Chapter 160 Feast of the Moon

The off-white outer walls took on a pearlescent sheen in the twilight. Pillars extended upward to support the house's clean, elegant dome, while the balcony's cast-iron railing caught the fading light. Clusters of unidentified creeping vines wound their way up, adding a touch of vibrant green to the building.

"This is your home?"

Xia Nan pulled his gaze from the exquisitely designed three-story house and turned to Jeff, his expression full of surprise.

In his memory, the honest, frugal caravan captain always wore coarse linen scrubbed pale from repeated washing. When traveling, he saved money on food and lodging wherever possible.

He looked the very picture of thrift.

Because of this, Xia Nan had never associated him with words like "wealthy" or "extravagant."

He had assumed Jeff struggled to get by, and that the income from his hard work out on the road barely managed to feed his family.

It was hard to refuse such warm hospitality. Even though they claimed to have a spare room prepared, Xia Nan had arrived fully expecting to sleep in the living room.

He had even mentally drafted a response, figuring out how to tactfully decline without hurting their pride if Jeff and his wife tried to give him their own bedroom.

But to his surprise...

After closing up the tailor shop, he had followed Jeff all the way home.

Along the way, the distance between buildings had gradually widened. The pedestrians were dressed much more sharply, and even the frequency of patrolling guards noticeably increased.

The fly-infested, foul-smelling meat stalls and the brothels with their suggestive pink signs had vanished.

Replacing them were bookstores and high-end clothing boutiques, which had been practically nonexistent earlier on.

He even spotted a few people who looked like nobles, draped in gold and silver and trailed by servants.

They were clearly approaching the center of the city.

And then came this beautiful house—a building whose steep construction cost was obvious at a single glance.

"It's been a few years. I remember when I bought it, Lilina had just started school."

"In the blink of an eye, she's already graduated. Time waits for no man..." Jeff stood by the road with his hands on his hips, his tone filled with emotion.

Xia Nan's expression remained unchanged, but a hint of envy flickered deep in his eyes.

Nym was one of the most important core cities in the Servia Kingdom's Cloudclimb Province.

In his past life, it would have been practically equivalent to a provincial capital—definitely on the level of a second- or third-tier city.

To own a house like this in such a prime location...

He could only admit that even after grinding away for years at a major tech company in his past life, he never would have been able to achieve this.

Thinking back on it carefully, he realized he had made a foolish assumption.

Seeing Jeff's frugal daily habits, he had assumed the man wasn't very well-off.

In reality, Xia Nan should have known better.

In this world, any profession tied to the word "adventurer" saw exponential spikes in both its risk factor and income level.

Before his retirement, Jeff had been a legitimate caravan captain who regularly hired adventurers as guards.

He even had a certain level of fame in Rivervale Town and was an old acquaintance of "Rockhammer" Barn.

Having worked for so many years while remaining so thrifty, saving up a comfortable retirement fund would have been incredibly easy.

On some level, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe the man as a true winner in life.

His wife had been by his side since before he made his fortune, and he had both a son and a daughter. Even though he walked with a limp, he had safely retired in his forties or fifties, possessing a well-maintained three-story house, a tailor shop, and enough savings to support him through his old age.

Even in his technologically advanced past life, this was the kind of retirement the vast majority of ordinary people dreamed of.

Creak.

The door to the house was gently pushed open, and the three of them stepped inside.

"Mom, come out quick! Look who's here!" Lilina called out cheerfully as she jogged toward the kitchen. Back home, she had shed the cautious reserve she had shown in the shop and appeared particularly lively.

A moment later, Lilina pulled a plump middle-aged woman wearing an apron out of the kitchen. The woman was also in her forties or fifties, with visible crow's feet at the corners of her eyes.

Seeing Xia Nan at the door, she clearly froze. Her confused gaze swept over his face and his equipment.

She obviously didn't recognize him.

This was perfectly normal; after all, the two had never met.

However, she still maintained a polite, gentle smile.

Her eyes shifted toward Jeff.

"Xia Nan," Jeff said with a smile. He didn't offer a detailed introduction, simply giving the name.

Xia Nan immediately saw the woman's eyes light up.

The faint aloofness in her smile vanished completely, replaced by boundless warmth.

