บท 13: Idol, Part 2
"Hmm…" intoned the woman thoughtfully.
Morne kept his head down, kneeling before the priestess of Vreyy as her eyes roamed over him.
She was stunningly attractive, something he couldn't see right this moment but had noticed when he entered.
Golden hair, as radiant as the sun itself, flowed down her shoulders like a waterfall, and eyes as green as grass examined Morne with a serious, if slightly coy, light.
Everything about her was perfectly proportioned and symmetrical. Each line of her face seemed hand-drawn by her Goddess, every curve of her body painstakingly carved from a block of marble; firm, yet appealing.
Her bronzed skin was on full display as she leaned on the arm of her wooden throne. Only a wrapping of fur around her bust and a thin loincloth covered her decency.
The way her legs shifted slightly now and then to get comfortable exposed the inner area of her thighs, and was scant centimeters from revealing a sight that would make any man drool.
She seemed to be aware of this, "adjusting" her position once every few minutes.
A glimmer of satisfaction appeared in her eyes as many of her ten guards lining the walls gulped, gripping the hilts of their sheathed swords tightly and praying that their codpieces hid their reaction.
These guards had light yet durable brown metal armor, with carvings of green leaves dotting it and giving them a sort of tree theme.
Their scabbards followed the same pattern, and the tops of their helms were adorned by many brown stubs resembling sprouting saplings.
They were at the very top of the temple, which differed from Jiklok's temple in that it had multiple floors. This throne room was twenty feet wide and fifty long, and the walls were so covered in moss and vines that the stone below was hardly visible.
This same stone was enchanted to allow the sunlight through and nothing else, lighting up the room despite the obstruction and giving the plants their needed sunlight while keeping the elements at bay.
The floor was covered in lush grass that matched the priestess' eyes in color, and behind the priestess was a tree with white bark, from which grew the light brown throne she sat in.
A few mushrooms dotted the tree's branches, sapping away the plant's nutrients. Spiders weaved their webs among the branches and vines, ants marched between the blades of grass, and a bear with silver fur slept to the priestess' left.
This room was designed to please Vreyy herself. The Goddess of Life, Love, and Fertility appreciated life in all its forms, from the lowliest plant to the mightiest predator.
There was only so much room here, but the priestess had made sure to create the largest ecosystem she could within the given space to feel closer to her Goddess.
As for her attire, it was likewise to appease her deity.
Personally, Morne saw little difference between Vreyy's domains of Love and Fertility and the Dark God Hasthan's domain of Lust. The priestess before him seemed far more lustful than loving.
He wasn't stupid enough to say so, but the confusion remained.
As for why Morne was here...
A temple this large almost always needed staff. This structure was over a mile tall, with thousands of square feet to care for.
Many of the servants and guards of this temple were volunteers. None of the warriors present in this room were volunteers, but they were a minority.
A paid position in a temple, or in other words, a position with freer access to the structure and better privileges and responsibilities, was much rarer and similarly in shorter supply.
People vying for such a position needed to be vetted by the highest authority within the temple, which was almost always the senior priest or priestess.
The requirements were vague and likely quite high, which was why temples were always understaffed when it came to these paid positions.
They couldn't abandon these requirements just for more manpower. Why would they pay for a sub-par service? They served one of the Gods, they couldn't just "settle."
Morne planned to start within one of these paid positions if he could, working within the temple until he found out where the Idol of Pernecia was before making his move.
He was banking on his muscular frame to compensate for his lack of current magical ability, and had told the priestess of this prowess of his in the hopes of obtaining one of these paid positions.
Morne waited silently as the priestess considered him.
The playfulness in her gaze was an inherent part of her personality, but it in no way was indicative of how seriously she was taking this.
If she hired this man before her, only for him to perform in a lackluster way or worse, commit a crime, then it would undermine her authority, hurt her reputation, and displease her Goddess.
There was a reason paid positions in the temple were so rarely handed out.
But at the same time, her temple was so understaffed that she was getting desperate. She was running on a skeleton crew, and the volunteers weren't turning up in droves like they used to.
Whether or not this Morne could cast magic wasn't important, and neither was the physical might he claimed to have.
No, what mattered was whether she could trust him.
"Swear before the Goddess Vreyy here and now that you will not raise a hand against Her or Her people, that you shall serve dutifully and loyally, and the position is yours," she said finally, her musical voice making the colors of the room a touch more vibrant.
With this, even if Morne did something heinous, no fault would fall on her shoulders.
"I swear before the Goddess Vreyy that I shall not raise a hand against Her or Her people, and that I shall serve dutifully and loyally," Morne replied instantly.
Hesitation would only hinder him here.
As for the oath, where had Vreyy been when his village was ravaged? As far as Morne was concerned, Her "love" was worth less than the dirt below his shoe, and this oath was worth less than even that.
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