Chapter 112: Chapter 112

I made sure to request all the Scarthralls who I had welcomed last time were present for this reception too. They would help the newcomers gel better with the cult and with my intentions and suggestions for them if they saw that there were already people working in that direction.

It was mostly the same affair as last time. I made sure to impress on them the importance of both moving forward and of dealing with things appropriately given their current state.

“We really can’t live with our families?” one sad woman asked.

“We’re trying to make sure that re-integration is as smooth as possible,” I said. “Give it a little bit of time. I promise, it’ll work out in the end.”

I did have a plan with regards to getting the Scarthralls to be seen as more acceptable members of society than they currently were, but it had its own risks. For example, it involved the Blight Swarm.

Just like last time, I talked about the need to focus on what was bigger than all of us. But I also expounded on it a little more than before. The threat was drawing closer and there were more Scarthralls present in Ring Four now. We all needed to make sure we were ready.

To that end, I impressed on the new group how important they would be in stepping up to defend their homes.

“You want us to defend homes that you won’t even let us live in?” asked a belligerent older man. “You want us to work for free?”

Before I could answer, there were angry replies from just about everybody else. Not just the other Scarthrall cultists accompanying me, but even among those who had just been released from prison.

“My son and daughter are here!” one man growled. “Unlike you selfish bastards, I’ll die for them if I have to.”

The same sentiment passed through the entire group.

“The whole of Ring Four is our home, you nitwit.”

“I’m not letting some Pits-cursed bugs destroy anything.”

“Shove it, old man, and jump into the ‘cano if you want to die.”

I cleared my throat loudly to reduce the commotion. A part of the vitriolic anger the old man had received was actually my fault. People were frustrated that I was keeping them from their families and loved ones, from the hovels and shacks they had called home, but they couldn’t exactly direct that frustration at me. Except for one old man, apparently.

Once everyone had calmed down again, I impressed the importance of community and working together as one. Ideals they were familiar with because Escinca had already instilled them into all of us.

“We’ll need to start taking a lot more practical preparations,” I said. “I’ll talk with a few people about setting up defences and the like. For now, though, I need as many people as possible to start training how to fight and defend and work together.”

I nodded at the Scarthrall cultists beside me. They all stepped up.

“Vandre,” I said, pointing to each one in turn, “Lujean, Atholaine, Sigrouen, and Jalais here have been doing just that for a little while now, so they’re going to help you get started as well.”

Honestly, I was just glad I had remembered all their names correctly. I supposed it had been a little while since they had joined the cult. It was nice that they all looked confident and sure of themselves, even Jalais and Sigrouen, who had been the most hesitant initially.

“We’ve been working a ton,” Vandre said. “And we can help you figure out what you want to do too.”

Jalais nodded. “It’s scary, I know. Believe me, I’m still not used to how everything is supposed to go. But we can do this. We have to. Together.”

I let them speak their candid words before finally reminding them that none of this was forced. They were all still free to not comply with my suggestions and ideas, although the cult would be enforcing the fact that the Scarthralls needed to stay in their own residence for now.

With the newly-released Scarthralls now busy speaking with the group I had been personally training the last several days, I could focus on one other little thing. Namely, seeing to Tural.

He was present like everyone else, but he was hiding behind people, clearly trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. I wasn’t going to lie—I felt bad. It wasn’t regret. In the heat of battle, there hadn’t been time for second-guessing, and I didn’t fault past me for the actions I had taken then, no matter how brutal they had been.

But they were traumatizing. Pits, I had literally torn open Tural’s chest and shoved a weight in there and used his own healing powers to keep him trapped to the ground.

The only part of my actions that I regretted was bringing him to the temple with me, but I had thought that was for the best back then. It would have been impossible to guess the Scarseeker responsible for the whole mess would be present at that moment.

I didn’t know how much of it Tural even remembered since he had been under the direct ensorcellment of a Scarseeker. That said, his expression and general mannerisms kind of suggested he recalled enough to be severely devastated by everything that had happened, everything that he possibly thought he was at fault for and everything he had suffered as well.

“You mind carrying a message for me?” I asked Lujean at one point. “To one of the younger Scarthralls? His name is Tural.”

“Of course, Cultist Ross,” he said. “What’s the message?”

I explained the situation without going into too many gory details and told him what I wanted to say, while also impressing upon him the need for discretion. And kindness. That, and the mention of trauma, got him on board.

Lujean nodded seriously once I was done. “I’ll take care of it, don’t worry.”

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My meeting with Tural wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. I didn’t want to make him feel worse by forcefully approaching him, so I was leaving the ball in his court, giving him a gentle reminder that I was here and hadn’t forgotten about him. In a positive, kindly way, not in a retributive way of course.

Still, there was no telling how he’d respond. I’d need to be patient. Plus, there were other things calling my attention, so I tended to those next.

Firstly, there was the communal stuff I needed to check. Santoire and Guille had led all the other Sun Cult members in preparing residences for the returning Scarthralls. We had even enlisted the help of some of the local residents, as well as members of both the Sea and Wind cults.

It had still taken some time, but they were finally up. The repairs for some of the buildings in the abandoned sections of Ring Four had needed some funds that the three involved cults had allocated—my cult had obviously paid the significantly biggest portion of it.

“Do you think this will work?” Santoire asked.

I wasn’t an architect or otherwise much of an expert when it came to buildings. But some simple testing made it feel decent. The floorboards weren’t too weak anywhere nor did they creak too much. All the doors were working fine, their locks functional and the keys with the resident Scarthralls. We made sure the sanitation, such that Ring Four could spare, worked fine enough.

