Everyone stared in silence at the old man, unsure as to whether or not they should believe his words. Liam, breaking the silence, said, "Feel free to believe it or not. You can dismiss it as an old man's ramblings if you want to. However, I am the hero that slew the Demon God 50 years ago. This sword I carry around might make you believe me." Liam then casually set down his great sword on the table, and everyone inspected it, fascinated by the beautiful blade before them. Rina put her hand gently on the sword's blade then said, "It's made of a metal I've never seen before, and I feel a faint aura emitting from it that I've never felt before." Liam then said, "Yep. It's a metal that only the gods have. I don't know the excruciating details of it, but it was forged solely to defeat the Demon God. It was cooled in holy water and even has the god's blessings to make it a holy sword." Bear tapped the sword's blade and asked, "A holy sword, huh?" Liam nodded, then said, "At first glance, it's a normal blade by any means. If I cut any of you now with it, you'd surely bleed. Normal swords don't affect demons, though, and that's assuming you're even quick enough to hit them. Only holy swords and some sort of holy or demonic magic can hurt demons. Normal holy swords do damage, but this holy sword is the only sword capable of purifying the Demon God." Ezekiel, a little unnerved being in the presence of the holy sword for some reason, asked, "How exactly do you 'purify' with a sword?" Liam chuckled and said, "Simple. Just stab them enough and they then become exorcised and purified once killed." Isn't that just normally how death works, thought Ezekiel.
Aqua then shyly said, "U-Um, Mr. Liam? I-I believe you. T-The stories said that you died in the f-fight against the D-Demon God, b-but I guess they aren't true." Tokuda, inspecting the blade still, said, "I believe you as well, old man. You don't seem like the type to lie without a good reason. But why lie about your death? You could've been living the life of a famous hero if you came back." Liam sighed and said, "I'm not the type who really aspired to live comfortably in fame. Back where I came from, I was just your average 23-year-old office worker, working day in and day out. A life of fame might be nice to others, but for me, I'd much rather keep a low profile." Kairi then asked, "And I assume that's your reason for twisting the story around to where you supposedly died?" Liam pointed at Kairi and said, "Bingo! I wanted to live out my life in peace, and if I came back to society after I had killed the Demon God, the people would never leave me alone. So, my death was fabricated, and to ensure everyone believed it, I went into hiding and I had my former party members spread the story of what happened, and they were sure to include my 'noble sacrifice.'" Ezekiel nodded, understanding where he was coming from with all of this. Ezekiel then asked, "That's cool and all, but why tell us now? And why specifically us?" Liam smiled and said, "That's a question I'll have to answer in private with you." Liam got up from the table, grabbed his great sword, and put it away, then beckoned for Ezekiel to follow him. Both Liam and Ezekiel then exited The Crimson Tankard Inn.
Walking along the streets, Ezekiel silently walked alongside Liam, who looked around at the rather desolate town. Some people who had heard the involvement of Ezekiel and his party to save the town came up to Ezekiel and thanked him, then got back to cleaning up the streets. Once that was done, Liam then said, "You came here through death as well, right?" Ezekiel said, "Yeah. I died rather stupidly, too." Liam chuckled, then said, "It can't be a worse death than mine. On my way home from the office I worked at, I was lugging a heavy suitcase with me at night since I had to take home some of my work with me. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, and I tripped down a set of stairs and broke my neck. What are the odds of that, huh?" Ezekiel chuckled softly and asked, "You're from Earth as well, right?" Liam nodded and said, "Yep. Last I remember, it was around 1970 when I died and found myself here." Liam then noticed some vendors struggling to sell their meat after the attack and asked, "Are you hungry, by the way? Food's on me." Ezekiel laughed then said, "Sure, if you're treating."
So, Liam bought the two of them some orc meat and took a seat by a nearby bench. They both began digging into their meat and Liam asked, "What year was it when you died?" Ezekiel finished chewing his orc meat and swallowed, saying, "When I left that world, it was 2021. Based on the years you've spent here, it seems like the flow of time is the same as Earth." Liam smiled, looking up from his meat and said, "2021, huh? Hard to believe that 50 years went by in a flash here. Never would've thought my life would end up like this." Liam silently stared ahead of him for another moment, then looked at Ezekiel and asked, "How is Earth doing as of now, by the way? What's it like?" Ezekiel said, "Well, there's been a lot of technological advancements. Do you remember those things called computers?" Liam struggled to remember, but then said, "Ah! Yes! Those huge things that only the rich could actually buy!" Ezekiel grinned, saying, "Well, they're not as expensive anymore, they're way faster, and anyone can get their hands on it now. Remember those things called a telephone?" Liam smiled and said, "Yeah, those things were pretty cool." Ezekiel then said, "They've invented these things called a 'smartphone,' which is pretty much a really small computer that can fit in your pocket." Liam chuckled, saying, "Well damn kid, wish I could've been around to see that." Their conversation carried on with that, with Ezekiel describing the many things that had changed from 1970 to 2021.
