183, 2/2

All inquiries took place in the same room in the embassy.

That ‘room’ took up a hemisphere of space almost a kilometer across, and half a kilometer deep. Erick had poked his mana sense that way a few times with Ophiel to see what was what and to view parts of ongoing inquiries here and there. The inquiry preparatory committee hallway had a few scale models as well, which the people there used to show potential ‘respondents’ —the name given to those who were to undergo an inquiry— what to expect once inside.

Erick saw those dioramas and experienced a shortened prep session around one of them when he went to that IPC hallway to gather his team. After Otaliya also came by they once again went over what to expect inside the inquiry. Tasar’s mother, and pretty much every single person in EIPCs had been surprised that he was actually going ahead with his inquiry this quickly. Erick had told them in the beginning to expect a quick inquiry, but they didn’t actually believe it would be happening today.

But Erick had done his due diligence; he had done everything he could to line up a positive outcome, except prepare for a full year. All he truly wanted was runic web clearance, and he was pretty sure he had that in the bag; everything else was gravy.

After final preparations, Otaliaya was the most enthusiastic of them all, saying, “I wish you the best of luck, Erick! If anyone deserves a positive inquiry, it is you!” She smiled. “Savior of Light. Now let’s go secure that win!”

Otaliya and the EIPC teams had been invaluable in helping Erick understand the people he would be facing in the inquiry room, but they could not help him in the final showdown. They were allowed to sit behind him during the actual inquiry. All the rest of the crowd would find seats in the higher stands.

No one would be allowed to interact with Erick aside from the inquiry panel once the inquiry started.

Seeing the stadium in person was an experience. Everything was white and gold, with yellow cushioned seating and yellow drapes hanging down all over. It had multiple levels of seating which all faced a relatively small arena-like space down in front. It was like a fancy theater with almost all of its space devoted to the audience, and with clear purposes regarding who could sit where. The first 150 front row seats were reserved for guests of the respondent. Some of the balconies were clearly reserved for mortal nobility, with their easy access to bathrooms and such mundane needs. Others were reserved for wrought, with one in particular on the left side looking like an obvious place for the Heavies to sit; where royalty could watch if they wanted.

It all kinda reminded Erick of a half of a football stadium.

Erick arrived at the inquiry desk, where he filled out final paperworks much to the surprise of every single wrought working that desk. Some of the nearby wrought went running off, no doubt to tell people that Erick was here, and that his inquiry was happening today.

Events proceeded semi-rapidly from there.

The clerks in charge set Erick down in the queue, to the left of the main stage, alongside two other people who promptly recognized him. One fellow respondent was a human woman in noble-like clothes who saw and recognized Erick, and then she excused herself from the line. She went to the clerks and told them to reschedule, which they began helping her do. The next person in line, an orcol man, chuckled when he understood what was happening. He wished Erick luck as he also stepped out of line to reschedule. Both of them would try their hand some other day, when the inquiry panel is back to who they expected to see on the bench.

And so, Erick sat down, and he watched.

The current respondent on stage was a dragonkin man. As the hubbub in the respondent’s box distracted him he glanced Erick’s way, his eyes going wide as he flubbed whatever he was going to say, but then he recaptured his words and kept right on going. The hundreds of people (mostly dragonkin) sitting directly behind the respondent (and also spilling over into the other nearby seating) all noticed Erick too, as Erick made himself comfortable in the queue, about fifty meters from the respondent’s podium.

Except for the current respondent’s voice, the place was pretty quiet.

Erick suspected that he would have been hearing a lot of whispers and open talk if not for the runic webs buried here and there, keeping sound cordoned off and one-directional, for the most part. According to what Erick knew, the respondent’s words would go out to everyone sitting in the stands, while the stands were spelled to not spill sound outward. The inquiry board had their own complicated set of sound spells that they could control and direct as they wanted; either for private deliberations or for open speech.

Every single inquiry board member sat behind a wide arc of a solid crystal table that curved away from the respondent. Every one of them had the same sized chair, except for one; the chair in the middle, which belonged to the Heavies. The royalty of Stratagold. Behind the assembled panel rose a relief of crystals and light and sculptures of white-metal wrought helping sculptures of wooden people to ascend to the brightness above. Erick suspected there was a symbolism there about the permanency of metal and the weakness of wood, but maybe that choice was just to denote the true difference between the wrought and everyone else. Wood could grow and change. Metal did not.

The inquiry board was all wrought, of course, but the only person Erick actually recognized was Prince Abarnikon, who sat on the central, largest chair. The Prince glanced to Erick, in a regal sort of way, and simply nodded, as he continued to listen to the current respondent. All the other board members were a lot more open about their noticing of Erick. They whispered to aides or glanced around, expectantly. One guy flipped some switches in front of him to fully obscure his body and his words. Seconds later an aide raced out of that guy’s obscured space; a man on a mission. And then that guy’s obscuring bubble went away. Mostly.

