"WHAT?" I yelled at the elderly woman, attempting to break free of my bonds, but even if I succeeded, innumerous cult members would be there to put me right back in my restraints or in the worst case scenario, slit my throat or shot me to death the instant I got free.

"Then why are you here?" I continued to yell at her.

She answered with a kind grin, "I simply want to see what happens.”

It infuriated me, making me reevaluate whether I should even try to flee.

"Then let us begin," Aebshem announced, getting up and walking closer to us, "after all the hardship you faced today, faced all your life, a goddess would be a sight for sore eyes, would you not agree, Mine?" He knelt beside me.

Thoughts of hitting him or spitting on his shoes briefly crossed my mind, but even quicker abandoned them, just as I had done with the idea of running away.

Also, what was the old woman even doing here?

She claimed to have been sent by a priest. Was Diringer who she meant? It couldn't have been anyone else besides him.

Why would he send an elderly woman, of all people?

She may be telling lies. While I didn't believe an elderly woman couldn't lie, the reason why she was here remained a mystery.

It didn't feel like she was here to assist us.

Did she have any sort of strategy, or was she really simply going to stand by and watch as a group of people who worship a genuine death god did whatever they wanted with a sacred object?

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I shouted out to her, "Miss Bure-" but a sword was already held at my throat by a hooded cultist before I could finish.

Either I wasn't allowed to speak anymore or they were finally ready to execute me. Both were bad, though one was much worse than the other.

Aebshem chuckled, "Well, please. Let him go. What’s the harm? What do you suppose he could ask Miss Burell in this situation, if he were allowed to speak?"

In the vast hall where whatever they had planned would be carried out, the hooded member lowered his blade, leaped back into the shadows, and vanished among the thousands of other members.

So I tried once more, there was nothing else to be done, "What brings you here, Miss Burell? Why travel all this distance for nothing? If Diringer wasn't the one who sent you here, then why are you here?"

"At first, yeah, I did kinda come here for you guys, but plans changed, mine specifically. Now that I know what I know now, which you already know, I want to see where this is going. And, technically, no, I came here of my own accord. It's true that I talked to him and he told me what's going on but he didn't really send me. It's not like I'm being paid by him to have come here," she answered, "and it's not like it took me a long time to come here. I've spoken with Zedro, at most, a few hours ago."

I hung my head low.

If she weren't my elder, I'd swear her out, and if she were a man, I'd punch her in the face because she was lying to me.

The distance which needed to be travailed from Aloshire to the cult’s hideout was about a five days walking time, half that on horse. There was no possibility that she could have come here in just a few hours.

The balance and very fate of the world, was at stake right now and she didn't want to do anything?

I got that she had been an old woman, frail in body, weakened with age but even so, she should have been fighting with all her might to save every single innocent person, not wait and see who hadn't been crushed under the indifferent boot of Aebshem and his lackeys.

She got up off the rocky bench and came over to talk to us.

"Hey, can I free these guys? I'm sure meeting a deity should be far more pleasant than being chained and shackled to the ground," she said to Aebshem.

"Miss Burell, tsk-tsk. You don't intend to do anything that would undermine my confidence and trust in you, right?" He responded.

"Oh, come on, do I look that untrustworthy to you?" She said.

It really looked like he was thinking about it, "oh-kay, but always remember, do something I don't like and you won't even know you died," he said, warming up his icy expression for her.