“There they were, just idly doing some paperwork in their study, and just as diligently as one could expect from the likes of Merglobth”, Sheeno intoned when entering the room, causing the chthulian party to look up with a few of his goggled eyes.
“Miss Fyratta, what an unexpected surprise to see you, and Mister Dulcet, so soon in my office! Please, come in, and make yourself comfortable”, Merglobth hurried over to welcome us in.
I could distinctly feel that they were worried about something, but I wasn’t sure about what, just that we were at the center of it.
“Sure: It will be easier to talk if we are all seated first”, my companion accepted, but I could tell that her peculiar choice of words was made to deliberately worry Merglobth, and it had worked.
“Of course! Of course…”, the alien entity deflated, but sat down in their chair anyway, which now that I was looking at it from up close I could see that it must have been designed to specifically accommodate their wiggly tentacles in the many folds in the back-rest.
And so, with only an elegant wooden desk separating us, we sat there, staring at each other for an uncomfortably long amount of time, during which Merglobth didn’t stop wiggling even for a moment in an obvious sign of nervousness.
I sent a subtle, inquisitive look Sheeno’s way, but she only responded with an even more subtle shake of her head, so I left the awkwardness to accumulate on its own.
Finally having had seemingly enough, Merglobth cracked and finally asked, “May I ask why you have come to personally visit me?”
“You may”, Sheeno replied, completely serious, and I had a hard time holding back from outwardly showing just how much I wanted to snort at her act.
Theatrics, it seems, are not only reserved for enigmatic [Guild Masters].
“Well… does it have to do with my [Job]?” Merglobth hesitantly asked.
“Yes”, my companion once again flatly delivered her deliberately misinterpretable answer.
Another awkward pause.
“…I see… I’m saddened to be losing you like th-“, earing the clear grief emanating from them, I decided to interrupt this unjust farse.
“Oh, for the love of every [God], we’re not fucking firing you! Sheeno, since when have you been this sadistic, especially towards someone that didn’t deserve it!?” I suddenly exclaimed, at first directing my words towards Merglobth, but then turning to my mate for the latter part.
It had taken a bit for me to understand what was going on, but for the life of me, I just couldn’t understand why she was doing this to someone whose only wish was to help us.
“Darwin, Darwin, Darwin. Do you really think that they didn’t deserve some payback?” Sheeno asked back, shaking her head.
“What do you mean?” I responded with another question, realizing that maybe it was me that didn’t have the rest of the picture.
“Do you really think that someone as high-up as Merglobth didn’t know about Riverfist’s true character, or was ignorant about the [Aether] fluctuations due to the rise of a new [Demon Lord]?” She illuminated me.
“Ah… then why-“ I finally realized what she was getting at, but before I could further inquire on anything, it was my time to be interrupted, seeing that Sheeno had seemed to anticipate my question.
“Politics. It’s always politics”
“I couldn’t be seen acting against the [Guild Master]’s personal decision, not in public, and I sent you on your [Quest] with partial [Information] only because solely those in the know were supposed to know, and because that one shouldn’t have hindered you in any way: I couldn’t expect from you that you’d run head-first in a newly discovered [Dungeon] without the necessary cautions!” Merglobth explained how they had thought things through, both when they didn’t help us with Rubicon requesting further punishment for our transgressions, and for why they had sent on our exploration without informing us of just how dangerous any new [Dungeons] we found could actually be.
“Ok… I can see where you’re coming from, but it still doesn’t justify your actions right now”, I commented.
“Maybe I just wanted to take some of my frustration out on him, or maybe seeing someone that you intrinsically trusted so much fail you cut much deeper than you might think”, Sheeno tried to shrug the accusation off, but since I had my [Aura] active I could see even she was troubled by how much vitriol she had in her for Merglobth.
“Again, I’m sorry. I know that excuses won’t fix anything, but that’s all I can do after the fact”, they further tried to placate her.
“That’s not all you could do”, she finally replied after an exceptionally long sigh.
“You mean-?” Merglobth tried to ask, with no small amount of hope, but was interrupted by a still irked [Banished Princess].
“No, we won’t dismiss you as our handler, we were originally here to accept some normal [Quests] that would have us explore the more ‘civilized’ parts of the [Wild Area]”, and finally Sheeno got to business.
