章 87: Heka
(Priapus's former residence)
"Fascinating." The blonde-haired man said as he swirled around liquid in a bottle containing a purplish potion in his hand. "And this is called what again?"
"It's called a Potion of Harming, which deals the status effect called Instant Damage, Lord Hermes." Zuri said flatly. "You should know since you asked for it."
"Well I guess." Hermes shrugged his shoulders as he sat on the couch. "But no harm in double-checking."
"I see." Zuri said before he narrowed his eyes and looked around the room. "Why are there no members of your Familia here with you?"
"Asfi didn't exactly approve of this meeting." Hermes waved his hand in a dismissive way. "Wanted to disallow me from coming. Said I was becoming too daring or whatnot. I snuck out the backdoor to come here."
"Right." Zuri said. "Anyway, back to the potion. It comes in various degrees of strength but once applied in any capacity, it instantly rips away vitality from a person. If it does enough, it will most surely kill you. However, it doesn't exactly work that way with everything."
"It doesn't?" Hermes raised a brow in small disappointment.
"No. It heals undead monsters for some reason. Probably an inverse effect to damaging living flesh. Then there was a monster in our world who was completely immune to it no matter how powerful we made it." Zuri shook his head. "But I wouldn't suppose you'd have any trouble in terms of that though. I wonder, what exactly you would ask this from us for?"
"I just wondered what kind of things the Ptah Familia would have." Hermes said. "Every Familia has a shifty thing or two that they keep secret. Finding that you have a type of potion which would instantly kill a normal person and drive adventurers to the brink of death at the moment of being applied is certainly quite spine-tingling. Would be bad news if some people like Evilus got their hands on it."
"Don't expect to see much of it anytime soon." Zuri deadpanned. "By the way, I assume you have plenty of good archers in your Familia, yes?"
"Naturally." Hermes answered.
"Well you can dip arrow heads in our potions and they will do the same thing as the potion itself. But you lot really aren't just information brokers are you?"
"There are times where duty calls us to do things that are a little too dark to be called noble." Hermes said as he put the bottle down. "But ultimately it is for the good of people."
"Is it really?"
"Really really."
"...I suppose I shall take your word for it." Zuri conceded as he pulled another bottle out of his hotbar. "This one is the poison one. However, it doesn't actually kill you."
"Is that not the point of poison?" Hermes asked a bit shocked.
"Not ours. What it will do though is take your vitality down low enough that even a punch could kill you." Zuri explained. "That is provided you make it in the right strength depending on the target. We really just use these things for weakening before we deal the final blow. And then this last one..." Zuri pulled out a pale coloured potion. "...is a potion of invisibility. I don't need to say what this does of course. But it does have a time limit and that depends on the potency of the potion." Zuri then gave the god a pointed look. "Don't get any funny ideas."
"Don't worry. I won't be using it in any business relating to Nine Hells." Hermes chuckled, making Zuri narrow his eyes.
"What do you mean?" The Sage asked.
"You know exactly what I mean." Hermes smirked at him. "Oh come on, you two really aren't as sneaky as you think you are. The Loki Familia is simply abuzz with speculation and rumours, not to mention the amount of times you and Riveria have been seen together in the public library. The elf princess has never been seen there by anybody before except with her own group of mages which usually consist of other elves." Hermes leaned forwards on one hand and smirked. "For her to spend so lengthy amounts of time with who is clearly the most powerful mage in all of Orario...well again, it doesn't take a hard guess."
"...Regardless, be responsible whatever you do with it." Zuri stated as he folded his arms. "Though we are not liable per Royman's signature for anything that is done with items we made once purchased from us, it would weigh down on my conscience if you used it for immoral things."
"I would insist that it is you that has to worry about responsibility." Hermes said. "You do know she is a princess right? And who her father is? I know for a fact that Larfal has eyes everywhere, reporting back to him on his daughter's doings and he won't exactly be happy when he hears that a human is in a relationship with his daughter and heir. It would be a stain on all he has stood for." Hermes sat back. "But then again, I don't suppose he would pick a fight with someone that could level his entire kingdom with a single spell. The elves pride themselves on magic but I doubt they'd try anything against you."
"That was just a lower level spell I used to just play around." Zuri said. "I've got much more powerful things in my arsenal...that and I'm not the strongest mage."
