Mora Chester. The Saint of Mountains and the current head of all the venerable temples in world.
She was extremely popular among the Saints and no one questioned her competency. While many considered her governing fair she was also strict and had demonstrated excellent skill in leading her juniors. As the time of The Majin’s awakening neared, people talked about how her being selected as the leader of the temples was extremely fortunate for mankind.
So why did Mora kill Hans Humpty? A part of that answer lies in her history.
#
Mora was bestowed with a blessed life. Born in the country of snow-capped mountains, she was the youngest of nine children. She was born into a wealthy village tree business and had been raised with love by her parents, brothers, and the company’s employees.
Mora’s father had deep ties with the temple of the Mountain where the business’ bodyguards came from, and through that connection Mora entered the temple as an acolyte. She was 13 at the time.
Living at the temple was busy and strict, but it wasn’t hard for Mora. She was a serious girl and she excelled even in school. She was even more capable of regulating her own behavior and habits compared to other girls in her generation.
When Mora was 19 the previous Saint of Mountains retired and Mora was chosen as the next Saint from the group of acolytes. She was the greatest from the multitudes of acolytes and it was said that she was the best candidate.
After that Mora’s unique qualities started to blossom, and within three years she gained the fighting abilities and strength to be considered among the top five most powerful Saints. Her high level abilities were shown to the managed territories under the temple’s control and when Mora was 26 she was appointed the head of all the temples in the world. Receiving a nomination from Leura, the previous Temple Head, Mora was recommended by three-fourths of the 78 Saints.
Mora basically had everything a person would want to acquire or wish for. Popularity, fame, status, authority, and wealth. And in having those she also had genuine power.
However, for Mora all of those were of little importance. Since there were no other suitable people, the head of the temple’s seat was nothing more than a position Mora had no choice but to take over. Popularity and fame were also not that important. Wealth was only good for ensuring that one didn’t live a difficult life. And if it became unnecessary, she could throw away even the immense power of the Saint of Mountains at any time.
No, for Mora there was something else that was more important.
#
Three years before The Majin’s awakening, Mora was at Piena’s goddess arena. The same place where later Adlet would cause a massive uproar.
“Princess! How many times do I have to tell you! It doesn’t matter how many blades you conjure if they don’t hit the target.”
Mora was there with three young Saints. The girls were the next generation of those aiming to be the Heroes of the Six Flowers and were being instructed by Mora. At that time, training them was Mora’s most important job.
“What do you think about this?” The Saint of Blades, Nashetania, conjured blades from the ground one after another, and then launched them all at Mora without mercy.
However, even though the blades were indeed flashy, they were slow. And they also weren’t accurate enough, so Mora was able to casually deflect each blade with her armored fist.
“You’re not controlling your energy. And though that might work on weaker enemies, it will fail against stronger opponents. Next!”
“Alright boss! Today I’m going to beat you to a pulp.[1]”
The next to challenge Mora was Welynn[2], the Saint of Salt. She possessed the power to change anything she struck into clumps of salt.
But even though just one strike from her fist would mean certain death, it was meaningless if her fists couldn’t hit their mark. As she was a bit on the tall side, Mora was able to dodge the simple attack just by moving her upper body. Then in that opening Mora tripped up Welynn. And as the young Saint stumbled, Mora kicked her and sent her flying.
“Your attacks are too simplistic. And if you don’t learn how to attack from far away you’ll never develop. Next!”
“Huh? No way. You’re the leader of the temples. You’re way too strong.”
The Saint of Fire, Lenelle, used the fire she created to attack Mora. However, Mora just waved both of her hands, scattering the flames and knocking Lenelle back from the recoil.
“Was that all your power?! Offer your prayers to the God of Fire. It will increase your strength.”
Mora was about to call for the next warrior, but then she realized that there was no one else. Nashetania the Saint of Blades, Welynn the Saint of Salt, and Lenelle the Saint of Fire had all been beaten.
“Weaklings, band together and come at me.”
The three then stood and launched their attacks at Mora. Their intensive training continued until the three young Saints couldn’t move anymore.
