"You have no doubt heard of The Club of Rose? That was the name known on the street. You can think of the Galacia Club today as the child of that organization," Obar emphasized the word 'was'.

"An inherited class? I wonder if an organization can be considered a class as well? Clearly, inheritance is a mechanism in the system," Ada mused aloud.

Both Obar and Leanne looked at her with confusion. This seemed to happen a lot whenever she spoke a stray thought aloud. Ada cleared her throat and replied, "I actually haven't heard of the Club of Rose. If possible, let's start in chronological order and explain it as if you're talking to an ignoramus though to clarify, I'm not one."

Obar raised his eyebrows again. If he keeps doing that, a raised eyebrow would be a permanent fixture on his face, Ada thought. Was my joke that bad? She turned to Leanne and saw that the girl looked embarrassed for Ada. The Gunders were completely ignoring them and were chatting about something else. The children were surprisingly well-behaved and none of them were whining. The hawkish glare that the mom gave to one of the boys when he started whining might have been a good reason. Ada turned her attention back to Obar.

"This will be a long tale. Let us order some food first," Obar said.

"Alright, I can use some food for sure but you better be ready to lay it all on me," Ada replied.

"What is good to eat here?" Leanne asked.

"We are a seaside town so mostly fish, crabs, shrimp, oysters, etcetera. If you don't like seafood, we have options including chicken, quail and duck." Obar said.

"No pork or beef?" Ada asked.

"Pork? Beef? In all my travels, I have never heard of them," Obar replied with surprise.

"Right, so no pigs or cows in this world," Ada muttered.

"We just had fish but I can eat more. I'll leave it to you to order for me," Ada replied.

"I'll do the same. I trust your judgment," Leanne quickly followed and then turned to the Gunders. After some jibberjabbering, Leanne turned to Obar, "They said they would just want some rye bread and seafood stew."

Obar clapped his hands twice. Promptly, a well-dressed server appeared. Obar said something to the server in the local tongue and the man disappeared as fast as he had arrived.

"Well, while they're preparing the food, I can relate the tale to you."

"If you don't mind me asking before you start, how are you so fluent in the divine tongue?"

"Many members of our club are familiar with it. If you join us and advance the ranks, this secret will be revealed."

"Wow, a secret society. That's pretty cool," Ada said.

Leanne looked intrigued as well but said nothing. Taking that as a cue to start, Obar began.

"The Club of Rose was formed 267 ago by a group of Osetan nobles and merchants. The club was named such due to Oseta's reputation as the City of Roses, where roses of every variety flourish. Its purpose was to propagate the inquiry of knowledge and understanding of our world independent of the worship of any one particular deity. Instead, by harnessing our collective human potential, we can progress society by our will instead of those of the gods. The society was initially kept secret for fear of the gods but when it became clear that they merely ignored us, we slowly became more open. Eventually, we would gather in public squares regularly and discuss diverse topics such as the origin of this world, the nature of light, how to cultivate better plants, the mapping of the heavens, and even where the gods came from. Those who were more experimental would work together in tinkering with mechanisms and the natural elements. Throughout the first two centuries of its existence, our power and influence slowly grew to the point every major city on Exicoz had a chapter."

"And that is when you became a threat to the gods?"

Obar nodded and continued, "When the society started growing outside of Exicoz though, the gods finally took notice. There are more gods firmly entrenched in Tesia than here and it was no surprise the conflict first arose there. A chapter in the city of Fenisia started questioning the origin of the gods -- notably whether they are really divine entities formed from ethereal matter or merely upgraded humans with powers. What differentiates a god from a mortal? Gods are powerful in that they are supposedly immortal imbued with various powers that appear like magic to us. Yet, they frequently behave like squabbling children and have a complete disregard for human life. Some of the members wondered on their supposed divinity. If they are truly divine and worthy of worship, why would they behave as such? Wouldn't they have greater wisdom than humans? As you can imagine, this line of thought led to trouble from the priests and shortly thereafter the gods themselves.

The local priests of all the temples there riled up the local populace were already on edge with these thoughts. Most of them worked as miners and they had always thought the Club of Rose members as interlopers in their city. Most of them were not locals and they went to Fenisia since there was a ready supply of raw materials to do experiments. The local miners were simple-minded and were easily manipulated by the priests. It didn't take much to convince them that these outsiders are blasphemers and they're merely doing the word of the gods. I am not justifying their actions but I understand it was inevitable. The tipping point was reached and a crowd torched the clubhouse and captured as many members as they could. There was a mock trial and they were all sentenced to death. Before death, they were bound to poles and placed in the public square for three days without food or water where the locals tortured them. Many died before their final deaths by fire.

There were some who were able to escape before the initial roundup and they quickly spread the word to the other chapters. The consensus on what to do took a great while since transportation was not as what it is today. When the decision was finally made to do something, it was too little and too late. All the chapters on Tesia were torched and the members killed or driven underground."

"And eventually the Club of Rose morphed into the Galacia Club?"

"No, the Rift War came next."

"I have always wondered what really caused the war," Leanne said.

"I can tell you that the Club of Rose was a major instigator," Obar said.

"What do you mean?" Ada asked.

"Well, the remaining chapters in Exicoz decided that was forbidden in Tesia should not be abandoned. The quest for truth was worth their lives. This was the belief. They continued forging ahead in questioning and experimenting. The gods definitely noticed and took action. For better or worse, by this point, not all the gods agreed that our research should be stopped. We had some interesting developments in the field of natural philosophy and farming which was beneficial to the public and some of the gods. Hence, a war arose between the two factions. One faction led by Serina, the Goddess of Truth, believed that mortals were not ready to understand the truth. The other side, led by Catiano, the God of Wisdom, believed that progress was inevitable and that we should be allowed to better understand the workings of our world.

