CHAPTER 70: CH 70- THE DOME OF WHITE - PART 2

’What—? Was I not supposed to eat that food? Fuck—! Don’t tell me that it was poisoned or something. No, wait—! That’s fine. The system told me that I was fine.’

My mind panicked for a few seconds, but I recovered quickly and gave the duchess a reassuring smile.

At the same time, another message on my phone caught my attention.

[Your followers would like to ask immunity and protection. Would you like to share your immunity with your followers? Cost—1 faith point for the next 10 days.]

’Followers? As in social media followers? Or maybe it is talking about the duchess?’

The system and this phone never made things easy for me to understand. But I was not going to panic and would find a logical solution out of this mess.

The duchess seemed to be looking at me with her dark eyes, and I could conclude that the followers likely included her.

Her reaction and question also assured me that someone might have tampered with the food here.

’Tsk, I guess I have no choice but to spend my faith point here. After all, I cannot afford to lose the duchess right now.’

Not only was I here as the duchess’s guest, but it would be troublesome if she were to be the only one to collapse because of something going wrong.

I would likely be thought of as an accomplice as well and be thrown into prison along with her.

’Let’s not think about it. Instead, focus on what’s important. Right, I need to share my immunity with her.’

I quickly pressed ’yes’ on the system screen before I put the phone down.

But the duchess and Cardinal Joshua gave me interested looks as they watched me put my phone down.

It seemed as if my actions had caught their attention here. To divert their attention away from my phone, I chose to address the duchess first.

"The food should be fine to eat. It has a weird texture, but other than that, the preparations are excellent. I am just... not accustomed to eating such a variety of food."

I kept my words neutral as to not appear offensive to the other two. But at the same time, this was not my preferred choice of food either, no matter how tasty it was.

"Hmm, I see. Well, our god speaks up against animal cruelty and such. Animals are beings born to be free and with a will to live their lives as they choose. We believe they are not food."

Cardinal Joshua seemed passionate about such a cause, and I admired him.

I did not agree with his food choices, but at the same time, I was not going to condemn them either.

"Now that we have talked about this topic, I feel closer to you, friend of the duchess. May I ask for an introduction?"

Cardinal Joshua asked me, and the duchess replied before I could do so.

"Cardinal, this is a precious guest of mine. You can call him the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper is someone who has been incredibly helpful to me so far. So I hope you treat him as well as you treat me."

The duchess seemed to be blocking the Cardinal’s efforts to get to me, and the Cardinal noticed that as well.

But instead of taking offense, he just laughed it all off with a wave of his hand.

"Is that so? It seems that our dear duchess here is rather taken with you, dear shopkeeper. But I also understand her stance. There is just... something special about you after all."

The way the Cardinal spoke those words sent a shiver down my spine. I had a feeling that his interest in me was not as pure as he made it out to seem.

Since I was being addressed, I felt forced to say something as well. And my mouth moved on its own before my brain caught up.

"Hmm, it will be my pleasure to help you out in the future if fate permits it."

I told the Cardinal, and he chuckled.

"Fate, huh? I am sure those followers of fate will try to interfere with both of our factions. Let’s hope we get to meet again in the future. Until then, enjoy your time in the dome and our god’s protection."

The dinner finished quietly, but the food I had eaten seemed to sit heavy in my stomach.

Due to my nervousness, I ate more than I needed to, and I struggled to get up.

The walk back to my room helped, and I closed the door to my room before I sat on the bed.

"Master, the food here sucks. It was so hard to swallow, but I did that anyway because I did not want to cause you trouble."

Fenrir told me, and I suddenly felt sorry for the pup. Thankfully, dogs—in his case, dire wolves—were omnivorous, so they could thrive off a vegetarian diet.

But it required very specific conditions, and I doubted this place had any.

The puppy whined as he came close to me, and I petted his head.

"Don’t worry, Fenrir. I am just as uncomfortable in this place as you are. Do you want to go take a walk with me to clear your mind?"

I asked Fenrir, and he suddenly jumped back on his feet.

"Walk? We can go to one? Yes—! I want to stretch my legs. They have started to feel weird because I have not stretched them in a while."

Fenrir looked excited, and I felt sorry for him. He had not gotten to go on a walk ever since we got in the carriage.

Even during the breaks we took while traveling, I had to keep Fenrir close most of the time because the duchess’s guards were always alert and out to get me and Fenrir.

So our walks had been short, and we were always followed by someone else at all times.

"Alright, let’s head out. I will need to attach a leash to your collar."

I told Fenrir, and the puppy was much more obedient—only until I connected the leash to his collar and locked the door behind me.

That was all Fenrir needed to take as a signal before he zoomed past the corridor and dragged me behind him.

"Finally, I can run, right? The marble is irritating. Let’s go to the grass and the forest part. Master, do try to keep up."

Fenrir told me, and I felt helpless as that pure mass of muscles in the shape of a puppy dragged me behind him.

’Shit—! Well, there go my legs and any function they had for the next few days. And possibly my lungs as well. How do I get Fenrir to stop?’

I asked myself, but I had no answer. The best I could do was go with the flow.

"Hey—! Who is running around? Don’t you know that this is the sanctuary—?"

A guard told me, only for Fenrir to run past him and toward the forest. I had no time to give him an excuse either as I ran after Fenrir.

After fifteen minutes of Fenrir obliterating my legs and lungs, he finally stopped, and I was able to take a deep breath to calm myself down.