Flood, Oliver and the King sat on round decorated table which seemed to be used for negotiations and deals, on the table a large variety of sea food could be seen, some of the dishes were familiar to Oliver and some werent, there were unknown vegetables and fishes, but from the three people here only Oliver ate, he finally had time to rest and was starving, he wasn’t a peaky eater either, you cant be if you want adventure, as he spent most time in dangerous places he was used to eating almost anything that could give him nutrition, that didn’t mean there were things he didn’t like, but he still ate them even if they werent to his taste, and this was a new world as well, there were other animals and agriculture, it was normal that most things wouldn’t be compatible to his taste, but that didn’t stop him eating from everything.

While Oliver was having a feast, the King and Flood were having a chat, using him as translator, only saints could understand what Gods were saying and that was also limited to their own God, the saint of Life for example would only understand the God of life he wouldn’t be able to communicate with any other God, the worshippers of the specific god could also have a slight feeling of what their god wanted to say, but that was still far from hearing them.

King “O mighty God of Water, let me once again greet you to our kingdom, thank you for giving the water people your blessing so far”

Flood just nodded, in actuality she didn’t give them any blessing, she was sealed and water people didn’t have life spans much longer than humans, some of them had the same and some even had less but she wasn’t about to say that.

Flood spoke, but Oliver was the one who talked to the king.

Oliver “No need King, it is only natural that I would do so”

She didn’t like lying and was really bad at it as well, but honestly wasn’t always the best policy contrary to what people usually say, they were her worshippers and their fate towards her, even if it wasn’t justified might have helped them just by being there, there was no harm in her lie either and she really did plan to give them her blessing before they leave, blessings used a lot of power but even if it was a god power the source would leave no trace as that power would go into a person, most people wouldn’t even know they were blessed for their entire life, they would just think they are lucky.

King”So may I ask if it doesn’t offend you, why have you come here”

Both Flood and Oliver made concerned expressions on the inside, and while Oliver completely hid his, Flood didn’t manage to do so.

King”you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, I don’t dare make our God feel displeasure”

The King compered to earth was basically a politician and businessman raised since little to be one, he was proud of himself in being able to read the other side even if they were hiding their feelings, and even if Flood was a God she was now wearing a human body, as long as that was the case she wouldn’t be able to get away from the Kings sight, and as he saw her dark expression he didn’t dare to pursue the matter, but he couldn’t have known that the dark expression wasn’t from anger but from concern.

Oliver”Do not worry king, I have not come to fight, but let me ask you something first, then I would answer your question.”

The King let out a relieved sight, if they really fought he knew what would happen and wanted to avoid that at all cost.

Flood however wanted a way to buy time.

Oliver ”why are there so few of my believers here, from all the people who came at me only you recognised me”

The King was hesitant to answer that question, he had never met a God before and didn’t know what pleased it and what didn’t, and when we are talking about an existence which could destroy you at a whim that wasn’t the position you wanted to be in.

The King was as careful as it could be with his explanation, for him the lives of his people might very well be on his shoulders right now.

King “O god this is long story, are you sure that you want to listen to it”.

Hearing this Flood smiled and nodded for the king to start talking.

The latter didn’t know what to make of that smile and just hoped there was no sinister intentions behind it.

King ”Well it all started long time ago, 500 or 400 hundred years ago”

Hearing this Oliver smirked, he knew when Flood was sealed and how miniscule that time was for her, but continued to eat his full and didn’t say anything.

King”Then our Kingdom faced a huge crisis, we didn’t always live in this waterfall, we moved here thanks to a fight with the humans which we lost, they massacred, robed, raped and tortured us, the war was devastating.”

The King was bitter when remembered the story that was in his family and was told from person to person. He looked at both Oliver and Flood traying to read their expressions but as both remained unchanged a trace of dark feeling rose in his hearth, he actually wasn’t found of the idea that the Saint of the Water God was a human, but he couldn’t let his feelings show and as he was politician he had learned to hide them well, but Oliver, who since little was in similar situations and could guess what the opposite side felt, just smirked again, he truly.. didn’t care.

He was more than well familiar with the nightmares of war and knew that the water people probably did the same thing to the humans, even if not at the begging later on they for sure did, after all those things were necessary, torture was used for information gathering, robbery was for finance, massacre was a scare tactic to kill the moral of the opposite army leading to less sacrifices on their own side, and as for rape it was the only thing that even Oliver himself frowned upon but as long the wars were led by people who are under pressure and participate in the other three, where laws don’t apply and if anything is encouraged, it was normal that they would do that as well, no history book writes the monstrosities of their people, only the monstrosities of their opponents, so he didn’t feel any pity neither to the humans nor to the water people, if you participate in war even if you began as someone innocent you will either end up as a monster, or as a dead man, there is no in between, but Oliver didn’t mind that, war might be ugly but at the end it was something done by people to other people, so in the end it was just the people choice.

Whats more Oliver couldn’t find it like anything but funny, cause at the end of the day the leaders of the people who encourage other to fight for freedom, God, Justice, or what they deserve and should be, at the end of the speech usually go back to their big homes and families, while the people “who deserve more” get shot in the face, and the irony in it didn’t escape him, simple put there was no good and bad in war, there are just winners, losers and dead people.

King ”after we lost we moved, coming here we had little left, my people died on the path but then a miracle happened, a God appeared and helped us, the god of sea life, she pointed us towards this place and even helped my people on the way so many started to believe in her and left behind their fate in you. But the royal family never stopped believing in you, we knew that this was a trial for you towards us so we can grow”

Flood nodded with a faked benevolent smile on her face, which made the King relax a little, a fake smile was better than and noting, he thought she wasn’t happy cause of the god of sea life.

