Chapter 157: The Temple Of Isabella

After we woke up that day, we were bothered again by people wanting to be healed and cured.

Reluctantly, Isabella helped them on the condition that they stop trying to have me executed and treat me nicely.

They also reluctantly agreed.

Later, we continued our way up and made it to the third village.

It was pretty much the same deal...

We showed up, they praised Isabella, treated me like a dog that needed to be put down, she yelled at them, then we ate dinner just before going to bed.

And the next day was also the same. We woke up, got harassed, Isabella healed people in order to stop them from despising me, and we continued our climb.

Now we stood in front of the temple and Isabella was beyond fed up.

We had climbed a great distance. The temple was located above the clouds.

"Th-there are...statues and paintings of me...in a swimsuit!? WHY!? WHY DOES SUCH A PLACE EXIST!?!? IS THIS HELL!? I DON'T WANT PEOPLE STARING AT ME!!!" Isabella shouted.

She had tears in her eyes, so I instinctively hugged her.

"It's okay...we'll be leaving soon..." I said.

"It's not okay! For hundreds of years, people have been staring at me half-naked and fantasizing about me! This is wrong!"

As she cried on my shoulder, the main doors opened and several monks walked out of the enormous stone temple.

They all wore robes in the colors of Isabella's hair and eyes.

Isabella looked up at them after she dried her tears on my sleeve.

"Who are you, that you should take on the appearance of the Sacred Lady? We have heard rumors..." One of the monks said.

"I am the so-called...Sacred Lady... I am Isabella Iratus. Do you know where the Heart of the Sky is?" She asked.

"Heart of the Sky? We know nothing of these things... But if you are our goddess, this is cause for celebration! Our radiant goddess has finally arrived!"

"Ugh...one more word about this crap and I'm killing everyone..." Isabella mumbled to herself.

I'll help if you want.

Suddenly, a much older man with a long beard, wearing a vibrant and beautiful robe stepped forward.

"I am the High Priest of the Order of Isabella. My name is Jin Takemoto the third," he said.

"The third? Does that mean you're his grandson?" Isabella said.

"He had kids? I thought he was obsessed with Isabella..." Jallah mumbled.

"I am indeed his grandson. It brings me no greater joy than to see you with my own eyes, Sacred Lady. Please, I request that you marry my son. That way, my grandfather may finally be satisfied that his union with you has finally-"

"Absolutely not," Isabella said coldly.

"I...what? But...Sacred Lady, Isabella..." Jin said.

"I SAID NO! I AM ALREADY MARRIED TO MIZIK!" Isabella shouted angrily.

The monks were all taken back by her anger.

Enough is enough. I've put up with this for long enough...

I stepped forward.

"Listen, there has been a terrible misunderstanding. Isabella isn't really a goddess. She has great power, but-"

"LIES! DECEIVER! HERESY!!! THE GREEN-EYED DEMON SPEAKS!!!" One of the monks shouted angrily.

I raised Vengeance and fired it into the air.

The monks all flinched at the noise.

"Shut up, or the next one is going into your heads. I couldn't care less about this weird cult you have surrounding Isabella, but we came here for the Heart of the Sky. We have ample reason to believe that it's located here," I said.

"You are a heretic beyond saving, Green-Eyed Demon! And to think you have defiled the radiance of our most pure Isabella..." Jin said.

Before I could shoot this guy in the face, Isabella put her arm in front of me.

"Look...let us in the temple. We need to find the Heart of the Sky. Your...holy goddess commands you...or whatever..." Isabella said.

"Right this way, Sacred Lady!" Jin said.

Isabella stepped up and we followed, but as soon as she passed them, the rest of us were blocked.

"This temple is only for followers of Isabella as well as the Sacred Lady herself. You may not enter!" Jin said angrily.

"Let them in, or I'm demolishing this temple and killing everyone," Isabella said with a blank murderous stare.

"Ahh...y-yes Sacred Lady!" Jin said.

They allowed us to enter and I was stunned by the inside of the temple...

There were drawings, paintings, statues, and even pillows...all with Isabella depicted on them in various poses and types of clothing.

I swear to Iris, if Isabella doesn't demolish this stupid temple, I will.

Isabella just pretended that she didn't see any of it.

After a short while of walking, we found ourselves in what appeared to be a lounge area. Isabella dismissed the monks following her and they left us alone.

She stopped for a moment to think, and I picked up a particular pillow. It was long and had a full body image of Isabella as if she were laying down in bed...

The image of her wore loose fitting pajamas and she had a seductive look on her face.

I felt my face flush slightly as I looked at the face on the pillow.

"Hm...I think I like this..." I mumbled.

Isabella instinctively turned and smacked it out of my hand.

"You don't know where that's been! Also...you don't need one of those! You have the real deal!" She said angrily.

"Dude...this temple is really creepy... I feel like Isabella is just staring into my soul from every direction..." Jallah said fearfully.

"I'm in hell... This is what hell feels like..." Isabella mumbled to herself.

