CHAPTER 121

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The Creator, Atlantis, Kalenic Sea

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Well, I certainly wasn't expecting the mage to explode the dinosaur's head up from the inside! Note: make the inside of my monsters as damage-resistant as their hides. Perhaps it could be done through Mana reinforcement and enchantment rather than changing their biology.

Either way, there wasn't much else dangerous enough to be a threat to the guilders in the Geothermic Valley apart from the mini-boss monster they just killed. After a quick bit of exploration to map the relatively small valley, the guilders found the exit cave and moved on. The exit led out to the Crossroads, where the Second Peak becomes the Third Peak. Most paths through the Second converge here, and the three paths through the Third also split off here.

One path is treacherous and dangerous by nature, the other swarming with monsters and Snowbolds who want some combat experience. The third path is, of course, a cave tunnel that is totally safe. The only trouble was the wall of fungal matter blocking the way. The guilders were quick to investigate the cave and stumble upon the corpse near the fungal wall, and they located the letter near the body soon after. Ultimately, they decided to examine the place mentioned in the letter on their next run. In Isid's own words, 'We might as well push on as far through the third peak as we can.'

This was delayed slightly by the snowstorm that started to whip up as the sun set. They decided to camp in the cave, with enough people on watch to wake up the others in the case whatever monsters came for the skeleton comes for them.

There is no monster, and the corpse was entirely set dressing, but it's the thought that counts.

As day broke to the totally obscuring snowstorm on the Eighth, my attention was drawn to the overcast surface. Kata was meeting with Layla. Kata felt confused, angry, and bewildered. Curious, I focused on the meeting mid-rant from Layla. Seeing the ordinarily respectful albino woman ranting like this was... certainly something. The now obviously pregnant Lady Kolchiss was also present and, from the looks of things, just as mad.

"-ow could you not have known! They're your people, and you sent them out!" Layla ranted, waving a folded piece of parchment around and pointing it at Kata threateningly. I sent my Voice a feeling of confusion and a request for clarification. She sent back the mental image of her rubbing her eyes and physically took a breath,

"As far as I am aware, the Children who left did so of their own accord," Kata responded calmly, keeping her facial expression as serene as possible. "They assured me their self-imposed mission was to spread the teachings of The Creator to the Phenoc Dukedoms."

"Well, they did that quite peacefully from what my father's said in our correspondence," Lady Kolchiss interjected, still with a severe frown. "The problems came when the teachings they spread gave the peasants ideas above their stations. They burned down the manors of several nobles and murdered others, among the richest in the county. The guards are doing all they can to suppress them. Still, the peasants are crafty and disappear into the city after each act of robbery, murder, or arson they commit. Each act leaves them with better weapons and more resources with which to commit their next crimes. We cannot kill all our subjects, and rooting out only the ringleaders is incredibly difficult." I quickly asked Kata for permission to speak through here, and the woman agreed.

"Surely some investigation would clear things up? I have full confidence in my Children's innocence in this matter," I interjected. Both women standing before the throne immediately noticed that Kata wasn't the one speaking. Perhaps it was in how I held myself compared to her, my words, or another tell.

"It would if this revolution's ringleaders and your children weren't being fiercely protected," Lady Kolchiss continued. "The ideals of community, the Children instilled in the peasants, have made it impossible to get any to turn on the others, even under threat of death or torture. The 'church' they built in your name is a fortress the guards cannot approach without slaughtering all in their way."

The noble lady leaned forward as much as she could, given the round bump of her belly.

"I am only here to... request... two things. Firstly, I wish to return to my father's lands. Second, that you recall your Children. They've caused enough damage."

"Of course," I answered, to surprised blinks and taken aback expressions. "You aren't a hostage, and I have no reason to antagonize an ally. I sincerely apologize for the damage caused by my Children. And I will send you back a reasonable amount of gold and silver to pay for their actions. I will have a message sent to my Children and send my fleet to collect them immediately. I hope we can continue to be allies, but I will understand if our relationship is soured by these events."

Lady Kolchiss, who had obviously been expecting to be kept as a hostage and war declared, took a moment to take in my words.

"I thank you for your graciousness, Creator. I will await a guide to the port and ship. Please excuse me, I must begin packing." The lady stood, nodded at Kata, and left the throne room.

"And what of your worries, Guildmistress Layla?" I asked, turning to the albino woman as Kolchiss disappeared through the doors. "From what I understand, you arrived separately to Lady Kolchiss."