#
It was evening by the time the instruction had ended. Mora walked down the halls of the goddess arena alone, while Nashetania and the other Saints headed over to the doctors.
Nashetania possessed formidable talent and in three years she would probably surpass Mora in strength. Welynn on the other hand still had room to grow. But Mora felt that Lenelle’s development may be reaching a plateau, which made her wonder whether she should order her to retire so that she could raise a new Saint of Fire or if it was better to wait for Lenelle to shed her weak exterior.[3]
While she walked, Mora continued to consider how to raise a superior warrior and how to help them develop to the point where they could defeat The Majin. However, after she exited the arena and started to walk through Piena’s extravagant royal family temple her thoughts of battle gradually began to disappear. She even started to forget the impending battle with The Majin.
“Sheniera. I’m back. Were you a good girl today?”
When Mora opened the door to a guest room, located, contrary to her expectations, in a corner of the royal residence, a girl tottered into her chest. And at that moment Mora changed from a warrior who bore the fate of protecting the world on her shoulders to just a mother.
“Sheniera, what did you do for fun today?”
“I played sugoroku[4] with daddy.”
“Sugoroku huh? I want to play with you too. Ooh there’s a cute girl.”
Mora picked up and hugged her only beloved daughter. Feeling her daughter had gotten a bit heavier, Mora’s expression softened.
“Oh, you’re heavy, you’re heavy.”
“Sheniera’s not a pampered child,” a man said as Mora cuddled her daughter. He then walked into the room, a man in the prime of his life with silver hairs blended into his hair.
“When you’re here Sheniera becomes a completely different person.”
His name was Gunner Chester and he was Mora’s husband, older than her by 12 years.
The Saints weren’t obligated to remain single and close to half of the 78 Saints had families. Plus, it wasn’t rare for even the acolytes that were Saint candidates to have lovers or husbands. Even Mora’s marriage to Gunner had happened before she had inherited the power of the Saint of Mountains.
“Sheniera, your mother is tired. Come here.” Gunner embraced his daughter and lifted her out of her mother’s arms.
“I don’t mind, I don’t mind this. Well Sheniera, play with your mother,” Mora said as she took back Sheniera from Gunner.
Seeing Sheniera laugh as Mora lifted her playfully high up into the air, Gunner shrugged. “Alright, but it’s your fault Sheniera is being raised as a pampered child.”
“What are you saying? Is there something wrong with being pampered? Hey Sheniera, swing!”
Mora dangled Sheniera then gently shook her left and right. She was sorry that she was ignoring her husband’s criticism, but at the moment she didn’t feel like parting from her daughter. Sheniera was the only one who could make Mora forget the weight of her duty as the leader of the temples.
After ten years had passed since they had gotten married, Mora had finally given up and resigned herself to the fact that it may have been impossible for her to have children anymore. So to finally receive Sheniera was a treasure. She was in good health, she wasn’t developing slowly, and she was growing up healthily.
Her daughter was full of life; someone without children probably couldn’t understand just how much that simple fact encouraged Mora and gave her the strength to fight.
Gunner was a good husband. He didn’t have any special power, and both his intelligence and courage were ordinary. However, he was an honest person who displayed a lot of tender affection. He protected their house in Mora’s place and on occasion even assisted her with her duty as leader of the temples. If he weren’t with her there was probably no way she could tolerate her exhausting work.
“Mother, swing me more, swing me more.”
Mora swung her daughter in a large circle and Sheniera released a high-pitched scream in joy. At that moment the approaching battle with The Majin completely vanished from her mind.
There was only one thing that was irreplaceable to Mora. It wasn’t her position or her power. It was her love for her daughter and her husband. Other than them, there was nothing important to her.
That was three years ago, during the days when the world was still at peace.
#
In front of the small temple that controlled the Illusion Fog Barrier, Adlet Maia was at a loss for words. His companions were no different, once again silent and unable to speak. They were all staring at the girl in front of them by the name of Rolonia Manchetta.
“Um, why are there seven people here?”
Unaware of the situation, Rolonia looked around at the companions and craned her neck to the side.
“This can’t be happening. I never thought they would come like this,” Fremy muttered.
“It’s impossible. What does