Once the spyglass was made by Ezekiel, everyone continued to walk around the kingdom, enjoying the sights and delicacies that it had to offer. It was quite a lively day for everyone who went to the kingdom's town. Everyone was tired from walking in the massive kingdom, so they all agreed to take a small break near the center of the town. During this break, Ezekiel was stuck on what to try to make next, as he realized that he hasn't done a whole lot of inventing in this world. The next thing to do would probably be to try to get electricity in this world, but I've also gotta make it to where normal humans can generate and use it. I've also gotta store that generated electricity somehow, thought Ezekiel. He came up with two ideas, but with the shortage of time that they had in the kingdom, he fell back on making a makeshift battery. Ezekiel quickly whipped out a piece of paper and began writing a diagram of an older battery from memory.
Once done with his battery diagram, Ezekiel wrote the words "Voltaic pile" at the top, and he looked rather relieved at the fact that building it was feasible. Bear looked over and asked, "What's that?" Ezekiel grinned and said, "The scientific term for it is called a 'voltaic pile,' and it was invented by Italian physicist Alessandro Volta. If you wanna use slang for it, it's just called a 'battery,' and the voltaic pile was the first battery actually invented. Of course, there are better batteries where I come from, but if we want a working battery with things in this world, a voltaic pile battery will work the best." The others looked confused, so Ezekiel showed everyone his diagram and said, "In short, this long cylindrical battery is made using a few different things. Zinc, copper, glass, wood, and pieces of cloth soaked in brine are all we need to make it." Ezekiel then said, "We just need to make zinc and copper discs, and then put cloth dipped in brine in-between each disc we use. Then we can hook up copper wires and have electricity be stored in them like a battery is supposed to do. It's quite simple." Ezekiel then said, "Bear, I need you to make two small circular wooden discs that will act as the top and bottom. I'll have the glassmaking dwarf handle the glass cylinder we're gonna put it in, and I'll handle gathering the metals and having a blacksmith work with them so we can get our discs and copper wires." With that, Bear went to quickly make the circular wooden discs, and the others went with Ezekiel to see how this battery would be made.
They reached the glassmaking shop, and the dwarf was surprised to see them again on the same day. Once Ezekiel explained what he wanted the dwarf to do, the dwarf got right to it, making a cylindrical-shaped glass piece really fast. Bear had also finished making his two circular wooden discs, so he was able to get to the glassmaker's shop before the dwarf was finished making the cylindrical-shaped glass piece. Once the cylinder glass piece was finished, Ezekiel took it and headed for the market, and the others followed behind him. Ezekiel remembered that he had seen an ore shop somewhere, and after a bit of remembering and backtracking, he finally found it. Everyone walked inside, and they were all met with shelves filled with a lot of ores and metals. Ezekiel took a quick look around, attempting to find zinc metal. After a bit of searching, he found it, and it was relatively cheap in price, just like it was in his old world. Unsure of just how much zinc metal he would actually need, he decided to buy a good amount of it just to be safe. The total came out to be a few silver coins, which Ezekiel decided was a fairly small price to pay for scientific advancement. Once the zinc metal was obtained, they headed to the blacksmithing forge in the kingdom.
Once there, they were greeted by a dwarf, and Ezekiel explained the situation to him. The dwarf nodded, saying he could make the zinc and copper into lots of discs. Rina then asked, "We have zinc, but what do we do for copper?" Ezekiel produced his coin pouch and dumped out all of his copper coins, saying, "Copper coins are literally made from copper. It's in their name. It's a small price to pay for scientific advancement." Everyone exclaimed, "HUH?!" Bear then said, "Little bro, why would you waste your money like that!?" Ezekiel then said, "Please, Bear. Copper coins are the equivalent of about a dollar in my world's currency. Losing a few copper coins when I'm banking a lot of silver coins due to the soap selling business I've got isn't bad." Everyone still looked at him strangely, except for Mari, Alton, and Tom, who didn't know of the peasant currency system of copper and silver and only enjoyed the luxuries of gold. So, Ezekiel left the zinc metal and copper coins to the dwarf, who began melting them down separately and got to work on producing copper and zinc discs.
Ezekiel then went back to where the carriage was to grab some salt, something to hold about a quart of water in, and on his way back to the blacksmith's forge, he purchased thin cloth in the market. Once back at the blacksmith's forge, Ezekiel said, "While he's making the discs, I need to start making the brine solution for the battery. Is there a river nearby anywhere?" Tom then spoke up, to the surprise of Ezekiel, and said, "There's a river in that general direction." Tom pointed to the opposite side of town, and Ezekiel then said, "Cool. I'm just gonna go fill this thing up with water really quick, so you all can just stay here while I go do that." Everyone agreed to this, and Ezekiel went by himself to gather the water.
