Gender-swapped Saintess: A Survival Diary on Hell Difficulty

"Miss Roland, the villagers are preparing for a totem party, would you like to come?"

Coco the cat's words left Roland with a bewildered expression.

"A totem party? What's that?"

Nightingale and Jenny also cast curious glances at Coco the cat.

Nightingale, with her broad knowledge, said, stroking her chin.

"It sounds a bit like a shamanic ritual."

Coco the cat shook her head.

"It's somewhat similar, but it's actually just one of our celebration rituals."

"When people stay indoors in winter, we gather around the tribal totem and hold a bonfire dinner to give thanks for the bounty of nature throughout the year."

"I see, it's like celebrating the New Year, right?"

Roland expressed her understanding.

But when she looked down at her own wooden statue, her expression was somewhat complicated.

"But why did you carve my statue? What about your tribal totem?"

Coco the cat chuckled to herself.

"Where are our tribal totems anymore? This place is full of displaced orcs. Forget about tribal totems, we don't even have tribes anymore."

Roland's expression froze, and she stammered.

"Well... why did you choose to sculpt my image? It's making me a little embarrassed."

"Isn't that how it should be?"

Coco the cat looked completely at ease, her eyes filled with gratitude and respect for Roland.

"You have brought us stable jobs, warm shelter and food, and protected us from being displaced again. This is our new home."

"So the totem definitely has to use your image."

……

Meanwhile, in the center of Hot Water Plaza.

The number of beast girls gathering in the circular plaza directly in front of the hot water workshop is increasing.

Cat ears, dog ears, rabbit ears, mouse ears... all sorts of animal girls began decorating the banquet venue.

They dragged out a large amount of chopped firewood from the delivery headquarters.

Then, a large bonfire was built in the open space in front of the Roland wood carving.

The beaver girls with big front teeth also dragged out a pile of wood, and with amazing teamwork, assembled it into a long table.

Then the beast girls ran into the Krusty Krab restaurant and used their pooled wages to buy a large amount of food, which they then piled onto the tables.

There are also drinks made with sparkling herbs, which have a slight taste of ale. The taste is so-so, but they're free.

The commotion grew increasingly louder, naturally attracting the attention of other onlookers.

Employees passing by stopped and formed a large circle around the banquet.

A middle-aged man dressed as an engineer also emerged from the hot water workshop; he was Lawrence, whom Roland had saved.

He is now a mid-level manager at the Roland Group, responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the hot water workshop.

Lawrence looked at the situation in the square with some confusion and found the beast girl who was in charge of the deliverymen's headquarters.

"Miss Bruce, what are you doing? Is this an event organized by the church?"

The dog-girl with golden ears on her head stopped what she was doing when she heard this.

She pointed to the Roland statue in the center, her face beaming with joy.

"Mr. Lawrence, this is our hometown's totem dinner, celebrating the year's harvest. Would you like to join us?"

Lawrence suddenly realized that it was a custom of the orcs.

But when he looked at Roland's statue, his mind became even more confused.

"Do you also worship Miss Roland back in your hometown?"

"Huh? No, no, no."

Bruce made a denial and waved his hand.

"It wasn't like that back in my hometown, but it is now."

"Anyway, Mr. Lawrence, would you like to come along? Little Ellie would love a lively event like this, wouldn't she?"

Lawrence thought of his restless daughter, agreed, and then went to contact his family and friends.

With Lawrence leading the way, human employees also began to join the Totem Dinner.

As a result, the scale of the entire banquet grew larger and larger.

As the sun completely set, the entire square was packed with people, and the noise was deafening.

Roland, worried about a stampede, also sent out church maids to maintain order.

The church maids had all cultivated some magical abilities, and the most talented among them had even barely reached the apprentice level, making them perfectly capable of handling the task of directing the flow of people.

As for Roland and her group, they had already disguised themselves and infiltrated the venue.

Coco the cat followed beside her, enthusiastically introducing the statue to Roland.

"Miss Roland, the image of this statue was carefully designed by us. The Krabby Patty meal being held in the left hand symbolizes the sumptuous meal you brought us."

"The wine glass in your right hand symbolizes the warmth and hot water you bring."

"Thanks to your hot water workshop, we peasants are experiencing a winter with heating for the first time."

"No need to search for fuel, no need to worry about cold waves, no need to force yourself to drink cold beer."

As if she had just thought of something, Coco the cat proudly pulled Roland along, making her look at the bottom of the wooden wine glass.

"As you can see, to highlight the importance of hot water, we added a mechanism to the bottom of the wooden cup in the sculpture."

"Inside is actually a tin pot. We add charcoal to it to ensure that the hot water keeps steaming during the banquet."

Roland looked up and, sure enough, noticed an opening on the side of the bottom of the wooden cup.

She nodded in approval of the beast girls' creativity, and then began to examine the wooden statue in front of her.

The statue's attire is that of a merchant-noble nun chosen by Nightingale, paired with fox ears and a fox tail, making it appear both noble and beautiful.

The carving technique is extremely exquisite, even depicting the slight feeling of the stockings digging into the skin.

Even Roland couldn't help but admire it.

"What amazing carving skills! Even without color, it looks just like the real thing."

"You must have spent a lot of time on this."

Coco the cat thought Roland was blaming them, so she quickly clarified.

"It took quite a bit of time, but we didn't let it interfere with our work."

As she spoke, she lowered her head with a hint of guilt.

"There have been fewer takeout orders lately, and you don't allow the beast girls to leave the old port area, so everyone has been stuck at headquarters with nothing to do, which gives us plenty of time to carve statues."

Roland chuckled and patted Coco the cat's head.

"I didn't say you don't work hard. Your free time is meant to be used as you see fit."

"I'm just amazed by your technology."

Nightingale agreed wholeheartedly.

"Yes, I didn't expect that beast girls could have such skills. I want to collect a statue like this."

She stared intently at the statue, especially at its exquisite feet, which were still the same high-heeled sandals she had chosen back then.

With such powerful engraving techniques, they even managed to carve out the texture of the stockings.

This stirred up the nightingale's memories.

I remember that this thing was engraved with a warming magic circle, which made Miss Roland sweat a lot.

Its taste is refreshing, and its rich fragrance lingers on the nose at all times, truly a blessing...

Roland was unaware of Nightingale's thoughts and was even preparing to get closer to Nightingale to evaluate her carving skills.

Just then, a commotion arose beside me.

Several beast girls with large front teeth, beaver ears, and curled tails were seen carrying a pile of wooden planks.

With a series of ping-pong sounds, a sturdy stall was set up.

The beaver girl placed exquisite wooden carvings on her stall and called out loudly.

"Lady Roland's miniature wooden sculptures, starting at ten tokens!"

Roland was shocked; how could there be figurines for sale?

Could these beavers be the main force behind the sculptures?