Chapter 262 Rumors

"Since this is not my island to watch over, I know very little about this place or what goes on," Titania explained, and Goldy snorted.

"That is because you are always busy dealing with problems on your own island! I know a bit about this place, but I love listening to rumors! We should be going to talk to the Elder for this village, and she will be able to tell us what we need to know or what we don't," Goldy suggested as she came up beside me, and I frowned.

"What we don't?" I asked, and Goldy nodded.

"Yeah, since there is a power struggle right now, and you are coming to "fix" that problem, anyone that is loyal to Carrie is going to either not be helpful or even hostile. Since we are walking around and not getting any dirty looks, I will assume that Carrie's influence is not as strong here," Goldy explained, and I nodded and leaned down to kiss the top of her head, making the dwarven Goddess smile brightly. I noticed that Titania got a bit of a sour look on her face, so I turned and gave her a kiss on the cheek, bringing a small smile back to her face.

"Let's go talk to the Elder then," I said, and Titania nodded before leading the way again. It didn't take long for us to find the Elder's house since it was one of the biggest houses in town, and it also had a bit of an eerie feeling about it that made me feel on edge.

Titania knocked on the door, and after a few moments, an old woman answered. She looked at us with questioning eyes but smiled when she saw who we were. "My ladies! What brings you here today?"

"We are looking for information about what is going on in this village," I said plainly, and her eyes widened as she stepped back so we could come inside. We entered a warm living room with a fire going in the fireplace, even though it wasn't necessary yet since winter hadn't hit its peak yet. The Elder sat down by her fire after motioning for us to do so as well across from her small table where two teacups already sat waiting for us along with some biscuits Goldy started eating as soon as she saw them there.

"My name is Kendra, and this is the village of Taal. You must be the traveler that saved this island from a great monster recently?" The old woman asked, and I nodded.

"Yes, I am Galio, the Cat God, and I am sure that my companions need no introduction, but this is Titania, Goddess of the Fae, and Goldy, Goddess of the Dwarfs," I said, and Kendra stood up to bow to each of us respectively.

"It is a great honor to have you all join me here! I have heard that you are here to help Hilda gain the support that she needs to remove Carrie, right?" Kendra asked, and I nodded. "That is good, but you are in for a hard pull. While I personally want Hilda to take the spot, it is not going to be easy for her. Carrie's influence is strong, and she also had the Black Goat Cult, and they put a threat to her words."

"What do you know about the Black Goat Cult?" I asked, and Kendra frowned.

"They are a group of people that believe in some dark deity that they call the Black Goat. They don't seem to be very active right now, but when they are, they can be quite troublesome," Kendra explained, and Goldy snorted.

"They aren't just troublesome! They are dangerous!" Goldy exclaimed, and we all turned to look at her with raised eyebrows. "What? I listen to rumors too, you know!"

"And what exactly have you heard about them?" I asked, and Goldy shrugged.

"Well, besides that, they are a group of people that believe in some dark deity they call the Black Goat; I have heard that they are also planning on summoning a demon lord to help them achieve their goals. Supposedly, this demon lord is extremely powerful and is not to be messed with," Goldy explained, and Kendra nodded her head in agreement.

"That is what I have heard as well, but I do not know how much truth there is to it. There has been some strange activity going on lately, though, that makes me wonder," Kendra said thoughtfully, and I sat up straighter in my seat.

"What kind of activity?"

Kendra sighed before she began her story. "About a month ago, we had a young woman come into town asking for directions to the nearest city. We tried to give her directions, but she got lost anyway and ended up at Carrie's house instead."

"What happened then?" Titania asked gently as she leaned forward slightly in interest while Goldy just nibbled on her biscuit lazily.

,m "No one really knows for sure since no one was allowed inside except for Carrie herself and the other high-ranking members of the cult." Kendra shook her head before continuing on with her story. "But ever since then, people have been disappearing in small groups of threes or fours."

I frowned deeply as I processed this information; it sounded eerily familiar to what happened back home when my father disappeared along with some others from our village. "Do you think they are being taken by this cult?"

Kendra shrugged helplessly before replying. "We don't really know for sure since no one has seen or heard from them ever again." She paused briefly before adding another piece of information. "But we did find strange symbols all around town that match up with those used by the cult."

My grip tightened unconsciously on my teacup at those words; if this was indeed the work of that cult, then things were about to get a lot more complicated than they already were.