Ezekiel stumbled around the town, going the way that Tom had told him to, but he found himself to be a little bit lost. By this time, the sun was beginning to set, and Ezekiel estimated that he had about two hours left before he had to be back at the castle for the dinner. That should be enough time for me to do what I need to do, even if I am a bit lost, thought Ezekiel. Ezekiel then noticed that the streets were rather empty, and it seemed that he was on the poorer side of town. People were living in broken-down wooden houses, windows were smashed, and shady-looking people were here and there, giving Ezekiel a strange look as he passed by. Ezekiel ignored all of that and attempted to quicken his pace to get to the river. As soon as he tried to quicken his pace, he felt the journal that Liam had given him fall out of his pocket. The map of where the Followers of the Fallen One might be located also fell out of the journal and landed right beside it. As Ezekiel reached out to grab it, he saw that the outline of the landmass surrounding the big X on the map looked oddly familiar, and he quickly grabbed it and ducked into an alleyway, not wanting to be seen or caught off guard in this side of town. Ezekiel quickly opened his Book of Knowledge to where the map in it was located, and he carefully checked to see if his memory was correct. Sure enough, after looking at both of the maps carefully, he realized that the kingdom's shape on the normal map was identical to the map with the red X on it. So one of their hideouts is near this kingdom? It might be worth checking out, thought Ezekiel, as he began to leave the poorer side of town to investigate the possible hideout.
Once outside of the kingdom, he saw that there was a river nearby, so he quickly filled up his container with water. After doing that, he looked around the surrounding area with the map with the red X on it to see if there was anything that matched the map. In the distance a little bit away, there was a small cave entrance that Ezekiel assumed was the place of their hideout. The red X seemed to be in the same general area on the map as the cave was, so Ezekiel decided to go give it a look. Ezekiel set down his container of water so it wouldn't slow him down getting to the cave and began his short walk to the entrance of the cave.
Once there, Ezekiel took a quick peek inside. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, as it appeared to be a rather normal cave. Ezekiel then used a small bit of fire magic to put a small flame in his hand, acting as a torch, and he began walking down the cave. However, it was a rather shallow cave, as he only took about 50 steps inside of the cave and there was already a wall in the back, preventing him from doing anything else. Ezekiel took a quick look around to see if anything seemed off, and sure enough, Ezekiel moved aside a rock that was resting at an angle on the ground and wall, and he found that there was a small stone button on the wall. Ezekiel, unsure of what to expect, pushed the button in, preparing for the worst. However, the wall of the cave that had blocked him before was now slowly moving out of the way, only leaving a gap wide enough for one person to squeeze through. Ezekiel took this opportunity to squeeze through the gap and quickly check to see if there was a way to get back out. Ezekiel noticed that there was another stone button on the other side of the wall, so Ezekiel wasn't all too worried when the wall suddenly closed behind him.
Ezekiel added more mana to his flame as the cave suddenly got a little bigger, and more light was needed to illuminate the big walls inside of the cave. Stone steps were carved into the floors of the cave, so Ezekiel decided to follow them. The stairs went down a way, as Ezekiel felt like he was walking down this stone staircase for a long time. However, he eventually reached a rather large room, devoid of life. Ezekiel peered into the room but still couldn't see a whole lot with his small hand torch. Once he stepped into the room, he smelled something similar to oil and noticed that there was a small tub of oil connected to large and long stone paths that were transporting the oil all across the room. The paths carrying the oil seemed to spread out through the room, so Ezekiel decided to give it a try by lighting the oil inside of the tub, and the tub caught fire, and the fire spread all throughout the room, making the room much more visible. Ezekiel extinguished his hand torch and took a good look around.
Ezekiel noticed that he was in some kind of chamber, with a few rows of stone seats carved like bleachers that you may find at a football stadium. All the bleachers that were carved were on the west side of the room. In the middle of the room, there were two objects: a single stone slab, which appeared to be a table of some kind, and an actual wooden table. Ezekiel noticed that there were red stains on the single stone slab, and papers on the actual table. Ezekiel decided to get a closer look and inspected the two tables further. Ezekiel realized the smell of metal was coming from the single stone slab, and Ezekiel realized that it was bloodstains that were covering the single stone slab. Ezekiel also noticed that the single stone slab had been used recently, as the bloodstains were somewhat fresh, but not fresh enough to where the blood wasn't dried at all. If that's the case, this might be a sacrificial slab that the Followers of the Fallen One use. Based on the blood, it seems like they might've sacrificed someone this morning, thought Ezekiel, who shuddered at the thought of being used as a sacrifice. Putting the thought out of his mind, he took a look at the actual table, which had papers on it. Laying on the table were a few sketches of people, a small handwritten note, and a piece of paper with tally marks. Ezekiel looked over the sketches of the people and realized that Mari was actually among one of the sketches. There was a note written by her sketch, reading, "The blood of a young virgin girl shall speed up the process of our master's revival. The daughter of the king and queen is our best bet, as she is the most likely of all the girls in this kingdom to be untainted."