Usually, the gods discuss these important matters in their celestial home and enact a decision by consensus. Unfortunately for us mortals, no consensus was reached. War ravaged our world for the next decade. The two opposing factions directed human armies to collide with each other on a scale never seen before. Eventually, the gods themselves descended and wrecked even more havoc. Their arrival meant the war escalated to a new level of destruction and death.

Seeing that both sides were fairly evenly matched and that the mortals were dwindling in numbers with fewer and fewer worshipers, both sides sued for peace. The agreement was that mortals could continue to pursue knowledge but under the guidance of the gods. In other words, a boundary was drawn for our inquiries. If we strayed beyond those, we would be punished. Since most members of the Club of Rose were deceased by this point, the remaining members decided to form a new society called the Galacia Club which would operate under these guidelines. We have been around since half a century ago. 53 years to be exact."

"That is a tale I have not heard before," Leanne said thoughtfully.

"And in order to not be complete jerks, some of these gods taught you guys the divine tongue?" Ada asked.

"That is correct. That was one thing we always wanted to know and surprisingly, they agreed to teach us."

"This is all very interesting but I'm wondering why you want Leanne and I to join your society. Is it because we both know the divine tongue?"

"That is a good guess and you're right. It is almost impossible to find people blessed with the gift of the Divine Tongue without study. I am not saying there isn't but we're always willing to welcome those who have the gift. Also, you two seem to be decent people with some financial standing."

Well, I did go to public school for 18 years where I had to take English. I wonder if there are schools here and what they teach. That is another thing I would definitely encourage in this world. Ada's thoughts started to wander. She brought it back to focus and said, "Since Leanne already joined, I don't see why I need to."

"I will not push you but know that members of the Galacia Club are sworn not to reveal our secrets to non-members," Obar said with a nod.

"Clearly, you're quite the practical man. So we bring to the society our skills and wealth. What do we get in return?" Ada inquired.

"You will get the full benefit of our knowledge of the gods and the natural world. This is knowledge even powerful nobles not part of our society know nothing about."

I doubt there are any secrets I don't already know, Ada thought to herself. She replied, "Yea, I don't think I'm ready to do that right now. We are traveling and I'm not sure we'll even be in this land for long."

"Are you sure? Your companion seemed quite eager to join," Obar gestured to Leanne who has kept quiet during this exchange.

"I only joined out of curiosity. I did not realize there were obligations to stay here," Leanne clarified.

"There is no obligation for you to stay. We do not keep tabs on where our members go."

"In that case, I see no reason for me to join right now," Ada replied.

Obar didn't appear to be very bothered by her rejection. He continued, "On another topic, are you ready to tell me who you really are?"

Leanne looked at Ada nervously but said nothing.

"It'll be better if you see it for yourself rather than for me to explain it. Do you have time this evening to take a short walk?" Ada asked.

Obar furrowed his brows and raised his eyebrows. Yup, his face is definitely going to reorient itself permanently soon, Ada thought. Ada joked, "Don't worry, we won't rob or murder you."

"No, you two seem to be trustworthy enough," Obar clearly missed the joke. He continued, "My concern is that I have some business to take care of tonight though I am open tomorrow morning."

"That won't do. We're planning to leave tonight."

"Are you sure you do not wish to stay here for a night? The city can be dangerous at night."

"I think we'll be fine. Besides, we're not staying in the city."

"Outisde of the city walls is even more dangerous at night," Obar tried again.

"I'm pretty sure we'll be fine. Now, I know you're trying to convince us but this is exactly why I'm asking you to come with us so you can see what I mean."

There was a hiatus before he replied, "I may regret this but I will rearrange my other business to accommodate your schedule."

Ada nodded. She looked at Leanne and noticed the girl had breathed a sigh of relief. Master Obar stated that he was a well-traveled man but how would he react upon discovering the truth? There was no time for her to speculate further as the food has just arrived. The waiter smoothly placed each platter in front of each guest. He then placed the forks and knives on the table. For the Gunders, spoons were placed in front of their stews. Ada noticed that hers was covered by a bowl with holes and steam was coming out from them. She took the handle on the top and carefully removed the cover. She won't get hurt if she touched the hot metal part but not having a pain reaction or burn would be strange to everyone else here except Leanne.

"What in the world is that?!" Ada asked and pointed at the dish in front of her.

"I thought you liked fish?" Obar smiled. "It's a local delicacy."

"You people have a strange definition of what a delicacy is. Why does it have two heads to start with?" Ada said in disbelief.

"We are in a restaurant called The Second Fish," Leanne pointed out.

"Indeed, and this turns out to be one of their favorite dishes," Obar said with a nod. "Trust me, it's delicious."

"I thought that just meant they would serve two fish instead of one. Both of these heads look misshapen and there're bubbles coming out of both of the heads' mouths. I think they're still alive?" Ada questioned with clear distaste written on her face.

"It's not," Obar reassuraed.

"Do you want to switch?" Leanne offered and pointed at hers.

Ada took a look at Leanne's dish and almost barfed though she knew as a goddess the physical act would be impossible. The sight was utterly disturbing though; she was quite sure it was a fried toad with giant eyes and warts.

"On second thought, I think I might just have what the Gunders are having," Ada said.

"Suit yourself though I am sad you won't just take even one bite," Obar said and then continued. "I will not start eating until your dish arrives to eat. It is custom."

"You can start. I don't mind."

"No, this will not be polite in front of guests. Please, I can wait."

"Oh, God. I'm not going to force you to wait. I'll try out this 'delicacy' and hopefully it won't kill me."

"I'm sure you will enjoy it. Appearances are deceiving," Obar smiled.

"Oh, you have no idea," Ada said and returned the smile. Then, she turned to the two-headed fish and her smile faded.