Chapter 046 - Courts

Anna woke with a start, sitting up blearily as the world came into focus. She rubbed her eyes, pushing down on the hard surface beneath her and tugging at the blanket that had been thrown over her at some point. She glanced to the right and glowered at the bars to the cell she’d wound up in at the very beginning of her new life. With all the noise and movement coming from upstairs in the precinct she’d opted to crash in there rather than deal with all those people.

She threw her legs down and leaned forward, rubbing her temples. Shit, how long was I out for? She wondered, pulling up the integration timer.

Time Remaining: 342 Days, 9 hours, 36 minutes.

She frowned and pulled up the timer for her main quest.

Time Remaining: 10 Days, 9 hours, 35 minutes.

Her lip twitched and she rubbed her neck, squinting at the numbers before smiling a little to herself. I haven’t done too bad for only four days passing. She pursed her lips. Four-ish? She shook her head. I need more sleep, damn. She got to her feet and nearly tripped over something heavy on the ground, grunting and catching herself on the wall of the cell. She looked down, scowling, only to stare in surprise at the mattress that had somehow been brought down to the cell while she was sleeping.

“...huh,” she muttered. “Catherine could’a woke me for this.”

She sighed and stepped over it, heading out into the lock-up hall and back into her workshop. Yawning she walked over to her workstation and popped open the food pill tray. She plucked the chalky thing out and looked it over before popping into her mouth. Number eight, she thought wryly before grabbing a bottle of water and chugging it down. She turned away, eager to head up and check in with Catherine and stopped in her tracks. Three sets of eyes peered at her from just around the edge of the wall leading up the stairs. She blinked and lowered her bottle from her mouth. She opened her mouth to say something she immediately realized would come across as stupid and instead just scowled. “Yes?” she demanded.

Her three visitors hurried up the stairs, urgently whispering to one another.

“...are they children?” Anna grumbled, walking to the stairs and heading up. When she reached the top she was confronted with a confusing sight. Several of the slaves were prostrating themselves. She cocked an eyebrow at the display, not displeased by it but not entirely sure what she did to deserve it. She glanced around and spotted Catherine walking out of the hall where the barracks was located. She gestured towards the people in confusion as if to say, ‘uh, help? The hell is going on?’.

Catherine met her eyes and actually smiled. It was weird seeing the stoic knight smile that warmly. “He’s awake, good work,” was all she said. 

Anna blinked. “Oh,” she looked towards the people bowing and worked up her nerves. It was so hard to talk to a crowd but given that Catherine had already dipped into the storage room, she was on her own this time. Damn woman, ditching me on purpose. I just want them to get back to work and not do this kind of shit. I don’t mind it but I don’t like it either. She let out a sharp breath and crossed her arms, trying to look as authoritative as possible by tilting her head to the side and up a bit to look down at them. “Are you going to play on the floor all day?” she demanded.

They all looked up at her in surprise and she scowled. “If your friend is alive, shouldn’t you be completing tasks to make sure this place is more comfortable for when he’s on his feet? Catherine has work for you I assume, do that to thank me,” she bit out and waved her hand at them. “I don’t need this nonsense. Results matter more to me than sycophancy.”

They were on their feet in a flash, a few offering half bows, some scattered thanks, but mostly they just scattered to go find something to do. Anna yawned and rubbed her eyes again before looking towards the hall to the barracks. I guess I better check on him or something, then I’m hitting Catherine up about grinding. I refuse to waste a day, she thought and meandered over to the hall, past the storage room and into the barracks. Stepping inside she found that the beds were all made and some had been pushed into little clumps here and there. She put it out of her mind and approached the bed where the old man was laying.

His eyes were closed and his chest was rising and falling slowly. Guess he dozed off, she thought and put her hand on the bed frame at the foot of the bed before pulling her hand back with a grunt. Shit that’s cold. She thought, rubbing her thumb into her palm to warm it up as the old man roused. Crap, I woke him.

The old man’s eyes fluttered open and he looked at her. For a moment his pupils shrank in alarm before they relaxed and he offered her the gentlest smile she’d ever seen on a being in her life. “You’ve saved my life twice now,” the old orc grunted, moving to sit up. She held up a hand to stop him and he laid back down. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you did for me in the storage building.”

