The inn was as clean, and seated behind the front desk was a young man, he had a thin red beard and red hair that ran down to his neck, meeting up with his tunic which was a deep black shade...a frequent favorite, Lakyus concluded, perhaps an identifier for fellow believers, but what stood out more was that he was thickly muscled even for someone who might have done farm work...which Blue Rose was uniformly thinking was unlikely given that he was working at an inn. It was a point of some curiosity, but not one Lakyus was prepared to broach just yet. She thanked the fellow who led them to the inn and approached the desk.

"We need rooms for five." She said politely, and the young man looked up from what he was doing, Lakyus glanced down, and saw that he had been drawing, a fairly good representation of the town and the area surrounding it was taking shape on crude paper, and he set his drawing aside to speak to her.

"You want to share space, or separate rooms?" He asked politely.

"Same is preferred but we'll take separate ones if we have to." She said in return.

"Fine." He said, went through a book listing occupancy, and then he shrugged and took out five keys. "Rooms are upstairs, right side, one after the other. The tavern opens at sunset. That'll be fifteen coppers each." He said, and Lakyus produced a gold coin. That got his attention.

She held the coin up to him at eye level, "It's yours and you can keep the change, but we're new to...everything here." She said, spreading her arms wide as if to encompass the entire town, “and everything is strange to us. We're staying overnight and probably for the next day or two, if you'll guide us, and help us learn about...well everything that makes you all different, it would be greatly appreciated." Lakyus gave him a friendly and encouraging smile.

"I'm free all day tomorrow, which makes this your lucky day, as well as mine, call me Aratos," He said with a smile that was probably more filled with warmth for the coin than for them, but...whatever worked. Lakyus handed him the coin and he said, "Sunrise tomorrow there is a wedding, the mayor's daughter is getting married, the whole town is going to be celebrating. I'll knock on your doors when it is time to go." He said, and Lakyus handed him the coin. As she walked away she noticed that she could see the reflection of the desk in a decorative shield on the wall, she noticed that he made the proper change, and pocketed the difference. Lakyus nodded in approval, honest when nobody was watching...a good sign.

They were worn out from the stress of walking with a legendary undead, a body of skeletons, and peasants that didn't seem to know those things should be stressful...which was probably the most stressful thing out of all of that. They went silently to their rooms and crashed.

In the morning Lakyus was already awake when the knock on the door came, the young man who had been watching the desk was standing there dressed...slightly differently, his clothes were still relatively inexpensive peasant dress, however it was more like a deep blue shade, the color of midnight. "Ready to go?" He asked. The rest of her party was behind him, and Lakyus gave a friendly smile, "I am, surely you expected no less?" She asked.

"Not at all." He said in return, and he led the way down the stairs, waving in passing to a muscular young woman who had taken his place from the previous day. She returned the wave as he walked out, and Blue Rose followed close behind.

"Now," he said as he walked towards the town center, "I realize you don't know any of the customs we've developed, so the simplest way for you to blend in, which I assume you want to do, is to just imitate what I do. I'll explain along the way what is happening, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask them." Aratos said.

"Of course. Thank you, Lakyus said, "But I have to ask now at least...is it possible we'll see anything we can't, as adventurers, bear to watch?"

He stopped cold and turned around. His friendly look was gone and replaced by a mix of anger and confusion. "You need to explain that...now" He demanded.

"You're followers of the undead, most necromancy practitioners think little of using the lives of others in their rituals. They use torture, death, and numerous other things in their dark rites, you can't blame me for asking if I'll see something that the adventurer's guild would consider itself obligated to interfere with." She said reasonably.

Aratos rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, he left one hand on his hip, but then put his hand to his forehead and shook it impatiently. "You sound like a priestess of the old gods." He said in a voice that was frankly more tired than pissed off.

"Well, I am a priestess of the god of water..." Lakyus began.

