Capítulo 8: What is truth and what is not?
The tenth continent from Amethrita Empire.
Eldor arrived at the dock with a haggard expression. The journey from the ninth to the tenth continent was no small deal. He had to go through a lot of storms, sea creatures and elementals who wanted to kill him. Unfortunately for him, this continent was full of Ilerisa's fanatic worshipers.
However, his mission was simple. Soften the hearts of the people, tell them of Dryad's good deeds and abolish the glorious image of the scum of a god in their heart. That was much easier said than done. Due to his strange skin color and the weird things in his possession that seemingly come from nowhere (note that only the rich could afford storage spaces), he was a frequent target for robberies.
If not for the fact that the wooden boat was a sturdy warship and he had about twenty wooden elementals with him, he would have perished a long time ago. However, right now, the formidable wooden army has only one member standing and the others have long slept off.
He kept the large ship along with the slumbering crew in his storage space; a large tree in his soul and moved along the bustling crowd at the dock. He made sure to park away from the prying eyes of people and camouflaged his skin to a shade of aqua blue. He proceeded to the city center to buy a large piece of land with a house on top.
The finance secretary looked at him in suspicion and decided to extort him.
"Where do you want this land?"
"Preferably close to the mountain area" Eldor replied in a hoarse voice. He had the appearance of a young man but he carefully disguised himself to be an old man. When Eldor was a butler, he was about 19 years and had been sold to the Village Chief. He was used to this disguise since Cassian required him to disguise and act as one.
"I'm sorry but such land is only available to nobles. You'll have to pay double for it"
"Look, I don't have the patience for this. Sell it to me now"
"Who do you think you are to speak to me in that manner? You're just a traveler" the man sneered. The secretary was at Knight level so he could be considered overpowered in this port city. He often bullied and extorted from travelling elementals because they were all below Knight level. Now, he was about to have a taste of his own medicine.
Eldor was tired and frustrated by his journey so he had no desire to haggle with the shrewd secretary, so he just released his aura. The metal table cracked and the man was pushed against the wall. That shattered the man's spine and a few ribs.
Eldor just bent to his level and asked. "Are you going to sell it to me now?". In the end, Eldor left the city center with the papers of a huge property and the keys to a mansion. The secretary was seen on the floor in a pitiful but hilarious position, surrounded by bank notes.
The crew woke up to find themselves in giant leaf hammocks. The whole setting looked like a spider web. They first panicked that they were kidnapped. They thought of the worst scenarious; they could be enslaved or worse, have the pigment extracted from their skins and used as living cauldrons.
The pigments extracted from the skins of elementalists, especially rare ones could e used to increase the elemental affinity and was extremely valuable. The removal process, however was brutal and many die from this inhumane practice.
They scrambled from their beds in horror and headed towards the exit. One couldn't blame them, they had been kidnapped more than once. That was when they heard a faint laugh from behind them.
"Pfft, haha. Did you all have bad dreams? Why the hell are you running from leaf made hammocks? Haha, you guys are ridiculous" Eldor laughed, rolling on the floor and clutching his belly. Tears were running down his cheeks as he laughed harder. They all blushed as they properly looked around. There were vines curling on the walls and the hammocks were like giant leafs attached to the vines.
"Head Priest, don't mess with us like that!" One of them whinned. The others joined in with protests.
"Eh, how was I supposed to know you would react like that?"
"But, but...."
"Okay, hahaha, I'm sorry" Eldor said and wiped his eyes. They rolled their eyes and moved out to shower and brush. Eldor laughed again when they left. He went to his room to do the same. They ate breakfast and went to the hall. The house Eldor bought was a manor. Eldor was dressed in his Head Priest white robes with pure jade in the middle of his forehead. He looked like a young saint.
They all bowed when they saw him come out. They remembered when they were all fellow villagers. A child was sold off to the Village Chief and his body was said to have been found floating in the ocean. He was buried and people forgot about it. A few years later, Cassian announced that he had hired a butler and all the people had to go through him and not straight to Cassian.
Surprisingly, the butler's name was Eldor, the same name of the boy they had buried. However, they didn't remember. Until Dryad came and Eldor's disguise melted away. He looked exactly like the boy they had been sold to Cassian and buried after. The scar where the Jade now resided was proof of that. The scar was a strange sword strike-like scar that had been there when he was born. He cried as he told the Villagers the tortures that he had gone through in the hands of Cassian.
He had metal elemental affinity and it had been extracted from his body by Cassian when he was sold off. He fell unconcious and they assumed he was dead so they threw him into the sea. He was found and buried after. He woke up, lucky he had been buried in a white cloth. He wandered around the village and was found by one of the patrol guards. He was taken to the house of the Village Chief and was recaptured. He was taught the arts of the butlers and forced to disguise as an old man. He lived in extreme torture for a long time.