"I did, yes. Just as she received a message from her father, I received one from my grandfather. While Blackwater Bay lacks a Guild Hall, Port Laviet, Duke Medean's capital city, doesn't. I am to ascertain your responsibility for this 'revolution.'"

"I can assure you, and the guild as a whole, that I have nothing to do with it," I answered, trying to be as truthful as possible. "I have far better methods for conquer than inciting a rebellion in an allied power. Whatever the spark was for this revolution, either my children's teachings or malcontents taking advantage of the situation, It was not my intention."

The blindfolded woman stared at me for a moment. "You understand that I can't just take you at your word."

"Of course. Actions speak louder than words, after all." There was a moment of confusion, then understanding on her face. Another saying that didn't exist in this world? Ah, well. "As a courtesy, I'm happy to inform you that your aunt and her raid group are on the Eighth Floor and intend to explore as much of the Third Peak as possible before returning late tomorrow. The only major injury they've incurred is the Lightning Mage losing her hand. Again."

"...Thank you for the consideration. I'll make sure we have healers on hand when they return."

Layla left without another word. Felin, who had been standing at the door, followed her out.

"Be honest with me. Did you tell them to do this?" Kata asked as soon as the doors were closed and she could relax against the throne.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

No, I didn't. But, at the same time, it's not entirely unexpected. The world I came from was more egalitarian. No nobles at all. No one was meant to have more rights or unearned privileges than anyone else. It didn't always work out that way, but it was the ideal we strived for. I'm not surprised that attempting to spread ideals of that kind led to those oppressed rising against their oppressors. 𝘳å𐌽ô𝖇Ëʂ

"If no one was in charge, how did anything get done?"

Oh, I didn't say no one was in charge. That's an entirely different story.

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Church of The Creator, Blackwater Bay, Kolchiss County

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"Whatdowedowhatdowedowhatdowedowhatdowedo-" Baalzebub mumbled ceaselessly, wandering back and forth in the private meeting room deep in their church. This was an unmitigated disaster!

"Calm down, Baal. The Creator has made His will known," Aston Astarionson interrupted, entering the room. "A Wind Spirit conveyed a message to me. The Creator will be sending the fleet to retrieve us. They should arrive in two days. While one-way portals can work from anywhere, the two-way portal only works within His Domain, or they'd be here already."

"He is? Oh, Creator, that's almost worse!" Baal cried, throwing herself on a nearby couch. "We set out to prove we could do something independently, and now He will lose all confidence in us!"

"I doubt that young one," Teka Gleamfire answered, calm and confident. "We didn't request help. He discovered our plight and offered us salvation. He is not a god who would abandon loyal followers over something like this."

"But we've ruined everything!" Baal threw a red capriccio-wool pillow at the Drake-kin, who caught it handily and passed it off to one of the few humans in the room. "Lord Kolchiss is His ally on the mainland, and now the humans are rebelling against him because of our teachings!"

"But not on our orders," Towers-Over-Others commented from his spot on the other side of the room. Even accounting for the larger members of the Children, Towers was too big to fit many of the rooms in the deeper parts of the Church. "And He will know that we would never jeopardize His alliance. It's most likely that He found out from Lord Kolchiss himself.

"Never mind how he found out. What did He instruct of us?" Teka asked Aston while Baal hugged a second pillow and tried to control herself. She was a proud Capriccio. A Priestess of The Creator! She should be better than this!

"The fleet will stay off the coast and is more a deterrent than anything else. Guilders have been dispatched from the nearest Guild Hall and will arrive in three days to help quell the rebellion. It is His hope that we will be able to leave well in advance of them."

"What about us?" Halley, the lone Human Priestess in the room, interjected. "After this mess, the nobility will no doubt blame the Church. They'll crack down on His worship, and those caught practicing will be executed, banished, or thrown into the deepest depths of the dungeons. They won't care that it's only two dozen or so who've committed to this insanity; they'll paint us all with the same brush."

The Children in the room shared glances, winces, and thoughtful looks. They'd forgotten about the humans in the mix. About two dozen or so humans had committed to the priesthood of The Creator, of whom Halley had been elected their representative.

"Anyone who wishes to come with us can," Baal announced. She was the overall leader of this mission, and it was her responsibility to make this call. "Halley, Spread the word amongst the congregation. Gather at the port in two days. Pack only the essentials." The human nodded and made her way out of the room, robes swishing dramatically. Baal turned to address the other Children. "It may delay boarding the ships, but I'm sure we'll have plenty of time before the guilders reach town."

