The duchess and I were escorted back to our rooms swiftly by our escort, and he gave me a curious look before he went away.

I locked my door and tried to focus on my thoughts, but panic made it harder.

Once I had name-dropped the goddess, the vibe of the dinner had changed. The duchess looked proud of me and seemed to have no worry.

I could only look at her confidently as well, but I was a mess inside.

As we headed back, the duchess spoke to me softly so that our escort wouldn't hear her words.

"I am sure you are aware that the temple is not a good place. Shopkeeper, please be careful while you are here. Especially at night from now on."

The duchess told me, and I took only one conclusion out of it — my life was in danger.

"Fuck! Just what did I get myself into? Why did I have to open my mouth and say all that?"

I asked myself, and I could not come up with a justified reason as to why I did it. So I could only attribute it to a momentary lapse in judgment on my part.

Coming up with a solution seemed almost impossible, and I felt like the only one who could help me now was the griffin. So I decided to head toward the forest before I could no longer physically do that.

"Master, are we going out? Wait, I will follow you."

Fenrir told me as he exited the room as well.

I tried to recall the way to the forest once more, but it soon became evident that I was lost. I must have taken a few wrong turns along the way, and the place I ended up in was not one I had seen before.

"Master, I smell a lot of power coming from here. I don't think we should be here."

Fenrir told me as he tensed up and growled at the air around us. He could feel something that I could not.

Moreover, Fenrir seemed to be struggling to walk, so I picked him up.

"I see. Then, shall we head back now? I am starting to feel tired as well."

I told the pup in front of me, and I picked him up. But I had not even taken a few steps before my phone buzzed.

"Huh? Why is my phone buzzing?"

I asked in a confused voice as I took out my phone to look at what happened.

[You have entered a special communication zone.]

[You have 4 new messages. Would you like to check them?]

The system notice was clear as day for me to see, and it was easy to understand what was happening as well.

'I just got a message… WAIT… I JUST GOT A MESSAGE? HOW? WHY? FROM WHOM?... No, let's calm down and open the message now to figure out what's happening.'

I was beyond excited and afraid to see that message on my screen. Why? Because this single message changed my situation a lot.

Up until now, I had thought that I was the only one in this world with a phone, but if there were other people, that meant I had more people I could talk to.

Suddenly, the world did not feel as lonely as it did anymore.

I quickly opened the message, only to see complaints.

[Hey, old man, what do you think you are doing? This is my sanctuary! Stay away from my people…]

[Actually, now that you are here, can you help me out? That bastard interfered with my prophecy and caused a mess. You are the only one I can ask for help…]

[Why are you so quiet? And why are you not here to meet me yet?]

[Are you… ignoring me? You fuck************... why am I getting censored here? *******]

[Wait… you did not die, right? You said you were about to die and have your successor take over. Are you… actually dead?]

The messages came one after another, but they did not feel like they were for me. These messages felt like they were for the previous owner of this phone.

'Does the old man refer to the… shopkeeper before me? Did he cause this whole mess for me because he was going to die? But why me? Ugh… this just creates more questions for me.'

I clutched my phone tightly, almost as if that would give me some of the answers I sought.

But as expected, it did not help.

I wondered whether I should reply to these messages or not. My hand hovered over the keyboard of my phone, but before I could send any message, I got another one back.

[You are not… the old man, right? Anyway, enter my chamber so that we can talk more properly. Since you are the storekeeper's successor, I have a favor to ask of you. Once you are in the chamber, I will call you.]

The message told me, and the hallway suddenly lit up.

Fenrir's breath also got easier, and he relaxed in my arms. His body sagged, and I noticed that he was suddenly asleep.

I was not sure whether it was because he was too tired or because of another power, but I had a decision to make.

The safe thing to do here would be to turn back and pretend I did not notice what was happening.

But this was also my first and maybe only chance to know something about my condition. I could not afford to miss it.

So, despite my concerns about this situation, I decided to take a step forward and head toward the chamber.

The light showed me the way, and the world had fallen silent around me. Even my footsteps made no sound.

And then, I was standing in front of a door that could lead me to the other side—and to all my answers.

'Do I want to do this? Do I want to go to the other side and know the truth? Or do I want to stay ignorant?'

Ignorance was bliss, after all. But it was not the kind of bliss I wanted.

So I entered the door, and a pure white room greeted me.

There was a single altar in the middle and nothing else. There was not even any window in the room.

The only natural source of light was a small opening on the ceiling that landed directly on the altar in the middle, and I headed toward it.

It was my last chance to back off, but I put Fenrir down and stepped on the altar instead.

Ring

My phone buzzed, but there was no number or name on the screen. I did not know how to pick up this call either.

But I pressed on the phone anyway, and the ringing stopped.

Instead, a melodic and youthful voice spoke back to me.

"Hello. Am I talking to the shopkeeper's successor? I'm Helia, the Goddess of Prophecies. May I have your name?"

The feminine voice told me, and it was sweet and soft enough to feel enchanting. It was the kind of voice that could seduce regardless of gender.

It had a strange power that made me want to comply with it and tell it all it wanted from me.

"Hmm, are you not going to answer me?"

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