*Cough Cough*
As I regained my senses, I entered a fit of coughing due to how dry my throat was.
I felt more fatigued than I ever had been before, and though I tried to get up on my feet, the best I could do was just lay myself on the wall behind me.
“Oh, you finally woke up.” I heard a familiar voice say from my side, and turning my head, I could see Griz holding a tray with some cloth, a bowl, and a few bandages.
“H—” I tried to talk but couldn’t due to how dry my throat was and started coughing again.
*Cough Cough*
“Wait a moment.” Griz said and turned around to another goblin. “Get me a flask of water! And a bowl of soup!” He then yelled and put the tray he was carrying next to me.
After a few seconds, a goblin came with a flask and handed it over to me, and I drunk its contents greedily.
“...Slow down a bit, you know how harmful it can be to drink so much water so quickly after having not drunk anything for so long.” Griz said, but I didn’t pay attention to him even though I knew what he said was true.
“Haaah...” I let out a sigh and turned to Griz.
“How long have I been out for? And what happened to the demon? Last I saw it, the deity was having a hard time against it.” I said in a calm voice.
“Nearly a day... I think. It might be a few hours under or over a day, not sure. And about the demon... not sure, I was eating breakfast while you all had your kerfuffle, remember?”
“...Just tell me what happened.”
“...Eh, fine.
“As far as I know, the deity you brought here was unable to deal with the Demon by itself, but a group of adventurers appeared and helped it take it down.” He said, and my ears perked up the moment he talked about adventurers as this place was no where near the domain of Solara, and her followers.
“Adventurers?” I asked him, and he nodded and continued talking.
“Yeah, adventurers. 4 humans, 1 elf and another half-elf. They don’t seem to be in cahoots with the deity though... at least, as far as I could tell. But they seem willing to cooperate with the deity, at least for now. Though the deity has been following them ever since it imprisoned the Shaman and Grok.” He finished, and I could only grunt and start massaging my temples at the prospect of a group of adventurers.
I had fought against a quite a few adventurers a throughout my life, and when there was a group of adventurers, more would surely come.
They were no different than roaches and just swarmed every place they went to with numbers. Truly, the lowest of Solara’s soldiers.
...
“So, how many died?” I asked after a massaging my head for a bit, and even though I wished for no one to die, the demon had roughed us up quite a bit and I wasn’t that hopeful that everyone survived.
“Less than I thought there’d be. 5 people died shortly after the demon was banished, even though the deity apparently tried to save them. Another 8 are currently incapacitated because of their injuries and are in critical state but the deity reassured us that The All Mother was sending a small band of reinforcements, and they’d heal the injured in addition to leaving some supplies, though what were those supplies the deity didn’t tell.
“They should be here in... 2 days I think?” Griz said, and I nodded at what he said and started thinking to myself.
The odds of the people coming from The All-Mother’s domain being hostile was... low. So low in fact that I didn’t feel the need to even think about it because if the Lord Of Souls wanted us dead, he could’ve just let the demon kill me, and the other injured, or he could’ve killed us after banishing the demon.
So, I could start trusting him and the all mother, but not too much lest it become a burden on my people.
Then I looked around for a moment and saw that I was in the temple and the throne at the centre had been removed, and a few holes had been made that acted like windows.
“...What has been the deity doing ever since the battle yesterday? Has he been gathering people around him?”
“Hmm? I mean, it has destroyed the divine cores in the temple, and has made us accept it as our god, but other than that... not really. Though if you are asking to see if it’s going to try and dominate the whole village... it might be just underestimating you, seeing that more than half of your loyalists have been lost or incapacitated, or it might just not be interested in such things.
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“But you are the new Chief, so its your problem to deal with. Afterall, you are the one who helped it become our new god.” Griz said and started yawning.
*Yawn~*
“Haah... anyways, I should probably catch up on my sleep, and let you rest. Your meal should be here soon.” Griz said and started getting up.
“Wait.” I said as he started walking away, which made him stop and turn his head towards me.
“What are Grey and Gail doing?” I asked him, wondering about the other 2 F rankers in the village.
“Hmm... as far as I know they are just sitting out in the sidelines and doing their usual jobs. Though I can’t say for sure what they might be thinking, as I am not that close with them as I am with Gara and Grok.
“For all I know, they might be plotting to overthrow both you and the new deity, or they might be just standing at the sidelines, waiting for things to calm down, and then maybe decide who to support, you or the deity.
“But that’s for you to worry about. As for me, I am going to support you as long as I keep my job.” Griz finished and started walking out of the temple—which had been turned into a hospital. Though, I was not sure if it would stay like this for long.
