Unexpected twist

I stayed with the Deathbringers for three days. I was allocated a bed and a place in one of the two shared bedside tables, but since I didn't have anything with me, I didn't use it.

Of the 6 rooms on the floor that the tavern offered, only 4 were occupied. The other two were still empty, the third floor was half an attic, half a room for the innkeeper himself, his wife and children, who worked in the evenings at the bar on the ground floor.

During these three days, Skell showed me the basement of the establishment, designed specifically for training. Sometimes members of other teams came down here, with whom we only exchanged a few words.

In this basement, he showed me various techniques and taught me. I 'catched' everything on the fly, even though I already knew all this.

Skell also told me about the power system in this world. There were 6 levels in total. The first level is a beginner, someone who has just become a mage. The second level is the one who has learned how to control his powers and has learned the basics of elemental magic. The third is someone who has chosen a magical path for himself and has studied from five to eight spells.

The fourth is someone who has gained experience along the way, improved his magical control and began to explore similar magical paths. The fifth is a virtuoso of his path, who has reached the fourth or fifth level in neighboring paths.

There was another level, but Skell knew practically nothing about it, since some kind of ritual was needed to achieve it. He only understood that the sixth level is much stronger than the others and is already semi-divine.

It was planned to hold another meeting of the two teams soon, because tomorrow they would have to go on a mission, but there was still time before that.

I got to know my allies a little bit and even made up some behavioral patterns: Skell always looks relaxed and passive, but when it comes to a topic of interest to him, he becomes quite active.

The dialogue with Vector did not work out for me and at every convenient situation he showed his rejection of the new participant. At the same time, he tried to be as close to Skell as possible, although it did not look like he was serving him or sucking up to him. Rather, he is trying to influence him and his decisions.

Gwanrom didn't show any rejection, but he behaved very strangely. Every day he went to church for a daily service, and after returning, he prayed most of the day. He has a bad habit of biting his nails and the skin on his fingers and lips, especially on his lips, which makes them look chapped. He also was very quiet.

We hardly saw each other with the trio of Roses, but sometimes I remembered the scene with the slave after the announcement of the awards.

I recently checked with Skell about the order and the status of an honorary citizen. As it turned out, the order is a symbolic award given for making a high contribution to the development of the barony, and the status gives many advantages to its bearer.

In particular, an honorary citizen could hold seats either in the city parliament or in the state parliament; slaves who received this status were no longer considered slaves, but remained without political rights.

Nevertheless, as Skell explained to me, in order to obtain such a status, a slave must obtain permission from the Emperor, but I personally doubt that the Baroness will be able to achieve this, even if she wants to.

Also, slaves are precisely imperial property, so all those who have slaves, in fact, rent them and pay a monthly amount to the treasury of the state. But Skell couldn't answer anything about the amount of rent and the attitude of slaveholders to slaves, but since there are such organizations as the Liberation Army, there are problems.

Flir is a pretty big city. It has four administrative districts: Greenforrest, Centrofold, Norfborder and Arisland.

I have already visited Centrofold and Greenforrest, so I understand roughly how things are here.

Norfborder is the most dangerous area of the city. Even before Flir appeared in these territories, there was a town of rogues on the site of the modern Norfborder, who also had an underground version of the town, which could only be accessed through secret passages, many of which were located far from the city.

After their dispersal and the creation of the city, local gangsters were able to get into the underground part of the Norfborder.

Arisland is a small piece of land on a hill where the baroness's estate and other buildings intended for her, servants and guards are located.

"Do you need to go to church today?" Gwanrom suddenly turned to me.

It was still morning and the church had only recently opened its doors.

"Yes," I replied.

It was clear that Gwan wanted to keep me company, since he was heading to the church himself anyway.

"Watch out, or this holy man will brainwash you," Vector warned me, reading the newspaper.

"Faith needs to be shared," Gwan reproached his friend without emotion. "You know, you could come with us."

"Nah, I think I'm gonna pass," Vector replied through his iron mask.

Gwanrom looked in Skell's direction, but Skell just shook his head in refusal.

When we went outside, we were greeted by the hubbub of the crowd and merchants calling to buy their product. Someone was selling vegetables, other clothes and fabrics, and someone was already selling cooked food, such as kebabs and fried chicken.

