CHAPTER 73: WHY MUST GODDESS MAKE THINGS DIFFICULT FOR GODDESS

Sewers.

Wayne sat cross-legged, welcoming the homeless elemental particles. His life essence remained stuck at 95%, his progress painfully slow.

As the culprit behind the elemental collapse, he had no idea that numerous churches had opened investigations on him. The Three Goddesses Alliance, the Church of Heavenly Father, followers of Darkness and Death, and even followers of evil gods were curious about the consecutive elemental collapses.

No legitimate mages could ever guess that the elemental collapses happened because a mage apprentice had been inhaling elements too greedily. Based on their years of experience, they speculated that a holy or evil artifact had appeared in Londan, and its wielder was preparing for a terrible scheme.

Compared to the Death Knight’s sudden appearance, the mysterious mage responsible for the elemental collapses wasn’t as big a threat, so the churches hadn’t invested much manpower into the investigation. They waited for the matter to develop further while marking the incidents on the map to narrow down their investigation scope.

Wayne’s life essence was raised beyond human comprehension by the Book of Greed, which was also the reason the Lord of the Void refused to let him go. The losses he suffered were devastating!

The elemental space was crucial to the Lord of the Void and would determine if his existence could evolve further. He had to capture Wayne and refine him into an elemental space to replace the reserve he had built up over long years, but lost overnight. Otherwise, he couldn’t bear the loss.

The star of all these events, Wayne, remained oblivious to the situation. He holed up in the sewer and became cut off from the world, focusing solely on outgrinding everyone. He multitasked, meditating automatically to welcome the four elements while he focused his mind on his second short-term goal: to communicate with nature.

It was extremely difficult. Many mages wouldn’t even dare to attempt it. He boldly took up the challenge because of his ignorance.

Diligence made intelligence, and cultivation made genius. Nothing could be gained without hard work. The early bird is hard and firm... Anyway, the sages throughout history had pointed the way. Wayne firmly believed that his repeated failures resulted from insufficient effort. Nature had been eager to communicate with him, but the conversation failed because of his inadequacy.

Failure wasn’t a problem; giving up was. He refused to give up.

Splat!

Splat, spla—

Wet footsteps echoed from a distance. Do, lying at Wayne’s feet, growled a low warning, her ears raising in alert. He opened his eyes, shaking his head to put on the Death Knight skin. He calmed Do down by petting her.

Bo was one of their own. No need to bare teeth at him every time.

Still, he was quite satisfied with Do’s protective instinct. He released a strand of mana, letting Do lick it to her heart’s content.

Bo halted, watching Do enviously. He wanted to lick his fill as well—he was talking about the mana, of course. All vengeful spirits naturally craved their master’s mana.

“So?” Wayne said slowly. “How did the case go?”

“The evidence is solid. Case closed. There’s just the legal procedures to go through...”

Bo gave a detailed report. It had been three days since the Londan Police Department locked down the eight councilors’ mansions. The victims had received timely treatment and were no longer in critical danger. The bodies retrieved from the basement had also been identified by their families to confirm the list of deaths. Due to the involvement of a specialized agency, the case progressed at an incredible speed—the efficiency was hard to believe for the Kingdom of Windsor.

On the other hand, the specialized agency’s involvement also prevented media coverage. The official story became that the eight councilors were under investigation for corruption, and due to them having a degenerate party where they overdosed on substances, they lost their mind and were sent to the Red Leaf Asylum for further interrogation and treatment.

Bo wasn’t entirely satisfied with the outcome, but knew that it was the best possible result. Some things were better left out of the public consciousness of ordinary people.

“So, what do you think?” Wayne asked curiously. “What have you learned from this matter?”

“I want to help more people suffering from injustice.”

“Oh, aren’t you afraid of exposing yourself and attracting more attention?”

“I’m dead. Now that I don’t fear death, what else is there to fear?”

Bo shook his head wryly. No, there was something he feared—his girlfriend Timmy, for example. Officer Green had promised to give her a clerical job at the police station, but there was nothing Green could do about her mental state. To help her recover, Bo had to meet her, or even just call her to let her know that he was alright.

Bo was conflicted, so he asked Wayne for advice. His master could do anything; he had to be able to point him to the right path, too.

Wayne was speechless. He had been single since birth and only fantasized about having three girlfriends. Asking him for relationship advice was tantamount to relationship suicide.

He couldn’t give any helpful advice, but he knew what Bo was feeling conflicted about. With a scoff, he said, “Then stop contacting her from now on. Cut ties with her completely for her good.”

“But...” Bo looked pained. “Perry was arrested two days ago for being an accomplice to my murder. She couldn’t accept it, and her mental state is deteriorating further. I’m afraid she won’t last much longer.”

“Heh, why ask me when you’ve already made up your mind? You just don’t want to shoulder the responsibility.” Wayne shook his head. Wanting something while avoiding the responsibility that came with it? There was no such privilege in the world.

“My master, it’s not that I want to avoid accountability. I’m simply worried that when she faces life-threatening danger because of me, I won’t be able to protect her,” Bo explained.

“Have you slept together?”

“A few times...”