Erick couldn’t hear any of the people on the inquiry board, nor could he read their lips, because there was some sort of generalized obfuscation surrounding and hiding many of the smaller actions of those people. It was easy enough to read their body language, and the small plaques set up in front of them which read which force of Stratagold that person represented. Some of the people were excited, like the gold wrought from the merchant caste, and the one silver wrought representing Archmage’s Rest. Some were ambivalent, from the white wrought from the Church, to the guy representing Stratgold’s armies and guard, to the woman representing agricultural concerns…

Erick would have thought that he had done a lot for agriculture on Veird—

Ah. Fuck. Should he have followed up with having Yggdrasil run [Exalted Rain] in his cavern every now and then? It would have been a great food source… Oh well. Later. He could look into that later. Before he actually left, or perhaps even inside this inquiry, too. Yes. That was a better idea.

The guy from the Gemslicers wasn’t happy at all.

Erick was not surprised by that, though he felt it odd that the Gemslicers were large enough to warrant a seat at this table, anyway. Otaliya had told Erick that they represented the interests of the Healers, though, so with that in mind their presence made some sort of sense.

The current respondent rested his right hand on the podium beside his station, supporting himself as he continued to answer the question he had been asked, though he flubbed his answer again, and then he froze in pure, terrified worry. He was fucking up.

Ah. Erick felt bad for the guy. Nothing to be done about it, though. Erick was content to wait his turn. These things usually didn’t take more than two hours anyway and he had [Renew]ed himself in his Other Form before coming here.

… The dragonkin respondent wasn’t recovering.

As five seconds of silence stretched into ten, and then thirty…

Prince Abarnikon touched some controls on the armrest of his chair and his calm speaking voice sounded out to the rest of the room, “If the respondent would like a five minute break we can oblige. We honor your time and your willingness to be here, and so, no matter who is slated to come next, your inquiry is just as valued as any other.”

The respondent gave a nervous chuckle—

The respondent rallied, saying, “I thank Prince Abarnikon for his grace. I would prefer to continue.”

Abarnikon nodded. “Then: you were speaking of vulnerabilities of agriculture, and how to solve for [Grow]ing food in the deep Underworld for an estimated 25,000 people.”

The respondent, named Bayolth, stood tall, and spoke, “Surveys of the proposed cityspace indicate that…”

Seeing an inquiry in person was about the same as seeing it through Ophiel. Boring, but stressful. Erick had an idea of what sorts of questions they were going to ask him; from questions about Last Shadow’s Feast, to his failure with Terror Peaks, to the handling and his plans for the Blessing of Empathy of his Crystal Star, to other such questions.

Comparatively, Bayloth was getting a completely normal inquiry. ‘How do you handle defense?’ ‘How do you handle governing?’ ‘How would you enact Stratagold’s itemized list of demands 1 through 37?’ From Bayloth’s answers and the reactions of the people both on the board and in the audience (after Erick’s presence once again faded into the background), this guy was knocking it out of the park. In fact, he seemed to be getting into it, speaking eloquently and precisely, like he was answering an oral exam and all his loved ones had shown up to support him…

Which is exactly what had happened, wasn’t it?

According to the EIPCs he hired and Otaliya, and Tasar, all of whom sat in the stands up and behind Erick, some respondents treated this exactly like an oral exam. This methodology was considered the ‘safe way’ to secure a victory, for Stratagold valued organization and knowledge and all the usual things that were conducive to a working, successful society. If one didn’t know how to solve the triple threat of monsters at the gates, no food in the pantry, and sickness spreading in a town, then they weren’t really qualified for defending against the Dark, and thus Stratagold would not want to enable such self destructive behavior.

Erick would likely get a few softball questions like that. His answers would be along the lines of: ‘I would solve all of these problems myself and in an hour, and then look for someone else to keep it solved.’

The qualifier on that statement would be important, for ‘solving it oneself’ is actually the wrong answer, because the followup would be ‘what if you’re not there?’ and Erick would currently fail that followup. Honestly, though, Erick could answer that typical followup with ‘then Ophiel or Yggdrasil will be there’, but that would show a disdain for trying to get a working society to follow in his wake.

And that’s what the inquiry truly wanted.

Stratagold wanted to support those who would support others, to continue the chain of support down to the average person in any given society. They wanted prosperity for all, and their support was just an inquiry away.

… Erick had this in the bag. Sure, most of his information on how to make a society flourish was out of date and from another world, and had required a whole bunch of updating since he got to Veird, but he felt he was doing okay these days, and the future was looking up!

