novel
| ← Ch.689 | Ch.691 → |
As the days passed, the weather became increasingly hot. To the common folk, warmer temperatures were good as they did not need to wear so many layers and could work more conveniently. However, it was not good news for the migrants as they sweated more as they traveled and became more susceptible to illness. This was especially so due to the growth in the number of mosquitoes, which brought about several transferable diseases. As they were traveling in a pack, this meant that it was very likely for the sick people to cause everyone else to become sick as well.
On a random day, Arcaian had approached Sui Xiong and informed him worriedly that there were signs that many aristocrats were falling prey to serious illness and that a plague was imminent as the illness was easily transferable.
Sui Xiong had furrowed his brow in concern and asked, "Is this the God of Plague's doing?"
"Currently, we cannot confirm that, but we can feel that it is his doing. The situation is extremely urgent and dangerous at the moment. The migrating merchants' side, however, is slightly better, but they walk along the same path as the aristocrats and should they meet, chances of the illness spreading is extremely high. If a plague really starts, it is possible that more than half of a clan could be wiped out!" Aracaian replied.
His face had rumpled with worry. As a kind and reasonable god, he could not bear to see the common folk suffer even if he had not been on the best terms with the aristocrats previously. Furthermore, the migrating aristocrats were the lower class aristocrats and provided the foundation for the entire clan.
Good and evil, order and chaos. Those of the opinion that one should sacrifice everything for a victory were usually supportive of the idea of evil and chaos. On the other hand, those who were more understanding and flexible usually tended towards the idea of order and goodness.
Sui Xiong was not able to think of a solution on his own and approached Wall. As the God of Knowledge and Culture, he was the acting diplomat for the Void God System. However, towards this, Wall had protested multiple times that he could teach strategies or scholastic work but was not cut out to be a diplomat.
Sui Xiong had refuted this claim by saying, "If not you, then who? Three Nothingness, the God of Healing? Arcaian, the God of Medicine? Song Ballard, the God of Art and Culture? Or perhaps Damwade, the God of Agriculture?"
Wall was speechless as he himself knew that compared to him, the four other gods were even less qualified to take on this role. Wall was a "sawed gourd" and rarely spoke or showed any emotions. Conversing with him was difficult as one had to constantly monitor his expressions and keep the conversation going. For him to be a diplomat would be rather tough as well.
Arcaian was a technical master and was most energetic when conducting experiments in the lab or explaining theories and techniques. However, if one were to ask him to talk to strangers, he would stutter or be at a loss for words.
Song Ballard was neither introverted nor quiet, but he lacked the ability to be diplomatic. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and it was too easy to guess what he was thinking by his facial expressions and reactions. He was almost as bad a choice as Arcaian.
As for Damwade, he was a slightly better choice than the previous two but had recently been concentrating on molding his internal powers in order to receive the Goddess of Bumper Harvest's heritance, and thus, he did not want to leave her side.
In the end, only Wall was left as a viable choice. He was old and experienced, and even though he did not like to express his emotions, he had a reasonable level of tact, sensibility and observability. He was also the freest and had time to settle diplomatic matters.
"Please contact the God of Plague for me and schedule a time and place for us to meet and talk, " Sui Xiong requested.
Wall had nodded and did not press Sui Xiong further for a reason why.
In the Pantheon temple, Wall's possessed body had stood up and walked to the lounge area to converse with the God of Plague.
"Our lord would like to meet you to discuss some things. Are you able to set aside some time?" he asked the God of Plague candidly.
The God of Plague pretended to be asleep. When he had seen Arcaian walk towards him, he had felt scared as he knew that he was the system's acting diplomat and could easily bust him. Thus, his first reaction was, "oh no!"
However, he was also relatively experienced and did not show his worry on his face. Of course, it would have been hard to see any expression on his deformed face anyway.
"The Void Mask Lord wants to see me? Is there a problem?" He rolled over and pretended to have just woken up from his slumber, rubbing his eyes and sitting up groggily.
"No matter what it is, the Pantheon temple is not a suitable place for discussions, " Arcaian replied.
The God of Plague looked around and realized that many gods were noticing this exchange, especially those in the front few rows of the temple, and he felt threatened inside.
"You're right, this is not a good place to talk. However... I don't think there is much for me to say to you, " the God of Plague said. His body was covered with grime and blood-stained bandages, and he looked like he would decompose at any time. In an indifferent way, he said, "In your Void God System, I have a few nemeses, and I don't want to get to close to them. I find it dangerous for myself."
Arcaian stopped putting on a friendly façade and retorted, "When have you not felt threatened? Over the years, no matter when or what, you've always hidden in some godforsaken place, when have you ever showed your true self? Furthermore, even if you find that it is not safe, at the very least you would just lose an incarnation. With your experience and resources, surely that would not be too big of a loss?"
"I would really prefer not to. I'm not the same as you. I do not have many disciples. All my powers have not come easy, and I need to use them sparingly. To waste an incarnation for no reason, that'd be too wasteful."
"Our lord would like to meet you. You can avoid for him now, but not forever." Arcaian smiled coldly and repeated his request. His smile became darker and slightly sinister."Or perhaps you don't like to have peaceful discussions but rather, you would like us to corner you and force you to negotiate with us?" He emphasized several of his words to get his point across.
The God of Plague sighed deeply but realized that he no longer had a choice.
| ← Ch. 689 | Ch. 691 → |