Chapter 646

With their goodbyes said, Tenth was led to the church where he could relax with the others, letting Ben move on to work through the ones that Lux had healed before he was done with those as well, leaving him only a few more to approach, with the handful of people left being the most complicated ones of all.

So let’s see, how do I want to handle this? There’s only six left but I’m probably going to need help for three of them so for now I’ll ask Lux if she can grab me Abrus and maybe even the space spirit and then while waiting for them I can deal with the first three. Okay, sounds like a plan for now, surely this isn’t going to be as stressful as it seems, right?

“What do you mean the great lord Quox is considered some sort of forbidden god on this world!” One screamed while one of the others by her side laughed, all while Ben did his best to wear a comforting expression no matter how much he simply wanted to be done with things.

He’d been able to fill them all in on what happened and the state of the world they’d found themselves on easily enough and had even given the offer that they might freeze themselves again to avoid the fighting, but annoyingly, the one group he’d hoped might take that option had collectively rejected it, leaving him no choice but to explain some complicated parts about their current world that many of the others he’d spoken to simply didn’t have, starting with the first woman, the worshiper of a god whose soul was currently sitting in his greenhouse to help make his potions.

“Nobody laugh, I have things to discuss with the both of you as well. Now, as for your god, however you feel about them is up to you. I have no desire to deny your feelings on the matter, I’m just going to tell you everything that happened. I already said that this world is made up of a collection of gods and races, the reason that your old one is considered forbidden is because they escaped your world without even trying to save any of your people. He completely abandoned your kind in the hopes that he could save himself and just came here for some easy believers which the gods of this world didn’t allow, and in an attempt to make some himself, he made a mistake that strengthened the demon race a whole, leading to his execution. While word about that bit hasn’t completely spread, there’s certainly rumours so I recommend not mentioning it wherever you end up making your new life, it will only complicate things for you.”

“Quox is dead? You killed him?”

Ben knew that the ‘you’ she was referring to was the planet as a whole and not him in particular but as the one who’d actually swung the knife he couldn’t help but feel a little bad for her. He could tell that the woman before him had used her faith to help keep herself stable during her centuries of confinement and here he was, giving her the worst news she could have received. If it hadn’t carried a risk of endangering her then he would have happily kept that fact to himself but the last thing he needed was her mentioning the god she believed in to the wrong person. Better to give her the bad news now.

And then let Valaria deal with it from here. These three are going to need a little extra work so Myriad’s lovely priestess can take on this since I sure as hell don’t want to. Sorry Valaria, I’ll make it up to you one day.

With the resolve to dump them on her the second he was done explaining things, Ben focused back on the woman before him.

“Yes. He didn’t just endanger us with his actions, he endangered the rest of the galaxy. No, the universe. Every demon in existence will be able to become quantifiably stronger because of his mistake and because of all of the lives that are going to end for it, he needed to be punished. I’m sorry, I wish I didn’t need to tell you this but now that you’re aware you need to keep it to yourself. If you have any questions later, discuss them with Valaria over there, she can help you. For now, I need to move on to the other two.”

“What, gonna tell us there’s something wrong with our gods too?” One laughed again, coming across far too jovial considering how long they’d been trapped.

“Yes actually, by the standards of this world, both of your gods would be viewed as evil.”

“What!” The other yelled before trying to lunge at him, only to fall to the ground as Ben casually stepped out of the way.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“For one, look at your histories. Despite how deeply buried in your memories it is, you’re both dimly aware that the gods of your original worlds killed the others they were born with.”

“That’s because-”

“Looking at how your societies developed there’s nothing you’ll be able to tell me that I’m not going to just view as propaganda and indoctrination,” Ben sighed before giving a pointed look to the one that jumped at him. “I hate to tell you this but your race was already on the verge of extinction even before you were invaded. A planet that supports combat and nothing else with everyone killing each other under your god’s orders to see who would ultimately prove the strongest, the actions of a mad war god really are too much to keep a civilization going. If you’re going to live on this world, the only thing you’ll be allowed to kill is demons, otherwise you have to live in peace with those around you. If you can’t do that then you’re free to fight me right now and we’ll see which of the two of us comes out on top.”

“…No, I’ll focus my efforts on the demons.”

The answer left Ben a little relieved. If he’d really thought it was going to be a problem then he wouldn’t have let him out of his pod to begin with but he’d been prepared for the potential that he might misbehave with his freedom. Reading his mind though, it was clear he was being sincere, leaving only the third to finish with.

“Good, and then we’ll end things with you, miss oracle of a mad god.”

The one Ben felt most complicated about releasing. He’d seen her history. Ritual sacrifice, torture, betrayal and condemnations of all kinds existed within the recessive of her mind. If that had been all then he’d have never released her, the world was dangerous enough as it was without adding a homicidal maniac to the mix. He was completely comfortable judging her as entirely mad before her world had fallen, but that was the issue that complicated things.

Of every one of the prisoners he’d escaped with, she was one of the oldest by far, having been trapped for so many thousands of years that as far as he could tell she’d looped around, going from insane to mentally broken, all the way back to something approaching sanity through sheer luck. It didn’t even seem like she herself could properly remember the world she’d once lived in, all he could tell was that after so long being trapped and alone, she longed for others in a way that made him believe that whoever she’d been in the past was gone.

And I’m ninety-nine percent certain she’s harmless now, but…

“No, before anything else, are you sure you wouldn’t want to go back to your pod to wake up once the world is saved?”

“Me? Oh no, if I’m going to die then I need to make sure I live every day I have first, don’t I?”

The statement was followed by an uncomfortably long series of laughter that left her coughing by the end as the rest of them watched on in discomfort, leaving Ben to break the silence.

“…Welp, that’s a great attitude to have and I’m sure our lovely Valaria would be happy to help you with that, isn’t that right?”

Immediately trying to dump her on someone else, he ignored the clear look of betrayal in the priestess’s eyes, even as she nodded in the end.

“Great, now I know you don’t remember much from your pasts but what you do, keep to yourself and you’ll be fine. Now with that done, we’ll send you all off and-”

“Wait,” The former oracle stopped him. “If who we all worshiped in the past is going to be an issue, is it fine to just begin giving faith to someone new?”

“How practical of you. Yes, that would make things easier, we were hoping that you’d all find yourselves gods to believe in eventually anyway when you were more comfortable.”

“Alright then apostle, tell us about your Myriad.”

“Hmm? You know, I probably shouldn’t be saying this but you can all find who suits you best, you don’t need to give your faith to my god in particular.”

“Why would I possibly want to give faith to any other god when you’re the one that saved us?” She asked in confusion. “As an apostle yourself, it has to be a sign!”

“…Okay, sure, but you can hear about him from Valaria. As his high priestess and someone far more devout than myself, she’s the perfect choice to answer any of your questions.”

“Um, Ben?” Valaria tried to interject, more than a little put off by being volunteered to guide someone he’d literally just described as the oracle of a mad god, but he waved her off.

“It will be fine, trust me. The past is the past and Myriad loves getting new followers, and more than anything else I have absolute faith in you.”

“Mmh.”

Feeling uncomfortably suspicious that they’d been given to her to save Ben the trouble of dealing with them himself, nonetheless, she did as her apostle asked, leading them back to the church where the others were waiting, ending things with that group.

And leaving the most interesting three for last.

Seeing the three great spirits waiting off to the side to give him the help he needed, Ben held back a sigh and got up, already eager to get that last bit of work done so he could move on to other things.

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