Maddy learned that while the adventurers were seen as gods, the common Prometheans feared them as much as they respected them. They were the "external" power Philip spoke about, and that power often crushed the small people beneath its weight.

"Have you seen a little girl? About this tall. Orange hair. She arrived yesterday from the south."

The woman shook her head.

"No, dear. The capital is full of orphans these days. Everyone is running from the distortions..."

The timing was perfect; her next quest was located exactly where the displaced survivors and orphans of the distortions were being sent.

The church was a massive, ancient structure of white wood that seemed to glow in the fading light. It was spacious, featuring a small interior farm and rows of temporary shelters. The atmosphere here was so heavy because of the people who had lost everything. Maddy’s task was simple: carry supplies, repair broken beds, organize the crowded rooms, and keep order while the caretakers worked.

As she entered the main hall, a young woman dressed in a nun’s habit approached her. The woman stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening as she looked Maddy up and down. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Oh! You’re the adventurer from the guild? I... I’ll be honest, I expected a man. Or at least someone looking much more... strong."

Maddy felt a sharp twitch in her eyebrow. Inside her mind, she grumbled to Lucy.

"Really? A nun with a sharp... tongue. Great."

The nun shook her head, a self deprecating smile on her face.

"But what was I thinking? Most adventurers are far too busy chasing glory and slaying monsters to stand in a dusty room and fix beds. It’s rare to see any of your kind agree to help us. To most of the guild, this work is beneath them."

Maddy set down her bag of tools, her expression softening behind her mask. Despite her irritation with humans, she found the nun’s weary honesty more tolerable than the merchant’s fake smiles.

"Oh, I may not look strong, but I can handle anything a man can do and there is no shame in a quest that keeps people whole."

The nun looked touched, her shoulders relaxing for the first time.

"That is a very kind thing to say. Most of the people here have come from the South, fleeing the distortions. They are terrified and have nothing. Your presence and your help means more than a thousand alpha slayers to them."

Maddy nodded and immediately got to work. As she hauled heavy crates of grain and hammered wooden frames back together, her eyes never stopped moving. She scanned the faces of every child sitting on the floor, every orphan huddled in the corners.

"This is the heart of the crisis... If Hoppy wasn’t taken by that merchant, this is the first place she would have been brought. The church is a sanctuary, but it’s also a warehouse for the forgotten."

Maddy moved through the sanctuary with a efficiency that bordered on the supernatural. She wasn’t just hitting wood or stacking crates; she was dissecting the room. Every hammer blow was perfectly placed, and every heavy lift was done with a grace that masked her true power.

Beside her, the nun with the sharp tongue was gobsmacked. With every task Maddy finished, the result was impeccable—clean, sturdy, and even aesthetically perfect. The nun gasped, clutching her rosary.

"What in the—this girl is like a... gorilla!"

However, Maddy didn’t notice the compliment or... insult. Her focus was locked in from the families huddled on thin mats. Some mothers gripped their children as if they might vanish into the air. Others sat alone, their eyes hollow, possessing nothing but the clothes on their backs.

"This is the cost... This is what my arrival did."

She had felt the mana in the South when she first stepped into this world. She had seen the monsters go into a frenzy, driven mad by her alien presence. She was the epicenter of the mana distortion, and these people were the ruins left in her wake. Seeing them gathered like this, broken, displaced, and waiting for scraps... made her stomach churn with a heavy, cold guilt.

"I am the reason their homes are gone. I am the reason Hoppy was alone. I wanted to stay hidden, to live a quiet life with my own children, but how can I look at these people and think I am anything but a curse to them?"

She paused, looking at a small boy who was staring at her with wide, watery eyes. He looked terrified of the "adventurer" in the room. Maddy realized then that to these people, she wasn’t a savior. She was just another representative of the "power" that consistently ruined their lives.

"I am sorry..."

She whispered so softly that only she could hear. The nun placed a hand on the air, signaling Maddy to pause. She looked at the perfectly repaired beds and the neatly stacked crates with a stunned expression.

"Heavens, you’re working so quickly! I mean, it’s wonderful, truly. Most people of your... status usually take hours to do half of this. You’re like a machine! I suppose when you are on a low rank, you really have to develop a strong back and a simple mind for labor, don’t you?"

Maddy felt a vein in her temple throb. The woman was trying to praise her, but it came out as a backhanded insult to her intelligence. The stress of the day, the lying merchant, the lost girl, and the crushing guilt, threatened to boil over.

But then, the nun’s expression shifted. Her smile faltered, and she looked into Maddy’s eyes with a sudden, piercing clarity.

"I’m sorry... I’m babbling and trying to make everything look bright when it isn’t. I can see it in your eyes, dear. You’re carrying the same sadness that we all are. You look at these orphans and your heart breaks just like ours. You really are kind to accept this quest. Most people see the misery and turn away, but you’ve jumped right into the middle of it."