I Became the Moon Goddess' Apostle in a Dark Fantasy-Chapter 52: Chemin Village

The morning was pleasant, and the wind was slowly getting colder.

Gallop! Gallop!

Amidst the vast farmland with a variety of vegetables being ripe for harvesting, five horses galloped through the makeshift path.

It had been around 5 days since they departed, and they were expected to reach the village by this evening.

The journey had no obstacles whatsoever.

’I can’t believe it’s almost October.’ Raven thought somberly, the cold wind reminding him of the fast approaching winters.

It had been around 3 months since he came into this world, and it all still felt so surreal.

"Dante," Pevon called him out by his alias.

Since they were riding horses at a fast speed, his voice was quite loud.

"Hmm?" Raven turned his head around as Pevon rode right next to him.

"How much time do we have left?" He asked, since he couldn’t read a map himself.

Raven wasn’t the only dropout here.

Pevon was in the same boat.

It was just that Raven’s body was possessed by someone much more literate than any person in this entire world.

"10 hours, at best." He answered, given their speed and distance.

Pevon nodded and got back to focusing on the ride.

This really was very shitty.

Raven felt like in this world, half of people’s lifespan would be gone in just traveling.

To the point where he wondered if he should collaborate with the world’s best minds and invent faster means of transportation.

But the idea was soon thrown out of the window, as he remembered Divine Curtailment.

Either he would have to invent this entirely by himself, or just leave it.

And even with a Master’s degree, he doubted he could do it on his own.

So, he had no choice but to drop it.

...

Knock! Knock!

A few hours later, everyone had reached their destination.

And currently, they were outside the Chemin village’s monastery.

"Coming!" A really aged voice echoed from inside, as they waited patiently outside.

Clack!

The door opened, and a small, old woman peeked from inside. "Who is it?"

Standing in the front was Zuri, who was unanimously voted to take the lead in anything involving a social interaction. "Good afternoon, madam."

"We are the Silver Pike mercenary corps, and we were wondering if we could stay the night here?" She asked, her eyes hopeful.

The old lady looked around, noticing five well-built young men and women standing in front, with really hopeful eyes.

"We even have some meat, if you’d like." Pevon took out some meat wrapped up in leaves.

"Sure thing," She opened the rest of the door and let them inside. "Though we only have one hall available here."

She walked away, leaving the rest alone at the entrance.

It was dark inside, a musky smell wafting through the air, which just went on to show how old and poorly maintained it was.

The others were a bit grossed out, but Raven wasn’t.

He had lived through worse.

Snap!

Raven snapped his fingers, turning on his [Trace Eyes] ability.

He looked around for signs of life, but there wasn’t anything worth looking for.

The old lady was riddled with blue streaks, but that was most likely her age catching up to her.

And there was no other presence inside.

It became clear why the monastery wasn’t in its best condition.

She was the only caretaker here.

But shouldn’t a Church’s monastery have at least a few workers around?

A few laities, perchance?

Just a few minutes inside the village, and the place already looked quite shady.

"Let’s just get this over with." Raven was the first to walk inside, his voice serious.

The others followed his lead and reached the hall that the old lady had previously pointed towards.

"This monastery has a single person inside," He whispered, as the team unpacked a few essentials.

Without reacting much, the rest of the team also arrived at the same conclusion as him.

Something was shady here.

Raven wondered if it could be an accursed, but the odds were against it.

He had seen a few people around, and everyone appeared human.

So that was out of the options.

"Let’s go outside, take a look." He suggested, as they finished unpacking their stuff.

"Aye, aye, captain."

...

"The people around here look pretty normal," Janet passed a quiet comment in the group.

Currently, they were taking a casual stroll around the village, while also seeing if there was something they should look out for.

But so far, nothing seemed out of place.

Sure, they were getting a few stares here and there, but it was purely due to them looking out of place.

The group looked quite well-off and well-built, compared to the peasants around.

But their stares were a bit off, now that Raven took a closer look.

They looked at them like they were a pitiful bunch of people.

"Why are they looking at us like that?" Zuri whispered as she also noticed their stares.

"I have no idea, either," Raven replied.

"Let’s just go ask around a bit," Raven said as he immediately walked towards one of the villagers.

"Raven, wait." The rest of the group tried stopping him, but they were a moment too late.

He approached a man sitting outside a house made of mud.

"Excuse me?" He called him out.

"Huh?" The man didn’t even bother to look towards him and just groaned.

"Could you point me to the local church around here?"

Only after he asked this question did he obtain a reaction from the man.

And the expression wasn’t the one full of reverence or anything.

It was one filled with terror.

"W- Why do you want to know about that place?" The peasant stuttered uncontrollably.

"I just arrived in this village, and wanted to take His blessings." He replied with a prepared response.

"D- Don’t even think of going there." His head hung low, as his body shivered. "For your own sake, don’t approach that place."

Raven frowned as he sat down, putting his hand on his shoulder. "Could you please explain to me what’s going on?"

The man stopped shivering as he looked up with terrified eyes, "Everybody died in there."