A spiral case formed out of crystals that descended into the dried up well. There were railings, even though nobody would be clumsy enough to fall.

  Whoa!

  I grabbed Raishin before he tumbled down. I stood corrected, Noelle knows Raishin well.

  “Raishin, please use the railing. We can’t have Giana waste mana because you fell down the stairs...”

  Can’t you make an elevator?

  “An elevator would be impractical in case we need to flee from here.”

  But we can teleport...

  We’re dealing with a cult. Who knows what they’re up to?. They might have made preparations to keep their object of worship near them.

  Assholes!

  Raishin ran down, tripped, and tumbled down the spiral staircase.

  What an idiot...

  Raishin was the first to reach to bottom but not without noise, so far for our stealthy entrance.

  Giana checked Raishin for brain damage, and we continued after she gave us the ‘ok’. Nothing seems to be wrong with him...unbelievable.

  The corridor was long and...

  “They sure better have a good excuse for this shoddy work!” Several stomps went out and the corridor turned neat and tidy.

  Support beams formed for the ceiling, pillars to the side. Even a tiled floor as the floor was uneven and had roots sticking out, becoming a tripping hazard.

  The walls also got a makeover as some sharp rocks jutted out of the wall and some had torn clothing on them or on the floor below them, suggesting that her fanclub must have gotten cut by them.

  To make a long thing short; Noelle was pissed. Nothing we tried calmed her down. Certainly not the strange chants we heard.

  ‘Noelle the Muse’, ‘Crystal goddess.’ Even ‘Crystal Mommy’ and every consecutive term used to refer to her got worse and worse. With the worst being ‘Nighttime Fantasy’.

  So ehh, do we need to wait outside? There is a lot of murderous intent coming from you.

  “Normally I would say yes, but I might need your assistance before I wipe out this...this cult! This isn’t a fanclub anymore!”

  Our suspicions got confirmed as we turned around the corner and entered an underground hall. The most striking object in the hall was an enormous statue of Noelle, carved out of some sort of rock but... it seemed weathered. It had a strange altar under it and the space was filled with Noelle’s cultists...I mean fans.

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  The area rumbled as mana gathered around Noelle. “Of all the materials to carve a statue, you used soapstone?!”

  Eww? They use it to wash themselves? Is that why it looks so dirty?

  I think it’s a type of rock. What lunatic would wash himself with a rock...

  An old man was rubbing his body on the statue, and Raishin pointed at him.

  It seems he does.

  “Lil’ bro, please try and find out if there’s anything useful here before I lose my temper and bring this place down.”

  I activated Elgards eyes and looked around. A strange mass of mana was floating in the room. It was shapeless, and it gave an unclean vibe...

  Is this why gods start religious? To prevent unclean mana from gathering? Religions often have rules and certain regulations when it comes to worship. I don’t think Noelle can or should use it.

  The good news is that there is, the bad news is...you would most likely not want to use it and even kill everyone here. I think this is good enough. All you need is to set up a religion with rules to prevent this from happening.

  That’s good news, right? Can we go now? It feels strange to have these people worship my girlfriend or at least add my statue...

  This is quite disturbing, yeah. That stone is unsuitable for statues that need to withstand the test of time. Marble would be the best option, especially when they’re fans of a person that values sturdiness...

  Giana put her hand on Noelle’s back and started to hum, calming her down.

  It wasn’t a complete waste of time, but it would have been nice to leave with something tangible.

  “Hey! Look! It’s our goddess!” The man that was rubbing against Noelle’s statue had noticed us and the attention fell on us.

  “Raishin, I would be forever grateful if you could get us out of here.” Noelle said as she put her arms around Raishin.

  Aye! Raishin express coming up!

  Raishin gestured for us to come closer, he grabbed all of us and teleported us out as the crowd rushed at us.

  Yv’s ears perked. “They’re still coming!”

  People rushed out of the dried up well, but some also dug themselves out and emerged from the sand like zombies. Sand zombies... I hate this.

  “Eww! Raishin! Get us out of here!”

  Ugh, they’re so creepy.

  Raishin teleported us until no sand zombie could catch up to us. He did teleport us to the middle of nowhere, though.

  That certainly can be crossed off the list of things I never expected to happen, so where are we?

  An enormous, shitty sandbox in the middle of nowhere. Do I have permission to drop an enormous [Meteor] on this place?

  I got 4 ‘no’s’ and one ‘yes’. Raishin always has my back. The shitty sandbox lived to see another day.

  “Come, let’s return to civilization before Agnis loses his mind. Any longer and sand will get into his tails.” Yv warned.

  Wait! Something is coming!