Bayolth spoke for another half an hour, answering a few more soft questions with hard, specific answers. A few of the inquiry people asked harder questions, twisting Bayolth’s answers in unexpected directions, turning his good answers into the worst possible answers anyone could have given.

“A man murders his wife. What do you do?”

“The likely result is execution, but there will be a trial and [Witness]-enabled search, as provided by my people who I already have lined up for this sort of thing.’

“The man’s goal was to get into your jail all along. Now that you put him in that jail to enable easier questioning the man goes on to face steal your captain of the guard and kills your [Witness]er using the captain’s body. What do you do now?”

… Now Erick wasn’t 100% sure, but he felt that specific counter-question was halfway directed at him. Or maybe the inquiry person asked that just because he was here? Maybe the latter, actually.

Bayolth stood strong, though, and spoke of various spells and keyword systems that they had to prevent just such an event. A spy or hidden murderer on the loose in your place of power was a common enough event that people had to plan for it, and Bayolth had plans.

Erick rated Bayolth’s system a 7 out of 10.

The best method to uncover face stealers was [Cascade Imaging] based on blood and to ask another [Witness]er to come in, and to throw in a few truthstones here and there to catch a culprit on a lie and you’d be good. None of them were fool-proof, but if you put enough of them together then the net tightened pretty hard, and you usually caught whoever was fucking up your shit. But of course, if such a random face stealer managed to get into the bowels of your governing structure like that you were pretty fucked, anyway.

“… And then there’s the second path,” Bayolth said, “I would likely require help at that point due to the nature of the problem. I would ask Stratagold for aid.”

Ah.

Yeah. That was a correct answer, too. That’s what Stratagold was here for, after all. A few inquirers flipped through some papers sitting on the arc of a table in front of them, marking down some words that Erick, and no one in the audience either, could read, due to the obfuscation in effect.

The next person to speak was the representative from the gold caste, who asked a question pertaining back to an earlier sort of question about taxes and the specific brand of economy that Bayolth was trying to set up. Bayolth responded with a rather standard answer, and the inquiry board jotted down what they felt relevant, or something. Erick was quite annoyed that he couldn’t figure out what they were writing down.

Their hands were obscured when they wrote, and the papers were like gibberish. Erick could not discern the movements of the pen tip to recreate the words in his own head, either. His mana sense went very fuzzy when around that inquiry table, which had to be by design. Oh well. Whatever.

Bayolth spoke of his hopes for a stable future for him and the twenty-seven families he represented, along with a small organization of adventurers wishing to retire into simple defense of their proposed city, while they mentored others who would then go out into the Dark and clear out the dangers therein. After another half an hour, in a completely new gesture, Prince Abarnikon tapped his finger three times on the table in front of him, interrupting everything.

Everyone went silent. The audience was suddenly completely still; even the hundred and… thousands, actually, of people who had shown up in the audience since Erick had arrived. Ah. He had barely noticed that. Apparently, the massive stadium was filling up. Word of Erick’s presence had gotten around. The royal seating up top remained empty, though everything else was about three-quarters full.

Prince Abarnikon’s calm voice radiated outward, though he was speaking to his fellow inquirers, “I believe we have heard enough about basic competency. It is my belief that Respondent Bayloth knows how to govern, even if he is relatively untested at a mere 5 years at working as a judge in Section Windward’s legal division. Is there anyone here who believes he has failed this part of this inquiry?”

Every single inquirer said nothing.

And then suddenly Bayolth relaxed, his breath coming out ragged, and then calm; he had stopped breathing for a good twenty seconds. He smiled, and then he forced himself back to a professional appearance; no smiles allowed. But if it wasn’t frowned upon Erick suspected he would have danced on that stage.

Bayolth’s people started to cheer, openly and loudly, though that, too, was a quiet celebration of shaking the shoulders of their neighbors and halfway jumping out of their seats. Erick expected there would be noise but, once again, noise canceling all around. Other gathered people in the audience clapped.

Prince Abarnikon moved on. “Then we shall speak of levels and spells and skills, and hopefully you have developed enough of a following to qualify in this regard. How do you wish to proceed, Respondent Bayolth?”

After a happy silent moment, Bayolth said, “I would like to speak of aggregate numbers of people, based on the star ranking handed out by the Adventurer’s Guild, in addition to overall levels and Health of the average citizen, and the large number of qualified Healers and Herbalists and Farmers which should prevent any collapse to come from any of the known reasons for a failed city.”

Abarnikon nodded. “Proceed.”

