The Maid and Her Princess - Chapter 46: Chapter 46

For awhile, the two girls sat silently in the tent until the weather became clear. They have hardly made any progress anywhere. They went further away from the roads when the roots pulsed through the valley floor and even further from the corpse of the war torn kingdom. Madoka could not bring herself to ask what they were going to do next. Elise, or Audrey as she was now known, snapped a tree branch over a circular formation of rocks. She rubbed the two halves together vigorously over leaves and other sticks, eventually creating a spark for a campfire. No magic was used, just simple resourcefulness.
Audrey threw more wood she gathered into the fire, whose flames danced excitedly over its new addition. Madoka regarded the former princess's work in a strange fascination. Despite what she said, Madoka found it odd watching her friend do manual labor. She has been serving Audrey for years after all. The fire's sparks contrasted in her eyes, like sparkling rubies on a fine blue velvet cloth.
"If you keep looking at me like that," Audrey finally broke the silence. "You might make me act up."
"S-Sorry, Your- Er, Elise- No, Audrey," Madoka fumbled over her words as she got flustered. She did not know what that phrase meant but it did not sound good.
"It's okay, Madoka," Audrey giggled. "I'm teasing you. Ah, it's good that I remember those days at Girl Scouts. Never thought I could last a day or two outside, huh?"
"Only two days?" Madoka asked. She was impressed but Audrey poked her.
"Hey, that hurts," she feigned being offended. "I can do things now, I think."
"You think?"
"Yeah!" Audrey cheered. Madoka had to refrain herself from calling her Elise almost every hour, but her friend truly seemed like she was more relaxed than before. "Some wilderness skills, a little bit of camping and cooking."
"Mm," Madoka looked away back at the darting flames.
The two settled back into a calm silence. She looked back at the smoke rising from where the Palace sat. It was not just the capital city that was being burned down, but battle seemed to spread across the whole valley. There was a lot of things that happened but despite all the chaos, they made it out alive. Madoka still kept her guard up. Even though they were further from the kingdom's capital, they still had to be careful. Audrey got her bag out.
"It's ain't much but it's honest work. It's also probably a federal crime to have these," Audrey glanced at the Divine Treasures inside the bag next to her feet. "But I can't be charged if there's no feds to chase me!"
She laughed awkwardly. Madoka crawled over to it and peered inside. Maybe it was time to organize it. To her surprise, Audrey let her take one out and look at it. She probably did not mind since Madoka did not have any magic powers within her. The statue was one Madoka recognized. It was the Six Armed Goddess from her old book.
"She's not much of a talker," Audrey remarked as Madoka held it up. "Said she was only drawn to you."
"Drawn to me?"
Audrey folded her arms and scoffed.
"Apparently, that Goddess brought you back to life will heal you fully only three more times. Bah! If it were me, I would heal you as many times all the time. Wheat is the staff of life, you know? Hmph!"
"Why would she do that for me?" Madoka wondered. Is Audrey really jealous of a kind god?
"No pressure. Just don't die more than three times, easy right?" Audrey's lips moved to say something about the question but then she paused and raised her shoulders in a shrug. "It's because you're special. I could try talking to her again, but she is not a sociable one. Some goddess of life and fields, eh? She probably is busy planting or something."
Madoka held it close and sent a silent prayer in thanks but the talisman remained silent.
"Wait, so if she did not heal you then..." Madoka's head hurt. Even with strengthened senses she still did not like thinking.
"Oh," Audrey simply shrugged. "I forced that one guy's dad to heal me. You remember that annoying soldier NPC during my unjust time-out?"
"That was y-your fault, though," Madoka protested. She thought of Squash-face, but a flicker of dead soldiers caused her to wince. He could have been any of those corpses. Audrey did not notice and continued on.
"It was unjust! How dare you make me bored, Madoka!" Audrey sighed. Madoka would have apologized but instead she countered with an I-told-you-so look. She cleared her throat. "Potato head's dad healed me before... you know."
Audrey trailed off. Madoka rested the goddess's statue on the cloth they sat on and dug out another talisman. It was beyond anything she could describe. It was spherical with too many limbs and had a singular eye in the center. As if the statue was not alien enough, a halo floated at the top of the sphere and could not be moved despite Madoka's attempts. Suddenly, the stone eye moved and glanced at her. Madoka panicked and placed it next to the Six Armed Goddess hastily.
"I-It looked at me!"
"Yeah, it does that. Ironic that you put those two together," Audrey chuckled. "That one is for War and Famine. Its name is Ares. It's not the god of fighting but rather the destruction and reaping it causes. Sounds wicked, right? It's still weird, though, from my old world Ares was some mythological macho-dude with a spear."
