Chapter Thirty-Six

“So, I guess we catch a ferry or something to the mountain or… what?” I asked with a shrug.

Dwarguy and Loysa answered by looking at each other and laughing.

“What?” I asked. Loysa turned toward me without breaking stride and answered me rather gently.

“Aiko, I don’t know about how this goes in your old world, but nobody in this world is going anywhere near the undead.”

“Oh.” I snapped my jaw shut.

“So how do we get there?” I asked.

She stomped her feet on the ground several times in a pronounced and illustrative way.

“Oh.” I felt a little sheepish.

“But not yet.” She stopped and turned her whole body to face me when I appeared surprised, mouth open and eyes wide, I wanted to ask her what she meant.

“First we have to get you to a temple, it’s time for you to gain a proper mastery over magic. And not something on your own body like hiding your tails.” Loysa said emphatically, “We don’t know what we’ll be encountering up there-”

“Sorry.” Tess said and her ears wiggled a little.

Nobody said ‘It’s okay.’ or ‘Everything is fine.’ The fact that they didn’t, told me how much this mattered.

Instead, Loysa went on as if Tess hadn’t spoken.

“You have to begin this at a temple, but if you don’t get an answer right away, don’t be surprised. I’ve heard of people who began the dedication at a temple and then didn’t hear an acknowledgement for months or even years. Some, most even, never hear from their deity at all, they just try magic and the effectiveness of the spell is the revelation. But no matter what happens, the Gods move in their own time.”

“Wow. You sound like a real priestess.” I said breathlessly and she promptly put her hands on her hips and leaned toward me.

“I am a ‘real priestess’.” She glowered… Dwarguy could only laugh.

And though I couldn’t hear it, I now recognized that internalized focus when she was listening to her own divinity.

“And you. Both of you, stop laughing, it’s not funny.” When Dwarguy’s laughter finally started to fade away, she straightened up.

“I don’t know any of the gods or goddesses of this world though, except for yours, so how do I know who to choose?” I asked, and she quickly replied.

“Don’t worry, you’re a summon, the gods of this world aren’t that unreasonable. Summons typically get an exception, it might even be easier for you.” She seemed like she was reassuring me, but I noticed her hand unconsciously drifted to her pocket where her little magic item, her ace, sat. Like she was hoping for some luck.

“Easier how?” I asked, and she turned away to resume walking. The streets were starting to get crowded, and I planted myself firmly behind and between Dwarguy and Loysa, allowing the two of them to serve as ‘blockers’. Running into people still didn’t feel right to me, that was something that would take time to get used to. But at least I was now keeping my tails up consistently.

“One of them will choose you. A God or a Goddess who aligns with your beliefs, values, and dreams. You’re their own, even if you don’t know it yet.” She said, and while I refrained from saying she sounded like a real priestess…

It was true. It was hard to consider her as such given our first introductions, but even so, this side of her was more like the priests of the RPGs and other games I played and stories I watched.

“So do you know where the temple is?” I asked.

“No idea. But she’s leading me.” Loysa said and pursed her lips, “This is too important to make mistakes.”

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Her profound seriousness was almost unsettling, it was worse than when she found out I owed ‘a favor’ to Yorgim Schnee.

“It’s because of the undead.” Tess said from behind me. “The whole mountain is basically cursed now. Or so people say. Plus the whole thing about dwarves being unable to enjoy alcohol, or mining, and being rot ugly, and…”

“Aye, alcohol is three fifths of living, and mining, the other two. Thas what my people say, lass. And this’n here took all that away.” Dwarguy explained.

“Can’t we just have Loysa ‘turn undead’ or something?” I asked.

“Turn them where, left or right or something? What’s that mean?” Loysa asked.

“Oh, so that’s not a thing here.” I said and cleared my throat, “Ah, in the stories back home, priests had special power over the undead.”

“Not here. We’d have to get the Goddess of Life and the God of Death to order their priests to work together. And they do not like each other. I know of only one instance where that has ever happened, and that was when a necromancer was trying to take over the world.” Loysa’s instructive voice hit home.

