“You sure can keep your calm, Vim,” Renn said as we walked through SilverCreek.

“How so?” I asked. What was there to not be calm about? The city was lively, peaceful… its inhabitants calm and a few were even friendly, waving at us as we walked past because they recognized Renn for one reason or another.

A part of me worried over such a thing, but I knew better than to actually act on such a worry or get too stressed out over it. Part of the process of settling somewhere and safely blending in for our people was just that, making friends and being well liked among the village and whatnot.

“She prophesied your mother showing up, and you just… frowned and nodded? Aren’t you at least a little worried?” Renn asked.

“Of course I am. But I know better than to think what she saw is what will happen. She likely misunderstood something, and as such the truth is not as dire as it is being presented as,” I explained.

“So… you think Liora misunderstood what she saw?” Renn asked.

I nodded. “Very obviously. My mother is gone, Renn. Without any doubt,” I said. I would admit, if but for a tiny moment, I had wondered otherwise… but that moment was long gone and would never return.

“What do you think it means then? Do you think you just called someone mother, is someone named such a thing? Do we know someone you’d call mother?” she asked, her quick mind going where mine did as well back when I first heard Liora’s prophecy.

“That’s my assumption. She likely saw something in the future, maybe even a decade or two from now. It’s not too unlikely that at that moment someone is near us who has recently given birth, or might possibly even be outright named such a thing,” I said.

“Then… why the bright light? And what about her saying you screwed up?” Renn asks.

“I don’t know Renn. My first and obvious assumption is Liora simply dies. Which means this visitor is not a friendly one. And me screwing up is not too unheard of, as much as no one else seems to believe,” I said.

Renn scoffed a laugh. “Please, Vim. I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you right now,” she said.

“Ill humored, but my joke isn’t too far from the truth. I likely have, or will, make a mistake… and thus we will get attacked by whoever this individual is because of it,” I said. We rounded a small road and stepped onto an even smaller one. One that was too small for carts or wagons.

“Rather ill fitting, I’d say. It made me laugh,” Renn corrected.

I sighed and nodded. “And honestly, there’s another possible explanation. One I don’t want to admit… but…”

“But…?” Renn stopped walking, as to frown and wait for my answer. She likely knew this Haggo and his office was just around the bend, and had stopped walking as to force me to answer. She knew I’d stop talking about this once we got there.

“Based off her description, there’s… a chance,” I said quietly, deciding to just answer and get it over with.

“Description…? Oh… she described your mother to you? Or at least, this person who you called mother? Did she do it accurately?” Renn asked, her eyes lighting up a bit in excitement. It seemed she had not heard Liora’s description of this person yet, based off the way she was reacting. That meant she had heard the rough version of the prophecy then had ran out to see me in worry before hearing the rest.

“Well… yes. She did,” I answered truthfully.

Renn’s frown deepened. “Then…”

“Then all it proves is the most likely, or rather only possible, culprit… if I really had addressed this individual Liora foresaw as mother, and she hadn’t misunderstood or mistaken something… Well, they’d be a god,” I said simply.

My wife’s beautiful eyes narrowed a little as she absorbed my words, and then she glanced around for a moment. She hadn’t needed to, we were alone on this small path. And most of the buildings around us were made of good brick and no windows were open and facing our way. And even if someone was listening in, our conversation likely sounded completely insane to them.

“Basically, a god likely took my mother’s form. Maybe to… trick me, and get me to let my guard down. If even for a moment,” I specified before Renn could ask the obvious.

“Is… is that possible?” she asked.

“Honestly, it might be. Gods can modify their bodies, and many did so or do so, but… to that level…? I’m not sure. Even if one of them took the shape of my mother, there’s more to it than that. They’d have to mimic her voice, her little ticks and cues, the way she spoke and the words she used…” I slowly shook my head. “I find it hard to believe anyone, god or no, could possibly do that. I could see myself being stunned for a heartbeat or so at the sight of her, but then… then I’d likely burst into a rage, because I would know instinctively that it wasn’t her,” I said. There was no need to go into further detail as to why it would be obvious to me, beyond just her little traits that no one could feasibly mimic.

“So the only way it’d be possible, and work, is if it was someone who had known her well,” Renn concluded.

I nodded… and almost regretted doing so, but it was too late to hide such things anymore. “Yes. Basically.”