Ezekiel realized that Mari was in danger after reading that, and was about to leave when a strange, deep, and a very evil voice said, "Turn around." Ezekiel stiffened up, thinking that he had been found out down here. He slowly turned around, preparing for a fight, but no one was there. The voice was oddly close as if it was right next to him. However, he spotted a strange-looking statue behind him. The statue looked like a rather large and muscular man, with an evil grin on his face. Upon closer inspection, Ezekiel realized that the statue was supposed to represent a demon due to the horns, but it seemed that it had a strange presence to it, like it was greater than a normal demon. Carved at the feet of the statue were the words, "Our Master, Our Savior." Ezekiel put two and two together and realized that the statue was of the Demon God. So they're trying to revive the Demon God? Didn't Liam already destroy him, thought Ezekiel. Suddenly, Ezekiel felt rather strange, as he felt drawn to the statue itself. Feeling that he had enough of being in the cultist cave, Ezekiel decided that it was time to leave this strange place.
Deciding to hinder their progress, even if a little bit, Ezekiel set fire to all the papers that he thought might be useful to the Followers of the Fallen One. Then, he made his way up the stairs in the direction that he came from and opened the door of the cave. However, Ezekiel wasn't getting the free ride home as he expected he would, as there was a hooded figure dressed in strange-looking robes waiting for him on the other side of the secret cave entrance. The hooded figure then said, "A trespasser in the holy lands of the Fallen One? You shall be purified and your soul made into a slave of the Fallen One for all eternity!" The hooded figure quickly lunged at Ezekiel with a small dagger, and Ezekiel could see that the blade was covered in something. Ezekiel quickly dodged, and he realized that the tip was covered in poison. The cave was a small battlefield, and Ezekiel attempted to run outside, but the hooded figure was quicker, as they suddenly blocked the entrance outside. The hooded figure then rushed at Ezekiel once more, and Ezekiel leaped backwards, getting distance between the two of them, and Ezekiel fired some water bullets at the hooded figure. The bullets hit the hooded figure, but they weren't enough to bring down the hooded figure. The hooded figure's speed was hindered by Ezekiel's attacks, but the hooded figure still kept charging. The hooded figure lunged again at Ezekiel with the knife, but Ezekiel dodged that strike as well. Ezekiel then threw some fireballs at the hooded figure, who was now off-balance, and the hooded figure caught fire. The hooded figure shrieked, as they attempted to take off their robes so their skin wouldn't catch fire. However, the hooded figure seemed to have a hard time taking off the robes, as they suddenly went down in a heaping mass of flames. Ezekiel could smell the unpleasant fumes of burning flesh, and the stench made him nauseous. He doubled over, coughing a lot at the stench, but he managed to get outside of the cave. Taking a quick look around, Ezekiel did not see any other cultists nearby, so he quickly made a run for it. He crossed back over the river and got his water, and he headed back to the blacksmith's forge.
Once back at the blacksmith's forge, Ezekiel was expecting the others to be there, waiting for him. However, he was instead greeted by the dwarf who was making his metal discs, who looked like he was in a panic. The dwarf ran up to Ezekiel and said, "Good, you're here! Listen, the small girl that was with you, the king's daughter, she was kidnapped just now!" Ezekiel dropped the water container on the ground, shocked about this. Dammit, I was too late, thought Ezekiel. Ezekiel then frantically asked, "Do you know which way they went?!" The dwarf pointed in a direction and said, "Your friends took off that way, following them. We got the younger and older boy here with us, so we can watch them with ease." Ezekiel was somewhat relieved to hear that, but getting back Mari took top priority. If they truly needed Mari to speed up the revival of the Demon God, he wasn't gonna let that happen. Ezekiel took off running in the direction that the others had gone, worried about all of them.
