“Finally,” I let out in the form of a drawn-out sigh. The second settlement that we would run into… Thymhil… where Elysa had placed my parents. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. Slowly, the tower became more defined and multiple rooftops showed up, confirming it was indeed a city.

“Have we reached the city?” Cellestra asked, trying to see into the distance.

I nodded. “At last,” I said softly, looking down at the salmon that I’d been cooking for a long time.

I halted momentarily to unstrap the basket on top of our supplies. I then deposited the cooked fish in it and handed it to the elf before securing the rest of our cargo again.

“I’ll slow down a bit so you can eat without making a mess.”

Cellestra merely nodded and started tearing small pieces from the fish to eat. With hope in my heart, but also the nagging feeling of uncertainty and even fear, I continued onward.

I looked at Cellestra, but most of all, I looked at my own body behind her. I was a spider of monstrous proportions. Even if I wasn’t a monster, per se, I could still easily pass as one. I wondered how much of an influence that would have on my life after I’d been reunited.

The elf and I both had things already planned out. I just hoped things would be able to proceed with relative ease.

Farmland came into view, and as I had prophesized earlier, the city beyond it extended all the way to the ocean, where it ended with many massive stone docks. This harbor also held a wider variety of ships. As I got closer, I could see fishing vessels, easily recognized by their many nets at the sides and on deck, but also vessels built for war, their decks loaded with ballistae and catapults.

I imagined an attack from the sea would look like the most feasible choice to any invading army, but I had the feeling the army, or rather, the navy had that covered as well.

The city itself reminded me of the other settlements I’d seen, at least the outskirts did. The houses were placed haphazardly, but spacious. The tower that I’d seen earlier belonged to a stone keep that stood on the outside of the inner part of the city, adjoined by buildings made from the same greystone bricks on either side.

The inner part in question seemed to be more… arranged so to say. At least what little I could see was. I could see a lot, but piercing walls was too much for even my eyes.

“Cellestra, once you finish eating, could you hand me that disc again, please?”

The elf nodded as she continued eating.

In the meantime, I looked at the farmhouses that were now only a few hundred yards out. It was a possibility that my parents resided in one of these. Although it seemed quite unlikely to me that that was the case considering what Elysa had said earlier.

The goddess had said that it was likely they were helped by the priests from a shrine. I imagined they couldn’t just have them buy a farm for them or anything.

Though, maybe they could be workers on a farm. I couldn’t exclude that.

I would have to keep my eyes open. Who knew, I might run right into them working on the fields? My mother’s long, white hair would be near impossible to miss. I would keep an eye open, but since we planned to build somewhat of a life here, I imagined it would be sage to make ourselves known to at least the guild that we planned to join, possibly some higher-ups as well. It would at least ease the minds of the local population. Doing that right from the start would mean we would be ahead of negative word spreading.

I sighed as I realized I had been getting too far ahead of myself. Before joining the guild, we first needed to establish whether my parents were still here. I couldn’t imagine a better place to start looking than there. There were supposedly two different kinds of guilds and with the size of the city before us, it seemed more than likely that both were present. Not only that, but there was at least a shrine, possibly a temple or more than one as well where we could gather information.

And if all else failed, there was the fact that we would, without doubt, draw a lot of attention. I bet that the local leadership would get involved with us. I hoped they would be as nice as Muck. It would certainly make things easier for us.

“I wonder where that shrine to Elysa is. It’s bound to be nearby…”

Through the scattered buildings between the inner part of the city and the sea, I saw green appear. I stretched my legs so that my body was elevated, allowing me to see further.

“Seems there’s a forest beyond the city.”

“Sounds like a perfect place for a shrine to me,” Cellestra said. “Makes it easier to bring suitable offerings.”

“I guess we could ask if that’s the case. I just...” I sighed again. “I hope we won’t have a repeat of earlier.”

“Do you want to search for that shrine first before making your way to the city?” The elf asked.

I nodded. “As much as I would like otherwise, I don’t think we can risk running into the city without some kind of guidance like that. Those soldiers from earlier were weak, but if we run into some strong adventurers, I’m sure I could be harmed… or worse.”

Cellestra nodded as she laid down what remained of the salmon in the basket. “You’re right. We’ve been traveling for a while now, a few extra hours won’t make much of a difference.”

“I doubt it will stay with a couple of hours. I fear by the time we circle the city, the evening might be falling. I don’t want to set foot in the city at night.”

“That’s… unfortunate, but it can’t be helped. Hey, what do you want to do with the rest of this fish? There’s some if you want. I’m full.”

“I’ll take it,” I brought the basket forward with a leg, took it with my hand, and fed whatever remained to my spider mouth by simply tossing it inside. I then placed the basket back on the rest of the cargo and secured it with threads.

“Well, that’s one way to clean up,” Cellestra said with a smile.

I was savoring the flavor of the salmon as I chewed down on it. The bones didn’t bother me in the slightest and I doubted my body would have problems getting rid of those.

“It’s convenient having a large spider around, isn’t it?”

The elf nodded and giggled softly as I changed course to circle the city. We seemed to be in luck as the fields on this side of the city were mostly empty, likely between crops or just recently seeded, and didn’t need attention, leaving them devoid of farmers. The few that we came across were far enough away and too occupied to notice me.

A few minutes later, it was just a straight walk to the treeline.

“Seems you were right,” I said, as something I’d never seen before came into view.

I had seen shrines in my life. The kind I saw in the distance was not unfamiliar to me either. There, at the edge of the forest, stood a simple and not overly large stone building with a golden dome.

The odd part was that there were more than one…

Next to the shrine was another one… and another…

I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were five shrines in total. Each of them had two braziers burning in front of them. The sheer amount of disbelief made me come to a halt.

“What the...” Cellestra let out in disbelief. “I mean, yeah, I guess I was, but… what?”

“You’ve seen nothing like this before either, have you?”

The purple-eyed elf shook her head.

“I wonder to whom they are dedicated,” I said. “I assume one is to Elysa, one to… Nilene maybe? That still leaves three.”

“Possibly the god of the sea… Thera… Tharo… Crap, I forgot his name...” Cellestra said. “I’m fairly confident he is one of them. The other two, I have no idea...”

I didn’t know a god of the seas, but her suggestion made sense, with Thymhil’s proximity to the sea and all. Whoever these shrines were dedicated to, we would find out soon enough either way.

My thoughts were interrupted by a resounding wave of noice coming from the city. I made it out to be the sound of a giant bell that rung.

Cellestra’s face turned into shock when she heard it, leaving me with confusion as to what the meaning behind the sound was.

“What’s th—”

“Run!” Cellestra said, quickly and urgently.