“It was more out of self interest,” Anna said flatly. “Letting him come in after you would have exposed me.”

The old man chortled. “Of course, of course.”

Seriously, I didn’t do it for you, you old fart, she thought irritably as he laughed. “I-”

“Thank you, my liege,” he said, that deep, smooth rumble of his voice sounding like it belonged to narrating movies rather than anything else.

She stiffened a bit at the honorific before relaxing and nodding to him. “I hope you were worth the effort,” she said with a shrug.

“Yes, I would hope so as well,” the old man said wryly. “My mana tolerance is slowly receding and I have already passed beneath the cap by a small amount. The sickness is still there, but it will pass thanks to you and your treatment.”  The old man fixed her with a stare. “I am afraid that my debt to you will continue to compound, though. I am of no use to you as I am now, unless you would be willing to roll back some of the restrictions on my contract.”

“Why?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“My class levels are restricted by the contract. We are forced to obtain the dead-end slave class as part of the contract as a way of controlling us better,” he said. “Without our abilities and skills, the loss of our ability to refine adds insult to injury.”

“You have class levels?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yes, I was a priest.”

She frowned. “I’m not exactly fond of priests and gods.”

The old man didn’t so much as blink at her statement. Rather, he just smiled knowingly as if he was used to hearing that sort of thing. “I do believe I still can be of use, if you will permit me the opportunity to prove it.”

“What group were you a priest of?” she asked.

“I am a Memnite. In particular I worship Adrianna,” the old man said.

Anna was familiar with Memna being the goddess of Death and wasn’t entirely sure how that helped her besides them not liking undead very much. Maybe he had some anti-undead spells. She scratched her head though, what did this other god have to do with Memna? She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. There was the temptation to just ask the guy flat out but that would basically be broadcasting she didn’t know shit. Just play along and ask Catherine later, she thought. “I’ll consider it but I will not answer right away.”

He nodded slowly. “Yes, that is the pragmatic response. You have no proof that what I say is true and you have security to consider.”

“Yeah,” Anna said and turned away, hiding her awkward expression. That’s exactly the reason why I’m not making a snap call, mhm, not because I don’t know shit about your religion or anything, she thought wryly and walked out the door. She had other things to do and the old man needed his rest.

–

“He is a Memnite priest?” Catherine asked with a look of surprise on her face. Anna watched her glance towards the stairs leading out of the workshop before looking back at her thoughtfully. “Adrianna, that could be a big deal for us if he is able to fully recover, my Lady.”

Anna held up her hands. “Okay, explain to me what one god has to do with the other. How can he worship one and-”

“Courts, my Lady,” Catherine interrupted her. “The Gods are factional just like the rest of the Multiverse and have organized into divine courts with one enthroned deity leading the others. Adrianna is a vassal of Memna. Adrianna is the goddess of Medicine.”

Anna opened her mouth and closed it, she looked at the stairs the same way Catherine had. “So he’s a healer…”

“Yes,” Catherine said firmly.

“Well shit,” Anna crossed her arms and chewed at her thumb, squinting at the stairs for a little bit longer. She shot Catherine a look. “Should I do it right now?”

“Not until he fully recovers,” Catherine said. “If he is a full priest the temptation to perform some sort of prayer or ritual to greet his Goddess will be too great after getting his class back and that would involve using mana which he should not be doing.”

Anna nodded. “Got it.” She paused and pursed her lips a little, squinting into the distance. “Wait, what does medicine have to do with the Goddess of Death?”

“She is also known as the Goddess of Mercy, the weeping Goddess,” Catherine explained. “She abhors suffering.”

Anna scratched her neck. “You’re gonna have to give me the full lowdown on these gods when you get a chance, I don’t want any of them to think I don’t know shit.”

Catherine nodded. “We can go over it on our way back to the Garden. We can leave shortly if you like, our new recruits have their tasks around the building.”