Aratos didn't wait for her to finish but instead said, "That explains that." His hand returned to his hips and he looked at her like a stern teacher who had caught a student acting out. "It's a good thing that...first off, you paid me for this because otherwise I'd request that you be escorted out of town, and second off, that nobody else over heard you because then they'd ask for the same thing, even if I had been paid. I guess because you're foreigners and new and only know what the temples of the old gods say, I can't really be to upset, so I'll let that insulting question go and answer you seriously."

He took a deep breath and then began speaking incredibly fast. "No we don't worship death and we don't hate other worshipers of other gods and we don't sacrifice infants in the night or torture children or waylay and slay travelers or turn people into monsters or bathe in blood or eat human flesh or steal souls to cast dark magic or rape virgins or torture animals or commit banditry or rob the graves of the dead, or any OTHER absurdity that rumors might have put into your ears." He finished his statement with yet another sigh.

"So let's put all that to bed right now. No, you will not see anything that makes your conscience demand your intervention, and it isn't because those things are hidden, it is because we do not do them. Yes we worship the Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown, as the god of justice and prosperity, some also worship him as the god of community, others worship him as the god of strength and war, and still others as the god of peace, I've passed through villages where a merchant declared him the god of honest commerce, while another village priest who converted from the old gods declared him to be father of Surshana descended from heaven to finish his son's work. The Sorcerer King is worshiped in many facets, because he has revealed himself in many ways by his actions. Questions?" Aratos asked, and resumed walking.

Lakyus, and the rest of her team, had turned a little red.

"I'm sorry if I have given offense, I can only ask that my ignorance be forgiven as I strive to eliminate it." She said sincerely.

"It's OK, some worship the Sorcerer King as the god of knowledge and education. Perhaps you favor him in that way, or would if you came over to us." He said.

"How does someone decide what aspect of him that they favor?" Lakyus asked.

"They ask themselves what matters most to themselves, and they strive to imitate him at his best in that respect. Neia Baraja sees him as justice and it is in that way she promoted him first, to the mayor who saw how the Sorcerer King had united people in common cause, he is the god of community, so as Pope Neia dedicated herself to spreading his justice, our mayor has dedicated himself to the growth prosperity of our community. It falls to each of us to decide for ourselves." He said.

"And if a person wishes to change their view to some other aspect?" She asked further.

"Then they can." Aratos said with a shrug.

"Now, we're almost to the wedding, we do this at sunrise to symbolize the new beginning that the rising sun represents, it will begin peaking over the horizon soon. All you have to do is take a seat and say nothing, then do as I do." Aratos said.

They gave a common nod of understanding and found that most of the town had turned out, and more significantly, everybody was in some way armed. Short swords, spears, bows, knives, it looked more like a raiding party than a wedding.

The bride and groom were dressed in solid white clothing standing under a simple arch arrayed with flowers. Behind them stood an older couple that were most likely their parents, and arrayed a step behind them were...based on appearances at least, the rest of their family, siblings, cousins, and the like.

The crowd in front facing the couple was made up of most of the rest of the town. The young man lead them to a side street leading into the town square which wasn't as crowded and let them see the affair better. Lakyus however, felt confused, there was no priest present, so...who was marrying them? She held her tongue for the moment and looked into the distance, the sun was just barely starting to peek over the horizon, and nobody in the town made a sound except for a few squalling infants.

The Sun rose and crested the horizon, its light ate up the ground as it moved along, covering one row after another until it reached the feet of the young couple, who clasped hands, and when the light of the Sun had moved beyond them, they stepped out from under the arch. The parents of the bride and groom then said in unison, "Does anyone dispute their union?" And they drew their swords. This seemed to be the cue, and their extended families also drew their arms, those carrying spears brought their weapons into the guard position, the crowd in front remained silent, and row by row they turned to those behind them and drew out their own weapons, until every row had turned outwards. Their guide had done the same, and despite their confusion, Blue Rose showed the adaptability of adamantite ranked adventurers, and followed suit almost seamlessly.

The positions were held for almost half a minute, and then the parents sheathed their weapons, and as if that were the signal, so did all the rest. The groom then spoke loudly, "Then we are one, let none dispute it." He said.

"Unless they wish to shed blood." The bride said, completing the statement. They leaned in, and kissed one another, and cheers rang out.

The new couple mingled and from that point forward it looked like an ordinary wedding post wedding party. Lakyus however, was confused. "Where was the priest?" She asked.

Aratos gestured to the still rising Sun. "Right there." He grinned at their confusion. "Black Justice places less worth on oaths than on actions and choices, if a man does not want what he says he wants, then adding an oath doesn't change his lie to truth. They chose to unite their lives, they undertook the ceremony, what use are human oaths next to that?" He asked pragmatically. "They joined hands and began this day as one, the Sun sealed their bond before all, and that is all we need."

"And the weapons?" Evileye asked. "It looked more like a raiding party than any wedding I've ever been to." She said somewhat sardonically.

Aratos laughed. "That shows the family's willingness to back their union, all other guests turn away from the couple, not only trusting them at their backs, but also showing their willingness to fight for their dignity, their union, and their lives. This wedding is large because it is the mayor's son and the daughter of a merchant who chose to settle here, who has used his position to give us close ties to the capitol temple. It has yielded great benefit to the community, so the community felt it appropriate to attend."

"But...doesn't the local lord mind all this?" Gagaran said, gesturing to all the armed peasants. "Most nobles don't let their peasants carry weapons like this."

"I know the kind of people you're talking about, but this is a chartered town." Aratos said, "Purchased for us by the Sorcerer King, we don't have an official nobleman, the one who ruled here before the invasion is dead, and as I understand it, so are all his relatives, so we only answer directly to the crown unless rule is handed over to someone else, and we pay extra taxes as a chartered town, specifically on the condition that we are not given a noble to rule us."

That brought blank stares and blinking eyes. "No noble?" Lakyus asked.

"None." He said. "Eventually we'll probably choose one so that we can be directly represented to the crown, but nobility is expensive if it isn't won, and frankly nobody here has earned the honor yet." Aratos said simply.

"Now, do you ladies prefer drinking, dancing, or games?" Aratos said as music began to break out and the servers carried beer through the crowd. His smile was broad and friendly again, and it was impossible not to like the man. "If you want games, over there," he pointed beyond where the bridal family had stood, "you can test your strength, aim, or wit. We have some interesting games you've probably never seen before, they were brought to us from Pope Neia." As the crowd dispersed to various areas they saw what he meant, "There you have the bell, if you're any good with a hammer," Gagaran grinned widely, "You slam one down on a weight, and it launches a ball up to ring the bell at the top. Not far from that, something called ten pin bowling, you try to roll a stone with holes in it, down the middle, and knock over the pins standing in a triangle. And next to that," they saw a man acting out without saying a word, "something called 'charades' where you act like something and others try to guess it."

"Where did Neia come up with these?" Tia asked in beffudlement.

"She didn't. Apparently she visited the Sorcerer King, learned some of his arts while in his realm, and took away knowledge of some games as well." Aratos said.

"She WHAT?!" Evileye said in shock.

"I'm guessing that is...news to you?" Aratos said sardonically. "Yes, she went to the realm of the Sorcerer King, along with around a hundred of her best fighters, and there she and her people trained under the guidance of his guardians and other agents, we don't know everything she learned, but at the end of the month she was...well...a force to be reckoned with. Mentally and physically."

Lakyus turned to her team and, sensing her urgency, they leaned in to hear what she said in a hoarse whisper, "We have to find Neia Baraja. Just as soon as our contract allows, and maybe before." She said. "Anyone disagree." There were no disagreements.

Lakyus turned back to Aratos and said, "Aratos if it's alright, we'd like to explore the town a bit, is there anything else you'd like to show us today?"

Aratos rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Well, today is a holiday for the most part, but you can come to service with me tonight, the new teacher should be here by evening and he'll be staying at the inn where I work, tomorrow is a turning and a training day, so it's up to you. Tell you what, I'll come by the inn this afternoon, and if you'd like to come to service with me, be my guest, and when the teacher arrives, I'll make sure you're introduced." Aratos said politely.

Lakyus gave a polite smile, "We'll take you up on all of that thank you." She said, and gave him a courteous bow, which he returned, and then they parted ways.

"It was a nice ceremony." Tina said as they walked through the crowd, watching ax throwing, bowling, and dancing. The dancing was what really caught Lakyus's eye, though they seemed to be simple practiced dance motions set to music, her experienced practice with a sword recognized the motion of weapons, even without the weapons. They had incorporated the arts of dancing and battle into something unique and...quite intriguing.

"What do you suppose he meant by 'turning'?" She asked her team. She was met with shrugs, "I don't know, I guess we could have asked, but we'll find out tomorrow." Gagaran replied. "I'd really like to try out that hammer game." She grinned again.

"Go ahead." Lakyus said with a small laugh, "You've earned a good time, just be back at the inn later, you don't have to come to their service, but if you're not going, just be waiting for us at the inn tonight." Gagaran's grin got wider.

"Don't need to tell me twice!" She said with an almost childish enthusiasm.

"Why don't the three of you go explore as well?" Lakyus said, "Go have some fun, we've all earned the break, and if this were some sort of trap, well they've earned our capture." She said with a laugh.

Tia and Tina barely suppressed smiles of their own, and with a quick uniform bow, they took off.

"Are you sure Lakyus?" Evileye said curiously.

"I am." Lakyus replied, "It's fine, this is just a lot to process and I'd probably do so better without company than with it right now."

Evileye gave a polite nod, and turned to go exploring the festivities.

Hours passed as Lakyus took in her surroundings, people were happy, smiling, and...as she increasingly noticed, uncommonly fit, even for farmers it was strange, they carried themselves with a confidence that commoners usually did not have, that people who had endured Jaldabaoth's invasion should not have had, they had held their weapons with practiced ease and comfort, and the ceremony had a martial air that was not usual for peasant farming communities. The lack of a priest was strange, but she had to admit that the notion of being married by the Sun was rather lovely in and of itself.

She hardly noticed that she'd wound her way back to the inn, and she definitely did not notice how much time had passed, and she got there just as Aratos was approaching the door. "Good timing." He said politely, "Our teacher has arrived, I was just coming ahead to get you."

Lakyus was just about to ask where the teacher was, when she saw over his shoulder, where around the corner, a lizardman with a large pack on his back. Aratos saw the change in her expression and he could not restrain his laughter.

"Not quite what you were expecting?" He asked quietly as the lizardman closed the distance.

"No...not really." Lakyus said.

"Well, welcome to Foundoton." He said humorously, and stepped out of the way, he gestured to Lakyus. "Ssaka, this is Lakyus, an Adamantite adventurer hired by the crown." He gestured to Ssaka. "Lakyus, this is Ssaka, a member of the lizardman tribe far to the North in the employ of the Sorcerer King."

Lakyus reached out and shook the lizardman's hand with a bit of trepidation, "Are you...from the Sorcerer King's home?" She asked curiously.

The lizardman shook his head, "No, I'm from a village beyond his home, he conquered our tribe several years ago, and now we serve him."

"Forgive me for asking but...how is his rule?" Lakyus asked.

"Not what we expected." Ssaka said. "He restored several of our finest warriors to life, saw to giving our finest members an education, sent a warrior of unparalleled power to defeat and subjugate our enemies, and gave us food to sustain us and technology that has continued to increase our harvests and our quality of living. We have known neither hunger, nor want, nor fear since his rule, and no man of ours has died in battle, nor have we been thrown away like trash. His rule has been...different...but beneficial." He said.

"I see." Lakyus said through pursed lips, wondering if perhaps Ssaka was required to say these things, but not asking, "I understand you're here to teach?" She asked.

"Yes, I will be teaching the children of the village to read and write, as well as those adults who wish to learn, and on training days I will be providing instruction on the specialized combat methods of Black Justice, I trained with Zaryusu Sasha and Neia Baraja for more than a year in Nazarick, almost two years, so I am very well versed in..."

He paused when he saw the change in Lakyus's expression. "I'm sorry," she asked, "did you say two years?"

"Something like that anyway." He answered.

"But..." she tried to work out the timeline when this could have happened. "When?" She asked, baffled.

"Early this year." He said.

Her confusion mounted. "How could you have trained for around two years...early this year?"

"The Sorcerer King froze time for us, every day for a month, we practiced in the frozen time, and learned a great deal through training and study, then he would unfreeze time, let us relax for awhile, and then we would resume training in frozen time. (*AN: See the story 'Training in Time')" Ssaka said casually.

Lakyus fell back against the inn, touching her forehead with her hand. "You're telling me...the Sorcerer King...stopped the flow of time itself...to give you practice time...and you spent almost two years there, while only a month passed for the world?"

Ssaka paused and thought for a moment..."Something like that. Well...I guess it sounds more outlandish when you say it, but we're used to the impossible from him at this point...still, yeah, that is what happened."

"Oh by the gods..." Lakyus said, unsure if she was praying or uttering blasphemy. "I...well...wow..." She tried to speak, but was at a loss for words.

"So, here I am." Ssaka said with open hands as his mouth fell open in a laugh.

Lakyus found herself short of thoughts and words and breath, all at the same moment, she felt the urge to get out of there and collect herself. "Thank you Ssaka, its a pleasure meeting you, I wish you all the best in your teaching efforts. I truly mean that." Lakyus managed to get out with sincerity in her voice and shook his hand again.

"When do we attend service?" Lakyus asked Aratos.

"After evening meal." He replied, go and relax, I'll come find you afterwards, the rest of your team can come as well if you like. I already spoke to the priest and let him know visitors would be coming." He said with a hospitable smile.

"Thank you, I think I'm going to have a drink and turn all this over in my head for awhile, but I'll be back down after I've eaten." She said to him, and after shaking hands, she ventured back up to her room, quietly, hoping the rest of her team did not know she had returned, this was not something she wanted to talk about until she had time to think about what she'd just heard.

She didn't actually end up eating. As a priestess of the water god, she knew all the stories of her god's deeds, she in fact knew all the stories of all the deeds of all the gods...but nothing they had done compared to the Katze Plains level slaughter, nothing suggested they were capable of fixing time in its place and holding it still, and the stories she'd heard about the magic battle between Ainz Ooal Gown and Jaldabaoth defied anything she'd ever heard of.

She began to see why he was worshiped.

When the appointed time came she descended the stairs, walked out, and found her team already waiting with Aratos. "Ready?" He asked. She gave a weak smile, "Lets go." She said.

If he noticed her lack of enthusiasm, he gave no sign of it, instead he walked in friendly silence as he lead her to the north eastern corner of town. He looked over his shoulder and said, "We build our place of worship in the direction you'd walk to go to the Sorcerer King's seat of power, the only exception to this is, from what I hear, Prart...where our priests have taken over the largest temple in the city, and in the capitol, where the first temple was built at the site of a battle after Remedios Custodio first tried to exterminate us. All others are built in the fashion we have built ours." He gestured to a small shrine placed outdoors. "We are a young town still, and so have not built a proper temple, but the Pope has said that the finest worship is through how we live, not where we pray that matters."

