Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 394

Chapter 394 – Ambassador

Two days and three nights. That was how long it took Kithenin to start making trouble. The dragon had spent the time looking for an appropriate space to make his lair. I had half-expected him to go and turn the tallest building in the area into his lair, but the dragon instead decided to go down.

There were catacombs on the Mount of Olives, believed to be the burial sites of prophets. Kithenin did not care about the historical or religious significance, but instead began using magic to open the catacombs into caves as he dug into the mountain’s depths. A layered illusion hid the work from view, while subtly pushing mortal eyes away. Anyone who thought to approach the catacombs suddenly remembered other things that they needed to do, or decided they weren’t in the mood to visit the dead today.

It was interesting to see the dragon at work. Unlike my pet Sea Dragon, which was a Tier 4 race that only just broke into Tier 2 on their Class and Profession, Kithenin was a Tier 4 Flame Dragon with a Tier 4 Class and Profession, meaning that he was, without question, the most powerful non-divine entity on Earth, at the moment. While there were some people pushing towards Tier 3, no one would be strong enough to unseat the dragon, now that he had a lair, and started putting wards in.

However, dragons get hungry when they are active for too long, and Kithenin was no exception. Once he had established enough of a defense in his lair to keep out curious intruders or prospective thieves, he emerged from his lair at dawn of the third day, and issued a roar that shook the very foundations of the city. And, on that day, Jerusalem burned.

Kithenin rampaged through the city. Men disappeared into his maw in a single gulp, while more than one woman found herself captured in his claws, and taken back to his lair for his own amusement. I had expected as much, given his proclivities, and how he guarded himself from a final death through his blood. The world of Sendara 3 was in another spiral arm of the galaxy. Even a Tier 4 creature’s spellwork would have trouble crossing that distance. Of course, even if the bonds weren’t broken, the fact that the dragon had over four thousand direct descendants meant that he was fond of ‘insurance’, so I had expected that he would begin cementing his place in this world.

Forewarned, Patriarch, SaintPete, and Prophet all sent messages to the more ‘problematic’ parts of their faiths, declaring a Divine Trial. A Divine Trial was a test of faith, encouraging those who claimed to be true believers to accomplish some great deed in the name of their chosen deity. Such trials were never easy, and never given out lightly, but should one of the faithful prove that their mettle equaled their ardor and showed that they had the appropriate skills, then they would be rewarded greatly, especially when they next rose in Tier. Those who failed the trial, however, should they survive the experience, found themselves cast out and their link to their faith broken.

One of the restrictions on a Divine Trial was that the deity issuing the trial could not be the one who caused the conditions which made it necessary. None of this Job business, where a deity sends trouble after trouble at the one undergoing the Trial. Oh, there were sadistic deities that did things like that, but those weren’t Divine Trials under the System, they were just an asshole god torturing their followers, either for fun, or as some way of making them grow stronger in the direction that the god preferred.

However, since none of the three had been the ones to unleash the dragon, or even order its ‘delivery’ to Earth, they were free to send a Divine Trial to the zealots that were twisting their faith. Given the disparity between the dragon and the ones being given the trial, either they would die, or be cast out from the faith. Either way, they would no longer be twisting the faiths they purportedly believed.

Given how widespread the calls for those undergoing the Divine Trials to march on the dragon were, I was not surprised when Ambassador Zygrash asked to meet. After all, this wasn’t like the Sea Dragon who woke up after her egg sat, unhatched, until the System turned back on. This was a Tier 4 dragon with the class and profession to match, and titles that didn’t just appear out of nowhere. There was no way that this dragon just happened to be sleeping until the System came back online, and was only now, several years after the fact, stirring. Which meant someone had brought it here.

It was late afternoon, turning to early evening when I manifested at the gates to the Fimaazro Embassy in Tokyo, mere hours after Kithenin had started his rampage. The guards let me in without comment, as expected. By this point, everyone knew me, and knew that if I was appearing outside a gate, it was me being polite. Besides, I’d been invited over for a chat, right?

Zygrash sighed as I walked into her office, an open bottle of Japanese whisky in front of her, with a glass half-full. Without preamble, she looked me in the eye, and said, “I know you had something to do with it. I can’t prove anything, but I know this was you. What I want to know is, what is going on?”

Still, I wasn’t going to just let things go that easily. Sitting across the desk from her, I smiled, and said, “Ambassador, I am involved with a lot of things at the moment. A couple new children, an alliance, different things going on in my dungeon, my upcoming wedding, and more. What might you be speaking of?”

“You know damn well what I’m—Wait, did you just say you’re getting married?”

I ought to have received an award for keeping a straight face as Zygrash’s brain visibly short circuited at the idea of me getting married. After all, a god getting married was a rare enough thing in and of itself. Only so many deities in the galaxy, after all, and most of them were already attached, if they were the marrying sort. For a deity like me to get married? Unheard of would be putting it mildly, especially since I was not an official part of any pantheon, despite having links to several.

