Chapter 421: Boundless Freedom

Ambrose had used one question. Aige still had nine chances left. If she could identify what Ezdolo truly cared about—the question of alignment—before the game was over, she would have the goddess's help.

Ambrose's question had already confirmed one thing: Ezdolo was willing to help. Aige could take that as given.

But as for "clearing one's mind" and "something to be mindful of after ascending to godhood"?

Aige had no idea what that pointed to. She ventured a guess. "Is it a question about my followers? Since I would be borrowing your faith, do I need to consider returning those believers to you after I ascend?"

Faith was precious to the gods. Aige assumed that was Ezdolo's concern, that lending her believers might mean losing them permanently.

But Ezdolo shook her head. "No."

"Not that?" Aige sank into thought. Ambrose was visibly anxious beside her, but still held his tongue.

If he spoke now, it would be tantamount to announcing that Aige could never truly join Ezdolo's camp. The moment he intervened, the game was over.

But Aige was headed entirely in the wrong direction. She had eight questions left, but Ambrose was already worried on her behalf.

Aige thought again. "Is the thing I need to be mindful of the source of my faith after I ascend?"

"No."

"Should I be considering how other deities might react? Will some of them come looking for trouble?"

"No."

"Then is it a matter concerning Aion, that Aion might actually refuse to grant my wish?"

"No."

......

One by one, Aige's questions were exhausted, until the very last remained. Ezdolo had answered nothing but "no" from the very beginning.

By now, Aige understood that something had gone deeply wrong. She had asked so many questions, but not one had been right. It didn't even feel as though she'd grazed the heart of the matter.

The high priestess's body was beginning to flicker. The goddess was fading, and felt compelled to warn her, "My time in this descent is almost up. You have one chance left."

Aige closed her fist, then slowly opened it. With an air of resignation settling over her, she asked her final question: "Is what I need to consider... the question of my alignment, after I become a deity?"

Ambrose breathed out quietly. She'd finally gotten there.

Ezdolo smiled, and turned to Aige. "Yes. That is precisely what I needed you to think through. You should know my position well. I do not wish you to ascend as an undead and then shower the Elegiac Society with blessings. You must understand that the Society's power has already thrown the world out of balance. If your divine favor were added on top of that, the world would hurtle toward collapse even faster."

Ambrose immediately interjected, "Goddess, I must protest: I have always been deeply committed to world peace."

Ezdolo fixed him with a look. "Two goddesses have already suffered for knowing you. What happened to Loss and Shara is common knowledge among the divine. Spare me that silver tongue of yours. Everything you do is in pursuit of wealth, and everything you do dismantles the existing order of the world.

"Lich, the gods are not omniscient, but the Goddess of Wealth is one of us. At least one of us knows what consequences your actions will bring."

Ambrose shut his mouth.

Capitalism was, admittedly, somewhat ahead of its time in a feudal age. Once his trade networks were fully established, he would command the lion's share of the world's wealth, at which point royal authority would be suppressed by capital, and perhaps eventually controlled outright.

That was, in truth, an unprecedented transformation of the world.

Though he did imagine the Goddess of Wealth would be rather pleased about it. If his scheme succeeded, her divine power would grow considerably.

What he couldn't work out was why she had never offered him so much as a crumb. If she'd given him a Midas Touch blessing, he would have prostrated himself on the spot and become her most devoted follower.

Every disruption came at a cost. The global changes Ambrose was setting in motion would generate enormous upheaval. Mishandled, they could cause entire societies to collapse; if new structures couldn't be established in time to absorb the resulting shocks, chaos would follow, and people would die in great numbers.

That, however, was not Ambrose's problem to solve. A lich who simply refrained from killing people was already betraying the reputation of his kind. Let the paladins save them if they so wished.

Ezdolo understood well enough that Ambrose would never share her alignment. So she turned her attention to Aige. "If you can hold to true impartiality, I will help you ascend and protect you from the hostility of other deities."

That was no small promise. Mortals were shielded by Aion's laws. Even Sariel, Lord of Hell, could not simply seize a mortal soul by force. But as a god, the rules changed. Sariel could wage war outright, imprisoning and subjugating weaker deities, reducing them to mere subordinates.

That was the cruelty of existence among the divine.

The moment you crossed into godhood, Aion's protections no longer applied. You had to learn to protect yourself.

Evil-aligned deities preyed on the weak, and Aige would not be exempt from that danger.

Newly ascended gods generally had two choices. The first, and most common, was to join an established pantheon from the outset and receive its protection. The second was to accumulate faith, quietly and patiently, until they had built enough strength to establish their own divine realm, then retreat inside it. The right divine realm could block most deities from locating them, ensuring their survival.

Ezdolo's protection would give Aige the time she needed to create her own divine realm, and her alignment ensured she would not deceive or manipulate Aige. This was a genuine offer, made in good faith.

All Aige had to do was nod.

And yet Aige shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "If those are the terms, I'm afraid I can't meet them."

Ezdolo seemed genuinely surprised. "Do you understand the weight of what I'm offering? Perhaps you should discuss it with your companion first."

Ezdolo had sincerely hoped Aige would join her camp and help keep peace across the seas. She had not for a moment expected that Aige, having barely passed her trial, would turn around and refuse the invitation.

Ambrose tried to dissuade her as well. "Don't be so hasty. The goddess has her own faithful, and she can grant blessings to her believers just the same. Once you've ascended, everything will be in your own hands."

But Aige was resolute. "There's no need, because I chose my alignment a long time ago. I shall become a chaotic neutral deity. My father wanted me to sail freely across every ocean, and I will not be bound by anything or anyone.

"Goddess Ezdolo, I am truly grateful for your kindness, but I cannot join your camp. I am incapable of true impartiality—I will do as I please, even if it brings the world to ruin. Since my father once believed in you, I will not deceive you with false promises and then break our agreement later. So I apologize, sincerely, for wasting your time."

Ezdolo looked at Aige one last time. Then, with a quiet sigh, she dissolved into light and was gone.

The merfolk high priestess regained control of her body. She seemed to have no memory of what had just transpired. When she returned to her senses, she looked at Ambrose and asked, "Have you already had your audience with the Goddess?"

Ambrose nodded. "We had a pleasant conversation. Our collaboration will proceed as planned."

The high priestess wasn't entirely convinced, but since Ezdolo had issued no divine decree to forbid anything, the lich was probably telling the truth. Their partnership could continue.

"The Goddess has also given me guidance regarding the kouto goddess's encroachment of faith. Everything will be resolved in the Sea of Volcanoes, and our conflict with the ixiray will reach its end there as well. Master Megaman, Captain Aige, what are your thoughts on this?"

Ambrose had brought the intelligence, and Ezdolo had endorsed the cooperation between lich and merfolk. In the high priestess's eyes, that made Ambrose an ally, and the coming war against the ixiray was too important for her tribe to not seek out every ally she could.

Having someone like Ambrose on the merfolk's side would shift the odds considerably.

Ambrose didn't agree on the spot. "I'll give it careful thought," he told the high priestess. "Trust me, I have no love for the ixiray either."

"Very well. Please accept this sea-conch. Wherever you are in the ocean, if you wish to communicate with me, blow on it and I'll send my dolphins to find you."

Ambrose pocketed the conch, and, in return, presented the high priestess with a magic mirror.

She had never encountered an alchemical device quite like it. "What is this mirror?"

Ambrose ran his hand across the surface and another scene shimmered into view. "It's an alchemical device for long-distance communication. This is my mirror's identification code: dial it and we can speak face to face, no matter the distance."

The high priestess' eyes were bulging. Wasn't this an artifact?

An alchemical device capable of instant communication across any distance? She had spent most of her life beneath the sea, but she was no stranger to the wider world. She had never heard of anything like this.

Even a moment's reflection, though, made its uses plain. For a tribe on the verge of war, such a mirror possessed incalculable value.

"Do you happen to have many of these?" she couldn't help asking.

Ambrose nodded. "Quite a few. If you need them, I can give you several."

The cost per unit was two hundred gold—trivial against the scale of the merfolk's entire market. And the more people used the magic mirrors, the faster the God of Alchemy's divine power would grow. Ambrose handed them out to practically everyone he met.

When she saw him produce several more, the high priestess grew agitated. "Thank you—thank you so much!"

"Think nothing of it. There will be many more opportunities for us to work together."

"And I suppose I'll take my conch back," she said with a slightly embarrassed air.

Compared to the magic mirror, the conch felt rather inadequate as a communication device.

Ambrose just laughed. "Gifts should be exchanged in kind. That conch possesses value beyond its utility. I'd like to keep it as a token of our friendship."

The high priestess found herself thinking the lich was rather easy to get along with. All those rumors had clearly been exaggerated.

"Then this is proof of our friendship," she said. "Believe me, you won't regret making friends with the merfolk."

Ambrose said his farewells with a smile, and set off with Aige on their return journey.

On the way back, Aige said quietly, "I'm sorry. All that effort, and it came to nothing."

Ambrose waved it off. "When does anything in life go smoothly? Things have been going almost too well lately. I was actually starting to worry about just when the Goddess of Fate was going to put her foot down. This little setback is nothing. Ezdolo was only ever our first option. We have more."

Aige looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Ambrose's voice was certain. "The Sea of Volcanoes. I dug that sea into existence, which makes it my territory. I'll build you a following there, and you will ascend on your own strength."

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