Chapter 42: Report

On my way back to the castle, I organized the information I gathered. The Abby's Mercantile Group was the faction that was trying to kill Troy to incite anger among people. I have been identified as a VVIP, probably due to the incident of me being imprisoned and my acts during the kidnapping of Stephanie. By the awakening of their Dormant Deity, they will have a way to beat my friends and rule over the kingdom. But before that happens, Abby's Mercantile group has to get the support of the people because, without the people, they won't have a kingdom to rule over. If they fail to do so, the people of the kingdom will move to nearby cities and follow a person who they think they can trust.

Once I reached the castle gates, I saw a huge mob of people headed by an old woman shouting, “We have been oppressed by the rulers for too long! How is it that someone is sentenced with the death penalty just by wanting to have sex with someone who happens to be the daughter of the king? Maybe the king is forgetting that the people of this kingdom put their trust in him and yet, he is not upholding our trust! Let the boy go!” Then, someone who turned out to be Topher said, “That boy didn’t just have sexual desire for my daughter. He wanted to take advantage of her, rape her! Do you think it is fine to rape someone?” After hearing those words, the people started to lose their momentum. Topher then continued to speak, “Alright, alright. I understand your concerns. No one is in trouble. Just go home now. Everything is fine.” Eventually, the older lady simply walked out fuming and the rest of the crowd followed through. When most of the people were gone, I entered the castle. Unlike before, no one tried to stop me from entering, and instead, they guided me directly to David and Topher.

Once I entered the room, David and Topher immediately apologized. Apparently, they didn’t know that the merchants would send two 9th rank primary warriors to assassinate a random kid. Topher then further stated, “They must be confident that they can defeat us since they sent their best fighters to make sure their plan is a success.” What Topher said makes a lot of sense. While I reached Rank-6 Pinnacle in less than a week, and they reached Rank-9 Pinnacle in a little less than 2 years, it doesn’t mean ranking up is that fast. One instance is the lady from the shop who was stuck for a couple of years before I helped clear her bottleneck in powering up. Currently, there are only around twenty people who are of the 9th rank Pinnacle and less than fifty people who are of the 8th rank in the kingdom. Given that the population of the kingdom is around a million, the number of people with sufficient power is just less than 1%. Following that, I told them what I saw in the base of the merchants. “I saw a round orb that was taking in sacrifices. Using my eyes of wisdom, I figured that it represents the god of wealth, Deity Lakshmi. Do you know how they got this? It seems like it is only a matter of time before it completely awakens.”

Topher and David dropped the coffee cups they were holding. David said, “At random times, the earth creates these portals to fictional worlds. It could be a world with historic battles or a monster stronghold. We call these portals “dungeons.” If we manage to clear the objectives, we get rewarded with strong equipment. On the other hand, if we don’t manage to clear it within the designated time, the monsters or sometimes, people inside enter our realm. Most of them are powerful warriors. We then try to fight back which causes us to suffer from a great loss of resources." Topher continued, "Last year’s dungeons were mostly relating to Indian culture and fiction. The merchants must have gotten it from there. The deity you're talking about is like a summoned creature. It is living in the world, guarding the will that was set forth to it during the sacrificial period. Like the perfectly strong AI, we fought with Ganesh, the Hindu God of Intellectuals last year. It was a tough battle, and he was at the early ranks of Demi-human. Most of us got critically injured at that time. Having another god on their side means they have serious firepower. There is a good chance that they will be able to easily defeat us.” The difference between a Rank-9 Mortal and a Rank-1 Demi-human is like the distance between heaven and earth. A Rank-9 Pinnacle can exert a minimum strength of 40,000 Mg while a Rank-1 Demi-human can exert a minimum strength of 100,000 Mg. This is not to mention the fact that every jump in cultivation level would also entail an increase in speed, reaction time, and brainpower. With Lakshmi awakening to the 2nd rank of the Demi-human stage, my friends are in danger. Luckily, I have started cultivating my soul which gives me the ability to bring back the harmony between their bodies and souls. Hopefully, their 18 years of pushing forward would now finally lead them to a breakthrough to the next rank.

After talking about the dungeons, gods, and the like, I brought up the situation of the slaves wearing collars in the merchants' base. They told me that they would want to disagree that slavery should be banned like the days before. The kingdom itself still has a lot of issues. Some people, out of their own volition, can choose to become slaves to get a better life. And only those with slave ownership titles can buy slaves. This didn’t sit right with me; I saw 5 and 6-year-olds with slave collars. It seems that the merchants just opened straight up old school slavery to the market. I then said, "Isn't there a rule that states that you're not allowed to sign contracts until the age of 18? With this, we can settle the issue with the group and either have them exiled or executed." Topher said that this is possible if they get caught red-handed or if there is any evidence that we could hold against them. I raised my voice and said, “Uhmm, what if I freed them all?” David sighed, turned to me, and just did the facepalm. He then said, “Don’t worry. There should still be some evidence left. I mean, we could get their testimonies. Where are they, by the way?” I then answered, “I told them to escape later at sunrise. This would make the merchants occupied right before the execution.”