I Was Kidnapped to Another World and Forced to Become a Hero

Ch. 10 - The Church in the Forest

A few stray rays of light peaked through the horizon while the party finished a quick, impromptu grave for the fallen cult member. Even though he'd been an enemy, leaving him out like roadkill didn't sit right. The reality was that most of these cult members were probably desperate people that had been manipulated, just like the bearded middle-aged man. But that didn't excuse the many terrible things they probably did.

The remaining cult members were tied from head to toe, including their mouths. They laid unconscious inside the carriage hold where Fleur once resided. Even the stubborn, restless one had passed out after hours of unrest. The carriage drivers agreed to head to Petram, but straight to the authorities, instead of the drop-off point. Though there was probably not much the small town-watch could really do, there was a chance they had a communication magic artifact that some cities and towns had in the kingdom. With that, the incident could be reported to the guild.

The party headed after Fleur to the cult's hideout the man had told them about. They chatted while they traversed through the eastern forest on the outskirts of Pertam, not far from where they had sat up camp the night prior, and Kamiro revealed to the girls the truth he had learned about Fleur.

"I-I never would have imagined," Earla said. Ayu shared her saddened expression.

"She was planning to tell everyone in the morning," Kamiro said.

The girls seemed even more motivated to rescue Fleur. The group picked up the pace while an old crumbling church came into view through the tall trees.

"Guess this is it..." Kamiro said.

The inspiring glow of a new day should have been hopeful, but instead, Kamiro was filled with unease as he laid his eyes upon the deteriorated concrete building.

"Not too many believers of the goddess around here?" Kamiro walked toward the church's grand entrance and observed the statue of their deity he passed by. "Wait..." It was different than he'd come to learn of the main religion in the kingdom. Instead of the beautiful Goddess Orses, it was of a serpent-like humanoid creature with an androgynous appearance.

"This appears to be a church of Baffum. It was one of the prominent ancient religions before the Church of Orses grew to become the official religion in the kingdom," Earla said.

"I'm surprised it's still standing. Well, kind of anyway," Ayu said.

The party was weary while they made their way inside. No doubt, the grand entrance had grand matching doors at one point, but those had long since fallen; a long and wide empty hall was visible inside. Still, overall, the large building seemed structurally intact.

"These kinds of buildings were often reinforced with magic when they were built. Although time has not been kind to it, I'm sure we won't have to worry about it coming down on us," Earla said, "Still, we must be watchful. If this is truly being used as that cult's hideout, there might be traps."

Ayu and Kamiro nodded.

The three made their way through the pillar aligned passage. A dark, burgundy-colored marble floor echoed their steps while they reached the church's wide-open central worship area. Growing light of another hot summer day shined through the large stained-glass windows and illuminated rows of dust-covered pews and the grand altar overlooking them.

The building was impressive. It wouldn't have been out of line to describe it as a small cathedral since the architecture resembled it, though more simple in design. And with an odd color scheme. Who hired their interior designer?

More ground could've been covered if the group had split up, but they didn't want to take any chances and decided to explore the church together. The party continued to inspect their surroundings, but there didn't seem to be any sign of life.