After Grandma appeared, she started looking around the shrine like she was looking for someone who had broken into her house. The only good thing about that was that she looked at the shrine first and saw her statue next to Elinaria’s, followed by the stuff on the table and me standing in front of it. This caused her clearly expressed anger to ease slightly as she quickly scanned the rest of the room, including the father-daughter duo that had just walked in through the door.

  When she finished scanning the room and all of its contents, she hung her head and sighed before bringing one of her hands up to rub her forehead while asking, “Who told Vale about consecrating shrines?”

  The question just hung there in space without anyone answering for a while. Eventually, she lifted her head back up while slightly lowering her hand and looked around at everyone in the room again. Her eyes skimmed over Lou Xia and May before nding on the two standing in the doorway. She was specifically staring at the man for a few more seconds and then sighed once more before looking back over to me. All of this was done in complete silence, without a single sound being made by anything else except Grandma, causing what felt like a massive amount of pressure. This made me extremely nervous as I waited for whatever she was going to do.

  At least I did not have to wait long for the very next moment, Grandmother spoke to me, saying, “From now on, you are not allowed to consecrate anything until after the kitsune delegation arrives at the Silver Moon sect with one of my priests in tow. to perform the proper rituals for the new shrine there. I will also be talking to Elinaria about the rituals for the consecration of her shrines in the future. Actually, no more building any new shrines until you get permission from either Stephanie or me, and that includes the ones for that unknown ‘goddess’ Luna. I don't care if she got permission from him to be here. I have never met her before that point, and I don’t know anything about her, so no building shrines for her as well.” Hearing all of that, I was about to let out some words of protest but was immediately stopped by her gring at me and asking, “Is that understood?”

  Hearing that and seeing her gre, I knew that there was no other option than agreeing with her, even if I was a little upset about it, so I lowered my head slightly and answered, “ Yes, Grandma.”

  This resulted in the same silence as earlier for a few more seconds before Haruka turned to look at the two in the doorway and said, “Don’t worry about what you heard. You won’t remember anything about this conversation after I leave.” She then turned to look at Lou Xia and May and said, “As for you two, I think that the both of you understand what you should not talk about. I also need you to make sure that she does not attempt to mess with any ruined shrines again, especially those from the Great Age of Exploration. We don't need another incident like today.”

  She then turned back to me and said, “And Vale, I am sorry for that incident with the divine punishment earlier. It was an automated defense that I had set up for all of my shrines during the Great Age of Exploration, as those times were not that friendly, especially for kitsunes. That, and this site did not have the rituals performed to remove it from my service, so thank you for rededicating it to me, but I would like to know why you built this pce?”

  After hearing all of that, I did not respond immediately as I was still partially stunned from hearing her apologize to me. It was not that I would not have expected an apology for something that needed it, but nothing happened when that supposed divine punishment came down, and I did not even know what it was, to begin with. So, it was not something that I had anticipated at all, and it threw me off for a small moment. When I eventually came back to reality, I remembered that Grandma had asked me something and hurriedly answered, “Oh. Well, I uh. I made it as a little wayside shrine that travelers along the road could stay the night in and give prayers at for safe travels and. Wait, hold on, did you say built? Didn’t I use the existing ruins to rebuild the structure?”

  Seeing me flustered and then asking her a question, Grandma ughed a little before answering my questions by saying, “Yes dear, built. This pce was an ancient kitsune shrine, and they used a very different style of architecture. However, I will let you figure out what that was on your own. Anyway, I have your mother visiting, and I need to get back to ‘teaching’ her how to be a good parent. Don’t worry about that, though. I am being as ‘gentle’ as I can, and she even asked for ‘help’ herself, so you don't have to think that much about it. Now have fun with your trip, and please don’t destroy common sense too much.” With that, Grandma’s projection faded, and the shrine returned to its quiet state.

  The quiet only sted for a few seconds as I soon decided to get up and start walking towards the door when I noticed that the father-daughter pair had a dazed and gssy eye expresion on their faces. This expression quickly disappeared as they shook their heads and then looked at me in shock. The girl then asked me, “Are you a priestess?”

  That one took to me back slightly, but as I thought about it I could see why she asked me that. Still, I was not a proper priestess, so I took a small moment to crify, saying, “Nope, I am more of a follower or something along those lines, and before you ask. No, I don’t have any sort of proper training.”

  That clearly made them a little surprised and they obviously wanted to ask me more questions. However, I don’t know what grandma left them with, so I hurriedly asked, “By the way, are you a merchant or something? I am sorry for only asking now, but as you can no doubt tell, the previous situation did not really leave any room for that.”

  I knew that this would not sate the curiosity at all, but it would prevent them from asking any more questions and divert the topic to something else. The man clearly saw what I was doing as well and went along with me, answering, “I am indeed a merchant traveling along these roads. In fact, my next destination is Locar City, which requires passing through the nearby Fearous Bear Town. And if you don't mind me asking, are you heading to Fearous Bear Town as well?”

  Seeing that the distraction worked, I smiled and nodded in response while answering, “It seems we have a simir destination then, and since we're both heading that way, would you mind if we traveled together?”

  Vulthurtoor