Resildur City (Human Capital) discovered.

Religious district discovered.

Church of the Horned Saint discovered.

I hear a knocking on the door to the room from outside.

"C- Come in..." I meekly say to the one knocking on the door while I look at it. The door opens and I watch as the horned lady from earlier come in with my ruined nightgown and tattered underwear in her arms. A look of dissatisfaction is upon her face.

"Biali, my child. Your clothes are in tatters I am afraid." Says she as she puts my ruined nightgown and underwear into a small alcove in the wall. Then she looks at me again. "How was your rest? You fell asleep the moment I started carrying you." I fidget a bit with my feet and I look into her eyes.

"I slept well..." She then smiles and sits beside me on a stool.

"Great. Do you feel like telling us what happened to you during dinner today?" I sigh but give her a little smile.

"I will." I simply answer her with. She then pulls off her hood which now reveals her horns fully and smiles. The horns are curved almost like mine but they are white instead of black.

"You are not the first one which I has seen in your situation. Desperate poor children sneaking into the dungeon in hope of finding anything to eat. Most never come back out again, and those which do are hurt for life." Her smile become dimmer as she continues talking. "You are fortunate to still be in one piece and encountering us especially."

Well, she got half of my story right at least. I did not enter the dungeon out of my own will after all!

"But I-" I start talking but then she hushes me.

"Tell us your story at the dinner table, okay?" She smiles again and I can now smell food through the opened door. "It is time. Please, follow me."

I step out of the bed and put on a pair of wool slippers which was next to the bed. Then I follow after the horned lady through the many corridors in the church. How big is this church anyway!?

Finally did we enter the dining room, and there could I see more robed people with the same amulets as the horned lady. As I seated myself at the table I could see other children of different ages and races. Who are they and why are they here? The reactions from the other children is a mixed bag, some are curious meanwhile others are wary.

The robed people served all of us a bowl of stew, along with bread and a mug with milk. After they got their own share they sat along with us children. Then the horned lady started talking while holding her palms together.

"Children, we are happy that you are still with us today. Now let us all who want and is able to join in prayer.

Praise be the Horned Savior, Tyrbalesh, Saint of children, Savior of the family, for our daily bread.

Bless the children of the world, for their future, and for their happiness.

In the presence of our saint and lord Tyrbalesh, we beg of your grace and blessing.

Thank you."

As she finished I could swear I saw a faint flood of golden color from the horned lady. And now I feel energetic and happy.

You got blessed by Tyrbalesh through priestess Nana Weatherhorn.

Lesser Blessing of Tyrbalesh

Effect: Modest mood and stamina boon.

The children immediately started eating the food meanwhile I just stared at Nana. I thought blessings was not an actual thing while living at home in the castle. But then, neither mommy and daddy are very religious...

Nana notices me staring and then points at her bowl. I cough and then start eating. It has been such a long time since I had proper food, so even this simple stew is delicious. Before I knew it, the stew made out of grains, carrots, cabbage and meat jerky was eaten clean out of the bowl. I did not even leave any traces of bread crumbs left!

"Puh..." I contently make a noise as I lay back in the dining chair. I am in a state of pure bliss now. No stress, no worries, only me and the people in the room. How I missed this feeling ever since I got thrown into that damned dungeon. Nana then taps her spoon on the table and starts talking.

"As you may have noticed, we got a newcomer to our lost flock of children. Biali was found nearby the dungeon wounded and shocked.

Biali, do you feel comfortable about telling how you ended up there?" The children and adults then looks at me in anticipation.

Should I tell them the truth or should I bend it? I do not need to have any heroes at my tail yet. I am not sure if these people are related to the heroes either. Gah, what should I do!? I sigh and then decide to just bend the truth a bit. But would they still believe it if I was the daughter of the Supreme Evil?

"I was thrown into the dungeon by an evil wizard." Evil from my point of view anyway. "The wizard separated me from my parents, and tried to use the dungeon to kill me!" I then started to think of the point I met Arbri. "But then I got saved by the spirit down there which helped me find the way out." Oh how I miss Arbri. She is always so nice to me. "Along the way I got bit by a rat but I managed to kill it..." I shudder at how weak I was at that point. "And finally I escaped the dungeon by climbing up a rope."

Nana and the other robed person which was with her then put their palms on their mouths. Then they started talking with the rest of the adults in hushed tones. After a short while Nana started talking with me again.

"That is horrible Biali! Who would do such a thing?" Says Nana as her eyes starts to get misty. "Do you know your way back to your parents?" I just shake my head and say: "No..."

The mood in the room plummeted now. It looks like my modified, but true story was quite the mood killer. But then a boy at my age with blonde hair and a pretty face starts talking.

"Oi Biali, what did you ever do to upset an evil wizard?"

"I did nothing!" I cry back at him in frustration.

"Then why you? A cute girl like yourself is a waste to throw away." He looks awfully pleased with himself.

"I- I don't know... Nothing makes sense!"

"Aye, nothing makes sense in this darn world. One year it is peaceful, and then the next year you suddenly got a horde of people calling themselves heroes bursting through portals in churches everywhere!" At the H word I snap my eyes towards his with killing intent and I start feeling how my breathing becomes heavier. But then I quickly drop it and sigh.

"S- Sorry..." I meekly say to the boy and look at the table instead. The boy strangely did not seem to react.

"Nah, nothing to be sorry about Biali. How about we have a little chat later, aye?" I look up as he says that and he gives me a wink. I wonder why he is so interested in me?

"Right..." I answer and look back at Nana. She then starts ordering all of the children to clean up after themselves, and let the other adults lead them out. The blonde boy winks at me again as he walks out and then it is only me and Nana remaining in the dining room.

"My name is Nana Weatherhorn and I will be your substitute parent for as long as you stay here, if you do not mind." Says Nana to me while looking motherly. "Each child which we take care of through the church and the orphanage gets assigned to their own substitute parent, so you are no exception to that rule." She then takes out a ledger out of thin air and puts it into her hands. That must has been magic!

"Hmm,

Name: Biali,

Found where: Dungeon entrance,

Date: 20th of Yellow Leaf at year 4352,

Parents: Alive but no known whereabouts,

Stay for how long: Until parents are found or something else happens." Nana then makes the ledger disappear into thin air and looks at me again. She then takes out a pin with a tag on it.

"As long as you wear this pin you will be recognized as being part of the church, in short it makes you a citizen of this city. As for the rules: Do not be outside for too long playing with the other children, you must come back during lunch or dinner time unless you got written permission from your apprenticeship or job." I just blink as she dumps all this information at me.

I guess this will be my life... For now. As a lost child of the church. Guess there are worse fates out there for one like me. As long as I do not encounter the same heroes which put me into this situation things should go well!

With nothing to do I might as well go talk with that blonde boy again. I never got the chance to play with boys after all because of the damn heroes making it impossible for me visit Raedora. Maybe I finally can try doing this teasing thing which she talked so much about?

Blonde boy, I hope you are ready!