“Only a few times?” Wayne scoffed. Who are you trying to fool?

“Um...”

Bo lowered his head guiltily. They were young and passionately in love, so of course they were going to do it more than once every night, but no more than that; they both had to work the next day.

“Did you break up?”

“No!”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Nothing.”

Enlightened by his master’s guidance, Bo suddenly saw what he should do. He would go to Timmy and give her the long-overdue candlelit dinner.

It might be selfish, and Timmy could face more trouble because of him, but such was an adult’s life. Two opposing options could both be right or wrong. Only children wanted both, while adults didn’t have a choice!

“If there’s nothing else, get out of my sight. Don’t seek me out unless I summon you or you encounter trouble you can’t handle.” Wayne dismissed Bo.

His current main goal was training and making himself stronger in every way possible. If Bo wanted to help the weak and become a secret hero working in the darkness, he was happy to fulfill that wish—it was what he wanted, in fact.

He could only dream of being a hero when he was powerless, but if he still only dreamed about being a hero rather than carrying it out in action, what was the point of having power? How would he differ from those bastards who only used their strength to satisfy their selfish desires?

Instead of taking his leave immediately, Bo said, “Master, many people have been searching for you recently.”

“Who?”

“Mages and followers of various gods. The followers of Death, especially, have been actively seeking you out even at the risk of arrest and imprisonment in an asylum.”

Bo remembered his master saying that the Death Knight served the Goddess of Death as her agent in the mortal world. That would make fellow followers of Death their allies, so he found it necessary to report the news.

“What do the followers want with me?” Wayne rubbed his skull. He had a rough idea why.

The Three Goddess Alliance had been keeping followers of Death and Darkness in check, and they thus weren’t able to even establish a church in Londan. There were only hideouts scattered across the city, from where they spread their faith in secret.

Since the knight serving Darkness arrived and elevated the followers of Darkness, the followers of Death had been looking at them with envy. But now, the Death Knight was here, too. The followers wanted nothing but to latch onto his skeletal thigh for support.

Bo’s explanation was more or less in line with Wayne’s speculation. Death’s followers had been oppressed for too long. They craved to rise in power and spread the teachings of Death openly.

Wayne felt a headache brewing. His impression of Death’s followers wasn’t that bad. It was mostly due to his first encounter with them—those followers were cowards, each cherishing their life more than the last. They surrendered as soon as Veronica pointed her pistol at them. They were so pathetic that they made good entertainment.

Outside of that, though, the faith of Death left much to be desired. The doctrine to embrace Death, especially, lacked appeal.

His master had repeatedly told him about the terror of the two evil goddesses, Death and Darkness. She emphasized that the Goddess of Nature was the only rightful deity, representing righteousness, selflessness, life, and mercy.

Nature’s beautiful! Silvia had said after the whole spiel.

You’re all goddesses. Why must one goddess make things difficult for another goddess? Have some empathy and don’t squabble while male gods laugh at you. Isn’t it nice to have sisters?

His master’s evaluation of faiths was obviously strongly biased, so Wayne only bought half of it. He was a realist; he’d believe in anything useful.

The Free Mage Alliance put it well: Faith strengthens people, while religion makes one into a fool. Don’t get too close to followers of gods. They’ll lower a mage’s intelligence.

It was fine to dabble in religion, but not commit to a faith blindly.

At the same time, he understood that a group of people would never be completely homogeneous. Not every follower of Nature was good, and not every follower of Death was bad. Looking at the entire Chosen Land, there were no good or bad people—only people fighting for their own interests.

What should he do?

Wayne rubbed his head as an image surfaced in his mind:

In the class, a teacher was teaching a student one-on-one. The teacher of Death, wearing a black robe, revealed her long leg while pointing at a line of text on the blackboard with a pointer: faith begets fools.

“See? That’s the key,” said the teacher.

“I see it,” said the student. “The skin’s—the blackboard’s so smooth.”

In the real world, Bo said, “Master, are you going to meet with the followers? They have become increasingly active. If left on their own, I’m afraid they’ll...”

“Find them and tell them that this is the Death Knight’s order: select a few representatives and be in the cemetery in the Western District past midnight, three days from now. I’ll be there to meet them and convey the Goddess of Death’s will.” Wayne smiled insidiously. Thanks to his master, he knew how he should manage these followers.

Bo departed with his new order.

***

The night passed mostly uneventfully.

Bo met with his girlfriend, Timmy, who fell directly into his arms due to her poor mental state, unable to take the sudden emotional swing. Later that night, Bo went through the sewers and found the active Death’s followers, relaying the Death Knight’s command.

The followers could choose not to believe him, but they would have to bear the consequences if they missed the meeting in three days.

Windsor’s intelligence network had been so compromised that they were able to keep a secret as well as a sieve could contain water. The same was true of the followers of Death in Londan. Most of them belonged to the lower class and lacked order and discipline. Before the news about the meeting organized by the Death Knight could reach all the followers, it had already reached the higher-ups of numerous churches.

The mystery was about to be revealed. The Death Knight would explain in person the reason he came to Londan.

Everyone was waiting for the midnight meeting in three days.