Grace had insisted that Axel and Rayner travel with the caravan heading towards the dungeon even though it would have been faster for them to travel on foot. Instead, they plodded along with hundreds, if not thousands, of travelers.
But she’d been right in her recommendation for many reasons.
Traveling with the caravan allowed them to see the might of the Coalition gods. A massive gaseous wall of blue bordered the entirety of the caravan, a blessing from a traveler god of the Coalition. The barrier protected the caravan as it traveled.
Kobolds stalked the caravan and launched attacks against it, but the blessing of Turin halted them and when the kobolds pushed further into the shimmering wall of blue, their bodies disintegrated into nothing.
Axel and Rayner both used the opportunity to learn more about the Coalition. Axel spent his time with the people who followed the worshipers into dungeons. Rayner kept an eye on the weapons worshipers carried.
Axel disliked children, but they were a plentiful source of information. This was why he now acted like a clown at a party, entertaining kids with a display of his skills.
The children sat eagerly around him, waiting for him to show his skills off again. Though they had seen it at least a dozen times already, they clapped for more, demanding an encore.
The first thing Axel had figured out was that worshipers rarely displayed their skills to others unless they were trying to make a point. A prudent move.
“Do it again, again!” said a gap-toothed child. The others bounced as they sat, also wanting to see more.
Axel shook his finger. “Not until you tell me something interesting.”
“Why? Everyone knows this stuff,” said a child from the back who had been suspicious of Axel from the start.
“Who cares? I’ll tell you something,” said a proud little girl with an air of knowledge about her. “My mom says that dungeons are alive and can die. That’s the difference between places like this and the Coalition.”
After his fight to stop the birth of the dungeon, he’d already figured that out, but her last words interested him. “What are the differences between the Coalition and other lands, other than having powerful gods?”
“No! Show us your skills. Then I’ll answer.”
Clever little shit. “OK! Here we go!” He fixed on a false smile. “Pain Knife!”
And with the unnecessary announcement of his skill, Pain Knife activated, and the sickly haze of red encompassed the blade.
The children ooed and awed, even the disagreeable child pouting at the back. When adults saw Axel’s skill, they cringed. Deep instincts warned them away from his skill.
Children had no such senses. To them, a knife that could cause agonizing and constant pain was only a weird glow.
Axel deactivated his skill then put away his dagger. “Now tell me what I want to know,” Axel said.
Eyes alight, the girl answered. “There are no dungeons in the Coalition. That’s why Caravans like this one move from place to place to mine leftovers.”
“What is it your mother does?” At the child’s closed lips, Axel pulled his dagger back out and let Pain Knife flare, the haze of the blade jutting out as trying to sprout another blade of red.
Satisfied, she answered. “She’s a miner. When the worshipers kill all the monsters, she takes the resources for them.”
Interesting. Axel wanted to know more. A miner should search for minerals, not flesh. Hunter would be a better name.
A hand gripped his shoulder. “Should have known,” came Rayner’s voice from behind. “Show is over kids. Go to your parents.”
The children whined but did as the big boy said.
Axel frowned. “Those children were a gold mine of information. You shouldn’t have sent them away.”
Shaking his head, Rayner let out a knowing sigh. “If they tell their parents that some man was mining them for information, what do you think they will do?”
“Oh.”
“Exactly.”
“Well then, what have you been up to? This caravan is so huge, I lost track of you.”
“I know, it’s like a moving town. All this to exploit a dungeon. I’ve been helping harvest monster parts.”
“Hold up. This sounds good. Let’s head back to our coach.”
Grace paid for them to travel in style. They rode and slept in a luxury coach with plush pillows made of fine, soft-to-the-touch fabric. Whenever Axel laid his head on them, his eyelids got heavy. The carpeted floors were of a gaudy color that the merchant Garman would appreciate.
The coach even had curtained windows that guarded their eyes against the light if they chose to sleep during the morning. They never did, but it was nice to have the option. Oh, and the seats folded out into a bed.