"No?" Hermes cocked his head. "Surely you are the most adept?"
"I am the most learned." Zuri said. "But I'm the weakest out of the nine of us. Efe doesn't really give care to learning more complicated spells but her raw power is greater than mine by a long stretch. There are times where she can fuel both mine and Noor's spells with her own 'Mind' so to speak, and still have enough leftover to cause world-ending damage with her spells."
Hermes sat back down a bit blown back by this revelation.
"Wow." The messenger spluttered. "I didn't realise that we still underestimated you."
"You still have." Zuri said. "I am the most learned about magic...but Steve is even stronger than Efe at magic. It was a mercy on his part upon everyone else that he didn't use real magic at the War Game, because if he had...well, let's just be grateful that he didn't."
"A mysterious man your captain is." Hermes smiled. "I do wonder, how did the two of you meet? How did your little group of world jumpers form?"
"You'll forgive me if you find that I don't want to share our backstories with you." Zuri said in a flat tone. "But let's just settle on this...he is the core of our group. Without him, the rest of us wouldn't exist. If there was no Steve...there would be no reason for the rest of us to exist. His visions are our visions, his desires our goals. If he were to decide to just leave this world and go, we would not hesitate in packing up our bags and leaving."
"Even if it meant leaving your new lover behind?" Hermes arched an inquisitive brow.
"...Even if it meant leaving her behind." Zuri said.
"Sounds to me you're more loyal to Steve than Ptah."
"Everyone knows that. We've never hid it from Ptah." Zuri said. "It is only because Steve is loyal to Ptah that we stay with him. But otherwise we have no reason to be here."
"Interesting." Hermes smiled before he nodded to the potions on the table. "Well if these things are anything to go by, then I cannot wait for all the wonderful things your captain will bring to Orario."
"I cannot wait either." Zuri said before he looked around at the house they'd met in. "Forgive me for asking, but why did you have me meet you in the entertainment district of all places? It smells like a whorehouse in here."
"That's because it was." Hermes said as he rubbed a bit of dust from the couch before flicking it away. "The former resident here had begun a faux Familia which in reality had just been his depraved harem and had stayed in this place...unfortunately about a month ago, he was murdered by an unknown assailant." Hermes looked back Zuri with a knowing smile. "Funnily enough, the women that had been in his Familia had no recollection of his attacker nor was there a sign of any struggle. It was like he just...died."
Zuri had a flashback to when Steve said that Ptah had committed a crime in this very place, and how Ptah immediately knew how to direct him here upon being asked. Ptah must have killed that deity that was living here...but for what reason?
...
"Anyway, you fulfilled your end of the bargain as promised. So here's mine." Hermes said as he took off his hat and from inside pulled out rolled parchments which he placed in Zuri's hand. "These are the names of the slaves and the slavers who own them. Everyone knows everyone in Warusa, so you'll have little trouble finding what you seek."
"Thank you." Zuri said as he took the parchments and placed them in his inventory where no-one could get to them...except Steve who was somehow able to access their inventories himself and just take stuff. Another thing that made Zuri admire Steve...the older Minecrafter was so much more knowledgeable about their powers and their world that he was able to do something that should have been impossible, being able to twist the rules even without the special ability that Ptah's blessing had bestowed on him. "I shall see myself out now. I have a desert trip to plan."
"Good luck." Hermes said before something seemed to cross his mind. "And before you go..."
"Hm? What?" Zuri asked.
Hermes seemed to be on the verge of saying something before having second thoughts and just waved it off.
"Never mind." The god said. "It's not important. Not something you'd worry about anyway. While you are in Warusa, do make sure to check out their street stalls. They have some really tasty cuisine there. Not as tasty as anything Lady Makena cooks up I'm positive...but it's still good to have a try."
"...Thanks for the tip." Zuri said confusedly before exiting the house. He looked around himself in disgust at the many brothels surrounding this residence before he cringed, summoned his staff and slammed it into the ground as a teleportation circle appeared under him and he warped out of there.
...
Meanwhile Hermes sat inside with a finger on his thumb.
"I probably should have told him that the Sekhmet Familia have had heightened activity where he's going." The god wondered. "But she herself moves around a lot so I'm sure it will be fine. She's probably busied herself with the mortals of this world to bother about Ptah anymore, so it should be fine. And it's not like they could do anything to Zuri anyway." He then looked at an hourglass in the corner of the room and his eyes widened. "Is that really the time? I mustn't be late then."