Renn stretched her jaw a little, as if to pop it or something, and then she gave me an odd look. “Just why did you bring Liora here, Vim? Why didn’t you entrust her with Light or at Telmik?”

Hadn’t we already touched on this topic…? “I’m hoping to keep her both safe, and to use her as an extra layer of security. For you and others,” I said honestly.

Renn’s eyes softened a little. “That’s kind of cruel to her, Vim. She’s stressing over her prophecies, she’s just a little girl.”

“A little girl poisoned by divinity… yes. It is cruel, but it is a life of hardship those bastards forced upon her. The best we can do is help her through it, and to do so she must also help us. Not that I’d force her to, of course, but…”

“But you’ll hope she will all the same. Really, Vim, be gentler with her… she’s…”

“What? A human? You of all people should know how even the most human saints are still a step away from them, as we are. In fact many saints are less human than some of our own people, particularly those thin in the blood… like Folz,” I said.

I heard Renn’s ears shuffle under her hat. “Fine… so how do you expect her to help us, anyway? By just alerting us to dangers or something?” she asked.

“Actually, I’ve already received the help I’ve been expecting,” I said as I gestured for her to return to walking with me. A pair of men had started heading our way from the other side of the road, and I didn’t want them to focus more on us than they needed to. If Renn and I stood here the whole time as they passed us by, they’d think we were a typical married pair in the middle of an argument… and thus would pay more attention to us since they’d find it amusing.

Renn and I returned to walking as she got a bit closer. “How so?” she asked quietly.

“The very prophecy that started this conversation,” I said.

She gave me an odd look. “Explain.”

“Well, as I said… there are only a few possible explanations for her dream. First is she simply misunderstood… but that possibility becomes small and less likely when you take into account that she had described my mother nearly perfectly,” I started.

“Perfectly…” Renn whispered, and I knew she would now rush back to ask Liora all about it later. I ignored that for a moment and continued.

“Secondly, my mother actually does return and show up. But I mean…” I smirked at the thought for a moment, at the mere absurdity of it. “Impossible,” I said simply.

Renn stared hard at me, but remained silent. I too went quiet a moment as I nodded to the two men we walked past, as they both continued their own conversations about one of their sons. He had recently found a dog and brought it home.

“Third and, in my opinion, most likely… a god takes her persona and does so to catch me, us, unaware,” I said.

“And that helps you…? By what? Warning us it happens?” she asked.

“That… yes. I basically,” I said, and I wondered if I’d not have to actually explain why I saw it that way.

But after a few moments… I realized I was going to have to. Because Renn was looking at me oddly.

“Thus why you’re not worrying too much, and not freaking out. You hate prophecies, but in this instance you like hearing of it… because it gives you what you want,” she said, as if accusing me of doing something wrong.

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I frowned as I slowed to a stop again. The men were now far enough away I didn’t need to worry over them, and no one else had entered our area. In fact we were now between two large buildings that had no windows near us, they were likely some kind of warehouses or shops and not homes. Renn stopped next to me as well, all the while giving me an odd look of worry. One full of questions.

“As I told you, Renn… the gods are up to something. They threatened your life, in an effort to get me to do something for them. Very unusual. Yet… I can’t do what I’d normally do in this instance, so I’m forced to act on the defense,” I explained, or at least tried to.

“What would you normally do, Vim?”

“I’d hunt them down. No matter how long it took, how far it took me, or how much destruction it wrought,” I answered.

Her eyes shifted a little. “And you can’t do that, because I’m here.”

“You and the Society. I’ve not fully stepped down yet, and as such I am still obligated to my duties. Plus… I don’t know where they are, Renn. Even if I was free to hunt them at this very moment, I’m not sure how I’d do so. If they’ve hidden themselves from me for this long, odds are nothing will change that,” I said.

“Thus why you recently said you wished Miss Beak was around,” she said softly.

“Does she not keep any secrets from you?” I asked, a tad miffed to verify what I had already expected.

Renn gave me a smile, a proud and pretty one. “Merit loves me far more than she loves you, which is saying something.”

Honestly it was, considering.

I sighed softly. “Basically Renn… Liora has done exactly what I had been hoping she would, and she did it within a handful of days of me meeting her. She foresaw one of my enemies showing up. So… now I simply must wait for them to do so,” I said.

