God's Gift

Yu Youyou frowned and walked around the house to look at the goats.

She remembered her mother saying that goats were the embodiment of the devil in Norse mythology.

"Hello?" Yu Youyou greeted tentatively.

When the goat heard Yu Youyou's voice, it suddenly turned around and ran to the other side, leaving Yu Youyou's sight.

Yu Youyou stretched out her hand and stopped in the air, stunned in embarrassment.

Just then, the door of the neighboring resident was pushed open, and a young woman with pigtails walked out.

Seeing Yu Youyou standing outside, she was stunned for a moment, then quickly gave Yu Youyou a gentle smile and waved to her.

Yu Youyou ran over happily and called out sweetly, "Hello, sister."

When the woman saw Yu Youyou, her smile grew wider and she said to Youyou through the fence:

"You are one of the young people who came to the village the day before yesterday."

"Yes, my name is Yu Youyou." Yu Youyou introduced herself to the woman enthusiastically.

"My name is Emma."

Emma was holding a basket in her hands, and while talking to Yu Youyou, she bent down to pick up eggs from the chicken coop.

Yu Youyou stood on tiptoe and stretched her neck to watch Emma's movements curiously.

Emma turned around and saw Yu Youyou peeking in, so she opened the door and let Yu Youyou in.

"What brings you here?"

"Our captain asked me to come and ask about the fire in the forest." Yu Youyou didn't beat around the bush and stated the purpose of her visit clearly.

Emma paused when she heard the word Hellfire, then continued to pick up the eggs.

Yu Youyou squatted down, put her hands in front of her, and looked at the egg curiously.

"Do you want to eat it?" Emma picked up an egg and asked Yu Youyou.

Yu Youyou had a bright smile on her face and asked Emma excitedly, "Can I eat it?"

"Of course." Emma smiled, picked up the last egg, and led Yu Youyou into the house holding the basket.

Emma boiled a few eggs in the pot, poured two more cups of goat milk, and handed Yu Youyou a cup.

Yu Youyou held the cup carefully and took a sip just like Emma.

The goat milk flowed into her throat, and Yu Youyou showed a happy expression on her face. She sat on the chair and swayed happily like a sunflower.

Emma also smiled when she saw the happy look of the visitor from afar.

Her plump figure and red hair look like an oil painting.

"We have to thank the village chief for what we have now."

"This used to be a very barren place. No plants could grow in the soil, water was scarce, and the seeds planted could not grow. Many people starved to death."

"But the village chief led everyone to discover fertile soil and water sources, which brought life to the barren land and enabled crops to grow."

“Including weeds, trees, flowers, everything has grown since then.”

"We can also raise chickens for eggs and sheep for milk."

"The village chief is so awesome!" Yu Youyou was generous with his praise.

Emma smiled unchanged and nodded.

"Of course, he is a hero to all the villagers."

"Does the village chief know how the fire in the forest started?" Yu Youyou did not forget her purpose and asked Emma again.

Emma paused and said, "The village chief is very old and may not remember many things clearly."

"Does that sister know?" Yu Youyou tilted her head and asked Emma obediently.

Seeing that Yu Youyou was so persistent about this question, Emma shook her head helplessly.

"The fire of hell has been burning for decades. I was not even born when it started."

"When I was young, I could only hear stories from others, but every adult told a different story. Now I don't know what it is like."

"What are the stories? I heard they said it was the church that did it?"

For some reason, Emma stopped talking when the church was mentioned.

Yu Youyou held the cup, bit the rim, and looked at the silent Emma.

Just when both of them were quiet, a cheerful and sunny voice came from outside.

"Because there are monsters in the forest, naughty children ran into the forest and were eaten by the monsters. The children's resentment ignited the fire of hell!"

A young man walked up to Yu Youyou and made a cannibalistic gesture to her, causing her to step back.

"Lyle, don't scare the girl." Emma glared at the young man she called Lyle.

Lyle walked over and kissed Emma without caring that Youyou was there.

Yu Youyou watched their actions curiously.

Lyle then turned around and said to Youyou with a smile, "This sister is the daughter of the pope of the church you mentioned. Why did you ask her in front of her whether it was done by the church?"

Yu Youyou opened her mouth and smiled embarrassedly.

"It's okay." Emma held Lyle's hand and sighed, "The fire of hell was indeed ignited after the church came here, but I really don't know why."

"Then why did the church come to this place?" Yu Youyou asked.

"My father traveled around with his followers to preach. When he arrived outside this village, he felt that this place..." Emma paused, glanced at Lyle, and continued.

"There was an evil aura, so they entered this village."

Yu Youyou held the goat's milk and looked at Emma, ​​who seemed to be hesitant to speak, and asked, "Are those monsters outside the village always there?"

"Yeah." Lyle, who was standing next to Emma, ​​nodded. "But before the church came, those monsters disguised themselves as the villagers' dead relatives and sneaked into the village to kill many villagers."

"The church caught those monsters and burned them clean."

Lyle sighed and looked at Emma: "The church also has good intentions."

"I just didn't expect that this place has always been a place where people can enter but never leave. The church accidentally entered but could never get out again."

"After that, the fire of hell began to burn. And those monsters dropped their human disguises and became what they are now."

"In order to protect the village, my father placed a blessing outside to prevent monsters from entering the village." Emma continued what Lyle said.

“But the villagers still believe that it was the church that ignited the hellfire and set the forest on fire.”

Emma looked sad.

"It's okay." Lyle kissed Emma's forehead. "The villagers are ignorant and can't figure out who saved them."

Emma then smiled.

"That's all we know." Emma said to Youyou gently.

Yu Youyou nodded, slid down from the chair, lowered her head, reached into her bag to take something out, and walked in front of Emma.

Emma looked at Yu Youyou puzzledly.

Yu Youyou then took out a handful of candies from her bag, put them in Emma's hand, and smiled with her eyes curved.

"Thank you sister."

Emma looked at the colorful candies in her palm, was stunned for a moment, and smiled at Yu Youyou.

Yu Youyou, carrying her small bag, waved to Emma and Lyle.

"Then I'm leaving."

Emma quickly stopped Yu Youyou, turned around and walked to the kitchen, and took two hard-boiled eggs.

“I forgot to eat this.”

She put the eggs into Yu Youyou's bag while smiling.

Yu Youyou stood obediently and watched Emma's actions.

"Take it back and eat it, don't let it get cold." Emma touched Yu Youyou's head and reminded her.

Yu Youyou nodded, touched the eggs in her bag, and walked out of the yard.

Young people have not experienced it, but the old people in the village should know about it.

She continued walking along the path.

Soon we reached the other side of the village.

The style of the houses here is completely different from that of the villagers' houses.

A blue flag with an unclear pattern on it was hung on the pointed-roof house.

Yu Youyou continued walking until she reached the center of the street.

A magnificent church appeared before us, with a huge metal emblem hanging on the top.

Exactly like the logo on the surrounding house flags.

The general shape of the emblem is a whale, but it does not look like a whale if you look closely. It has a pair of huge black eyes embedded in its face, gazing at the entire village from the church.

Yu Youyou stopped and stared at the church emblem for a long time.

After a while, she walked towards the church.