Hermes stood up and walked over to a coat hanger stand in the corner, before pulling out a hooded cloak and slipping it on, pulling the hood over his head. He then walked over to a rug that was in the room and kicked it aside to reveal a trapdoor underneath, and upon opening it revealed a staircase descending into darkness with a burning torch about halfway down. Hermes grinned as he walked down and closed the trapdoor over his head, grabbing the torch off the wall as he went further down.
Asfi had not disapproved of him coming here because of his meeting with Zuri. Zuri had brought with him new magical items in exchange for information which would have had the former princess salivating. She had disapproved of it because she didn't like the new friends he'd made and who were gathering down here. This underground section was where Priapus had been doing some very...questionable things regarding his carnal appetites and frankly, for it Hermes was glad that Ptah had sent him back to heaven. What was done down here was unspeakable, even worse than the things Sekhmet would get up to.
No, this was now a meeting place for a new rising power in Orario, an organisation he'd found to be infiltrating so many Familia right across the city, ensnaring both men and women alike from all races. And as a god, he'd been given an executive position in this organisation upon requesting to join. As Hermes reached the bottom step and came upon a heavy wooden door welded into the wall by steel hinges, he took out of his pocket a mask of a certain shape and slipped it over his face. He then pushed open the door to reveal a room with strange contents.
Or rather occupants.
In that room was a long table surrounded by tall chairs. Candles that were burning on that table were the only light source in the darkness, but in the shadows surrounding the table, one would see rows upon rows of cloaked figures, silent as shadows, kneeling on one leg as they all faced the table. Standing in front of each chair at this table were a few figures who wore similar masks to him and besides each them was a cloaked person holding a torch.
At the head of the table stood a tall person in the most prominent mask, running their fingers over two extremely sharp khopesh as their ears wagged under their hood. The figures at the chairs all turned to him as he entered. Hermes smiled as he walked up to his chair and handed his torch to the cloaked attendant standing beside it. This particular attendant he'd heard had come in recently from the Ganesha Familia. But there the deity stood as the atmosphere weighed in on everyone inside.
There were ranks to the people in this room. Those in front of the chairs about to take a seat were known as the Brothers, a rank which Hermes occupied. Those holding the torches were simply known as Torches and second only to the brothers in rank. Everyone who was kneeling were called Maggots, courtesy of the First Brother, the leader of their organisation and the one holding the khopesh.
"You are late." The First Brother said as he pointed at Hermes with one of his weapons. "What took you so long?"
"I was occupied with conversation." Hermes smiled. "With none other than Lord Zuri, one of the Great One's noble brothers. You will understand if I devoted as much time as possible to him, as a means of respect in the honour of our lord."
"How could time be spent better except in the case with the Supreme Being?" One of the other Bothers said in a gruff voice. "Only time spent with him is better than being in the company of one of his Mighty Siblings."
"Hail the Great One." One of the Brothers said.
""All Hail!" The Maggots said in unison.
"Very well." The First Brother said as he raised hand to his heart. "We devote ourself fully to the will of the Great One, the Ozymandias, and seek his guidance on his enlightened path with his wisdom and his grace, in the hopes we may follow him down that road as well. Látom."
"Látom." The other Brothers said. "May the Master and Lover of Hips prevail in all he seeks."
"We may now begin this meeting." The First Brother said as he sat down in his chair, followed by the other Brothers. The Maggots got off their knees and sat with their legs folded on the floor, their heads bowed as they paid utmost attention to what was being said at the table. "First on our agenda, what did Noble Lord Zuri come to see you for Fifth Brother?"
"Lord Zuri came to me for information regarding the whereabouts of Ptah's most devoted followers from the old ages." Hermes explained. "There are still remnants left behind today of the old religion but they are nothing more than expensive and highly abused slaves now. But they are good at fighting and I hear they are also well trained in combat, as a means of protecting the many arts their fathers created in the name of Ptah. I supposed they would make fine additions to the Ptah Familia overall. It would increase manpower for the Supreme Being's ambitions."
"You made the right call Brother." Someone else said at the table. "But perhaps it is in our interest that some of us also go and help Lord Zuri in this endeavour, at least from the background. A few manumitted slaves is not that much effort. We could send lower ranked members so that they would not be missed. A few dead slavers is not that much effort."