After that, Ezekiel then asked the question from earlier, saying, "So, Liam, why exactly did you decide to tell us about yourself when you could've kept it hidden for longer?" Liam then looked solemn as he stared out in the distance and said, "Kid, do you ever get the feeling that some things just aren't as they seem? For instance, how can we say that this world is even real? That the people we interact with daily are real?" Ezekiel was confused by those questions, but sort of understood what Liam was getting at. Liam continued, saying, "Have you ever heard of the thought experiment that Descartes did? He was an ancient philosopher who posed this question: what if there's something that's deceiving us all, such as a demon? That everything around us is just a manipulation by a demon to make us believe everything we see is real? You sat down with one of the gods before you were sent here, right?" Ezekiel nodded, remembering his conversation with the goddess Tone. Liam then said, "I don't think they're telling us everything. They only told us specific information and gave us one wish. Call me paranoid, but I think there's something bigger behind the scenes at work here. I'm pretty suspicious of the whole Demon God business as well. They're gods, so why not kill off the Demon God themselves? Why wait 50 years just to let a hero do their job? Something just seems off with everything going on." Ezekiel wasn't sure what to think, and Liam, seeing the expression on Ezekiel's face, took a deep breath and said, "It honestly might just be pointless speculation on my part, but it just kind of seems odd to me personally."
Liam then said, "But anyway, to answer your question, the reason that I wanted to make myself known to you is that I wanted to talk to someone from the same world that I'm from. I never thought I'd be able to talk to someone like you at all in this world, but seeing the soap that you were selling made me feel a little relieved, and it made me feel like I wasn't alone in this world anymore." Liam sighed, then said, "Although it was a gamble to tell you all this since you could've possibly been someone that's part of this world who happened to invent soap, but I just wanted to see if you really were someone from the Earth we know. But, after talking with you for a bit, now I know that you are." Liam stared ahead with a smile and said, "It's just good to know that I'm not the only one in this strange situation anymore."
Liam then turned towards Ezekiel and said, "The path of being a hero is hard. Half the time, you're struggling just to figure out what to do next, be it what to do after everything is done, or figuring out what it is that you have to do next on your quest. All the movies and stories revolving around heroes and their quests made it look easy." Liam pulled out a small leather journal and handed it to Ezekiel. "I decided to make a journal of everything you need to know about all that I've faced so far. Their strengths, weaknesses, abilities, all of that is contained here. If you happen to come across anything like the stuff I have in my journal, hopefully it can be of use to you," said Liam. Ezekiel took a quick look through the journal. Detailed sketches of demons and people wearing cultist clothing were scattered throughout the journal, along with some handwritten notes scattered all throughout the journal. Ezekiel closed it shut and put it away, determined to look at it later. Ezekiel then said, "Thank you. Hopefully, I won't need to use it, but if the time comes, this'll come in handy for sure." Liam nodded, and he stood up. Liam looked at Ezekiel and said, "Also, that journal has a map in the back. I've put a big red X on it so you know where I live. I'll probably head home in about a week or so and stay there for a while, so if you need anything, you know where to find me. Until then, I've got some coffee to find." With that, Liam waved as he slowly left, and Ezekiel was left with a lot to think about.
Ezekiel sat on the bench for a little while longer, processing everything that he had just been told. It was a lot to digest, and he felt strange as he processed everything that Liam had told him. As Ezekiel tried to process these thoughts, he found himself slowly getting up off the bench he was sitting on and headed back to The Crimson Tankard Inn.
Ezekiel, after coming back to The Crimson Tankard Inn, stepped inside and was surprised to find everyone still waiting for him. Everyone was gathered around the table, discussing something. As Ezekiel approached the table, Bear noticed him and said, "Yo, little bro! What did that old dude say to you?" Ezekiel casually replied, "Nothing much, really. Seems like he's in the same predicament as me, with him coming from the same world as I did a long time ago." Everyone stared at him in silence until Bear started laughing and said, "Good one, little bro! That's funny!" Ezekiel sighed and said, "I'm not joking Bear. That's really what he told me." Tokuda inspected Ezekiel a bit, then said, "I believed the old man, and I believe whatever the old man told Ezekiel." Rina, Aqua, and Kairi nodded, and Suko soon agreed with them as well. Bear, after calming himself down, said, "You're right. I don't have a reason to doubt you, little bro." Ezekiel then took a seat down at his spot.
