Ch 77. Exposed? Undercover.

The crowd's reaction was muted, stunned at the sudden turn around. Numb at having their expectations overturned twice in a row, and in such short order.

Only Bael had the presence of mind to congratulate me on the victory, but he seemed far more concerned about the scratch on my arm than the dead adventurer at my feet. 

As for myself I just stood over the soon to be dead Balder, who was still gasping his last. My sword still impaled through his armor from the waist. I wasn't sure what to feel, but the biggest thing that occurred to me was that I didn't feel anything. Eliciting a pained gasp as I took my sword out, wiping it with a cloth. 

It wasn't unusual that someone would die in a duel, but it was never looked upon well. Though glancing at the officiator here, he didn't seem to be having any problems with what I had done. Rather, he actually seemed to be the only one happy with the situation. I was sure Bael had put them up to it, but now that I won he basically treated them like air. And was strangely enough, happy that I had won. Upending my initial assumptions about what his motives were. 

"I'm not dueling anymore today. If any of you want revenge come back some other time." I warned the remnants of Nate's party not to cause any more trouble.

The killing itself didn't give me pleasure, but the silence of the crowd was worth a thousand words. The previous looks of hostility replaced with horror, and their image of me as a helpless mage hiding behind status fully supplanted. 

Discarding the bloody rag over Balder's body once I was done.

Nate looked at me hatefully, but he was the one who initiated this. 

A shower of light hitting me once Balder had breathed his last, with the system appearing once again in a cheery tone completely at odds with the mood of the moment.

The crowds eventually funneling out, ushered by the guild master and a few soldiers who had come by to check out the commotion. 

Taking a look at my hand from the aftermath of the second fight, flexing the fingers individually. The scales of my armor were split and cracked. A huge gash running across my forearm where the axe had slid off. The blade had made it to the bone, but strangely enough it didn't hurt all that much. The blood had stopped flowing, but the wound was still open. I'd need to get a healing potion on this later to help it heal.

Watching Bael approach me like he was looking at an object of worship, utterly confused by the difference in his attitude now and actions from earlier. 

The guild master bowed apologetically. 

"I hope you enjoyed the entertainment, and... um, apologies about the arm. I didn't think they'd be capable of hurting you. Usually your kind are much more enthusiastic about killing."  Bael said, seeming to look at me with sincere regret.

I frowned at his odd mannerisms and even stranger words. Sorry about the arm... was he mocking me? He was the one who put Nate and Balder up to it. 

"Keaton I don't like this guy. Something's off about him." 

"You and me both."

"Is something the matter?" Bael asked me, looking at me with interest as I stood quietly.

He has the gall to ask that? 

Letting out a deep sigh.

"You've wasted your time Bael, I'm not giving up on Tammy. It doesn't matter what you do." 

He looked alarmed at my accusation and waved his hands disarmingly. 

"No, no, no. You do me wrong, Keaton. I'm not here about that, not about that at all... I'm here on behalf of the church. You should know what I mean right?"

"System, you know what he's talking about?" 

"I'm afraid not, you know far more about human society here than I do. I only know that they're becoming ubiquitous throughout the human areas, but you should understand just how hard it is for beastkin to operate in human society. Most of what I get tidbits from escaped slaves, or the interrogations of prisoners. Investigating the happenings within the human kingdoms of the realm was a large reason a human was picked for your vessel."

Meeting Bael's gaze with utter confusion. He seemed to think I should understand from just that, but his goals and actions were utterly incomprehensible to me. He's the guild master, why would he be with the church? And what would the church want with me?

Seeing the lack of understanding in my eyes, Bael narrowed his eyes. Exposing open hostility for the first time since I've met him. 

"You are a one of those, right? A chosen one. Or was I mistaken?" Staring at me intently while a frightening fanaticism reflected in the gleam of his eye. 

His words sank in on me slowly. My face turning into a frown as realization hit me.

"System, it kind of sounds like he's talking about us. Doesn't it? How's that possible?"

The system didn't respond, digesting his every word with dread. Anxiety flooded through the mental line like white noise, apparent enough that there was something wrong. 

"Keaton... he's a goddess-damned heretic. We're both in a lot of trouble." 

"Heretics?"

"We're hardly the only force in the universe. Sometimes there are forces hostile to our own... you understand right?"

Enemy gods, then. So there were others like me here and they wouldn't be friendly. Even so, system was always too quick to fly into a depression. He had no faith at all. 

"There's no need to act so surprised, like I said, you can think of me as an unofficial delegate of the church. They heard about the letter you sent me and figured I would be the best candidate to recover you. I'm actually rather grateful for the opportunity." Bael said quite cheerfully after confirming I understood his words, it seemed he was interested in ingratiating himself with me. 

"Keaton... I'm saying this now. You need to kill him. Kill him and run. If any heretics find out who we are then we're finished."

The resigned tone in system's voice made it clear he didn't have a lot of hope left. It's true I may be a novice with the system, but system didn't know that the 'broken' system I had was really an advantage of mine. More than that I was curious, why did they show up now, and how did they know? And more than that...

Looking at Bael he didn't seem all that hostile. Did he not consider the possibility that I wasn't one of his own? Did the church not know about the goddesses forces here?

"It's been several years now since one of your Godlinesses' kind has blessed us with your presence, we've been waiting ever since for your arrival. Once the others heard about your awakening they were excited for me to come and collect you."

I was prepared to kill him, but so long as the misunderstanding stood, I'd be happy to play along. Asking Bael how he knew about me and the system. Bael appearing to react as if the answer should be completely obvious. 

"Apologies, but was it not your intention to announce your arrival to the world? The whole capital knows by now that a 'natural born' mage has appeared in Tromwell."

Ah, I get it. Natural born mages were all system users, then. No wonder they legendarily rare, they didn't actually exist in the first place. 

"Thats... I never intended for him to send it out so early, I've only just arrived." trying to think up some plausible excuse on the spot.

Bael's gaze finally relaxed. 

"Ah, so that's what it was. I did think it odd you struggled so much against those mere vessels. A shame you let one of them go though, I intended for them to be your sacrifices. The least I could do on such short notice." The guild master said while scoffing. 

My own temper flaring a bit after basically being called weak. Settling down enough to catch on to his terminology. 

I'd heard system using that 'vessel' term before, but only now did I truly understand the meaning. We were all just livestock to them. Either side. This wasn't their home, they didn't even think of us as human. Or maybe they thought of themselves as something other than human... a little frightened by the idea that I was sharing a soul with a being so evil in origin.