“We have 322 people lined up for the initial founding of the city, with a median level of 40, though 100 of us are either 50 or much higher. Of those who would fight, our average ranking is 4-Star. Though we have no archmages or archwarriors we do have ten people, myself included, who are ranked 7 star…”

As Bayolth continued to speak of his number of adventurers, and then of Farmers and Healers, Erick watched as the entire inquiry board showed obvious surprise. Erick was a bit surprised, too. According to everything that he knew, Bayolth had set himself and his people up for success. Most of the adventurers who came through Spur were either 6-star by the time they moved on, or they died. Most adventurers in the rest of the world only reached 5 star, which was basically level 50 and with the skill to kill something semi-dangerous, like a single, normal ooze.

According to most of the world, Bayolth was qualified.

Bayolth finished, looking relieved and nervous at the same time. Erick expected he had gotten through the toughest part of this inquiry in the first half; proving he was capable of actually founding and maintaining a city out in the untamed Underworld.

Prince Abarnikon spoke his verdict, “Congratulations, Bayolth. You and your people will be receiving full and complete assistance against the Dark within the month. Stratagold will assist you for 25 years, with a recheck for competency every 5 years after that. Please attend to the clerks; they will work out the particulars.”

Bayolth shuddered with joy, and then he bowed. “Thank you, Stratagold.” He rose, and turned.

His people were jumping in their seats, elated for a success; the time for propriety was over, it was time for celebration.

Bayolth allowed himself to smile as he did a little pump with his fist and walked off the stage to where three wrought clerks waited.

Abarnikon announced, “There will be a ten minute recess to allow for orderly switching of the room. Would Bayolth’s people kindly move along now, and congratulations to you all, too. Stratagold looks forward to your new city, and to your success.”

The audience rapidly turned contrite and moved along; some orderly, some excitedly.

Erick glanced over at his own people which were not truly his people at all. But Otaliya’s joyful expression, Tasar’s calming solidity, and the gruff and somewhat worried faces of his three EIPC people, the human, Radigo, the dragonkin, Loori, and the incani, Walz, were all rather nice to see. They all honestly wanted him to succeed for their own reasons, from the prestige it would bring the EIPC teams, to Tasar wanting Erick to like Stratagold more than he did. Otaliya’s goal was perhaps the most pure; she just wanted good things for Erick, for he had done good things for the world and she thought that he deserved nice things done for him, in turn. They had all done a lot to help Erick realize and understand what it would take to win this inquiry, but in the end, it was up to him.

And about a year from now, or sooner, they’d all fall under heavy scrutiny for helping a Wizard.

A lot of people would fall to heavy scrutiny, actually, which was why Erick needed to do this right.

If he managed to succeed, then the full weight of Stratagold would get behind him, and with the Shades gone, this meant runic webs, and t-station access, and mutual defense on the Surface. Of course, the fly in the ointment was that this might only last a year. But with any luck, and with how much faster Erick wanted to walk the rest of this Path, he would have a [Gate] network up and running for at least 8 months before [Renew] came out in the Open Script. And that would mean he would be important enough to deal with diplomatically, instead of with assassins, or worse.

… Hopefully.

He still had ten minutes before he had to speak, though, so he went to the respondent-only bathroom located around the corner, had a drink of water from the fountain, paused as he realized the pure depth of what he was getting into…

Paused again as his mana sense told him what was happening outside long before his eyes or Ophiel could.

And then he went back out to face the double firing squad—

Well. It wasn’t that bad.

There were at least 50,000 people in the audience, though. A lot of them wrought, but there were plenty of dragonkin, human, incani, and all the other species of Veird up there in the myriad stands. Most of the stranger races were wrought in the forms of goblins or harpies or otherwise. Not many flesh-and-blood harpies down here in the Underworld—

Erick glanced at the royalty seats, saw no one, and moved on, turning to the inquiry board.

The proxies were mostly gone, replaced with the heads of their various organizations. Otaliya had warned Erick that this might happen; that he might not get ‘whoever was on the bench that day’, and that the inquiry board would reach out to the people who actually controlled the current seats, and that those true owners would come here in person. Not everyone had switched out for their true owner, but a lot had.

Archmage Riivo of Archmage’s Rest sat at his chair to the left of Prince Abarnikon. To the prince’s right sat Inquisitor Kromolok. Zooli, the gold incani man from the Merchants, was there. One surprise was sergeant Kappra; the iron incani woman who stood with her small contingent of people outside of Yggdrasil’s tunnel. She must have been more important than Erick realized, or maybe the actual owner of the seat wanted Kappra there to be able to ask direct questions about what she had observed from Erick for the past week or whatever. Aisha, the celesteel human-shaped woman from Archmage’s Rest was there, too. Did Archmage’s Rest get two chairs? Or was she there in some other capacity? She was a very good prognosticator. Awir, the silver incani-shaped Particle Mage / Healer / Gemslicer sat stiffly in his chair, looking smug. Erick hoped that he wouldn’t get too much trouble from the Gemslicers, but if they fucked him over here then Erick was going to fuck right back, and release ‘glow gems’ to everyone who wanted one—

Anger rose and beat back nervousness with a bladed stick, and then anger stayed around, but stayed quiet. Smoldering. Like a wary man waiting for the opposition to make the next move.

