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Would this do for an offering? That person could be rather severe.
Ah, but…
If she’d been here now, she would certainly have been enjoying herself, hat or no hat. Priestess was sorry she couldn’t have been, but the thought made her happy.
Then her musings were interrupted by a cry of “You there! Stop! You don’t have to do that!”
She looked down the street and saw a frowning noblewoman rushing toward them. Priestess’s eyes went wide, and she wondered what could be going on when she saw the woman reach for High Elf Archer’s hat!
“H-hey, what do you think you’re doing?!”
“You don’t have to be embarrassed about being an elf! Don’t hide your ears—let them stand proudly!” The woman’s tone was sharp; she was as good as ordering High Elf Archer to take off the hat.
The noblewoman trundled up and made to grab High Elf Archer’s new hat. Priestess quickly exclaimed, “S-stop that! What’s the matter with you? She’s not hiding anything—”
“And you!” The woman turned her glare on Priestess, pinning her in place. Priestess swallowed heavily but not from fear. She’d been subject to the gaze of more than one disgusting monster in her time, including one that was literally a giant eyeball. It was just… “A disciple of the Earth Mother, allowing this to happen! What’s wrong with you, I must ask?!”
Surely there’s no need to get so angry…?
Priestess couldn’t understand, and for a moment, she wasn’t sure what to say. After she was finished dressing down the befuddled young cleric, the woman declared, “I’m going to lodge a complaint with your temple!” And then she stormed off with such force of will that the crowd parted before her as she went.
Still mystified, Priestess could only stand there. A complaint? She didn’t even understand what the woman was angry about!
“Wh…what do you suppose that was all about?” she asked High Elf Archer.
“Search me. I’m not a big fan of dealing with people who are that upset anyway.” The elf heaved a sigh, then her eyes met Priestess’s. “It’s…suffocating.”
“Definitely.”
The glum result of all this was that they found the wind taken out of their sails. They discovered they were no longer in the mood to put on new hats. High Elf Archer picked up the faux helmet that had been stripped off her head and ran her fingers through her hair to straighten it.
“Should we visit the graveyard now?” she asked.
“I guess so…,” said Priestess.
They remembered the location from when they had visited last year, so there was no fear of getting lost. They bought flowers at a shop on the way, along with three encyti, a kind of fried treat. It consisted of a dough made of cheese and wheat squeezed through a funnel into a whirlpool shape, then fried in oil. Liberally flavored with honey and poppy seeds, it was aromatic and looked delicious.
“I think a girl ought to enjoy a treat like this,” High Elf Archer said.
“Uh-huh,” Priestess agreed. After a beat, she said, “I didn’t get a chance to have dessert with her…”
“Well, hope she likes sweets. I’ll bet she does.”
I don’t understand. Maybe it was the ruckus a few minutes earlier, but Priestess just couldn’t feel lighthearted. Instead, she felt like she was sinking into a depression. In fact, she felt an ache in her neck. Why? And then…
“Wait… What?”
The graveyard proved to be another place where they discovered a most unusual sight. They stopped cold: Just beyond where the gravestones kept their silent vigil, there should have been statues of the gods. The five most venerated deities—the Earth Mother, the God of Knowledge, the Supreme God, the Trade God, and the Valkyrie. There should also have been two more statues enshrining the venerable gods that controlled Life and Death.
Yet they discovered that all the gods had been hidden under black cloths, to hide their likenesses.
“Something’s up,” said High Elf Archer. Priestess could only stand there flummoxed, but the elf was quicker. “Oh, hey! Hey, you!” She jogged over to a nearby cemetery visitor, her ears bouncing, and didn’t wait for an invitation. “Why are those gods hidden?”
“Oh, that… Well, just think of all the different people who’re here for the tournament.” High Elf Archer was speaking to an old lady whose fingers brushed a gravestone engraved with a sword. Perhaps it belonged to a soldier. Her voice carried both annoyance and melancholy—certainly, there was no hint of pleasure in it. “There was an order given—those statues were to be covered in deference to visitors who don’t worship these gods or follow other deities.”
“I don’t worship any particular god myself, but it never bothered me to have those statues here,” High Elf Archer said.
“Well, those whom it does bother are louder than you, it would seem. A great pity.” The woman shook her head slowly, then shuffled from the graveyard.
Priestess bowed to the old woman as she left and then to the grave the woman had been visiting. Beside the sword was carved a hammer, the sign of the Smithy God. These were people who strived to live well and uncover the secrets of steel.
“That was an odd conversation.” High Elf Archer sniffed. She snorted, not very pleased by the situation, but then shrugged. “I guess it probably sounds good—the stuff about this graveyard and what that woman was saying earlier.”
“I don’t really understand myself,” Priestess whispered disconsolately. Everything seemed darker to her, and she felt almost as if she were, yes, suffocating. Her neck felt downright sore now. Something like dust or ashes drifted through the air. She breathed in as best as her small chest would allow, then breathed out again. She didn’t cough.
This is what Goblin Slayer would call…
…a town that felt like it was going to be attacked by goblins. The sense of Chaos. Some evil omen in the air.
And after we came all the way here for the tournament.
Would something really happen? Priestess had no answer. Would she, the wise and perceptive girl from Priestess’s first party, have had one?
“Huh?” Priestess blinked as she took in the stone marking her friend’s eternal slumber.
A single flower was already there, but she didn’t know who could have left it.
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