"What's going on here?" Ada's tone carried a mark of disapproval at the sight in front of her.

She could conceive of no other possibility of what was happening in front of her aside from gambling. Sçæaisøh, Alfre Gunder and his two oldest children were sitting at the small side table rolling what looked to be a pair of dice. Sçæaisøh was sitting with his back to her and was so absorbed that he didn't notice her. The Gunders glanced at her curiously for a moment but then immediately turned back to their game. From her vantage point, she could see that that both dice were the familiar six-sided ones but neither contained the usual dots. Instead, the sides she saw depicted crude iconic depictions of different fish. Just like food or alcohol, she wasn't surprised to see that gambling and such games existed in this world as well. Human nature been what it was -- both greed and games were an inherent part. She didn't mind that the adults were distracting themselves with gambling but involving such young kids in the practice left a sour taste in her mouth.

There was a large pile of coins in front of the former thug and a smaller pile in front of Alfre and almost nothing in front of the two children. After the dice landed, the older farmer groaned and pushed several more coins to Sçæaisøh who readily accepted with a gleeful smile. The wooden blocks that originally occupied the table have apparently being tossed off haphazardly and now resided as a messy heap next to one of the table legs. Tyra and the youngest Gunder, Pier, were nowhere in sight; they were probably in the bedroom as Ruciella mentioned earlier. If that woman was in the room, Ada doubted her husband would have the courage to try anything like this.

Leanne looked up. She was sitting at the same spot as before. She has been ignoring the scene and was reading the book laid out on the table. Upon hearing Ada's question, she fidgeted as if she was the one caught red-handed gambling. Ada thought she might still bear some responsibility for letting the men do this. She answered slowly. "Uh, they are playing."

Ada walked in and stared at the group where Sçæaisøh still appeared oblivious to her presence. She directed her words at Leanne. "I can see that. They appear to be gambling."

Ruciella walked in after Ada. Upon seeing the sight, the mage wrinkled her nose and stepped away from the men as if she smelled something awful emanating from there. She took a few steps towards the opposite side of the large table away from the gamblers. "Yeah, Triple Fish. The rules are simple though the stakes usually aren't. A popular game among the lower class. You'll never catch me dead touching that."

"Okay, classism aside, I don't like it that they're involving two kids here in gambling. Leanne, why did you just allow them to go ahead?"

"Uh, Alfre Junior and Bola were in the midst of throwing a tantrum. They were already throwing blocks at the wall and yelling. Neither Alfre nor I could calm them. Sçæaisøh took out his dice and asked them if they wanted to play a game with real adult money. The kids were enthused by the possibility of winning money from the adults."

"Where did the kids even get the coins?"

Leanne looked away. "Uh, I gave them some."

Seeing Ada frown, Leanne continued hurriedly in explanation. "Just some copper ones I found lying around in my bedroom. No gold."

Ada was more relieved to discover that Leanne giving them coins didn't lead to Ada actually losing any Objects. Perhaps, this was due to everyone here already been followers. Still, she needed to say something. "Well, the adults are clearly taking advantage of the kids. They need to give the coins back to the kids. Tell them to stop."

Leanne translated Ada's words into the local tongue. There were sighs of relief from the kids. Maybe they were tired of losing everything they had just been given. Their father gave Ada a frown. I thought he was a good dad but in this respect, he's not, Ada thought. Sçæaisøh turned around his face blanched upon seeing Ada's stern face. She wasn't going to use Compulsion on him but the man might not know that. He immediately sputtered out words which Leanne translated. "I am sorry, my lady. I just thought this was simply the easiest way to grab their attention. Besides, it is a fun game and I think with all that happened today, we men can use our pastimes."

Ada raised her voice. "They are not men. They are boys. Also, do you yourself feel entitled to gamble in my palace?"

After Leanne's translation, the man's face blanched even more and he fell silent. Alfre has kept quiet the entire time and spoke up. He sounded genuinely apologetic. Leanne translated. "I apologize. This was entirely my fault. I should not have let Sçæaisøh talk me into this. If you permit, I can take the children to their mom. Then I will come back and resume the meeting."

Ada's face softened. "That's fine. Yeah, you can go ahead. And you can rest as well. I'm sure your wife will be exhausted from taking care of all three of them. There's no point in keeping you and your entire family up after such a grueling day."

Alfre nodded and gave a word of appreciation. He beckoned to his children. Begrudgingly, the two slid off their chairs and followed their father out of the room. No doubt being a dad of three young boys was a tougher job than being a farmer. What was his place in the world now? She couldn't see him going back to being a farmer in a village. Well, maybe he could layout the groundwork for a garden or orchard here on the Cloud. She knew nothing about farming and presumably he and his wife knew a lot.

After they left, Ada turned to Sçæaisøh. "Don't do that again. These children are too young to gamble. If you do gamble amongst you adults, when we have important matters to discuss, don't do it. Lastly, just to be extra clear, you have no permission to take my money without permission."

Leanne translated and Sçæaisøh bobbed his head up and down rapidly in agreement. Ada wasn't sure that she trusted his word when he was clearly doing it out of fear but there was nothing else to do but take it on faith that he would behave properly. She gestured the group to sit down. "Now, everyone let's take a seat and continue. I know it's just the four of us here but I think we can still make some good progress. Before we took our break, we were talking about--"

Ruciella interrupted. "Catiano, the God of Wisdom. My one description for him would be boring."

Leanne glanced at the mage as if she was crazy. "Boring is the wrong word. I would describe him more as mysterious. He is only boring since we have very little understanding of him."

"Sçæaisøh, what about you? What do you know of the God of Wisdom?"