Tokuda had a map pulled out in front of him, and he then said, "So, as I was saying, we need to take these backroads here if we're leaving tonight." Ezekiel, confused, asked, "Wait, we're leaving tonight? What happened to leaving at the end of the week?" Tokuda shook his head, saying, "After that attack by General Alexander, they're bound to send reinforcements to Wolfwater. We can't stick around when that happens or else they're gonna tear the city apart worse than they did today just trying to look for us." Ezekiel nodded, understanding the situation. Tokuda then said, "To get to the Freedom Legion headquarters, it'll take about two days on horseback. We still have that carriage, so we could use it. We just need to avoid any human army troops since they probably know all of our faces by now." Tokuda then looked up and said, "Pack everything you need and be ready by tonight. We'll meet at the front of The Crimson Tankard Inn after it closes, so be ready for then." Everyone nodded, and they all went their separate directions for now, preparing for the trip.
Ezekiel went back up to his room, and as he entered his room, he saw a small note with a lot of silver coins on top of it, laying on top of his bed. The note read, "This is your half of the profit from soap that we've sold. Currently, we're out selling more and are not sure when we will return home. We've also upped the price from 10 silver coins to 20 silver coins, as the demand for it has gone up. From, Luna and Lily." Ezekiel smiled as he looked at the pile of silver coins and said, "They're pretty damn good to be able to sell this much." Ezekiel scooped the silver coins into his coin pouch, feeling that their funds for this trip were good to go. Ezekiel also gathered up a few things like his Book of Knowledge in preparation for the trip. Once Ezekiel got everything together, he realized that he had some time to kill, so he opened up his Book of Knowledge and started looking into the Demon God and anything related to it.
Upon reading the Book of Knowledge, Ezekiel found that there was a cultist group called The Followers of the Fallen One. The Followers of the Fallen One believe that the Demon God was actually a god that was banished unfairly by the other gods, so they believe that it is their divine duty to help the Demon God get back his position among the gods. They practice rituals, sometimes involving human sacrifices, to please the Demon God and help in his revival when struck down. Their hatred for the other gods due to the "unfair banishing" of the Demon God is what binds these cultists together, as they, too, feel that they've been unfairly treated by the gods due to tragedies occurring in their lives, none of the gods answering their prayers in their times of need, and much more to grow the hatred that lies within them. Ezekiel was surprised when he realized that the small paragraph was all for The Followers of the Fallen One in the Book of Knowledge. Ezekiel looked over at the journal Liam gave to him. There's surely gotta be more in this journal, thought Ezekiel, as he grabbed it and began flipping it to the page where it talked about The Followers of the Fallen One in more detail. It read:
"Since The Followers of the Fallen One are so secretive, even the human army is unable to stop them since they're unable to pinpoint where the main cultist site is. I was able to speak with a 'former member' of The Followers of the Fallen One (although this person was already a nut job to begin with), and they told me that they kill those who want to leave The Followers of the Fallen One, and he barely escaped with his life. I suppose there might've been some truth to that, as the authorities in the town I was in discovered his body hanging off a balcony with a rope tied around his neck the next day as if he was lynched. It's none of my business now, but I've got a map to an interesting location that the person gave to me while we were discussing The Followers of the Fallen One. Based on what they told me, it seems like it might be their main cult site, but I highly doubt that kind of information would go to someone like the person I spoke to, as he seemed to be of lower rank within the cult. If I can't do anything about it, then hopefully whoever ends up getting their hands on this journal can make good use of that map. Here's hoping that it is the main cultist site. One day, someone will destroy The Followers of the Fallen One once and for all."
Ezekiel saw that there was a tad bit more to read, but then he noticed that something had fallen out of the journal. He realized that it was a small sheet of paper with a big red X on it. Ezekiel picked it up and realized that it was a map, although he couldn't make out what the land was based around. Ezekiel was about to compare it to his own map in his Book of Knowledge until he heard someone knocking on his door. The door then opened, and Bear popped his head in and said, "We're leaving in five minutes." Ezekiel nodded, and Bear closed the door. Ezekiel decided to study the map later, and he shoved Liam's map in his pocket and gathered his belongings. On the backside of the note that Luna and Lily had left, he wrote his own little note that read, "Good job, you two! Keep the money rolling in! I had to leave a little earlier than I expected to, so I'll probably be gone for a little longer this time. I left a little bit of my portion of money behind so you can pay for rent while I'm out. Keep up the good work while I'm gone! - Ezekiel." Ezekiel then placed the note onto his pillow along with a decent amount of his own silver coins, and he walked out of his room and headed towards the meeting place where Tokuda told everyone to meet.
Once everyone was at the meeting spot, they all loaded their belongings up into the carriage. General Alexander, still tied up, was also kicked into the carriage by Tokuda. Then, one by one, they all entered the carriage, and Tokuda took the reigns while Suko held the map and navigated them all. Under a full moon with bright stars, they headed out of Wolfwater into the night.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzxNiWv4L5