“So that’s out, then. I’m going to have to hope they’ll be willing to talk.” I said and pursed my lips tight, even the thrill of knowing I was going to finally get access to magic didn’t really stand against the whole, ‘undead city hates my party member’ thing.

I did notice though, that I didn’t even have to ask Loysa about it the way I intended to. I couldn’t really verbalize the praise, I would have been too embarrassed, but I thought at least, ‘There’s a Full Gear ranked adventurer for you. She knows what to do before it needs to be done!’

I wondered if I’d have that kind of ability some day. And what kind of team I had when I did. ‘Dwarguy is doing me a favor. Loysa is testing me. I’m lucky she made the call to just take me to the temple. She probably wouldn’t have done that if I’d been born here. So she’ll be gone when we’re done. And Tess is also only paying a debt. I’ll have to build a whole new team. But I’m also in debt to Yorgim… that’ll make building a new one difficult…’ I had to focus to stop myself.

‘You always do this.’ I upbraided myself, ‘You focus on the problems and not on the solutions and get yourself all worked up over how hard things will be! That’s not heroic! Be heroic! You didn’t come to this world to hide behind people and just follow along and worry about every industrialist and mafia boss! Adventure isn’t always victory unending… it’s the struggle along the way that makes the victory sweet!’

I reassured myself just as the temple came into view and Loysa stopped in her tracks. “You two, stay here.” She said to Dwarguy and Tess, her tone brooking no argument, she leveled her staff at the entrance. “I’ll take her in, myself.” Her dark hair caught the wind and her priestly robes of blue and white seemed fantastical in their beauty, even her pose, decisive, brave…

‘To be like that… that’s what I want.’ I said to myself.

The temple had a dome over the top of a square shape, the architecture seemed distinct from the rest of the buildings of Steelven, and really anything else I’d seen thus far on my journey. The one real difference that struck me the most though was that the steps were not stone. At least not fully. They were grass.

There were twin streetlamps on opposite sides, empty of fae for now given the early hour. But the steps they framed were hardpacked earth hemmed in by wooden roots that were polished to a shine, and lining the steps upward were trees whose boughs hung over top to offer shade and shadow to those beneath.

“This is an elven city.” Loysa said matter-of-factly. “Even if they’re as modern as anyone, they never forget their roots. They’re a forest people by nature and their cities will always reflect that. The greenery, the wooden pipes that only they can make… they can be a beautiful, remarkable people.” She said, and then touched my shoulder, drawing my eyes to her.

“But they can be dangerous too. Never forget that. Just because they’re beautiful, doesn’t mean they can’t be cruel, or malicious, or violent.” She warned me so fervently, and loomed so close, all I could do was give rapid little nods to show I understood.

After I did, she gave me a bit of space and tapped her staff on the ground, “Then let’s go.” She said, and we walked up the stairs so I could get my chance to find a deity of my very own.

I won’t pretend I wasn’t nervous about this. I was. Meeting new people is one thing. Meeting a God is something else entirely.

But Loysa was unusually ‘priesty’ today, and she was oddly comforting to have along, in a different sort of way. I’d come to trust her, after my accidental intoxication, how could I not? But even so, this was different.

Her staff sank with gentle pressure into the grassy steps as we went up, her eyes were unfocused but oddly ‘present’ she was hearing something I could not. For all her complaining about her overly talkative Goddess, it seemed there was a very real bond there. She was not one to waver in her steps at any time that I could see. But this was more like a procession or a ritual rather than the steady forward stride of a woman on a mission.

We reached the doors, and the hiss of steam blew upward like clouds as the doors opened for us. The faint noise of grinding gears out of view hit my ears, and Loysa held out her hand to me at waist level.

“I’m not a perfect woman. Or even a priest. I’m certainly not a perfect adventurer. But this… this I never fail at. Come with me.” She said, and I placed my palm into hers, and in unison with her, I stepped inside.