There are an infinite number of worlds inhabited by sentient life in this universe, across which the most powerful deities have their attention spread, using avatars to focus themselves a little more sharply where needed.
One such avatar had formed in response to the peryton focusing its intent on Fuyuko, before the girl had a clue she was being stalked. Ozuran’s avatar, invisible and intangible to the rest of the world, watched with more than a little concern, for he had set in motion the chain of events that brought her to this path, and so bore some amount of responsibility for the results of decisions she made in response to his interference.
A mortal devotee was sent to bring a message to a priest that was not Ozuran’s. A potion brewed to give a former demon the chance to experience a mortal childhood, to be used at her discretion. An ‘unclaimed’ bag and a comment during a lesson that brought this same risen succubus’s attention to a different mortal, and to a place where a young child without parents could be raised.
This had been a more delicate task than with Bellona, for he was dealing with a younger mortal who had not dedicated herself so devoutly as the champion had. Free will was an incredibly precious thing, and always created its own interference with attempts to guide events the way a god wished.
Even the least of animals had some small trace of their own will. A monster like the peryton had more free will than a normal animal, though its blood-thirsty, sadistic urges restricted its will, leaving it less free than most mortal sentients.
A clash of wills and the consequences of choices. Choices that were made in part because of his own actions and choices. He could not interfere in this moment, but felt obligated to at least watch. The girl’s death would weaken his plan, but there was still a good chance that the future of this continent would be weighted in the direction he wanted. She’d always been an extra touch he’d been hoping to include, to make things better by creating a heroic figure for her people. Ozuran would mourn for both her shortened life and the lost opportunity. Such a young soul too, he was pretty certain she’d be eligible for a karmic reincarnation but such decisions were not his to make when it came to souls not dedicated to him.
Then the monster howled, and a different awareness turned this way. It was no divinity, but neither was it quite mortal anymore. Hope bloomed as Ozuran recognized the aura, and a semi-immortal warrior rose from his camp with haste to find the target of that howl. Others might have mistaken it for a normal wolf, but sane animals never carried that note of true blood lust in their voice.
Gil’s kingdom may be lost to all but archaeologists and historians, but he had not lost his edge for heroic action when it was called for. Divots of earth were flung out of the ground with every distance-eating stride, carrying him toward the fight at a speed unbelievable to those who’d not witnessed this level of power before.
But he had a large distance to go and only a vague direction. The clashing souls were too weak for their intent to be very noticeable, forcing the giant of a man to pause and focus, correcting his direction as he got closer. Gil was too late to interfere with the fight, but not too late to save a young girl’s life.
Ozuran’s attention had been focused too much on Fuyuko, and he had not looked for other presences that might be able to act in time. A god could be capable of knowing about anything they chose to pay attention to, but this was not the same as knowing everything at the same time.
He continued to watch closely until Gil made his decision to travel with Fuyuko. Well, that should be entertaining, and he made a mental note to pay attention when they arrived at the Azeria dungeon.
With his immediate concerns alleviated, Ozuran’s avatar turned his attention to the patterns of time, focusing on the events surrounding the Azeria dungeon. Interesting. There were a few alterations of probable events in the near future, but the long-term trajectory of probabilities remained almost identical, within the limits of his temporal vision. His father could see further and in more detail, but the scale of events was far too small to call upon Zagaroth’s aid.
Satisfied, Ozuran’s avatar dissipated, returning that tiny fraction of power and attention to the greater existence of his self. Across the universe, he had an uncountable number of other avatars interacting with various worlds in a similar manner, as did most primogen deities as well as the most powerful of the gods who came later to this realm.
Younger deities did not have enough power to spread themselves so thinly, nor the ability to be aware of so much of the universe at once, and were mostly limited to worlds where they had enough followers to develop a presence. Which drove most of them to encourage a portion of their followers to travel to other worlds and spread their religion. This generally did not bother the greater gods who had effectively infinite followers, but some gods were less tolerable than others.
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The next morning, Mordecai was musing over the information that Orchid had provided, once she was done entertaining Li Zarb. Kazue was passing on the same information to Moriko, who was in turn passing it on to Kazue’s avatar, so it was taking a bit of time to pass the report along. It was quite an interesting report, and included an overview of methodology as it was being given to The Azeria Mountain Dungeon as part of their role as an ally.
Kuiccihan was indeed playing it as nice as they could with interrogating the prisoners. The more vocal and volatile were grouped in sets of three, then mostly left to their own devices, and were simply listened in on. The others were isolated, and then given a single point of contact who acted as their primary social interaction, mixing lightweight interrogation with whatever other roles were needed to form a bond. The entire area was subject to a permanent truth-speaking, that only compelled truthfulness. Many such effects also tried to compel answering questions.
The guards and interrogators were subject to the zone as well, with the intent of increasing trust and bonding. It was a much slower method of interrogation than other forms, but much more ethical and with long-term gains in depth and reliability of information. Which was part of the reason he’d been eager to hand the prisoners over, Mordecai couldn’t summon the mindset to have the proper patience to deal with them, and neither Kazue nor Moriko had the trained skill sets to do it. They were both charming enough, but it required compartmentalizing the information-seeking part of your mind from the part that was bonding and being compassionate. And he really didn’t want to teach them how to do that sort of thing if it wasn’t necessary.
