Dirty and Frosty glared at Tristan and followed him into the room. They presumed that he was deadlier than anything outside the room. Probably not an incorrect assumption, given the empty city outside. It gave Tristan a feeling of power that was probably unhealthy, as he stepped into the room where Elder River sat.
Not long ago, this Elder had advocated for Tristan’s death. He had not understood why back then. Now he knew the Caldera was founded by the survivors of a fortress and a cult city. The temple had a hatred for the Steel Saint that had caused trouble for Tristan hundreds of years later. The Guider most likely still wanted him dead, and Elder Plain, aside from his genocidal nature, seemed like a very punchable man.
The odd thing was the corpse in the center of the room. Well, not a corpse, he was alive, but he was not moving, and judging from the artifact sitting over his chest he was in some kind of forced deep sleep. He was a big man and would have been intimidating if he was not lying inside a glass case filled with flowers.
“Uh,” was all Tristan could say upon seeing the body.
Unfortunately, that gave Elder Plains the time he needed to speak, “What do you want? Or are you just here to bully us?”
Tristan blinked at the man. Did the Elder that had imported the ghost crabs just accuse Tristan of bullying? It was so far away from what was reasonable that Tristan was not sure if he had heard Elder Plain properly.
“Don’t listen to him, silver devil’s always lie,” Guider Mathis said.
“Sure,” Tristan said, not particularly caring what Mathis thought, “Anyway I just got back from a mission to destabilize the Forrest Caldera. I need something that can stop a person from refilling their kern.”
He knew artifacts like that existed. Regis’s amulet was one such artifact, and if the temple had one made for fire kerns, it stood to reason that ones for dark also existed. The only one that should be lacking is metal, as they would need someone with a metal kern at tier three to inject metal essence to attune the reservoir.
“See, he’s lying, how could one person destabilize an entire Caldera,” Guider Mathis said.
Tristan frowned at the man. It was kind of obvious, in fact, Tristan was in a position to destabilize the River Caldera too. Both its elder and guider were in the room and no one here could stop him.
Elder River frowned disapprovingly at Guider Mathis but did not reprimand him. He addressed Tristan instead, “I do admit, I have not gotten word of what you are describing. Please elaborate.”
Tristan gave Guider Mathis his most innocent smile, “I only caused a fire by fighting Regis that killed most of the acolytes. I burned down the head family’s home, then I collapsed the temple itself, then I killed Regis, crippled the guards, and kidnapped the acting leader. The elemental lord elevated my father to tier four and gave him control over the human part of the Forrest Caldera,” Tristan held up a hand to forestall Guider Mathis, “And if you don’t believe me, I will tell you how to find an underground facility where the Temple creates artifacts.”
Guider Mathis’s mouth opened and closed several times before he folded his arms and stayed silent. Good, Tristan was tired of crazy zealots. At least Mathis lacked the physical power of someone like Regis, a fight might have broken out otherwise.
Elder River leaned forward at the mention of artifact creation, “You are hiding a method of creating artifacts? During times like this, we consider that betrayal.”
Elder Plain jumped in and spoke like the hypocrite he was, “Why would you put the Caldera in such peril for your greed?”
Guider Mathis griped back, “You’re one to talk. Two whole Caldera’s were eradicated because of you.”
“Nothing has been proven,” Elder Plain said. He never denied the accusation.
Tristan’s opinion of Elder River had been steadily on the rise in the last few months. He was the reason that his heart was able to be returned to his chest. Also, Eve was someone Tristan respected, some of that respect was invariably spread to those who raised her. However, Elder River was someone who could casually share a meal with a man who would kill nearly twenty thousand people with little remorse.
The three men started arguing. It was more insults and pseudo-philosophical justifications on the morality of each person's decisions. Tristan could only shake his head at the ridiculousness of these old men. He had good reasons to kill each one of them, but they easily forgot he was standing before them when their tempers flared.
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Would he interrupt them, yes, when he got bored? Currently, there was a preserved body that held his interest. He inspected the glass casket first, primarily to see if it had a hinge or opening. More information could be gotten if he could touch the artifact. The reason why it interested him was it was a light artifact that primarily used the architect force.
Architect force was a misnomer. It was how most people used it, but it was more of a mold or image force. In healing, the body had an image that it conformed to, then growth would refill the missing parts of that mold. It was the reason someone born missing a limb could not heal it while Tristan could get it back if it was chopped off. He had gotten his lung back after all.
He found a plaque in one corner, it had the standard grave inscriptions. ‘In loving memory of Merrick. An Elder fallen before his rule could ever begin.’ Tristan glanced up at Elder River, then down at the man, Merrick he assumed. No family resemblance was visible. Not surprisingly, this man was only twenty-five or so, still had his hair and sun-tanned skin. Elder River was hunchbacked, bald, and wrinklier than a box of raisins.