“At the risk of all of us dying in the process,” she said a little stiffly.

“I’d not let that happen.”

“How can you say that, Vim? We’re talking about literal gods.”

Well… not literal, literally. “That moment of shock I spoke of? Of seeing my mother, alive? That gave this person, whoever or whatever it is, time to attack?”

“Yeah…?” Renn leered at me as I smiled.

“Won’t happen now. Even if my mother herself, with all the little ways I could prove was her, showed herself in front of me… it’d not make a difference now. I’d destroy her without any hesitation, now,” I said.

Renn sighed at me. “Hopefully your mother doesn’t actually show up then.”

I frowned at that. “Yes, that would be a tad hard to explain. But it’d not work, Renn. I can’t harm my mother, not even if I wanted to. That’s kind of how I’d prove if it was her or not in such a scenario,” I said as I returned to walking.

“Huh?”

Before Renn could ask for more details we stepped out of the smaller path and onto a more normal road. One that was a little bit more busy, but not by much. I pointed at one of the buildings down the way, a three-storied brick house, and glanced at Renn. “That it?” I asked.

“Yes…” Renn sighed, rather heavily at me, after she answered.

“Rivonne said this Hugo is one of the shrewdest honest men she knows. Randle said he’s a typical noble merchant, what’s your opinion on him?” I asked.

“Shrewdest…?” Renn said the word softly as she hummed a moment. “He seems eager to please, but you can tell he’s not really in charge. Rivonne said he represents her and the other families, the ones who really run the town. Why are we seeing him anyway? Can’t we just have Rivonne handle stuff for us now?” she asked.

“Rivonnes the hammer. You only bring that out when the nail needs to be struck down fast and hard,” I said.

“She’d laugh at that,” Renn said happily.

Probably. I’d really not spent too much time with the woman. And although I remembered her ancestor, Bird’s lover, I honestly couldn’t remember much about her personality… not that even if I had that would mean much. Humans did occasionally inherit traits and personalities, but rarely so many generations apart.

As we neared the building, right as an older man walked out of it, I slowed a little and glanced at Renn to see if that was him or not. She gently smiled at me and shook her head upon noticing my look.

We waited for the older, well dressed, man to step past us and onto the road. Then we both walked over to the front door, but we hadn’t needed to knock on it. It re-opened, and a younger man smiled and nodded as he stepped back. “Come on in,” he said.

Odds are he had seen us as he escorted the older man out. There were also windows on either side of the door, though they were stained and thick.

Stepping into the building, I nodded in thanks to the young man. “We’re here to see Hugo,” I said.

“Haggo. Really, Vim, you just heard me say his name earlier,” Renn said with a sigh.

The young man gave us both a wry grin. “Of course… Please wait here, I’ll alert him of your arrival… Mr…?”

“Rennalee. From the Church of Songs,” Renn answered for me.

A knowing look appeared on his face, as if he suddenly recognized Renn because of hearing her name, and then stepped away without waiting for us to step into the room to the left where he had gestured for us to wait.

“Rennalee?” I asked.

“Remember Randle made me sign the deed? I used my full name,” she said.

Made sense.

The small waiting room had a few chairs, some shelves… a nice big window too. Honestly it was nice, considering we were so far north. Usually human settlements up here were… well…

Renn sighed, so I glanced at her and found her touching the back of one of the chairs. I watched the way she focused on the way the well-cushioned thing squeezed under her fingers and how they sunk into it.

I smiled at the obvious jealousy on her face. It was true that most of our furniture at the moment was… basic. Especially the stuff they had brought with them from Telmik, or purchased recently here in town, but there really wasn’t much we could do about it just yet. I was still focusing on just building the actual buildings, I didn’t have time yet for such little details as comfy chairs or couches.

Though I did plan to make everyone real beds tomorrow… People were moving into the build we’d just finished, but were taking their hammocks and whatnot from their tents for bedding. So in reality the wooden building really wasn’t much more comfortable than the tents, all things considered.

“Lord Rennalee…?” We turned as the young man returned. He gestured with a smile to follow him. “Mr. Haggo will see you now,” he said.

I let Renn leave first, since it seemed she was being treated as the higher class person at the moment. I followed her, who followed the man, to the rear of the building. We were taken to another room, one that was surprisingly pretty plain in comparison to the rest of the place… and behind the desk within the room was a larger man. One who stood with a smile as we entered.