Blue Rose shared a questioning look, and Aratos stopped and looked back at them, "I'm going forward for services now, if you are comfortable joining me, you may do so, if not, no offense will be taken if you simply stand back and watch." He gave a kind smile and then walked over to where the crowd had gathered and took his place in a line, kneeling with others.

A priest arrived a short while later and began to speak. "In a far off land there lived a terrible two headed monster which no one could defeat, it was overwhelmingly powerful, hero after hero, drawn by want of fame and reward, sought it out to end it's life and stop its rampage of the many villages of the kingdom, and one by one the heroes fell before it, being turned into meals that fed its strength, until one day it approached a village where a clever young man lived, and as the village fled in terror, the boy approached the monster. This was unusual, the monster was accustomed to others fleeing in terror, it was accustomed to would-be heroes attacking, it was not used to small humans approaching it unarmed, so the monster asked the young man, "Why do you approach me, are you eager to die?"

The young man shook his head, "No, I just...I wanted to ask you a few things, will you satisfy my curiosity before you kill me?"

At this the monster laughed, it was much amused, and it said to the boy, "Very well, ask, you will be a fine meal either way, I will let you carry my answers to your grave in my belly."

The boy thanked the monster politely and asked, "Why do you, head on the left, allow the head on the right to take so much of your food?" The monster was confused by this, and they tried to explain how each worked, but as the boy probed, he skewed their answers to make it seem to each head as if its mate was stealing from it or depriving it of its due share.

The priest suppressed a chuckle, "Soon the heads were at odds and had begun fighting and arguing, and the boy began to pretend to side with first one and then the other, until their rage at one another grew so fierce that they came to blows, with left and right arms and claws tearing at one another, until one head had killed the other, and the body bled so heavily that the remaining head died as well."

The priest stood silent for a moment, "Strength then is without value if it is not paired with wisdom and knowledge, though the monster knew it was strong, strong enough to kill anything, it did not know how much it needed its mate, it did not know the harm it could do itself, indeed it did not know itself at all, know your strengths, your needs, your weaknesses, or you are no different from the monster that destroyed itself. Will you destroy yourself as it destroyed itself?" He asked.

"No!" The worshipers said in unison. "The monster was divided against itself, so what chance did it have against one united in purpose who knew how to exploit its weakness?" The priest asked.

"None!" They answered as one.

"Weakness is the ultimate sin, it destroys individuals, communities, kingdoms, and kings, we as a people have suffered much because we were to weak, our nation was divided, South cared little for North cared little for South, without the demihuman threat to offer even a slight semblance of unity, we would have been even weaker. To tolerate our weakness is to sin, to sin so in this world is to die, it is to murder our own children, our parents, and ourselves, will we die as sinners?!" The priest asked fervently.

"No!" The crowd said.

The service went on for the better part of an hour, the priest would tell a story, then talk about the moral behind that story, it was all in all, engaging, as rare are the adventurers who do not like good stories. The service closed with a song sung by the worshipers and the priest turned to the alter, bowed his head and led the prayer.

"As you have used your strength for us, we imitate you in using our strength for one another, for you have revealed your will that we give value to our lives and to our deaths and to our unlives, so we have followed, in service to one another, we serve you, and we vow each day anew that we will defend the weak, which is but common sense, that the weak may grow strong, and protect the strong if they grow weak. In your service, in our common service, we are one."

The priest raised his head and turned back to the worshipers, "Clasp hands as brothers and sisters in service, in life, in death, and in the unlife thereafter, and go in peace."

The worshipers shook hands, one to the left and to the right, to the front and to the back, and then walked away.

Aratos approached the fascinated members of Blue Rose and said, "Thank you for attending our service, and thank you for showing it the respect it is due. I hope you found it to be worth your time." He said with a warm politeness.

Lakyus looked to her teammates and then reached out and clasped Aratos's hand. She met his eyes with hers and said, "I think I can speak for my team in this when I say...yes, it was worth every moment. I have learned much."