"Watch out for thieves," Gwan warned, but since I didn't have anything with me, I wasn't worried.

In less than 10 minutes, we had already reached the church. We were greeted by the same two buildings: one majestic, with tall and beautiful spires, and the other more like a squat house.

I decided to postpone my meeting with Mother Isabella and go to the sermon with Gwan.

After entering, we sat down at the second row. The priest who was supposed to conduct the service today turned out to be Vrash.

"In the beginning there was Darkness," he announced solemnly, "then the Light of the Sun came, dispelling the Darkness! The Night of the Moon came after Him, sealing the Darkness! The Wind of Space came after Him, purifying the Darkness! He came for all of Them, the Creator of our World and all life on our planet!"

"Let us offer prayers to every Great One for their deeds!" the priest continued.

"Illuminator of the Worlds,

The Inextinguishable Phoenix,

The great God of the Sun, Light and all Spirituality!

Praise You!"

"Praise the Sun!" the parishioners prayed, including me and Gwan.

Everyone's voices seemed to be cut off from the walls of the church, generating an echo. The stained glass windows, as it seemed to me for a moment, began to tremble and glow. The church was filled with the spirit of holiness.

"Born in Solitude,

The Master of all Waters,

The Great God of the Moon, Blood and Despair!

Praise You!"

"Praise the Moon!" the crowd replied piously.

This time, the feeling of resonance and holiness was not so strong, but still significant.

"Air of Life,

The Witness and Manipulator of all Fates,

The Great God of Winds and Changes!

Praise You!"

"Praise the Wind!" the faithful chanted, but the response was minimal.

Could it be that these two Great Gods are weaker than the Great Sun God? Based on their Honorific Names, they must be very powerful.

"Embodiment of Life,

The Progenitor of all living things in the Universe,

The Great God of Flesh, Earth and Fertility!

Praise You!"

"Praise the Flesh!" people prayed.

This Honorific Name also carried a faint resonance, but I was still filled with a sense of awe.

Based on their Honorific Names, I can assume what role each of them played in the creation of this world, and judging by the response from these names, they are real, but something is wrong here.

In my world, there were once great people and demigods who used Honorific Names to receive prayers, but even from them the resonance was much more obvious.

Meanwhile, the priest continued his sermon, "after the creation of our world, Planset, the Great God of Flesh created humans in His image and likeness, He created animals and other humanoid races," the priest said, "and the Great Ones gave us a test: 'Be honest, pure and worthy of your Creators, and you will ascend into Our Kingdom, but those who will be dishonest, impure and vicious will rot to give Life to those who will grow up on their corpses and mistakes.'"

"After that, the Great Ones left us, but They will return when the time of Judgment comes. Then all sinful souls will be erased, and all pious ones will ascend. Until then, the Angels will be watching over us."

The sermon continued for the next hour, telling about the Angels, Prophets and Saints who were granted sacred Missions, but there were no Honorific Names other than those already pronounced.

The Holy Scriptures recorded fundamental information about this world, in particular the names of historical regions, the settlement of peoples, as well as mentions and brief information about ancient states and semi-mythical rulers.

Thus, in ancient times, when the Great Ones had not yet left this world, there was a state called the Empire of Alba. It controlled the lands of all the human nations in the south of the continent, including Frispan, the state where I am now.

It existed for about 300 years before the departure of the Great Ones and 300 years after, until a terrible cataclysm occurred, plunging the entire planet into the ice age. This disaster was called a Song of the Sun, and it is from its beginning that the current calendar is kept.

It is now 1520 from the Song of the Sun, September 21st, Tuesday. The months and seasons are also called differently here, but I prefer the usual names. If we count from the moment of Creation of the World, then now it is 2420, i.e. the time of Alba's existence is added and another 300 years, about which practically nothing is known. Vrash says that at this time the Great Ones created primitive life and watched its development.

During the cataclysm, the Angels, in order to save humanity, granted immortality to many important people, devout believers and high-ranking priests, so that they would organize a kind of ark for ordinary people and maintain stability in their territories until the end of the Song of the Sun.