Merrick did share many of Eve’s features, though the age gap threw him off. Maybe an uncle? No way was this Eve’s dad, he would have been seven or eight when she was born. Still, he was definitely family, especially if he warranted such a potent artifact. Though why did they think he was dead? Iron was frozen in his veins, it was not congealing, but neither was it flowing. The body was not resinating with his decay alloy, so the body was not rotting either.
Still, Tristan knew he could heal the man, even if he was a tier five. He had filled the tier seven essence reservoir with healing alloy and slotted it into the amulet. It was just not cost-effective to keep eating his supply, the amulet could also force the healing essence into whatever part of the body he placed it against, as opposed to radiating from his heart.
Well, Eve had lost a sister. Tristan decided he could assist her by returning an uncle. He placed a hand on the glass and tried to move it. It was bolted down. Tristan was not going to remove it one bolt at a time, he drew his sword breaker and cut straight through the glass. It was good to have these back.
Only after removing the glass panel did Tristan realize the room had gotten deathly quiet. He looked up, the five conscious occupants of the room looked at Tristan in various stages of confusion and horror.
“What?” Tristan asked, setting the glass aside.
“You dare desecrate my son’s corpse!” Elder River yelled. Though he remained sitting, ruining the effect.
“No?” Tristan said, though he said it as a question. At least it clarified who Merrick was. Did Elder River think this was a corpse? The artifact would probably work on a corpse as well, but did he not try to heal his own son? Any competent light civil protector should be able to heal him. He was surprised that Henry hadn’t offered to in exchange for some mercantile benefits.
“The silver devil shows his true colors,” Guider Mathis said smugly.
“You know what,” Tristan said, “You three and your organizations have impressed on me the value of who has the biggest stick. I am done being cordial with you three psychos. Sit still and don’t talk unless I ask you a question.”
“You can’t tell..” Elder Plain was cut off when Tristan punched his punchable face.
The old man toppled out of his chair. He was still conscious, Tristan had not hit him that hard. Cutting a wad of fabric out of the man’s chair, he stuffed it into Elder Plain’s mouth. Then he summoned Vulcan to create a helmet molded to the shape of his face. Elder Plain couldn’t take it off and it stopped him from spitting the fabric out.
Tristan sighed. Vulcan would have thought this was hilarious. Soon, just wait. As soon as I can, I’ll get you back.
Dirty and Frosty had moved to protect Elder River though they did not seem to like their chances. Tristan felt bad for those two. They were competent people saddled with incompetent bosses.
Tristan did not say anything. He made no threats, as he believed that he had made himself very clear. Walking back to Merrick he placed a hand on the artifact. It was light-based, and to his surprise, tier five. Had this been owned by Hestia at one point? Merrick was tier four at the very least. It made more sense why healers would struggle with him. Healing a subject became difficult if there was a tier difference between the patient and the healer. It was part of the reason why Tristan had used the tier seven reservoir for healing, it would be more effective because he was a lower tier.
Looking up at Elder River’s anxious expression, Tristan scoffed. The man looked concerned but did nothing to stop Tristan. He even had a demonstration showing Tristan’s unwillingness to kill them.
“What happened to him?” Tristan asked.
“Why do you want to know?” Elder River grumbled, though at Tristan’s raised eyebrow, he continued, “He broke his kern fighting a mythical beast. He was then killed when the beast stabbed him through the heart.”
Tristan inspected the body again. He pulled the ceremonial jacket aside to look at the chest. There were two puncture wounds, he used his metal sense and scanned the pathways, then compared it to his own body’s structure. The heart was still there, but the arteries and lungs just to the left and right were a mess. If the heart did not narrow towards the base, it would have been pulverized as well.
“Why do you think he’s dead though?” Tristan asked.
“He broke his kern and was stabbed through the chest by a giant sloth, that artifact only works on corpses,” Elder River sounded indignant like Tristan had insulted his intelligence.
“Does it work on livestock?” Tristan asked. Cows did not possess kerns, but every human did. It was more likely that if Hestia had this, she would use it to stabilize a patient, while she moved them for treatment. Breaking a kern was the standard method of progression and this would be a way to make the process safe. Or at the very least it would remove every variable.
“The holy artifact will never be used on..” The Guider got his cushion shoved into his mouth as well. He rolled around trying to get the helmet off.
“Uh no, why?” Elder River asked uncertainly.
Tristan did not answer. He was going to take this artifact. Safely growing all the miners sounded like a great deal. Cracking his knuckles like he imagined all competent people did, Tristan got to work.