Chương 116: A Secret Mission

On the way to Viswa we mostly stuck to the main road. I figured that since I was Kasia now, there wouldn't be too much trouble. At least not the inquisitor kind, and that was exactly what we were hoping to avoid. All other trouble, well, I wouldn't say I was already getting bored, but I was definitely feeling the itch. I wondered what that meant. Was I now so addicted to the rush of a fight, the thrill of not knowing if I'd survive, that if I wasn't fighting I started to get itchy? Maybe it wasn't that at all.

Maybe Bogumir had lice, and they'd hopped out of his hair onto my arms and back. I tried scratching, but I couldn't reach the spot. I summoned my revolver and used it to deal with the itch. Kasia raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Hecate," Vasil said.

"Have you thought of a name yet? Your stories need to match. Kasia needs to know what she should call you, especially if you're going to pretend you're twins."

"Yeah, I have a name."

"What is it?" Kasia asked. A sly smile crept onto my face.

"It's Definitely Not Kasia." Kasia looked unimpressed.

"Remember when I said you were funny and charming?" Oh no! She's going to take it back! Panicked, I grabbed her shoulders.

"Because it's… it's…" She gave me a flat stare.

"It's… Aurelia?" I said. She nodded approvingly.

"A beautiful name."

"Haha, yeah."

"I thought you were going to say something like Kunegunda," Bogumir said.

"Or, wait—" he laughed, "or Broniswava!"

"And why, pray tell, would I want an ugly name like that?"

"It fits your personality," he said, still laughing. I squeezed his head between my fingers.

"Kunegunda? Broniswava?! Do I look like I spend my days fermenting cabbage in a basement, Bogumir? If I hear that name come out of your mouth again, I'm going to… I'm going to…"

"What? What are you going to do? Kill me? I wish you would!"

"I'm going to leave you in the next pile of horse manure we come across!"

"Yeah, I doubt that. You need whatever stats I give you."

"I need you to not call me Broniswava more than I need your stats."

"I was wondering," Vasil interjected.

"Bogumir is quite talkative. What is to stop him from talking when we come across some people. Some inquisitors even?"

"Yeah!" Bogumir said.

"What's to stop me from doing just that?"

"Nice try, Bogey. I don't believe you'd do that. You have too much pride. If you started talking, everyone would know you got bested by a girl. At least now people have no proof that anything happened to you. There's no body." I flicked his ear.

"Because you dropped a burning inn on top of yourself."

"Ow! Would you stop doing that?"

"I take no pleasure from this," I said solemnly.

"You're just very annoying. And you know how you train dogs? To stop them from behaving badly?" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"I'm not a dog!"

"Tell me about it. A dog would have learned by now."

"One word in front of the wrong person and you're dead." I grabbed him and made him face me.

"Really, Bogumir? Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?"

"Please Stvora, grant me death."

"Hah!" I said.

"I think he wants you to be here. Wouldn't it be funny if all of this was a secret mission to free Stvora from some kind of elaborate trap the Church has set for him? Maybe they're all working together to hold him captive, and are siphoning off his power for their own nefarious purposes. And then this outsider, this Graecian beauty with, let's be honest here, the best hair ever, comes along, kills everyone working against Stvora, saves your dumb ass—I mean head—and saves your god. Wouldn't that be something?"

Bogumir frowned.

"Is that what's going on?" I put on my most serious expression and slowly nodded.

"It could very well be, Bogumir. It could very well be. What other reason could there be for Stvora never showing his face? I know you keep saying our mortal minds can't comprehend him and all that stuff, but when you think about it my explanation makes far more sense. I've seen gods! My mind could comprehend them just fine. Your people have lied to you. You have unwittingly aided the captors of the god you're supposed to be serving." He opened his mouth but didn't say anything. I saw the hesitation in his eyes.

"Don't worry," I said.

"We'll save him. But the only way to have any chance of success is if we work together. We're on the same team, man. It's time you start acting like it." He narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not saying I believe you. But let's assume you're right. I have your word that you will release him?"

"Why wouldn't I? I don't have a problem with Stvora. I've never even met him. It's the Church of Stvora I have a problem with, and so should you. Even if they didn't kidnap him—and I'm pretty sure they did—they are giving him a bad name." He grunted, and the conflict on his face was clear.

"Maybe you're right," he finally said.

"Maybe we have lost our way."

"That's quite an understatement. I'd say kidnapping your own god goes a bit further than losing your way."

"Hmm." He seemed to have accepted that explanation pretty easily. It didn't look like he was faking it. Maybe he accepted it so quickly because he didn't want to think of himself as a traitor. Maybe he had doubts before, I mean it was very strange that no one had ever seen Stvora, so surely he'd have to be wondering why. Not being able to comprehend a god is a pretty weak explanation for why he never shows up. If no one can comprehend him, how can he talk to them? How can they know what he wants?

How can they claim to know? Quite a logical fallacy right there. Maybe he actually did get kidnapped. I wasn't serious when I said it, but I was starting to believe it myself. It did make sense. Damn, I was so persuasive I even convinced myself! That being said, if he did get kidnapped that would mean he wasn't all powerful. Obviously no god is all powerful, I know that, but the people of Silesia seem to believe Stvora is. Bogumir sure did.

Maybe it slipped his mind for a moment, or maybe he didn't actually believe it. Why would they kidnap their only god, though? I suppose the most basic explanation would be money and power, which they definitely had. They took everyone's gold. They decided who got power. They decided which classes were allowed. By Her Pale Grace, I was getting more convinced by the second. It would also explain why people were still getting outlawed classes. They didn't even have to get them from a random saint.

They could simply be getting them from Stvora. Maybe that was all he was currently able to do and he was trying to give people classes that would allow them to overthrow the Church! That raised another question. If more people started believing I was some kind of saint, would that mean that I'd get to give people classes as well? What would that look like? Would I get a message with a list of classes and some boxes to check? Would it be like "Hey, Hec, here's a list of stuff you can give to someone who likes you."

Would the class be related to me somehow? Would I be able to share my own class? Would I even want to? Would I be able to create new classes, or did you have to be a god for that? Would gaining enough believers turn me into a goddess or were there other requirements? You'd probably need a high level as well. All gods were extremely powerful after all. Obviously more people would believe you actually were a god if you were powerful so the two went hand in hand.

It also made me wonder if Kasia was one of my believers. Unfortunately I had no way to know. Maybe she didn't even know for sure, and I definitely wasn't going to ask. It would be nice if I could gift her a cool class. Maybe she'd also like to be a [Gunwitch]? Maybe it would be better if she had a class of her own instead of copying mine. She was her own person after all, even if I did look exactly like her now. And unlike my disguise, a class was forever.

Maybe I should hype her up to Mēnē a bit more, just in case. It would probably increase the odds of her getting something cool, unless you had to be super devoted, which I wasn't sure you'd have to be, seeing as I also got something from Ambelios. I looked up at the sky and saw the moon clear as day. Why not start right away?