“Today was more eventful than any other on this mission so far,” said Artyom into the phone. He’d warded his room with sound-dampening spells to keep his voice from being heard outside of it, and even lined the bottom of the door frame with a rolled up towel for good measure.

  “I see,” replied Gus. “Would this be an end-of-day report in that case? If it’s an emergency or mid-battle report, let me know now.”

  “Nope, just an end-of-day one,” replied Artyom, who’d settled down into his bed and was staring at the ceiling.

  “Understood. Since this is a lower priority call, I’ll let you know right now that if something else more urgent comes up, I’ll have to hang up.”

  “Yeah, no problem. I’m going to start from the very top so it’ll take a while to go through all of this, but if you get interrupted, you can call me back once you’re free again.”

  “Very well then, please begin.”

  “I have to admit Gus, that sterile manner of speech of yours really kills the mood.”

  “For a report?”

  “For a story.”

  “This is hardly the time for-”

  Artyom hushed Gus with a harsh shh. “I know I’m not the one normally giving you field reports so you’re not familiar, but this is how I best remember the important parts and the important details.”

  He could hear a sigh from the other end of the speaker. “Let’s start with just the brief overview so I have context for what happens throughout.”

  This time Artyom rolled his eyes, but acquiesced. He went through the rough overview of the events of that day, sparing plenty of detail to get Gus his summary.

  “I appreciate you doing so, it will give me better insight to respond.”

  Artyom nodded before continuing. “Now onto the juicy details. First of all, things are bad here. Really bad. Remember the boss of Crystal Kobold Crossing I fought and defeated?”

  A hum and a nod from the other end.

  “The kobolds cremated his remains after I beat him, but he got up the next day and wandered into town in search of the artifact I took. That’s who I fought at the inn.”

  “You’re alive, happy, and didn’t call me for any emergency support back then, so I can only assume he was taken care of without much difficulty despite the fact he was an end-game level boss monster.”

  “Those four ladies who decided to curse me? Yeah, they took him out in about a minute.”

  “You mentioned one was an expert in fire magic, but cremation wasn’t enough to permanently end the-”

  “That wasn’t before the cleric of the group, Lensa, did something to him and cut off his regenerative power. She barely broke a sweat doing so. Xerica’s fire immolated the boss right after and didn’t even leave any ashes behind. The others also did some crazy things in the fight, but those two were something else.”

  Gus stayed silent on the other end for a moment before speaking. “It sounds like this Lensa was able to interface with whatever source of power the boss was making use of.”

  “But what power was that?” asked Artyom. “She’s a cleric, it’s not like such an awful monster gets his power from a kind and beloved goddess.”

  “Perhaps the goddess has some influence over the System? Even if in most worlds they’re independent of the divine, there are cases where deities can impose their will over it. The goddess of this world could have simply answered Lensa’s prayer by having the System remove the boss’ regeneration.”

  “Yeah, maybe. But if she could and did, why wouldn’t she have done it earlier? For the sake of the kobolds?”

  The line was silent for another moment.

  “Yeah, I know,” said Artyom as he slowly shook his head. “Gods work in mysterious ways, or rather, who knows what the hell any of them are thinking?”

  “It’s a common occurrence in the worlds we visit,” replied Gus. “Even benevolent deities, ones supposedly on the side of good and the innocent, have their own methods and priorities that come off as… inefficient.”

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  “Hey, at least the evil ones are like that as well. I’d imagine the entirety of the Dark Lord’s forces or even several bosses would have ambushed the party by now otherwise. Looks like the big restriction here is that this goddess has to work through clerics, or at least through Lensa.”

  “Perhaps, but don’t discount this goddess might have ulterior motives.”

  “Ha! That level of paranoia is surprising coming from you,” said Artyom with a barking laugh.

  “But is it truly out of place here? You mentioned how the four ladies talked about following the goddess’ will, even when you eavesdropped on them in private. We know they’re most certainly not the kind, orderly good type that fits within the parameters of a Fairytale world, so if they are evil, then perhaps the goddess is as well?”

  “Yeah, that fits really well, but then why does she have a hero who’s going around trying to stop the Dark Lord? That’s supposed to be a good thing. But this whole wild goose chase for the Macguffin armor pieces has been keeping him from fighting the Dark Lord’s forces directly, and a lot of people have suffered for it. Those four really weren’t happy when he proposed they finally do something about it.”

