A welco feast had been prepared for Thirteen, Stella, and Camazotz.
The dishes on the table were mostly seafood. But Camazotz chose to eat the at dishes, which he found to his liking.
"This is delicious!" Camazotz said after he finished the dish given to him. "What kind of at is this?"
"Demon Cow’s at," the Minotaur seated by his side replied.
The Death Bat blinked as he watched the Minotaur eat the cow’s at as if it were a true delicacy.
"What’s wrong?" the Minotaur noticed that their guest had stopped eating. "Do you have a problem with demon cow’s at? What? It’s not good enough for you?"
The other Minotaurs looked at Camazotz, as if daring him to say it wasn’t good. But the Death Bat perfectly read the mood, so he forced out a chuckle and continued to eat.
However, in his mind, he was probably thinking that a cow eating a cow’s at was very wrong in many ways.
Stella had chosen to eat the seafood and fruits on their table.
As for Thirteen, he sampled every single dish and even fed Tiona a few pieces of at, not caring about what kind of at they served. It could be a minotaur for all he cared.
"You seem very relaxed," Euphemia comnted after observing the teenage boy for quite so ti. "Do you not feel even the slightest bit of anxiety? We might just be fattening you up for slaughter, you know?"
Thirteen finished chewing the piece of at in his mouth before giving his reply.
"I don’t feel anxious," Thirteen replied. "Actually, don’t you have more reasons to feel anxious?"
"?" Euphemia tilted her head in confusion. "Why should I be anxious? You are weaker than , and your friends are no better. Tell , child, what could possibly make feel that?"
Thirteen smiled faintly. "Doesn’t our arrival symbolize anything? You’re probably the guardian of the Divine Key, so you should have seen the signs, no?"
Euphemia didn’t answer right away. Instead, she eyed the teenage boy as if trying to peer through his very soul.
A minute later, a faint white mist covered her entire body, and when it dispersed, a beautiful woman in her early thirties appeared before them.
"It’s been a while since I last interacted with humans," Euphe said. "But every ti they look at , the expressions I see on their faces are fear, regret, shock, and despair. So far, I haven’t sensed such emotions from you... as well as your lady companion."
Stella put down the cup on her hands on top of the table before glancing at the beautiful crane, who had taken her human form.
"You’ve given no reason to fear you," Stella comnted. "Since that is the case, why must I feel anxious?"
"Both of you... are strange." Euphemia frowned. "I can tell that both of you truly do not fear . Is it because of ignorance? Or have you perhaps seen far scarier beings than us."
"It’s the latter," Thirteen replied. "I don’t an to brag, but my father is actually a God. I bet that if you see my old man, you’ll be so scared that you’d probably burrow your head in the ground out of fear."
"Is your father that scary?" Stella asked, thinking that Zion was rely pranking Euphemia.
She had stayed in the Leventis Residence for a few days, and Zion’s father, Gerald, had zero semblance to a God.
Of course, she simply didn’t know that Thirteen wasn’t referring to Gerald but his no-good father, the System God.
"Strange... I see no lies in your words." The frown on Euphemia’s face deepened. "However, I still don’t believe you’re telling the truth. Perhaps you truly believe that your father is Godlike, which is why I sense no lies in your words."
Thirteen smirked because he had long understood sothing funny.
When people tell the truth, more often than not, people wouldn’t believe them.
However, when they lied, almost everyone, including their grandpa and grandma would believe it.
"Anyway, just rember that we will put the Saintess to the test tomorrow," Euphemia stated. "Then we will know if you are really friend or foe."
This ti, it was Stella’s turn to frown. While she wasn’t really afraid of Euphemia—as she had received plenty of protective Divine Items from her family—she was very worried about Zion.
He was her only clue to the cure to her strange illness, so she couldn’t afford to let him die in this place.
But when she rembered that the teenage boy that she was worrying about had transford into a Pseudo-God, Stella finally cald down.
Thirteen ate quietly, understanding that Euphemia would not take anything he would say seriously.
Frankly, he was more inclined to co up with ways to convince the Beastkins to join their resistance army against the Celestials, who were planning sothing big in Solterra.
A few hours later, they finally retired to their respective rooms.
Whether by design or not, Thirteen and Stella found themselves in the sa room under Euphemia’s machinations.
"She must have thought that we’re lovers or sothing," Thirteen said. "Don’t worry, you can use the bed. I’ll just sleep on the couch."
Without waiting for her reply, the teenage boy took a pillow and laid down on the couch.
But Stella wasn’t sleepy yet. In fact, she had many questions to ask the teenage boy, who had declared her the Saintess of Lust in front of everyone.
"Hey, Zion, will we really be fine tomorrow?" Stella asked, while sitting on the bed. "What if I fail the trial, and Euphemia doesn’t recognize as the Saintess?"
"We’ll cross that bridge when we get there," Thirteen replied without hesitation. "Also, what makes you think you’re not the Saintess of Lust? You’re a very beautiful lady, Stella. If it were anyone else, they would definitely be seduced by your charms."
Stella didn’t know if she should be happy or not after getting Zion’s complint.
Being praised as beautiful would please any lady. Even her mother loved hearing her father’s praise, which she found quite amusing.
"Zion, do you know? I have many mothers," Stella said.
"You do?" Thirteen asked. "How many?"
"... Fifty plus."
"... Is your father a rabbit or sothing?"
A giggle escaped Stella’s lips, and this giggle transford into a full blown laughter.
This was the first ti Thirteen heard the young lady laugh, which also put him in a good mood.
"Rest, Stella," Thirteen said. "You don’t need to worry about what will happen tomorrow. If you don’t pass the trial, then I’ll think of sothing on the spot. So, relax. You’re in good hands."
"Okay," Stella laid down on the bed. "Good night, Zion."
"Good night, Stella," Thirteen replied.
It took the young lady a few minutes to finally fall asleep, but Thirteen remained awake for a few more hours before he followed suit.
Truth be told, he wasn’t too worried about Stella not passing the trial. He was more worried about Euphemia preventing them from taking the key after she passed the trial.
This wasn’t the first ti he had experienced sothing like this.
His forr Hosts had suffered the sa, and so of them were even stripped of their titles as High Priestess or Heroes due to the sches of the people who didn’t wish for them to take that step to greater heights.
’I just hope you won’t disappoint , Euphemia,’ Thirteen thought. ’Because if you do... I’ll turn you into a roasted white crane.’
A faint smile appeared on the teenage boy’s lips before he closed his eyes to sleep.
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