The road outside Valor’s northern gates was still stained with blood in the spot Crimson had placed her mountain of corpses in and it would take a good while before rain and wear from the feet of the passing travelers would clear it – at least on the surface. Naturally Anastacia would be able to sense the blood stuck deeper in the soil until it decayed in the coming months. On her way out, the necromancer didn’t even entertain the idea of walking over it and instead took a detour around the stain. A mere passing glance at It gave her a chill and made her gag.

Rosie and Emilia weren’t as bothered by it and hardly even noticed it while conversing happily.

For the first time in weeks, the sky was overcast and there was a chance for rain, but it was impossible to predict it. That didn’t bother any of the three though, aside from the roads becoming muddy and slippery, a little rain wasn’t a problem.

Rosie had heard about Anastacia’s refusal to walk on their last quest. “Don’t think whining will get you a free ride this time, I’m not all soft like Gilbert and will not carry you.” She warned the necromancer.

“I wasn’t going to ask you to do that!” Anastacia protested such prejudice.

“Yes, you were.” Emilia pointed out, likely truthfully.

After about an hour of walking, Anastacia was ready to start whining, but kept silent because she wasn’t quite sure if Rosie would actually leave her behind or not. They came to a crossroads, on one of the paths the road entered a forest, and on the other, it continued along the tree line.

Rosie stopped to look at her map. “Hmm, both of them take us to Crescent eventually, but the one that goes through the forest is shorter. I usually go there by hitching a ride from a merchant and they refuse to use the shortcut. Guess they’re uneasy about going into a forest.” She explained and showed the map to Emilia.

“We’re not merchants so we’ll use the shorter road, let’s go already” Anastacia decided for the group and continued directly ahead. At this point, she would have taken a shortcut trough fifteen cursed graveyards and a bandit camp if it meant that the walking would end sooner.

Rosie shrugged and followed the necromancer. The forest itself wasn’t that large or dense so they should have been able to handle whatever lived in it. She didn’t have a fraction of Gilbert’s knowledge about the area, but a small forest equals small animals sounded like it made sense.

While in the forest, Emilia and Rosie chatted about something but Anastacia couldn’t make out any of the words, everything had become just noise to her and all she could concentrate on was how much her feet hurt. She was constantly falling behind the two and had to run for a few steps every now and then to not get left behind.

“Guys! Can we take a break?” She pleaded.

Rosie frowned and tried to figure out how far along the forest trail they were. “Honestly, I’d rather not stop in here, even if it should be safe.” She hesitated.

“Look at the poor thing, she’s clearly having trouble. Should be slow down the pace a bit?” Emilia said and grasped the innkeeper’s hand.

“I’m already basically crawling.” Rosie sighed.

Tigerfolk, like many other types of beastfolk, were made for travelling at an insanely fast pace for a day or two, but would start quickly losing stamina after that. Rosie had to keep paying attention to keep pace with the other two, and the easiest way to do this was to keep talking with Emilia. She could have tried to slow down more by talking with Anastacia, but that likely would have gotten tiresome almost immediately, as all she would do is complain.

Anastacia lied down on a patch of grass next to the road and took her boots off. “Maybe I should buy a wagon? I mean, I don’t have anywhere to keep a horse, but maybe Gilbert could pull it? Also, Emilia, how can you keep walking with that armor on all the time?” She asked to notify the other two that she had just given up on walking.

“It’s my uniform, at first it was really uncomfortable, especially in really hot or cold places. But by now it’s like a second skin for me, and being without it just doesn’t feel right.” The devotee explained and hit her chestplate a couple of times.

Rosie let out a slight growl and grinned. “I’ve seen you be just fine without it.”

Emilia threw one of her gauntlets at the innkeeper. “Damn it, Rosie! Not in front of her!”