  “But their unhappiness might have had something to do with you splitting them up to do so.”

  “Might?” asked Artyom with a grin. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of your sense of humor, Gus.”

  “I certainly try.”

  “Right, but with the goddess herself being evil; the entire kingdom still worships her in a positive light. She’s their benevolent protector. It just doesn’t fit!”

  “The sociologist in me believes this might be part of some religious schism. Perhaps those four women are part of some radical faction that goes through more brutal means than the rest of the kingdom is willing to enforce their goddess’ will.”

  “Yeah, it would make sense, but how did someone like Lensa get suckered into that kind of a faction? Her father is the dictionary definition of a kind-hearted softie, and she’s abandoned her ideals to protect him. I don’t see how someone like could get, or even be, radicalized.”

  “Alternative theory: the goddess herself has a split personality or aspects. Or perhaps there are multiple deities who use the banner of ‘the goddess’.”

  “We’ve seen it happen a few times, even though it’s super rare. It would explain a lot of what’s happening, even with Lensa. She follows the more brutal aspect of the goddess, but can still be pulled back towards the more pacifistic side when she has enough of a reason to. But she’s a person, not a goddess, why would she be subject to the fancies of a split deity?”

  “She’s a cleric, if her connection is strong and mystical enough, then it might do that.”

  “She’s pretty strong, so maybe. But there’s one more thing that supports that notion.”

  “And what’s that?” asked Gus, the barest hint of curiosity present in his voice.

  “[Emissary of Dharma]. It seemingly overrides the System itself by disabling all old Skills and granting some really powerful new ones. At least, that’s what I think, I’ve only seen one case of it granting a new Skill and it made a bunch of mook monsters strong enough to severely injure an end-game boss.”

  “You’re correct, it does fit. But it doesn’t have to be limited to the goddess. It could be granted by an entity with a non-majority control over the System as a means of overriding it.”

  “But what are its goals? Why did it give it to me and everyone else? All I can think is that we really want something, but that something is widely different for each of us. Gah! All these puzzle pieces and I don’t even have a picture of what they’re supposed to add up to yet.”

  “But at least we’re able to connect a few of them now. That should make it easier to solve the puzzle when we gather the rest.”

  “Yeah. But for now, that just leaves the whole undead attack, the culprit, and the rune magic involved. Any ideas on how those all fit together?”

  “Nothing beyond what you’ve told me. Someone is behind the undead attack and stole the armor piece to keep the party here to fulfill some sort of agenda. The suspects you’ve identified each have a different agenda, but almost all of them revolve around convincing the hero to better protect the kingdom against roaming war bands. Then there’s Lensa’s father, who might be trying to split Lensa from the party.”

  “Pretty much, but I think I can cross Lensa’s father out since the culprit was at the orphanage during the second attack. My pulse of aura was able to throw off their control of the zombies, so they must have been pretty close by to be affected by it.”

  “Not to mention they stopped right before attacking that child, who is also looking like an even bigger suspect.”

  “Yeah, I’m planning to talk with him tomorrow to see if he’s capable of commanding all these undead. He threw a bit of fire yesterday, it was pretty impressive for his age, but a good enough showing to make him look like an expert.”

  “You think he might be hiding his actual abilities.”

  “Exactly. Now that I think about it, I need to be the one to find the culprit first so I can ask them about their rune magic. Don’t want the others getting in the way.”

  “Artyom…”

  “Gus, I’m not going to torture a kid! Or whoever they end up being! I don’t even care about the undead attacks, I’ll just politely ask about the rune magic, or at worst corner with a threat of spilling the beans, and then let them go. Maybe I’ll turn them in if they end up a threat to the town.”

  “My apologies. I know this situation is stressful and both of us want this mission completed as soon as possible, but I’m not willing to risk your humanity for it.”

  “I appreciate it, but you don’t have to worry about that. Worry about how I’m going to get Tommy to safety after all of this inevitably goes to hell.”

  “Of course, I’ll-”

  There was a pause on the other end of the line.

  “Sorry Artyom, something’s come up. Call me back if it’s an emergency, otherwise whenever you’re free tomorrow night. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight.”

  The two hung up.

  As Artyom drifted off to sleep that night, he was met with radio silence that didn’t feel as quiet as his first day in this world.

  [Skill Obtained: Precipice of Magic and Emotion, Aura’s Commandment]