37 Paperwork

A God of Order was also a god of laws. Understandably, someone that had domain over such things should be at least impartial in their judgment. That also meant that they'd be the strictest of all the gods, something that Riku had already taken into account the moment he saw and heard Themis speak in front of them. Nyx's stories also painted the god as someone that would refuse compromise of any kind and instead simply follow the rule of his own law without bending the knee even to his own wants and desires. That gave him reassurance that whatever grievances the older god had against his little sister wouldn't affect them at all. The fact that she even got inside the courthouse with them was a sign that his patron goddess's fears were unfounded, allowing her to at least give them help if the situation called for it.

Well, that was assuming that she'd even be able to help in the first place, especially now with how... utterly mundane they were proceeding with things.

"For the last time, Champions must file their own petition to meet with Themis."

Riku fought the urge to lash out as the clerk manning the counter in front of him stonewalled his attempts to speed things up on his end. Behind him, Shizu was looking on anxiously as she too fell in line for what was apparently a requirement to even meet the god that they were supposed to go to.

/This is ridiculous,/ he grumbled to his goddess. /I expected something like this, but I didn't expect it to be this thorough./

/That's Big Brother Themis for you,/ Nyx sighed, not teasing him for once on his current predicament. /You haven't even seen the worst of what he can do./

Giving his goddess a glance, the fact that the literal Goddess of Chaos was currently seated on some random bench with other people made her look utterly mundane compared to what she was as a conceptual being. She looked absolutely miserable as well, her hood concealing her scowl as she hunched in wait for both him and Shizu to complete their battle against basic paperwork.

"Sir?"

"Look, just give me the required papers," Riku sighed at the man behind the counter with a roll of his eyes. "Tell me what to fill out and I'll work things out from there."

"Excellent," the man eagerly nodded. "Some of the Champions that came here earlier didn't want to take no for an answer. I'm glad you look like a calm and a reasonable person."

The former assassin almost let out an actual laugh at that. He was far from calm and reasonable when it came to battling paperwork. There was a reason he paid someone else to do this stuff for him, and he didn't care how much he had to spend. So long as he wouldn't need to bother going to a government office to waste his time filing paperwork, then it was worth it in his opinion.

"How is it going there, Riku?" Shizu whispered to him from behind.

"Waiting for the man behind the counter to come back with the papers I'm supposed to fill out and file," he shrugged. "I tried to get you a copy to save you some time, but he wouldn't budge, unfortunately."

"Well, at least you tried," she gratefully smiled. "It kind of suck that we have to deal with this kind of stuff even in a literal fantasy setting though."

Riku chuckled. "It's almost like I'm back trying to pay my taxes or something," he stated. "I just hope that there's nothing like the horribly inefficient system that we have back home though."

"I know, right?" Shizu quickly added, her prior experiences making her tone flare up with anger. "I just wanted to get a driver's license from the nearby office, but they still want to see my-"

"Sir?"

Raising a hand, Riku turned back to the counter while Shizu gave him an understanding nod. Time to deal with the paperwork again. "Yes?"

"Here are the forms you need to fill out," the man instructed as he then plopped a rather thick stack of papers on the counter. "Most of these are triplicates, and a few of them only need a few signatures to complete. There are at least four agreements that I highly suggest you read, however. I don't want a repeat of that one annoying Champion arguing about something he already signed."

The former assassin blinked at the massive stack of papers currently in front of him. It was easily an inch thick, and the way the papers glowed a faint gold made him feel like quickly signing himself away on this stuff would be a mistake.

"Thank you," he nodded as he took the papers in both hands and made room for Shizu.

"Give them to the next window once you're done," the man nodded back before turning to face Shizu. "And as for you, you're a fellow Champion, yes?"

Giving Shizu a sympathetic look, Riku walked away from the windows and made his way to the nearest empty table with a pen for him to use. Just as he sat down, Nyx came and sat next to him with her hood still concealing her face.

"That's pretty much Big Brother Themis, alright," she lightly chuckled while staring at the stack of papers in front of him. "It's going to take a while to get through them, and I highly suggest that you read through them all."

"I thought as much," Riku sighed as she grabbed the nearest pen available to him. "Otherworldly agreements from gods are something anyone should pay attention to."

"Not even just anyone. I kind of got screwed over by randomly signing one of his agreements once to make him forgive me," Nyx grumbled. "Actually made me swear off cake for a whole thousand years if I didn't want to break it..."

His eyes widened at such a story. So it would seem that even though Nyx said that she wouldn't be affected by Themis's power, a contract from the god could affect even her, a complete counter to the god himself.

"Anyway, go ahead," Nyx told him as she folded her arms on the table and laid her head on top of it. "I might just take a nap while waiting for you two."

The former assassin simply nodded before facing the papers once more. He had a lot of reading to do, it would seem.