Chapter 101: Fishing Day?

It was a peaceful day in one of the forests near Tirelia. Rays of sunlight slipping through the treetops formed a thin golden veil, while the sound of a nearby stream mingled with birdsong and the soft rustle of leaves.

Amid scenery that brought a fairy tale to mind, Nerez knelt before a small flower growing among the branches of a particularly large tree. The flower was still only a bud, but that did not matter. He had come prepared.

As one of the rings on his right hand glowed, a small vial materialized in his palm.

"According to Rin, about two drops of this concoction, made to imitate the secretions of a certain insect, should be enough to make it bloom. She wouldn't tell me what it's made of, so just in case, I'll make sure none gets on my boots..."

Nerez removed the stopper and brought the vial closer to the flower. As if it had realized what the liquid was, perhaps from its mysterious scent, the little flower stirred slightly. If it had a more expressive body, it might have been drooling in anticipation.

"Mm? Wait a second..."

But to the flower's great misfortune, the vial containing the coveted liquid stopped dead. Instead, the giant's silver-haired head drew closer, and his two golden eyes with their mysterious symbols turning within them locked onto her.

"Your vital energy is an open book to me, flower. You've already been visited by at least three of those blasted insects." Nerez pointed an accusing finger at the flower, but the bud turned away in a gesture of disdain. "How many have you tricked already, you mischievous little flower? I don't like throwing my status or rank around, but you're connected to the world. If you concentrate, you should be able to tell who I am."

The flower turned its bud back toward Nerez, not entirely convinced by his words, but at least a little curious.

It was not long before the flower began to tremble with a fear it had never known in all its floral life. If anyone could guess how flowers thought, they would say it felt as though it had been carried into the middle of a withered field.

"I'll let your offense slide this time, but you'd better give me what I came for."

The bud bobbed frantically up and down in agreement before opening completely. Now, a flower in full bloom stood before Nerez.

"And you'd better not let me catch you tricking the insects either. You know I'll find out sooner or later."

The flower shivered slightly at the threat, but otherwise remained perfectly still while Nerez carefully collected some of its pollen with a pair of specialized tweezers from the Adventurers' Guild and stored it in a small leather container, also provided by the guild.

Honestly, I don't like bullying flowers, but according to Avelle, if flowers of this species consume too much of that insect secretion, they end up turning into monsters instead of forest spirits. Better to intimidate the greediest ones a little.

Nerez stood up and stretched his arms and legs before taking a deep breath of fresh air and continuing on his way.

"Now this is what I call a quiet life. Simple quests, just an excuse to stroll around and enjoy the day."

Nerez crouched down again to pick up a small root, which he also stored in the leather pouch. Fortunately, the root was just a root.

"I'm getting pretty good at gathering ingredients. Maybe I should put quests aside and get myself a little atelier in the woods, like in those games with girl alchemists." Nerez brought a hand to his chin, seriously considering the possibility. "Though I've never actually played any of them. Maybe there are real complications along the way... like coming down with an incurable rash for all eternity."

Nerez felt a chill run down his spine.

"After all, if I want a quiet and safe life, I'd better become a farmer..."

But just then, a girl with sky-blue hair tied into a side ponytail and long, drooping white ears appeared beside him, interrupting his thoughts.

"Lord Nereziel, the arrangements you asked Mirror to make are in place."

"Perfect. Thanks, Ily, and I'm sorry I requested them on my own instead of going through you. Maybe it would've been better to wait until the event was over."

"Not at all, my lord!" the visiare exclaimed, stepping closer to him. "In fact, I always keep someone near you for situations like that!"

"Good, as long as that's what they're there for and not to spy on my every move."

Ily began to whistle, idly pushing the dirt back and forth with the toe of one foot.

"By the way, have you seen Cerys?" Nerez asked, realizing why things had been so peaceful until now. "Come to think of it, I need to make sure she hasn't given that entire vial to one of those flowers..."

"Cerys... is fishing..."

"Fishing? Since when does she have that much patience?"

"It's a different kind of fishing..."

!!

At that moment, a tremendous explosion rang out, accompanied by a gigantic column of water rising in the distance.

***

They did not have to walk far to reach a small nearby lake. Along the way, however, they crossed paths with both animals and forest spirits fleeing in terror.

"Oh, Nerez, Ily! You got here at just the right time! I've already got our dinner!"

Cerys greeted them with a laugh, her hands on her hips, looking very pleased with herself.

She stood out on the lake, but not on a boat. Instead, she was atop a gigantic fish whose size rivaled that of a whale.

"Our dinner? Maybe for all of Tirelia..." Nerez brought a hand to his forehead and let out a deep sigh. "I don't even need to check. That is (or rather, was) clearly the lord of this lake."

"Basically, a local deity." Ily nodded beside him with her eyes closed.

"Maybe... but it was so weak I couldn't really tell," Cerys replied with a shrug. "Way weaker than Avelle."

"Well, Lady Avelle is already quite a bit more powerful than a mere local deity," Ily pointed out, raising a finger. "She benefits from the faith of those of us who live within her domain, though that faith isn't as strong as our devotion to Lord Nereziel."

"Hey! Why does Avelle get to be Lady Avelle while I'm just Cerys?!" the redhead complained from a distance. "I'm way more important than she is!"

Ily once again began to whistle, idly pushing the dirt back and forth with the toe of one foot.

"Cerys, what did I tell you about not disrupting the ecosystem?" Nerez asked, trying to steer the conversation back on track.

