Chapter 116
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There's just one thing that Gren was wondering about that was related to the Returning Heaven Guild. After Gren was done healing the people that had been hit by Rodge and himself, he went to find Ophelia. "What happened to the people that went missing then?" Even if it was the Church of Healing Light doing it, Gren couldn't allow them to harm people. "You guys would even take their stuff after making them disappear."
"They're sent up north to farm or train to become a priestess or knight. We've been having a problem with keeping up with the expanding farms and were looking for people to join us." Gren didn't quite understand why they needed to be hiding this but Ophelia didn't keep him in the dark for long. "People choosing to move from this country to another need to pay a high tax if they ever want to return. We pretend that they're abducted, create a document saying that we purchased them as slaves, and then create another document saying that we've released them to become our citizens."
Gren didn't know anything about the taxes besides the head tax that the people living in the guild needed to pay and even then he didn't know how much it was. It was becoming more and more obvious that he was ignorant as he kept learning new things. "But why take their stuff? Aren't they going to need it in their new home?"
"If they join the Church then their belongings are sold and the money is given to them. We provide everything they need to be comfortable, after all. For the farmers, we'll pretend to sell their furniture to a merchant connected with us that will bring it north. We'll cover the fees to transport the goods as long as the person agrees to pay it back. It doesn't take long since our farmers are paid pretty well compared to other places." If Ophelia was telling the truth then there were no moral problems with what they were doing. Gren imagined that it was still illegal but he believed that victimless crimes should go unreported. "I suppose all of that will be coming to an end soon. Once we've got the Goddess secured then we can make our way back to the headquarters."
"That's not going to happen." Ophelia looked at Gren as if his next words would determine his fate. "It's my responsibility to protect my mother and I don't know what will happen to her in the Church. I've never seen her use magic since the day I was born. I don't want to risk her safety by sending her somewhere that will have people that expect her to perform miracles for them."
"The Divine Priestess, the five Holy Priestesses, the five Holy Knight Commanders, and their knights from the five Holy Orders are all aware of the Goddess's condition but want to bring her back anyways. She has done so much for us in our moments of weakness that it's only right that we help her in return." The way that Ophelia's eyes sparkled as she spoke about the Goddess told Gren that she was most likely a devout follower of his mother. However, a zealot could be dangerous if they became disillusioned of the person they worshiped and Gren didn't want to see that happen. "The safest place she can be right now is in the Land of Healing Light since that's where her strongest supporters are. There has never been a force that has been able to compete with us. I'm only the second-strongest knight in the second order and the first order is full of knights stronger than me."
"I don't doubt that you're stronger than me but there's more than just personal strength when it comes to protecting someone. Right now my mother is someplace safe where nobody else but me can get to her and none of her enemies know where she is." Gren believed that his security was nearly impenetrable and the fact that he hadn't revealed her location to even his closest allies meant that nobody else should know where she was. "Another thing is that you say that no force can compete with you but that king in the far west is still taunting your group. If what you say is true then why would he be claiming to have killed my mother?"
"If you're talking about the king of Grandolla and still think that the Goddess is your mother, we have no idea what has caused him to act in such a way. We believe that he might have some affliction of the mind and it's not productive to be trying to find reason within the thoughts of a mad man." It was possible for the king to be insane and even Gren thought that once but, the more he thought about it, the weirder it seemed. If he just claimed to kill the Goddess then he could just be insane but it would be easy for people to see that he was lying since he claimed to have her powers now. "Besides, we can not afford to fight someone so far away. There are four kingdoms that we'd need to march through just to reach Grandolla and Seka alone is too large for our army to march through without a large supply chain. It's more effective to deal with him by pulling out our support and hoping that people abandon the country in favor for those that have our healing services."
"Isn't that just punishing the people of the country for what their king does? He might be insane but if the people are good and worship the Goddess then why take away their access to your healers?" Gren didn't understand why their group always punished people for the mistakes made by others. "The people can not control what their king says."
"I was not the one that made that decision. You'd have to discuss that with the Divine Priestess but I don't think that I could get you an audience with her unless you hand over the Goddess." Gren was getting annoyed at Ophelia nagging him to hand over his mother. "I already know what your answer is going to be so you don't have to look at me like that. I'm not going to be pushing for you to hand her over but I do hope that you let me confirm her identity."