Eventually, Ezekiel caught up to them by following the trail of destruction and signs of fighting left behind. Everyone was engaged in combat, but Ezekiel didn't see Bear or Kairi anywhere. Suddenly, a cultist was knocked unconscious next to him, and he saw Suko there, with his body fully hardened. Suko said, "Did the dwarf tell you what happened?" Ezekiel nodded and asked, "Where's Bear and Kairi?" Suko punched another cultist and said, "They went after the one that took Mari. They're up ahead!" Ezekiel then said, "Got it! I'm going to support them!" Suko then shouted, "Good luck! We'll take care of things here!" With that, Ezekiel dashed in the direction that Bear went.
Meanwhile, a little before Mari had been kidnapped, Tokuda and General Alexander were sitting in the carriage, a little bit away from the entrance of the kingdom. They were on top of a hill next to the road, and they had quite the view of the kingdom. General Alexander said, "It's quite a nice view if I say so myself." Tokuda then said, "Shut up. No one asked for your comments." General Alexander then said, "Come on, old friend! Don't be like that." Tokuda snapped, saying, "Don't you call me your friend, dammit! I swear, once we're done with you, I'll put you down myself!" General Alexander laughed, then fell quiet, and in a serious manner said, "Perhaps that wouldn't be a bad way to go. Dying by the hands of my former friend is a death that's too generous for me, especially considering the atrocities that I committed." Tokuda then said, "Damn right it is. Maybe I'll just feed you to the wolves or something instead." General Alexander stayed silent, and Tokuda was rather surprised by this. General Alexander then said, "Tokuda, sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I had left the army like you did. My status and wealth might not be through the roof like they are currently, but maybe I'd be able to live my life actually happy with who I want to be." Tokuda then said, "Huh? What kind of nonsense shit are you saying now?" General Alexander replied, "I just wonder if things could've been different. I felt like my place was with the army at one time, but seeing how you've banded together with a variety of people and look so content with it, maybe I could've found my place among another group instead of just the army." General Alexander sighed, then said, "However, what's done is done. I suppose there's no point in dwelling on what could've been." Tokuda was silent for a moment, then said, "Well, there's still 'what could be.' You get to decide your own future, regardless of what might've happened in the past and what 'could've been,' as you put it." General Alexander then smirked, saying, "That's rather uncharacteristic of you, Tokuda! Saying something inspiring like that!" Tokuda looked embarrassed and said, "S-Shut up before I fucking kill you!" General Alexander laughed whole-heartedly, and Tokuda felt another wave of nostalgia hit him, remembering the days when he heard the same loud, genuine laugh back in the days of the human army. However, this nostalgic feeling was interrupted by someone in strange-looking robes running by with a small girl being carried over their shoulder. Tokuda looked in confusion, and then he saw Bear running behind a little bit, and Kairi fell behind quite a ways, having a hard time keeping up with Bear. Bear passed the carriage and didn't say anything to Tokuda, but he clearly looked like he needed some help.
Tokuda tied down General Alexander even more, making to where he couldn't move anything, and then Tokuda said, "If you go anywhere, I'm gonna kill you." General Alexander then said, "Yeah, yeah, I got it. I'll stay here." With that, Tokuda jumped out of the carriage with his katana in his mouth and ran after Bear. He caught up to Bear, and Bear said, "I don't need your help. I got this one." Tokuda then said, "You're having a hard time running. Let me handle this one." Bear then said, "Hell no! This is my responsibility, so don't try to butt in on that!" Tokuda then said, "Look, if this is about what happened in the Humanity War, I'm sorry." Bear then said, "That's not enough! An apology won't bring him back from the dead!" Tokuda sighed, thought for a moment, then said, "I have a suggestion. After we take care of this, can we settle this argument once and for all?" Bear thought for a moment, then said, "Fine. Help me out with this then."
