Book 4: Chapter 5
Book 4: Chapter 5
Tafel groaned and vomited, making sure her head was facing away from the large crystal she was holding. Jumping through Sung’s portal was like jumping through a tornado. Her vision was still spinning, and it took all of her concentration to remain standing. She heard muffled sounds, but she couldn’t quite locate where they came from, not with her head still disoriented. After a few deep breaths later, Tafel straightened her back, rubbed her eyes, and took a look around. She seemed to be in a building on an altar of sorts. Luckily, Vur wasn’t here or the building would’ve been destroyed if he had been teleported inside as well. In fact, none of her companions were here. There were a few wooden benches lined up in two neat columns, and there was also a trembling white ball in the corner of the room. Upon further inspection, she realized the ball was a huddled-up man.
Tafel frowned and approached the corner. “Hello?” she asked. A wrinkle appeared on her forehead. If she was transported to a different place, wouldn’t that mean the natives here couldn’t understand her?
Without warning, the man sprang to his feet and shouted, “Devil, begone!” He flung his hand out, and something splashed onto Tafel’s face. “Begone! Return to hell!”
Tafel winced and took a step back. “Hey! What the heck!?” She wiped at her eyes with her sleeves. Luckily, the liquid the man threw didn’t smell like anything. Was it water? “Stop!”
However, the man didn’t stop. Instead, he ran to the side where there was a trough filled with water. He scooped the goblet in his hand into the water and splashed it repeatedly towards Tafel as if he were shoveling soil. “O Father who art in heaven, save your pitiful child from this devil!”
Tafel took a few steps back, just out of reach of the splashing water. She looked down at her robe, which was now soaked, before frowning. A golden rune appeared on her forehead, and her body heated up. Seconds later, steam rose out of her clothes, evaporating all the stains. “Alright,” she said and placed her hands on her hips. The receiver was tucked underneath her left arm, wedged between her armpit and her body. “What’s your problem? Sure, I might’ve suddenly appeared and you wanted to attack me, but if you were going to do that, why splash water?”
“You’re … unaffected by holy water?” The man in white gulped and stopped moving his arm. Water dripped off of the goblet in his hands, landing on the dirty floor. “What, what are you?”
Tafel sighed. “I’m a demon.” It seemed like they didn’t have any of those here just like how it was in the eastern and western continents. “Just think of me as a human with horns who can cast magic very well.”
“D-demon!” The man in white closed his eyes and used his right hand to touch his forehead, his chest, his left shoulder, and then his right shoulder. He took in a deep breath and opened his eyes, practically glaring at Tafel. “How has a demon entered the house of the lord?”
Tafel sighed. Of all the places to be transported, she had been transported to a church, and it seemed like demons weren’t very welcome here. It was a shame Vur wasn’t around to talk some sense into the man; it would’ve been better that way even if the church collapsed due to his size. Tafel ignored the man’s question and opened a portal beside her. She reached inside and pulled out her sword—at least, she tried to. The inside of her portal was empty. It seemed like the coordinates she had set for her stash weren’t compatible with her current location. Her brow furrowed, and she sighed again before canceling her magic. At least she brought a small pouch of food on her waist as a precaution.
“Speak!” the man in white shouted while holding out the cross he had previously been wearing on a necklace.
Tafel tilted her head. For someone whose only method of attacking was splashing water on her, she wasn’t quite sure why the priest was using such a high-handed tone. Her horns glowed blue, and a sword made of ice blossomed in her hand. She swung her arm, and the flat of her blade slapped the cross out of the man’s hand. There wasn’t even a trace of magic within the silver necklace, so what gave the man so much courage?
“Do you want to fight?” Tafel asked. A moment later, she felt it wasn’t very appropriate to ask because the man turned around and ran away as fast as he could. The doors to the church were wide open, revealing an empty street beyond it. Tafel scratched her head and evaporated her ice sword. “Guess not.”
Now, how exactly was she supposed to find Vur and the rest? Well, before that, the first thing she had to do was find food and shelter. Since the priest decided to abandon her in here alone, her problem of shelter was taken care of, so that left her with finding food and water. For some reason, she didn’t want to use the water in the trough beside the altar. The priest had called it holy water. It wasn’t that she had faith despite knowing gods existed—Vur had eaten one, after all. She just didn’t know if anything strange was added to it that made it poisonous. Since she was separated from Vur and her stash was empty, there wasn’t a way for her to heal herself if she became injured. Then again, she was imprinted by a phoenix, but she didn’t want to test their rumored regenerative abilities in a foreign place.
Since she was going to be setting up a shelter here, Tafel explored the rest of the church, looking for anything of use. It didn’t take long to find a cellar filled with food. Aside from that, she found a few books but couldn’t understand any of the words inside. With food and a place to stay secured, she could finally go on an adventure in this new world to look for Vur—but mostly to adventure.