Chapter 42

At the border of the Varene Dynasty had is mounted knights line of in a four-line formation with five hundred men a line. The carriage doors all open in unison as two hundred dismounted knights came pouring out to line up in front of the mounted knights.

As the ten female Varene border guards stood frozen in place watching the sudden influx of Avalon soldiers line up in perfectly straight formation before them, Ben came casually strolling over to them with a smile on his face.

"Hello, ladies I'm the king of Avalon. I just recently conquered the Rodara, Botodor, Aithereal, and Lunia Kingdoms. Now that I have finally stabilized these regions under my rule I decided it was about time I pay a visit to the Varene Dynasty's esteemed matriarch. I know you have a closed border policy, but please excuse us this once trespass. I have important terms to discuss with the Matriarch that will benefit both my kingdom and your dynasty."

What could these ten women say to him? They just stood there with frozen looks and nodded along with what Ben said.

"A..ah..s...sure. Please be careful...on your journey?" One of the guards happened to half whisper and stutter a response out as Ben and his troops loaded back onto the carriages and crossed into the Varene Dynasty.

'Hmm. Could this be considered a passive-aggressive invasion?' Ben sighed as this was the only solution he could come up with without having to wait weeks just to be given permission to enter the dynasty of for them to travel to the border to greet him.

His group moved toward the Varene Dynasty capital upon entering the dynasty. He and his men traveled around the towns from a distance so as to not alarm the people living in them.

They traveled during the day and camped at night. After two days of travel, they reached the capital and established a camp a few hundred yards from the capital city walls. He wanted to be sure not to apply to much pressure to the city guards and to remain out of range of their archers.

Inside his cozy campaign tent, Ben sat at his desk and wrote up a request to meet the Varene Matriarch. He explained the situation with the three northern kingdoms and wished to talk to her about the food trade they previously had with those kingdoms. He was sure to mention they wanted to cancel this trade agreement and discuss terms of working together in a more prosperous way that could benefit both his kingdom and their dynasty.

Their presence had obviously placed the city on high alert. As soon as they were spotted the city gates were closed and barred.

Ben had to send one of his men over on horseback to pass the message off to the terrified guards.

The guards hesitantly received the message and carried it to the temple. Unlike most of the kingdoms and empires, Ben had come into contact with Varene Dynasty did not have a royal palace. They had a large temple that stood in the center of the capital. This was the home of the Matriarch Priestess who currently led this dynasty.

The following day a female guard apprehensively left the city to walk into the Avalon camp and deliver a verbal message to Ben.

He was told the Matriarch was willing to meet him. For her safety, she wished to meet with him in her temple and his soldiers were to remain outside the city walls.

Ben agreed and brought along his officials. They were all unarmed wearing luxurious clothes and jewelry.

His small party caused a large stir as they traveled the streets. They all looked so different from the locals that they stood out like beacons. Some were curious and others were fearful to see the first outsiders in their lives.

After an uncomfortable walk across the city under the gaze of thousands of female eyes, they were led into the temple.

A large open expanse with towering ceilings welcomed them. A pleasant smell of incense greeted them that was burning in small copper urns around the temple.

Ben looked up toward the back of the temple to see a statue that must have stood thirty feet tall. It was of a beautiful woman wearing a bedlah style outfit with long white hair and red eyes.

'So this must be their goddess. I wonder what the God who brought me here thinks about them worshiping someone other than him?' Ben thought.

"I don't mind Thessalia could be considered my sister in mortal terms. She was once by my side for centuries as I watched over this world. When her power reached a certain level she was given her own world to watch over by the true gods."

Ben jumped about a foot off the floor and startled everyone around him. It took him a second to realize that the voice he heard was in his head.

While everyone was looking at him he began talking internally, "G..god is that you...again?"

"You better hope it is or else you are beginning to lose your mind." the voice responded.

"I know you had spoken to me briefly once before. It just startled me to suddenly hear so much from you."

"This is due to you being in my sister's temple if you enter a place devoted to me or my sister who had once helped to watch over this world I am allowed to speak with you briefly without it being deemed interference by the true gods."

"So that's how it is, even you are restricted from what you can do. I built a cathedral that I dedicated to you will I be able to speak with you there as well?"

The god replied, "I watched you build it. Your cathedral is impressive and it made me happy to finally be recognized by those I watch over. They have so many churches and temple down there devoted to hundreds of false gods, but yours is the first to be dedicated to me. It is only missing one thing. You need to build a statue in my image like the Varenians have to make it a true place dedicated to me."

"How can I do that I never had a chance to see you when you brought me here?"

Just as Ben had asked a vision of a tall slender muscular man also with white hair and red eyes appeared in a vision.

"Alright, I will talk to you again in the future those around you are beginning to become concerned.

Ben hadn't noticed he could no longer see the temple or the people around him. When he realized this his eyes blinked a few times before they opened.

His officials were all trying to get his attention this whole time asking if he was okay. When he did not answer them they became worried. The Varene guard who led them here grew worried and ran off to tell the Matriarch Priestess that something strange had happened to the Avalon king when he entered the temple.

The Matriarch appeared from a side chamber and began to approach Ben as he began to open his eyes again. Ben did not notice her as he attempted to calm his people down and let them know, he was fine now.