"I wouldn't mind doing that but I'm currently in the middle of a mission. I haven't even confirmed if you're on the same side as me yet." Gren wasn't sure about letting her see his mother but he needed to finish the mission that Annie gave him and that was his only bargaining chip.
Ophelia sighed. "So, what do you need from me?"
"I just need to look through your paperwork and get some evidence that you're clean. After I collect that information and go meet up with my friends then I can take you to see my mother." Gren was asking a lot of her but Ophelia was desperate to find the Goddess and he was her only lead so far.
"Fine, but if you're lying then I'll cut you down on the spot and take that armor of yours. As for you, Rodge, if that's your real name." Ophelia pointed towards Rodge and glared at him. "If I find out that you're not with Hildr's Grace then I'll do the same to you. I won't tolerate people that pretend to be in service of our Goddess." Rodge seemed uncomfortable about the threat but didn't voice any complaints. "Now, let me show you to the records room. There's a lot to look at but if you can't find something then you can just ask my squire to help you."
———————————
Gren collected the documents he needed to prove that Ophelia's story was accurate. The ledgers showed that a majority of the furniture sold was to merchant caravans headed north. The contracts signed by the people that went missing stated that they were donating their items to the Returning Heaven guild in exchange for free transportation to another city. They could have forged the ledgers and tricked people into signing those contracts but that would take a lot of time and Rodge seemed convinced that Ophelia was from the headquarters despite her not wearing an armor crafted from the same advanced magic metal as his armor that put black iron to shame.
"It should be close to sundown now. We've got enough evidence for Annie to be satisfied. Shall we call it a day?" Gren was speaking to Rodge but didn't get a reply after a short while. "Is there something wrong?"
"Doesn't that hurt?" Gren followed Rodge's sight to the vampire clamped down on his forearm.
"You get used to it after a while. It's like when you guys were stabbing me. After a while I just don't really feel it all that much." At first it was painful but now he barely felt the bite when he wasn't paying attention to it. There were sensitive areas where he would still feel a lot of pain but it still wasn't as much as it used to be. "She didn't drink enough blood earlier so I'm giving her some now while we're still inside."
"I don't think that's something you're supposed to get used to. That's, uhh, not normal." Rodge was looking at Gren like he was a freak. "I've heard of people gaining tolerance to pain but nobody just stops feeling it unless there's something wrong with them."
"I've already checked and there's nothing wrong with me. Then again, it's possible that I just haven't been able to detect whatever's wrong with me. I've been getting these terrible headaches and yet I can't find anything wrong with myself. Healing my head doesn't even make them go away." Gren's headaches seemed like they were coming once a week now. "Well, enough about my problems. Let's head out." Gren didn't really think his problems were all that big but he'd gain a much larger problem if Annie was angry at him.
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There's just one thing that Gren was wondering about that was related to the Returning Heaven Guild. After Gren was done healing the people that had been hit by Rodge and himself, he went to find Ophelia. "What happened to the people that went missing then?" Even if it was the Church of Healing Light doing it, Gren couldn't allow them to harm people. "You guys would even take their stuff after making them disappear."
"They're sent up north to farm or train to become a priestess or knight. We've been having a problem with keeping up with the expanding farms and were looking for people to join us." Gren didn't quite understand why they needed to be hiding this but Ophelia didn't keep him in the dark for long. "People choosing to move from this country to another need to pay a high tax if they ever want to return. We pretend that they're abducted, create a document saying that we purchased them as slaves, and then create another document saying that we've released them to become our citizens."
Gren didn't know anything about the taxes besides the head tax that the people living in the guild needed to pay and even then he didn't know how much it was. It was becoming more and more obvious that he was ignorant as he kept learning new things. "But why take their stuff? Aren't they going to need it in their new home?"
"If they join the Church then their belongings are sold and the money is given to them. We provide everything they need to be comfortable, after all. For the farmers, we'll pretend to sell their furniture to a merchant connected with us that will bring it north. We'll cover the fees to transport the goods as long as the person agrees to pay it back. It doesn't take long since our farmers are paid pretty well compared to other places." If Ophelia was telling the truth then there were no moral problems with what they were doing. Gren imagined that it was still illegal but he believed that victimless crimes should go unreported. "I suppose all of that will be coming to an end soon. Once we've got the Goddess secured then we can make our way back to the headquarters."