Ah.

Okay.

Erick relaxed.

This was good. Less nerves, more solidity. They were all just people…

Erick glanced back. Maybe 60,000 people in the stands? There was a rather conspicuous hole in the crowd near the front, though, where Erick’s people would have sat, if he had some. All he had was Otaliya, Tasar, and his EIPC people.

That looked rather embarrassing, actually.

… Erick had nine of his Ophiel flutter over to sit in the stands, each of them turning human-ish-sized and taking up two seats, while he had Yggdrasil make another [Scry] eye of about the same size to take another two seats, next to all his Ophiel. Ophiel cooed. The audience chuckled. Most approved.

There. That was better. More people in his seats was good. Otaliya seemed to get a kick out of it, too, laughing a little. And then Otaliya mouthed, ‘Good Luck’ as she waved quickly—

Well. She spoke the words, loud and happy, as a hundred other people yelled the same, while even more joined in with cheers. It seemed Erick could hear the audience if he was listening through Ophiel.

Erick quietly divorced himself from that distraction, though he left Ophiel where he was, and smiled. He turned back to the wide arc of the inquiry board, and then he stepped over to his designated space, onto the small dais to stand beside the podium of the respondent—

Erick watched as, behind him, Prince Sitnakov happily walked out of a tunnel and into the center of the stadium seating, along with three of his friends. Sitnakov instantly looked down at Erick’s designated audience and smiled wide as he moseyed down the staircase—

Tasar spotted the man a little after everyone else in the audience spotted him—

Prince Abarnikon sighed, and then his voice traveled out, “Will the audience please refrain from overt displays of any sort, and remain more respectful of this institution.”

Sitnakov and his friends made a show of hunkering down as though dodging from [Fireball]s as he put a hand over his own mouth. He quickly stepped down to Erick’s section, but had his friends sit at the top, away from the main respondent reserved area. The audience eventually went quiet again. Attention refocused forward as Sitnakov sat down right next to Tasar, who glared up at the taller man, frowning all the while. Sitnakov smiled—

Erick ignored that, and focused forward.

Prince Abarnikon began, “Stratagold greets Archmage Erick Flatt of Spur, a planar from a world called Earth, who released a new magic into Veird for the first time in over 1200 years, who will revolutionize the way alchemy is taught, and who has done more than any mortal in current memory to alleviate the threat of the Dark from the good people of Veird. They’re calling your trip through Ar’Kendrithyst ‘Last Shadow’s Feast’. What would you call it?”

Starting strong, then.

Erick stated, “I was in the right place at the right time and mostly tried not to die, while also trying to do the most good. Through my actions, but also through the actions of Melemizargo which mostly involved his direct removal of support for all of the Shades, all but 7 Shades perished. If he wants people to start trusting him as they did in the Old Cosmology, which is, I believe, a major part of his plans, then I doubt he will be making new Shades anytime soon.”

The audience was completely silent; rapt with sudden attention and deep horror in equal measure. Some of them didn’t expect Erick to speak so openly. Some visibly recoiled at the mention of ‘Melemizargo’. All of them were on the edge of their seats, even the few youngsters in the audience, brought here by their parents for whatever reason.

Probably to watch history being made.

The inquiry board was silent, too, but their silence was one of deliberation of how to attack to inflict the most damage and to test Erick’s responses. They had all tangled with Melemizargo directly, Erick guessed; the name of the Dark’s current avatar held no power over them.

Prince Abarnikon led the charge, “There are several parts of that statement which we will need to get into, but before we do that, I ask for your desires regarding this inquiry. What do you hope to get out of this?”

Erick had only practiced a few parts of his various speeches. No one knew exactly where this particular inquiry would go. But they did know that Abarnikon or someone else would ask this specific question, and Erick needed to have a strong answer.

“I hope for runic web clearance. I desire assistance with pushing back the Crystal Forest into small plots of maintained ecosystems, with most of the land being reclaimed for habitation; forests and rivers and such. I ask for assistance with [Gate] and all that entails. I want to establish political ties that will last a lifetime, and beyond.” Erick said, “But mostly, I want to establish trust, first and foremost, so that in these changing times we can still look to each other as sources of stability, no matter what storms might open up overhead, or whatever monsters might come knocking at the door.”

Abarnikon nodded. “An admirable set of goals. All which seem reasonable, and truly desired.” He stated, “Then we shall begin with the question of why you allowed seven Shades to live, and allowed one of those seven to get away without receiving a Blessing of Empathy from your Crystal Star. Why did you allow Fallopolis to get away without the Quest to Repent?”