Blessed items like the ones used by Barny’s guardsmen were embedded into the coach to keep them comfortable. Useful as they couldn’t use blessings by themselves.
Grace not only sent them a fine coach; she sent a message: See what money can buy.
Axel settled in on the heated seat, Rayner sat across from him comfortably. “Now talk. I assumed you took notes on what you learned.”
“Of course, I did. Keeping a list was my idea. Well, anyway, I found this world’s version of a blacksmith for monster parts. They’re called whitesmiths.”
“Cool. Go on.”
“Monsters, unlike humans, have all the skills they need inside their bodies. Gods only play a role in bringing those skills out or adding some that they shouldn’t have. Whitesmiths find the part of the monsters that have these skills and turn them into something worshipers can use in combat or in daily life.”
“Like a monster core or something.”
“Kind of. I helped open the monsters to find the parts. My Force Hammer made it easy. Sometimes there was a bead or a large ball but most of the time it was gore and guts. Whitesmiths seem to be a cross between a butcher, a tanner, and a smith.”
“A chef,” Axel noted.
“Yeah, some whitesmiths are nicknamed chefs if they’re skilled.”
Axel sat back, taking in this new information. How could they could use this? “I suppose what part of the monsters holds the skill and how to use it is a valuable secret.”
“I knew you would go there. Yes, it is. And no, I found out nothing on how to do this myself. The man was so confident I couldn’t steal his secrets that he made an item right in front of me and I watched him the entire time and probably couldn’t replicate what he did. I think it involves a special skill, maybe even a god’s blessing.”
“We need this. Badly.”
“Well, yeah, it would be nice to have some cool weapons. I tried to find out if living weapons are a thing here and got laughed at. A weapon that could live is asking for trouble.”
“Does sound like something that would turn on you. But our need is more critical than that. We have killed a lot of monsters since coming to this world.”
Rayner nodded grimly, his eyes covered in shadow. “Yes. We have. A lot of people too.”
“Yeh. But there is something from video games that we have not been able to do: loot monsters. We would have to drag their corpses to one of these whitesmiths to make any use of them. But a child just told me that her mother mines dungeons so worshipers don’t have to.”
“You want a whitesmith as a party member. That would bankrupt us … Actually, we already are. The cost of replacing our broken weapons and paying for training have emptied our pockets. We rely on Madam Grace for everything now.”
Axel trusted Grace much more than he had when they first met, but relying on the woman to such an extent still rankled his feathers. A woman would lose respect for a man who relied on her too much. Or at least that had been his experience.
“We need someone better than a whitesmith,” Axel said. “Someone who can make use of a monster’s corpse at a moment’s notice. I got no idea how we find this person but it has to happen.”
“I’ll keep an eye out.” Then Rayner paused, mulling something over. “We need to talk.”
“We’re doing that now. Or are you breaking up with me?” Axel chuckled but when Rayner didn’t respond, he got worried.
“If we don’t talk this out, then that might happen and I want to stay friends.”
Suddenly, Axel knew what Rayner wanted to talk about. “Forget it. It’s done. Let’s move on.”
“No. Let’s be honest about what will happen if we let this fester. At a critical time, when we can least afford it, the tension will explode and it will get us killed. Just look at the three armies’ issues for an example.”
He and Rayner had an agreement. Axel subscribed to the red pill and Rayner was a social justice warrior. It meant their arguments could get heated, sometimes physical.
To prevent actual violence, they resolved to talk out their issues later when they had calmed down a little. Back then, they were talking about issues they had little control over. Back then, their lives were not at stake.
Axel flicked his hand as if in dissmal. “Talk.” He folded his arms.
“About what I said to you earlier, I’m sorry, we have both made mistakes—”
“This is some apology.”
“Let me finish.” Axel raised his hands then went back to folding his arms.
“The reason I didn’t tell you about going out to fight every day isn’t because I was trying to power up without you and it wasn’t so I could train. I went out to kill … because I liked it.”
“Pardon?”
