Chương 101: 14 - WHAT PARADISE

The hole that they crawled through was about ten feet wide, forcing them to dirty their already dirty clothes with its sandy foundation. They emerged on the other side on a street of smooth stone. After what felt like a year of toiling, T'balt had finally reached the Looter's Paradise. He was hesitant to even look around, but once he did, the first thing they noticed was the uniformity of the place. The buildings were crafted in the whites and blues of a coastal town.

Everything was made of white stone, from the buildings to the streets. Each building was shaped like a hut with blue pointed roofs. There was fauna growing off of them, untamed by pots or vases. They seemed to grow out of the walls and around the base of the roofs. It hardly looked like there was any roof for electricity here. It felt like stepping into a different century when people had to live off the land. Paradise, sure, but not exactly modern paradise.

T'balt had to debate whether or not the term paradise could even be used here. Despite the place reportedly only being a month old, it looked worn and almost broken. The deeper they walked, the more cracks they saw. Dirt was everywhere. People walked the streets in old rags, and they had a faint smell of sewage that made him turn up his nose. Another area looked like it had just been beaten up by a powered-up street fight; remnants of magical elements cratered the ground and one of the houses.

Everyone just seemed to walk around like it was normal.

"I'm already missing the hunter's club," Cannon said.

"This is hardly a place that I'd call paradise. Are you sure we have the right place, T'balt?" Ellie asked.

"The only thing we can do is look around and find out," he responded.

"Our main lead is to find the creator of this place. They're our most likely suspect."

"What about this?" Ellie pointed to a small graffiti mural on one of the houses. It was dented in by a crater, like someone with Cannon's strength had tried to punch a hole in it, but they could still vaguely read the letters.

"Our Savior, Uriel G—" the last letters had crumbled off the building.

"That looks promising," T'balt mumbled skeptically.

"You think that might be Uriel Grace," Ellie added.

"He's likely to be the only one with such a unique first name, and I can still see the G at the end."

"Who's Uriel Grace?" Ellie paused for a moment, like the answer was going to be complicated.

"He's an author that I read sometimes when I was… figuring things out."

"What kind of author?"

"Something between self-help and philosophy."

"Right." T'balt got the sense she didn't want to be questioned on it further, so he kept it strictly about Uriel.

"Do you really think he's the kind of guy that could raise a city like this?"

"It actually makes sense. He did occasionally write about how he envisioned a high-functioning society as it was being developed and the moral basis on which each individual agrees to be a part of that society."

"Ahh… the modern philosopher," Cannon said, smugly.

"The art of solving problems that don't help anyone."

"Don't be a jerk. I could've made fun of your little car obsession, but I didn't. People just don't like philosophy because it makes them think about themselves and what they actually value. I'd say it's a fundamental study if you want to be a proper human." Cannon rubbed his neck at her snappiness before putting his hands up in peace.

"I don't even know what philosophy is," said Acelin.

"I'll tell you later," Ellie answered, leaving the boy disappointed.

"So," T'balt said, pointing.

"Does your Uriel Grace look anything like that?" Not far from them, in the middle of the city, was a large white statue that glowed orange by a series of fire lamps in the night. It was a man and stood at least ten stories tall. He had long hair down to his back, wore long, layered robes, and held a book in his hand with both palms on the bottom.

"I wouldn't know," said Ellie.

"The author didn't have a face. It was an anonymous pen name. He never struck me as someone who cared to be in the public eye." They made their way over to the base of the thing, looking up at its grand natural being in the center of a ritual of fire lights. There was a stone plaque on the bottom of it, but it wasn't the name Uriel Grace on it. It read, "The Bestower."

"So is this reading real Redeemer energy to you, T'balt?" Cannon asked.

"It does, but honestly, so did Corlander. I don't want to jump to conclusions when it could be any kind of loot that gives the man power."

"But didn't Monan say they would be here?"

"The problem is that's all he said. And jumping to conclusions has gotten me in deep trouble in the past." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Cannon considered a moment, then he ran off. He waved down a lady on the other side of the statue. She was kneeling, looking like she was praying to the thing. She was hooded like some acolyte.

"Excuse. Mind if I ask you something?" She stared at him curiously.

"I'm sort of new here. Who exactly is the Bestower?" The woman tilted her head and then giggled.

"He's our god and savior. The man who gave us a place to go when the rest of the world had been forsaken. He gives strength when we have none and hope when all is lost."

"Ahh," Cannon scratched his beard as if he thought the answer was obvious.

"And where might we be able to find him? I could really use some hope right about now."

"Oh, you don't find him. If he wishes to speak with you, you'll be summoned. Everyone knows that. It's a great sin to bother him without his permission. When you said you were new, what did you mean by that? Everyone here was informed that before they were brought."

"Uhhh…" Ellie sprang to action, slapping Cannon hard on the back.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I lose track of him for one moment, and he goes around causing trouble. See, my friend here is a little slow in the head and forgets things a lot." She smiled.

"Sorry if he was bothering you." The woman nodded before picking herself up and walking away.

"Slow in the head?" Cannon frowned when she was gone.

"Yes. Did you forget we snuck in here? We need to blend in like German said, which means not going around telling people we're new here."

"Well, how else are we supposed to find anything out if we don't ask?"

"She's right, Cannon," T'balt said.

"We shouldn't draw attention to ourselves. We'll try to eavesdrop and search for clues. I'm getting the feeling that I want to find this Redeemer before they find me... I'm getting real sick of people thinking they're gods." He mumbled the last part, staring up at the statue.

"Where's Acelin?" Ellie asked, looking around. They spotted him kneeling in one of the alleys next to a young girl. He had given her a wrapped bread roll that he must've kept from the Hunter's Club. But when she saw the others walking over, she ran off before they could say anything. Acelin looked a little estranged by her running but shrugged his shoulders.

"What was that?" T'balt asked.

"She looked hungry," the kid said.

"Kinda reminded me of Genya."

"Do you still think about her?"

"Sometimes." T'balt smiled, feeling a strange sense of parental pride. To see the kid now, after remembering the person he could've become. The kid in the mask. Nrv. He had always worried about Acelin, unsure if he would turn out okay being on the road with him like this, but so far, things were going okay. T'balt patted him on the back.

"Let's go." They moved on, searching around for anything that might've given them a sign on how to find the Redeemer or at least this Bestower. But they were limited with it being the middle of the night. There wasn't a lot of movement in the city, and only certain areas had enough light for them to see. So when they noticed a large ruckus coming from one of the large buildings, naturally, they gravitated towards it. It looked like something of a saloon.

Dozens of people were inside, cheering and screaming for something. It seemed to have an open-door policy, so they all slipped inside and hugged the walls. A bunch of men were sitting in the middle of the open floor. There was a raised platform in the center with a woman standing on it. She was hardly dressed in a thin red bikini and matching high heels. A beautiful woman from what they could tell, with thick curly brown hair, exotic brown skin, and a shapely body, round in the top and the bottom.

But she was a little unnaturally thin, likely from malnutrition. The place was a poorly thrown-together strip club, judging by the catcalls from the men around her. Except for one major problem. There was a chain around the woman's neck. A man held the other end of the long chain, parading it around like he was showing off his prized possession to the other men.

"Gentlemen! I now present to you, world-renowned singer, Lila Bloom! A woman of elegance and class in the old world, who now wants to get down and dirty just for you!" The crowd clapped and roared their approval. Her body was nervous, stiff, and afraid. It was a well-known name, a jazz singer who appealed to an older audience with emotional ballads. She wasn't what one would call A-list, but still someone whom the average household had probably heard of.

Now she was reduced to being paraded in front of these people, 90% naked with a chain around her neck. The man pulled on the chain, dragging her head down. This was the sign for her to start slowly moving her hips and swaying side to side. Her arms moved up and down her chest, not in an alluring way but in the way of someone trying to subtly cover their exposed body. When the man saw this, he yanked again, forcing her to open up.

"This is deplorable," Ellie said.

"Yeah, this doesn't feel right," Acelin said.

"Yeah, you probably shouldn't be in here. Neither should any of us, for that matter." T'balt tried to pull the kid, but then he heard a large splash. Someone had thrown cold water at the woman, causing her to shiver, but they still cheered as her nipples bulged under her top. Cannon grabbed T'balts' arm. It was strong. Even though he had reimplanted his strength loot, he was usually good about being gentle with his touch. Not this time.

"You're not telling me you're seeing someone up there by their own will, are you?"

"I understand what you're feeling," T'balt said.

"But we're out of our element here. As far as we're concerned, this is normal around here. If we do anything rash, we might be attacked and kicked out of this place before we get what we came here for. We have to let it be for now." Ellie crossed her arms.

"Come on. We can't just throw our fists at everything to solve our problems. We need to be smarter than that." Acelin pulled his arm from him.

"It worked with my dad." There was another shout from the crowd.

"Show some skin!" The woman on the platform showed a look of absolute horror on her face, covering her breast on instinct. When she did, the man yanked her so hard she fell down on her knees.

"You heard the man." The man reared his hand back as the woman, still shivering, started to undo the straps of her top. T'balt's face twisted.

"Yeah… fuck that." There was a rumbling of footsteps and a crash as everyone in the room suddenly stood, loot magic aimed at the center stage. T'balt had the man with the chain by the neck with his God Slayer Sword summoned and rage in his eye.