“Hey Ben, just out of curiosity, you aren’t actually trying to awaken your sacrilege skill, are you?” Thera asked as the three of them walked through the streets.

“Of course not. How would I even do that?” He asked, immediately feeling the wheels turning in his head with the question. It wasn’t like he went out of his way to do things that could be considered acts against the gods, and if sending the trial he’d been stuck in to a whole other level of reality had only been enough to boost him a single level then how was he ever going to raise it more?

I mean sure, I guess enough minor acts of sacrilege could get me to the ninth level eventually, and then I’d only need a single bigger one after that to push me past, but who knows just how big that would even have to be? Maybe I could just devote half of my minds to constant sacrilegious thoughts for some passive experience?

His god begged in his head.

Relax, you know I’ve never once done anything with the intention of gaining a level of it.

“I’m personally for it,” Greed chimed in, breaking off his talk with his god. “After what we went through somebody's gotta pay, and the bastard who had us thrown in is already dead.”

Thera just shook her head. “I get it, but either way I’m waiting outside. Good luck I guess.”

“Ha, it will be fine, don’t worry,” Ben told her as they made it to their destination and without any hesitation let himself inside.

Allfaith was really divided into two sides. The side governed by the aquatic races, and the one controlled by the terrestrial ones, with any semi-aquatic species landing on one group or the other depending on where they kept their homes or holy sites. Of the two groups, both had separate communal church heads and separate political sides, and Ben had just let himself into the main building where the two land-based groups held their meetings, right when he knew one was happening.

As a government building, plenty of areas were devoted to the public, but he didn’t care for any of them, instead going to a door in the back, two guards standing out front of it.

Maybe but we’ll see.

“Stop,” One called out as he got closer. “This is a private area, if you need any assistance the table at the front can help you.”

“Oh no, I’m exactly where I need to be,” Ben said, pulling out his card and beginning his lie. “I’m sure you’ve heard of me, I’m the apostle of Myriad your city decided to have put to death, along with the soundsmith Greed. We’re here for the meeting we were promised about just how we were to be compensated for that.”

The two guards looked at his card and then each other, both growing pale as they did. Nobody in the city was unaware of who he was or what had happened to him, with the fact that they’d made it out spreading like wildfire. The very first people to survive the trial were ones who didn’t even want to enter it to begin with, only for them to destroy it immediately after leaving. Even with all of the chaos of the past week it had been a hot talking point, presumably one that would go on for ages after, but worse than that was nobody had informed either of them to expect their arrival.

“I’m sorry,” The guard began, much more politely as he did. “We weren’t informed. If you would just give us a few minutes-”

“Oh, of course!” Ben called out in a voice dripping with sarcasm. “We’ve already lost months of our lives to that experience, why not make us wait even longer? I think they’re trying to just give us the runaround Greed.”

“Sure looks like it,” The crab agreed as eyes around them began to gather.

The guards didn’t know what to do. They both could tell what an important, delicate situation this was given what had happened, and Ben’s card was clear. He was an apostle, there was no reason not to trust him.

“Ahem, what I meant was that it will only take a few moments to show you in. Please, follow me,” He said, leaving his companion outside as he led the way.

Ben ignored his god as the guard led him to a bigger room with over a dozen people present in it. Both sides that governed the city, locked in an argument over how they were going to react to the coming invasion on their doorstep.

“We have to raise taxes!” One lizard man boomed. “No one will like it, it’s a fact of life, but it’s better than being dead. Arm the templars with the best we can get and offer incentives to any nations with armies that don’t have the threat so close to send their aid!”

“The people are already going to be struggling!” A different woman argued. “This isn’t the time to be making their lives more difficult! We need them to be in the best frame of mind they can to be giving faith during this crisis! Besides, we can’t simply bribe a nation into sending help our way. International agreements exist for a reason. We’re all in this together.”

It seemed like it was a long-running argument at this point, one that was likely to continue until she noticed them enter, waiting to be acknowledged as she raised a hand and addressed the guard. “What is this? Unless this is an emergency this is a closed meeting.”

Before the guard could speak though, Ben did, continuing his lie. “What do you mean ‘what’s this’? We’ve waited a week for this meeting despite the hell we’ve gone through and you’re saying you’re not even prepared for us? Fine then, I’m Ben, the apostle of the god Myriad, along with the soundsmith Greed. We’re here to discuss how we’ll be compensated for the hell we’ve been put through.”

Their introduction made the group fall silent, each of them knowing who he was as well as anyone else in town did, with the only exceptions being the woman who seemed to be a part of the religious side looking at him with confusion, while the lizard man from the political side did with annoyance, resulting in him being the first to speak up.

“Compensation? Bah, you already claimed an area of prime real estate in town, what more could you want?”

Instead of answering, Ben looked to the sky, asking a question of Myriad he already knew the answer to. “Hey Myriad, given what happened to me and Greed, have all of these people been investigated yet?”

“So you’re saying they haven’t been looked into beyond being sure they aren’t murderers? Honestly, that sounds pretty careless. Given that it was the god’s lack of care that landed me in a situation like that as well, why don’t you probe that idiot a bit deeper and see if there’s anything problematic that should be dealt with? It might warrant a closer look at the rest of them I would think.”

“Now wait a minute-” The lizard man began, a touch of worry in his voice as Ben ignored him, focusing on the religious side who seemed far more amused.

“No. Anyway, as I said before, we’re here to discuss being properly compensated for what happened to us. The land obviously doesn’t count for anything because it was given to us by the trial’s god, not any of you.”

“Olop’s already been dealt with,” A member of the political side said, much more meekly now that the prospect of the gods thoroughly going over their lives had been brought up. “With the invasion coming, to spend the resources-”

“Again, do I look like I fucking care?” He asked, making himself out to be less of an apostle than a devil as he stared the man down. “Look, to be honest I didn’t really come here to discuss it. That would imply coming to a decision as equals. Instead, I’m giving you an option. I’m sure plenty of you have at least heard of Greed, seeing as he’s one of the few people in the world with an awakened music skill. The ordeal we’ve been through is going to become the center of his act. It should be good for drawing in a crowd since he went through an experience like no other. What matters is how he frames it. Is it going to be the story of our triumphant survival against adversity, or it’s the story of the incompetent heads of Allfaith allowing a murderer enough power that we had to spend two months of our lives being tortured? The choice is yours.”

“Wait a minute!” The religious woman called out, now far more concerned. “That doesn’t just affect us! You have to consider how such a thing could affect the gods. If it weakens people’s faith-”

“Or if it makes people lose trust in the city!” The lizard man added as he understood the situation they were threatening to create. “It could affect future tourism, some might even move when we only have-”

“Don’t care. How many times are you all going to make me tell you that? This isn’t a discussion, this isn't a negotiation, I’m simply telling you all your options. You have five minutes to talk about it amongst yourselves and then we will accept a single offer. If we don’t like what you’re offering we’ll leave.”

They all looked at Ben from their seats, seeing the seriousness in his eyes to not only harm the city, but even the gods as he went to wait outside, giving them nowhere near enough time to figure out what to do.

“Missy, I gotta say, this boyfriend of yours is actually a monster,” Greed cackled. “When they gave us the offer and you started walking out I thought some of them were going to have heart attacks!”

“Gods above, do I even want to know Ben?”

“I just told them that they needed to decide what was fair to compensate us with,” He said innocently as he looked at his card, doing everything he could to keep from grinning ear to ear. “When we didn’t like their offer we left like we said we would. I was originally planning on leaving it like that, but well, they were just so persistent we take their new higher offer, how couldn’t I agree?”

Of course not. This is well on the way to being acceptable gains after what we had to deal with.

“And what you said when you agreed!” Greed almost yelled, unable to contain himself after how much money he’d made. “‘I guess if you’re going so far to give us each that much then I understand, you really are trying to show some sincerity.’ I actually saw a few of them burst some blood vessels in their eyes hearing that! Can’t believe you doubled it with one innocent sentence! I really need you around if I ever have any negotiations legs, I’m going to be living well for the rest of my life after this!”

“Ha, well next time I see you you’ll have to show me how far it gets you,” Ben told him as they made it back to the embassy and handed him to Furela. “Despite everything, it’s been good getting to know you Greed. Try not to let any stray children eat you while I’m not around.”

“Ha, same legs. Stop by when you get the chance and don’t go getting murdered without a fantastic healer nearby.”

“A fantastic healer is never letting him out of her sight again,” Thera said as she held his arm. “But thanks for keeping him alive while I wasn’t around.”

“Haha, looks like old Greed grew on you in the end,” The crab said as he waved them off, Furela carrying them back to the gate, leaving just the two of them.

“So what other incidents do you still have to cause?” Thera asked him.

“No incidents, it’s just time to see some friends.”