I stared into the soldiers’ eyes, alternating between the both of them, asserting my dominance as I still held on to their blades. I jerked them out of their hands and tossed them to the ground. The archers had lowered their crossbows as they didn’t dare shoot with their fellow soldiers in their line of fire, but they had become unsure of what to do during that.

“I’d like to buy some strawberries, apples if you have them, and I’d like to know how to get to Thymhil. That is all,” I said calmly.

It seemed my strategy worked. Their faces turned to utter confusion in response to my sentence. I could work with that.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m afraid this woman wasn’t as resistant to shock as you were and I’d like to help her.” I then moved my attention to the farmer who’d dropped earlier. Cellestra’s serious expression changed to one of amusement when I turned around. I made sure to check the archers’ status before doing so just to make sure they didn’t intend to fire again, but they just stood there, dumbfounded.

“Why? What?” I heard one of the warriors ask as I carefully lifted the unconscious elf with my front limbs.

“If you’re talking about the apples and strawberries. You see, Cellestra here is fond of fruit, and I have to admit, so am I. As for the what part, I’m pretty sure you’re wondering what I am. Frankly, I grow tired of explaining. Let’s just say I received a blessing from Elysa.” I then addressed the elf on my back. “Cellestra?”

She cocked her head. I tapped her backpack, hoping she would get the hint. It took her a few seconds, but she eventually pulled out the silver-colored disc. I took hold of it with the small claws on one of my back legs and brought it before the soldiers behind me.

“I don’t know if you know an archivist called Vyath, but I bought this from him at the border.”

My humongous abdomen didn’t allow me to see their reactions, but after showing it for a good few seconds I pulled the disc back and placed it in Cellestra’s open backpack. “I hope our intentions are clear, yes?”

I placed my spider head on the ground, removed the straw hat from the farmer, moved her black hair out of the way, placed my hand on her forehead, and cast my healing spell. Fortunately for me, I was able to focus my attention on her as whatever was behind me was now quiet.

I had no idea if this even worked, but I figured using a healing spell on someone could never hurt… right?

Within a few seconds, she stirred and very slowly, opened her eyes. When she noticed me looking down on her, her eyes fully shot open, and started flailing her arms.

“Shh, it’s okay. Take it easy.”

I cast my healing light spell again, which seemed to calm her down. I then removed my pedipalps from around her frame and helped her sit up. I then backed off a bit to give her space.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “I honestly wasn’t quite expecting that sort of reaction. I’ve seen a few, but that wasn’t one of them.”

“I’m okay… I think,” She said as she grasped her head. She then turned to me and stared… again.

“Long story,” I said with a sigh. “Don’t know if I can explain it easier than by saying I’m blessed by Elysa.”

“Elysa?” She asked. “Goddess Elysa?”

I nodded. At the same time, one of the two soldiers from behind me walked up to the woman and extended an arm to help her up.

“Seems we misjudged you,” He said.

I chuckled and shook my head. “You could say that again. Honestly, though, I understand it to a certain degree, but when I say I’m not here to fight and even drop my weapon, it’s quite rude to just charge in, you know?”

“I’m… sorry,” He apologized. “I think we may have been too eager.”

“You call that eager?” I said with a frown. “You could have killed me… well, not me, but you know?”

“Agreed. It was foolish of me… Us,” He continued. His comrade finally showed up in my vision as he joined the first soldier and the farmer. “I would make it up to you, but I doubt buying you those strawberries would mean much.”

“It would be a start,” I said. “Do you happen to have apples as well?”

He shook his head. “Not in this hamlet, I’m afraid.”

“In that case, I’ll allow you to make up for the rest by telling me how to get to Thymhil.”

The soldier reached into one of his pockets, pulled out a small coin purse, and handed the farmer lady some coins before kneeling down and collecting the basket of fruit.

“Thymhil, huh?” He let out as he walked up to me and handed me the berries, basket, and all.

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He pointed a finger to the west. “You keep going that way until you find a river. You cross it, then turn north again and follow the river until you encounter a large body of water. If you follow that to the west, you will encounter a small village first. Thymhil is the city that is up next if you follow the shoreline.”

“River, right, sea, left, second settlement. Got it,” I recited the soldier’s words albeit a bit differently.

He nodded. “It’s not terribly hard. I would just be a bit careful crossing the bridge over the river. Someone of your appearance… well, you know…”

“Yeah, I get it,” I said while I handed the basket of strawberries to Cellestra. “I think we’ll be okay.”

I turned to the female farmer who seemed to slowly get used to what I was. “I’m sorry for the trouble.” I was going to say more, but I got interrupted when I noticed a black bird swoop in from up high. I aimed as quickly as I could and fired a high-velocity ice lance which hit the creature with deadly accuracy just before it got the chance to snatch away the strawberries that Cellestra was holding.

The impaled, now dead, bird landed a few yards away from us in the dirt between two rows of strawberry plants, earning a surprised and slightly shocked look from the three elves before me.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “I’ll leave you guys to your duties. Thanks a lot for the help.”

“Wait a second,” The first soldier said, raising a hand to halt me as I was about to turn around. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name?”

“Kealyna,” I said. “Now if you don’t mind, we’re in quite a hurry to get going.”

Both soldiers nodded and I gave them a quick wave as I retrieved my halberd before navigating through the fields to the west. A deep sigh escaped my lips after I’d put some distance between us and the local townsfolk.

“Didn’t go as I had hoped,” I let out.

“Could have been worse,” Cellestra replied softly. “I can’t believe you just grabbed those swords with your bare hands.”

“Good thing I tested my ability earlier, no? Did you see their faces when I did it?”

The elf chuckled. “Yeah, that was quite something else. You seem to have a habit of doing that to people.”

“What can I say?” I said with a grin. “Confusion prevents them from attacking me. That’s all the time I need to make clear that I am not a threat to anyone.”

“That’s… an interesting way to look at it,” Cellestra said softly. “But it seems to work, so that’s good.”

She smiled as she looked down at the basket in her hands. “Want some strawberries? I have plenty.”

“I’d love some.”

The elf handed me a handful of berries as I moved around slowly and steadily. To make things a bit easier for her, I summoned some threads to fasten the basket to my back so she could use a free hand to hold on to me.

As soon as I popped one of the berries into my mouth, I was filled with regret…

Regret that we didn’t get more.

“By the goddess, these are delicious,” I said, still chewing, allowing the sweet sugary flavor to fill my mouth. I bent over and took some in my spider mouth as well. This way, I could enjoy the taste even more!

Cellestra started giggling at the sight while nomming some berries of her own.

“Speaking of goddesses,” I let out, remembering something the farmer said. “Who is Nilene?”

“She’s the goddess of the harvest,” Cellestra explained. “A kind goddess, just like Elysa, but it is said she can be quite… capricious. It is said that the quality of harvests depends on her mood. People often make offerings to please her in hopes of bountiful yields. Most likely, even if there is no temple back in that small town, there is bound to be some shrine to her, still.”

“Interesting,” I said. “But Elysa told me she cannot directly interfere in this world. As far as I know, neither can Hograd. I reckon the same goes for Nilene?”

“I don’t know,” The elf admitted. “Did you not have a deity of harvest in your old world. You know, with your parents being farmers?”

I shook my head. “Not that I know of.”

My lips curled into a smile. “Maybe I should ask Elysa to thank Nilene for these delicious strawberries.”

The purple-eyed elf smiled from ear to ear. “You really should.”