Chương 91: Chapter 90 - Mediolanum

Having finished negotiating with the sea Pangaeans, and with half a day to kill, Atzi wandered the streets of Mediolanum. She passed sailors and citizens and traders, looking for a place to eat and drink. While she could have gone back to the inn, she had a whole gold coin that spending wouldn't matter when things looped, so of course she was going to splurge. She eventually passed a place that looked pretty fancy. Enough so that it had a sign in the window - 'One meal per customer, per day.' Hells yeah.

What's Mediolanum food like? No idea, but I'm gonna find out! Atzi pushed through the wooden door, walking inside. When she did, she was immediately overwhelmed by a buffet of smells. Meat and bread and sugar. The next thing she noticed was that every table was full. Which meant it must have great food, but also meant a wait. Various aproned waiters bustled food to and from the tables. Atzi walked up to one with his hands full. He looked at her in disbelief, and then blinked.

"May I help you?"

"Yeah. I'm looking for food, and a good drink." He looked her up and down - her outfit smeared in dirt and blood that she hadn't bothered to wash yet. Sneering, he said, "We do not serve street rats." Atzi pointed a clawed finger at him.

"Who you calling a street rat, asshole? I had to get through a demon to reach this place, and I'm gonna get fed. What, you don't take gold now?" She showed off her gold coin. He smiled.

"... My apologies. You understand why we need to keep riffraff out, of course? My apologies. My apologies. Ten minutes for a table. My apologies." Atzi nodded, and waited back near the entrance. She didn't like it, but she hated walking away from food even more. Eventually, despite her appearance, a waiter - a different man to before - led her over to a newly freed table. Atzi sat down.

"Get me some food. And some drinks." That's how you gotta talk to these snobs.

"Will you be having the boar stew, the chicken liver, or the snail pasta? And the red or white wine?"

"Uh..." Snails are bugs, right?

"Snail pasta, sure. White wine." He came back with a bottle and a single glass, pouring it for her. As he was about to take it away, Atzi spoke up, "Just leave the bottle, I'll have the whole thing." Whatever it costs, I bet I can afford it.

"Of course." He did so. Atzi cheered, downed her glass, and swigged some from the bottle, too. A few other people glanced at her, but otherwise resumed their meals. Let 'em stare. You're getting attacked by Hasen, I'll be fine. Eventually, Atzi was brought her snail pasta. She'd never had snails before, so she tried one. It tasted good, so she started loudly slurping down the snail pasta with delight. Atzi didn't know what everyone's problem was.

As far as she was concerned, they were just a bunch of losers who needed to focus on their own meals instead of worrying about hers. When she was done with her meal, she felt satisfied. The waiter came back to her table and said, "That will be thirty bronze." From her experience of upscale meals - limited but not entirely absent - that seemed pretty cheap. A good deal. She took out her gold coin.

"Oh, sure, yeah." He gave her the change from his apron.

"Hey, thanks. Here, for you." She gave him ten more bronze. To show how generous she was. The waiter thanked her. Atzi got up, stretching, before heading towards the exit. And then, she heard another customer start complaining.

"Unacceptable!" Atzi looked over at the whiner. It was a portly man, looking frustrated. His waiter nodded, and headed back into the kitchen. Who Atzi assumed to be the owner of the restaurant emerged. A white haired, red eyed human woman, in an impeccably clean chef's outfit. She had an intense look on her face as she approached the table. Atzi decided to stick around to watch this play out. Maybe she'll kick their asses for complaining.

Her guess wasn't far off, as the woman literally slammed her hand on the table, causing it to rattle.

"What's wrong with the food?" The portly man started stammering, "Well, you see, the ambiance-" The owner said sharply, "That is not the food."

"It was hard to enjoy with-" he turned, saw Atzi, and looked relieved. He whispered something she didn't hear, but could guess.

"So there was nothing wrong with the food?" The owner asked.

"Er, no, but-""Then I hope you enjoyed it! You are banned! Banned!" She grabbed his plate, still half finished, and walked back to her kitchen. Atzi snickered loudly.

"Hey, I liked the food! It was great!" She called after her. She just grunted, not even turning around to look at her. The portly man, meanwhile, glared again at Atzi. He looks pissed. Atzi looked over at him.

"What's your problem?" The man approached her.

"My problem is you got me banned! You uncouth lizard!"

"I didn't do anything. You complained about the food and got kicked out. Idiot." He said, "Be careful who you piss off," and bumped into her shoulder as he walked past her, towards the exit. Atzi tried to trip him up with her tail, but he just kicked it out of the way. Asshole, she thought. She decided to go for a walk, to see the coast. As she ambled along, she got wrapped up in various fantasies, like showing up that guy in another loop, and then the restaurant owner letting her eat out.

As evening turned to night, she eventually stumbled through the city again, looking for something more exciting to do. There were torches around the streets, and trinkets being sold. It reminded her of the festival, but without the partying. She didn't feel like buying any trinkets, so she continued to look around. Eventually she did come across dancing, but it wasn't anything like she'd expected. A singular woman wrapped in furs beat a large leather drum to a steady rhythm.