Leanne translated. The man simply shrugged. "I'm going to take that as a no. Let's start with what we do know. First, do we know his motivations?"

Ruciella shrugged similarly. "Can't believe I'm saying it but I'm on Sçæaisøh's boat here. I know he always wants peace between the gods but that's about it. He doesn't take any active engagement with what the other gods do."

"What do we know of his followers? Where are his temples?"

Leanne answered. "His temples are located on remote islands scattered across the seas. Those who follow him are mystics and sages who choose to separate themselves from the world. Rarely has anyone ventured to them for the journeys to them are perilous."

Ruciella offered. "Yeah, I hear that there's all sorts of nasty sea monsters surrounding them. These people must really hate other people."

"Are they magical isles?"

Ruciella appeared confused. "What do you mean?"

"You said the Academies are spread out across the world."

The girl shook her head and snorted in disdain. "Ah, not at all! The Academies are open to all who seek knowledge and have the gifts. These people would rather not see another mortal except other followers of Catiano for the rest of their lives."

Ada observed. "In the Divine World there are mystics and yogis who shun the outside world and choose to meditate on themselves and the universe in remote woods and mountains. What is surprising is that I would have thought a God of Wisdom would want to spread wisdom to everyone and not just a select few."

Leanne asked curiously. "In the Divine World, are most of them there wise?"

"Hmm, I suppose not. Maybe Catiano feels that most people aren't ready or worthy of the wisdom he can impart."

Ruciella shrugged again. "Who knows? If that's true, he sounds like an arrogant prick to me. We're always trying to find out more at the Academies. How come he's never appeared once there?"

Leanne spoke. "Knowledge is different from wisdom."

"All the same to me. We can go into a philosophical discussion here but I think Ada probably wants to move on."

Ada nodded. "Yeah, I do. Do his followers have any powers? What do we know of his powers?"

"I don't know anything about any power his followers possess. I've heard his own powers include Enlighten and Calm."

"What do they do?"

Ruciella answered. "Enlighten brings out sudden insights in followers who meditate upon whatever questions they have. I hear it only works if you truly want to know. Calm removes anger and fear for any mortal or group of mortals. The effect is only temporary though. He's used these powers in the Rift War. Probably saved a few lives."

She continued with a quite whisper to herself which Ada clearly heard. "Probably Calm would have also come in handy with those two little brats. I wonder if Ada has any spells like that."

Ada hoped Ruciella was joking since she wasn't planning to use any mind spells on kids even if she did know how. Leanne might not have heard Ruciella's whisper for she simply continued where Ruciella left off. "I have also heard that the effect of Calm is stronger on his followers. It can remove those negative effects almost permanently. I have also heard he has the spell Voice of Clarity which removes the effect of any negative mental states caused by spells or substances. It also prevents any mental attacks. I am not sure how long the effect lasts."

Ruciella expounded. "So, basically what she's saying is that I can drink as much fishblood wine as I want without getting completely wasted. Also, an attack such as Mesmerize from the goddess Alula would have no effect."

Why does this sound increasingly like a stereotypical RPG? Ada wondered but kept that thought to herself. "That sounds like a powerful defensive buffer. Does he have any offensive capabilities?"

Sçæaisøh spoke. Leanne related his words to Ada after he concluded. A grin dawned on her face. "He has heard that Catiano does not use explicitly harmful physical attacks but he has incapacitated enemies with powerful mental attacks. He does not know of any specifics except one."

"What is that?"

Ruciella giggled. Leanne continued with a smile. "You might laugh. It is called Monkeyfy."

"Uh, it turns them into monkeys?"

"Not quite. It regresses the mortals' mental states to that of monkeys. He used it on a battalion of soldiers at one siege of a city. Those soldiers started scratching themselves and shrieking at each other. I heard that some did die from biting each other."

"Male territorial aggression is common in primates," Ada observed.

"Leanne, you forgot the most important part! Tell them about the poop."

"Um..."

"Alright, so some of the soldiers managed to figure out how to take off their clothes and started eating their and others' poop. Some even flung their own poop at each other. The whole scene was so surreal and gross that even the defenders of the city didn't feel like slaughtering them. Catiano's effect only lasted a few hours but after their very embarrassing performance in front of everyone, these soldiers hurriedly departed in shame. According to pickled fish gill over there, a good chunk of them deserted and never fought again."

"That would have been a hilarious sight to see. From what I see, Catiano appears to be a reasonable and kind god with some sense of humor. Maybe he can be an ally. Has he ever taken Ayula's side in the past?"

Leanne shook her head. "No, but he has never attacked her either."

"I get it that he likes to stay neutral but does he have any friends and enemies among the gods?"

Leanne pondered for a moment and then spoke. "He is on good terms with the other gods. I believe the Goddess of Truth and him do not always see eye to eye but they have never harmed each other or their followers."

"That makes sense. Truth maybe isn't always the same as Wisdom and I think being on opposite sides of the Rift War speaks volumes on their stance on mortal attainment of knowledge. Well, anything else we've missed?"

The three mortals shook their heads. Ada continued. "Next up we have the god Dartho, the God of Death."

"I thought we're only covering the new gods? The primal gods keep to themselves in their own domains."

"Seeing that the Goddess of Life has decided to take an active role in mortal affairs lately, I think it's fair to say that we need to cover all of them just in case."

Ruciella shivered. "Creepy. I hardly ever want to think about where I'm going to go after I die."

Leanne smiled. "If you do good in this life, you will not have to face him. Ayula will ensure it."

"Alright, let's plunge ahead then. What do we know?"