Trader's Wit and Plea of a Priest

This village really is quite lively, at least I would not expect this much noise from a place so far away from civilization. I have spent my whole life in the city with busy highways, people marching from place to place like an ant colony and even planes along with cargo ships could be seen at least once a day. I wished for peace every day, but here I am in the middle of the small community that is seemingly even noisier than the place I hated. Children and animals are buzzing at every corner, including the house that we were given earlier. Wagons, although rare, are still being pushed by horses. All this is accompanied by the quiet sounds of the wilderness that are lurking outside the village. Even though this ruckus really is not inferior to the one I am used to, I do not find it as obnoxious, and I am even able to enjoy it a little.

But once my ears give in to the anharmonic orchestra of the village, the door beside me opens and outside comes Nila. Both her suitcase and the staff remain in the house, since they are not in her hands at the moment. She glances over me and bobs her head in the direction where we should head next. I cross my hands at her lack of words, to which she turns away and leads the way.

In this parade of silence that is off-putting even for the villagers, who did not bother us throughout the way, we reach the house by the main road. If I recall correctly, the one we are visiting is the old man Zanuff, who is a trader of some kind. His house has stalls attached to the side with several horses and a wagon. Once we enter the house, the old man greets us with a deep bow and sits us by the coffee table in his living room. With his limping gait, he slowly brings out a plate with teacups and ceramic teapot. I shiver at the sight of floral patterns and butterflies that sucked my blood the other day.

"Good to see you alive and well, Zanuff." says Nila after taking a sip of tea, to which Zanuff laughs in a hoarse voice and says, "I would not tell I am exactly well, I was quite old all the way back when we first met. The health problems only stacked on top of each other, unfortunately."

"Yet you are still here. I did not expect you to still be alive let alone do business to this day."

"I will quit travelling only after being bedridden completely, miss! But you elves truly do not age, you have remained the same lovely lady as you were 20 years ago."

Nila narrows her brows, but then smiles, "We are eternal, unlike humans. But I am glad that I got to see your snide face for the last time before you go into the coffin."

Zanuff laughs once again, while I am being sidelined completely from this conversation. The old man peeks at me from time to time, but does not really address my presence. Instead, he puts his teacup which is already half empty and leans forward.

"Anyway, I believe you came here to ask for a ride to Wiskoschia, correct?"

Nila nods, her smile slowly fades away, "That's right, we will go there regardless of it, but it would be way more beneficial if we tagged with you."

Zanuff's sunken eyes stop at me completely, and he keeps quiet for a minute, awaiting my reaction. I try to look away, but the pressure remains unchanged. I sigh at this and say, "What is it?"

My question takes Zanuff by surprise and his eyes widen, he glances at Nila and asks, "Is this young man an elf as well?"

"Are you becoming senile?"

Zanuff smirks and leans on his chair to say, "You were the only one who barged into my house without even presenting your own name and your companion now has done the exact same. Is he by chance your apprentice?"

"Do not be ridiculous." Nila shakes her head and turns to me, "I guess Zanuff is right, why don't you introduce yourself."

I narrow my brows at Nila's plea and confidently answer, "My name is Blake, pleased to meet you, Zanuff."

Nila's expression remains unwavering despite my attempt to conceal my actual name. She returns to her cup of tea while Zanuff smiles at me, "This is more like it, Blake, it did not hurt to introduce yourself, correct?"

I did not introduce myself only because I was not sure how this dumb elf would react to my sudden change of name. If she was surprised by it or god forbid corrected me, I would find myself in huge trouble. Fortunately this time all has gone smoothly, but I still need to keep my guard up and engrave the name of Blake into my mind while in this village.

"Very well." continues Zanuff, "I will give you a lift to Wiskoschia in a few days after the harvest is ready to go. But I have one request."

Nila tilts her head, "And what would it be?"

"You two will load cargo onto my wagon."

"That's… relatively easy favour. I feel like you, boy, are plotting something, no?"

Zanuff giggles once more at her words while shaking his head. Then he looks at his wall clock and smiles, "It's almost time for the congregation in the church, you would not want to miss it, Nila."

I raise my brow at this sudden change of topic, Nila's reaction, however, surprises me even further. She gets up and pulls my arm while saying, "You are right, thank you for reminding me! Come on… Blake, we can't miss it!"

I do not fight back and as a result she quickly drags me outside, whilst the old man sees us off with a smile. Once we depart from his house, Nila releases my hand and points in the direction of the forest.

"Church must be over there, we should hurry." she explains hastily and strolls off without waiting for me. Once I catch up to her, I say, "I did not expect you to believe in god."

Nila, however, does not reply, resuming our game of stubbornness. She opens her mouth yet again only after we reach the church. It is a fine building, far more attractive than the rest of the houses. The church is built from white stone and the roof tiles are black. It contains two slim towers in the back, the top of these towers are decorated with the symbols of moon and sun. Once we enter, the priest's preaching reaches my ears, along with murmurs of prayer coming from parishioners. Without even looking at me, Nila pulls me towards the seat furthest away from the altar, the only place that is free.