The Thralls were technically immune to dying from starvation, but they still needed food for energy. There was also the need for blood. Ethically-sourced blood, that was.

Thankfully, Hamsik had come to the rescue with that. Scarseekers had a need for blood too, and his family—along with the other Scarseeker Great Houses in Zairgon—used a couple of suppliers in the city. It was only Hamsik’s connection that had allowed us to gain access to that source as well.

Since Hamsik had assured me no sapient being had been used as the “ethical source”, I decided against enquiring further.

“Seems solid to me,” I said after my inspection of their new homes. “Though I’m not an expert by any means. Hmm, although I might be able to get an expert. We’ll see. How do the people who are actually going to live here like it?”

“It’s great!” Vandre said with no small amount of exuberance. He reminded me, weirdly enough, of a frat boy who had learned he could party all night long and not even suffer a hangover for it. “We’ll have loads of fun!”

“Right. Just make sure everyone’s nice and respectful of each other’s boundaries.”

“Of course, of course!”

With that done, I could next focus on my own things for a bit. Mostly, I practiced my flight some more. I still felt a mite self-conscious at taking to the air and then swooping around like a bat that had gone insane. But I distracted myself with the fact that I was progressively getting better and better at controlling it.

Still wasn’t perfect, of course. The main limiter was still the way I was using my Flare Affixes. Concentration worked fast, but Capacity’s main drawback of not being able to move with me was still holding me back.

However, I had figured out a bit of a workaround. The more I kept ranking Flare up, the farther I could create the little heat stores. Concentration needed more time if they got too distant, but I could still spread it around a reasonably wide area. Then, I could use it to fly rapidly within that region of space almost like I had the Capacity heat stores moving with me.

For instance, I could flood the entire airspace above and about a couple dozen feet around the temple with fist-sized pockets of heat energy. It only took a few minutes to do too. I shot around the temple while airborne, with Flare bursting much faster thanks to the heat stores.

Sure, that left the area around the temple a bit cold while I was experimenting, but once I released everything, it all went back to normal.

My training resulted in more rank ups over the next day.

Your Flare and Illumination Aspects have risen by one Rank.

Illumination: Iron VII ]

Appreciative as I was of them, they reminded me I needed to pay more attention to Illumination. The only reason it had risen along with Flare and Gravity was because I had continued using it every day to light up everything. I was getting more use out of it since I was staying up for longer too.

But at some point, I’d be hit with a real roadblock since I still hadn’t figured out what sort of Affix I wanted for its second slot. I’d have to think.

I entertained a visit from the Sea Cult the next day. Ostensibly, they were here to continue assisting as they were doing so far with the new group of Scarthralls and all that. But I was soon disabused of my innocence when the Sea Cult leader, Favoile, came to speak with me personally.

“I believe we are owed some information,” he said. “After the Ritual of Precaution.”

Right, right. I had received the scroll that had taught me a new Ritual, and now, Favoile had come to collect payment. And it wasn’t even real payment. I just had to give them intel.

“You’ve got interesting timing,” I said. “I was going to head out to Ring Two tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll find something interesting and report back.”

“You haven’t made any efforts to find anything yet?”

“Well, I’ve been busy.” I looked pointedly at the Scarthrall residences.

Favoile didn’t even try to hide his disappointed sigh. “I will be patient. But also, I hope you do not expect further handouts without proper remuneration.”

He wasn’t being friendly, but I suppose I couldn’t blame him for looking out for himself. We had a deal, and I did need to keep up my end of it.

Favoile looked at me critically. Then he sighed. “Have you made progress?” Get full chapters from NoveI[F]ire.net

“Ritual, of course. Weren’t you seeking a new Affix? Liturgize?”

“Oh, right. No, I haven’t. Busy, like I said. I do remember your advice about not only making up a new ritualistic process but also making sure people followed it. Just need to apply it.”

“Here’s some advice,” he said. I noticed he hadn’t said free advice. “Try something simple. And make sure it’s something the others would want to do as well, something they will obviously benefit from. You already have experience in that after taking Enshrined Growth as your Augmentation, yes?”

Damn, he wasn’t just reminding me of my side of the bargain. He was also trying to make me feel indebted to him. And it was working, annoyingly enough.

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

After he left and I got some free time, I started thinking about what I wanted to ritualize. What sort of process would most people around me be happy to perform?

The answer didn’t need a lot of thinking. Favoile had hinted at it. I was already on the path I most cared about, and so were a lot of people around me. We were all quite literally improving our Paths. Sreketh with her artistry, the Scarthralls trying to train up to be adventurers, Aurier with his smithing. And me trying to advance both Burning Starlight and Archon Apostle.

We were almost ritualistically trying to grow as best as we could. So why not make that, or at least a part of that process, an actual ritual?

I needed to figure out if that was even possible, and if so, how?

Next day, I gathered up all my Scarthrall trainees and told them it was time to head out.

“Where are we going, Cultist Ross?” Lujean asked.

I tapped the badge pinned to my chest with a smile. “To get you officially certified as real, live adventurers of course.”

My own phrasing made me pause. They’d certainly be real adventurers. Live… I wasn’t so sure about, considering the whole Scarthrall thing and all.

But none of them seemed to take an issue with my phrasing. If anything, they just grinned back at me, excited to finally get going. To finally become adventurers, just like I had promised.