Rayner’s hands balled into fists and his head hung low but Axel could see something in his eyes, a darkness. “I like killing monsters.” Then Rayner grew animated. “All my life I lived in nuance and complexity with nothing to show for it, but killing monsters, defeating bandits, rescuing women, that’s progress. It’s progress I can see, something I can feel as the blood of my enemies pours down my fingers. So, I like killing and I take every chance I get to do it.”
Axel blanked at the revelation. He’d seen the signs of course. He’d seen and ignored it.
Rayner never hesitated to join battles, always taking a proactive approach to their conflicts. Axel assumed it was his friend’s need to achieve justice but Axel should have known better.
“What am I supposed to say to that?” Axel said.
“Nothing. You don’t have to say anything. It’s the truth. It’s also why you shouldn’t blame yourself for the camp followers. If I wasn’t busy going on a murder rampage, I could have found you, helped you. I let people die as well during the battle.”
Seeing his friend going from rage to utter despair made him forget his own issues. A welcome relief. “It’s because of you that the battle wasn’t lost. My plan to find the officers went bust, and only your efforts saved the day.”
Rayner looked up from the floor.
“So, what if your reasons are messed up?” Axel said. “You like killing bad guys? Good. Someone has to because from what I have seen, few are doing it. So, buck the fuck up. No more of this whining. You are a hero, man.” For good measure, Axel gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder.
Rayner looked ready to cry and before Axel could tell him to stop, Rayner seized up and began to shake, froth bubbling out of his mouth.
“Rayner!” Axel caught Rayner as he fell forward.
At first, Axel tried shaking Rayner while screaming his name and when that failed, Axel poured medicine they had bought into his mouth to no effect.
With great effort, Axel hauled Rayner’s spasming body out of the coach to where the medical wagons were. The medical wagons had the Coalition symbol carved into the doors. Stretchers and supplies surrounded each wagon. A healer held clipboard, checking the supplies.
“He needs help!” Axel in his hurry dropped Rayner on a stretcher. Rayner didn’t react. His eyes had rolled back and the froth covered the lower half of his face.
“I can see that,” said the man in a white coat that ended at his knees. He put away his checklist and ordered his assistants to hold Rayner down. The problem was, Rayner had great strength and struggled. The assistants resorted to tying him up with Axel’s help.
“He overused his mana. Somehow the effects were delayed, and this is the result,” said the healer.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Pray.”
“What?”
“We shall pray to the goddess of mercy, Hessa. Then I can help you.”
Worship, prayers, and blessings wouldn’t work on Rayner. Axel had an excuse to explain that.
Then Axel saw the wicked glint in the man’s eye. He wasn’t offering prayer as a solution but as payment for saving Rayner’s life.
In a tone of thinly disguised disgust, Axel asked, “Are you saying you won’t help me unless I convert.”
As if not noticing Axel’s disgust, the healer said, “You cannot expect Hessa or her worshipers to provide such valuable services to the unbelieving. Not only will you not face such misfortune again if you change your ways but I, having brought you into the faith, will receive a great reward that I will share with you.”
Axel froze, his shock so great that he couldn’t even gape at the cruelty of the man. Unable to think of what to say, Axel went for his dagger but felt a hand there already.
From behind him came a calm, raspy voice. “I will help your friend. No need for violence.”
The corrupt healer finally noticed Axel’s anger and took a step back, then his face twisted into disgust. “If you want that man’s services, then may the goddess curse you.” Then he left in a huff, looking behind him as he went to shoot reproachful glares.
“Never mind him,” said the stranger. “Let me have a look at your friend while you explain what happened.”
Axel turned to look at the man and saw … a zombie?
The man looked like one at least. His skin was a light shade of blue with darker blotches scattered across his skin.
Tired, sunken eyes stared back at him in concern as he dug into his waist pouch to retrieve vials of what Axel hoped was medicine.
Axel grabbed the man’s hand. “Will you use those to help him?”