“I am absolutely sure that if Fallopolis wanted to Repent, she would receive this Quest as well.” Erick said, “The primary reason I did not Bless her was because she seemed to honestly be working against every other Shade all around her. She was the Culler of their Clergy, and she orchestrated the murder of the vast majority of Last Shadow’s Feast; if she had had her way then they would have all died, because, in her words ‘They all deserve to die’. The only reason any Shades survived beyond her was because I Blessed them, and Melemizargo and Koyabez wished to reestablish what it meant to be a Shade. With the Quests they received to do good in the world, perhaps they will, though that is up to them; I will not shelter or hide them, but neither will I help anyone else try to kill them for revenge.” He added, “But as for the specific reason: The fighting was over by that point. I had won. I didn’t want to be punitive, and aside from all her horribleness, Fallopolis did help everyone who wished to go into Ar’Kendrithyst to kill the current Clergy of the Dark.

“It seemed wrong to try and mutate that into something different.”

Abarnikon said, “And yet, Shade Bulgan was not one of the Shades Blessed. According to your publicly released memories of Last Shadow’s Feast, you desired to kill him the most.” Abarnikon said, “If one were more cynical, they might say that the only reason he died and the others lived is because the others had not personally offended you. That your revenge is more worthwhile than the revenge of others, for though I will not go into details, I will say that Shade Treant, for example, has killed thousands upon thousands of orcols in Treehome. And yet you Blessed him. You let that monster go. One might say that all it takes to get out from under your [Luminous Beam] is to not personally offend you.

“This seems like a poor way to run a civilization.

“This seems like you could not kill a friend if they had betrayed you and started murdering others, as long as they had remained friendly to you. This seems like you are incapable of impartiality. This paints you as incapable of actually enacting the hard choices that life so often brings. This colors you as weak.

“What say you to this?”

There was some twisted logic in there, twisted to paint Erick as an idiot of a specific flavor, though he was not sure what flavor Abarnikon was going for. Erick had barely thought of Bulgan since then, though, so the question was a bit of a slapping wakeup call.

Was Erick incapable of impartiality?

Could he kill someone who had personally crossed a deep line that should not be crossed? What sort of scenario would make Erick ‘do what needed to be done’?

Erick didn’t have a full answer, but he had something of an answer. “I probably should have Blessed Bulgan, but he was created specifically to counter everything I did, and I didn’t create the Crystal Star until after he died. But if I had to do it over again… Which I did, thanks to Phagar…

“I would still kill Bulgan.

“Bulgan was a monster of the Quiet War, who killed humans without remorse, and who plotted to kill more. Through his orchestrations, and working with the Shades, he corrupted certain institutions of Spur, turning the good people there from simply defending themselves from human aggressors, to unwittingly complicit in ongoing murderous attacks.” Now that was stretching the truth, but whatever; there was no currently visible [Truth Ward] around him. “When the normal institutions failed to drive me and my daughter out of town, Bulgan tried to murder me and my daughter.

“Any valid government would have executed him for his crimes, if they had been known. But it wasn’t until my daughter and I came along and upset everything that the depth of his treachery was discovered.

“I have learned a lot since my early days on Veird, when I didn’t want to kill monsters because ‘they were living things, too’. I killed my first person accidentally— two people, actually. But it was a tactical strike against Frontier, which saved the city from annihilation.

“I’ve killed a lot more since then.” Erick said, “I never wanted to, but I did what had to be done.

“… And yet, was my solution to Bulgan a bit too drastic? Should I have Blessed him into being a better person?

“Perhaps I should have, if I had had the opportunity.

“Because there will always be Shades. So why not try a world where Shades are Blessed into realizing the depth of the damage they do to others? Where they try to do good, to make up for all the bad they have done?” Erick said, “Perhaps Bulgan didn’t need to die. But at the time, that was the only option I had.”

Erick… Wasn’t sure how he felt about that answer.

He was uncomfortable with the idea that he could have Blessed Bulgan… For a lot of reasons.

Moments passed in silence.

And then Abarnikon said, “Speak about your experience with Goldie, Queen, and the Chelation War in Songli. Do you feel your Blessing worked out there?”

Erick nodded; this was a question that he had expected to happen. He said, “A trusted source in Songli spoke of how Terror Peaks comes back every 50-60 years, committing mass slaughter. They were already primed to do this when I showed up. This trusted source explained that Songli expected casualties in the half a million to 3 million range.

