Meeting the King

After that, Max just followed the bulky solder, his grey cloak's hood lifted up and behind him to expose his young appearance, with silver hair and red eyes, as well as a scar running across his face on one of his eyes.

Soon he arrived at one of the central buildings in Sparta, the one with the best fences, the largest lawn, and the best wood.

Max was brought inside after the burley mad talked with the one who looked like the butler of this place, and was made to sit down at in the waiting room of the house. Around 20 minutes later, another burly-looking man with a rough beard, yet wearing relatively good clothes compared to the commoners of Sparta appeared in front of him.

With this Max had confirmed that the people in this world still selected their leaders based on their fighting abilities or something similar, rather than their lineage or right to the throne… Perhaps there might not even be a throne in the current state of the world.

Or perhaps this kingdom was just one that was self-proclaimed, a kingdom only in name trying to imitate the other actual kingdoms around it. Max felt that this was quite likely considering it had only taken him a day of travelling from the village he had arrived to Independence at, all the way to the capital of the Athens kingdom.

"Good morning, your kingship."

The king saw opposite Max and waved his hand for him to also be seated.

"As the soldier might have mentioned, I am here to discuss some important matters with you, regarding the setting up of the Church of the Primordial Unity within your kingdom."

The king remained silent for a period of time, before a slight smirk appeared under his bear as he asked, amused.

"Any why would I allow something like that?"

Instantly, Samuel understood what kind of person this king was, and the thoughts were also understood by Max, who began speaking.

"Honestly, the very fact that an actual God is who I am representing should have swung you to my side… but it seemed that is not the kind of person you are. Am I right, your kingship?"

The smile on the king's face gradually faded as he instantly understood that Max had deduced his personality from one sentence he spoke and his body language. He simply nodded while putting more focus on Max, the Grand Priest of the Primordial Unity.

"Alright. You seem to be the more rational kind of person, who would believe in cold hard facts over something like an intangible notion of God. But let me first dissuade your delusion that Gods do not exist. For the powers I have been given by Him, I could easily take the lives of every single person present in the room."

He causally picked up the metal spoon reserved for guests from the table between himself and the king while speaking, and as soon as he was done speaking, he drastically increased the density of the spoon, before launching it with [Push] through the wooden walls, making the spoon go through like there was nothing there, without actually moving the fingers or hand that were holding the spoon.

The king and the soldier, whose hand was already on his sword when Max spoke his rather insulting words, felt their mouths hanging agape at the Grand Priest's actions.

"However, doing something like that would only increase your hostilities towards me and my Lord, so I will not do that."

'You just did though…' The soldier cursed in his mind as he let go of his sword at his Majesty's gesture.

"Instead, I will list out the various benefits your kingdom would receive from helping me build my church, your kingdom that barely qualifies as such. Firstly, and most importantly, unlike the pseudo-religions that some charlatans may have spread across these lands, a real God is actually going to be the centre of this religion."

"As such, there will never be anyone who could survive within the church that could even remotely be considered corrupt in any way. I hope that removes your doubts about possible abuses of power. No such thing could ever happen. Next, my Lord does not request any donations from the kingdom or force any believers into doing anything other than pray to him before each meal, and before going to war."

"I have also observed that your kingdom is highly dependent on barter, which is a good system from small villages, but if you want to grow your kingdom, you will need a fixed currency. As such, I would like to propose for the church of Unity to handle the creation of your currency and prepare a fully functional system for it."

"Other than that, we will be establishing a faith which can help with not only bringing together your kingdom as a whole, but also preventing and rooting out any possible rebellions."

"Another very important factor is for each priest of the Primordial Unity to be able to send messages to each other through prayer. Which means you would not have to rely on messengers riding on horseback throughout your kingdom, and at least for important messages like military related stuff, you could utilise the priests to communicate instantly through prayer."

"Though, you should know that only Grand Priests would be given powers and abilities like I have been bestowed with, so you do not have to worry about the normal priests having superpowers."

