"Cough, do–do you guys want a drink, maybe?" Maron stretched an innocent smile, kneeling on the floor with his hands on his thighs. Glenn and Sahro exchanged a gaze, before staring down at the merchant from their seats. The Black Heir had joined them in the wide tent after being called over by Glenn. The latter crossed his arms and smacked his lips, a vein popping on his forehead.

"So, what was that?" He asked, raising his finger when Maron opened his mouth to reply, "...And don't even think about lying, it's not because we've signed a nice contract that I won't kill you if push comes to shove."

The merchant gulped, biting down on his lower lip. He looked to the side with hesitation, his expression complicated. This "hesitation" soon disappeared when violent blue sparks of electricity crackled where Sahro's left arm should be. Maron rubbed his hands, grimacing as he forced himself to answer.

"...Damn me," The merchant gave up, sighing dejectedly. He looked at his interlocutors seriously, a grave expression drawn over his face.

"I'll tell you, but I need you to swear you won't tell anyone. Of course, nothing stops you from breaking said promise, but I still need it for my reassurance..." Maron trailed off, his eyes shooting to the side once again. Glenn and Sahro traded another gaze, before shrugging.

"I swear I won't say anything," Glenn swore, his fist against his chest.

"...Same," Sahro followed, before receiving a slap on the back of his head. Glenn looked at his friend with a deathly stare.

"Do it properly."

"...Sure, sigh," Sahro grumbled, "...I swear I won't say anything too. Happy?" The Black Heir snapped at Glenn, who ignored him consciously and concentrated on the merchant. He was much too curious to see what was the truth about this golden lizard he had seen previously. Perhaps, the veil surrounding the mysterious coincidences Maron kept surviving thanks to will be lifted with this.

'At least you won't have to bother searching for an answer this time. Lucky you to arrive straight in the middle of...whatever that was,' Diamanes commented amusedly, Glenn agreeing with a mental nod. Maron breathed in deeply and rose from the ground, pushing himself up. The golden veins glinted off the dragon engraving on his Blumar arm in the warm light of the lantern illuminating the tent. The merchant looked at the dragon, before closing his eyes and clenching his fist. The dragon engraving disappeared, the gold veins disappearing in the dark-blue hue of the light-swallowing Blumar.

"...I think I already mentioned I have a close relationship with the Gold Church, right?" Maron began as he looked at his stone arm. Glenn and Sahro nodded, waiting patiently for the merchant's explanations.

"Well, it's something I learned only very recently, but it seems like I've received His blessing," He said, peering into the distance thoughtlessly.

"..."His" blessing?" Glenn frowned, "...Are you talking about Plutus, the Gold Church's god?"

Maron nodded, smiling widely.

"Indeed. Back when those..." He looked at the Blumar on his body, "...things were growing in place of my limbs, I was accorded a short but incredible meeting with His Envoy."

The merchant's eyes were glimmering with a mix of awe and adoration.

"...It was..." Maron searched for his words, struggling, "...A truly exhilarating experience. I–I can't even explain it."

Glenn waved his hand dismissively, not that curious about the said meeting. After all, he had already met a few gods ever since he came here.

"Forget that part, then, and tell us what this dragon tattoo, er, engraving, is," he asked coldly, chin resting on his fist. Maron sat down on a comfortable-looking leather chair, his head resting on the backrest. He glanced at his arm and made the golden dragon appear once again.

"This...This is His Mark. It's the physical embodiment of his Blessing. If I'm not mistaken, this should be an honor reserved only to a few chosen ones..." Maron shook his head, his eyes stretching in awe.

"I still can't believe I'm now a Blessed...Anyway, the Mark in itself doesn't do much, but it's the proof that Plutus invested in me."

Maron stood up and walked to a nearby table, where a steamy teapot was waiting alongside a delicate porcelain cup. The merchant poured himself a cup, using a silver teaspoon to add a bit of sugar, gently mixing it inside the tea. He went and sat back on his leather chair.