"We should still be careful on who we send." One of the others said as he held one of the candles. "I'm still drawing fat from the corpse of that revolting toad Phryne. These very candles are made from her-"
He was cut off as one of the First Brother's khopesh pierced the table in front of him and he looked up in fear at the man who'd thrown it.
"We do not speak the names of our Lord's cursed enemies in this gathering." The First Brother said. "Let us not breathe even the tiniest modicum of respect into their names by speaking them. For going against the Supreme Being, they're even lower than the dirt that the worms crap out of their backsides. They are not deserving of the honour to have their names spoken. Do not make the same mistake again."
"Yes, sir." The Brother who'd spoken the former Ishtar Familia captain's name bowed his head in fear.
"Returning to the subject." The First Brother said as he addressed the room. "I concur with the Third Brother. Let us see how we can further the Great One's goals in our ways. I myself would go but my patron and executives would certainly note my absence. Who here could we send to Warusa on short notice?"
Several hands shot up amongst the Maggots, bringing a smile on the First Brother's face that was easily visible even beneath his mask.
The Faith of the Hips had work to do.
---
(Twilight Manor)
"Dismissed." Riveria said to one of her elven attendants as they bowed and left the room.
She sighed to herself in mild annoyance as she watched them close the door to her room behind her and sat at her table, picking up a brush and brushing her own hair. She'd escaped her country and her father's rule just so she could get away from his narcissistic tendencies and the pomp that came about being royalty. But even all the way across the world, she was still being served by elves who nearly worshipped her because of her position.
And why wouldn't they? Elves valued magic above all else when it came to the scholarly fields, and she was famous throughout the School District and the knowledge capital of Altena for her accomplishments in that field of study, even if petty jealousy from others didn't exactly put her in a purely good light. In her lifetime, she'd also written a book or two on magic theory which she knew was being used in some academies across the world when they taught magic.
Riveria had been a prodigy from a young age, and had mastered books of knowledge at a young age which had taken some elves an elven lifetime, many of that of humans to fully absorb and master. Even before joining Loki's Familia, she was a well renowned and very well coveted sorceress and the pride of her race. In addition to being a beautiful High Elf princess, which was already reason enough for her to be revered by her kin, she was also a hero in their eyes and a celebrity because of her magical accomplishments.
She was once proud and arrogant of that fact, but over time she'd come to realise how tunnel-visioned she was because of how cooped up she was in her father's palace, living only amongst the elves. Just an observation of her ridiculous father's behaviour and attitude was enough to get her interested in the outside world. Interested enough that she'd made an escape by help of a Pallum, a species that was ridiculed by all other races for their reverence of a false goddess and one that her people looked down upon quite harshly compared to other races, including her father of course.
The only race that King Larfal belittled more than Pallums were humans due to how short their lives were and how quickly they became ugly and decrepit compared to other races. And also because of humans' general primal and carnal inclinations as well as their 'uselessness' as her people would put it. All the races had some sort of strength. Elves were strong with magic, dwarves who had been long time rivals of the elves were the kings of craftsmanship. Beastmen and Amazons produced the best warriors you could find in the supercontinent and Pallums were well known for their wiliness and affinity for hunting given their ability to see in the dark, even if they were physically weaker than all other races.
Humans' only strength were their numbers and how they just seemed to breed all year round with no control over how they procreated. They could never be fully defeated because of how many of them there were and because they had such short lives, individually they could not offer much in the long run. For that reason, her people ridiculed humans the most.
Though Riveria did know that among some of the lower elves in elven nations, elven women had developed fantasies and preferences about muscular human hunks. In some of those places, an elven woman would be considered successful if she could find a tall, jacked and handsome human man, purely because of the difference to the normal placid and cool elf. Elven men also did not express the same appreciation for carnal behaviour as humans did. Some elven women liked human spouses simply because of how hot-blooded human men could be. Her own friend who had escaped with her from the Alf Royal Forest had married a human and had begotten halfling children by him.
But overall, elves did not really like humans. It may also have been because of how humans tended to be destructive towards nature wherever they went and settled. Elves had a deep rooted respect for nature and did their very best to not offset the balance when they made their settlements. Mother Nature was very sacred to them and they expressed deep hatred towards the humans for how much they would defile her whenever they built their own settlements.
