Chương 103: Chapter 2.40: Tell Me Why

"Follow me," said Brutus as they met up in the light of the next day's sunrise. They beelined across the estate to their familiar hilltop clearing. Instead of stopping there, Brutus led them into the boulders and rocks framing one side of the plateau. Favius climbed after Brutus as they got closer and closer to the chasm. What's his plan? He said he wanted us to talk, but…

They stopped two steps from the canyon and Favius studied the rope the cultivator had attached to a scrawny pine that somehow survived in a crack between rocks only three steps from the chasm. Normally we've been talking out here, but now… Brutus noticed Favius's look as he uncurled the rope and threw it down into the chasm.

"What?" began Favius.

"Where are we—" Brutus shook his head and pressed a finger to his lips. Favius narrowed his eyes as the cultivator used the rope to climb down into the chasm. About four meters beneath them was a small ledge.

"Climb down after me," Brutus ordered, and Favius hummed as he carefully pulled at the rope. Seems to hold. Well, Brutus has been reluctant to discuss sensitive subjects. Not sure why hanging out on a cliffside is going to improve our security, but oh well. Favius gripped the rough jute rope tightly and placed his sandaled feet against the edge of the cliff. Step by step, he descended, digging his fingers into rope and rough stone with all his might.

Hell, I really should have bound this around my hip before doing this. Then again… He briefly glanced downward. There's a non-zero chance that Brutus can catch me. But still… He smirked as his feet found the ledge and he pulled himself close to the rock face with the rope. Considering what the entity told me about that other guy, dying might not be the end here. He let go of the rope with one hand and found a handhold. Brutus gestured to the side and they scrambled along the ledge for about ten meters.

Handhold by handhold, Favius was carefully testing for stability. When Brutus paused, Favius turned his head back, still digging both hands into a crack and a protrusion respectively. He looked out over the canyon. Still weird how much I enjoyed that goat hunting exercise. And well, maybe it was just Sirrana talking it up, but eating all the goat meat in the following days… He licked his lips and looked out over the small cut of Marcus's estate and the Cindrathi plains visible through the mouth of the canyon.

Brutus cleared his throat.

"All right, this will be tight for me, but you'll fit perfectly." Favius turned and suddenly Brutus disappeared into the cliff face.

"What?" Favius murmured and followed. It was a tight crack at an awkward seventy-degree angle. All in all, maybe five meters in length, though the lower part was filled with loose rubble. Favius sniffed the air. But only heard Brutus's amused voice.

"Don't worry, I cleared the bats out with my aura when I found this place." Favius snorted and followed the cultivator into the darkness. Good thing I can still see. On Earth without my owl eyes, I probably would have avoided such a cave like the plague. After all, binge-watching videos about caving accidents at night has not increased my enthusiasm for the sport. After a few minutes of scrambling downwards, the wet and stony floor spread out and Favius heard a sharp clacking of metal against stone.

Sparks flew and torchlight flooded the cave, briefly blinding Favius.

"Warn me next time," he grumbled, and Brutus shrugged.

"Sorry, forgot that you were relying on your eyes instead of your aura." Favius harrumphed and, as expected, Brutus's aura slowly ramped up in its violent electrical intensity until the cave's air was rich with the anticipation of brutal carnage. Brutus nodded.

"Good." Favius settled down and took a moment to study the cave. The ceiling was an ever-tightening black crack, yet in the broader cave there were stalactites and stalagmites alongside a small pond mostly filled with muddy clay. Favius sniffed as he saw that Brutus had shattered some stalagmites to make space and form benches. That sort of vandalism… Then again, that's how most caves on Earth were made accessible for the public.

He made himself comfortable and took in the white formations, the fire, the muddy pond, and finally the warrior cultivator in front of him.

"So," Favius began, scratching his skin as Brutus's aura tingled.

"Time for a serious discussion then." Brutus nodded.

"Indeed. With everything that has been happening, our security requirements have grown more stringent. But this…" He gestured around with the torch.

"…should suffice. Even going forward." This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Favius hummed and listened to the oddly twisted echoes before nodding.

"Very well. In that case, there's the religious interference I mentioned, the general nature and future of this game, my path going forward, and…" Favius's nose wrinkled in disdain.

"Sirrana's training methods. Though those don't require this kind of privacy." Brutus chuckled.

"I also have a question for you, but I believe that covers all that is in need of discussion." Favius tipped his finger against a wet stalagmite.

"First things first, this religious intervention." Brutus nodded.

"The entity said that three of the ten best-performing competitors were hit with a religion that is…" He raised one finger after the other, and Favius nodded at each term.

"Universalist, expansionist, and anti-technological. Starting one continent over from the player's start location." The cultivator sniffed.

"I still find it disturbing that it uses the term player for…" Favius chuckled.

"Believe me, Brutus, whatever you find disturbing, that's only a second-hand experience of dealing with that thing. The way it changes between meetings, it's almost as if…" He sighed. Well, now I'm speculating. I haven't met the entity often enough. Brutus scratched his beard.

