“How drugged is he?” Madam Vesta asked Dalina softly, “Does he realize where he is?”

Several members of the Council of Devotees, including the empress, sat in the regular meeting hall, except this time windows were closed with blinds, making the atmosphere inside dark and gloomy. It was all prepared so that a drugged outsider, like Leo currently, would not be able to recognize any of the present people and that the whole situation would seem like a dream to them.

“I made him drink four cups of mandrake extract. Since he never has had any alcohol before, he should be in a dreamworld for at least a day.” Dalina explained.

“Isn’t it too much?” Madam Vesta furrowed her brows, obviously concerned, “Such amount might kill him.”

“This male-slave is somewhat peculiar. For some reason he has a natural resistance to alcohol … I have no idea why.” Dalina said with a light shrug.

“Alright, let’s begin.” The empress interrupted the chatter and turned to Leo.

She observed him for a brief moment and then directly asked, “Boy, have you ever met a God?”

Contrary to expectations, even though Leo was wasted and his sight was slightly blurry, he clearly realized he was awake. Years have passed since the last time he was in this condition therefore he sat there with his eyes partially closed and savoring the feeling.

Since it was not the first time him being drunk, not even close, Leo was familiar with the condition, but it felt too good to wonder how and why he got here. In fact, it felt so good he forced himself to ignore the grandpa’s Noel’s warning to not consume alcohol that for some reason kept popping up in his mind like a buzzing sound of annoying mosquito.

Unfortunately a merciless female voice interrupted his ecstasy, although the contents of what they said made Leo nostalgic. He had not seen the beauty in days and really wished he could wash her one more time. He was not clear why the woman was interested in Anna, but her sister was now dead …

“Sigh … I miss her …” He involuntarily blurted.

But the next moment he almost almost sobered up, ‘Wait! I’m in Vidantia! Empress’s people probably got me drunk in order to divulge some kind of secrets!’

Leo would’ve loved to tell everything, but unfortunately he didn’t really know anything at all. And even though he applauded the decision to not torture him instead cheating out the information this way, in order to survive he had to make something up again. Sadly his own experience with storytelling was not the best – last time he almost lost a leg.

While Leo inwardly struggled, the expressions of the Vidas family members turned serious. Everyone could tell that the few words the young male-slave said were from the heart. This boy has met a God! And not only that – for him to miss her, he obviously has spent some time in the divine presence!

Some were shocked, some envious, but the empress wanted to know the answer to the question that bugged her about the situation the most.

She asked, “Why did the God give you the weapon?”

According to what she knew, the Vidas family was the only one in Dreadlands in the possession of a divine artifact, but from who knows where a male-slave appeared carrying a tangible gift from a God. Even though the weapon was peculiar and it’s main characteristic was only its weight, the situation didn’t make sense.

‘Weapon?’ Leo’s was trying to pick the ‘proper’ tale to tell when the empress’s question threw him off the rails, ‘Wtf?! Why would they think Anna gave me the weapon? Or they think the Southern queen is a goddess? … no … wait! It can’t be ...’

Leo was drunk, but his experience with alcohol could easily be compared to all the present council members counted together. He might’ve had hard time walking in a straight line, but thinking relatively clearly was nothing special for someone who had climbed trees completely smashed while escaping little annoying apes. He suddenly got an idea and decided to test it out, but from the onlooker’s point of view it seemed as if the boy was inwardly struggling.

“It’s fine, you can tell me.” Empress said, forcing out a smile, “I’m your friend!”

‘Friend, my ass!’ Leo snorted to himself and the Jack’s image appeared in his mind.

His clever older friend surely would’ve thought of several passable stories by now, therefore in order to not fall behind Leo decided to come up with his own one. In fact, he didn’t really need to make up anything new and, in addition, maybe this particular story could get him his Cleaver back.

“I have a very sick body so after saving my life, in order to strengthen it, God gave me a special item I am supposed to carry at all times.”

Leo knew he didn’t look particularly sick, but compared to the muscular women he saw everywhere in Dreadlands, he looked as weak as a worm. And the present members of Vidas family also thought so.

“Tell me about her … tell me about the God.” Empress asked in a trembling voice.

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She was a stoic person who usually never showed any emotions, but the current subject was too important to her and her predecessors. Clearly there was no big secret behind the boy carrying the weapon nor there was some kind of a scheme. For some reason this puny slave had encountered a divine being – something Vidas family longed for since the fateful encounter centuries ago.

‘Her?’ Leo got confused for a moment since he was kind of talking about master Shaw, but then it came to him that obviously anyone in Dreadlands would think a God had to be a woman. Luckily in this case the gender didn’t matter – he had met a couple immortals in his life and they were practically gods.

“The God is omnipotent … and incredibly wise. Their strength is … I don’t think I can comprehend it … and they can fly …” Leo was not completely certain what exactly he had to tell at this point.

“When will you have to return the weapon?” Empress asked and despite being drunk Leo immediately guessed her intention.

‘She wants to meet the God!’ He inwardly laughed and got another idea.

“The God will find me when I’m strong enough to comfortably carry the weapon.” He said, trying to stare in the distance longingly, “They saved me somewhere at the eastern mountain range and my guess is that they expect me to return there when I’m ready one day.”

“Did the God say ... no … did the God teach you anything?” This time it was madam Vesta who asked.

Leo pondered to himself for a moment and said, “Another God taught me how to cook. They said that a healthy meal is the cornerstone for a healthy body.”

Even though Jamie was ‘only’ at the Nascent soul stage, in Leo’s eyes he might as well be called ‘the God of cooking’. And actually the guy did state such thing in his book.

“Wait! You met more than one God?!” Empress almost shouted in shock while the others jumped to their feet, clenching their fists excitedly. The only problem was that the one who met Gods was this clueless bastard and not any of them.

“Ye, kind of.” Leo could only shrug in response.

Empress took a deep breath to calm down and asked, “Alright, tell me all about the God who taught you to cook.”

“Mm … there is not really much to tell. And they didn’t teach me directly – only game me this one book to read …” Leo said, but the small group in the hall would’ve jumped to their feet another time if they weren’t already standing.

“Where is this book?” Empress asked trying to outwardly remain as calm as possible, “Can I take a look at it? I promise to give it back.”

“I don’t have it.” Leo shrugged again, but then realized he made an oopsie. Making up stories while being drunk was not the best idea after all – one will make a mistake sooner or later. It was obvious that people would want to have the book that was supposedly given to him by a God and now he had to make up another lie.

He said, “I carried it in my bag at all times, but one day it was gone.”

“Alright.” Empress calmly said, but what no one noticed how she clenched her fists in anger, “Where did that happen?”

“I don’t know … somewhere in the south, I guess.” Leo said scratching the back of his head. This was getting tedious – he would’ve much more preferred to lie down in grass and watch clouds pass by above while, enjoying the sensation of the world spinning around.

The empress and madam Vesta exchanged glances and nodded to each other as if confirming something, but then Dalina got an idea.

“What language was the book written in?” She asked.

Even empress felt like kicking herself for not thinking of asking that, but what Leo said next made her not care about it anymore.

“Uhmm … a different language?” Leo said not knowing how to properly name the main dialect of the Immortal Alliance.

“Come with me!” The empress finally had enough.

She grabbed Leo by the collar and a moment later was already outside. The boy was blinded by the sudden sunlight and didn’t notice where she was bringing him, but what he realized was that this woman was much stronger than Lana! She easily carried him like he was a puppy or a kitten! He was certain that this was the first non-cultivator he met who could actually wield the Cleaver as a regular weapon!

The previous conversation didn’t last too long and Leo was still buzzed. In addition, the empress moved so fast the world spun around, although it would’ve seemed this way even if he was sober, therefore when they arrived at a small, white marble house, guarded by a couple of elite guards and she let him go, the boy staggered for a few steps and then fell on the walkway face down. Fortunately, also because he was buzzed, it didn’t hurt much, apart from his pride that is.

‘Damn it!’ He cursed to himself while getting up, ‘I’m getting rusty without drinking the Firewater for so long!’

Madam Vesta, Dalina and the rest from the previous interrogation arrived shortly after and watched the drunk and clumsy male-slave patting his pants with incredulous eyes. It was still hard to believe a God could’ve chosen such random country bumpkin or even notice him.

“Open up!” Empress ignored Leo and the rest and ordered one of the guards.

“Yes, your imperial majesty!” The burly woman in a silvery armor quickly fished out keys from her pocket, unlocked the heavy door and widely opened it while Leo finally realized who led the interrogation and who was the one carrying him just a moment ago.

Trying to not gulp too loudly from fear, he followed the empress inside with lowered head while stealthily peeking around. Sadly there was nothing much to see – inside the small, windowless room there was nothing except a hole on the floor with stairs leading somewhere down.

The narrow staircase wasn’t long – only thirty or so steps and at the bottom there was another door, this time not locked. Behind it was a relatively large hall with low ceiling, but Leo couldn’t discern details because just as he entered he got dazed by hundreds of bright lights.

It was almost like staring at the night sky, except these lights were more of bluish color and, of course, larger and brighter compared to stars. It took few breaths of time for the sight to adjust and only then Leo realized these lights were coming from stones in the size of a baby’s fist, embed in the hall’s marble walls and columns. From the looks of it, these were the rare ores elder Miller spoke about before they departed to Dreadlands and the expedition was supposed to gather in case they found any, but there was no way Leo would currently bother himself with shiny stones just because the sect master wanted to get her hands on something pretty.

After throwing around a curious glance, to his big disappointment he realized this place was not the imperial treasury or something similarly noteworthy. There were only a couple of tables and shelves stacked with parchments and books at one side and a wide altar-like object at the far end.

“What’s written on it?” The empress asked in a stern voice.

Currently the group was standing near a dark stone slate, approximately a yard tall and two inches thick, enframed on the wall and hidden behind a layer of glass. Around its frame were rows of the shining stones which threw light at a bunch of runic markings Leo had seen before. At the very bottom of the slate were written few words and the empress was pointing at them, expecting Leo to read and translate.

‘No way!’ Leo’s eyes widened in surprise and no matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to suppress the wide smile blooming on his face, ‘Thank you, George and Lia! Without your teachings I might’ve had to stay in this sh*thole forever!’