“Goldie and Queen apparently worked over the entire continent to make this event line Songli up to eventually become Empire.” Erick said, “According to Goldie, who I spoke with after the war and subsequent hunting down and eradication of the entire Terror Peaks culture—” Erick wiped away a horribly embarrassing tear, muttered an apology, then continued, “According to Goldie, who is a world-class prognosticator, she and Queen expected 200,000 deaths, and for my assistance against Terror Peaks to eradicate one of the major philosophies of Nelboor that contributed to the constant warring on that continent. That was and still is their repentance goal; to stop the wars that the Shades have been inciting and supporting in Nelboor for… for forever, if my understanding of the situation is correct.

“But the final death toll was 4.5 million people.

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“Goldie directly spoke of how she suspected foul play from a few different sources, in particular with regard to the extreme light materials and the soul spears. She suspected some duplicator had gotten loose from somewhere, or something like that, but she was not able to confirm anything in that regard. All she had was accusations and leads that she and others have tried to follow up on, but if anything has been discovered in that area then I have not been made aware of such a discovery.

“As for my Blessing of Goldie and Queen…” Erick said, “It is better to have Shades that feel bad about hurting people than it is to have Shades completely oblivious to the harm they cause, who believe that the people of this world are all illusions. A Shade that realizes they did wrong is better than a Shade who realized that they could have killed all of Songli at once, if they wanted to support Terror Peaks instead.”

Another moment of silence.

Archmage Riivo leaned forward a fraction, and spoke, “Are you aware that Shade Lapis is currently suspected to be assisting with Black Star Caizoa’s purge of the Angelic forces currently deployed by the Converter Angel on the Surface? What have you to say about that?”

Erick did not know that, at all. It took him a hot second to reorient to the Converter Angel problem.

He said, “I did not know that, for I have stayed away from those people who have asked me to stay away, and as of right now Caizoa has asked me on behalf of the Wasteland Kingdoms to stay out of it, for now. I have given my word, though, that I will assist in killing the Converter Angel should it show on Veird, or should Caizoa ask for help. So far, she has not.

“But should it be needed, I will always step in on a case by case basis to help to stop the Quiet War from erupting into a full war, as I did when the Greensoil Republic and Champion Yetta asked me to help with the Breach Demon about a year ago. It is my understanding that the Converter Angel has not been seen on Veird since shortly after Last Shadow’s Feast, nor have I seen indications of the usual soul-shift that indicates Angelic-conversion; and I have been looking.” Erick said, “I think, then, that Shade Lapis, under the direction of Black Star Caizoa, has erased that problem from Veird, for now. Right now, it is my understanding that the Demons and the Angels are engaged in talks of some sort over at Oceanside. After I am done at this inquiry and with Stratagold, I plan to go to Oceanside and see what that is about, since Headmaster Kirginatharp has asked me to participate in those talks.”

Archmage Riivo asked, “So you believe that it is acceptable for a Shade to mutilate the souls of whoever comes under their purview?”

“Soul surgery has to be done to help get these people out from under the sway of the Angels. If Shade Lapis is the one to do it, and if she does it well, then this shows how Melemizargo’s Clergy has changed in the wake of my Blessing.” An uncomfortable statement for many, but while some people squirmed, some people saw the utility in Erick’s statement. He continued, “If Shade Lapis proves to be the evil Shade that she likely was before, then I’m sure that I’ll likely get a quest to End her, and any of the other ones that step out of line, after my Worldly Path is over. I have already promised Rozeta to help with those sorts of situations, should they arise, and I plan to keep that promise.” He added, “But as far as I am concerned, and how I will act going forward: The only Shades who are on shaky ground are Goldie and Queen, and only for their involvement in Songli. If all the rest do good, honest work for the rest of their lives, then I see no reason to persecute them further.”

Most of the fleshy civilians in the inquiry hall were wildly unhappy with Erick’s openness about forgiveness, and some of the wrought were the same way, too. Otaliya and Tasar had already heard this from Erick, though, in their prep sessions, though they did not get this deep into it. Sitnakov was staring a bit and likely thinking deep thoughts, though; Erick had no idea what those particular thoughts were, though.

Many of the people on the inquiry board were simply reserved.

Riivo spoke, “It makes me glad to know that when this farce of forgiveness for the Shades comes to an end, that you are on the side of Rozeta. I wish to be wrong, and that this will not end in disaster, but I look forward to working with you when that inevitable disaster comes.”

Riivo seemed both more satisfied than he thought he would be, and still somehow disappointed. Erick could not point to exactly where the old iron human-shaped man was sad, but it was there, underneath his wizened exterior.

Erick probably would have known more if he had ever asked about Riivo’s relationship with the Angels and the Demons, but why would he have? It simply never came up, and Erick had tried to stay away from all that Quiet War shit as much as he could, anyway. There was a reason Riivo had asked these specific questions, though, and Erick knew that wrought society as a whole was mostly on the side of Koyabez when it came to the Angel/Demon war, but Riivo obviously had some sort of specific relationship with the forces of the Quiet War.