After we sit down, Nila's hands are clenched, and she bows lightly, but no words of prayer come out of her mouth. I do not repeat nor do anything, just continue glaring around the place and peek at the priest from time to time. One peculiar detail by the altar is the statue of a woman with a crescent moon crown on her head and an hourglass she lifts above her head. Seems like it is the statue of goddess, the one I should slay per Solitaire's request.

I rub the gemstone in my pocket, and my brows narrow at the thought of our last farewell. He might think that I am dead, since I was in quite a predicament the last time we spoke. Does it mean that our deal is cancelled now, and I am free to do whatever I want? But what about my revenge on the people from my original world? I guess I should forget it for now, since there really is no way of knowing whether Solitaire abandoned me or not. If he actually did, then it would be for the better.

I am not religious. Even though my orphanage tried to teach me the word of God, I never actually listened to them. Something never sat right with me about the existence of some omnipotent being up in the clouds that does nothing about my suffering. I was told that it all must be the trial of faith, but I really can't see how believing could change my life for the better. Even here, this god that probably exists does not do much to help people around. I can perfectly see them praying, showing their humility, yet mistress fate brought upon their lands a criminal who already killed some of their relatives. Their prayers really did not bring these fools far, but they are lucky that I am not planning on pillaging this place. I want to get out of here; the last thing I want is for my name, Dusk, to be revealed here, whether through words or my own actions.

As for my task, I can't see myself fighting a god. Bet no one is stupid enough to even attempt imagining themselves piercing the flesh of the divine. I am not afraid of god, but glad that I do not actually need to hunt it now. Well, until Solitaire shows me his smarmy face and encourages me with another threat.

As I revise my bet with Solitaire, the congregation ends, visitors depart, but the priest comes to our direction. He first looks at Nila and bows lightly, but then his attention turns to me. The priest smiles as he says, "Good evening young man, may I know your name?"

"Its Blake."

"Blake then, I hope you enjoyed the stay at our church, it is always nice to see new faces here." he smiles again and turns his attention to Nila, "I am as much glad to see you here too."

"You are older than Zanuff, yet you look much more fresh, priest Olek."

I lean on the bench, expecting a long discussion. Olek is dressed in a black robe, but instead of a cross there are two amulets dangling from his neck, one reminiscent of a sun and a crescent. I am quite surprised to learn that he is older than Zanuff, since, as Nila explained, there are not many wrinkles and grey hair present on him, also his posture is rather straight.

Olek shakes his head on Nila's comment and says quietly, "All because Zanuff is a hard worker, unlike me, who lived all his life in the village."

"You can be lazy at times, that's right."

I raise my brow, not expecting Nila to insult someone she should respect, but the priest only giggles at her comment and answers, "I more enjoy the slow tempo of life, perhaps that's the reason why numbers did not bend my spine quite as badly… but since you are here, Nila, I have a request."

Nila tilts her head while I sigh lightly, to which the priest apologises and continues, "Not that long ago, people began disappearing by the main road to the city of Wiskoschia. So far, 3 children and one young man are gone."

"And how were you able to travel to Wiskoschia?"

"Through a detour, but the road to Wiskoschia is thrice as long this way. I am afraid that our harvest will drop in quality if Zanuff takes this road again, that's why I am begging you to investigate the main road."

I am taken aback by this revelation and can't help but wonder why Zanuff did not mention this problem. But Nila's words bring the light to this reason, "So that's why he sent us to the church, this brat… knew that I would not be able to bargain against you!"

"I believe that's why he did not visit us today as well. But what do you say, would you be able to help us?"

Nila lowers her head in thought, lightly adjusting her hair. After a minute, she raises her head once again and nods, "This will not be a problem, but for deceiving me, I will not help him load the cargo. I believe Blake would be much better cut for the job."

"Huh?"

"Is that so? May Goddess be with you!" exclaims the priest and shakes both of our hands. As I want to protest this sudden change of plans, Nila squints at me and I keep my mouth shut. She knows my dirty secret, which puts me in an unfavourable position. Not only that, she does not shy away from using it! This woman!

After we depart from church and move towards our home, I grab her by the shoulder and ask, "What the hell was that? Would it be difficult for you to load cargo using magic?"

She lightly swats away my hand and replies, "This is your punishment for lying to me. You will also investigate the road with me as well. Tomorrow morning, better not sleep in."

"Damn it, I really hope prayers will not save you from karma!"

At my words, Nila shakes her head and glances at me, "I believe you would be a far more desirable target for karma. As for me, I am not praying for myself."

I huff and cross my hands in protest, only after we enter our hut the curiosity takes over, and I end up wondering, "Who are you praying for then?"

She does not answer at first, but after rifling the jewellery that covers her ears, she answers, "One foolish man who helped me out a very long time ago."

Those are the last words she tells me before preparing for the night. Our beds are quite far apart from each other, yet I perfectly hear the occasional turn of book pages behind my back. Even through my heavy eyelids when my mind is already half asleep, I can still hear this soothing sound. It has been a while since I slept in the same room with someone else.