“O-of course, I can do that!” Our handler hurried their tentacles to collect various papers from around the room, while some books floated on their own onto the desk.
While they were doing their own thing I leaned over to Sheeno and whispered “Is everything ok?”
She looked at me with a complicated expression, but turned away while biting her lower lip, so I turned the emotion-reading part of my [Aura] as far down as I could, before I could infer what she was feeling before she was ready to talk about it on her own.
Merglobth was still furiously working, only asking us quick questions to confirm if we were ok with working with others and if exploring known [Dungeons] was ok (yes and yes), when Sheeno finally whispered back a half-answer.
“I think… that part I blurted out about ‘wounds from those closest to you hurting more’, it was pretty close to the truth, but not for the reasons Merglobth said.”
I accepted the answer, for now, so I just nodded, telling her that it was ok to let the matter rest.
And with an exhale through her nose, she did just that, but not before she took one of my hands in her own, giving it a light squeeze to show that she appreciated me not pushing further.
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“Ok, here we are. This is a list for decently experienced [Adventurers], which normally starts from [iron rank], but I can levy limitations up to a rank above those of my charges, which covers for you both being only [brass]” Merglobth said, finally having finished sorting through probably thousands of mission receipts in order to find [Quest] that would suit the parameters we set.
On a related note, it was kind of weird that [Adventurer ranks] went from brass, to iron, to bronze, and then to steel, but I guess it maybe had something to do with the hardness of the materials.
Sheeno was the first one to grab the papers, which she split into two stacks for us both to search in our separate ones, cutting down the time of how long it would take us.
Clean up of the [Osseus Colossus]’ den, what a terrible name, eradicating the [Desacrating vine] from an overrun outpost, that sounds urgent, closing the already delved [Dungeons] near the border of the [Wild Area] that have a relatively low energy signature, definitely taking it but we’ll be doing that only at the end because screw Rubicon, exterminate the roaming bands of [Rattons] in the vicinity, those fuckers are everywhere!
On and on the list went, with most listed [Quest] being about killing a know [Monster] that was causing a problem, collecting materials from a dangerous zone, or escorting someone somewhere else while protecting them.
“Escort [Quests] are a definite NO, but collecting things along the way to wherever we end up going is totally doable, also killing troublesome [Monsters] is ok, since it will be both helpful for others and work towards increasing our [Lvl].”
“I’m done with mine, what about you?” Sheeno asked, coincidentally just when I had finished reorganizing my thoughts.
“Yeah, same, I divided them into what I’d like to take, what I’d like to do if the opportunity arises, and what I categorically won’t do”, I said, handing over the three separated stacks.
She quickly went through them and with a nod, she reorganized hers and handed over two piles.
“Here.”
I simply took them and looked them over: Not a single escort in sight.
Just like mine, she had organized hers into what she wanted to do, what she could do on the way, but contrary to me she had actually arranged the [Quests] into a sort of path that we could take straight to the [Dungeons] the [Guild Master] wanted us to tackle.
“I think we already have something workable with a decent time-table, but we’ll come back to accept the [Quests] in an hour or two”, I said while handing back the stacks.
“it is completely understandable: It is a decision that would occupy much of your time, so considering it properly will-“ Merglobth was sort of nodding at their deduction, but I was already shaking my head so I had to interrupt them.
“No, no. It’s just that I have a pissy [Goddess] that I need to talk to”, I announced, and it was Sheeno’s turn to shake her head with a mild look of equal frustration and amusement.
“I-I’m sorry?” The horror from beyond the stars hesitantly asked.
“How do I say this without breaking them?
…
Oh well!”
* * *
I’ve never been a particularly religious person; with my father being catholic and my mother believing in the more shamanic practices of the village my mother’s family came from, I came out having faith in neither, and with a healthy dose of skepticism towards believing that religion should be used as little more than instilling the idea of a moral compass into impressionable minds.
Since day one of my new life in [Nexus], I have been proven wrong: [Gods] do exist.
At least, their definition of [Gods], since my [Patron] herself confirmed that they are simply those that have managed to shed their mortal coils and ascend onto a higher realm, something that almost every single [Demi-God] seems to fail partially at.
