Chapter 222: Chapter 222 - High-Stakes Meeting
As the group marched forward, the system weakened further, to the point where even the adventurers noticed it.
"What is happening?"
When they felt it, they immediately turned to the priest and the hero for explanations.
It isn’t like those two would know what to say. And the priest is the one having it worst. He is shaking, terrified.
"I-I... I don’t know... I’ve never seen something like this before."
Renata squinted her eyes, her mind running through the implications of what they just discovered.
They are very far from the closest human settlement. Normally not even adventurers come this far.
((Could it be... that the goddess’ powers doesn’t extend this far?))
She was afraid of being hopeful about her chances of escaping the clutches of the goddess. And yet, she felt a warmth growing in her chest.
"Let’s head back, then. We can’t do anything like this. Even a monster could be able to rip us to pieces with how weakened we are. Then you see with your higher-ups what the hell has happened."
"Y-yes. L-let’s go back."
The hero sighs and follows them on the way back. Though she isn’t dispirited. She actually saw a ray of hope, but she wouldn’t be crazy enough to try anything without planning.
Especially because what the adventurer said was true. Without the system, if she finds any monster, she’s as good as dead.
((I’ve heard many stories about the crusade against Wesgoth. And some of them told about people doing magic after being excommunicated. And even about beastkin doing powerful magic.))
((If those tales are true... no, they are probably true. I saw the effects of magic cast by someone who wouldn’t have access to the system to begin with. Then it is possible. I need to learn it. My long-term survival depends on it.))
With this new resolution in her heart, Renata came back to the city of Eestria and went straight to her quarters.
"I need to find a way..."
She paced around in her room as she thought again and again about her predicament and what she needed to escape from it.
:::
PoV: Aurea
"How much time do we have?"
This high-stakes meeting is taking place in the divine temple of Lillian. Lovelace, Levinna, and Ledda were here with me and Mom, who answers my question.
"A few months, at best."
It’s been a few months since we saw the thing coming at us through interstellar space, and we were told by Juno that it intends to destroy the whole world.
The problem is...
"I don’t trust her. Yeah, that being irradiates hatred in his aura. But, for all we know, he might just have beef with her specifically and not with all of us."
"I agree with Aurea in this, Lily. We know far too little. We can’t get ourselves involved in a fight that might not even have anything to do with us."
Thank you, Lovelace.
"I understand your concerns. But the problem is that the environment is already too delicate. I don’t know if the world can survive a clash between those two."
"Then we should just not get involved directly in the battle and focus on shielding the world. Nothing more."
Mom always looks more ’human’ and with more natural emotions than when she appears in the material world.
I wonder if maintaining a material form is just too taxing for her, now that she has become purely a goddess and left her mortal body behind.
In any case, her face is very sad right now. It seems that she really wanted to help the goddess. Ugh, it must be tough to be a goddess whose domain is compassion.
"You actually want to help her. Don’t you, Mom?"
She takes a deep breath before answering me.
"Yes... I’m sorry. I know that she has treated us all very badly, as well as several people who are very dear to all of us. Still, I can’t help but want to help her."
I never would have imagined that one day I would see an actual deity feel dejected. And yet, that’s exactly what I’m seeing at this very moment.
Yet, she has a point. Even if we don’t participate, the fight might spill to the world below, tipping the scales of the environment, which is already very stretched.
The only fully functional biome is the realm of humans, after all. And they are a region around the size of Western Europe. Which means ’not very large’ by a planet’s standards.
"Why don’t we try to talk to that being that is coming?"
All eyes turned to the owner of the voice who proposed the idea.
"Ledda, that is a nice idea!"
Mom especially was very happy with it.
Though the idea has its merits, I don’t think that it’s an easy thing to pull off.
"But how would we do that?"
Good, Lovelace. Straight to the point. And I think I should add something.
"I don’t think any of us have mastered interstellar travel yet. And if we wait for that thing to come closer, Juno might interfere."
"I will think about it. I’ll come up with a way."
Mom is so cute when she’s all fired up. The idea really riled her up.
Ledda was nodding happily. She had no doubts that her Saint would be able to do something about it. Such is the fate of the faithful.
Meanwhile, there is another unrelated thing that has been nagging me lately.
"There’s another thing I wanted to ask about, Mom... It’s about the dragonkin. I received reports that they are getting stronger and are slowly but steadily gaining ground against Calem and Castro. Even with two heroes there."
Mom looks at me, having already regained her composure.
"Yes, that’s true... I feel that the being that is approaching is having an impact on their abilities. I suspect that it’s one of the higher deities of the dragons, and, as such, their mere presence would have that effect."
"A higher deity of the dragons... capable of boosting its people even though they’re still light-years away? I wonder how powerful such a being must be to achieve that..."
I muttered that last phrase, but it was loudly enough that everyone heard.
"If that is true, then we have one more reason to not fight it."
Lovelace’s evaluation was on point once again. We would have no chance against it.
And yet, if he really is intent on destroying the world, then we might not have a way out of it.
"There are different tiers of gods. Both I and Juno stand at the bottom of the food chain. There are deities out there whose power is on a scale that the difference between me and them is the same as that between me and a normal mortal."
Mom, are you sure you want to divulge that information in front of the leader of your faith in the mortal realm?
Yet, a look at Ledda is enough to see that she is actually reacting like she had just received a revelation of the divine truth. Well, she’s not wrong on that. I just thought that gods wouldn’t like mortals to know their weaknesses.
Well, maybe this kind of honesty is what made her so popular to begin with. And her very cult is founded in the revealing of her weaknesses when a mortal, and her tenets are strongly in favor of the weak.
Still... Gods among gods. Just the thought of it makes me uneasy.
Anyway, we need to focus on the practical matters. I have to steer the conversation back to it.
"In any case, the advance of the dragonkin is very troublesome. Because it might endanger us as well. I don’t know if they will be okay with us simply because we ditched the goddess and slavery."
"Aurea’s right. We don’t have any beef with them directly. But they might have with us, simply because we’re humans."
"Maybe we could send an envoy to them to try to see if dialogue is possible."
Ledda agreed with my comment, and Levinna made a proposal. Well, one that is easier than talking with the god who’s coming.
Lillian’s face doesn’t show any emotion as she hears us, but then she speaks with a voice draped in sadness.
"There’s so much space in the world. There is no need for this war. It only exists because Juno left them in those mountains with few resources and food as a way to maintain pressure over the human lands so they keep depending on the Adventuring System."
Huh? That’s news to me.
"The dragonkin want fertile lands so they can live well. Which is natural of any living being. And when they look from the mountains, to one side there is a sea, and to the other the human lands. And both north and south, wasteland."
"So they only fight that endless war with us because they have nowhere else to go?"
"Exactly. And there’s only one way to break that eternal war."
"Killing off the mana suckers and breaking the System."
Ledda asked the right question, and I came up with the possible solution. That might be the key to landing a deal with the dragonkin.