They sat down next to Anastacia to take a break, because the necromancer obviously wasn’t going to move. The sky was still cloudy but looked slightly better than earlier, easing their slight worries about rain. The trees swayed slightly in the breeze and the sound made Anastacia sleepy. Just as she was about to close her eyes, she felt something move towards them in the forest. Three somethings to be exact. Whatever they were, they headed straight towards Anastacia and her friends. She had listened to Gilbert enough to know that animals wouldn’t act like that.

“Something’s coming. Get ready.” She notified the other two, who had been very preoccupied by each other, and pointed in the direction they were being approached from.

Realizing that they had been noticed, three men came out of the forest across the road. They were wearing dark clothing and non-matching pieces of armor. Anastacia hadn’t actually seen bandits before but if she had to guess, this is what bandits looked like.

“We’re sorry to interrupt you ladies, but would you kindly give up any money or valuables you might have?” The largest of the three men said politely. All three had their faces covered, but it was easy to tell he was the leader.

Anastacia didn’t exactly feel threatened, if anything, she felt bad for the men. She turned to Rosie. “Are we being robbed?” She asked without paying any mind to the veiled threat.

“I’m not sure, kitten. They might be just beggars, robbers would be more intimidating.” The innkeeper pondered mockingly.

The would-be robbers weren’t happy to be taken so lightly, and pulled out their swords.

“Ladies, we’re being extremely polite here. Let’s not turn this into anything more disgusting. Hand over any money and jewelry you might have and we’ll let you go with your lives and dignities intact.” The leader of the bunch snarled.

Emilia decided to join in on the mockery. “Oh, I am but a humble servant of Sylvia. You wouldn’t lay your hand on a priestess, would you? May I offer you a prayer instead? Oh, Lady Sylvia, hear the call of your chosen one and protect the faces of these idiots as we smite them to the ground – lest they lose any teeth.”

The bandits had had enough and charged in. Unfortunately for them, Anastacia had been concentrating on their hands and proceeded to fracture a few of the bones in them. She had been slightly worried that their hands would explode like the fish before, but some of the advice in Alizarin’s book had sunk in and the bandits got to keep their fingers. Instead they just dropped their weapons from their weirdly bent hands and couldn’t quite stop before being within Rosie’s reach. The tigress grabbed two of them by the throat and slammed the poor outlaws to the ground. The third, and likely the unluckiest one, got hit in the groin with Emilia’s mace and dropped next to his friends.

Anastacia put her boots back on. “Does this mean the break is over?

After leaving the unlucky outlaws laying by the road, they got out of the forest without further troubles and arrived to what could be considered Crescent’s outskirts. Like any normal city, Crescent had fields full of crops for kilometers around it. Well before the city itself was visible, Emilia was reminded about her life there by the sight. She would often visit the farms, spreading the blessings of Sylvia to the people and even the soil itself. It was hard to believe it had already been over a year since she and Alex had left the city to run the temple’s errands elsewhere. As they got closer to the city, something felt more and more off. The people working on the fields didn’t greet them, instead the just looked away and started to work faster.

“Guess they don’t remember me anymore. Visiting these farms used to be one of my favorite things about being a priestess.” Emilia lamented. She decided to go talk to one of the farmhands to see if she could get some info on the current state of the city. “Excuse me, mister. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions?”

The farm worker seemed stressed. “I’m sorry, your holiness. I’m trying my best to gather the goods to pay for my next indulgence.” He uttered in a frightened tone, as if he could be hit at any time.

“The what?” The devotee asked, not remembering there being any kind of tithes available. The temple would merely heavily suggest that donations were perhaps less than voluntary.

“I’m really sorry but I just don’t have the time. Could you please leave us be? I promise we’ll be at the next service.” The farmhand whimpered and tried to continue his work.

Emilia had no idea what the man was talking about, but bothering him clearly wasn’t a good idea. She returned to her companions, who were waiting on the road, and told them what had happened. Crescent had always been ruled by the church to a degree but this is not how things were when she had left.