"You had us worried to death sire. You suddenly looked startled and then your eyes closed, and we couldn't get you to respond to us. It was almost like you were standing, but unconscious."

"Ohh, This hasn't happened in over a hundred years in this temple. You must have just had a vision. Tell me did you see or possibly speak with the goddess?"

Ben turned to find an older woman dressed similar to the statue of Thessalia. To Ben, they reminded him of belly dancer outfits.

The Matriarch appeared to be well into her fifties with a few wrinkles, but she was still a beauty.

'What is it with these Varene women every one of them is an empire toppling beauties.' Ben thought as he surely knew this was the woman he had traveled so far to meet.'

"Ben smiled and said, "Were there others who have had visions here in your temple?

"Yes, but it has been many years since the goddess has spoken to us. We know she must be busy watching over us all, so we must be humble and patient. I find it strange that she would suddenly choose to speak with an outsider who has never stepped foot in her temple though." She said with a look of wonderment.

" Actually, it wasn't the goddess Thessalia who spoke. He said he was her brother, and they looked like they could be twins."

Ben suddenly brought a small table and chair out of his inventory along with colored pencils and paper. He sat down at the table and began to draw out the image of the god he had seen to the best of his ability.

The face of the character Ben drew looked similar to Thessalia's the body looked like it would belong to a professional swimmer or a martial artist. He is tall slender and buff looking without being overly bulky looking.

The Priestess Matriarch was surprised to see Ben suddenly bring out this furniture and begin sketching as if he wanted to record what he had seen before it slipped away. She quietly walked over to peer over his shoulder to see what he drew.

She made a small gasp and asked, "Is this truly a drawing of the goddess brother? One of our priestesses has written about a conversation she had when our goddess made mention of our brother, but she was not shown a vision of his image."

"I had recently built a cathedral in my kingdom which is similar to a temple it is a place dedicated to a god or goddess. I dedicated it to Thessalia brother. He had just informed me it could not be deemed a true place of worship to him until I built a statue in his image as your predecessors have here of Thessalia." Ben explained.

"I see, so this is why you were given a vision of his appearance. To think our people worship the sister of the god of your people. What a fascinating and joyous discovery. Please, I do not intend to offend even though your drawing skills may not win you any awards, it is still possible to distinguish the likeness he has to our goddess" The Priestess Matriarch replied with a beaming smile.

"Haha, I agree I should stick to being a king and not an artist. As you said though it is a fascinating discovery. You could say that you and I are brother and sister in religion!" Ben exclaimed while laughing

"Brother...and sister. Yes! Well allow me to introduce myself brother, I am Devina Aephine."

"My name is Ben King. It is my pleasure to finally meet my beautiful sister in person." Ben answered.

"Brother truly knows how to flatter! She said then looked around and spoke saying, "Why don't we all go somewhere more private so as to not disturb those who wish to pray to the goddess?"

"Please lead the way sister Devina." Ben returned the furniture to his inventory and followed her into a large lounge.

While they were crossing the large open temple Ben opened his flashing notification icon that had just begun flashing on the peripheral of his vision.

[Notice] [You have learned a new profession! Artist Level 1!]

'I take it back now, it may be possible for me to become an artist after all' Ben chuckled internally as he closed his notice.

As they entered the room Devina said, "That is an impressive trick brother Ben. You can make furniture come ago on command. Could it be that you are a mage?"

"I am a cultivator and a mage sister. This trick was not related to magic though. Would you like to know my secret?" He asked with a mysterious smile.

Devina was shocked to hear Ben was both a cultivator and a mage. She almost missed what he said after hearing this. She simply nodded wondering if Ben would truly tell her how he did it.

Ben opened the System Store and purchased an expensive spatial storage ring. It has a gold band with an engraving of ivy leaves. There are also two large red rubies mounted on it.

He held the ring out on his palm and said, "A gift from me please place it on your finger."

She hesitantly looked at the ring with a puzzled expression before reaching out to take it from the palm of Ben's hand and place it on her finger. The ring was a little big but then it glowed blue for a moment and shrunk to snugly fit her ring size.

Ben nodded and said, "Now place your hand on the chair beside you and think about wanting to place it inside your ring."

Devina looked at him startled now realizing what she must be wearing. Their society did not have much contact with the outside world, but she had heard of these rare rings.

"This...is a storage ring? Brother this is too much! I have heard these rings are rare and very expensive!"

"Rare, expensive? I finally have met my sister Devina, now allow your brother to spoil you. Now once again focus on the chair and ring. It should go inside the ring.

With a slight blush on her cheeks, Devina was moved by Ben's words. An instant later the chair vanished.

"I did it!"

"Excellent! You did it on your first try! Now concentrate on looking inside the ring."

"The chair I see it floating in a large empty space!" Devina answered.

"That is the storage area of your ring you can place anything that isn't alive in there. This is the perfect item to carry emergency items to get you out of trouble, or just when you want to travel and not have to carry so many things. To get the chair back out just think about it returning to the spot you removed it from." Ben patiently explained.

Devina looked back at the ring and the chair returned to its original position.

"This is a magnificent gift brother! It is also so beautiful these red gems reminds me of the goddess' eyes. It's a shame that brother is an outsider or might want to make you mine."

'Oh please god, goddess, and any others up there looking down! PLEASE, not another Varene woman!' Ben cried out in despair to any who might heed his call.