Upon leading me to a poorly lit common room, the priest introduced himself as Father Leo and served me a bowl of soup. Joanne was nowhere to be found, but the hall was packed with a dozen men of the cloth. Some of them were fat, while others were bald, but none of them dressed differently from Leo.

Was this really an abbey?

Father Leo must have seen my prying eyes, for he quickly tried to grab my attention.

“Give it a try. Our potato soup is really good,” He said.

“How modest,” I said.

Leo smiled, the irony was lost on him. He seemed more interested in how I, a Demi-Human, was even vaguely aware of the concept of modesty.

“Do you know about Velda?” Leo asked.

I shook my head.

“Velda is the Goddess of Humility and Sacrifice. Blessed are those who willingly endure the hardships of an honest life. Every time we have a meal as modest as this, it makes Mother Velda happy.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You must please her a lot,” I said sarcastically. Father Leo’s shiny rings spoke much about modesty, humility, and sacrifice.

“Worship must be done with moderation. Else you risk offending other gods. Duran, the god of law and order. Annora, the goddess of honor and war. Nahara, the goddess of burning light. Among many others, they all deserve their respect.”

Leo went into more detail about his religion and the foundation of the abbey. Soon, the common room was empty. None of the priests picked up their dirty plates.

“You made your way into Safir from the west, is that right?” Leo asked.

I had absolutely no orientation of the landscape.

“How would I know?” I said.

Leo was not dumb.

“See, to the north of Safir there is nothing but plains and petty kingdoms. To the south, you’ll run into Demi-Human settlements ran by the church. To the west, you have hills and mountains until you reach the bad lands. You must have come from any of these,” Leo said.

“Why not east?” I asked.

“To the east, the level of adventurers is really high. Odds are they would have snatched you. A speaking Demi-Human would fetch as high as a legendary sword.”

“You mean I would be made a slave?”

“No, not that. Slavery, although not prohibited, is not something that is done to Demi-Humans.”

“Why is that?”

“Unlike other races, such as Elves or Demons, any Demi-Human exposed to human civilization, given time, becomes completely domesticated.”

“That sounds absurd,” I said.

“Have you not seen how harsh life is to the west of the Alkimian line?”

“Alkimian what?”

“The Alkimian line marks the border between the bad lands and the realm of man. The bad lands being anything to the west of the mountains of Gar,” Leo said.

I tried to recall my memories as a goat. But, it seems that I lived precisely in the mountains. Never making my way to anything farther west. In fact, something pushed me east. Whatever that was, I was so scared that I kept moving east until I reached the hills in which I fell.

“Well, anyway. Why does it matter if I came from the west?” I asked.

Leo smiled, his eyes were filled with ambition.

“Did you?”

It did not sound like a good idea to tell him the truth.

“Perhaps, who knows?”

“So are you saying that Joanne lied?” Leo asked.

I did not respond.

“It would not be the first time she did. Claiming to be an Apostle of Light. Hearing her calling from the gods. Her extreme vow of poverty. The church has already declared her and her behaviour Heretical. If only she wasn’t so useful, she would have been punished a long time ago. Maybe today could be the exception,” Leo said.

Unaware of our conversation, Joanne entered the common-room and began picking up the plates and bowls from the tables.

Dammit Joanne, if only you were not a good person.

“I did come from the west,” I said. “Why does it matter?”

Leo’s oily hands began dancing in excitement.

“Oh, you’ll see,” Leo said.

Fritzer

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