"Oh my, you're finally here!"

"Sit, sit! Make yourself at home."

"Our Jeff talks about you every single day, wondering when he'd get to see you again. Now that you're here, you have to stay for a few days to rest and recover your strength."

He had saved the life of their family's pillar.

Clearly, Jeff's entire family was incredibly familiar with the name Xia Nan. They just hadn't met him in person and couldn't match the name to the face.

Now that Jeff had said it, his wife realized who he was in an instant.

Xia Nan had barely walked through the door and hadn't even found his footing before she pulled him over and pressed him down onto the living room sofa, showering him with warm concern.

She stuffed the fruits and pastries from the coffee table into his arms as if they cost nothing.

Her overflowing enthusiasm was a bit much even for Xia Nan to handle.

"Alright, Daisy, let him rest for a bit," Jeff chimed in, noticing Xia Nan's awkwardness.

"I'll go tidy up the spare room upstairs. Since it's still early, cook up a few more good dishes. We can't mistreat our guest."

"Don't worry!" Daisy handed a steaming teacup to Xia Nan, her smile unwavering. "Jamie happens to be coming back from the academy today. I'll make sure he gets properly acquainted with our guest, too."

She was almost too enthusiastic.

It wasn't until the crisp sound of a spatula clinking against a pan rang out from the kitchen again that Xia Nan finally rubbed his stiff face and let out a sigh of relief.

He wasn't entirely opposed to it, though.

He could tell that Jeff's wife, this lady named Daisy, wasn't just faking affection because he was a guest.

She was expressing a heartfelt, genuine welcome.

It wasn't until just now, seated on the living room sofa with the teacup in his hands and looking at her bright, smiling face, that Xia Nan truly realized what kind of impact his actions had made on this world.

If he hadn't barged into Jeff's room to save him that night in Kalanfor—alerted by the warning from his [Azure Pine] wooden sword—and had instead let the cultists take this honest man's life, then today, months later, when he came to Nym for an Association quest and serendipitously ended up here, all he would have found would likely be a broken family on the brink of collapse.

The Dove Feather Tailor Shop might still have been open for business, but faced with the threats of local thugs, a powerless Lilina would have had no choice but to submit, paying an exorbitant monthly protection fee that ate up all their earnings.

And Daisy, left to support the family on her own, would have had to remain endlessly cautious, guarding against the countless greedy eyes coveting her husband's inheritance.

Xia Nan's strength wasn't particularly overwhelming.

Yet a mere casual gesture from him had allowed a small family countless miles away to live on with hope and smiles.

...

Night fell.

Xia Nan sat at the dining table, the surface in front of him covered with a lavish spread of food.

It was obvious that, to accommodate him, the dishes made from relatively expensive ingredients had all been clustered right in front of him.

His gaze swept across the dishes without pausing, only stopping when a thick white soup exuding a milky aroma—with visible specks of mushroom swimming within—caught his eye.

Gripping his spoon, he reached out, scooped up a small amount, and brought it to his mouth.

Mhm...

Unlike the rich, savory sweetness of the version at the White Chickadee Tavern, Mrs. Daisy's cream of mushroom soup was a bit saltier and seemed to have more pepper.

The soup had more mushroom slices in it, and while the overall texture wasn't as thick and silky, it left a lingering aftertaste on the tongue.

Compared to the White Chickadee, it offered a novel experience—faintly similar, yet distinctly different in the finer details.

As he carefully savored the hostess's cooking, Jeff and Daisy were murmuring about something across the table.

"The Feast of the Moon is almost here. We'll hold the sacrifices at home this year. Don't forget to prepare in advance."

"Don't worry, I bought everything two months ago. It's all in the basement. Once the time comes, we can just take it out and use it."

"Mhm, that's good."

"The clerics from the Moon Goddess Church were actually handing out lanterns today. I went too late and didn't manage to get one. It's a bit of a shame."

"May the Goddess bless us..."

He didn't mean to eavesdrop, but they were sitting right across from him. With Xia Nan's current physical constitution, even the lowest whispers reached his ears with absolute clarity.

"Feast of the Moon," "Moon Goddess Church"...

As a few key phrases drifted into his ears, thoughts whirled through Xia Nan's mind.

