Chapter 104: The Double Fakeout

Oh yeah? Well, When William oh was a child, he wandered into the strategy room of the gods themselves.

Seeing that none of them were around, he spend many hours amusing himself by setting up the flags of nations atop their expansive map, lining the flags along the Ring before toppling them over like dominos.

In the real world, a hundred thousand years passed, the rise and fall of nations mirroring his every whim.

• Gerald Hussar – level 20 Cavelier

I don’t think I’ve ever been in a ship that stunk as bad as this one, Jairus thought sourly, taking in his accommodations. They were nearly identical to those that he’d housed The Deceiver in a few hours ago.

The crucifix restraining him was made of laminated Leviathan scale bound by some kind of resin, with silk bonds that outperformed any rope Jairus had ever heard of. There was a bit of bend, but it was easily as strong as the steel he’d secured the Deceiver to.

A small part of him beneath the controlled fear, was impressed by the material and dimly wondered what else it could be used for.

Maybe if I escape or am traded back to the church, I can find the creator. Possibly that ranger girl they have in their Party. In the meantime, I should focus on the task at hand.

There were reportedly at least a hundred fervent Believers on board Shimmer, as well as the low-focus Tangled pet that William Oh seemed to be fond of. That was fertile ground for his particular style of Abilities. Something that they were surely aware of, given how painfully secure his gag was.

Jairus moved his lips around the gag.

“Gag off?” The young man asked.

Jairus nodded.

The Master Decoy pulled out a dagger and held the point to Jairus’s throat, the tip pricking the skin under his throat.

“You understand if I feel any Charge, or if you start a sentence with the word ‘nonbeliever’, I’ll have to kill you?” Travis asked.

Jairus nodded again.

Blade still held to his throat, the Decoy leaned up behind him and yanked the gag loose with his other hand.

“Let’s talk details.” Jairus said, working his lips over dry teeth.

“Whaddya want?” Travis asked.

“I don’t know yet.” Jairus responded with the closest to a shrug he could manage.

“Not ‘set me free’?”

“Not if it lands me in the middle of the ocean or gets me captured again. I need to know what is going on outside before I can make an informed decision. I might want to be let go, I might want you to deliver a letter, or maybe just ask you to kill me before your leader can get any useful information.”

“So what you’re saying is…you want me to spy for you? For free?” The youngling gave a dramatic sigh and moved to put the gag back over Jairus’s mouth.

“Half now, half later.” Jairus interjected before the Master Decoy could cover his mouth.

“Well, now I’m interested.” Travis said, pausing.

“What stat do you want?” Jairus asked.

Please don’t say Focus.

“Focus.”

“…Pick something else.”

The young man’s eyes narrowed.

“Why?”

“Because the Stat point is coming from me. If I give you a point of focus it cripples my Build.”

“In what world do you expect to win without sacrifice?” Travis demanded. “You’re acting like you’re getting out of this alive.”

Jairus thought about it.

If I make sure he dies later, I can get it back. If I die, then it doesn’t matter, does it?

“Fine. I need to kiss your forehead.”

“Seriously?”

“No, I’m going to kill you with my Exploding Kiss Ability, then proceed to commandeer the ship with nothing but my lips. Get your fucking face over here.” Jairus growled, his sailor slipping through.

The young man cautiously leaned forward, putting his head in front of Jairus.

Holy Investment

102 -> 52 Charges remaining.

“Take a portion of my Focus and carry it into battle, my champion.”

The Master Decoy’s eyes widened as his Focus suddenly shot up.

Meanwhile, Jairus’s Focus dropped precipitously.

Focus 180 -> 120

Maximum Charge has decreased!

180 -> 120

“Now get me some information,” Jairus said, ushering Travis away.

“Nah, twenty-eight points to my Focus was plenty. I’m not greedy,” Travis said, raising the gag again.

“How long do you think it’ll take Your Party to notice the extra Focus?” Jairus asked. “They can see your status if they want. Sooner or later, it’ll come up.”

The brown-haired young man paused, staring into the distance, obviously calculating his odds in his mind.

“Alright.” Travis said, stuffing the gag back into Jairus’s mouth. “Be right back.”

He was not right back.

Over the next eight hours, Jairus tested his bonds every way he possibly could, only pausing when their Nuker and the Tangled came to watch him use the chamberpot, something none of them were happy about.

Will visited twice over that time, asking odd questions about the organization of the Church of Granesh. Who reported to who, where they were outside The Tower, what responsibilities different parts of the church had in the day-to-day tasks of running such a large organization.

These were largely questions that weren’t even secret. Any Acolyte pushing a broom across the church floor understood the organization’s hierarchy, and therefore how they could expect to climb it.

It was strong institutions that led to human advancement. As Granesh intended.

Meanwhile in another section of the ship, Loth and Will were poring over a map of Graneshian Churches, organized by hierarchical importance and their ability to rapidly deploy messengers to any corner of the ring.

Based on what the Graneshian believers had told them from casual conversation, they were able to confirm large portions of what Jairus told them about the organization of the church to be true. And everything else…merely highlighted what was important enough for jairus to lie about.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Learned that one from you.

Those tiny inconsistencies drew their attention to two possibilities:

“Well, it’s either this one or this one,” Loth said, pointing at two different churches. “The scribes of the Laniston church have a strange amount of independence from the hierarchy of the church. Robust logistics supporting a nearly independent intelligence agency. Their outward facade as scribes and messengers serves as an excellent cover for disseminating prophecy, sending out messages in large quantities and transcribing your friend’s ‘prophecies’ for later dissection by scholars.”

Will heard Loth’s quotation marks around ‘prophecies’ without her having to make any gesture at all.

“You don’t think he’s a real prophet?”

“I’m a firm believer in self-determination.” Loth said with a pointed look. “I am where I am and what I am because of superior talent and superior efforts.” Loth said.

“Yeah, but what if you were always destined to have superior talent and superior efforts?” Will asked, always enjoying poking the Loth.

“That’s a circular argument,” Loth said, brushing aside the conversation with a wave. “Which is why I detest certain branches of philosophy.”

“You taught me about philosophy.” Will replied with a frown.

“Yes, so that you could learn enough to hate it too,” Loth replied, eliciting a chuckle from Will.

“Okay, what about the other one?” Will asked.

Loth’s black claw glided across the map of the Ring to point out another location with a large painted mountain that looked vaguely like a femur.

“The home of the military arm of the Church of Granesh, Bone Mountain, where the leadership of the Church of Granesh resides. The level of security there is fitting for protecting a so-called ‘prophet’; not a single priest there is under level twenty and there are nearly a dozen Saints represented among their numbers.

More than we could hope to subdue. Bone mountain also has it’s own message system that they use to send relayed orders up The Tower. It’s the only other place with the infrastructure to send word of your movements fast enough to take any advantage of it.