A crowd of people gathered around, watching two figures in the center. A crazed looking woman and a creepy old man, both shirtless and covered in intricate animal tattoos, though the woman's chest was bound with bandages. The man wore a wolf's head as a hat. Their dance was strange, meticulously timed to the beat as they struck towards each other with weapons. One in each hand, a sword and axe. It was both a dance and fight. Atzi had no idea what was going on, but she overheard some people making bets.

So she bet thirty bronze on the woman. She didn't even have to take out her money to put in the bet, which sounded ripe for abuse, but she didn't care since time would get reset anyway. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. With how methodical the fight was, it didn't seem like either of the dancers were making ground. But some of the moves were strange.

At one point the girl bent backwards to avoid a strike but, because it wasn't not on-beat, couldn't get up immediately. And she just had to wait with her back bent back until the next beat. Atzi asked a guy next to her, "Why are they fighting so weird?"

"Ah. A fellow visitor! Well-" A clash of axes. He continued, "It's a sport. Based on the way they actually learn to fight. They are tattooed warriors, Mediolanum's elite soldiers." Atzi hadn't seen them on her previous visit. And she'd remember, because they stood out.

"There's not many of them, then?"

"Ya, it's a tradition. Have to be inducted from birth. Only about a hundred of them total." Must have been fighting away from the meteors somewhere...

"You bet on the woman, yes?"

"Yeah."

"Why?" he asked, curious. Atzi made a dumb noise as she tried to think of a reason besides imagining her tits falling out.

"Younger, yeah? Can't move as fast when you get older. Don't see many old people in the arena."

"Most visitors make the same mistake. But you see, those tattoos aren't just for show. They are magic. You will notice he has more of them." Atzi looked over, and noticed he was correct. Magic tattoos that make you stronger... not very useful for me, I couldn't carry them between loops and I bet it'd be a pain to get any.

"They enhance their capabilities as warriors. He is older, yes, but in terms of his physical ability? Better than any young person!" The older warrior suddenly disarmed the woman of both her weapons. Atzi whined.

"Ah crap." The woman bowed her head in defeat. Everybody clapped. Atzi slumped a little.

"How was I meant to know that..." The guy she'd bet with approached. He said, "Better luck next time." The man she'd bet with had obviously known about the tattoos, and took advantage of Atzi. Atzi gave him the money.

"Won't be so smug when the boats start showing up." She grumbled quietly. From the center, the creepy old man covered in tattoos and staring like a soul possessed asked, "Would anyone like to try themselves against me?" Practice weird dance-fighting? Sounds useless in a real fight. Some guard isn't gonna wait on me to get into the rhythm. Someone else approached instead. He was disarmed and lost in just four beats.

With someone so unpracticed trying, Atzi noticed something - you couldn't move your lower body and upper body on the same beat. Then another fight started, between the woman and a younger man, both tattooed. She bet forty more bronze on the woman. You owe me a win! - Atzi groaned loudly as she handed over her money.

"How'd she lose twice..."

"Just the way it goes. It's tricky. She's won her fair share, too." Atzi shrugged and headed back to the inn. It was nearing sunrise, so she took a bath before heading back to the beach. She looked around, wondering how to get the shark people's attention without a whistle. Then, a single webbed hand pushed out a treasure chest into the shallow water. Atzi's eyes widened. I love treasure! She ran toward it and opened it. It had five little pouches in it. The whole affair was less involved than Atzi expected.

She'd thought they'd take her to Pangaea. I guess getting in there is really tough. I'd have to- She stopped her thought there, wincing. She'd need to find a different way back in, some day. Atzi snatched the pouches and walked off towards the trees. She opened them until she found the one with the blue paste. Then dipped a claw in and ate some. Soon, she was once again in darkness, before the Forest appeared all around her, a body in every possible direction.

"I have heard of you," the Forest said.

"You wish to negotiate a compact between my people and yours." Atzi nodded.

"Yeah."

"Who is your god? Your prophet space is strange."

"It's complicated. I'm the new prophet of the Saintess, but she was badly hurt recently. That's why it's like this."

"I see." The Forest seemed to be staring at her intently.

"You have more authority than I expected. I thought you were a mere messenger."

"Oh, no, I'm a big deal." Atzi laughed.

"Speak."

"The Serpent is who I'm working with specifically on this, but basically the offer is joining Sostra. There's some rules to that, but if you were part of Sostra, any attack against you would be an attack against us. There'd be no need for schemes in Hasen or in Sostra, we'd come to your defence."

"And what are these 'rules'?" Atzi realized she had no idea, and the Serpent hadn't told her the rules. You bimbo goddess! She made an unsure noise.

