Chapter 50: God Epion

It took us three whole days to reach the shrine in Mount Sirak. The area around Mount Sirak was within the kingdom's borders, but it was a remote area, with a vast wilderness stretching beyond the mountain. The wilderness was dominated by barbarians, who were divided into several tribes and repeatedly gathered and dispersed. They sometimes come out as far as this area, so we had to be on our toes. Fortunately, we never encountered them.

The shrine we arrived at following Eilia's directions was small, but a fine stone structure. Or, to be more precise, it was magnificent. The ivy-twined, old-fashioned building had been gaudily torn down. The stone walls surrounding the property had also crumbled. Eilia was in a state of despair.

"What in the world......?"

"It's been broken pretty spectacularly, it looks like something hit it with a lot of force."

If it can destroy a stone building, it must be pretty big.

"Did a dragon or something hit it?"

"But why would it need to destroy an uninhabited shrine?"

We entered through the collapsed stone wall and went around the shrine. On the mountainside behind the shrine, there was a large iron door that opened on both sides. One of the doors had fallen completely to the ground, but the other iron door, though leaning, had barely fallen over. When I looked inside, I saw a gaping hole in a cave that looked like the entrance to a dungeon.

I looked at Eilia's face and she said,

"Let's go inside."

"Wait a minute. What if the person who caused all this destruction is inside?　I know it's not my line, but if there's a dragon in there, we'll never see the sun rise again."

Eilia reached out her right hand, closed her eyes, and began to chant the spell. After a moment, she shakes her head.

"There is no living soul inside."

"But there is a chance that it's a bone dragon, right?"

I don't detect any negative energy.

So we went inside. It was dimly lit, but light was coming in from the entrance, and once our eyes adjusted, we could see what was going on, albeit dimly. Ahead of us was a large space, and after walking about 100 paces we came to a large space. It was so large that the temple in the town of Norn could fit inside it. Something huge was standing tall in front of it.

Eilia said in a whispering voice.

"It is a statue of the God Epion."

One of the four gods that once reigned in this world, she is the goddess of the growth and death of all things and the goddess of the hunt. The organization to which Eilia belonged was the primary worshipper of this God Epion.

A colossal marble statue, seemingly alive, looks down on us.

"Whoa!"

Comba, who is leading the way, exclaims.

"What's wrong?"

"I stepped on something squishy. Ugh."

Comba raises a pathetic voice. Slime?　I thought you said there were no creatures inside.

"This. It's some kind of poop. It stinks."

All at once the tension relaxed. He took out a fire box and lit a torch. The torchlight illuminated the ground, which was covered with what appeared to be large pieces of shit. Each of us took a torch and split up to search the cave. After all, nothing was found, and we went outside to discuss the situation.

"What a stupid thing to do!"

"Something must have broken in, contaminated it, and left."

"So, sister, what are you going to do about it?"

"Of course, I will clean it and purify it."

Comba dexterously cut down a piece of wood to make a large shovel and broom. The men would carry the shit back and forth to the outside, and the women would scatter the dead leaves and then use the broom to clean the floor. After the sweeping was done, Eilia cleansed the altar with perfumed oil and offered a prayer. Finally, logs were assembled to block the entrance to prevent animals from entering.

We were exhausted, but the sight of Eilia's radiant face made us all the more tired.

"God will be pleased. I'm sure you will all receive God Epion's grace."

Comba sat down on an extra log and slumped down.

"But, after all this mischief, I wonder if there will be no damnation?"

"No. I'm sure they're already received some sort of punishment."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm just guessing. There were footprints at the entrance that went inside, but none that went outside."

"You're talking out of your ass. There were no bodies. Maybe they flew back in the air?"

Carlisle objected, but Eilia immediately denied it.

"No. I am sure of what Harris said. I felt the residue of some great power working inside."

I put on a humble expression, but inwardly I'm sneering at Carlisle. How do you feel now that your beloved sister has denied you?

"In mythology, there are stories of people who transformed the form of those who were disrespectful and used them as servants. Perhaps they were disguised as something small?"

"Well, that could go either way. Sister. Since you've achieved your goal, shouldn't you stay here for a while?　It would be troublesome to be captured by the barbarians."

I was sorely defeated, but it was also true that the sooner we left, the better. We left the shrine and descended to the foot of the mountain to the road.

We washed our hands and faces in the creek we had found on the way here. Comba carefully cleaned the shit off his boots.

"If you could work miracles, you should have done this somewhere else, too."

"It's better than the shit disappearing and leaving a dragon or something."

"That's true, brother."

I'm sitting on a rock on the riverbank, relaxing, when I feel a strange sensation. I lay down on the ground and put my ear to the ground. I caught the vibration of a galloping horseshoe.

"There's a group of about 10 horses heading this way. We'd better hide in the woods and get through them."

As they began to move, a group of horsemen emerged from the shadows of the mountains. It was a bad thing we were on a riverbank with a good view.

"Damn. We're late. It seems they've noticed us. Let's go into the woods for now. If they charge at us while we're mounted, we'll be in trouble. We'll use the trees as shields and see what happens."

Following my instructions, each of us scattered. I quickly climbed into an evergreen tree where I could hide myself.