"...So you didn't receive any powers whatsoever?" Sahro asked, his eyebrows creased. The Black Heir was fiddling with his sword's pommel, unscrewing and screwing it again and again. The light in Maron's eyes changed, and he confidently smiled, drinking from his teacup without answering. After a few seconds of silence, he put down the teacup.

"...I never said that. Actually..." Maron looked looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought. He smacked his lips, before crossing gaze once again with the Black Heir.

"There are a few things that I couldn't explain before, but can now. The Golden Dragon offered me three Authorities," Maron proudly stated. Glenn and Sahro exchanged a confused gaze.

"An Authority? Is this like a divine skill?" Glenn asked as he rubbed his chin. Maron nodded, drinking another sip of tea.

"Indeed. Authorities are fragments of a god's power, given only to carefully selected people, called the Blessed. Of course, to the god giving the power away, this fragment of power is worth as much as a grain of dust under their boots, but to us, it's absolutely...mind-bogglingly powerful."

Glenn nodded, clasping his hands together, but he mentally asked Diamanes to be sure.

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'Well, so far, he didn't say anything false. It's surprising a god, even his Apostle, would take the time to explain such things to a mortal. Generally, they don't bother,' Diamanes confirmed with a curious voice. Glenn's eyelid twitched.

'I have an idea, but can you explain what an Apostle is?'

'A god's henchman,' the entity replied, Glenn, nodding imperceptibly. That was pretty much what he had understood, but it cost nothing to make sure of it. Maron drew a deep breath and crossed his arms together.

"...I've received three such divine fragments, named Debt Binding, Golden Providence, and Golden Insight." Maron's shoulders drooped, his secrets revealed for them to see. Glenn tapped his foot on the ground, curious.

"What do they do?"

Maron rubbed his chin.

"Debt Binding forces anyone who had a semblance of debt to pay me back, one way or another. This is quite the scam since I can push debts on anyone by just twisting the words in a contract slightly."

Glenn's eyes widened, and he slammed his fist in his open palm.

"So that's why we continued to follow you despite all that bullshit you pulled!" He exclaimed, surprised.

"Divine powers are much more powerful than I thought..." Sahro muttered, squinting at Maron. He nodded, inviting the merchant to continue.

"...Right. Golden Providence is..." Maron clenched his teeth, "...More of a curse than a blessing."

Glenn and Sahro raised an eyebrow but didn't interrupt him.

"...It allows me to...pay the Golden Dragon for a tiny bit of help. The issue is...if my life is threatened and there is no other way around it, the Authority activates automatically..." Maron's eyes were glassy, filled with horror.

"...Can you even guess how much gold I lost in Palancar to resist the damned mind hex?" He hissed, his fist tightly clenched. Glenn made a surprised smile. Indeed, Maron was the only one who wasn't in the Mother's Church back then, which meant he wasn't influenced by the hex. So that was thanks to a divine Authority...

'Damn, I want some of these too!' Glenn shook his head, awed.

Maron sipped the last drops of his tea, before putting the teacup down with a sigh.

"As for the last Authority, Golden Insight, it allows me to find the best investment opportunities. Be it people or resources, they're all surrounded by a golden light whose intensity depends on the potential success of the investment."

Maron clasped his hands together, his elbows resting on his knees.

"I've always had a good eye for people, but with that, I'm guaranteed to always go in the right path. Of course, the brighter the investment opportunity, the riskiest it is. But the riskiest, the best the reward is in general..." He slowly looked up at Glenn, grinning.

"And you, Sir Glenn, have the brightest light I've seen ever since I got that skill, which was arguably only a few days ago," He then looked at Sahro, who grimaced back at him, "...Sir Sahro is also surrounded by an incredible amount of golden light, but not as much as you, Sir Glenn."

The latter brightly smiled and turned toward his friend, gloating. Sahro snorted, before standing up from his seat.

"It's a little pitiful to see that your survival is owed to a god and not your efforts, but that's the kind of world we're living in, isn't it?" The Black Heir turned around, leaving the tent without another word. Glenn rubbed his chin, ignoring Maron's dark expression.

"Well, I'd be glad if you could stop using your Authorities on us. Nonetheless, it makes now a lot more sense as to why you gave such a crazy good contract." Glenn's eyes glinted as he also stood up.

