Ahem. So in the comments of the last chapter I mentioned about changing the title. Thanks for all the suggestions. I liked the ones that had to do with keeping the same title but have Zahrah be the insane one since she looks to the MC as evil but I don't feel like that will work since Zahrah knew she was bullshitting and only did so to spite the MC. I'll still think about the new title and maybe post a poll at some point. Until then it'll stay the same. Thanks for all the comments guys.
Anyway. Enjoy the chapter.
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As I approached the town I immediately felt some things that I would rather not deal with right now. There were Celestials in the town. No doubt looking for Cel and Lily. Too bad they won’t find them there… Well too bad for them. I concentrated and looked at each one individually. Our sister wasn’t there. I guess it won’t really be that bad then. Though I wanted to do something about our sister she was the lowest priority. She was no doubt following Eirene’s orders and Eirene was no doubt being fooled by Zahrah but the only people who would suffer from that are me and my former companions who are currently hiding out in this country. In no way was she herself in any jeopardy.
AS I got to the town I greeted the guards and they let me through easily enough. The first thing I did as I entered the city was find the inn we were previously staying in. I smiled a bit when I found it was much larger and better than before. That platinum coin I left the innkeeper could have lasted her a lifetime easily but of course she uses it to make a better inn instead. Well that being said there was probably still a lot of it left over. This can’t have cost an entire platinum coin.
I walked up to the guards and asked what the cost of staying at this inn was. I smiled again as I learned the cost had barely went up from before but I walked away. No need to cause the innkeeper trouble. If I was found by the celestials and identified as the void even though I was him no longer it would trouble her too much. I still felt bad about the soldiers Kenos killed in her inn. He could have dragged them outside at least… well then again he was In a hurry… I guess it was appropriate at that time.
I walked to the library. I found that it was now full of people and found the tax for entering was drastically reduced to one silver per person when a man handed the guard a silver coin. I found that an incredibly smart idea. Even if the cost was five gold nobody would pay it but if the tax was only one silver that would not only earn a lot more money as there would be a lot more visitors but it would also attract people to live here. That was something even a commoner family could easily save up in a week. And a visit a week to this beautiful center of knowledge was quite an attractive proposal to even myself.
Me, Kenos and the tyrant shared in our love of books. Ved was more of an outdoors kind of guy… still smarter than Kenos was with all that knowledge though, I laughed. I enjoyed analyzing my past selves in an objective manner. It was interesting how they were all the same person yet were completely different at the same time… then again… I was the living proof of it wasn’t I. I smiled as I walked off towards the mansion of the lord.
I felt saw that there were a total of three Celestials inside in a meeting with the lord. I would have to wait to have a talk with him. The guards saw that I was looking at the mansion and seemed to have judged that I must be here for a meeting with the lord based on my attire… well they weren’t wrong I guess. I would need to do this later though. Maybe after the Celestials leave.
TO pass the time I headed to the library. I wanted to visit this place anyway. I handed a silver coin I made to the guard and went inside. The people inside really did look like commoners. I could only see a few well-dressed people but even for them five gold may have been a bit of a stiff price to come here. Not everyone can read dozens of books in a single day after all.
I myself seemed to attract a lot of attention but I simply ignored it and browsed through books on magic. I wanted to know something. Searching magic. Magic that allows you to search for specific people or places. I looked through book after book, my reading speed being leaps and bounds greater than that of Kenos. To other people it just looked like I was flipping through books and then putting them back in their place. After a few books I instead started doing something even more efficient. I just sent a bit of my energy in the book and extract its composition, recording it in my head. The ink would stand out and turn into the words and I would be able to then read it all at once. The whole process took exactly five seconds per book. With most of that time being the reading. I could almost feel both the tyrant and Kenos giving me a thumbs up though that shouldn’t be possible as they are no more.
In the end I couldn’t find what I was looking for. There were a few searching magics I would have been able to use to find Kate… if I knew stuff like her magic or soul signatures… which I don’t… Sighing I thought what I could do about this. First of all using my power to find her is off limits. I have no idea what the gods would do if they knew someone with such power was around in their world. They’re incredibly prideful and would go to incredible lengths to rid the world of someone with even the potential of reaching their level of strength. I have no idea what they would do if they found out there was someone who had surpassed it. I mean they probably couldn’t harm me but I was planning on doing this stuff more… subtly?
If I just went around killing gods then their followers would be after me. If I went around killing their followers normal people would deem me evil and if that happens well… the second coming of a tyrant… I guess… I had no desire on becoming one. The other ways of finding Kate would be directly. I guess that wasn’t so bad… it would just take more time. And honestly if in these five years Kate had somehow already died or… experienced something even worse… then the damage had already been done. I decided to trust the commander who had taken her away. I was sure that if he had went as far as to oppose an order from the king to capture her he must have been a good man. I doubt a commander who would abandon his rank and acquire the status of wanted criminal just for the sake of harming a single little girl. Saving her though? I could see that.
