Chapter 5

A ghostly warm glow came from all directions in the room as Axel sat waiting for Grace to finish her work.

The hospitality god’s blessing on the brothel provided numerous small benefits. It allowed warm water to run throughout the building, providing warmth without the need for a pumping system. It also sourced light that appeared to originate from nothing and with only a simple thought to activate it.

Frankly, the blessing even this petty god, so weak as to not have a name, provided was a marvel even to Axel, who came from a modern world with advanced technology.

Grace had informed him that combined with the skills of the other whores they were able to provide special services and comforts to rival those of the larger cities.

This advantage was one of the real reasons for the profitability of the brothel. The sexy women offering pleasure was just a way to draw customers in.

None of that was why he came to see Grace. The events of the previous days had a greater effect on him than he wanted anyone to let on. He’d sparred with the little Coalition soldier Ava for days and learned much about her and saw why her helplessness grated on her bones with such tenacity.

All that training and potential for the future possibly snuffed out because of men with loose morals under the command of a traitor. Axel would have been pissed too.

Making matters worse, the three armies’ unity had grown worse. The Coalition wished to save face and refused to acknowledge any responsibility for the disaster. A visit from an esteemed commander made them sweat with the shame of their losses. It made them eager to play up their own roles in ending the battle.

Axel already regretted giving them the credit for the victory.

The militia suffered from a weak morale. Their spirits were at a soaring height after winning the battle against the Inimi. The defeat by a horde of kobolds made them reconsider their worth as soldiers.

Some went home. Others took to infighting.

The power struggles for leadership again renewed and a new face popped up every day claiming leadership of their forces. Axel’s original structure of the militia had crumbled away.

Then there were the newly minted forces of Alta. A supposedly competent general led them but few had seen him or even knew his name. Even his whereabouts during the battle was a mystery. Hardly an example to show other countries the supposed might of Alta.

All this, combined with crime and poverty in full view on the formerly welcoming streets of Ridgehill led to an atmosphere smoking with fear.

The armies had to take action; instead, paralysis reigned. The councilors met daily to discuss solutions and ended their meetings frustrated and forlorn.

He shook off his musings and looked to Grace Harman, her nose deep in her ledger. Gone was the host of a whorehouse whose clothing was designed to please the male eye with its generous helping of cleavage and tightness around the waist.

Now Axel saw her for what she truly was, a frumpy old businesswoman. Her eyes were tired and her hair in a neat bun with a face showing her age. Though, she still had quite a healthy figure and bust.

At his attentions, Grace’s lips turned up slightly causing Axel to break out in a furious blush.

He wanted to interrupt but was curious at the work Grace did to keep the place running. As he now knew, her leadership of the brothel included more than owning a place that let the opposite genders grind into each other.

It required health checkups for the workers to keep them free of illness. Pregnancy tests were routine and required. Grace had herbs given out in large amounts to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Tailors designed, replaced, and repaired an ever-growing supply of clothes to suit the assets of each lovely whore to entice the clients.

Peeking at the paper, Axel saw she even had a graph that provided an image of each whore’s strength and weakness. Grace took pimping to the next level. Madam and Councilwoman Grace Harman continued to prove his choice to work with her correct every day.

Grace closed her ledger and gave him her full attention. “Forgive me Axel, I said I would only be a minute and look, it is almost night.” She looked to the wall as if staring outside, though the office had no windows.

“Not a problem Grace. Business is business. It gave me time to think.”

“Good. What is it you wished to speak with me about? Are you finally going to partake in all my brothel has to offer?”

“No, I wanted to talk about—well, it’s a bit sensitive.”

She sighed, seemingly knowing what he meant. “Yes, of course, I apologize wholeheartedly. Rayner gave me the details after our talk and you made the best choice you could at the time. I am no warrior and in no place to judge your actions in a chaotic battle.”

It took a beat for Axel to figure out what she was on about. Then he remembered when she implied he was a coward for leaving the camp followers behind to be slaughtered.

She may have been right, but It wasn’t why he came here. “Grace I’m here to talk about sexual culture, specifically ... assault.”

Her eyes lit up when he mentioned sexual culture then frowned at the mention of assault. “I am a student of sexual history and can tell you much about sexual culture. When you say assault, you mean the use of force, correct?” He nodded, uncomfortable. “Has anyone been hurting my girls?” she said in a heated tone.

“No, no.” Axel waved his hands. “It’s this girl I met, well, I met her a while ago but only got to know her now. She was captured by the bandits and escaped with our help before anything happened to her. But other men and women seemed to have dissuaded the bandits.”

Axel had gotten pretty good at ignoring the horrors of the war, but he had to confront it now to move forward. “She got me thinking about how this part of the world views sex. Rayner had an orgy with random virgins and it all seems so odd. I don’t know what the rules are.”

He could not say this part of the world was a new one entirely. Fortunately, Grace had gotten used to his cryptic asides to where he and Rayner came from.

“Ah, I’m aware of the situation you are talking about. It is simple. Sex is seen as a form of worship. Some people have complicated rituals to praise their gods. Others light a simple fire. But sex is the most popular.” Pausing she added with a grin, “For obvious reasons.”

“But why all that when the gods only need EXP?”

“The rituals are a middle man, so to speak. They lube the path for the EXP to get to the gods. They don’t live in the same realm as we mortals. Well, not all of them. That includes hospitality gods like the one blessing my brothel. They are anchored here but do not live here. Not unless they have a physical form like the Forest God you boys encountered.”

“I see.” Rayner had poured through the Will of the Unnamed God to look for ways to accomplish his wild goal of creating a god and found numerous ways that the fairies of the corpsewood had used to worship him throughout the centuries.

“As for the matter of assault.” She coughed. “It is a special crime against gods and goddesses. Even the weakest gods will expend themselves to curse those who attack their worshipers by such means. I don’t know why it’s worse than all the other tortures inflicted but it is. They see it as direct attack against them.”

“Yet the bandits did it anyway and still lived.”

“There are ways to mitigate or delay the curses. But they would have fallen soon enough. Like I said, I’m aware of the situation and you are under a misunderstanding. The bandits did not assault anyone, at least not in the way you are thinking. You caught the bandits with their pants down right? That is because some of those men and women seduced them to plan their escape. Some work for me now by the way. Still, they may have tried. The things greed and lust will do to some fools.”

Grace obviously said this from experience as a peddler of flesh. Manipulating greedy fools was her stock and trade.

Her answer explained much. The refugees must have known help was coming when the group of bandits originally sent to attack the caravan didn’t return. Terra and the other refugees never spoke of this.

But they did call him and Rayner lords to gain their help. These were clever people.

Getting his answer, he moved on to the other reason he was here that was key to him making his choice. “Could you tell me how quests work? I have only done one and failed.”

“Yes, I know. You are already aware quests are given out by the gods for worshipers to complete tasks, yes?”

“I have. So how is the council able to give us one or any human for that matter?”

She perked up once realizing this was about the task she and the council wished to give them.

Her casual tone gone, she continued her explanation. “Worshipers can contact the gods using rituals and pray for a quest to solve their problems. The Coalition church uses this method on mass I hear. They even dull the costs of failing a quest as a form of insurance. The Mayor and I have created a quest for you and Rayner to obtain the God Stone for our use. Not anyone can do that you know but we are esteemed members of the town and have plenty of experience between us. We decided this would be a good use of EXP.”

Axel wondered how a nobody like Fred Copper gave them a quest. “How are we even supposed to get such a hard-to-obtain item? Accepting sounds like a path to failure, unless you give out quest insurance as well?”

“Unfortunately, no. As to how, the dungeon that we speak of is the one you two prevented from fully forming. It is what we call a half-formed dungeon. By that I mean It has no bosses protecting the rooms and floors.”

“Holy shit!” The consequences were almost unfathomable. All the treasure of the dungeon would be unguarded.

“Indeed. Monsters will lurk in the dungeon, but won’t scale in difficulty as you travel through. But, the chances of a random monster appearing are higher. And, it is not guaranteed that places with greater loot will have stronger monsters protecting it.”

So, he could waste his time searching the wrong places. In games, going to the harder to reach places acted as a navigations trick.

Axel’s choices were clear.

He had a motto: hesitate and die. He would follow his own advice.

All this time sitting around the brothel was one giant hesitation. Ava had shown him how easily one could become helpless despite having great strength. She also showed him how to deal with it.

Axel needed to push forward.

Axel steeled his heart and gave Grace a steady gaze. “We leave as soon as possible.”

Grace grinned.

Leyla Lewitz, Commander of the Coalition army operating in the country of Alta, stormed through the camp.

At first, others cursed her and her entourage as she pushed past them but on seeing her knight’s armor and the collection of priests and squires trailing behind her, they got wise and got the hell out of her way.

Her swift stride didn’t stop her from taking in the poor state of the camp. She’d half expected a parade to greet her, though she had no wish for it after all the pomp and pageantry of her award ceremony.

No, there was no grand meeting. Either sub commander Kristof hadn’t gotten word of her return or there had been an attack.

But if that were the case there would be the unpleasant scent of death lingering around the camp. Still, the other signs showed.

Tired lines of loss were drawn on the faces of the soldiers. Others limped in search of comfort, for orders.

Her army was in a state of confusion.

The flag of the Coalition flapped majestically in the wind outside the command tent. Another flag waved at the camp. A flag bearing the image of an oval mirror with glued-together cracks was planted at the other side of camp.

Another force had taken hold here along with the militia she was familiar with.

Command had called her home before the final battle. She had worried for her soldiers under Kristof’s leadership but it seemed two armies had come to their aid.

A victory she did not earn. That didn’t stop Command from sticking a medal on her.

Reaching the command tent, Leyla pushed the flaps to the side to stand at the center with her fist on her side and sword hand resting on the pommel of her sword.

She saw Kristof bent over behind a desk rustling with papers. “For god’s sake, I told you no more interruptions.”

“Look before you tell someone to go away. They might be important.”

Recognizing her voice, Kristof shot up. “Commander Leyla, welcome back.”

She gave Kristof a once over, his uniform was tidy, as usual. He had the appearance of the perfect knight, broad-shouldered with a strong jaw. His looks hid his defect of incompetence.