"...Since we're both excellent investment opportunities from what your Golden Insight says. Anyway, I won't ask what that golden lizard was then, I think I already have an excellent idea of what could have been."

The young man walked to the tent's exit, pushing the flap open. He stopped and glanced back at Maron who was silently sitting in his leather armchair. He grinned widely, showing his pristine white teeth.

"Don't worry, telling us the truth is an even better investment than that contract," Glenn turned back, and his smile disappeared, replaced by a bone-chilling expression, "...Since you'll keep your life despite playing with us using your powers..."

Maron shivered but didn't say anything.

'Hopefully, he'll have learned this lesson,' Glenn thought, his stomach grumbling.

He left the tent and moved deeper into the camp, heading for a nearby campfire. All this talk had whetted his appetite, as his stomach testified. He picked a roasting rabbit, blowing air on it to cool it, before biting a huge chunk from it. He chewed the tender meat without thinking, his thoughts already heading elsewhere.

'Since Plutus gave away such powerful Authorities to a simple merchant, that means other gods can do the same. Epinos of the Thorn's Church, the Mother, or even that thing that creates the Hearts of Darkness Onnea charged me to destroy, they can all arm their followers with mind-defying powers if they want to. That's probably what happened with Gentle Knight back in Palancar. And since I'm already in their bad books, that means I should prepare myself to find myself against stupidly strong opponents. Shit, why did I make so many divine enemies...?'

Glenn sighed, wiping off the fat on his lips, before ripping another chunk of roasted meat.

'At least Onnea's on my side... I think. Hey, maybe that thing she gave me to detect Hearts of Darkness is an Authority! What would it be named, the Death-Threatening Compass?' The young man sneered, laughing all by his proud self.

The rest of the night was uneventful, Javier, Sahro, and Glenn traded quarters to ensure the convoy's safety. The sun finally rose, chasing away the two celestial moons and heralding the convoy's departure. Without taking a break, the Maron's Company convoy covered the roads for the whole day, finally arriving at Munirp's capital, King's Rise.

Glenn looked at the huge gates and the two stone giants standing guard beside them. The convoy was entering the city through the Western Gate, also known as the Twilight Gate. A fitting name, since the sun was beginning to set, illuminating the massive, dark stone gate with its violet-orange light. The wheels of the wagon Glenn was sitting on shook noisily, the young man mesmerized by the spectacle. The dark stone gleamed with mysterious, massive engravings, covering the entire portal.

The two statues were different from the ones present at the Northern Gate. The one on the left was a robed mage, hooded and holding a staff with his hands clasped over it, while the one on the right was a priest also hooded, but with his or her hands joined. Glenn couldn't tell the statue's gender, it wasn't made clear. He smiled as he looked at the gate, remembering the first time he came to King's Rise. Quite the chaotic and unlucky encounters he had made, but nothing could compare to the shock and awe he had felt that day.

'It's still hard to imagine humans building such a...massive edifice. How much time do you think it took?' Glenn's head bobbed at the rhythm of the cart's wheels as he asked his inner friend.

'Well, I'm almost certain the Ramparts were built using a massive quantity of magic, but with its size...At least half a century, maybe?' Diamanes pondered, before adding '...And that's trusting the mages who built the Rampart to be at least in the Fifth or Sixth Circle, which is already insanely far-fetched.'

Glenn blinked, shocked, before shaking his head. When he looked at the size of these walls, it was only normal for them to take so long to be built. As he looked at the statues, a sudden thought struck him.

'Diamanes, tell me...' The young man grinned, a rush of adrenaline shooting through his veins, '...Didn't you tell me I could take the magic from these statues once I reached the Third Circle?'

The entity chuckled, not replying. Glenn's grin grew as excitation made his heart beat faster. It was true that he had entirely forgotten about serving himself back when he left King's Rise, but now that he was a True Initiate, nothing was stopping him.

There was no doubt the magic protecting King's Rise Ramparts was immeasurably powerful.

And he was soon going to be able to use these powers for himself.

How could he not be hyped?