Why Is the High Priest Teasing People Again?

[Fantasy setting · Western fantasy ensemble · Slow-burn character growth · No central romance · Unexpectedly adorable contrast] [Apologies for the tags, I selected "historical" by mistake]

In the fifth year of drought, Lainer took his brother's place on the altar.

He thought he would die up there. Instead, he survived and was stamped as some kind of "God's Chosen."

Though the god left only a tiny damp mark in his palm, then never paid him any attention again.

Later, he realized that his life was gradually being permeated by a group of people, each in their own way.

After every rain festival, Pope Prall would slip a piece of candy into his closed prayer book, along with a note: "You did a good job today. Here's your reward."

Physician Philok could bandage his wounds while rambling from medicinal herbs to the knight commander's disastrous love life, until Lainer finally reminded him, "You've wrapped that bandage around me seven times already."

The librarian, Joe, quietly replaced the candle in the dim corridor Lainer walked through every day with a brighter wick. Beside it, he posted a tiny note: "It's bright here. Walk without worry."

The dragon hatchling, Xie Buxi, chewed up half the furniture in his room, yet stubbornly nuzzled his hand with its damp nose until he covered the spot on its forehead where its reverse scale lay with his palm.

And then there was the person who once pushed him away with all the coldness they could muster...

Who, later on, wasn't quite so cold anymore.

What they gave him was nothing earth-shattering.

It was clumsy and noisy, with all their warmth and rough edges...

A long season of rain, enough to moisten barren years once more.

At last, the tiny damp mark in his palm finally received an answering echo.