Millennium Witch

Book 3: Chapter 263: Preaching

The local tavern Yvette followed Sara into was called the “Yak Tavern,” the sort of hole-in-the-wall place only the locals knew about while outside travelers had no clue it existed.It was just past four o’clock. Though the sky was already dark, it was still a little early for the real dinner rush, so when Yvette and Sara lifted the curtain and stepped inside, it was easy to find an empty table in the corner.

The tavern was small, with rough wooden tables and chairs crammed together a bit tightly. Orange-red firelight leapt in the stone fireplace, casting warmth and flickering shadows over the wooden table surfaces that had been polished smooth by years of use.

On Sara’s enthusiastic recommendation, Yvette ordered a few distinctly Snow Country–style dishes: thick-cut rye bread, Rock Stew, Ice Lake Sashimi, slow-simmered snow rabbit, and a side of pickled cabbage rolls as an appetizer.

Aside from the bread as a staple, most of the dishes on the menu were highly characteristic of the Snow Country. But according to Sara, most of them were actually foreign recipes adapted to local ingredients. The only truly original dish was the Rock Stew.

“So what’s the difference between this Rock Stew and a normal vegetable cream soup?”

“The difference is—it’s cooked in a stone pot.”

“And in terms of taste?”

“Taste-wise, there’s not much difference. It mostly comes down to the chef’s skill. Whether he uses a stone pot or not, it still turns out great. And it’s not expensive.”

“Relax, I’m not going to rip you off—wait, no, that’s not right! I’m the one treating you, so if anyone’s getting ripped off, it’d be me!”

Yvette thought to herself that this girl really hadn’t led her to the wrong room on purpose. And the fact that the owners of Snowmist Lodge were willing to hire such a scatterbrained girl as a waitress said a lot about how kind they were.

After that, Yvette also ordered a mug of “Ice-Moss Beer,” a Snow Country specialty, and asked, “Since you’ve worked as a guide on the Snowfields before, you must be pretty experienced with exploring them, right?”

“Now you’re talking to a professional, Miss Yvette. No one knows the Snowfields better than I do!” Sara said with great confidence, as if she were about to whip out an accordion on the spot.

“Then do you know which areas deep in the Snowfields might be battlefields from the War of Divine Judgment, or zones of ruins from the Ultra-ancient Civilization?” Yvette asked.

And then she watched as the Snow Country girl who had just been holding her head high suddenly froze for a second, before saying a bit helplessly, “Miss Yvette, all that stuff you’re talking about is from myths and legends. Whether it exists or not, it’d definitely be somewhere in the Blizzard Belt or the Abyssal Chill Belt. Those are places no ordinary person can casually approach. At most, you can do a little limited exploration along the outer edges of the Blizzard Belt. Go any deeper, and it’s nine deaths out of ten—people die out there.”

Yvette nodded and didn’t press the topic any further, so as not to embarrass the girl. Instead, she changed the subject. “If someone wanted to meet the Great Prophet Esvia, is there any way to do that?”

“Miss Yvette, you want to meet the Great Prophet?” Sara said in surprise.

“Mm.”

“That’ll cost a lot of money!” Sara said enviously. Since Yvette was a gold member at Snowmist Lodge, she didn’t really doubt her financial means.

She thought for a moment, then said, “The Great Prophet shows up from time to time at Snow Emperor Temples in the Snow Country’s various clan cities. As for Icehammer City—well, it’s the nominal capital, and it’s recognized as such by the Snowrealm Council. So every New Year, during the two days of the Snow Emperor Festival when people bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new, he always comes to the Snow Emperor Temple in Icehammer City to preside over the ceremonies. If you want to see the old gentleman, you’re only allowed to ask one question, and the price is really steep. I heard it costs over a hundred gold coins.”

That really was quite expensive. Good thing I can conjure money out of the void, Yvette thought, then immediately asked, “Where is the Snow Emperor Temple?”

“It’s in the central district of Icehammer City, on the highest plateau in the whole city. Snowmist Lodge is technically within the central district too, but the Snow Emperor Temple is even higher up, closer to the cliff face,” Sara said enthusiastically. “Once we’re done eating, if you’re interested, I can take you up there for a look. It’s often pretty lively at night, with lots of devotees around.”

“Thank you,” Yvette said with a polite nod.

After a satisfactory meal, when it came time to settle the bill, Sara pulled a silver Tal coin from the small pouch at her waist and handed it to the owner.

Tal coins were the currency of the Sit Kingdom. Since the two countries bordered each other, it was easy to feel the Sit Kingdom’s economic influence on the Snow Country through them.

And the tower motif engraved on the Tal coin was actually the holy sigil of the Crimson Sanctum. But because it lacked any faith-element, it didn’t become an extension of the Ancestral Holy Spirit’s psyche.

Still, Yvette suspected there was definitely more to the design than met the eye. For example, when a devotee of the Crimson Sanctum prayed devoutly, the faith-element that rose within them might fuse into the holy sigil on the Tal coin and temporarily grant it a hint of divinity, turning it into one of the Ancestral Holy Spirit’s channels for peering into the world.

So should she learn from that in the future? Once she grew the Silver Witch Church big enough and had influence over a few small nations, she could have them mint their gold, silver, and copper coins with the Silver Witch’s maiden sigil on them.

At the very least, the aesthetics would be on point.

Once night had fully fallen, Yvette left the tavern under Sara’s guidance. They crossed several streets until they saw, in the distance, the grand temple that rose at the city’s edge, built against the steep mountainside—the Snow Emperor Temple.

It sat at the highest point in the city center, its outer walls and colonnades inlaid with cold-white Radiant stone that bathed the weathered, massive structure in a solemn, awe-inspiring glow.

When they reached the temple steps, many devout followers were coming and going. Temple guards in bright silver armor stood on either side of the stairway and main gate, motionless as ice sculptures.

Before long, without being stopped by anyone, Yvette and Sara walked straight into the temple together.

Inside the main hall, the atmosphere was solemn and hushed. The most eye-catching feature was the enormous snowflake-shaped holy sigil hanging on the front wall.

It was carved from some material that seemed neither quite like jade nor quite like ice, and under the temple’s inner lighting it glowed with a soft, flowing luster.

One detail worth noting was that there were no bishops, priests, or other clergy here to lead the devotees in worship or prayer.

Only after asking Sara did Yvette learn, to her surprise, that all prayer and ritual activities in the Snow Emperor Temple were entirely organized by the believers themselves. The temple had never taken the initiative to host such events. In fact, Snow Emperor Temples were extremely rare throughout the Snow Country—only a single one had been built in each major clan city as a holy place for believers to worship and entrust their faith.

Now, keeping in mind the impressions she had of the Sunflame Sect, the Cloudpeak Sect, and the Church of the True Gods, Yvette finally began to realize that the Snow Emperor seemed different from other gods.

Thinking for a moment, she released her spiritual power to sense her surroundings. She noticed that faint traces of faith-element were drifting out from within the devout believers nearby and floating toward the snowflake sigil. Yet when those faith-elements touched the sigil, they were not absorbed or stored. Instead, they slowly dissipated into the air.

That made the situation look pretty obvious.

The Snow Emperor did not actively gather faith.

Yvette still didn’t understand why He, unlike other proper gods or even the True Gods, showed no need or dependence on faith-element. But one thing was certain: if the Snow Emperor truly didn’t require faith-element, then the Silver Witch Church would face far less pushback expanding in the Snowfields.

After all, according to local mythology, the Snow Emperor was seen as the inheritor of the Legendary Mage’s will and maintained a humble attitude toward the Silver Witch. And with less competition over faith resources, even if there were friction in the future, it probably wouldn’t be enough to make the god Himself take the field. That already made things much better than in Adelock.

Later in the evening, after Yvette finished her prayers to the Snow Emperor and the two of them stepped out of the temple together, Sara took her to stroll through a few nearby bustling streets.

Sara herself wasn’t sure why she was so enthusiastic. Strictly speaking, once she had repaid that meal, she should’ve been able to relax. Looking back later, she suspected she’d been drawn in by that strange, quietly calming aura Miss Yvette carried with her—but at the time, she didn’t think that far.

By around nine o’clock, it was about time to head back. Just before they parted ways, Sara received a gift from Yvette—a small wooden figurine.

“This is…?”

“This is a holy statue of the Silver Witch,” Yvette said.

“Ah! The God of Serendipity?” Sara exclaimed in surprise. She carefully took the statue from Yvette with both hands and said happily, “Thank you, Miss Yvette. I really like it.”

“If you ever run into trouble, remember to pray to Her right away. She’ll protect you,” Yvette reminded her.

“Okay, okay.” For those of the Snow Country, the first one they prayed to should, without question, be the Snow Emperor, followed by the Legendary Mage, and only then, maybe, the Silver Witch. But in front of Miss Yvette, Sara wasn’t about to show that little social clumsiness.

A moment later, the two of them said their goodbyes.

On her way back to Snowmist Lodge, Yvette decided that in the next few days, she would make a preliminary foray into the Snowfields.

Aside from exploring the Snowfields and getting familiar with the lay of the land, she also wanted to see if there was anyone out there in dire straits who needed the God of Serendipity to show Her miracles. Then she could develop her first Apostle, carry out her first bit of preaching, and test the Snow Emperor’s attitude.

As for giving the statue to Sara, that was simply to keep this warm-hearted Snow Country girl safe. It might never actually be used.

Still, Yvette’s own faith-element was limited. After setting aside what she needed for casting faith magic and for maintaining the Apostle advancement system, the remaining Apostle slots she could afford to “splurge” on—at a Benediction tier of 1,000 mana points—came out to only four or five slots. She couldn’t just hand them out carelessly.

If possible, of course she wanted to give them to people who were truly worthy.