B2 Chapter 3: Official Business

[Year 21 Month 8: A month later]

[Blessed: 4873 – 1125]

[Marked: 1375 + 1125]

Turns out that 2500 Marked was my limit. If I tried to give another to an additional citizen, [Blessing of the Marked] would refuse to activate.

I understand why it would have limits, but at the same time, it was quite unfortunate that it didn’t tell me until I reached the cap. I couldn’t remove marks once bestowed, so until the skill upgrades, I got what I got.

Fortunately, I doubted there were going to be many more people who joined the underground settlement, considering that there is no way up and likely wouldn’t be found by random luck.

If anyone can even live on the southern continent now. It could be completely devoured by the mist. Maybe the world is just gone now.

I still had yet to see any life returning to the devoured landscape, not even birds escaped the mist. Only a fraction of the Wildlands remained, and no beast nor animal came from its trees.

Yet, while the world might have ended, I doubted the miasma could travel across the ocean; eventually, it would run out of living matter to consume and stall out. According to the world maps that used to be kept in the city hall, the oceans were much grander and more dangerous than those of Earth. The only reason why people could get across it was magic, whether that was through a very rare and expensive teleportation spell or a flying craft.

Hopefully, these sevenish thousand people aren’t the only humans and beast-kin left in the world. Ah, shouldn’t forget the dwarf either.

Assuming that the world had not ended was probably for the best.

Since we had begun to expand the grotto by widening the short tunnel between the once-brewery-now-underground-farming-area, the people down here were set for at least a year. Sure, everyone would most definitely grow sick of mushrooms and edible vines, but it’s better than starving to death.

Once the food issue was alleviated for the foreseeable future, it was pretty obvious what should be done. It was expansion time, and the old capitalist motto came to mind, “drill baby drill.”

Each new area we opened up was sort of like a game of minefield, considering that Fal’el was still unable to tell us about the traps or what type of magics the dwarves used, I thought it was better for us to keep the risks down to a minimum. I would eventually get to exploring the rest of it anyway, just a matter of time.

The first additional room we burrowed into absolutely stank, and the reason was obvious once I threw another golem in. It was almost completely empty, and other than some containers with long-since-rotten food, there was nothing new. There weren’t even traps. Still, it let the highly dense population disperse a bit more, and made it a bit less cramped, much to everyone’s relief.

Only breaking into one more, the next was quite similar to the crucible/entrance room, and had a large forge area that Fal’el happily took charge of. I wouldn’t be able to mass-produce golems like my original setup, but it wouldn’t be used constantly, and it didn’t produce too much heat, allowing for some tools to be repaired.

I could also make a few more golems, not metal, but out of the dwarven stone that had been mined up. Requesting a few stone masons to create them took no time.

Finally, another issue had been cropping up more and more often. Technically, it was less of a problem persay, but something that had to be solved.

With the people’s faith in their goddesses waning, which I think is completely reasonable, and me giving thousands of people my mark, many citizens had begun to listen more and more to several of Ebonguard’s speeches. They proclaimed my great glory and power, and over time, people definitely became swayed and joined the guard, slowly expanding it beyond the eighty-ish people that it had originally been.

I wasn’t a god, and considering the lack of intervention or kindness on the gods’ part, I didn’t want to be one. Despite my displeasure at being worshiped like one, Astrid convinced me to let it go.

The woman sighed, rubbing her brow as she put aside the paperwork, “Gol, people need hope, and if they have chosen you, then that’s their choice.” She paused, thoughtfully, “Truthfully, faith is a powerful adhesive force. It is a useful tool. I had been putting it off for several years now, but I had a few plans to better integrate them into the power structure later on, considering that they would be loyal to you, and thus the city.” Pondering for a moment longer, she seemed to come to a decision. “It’s your choice, but if you do decide to go with it, talk to a man named Zanbar, who is the one who started the entire group anyway. Quite a fanatic, actually.” The last bit she muttered.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Cutting our connection, I sank into contemplation. Religion was something that couldn’t be put back into the bag once let out; if it’s allowed to fester and root even the slightest bit, it’s almost impossible to extinguish.

Earth had a movie about a desert planet and a ‘chosen’ one that said enough about the dangers of it once it grows too powerful. Although Astrid had a point, if they were more integrated into the power structure of society and had strict rules that I enforced, it might be possible to limit the drawbacks.

Choices choices.

Deciding that I wanted another opinion and voice, I went to Osbert (Salfi was my first thought, but she may be a bit bias considering her class). With everything having calmed down and him only needing to breakup the occasional brawl between the higher-level adventurers, he was treating the miasma situation as something like a break, making sure that his actual non-system skills kept up with his level.