As she looked away, I silently eyed some of the other...'Isabella-themed' items in the area.

I couldn't deny that I kind of...wanted some of them...

Was that wrong?

I decided that I would take just a few things when she wasn't looking...

Including one of those pillows I had found...

I know we came for the heart stone, but what's a few extra items for the annoyance these people have caused Isabella...? And I'm her husband! It should be fine! Right..?

Suddenly, Isabella looked at me while I was staring at some of the objects.

"Mizik, why are you staring longingly at those filthy things...?" She asked.

"Just...admiring the dedication they had to getting your appearance right... As well as my adoring wife..." I said.

She smiled at me.

Not the sweet sort of smile, but...

It had a menacing aura to it.

I suddenly thought about how much I wouldn't mind Cassandra being here at the moment...

Then I internally scolded myself for thinking such things...

"Mizik, you aren't thinking about...oh, I don't know...taking any...souvenirs...are you...?"

I looked her straight in the eye and did my best to play it off.

"Of course not. Why would I need these things if I have the real Isabella?" I asked.

This seemed to put her at ease.

It was very difficult to lie to her because the was so smart.

Because I was definitely lying. As soon as I found myself alone, I was going to grab several items. I secretly wondered what other kinds of Isabella-themed treasures this place had...

"So...should we split up and have a look around?" Jallah asked, breaking the tension.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea... Everyone seems to want Mizik dead and I don't want them to try and frame him for anything while I'm away," Isabella said.

"I have an idea...if you'll entertain it," Rune said.

Everyone looked at her.

"The three of us can split up and look for anything suspicious, while you call everyone together into the main chamber. If this temple has a main chamber, that is."

"I think that sounds like a good idea. I'll find this high priest and call a meeting. Everyone else, look for anything suspicious," Isabella said.

And with that, so began our search.

As soon as Isabella and Rune had left the room, I snatched the pillow I had been holding before and placed it in my inventory.

Jallah saw it from the corner of his eye and looked at me quizzically.

But I gave him a look that simply said: breathe a word of this, and you'll regret it.

He nodded and left without saying anything.

* * *

An hour later, I had managed to find several...items of interest...while looking for anything related to the heart stone.

By that, I mean I managed to teleport into a vault and found some very...risque images of Isabella that looked to be hand drawn.

I was looking for the heart stone...that's what I would tell anyone that asked.

Regardless, I took a few and destroyed the rest.

No one needed to see any of that but me.

The frost dragon said that these people had no idea the Heart of the Sky was actually here.

Meaning it was possible that the stone could be below the temple.

Then the realization hit me.

The tomb of the first Jin was in the temple. Meaning that the heart stone could likely be there.

I decided to make my way to the main hall, only to realize that I had no idea where it was and got lost.

I took a few 'items of interest' along the way just before remembering that I could use seismic lookout.

Once I did, I found my way easily...on top of seeing an underground section just as I predicted.

I crept into the main hall from one of the stone walkways above and saw Isabella giving a...'sermon'...

"It is important to...be nice to others and also to stop trying to kill this Green-Eyed man. His name is Mizik and he isn't really that bad! I promise! I married him a long time ago because he's such a wonderful and sweet guy! Please stop insulting him! Seriously!" Isabella said.

All of her 'followers' bowed down in worship and she just sighed.

"And furthermore, I'm a very modest girl! I wouldn't show so much skin like you people seem to think I do in these paintings and on the statues. And...why is my image on the pillows and sheets as well? Seriously! Redo the designs! Put more clothing on me! Take my image off of the pillows and sheets! If I am supposedly not to be touched by anyone, that should go for you as well! Especially you! Not even my image!" Isabella said.

Jin bowed down with tears in his eyes and begged for forgiveness... Saying that it wasn't his fault and that these things were designed by his grandfather.

At the same time, everyone looked extremely happy to be listening to her sermon.

Before Isabella could say something to him, she noticed my presence.

She looked back to the crowd and cleared her throat.

"That will be all for today. Please get to work on redecorating as soon as possible!" She said.

Moments later, the crowd dispersed and I jumped down once the room was empty.

"Mizik! What's going on? Did you find the stone?" She asked.

"No, but I have an idea of where it might be," I said.

As I was speaking, Jallah and Rune walked into the room.

"Mizik, I found a way under the temple. I'm concerned it might have significance," Jallah said.

"Perfect timing. I was just telling Isabella that the stone might be in Jin's tomb."

"Yeah...I already checked out the room a bit. It's definitely...a tomb of sorts..." Jallah said.

Isabella looked at Jallah curiously.

"What did you see down there?" She asked quickly.

"Eh...n-nothing too bad... I didn't look, if that helps..." Jallah said.

Rune planted her hand on her face.

"Jallah...dammit... I love you, but seriously..." Rune said.

"Show me. RIGHT NOW!" Isabella said angrily.

Jallah gave her a nervous smile and led us to the tomb.