“No. These are for me,” the blue man said, then removed Axel’s hand with ease and poured the vial’s contents into his mouth. “That’s the stuff,” he said in satisfaction. “How did this boy end up like this?”
“He spent weeks fighting monsters.”
“Exhaustion. Simple enough. Open his mouth for me.” Axel didn’t question the man and did as asked.
The blue man leaned over Rayner and opened his own mouth and a blue wisp of energy went from him to Rayner’s mouth.
Rayner’s body shook and convulsed and Axel was ready to turn on the man with his dagger until Rayner’s eyes fluttered open to look at him. “Told you so.”
“Huh?”
“At the most critical times, these things come back to bite us in the ass.”
Axel was so glad to see Rayner alright that he let his friend have the wise-crack. When Axel turned to thank the blue man, he was gone.
The sound of a dying ember announced the caravan’s arrival at the dungeon campsite. The protection of the traveler god’s, Torin’s, barrier dissipated. The hazy blue mist that shielded their journey flickered then collapsed like a banished ghost.
As soon as it came down, the caravan populace went to work, rushing out of their wagons to their predetermined parts of the camp.
And what a camp it was.
Massive building-sized tents spread out as far as the eye could see, blanketing the landscape in the Coalition colors of white, gray, and gold.
The press of the crowd would have crushed them if not for Axel’s tall stature and Rayner’s muscled figure scaring people off from getting too pushy.
Grace told them to meet one of her former whores at the camp but Axel doubted he could find a place to spit at the campsite.
Wading through the crowd as if they were pushing past a sea of mud, they reached a clearing that reminded him of an airport terminal. Men and women held up signs indicating who they were and who they looked for.
After some time searching, Rayner found their contact.
A plain girl garbed in black and hair waving out from under a bonnet stood with a sign saying: whore for two.
A code meant for Axel and Rayner. She didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed.
Approaching the woman, Axel introduced himself. “I’m Axel. This guy is Rayner.”
“Mari. Come, I’ll give you a tour before we go to our tents.”
Rayner offered her his hand. She shook it, surprised at his polite gesture.
Axel rolled his eyes.
While he was glad Rayner was feeling like himself again, it wasn’t that long ago he admitted to enjoying killing things. It made his gestures of civility feel like an act.
Mari led them first to a paved pathway, the human traffic much less thick on its stone tiles. “This pathway is the network to all sections of the camp. There are signs to help people find their way around so you won’t get lost if I’m not here. Where we are now is the greeting area, where we meet new arrivals.”
“Excuse me. Why are there so many people here? It almost seems there are more people here than at the three armies camp,” Rayner said.
Axel walked beside her. “Better question. When did they find the time to build this stone pathway?”
“I’ll answer Rayner first,” Mari said. Rayner’s politeness paid off. “There are more people here than the armies gathered outside Ridgehill. A new dungeon is rare. News traveled fast, and greedy worshipers traveled faster. It’s also how the pathway got set up so fast; many worshipers of Torin are here.”
She assumed we knew all about Torin. Mari then took them to the medical section. Lines of white tents bearing the Coalition symbol on flags stood neatly behind groups of people kneeling in prayer to their goddess of mercy, Hessa.
Axel had seen her mercy and wasn’t impressed. Mari didn’t linger there and her face was set in a grimace. She must have had a similar experience to his.
Next on her tour was where the whitesmiths plied their trade. Sounds of tearing flesh echoed out from firmly tied tents.
Every so often a whitesmith would run out holding intestines with a smile on their face. Mari informed them it was because they succeeded in extracting the skill and wanted to take it to the merchants before anyone else did the same.
Mari explained the sight. “Whitesmiths tended to make discoveries around the same time and had to rush their product to market to get the best price. Can’t tell you how though.”
The merchants’ section was the most chaotic, with common peddlers mixing with established vendors. Hawkers held up items claiming they carried blessings from multiple gods and customers haggled over prices as if doing battle. A whitesmith left the market with his head held down, having failed to get the price he wanted.
