The lively atmosphere in the village made Little Anty realize that the hunters had returned. She immediately dashed home, only to be stopped by someone along the way.
"Little Anty, where have you been? Your parents have asked many people to go out and search for you!"
Little Anty's heart skipped a beat, and she started running toward home, shouting, "I'm fine! I'm back!" Thinking it wasn't enough, she turned around and ran outside again but was stopped by the same neighbor. "Little Anty, don't run around. Hurry home and let your grandmother know you're safe. I'll call everyone back."
Eventually, Little Anty's parents, the village priest, and the chieftain surrounded her, and her boxes of food were in the middle of the table.
"I've already eaten it. It's not poisonous," Little Anty murmured.
The priest cautiously tore open a white bun, revealing the tender yellow filling inside, and a sweet aroma filled the air.
"There's no sign of magical flow," the priest determined. "It should be non-toxic too."
"Can we eat the rest now?" Little Anty looked somewhat downhearted. "I exchanged these for my rabbit..."
The chieftain inquired, "Tell us everything about your experience yesterday."
Little Anty recounted her discovery that there was no food at home, her decision to go hunting, and her encounter with the snowstorm and entering the wooden house. The others exchanged glances. "When did a wooden house appear over there?" It wasn't far from the village, so the chieftain was sure there was only a vast expanse of snow.
As Little Anty continued to describe the ceiling like a galaxy, the black beast-patterned carpet, and the burning flame inside the ice mountain, the chieftain's face changed.
He slowly recited a poem that was widely known in the Tolia Plains:
At the time when the stars of the night fade,
He shall leave the world,
Wiping out continents, sunsets, and bird songs.
But He hasn't abandoned His devoted followers,
When the snowstorm engulfs everything,
His messenger,
Bearing the burning snow and frozen fire,
Treading the swirling galaxy
And black nightmares together,
Shall return to the world.
Everyone looked solemn, and the priest stood up. "It seems we need to pay a visit to that wooden house. I won't allow anyone to deceive others in the name of the Tolia Goddess."
————
A rabbit appeared next to the kitchen cabinet. This wasn't strange, as the cabinet contained many ingredients. But this rabbit hadn't been skinned or deboned; it looked like it had just been caught in a trap.
It couldn't be the magical beast meat that Dusì bought from the Keira Meat Shop. Ina couldn't find any record of this rabbit in the food inventory book, and she had been in the restaurant all day, so it was impossible for someone to sneak into the kitchen and leave the rabbit there.
Ina had no choice but to ask the system, which reminded her to check the business log. Ina opened the log skeptically and found an abrupt entry.
[Branch - Extreme Cold Icefield: Income Snow Hare 1, Sold Red Bean Bun 1, Milk Custard Bun 1, Brown Sugar Steamed Bun 1]
When had a guest visited this branch? And the strange vending machine could even use Prey as payment.
Ina instantly visited the Icefield branch through the system. Everything was the same as when she left, except for the missing boxes on the shelves. She tried to push the door open to look outside, but the overnight snow had accumulated in front of the door, blocking its opening.
Ina casually cast a wind magic spell - Whirlwind. Not only was the snow in front of the door blown away, but the entire snowfield around the wooden house was instantly cleared.
When the Rize people arrived, they saw this scene: as the girl stepped out of the wooden house, the snow around her seemed to retreat like it had a life of its own, flying shards of crystal snow blurred the girl's expression. Behind her, a hazy light and shadow cast, showing a swirling galaxy and the pouring Milky Way.
The massive ice mountain furnace inside the wooden house burned fiercely, and the flames distorted through the refraction of the ice layers.
There seemed to be nothing more to doubt. The Rize chieftain led the people to kneel devoutly in front of the wooden house, deeply bowing their heads into the snow, and shouting in unison, "Under the Holy Maiden's crown!"
Ina: "???" She just came to see why some foods were sold here, that's all!
Ina glanced at the wooden house behind her and then at the kneeling crowd in front of her, repeatedly confirming that she hadn't time-traveled again. Was it a misunderstanding because these simple hunters saw her using magic? Her intuition told her it wasn't that simple.
She noticed a little girl in the kneeling crowd curiously looking up, so she beckoned to her, trying to sound as gentle as possible, "Can you come over?"
The girl was startled. She seemed to glance at her relatives, but they all remained respectfully on the ground, not peeking around like she was, so they didn't notice her bewildered gaze.