Riveria often liked to make the point that the strongest mortals in history and the greatest heroes came from the human race when conversations like these came up. Alas, it flew over most people's heads.
She stretched her beautiful bare feet under the table as her thoughts wondered back to the revelations she'd gotten today about one particular human...a human who had occupied her thoughts and her heart for quite some time now. In just a couple of days, this human had been able to ensnare her with his charm and for the first time in her life, she'd lost control of herself to her wants and her desires as the two began a relationship that very quickly became quite heated...in the good way, not the bad way. There was certainly much passion between them.
Her father would no doubt have a fit once he heard of the relationship between her and Zuri, if he hadn't already. After all, rumours were going about as much as they'd tried to keep this secret. But she found quickly that she didn't care. Zuri was not like any other human if the things she'd learned about him today was to be used as reference.
"Oh Zuri." She breathed to herself as she closed her eyes and pictured his face. "You really are special aren't you? More than I could have ever imagined."
...
"More than I was already?" A familiar voice whispered in her ear, hot breath tickling her long beautiful elven ears as she jumped a bit.
She was about to cry out in surprise and instinctively reached for her staff but she'd been pulled back by a pair of arms around her thin waist and a pair of lips smothered hers, effectively drowning out her cry as she stared into the face of her lover. Zuri was there without his glasses as he pulled her further back into himself. Before she could make any protest, his tongue slipped through her lips and began exploring her mouth. Whenever it got to that stage, the romantically inexperienced Riveria could not help but close her eyes and lose herself to the intimate sensations and now was no different.
For a few moments they remained lip-locked like that before he separated from her to give her room to breathe. He chuckled at her flushed face, finding it adorable how green she was when it came to the matters of her heart. It seemed green was her theme...in everything.
"Zuri!" Riveria gasped in surprise and pleasure at seeing him before it quickly turned to embarrassment as she looked down at her nightwear and her bare feet. She blushed further and tried to cuddle herself as she became more shy, looking more like a young girl than a grown and mature woman.
"Come on babe. I've seen more of you than that." Zuri chuckled as he leaned into her face again. "But continue acting like this please. You're so cute this way."
"Sh-shut up." She mumbled, no longer the serious elf princess and now nothing more than a bumbling shy girl. She then looked to see that her window was open, which explained how he was here. "Why are you here Zuri? You're not supposed to be in this part of the Manor...actually, you're not supposed to be here at all."
"I had to come and see you." Zuri said as he sat on her bed and looked at her. "Just one visit before I go."
"Go?" She tilted her head. "Go where?"
"Warusa." Zuri replied.
"Warusa?" Riveria turned up her nose. "That war mongering hellhole and slave capital? Why would you ever go there? It's almost as bad as Rakia considering how much trouble goes on there."
"I've been assigned a mission." Zuri replied. "Familia business which I can't exactly tell you, as I'm sure you understand. But it takes me all the way there. It's important."
"What could you possibly need there?" Riveria asked. "It's such a horrible place, judging by what I've heard. In fact, most of the nations in the Kaios Desert are bad and rancid. And the people are terrible."
"The same could be said of your own homeland." Zuri pointed out. "They don't look favourably upon other people of other races. You told me yourself that if I were to enter that land, I'd find myself being given hospitality in a dungeon cell. Probably worse considering what's between us."
"I guess you're right." Riveria said before she looked at him. "So I guess you're going tonight?"
"First light." Zuri answered. "I must be gone by then. My Warg will be waiting outside the city walls."
"I see." She said before her blush deepened as she looked at him with some measure of hope. "Did you plan to do anything with me before you went?"
"Oh you bet." Zuri smirked as he stood up and undid his cloak and then trailed his fingertips on her jawline, thumbing her lower lip. "I plan to make the most of this before I get to see you again."
...
Her Zuri. The most amazing human she'd ever known. A far greater mage than she could ever dream of being. She thought she'd been rid of her arrogance before he came along to disprove that. Human or not, only he was a worthy lover for her...regardless of what her idiot father might say.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comment and Review!
Discord: discord.gg/G3UTUg7Z
Read ahead on my Patreon:
Patreon/ Vulkizaro_Zoromi
For commissions:
Ko-Fi/ vulkizarozoromi
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット