Chapter 101: (Chpt. 82) Lies and deception (2)

Alice.

I silently opened my eyes and stretched, nothing more peaceful than sleeping. While the room still did not have any windows. I knew for a fact that it was the early morning. For some reason, I would always wake up in the morning when I got a full sleep. Or rather, I would wake up incredibly early, although that was also a thing back in my dragon days, except sleeping for a dragon was… Well, it took months. 

I looked at Fenri who was peacefully sleeping on the bed as normal. I was still stuck in the unfamiliar situation, I wonder what I had truly done. 

I shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t hurt to look around.” What was the worst that could happen? I felt that I already was in a very dire situation. 

I moved myself from bed, and brushed my arm against the mattress by accident. Feeling a slight burn of pain. “Ha, I had forgotten.” After my dry laugh I completely got up and headed towards the door. No sound was coming from the other side. With a bit of carelessness I opened the door, everything was dark. It was a hallway with doors running throughout both walls, although it felt rather empty.

I confirmed there was no one and headed out. I chose a direction and with a single step I realized it headed to a dead end, the hallway wasn’t long enough for me to not notice the wall. I turned around and started walking, it didn’t take long before I saw another door. The hinges of the door were facing me, meaning that it was made as an entrance point. 

Oh well, I wouldn’t know what was on the other side if I didn’t explore. With enthusiasm I slowly opened the door, this time I was being careful. To my surprise the door was incredibly silent, almost as if it was brand new and perfectly installed. 

Tap, tap, tap. 

I hurriedly closed the door as I started to hear footsteps coming my way. That was close… 

“Sivirud, are you sure about this, she just got here. You can’t allow this…” A stern voice worded concern. 

“I know, but something tells me it’s the right thing…” 

The footsteps stopped right in front of the door. 

“Oh no…” I muttered. 

I heard something get pressed against the door. 

“Sivirud, just because you are a priest like us, doesn’t mean you are like us, don’t get carried away just because you’re in our position. Let me remind you, you are way newer here than any of us, so… Do not get carried away.” It sounded like a threat. 

“Haha… Funny that you say it that way... “ He breathed in and out. “Let me remind you, that by hierarchy you are lower than me, so, don’t get carried away. I will do whatever I want, and that girl is special.” 

I thought to myself, the inner tension is insane. There is a little drama going on early in the morning already, and probably about myself. Ha… 

“Tch, if it’s the wrong call, it will cost you.” I heard only a pair of footsteps move away followed by a sigh. 

The conversation was done, and so, I started to move away from the door and get to my room, last thing I wanted was to be found out by… Sivirud? Weird name, regardless, I was in a situation I shouldn’t be in. 

CLICK. 

The door behind me opened, making me get stiff as I continued walking as if nothing happened. Although I already knew that I was screwed, for lack of a better word. I was caught eavesdropping, oh well… 

“Girl, wait!” He called me out in a whisper. 

I turned around and played dumb. “Me?” He nodded. “Ah, yes, what do you need?” I was innocently soft spoken and pretending to basically be completely confused. Playing around with tilting my head like Kuro did. 

“So you heard?” He asked as he narrowed his eyes with a slightly menacing feel. 

“Eh!?” My eyes widened. “What are you talking about?” I tilted my head as if he was stupid. “But I am glad you are here, where could I get some water? I am rather thirsty.” I stuck out my tongue like a silly kid. 

“Oh, yes… Water…” He started scratching his head in awkwardness. “Just come with me…” I nodded, his nature had changed to a gentle one just like the first time I had seen him. Had I succeeded yet again? Was this a new-found skill?! I felt slightly thrilled from the possibility. 

He looked out of the door to the hallway. “Is something wrong?” I asked feigning concern, I knew he didn’t want to come across the old man he was talking to earlier. 

“Oh… No… No, no, no. Here, let us go.” He gently grabbed my hand trying to fake a soft smile, although I could clearly see that he was altered, but he didn’t need to know that. And so, he carried my hand away into the main hallway. Everything was made out of marble (as expected), with smooth walls, and a lot of windows running throughout one side of the wall, the windows did not have any glass and were made to be open, I could clearly see the bleak sky, the sun was not even visible yet. 

He kept guiding me at his own pace as we walked together, although I did notice we went into the completely opposite direction that the other priest went. 

“Do you mind if we just go to my room?” He awkwardly asked. 

“I don’t mind…” I was a bit confused but agreed having no other choice. Curiosity killed the cat, although I was no cat, so I was fine. 

Like so, he sped up the pace, before he was slowly walking as he second-guessed himself, I guess he just simply did not want to run into the other person he had a conflict with. 

It did not take long before we stood before an imposing wood door, it did not seem like a personal room, so it made me a bit confused. He took a key to open it, however, I couldn’t help but be slightly tense, I did not know what I was expecting but it made me feel suspicious. 

The door effortlessly creaked and he pushed the wood door, it ever so slightly creaked. I looked at it with wary eyes, although the concern faded immediately. 

“Please, make yourself at home…” He awkwardly muttered as he gestured me to pass. I couldn’t help but sigh as we entered the room. “Is something wrong?” 

“Oh, no… I was just surprised that this is your room…” 

We were in a library, bookshelves that went sky high, a ceiling you could not normally see. Dimly lit by oil lamps running throughout the wall and tables. It was unfit for a room. 

“Ah, surprised? Ever since I was a kid I liked books.” He started walking towards a corner of the room, a bed was there with a nightstand and another oil lamp. I guess it really was his room, although one thing was for certain, he was a lot more comfortable here than when in the hallways, I guess it was kind of like his safe space. 

I heard a stream of water pour into a container, I turned around and there he was, handing me a glass of water. I looked at it with slight confusion. “Don’t worry, it does not have anything.” He smiled to comfort me once again. I did a non-existent shrug and drank it, it’s not like I could be poisoned anyway. 

The priest gestured me to sit along with him, and as expected, I did. 

“So… T-Thank you for saving me… S-s…” I stuttered as I recalled he never told me his name. 

“Ah you’re welcome, you may call me Sivirud…” He thought for a second. “And you are?” I became stiff, should I call myself Aizen? I mean, there was no harm, but what if… 

“Aizen…” I did it… Point of no return…

“Aizen… Aizen… Aizen…” He started muttering my name, I guess I was done for. “Where have I heard that name before? Hmmm…” He paused. “Oh right, the dragon right?” 

“Y-Yeah…” Oh no… 

“That’s a fantastic name, while dragons are known for their greed this particular one was rather interesting, rather known for his courage and tenacity. Just like you!” He happily spoke to me. “Your parents did a fantastic job, where are they now?” 

“About that…” My gaze trailed off. 

“Oh… I am so sorry…” He started drawing on the table with his finger, a habit I had when I was feeling down. Although that rarely happened as of late. 

“Well, I am sure they are in a good place.” I said with a smile. “I’ve been meaning to ask but…” I paused and made sure to speak with a gentle tone and slowly. “Will, everything be okay?” 

He paused, almost as if he was taken aback. “What do you mean?” He asked with genuine confusion. 

I internally prepared myself to invent a life monologue and started speaking with fake emotion. “Well you see… I was born in a small village, so all we know is hear-say… The story that I believe so much in could just be a lie… As far as the wolf goes, maybe it belongs to a tamer? I came to the capital just recently and heard something about a fantastic tamer with a wolf companion…” Of course, I knew said tamer… 

I started looking at the table and fiddling to make it look more convincing. At that moment was when my hand was grabbed. I lifted my gaze with slight surprise, he looked at me with empathy and teary eyes. 

“Don’t worry, it’s real. Your faith… is real, I-I read about it.” He started wiping his eyes. “Sorry…” I froze and quickly thought of a way to fake real empathy, I wasn’t suited for this! 

“It’s fine…” I muttered as I pressed my free hand on my wound. “I-It’s fine…” I started tearing up, this was definitely bad. No one in their right mind would purposefully press their wound just to cry… 

I could not keep it up and so I stopped. “I am, glad… that… it’s real… truly glad…” I said with a quickened breathing as I wiped my flushed cheeks. 

“Yeah…” He let go of my hand, and looked away for a moment and then he looked back at me almost as if he had remembered something. “Hey…” He called out to me with a soft voice. “Remember what you said?” I tilted my head. “That you wanted to be like me?” 

“Yes…” I spoke with a bit of uneasiness, although it came off as timid. 

“I have news for you, you see. Things in the capital have been rather hectic lately with the new king, and well. Each cathedral has a leading priest if you will, the leading priest of this one…” He stopped. “Retired... “ Ha… so he died. “So, once that happens we all gather at the cathedral to elect a new head priest.” He paused and looked at me directly in the eyes. “That’s when you come in.”

I pointed at myself. “Me?” He nodded. 

“We elect from a set of practitioners that have been here for a long time, but you… I am certain, there is something special about you, my faith tells me that it’s the case.” Haa…

I started fiddling as I backed in my chair. “But… How do I know I am enough?” 

He grabbed my hands once again. “Don’t worry, I know you can do it.” He paused. “Now, now. Go to bed, it is still quite early, it’s today after all, you need to save your energy.” Ha… 

“But… what will I need to do when the time comes?” I asked with genuine concern, although I had mixed too much emotion… 

He pressed my hand firmly once again. “Don’t worry, you will just have to pray to the universal altar.” Ha… I was screwed. 

“Okay… Can I take a book, I like to read as well…” 

“Eh, you can read?!” Was it that rare? I nodded with a bit of uneasiness. “That’s amazing, take whichever one you like.” He let go of my hand and gestured me to venture into the hallways of the books. 

I took up on the opportunity and went in, luckily he just stayed in his seat without following me, so I had a chance to look around without any rush or worry about the thing I was looking for. Which was rather nice, because I needed a book that would quite literally save me from this place. 

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So I started browsing the bookshelves as I muttered the names written on the books’ spines. 

“Darkness in the light… volume 1… 2… 5... “ Ha… “The eternal faith, Faith in the light, Darkness and its dangers…” What were these titles. “The blind faith and its consequences.” I stopped and my eyes lingered on that book, it seemed old. I grabbed it and pulled it out along with a cloud of dust. 

“The dangers of blind faith.” It did not seem like much at first, what got me was the name of the author. ‘Amatsukami… What kind of weird name was that?!’ I thought as I opened the first page.

‘The dangers of playing god, a self reflection an autobiography and most importantly, a journal.’ Wait… could it be? I kept reading. ‘I can’t remember when it started, when this nightmare started. Relic items were rare or downright scarce, but to think an entire nation would hunt you for it…’ I skipped a few pages. ‘All I had to do was instill a fake belief, and that was all I needed⁠—’ I closed it. 

“This information is… dangerous…” It was a book, written by the creator of the faith. Or rather, the person that defined what faith was. 

“Have you found anything yet?” He asked as he peeked into the hallway. I in a panic put the book into my convenient storage. Just in time as he started coming into my direction.

“Em, I was looking at the darkness in the light, it seems something to think about.” He stopped by my side and looked at the book.

“I just recently read this one, it’s quite… descriptive, are you sure. Will you be okay?” He looked at me with genuine concern. “Well, there is this one I wanted to read today…” He started browsing the books and paused at the empty space, the book i had taken. “Where is it?” 

“Is everything okay?” I asked once again, faking concern, also once again. 

“Yeah… Here.” He gave me the book and pushed me away. “You know how to get back to your room, right?” He asked with a bit of warryness, I, of course nodded. “Good, then go.” 

He had become a bit uneasy, after seeing the book was gone. Looks like I had taken something important for him, although… It did not concern me! 

I sighed as I exited the library and headed my way holding the book Sivirud had given me. Although my concern did not last long. 

“What are you doing here?” It was a fat man with white beard and a dropping face, he did not give a kind aura like one would expect from a priest, which did not surprise me considering the conversation that had happened earlier. 

I of course, put on my act again. “Oh sorry, I was just getting water…” 

“Tch, I see, go back to your room.” Waa… what a terrible personality. 

I wordlessly nodded and started walking. But I was stopped by a hand placed on my shoulder. 

“Where did you get that book, was it Sivirud?” He asked with a tone of annoyance. 

“Well, I ran into him while I was looking for water, and I wanted to read something. See?” I shoved the book in his face with a fake smile, almost like a little kid. 

He clicked his tongue once again. “Just go.” He waved me away in annoyance. 

“Ha, so annoying,” I muttered as I backtracked my way back to the room.

It did not take long before I was back in my room, and of course, Fenri was still peacefully sleeping. Although in reality I had something more important to do, which was. “Reading…” I said as I took the book out and set it on the table with a heavy thud. 

“Ha, it’s so big, where to begin…” I did not have magical reading skills to be able to read the entire book in a second, something to lament about. As I thought about it I grabbed the oil lamp and brought it next to the book. 

“Well, I guess if I don’t begin I will never finish…” I muttered some hollow words to try get some enthusiasm and get things done, honestly the book was insurmountable. I had heard jokes about killing someone with a book, but it sounded silly, how could a book be heavy enough to kill someone? This was the book… and so, I opened it and started reading. 

‘Amatsukami, a name that people feared, a name of rejoice. One of the few in the top percentile…’ … Self-ego boost much? ‘My entire journey here all I heard was praise, it was exhilarating, almost euphoric…’ 

“Haa… boring, skip!” I moved a few pages, I did not want to read about someone patting themselves on the back or their regrets. Honestly, everyone has a regret to some extent, but just because of that it doesn’t mean I am in a constant state of misery. 

‘The dangers of playing god…’ Aha. `I thought I had found my paradise, I was unrivaled, it did not take long before I governed my own nation. It was fun…’ Stop already! ‘It didn’t take long before people started to get suspicious, almost crazy. They wanted to know what was the secret behind my power…’ SKIP! 

‘All of the existing nations declared war on me. I had to think of a way to lie my way through things, maybe just skew it enough for it to sound true.’ Aha… I continued skipping things I thought were irrelevant. ‘I revealed my so-called faith, it really was just empty words, yet people seemed to believe. In the fact that there was a greater power, something that instilled us with blessings, something that gave regular objects powers.’ 

I paused. And thought for a second, then continued reading, this had gotten interesting. ‘Of course, I knew the truth, just like anybody else in my position, there was a greater power, but it was simply lines of code, something that existed but had no real sentience, just a bunch of if statements… However, even though I did not know the real truth behind the mess. How did I end up here?’ 

Hmm, so basically similar to our case, although I still don’t understand my situation, or rather I refused to acknowledge it, or even think about it. 

‘I wondered what happened to the world bosses, according to the story they were sentient, but I never found any of them, I did find my NPC companion, for lack of a better word, he seemed to have become a person, fully aware, and even interpreted the past as experiences. Yet I couldn’t help but still see him as a tool⁠—’ I closed the book and stopped reading. 

“I guess it really is that black and white…” I sighed. “Just a bunch of words strung together in some kind of magical interface, executing instructions to create the illusion of life…” I looked at my hand with a distant look. “Ah well, clinging to life goes against dragon beliefs. So, it doesn’t really matter on the big scale.” I shrugged my negative emotions off. 

 “Well, I guess I read enough of this guy’s life for now, what I really want to know is  how can I get out of this mess.” I opened the book again hoping to gain something useful from this person’s life monologue. Although I quickly realized it would take forever, so I started skimming the pages. 

‘Life, rough, blah… About items, the regrets, life, what I want, what I desire…’ This guy… ‘ Lies and deception⁠— how I convinced people of the faith.’ Oh-hoh, that’s something I wanted to read about. 

‘All high tier items have powers, what better way to convince someone than to show said power. It could be fire, water, a beam for that matter. Metal bending, anything visible to the eye that felt as if it came out of nowhere, something that felt super-natural. It might be possible to do it with chantless magic under the right circumstances.’ So basically just pretend you have no idea what happened when something you did happened? I think I am adept at that already… 

‘I realized something, the greater power, or system was interesting, it grouped things and set them in a domain, just like swords, helmets, among other various things. They always worked perfectly along with their intended use thanks to the system.’ That’s more than obvious...

And so I continued skimming the pages, until my eyes glued to one. ‘Prayers, and how I chose a universal prayer.’ He basically formatted the book as a monologue and then as a majestic life biography, although the formatting was horrible and confusing at best, at worst it was indecipherable. 

‘I chose something that sounded mysterious, a language that many people did not know, I am not religious, but it was something I had to do.’ He wrote something below in a language I had never seen before, although I could still understand what he was trying to say for some reason. 

I started reading the meaning in a mutter. 

“... Blessed is the one who bears a temptation

Since after being tested, he will receive the crown of life

 

Lord, the source of good-heartedness

Lord, the divine fire, be gracious…” 

I stopped, this just felt like an entirely different religion altogether! Was this guy someone that enjoyed creating religions in his free time? What’s next, some type of religion that worships some specific type of food?! Preposterous! 

I made sure to remember the original words used for the prayer, it could save me later today. But this book was outdated, I couldn’t expect it to be completely accurate, nor accurate for that matter. Which was one of the reasons I needed to deceive, I needed to make them believe that I was real, that I was someone blessed… 

“Ha… easier said than done…” I muttered without spirits and got to thinking. 

I sighed in defeat. “I must use magic, if only there was a simple way to not blow up things, I couldn’t really do much in terms of actual magic, or rather, something that looked supernatural aside from actual supernatural disasters… But I needed something a bit more, laid back… if only I could use some type of light magic, just some other type of magic in general…” 

“Wait… What if I try the same thing again, controlling mana directly…” I looked up and tried to focus on the ambient mana on the room, it wasn’t simple, but I could still do it, the problem was… “it can’t blow up… if it blows up, it will cause collateral damage… It could also possibly be treated as a sign of rejection, it was out of the question. Now that I think about it, why did it blow up last time...

I started to think, on paper it shouldn’t have blown up, but it had become unstable and almost fused together, which essentially made a void that collapsed in itself. Hmm, I needed something different, something that magically fixed things, kind of like the so-called greater power… Greater power…

‘Greater…’ I started muttering, I realized something. “If it had touched something, that something would function within its domain, it gave it a specific function or one to choose from according to the characteristics of things… The book said so as well… If it was a function designated on an item then it would’ve gone flawlessly. There is no room for human error. 

Sigh, what could I do… I dropped on the table and just emotionlessly looked at the surface, it was lukewarm, and perfect to rest in. But I couldn’t sleep, I still had an entire situation to get out of. What a problem… 

Some time passed by and I started playing with my bracelet, I was a lot more careful, last thing I wanted was to injure myself yet again. I noticed the scales would mend with each other in case of needing more surface area. I started playing the “let’s see what shapes I can make,” game, it wasn’t fun. Triangle, circles, espheres, hexagons, everything seemed possible. I tried making it into a little buckler shield, it worked perfectly.

I gave up on it, the shape would not dispel unless I stopped supplying it mana, but I was too bored to even bother doing that. It was just like an on/off switch to me. I laid back in my chair and started doodling on the air with my hand and the shield. I was too bored to even think about things. 

“Well, I could always play make a certain shape with the ambient mana.” And so, I started moving my arm around along with the shield, it was effortless, it was… “Weird…” 

It shouldn’t have been this easy to manipulate mana, yet it felt as if I had the same control as the gauntlet. I took the gauntlet off, and tried doing the same thing, it was hard just like I remembered it being. 

“So, if I do this…” I put on the gauntlet and tried again, to my surprise it did not work, and it was still just as hard. “So it isn’t that, huh…” I continued to quietly sit as I thought about what could’ve caused it. 

‘I had the gauntlet on, yes, once I took it off, it stopped working, so by logic once it was back on it should’ve kept working… What did the book say?’ I consulted the book once again. 

‘They always worked perfectly along with their intended use thanks to the system.’ Along with their intended use came consistency… but, my item’s intended use wasn’t to control mana, it was to control the scales through my mana, to influence them as an extension of me… But, if It was an extension of me, doesn’t mean I essentially had the same control over substance as the item had over the scales? It was a bit too far fetched, but maybe...

I looked at my bracelet once again. Without thinking much about it, I injected mana into the bracelet and started doing the usual. I imagined something similar, like when the explosion happened, although I did not intend in blowing up something this time... I started moving a small amount of mana, the little particles started to gather, the first thing I imagined was… light as an element, how the particles gathered close together to then spread, and doing that in a loop would create light. 

I replicated it, everything seemed to go well, no explosions, no weird behaviour. “Ha, to imagine magic is as stupid as have the right item and suddenly you dominate all the elements…” I muttered as I finished manipulating, although I immediately regretted it. 

My entire vision turned white, I had no idea what just had happened. I tried opening my eyes but nothing was happening, I felt something solid to my side, I tried pressing against it to get away from it, but I would just be pulled back to it. A few seconds of fruitless struggle went by, and then white started to clear, I was looking at a carpet. No, I was laying on the ground. 

“So… I was blinded… How?” I questioned myself. “There is no light source to blind me in this room…” I facepalmed in realization. “It’s a success… I suppose.” No idea if it was something to be happy about or something to be sad about. 

“Well on the good side, I have my magical 'what if' to instill belief,” I said with a grin, it was perfect, I had something that was supernatural⁠—namely a flash of blinding light that I could summon at my will with enough practice, although it wasn’t as simple as normal magic, and by that I mean; it wasn’t as simple as thinking about it, which kind of sucked. But it was still some major difference Going from explosion to a product, it made me feel happy with myself and the results. 

“Now time to practice, and maybe not get blinded again,” I said with enthusiasm. 

Alice.

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