“Yes,” I said, evenly, since I didn’t want to anger the Ambassador unnecessarily by embarrassing her with my amusement. That wouldn’t win me any favors, after all, and could lead to future problems. “We’ll be making official announcements shortly, but the Fall Equinox will see my union to Athena in her temple at the Parthenon with a ceremony performed by my priestesses. A union of the old faiths and the new, you might say, with gods, dungeons, and mortals in attendance. You, of course, will be getting an invitation to the event.”

I could see on her face as Zygrash’s mind switched to analysis rather than reaction. “What is your game, Kuronoth? Why Athena, and why now? Right after you announced that alliance with Artemis, as well? You have to have some reason for this.”

“Well, that is simple really. Athena and Artemis approached me with different concerns, while Hera and Aphrodite stood as watchers to ensure no one played the others. Artemis sought access to the technology to make wormhole ships, so that her hunters could travel far and wide in search of quarries that would bring honor to her. Athena, on the other hand, was concerned that the world was not moving quickly enough towards the unified front that would be needed, when your protection eventually is pulled back. A wedding between two of the most well-known gods on Earth, especially amongst those who are ‘awake’ and active, performed at one of the most recognized holy sites in the world, on a day that is regarded as holy for many religions around the world? All eyes will be on that event, and what is said there would be heard by everyone, without gods meddling in politics.”

Zygrash nodded slowly. “I see. You’re trying to push people without pushing them. Because that would cause some people to rush the other way, out of spite. But if you speak of unity during an event like that, it will be received differently. I can understand that much. Even support it. Though I do wonder how you got Athena to agree to it, since the stories I’ve read of her indicate she is not one for companionship or marriage.”

“Simple, really. I asked her, openly and without coercion. I didn’t barter with her father, or try to claim her like an object. We spoke as civilized deities, and came to an agreement, for our mutual benefit, and the advancement of the causes we have in the wider world, and galaxy. Turns out, when you approach a Goddess of Wisdom and War like an actual person, rather than a prize to be won, and you have a solid and well-reasoned argument for the union, said goddess is far more likely to agree.”

“And since most human religions have a relationship with their gods that could generously be called semi-adversarial, with many being intensely patriarchal, it makes sense that she had not been approached in that way before,” Zygrash nodded slowly. “So, a wedding to try and nudge the world towards at least being able to work together for the common good. That’s wonderful, really. Now, what about the dragon?”

I hadn’t expected my blatant distraction to throw Zygrash off the scent for too long, and, in that, I was not disappointed. With a shrug, I said, “All right, let’s talk about the dragon in Jerusalem, since I doubt you’re asking about my pet. What would you like to know?”

“What did you have to do with it?”

I sighed, and said, “That is a more complicated question than you can imagine. I would ask that what I say not be repeated. There are workings behind the scenes, after all, between pantheons.”

Zygrash’s eyes went wide as her breath caught in her throat. “The three divine messengers that started sending out Divine Trials. This wasn’t random. It was planned.”

“I can say truthfully that those three did not plan anything of the sort. However, I would remind you of Pofmis, back when she was the Chainbreaker. About how a more militant brand of followers rose up in her ranks, and that change began to change her, which prompted more change in her followers, in a self-reinforcing cycle. That led to her crusades, and all the horrors people conducted in her name, in the name of Freedom.

“Now, turning to Earth, you have three religions that, combined, comprise the overwhelming majority of faith-minded people on the planet, with a single godhead separated by many schisms beyond those that created the three root faiths. That godhead is splitting into three, but when they become newly formed, they will be vulnerable to the influence of their worst followers. And yet, they could not simply strike against their own people, because such a thing would warp the nascent godheads even further, damaging the faith entire. They needed an outside force to be the instigator.”

“So, you unleashed a dragon in the middle of a holy city.”

“I did no such thing, nor did any follower of mine, or anyone under my command, or under the command of any deities I have contact with.”

Zygrash’s eyes narrowed. “You had that response ready to go. You knew you were going to be asked about the dragon, and you made sure that you could truthfully say that. And everyone knows that you don’t lie directly. So, what really happened?”

“It is enough to say that the Dragon was captured by those I had no knowledge of even in the slightest, from a world I have never visited and have no followers upon, and that its capture was in no way ordered, influenced, or orchestrated by me. Nor was the creature’s sale through the System Shop. A legitimate transport quest was issued by an Adventurers Guild on another world, to a member in good standing, who, of their own free will and for a fair payment, took up the quest and completed it successfully, before returning to the world from whence they came.”

Zygrash just sighed, and drained her glass. “I never touched alcohol before I came here, you know,” she said, an accusing look in her eye. “But somebody keeps throwing impossible situations at me, upending everything and drowning me in paperwork!”

“You seem stressed, Ambassador. Have you considered getting a massage to help you relax?”

“Get out, Kuronoth. I’m too sober to deal with you right now, and I can’t get drunk while dealing with this latest mess.”