The place was pretty much what you might expect from a chalet like this.
The place was threadbare with just the most basic of necessities present in the building.
At least the place was quite clean since Olivia already arranged for someone to clean up this place and arrange it to make it more suitable for our stay.
There were four bedrooms here with one room having the biggest bed that was obviously meant for me. The other three would be meant for my Guardians with each room having three beds each.
I took one look at Leena and grimaced, "I suppose you can take one of the rooms for yourself?"
There's no way she would be comfortable bunking with Avatasia and Jia Lian with her size after all.
She shook her head, "There's no need for that, my lord. I just need to put the things down and I will be able to fit myself in."
I wasn't sure what she meant but she went ahead to drop our luggages from her back onto the sitting area of the chalet before I got to see a rather bizarre sight.
Her equine half started walking closer to her human half and instead of moving forward, she stayed where she was and the horse part of her ended up being absorbed into the human part before she was just left standing there like a normal human.
It was also then that I realised something that I hadn't noticed before…
On the front half of her legs, she was wearing combat boots… Combat boots that were meant for human feet…
But just now when her equine half was being absorbed into her human part, I definitely saw horse hooves at the bottom…
Does that mean the front half of her body had been fully human from the very start including her legs and feet?
Was this what Olivia meant when she said that she wasn't exactly the same as the centaurs in our world's myths?
I honestly don't even know how I should react to this information…
Fortunately, I was saved from needing to react to that because someone else reacted first.
Kris looked up at her with a gaze of awe, "Oh! I've heard about this but never seen it before! You guys just prefer having the horse part out all the time."
Leena shrugged, "It is more comfortable than this so yes, we do prefer it out."
"That must be pretty inconvenient in this World, isn't it? Why don't you just keep it hidden all the time?"
The centaur girl narrowed her eyes at the cat boy, "Your tail must also be pretty inconvenient with the clothes in this World, right? Why don't you just stuff it in your pants?"
"Oh, that's why I-- Umm… Ahem… Nevermind. I get it now."
Leena continued, "Besides. Did you already forget how useful I was in carrying all the stuff you didn't want to carry? How else am I supposed to be the packhorse if I don't have my horse part out?"
That is true… She's exceptionally strong and was able to carry all of her equipment, all of our equipment and then also our luggage on her back without any problem.
I might have been able to lift the combined weight of everything there but I definitely would not be able to carry everything in my arms without tripping or the risk of them falling over.
I also didn't want to call her that since I thought it might be rude but she went ahead to call herself a packhorse of her own accord.
Avatasia turned to me, "What is the plan for today, Divine One?"
"I was thinking if you guys are up for it, we could at least do a quick scout of the area around the rift to make sure everything was ok. So once we have our stuff tucked in our rooms, we can proceed to the location of the portal."
"As you wish, Divine One."
We dispersed and brought our own stuff to our respective rooms, the three girls taking a room, the two guys taking one and myself taking one.
The room, despite the big bed, was just as threadbare as the rest of the building and there was nothing else inside the room aside from the bed.
Unfortunately, the shower and toilet was communal and located outside of the bedrooms so we would most definitely have to share it.
At least there were two showers so we could still separate by gender…
I didn't bring much aside from some change of clothes and my phone charger so I just dumped my stuff in the side of my room before I went out, finding Sergei already there waiting for everyone else.
I guess he also packed light like me so there was nothing he needed to prepare unlike the others who had weapons and armour they had to put on.
Seeing that it would be awkward to just stand there and stare at each other, I decided to approach him to have a chat.
"Hey," I approached him.
"Mortal God. You don't need to feel obligated to make small talk with me."
Well… That's one way to kill the conversation…
Still, I wasn't going to just give up here since I did genuinely want to learn more about the people I would be fighting alongside with.
"It's not out of obligation, don't worry about it."
Sergei nodded, "Hmm… Then I suppose you have some questions for me then?"
"Yes. I was wondering about your past. I heard that you used to work for a gang based in the USR?"
"Da," He affirmed in Russian. "You know about my situation as well, right?"
"That you are running from the gang and taking refuge here?"
"That is correct. If you are concerned that I may hold allegiance to the other party, I can assure you that I do not. Not after they had betrayed me and sold me off like I was just a dumb dog that they were using."
I read between the lines and understood that he was implying I had nothing to worry about as long as I didn't do what his previous group did to him.
I wasn't planning on doing that to begin with so there was no problem with that.
On the other hand… There was one thing I was curious about.
"You barely have an accent though."
He hummed, "I could say the same to you, Mortal God. I barely understand that thing you people call Singlish here. Although to answer your question… I had to hide myself within the UAS for a time and got rid of my accent to blend in."
"So you were a spy too?"
"Spy, assassin, same thing. I did whatever was in the shadows."
He then raised his hand and several shadow tendrils appeared and wiggled in the air before it went back into the darkness.
He does it so easily and yet, I was struggling with just making one appear from the shadow that day…
I decided to try my luck with him.
"So your powers has something to do with manipulating shadows?"
"Da. It is no big secret after all. I literally use it openly like this," He gestured to the cloak that he was wearing, confirming my initial suspicions that his cloak was indeed made of shadows.
He then nodded at me, "Forgive me if it is rude but I am curious… How long have you awakened as a Mortal God? If it is a secret, you do not need to tell me."
By some coincidence, when he was asking that question, the others also left their rooms at the same time, all of them all kitted out and ready for battle.
But when they heard Sergei ask me that question, they all stopped in their tracks and turned to me, clearly waiting to see what my answer would be.
I shrugged, "When they said that I was a newly awakened Mortal God, they were not joking. I really only just recently awakened."
"So you weren't just a Mortal God that this country had been hiding all this while and only revealed after making sure you were ready?"
I chuckled, "Ahahaha, do you think they would actually hide the fact that they have a Mortal God the moment one awakened after being taken advantage of just because we didn't have one all these years?"
"I could see it as some kind of convoluted plan of theirs but I suppose not if you were putting it that way. So you really are new then?"
I nodded, "That's right."
He paused, "I see… Then I can assume that you still do not know who the God you have awakened as actually is?"
I took a moment to look at everyone else around me before nodding, "Yes… I am still not aware of who it is."
"I see… I suppose that's why we are here to help you find out. Shall we?"
Right. Let's go.