41

41

“Are you sure about this?” Kostner ask for the fourth time as they walk to leave the sewers

They have decided to let Gehrman, no, the golden daemon loose. Kostner of course objects and so does Taal due to his hatred of Chaos corrupting influence. What surprises both is that Rhya tells her to leave. Followed by a staredown by Rhya and Taal. This is their usual way of resolving disputes between them. To see which will relent first, nature’s savagery or the kind and nurturing part of nature. While truth is not exactly part of their domain, nature holds no lies. Nature is what it is and to them, Chaos is like lies that can twist what is into something else. They have dealt with daemons before, they have known their lies, a taste of bitter inherent wrongness of every spoken word. The taste the golden daemon did not have when she spoke whether when she revealed herself just before or even before when she disguises herself. This is what made Taal ultimately relent and agree with Rhya. At least for now until they decided what to really do with her. Besides, both know the Changeling is the more pressing matter.

Kostner tries to object to this, then both remember that a mortal is with them. They reveal a glimpse of their true forms to Kostner’s eyes which shook him to the core. But he quickly recovers his wits judging by how he is already questioning their decisions again.

“And what are you going to do? Arrest ust?” Taal snorts at Kostner incessant questions without stopping his walk

“We have done so twice. If both of you tolerate those two times I can’t see why not.” Kostner tries to assert

“Then I tell you now that you are not going to.”

“Kostner, what would make the most chaos of the current situation?” Rhya steps into the conversation. Kostner hums as he thinks.

“You remember the Ulric priest that turned into an abomination?” He started. “Before you and Gehrman started the scuffle that tore down a few houses in the slums?” He continues and looks at Taal who just grimaces.

“That issue has not been resolved yet. And someone with a loud mouth spread this information everywhere. Some Sigmarite zealots start hounding Ulric’s temple because of this. The last and most problematic is that one of the Knights of the White Wolf was turned into an abomination too. The scuffle between the Knights of the White Wolf and Knight Panther does not help either. The Ulrics are now scrutinized by both Sigmarites and the secular faction. In fact, this is why the Inquisition asked for outside help as most manpower is needed to diffuse the situation.”

Rhya and Taal looked at each other. Knowing that the Changeling is here, it is clear that it aims to instigate a conflict between the Ulrics and the other factions. Or at least aims to make the Ulrics the least trustworthy as possible. Then Rya cut down a small part of her hair to Taal’s surprise and weaved it into a band. Then she gives one to Taal and Kostner each.

“The Changeling disguises can fool even the gods, but his power cannot replicate divine powers. These will make sure if it assumes one of our forms, we can know if they are truly us.”

As Kostner wear the band, he could see that his and the two other bands glow with soft yellow glow and the smell of wheat field filled his nostril

“I assume that only we can see the glow?”

“Correct.”

“Convenient. I guess we will be dealing with the last case. Follow me.” Kostner said and the two followed.

“While the situation demands it, you don’t need to use your own hair.” Taal said as he looked at Rhya’s cut hair. Just a few strands of hair but it is still a loss for him.

“And what you recommend? Your beard?” To which Taal immediately held his long beard in protective manner.

“No. My own hair of course!”

___

I teleported back to my Herdstone. A nice feature for me. Can cast to an entire warherd but with limited cooldown of a month.

“The Golden Mother has returned!” A loud roar and cheers erupted from my warherd that had doubled in size.

Herd Population: 4191

Nice. Just 800 more and I am a Greater Daemon already. I wonder if I can ascend even further than that. Being a kind of Chaos God or just a God or something. I turned on my main tent.

“I will rest tonight. If anyone wants to meet me, tell them to wait till tomorrow.” I said to Wolfe who just arrived. His wagging tail stopped and whined like a shunned dog. I turned inside before having second thoughts.

Sitting down on a piled leather pelt alone, I let out a sigh. Things with Rhya and Taal are not progressing as much as I had hoped. Is alliance possible in the first place? It has to be right? The system never gives me outright impossible quests. Yet. But I am allowed to leave by Rhya. Taal relents to his wife too, so at least there is a non zero chance for that. Shifting my thoughts on other things, I check the notification that I have been ignoring.

Facsimile level up

Level 3 -> level 5

Immediate 2 level raise. Was it because I managed to disguise myself amongst Rhya and Taal? It was a coincidence but still a good thing. Can’t wait what Facsimile concept can evolve too. Then I checked my current status

Name

Valariel

Daemon Race Bonus: Increase player stats by 200% (rounded up)

Original Race

Unaligned Daemon

Current Race

Original Race

Unaligned Daemon

Current Race

High Elf (Daemonhost)

Attributes

Base Attribute

Current Attribute

Strength

3 -> 5

15

Dexterity

2 -> 5

15

Agility

5

15

Constitution

5

15

Intelligence

5

15

Charisma

4 -> 5

15

Willpower

13

39

Attribute Points

32 Attribute points

Current Souls

60 souls

With nothing else to do, I start to think on what to do from this point. Valeria is already leaving with a thousand beastmen south. All that is left is to hunker down? I could still go help Rhya and Taal with the Changeling problem too. But honestly I can just leave it to their own devices as I already met my target. Might not be worth the problem too. For the first time I have some degree of freedom but now I am unsure on what to do.

I lie down and try to sleep. Will ask my children their opinion on what to do later.