The Grand Catastrophe

Chapter 19: Shock and Awe

“Let me get this straight,” Jircniv said, “the goddess of that a newly made church here, appeared before you and told us to leave her alone?”

The Worker nodded her head. He had recognized her, surprisingly. She had used to be an apprentice to his mentor, Fluder. She even had the same talent as he does. Yet, it was all for naught, as she had to leave due to financial trouble.

He had wanted to bail her out, but he had learned that she may have just been an early bloomer when it came to her magic. After all, she was a rather young magic caster to have reached the third tier.

“Yes, she seemed rather annoyed at the rest of the workers. She liked us, because were the only ones to just research the location. I’ve read up on the practices of the Faith of The 41. Remembering the dead is considered a virtue. She also said that she’ll kill my parents, so they’ll probably be dead when I get back home,” the girl slouched slightly.

The emperor slumped in his chair. He had no idea that the place that he had sent men to be an actual place that an actual deity lived. It was completely out of left field. In fact, he hadn’t even really believed that deities were real before this. Now, he just might visit that church to see if he could put a good word in.

Also, why was she going to kill her parents? He knew that the girl had gone to the church that the goddess had, but he hadn’t realized that she cared for her subjects in any way. At least, he assumed that the deity considered her a subject or follower of hers.

There were so many things to unpack from this. One thing to think about, was what was he to do now? Did the goddess want him to apologize? Did she expect tribute? What was the obvious thing to do?

He sighed in his mind, and placed a smile upon his face. He looked behind himself, and spotted the four imperial knights. Three of them were men, one was a woman. It had taken a lot of work to get them to work for him, and to even find them in the first place.

First, there was Leinas. Her hair was a fair blonde, and her eyes were a nice shade of green. She had been cursed, then quickly disowned by her family. She used to be an Adventurer, but he had hired her for her skill. She had a strange condition for entering his services. She, if she wanted or asked, could flee if she felt that she would die in battle of fighting.

Then there was Baziwood, a common man. He had a short, blonde beard and a long but thin ponytail. He had been hired for his skill as well, and often talked informally. He also had a rather large number of ex-prostitute wives. Though, from what Jircniv had heard, he genuinely cared for them all.

After that, there was Nimble. He was a man who put pride and had pride in his work. He had blonde hair, eyes as blue as the sea, and stood rather straight. His face, right now, was going through a bit of a confused look.

Finally, there was Nazami. He had tanned skin, brown eyes, and short grey hair. He himself specialized in shield work, and often was praised for it. He often times wore his helmet, unlike his compatriots. He was also a rather tall man. Taller than the rest of his peers.

“What do you all think?” Jircniv asked, his smile was becoming more real now.

“I think,” Baziwood started, “I think that we should probably give her an apology gift. After all, gods in different legends seem to like things like that,” he said with a nod of his head.

Jircniv smiled, and looked to Leinas. She seemed slightly more concerned than Baziwood. He smiled internally at her slightly panicked look. The talk about a real goddess had set her on edge. She may be thinking of a way to ask this idol of worship of a way to cure her.

“I think I’ll ask her or one of her followers for a cure to my curse. Other than that, I have no ideas,” she spoke honestly.

Jircniv smiled. She was always this honest with everything. That was half the reason why he had hired her. It was the same as Baziwood. He looked over to Nimble next, and saw him sneer at the woman.

“Nimble, what do you think?” the emperor asked his knight.

“This goddess is rather powerful. Though, I am slightly confused as to why you think that this is a real deity,” he asked.

There was a bit of a strange reason why he thought that this woman was genuinely what she said she was. It was a bit of a emotional reason, but not all gods were made of logic. Most, from what he found, were highly emotional and volatile creatures.

Jircniv nodded his head, and sat up straight in his chair. He took in a deep breath. He looked around the room before speaking what he thought.

“Well, I simply noticed this,” he said, and pointed lazily to the lone Arche, “She looked shaken. More shaken than any other person I have ever met in my life. She looked more emotionally scarred and shaken than Fluder when he sees a new and strong spell. I’ve only seen that in the deeply religious. I’ve only seen that in the eyes of people who are deeply connected to their god. She’s at least convinced that what she saw was a being of worship. I believe her,” he said succinctly.

Nimble opened his mouth to interject with his own words. Yet, he couldn’t. A great rumble filled the air and shook the ground. Jircniv at once became more alert. His imperial knights at once surrounded him.

Some of his nobles, who were outside on the strange patio area, started to make a rather large ruckus. At the sounds of them seeing something, he turned to the doors that led there, and moved. One of his imperial guard tried to get him to stop, but he waved them off.

When he got outside, he noticed something. Well, there were three somethings. One was the massive golden dragon with the second and third thing on its back. The second and third thing was a pair of dark elf children on its back. Jircniv looked at the two of them as they slid off their back.

“Hello people of the Empire! We are envoys from the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick!” the little girl said, “The Great Goddess of death, Momonga, has sent us here to deliver a message to the emperor!”

It was then that one of his knights went up to the children to see what was going on. Jircniv panicked. He couldn’t see what was being talked about, but he could only assume it was the Workers that he had sent in. He decided to interject into whatever conversation that was going on. A deep and dark feeling had settled in his gut when he looked at the two of them.

“Hail! Hail!” He called out and waved his arms about, “I am the emperor of the Baharuth Empire! I would like to hear the message!” he yelled out, and the two children looked over to him.

…