…

  Enri sat at the table, her hands intwined with Nfirea’s. It was truly strange, to have him here when the entire world had seemed to fold in on itself. Enri couldn’t help but think back to, well even a week or two before all of this started.

  Before her parents were killed in front of her. Before she had met the woman who was a goddess, Momonga. Even after the stability that the goblins summoned by the horn provided was set, she still didn’t feel like this was all real.

  That was until her good friend, Nfirea, came by. He was always there, just in the background of her mind. What she knew of magic came from him. What she knew of the outside world beyond her town and E-Rantel came from him. He was important to her.

  “Oh…” he said after she had told him of what had happened to her family and vilge, “That’s… bad…” he said pinly, his voice barely a whisper.

  Yet, to see someone else react with such emotion; it made her happy in a sick sort of way. To see that she wasn’t alone, and that this wasn’t all some sort of nightmare. It was heartening in a sick sort of way.

  After she told him of the knights that had attacked the vilge, she told him of how she had been told to run away by her parents. It was slightly saddening, well more than slightly, to recount this. Yet, when she went back over the first encounter with the goddess, her mind lit up.

  “After father had pushed the knight down, he told Nemu and I to run,” she expined to him, “So I did as I was told, and took her and ran. I ran and ran until I stumbled,” she said, her voice quivering.

  Nfirea seemed to sense her slight excitement at the memory of that incredibly powerful being, because his faced took on a slightly perturbed and flushed expression.

  Maybe it was just her wholesome smile at the thought of the woman that had saved her? No, it was surely nerves as she looked at him with a deep smile as she expined her meeting of a deity.

  “Then, Nemu stumbled, she couldn’t keep running at the pace we were going. We had been trailed by two of those barbarians since leaving the vilge, so I knew that this was probably the end,” she said, then looked down in shame, “I thought about leaving her there and then in that moment.”

  Nfirea looked at her with a slightly shocked expression. He hadn’t expected such a thought from her. Yet, he understood that. In the end, she might have died. It was her life on the line, after all.

  “I still didn’t do that, of course. I decided to shield her with my body, at least she might have a chance to survive the conflict if help came, right?” she asked as she looked at him, and he nodded his head; “After that, then everything changed, and I met her. Lady Momonga. A Goddess.”

  …

  After he had heard it all, Nfirea couldn’t help but think back on what Calvaria had said, that Momonga was a goddess of death and Armageddon. Yet, she had visited this vilge and helped them. What could she want? He shook his head of the nervousness that had crawled its way in.

  Right now, he was sitting by the table in Enri’s house. He was also waiting for her to bring him a cup of tea that she had offered. He thought about what she had said, and linked it to his knew guard.

  First, she had said something to the effect of this goddess loving her followers, and not caring fro the rest of the world. That, in and of itself, didn’t make much sense considering her actions with Carne.

  Maybe she saw them as her followers? Maybe she wished for more followers to teach? It was hard to try and judge the whims of a goddess that you knew little about.

  Second, the potion, it was red. Like the one that Calvaria had given the woman Britta. The real reason he had asked for Calvaria, and her group was that potion and where she got it. At the same time, it was probably linked to where Momonga and Calvaria came from.

  Third, was the timing. They had appeared rather close together in time. That undoubtedly wasn’t a coincidence. Maybe they had an objective? Wanting to spread the faith they spoke of? It could be anything really.

  From the description that Enri had given him, they were both tall. They both had people with them. They were both incredibly powerful. They also both had companions that acted in a stiff sort of way, well professional rather. Nabe acted like a maid would sometimes… wait…

  A nagging feeling pricked the back of his mind. He had a theory to ask.

  …

  Calvaria looked across the woods again. They had been preparing the tools and gear for the quest into the forest of Tob. This included a multitude of different bags and belts and such. Calvaria was unfamiliar with equipment like that, as one didn’t really need much to adventure in Yggdrasil.