Soon, a caretaker brought me a hot bowl of soup, and I quickly ate it. Afterall, I needed to get out of bed and start ruling the village before long, lest I have to rebel against another god.
----------------------------------------
“So, you want to go into the dungeon?” The grotesque god, The Eternal One, asked as its form writhed, and it continued repair and improve its body by knitting its flesh using branches and leaves.
“Yes! That is right, but worry not, our zhort foray into the dungeon zhould take at most a we—” I ztarted, but Elise zuddenly cut me off by clearing her throat.
*Ahem*
Turning my head to the zides, our gazes locked, and though no words were exhanched, I understood what zhe wanted to zay.
Zhe wanted for me to ztick to our plan and only ask for a few days in the dungeon, and while I didn’t like that zmall amount of a time to explore the dungeon, I understood that we needed to make concessions.
“I meant a few days. We zhould only be in the dungeon for a few days.” I then turned around and told the deity, who had an expression that I couldn’t decipher because it was... well, a grotesque monstrosity.
The demon really did a job at its face... didn’t it?
“Hmm... if that is your wish, the least I could do is to grant it, seeing that you’ve helped me banish a demon...” The god said, and I was zurprised that it was this easy to get its approval and was basically about to jump around in joy... before it continued that is.
“But.” The god started.
“I want to know one thing. Why?” It then added, and I was confused as to what it meant, and seeing my confusion, it ztarted talking once more.
“Why do you want to enter the dungeon? Surely the Pantheon of the Sun has more dungeons than they can count in their territory, so I don’t see a reason for you to be that interested in the dungeon here... is it because of the papers I found in the dungeon? Was something important to you written on them?” The god then zaid once more, and after a moment of thinking to myself on how to proceed, I just nodded, confirming that it was really because of the pages from the diary it had given us.
“I see...” The god zaid and fell quiet for a quite a few zeconds. And as I was about to ztart talking again, it ztarted before me.
“I will allow you to go into the dungeon on 3 conditions, do you want to hear them?” It asked, and all of us nodded.
“Firstly, you mustn’t talk about the contents of the dungeon to other adventurers or anyone else who may be interested in it, as I do not want waves of adventurers and treasure hunters coming and ruining the peace of me, and my people.
“If you have no problems with my first condition, I’ll tell the other 2.” The deity zaid.
“Nope.” I then zaid.
“We cannot abide by the first condition.” I then added.
“Hmm? Can you tell me why that is?”
“Lord Will, we are not going to the dungeon to simply loot it, you see, the dungeon near this village covers what we believe is an archaeological site. Thus, we will be telling about our discoveries to the wider academic community, and because of this, many more archaeologists and historians will want to come here and check the dungeon out.” I zaid in a calm manner, not wanting to anger the god.
“Hmm... I understand where you are coming from and, having seen the dungeon first hand, I understand that it may have some archaeological and historical significance, but that doesn’t quell my worries about my village being attacked by your people. So, I am sorry but, I must stand my ground and ask you to accept my first condition without change.” The god zaid, and I was zure that what it was worried about would happen if we returned without accepting its first condition fully, but doing zo would also mean all of my hard work would’ve been for nothing.
Which I was not going to accept.
“What if we compromise?” I then asked it.
“...I am listening.” The god responded a few zeconds later.
“I happen to know an influential zcholar that is around rank B. Won’t you allow me to only tell him? With his help, I can help you hide the location of this dungeon and allow you to not worry about your people being pushed out while we still benefit from it, and the knowledge inside of it.” I asked the god, hoping that it’d accept my offer as... this was the lowest I could really go, and I was doubtful that it’d accept anything other than my lowest.
“...A single B rank. You are only allowed to reveal what you learn from this dungeon to that B rank person you are thinking of, and you are not allowed to reveal its location. Only what’s inside it.
“And you can delve for a week straight for every delve that I authorize. And the length of the expedition will remain the same even after the B rank is made aware of the knowledge inside the dungeon. Is that fine?” After a few moments of thinking I nodded as I didn’t zee this condition going badly for me.
“Good, now onto the other 2 conditions.
“The second condition is that I must accompany you with every delve as simply—I don’t trust you to not crack the dungeon core. This condition is not negotiable.” The god zaid, and zeeing that neither I nor my fellows tried to talk back, it continued.
“And the last condition is that you all must sign a mana contract in 2 days, and after that 2 days you can start your delve whenever.” The god zaid, and after looking at back at everyone, and zeeing that they nodded, I nodded at the god too.
I didn’t feel good about zigning a mana contract with a god of unknown origins and unknown loyalties was... dangerous, and the church would probably punish us for doing zo, but as long as we were tight lipped, nothing bad would happen.