"Hey, slow down Himeko. There is more than enough food for you to eat. So, there is no need for you to be this desperate."
The elf princess, Himeko, ignored Hana's words as she continued to put food into her mouth. She was not slowing down despite Hana's insurance that there was more than enough food to go around.
Being away from food for a few days seemed to have done things to her. Especially when the child wanted to stop but could not physically bring herself to physically do that.
"B-But I am still hungry. C-Can you pass me water?"
The child asked and Shimi handed her water. But as soon as the child was done drinking, she felt something coming back up her food pipe. She had eaten a lot more than she could handle.
She quickly dashed toward the bathroom, leaving three adults shaking her head.
Once Himeko came back, she looked a lot more grounded and ready to negotiate with them. Although, the blush on her face did look adorable to the adults.
"A-Alright, I am done. I will answer your questions in return for your hospitality. Ask what you want to ask."
Himeko pretended like she did not care much about what she was asked. But she was trying her hardest not to cry right now.
She had somehow managed to hold herself together until now. But now that she had adult company again, her tears threatened to fall from her eyes any second now.
"Can you tell us what happened? Why were you the only one in the elf village left? And how long has this been going on for? Why did no one contract us until now?"
Master Hana asked this all-in-one go. So many questions stumped the child and Himeko took a step back.
"Calm down Master Hana. We need to ask questions one by one. Let us not overwhelm the child."
Shimi decided to take the lead here. She knew this child was her half-sister but that did not matter. Shimi did not have any personal feelings for her family anymore so she was willing to treat Himeko like a stranger.
And it was easy to show kindness to unknown strangers.
"Can you tell us what you remember? Where did everyone else go?"
Now that she only had a single question to focus on, Himeko looked calmer and more grounded.
"Everyone else disappeared one day. I do not know what happened since I was in the temple when that happened. We were playing hide-and-seek and I kept myself hidden for the whole day inside there."
Himeko recalled what she could quickly. She remembered being so happy that no one had been able to find her at first. But soon, that happiness had turned into fear when no one even called for her in hours.
And when she finally came out, there was no one in the village. Everyone had left Himeko alone to suffer while they disappeared.
"So, you have no idea what happened here as well, huh? This is most unfortunate. But were you the only person in the temple when everyone disappeared? What about the priests?"
Master Hana asked trying to cover all grounds. But this time it was Shimi who answered her question.
"There are no priests for temples in the elf village. Caring for the temple is a community effort and no one else was likely in the temple when the disappearing incident happened."
This was depressing. But at least they had a lead now. Maybe if they investigated the temple, they would be able to find something.
"Tsk, I do not like this situation. The elf temple had always felt like a forbidden place to me since I was not allowed to enter. Would you mind if I chose to stay behind?"
Shimi looked uncomfortable when she asked Keith. But Keith did not want to force her to do something she did not want to.
If Shimi wanted to stay behind, then she could do so without a problem.
"Alright, we understand. You can stay behind this time. We will call you in case we desperately need your assistance."
Master Hana assured Shimi but she doubted things would come down to this. Especially since she had the Grandmaster with her. There was no way Grandmaster would let anything happen to her or the child.
The trio quickly left for the temple and Himeko guided them through the streets.
......…..
'It is not an impressive place. But I can still feel the divine power coming from this place. Now I see how Himeko was able to survive the ordeal.'
Keith wanted to ask his other two companions if they felt the word feeling coming out of the temple as well. But their blank expressions told Keith that it was likely not the case for them.
"Be careful when you enter this place. Our goddess, Shiaru is known to get angry and jealous too quickly. You all better remember that and pay your respect."
Keith would like nothing more than to piss off a god after all he had been through. But he did not want to risk his life as well for no reason.
But maybe if he met a 'real' God apart from Clair, he would be able to go home.
"Ah, I have heard about Shiaru before. Our branch of the guild had contact with elves way before we were officially a group. I have heard stories about how Shiaru used to go into combat over the smallest things. Are things the same now as well?"
The child had a sullen look on her face. But she neither confirmed nor denied Hana's words. It was more likely that she did not know what to say in such a situation.
Keith looked around the room for the source of his discomfort. He was not sure why, but the divine feeling felt rotten to him.
It was almost as if he had felt the same pressure before.
'Ugh, this feels like the rift. And this weird feeling is surely a fallen god. But why would a fallen god come here? As far as I know, Goddess Shiaru had a strong foothold of followers even outside of the elf village.'
What Keith was feeling and what he knew about this did not make sense to him. He was lost in his thoughts so he did not notice everyone else stopping in front of the temple's back gate.
"Grandmaster, can you hear that? It feels like someone is dragging their claws over a metallic surface. Should we do and investigate what that is?"
Master Hana looked excited to check the disaster out. And with her in their group, Keith did not feel as afraid as he normally did. He was ready to check this noise out.
"Fine, let us check the situation out. Hey kid, stay with me. If you wander off too far then I will not save you."
It was more like - Keith will not be physically capable of saving the kid if she did go too far. But that was something he could not say out loud.
"Alright, I will stick to you like glue. I do not want to die as well."
It was nice to see that Himeko had priorities and her life was one of them.
Master Hana finally opened the door from where they could hear claws rubbing on the metal. For a solid minute, nothing happened.
But then, a giant bird claw smashed the floor and an enraged bird came running out of the room. Its unfocused eyes looked around for his prey and finally fell on Keith and company.
"H-Hey, isn't that a Fenrir beast? What is one of these things doing out here? And in such bad shape as well? What should we do now, grandmaster?"
Frankly speaking, Keith was surprised to see the Fenrir beast here. He could not understand why the beat had been locked up in a room like that.
It was because no earthly power could kill off such a best. And master Shinzou was not here as well with his divine sword.
"Master Hana, distract that beast for a minute. I will take care of it soon."
In the end, Keith had no choice but to use his divine power. He would have to take the risk of harming himself and his surroundings.
But surely that was better than outright dying without being able to do anything.
"W-What are you doing? No, you cannot kill the divine beast of our goddess. I c-cannot allow you to do that. We can still save it."
Himeko tried to plead with them but even she knew that the divine bird was no longer her friend. It seemed to have lost its mind. But surely it could be brought back to its senses.
It was a divine beast after all.
"Kid, there are things one needs to do to save one's life. And this one is certainly that situation. So do not complain and sit tight."
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m