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Southern Gate, Blackwater Bay, County Kolchiss

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Tamesou Akio felt highly uncomfortable at the glares coming from uncountable eyes as he, his companions, and a contingent of other Guilders walked through the gates into the town. Hundreds of people went about their days, each taking at least a moment to glare at the column of guilders through windows, out of alleyways, and even on the sides of the street. He hadn't ever been subject to this much hostility and didn't think he was taking it very well. Plenty just kept their heads down, especially with what looked like a heightened guard presence hanging around.

Though nothing seemed actively on fire, a few wispy smoke trails came from burned-down parts of the town. The main road looked relatively clean, but plenty of debris and broken bits of wood were everywhere.

It didn't take long for them to reach what was obviously a church. Not a Temple, like the local gods had, but an honest gothic Church, slapped down in the middle of this city. If he was honest, it was a little disorienting, and from the shared glances, Bruce and Sophie agreed.

The Church was abandoned. It was set up like a Christian church; the Nave was filled with pews, with an altar at the far end below a huge stained glass window. Where most would have depictions of their god, there was only a symbol here. A teal teardrop shape radiating light down on the depiction of a volcanic island. At least, it looked volcanic.

Akio, Sophie, Elize, and Bruce remained quiet as the other guilders spread through the building, investigating. The heroes and princesses found themselves at the altar. Sophie quickly found a book and rifled her way through its pages.

"What do you think it represents?" Bruce asked, bumping Akio on his shoulder. "The teardrop. Water? Holy Water?"

"It's a symbol of their god, referred to only as 'The Creator', as far as I can tell," Sophie chimed in, eyes scanning quickly. "Sound at all familiar, Elize?"

"No. Whatever god this is, it's not any I know of."

"Weird. Gods just don't appear out of nothing, right?" Akio commented, glancing at her briefly. Elize nodded absently, hand on her chin. Akio quickly looked away and went back to squinting up at the window. There was something.... odd about the symbol. "And I don't think it's just a teardrop. Wouldn't they have used just one pane of glass for that? And doesn't the way it's laid out look like facets-"

"AHAH! QUICKLY! TO THE PORT! WE MIGHT CATCH THEM YET!"

Akio was jolted from his thoughts as Guard-Captain Heliat came bounding out of the back rooms, holding a piece of parchment in his hand. He didn't even glance their way and was followed by every other guilder in the church. After sharing some concerned glances, they followed at a jog.

"Is anyone else worried about how Heliat's jumping on the Monsters as the culprits immediately, without even considering that maybe the people here decided to rebel on their own?" Bruce asked quietly, to silent nods. Akio agreed. While he admired Heliat as a fighter and teacher, time had revealed the man held some deep biases. He'd thought that when he'd earlier talked about the monsters being peaceful, he was giving them the benefit of the doubt, but it seemed he was just looking for an excuse.

"I don't think he'll let us go to that island anymore," Sophie chimed in, putting the book in her bag. "The monsters definitely came from there, and if they're in charge on the surface, Heliat's not going to chance that they're friendly anymore."

"So when do we split off?" Elize asked as they approached a downward slope. The port was at the bottom of the hill, and they could see the ships sitting off the coast. One looked to have recently cast off. Its passengers desperately threw up magical shields against the barrage of magical power the guilders, who'd reached the end of the pier it'd cast off from. Akio decided to try a spell he'd been working on.

Channeling magic from his core up through his neck, his head, and out his eyes, the magic made a thin film. With a flex of will, his vision zoomed in, and he got an eyeful of the beings on the ship.

"What the fuck!?" he couldn't help but mutter. He could barely believe what he was seeing. Everything he'd learned since getting here said that there weren't any beast races, dwarves, elves, or any other kind of fantasy race... so why were there a couple of minotaurs, a goat person... a scorpion-centaur creature, something that looked remarkably like dragonborn from dungeons and dragons, and what looked like a decent number of humans on top. A few humans actively aided their monstrous defenders, channeling their mana into the shield spell. And none looked to be hostages or being threatened at all.

"Something weird is going on here..." Akio wondered, relaying what he'd seen to his friends. They quickly came to a decision. They had to see what was going on with these monsters, and now was the literal only time they'd been left alone since leaving the Holy City—at least, left alone outside a guarded room they'd definitely be spotted leaving from. And it looked like the Guilders were giving up on trying to sink the ship.

"We split off now," Akio stated, finally answering Elize's question." We'll buy some disguises and catch a ship to the island. They were trading with this city, right? There's bound to be one or two headed out again soon, even with the fighting."

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