"That's not going to happen." Ophelia looked at Gren as if his next words would determine his fate. "It's my responsibility to protect my mother and I don't know what will happen to her in the Church. I've never seen her use magic since the day I was born. I don't want to risk her safety by sending her somewhere that will have people that expect her to perform miracles for them."
"The Divine Priestess, the five Holy Priestesses, the five Holy Knight Commanders, and their knights from the five Holy Orders are all aware of the Goddess's condition but want to bring her back anyways. She has done so much for us in our moments of weakness that it's only right that we help her in return." The way that Ophelia's eyes sparkled as she spoke about the Goddess told Gren that she was most likely a devout follower of his mother. However, a zealot could be dangerous if they became disillusioned of the person they worshiped and Gren didn't want to see that happen. "The safest place she can be right now is in the Land of Healing Light since that's where her strongest supporters are. There has never been a force that has been able to compete with us. I'm only the second-strongest knight in the second order and the first order is full of knights stronger than me."
"I don't doubt that you're stronger than me but there's more than just personal strength when it comes to protecting someone. Right now my mother is someplace safe where nobody else but me can get to her and none of her enemies know where she is." Gren believed that his security was nearly impenetrable and the fact that he hadn't revealed her location to even his closest allies meant that nobody else should know where she was. "Another thing is that you say that no force can compete with you but that king in the far west is still taunting your group. If what you say is true then why would he be claiming to have killed my mother?"
"If you're talking about the king of Grandolla and still think that the Goddess is your mother, we have no idea what has caused him to act in such a way. We believe that he might have some affliction of the mind and it's not productive to be trying to find reason within the thoughts of a mad man." It was possible for the king to be insane and even Gren thought that once but, the more he thought about it, the weirder it seemed. If he just claimed to kill the Goddess then he could just be insane but it would be easy for people to see that he was lying since he claimed to have her powers now. "Besides, we can not afford to fight someone so far away. There are four kingdoms that we'd need to march through just to reach Grandolla and Seka alone is too large for our army to march through without a large supply chain. It's more effective to deal with him by pulling out our support and hoping that people abandon the country in favor for those that have our healing services."
"Isn't that just punishing the people of the country for what their king does? He might be insane but if the people are good and worship the Goddess then why take away their access to your healers?" Gren didn't understand why their group always punished people for the mistakes made by others. "The people can not control what their king says."
"I was not the one that made that decision. You'd have to discuss that with the Divine Priestess but I don't think that I could get you an audience with her unless you hand over the Goddess." Gren was getting annoyed at Ophelia nagging him to hand over his mother. "I already know what your answer is going to be so you don't have to look at me like that. I'm not going to be pushing for you to hand her over but I do hope that you let me confirm her identity."
"I wouldn't mind doing that but I'm currently in the middle of a mission. I haven't even confirmed if you're on the same side as me yet." Gren wasn't sure about letting her see his mother but he needed to finish the mission that Annie gave him and that was his only bargaining chip.
Ophelia sighed. "So, what do you need from me?"
"I just need to look through your paperwork and get some evidence that you're clean. After I collect that information and go meet up with my friends then I can take you to see my mother." Gren was asking a lot of her but Ophelia was desperate to find the Goddess and he was her only lead so far.
"Fine, but if you're lying then I'll cut you down on the spot and take that armor of yours. As for you, Rodge, if that's your real name." Ophelia pointed towards Rodge and glared at him. "If I find out that you're not with Hildr's Grace then I'll do the same to you. I won't tolerate people that pretend to be in service of our Goddess." Rodge seemed uncomfortable about the threat but didn't voice any complaints. "Now, let me show you to the records room. There's a lot to look at but if you can't find something then you can just ask my squire to help you."
———————————
Gren collected the documents he needed to prove that Ophelia's story was accurate. The ledgers showed that a majority of the furniture sold was to merchant caravans headed north. The contracts signed by the people that went missing stated that they were donating their items to the Returning Heaven guild in exchange for free transportation to another city. They could have forged the ledgers and tricked people into signing those contracts but that would take a lot of time and Rodge seemed convinced that Ophelia was from the headquarters despite her not wearing an armor crafted from the same advanced magic metal as his armor that put black iron to shame.