“Welcome! Welcome…! I’m sorry for making you wait, hopefully you didn’t wait long!” the large man, this Haggo, greeted Renn with a huge smile as she stepped up to his desk and went to shake his hand. Judging by the smile on his face, and how little of it was forced or faked, it seemed he didn’t just remember Renn… but did so favorably.

“Nope? It’s good to see you Haggo,” Renn said as their hands separated.

“Please, not half as good as it is to be of service to you, I’m sure! Just what can I do for you, Lady Renn?” Haggo asked as he glanced at me, but didn’t actually greet or nod at me.

“Honestly, I’m not sure yet…” Renn then said as she glanced at me as she went to sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk. There were three angled towards it, with a couple more back a bit near the walls. It seemed this man sometimes had meetings with many people, it looked like.

“Haggo is it…? My name is Vim. I’ve been told by Rivonne that you’re the one to talk to,” I said as I stepped forward. I didn’t extend my hand to shake his hand in greeting, as Renn had done, nor did I sit down.

The large bellied man gave me an odd frown as he glanced at Renn, then looked back at me. “I almost fear to ask the details,” he said lightly.

I smiled lightly at the man, glad to confirm that not only did he really know and respect Rivonne… but at the same time did in fact slightly fear her. He had just now joked a little, but there had been a tinge of truth in his tone. “It’s nothing too dire. I simply wished to purchase a few plots of land, is all,” I said.

Haggo visibly relaxed, and I heard the tiniest sound of shuffling clothes as Renn’s tail squirmed beneath her pants. “Oh my…! Of course, I’d be more than happy to help you with that… is uh… are you buying for yourself or are you representing another?” Haggo asked as he glanced at Renn. He did so in a way that made it obvious he was trying to figure out the connection between me and her.

“She’ll be the deed owner, yes,” I said.

“Ah, the church again! Was the land not enough then? I’ve heard you’ve already raised several buildings, some big ones too!” Haggo said happily as he smoothly stepped over to one of the few shelves in the room and grabbed some scrolls.

“In a way,” I said. Honestly I had originally planned to have Rivonne buy the parcels and deal with it for me, but she warned me that by doing so would cause slight chaos amongst the other lords of the town. She already owned a large swath of parcels, many of which were being leased to others. She had offered to do it anyway, but had said it might cause grief for any who utilized the land she purchased since others would see it as her being greedier than she should be. They had all agreed to not buy anymore property a year ago, and had even written a contract over it.

Her willingness to break that contract, and as such make enemies of people she’s long been business partners with, was very telling of her loyalty… but I wasn’t so cruel as to abuse it. Not when I can just put it in Renn’s name, and thus the church’s and Society’s.

“Can’t say I’m too surprised… though I’ll be perfectly honest, ever since it was revealed that the Church of Songs made their mark others have gone into motion. There had been only one property other than yours in that area purchased… and…” Haggo placed one of the scrolls down onto the table and unrolled it. Renn stood to join me as we watched Haggo point to the north of the map showing the property lines of the town. “As you can see, now there are seven,” he said.

“Property around the church has and always is valuable,” I said. Odds are the people who had purchased them all planned to open shops or similar businesses, as to benefit from the continuous flow of daily people the church brought.

“Aye, very. But as you can see this whole section is still available… though this part does extend deeply into the forest up north, odds are the city line won’t ever really go much farther than that. Not when we have the east and south to expand to easily, to say no mention of the other side of the river eventually,” Haggo explained.

“Funny, considering that’s exactly what I’m interested in,” I said as I studied some of the sections in the forest to the north of us. As he had said, none of them had been marked for purchase and in fact none around them had either.

Pointing at a few, I made my choice… which was easy, since I’d already scouted and found where I wanted anyway. I had in mind a certain section of the forest where I could not just build easily, but also build downward. I wanted to make an underground bunker, not just for myself but for those of our members who would need such safety.

“Tell me about these ones,” I said, as I went to negotiate their purchase in Renn’s name.

Haggo would see them as owned by the church, as would many others… such as Rivonne and whatnot…

But that was in fact not the plan at all.

These would be Renn’s. In totality.

Or at least, that was the plan.

One of my better ones recently, I think.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep