[Quest: Ania’s Prayer Completed! Rewarding +9 Followers, A Random Offering will be presented to your Shrine!

[Congratulations! New Milestone Reached! 10/10 Followers… Rewarding +1 Stat Point… Next Milestone in 10/25 Followers]

Colt smiled when he saw the notifications coming in confirming the completion of his Quest. ‘I wonder what the offering will be? Will it be something I can use?’ He was pretty curious as to what he could gain from it. As he was thinking about that, Colt’s eyebrows suddenly furrowed into a frown as he heard a few NPC’s in the crowd whispering his name.

“Exile…”

“She called on Exile, right? Have the Gods returned?”

“I’ll definitely be praying to Exile now…”

Ania stared at Erik’s corpse in disbelief. She never imagined that Exile would directly intervene in her fight in such a way. Needless to say, she was extremely touched by the lengths that this God was willing to go to for her. Every story she had heard about Gods pegged them as fickle and self-serving.

Sarri rushed forward out of the crowd to embrace her daughter! Hot tears streamed down her reddened face as she studied Ania’s wounds through blurry eyes. “Thank Exile, you’re alright! Come, we have to see to your injuries before an infection sets in!”

Colt shuddered when he heard that, but he was all out of DP, so he could not heal Ania. She would have to get through it on her own until he received some new prayers from the Shrine. Colt let out a warm smile as Ania kept glancing over her shoulder towards him as her mother led her away.

‘She’s still holding onto that axe and shield.’ Colt chuckled lightly before following after them.

Little did he know that whispers of the duel were spreading amongst the villagers as people discussed the possibility that Gods were real. One person, in particular, perked up when someone came to inform him of what had happened and to ask his advice.

“What do you think, Bjorn? Is Exile a real God? Should I pray to him?”

“Hm, you say Ania Eraldsen called on this ‘God’?” Bjorn stroked his long grey beard as he stared into the fire in front of him that was filling the room with smoke.

“Yes! It has to be a God, right? There’s no way Erik would lose his footing like that! The girl had no chance to survive the Trial!”

“Don’t do anything for now. I’ll pay a visit to the Eraldsen home to get the truth of the matter. If she’s faking it, I’ll certainly find out!” Bjorn’s gaze was fierce as he dismissed the farmer from his home.

Bjorn stood up and strolled over to a book that sat on the nearby table. He ran his hand across the leather cover. This book contained the history of their people in the form of stories that sounded like myths. ‘As the village Lorekeeper, it will be up to me to write this into the book if it turns out to be true.’

Bjorn sighed as he flicked open the cover to stare at the runes written on the human skin used for the page…

Meanwhile, Sarri was frowning as she looked at Ania’s wounds by the hearth. The bleeding had stopped, and the cuts already showed signs of healing. Needless to say, Sarri was feeling a little strange. ‘Is this Exile’s doing?’

“Is something wrong?” Ania asked with a trembling voice when she saw the complicated look on Sarri’s face.

“No, nothing dear. In fact, everything looks great!” Sarri seemed to ponder for a moment before she finally decided to ask a question. “Ania, this Exile that you called on during the Trial… What’s he the God of?”

Ania let out a surprised gasp. She did not expect her mother to question her about Exile at all. However, it was only then that she realised that she knew nothing of the God apart from his name!

“I’m the God of the Hearth.” Colt chuckled when he saw the look on Ania’s face. He explained the benefits that his followers would receive, like healing quicker when beside an open fire.

Ania was a bit hesitant to say all of that to her mother in case she thought that Ania was crazy. After all, how could she possibly know so much about a God that nobody had heard of in her village?

Sarri seemed to understand something when Ania finally told her that Exile was the God of the Hearth. Her eyes moved to the fireplace and lingered there for a moment. ‘If Exile is real, then every home would fall within his domain. Maybe he’s speeding up her recovery since we’re so close to the warmth of the fire?’

“Ania, don’t you think you should offer something to Exile to show your gratitude for his protection?” Sarri almost looked like she was scolding her daughter, which she was. Mainly because she did not want to risk earning a God’s ire because her daughter appeared ungrateful for his help!

“Oh! But… I don’t have anything worth giving to him!” Ania became flustered when she realised that she had been taking advantage of a God’s generosity.

Colt, on the other hand, was unsure how to react to this scene. The NPC’s in front of him were acting like real people who were talking about him as if he was not even there. It still felt weird to be described as a God, but Colt was starting to appreciate the uniqueness of this game.

“I think it would be appropriate to offer him the axe and shield you used. As a Skardian God, he would certainly appreciate the tools you used to achieve your victory!” Sarri stated matter of factly. “Give me a moment, and I’ll prepare an offering as well.”

Colt grew a little excited as he watched the women prepare their items. Soon, he found himself standing behind them as they kneeled on the floor in front of the Shrine that Ania had made. The axe and shield lay together in front of Ania, while Sarri had prepared a long fur coat, a shirt, leather trousers and a pair of thick fur boots from her husband’s belongings.

Colt smiled as the pair began to pray to him and offered up these items. However, they soon gasped in surprise as a golden light surrounded these items before they disappeared into motes of light!

[New items detected in your Shrines Inventory… Do you wish to receive them?]