  Actually, that was a lie. One did need a lot of equipment, yet they didn’t pack such equipment, so she was still unfamiliar with what they were doing. As she looked at the forest, she sensed someone focusing on her.

  It wasn’t anything bad, so she simply let them do so. She knew who it was as well, it was Nfirea Bareare. She had found him suspicious in the first moments that they had met. She had yet to even make a name for herself, yet he singled her out, why?

  Sahe turned her head just as he arrived near them, opening his mouth to speak to her. It was funny really; she had been watching him through the eyes of one of her wraiths that she had summoned along the way to the vilge. It was a rather handy little ability and item.

  She had seen how he interacted with Miss Emmot. He had feeling for her, that much she could tell. It would be handy to bring him to this vilge, to which she could watch him and test his talent and skill with alchemy. Yet, that was an idea for another time.

  “Lady Calvaria? Could I get a word with you in private? I need to ask you something,” he requested of her, and she nodded her head in affirmation.

  “Of course, Mr. Bareare,” she said, getting a slight flinch of surprise from him, “I also wanted to speak to you about something.”

  …

  They had walked out of the way from the rest of the group, or groups rather. Anna and Nabe weren’t here for this. Of course, the guards that Calvaria had pced around this vilge were here, but they weren’t going to show unless necessary.

  Nfirea began to speak, his voice coming out as a near whisper. It was rather surprising, at least to him. It was surprising to him how little he felt nervous, yet his voice seemed to disagree. Calvaria rotated her wrist with a beckoning gesture. She was asking for him to repeat his words, to continue to speak.

  “I was wondering,” he said then asked, “are you perhaps the Goddess that everyone in this vilge seems to talk about?” he asked with slight concern for his safety.

  Then, Calvaria, or rather Momonga began to ugh. Of course, this boy had figured it out. She had thought that he was going to ask about Momonga, ye this wasn’t the question that she had thought he was going to ask.

  “Um, is that a yes?” Nfirea asked with even more concern.

  “That is a yes. Tell me boy, what do you want now?” she asked, removing her helmet and looked at him with her normal face, her undead visage with the barest hint of a smile on her face, “what do you to ask of a Goddess?” she asked.

  “Well, that was just kind of a loose guess?” he said, scratching the back of his head, “I just kind of hand a hunch to ask that question? I originally wanted to ask you about the red potion that the adventurer Britta had brought me. She said that you gave her it, and we have nothing as good as it here. So, I wanted to ask you about it,” he said and looked down ashamedly.

  “Why are you ashamed? Is it not normal to ask someone you want to learn the secrets of about them, at least in a secret and hush-hush sort of way?” she asked, and Nfirea looked at her with a slightly shocked expression; and she continued, “What I mean to say is, what do you want to do now?” she asked of him.

  “I kind of didn’t expect to get this far,” he said with honesty, and Momonga burst out ughing.

  Yet soon after, she stopped. She looked him straight ion the eyes with the bnkest smile that he had ever seen. She seemed in good humor now.

  “I’ve seen how you look at the girl, Enri Emmot,” she mentioned, and Nfirea blushed, “so you do you not move to this vilge? After all, she lives here and I am currently protecting it as I need people to spread my faith to fix this world. If you could learn to produce more of these potions, then I could give them to people in need and that would help me convert more people into my faith.”

  Nfirea looked on at the utterly gorgeous woman, listening to what she was saying.

  “So I make you a deal. A deal with a deity,” she said and pulled out a lesser healing potion from her inventory, “Learn to make more of these, and I can protect your lover, the one you cherish. I can give you as many resources as you need, as you want,” she incentivized, “you do you say? Nfirea Bareare?”

  The young man looked down at the ground in thought. This was a big deal. Bigger than anything that he could have ever thought of. He looked up, and looked the utterly and mindbogglingly powerful being in the eyes.

  “Alright, you’ve got yourself a deal,” he said and outstretched his hand, and Momonga took it.

  …

  Zogsalken