Chapter 134: Chapter 117 – He’s no Messiah, he’s just a very naughty boy

"Religion is a complicated topic. Most nations worship all six gods, but it was common to see the worship focused on one specific god or two. Elves, with their predilection for nature affinity, primarily worshipped Vitalis and Pesca, whereas down in the south of Ur-Teros, in the Lichdom of Ptolodecca, worship of Thormut was the most widespread instead. Some islanders or tribes who lived in remote regions might not worship the gods by name, but their worship of the elements were considered the same nonetheless." - Garth Wainwrought, professor of socioeconomics at the Levain Institute of Higher Learning.

 

Led by one of Olga's half-orc grandchildren, Arquivaldo, Iosif, Cal, and her nieces went together on a small sailboat. The boat was just large enough for at most another two people over their group, with a long, narrow hull, flanked by two long wooden buoys held to its sides by long poles, a simple double outrigger construction.

 

Olga's grandson piloted the boat towards one of the further isles, where the foreigner had practically taken over the isle. Cal noticed the oddity as they approached quite quickly, as there were no fishermen at work in sight, and most of the people on the island seemed to have gathered in the village center, where a simple stage with a podium had been constructed.

 

From the distance, she could see a human figure on the stage, as he apparently gave some sort of speech from behind the podium. It was too far away for even Cal to spot any facial features though.

 

They landed on the shore with no villagers in sight. It seemed that everyone in the village had gathered in the center. Arquivaldo bade Olga's grandson to wait for them by the shore, while the five of them went in to give the situation a closer look.

 

Before long they had walked close enough that Cal caught bits of the speech given by the man on stage. The speech was similar to a sermon she had heard clergy of Vitalis give in the past, praises to the goddess and whatnot, but one alteration she noticed right away was how this preacher called himself Vitalis's chosen agent, her prophet that would be the era's messiah.

 

And the simple islanders lapped it all up, since they didn't know better.

 

Once they actually got close enough to make out faces though, Cal swore under her breath as she saw the "prophet's" face. It was a face she recognized, even if years had passed since she last had searched for the man in question.

 

"He's no messiah," Cal grunted as they approached. She had drawn her halberd and had it in her hands, which drew everyone's attention. "He's just a very naughty boy."

 

"Someone you know, then?" Asked Arquivaldo with curiosity.

 

"A runaway from the post-war purge back home," replied Cal. By now several of the islanders had noticed their approach and warned the others, as more eyes turned their way. "One with a death warrant on his head."

 

"I guess you'll be wanting him for yourself then," commented the captain as he walked in stride beside her. "Please don't hurt the islanders too much though, they're just gullible."

 

"Sure," said Cal as she walked ahead, by now the preacher also noticed her and stared wide-eyed with surprise and horror once he saw her face. "Girls? Help out the captain, no killing or permanent harm unless they force you to."

 

"Yes, aunt!" Replied her nieces in tandem. Elaina whipped out her tonfas and gave one a twirl, while Sidonie used the blunt wooden training weapons she used to spar with. Cal herself walked with fast strides towards the stage, uncaring about the yelling islanders or the preacher's by now alert guards.

 

A sudden wave of water - more a small tsunami really - appeared out of nowhere before Cal, and most of the islanders hastened to get out of its path. This conveniently left Cal with a wide open road towards the stage she directly took without a second thought.

 

When some islanders tried to close in and block her way, they found themselves violently pushed back by strong winds, while other islanders who turned their attention to the intruders were greeted with either blows that knocked them out, or electrical shocks that did the same, just more painfully.

 

Tendrils of water and strong gales of winds buffeted the islanders, as Arquivaldo and Iosif exercised their magic to keep the islanders contained but unharmed. Cal's nieces took down the more aggressive ones that directed their attention - and weapons - their way.

 

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Cal just walked unhindered towards the stage, where the preacher yelled in a trembling voice to protect him. Once she got close enough she just leapt straight to the stage, and all those that stood before her and the preacher were two muscular men who wielded scimitars in their hands.

 

She recognized the way those bodyguards dressed as temple guards. A cadre of guards raised from childhood by the clergy at the temple of Vitalis back in Al-Shan, and indoctrinated for absolute loyalty and dedication. The discovery of their existence was one of the main reasons Al-Shan needed a whole new set of clergy for the temple after the purge.

 

And the man behind these two bodyguards were the last of the old clergy, which had openly supported the usurper shortly after the coup started. In fact, he was their last head priest, who had vanished by the time Cal ransacked the temple and slaughtered the rest of the complicit clergymen.

 

"Abdul Aziz Shan-Bahak," Cal mouthed his name with loathing in her voice. The man was the son of the previous head priest, who was the one that supported the usurper openly, until Cal paid him a personal visit when he was on a different island, ten years after the coup. Abdul Aziz was proclaimed head priest shortly after that. "Fancy meeting your fat arse here."

 

"No no no no! This has to be a bad dream! How can you be here!?" Yelled the portly preacher as he eyed Cal with dread. "How did you even find me!? First the elven forest and now here!? In the ass-end of nowhere!?"

 

Cal just chuckled at his questions. In truth, it was likely utter coincidence that she happened to be here, since it was Arquivaldo who brought her here. Apparently the man had been hiding in the Great Emerald Forest before this and fled here after he learned of her arrival - which would be hard to miss to be fair, as news travelled fast in the forest and her duel with Bastille was very public - only to find his worst nightmare standing right before him.

 

His two guards swung their scimitars at Cal from different directions, but she calmly blocked one with the shaft of her halberd, and caught the other between the spearhead and the crescent blade.

 

Temple guards were strong, well trained men, but these two were far from a match for her. She looked to their eyes, and the lack of fear or trepidation they showed before her only confirmed what she had guessed beforehand. These two were too far gone into their indoctrination to be pulled back out like they did for the children they found - and liberated - from the temple complex back then.

 

So instead, Cal gave them mercy the only way she could. A burst of strength followed by a twist wrenched the scimitar out of one guard's hand, and before he could react, the spearhead of Cal's halberd already pierced through his heart. While the first guard slumped to his knees, Cal batted away the other man's weapon and decapitated him with another swing of her weapon.

 

Which just left a sniveling portly man who was so frightened he couldn't even run away, and only crawled like a bug instead. Cal quickly caught up with him and flipped him over to his back with a kick, before she stepped on his obese stomach with one foot.

 

"S- spare me please! I have money! I swear I'll change my ways! Anything! Just spare my life!" Yelled Abdul Aziz in panic as Cal pointed her halberd at him. The man wet his pants in his fright, but Cal paid no attention to it, just to the disgusting meatbag of a man under her feet.

 

"And let you play your old games again somewhere anew?" Cal said as she stared down at the man. "I think… no."

 

Her words were said calmly, while at the same time she rammed her Halberd through the man's stomach and pinned him to the stage with it.

 

Abdul Aziz squealed like a pig as he frantically tried to heal himself with his magic, only to find despair as his magic dissipated once it came into contact with Cal's weapon.

 

Cal watched the man slowly expire beneath her feet, and only pulled her weapon out after he had breathed his last breath. She still removed his head from his body, as it would be proof of his demise when she reported it next time she visited Al-Shan.

 

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