The market also held a surprise for them, a face Rayner knew more than he did.
“Dian Powin! What are you doing here?” Rayner said.
“Same thing you are, trying to make coin,” Dian said. Not exactly true but Axel would not enlighten him. The quest was better left unknown to the masses.
Dian wished them well but made clear his dismissal in favor of a paying customer.
The section of the camp that held the entourages of the worshipers was what most interested Axel but a large fence that emitted an ominous chill stopped them from going further.
They went ahead to the dirtiest part of the camp where the followers stayed.
Mari explained the condition of the section. “Everyone in this part of the camp is a scavenger looking to get lucky off the scraps worshipers leave behind. They have little to offer.”
“You can offer your body,” Axel said.
Rayner shot him a look of reproach; he was getting good at those and Axel had been seeing more of them lately.
Mari took no offense, laughing off his comment. “Remember that the worshipers came with entourages. That includes their harems.”
Axel perked up. “Harems?”
“We can talk more about all this inside.” Mari parted the flaps of her tent that connected to several others.
The inside was fully furnished and surprisingly roomy. Women and some men lounged on couches and pillows, drinking and smoking.
At Axel’s confusion, she said, “The outside is shabby, but it is the inside that counts.” Axel couldn’t tell if she was making a sex joke or ribbing him for his earlier comment.
Leading them down the pathways inside the interconnected tent structure, they arrived at her room. “You two will be sleeping with me,” Mari said.
“I suppose our role at the camp will be as bodyguards to this tent brothel,” Rayner said.
“Correct. Now, let me explain the harem aspect of being a worshiper first since your friend seems so interested.”
Axel took a seat. He bounced like the children did when he showed them his skills. Rayner got his own notes out.
Mari matched their enthusiasm in her tone. “Sex is an act of worship and over time people realized that it was a good way to prime a worshiper for battle.”
“Like a motivational speech before a battle,” Rayner said.
“Correct. A motivated worshiper is a productive worshiper. They are less stressed and become invigorated and so gain more EXP.”
This explained Rayner’s behavior. It wasn’t only his barbarian class affecting him but his very status as a worshiper but Axel didn’t feel the same way since arriving in this world. His libido was mostly dead.
Mari continued. “Because of this, worshipers who seek more power build harems but it is a difficult task. While there are many men and women who would jump at a chance to be with a worshiper, it is a hard life and the quality of the harem matters. The harem members need to get something out of the deal too and friction between harem members often breaks it apart.”
That made sense. What little Axel knew of the history of real harems was that they were fraught with assassination and intrigue. As excited as Axel was at an excuse to build a harem, the reality sounded too dangerous. “Let’s move on. What can we expect inside the dungeon?”
“So far, only plant-like creatures have been discovered. The worshipers can’t go any deeper in the dungeon. Their mana is too weak.”
“Surely one of them is strong enough to explore it,” Rayner said.
“Yes, but leadership is preventing others from exploring. They are trying to monopolize the dungeon.”
Axel wanted to say it was stupid, but he’d be wrong. Keeping as many resources to oneself is a sound business strategy but there was one major issue. “What they are doing is pointless if they can’t let enough people in to take advantage of those resources.”
Mari nodded in agreement. She waited to see if they had any more questions then excused herself to give them privacy.
“So,” Rayner said. “What do you think?”
“I don’t want to build a harem if that’s what you are wondering.” At Rayner’s raised brow Axel explained. “OK, I do, but it would cause too many problems. As much as I would like to believe I will run into a gaggle of sultry but powerful women that will do nothing but stroke my ego and my cock, I know better. Power wants to centralize and they would kill each other for position.”
“Dark. But I agree. Hard pass on the harem.” Rayner even scratched it off his list. “And what of the worshipers?”
“We watch them for now. With all the different groups here and the size of that dungeon entrance, they can’t keep it locked down for an extended period. We lie low and scope out the scene.”
Mari returned to show them their own rooms in the tent brothel. It was time to settle in.