"It should be close to sundown now. We've got enough evidence for Annie to be satisfied. Shall we call it a day?" Gren was speaking to Rodge but didn't get a reply after a short while. "Is there something wrong?"
"Doesn't that hurt?" Gren followed Rodge's sight to the vampire clamped down on his forearm.
"You get used to it after a while. It's like when you guys were stabbing me. After a while I just don't really feel it all that much." At first it was painful but now he barely felt the bite when he wasn't paying attention to it. There were sensitive areas where he would still feel a lot of pain but it still wasn't as much as it used to be. "She didn't drink enough blood earlier so I'm giving her some now while we're still inside."
"I don't think that's something you're supposed to get used to. That's, uhh, not normal." Rodge was looking at Gren like he was a freak. "I've heard of people gaining tolerance to pain but nobody just stops feeling it unless there's something wrong with them."
"I've already checked and there's nothing wrong with me. Then again, it's possible that I just haven't been able to detect whatever's wrong with me. I've been getting these terrible headaches and yet I can't find anything wrong with myself. Healing my head doesn't even make them go away." Gren's headaches seemed like they were coming once a week now. "Well, enough about my problems. Let's head out." Gren didn't really think his problems were all that big but he'd gain a much larger problem if Annie was angry at him.
There's just one thing that Gren was wondering about that was related to the Returning Heaven Guild. After Gren was done healing the people that had been hit by Rodge and himself, he went to find Ophelia. "What happened to the people that went missing then?" Even if it was the Church of Healing Light doing it, Gren couldn't allow them to harm people. "You guys would even take their stuff after making them disappear.""They're sent up north to farm or train to become a priestess or knight. We've been having a problem with keeping up with the expanding farms and were looking for people to join us." Gren didn't quite understand why they needed to be hiding this but Ophelia didn't keep him in the dark for long. "People choosing to move from this country to another need to pay a high tax if they ever want to return. We pretend that they're abducted, create a document saying that we purchased them as slaves, and then create another document saying that we've released them to become our citizens."Gren didn't know anything about the taxes besides the head tax that the people living in the guild needed to pay and even then he didn't know how much it was. It was becoming more and more obvious that he was ignorant as he kept learning new things. "But why take their stuff? Aren't they going to need it in their new home?""If they join the Church then their belongings are sold and the money is given to them. We provide everything they need to be comfortable, after all. For the farmers, we'll pretend to sell their furniture to a merchant connected with us that will bring it north. We'll cover the fees to transport the goods as long as the person agrees to pay it back. It doesn't take long since our farmers are paid pretty well compared to other places." If Ophelia was telling the truth then there were no moral problems with what they were doing. Gren imagined that it was still illegal but he believed that victimless crimes should go unreported. "I suppose all of that will be coming to an end soon. Once we've got the Goddess secured then we can make our way back to the headquarters.""That's not going to happen." Ophelia looked at Gren as if his next words would determine his fate. "It's my responsibility to protect my mother and I don't know what will happen to her in the Church. I've never seen her use magic since the day I was born. I don't want to risk her safety by sending her somewhere that will have people that expect her to perform miracles for them.""The Divine Priestess, the five Holy Priestesses, the five Holy Knight Commanders, and their knights from the five Holy Orders are all aware of the Goddess's condition but want to bring her back anyways. She has done so much for us in our moments of weakness that it's only right that we help her in return." The way that Ophelia's eyes sparkled as she spoke about the Goddess told Gren that she was most likely a devout follower of his mother. However, a zealot could be dangerous if they became disillusioned of the person they worshiped and Gren didn't want to see that happen. "The safest place she can be right now is in the Land of Healing Light since that's where her strongest supporters are. There has never been a force that has been able to compete with us. I'm only the second-strongest knight in the second order and the first order is full of knights stronger than me.""I don't doubt that you're stronger than me but there's more than just personal strength when it comes to protecting someone. Right now my mother is someplace safe where nobody else but me can get to her and none of her enemies know where she is." Gren believed that his security was nearly impenetrable and the fact that he hadn't revealed her location to even his closest allies meant that nobody else should know where she was. "Another thing