Chapter 398

Sleeping in was never an option here in the Temple of the Great Bunny. The moment the sun comes up over the horizon, Chaos reigns around the pink quartz pyramid. Everyone has duties to take care of before breakfast is served, the early morning prayers will start soon, and the local faithful will be gathering in front of the temple for the daily blessing.

While the afternoon was fairly casual, first thing in the morning is peak time for the Temple of the Great Bunny. It is organized though, with everyone knowing what they need to do and Cain watches in fascination while the bunnies work.

“Do you think it is possible that they have full-duplex hearing?” he asks his companions, but they all just look confused.

“What I mean is, they can process multiple sounds while still speaking. Humans stop talking to listen, but the bunnies seem to hold multiple conversations at once, both speaking and listening at the same time.” Cain isn’t actually having any trouble following it, but that doesn’t make it seem any less unusual to his human-attuned sensibilities.

“Dragons are the same way.” Laura agrees before covering Nemu’s mouth so she can’t make a joke about that being a Laura-specific trait relating to talking too much. Nemu has insisted for a long time that during her first transformation, Laura’s pixie aspects manifested because she talks so much, like the sugar-loving fae, and not because she loves food so much, like the dragon herself insists.

“Are you coming for the sermon? Today is a good one, about taking care of crops so they grow well. Technically, that is the nature god’s domain, but her priestesses aren’t here, so we cover all living things.” The pale gray-eared acolyte from yesterday greets Cain as he wakes up, with her nose inches from his face.

“It’s just like home. Except furry instead of scaly.” Cain laughs, picking up the acolyte as he stands up.

“Except she didn’t stare at you, waiting for you to wake up.” Vala points out.

“Yes, we will join you all for the sermon. Lead the way, young acolyte.” Cain instructs, and the bunny simply points in the right direction instead of getting down to walk on her own.

“Yup, just like home. I swear you have some sort of strange magnetism that makes small creatures want to be carried. Everywhere you go you’re carrying someone.” Laura jokes from his shoulder before sliding down to make herself comfortable in his shirt pocket.

Elmira definitely had the right idea, the pocket is a great way to travel.

They arrive at the back of the group of locals, who all pat the acolyte’s head as they pass. There are no chairs or anything, instead, everyone just takes a seat on the lawn to wait for the sermon to begin. Many of them have brought blankets and picnic baskets to have their breakfast while they wait, and small children run wild all over the clearing.

This is not what Cain was thinking when he heard the word temple. It’s more like a daycare center, or a community cookout than anything else. None of the stuffiness or judgemental sorts that Cain heard were normal in such settings. Part of that could just be that everyone knows everyone, but a large portion is definitely due to the clergy, who have started bringing around bowls of some sort of oatmeal.

“You need to try the food. They put Cinnamon and bomb fruit in it and it’s really good.” Their hostess informs them, taking an armload of bowls to pass out.

Cain has never heard of a bomb fruit, but going by taste, it is a form of pear. There is also coconut milk in the mix, making it creamy and fruity. The fact that breakfast was going to be vegan was just a given, since bunnies don’t eat meat, but the ingenuity of their food options still startles him.

“How does the temple obtain all these things, since you don’t grow them locally?” Evangeline asks.

The acolyte that is passing by with empty bowls from the first group to eat smiles. “Oh, we trade for them. We have alchemists and inscriptionists among us, and they make things to trade with others to get food and clothing for us. The donations we get at the temple go to keeping up the temple itself, as well as the grounds.”

“Yeah, the potions that we make are really popular. There is a fertility pill that only we know how to make that almost guarantees children. I’m told they are very expensive to buy, and that supplies most of our food.” another acolyte agrees.

The Goddess of Life taught them a recipe for a pregnancy pill? Totally predictable, but very useful to a lot of species that have trouble in that department. Especially the dragons, who not only have issues, but their eggs often take years to hatch even if they are successful.

“Welcome everyone to the morning sermon, led by Senior Lars.” One of the clerics introduces today’s speaker, who launches into a long-winded story about protecting crops from pests and the best times to plant. It is all told as an anecdote, but it is evident from the sheer amount of information that the delivery is to help everyone remember the essentials of the lesson.

If you sat through a childhood of these ultra informative lectures, you could go anywhere in the world and have a good chance at making a life for yourself. Other than a few mentions of the joys of family, their Goddess doesn’t really factor into the story, it is all about farming.

“Well, that was unexpected, but I feel like I learned something today.” Cain jokes, standing up with the rest when the sermon is over.

The plan for the day is to head into the Awakened zone that is closest to them. Last night’s stories gave a rather detailed route to the nearest demon city inside the zone, as well as advice on how to get there safely, that Cain intends to deliberately ignore in favor of trying to find purple leopards so Laura can find out if they actually do taste good. If they do, he will bring some as a gift for the demons they meet along the way. If they are like the ones on the central continent, they will appreciate a visitor not coming empty-handed. Gifts for the host are considered polite, though if he makes it into the city in a single day he could just stay at an inn.

“Do you know the deal with the head pats?” Vala asks, watching everyone rub the acolytes’ heads as they pass.

“If it’s the same as the Central Continent, you pat the bunnies for good luck. There is a story of a blessed bunny that causes a healing effect if you make it happy.” Cain jokes and their guide stares at him in shock.

“The vision… It was you… we have endured two centuries of overly friendly visitors petting us because you didn’t want to tell people you had a healing aura…” She blurts out.

“I don’t know what you mean. Surely I didn’t pretend to be a cleric of the Great Bunny and heal random people as I walked through the Central Continent towards the dwarven cities in the mountains.” Cain disagrees, and she just keeps staring, trying to process what she saw in her vision with the reality that is standing in front of her.

“Even if I did, it really helped out, didn’t it? Look how much everyone enjoys it. Plus, who knows, it might really trigger a healing aura in someone.”

That gives Cain a great idea. He should give someone a healing aura and blame it on the head pats. The bunnies would never live it down if it happened again. Cain is just about to act on his idea when Evangeline stops him, shaking her head and looking at the acolyte who is now intently analyzing him. The Seraphim has a point. It wouldn’t be nearly as awesome if he did it as if it happened on its own. Instead, he should leave behind a healing book. If one of the acolytes triggers an advanced healing class the aura would likely happen naturally.

“How about I make one more book before we go? You have a group of healers and midwives right? And they have acolyte trainees?” he asks their suspicious host whose face lights up in happiness to be talking about the core functions of the temple.

“We do, we do, follow me this way.” She insists, before beginning a story about how they picked their location in a shop inside one of the large buildings that make up the village.