Tokuda then ran a bit faster than Bear and used his levitation magic to propel his katana forward and pin some of the robes that the cultist was wearing into the ground, making him unable to move. As the cultist attempted to free himself, Bear ran upon the guy with amazing speed and started to bring his axe down on the cultist, but the cultist quickly used Mari's unconscious body as a shield, and Bear, unable to stop the forward motion of the axe, quickly jerked his entire body to the side, barely missing Mari. This made Bear stumble, and the cultist reacted surprisingly quick, as the cultist produced a dagger and tried to stab Bear, but Bear was quick, as he dodged the blade from being stabbed, but Bear was nicked a little bit in the side. Bear winced in pain as the cut started to feel like it was burning, and he felt a slight bit dizzy. Bear then looked at the dagger the cultist was wielding and saw that the blade was covered in poison. "Damn coward, using a girl that has nothing to do with this as a shield," said Bear, angry at the cultist. Bear tried to stand, but the poison was taking effect, making some of his body numb, so he couldn't stand back up. The cultist laughed, sheathing his dagger and pulling the katana out of the ground, freeing himself, then said, "Oh, but she has everything to do with this! We've been planning for this for a while now, and you're not going to stop us!" The cultist then smiled, as he wielded the katana in his right hand, inspected it, and said, "Don't mind if I borrow this, do you? It's quite the blade if I say so myself. "Tokuda then stepped forward, saying, "Hate to break it to you, but I don't remember letting you even touch my blade. So, I'm gonna peg you as a thief and kick your ass for stealing my sword." The cultist laughed, then said, "You dare attack me while I have a weapon AND a hostage?" Tokuda smiled evilly and said, "I don't recall me ever caring about that girl, and I bet that I can kick your ass with my big toe only." The cultist then looked angered, saying, "Fine. I accept that challenge!"
The cultist rushed forward, still using Mari as a shield. Tokuda then shouted at Bear, "Get ready to catch her!" Bear, still a bit dazed, said, "O-Okay." Tokuda then took off his sandals, intending to fight barefoot, and he rushed forward as well, and the cultist swung the katana. Tokuda dodged, and the missed swing threw the cultist off balance. This gave time for Tokuda to use his big toe to strike the cultist's arm in the funny bone, causing the cultist's arm to go numb, and he dropped Mari. Before Mari hit the ground, however, Tokuda caught her in mid-air by wrapping his legs around her body, acting as substitutes for his missing arms, and threw her in the direction of Bear with surprising power. Bear caught her, despite still being in a daze. Bear then gave Tokuda a woozy thumbs-up, and Tokuda then evilly smiled at the cultist, saying, "Well, I still haven't kicked your ass enough. I'm still using my big toe, by the way." The cultist was visibly pissed now, and he regained his balance and took another swing at Tokuda, but Tokuda was quicker. In rapid succession, Tokuda used his big toe to poke the cultist's eye, then he used his big toe like a spear to jab the cultist's throat. This caused the cultist to double over in pain, but Tokuda wasn't done. Tokuda quickly used his big toe once more and jabbed it into the cultist's stomach, making him gasp for air. The cultist then dropped the katana, and Tokuda used levitation magic to retrieve it. Tokuda looked down at the cultist, who was still on the ground gasping for air and said, "I kicked your ass with just my big toe. Remember that as you make your way to hell."
Tokuda put his katana in his mouth, and as he brought the katana down on the cultist, a wind shield suddenly formed around the cultist. The katana ricocheted off the barrier, and Tokuda was surprised by this. He looked around and saw that it was Kairi who had cast the wind barrier, and Ezekiel was right next to her. Ezekiel then said, "I know you want to kill him, but I need him alive so he can answer some questions. I stumbled upon a cultist site not too far from here and I need to see what's going on." Tokuda shrugged, rather indifferent about letting the cultist live or die. Sheathing his katana with his levitation magic, he said, "Alright. Mari is safe, but Bear needs some medical attention." Ezekiel then looked at Bear and noticed that Bear wasn't moving much. Bear then said, "I-I think I got poisoned." Ezekiel then said, "I can help with that. Aqua taught me some temporary poison resistance symbols that I can write on these small pieces of paper." Ezekiel pulled out the magic paper that he had bought so long ago, almost forgetting about their existence. The small pieces of paper can be applied to anything, giving it certain properties and effects if the corresponding symbol is drawn on it. Ezekiel quickly drew a poison resistance symbol on the paper and applied it to Bear's wound. The paper immediately disappeared in a small flash of light, and the wound, still sort of bleeding, had some of the poison removed. Ezekiel then said, "It's not as good as the real spell, but it should be enough to get you back to the kingdom, and Aqua should be able to patch you up." Ezekiel helped Bear stand up, and Bear used Ezekiel as support. However, Ezekiel wasn't enough to support Bear's weight all on his own, so Ezekiel was about to collapse under Bear's weight until Tokuda stepped in and Bear used Tokuda as another support. Tokuda then said, "I'm gonna fight you in your best condition. You're not gonna die on me until then." Bear chuckled, then winced in pain. He then smiled, saying, "Don't worry. I'm not dying until I kill you." Ezekiel then asked Kairi, "I hate to do this to you, but do you think you could watch over the cultist for me? Once I get Bear to Aqua, I'll come right back." Kairi then said, "I suppose." With that, Ezekiel, Tokuda, and Bear then headed back to the kingdom.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKYspNJuaT