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I continued reading books while waiting for the meeting in the mansio0n to finish. I would from time to time glance at it to find out if they’re done yet but it seemed to be a pretty long one. I decided to ignore it and focus on books for a while. I stopped my speed reading after a while. It got boring. Instead I started reading normally but as I was at my tenth book or so someone ran into the library and screamed.
“Everyone! The lord’s being arrested!” (Guard)
Looking up from my book I saw the guard from in front of the library screaming that. I looked outside and the lord was surely being dragged by chains by the Celestials with cuffs on his hands. I got up and put the book back where I found it while everyone else was rushing outside. There was no rush for me. I needed to find out what was happening and I can hear and see very clearly from here already. Still I grabbed my cane as I had let it rest against the table I was reading on and went outside.
While I was doing so I heard what the Celestials were actually on about. One of them took out a small black sphere and started explaining what the lord was accused of.
“Your lord has associated himself with the demon who is suspected of killing the previous lord. This black marble is proof of that very association. It is made of a material which the demon’s servants’ weapons are made of!” (Celestial)
How did they know what those weapons were made of? Well… no doubt the gods told them. After all I know for a fact that no voidsteel was ever acquired by them. If it had I would have known. A single old woman got out of the crowd and got on her knees in front of the Celestial which was shouting.
“P-please Lord Celestial. The old lord treated us as garbage and as trash on the side of the street. Every day we lived fearing that we might be the next to die for his amusement or that our daughters and grandchildren would be taken by him or his sons. Please Lord Celestials don’t take this man away. Please let him stay.” (Old woman)
The Celestial looked incredibly troubled. As the granny finished her speech most the other people in the square got on their knees as well as if begging them to not take away their true Lord. Well… I guess it wasn’t “as if” was it? The only ones not on their knees were now me and the Celestials. I kind of stood out because of that but they seemed to be too preoccupied with dealing with this situation to notice me.
“S-Still. He is suspected of being an accomplice to a criminal who slaughtered many people in this very mansion. He must be punished!” (Celestial)
By this point I could tell that the Celestial was only trying to stick with this because he must have trusted whoever gave him the capture order. I couldn’t blame him if that person was Eirene. I also trusted her. Kenos did as well. Though he was influenced a bit by Vedqothur he himself still believed that the woman he saw in Vedqothur’s memories was a gentle and kind one.
Now then. To remedy this situation. I moved quickly looking almost like I disappeared from the crowd of people and reappeared in one of the nearby alleyways. From inside there I changed my voice. My normal one sounded pleasing to the ears and soothing while this one sounded more common, desperate and… sorrowful. With that voice I screamed.
“The old lord took my daughter! She never returned to me since! Please don’t take this man away! I beg of you! I don’t want other people to have the same experience as me!”
Some of the people looked around to see who shouted but since it was already over they had no way of doing so. A moment of silence ensued before somebody else called out.
“T-the old lord took my daughter as well!” (Man)
Another moment of silence, slightly shorter than the last one.
“My granddaughter was taken by him! She came back but the only time she spoke after that was when she asked me to end her life!” (Old woman)
Another even shorter silence.
“I-I… My son was killed by one of his because he had a relationship with one of the girls he had taken a liking to!” (Another man)
From there the crowd exploded. Each shouted the unfairness and dishonor they had faced at the old lord’s rule. At this point the Celestials looked completely lost on what to do. They looked at each other and then back at the begging crowd. Some had tears streaming down others were completely crying in the arms of another. Some had clear anger in their eyes. To them the villain was not the lord. It was the people trying to take him away.
Seeing as they had no way to convince the crowd one of the angels grabbed the lord and tried to fly away but as soon as they were a few meters in the air I tapped my cane on the ground and they fell back down as well as unconscious. Gravity magic. Effective against flying enemies. Well I did throw in some soul magic to tug at their soul a bit and have them fall unconscious but yeah. It was effective enough.
As they fell on the ground I walked out of the alley and towards the crowd. At this point not many people were bowing and a lot of people had just stood there dumbfounded when the angels fell. A few recovered and tried to help the lord out of his chains but they couldn’t find the key. Seeing them do that a few others tried searching the angels but not many were brave enough to do so. What would they do if those angels awoke?
“Wait! Stop! Do you realize what you are doing? If they awake right now they could kill you! Stop right now!” (Lord)
I heard the lord shouting as I tapped the man at the back on the shoulder and asked him if I could pass. In my normal voice of course. The man made way for me and the next people hearing what I had said turned around and did so as well. So did the next. And the next. All the way until I was at the front. The lord looked up and into my eyes. I only smiled at him as I tapped the chains with my cane and they fell apart.
“Care to have a chat?”