Penitent

Lys had everyone up and moving back to Southwind quickly after they finished clearing the immediate area of the rift. The knowledge that one of the rifts was able to be held open was something that needed to be communicated to the twins, and Swandia itself, as soon as possible. They made it back in nearly half the time as it had taken them to reach the rift. Lys drove them hard, but they also didn't have to approach Southwind nearly as cautiously as they had to approach the Lake of Beasts with the large number of rifts and other surprises that seemed to be hidden around every corner there.

Michael himself gave the twins a report on what he'd seen on the other side along with Ollie and Marcus. They were dismissed after the twins let Michael and the others know that they likely would be insisting on increased pay for their contract with Swandia from then on, as well as a number of other assurances and benefits. That meant he had eight days off while that was negotiated.

Michael went back to his tent and enjoyed the lightness of his limbs as he stripped off his armor and threw his kit into the quickly wearing canvas triangle he'd called his home for several months.

"Eight days off, I'm not sure what I'll do with myself," said Davi, stretching. "I already had trouble filling the three and a half when you guys were gone."

"Aw, we missed you too," said Ollie, deepening Davi's frown. "Let me go ahead and take the wind out of Michael's sails a bit by warning you that he has a plan to get us all killed."

"I thought it was my turn," said Pyotr with a grin.

"Well, Michael gets two for everyone else's one. I had mine for the desertion, and now it's his turn again," said Marcus.

Michael shook his head, sighing. "I found out from Lys that there are a number of fishing villages along the Lake of Beasts. I told you all that the gods want me to find something out there. I want to use this time to find one of them and charter a boat to get to whatever it is."

"Ah, a god mission. I am with you, brother," said Pyotr.

Davi squinted at him. "You agreed to that very easily."

"I had a very nice time last time I helped him. I see no reason not to do it again."

"Well, I'm in too. I want to get out on that water," said Davi.

"I'll go too. I've already outgambled everyone here and need to give them a break anyway. Besides, the last cockfights were…" He looked a bit queasy for a moment. "I just didn't think a spur could decapitate another rooster like that." Marcus shook his head.

"I'll go too. I'm weak to peer pressure and get lonely easily," said Ollie with a smile.

"Thanks guys, I really appreciate it," said Michael. He had a feeling that they'd have come up with excuses to come no matter what, except perhaps Marcus, but that didn't mean he wasn't grateful for them. "We'll take tomorrow to get our equipment looked at, let Gemini know what we're going to do, and see if we can get the location of a specific village that might help us out."

…

The next morning Michael awoke early as he always did and went right into training. He'd been practicing primarily with his mace since he received it. He'd trained with a sword for so long that he still had to consciously tell himself not to try and stab anything with it, not that the flanges wouldn't be painful, but it definitely wasn't as effective as a good solid swing. After a few hundred repetitions with each arm in every direction he could think of every morning for the last several days, he was feeling more confident with it. Once he was done he offered up the effort to Bruntus.

He had a quick bath in cold water and threw on some cleaner clothes, deciding to divine himself in the mirror before he went to check on Trina.

Titles:

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

Michael Mann

The Restored

The Wound Man

Godseeker

Champion of Seras

Champion of Nykas

Champion of Bruntus

Deeds:

Bridge Holder

Revenge Denier

Run Conqueror

Resilient Competitor

Fort Healer

Righteous Defender

Castle Taker

Baron Breaker

Rift Sealer

Warrior Mender

Blessings:

Healing

Pain Transfer

Smite

Bless

He nodded, saying a quick thank you to Bruntus under his breath as he focused on his new Title.

Champion of Bruntus

Grants:

Very Minor Recovery

Very Minor Concentration

A very welcome addition. He wasn't sure he'd really feel the very minor recovery with how much he already had, but the minor concentration would likely have great benefits. His list was getting unwieldy though, and in some ways it was absolutely ridiculous. He had no idea how much a very minor boost was compared to a minor one because he couldn't exactly turn them off and on to be able to tell. He also wondered why most of what they boosted seemed to be geared toward combat. These were questions he didn't really have the luxury to ask when he'd been drafted, but had started to occur to him more and more. The gods weren't all necessarily combat oriented. From what that scrap of prayer he'd found had said they were gods of protection, strength, love, judgement, diligence, and trickery. Certainly almost all of those things could be pointed toward fighting and war, but only in the way they could be pointed toward anything. The titles and deeds came from the divine, that was obvious, but why? Was it a natural consequence of the existence of gods or had they made it? And why did it seem primarily to go towards battle?

~empower~strengthen~reward~loop~fragmented~

The gods' voices were a bit louder, but he couldn't fully decipher what they were trying to tell him, and they were often all speaking at the same time. They'd gotten louder the more he'd devoted to them and the more of their names he'd learned, but they still spoke primarily in short snippets that forced him to interpret primarily based on impression. Bruntus had managed two word sentences once or twice, but even that wasn't enough to give him the answers he wanted. He certainly gathered that they were meant to reward and strengthen people, but it seemed there was more to it beyond what he was seeing.

He carefully placed the mirror back into his pack and walked toward the training yard where he was gratified to see Lys and Trina already busy sparring. Lys favored a long rapier and buckler, and Trina favored a simple short sword and had started working with a larger shield than the buckler she'd had before. It wasn't an intense spar, so much as a light back and forth with Lys pointing out mistakes here and there.

"You have a very simple way of fighting," said Lys as she batted aside a sword strike. "It's predictable. Did you learn that from him?" She pointed at Michael with her blade.

"I mean, aren't the basics important?" asked Trina, her tone defensive, he believed for his benefit.

"Of course they are, but simple strikes like that work for him because he can put much more weight behind them than the enemy expects and his stamina can wear just about anyone down. You're smaller and have less to work with than he does." Lys slipped her rapier under and around Trina's defenses in three different places in quick succession. Smacking her inner thigh with the flat of her blade, then her shoulder, and finally leaving a small cut on her cheek. "Until you collect more titles and deeds, you should focus on feints and quick strikes that can end fights quickly. Luckily your physical conditioning is already getting much better."

Michael nodded at that, Trina seemed to only be panting lightly and she very easily healed her small cut.

Lys nodded at him. "I'll let you take it from here. You're doing a good job with this one."

"It's all her, I can take no credit."

Trina beamed with pride.

"Oh, when you're done training with her, please stop by my room in the farmhouse. I think I have a lingering issue from the rift closure and would like you to take a look."

"I can look at it now."

"Oh no, it's nothing serious. I'd rather not show weakness to the others anyway."

Michael nodded, catching her meaning a bit later than he would've liked. "Okay then. Will do." He watched Lys walk away, probably just a bit longer than was appropriate before clearing his throat and turning his focus to Trina who was making quite the face.

"Gross," she managed.

For a moment, Michael had a flashback to the exact word being said by his daughter when she'd walked in on him and Sara making out in the kitchen. He laughed, both at Trina and at the memory.

"I guess we weren't being as subtle as I thought."

"Lys was. You need some work."

"That figures."

"It would be so much less weird if you didn't look like you were only four or five years older than me."

Michael frowned. "I think I'm only biologically around your age actually. Maybe even younger."

She shrugged. "The others look around my age, you seem older."

"I mean, I was before I died. Maybe I just show it a bit more."

She shrugged and lifted her sword. "Either way, I'm ready to spar. Old man or no."

Michael laughed and moved over to the weapons rack to grab a sword of his own.