Now, according to the priest, these people have returned to the Divine fold for their deeds, but I am inclined to doubt this.

The world was able to regain its strength only 500 years ago, and even though even then there was the Empire of Alba, it could no longer be called a full-fledged state – it was completely decentralized; the clans of those whose ancestors were Immortals, in whose hands for a thousand years there was complete control over the lands entrusted to them, who were respected by the locals, who knew no other masters, and continued to rule their territories, ignoring the imperial family.

After all, the state fell into the abyss of civil wars 300 years ago, which led to the final collapse of the country. One of the states that emerged after the war was the Empire of Frispan. To the north of the Empire is Alba, which was able to preserve some of its territories by becoming a constitutional monarchy. To the west of the country is the Kingdom of Granthyr, which Vrash mentioned only in passing. In the south and east, the country is washed by seas. In these seas is Chalkosia, the Southern continent from which slaves are imported.

After the sermon, Gwanrom and I prayed again, and then left the church.

"How do you like the sermon?" asked Gwan.

"Informative," I answered honestly.

"I agree, sermons from other priests are usually more succinct," Gwan replied.

"What about Mother Isabella? Does she preach?" I asked.

"Yes, every Sunday," Vector replied. "The abbot of this church preaches only on holidays, very rarely on Sundays, you should listen to him sometime, he is very charismatic."

"The Abbot?" I asked.

"Yes, the rector of the church, he should have already arrived in the city after the seminar," Gwan replied. "Okay, I'll go now, see you later."

Gwan extended his hand to me, I shook it, but left him a 'gift', after which I went to Mother Isabella.

"Good morning, Holy Mother," I greeted the nun as I walked inside the room.

"Hello, my son," she replied, getting up from the table. "Sit down, I will purify you."

I obeyed her, and then relaxed under the influence of her Goodness Light.

"How are you feeling? Are there any changes? Complaints about the heart?" she asked.

Looks like this is my chance.

"I feel pain in my heart. After my first visit to you, I felt better, but over time the pain returned and only worsens. Why is this happening?" I asked.

"My son, I ask you to close your eyes and relax," she said, bringing her hand to my chest.

I could have resisted, but I didn't. I felt a slight discomfort in this area. She summoned my soul.

"It's very bad," she confirmed. "To recover, you need to go to a powerful soul mage, light or darkness. To be honest, I've never seen or heard of such a thing."

"How can I contact them?" I asked with almost genuine concern.

"Serve your faith and one day you will be rewarded, my son, until then come to me more often and I will help you," the nun did not make me too happy, after which she allowed my soul to fly back into my heart. "I will definitely report your situation to the abbot. What about your team, how do you like it?"

"Everything suits me, they teach me," I replied.

"What about the first mission? Is there anything?"

This question alerted me. If the assignments are mostly from the church and the police, then why is she asking? Does the Baroness not share information about her missions?

"There is something," I replied, "they have a difficult and dangerous mission planned in the forest. They need to clear the area of the rebels from the Liberation Army, but they didn't take me. They're leaving tomorrow."

I understood that I needed help from the Church, not from the team, so I decided to tell what I knew. Moreover, they revealed this information to me themselves.

"I see, that explains a lot," Mother Isabella smiled. "You can go, don't mention my interest, my son, and keep your eyes open."

***

It was a very strange experience. It seems that I have become a spy in the hands of the Church, but it's even good, because this way I can get closer to my goal faster.

However, what surprises me more is the carelessness on the part of the Deathbringers. It is clearly suspicious that I was assigned to them on the eve of an important mission, and they willingly told me everything.

At that moment, I entered room 4. It was completely empty, and there was a note and several paper banknotes on the table.

"Hello! This is Skell, we've already gone on a mission, eat something, money is on the table. By the way, since this is about to become known, I deceived you a little.

In fact, there is no Liberation Army in the forest, we have a completely different task. Tell this to Mother Isabella at the next meeting and look at her face. It's going to be unforgettable, haha!

And yes, don't take offense too much, but it was too strange that you were sent to us now. Anyway, have a nice day! Bye!"

I put the note down, then smiled and chuckled. Not bad.

I sat down on the sofa, activating the 'gift' that I left for Gwan.