BXBX NOVEL Chapter 44 - Abandoned Town
"Humans don\'t worship gods anymore, and those who do are considered heretics."
Nero turned around and looked at the woman and her sad smile on her face. "I already know that, so tell me something new."
Nero heard about it when he jumped in the air to search for Emilia, but he didn\'t know the reason for the war between the angels and humans— though he had a firm idea why.
"You will rarely find any believers nowadays, and all the churches from all over the world are demolished. So it would be almost impossible to find churches," informed the woman.
Nero and Emilia had no idea about that. They only came to this town because it was the closest town, and if they had gone to some other town, they wouldn\'t have found the church.
\'I can just summon Sophia at the church and leave this town. But…\' Nero glanced at Emilia, who was looking back at him with a resolute expression on her face.
As Emilia and Nero spent the past few weeks sleeping outside in the forest, Emilia was in a mood to sleep on a bed after a long time.
Nero scratched his cheek and looked at the woman, and the woman smiled in response.
"Why is this town so dead?" Nero asked curiously.
"It\'s not dead!" the woman exclaimed.
"So why are there no townspeople living here?"
"There are some, but not much," the woman replied.
Nero placed his hand on his chin as though he was thinking of something, "That still doesn\'t answer my question." Nero frowned his face, "Tell me the truth."
The woman stared at Nero with a puzzled— yet calm look on her face. Then, her eyes widened as though she had realized something.
"Could it be that you two are not around from here? You also didn\'t know about the church and stuff."
"I am the one asking questions here!" Nero shouted, seemingly wanted to quiet the woman down so she wouldn\'t ask more questions.
"There is a saying that this town is cursed."
Nero furrowed his eyebrows and asked with a confused look on his face, "I don\'t sense any curse, though."
"The neighboring town, \'Astracliff\' is said to be the town blessed by the angel. And this town \'Astrared\' is said to be cursed by a demon."
"Oh?" Nero\'s interest piqued as soon as he heard the word demon. "Did a demon fall from a sky or something?"
Nero scoffed as he glanced at Emilia— since Emilia had fallen from the sky on the Astracliff town.
"No," The woman shook her head and spoke with a painful and sad look on her face. "This is just a wrong rumor that destroyed our peaceful town. And that\'s the reason the capital also abandoned this town, and we don\'t have any protection."
And just like that, Nero lost his interest.
"Hmm, Let me guess. Because of this rumor, most of the townspeople left the town?"
The woman nodded and continued, "Though this is an old story as it all happened hundreds of years ago. And I was told this by my parents, so I can\'t really say what I said was all true."
The woman then glanced at the empty streets and smiled wryly, "Now this town is like a lounging place for travelers and adventurers."
Nero was feeling indecisive on whether he should stay in this town or not. However, it was already evening, and the sun was about to set. So if they went to church and summoned Sophia, it would be night already.
Nero sighed deeply and shook his head, "We will stay at the inn."
The woman\'s face inexplicably shined with a cheerful smile, but that smile soon vanished when Nero added, "But for free."
"Do you…" The woman glanced back and forth at Nero and Emilia, then continued, "...not have money?"
"Yeah, we don\'t. So unless you let us stay for free and give us free food, we are leaving."
It was true that they didn\'t have money, but they could give something in exchange. Nero was testing the woman on whether they should stay at the inn or not.
\'If I don\'t let them stay, then they would have to spend their night outside\' The woman stared at Nero\'s face for a while and asked, "What about the rum?"
Nero couldn\'t help but laugh out loud after hearing that.
The woman was dumbfounded, and she had no idea why Nero was laughing. But after spending some weeks with Nero, Emilia was now used to Nero\'s weird jokes.
"Uhh…" The woman then pointed her gaze at the bag on Nero\'s back. "You should probably leave that in your room before we go to the church."
The woman had no ill intentions. She was just being considerate since she assumed Nero and Emilia were from a different continent as they didn\'t know about the current situation of the world.
"There is no need for that." Of course, there was nothing valuable in the bag, but Nero still didn\'t trust the woman.
The woman wore her sandals and walked with Nero and Emilia.
"Was it okay for you to leave the inn open like that?" Emilia wondered.
"Yeah, the inn is pretty much empty during the day."
They walked for about twenty minutes, but Nero still couldn\'t see any church.
Nero glanced at the woman, and she looked so diligent and focused.
"If you are trying to or planning to do something funny, then it won\'t end well," Nero uttered as he glared at the woman.
The woman looked at Nero, then glanced at Emilia and smiled widely, "Is he always like that?"
"Yeah," Emilia replied.
Nero glared at Emilia as his face twitched, and he decided that he wouldn\'t let Emilia sleep tonight— but that would just make Emilia happier.
"My name is Laira, by the way. Nice to meet you, though it\'s kind of late," the woman said as she forced her smile.
"How far is the church now?" Nero questioned.
"We are almost there."
After walking for about five minutes, they reached a rundown area— seemingly, no one had ever visited there in a long time.
The church itself was ancient and massive, but there were cracks all over it. A small impact could break its walls and destroy the church.
Nero exhaled sharply and walked forward to the church. "Let\'s go, Emilia."
Nero grabbed Emilia\'s hand and glanced back at the woman, "You may go now. We will come to the inn later."
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