Eon's words made it sound like he was not going to come with us. I was not the only one who picked it up either.

"E-Eon, what are you saying? Are you not going to come with us? N-No, I don't want that."

Nyx almost burst out into tears as she spoke. Her voice sounded wet, and she looked almost heartbroken at the fact that Eon wouldn't be coming with us.

Erebus's hands also closed into a tight fist around my pants and almost tugged them down.

"I am afraid that it wouldn't be right for me to come back with you. As the guardian of Goddess Helia, the griffin cannot leave the sacred grounds for too long. And now that I am bound to him, I cannot leave for long either. But that should not stop you both from living your lives."

Eon sounded like a grown-up when he spoke these words. His eyes looked sadly at the twins in front of him, and Nyx's small body shook as emotions took over her.

"N-No, then I also—"

"You both should go. Now that I have become complete, there is no longer a place for you or Erebus here. You will only be held back if you try to walk the same path as me. We were once a whole, but now, it's time to live for ourselves."

Eon sounded so mature when he spoke that even I had to blink in order to gather myself and make sure I was facing a kid.

"B-But—!"

"Hmm, if you are so against it, then why don't we do something else? You both can try to live out there for some time, and if you are not able to adapt, then come back. But you have to promise to try and adapt out there."

Eon told the pair as he walked toward them. Their guardian had recovered as well and nudged the kids toward the duchess and me.

"B-But—"

Nyx complained, but it was Erebus who clutched her hand and tugged her toward the duchess and me with a serious look on his face.

The poor girl looked torn, but between the other two, she could not say much and had to relent to their wishes.

"A-Alright, I will try. But i-if I cannot adapt—"

"Then you are always welcome to come back. Duchess, shopkeeper, I will be counting on you both, and in return, I will be your biggest ally should you ever need help."

Eon told us, and that incident finally happened.

The two kids clutched my clothes, and the duchess looked at the Cardinal with a serious look in her eyes.

"Cardinal Joshua, may I have a word with you? It's really important."

She told the man, and the Cardinal looked confused at her before he nodded.

"Of course. Shall we head inside to talk?"

He asked, and the duchess nodded as well. I stood at the altar with an awkward expression, but Eon came near me quickly.

"Shopkeeper, I know that you have a lot of work to do. But may I ask for another favor? Can you stay with us tonight so that we can get more familiar with you? I am sure it will help Nyx and Erebus feel better as well."

Eon asked, and I initially wanted to reject his offer. But then I looked around and noticed how everyone was looking at me like they wanted to eat me. It was not safe for me to stay here all alone.

So I had no choice but to agree with a smile on my face.

"Of course. I can spend the night with you kids if that's what you want. Let's head out now."

I told them before anything else could happen. From the looks of it, these guards were too eager to come after me. But I was not in the mood to entertain them.

The three kids, the guardian griffin, and I finally went back to the forest. As for the duchess? I was sure she would hear what happened here sooner or later.

__________

Two people silently made their way to an empty room, and no sooner had they entered it, a barrier went up around them.

Cardinal Joshua looked at the duchess with his eyes filled with suspicion, but the duchess just took a seat and told him to take one as well.

"So, what are your plans going forward with the dome and the people here? The fact that you all got influenced by someone else and didn't even realize it won't sit well with the others. In the worst-case scenario, you may even lose all your faith and have your goddess perish."

The duchess spoke, and the Cardinal flinched.

Losing one's god over such a thing was not uncommon, but for a huge organization like them to fall would be a massive loss.

"You are right. I assume you are asking this because you want to offer us a deal? You also know that I am in no position to turn you down either. So, name your terms."

The Cardinal told the duchess, but she just took a deep breath.

"We will have more time to talk about it later. For now, I just wanted to offer my help to suppress this panic wave. Since we have a somewhat close relationship, it is in my best interest to do this as well."

The woman spoke, and the conversation ended there… or it was supposed to. But the Cardinal could not contain his curiosity and had to ask.

"Duchess, about that person you brought with you. Just who the heck is that shopkeeper? He cannot be a normal person, and he also somehow found a way to contact our goddess. Just what is he?"

Cardinal Joshua asked in a tense voice, and the duchess gave him a clear answer.

"Have you still not realized? The shopkeeper is a 'higher being' who came down here to help us out. It would be best for you to pretend you do not know anything… for your own safety's sake, at least."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.