ALL NOVEL Chapter 3: Carne, Part two (9)
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As the woman that might as well have been a goddess of death made manifest walked into the house of the village chief, he began to sweat bullets. The main reason for this was because, well, her power. She radiated power.
He wasn’t even magical, yet he could feel the magic and mana wafting off of her. The way she walked, the way she talked, and the way she held herself radiated godhood. He simply couldn’t word it any other way.
At the end of the day, he couldn’t be a good guest to a goddess, simply by right of him being a lowly village chief. She was a being of the heavens, he a lowly mortal. That was the end of that.
The woman who called herself, “Momonga,” spoke up. Her voice was deep and motherly, yet sinister. It was as if she was a cat, and he was a mouse.
“This is a rather lovely home,” she said with the barest hint of a smile, “but now we must get down to business. I am not asking for money; I simply want information. After all, I have been cooped up in my own home for far too long. I need to know what the rest of the world is like,” she explained her plight, as if she was explaining the weather.
He nodded his head, and pulled out a chair for her to sit in, like a good host would do. She gave the barest hint of a smile once more, and sat down, her butler pushing her in.
The village chief’s wife then came up behind the chief, and placed a cup of hot water on the tabletop for the mortal-like-goddess to drink. She nodded her head in thanks and took a sip, letting the warmth flow into her mouth and body, no doubt.
“Well then,” the village chief voiced his own question, so as to make sure he was giving the correct information in the first place, “What type of information are you looking for? I have a map of the region, if that is what you wish,” he said, and she nodded her head in what appeared to be thanks as he placed the map down.
She looked down at it, placing her hand in the sleeves of her robes and pulling out what appeared to be a monocle. She placed it before her eyes and read the map. He then soon began to explain what was on the map.
He explained the three major nations in it, where they stood in politics, power, and military might. He was no warrior, that much would be clear to anyone, but even he knew of the basic lore of the region.
“To the south id the most powerful nation, the Slaine Theocracy. To the west and the current nation we reside in is the Re-Estize kingdom. The east of us is the Baharuth Empire, those were the soldiers that had attacked us,” he explained.
She kept nodding her head, like she was listening to him in earnest. He duly hoped she was. After all, he was hoping this was not all a scam at the end of the day. He had faced enough adventure for a lifetime, yet he hadn’t even left his home yet.
She seemed rather happy with all of the information he was providing her with. The goddess made flesh, named Momonga, then reached into her sleeves once more and pulled out a single coin, how she did so he didn’t know. She seemed to be using a sort of magic when she did so, that much was clear.
The coin she held in her fingers was extremely detailed. On one side was a rather ruff and stoic looking man in impeccable detail, the other side was that of a knotted tree.
So detailed the coin was, that the village chief had a hard time believing that the coin itself was actually used as currency. Then again, a coin that detailed would be extremely hard to counter feint. So, it did make sense the more he thought about it.
“This is a coin from my homeland. Do you think it would have any value here, in this land?” she asked as if she wasn’t holding a piece of artwork.
The village chief nodded his head and looked at it some more. Then the godly woman holding it passed it to him. He took it gingerly and weighed it in his hands. His wife then came by with the scale that they used to balance the village’s funds and measured it against some weights.
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‘They’re taking their sweet time measuring the value of the money I have,’ thought the slightly irritated Momonga.
They were handling the coin as if it were a baby, and it was getting slightly ridiculous. They were also treating her as royalty, for some odd reason. Yes, she knows that she was rather pretty. Though, she didn’t think that she was that pretty. She also didn’t really act like it. She was simply acting as polite as she could.
After all, Sebas was with her here. She didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of him, that was for sure. By the time that the couple was done with the coin, about a half an hour had passed by. In that time, she had managed to figure out what she at least wanted to do next.
But that would have to wait for a while. Right now, they had finished measuring the worth of her coinage and were starting to speak once more. It was rather nerve racking for her, they acted like she would kill them at a moment’s notice.
“This coin appears to be three times as expensive as the gold coins of our nation, the Re-Estize kingdom,” he said, and Momonga nodded her head at that, trying to be patient, “though, I don’t think anyone would recognize it at all,” he finished speaking.
Momonga was just about to say something else but, was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. The village chief looked at Momonga, then he looked to the door. He seemed torn between telling whoever it was to go away, and telling them to come in.
Momonga decided to tell him that it was alright, after all, they could simply continue to hold this conversation at a later date. It was slightly annoying that they had to stop, but then again, it helped Momonga to get away from this strange atmosphere.
“You can let them in, after all, we are done with this conversation. If you wish to have one later, we can do so later,” she said, and the village chief called for the person from the door to come in.
“Village chief, lady Momonga, there appears to be a contingent of soldiers riding this way here,” he said while looking to the both of them.
The village chief stood up from his chair and walked to the door while speaking. He reacted to the new situation fast, which fed the smallest bit of respect to him in Momonga’s mind to her opinion of him.
She stood up as well, Sebas pushing in her chair after she made some distance between the two. She smiled slightly at that. She was happy that her deer friend’s NPC was as he made him. She then turned to the village chief and spoke to him.
“Village chief, I wish to see what is out there as well. You don’t mind if I accompany you?” she asked with what she hoped was a polite smile.
The man nodded his head and spoke in the affirmative. After that, they made their way outside and looked onto what was currently happening. The villagers were running back to their homes, some were hefting pitch forks as well, ready to strike down any foe who would take what meager things that they had left.
The actions of those few fed a little bit more respect into Momonga. She was beginning with just the barest hope that the people of this world weren’t nearly as wasteful as she was beginning to believe.
She turned back to the men riding to the village on horseback. They themselves didn’t look like the men that had attacked the home of these villagers, but she couldn’t be too careful here. They may be different, but they may have the same intentions.
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