“Holy Gaia shall bless you and forgive you of your sins. “ “Repent! Repent and be forgiven.” “The day of holy cleansing will come, All beastmen and beastkin please repent, or be left behind once cleansing comes! Gaia forgives!”

Much to Mia’s surprise, outside of a few odd looks when she first joined the line, the church members didn’t appear to have control over this area, instead were in small groups going up and down preaching. The downside to this was it had started to get unbearable.

“Hnnng…” Mia groaned, getting tired of listening to them.

“Will you shut up!” A larger bear beastman shouted at them, the others in his group trying to calm him down.

“Beastman, we mean no harm, we just ask that you re-“

“Repent for what?!” He shouted, he tried to approach them but was held back by the combined efforts of his smaller teammates.

“you can’t!” “We will get in trouble!” “No violence!” They pleaded with him.

“Heh,” one of the church members approached “Listen to your pack, beast, Gaia has blessed you with speech, but I see that forgiveness is wasted on you and your… animal tendencies…”

“Y-you!” the bear reeled back his fist, lifting one of his teammates in the process.

“No violence in the line!” an amplified voice rung through everyone’s ears, causing them to halt what they were doing “and Gaia church! No instigating! You are allowed to preach and nothing more! Don’t make us evict you!”

“”Tch”” both the bear and the robed man backed off.

“Be warned, you sinners will repent. Brothers! Pray for the cleansing! The light of Gaia will rain-“ The members took some distance from the line, one separating from the group and heading down the line, stopping at every group that would spare them the time.

The bear plopped back into his space in line “Stupid church of Gaia… why are they putting up with their crap…” the three companions comforted him, trying to calm him down.

‘Not the only one sick of them.’ Mia glanced around, pulling down her hood as she picked up some of the whispers.

“Did you see that beast? Horrifying, when are they going to cleanse this town?” Said a woman in the carriage line.

“Scary… what if they come for us next mom?” said a young beastman kid, scared of the church.

“They should just kick out the church, Gaia would never have this doctrine.” Said a human.

The opinions seemed to be split, obviously all the beastmen and kin where against the church, but surprisingly she heard humans share the same opinion. It was then that she heard something that peaked her interest.

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“Haaa… getting a boat ride to Lexon is going to be hell.”

“Especially with all the refugees…”

“Do you blame them? Stuck on the wrong side of the continent with Eldaha going nuts and cutting them off.”

“It’s either this or Ophelio, and that will take half a year.”

“Going to be expensive.”

‘Hrm, so I am not the only one going to Lexon’ Mia mused, and it required to get a boat ride which required money. She reached into her item box, pulling out the three silver coins ‘is this enough?’ she wondered, ‘this was just for the gate… so probably not, how do I make money?’

She didn’t think she had enough time either, so she’d just have to sneak onto a ship and hope she makes it. How hard can it be?

“Aaaah?! Let go!”

Mia perked up, hearing shouting ahead of her in line.

“Convict! Heretic! You thought you could hide from Gaia’s light!?”

“L-let go!”

She was surprised at what she saw, the one member that separated from the group had grabbed a smaller beastman from the line, lifting him up in the air for all to see the slave collar firmly locked around the boy’s neck.

“What are you assholes doing!?” “Let him go!” “Criminal!” “Escaped convict!”

The line was riled up, people moving towards the two but the other church members walled them off, the robed man successfully pulling the kid away from the line.

“Brothers! Sisters! Do you not see? This kid is an escaped prisoner, hiding among you, the collar is proof!”

People in the line spoke out, the beastmen moving towards them, the bear from earlier leading the charge, the little companions not holding him back this time “Let him go. Now.” The bear towered over the 4 men, who shrunk back but were bolstered when more members from other lines joined.

“Beast! Are you halting our order? This is the collar of an accursed criminal.”

“Bullshit, it’s just a kid.” The bear stepped forward, backing up when the group brought out weapons.

“Do you speak for him? He must have escaped somehow, are you responsible?” the man moved his gaze towards the small hooded companions he had with him “…you have quite the pack there…we will have to bring you all in for questioning if you argue further.”

The bear backed away further, stepping between them and his companions “Y-you..”

The man smirked, raising his fist into the air “Let it be known under the authority of Gaia! Anyone who aids a prisoner share in their guilt.” He then brought his hand down on the beastmen in the line “Get in our way and we shall bring all into que- eh?” The man fell forward, his hand suddenly heavy. He looked down at it, finding it frozen in a solid block of ice.

“What is this…” it was cold, so cold, it burned. He flinched, not noticing the boy slip away from him as he gripped his arm in pain “W-who?! Who did this!”

His companions next to him, unsure of what to do could only stare.

“Hmn, slave collar, bad.” Mia stepped forward, mist emitting from her. She was done with listening to that façade.

The group stared at the little child in front of them “A fox?” “another beast” “does she know what she just did…” they murmured amongst themselves, the man with he frozen hand standing up “You! You did this?!” he waved his brick arm at her.

“Well melt, probably.” Mia was unsure about that now; she hadn’t tested it yet.

“Do you have any idea what you just did! You attacked a member of the church! Blasphemy!”

“So?” she crooked her head to the side, not seeing the point.

She heard murmurs behind her but ignored them. She was more than a bit mad at the people in front of her, that kid had somehow managed to get all the way out here, escaping them, with a collar on. Without any special skills, she didn’t know if he had help getting out of here, but it didn’t matter. She was not about to let them drag him back into their clutches.

With him now safe, it was the matter of punishment, no fancy barrier was going to save them now.

“Blashemy of the highest order! You beasts fi-MHMPH?!” the man suddenly found his mouth was frozen shut, he gripped at it with his free hand, trying to free himself.

“Stupid.” Mia spat, brining her attention to the other eight.

“Your turn.”