The Feast of the Moon was one of the most important holidays on the Aifala Continent.

It took place during the "decaying moon month (Wuta)" near the end of the year, just before the harsh winter.

On this day, people across the continent held various ceremonies to honor their ancestors and pray for the dead.

Before he set off, the general store in Rivervale Town had already put out numerous sacrificial supplies.

Now that the time was drawing near, the festive atmosphere in Nym City was growing even thicker.

Even the scruffy, emaciated vagrants on the streets had managed to eat a few full meals for the first time in a long while.

As for the "Moon Goddess Church" Daisy had mentioned, it most likely referred to the church of [Our Lady of Silver], the [Moon Goddess] "Selune."

Even a small town situated on the kingdom's border like Kalanfor had built a grand and magnificent Sun God Church.

A major city the size of Nym was naturally no exception.

In fact, due to its massive scale and the countless residents living within the city, it housed a huge number of churches belonging to various deities.

Their levels of influence simply varied based on the individual deity's personality, domain, and target demographic.

In the West District where Xia Nan currently was, the most influential figure was the "Moon Goddess" Selune that Jeff and his wife had brought up.

He didn't have any particular thoughts on this matter.

After all, deities and churches were far too common in this world, and even he was gradually getting used to them.

Yet, because of his prior experience in Kalanfor, he felt a faint sense of resistance.

He didn't really want to proactively involve himself with anything related to them.

Creak.

While he was deep in thought, the sound of the front door opening suddenly carried into the living room.

"That should be Jamie. Based on the time, he ought to be home by now," Daisy said, scooping a large chunk of stewed meat into Xia Nan's bowl.

As the second son of the family, Jamie hadn't graduated yet and was currently studying at an academy within Nym City.

He usually ate and lived at school, only coming home once a week on his rest day.

Accompanied by light footsteps, a lanky, youthful young man wearing glasses came into view.

Catching sight of Xia Nan's unfamiliar face in the living room, he couldn't help but freeze.

Only after Daisy introduced them did he snap out of it, giving a rather shy bow.

His manners were quite good, just like his older sister's.

However, he didn't stick around the living room for long.

He had already eaten dinner at school, and it seemed his mentor had assigned him a task.

After sitting by the dining table and exchanging a few pleasantries, Jamie excused himself, planning to head back to his room to tackle his homework.

But perhaps because he was walking too quickly, his foot caught on the floor rug. He stumbled a few steps, and the cloth bag he was carrying dropped to the ground.

Thud.

The muffled sound echoed through the air.

Xia Nan instinctively glanced over.

He instantly froze, his pupils rapidly shrinking!

Even the spoon in his hand, which had been stirring the mushroom soup, froze in midair.

Noticing the change in Xia Nan's expression, Jeff leaned forward and asked with concern, "What's wrong?"

There was no reply.

Xia Nan simply stared straight at the floor ahead, at the grayish-black object that had tumbled out when the cloth bag hit the ground.

Resembling both a sheep and a deer, it stood upright on two legs like a human, with a pair of curved horns winding upward and tapering off at the ends.

It seemed to be none other than the [Sheep-Deer Figurine]—the very statue that devoured thoughts and attention, the one that had given him an unspeakably eerie feeling.

A second later, he snapped back to his senses. He violently tore his gaze away, not daring to look at it any longer.

Soon after, an inexplicable, bizarre feeling welled up from the depths of his heart.

He had clearly only caught a fleeting glimpse and hadn't examined it closely.

Yet, almost as if by instinct, he noticed a microscopic difference in the wood carving's texture, as well as a distinct change in the overall aura it gave off.

It was like spending a long time with a pair of twins; even a casual glance was enough to tell them apart.

The wood carving in front of him was not the same one he had seen on the shelves at Fey Wind before he left.

His mind couldn't help but recall the pitch the general store owner, Farlio, had given him at the time:

"From Nym," "said to be the work of a master sculptor," "very popular among nobles lately"...

Frowning deeply, he shot a glance at Jeff and Daisy, who were looking at him with concern, and couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

Realizing the potential hidden dangers involved, he no longer cared whether it was offensive.

Looking at a surprised Jamie, he pointed at the statue on the ground and asked in a serious tone, "Where did that wood carving come from?"