"In this case, it's fine! This bastard's time had come. It was right there in the reaper's Soul Ledger! He was trying to escape death!" his lieutenant protested. "He wasn't supposed to live long enough to gain that much power and become a local deity in the first place!"

It's the soulwarden's Soul Ledger, actually... but yes. To do their job, they each have their own Soul Ledger, though not as complete or versatile as mine.

"He hadn't caused any trouble, so I'd left him alone. But since we were nearby, I decided to deal with him!"

Ily approached the shore and struck a teasing pose, covering her mouth with one hand.

"Sounds to me like you left him alone because he wasn't exciting enough. But gathering pollen was infinitely more boring, so you ended up dealing with him just to get out of it."

"I did it because I'm responsible! And now you don't get any fish!"

"Cerys, are you sure you want to be that stingy?" Ily chuckled under her breath. "What if I told you my spy network managed to get hold of one of those incredibly elusive golden bottles from the Secret Cellar in Tirelia?"

I'm starting to think the reason Mirror's agents were so willing to get rid of their current leader had more to do with being used for things like this than with devotion to me...

"I heard the rumors about that bottle first! And it's Lady Supreme Reaper to you!" Cerys crossed her arms and lowered her head in thought. "Mmmmm... You can have one of the eyes!"

"I don't want a disgusting eye! Looks like I'll have to drink it with only my lord for company."

I want nothing to do with that weird bottle. Who knows what they put in it? Let the health inspectors check it first...

"Fine, you win this time, you blackmailing rabbit! You can have some fish!"

"These aren't rabbit ears!" Ily protested indignantly, taking hold of her ears and lifting them up for Cerys to see. "They're much more majestic!"

But Cerys was no longer listening. Her attention was fixed on a spot along the gigantic gash she had carved into one side of the fish with her scythe.

"What is this I'm sensing?"

Cerys held her hand over the enormous wound, and soon a green light emerged from it and flowed toward her palm.

"A seed?" she said, examining what was glowing between her hands.

!!

But the light went out, and the seed it had revealed quickly withered and died in Nerez's hands. He had appeared beside Cerys and taken it from her.

"Don't touch everything you find. Who knows what you might catch?"

"Catch?" the redhead asked, tilting her head in confusion, though she soon nodded. "Okay..."

Ily was watching curiously from the shore as well.

The matter of the Yggdrasil seeds was confidential in the Underworld, known only to the reapers investigating it.

If Cerys finds out Lirien is plotting something, she'll start a war all by herself. That's the one thing I need least right now, with trouble involving Helux already looming on the horizon... Destemos, Falagor, please tread carefully too... Wait.

Nerez raised a hand to his forehead again as Cerys and Ily watched him, even more intrigued than before.

I forgot to tell Destemos to keep it secret from his former student, Rila... It's true she's quite capable, but her nature... Ah... now my quiet day is full of worries...

***

The Palace of Concord was in chaos. Truth be told, it had been that way for quite some time.

Many mediators spent their days trembling. Some even wrote and rewrote their wills, however useless that might be.

After all, the problem before them represented Eryndea's first major trial.

Many worlds failed to survive a divine conflict on the scale this one could reach.

Even High Arbiter Cassian Veyr's office showed signs of that nervousness, in the form of the brew Dili had brought him, now almost entirely spilled across the tray.

"Dililei, if you're already like this, you won't be of any use if the conflict escalates."

"I'm sorry, High Arbiter..." his assistant apologized with her head lowered, though when she raised it again, the nervousness was still visible in her eyes. "Do you really think it will escalate?"

"...Not as long as it remains a conflict between mortals and the gods themselves stay out of it. But I very much doubt it will stay that way."

Dili pressed the tray tightly against her body, not caring, or more likely, having forgotten how wet it was.

"The battle will be really catastrophic, won't it? Even though His Exaltedness Nereziel is an absolute god and has far more followers and much more influence, the Zenith Faction of Their Excellencies Helux and Zildia has many more gods in its ranks..."

"Most likely. Nereziel, like Aion, has never made much of an effort to bring many gods under his banner," Cassian remarked, adjusting his glasses. "The god of death does have a former titan among his ranks, countless lesser gods, and the Crimson Calamity, whose growth in recent years has been remarkable."

The High Arbiter interlaced his fingers on the desk and leaned forward, deep in thought, before continuing.

"Even so, Selene and the gods who serve her directly make up the bulk of the Dusk Faction's gods proper. But even she has considerably fewer subordinate gods than either the god of the sun or the goddess of the sky. The moon is a distant place, after all."

Dili finally realized that she had become completely soaked and hurriedly pulled the tray away from her body.

As she set it on a nearby shelf, she let out a heavy sigh. "So if it turns into a free-for-all and they're evenly matched, the war could last until this world is completely destroyed..."

"They wouldn't necessarily be evenly matched," the High Arbiter replied, rising from his seat and walking toward the enormous windows of his office. "His Excellency Helux may have the advantage."

Dili lowered her head. That meant Eryndea had a chance of avoiding destruction. Yet for some reason, the news did not make her particularly happy.

Maybe it was because she did not care much for Helux's personality, or perhaps because she remembered the warmth of Nereziel's hand as he ruffled her already disheveled hair.

"But..." Cassian said.

"But?" Dili raised her head.

"When it comes to absolute gods, no one truly knows their limits... And something tells me that, from the very beginning, we've never really seen the god of death's true power."