Eldor touched the Jade on his head and sighed. The Jade could never be removed, stolen or broken. Once he died, the Jade would shatter on its own and the corresponding Jade beside the daughter tree would shatter. The priests around him had Peridot, Tsavorite and Malachites embedded in their foreheads also. Ditoria however, had Emerald in her forehead.
"You will all start farming and building houses when the soil is formed. Once every week, we'll go and sell our products in the big cities as usual. Got it?"
"Yes Head Priest!" they chorused in response. Eldor nodded in satisfaction and moved out of the house, the other priests in tow. Stones could be seen for miles. Before they were used to this, now they just shuddered. They walked towards the mountain and reached it in half a day.
Eldor closed his eyes and stretched his right hand. The Jade in his head glowed and a pink glowing seed appeared in his hand. It was a level two curse seed. The colour was deeper than that of Dryad but it was evident that Eldor couldn't produce one. It was placed in his Jade by Dryad. It was more than enough to transform the soil and damage the arrays in the continents.
He had been given a hundred level one seeds, seventy level two, fifty level three seeds, thirty level four and ten level five. They had exhausted thirty percent of this. Sufficient to say, it was a perilous journey. What was worse, they had lost two priests.
The curse seed did it's job and sounds of explosions were heard around the continent. The priests got to work and produced their own seeds. They were all level zeroes but were green in colour. These were dispersed in the air and little plants started to form.
The plants in other countries were normal plants while the ones growing beside the priests were spirit plants. They groomed them and farmed diligently. The appearance of plants startled the people of course so Eldor took advantage of this.
He taught the people the usefulness of trees and told them about their goddess. He told them to try eating the fruits and to those who believed, he showed them his real complexion and told them his story.
The only thing left is Dryad to arrive and plant a daughter tree. Eldor leaves immediately so he has never met the new Head Priestesses and Priests. He really loved his job but sometimes, it was a bit hard, like running for his life hard. For example, right now. But, that's Eldor's story.
Meanwhile, Dryad was staring slack jawed at something or to be correct, someone by the name Ariama. The latter was staring lika a deer caught in headlights. Well, he looked like Ariama. It was his true appearance.
"Ariama? Is that you?" He wanted to lie but remembered she had the all seeing eyes. In the end, he nodded bitterly.
"Did you change your appearance to fit in? Wow, you're really a pervert. You look a little handsome too" she insulted, flashing her thumbs. He didn't laugh or frown. He had a guilty expression.
"Ariama, what's going on?" She inquired gently.
"This is my real appearance. The old man was a disguise. Gods can't be old"
"So, you lied to me?"
"Well, kind of"
"Why?"
"I wanted to appear gentle and trusting. You would have a better time befriending a funny old man than an aloof youth. I then asked you about it but you said I couldn't change appearance so I stuck with old man Ariama. I'm sorry little one"
"I...I need to think" She said and wanted to fly off but he stopped her.
"The only thing that can reveal my disguise is a high level truth spell. You clearly added the principles of your eyes. Tell me, did you contact Ilerisa?" She said nothing and flew off. Ariama crashed to the ground and sighed.
"Did Ariama just fall in love?" Simour asked in shock. Bolsa had the same expression. Both of them cursed and were tempted to go down and beat him up.
"If the other gods, especially the fallen gods, find out about this, Dryad is done for" Bolsa said in dread. They both loved their brother and they like Dryad.
"This has become complicated. What do we do?"
"Let's try my wife Amphia. Let their focus be on her. Since most of Paradise and Abyss don't know we're married, it will be good. Amphia is an excellent actress, hehehe"
"Okay Bolsa. Summon Amphia at once..."
"I'm here. Big brother-in-law called me?" a petit figure walked towards them. It was a little girl of no more than eleven years. Simour's lips twitched as he saw her approach while Bolsa grinned wildly.
"Amphia, are you always here?"
"Yes big brother Simour" his lips twitched again.
"You know what? Never mind. I have a mission for you. You'll enjoy it"
"Really big brother, how do you know?"
"Big brother-in-law Ariama is involved"
"I'm in!" she answered abruptly and clapped her hands in delight. Bolsa pouted as Simour gave Amphia a parchment.
"Do your best Amphia.I'll reward you"
"Yes" she jumped up and down in delight. Simour noticed his brother's sour expression and decided to cheer him up.
"Wait for it...." Bolsa was confused but watched Amphia as Simour said. Alpha's brows were furrowed as she read the parchment from beginning to end. When she finished, she was fuming.
"Wait? Ariama fell in love with a newbie goddess and I wasn't told by him?" She thundered. The two gods doubled over in laughter.Her expression was priceless.
"Don't worry Big brother-in-law, I will carry out my task well" she said with seriousness and disappeared. The two gods were still laughing.
"Anyone who sees her like that will think she's married to Ariama, not you"
"Yeah. Like I said, an excellent actress" Bolsa said and they laughed again.
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