”So, let me get this straight: this goblin god called Vilja turned the cancer god into bread… because she wanted to eat him, but only after messing around for a while and letting the town get destroyed? When she could have just done it right away?” Gilbert asked and rubbed his brow. “Guess this just shows how much of a shit the gods give about us.”

“Maybe that’s not the whole story? Maybe she had to wait for something specific to happen before she could do it? We can’t just assume gods work with same rules as we do.” Emilia suggested and plucked feathers from a pheasant King had caught for the party.

Anastacia knew that Vilja had actually just gotten caught up in their conversation and forgotten about the whole ordeal, but the god did rescue her from the chamber of flesh, so it was fair to not drag her reputation to the ground by mentioning it.

“I hope so. I’m not above admitting that the situation was out of our hands and she did fix it, but would it kill them to give some value to mortal lives for once?!” Gilbert raised his voice unintentionally, but immediately toned back down when he saw the surprised looks of his party. “Not to imply anything about Sylvia of course. I understand this was beyond her means as well, and she has been nothing but helpful.”

“I know what you meant. Gods are a mixed bag to say the least and we know next to nothing about this one. We probably won’t even run into her ever again, since she doesn’t have anything at stake here – not like My Lady does anyway…” Emilia pointed out.

Even with Anastacia’s help, they hadn’t found a single person, alive or dead from the destroyed town. Which meant they had all been absorbed by the mass of flesh that wrecked the town before it turned into bread, and that Yulia was indeed the sole survivor of Ebonywatch. No progress had been made in reaching the catatonic girl and the party was quickly running out of ideas on how to deal with her. Even some freshly cooked vegetables weren’t enough to snap her awake, but Emilia managed to forcibly make her drink some water.

“So what are we going to do with her? We need to get back on the road by tomorrow and there’s nothing left for her here. We can’t just leave her behind, right?” Emilia asked and mushed some carrots and potatoes they had salvaged from the ruins and boiled, hoping she could at least shove them down the sheep’s throat once they had cooled down.

Gilbert sighed. “Aye, she’ll come with us; hopefully on her own, but I’ll carry her if needed. Most of our gear is ruined anyway, so we can take the extra load for the couple of days it’ll take to reach Valor.”

“And then what? You’re just going to leave her in the corner of the inn and wait for something to happen?” The priestess asked. “I don’t mean to be harsh, but what possible future does she have in Valor?”

“How should I know?! Maybe Dam can help, or maybe she can work for Rosie? Her previous employee worked for about an hour before trying to murder a customer and… is now feeding pheasant feathers to a goblin for some reason.” Gilbert suggested and pointed at Anastacia with his pipe.

The necromancer was trying to dispose of the entire pheasant carcass by feeding it to the goblins when she noticed she was being talked about. “What? Oh! Don’t worry, this isn’t even in like the top ten of the worst things I’ve seen them eat. They can take it.” She explained, missing the point of the conversation entirely.

Gilbert just gave her a quick thumbs-up and turned back to Emilia. “Maybe it’s a good thing she doesn’t work there anymore…”

Emilia couldn’t help but to smile while recalling the chicken bone incident. “Good times… But honestly, I have no idea how much a one-handed waitress is going to help Rosie, and that’s assuming she’s even going to be in a good enough shape to work again. I’ve seen people far sturdier than her turn into a pale shadow of themselves and never go back, and I’m sure you have too.”

Gilbert sighed and scratched his beard. He knew exactly what Emilia meant, but wasn’t willing to give up on Yulia that easily. “Then we’ll figure out what to do. Right now all we can do is take her with us and hope that things work out.” He said, got up and stretched around a bit. “All this sitting around is making me sleepy, I’ll go take a walk and maybe see if I can see something worth taking in the ruins.”

“I’ll come with you. Staying still obviously isn’t making me feel any better, so maybe moving around a bit more will do it.” Emilia said and slowly stood up to join Gilbert. “Anna, can you watch the fire and Yulia for a while?”

The necromancer nodded and moved a bit closer to the fire and threw in a log. She had told the goblins to gather a lot of firewood for the pyre they would use to burn the dead ones; so aside from the one she had taken a liking to, there were none of them in sight, and for the first time since the party had been reunited, it was silent. Almost. The wildlife had started to return to the area and Anastacia could hear and feel the birds singing in the trees around the town. If it weren’t for the horrible, horrible deaths of about a hundred people and countless goblins, it would have been a very nice place to end their little quest at.

Anastacia wanted to start a conversation with Yulia, even if it was going to be entirely one-sided, but couldn’t figure out a way to start one. So instead they just sat there in silence while she cleaned King from all the mud and grime that had found its way between his armor plates.

Suddenly Yulia broke the silence. “Can you kill me?” She asked bluntly.

The necromancer looked around for help, so she wouldn’t have to answer the question, but as there was no one else around, she was forced to address it. “Can I what now? Why?”

“You know magic, right? It’ll be quick and easy that way… Or maybe he can do it.” The lamb pleaded, looking completely broken. “This is all my fault… I tried to use the magic thing to rescue everyone and then they died…”

“Oh… That sounds pretty dire, but it’s not your fault – or at least that’s how I think it works. I’m not an expert.” Anastacia said and kept working on the simulacrum to avoid eye contact. “As far as I know, in a situation like this, the fault would be on whoever caused the mess in the first place. So if you genuinely tried to help, you really shouldn’t be blaming yourself too much. Sometimes we just can’t know what happens when we do something.”

“W… what? I killed everyone, so I should die too! If I had listened to Gilbert, everyone would still be here and the town would be okay…” Yulia cried and grabbed Anastacia’s hand.

“Oh, is that how it works? Then I probably need to kill myself too, after I kill Gilbert of course. After all, he’s the one that didn’t take me with him when he left the tavern, so maybe this is all his fault?” The necromancer jokingly pointed out. When Yulia tried to interrupt her, Anastacia just ignored the lamb and continued. “No… never mind, it’s all my fault. You see, I’m actually a necromancer. If I had been here to fight the meatpocalypse with you guys, it would have been a trivial little brawl, but that would have only been possible if I had stayed in the tavern with you and Emilia and didn’t fall off from a roof like an idiot. So if anything, the reason you did what you did is because I suck and you should kill me, right? There should be some knives for cooking in the bag over there. Just pick one and jam it right in here and we can get rid of the monster that destroyed the town and killed everyone.” She said and pointed at her own heart while looking completely serious.

Yulia stared at the necromancer in confusion for a few seconds before completely crumbling under her burdens and the inability to do anything about them. Her miserable wailing was almost ear shattering and Anastacia considered freezing her just to silence the cries.

“Or is that suddenly not how it works anymore?” The necromancer grinned, full of herself for proving Yulia wrong. “I… uh… You can shut up now, please? I didn’t mean to bully you or anything, I just wanted to…” She looked around for anyone that would be able to help, but neither King nor the goblin were exactly the compassionate type. With no idea what to do, Anastacia just awkwardly patted Yulia’s head and hoped it did something.