The name "War and Famine" made Madoka feel uncomfortable.
"W-Why do we have a god for that?"
"Beats me," Audrey said. Both of the girls glanced at the eye. It stared back. "You're a pretty 'violent person,' it said to me. I disagree. How could I, a delicate maiden, be violent? You can thank it for letting you break those roots in the palace."
"It strengthens me?"
"Ares strengthens you," Audrey corrected her. Madoka stared at the eye and blinked at it. The unblinking eye simply stared back deep into her soul. Madoka thought it was silly to expect it to speak back to a commoner but she picked it up again and held its gaze firmly. "It's like a real life buff!"
A buff? Madoka ignored her.
"Thank you, Ares," Madoka said aloud anyways. "You are a kind god."
Madoka waited for it to do something, but the eye did not move so she set it back down. The bag had two more of the Divine Treasures. Madoka could organize them easily. The third was simple looking compared to the other gods. It was shaped like a key. Madoka could guess that it was the strange item storage talisman that Audrey loved.
She tentatively placed it down next to the war god's.
"You could tell that isn't a god's talisman?" Audrey was sitting close to Madoka. The two looked over the objects as if they were picking flowers. "I suppose I can keep it on me. Like an inventory hot bar!"
"What does that even mean?" Madoka smoothed out the bag. Three will make organizing them easier, she supposed she will arrange them by size.
"Like a sort of... nevermind."
The last one sat in the bag. A pair of strange reptilian creatures with wings, their entangled by the arms. Between their long necks rested a stone. Audrey made a noise when Madoka pulled it out. Madoka found it odd and beautiful. The statue was made out of a smooth stone that matched the altar.
"That one is really talkative," Audrey admitted. Madoka gave her a look as she held it. The statue was as tall as her forearm. "It isn't speaking now, mind you. It's j-just that..."
"Just what?"
"It wants us to go to the mountains," Audrey said. Madoka packed them carefully back in the bag. "Up the mountains, specifically."
"What does it do?" Madoka asked.
"It apparently manipulates wind," Audrey said. "I'm too afraid to use it, to be honest. The rest of the talismans burnt away into ashes when I used them on you. Who knows if these will fall apart if I use them too much. Right?"
Madoka stated quiet. The flames from the campfire were dying down. She took it as a sign since the kind gods did not talk to any normal person. Besides, there was no use dawdling in the woods. Audrey stood up and stretched.
"It wants us to visit its home in the mountain," Audrey sighed. "I asked the dragons, hey, which mountain and it didn't reply. Does it really know how little the 'mountains are its home' narrows it down?"
Madoka suddenly felt an uncomfortable feeling. Her stomach started rumbling. Audrey cocked her head at the noise before realizing it too.
"F-Forgive me," Madoka sighed. She had power in her beyond her comprehension telling her she doesn't have to eat, but her body still felt the need to eat and drink. What an embarrassment.
"Oh, right," Audrey sighed, unbothered by Madoka's growling stomach. She took out her storage talisman. "That reminds me of a little experiment."
The storage portal opened and Audrey reached her hand in it. Her eyes widened and a grin formed on her face. Madoka realized by the look on her face the experiment worked. Well, whatever it might be. Audrey withdrew a couple of strangely prepared food from it.
"This is a sandwich," she explained, handing one to her. "A classic. I didn't have time much to prepare a damn master class sandwich, obviously but hey, food's food."
The sandwich in question, Madoka observed, was simply two slices of bread with various greens and meats in between. She wanted to slap her forehead. Why did she not think of these before? It was then the smell of the meat wafted in her nose and her stomach growled, so Madoka ate it without hesitation.
"We're going to have to get going soon," Audrey said. "Maybe find a town or something to get food. Otherwise we're going to starve. It's time to be on some real hunter-gatherer shit, huh?"
"R-Right," Madoka said, ignoring whatever she said. Audrey tossed her another sandwich and yanked out her book before making the portal disappear. It was slightly burnt now.
"I might have been a princess for as long as you known me for," Audrey smirked as she flipped through the pages. That book could be a Divine Treasure of its own, Madoka though. "But lucky for you, this ex-princess can cook and do stuff, I promise! Now let's see that map again so we can raid— I mean visit the nearest town."
"Did you just say raid?"
"Like a pantry at 2am! I mean, uh. N-No," Audrey stuttered before throwing the book under her cloak. "We've moved a bit north in the valley but the closest town is that way. Eastward! Our travel story arc has just begun Madoka!"
Madoka got up and followed her without a word.