All those thoughts crossed my mind when we went towards the main [Temple] quarters, where the [Shrines] dedicated to the [True Gods] resided.
I could probably just have a chat with [Luck] over text messages, or concoct a new heretical way to contact her directly, but she sent a strongly worded reply on the matter when I thought about it, saying that I should comply with the traditional way, from time to time, just so to create the illusion that the ‘status quo’ wasn’t changing just because I was around.
Which, honestly, I got why: Not only would it get even more people after me if I were discovered casually conversing with the most coveted of [Gods], but I would probably cause irregulars, [Aberrants] and [Anomalouses] alike, to catch even more flack than they already are.
I was walking around the corridors along with Sheeno, who was still a bit troubled by how she had acted in front of Merglobth, mostly paying attention to whether we were properly following the right path, thanks to the useful signs whenever we got to an intersection, and checking if any of the people passing by us had any malignant intentions, since finding some believers of [Purity] hidden around wouldn’t surprise me at this point.
But, maybe just to confirm my paranoia as unjustified, we safely arrived at our destination without a hitch.
Looking around, when we entered through the massive doors that opened into the [Main Temple], we were greeted by various weird statues of gold, that my [Gaze] informed me were the [Shrines] to the [True Gods], to both those know and unknown to me, and that they were all plated in divinium.
“Well, guess I’ll go and have a godly chat now. Maybe you want to converse with [Conflict], whatever he is?” I said, once we stepped in and confirmed that the various [Shrines] were separated into their own alcoves.
“Ok… but what do you mean with ‘whatever he is’? He’s a [God], didn’t your [Introduction] tell you that?” Sheeno asked back, slightly confused.
“No actually: I’m pretty sure my [Introduction] was probably a bugged version that lacked some critical information, while having some that I wasn’t meant to know, but its honestly hard to tell”, I casually informed, but while still making sure that no one was listening in on us.
“Is this about that [Goddess of Truth] you told me you found mentioned before?” She asked back, probably just to make sure.
“Also that, yes”, I confirmed.
“Ok, I won’t keep you waiting: the [Shrine of the Goddess of Luck] is the one in the corner that depicts an amalgamation of various [Races] being toyed with by a woman-”, Sheeno seemed bent in changing subject, but I had to interrupt her.
“kind of ominous, don’t you think?”
“-while I’ll be going towards the one with the armored man bathing in blood in the midst of carnage”, she finished nonchalantly.
“Never mind, mine looks relatively tame now!”
And so saying we separated and went our separate ways, so we could communicate with our [Patrons].
Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, the pews in front of the alcoves for the [True Gods] were empty, probably due to a lack of people actually having them as fully fledged [Patrons], instead of general believers.
[Luck]’s pew was completely empty, except for some symbolic offerings, maybe as expected from a [Goddess] that can influence fate and is known to be mischievous. Not knowing exactly what I had to do I simply took a seat on one of the benches in the front and tried to mentally communicate with her.
“Oh, [Goddess] that lurks at the edges of my mind.
Oh, [Goddess] that stalks every action of mine.
Oh [Goddess] that is able to waste an unlimited amount of time.
Come over already, or I’m soon going to fail to make a rhyme.”
I would have felt offended, if I hadn’t actually found that charade funny.
I felt my spirit being poked and pulled, and I allowed her to bring me wherever it was one usually went when communicating with the [Gods].
A swoosh and a swirl later I was standing in the familiar black expanse with smoky ground, the old wall I had built to protect me from the outside last time had been apparently upgraded on its own, now much more ornate and whilst looking like it was some sort of castle wall made out of polished black stone, instead of the rough job I had left it as.
To address the elephant in the room, at the center of my walled space was a portal that very clearly was connected to my [Wold Within].
A knock sounded from somewhere nearby, and it was then that I noticed the portcullis made of something that resembled wood, but was still as pitch black as the stone, which was held together by a chain that sported the same color. On the other side, a beautiful woman with black hair and green eyes stood waving in my direction.
With a little flex of my mind, which I instinctually knew would work, I raised the gate, and allowed the [Goddess] to come in.
“Nice place you got here. Mind if we talked about it, and the other little things you shouldn’t be privy to but still are?” A weird way for her to say ‘hi, long time no see’, but ok.