Little Anty stood up and walked towards the Holy Maiden. She didn't dare to look directly into the Holy Maiden's eyes, so she stared at the pattern on her skirt. It was so pretty, such light and thin fabric.
"Everyone, please stand up," Ina said to the crowd.
The Holy Maiden's order could not be defied. Chief Morrie led everyone to stand up, but they dared not approach or talk to Ina.
Ina took the opportunity to inquire Little Anty, "Do you have anything to say to me?"
Little Anty was both excited and panicked. She stuttered an apology for sleeping in the wooden house last night and confessed that she shouldn't have taken food from the wooden house's "sacred artifact." Ina didn't interrupt her. Anty continued with a jumble of prayer, hoping that the winters wouldn't come so early in the future and that the merchants' horse teams would come more often, so there would be enough food.
It seemed like a group of people in a very difficult situation. So Ina said to Little Anty, "Wait for me." And she disappeared immediately.
Little Anty stared blankly at the spot where she had vanished. Whispers came from the crowd, "The Holy Maiden is gone?" "The Holy Maiden has left. Has god not forgiven us?"
So they all took the game they had brought for sacrificial purposes just in case and stuffed it into the tray that Little Anty had mentioned before, the one that "accepted offerings."
The sound of the vending machine was endless.
[You have exchanged points: 21, please select food!]
[You have exchanged points: 18, please select food!]
[You have exchanged for points: 45, please select food!]
By the time Ina appeared in the wooden house with cotton candy, the Rize people had stuffed an unknown amount of game into the tray.
"Stop!" Ina quickly stopped them and shoved the cotton candy into Little Anty's hands. She briefly told her, "Eat it."
Little Anty stared blankly at the fluffy mass of snow in her hand and licked it tentatively.
It was sweet!
The snow given to me by the Holy Maiden is sweet! She excitedly ran to her parents, raising the cotton candy to their mouths. After tasting it, they were also astonished, but said, "Of course, this is the food the Holy Maiden has given you."
The wooden house was too small. Ina wanted to understand what was going on, so she only kept the leader, Chief Morrie, and the priest. She sent the others outside, as the fanatic gazes of the crowd made her feel uneasy.
Both the chief and the priest started confessing before Ina could say anything. They talked about how the altar was buried under deep snow two years ago, and since they couldn't find it, they didn't make any sacrifices. The following spring, they found the altar had collapsed under the snow.
Ever since then, the goddess Tolia had been angered, sending more and more blizzards, making the winters come earlier. The tribe couldn't store enough game, and merchants were reluctant to trade food for fur due to the long and harsh journey. During their recent hunting trip, they encountered a pack of wolves and had a standoff for several days. They barely made it back to the village with some game, and they didn't know how they were going to survive the upcoming winter.
Ina had deep doubts about the logic of the situation. It wasn't that the lack of sacrifices had angered the goddess and caused heavy snowfalls; it was the heavy snowfall that buried the altar, making it impossible to perform sacrifices. The cause and effect were clearly reversed.
Moreover, she didn't believe there were still existing gods on the Moro continent. In the game's setting, there would be no unchallengeable god oppressing the players, and if players eventually chose to confront the gods, it would be contrary to the game's background of benevolent and loving deities. All the gods in the game were background NPCs who only sent out legacy gift packages. Various artifacts, precious inscriptions, and powerful forbidden spells in the game all came from these gods who would never actually appear.
So Ina felt no pressure at all. Impersonating the Holy Maiden of this obscure deity didn't seem difficult.
Wait a minute, she came here to open a shop, why was she impersonating this Holy Maiden?
But looking at the tearful chief and priest, Ina couldn't bring herself to say it. Was she supposed to say, "Sorry, you've mistaken me for someone else? I'm just a restaurant owner, not a Holy Maiden. I can't help you live better lives, and I'll be making money off you"?
So she just asked, "How many people are left in your tribe?"
Chief Morrie replied, "Less than three hundred." He cried even more miserably, as the cold weather had taken its toll on the elderly, and many young and strong people had been injured or even sacrificed during hunting trips in the blizzards.
Ina sighed, "Go back, and in three hours, have anyone willing to come here bring a bowl to the door of this wooden house." Then she returned to the Dragon Flame Restaurant.
Chief Morrie asked the priest, "What did the Holy Maiden say to bring?"
The priest hesitantly answered, "A bowl?"