Anna brightened, now this was some good news. She definitely didn’t want to waste a day and was beginning to consider just diving into her profession if the process took any longer. She grinned to herself, Power leveling, that’s the good stuff. It’s kind of too bad that we can’t take advantage of the healer dude just yet. He’d come in handy for this. “Let’s get going then, we’re wasting grinding time.”

“As you wish,” Catherine said with a bow.

–

A few minutes later they were trudging through the snow under a rare clear sky, blue as far as the eye could see made brighter by the reflective surface of the snow. Beval, the elf or whatever that was the apparent leader of the ‘rescued’ slaves was marching a few dozen feet ahead giving Anna and Catherine some space to talk. Anna couldn’t help but shoot his back an amused glance. There were old police uniforms in the storage room and several of them were made for cold weather. He looked kind of like a teen in his father’s work uniform.

Catherine cleared her throat and Anna glanced her way. “Right,” she said, “Full lowdown. Explain this shit to me.”

“I will give you a list for now so you know the names of the chief gods and can extrapolate at least some dogma from their titles. Their names and titles are common knowledge in the multiverse, some of their subordinate deities are not, the same goes for their deeper tenants,” Catherine explained in a low voice. “This basic information would have been given to you in the tutorial.”

Anna frowned. Fucking system bullshit, she thought. “Right, go ahead.”

“Lumar, Lord of Heroism,” Catherine began before quickly rattling off the list. “Memna, Lady of Death. Aurelia, Lady of Nature. Veryl, Lord of Order. The Dark Lady of Secrets. Kitaranya, Lady of Life…” she trailed off before doing the strangest thing. She rubbed her hands together and spat on the ground before saying the next name. “Demsell, God of Madness.”

Anna snorted and raised an eyebrow. “What was that?”

“He is a god of luck,” Catherine said with disdain. “He is also completely insane and saying his name is a good way of causing trouble for yourself. A simple act of superstition is enough to turn him away, though, unless you already have his attention.”

Anna made a mental note not to ever even think about the guy. “There’s more I assume?” she said, glancing towards Beval who was slowing down as they crested the big hill that marked the half-way point between the precinct and the garden.

“Yes, Goshgolah is the Lord of Slaughter. Dolric is the Lord of Murder. They are different, trust me,” she said before taking another deep breath and sighing. “Then there is Gomaz, God of Tyranny. The king of Hell. His cult would have had a hand in designing that dungeon.”

Anna stared back at her for a heartbeat before looking away. Gomaz? Gomaz. Gomaz. She thought the name over and over it made her stomach clench a little and she had to push the feeling aside. “Great, that’s it?”

“There is the supreme deity, but she is not formally worshipped because she pays no attention to Mortals and is rarely spoken of. You needn’t concern yourself with her. Some go their entire lives without knowing she exists,” Catherine said with a shrug. “Think of her as a god to the gods and the closest entity to the system in the Multiversal hierarchy.”

Anna nodded. “I get it,” she grunted and spotted Beval turning towards them with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“You forgot two,” he said to Catherine. His eyes widened and he inclined his head to Anna. “Apologies, my Lady, for eavesdropping. My hearing is good. I was a scout once.”

Catherine crossed her arms. “Which two did I forget?” she demanded.

“Zera, Lord of War and Yashmineh, Lady of Freedom,” he said matter-of-factly. “Both of them are very popular so it’s a bad idea not to know about them. Most slaves worship Yashmineh because she reviles slavers,” he paused again and realised what he said, looking at Anna with a moment of fear. “I- I mean.”

Anna held up her hands with a sigh. “Don’t worry about it,” she grumbled and walked over the crest of the hill. She spotted the distant shape of the garden and could already see some skeletons milling about on it. No one left to control them. She glanced back at Catherine and opened her mouth to speak when she caught the distant, haunted look on her face. “Catherine, you good?” she asked.

Catherine snapped out of it and nodded, storming forwards. “Yes, my Lady. Forgive me. I was just a little embarrassed to forget two commonly known courts,” she said and hurried down  the slope. 

Anna watched her go, narrowing her eyes a little. Liar. I guess I’ll get it out of you later, she thought before turning to a confused looking Beval. “Let’s go.”