Chapter 41: Payment
"What?" Sol was doubting his ear, "did I just hear it wanting something?" Sol had a bad feeling about it.
The last time he had made a wish to the Goddess, his life became even more miserable, "Who would win in this exchange?" he wondered.
Both of them were terrifying in their own way, the snake was a very cunning being and the Goddess of Wisdom was the best in strategy.
Sol did not want to be there when a fight rivaling a world war about to happen, but he did not have any other choice, the snake would not get down from his arm.
The Goddess looked unamused, "what do you want?" Minerva said slowly, she did not seem bothered by the snake.
"You know what I want" Nerodia stated rudely, she was not afraid of the Goddess.
Minerva was not angered by the snake's behavior, she giggled at it, "I understand, but you are asking the wrong person here." She turned to Sol and stare at him.
"what? Am I supposed to be the one to grant her wish?" Sol perplexed, he did not want to have anything to do with their deal, if he learned anything from his last wish, it was to never have anything to do with Goddess Minerva plans.
"Your Cuteness, may I know why are you looking at me?" He asked the Goddess while feigning ignorance.
The Goddess smiled, "this is you human's problem, so you need to pay for it yourselves" Sol could see in her eyes that she was planning something.
"ugh... Fine, I will pay for its wish, if you grant it" Sol said in surrender, he did not have any other choice.
Goddess Minerva was pleased by him, she knew that he had no way to grant the snake's wish so he will need her as a proxy to grant the wish, this way she had him in her palm again.
"Your cuteness, how am I going to pay for this wish?" Sol questioned the Goddess, he was very concerned about what he needed to do to repay the Goddess.
"I wouldn't need to have another child right?" He questioned himself, with only one child the rumor of him already so big, he did not want it to be even worse.
The Goddess took a cake and munch on it then she looked at him, " I need a few things to grant its wish and you will get it for me, then I have a special mission ready for you" She said with out stop munching.
"well, at least I don't need to have another child" her mused to himself, but what he did not know was this decision might get him killed.
After that, Sol had agreed to pay for Nerodia's wish in exchange for her help in defeating the Evil Spirit.
They got out of the temple and went to the camp, Sol was not going to fight the evil spirit without preparation.
After getting some items for emergency purposes, he went inside an empty camp to talk with Nerodia about their plan.
The first thing they need to do was locating the evil spirit without attracting its attention, then wait for it to materialize in this world.
Then, Nerodia will keep it in place while he kills it with his knife, the plan sounds easy but it was very troublesome.
They did not have any way to find the evil spirit while it in the other realm, even if they can locate it, they would not be able to get close to it without attracting its attention.
The zombies were everywhere and what the zombie saw was also seen by the evil spirit, So they need to be very careful not to attract any zombies.
In the plan to capture it and kill it also had many problems, they did not know what the evil spirit can do, or would it be affected by Nerodia's ability.
Another problem was they did not know when this evil spirit will descend into this realm, if they were too fast then they risked to attract its attention, and if they were too late then they risk it getting too strong for them to beat.
After a long discussion, they conclude that they need to find someway to peek at the other realm, if they can observe the other realm then the trouble of finding the evil spirit and deciding the time to go may be solved.
Sol went out of the tent to be greeted by the three furries, Miya, Moon, and Nerva, they were worried that Sol would go back to the city.
"Dad, are you going back to the city?" Nerva asked him, worries can be seen oh her eyes.
"She is so smart for her age, I can not lie to her, she will know right away."Sol lamented to himself.
"There is no other choice Nerva, Daddy needs to stop the zombies," He said truthfully.
"You don't need to be afraid, Daddy is not going straight away, we still need to find a way too looked at the realm of the dead." He tried to reassure her.
"Then Nerva will help, Nerva will go with Daddy," She said resolutely, "Nerva can see the ghost so Nerva can help daddy."
"What!?" Sol was shocked he did not think that he would find a way so fast, but he was torn, he did not want to bring Nerva to the city, he would not let his daughter come near any danger.
"No, It's too dangerous for you to come with us," He replied to her, he won't let her argue on it at all.
"If you want to help daddy then please tell daddy if you see anything happen in the city direction, that is enough," He said finally.