"Well, there's taxes. And you'd need to attend the godscouncil, or probably your prophet? And no declaring war on your own. You'd also have to leave Hasen alone, but they'd be leaving you alone, too. It'd be peace. If you wanna argue over land they stole, that'd be something else."

"They must be punished!" The goddess roared. With the last word, Atzi heard the void shaking as if she were deep underground. Atzi stammered out, "Well there'd be some negotiation, yeah? You've been fighting them for a very long time, right? How long's it been?" The goddess was silent in fury before she spoke, her voice sharpened to an edge.

"Do you know what they've done?"

"Yeah. They kill animals, they kill people, they chop down the trees to build more buildings. And that's awful! If you were part of Sostra that'd have to end, but your other plan is, well, I dunno if it's yours, or just Pangaeans, but the plan is a war between Sostra and Hasen right? And you need Hasen to lose." Her voice was still sharp, "And here you are at our doorstep, offering us war and peace at the same time."

"Listen! A war between Sostra and Hasen doesn't work for you at all, trust me! You're thinking of it like the way you war with Hasen, where you want them gone. Sostra doesn't war like that." Atzi rambled on, "We just fight until the other side gives in, then make them an offer to join. That's how half the empire got joined into it. If Hasen really does fight Sostra, and loses, they join it. Which means Pangaea is now at war with Hasen and Sostra. You see? It doesn't wipe out your enemies, it makes them stronger."

"And why would you approach us as allies, then? Why not ally with Hasen against us?"

"They already split from us, they aren't very popular. A bunch of the gods want them kept under control."

"How would we be your allies?"

"Well, it depends if you want an ideal world that can't actually happen in reality, or things to be actually better in the present." The Forest's voice echoed from every location, "The ideal world is the one that bows to me!"

"I can't help you with that! Can you kill every other god? Could you take the Demon in a fight? That thing's terrifying! If you can't kill the Demon in a fight, you can't beat Sostra. That's the minimum, too. The minimum! There's other gods almost as scary."

"I see." The Forest's many faces sneered.

"So this is a threat, too. Join us, or we will kill you." Atzi sighed.

"Not exactly. If you do nothing and just fight Hasen without involving Sostra, then we'd leave you alone. But if you force a war, it either ends with Hasen becoming part of Sostra, or Sostra crippled because Hasen is now so big, and so unstoppable, that even we couldn't hold them back."

"And then we would be next."

"Yeah. In both cases, you're next. I'm not gonna pretend this is what you want, but a chance to hold back Hasen for good and stop them cutting down more trees and killing more of your people is good, right? It's the best of the choices available, isn't it?" The Forest's voice steadied.

"We want blood. Revenge. If you can offer us that, offer not just to defend us from Hasen but attack them with us, we would join."

"You're asking for a full-on war when the empire's already in one." Atzi scratched her head. She considered what the godscouncil might ask in exchange.

"What kind of gems have you guys got?"

"I see. So it comes down to gems," the Forest said in distaste.

"The concentrated power of long dead gods." Atzi was about to continue speaking, when she suddenly stopped, taking in the Forest's words. She shook slightly.

"Wait, what? That's what gems are?" The forest regarded her. Then as if speaking down to a child, she asked, "You know of blood gems, yes?"

"Yeah, a little. They're from killing stuff?" Atzi asked, unsure.

"The concentrated essence of the magical but mortal. All others are the concentrated essence of the immortal." Atzi gawped.

"The death of a god births thousands of gems. Our world is built upon corpses." Her words had a finality to them. Atzi couldn't help but shiver.

"Well, whatever makes them, that's what the godscouncil is really after, in the end."

"If it would see Hasen scoured from the earth, we would pay this price. We have nature gems in abundance." Atzi raised a single clawed finger.

"I think the type the Saintess said was most important was fire gems? Do you have them?"

"Few." She tried to figure out how she could make it work.

"The Godscouncil is really soon, only a few days away. If you want to negotiate with them directly, could you send your prophet?" The Forest was silent. Slowly, every copy of her covered the eyes of the head she was holding. Then she said, "Very well. We shall do this." Atzi nodded happily.

"You need to send a load of guards too, though. There's a demon on the road. I got attacked by her on the way and had to play dead to survive."

"And you can assure us that my people will not be attacked? Other than by this demon."

"It might be a little tricky, but if I can get them to the Serpent's temple, and they don't start a fight on their own, sure." Atzi shrugged.

"Then wait for my prophet to arrive in another half-day, and guide them to Sostra."

"Um. Thanks for talking to me, Forest." Atzi smiled.

"You are odd, for the prophet of the Saintess. Too much humility for such a powerful one." Am I actually making it back alive? This is a little awkward. Atzi laughed.

"I was chosen basically by accident." And the Forest vanished, all at once. Atzi was back in reality, sitting by a tree. Atzi blinked. Oh shit, I really negotiated with her. It worked? Is this gonna pay off at the godscouncil? If I can prove this works, I can get Cory to stop doing evil things! She just had to wait until the Forest's prophet arrived.