Chapter 43: Heretics

It takes about half a day to reach the nearest town by carriage and about two days if walked on foot.

Nero and Emilia took the forest route, which only takes about a day to reach the nearest town— even on foot. But Nero and Emilia reached the nearest town after 23 days.

They traveled only one hour a day and spent the rest of the time copulating like crazy— from day to night.

Emilia and Nero had gotten a lot closer than they were before.

On the evening of the 24th day, they reached the nearest town named 'Astrared'. Like every other town, this town also had walls and guards on the gate.

This town was bigger than 'Astracliff', but the population wasn't even half in comparison.

Nero was carrying a huge bag on his back. When they reached the gate, they were stopped by the guards. They knew they would be asked for the guild pass, and neither of them had that. So they had thought of various excuses to enter the town.

The guards looked at Nero— who had changed his appearance to a normal human just a while ago and then looked at Emilia.

"What's your purpose for coming to this town?" the guard asked.

'This reminds me of those airport checkings,' Nero snickered.

Emilia and the guards glanced at Nero, seemingly trying to know the reason why he snickered.

"Did I say something funny?" the guard asked.

"No, you didn't." Emilia interrupted, then spoke, "He has some problems, so ignore him."

Nero decided to go extra hard on Emilia on their night session.

"We are travelers, and we are here to stay in this town for a while before continuing our journey."

Emilia handled the guards as though she was a professional. And even Nero was surprised.

The guards looked at each other and nodded, "You may enter."

Both Emilia and Nero were dumbfounded when the guards didn't ask for the guild pass or any money as tax to enter.

When they passed, they saw a guard sitting on the table and flipping pages of the registers.

"Input your names there. We need to keep track of the travelers." ordered the guard.

Emilia walked to the register and tapped on the table to get the guard's attention. The guard glanced at Emilia, then looked at Nero.

"Hmm~" He grabbed the feather and dipped it into ink, then said, "Your names and alliances please."

"My name is Emilia, and his name is Nero. And we don't belong to any alliance."

"Emilia… Nero" The guard wrote their names and gestured them to go.

"Uhh... may I ask where the inn is?" Emilia asked the guard.

The guards paid no attention to Emilia and kept flipping the pages of the register, then pointed his finger on the road.

Emilia rushed to Nero and hugged him, and Nero, of course, pushed her to the side.

"How was I? Was I able to help you?" Emilia asked curiously.

They walked further and came across an old inn.

"Are they close?" Nero wondered.

They both walked in and saw the reception counter was empty. They glanced around and noticed there was no one around.

'What's wrong with this town? We didn't encounter any townspeople either. Something is wrong with this town.'

'Maybe we should leave this town since I don't want any trouble.'

The only reason Nero and Emilia came to this town was to summon Sophia in the church. And they have been living in the forest for the past few weeks and ate nothing but animals. Though, they enjoyed copulating.

They could just go to another town and summon Sophia there, so it didn't have to be this town.

Nero pulled Emilia's hand and signaled her to come with him. They both turned around, and as they were about to leave, they heard a voice.

"Wait!"

Nero and Emilia turned to see who called, but there was no one. Confused, Nero was about to use his God's eyes— but a woman came out from under the reception counter.

She looked in her early twenties. Her eyes were swollen, and her clothes and brown hair were messed up.

"Sorrez! I was sleeping. How can I help you?!" the woman said in a cheerful voice, but Nero knew it was fake.

"It's nothing. We are going." Nero prepared to leave.

"I can let you stay here for one gold coin, two rooms!" the woman shouted.

Nero had no interest in staying in this town even for a second, so he wasn't swayed by that offer. And besides, they didn't have a single penny to pay.

They had killed many animals on their way and ate their meat, but they gathered their skins and furs, thinking they would exchange it to a guild and get money for it.

"We were just here to ask for the direction of the church," Nero stated.

"Are you believers?!" The woman jumped from the counter and blocked Nero's way.

"Quite the contrary."

"The church is hard to find, so I can take you there if you agree to stay at the inn." the woman offered.

"Not interested." Nero was already annoyed by the woman's words, so any more words and he would have done some unspoken stuff to the woman.

The woman then looked at Emilia and said, "You have such a lovely wife."

Nero grunted and shook his head. While Emilia said with a resolute expression on her face, "Really?! We look like a husband and wife?"

"Indeed. You look like a lovely couple," the woman nodded.

Emilia looked at Nero and flushed, "Did you hear it? She said we look like a couple."

"These are just their cheap tricks to make travelers stay at the inn," Nero then looked at the woman and frowned his face. "If you don't move now then, you won't have an inn to stay at."

The woman moved aside, and Nero and Emilia walked past her.

As they were about to set their foot outside the inn, then the woman turned around and spoke, "You won't be able to find the church without a person of the town."

Nero tilted his head and looked at the woman, "Why is that?"

"No one has mentioned or visited the church in hundreds of years, and only a few people know about it."

Nero furrowed his eyebrows.

"And you won't find the church in any other towns except the one at the river." the woman said with a sad look on her face.

"Humans don't worship gods anymore, and those who do are considered heretics."