King”as for the rest you know some part of it, when we arrived and were lost you came and helped us, I think you already even figured out that we named the city after you, but thanks to your idea, of making the sea kingdom a tourist destination, our Kingdom began to prosper, but to do that we needed to let other God believers as well which deluded the believe further, leading to the current predicament ”

Hearing this Oliver gave Flood a questioning gaze, but the latter seemed as confused as him, she had never even known about these people till she found them few days ago, let alone helped them, she didn’t know if that was some plot of the king, but the latter wasn’t dum enough to claim something which she should know personally, so it was probably what he really believed happened.

Seeing the gaze of the saint and the God, the King misinterpreted them as he didn’t have all the information.

King ’God if that is your will we will remove all the other religions and we will even capture all the people who displeased you, to let you punish them personally if that will satisfy you”

Oliver”This is from me, but you are a good King”

Hearing this the King gave a happy smile.

King “Thank you for the compliment, o saint of the mightiest of gods”

Even if the King disliked Oliver, he would never show his true feeling, that was not something a good negotiator or politician would do.

Oliver” O king there is no need, I am a merciful god, let them believe in what they want to, I do not mind, now I would answer your question as to why I have come, I want to visit my believers and grand some of them blessings personally, but I want to do that in secret cause I don’t want to intervene with the lives of the people of the continent”

Hearing this the King cried in happiness, god coming here from the celestial world to grand its believer blessings directly, it doesn’t matter which believer heard this they would be touched, no Gods had done such a thing before, they didn’t even show their faces let alone personally grand blessings.

King rose from his seat and bowed while talking ”O mighty God, you truly are the most merciful of all, you always help us, I don’t know where are the heads of the other people for not seeing it, I shall do all I can to help you’

Flood thought about this lie while listening to the story and decided to use that as an excuse, which solved most of their problems.

Oliver ”Thank you King, but do not forget, I want to do this in secret to test the believe of my believer, no one should know until I say so, do you understand”

King ”Of course my God, should I kill the guards who saw you”

Oliver “There is no need, I do not like bloodshed, just make sure they don’t talk about it”

The king who was standing again nodded.

Oliver ’this is all for now, we will leave”

The King urged them to stay but they couldn’t do that, the longer they stayed in the castle, the more people would see them and they didn’t want that, the King gave them as much money as he had on hand without making it suspicious and gave them a King seal so they could call him whenever they needed something, after which they went out of the palace.

The palace wasn’t like any ordinary palace, it was carved out into a giant, under-water blue colored rock, after which it was modified by water people, the water blue rock gave comfortable feeling to all, especially the water creatures and the size and decorations made it look stunning, you could even see your reflection in the walls, it was like mirror made of water, whats more above it, from the dome a little formation delivered water from outside to the top of the building making water fall down on it to the ground, forming four rivers which went through the entire city, making it even more stunning although not very practical in battle, since this was more like a resort than kingdom they went with looks over anything else.

Flood[I have to say you seem quite familiar with those kinds of situations, even if you ate like a pig you used proper manner, and didn’t even interrupt our conversations except when you translated]

Oliver smiled charmingly ”well what can I say, I am more than meets the eye, but I have to ask, what did he mean when he said you came and helped them, you were sealed at that time right”

Flood made confused expression once again [yes I was, so they must have mistaken the person, or that person decided to use my identity, even if I don’t know how cause Gods cant be faked, especially in front of our believers ]

Oliver”then should we ask for more details”

Flood shook her head[no, we cant, the King would get suspicious if we ask questions about something I am supposed to have done, and now that believe is more in our favor, honestly I doubt I have many intelligent species as my believers, so for now that misconception is very beneficial for us]

Oliver agreed, when he said that this King was good he didn’t mean it only as compliment, to be a good king you need to be extremely rational and unemotional, which didn’t make what normal people would call “a good person”, the water people were very much alike the other humans, they threw the believe for the water god the moment they didn’t receive anything from it, and accepted together another one cause it had more benefits, that’s why he was sure that the King lied when he said that the royal family worshipped only Flood, a good King would do what is good for his people, so the King probably accepted the sea live god as well hoping that he would save his people, whats more Oliver was sure that the only reason the king was so nice of them was cause he was afraid of Flood, that could be even proven, he was ready to throw the other believers under the buss to save himself and some of his people, he didn’t do it cause he wanted to, those other believers brought him money, which was needed as the water people didn’t seem to have many things, but he was logical and knew that compared to angering a god which can destroy them all, losing money even if they werent little was preferable, what was money to a dead man, that believe was proved once again when he decided to get rid of his people to keep the secret of Flood identity, at the end of the day the people in charge used words as tools, believes as source of power, and the most fanatical believers as weapons who would kill in the name of God, or justice with a smile on their face, but Oliver didn’t look negatively at them, at the end of the day only survival matters, and if believing in something is gonna help you with that, especially in environment like this one, it was logical to do it, if he was in their shoes Oliver would have done it as well.

God was only convenient if it gave them something, and if he didn’t, they didn’t need him, that was the reality of their believe.

Oliver however was different, he believed no god would help you if you don’t help yourself first, and even then its not guaranteed you would receive any help, if you expect that a creature with infinite power with millions of believers all of which are basically ants to him, would help you just because you believe in it you might as well go jump from a building hoping you would fly. Humans rarely helped ants, here its basically the same, even to win the lottery you need to buy thicket first, even if there was god and he decided to help, no help can be received if you don’t take the first step and keep walking, and that was the reality of Oliver believe.

Deep in the Kings room, the King was trying to connect with someone, after a few minutes a voice, obviously modified was heard on the other side.

???”talk”

King ”Something happened…. the God of Water appeared”.