trying to find and eradicate the vampires, but that dream of hers was quickly crushed by reality, and now, she had nothing else worth living for, besides serving Arad, who killed Vlad and saved the capital.

But even that didn’t work in her favor. Arad had no use for the help of a weakling like her, and even her body isn’t worth his gaze with the hundreds of beautiful women around him.

"So... how about we fix that?" Mira smiled. "How about it? What to become a paladin? My paladin, to be exact."

Camilla blinked a few times, and then threw a gaze at Mira. "A paladin? Me?" She had to think about it for a long moment. "I know this might sound weird with me serving you and all... but I’m not that religious."

Camilla was right, the link between a paladin and their god that can be used to channel power cannot be willingly made. It relies solely on the paladin’s will and beliefs. While powerful gods like Amaterasu can sometimes force that link and grant someone power, most gods can’t do that, and Mira isn’t even a true goddess yet.

"I know that it’s important, but we can slowly deal with that. If you become my paladin, then your potential would shoot up rapidly." Mira smiled. "Have you heard of the Paladin Lydia? As a human, she was still able to smack a devil lord in the face, knock dragons down, and had even split an eldritch horror in half that even the gods fear."

Unlike all mortals, Lydia stood above all as a unique, singular existence. All clerics and paladins already understood that trying to reach her level was near impossible, and some even began calling her the saint of the sun.

But the really impressive feat of her existence lies in how the archons of Amaterasu saw her. The divine magic she could draw from Amaterasu was already far purer than anything they drew, and for archons to be bested by a mere mortal, it was unheard of.

To them, Lydia looked less like a mortal or an angel and was more like a blade, a divine, holy edge of pure radiance held in Amaterasu’s hand. She was far too sharp, durable, and arrogant, just like her wielder.

"Like Lydia... Fine, I’ll try." Camilla smiled, "But don’t get your hopes up. I’m nowhere near as dedicated or crazy as she is."

Mira smiled, patted Camilla on the head, then looked at the bathmaids standing around the pool. "Good, flush them out and make sure they are ready for the night. I’ll get out first."

As she stood, Matilda stared at her. "That, I was thinking of asking Eris before... but, you don’t clean before bed? The back end, I mean."

Mira blinked, "Ah, you won’t know. Nothing comes out anymore. A divine body doesn’t produce any waste, except water sometimes, and even that comes as holy water." She smiled, "You can see it as a perk of divinity."

Selina stood, "Wait, so you... piss holy water?"

"That is right, and... I don’t need to eat either. My body can sustain itself on a single mortal’s prayers." Mira tapped her chest. "I’m ageless, don’t need food or water, and don’t even leave waste. All of my survival needs are gone."

Then, Camilla gasped, "Wait! So, the holy water sold at churches is..."

Mira cried with a blush. "Of course not!" Pointing forward, she created a stream of holy water. "I make it like this, like magic. And I can get some nuns to bless regular water."

The girls and maids sighed, "I thought the gods were just selling their piss to the people."

Mira scratched her ear. "From what I learned, there is one goddess who does that. The Mother of all Life. She sells all of the bodily fluids that she doesn’t need." She looked at them. "But what powerful gods leave is usually too powerful. Remember the pool Vorvadoss was sealed in? All of that holy water is Tiamat’s Tears."

Mira then lifted one finger and bit it, letting a few droplets of blood fall to the ground. "The strongest one is our blood. Amaterasu said that based on the strength of the god, their blood could even affect the very foundation of the universe."

As her wound healed, she smiled. "Hurry, Arad should be waiting."

When Mira was leaving the bath, one of the bathmaids called her. "Lady Mira! Can I ask you one last thing?"

Mira stopped, and looked at her. "What is it?"

The maid looked worried, as if knowing she might be asking about something that she shouldn’t know.

After a long minute of pondering, the maid finally opened her mouth. "I never seen lord Arad, you, or the other divine beings use our facilities here..."

"Ah, about that. We’re feeding everything to Plum as fertilizer. She is a growing World Tree after all. You don’t have to worry, as nothing is going to waste." Mira smiled as she left, and the maids were left more puzzled than anything else.

As Mira walked into her room, drying her hair, Arad wasn’t there yet. She didn’t know where he was or what he was doing, but she was sure he’ll be back any second now. Tonight, it was supposed to be still Aella’s turn, but due to urgent business in the High Elf kingdom, she left with Cerilla and Jasmine.

It seems that when the wood elves finally returned to the kingdom, they brought with them some strange news. Apparently, for the past centuries, a new race of elves had been living with them, hidden in the depths of northern forests.

High Elves are just like Aella and Cerilla, fair-skinned, tall, and blond, with a common eye color of green. They are herbivores, live beneath the Sacred World tree, and care for it.

Dark Elves are the same, fair-skinned, but usually tanned due to their lifestyle on the golden beaches of their kingdom. Now, they were permitted by the World Tree to retake their place at its roots, and so they are moving to live with the High Elves after Arad’s presence ended their war.

Wood Elves are too shy and reserved, to the point that they secluded themselves the moment the war broke out between the High and Dark Elves. They have olive skin, bright brown hair, golden eyes, and are known for being better hunters than the high elves.

But, from what Cerilla learned so far, the Wood Elves weren’t living alone in the forest; they were protecting and hiding a minor race of elves long since thought to be extinct.

"Moon Elves..." As she sighed, the door opened up and a maid walked in. "Lady Mira, you’ve got a visitor."