"Well, there is less than a one in three chance that we were hit. But how would we determine that?" Favius snorted.

"We wouldn't. This kind of interference sounds like the thing that will become a problem in fifty to a hundred years." Brutus nodded.

"Indeed. And also for what counts as connected. There is a large continent to the east, which is the only one truly connected to ours." Favius nodded.

"Yes. And if the island chains and the Sea of Dust in the south mean that the southern continent is connected…" Favius clicked his tongue and looked at Brutus.

"But also the Republic's religion is very bound up in its civic character. Are foreign religions…" Favius gestured.

"…even permitted?" Brutus snorted.

"There's no official prohibition against them. Southerners, Easterners, and even our strange northern cousins may practice their faith freely. Yet there's a difference between what a man does in the privacy of his home, as long as he pays the correct taxes to the correct temples, and establishing your religion as a force within the Republic." Brutus snorted.

"I pity the poor fool who gets on Tiber's nerves enough for the Pontifex Bellator to take action." Favius chuckled.

"Yeah, pissing off a religion whose entire thing is that its priests are elite warriors sounds categorically unhealthy." Brutus tilted his head to the side.

"There's another question. I know you speak languages of your old world. Did the entity describe the religion in one of those or Irilian?"

"It spoke to me in—" Favius froze. What? Of course it speaks in… He trailed off and narrowed his eyebrows. Closing his eyes, he used pneuma to refresh the memory.

"It speaks English, I think. Or at least I remember the terms in English." He shook his head.

"Universalist. The way I understand the word means that they accept everyone they convert beyond ethnic boundaries. Really just a fundamental characteristic for any religion that expands heavily." Brutus nodded.

"Indeed, that term is rather clear."

"And expansionist? Well…" Brutus nodded again.

"Anti-technological." Favius sniffed.

"Someone seems to understand my strategy of technological advancement and wants to throw a wrench into that." Brutus scratched his beard.

"Were there such things on Earth? Anti-technological movements?" Favius grinned.

"There were, but they weren't very successful."

"Oh?" Brutus raised an eyebrow and Favius made a dismissive gesture.

"Well, technology gives you a decisive advantage. Or to phrase it more bluntly: machine guns speak louder than protesters." Brutus snorted.

"I only understood half of that. But I do catch your meaning. Still, have you considered doing the same? Interfering with your enemies?" Favius nodded.

"I thought about it. Using ideology as a weapon is a rather brilliant move." Brutus raised an eyebrow.

"I would have expected you to dismiss such an intervention in favor of something technological." Favius made a weighing gesture.

"Well, I have a few ideas regarding militarily relevant technologies, though it would depend on how the entity implements it for me."

"Military technologies?" Brutus continued, and Favius narrowed his eyes at the desire in Brutus's expression. He sighed.

"Ovinius Kestrelo, I have my reasons for withholding these because they would upset the balance of power too much and it might not benefit me. I will mention them, but swear to me not to pressure me on implementing them unless there is an existential threat." Brutus nodded and inclined his head.

"Thusly, I swear." Favius nodded.

"There are stirrups. I believe they are what would be required for cavalry to challenge heavy infantry on the battlefield." Brutus hummed with a skeptical expression.

"Then there are explosives. Grenades like the ones I believe the Pyrii mages are using. But they can be mass-produced in a workshop."

"In a workshop? Like soap?" Brutus's eyes widened.

"Truly," he murmured.

"And the last one?" Favius clicked his tongue and the sound echoed back from the wall a dozen times.

"It's a bit of a strange one. I'm not exactly sure, but giving a civilization access to better ships could, in the long run, be more transformative than the other two." They sat there in silence, considering.

"Will you attack your rivals with one of those? With explosives, maybe?" Favius clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"No, I thought about this. The lesson to take away from this is that when the entity said the rewards can be whatever we want, it really meant that, and I need to think more out of the box. But still…" He gestured broadly.

"This means that the competition is closer and more real than I thought." Brutus looked at him, and the fire of the torchlight cast strange shadows on the man's face.

"Yet you are still convinced of the superiority of your technological path?" Favius nodded.

"Yes, and for quite a simple reason. Something like the religious intervention only hits a fraction of the others, and even then the impact is delayed and uncertain. If I simply use the quests to gain access to better technology, to accelerate myself through bottlenecks of understanding…" He shrugged.

"I'm getting a hundred percent of the rewards, and I can perfectly control them and their consequences." Brutus snorted.

"It is said for a reason that the sabotage of others is the domain of the incompetent. For if they had the strength to truly succeed, they would focus on raising themselves instead of bringing all others low." Favius hummed, but Brutus tilted his head to the side.

"With all that in mind…" Brutus nodded slowly.

"There's a deeper question I should have asked earlier about all of this." Brutus made an all-encompassing hand gesture and Favius could have sworn that the fire and shadows bowed down before the Magnicultor.

"And that is?" The cultivator's eyes bore into Favius, making the boy tense. The light dimmed further.

"Why? Why is any of this happening?"