is that you say that no force can compete with you but that king in the far west is still taunting your group. If what you say is true then why would he be claiming to have killed my mother?""If you're talking about the king of Grandolla and still think that the Goddess is your mother, we have no idea what has caused him to act in such a way. We believe that he might have some affliction of the mind and it's not productive to be trying to find reason within the thoughts of a mad man." It was possible for the king to be insane and even Gren thought that once but, the more he thought about it, the weirder it seemed. If he just claimed to kill the Goddess then he could just be insane but it would be easy for people to see that he was lying since he claimed to have her powers now. "Besides, we can not afford to fight someone so far away. There are four kingdoms that we'd need to march through just to reach Grandolla and Seka alone is too large for our army to march through without a large supply chain. It's more effective to deal with him by pulling out our support and hoping that people abandon the country in favor for those that have our healing services.""Isn't that just punishing the people of the country for what their king does? He might be insane but if the people are good and worship the Goddess then why take away their access to your healers?" Gren didn't understand why their group always punished people for the mistakes made by others. "The people can not control what their king says.""I was not the one that made that decision. You'd have to discuss that with the Divine Priestess but I don't think that I could get you an audience with her unless you hand over the Goddess." Gren was getting annoyed at Ophelia nagging him to hand over his mother. "I already know what your answer is going to be so you don't have to look at me like that. I'm not going to be pushing for you to hand her over but I do hope that you let me confirm her identity.""I wouldn't mind doing that but I'm currently in the middle of a mission. I haven't even confirmed if you're on the same side as me yet." Gren wasn't sure about letting her see his mother but he needed to finish the mission that Annie gave him and that was his only bargaining chip.Ophelia sighed. "So, what do you need from me?""I just need to look through your paperwork and get some evidence that you're clean. After I collect that information and go meet up with my friends then I can take you to see my mother." Gren was asking a lot of her but Ophelia was desperate to find the Goddess and he was her only lead so far."Fine, but if you're lying then I'll cut you down on the spot and take that armor of yours. As for you, Rodge, if that's your real name." Ophelia pointed towards Rodge and glared at him. "If I find out that you're not with Hildr's Grace then I'll do the same to you. I won't tolerate people that pretend to be in service of our Goddess." Rodge seemed uncomfortable about the threat but didn't voice any complaints. "Now, let me show you to the records room. There's a lot to look at but if you can't find something then you can just ask my squire to help you."Gren collected the documents he needed to prove that Ophelia's story was accurate. The ledgers showed that a majority of the furniture sold was to merchant caravans headed north. The contracts signed by the people that went missing stated that they were donating their items to the Returning Heaven guild in exchange for free transportation to another city. They could have forged the ledgers and tricked people into signing those contracts but that would take a lot of time and Rodge seemed convinced that Ophelia was from the headquarters despite her not wearing an armor crafted from the same advanced magic metal as his armor that put black iron to shame."It should be close to sundown now. We've got enough evidence for Annie to be satisfied. Shall we call it a day?" Gren was speaking to Rodge but didn't get a reply after a short while. "Is there something wrong?""Doesn't that hurt?" Gren followed Rodge's sight to the vampire clamped down on his forearm."You get used to it after a while. It's like when you guys were stabbing me. After a while I just don't really feel it all that much." At first it was painful but now he barely felt the bite when he wasn't paying attention to it. There were sensitive areas where he would still feel a lot of pain but it still wasn't as much as it used to be. "She didn't drink enough blood earlier so I'm giving her some now while we're still inside.""I don't think that's something you're supposed to get used to. That's, uhh, not normal." Rodge was looking at Gren like he was a freak. "I've heard of people gaining tolerance to pain but nobody just stops feeling it unless there's something wrong with them.""I've already checked and there's nothing wrong with me. Then again, it's possible that I just haven't been able to detect whatever's wrong with me. I've been getting these terrible headaches and yet I can't find anything wrong with myself. Healing my head doesn't even make them go away." Gren's headaches seemed like they were coming once a week now. "Well, enough about my problems. Let's head out." Gren didn't really think his problems were all that big but he'd gain a much larger problem if Annie was angry at him.
