Chapter 7
Loneliness
I wake to see plain-looking grass.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I m not dead yet.
"Ah, you're awake." I turned to see Velvet sitting next to a fire.
+She was cooking some meat over the fire with some sticks to keep the meat from falling in.
Yang was on the other side of the fire, ravenously biting into some meat that had already been cooked.
"How long have I been out?" I ask the two.
"Just one day, White." Replied Yang nonchalantly.
"A whole day!?" I shouted back at them in bewilderment.
That is definitely a problem; I have never been knocked unconscious for that long.
How much mana did I use?
"What happened while I was unconscious?"
"Oh, Vel here carried you while we ran from the Dwarf village." Yang explained.
"We found a few small farms that had been ravaged by the bastards." Said Velvet right after.
"The scenes were bloody awful."
Maybe it was a good thing I was knocked out then.
I didn't have to witness all the horrible and gruesome things that happened to the farmers that we passed.
"We should get going." I said.
"Yeah, wouldn't wanna keep The King waiting." Said Yang.
"Agreed." Replied Velvet.
"Those things lost track of us, but there are bound to be some looking around for new targets." Said Yang, showing that she wasn't a complete moron.
"Makes sense."
We started packed up the stuff in our camp, leaving the non-cooked meat to throw those monstrosities off our trail.
And so we set off!
We began walking towards the direction of the Capital.
We stayed off the road to avoid unwanted attention.
What attention, you may ask?
Bandits of course!
Bandits are the one thing that you generally will encounter at least once when you do a lot of traveling around the continent of Remnant.
The common bandit will try to set up a trap or ambushes for any targets, said targets were usually lone wanderers that would not be able to deal with half a dozen men at once.
At least, usually that was the case.
Some wanderers were forces to be reckoned with.
There were tales of lone wanderers killing whole groups of bandits and monsters numbering in the dozens.
Most weren't true.
Emphasis on most.
There were genuine wanderers that I have seen in action.
They either were extremely skilled with a blade or bow or some other weapon.
Or they were very talented wizards and witches.
All in all, they were nice people.
But a few were giant donkeys!
They expected to be showered in gold by people who weren't even there!
They thought about themselves above most.
The pricks even thought they could get anything from other travelers because they were 'heroes'.
Those kinds of people deserve to be shoved up a horse's bottom!
"I see a building."
I looked in the direction of the building Yang said she saw.
It was It was a ..
It looked like an old church.
Oh Goddess!
A church of the old God!
I thought most of these were destroyed!
This one must have been missed during the process.
Well.
It was the only place for miles that wasn't flattened.
If anything, it looked quite well kept for a building that should be around sixty years old about now.
Maybe it's just lucky.
"I think we should enter it for the night." I said.
"WHAT!?" Shouted Yang, unexpectedly.
"That's a church to the old god!"
"Yes, what of it?"
"If you think I would enter that place then you are a complete utter idiot!"
"I never expected you for the religious type, Yang." I said, still bewildered at her reaction.
"Well, I am!"
Well, this is a problem.
"And I m not entering that cursed place, you can't make me!"
I smiled.
Velvet looked at me and started to smile too.
Velvet had a smile that could turn from very pleasant to creepy based on her intent.
Right now it was creepy.
Really, really creepy!
"What are you two planning?" Yang asked, clearly feeling nervous.
"Well, Yang!" I started.
"It looks like we might have to leave you out here!"
"What?!"
"All alone in the cold!" I bellowed.
"No food and no blanket!" Velvet added on.
"All the while monsters are roaming the place." I said to bring up the tension.
"Stop it!" Shouted Yang, clearly breaking.
"And all the while his friends were all cosy with warm blankets and food!" Velvet was having too much fun with this.
"No!"
Both Velvet and I started to walk away from Yang, and to the church.
"Hey!"
We kept walking.
"Guys!"
We heard her start to run up to us as we walked.
"Wait for me!"
She ran until she was right next to us.
"Well, that wasn't hard." Said Velvet, a happy smile on her face.
"Arseholes."
"What was that?" I said.
Velvet and I increased our walking speed.
"Wait!"
Yang grabbed Velvet's shoulder to catch up to us.
We entered the church.
It had coloured glass paintings.
How interesting, and expensive.
Most were showing a figure of a man in a white robe with a beard and long hair.
He was shown holding out bread and fish to starving people.
Along with that, he was also shown walking on water.
It was interesting, as, despite me being a water wizard, I know for a fact that there is no spell that can allow one to do that.
The guy certainly seemed to be nice.
I wonder why people abandoned him and followed the Great Goddess instead?
Holy war?
Maybe, but there are no records about such an event.
I was thinking about what could have caused this place to be forgotten when I noticed a figure in the middle of the building.
"Welcome to the holy church!" The figure, a man, shouted at us.
"Have you come to pray?" He asked.
"We were just looking for a place to stay for the night." I said quickly.
The man was wearing clothes that were similar to that of a priestess, but he had a scythe in his hand.
"Why do you look like a priestess?" Asked Yang.
"I am a priest, young lady."
"Is that like a male version of a priestess then?"
"Correct, young lady, though I don't have the ability to heal others."
"That sucks." Stated Yang rather bluntly.
"Yes it does, it's the reason why people started to follow the Goddess instead."
"Just because they could heal wounds, everyone abandoned your religion?" I asked.
"Yes, you would be surprised how easy it is to make people change their beliefs; a man could have followed one for years, but change at a drop of a cloak."
"That's sad." Said Velvet, her ears folded onto her head.
"Yes, it is."
A religion that s been around for years suddenly loses all its followers in less than a decade, along with most of its existence being destroyed as well.
Yeah, it kind of is sad when you put it like that.
They probably weren't that bad.
They don t seem like the type to sacrifice criminals their holy figure.
"Who are you?" Yang asked, which was a good question.
"Oh, I am just like you fellows, just a lonely wanderer trying to find my way in the world."