(Third person POV)

  As Vale sat there in her food bliss, her two compatriots were sitting across from her, completely stunned. They had been sitting frozen like that since they watched her come back from the woods carrying a living mountain lion of at least the magic beast rank. It was not that the rank shocked them but how docile the rge cat was until it was put down. That, however, was not enough to keep their attention, given how many ridiculous things tend to happen in this world.

  What they did not expect was Vale looking over at them and then rushing over to them at a speed comparable to that of a peak foundation establishment stage cultivator before they could react and steal the pte of food that Lou Xia was still holding. Everything that happened afterward just left them confused.

  Or at least, it left May confused as Lou Xia shook her head with disappointment not long after the Kitsune left the realm of the sober. The only major thing that happened after this was Lou Xia telling Vale to eat her food faster before it got cold. This did not slow down the speed at which Vale’s hand was moving, but it did mean that she was at least chewing her food now.

  Eventually, when Vale was almost finished with her steak, May finally came to terms with Vale’s actions, thinking that it must have been due to a kitsune’s natural fascination with meat. That thought was dispelled a moment ter when Vale moved on to her potatoes.

  Lou Xia on the other hand, was not surprised, given Vale’s love for stuffed baked potatoes.

  It was only after Vale finished her food that May came out of her stunned state and realized with her darkening thoughts the opportunity that y before her, not knowing the hell she will soon put herself through. This, however, would only happen much ter, after she got over what she saw happen next.

  As soon as Vale finished her food, she shot to her feet and sprinted into the ruins of the old temple. It was unclear to both of Vale’s companions at this time that Vale did not know this small set of ruins was an old temple. So when she started pcing down a wooden foundation across what would have been the floor of this structure, they were slightly surprised.

  This surprise did not affect Lou Xia that much as she had seen Vale mess around with her system before and could easily figure out what the clueless girl was doing. However, May had no understanding of Vale’s system, so this was the first time that she had seen structures built like this. Combining that with where she was building, May froze in terror.

  Her reactions were mainly because of the stories brought about by those who mess with the shrines of deities and the tales of survivors who saw their wrath. It was not like most deities would strike out in wrath at someone using an abandoned site of worship, but the problem here was that they did not know which deity this shrine used to belong to. The best outcome they could hope for now was that it did not belong to the kitsune deity, Haruka.

  No one messed with the witch of war and survived. Not even if you come from a pce that worships her.

  With those thoughts in mind and wooden walls going up around the structure, May ran into the shrine in an attempt to stop Vale

  —

  While the Girls were having the ‘time of their life’ at the shrine, there was a caravan of traders about ten miles down the road from which they came traveling at a fairly steady pace. The entire caravan was either driving carriages or mounted on a variety of creatures, with horses making up just less than half of them. This style of caravan was a fairly common sight in the empire for any of the wider roaming merchant groups. Of course, not all of these groups were led by the same person.

  The leader of this group was located in a slightly better-looking carriage situated in the middle of the caravan where the greater portion of the guards could be found. He was currently sitting on the driver's bench next to the actual driver. The man in question was a well-off merchant with what could be considered a good figure for this time period, at least among the more common folk. This mainly being a somewhat muscled and slightly corpulent man with a head of clean, dirty blond hair and a set of clear blue eyes.

  Normally, someone like him would be riding inside the carriage in the somewhat simple luxury that he could afford for himself. Yet, on this particur journey, he was unfortunate enough not to be able to. The reason why readily became apparent when the window at the front of the carriage opened, letting an impatient young woman's voice drift out from inside.

  “Father, are we there yet?”

  The merchant on the bench let out a small sigh upon hearing this and lowered his head slightly while looking discreetly at the driver next to him. Luckily, the driver saw this look. However, he had nothing useful to say to the man and just shrugged his shoulders in response. This almost brought another sigh from the man, but he held it in and calmly answered the girl, “We will be at the old shrine soon. It is a popur spot for travelers to rest around here, so if you see anyone, please py nice!”

  The only response he got back from the carriage was humph of air and the window closing. Sadly, this was not a first for the man, and the only response he had was the constantly recurring thought that this girl was going to be the death of him.

  Vulthurtoor