Ero Skill Tree

Chapter One Hundred: To the Shrine

I had no idea where we were headed other than that it was called the shrine. For now, Siofra pulled me towards the food stalls in square at the foot of the guild's steps. It was busy here, but nowhere near as crowded as it was inside of the guild hall. We stopped outside the first place that smelled nice and didn't have a long queue. We were soon served and once we had all got our orders, we headed on again, eating as we went.

The shrine was located near the centre of the city and the closer we got, the thicker the crowds got. I was surprised by how many people had gathered just to see the procession to the shrine. It seemed it was treated as quite the important occasion. The place hadn't even come into view yet and we were already having to squeeze our way through.

"There it is." Siofra said pointing ahead, as we turned the corner.

At first, I wasn't quite sure if what I was looking at was a building or not. A short way down the main street was what looked to be the largest tree I had ever seen. On closer inspection I realised that it incorporated a manmade structure within it. The interior of the tree was cut out and stretching out from its base in four directions were what looked to be wings of a cathedral. It was as if the giant tree was the spire at its centre. Much like the city itself, the building was mixture of natural and manmade construction.

"That's quite something." I said looking up at the shrine, not quite sure what to make of it.

"Impressive isn't it. I've only ever seen it from outside. I can't wait to see what it's like inside." Siofra said excitedly.

"You've never been inside before?"

"No, most people never get the chance... Come on."

Siofra pressed through the crowd, pulling me along with her. I glanced behind to check we hadn't lost the others in the mass of people. Luckily, they were still following closely behind. We pushed our way towards the main entrance. From where we were, I could see that a row of guards was keeping the main pathway clear for the carriages that arrived one after the other. Each one carrying someone important that had come to attend the ceremony.

It took us about ten minutes of slowly pushing our way through the crowd, until we reached the row of guards. Siofra was about to stride out into the main pathway, with me in tow, when our way was suddenly blocked. Two burley looking guards had stepped out and barred our way.

"You can't go any further." The one that looked to be in charge announced.

"But we're here to attend the ceremony." Complained Siofra.

"You and everyone else! Only those with an official invite are allowed past this point. I don't suppose you have one of those do you?" He said sarcastically.

"We were invited!"

"Okay, let me see your paperwork then." The man asked half joking holding out his.

Of course, Siofra didn't have anything to show him. It was then that Lillia pushed forward from behind.

"I have our invitations here. I'd appreciate it you could hurry this. I don't want us to be late." Lillia said pressing five official documents into the man's hand.

He didn't even need to check the paperwork to realise who he was talking to. The look on his face, said immediately that he recognised who was talking. The uniforms on the guards here marked them out as important. My guess was that they were palace guards, so it shouldn't be any surprise if they recognised the princess by sight.

"Your majesty, I didn't realise you were here. Please forgive my rudeness. If we were expecting you and your associates to approach through the crowd, we would have kept a watch for you."