"Other than that, I have also been bestowed with a vast amount of knowledge pertaining to developing a kingdom, and I would be willing to share that with you for a few conditions, but that can be discussed later once you have enough faith in the Church after we prove our reliability. After all, I don't take you for someone who would trust someone so easily just from a few words and promises…"

The king remained silent for a while. Such a proposal was indeed very enticing. Ignoring the demonic powers displayed by this grand priest, Max had told them of abilities like instant message transmission ignoring distance and the impossibility of corrupt leaders in the church which had made the proposal even more enticing.

Most religions, or as Max called them, pseudo religions only tried to entice him with portions of the wealth they would earn from the general public, or something worse and would end up with them having been decapitated on the spot for preaching false religions.

Originally he had wanted to do the same with Max, but soon he realised he was not dealing with a religious fanatic of a non-existent god, nor was he facing a charlatan who only wanted to make a quick sum of wealth and flee. He was instead talking with an intelligent person who knew what he as a king wanted, and was willing to give exactly that to him in exchange was exactly what he wanted.

He had set everything on the table and was now waiting for him to reply. The king thought for a few moments before finally agreeing but with conditions.

"Alright. But your church will forever have to remain loyal to my bloodline."

"That can be arranged. However, Your Majesty, you will have to allow the church some concessions in exchange for this."

"Like what?"

"Like allowing us to have our own standing army to protect the church's properties, and allowing us to punish those who have actively or otherwise harmed those of the church, or have crossed the line that separates humanity from common animals. Of course, we will naturally be providing proof of everything before carrying out any actual punishment, but we reserve the right to apprehend such individuals lest they leave the kingdom after committing such atrocities."

"Acceptable," the king had already made his decision, and the concessions the church was asking for were nothing great. In essence, he was asking for the right to justice, and the right to punish evil, both of which were something he could agree with.

Max shook the king's hand and then stood up.

"Alright then, Your Majesty, it will be an honour to work with you for the betterment of this kingdom."

…

After Max was escorted out of the house and left to his own devices within what could only be described as a crude town, the large soldier who appeared to be the captain of the city guard, and the king were left alone in the room.

The king took in a deep breath and sighed, while the large guard coughed and asked, "Should I fetch the old man?"

"No need, Bruce. I have already made my decision and the old man will not change it. Just send someone to keep an eye on Max."

"As you wish." The burly man who had been identified as Bruce bowed slightly before leaving as well, preparing to send one of his subordinates to secretly keep an eye on Max.

Unknown to the king and his guardsman, Max had already left, the royal decree signed by the king in his hand. He would not be returning to the capital for quite some time. Currently, he was heading to one of the surrounding towns of Athens, with a much smaller population, but also an equally smaller number of issues that needed to be solved. This was where he would set up the first outpost of the Church of Unity. The headquarters would naturally not have a physical form and instead be located in the Amalgamation of All, next to Castle Black.

…

Back on Earth, Tingen…

Klein passed the test by the Evernight Goddess and was successfully promoted to Sequence 8; Clown. Azik Eggars also gives him the copper whistle in case of danger. Max already knew this would happen, but there was the chance that his existence may have changed things despite the seemingly strong resistance the original plot of the novel had to his presence. 

Thus, he sent Tom, though a mission given by the unnamed 'Mister' who took care of the two kids, to keep an eye on Klein in secret, while Ademisaul would take care of, and teach the newly joined kids about Unity. Tom was rather quick to accept the mission after learning it was from the blessed of Unity; that took the two kids in and helped them become independent of others.

Time passed quickly and Max was satisfied with the seemingly unchangeable plot of the novel, at least for now, as he returned to Earth for the Tarot Club meeting. He did not want to take the risk of either the connection failing due to distance or other factors, or his actual location to be exposed to any of the powerful beings of this universe. 

As such, he left the town where he had just liberated the people from a dictatorial leader who wanted to keep all the wealth and luxuries to himself. He had also spread the name of the church among the people, and all that was left here was to actually build the church and start accepting people.

That could wait, for the Tarot Club was about to be in session…

September 3rd, 1349 of the Fifth Epoch…