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As for the information gathered, at this point it was mostly confirmation of things they already suspected, though with a few bits of new data. This particular cult called itself The Puritasi, and Kuiccihan’s agents had added a note saying that similar groups in other regions seemed to each have their own name. The leader was male, presumably human, considered a priest, and his names began with either “Ig” or “Di”, without confirmation of which starting syllable belongs to his first or last name. The people who started to say his name managed to either cut themselves off, or been cut off by their companions. There was an annotation suggesting that this might be one “Dimitri Igorek”, as it lined up with other information that Kuiccihan had. Per the letter:
Dimitri is a minor lord who has an estate within the Barony of Cantraberg and is on good terms with Baron Demidov. He also has an unknown source of wealth and resources that none of our agents have been able to track, but it has also not been a priority to date. He is not a member of the government beyond the rights and powers of being a lord, nor a part of the military, so any actions he takes are technically those of a private citizen. Kuiccihan can press Trionea over the issue, but as no one was permanently injured, material recompense would be minor and political fallout would mostly involve exchanged words and an apology of dubious sincerity.
Also, the words of the assault force are the only usable proof of their origin, which would mean letting Trionea and probably Dimitri know that they yet lived. This would undoubtedly generate political pressure to have them extradited back to Trionea. It may be more useful to withhold this information. However, the Azeria Mountain Dungeon is the aggrieved party, and the decision is yours.
Mordecai was inclined to maintain the status quo in this case, and keep the prisoners in reserve. There was also a good chance that the longer they were held, the more information could be gained from them. But the three of them would discuss it over the next several days. He was pretty sure they would come to the same conclusion, but he wanted Moriko and Kazue to think it over first and discuss it before he introduced his opinion. Taking a controlling lead during combat was one thing, presuming that his wives would agree to all his other decisions was far different.
“Mmm, Mordecai. We just got some interesting visitors. I think they are here for you.” Kazue’s voice pulled him out of his reverie, and Mordecai’s focus followed her own to find the group of small figures making their way down a mountain trail, coming into their territory from a very different direction than all other visitors so far. They had stopped a short way into their territory, and he could hear them discussing the sudden, if small, change in mana pressure and a subtle difference in the way it felt. Well, it seemed they were sensitive to the feel of a claimed territory. No point in trying to hide it from them.
He smiled and shifted his avatar to a location about ten meters away from short, scaled humanoids, and gave them a slight bow. “Welcome to the Azeria Mountain Dungeon, I am Mord-”
A tiny, furry form sprung from a nearby shadow to cling to him excitedly. “Mordi! It’s your lizard people! They came back! Ohh, since your bunny people are called bunkin then maybe they should be lizkin? You guys should see the new place Mordi and his wives made its all sorts of fun games and there’s three ways to explore and they are all so different and so many new creatures I really like the fairies they are all so fun to talk with and have told me some of the best stories I can tell you some of my stories if you like I know lots of stories because I have been to lots of neat places and there’s always something to see do you guys know that there is a village of really pretty fox girls nearby they have some of the best desserts, and-”
While Li was talking, the elderly leader of the group of kobolds had begun to relax with a smile. “I think our ancestors words have proven true.” He said in the draconic language. The kobold looked to be a shaman or priest, which worried Mordecai a little given that they had banners and heraldry in the form of a purple dragon, with crystalline scales where detailing was possible. “Would you be Lord Li?” he asked of the ratling burr that had attached himself to Mordecai.
“Oh I’m no lord I’m just Li or Li Zarb if you really have to be formal but I don’t like being formal because then they make you put on this weird stiff suit and half strangle you with a tie unless its a bow tie of course because bow ties are cool which reminds me of this friend I know, he was a traveling healer-”
The old kobold just nodded along, then patted the shoulder of one of the young warriors near him as he interrupted Li’s monologue. “Well Li, you seem like quite the clever young lad and you know so much about this place. Would you be willing to show my grandson all the sights? His name is Viris.”
“Oh wow sure I would be glad to but shouldn’t you all know your way around although I guess it has been a long time and he’s redecorated a lot since then so sure let me show you the cool things here have you ever met a slime girl?”
Mordecai wasn’t certain how concerned he should be about the fact that not only did Li agree with Kazue that Klastoria was a girl, but that his belief seemed to be guiding the process of her being able to refine the shape of her body further, though so far she’d only managed vaguely humanoid forms with no faces or other small details.
Once Li had dragged off his victim new best friend, the shaman focused on Mordecai and bowed low. “Lord Mordecai, I can only presume. My name is Crizdirk. Our ancestors did well in preserving our knowledge of you.” A younger acolyte came forward, carrying a small book in her hands. It was composed of several sheets of hardened metal, and she presented it Mordecai in a ceremonial manner.
“I am.” Mordecai acknowledged as he accepted the book and analyzed it. Then he sighed softly. “And it seems my own presumptions are correct as well. I am glad so many of your people escaped the result of my fury and hubris. But their works praise me too highly, and it comes uncomfortably close to worship.” With the contents now known, Mordecai handed the book back to the acolyte as it did not seem likely that they had many copies.
“Perhaps. But that is our decision to make, is it not?”
Mordecai couldn’t resist a smile at that. “Yes, it is. But if we are going to talk, let us do so someplace more comfortable. We have a nice little town outdoors now, and an inn with good food. I would love to introduce you to my wives, but Kazue’s avatar is traveling with Moriko right now.”
The shaman inclined his head. “We would gladly feast with you. And things have changed significantly it seems, we will have much information to bring back to our tribe.”
Kazue had been observing everything of course, but she just now realized something about the conversation. “Mordecai, why do I know draconic now?”