He would ask Riivo about all that later.

It was time for the next inquirer to speak.

Kromolok tilted forward, asking, “Why did you feel the need to breach the Core?”

For a brief moment Erick’s blood pressure spiked, for he had no idea what the Inquisitor would have asked him, but then he heard the question and relaxed. He said, “I did not know what I was getting into when I did that, and so my reasons for breaching the Core are likely insufficient. I really just wanted to see what was on the other side of the defenses.”

“Hubris and curiosity, then.” Kromolok asked, “Did it not occur to you that there were reasons we protect the Core?”

“Of course it occurred to me that there were reasons to protect that land. It also occurred to me that I needed to visit the Core in my Worldly Path, and I am glad I did.” Erick said, “I certainly didn’t endanger the Core with my presence, either. I desecrated no lands and allowed no monsters to follow me inside. I took very little and left everything as I found it as much as I could. I did not approach the Inner Core. And I had a nice chat with Rozeta about… A lot. My presence in the Core was necessary.”

Kromolok said, “Let it be known that Erick did not, in fact, endanger the Core with his presence, for though he forced his way inside he also ensured that no monsters or otherwise followed him into that sacred land. He had no idea what he was doing, but did have personal reasons for going into the Core which we will not get into here. Moving on:”

Abarnikon, Riivo, and a few others on stage did not like that, but they said no words to countermand Kromolok. The audience was rather stunned, though. Some people got out of their seats and yelled something about how Erick should have gotten clearance first, drawing the attentions of the people around them, but Erick could not pay those people much mind at the moment, for Kromolok looked to be gearing up into something big.

Kromolok continued, “It is the sacred duty of we wrought to protect the Core, and to ensure the safety of this world at large. Prior to Last Shadow’s Feast we could not freely visit the Surface to inform the general populace, as well as people like you, of this fact. We could not tell you that the manner in which you breached the Core could have been catastrophic. Thanks to you, though, and due to the Gate Network we expect you to reestablish, we will be able to create a presence on the Surface unlike ever before. We will be able to work with the people of the Surface like never before.

“We will be starting with the near-reclaimed city of Ar’Kendrithyst.”

Erick felt his pulse rise and the people behind him stare.

“Now that the Dead City is cleared of its recent soul slime troubles—”

Erick felt a near panic grip his heart as he had no idea what Spur had been facing recently, and here it was coming up in this inquiry. What the fuck was a soul slime? Was this Worldly Path shit? Or—

“—Stratagold will be joining a coalition of Geodes to fully reclaim Ar’Kendrithyst from the troubles that remain, and to establish a true wrought presence on the Surface. I urge everyone here to understand that, if you join this coalition, that this means mingling with mortals. Ar’Kendrithyst will not become a normal Geode. We will not be kicking out any mortals that decide to live there, but we will be reclaiming that land from the Darkness, fully and without reservation.” Kromolok turned back to Erick, saying, “We look forward to the new dawn.”

People started talking behind Erick, but he couldn’t hear them.

He could only say, “Pardon. My people back in Spur told me to stay away from them and their troubles due to the Worldly Path… What is the soul slime? I have not heard of this. When did this happen?”

Abarnikon spoke, “The cause of the nightly Dark Tide of Ar’Kendrithyst was ended as of 3 hours ago, when you sat down to wait for the previous respondent to finish.” He said, “The soul slime was a creature that turned the long dead souls trapped inside the kendrithyst crystal into a sludge of Blood Magic, Soul Magic, and tens of more smaller magics which our people are still trying to pick apart and understand. In short, it turned all the dead and the living of that Dead City into amalgams, mashing them together and combining powers and abilities like we have never seen before. I understand your daughter was instrumental in dealing the final blow against the soul slime before it could recover under the comfort of night. She and the people of Spur, and even Shade Farix, all played a large part in solving that mess.” Abarnikon said, “But it was the Dark that finally allowed your daughter to strike the final blow, as the Dark himself held down the grand core of the soul slime, and asked Jane Flatt to kill the soul slime in the Dark’s name. Which she did. And then the Dark took something from the soul slime, claiming he would make something complementary to this new way of life and this new world that you, Erick Flatt, are attempting to create.”

… This was not news to anyone on the inquiry board. They all stared at Erick, waiting for a response and preparing to weigh that response.

This was shocking news to Erick, and judging from the audience, it was shocking news to them, too. Tasar and Otaliya and Erick’s EIPC people were all upset in various ways. Otaliya was yelling foul. Tasar glared. Sitnakov, though, had a weird reaction. He furrowed his brows as he stared at his brother, Abarnikon; questioning.