39. The Temple of Ceres

39. The Temple of Ceres

Astaria led the group towards the Adventurers Guild, their first stop in Haligrad. Since the time was quite late, the Guild was relatively quiet with the local adventurers having left already for cheaper and rowdier establishments throughout the city.

Walking in, their group had managed to create a stir as the few players hanging around the guild noticed a group of high-level players led by someone with their information hidden. On their trip to the guild, Astaria had divided up the spoils of their grind so that everyone in their group would be able to complete the necessary requirements to level up their guild ranks while also gaining Temple Contribution Points that would help them later on. From all the goblin subjugation quests and the ears they had handed over they collectively earned 13 gold and 7 silver, a large amount that would contribute to the funds they would need later in the evening.

The nose in the guild rose when Astaria presented Square Jaw's head and the Large Hobgoblin Mana Core that he had dropped. Between the two items, she managed to get a total of 23 gold, an amount that had the onlookers gazing at them with envy.

Lastly, they handed over the items the goblins had stolen from unlucky merchants they had managed to carry back to Haligrad, receiving an additional 3 gold and 4 silvers bringing their total gold gained from the guild up to 40 gold and 1 silver. After getting the guild to convert the silver they had acquired from their grind into the gold they needed, their total amount of money came to 50 gold and 69 silver.

Having successfully achieved their goals for Temple Contribution points and a bag of 50 gold, they booked their horses into the guild's stables for the night and left the guild, leaving behind a small group of players who were losing their minds over what to them was a large amount of money, and the guild staff who were losing their minds over a large about of goblin ears crowned with a big head.

While they all qualified to increase their adventurer's guild rank, they decided to postpone their guild rank up’s till later when they were not pressed for time.

After leaving the guild, they followed Astaria’s lead towards the noble district of Haligrad where the city’s main temple was located. The group looked somewhat out of place in the clean streets of the noble district with their close range fighters splattered with blood over their armour while being led by someone covered head to toe in the dried crimson liquid.

Since the streets were quiet they didn’t get many people looking at them outside of the few players who were exploring the area and the few locals who were still out at the late hour.

After a tired and effort filled walk, they arrived at the main plaza in the Noble district which hosted a number of high-end boutiques, restaurants and other such establishments. However, despite the affluence of the area, it was dwarfed by the main attraction a large marble structure reminiscent of the temples found in Greece in the real world, but unlike what they were familiar with the structure they could see had not suffered to the flow of time and instead stood pristine.

The large temple didn’t exceed the height of the nearby 3 story buildings around it, but its presence could not be ignored. Unlike the common misconception about ancient Greek and Roman temples, this temple had parts of marble that were painted with shades of green and yellow, colours that in Caelus Online were associated with the Goddess Ceres.

The pediment under the roof depicted Ceres standing in a field of wheat. While the statue of the goddess herself was made from stone, the crops and her accessories were made from gold, showing the importance the kingdom of Alennos put in Ceres and her blessings.

Astaria did not know if it was the temple that was built first and Ceres blessed the land in response or that Ceres had blessed the land and the temple was built, but it was clear that the blessings from the Goddess had been crucial for the small nations development and that gave the temple influence within the kingdom.

That could be seen in part by the fact that the temple was always open to visitors both day and night, its ornate golden doors flanked by two braziers lighting up the entrance to the imposing structure.

“So that’s the temple, huh? I guess the gods really like this style.”

In the previous week, Astaria had contacted DemonicGold to get him involved in the game to assist her. It had taken some time, but she had convinced him with a lucrative employment contract under the Branford Group, placing him in charge of a planned trading branch within her future guild with a budget from the company to hire his guild members directly.

That had been enough to convince DemonicGold to join the guild and as expected she got the full package when she hired him, with the rest of the main members of his trading guild agreeing to come along.

Since the number of Forerunner Edition copies of the game was limited, Astaria could only get 23 copies, 3 of which she provided to DemonicGold so he could, like her, get a head start.

DemonicGold walked up to her and offered a hand as he spoke.

“Hey Chester, good to see you. I didn’t expect your current looks, but the others gave me a rough outline of what happened.”

Astaria took his hand, hers thankfully clean of blood as she replied.

“Yeah, good to see you. You are living up to your name I see, it suits you. Although I feel your reputation plays into that a bit. As for me... well it’s complicated. We will have a video conference in a few days to explain the situation.”

With a nod gesturing towards his appearance, Astaria looked at the group that had now surrounded her and put her hands on her hips.

“Ok, has everyone here met their assigned quotas of Temple Contribution Points?”

Hearing a unified murmur of agreement with nobody speaking out, Astaria gave a nod.

“Good, let’s get inside then. It's late and I imagine some of you guys are feeling as tired as we look.”

Astaria took off her bloody cloak as she started walking inside so as not to wear something inappropriate inside a building considered holy by the natives. Now with few people around to see her actual appearance, she was not too worried about losing the concealment of her name and level.

As they walked in, they received glances from the two temple paladins that flanked the entrance who checked them over to see if they held any hostile intent.

As she stepped through the main doors with everyone following behind her, Astaria took a look around her. The temples main room was rectangular in shape, lit brightly by a number of wall-hanging braziers and a central crystal chandelier. The inside was white adorned with green and gold, similar to the outside, with flags depicting the Goddess Ceres' main iconography of a cornucopia in the same colour scheme as the temple.

The room was quite spacious with openings into two corridors halfway down the side walls, the main floor was empty unlike in a church where that space would be lined with pews.

At the back of the main room stood a 5 meter tall golden statue of the Goddess Ceres towering over the room.