As the group of hopeful Thalls braved the icy mountain, Rhita observed all of their new companions. She was surprised to find the Slime, especially, to be very easy to get along with, making friends with everybody.
The Slime was able to empathize with the struggles of being a seamstress, a novice archer, and a single parent. Not only that, the Slime promised them a better life inside his Master’s kingdom where they no longer had to worry about their basic living necessities. This made them even more excited and motivated to reach the top of the mountain.
Rhita walked over to the Slime and asked him a question.
“If you were down with us in the village, you could have convinced more villagers to join us to migrate to the mountain.”
Rhita wondered why the Slime only arrived at the foot of the mountain. It could have joined Achram down in the village, and it could have used its friendliness and interpersonal skills to recruit more people to become citizens of god’s kingdom.
She wasn’t saying that Achram did a bad job in convincing the villagers, in fact, she found it admirable that he was able to recruit 15 Thalls to move away from their home. However, if the Slime was there to help him, having more than half of the villagers join them in their expedition wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
“Yes, I would have.” Slime was on the bear’s back, being hugged and poked by the kids. However, since this would be an adult conversation, it jumped off the bear’s back and landed on Rhita’s head.
“However, this is not the time to show off my Master’s kingdom. If more than half of your villagers moved, the forces outside would take notice.”
Rhita looked up, confused. She did not know the outside forces that the Slime was talking about. After a little bit of thought, there was only one species she could think of that had a tremendous influence outside.
“Humans?”
The faceless Slime nodded. “The humans of this world are in their dark ages. The moment that they find out that a village of Thalls moved to the mountain, they would smell something weird. And what would happen after that?”
Rhita thought about it again for a second before she answered. “They’d try to find out what happened.”
“If I had gone down there and showed off my Master’s powers, there would be witnesses. Those humans would use any kind of violence they could to find out more about me and the Master that I serve. If that happened, it would only be a matter of time until an army of humans stormed the mountain.”
Rhita scratched her chin. “And since Achram is only a Thall, all of the things he said about God’s kingdom could be interpreted as nothing more than delusions.”
“Correct.” Slime was impressed. “For now, it's better if we stay under the radar and gather our forces. Once we have sufficient defenses and citizens, then we can announce to the entire world that God’s kingdom exists. At that point, even if a legion of humans tried to summit the mountain, they’d end up as nothing more than human ice.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
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Down in the village, the elders convened once again early in the morning. They were just informed that about 15 Thalls were missing, and their homes were completely devoid of any items. They didn’t think that there would be that many Thalls who were foolish enough to follow that Bad Spirit.
“Those idiots!” the wisest Elder shouted. “We must have lost another 3 hunters because of that.”
“What are we going to do about the hunt today? Should we postpone it?” the strongest Elder asked.
“Postpone the hunt? Are you crazy?”
“We can’t afford to lose more hunters. The fewer hunters we have, the more vulnerable they are to predators. What happens to them if an Apex Bear appears?”
“It doesn’t even matter. Even if we have a thousand hunters, it won’t fix the problem. There is less and less prey available in the wilds.”
“Are you saying we should just give up?”
“No…I’m just saying….”
“What? Tell us, elder? What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying…maybe we should reconsider Achram’s offer.”
“You must also be possessed by a Bad Spirit. How dare you try to lead us to our death?”
“I tasted that ‘mushroom’ that he brought. In all my years of experience, I have never seen anything like that. It tasted like beef! Only a god could create a miraculous food like that.”
“I agree with this elder. I agree with the elder. I think we should reconsider joining Achram.”
“You are all cowards! The answer to our problem is simple. If prey is hard to find, then we must hunt predators.”
“Do you want our hunters to die off? How about you try to hunt a predator?”
The meeting of the elders was the most chaotic it had ever been. There was a group of people who were warming up to the idea of joining Achram. Unfortunately, they were the minority.
They were being opposed by a group of conservatives who wholeheartedly believed that god’s kingdom was a hoax, and a group of Thalls who believed that they should stay in the village no matter what.
Some stayed silent, mostly because they didn’t know what to decide. They were tempted to go with Achram, but they were too afraid to take the risk.
“Quiet down.” The oldest of all Elders finally spoke up. He was the one who vehemently opposed Achram yesterday.
“Did all of you forget what that Bad Spirit did to me?” He rubbed his head. His brain was still aching from the stunt that Achram pulled yesterday. He didn’t know how he did it, but it must have been through his evil spirit. “We are not joining that Bad Spirit up the mountains. He will only lead us to our deaths.”
“Then Elder, what should we do?”
All the other elders looked up at the oldest Elder. He was the one who garnered the most respect out of everyone. So, if he decided something, they would all follow his choice.
“We wait. The decrease in prey is not new. I have experienced quite a few instances like this before, and it always ended up returning to normal in a few years.”
He didn’t tell them the whole truth. The decrease was far too sudden and dived too much to the brink of extinction. However, he didn’t want to induce panic in the rest of the elders and force them into migrating to the mountain like the other villagers. He didn’t want Achram to win.
KNOCK KNOCK
Just then, there was someone who knocked on their door.
“What is it?”
One of the hunters stationed outside came in and reported to the elders. “I have received word that a bunch of humans have come too close to the village.”
“What? Humans?!”
“Are they going to attack us?”
“I thought we were at peace? How dare they attack us?!”
The hunter immediately clarified the situation to prevent any misunderstanding. “They say that they mean no harm. They only want to speak to our elders.”
The rest of the elders calmed down when they heard that the humans weren’t attacking. If they were, then disaster would strike upon the village. They were no match for the humans’ impenetrable armor and exploding spears.
The strongest hunter hated humans with a passion. He’d lost a few prey because of them. “They are not welcome here.”
The hunter scratched his head. “We tried to tell them that, but they won’t budge. They said that won’t leave until they spoke with the elders.”
“Who were they?” asked the oldest Elder. He knew that this visit was no ordinary matter.
“They say they are human merchants. And they were the ones who had an agreement with the deceased Bucko.”
The rest of the elders went silent with that revelation. They all knew and were complicit in Bucko’s plan of selling off Rhita and her family as slaves to the humans. It was a desperate time.
The rest of the elders then all looked at each other, with no words being exchanged. They simply communicated through their eyes, making sure that their thoughts were not leaked to the outside world. Only when they looked at the oldest Elder and he nodded his head did they finally speak.
“Tell them that they can come next time.”
Just before the hunter was about to go outside and inform the others, another hunter came inside with his eyes wide and his breathing ragged. He looked like he had just wrestled a bear with his hands.
“What happened?!”
The hunter took a little bit more time to gather his breath until he spoke. “The humans…we tried to chase them away, but they didn’t budge…then…then…they showed us something. They said that they were ready to give this to the elders if they wanted.”
The hunter’s eyes were fervent and filled with desire. “I saw it…they had…they had one grain of Ether!”