NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42: 41. Villagers and Player 3
Taking courage, Hannah addressed everyone in the square.
"It's been a few weeks, maybe a little over 2 months, that I've been feeling a ringing in my ears."
She started by silencing the noises that continued.
"Some of you may remember that these last few months things have been even calmer than usual. Even for our village."
The original villagers agreed, indeed even in a village like his some disputes or vagrancy are common things but in the last few months this had hardly happened. But so what? What would that have to do with offering a pile of rotten meat to a God?
"Many may not have noticed, but Sofi told me that several of our troubled regulars often said they felt severe pain and shortness of breath when they weren't working. When Sofi examined them, several of them had some black veins that disappeared within the day. following."
By this sentence, several of the residents had already started to put the pieces together, severe pain, shortness of breath and black veins were the exact same symptoms that the nobleman and his lackeys showed before leaving dead (after shouting a lot).
"In all these cases I heard a humming sound and sometimes what appeared to be a man's voice."
Several looked at each other, some impressed, others still very skeptical.
"I know what you're thinking, yes. Saying that I heard something is simple, proving it is much more difficult." Hannah said as soon as she finished.
"That's why I said we should let them make this offering. That way I'll be sure that what I heard was really 'his' voice and not just something in my head." She said with a conviction that instantly won the hearts of many. "I take full responsibility for what happens, whether good or bad."
She finished, getting a myriad of looks, some still skeptical, others more inclined to believe, and looks of indiscreet anger coming from the group with the goblins. Whether it was true or not, the fact was that their attempt to provoke a negative reaction towards "God" was now much more likely to end badly, from their point of view.
"You will not take this risk alone, I will also bear the consequences."
Constance said next to her friend.
"And me"
Dan said moments later.
"And me"
Gerard said next.
"And me"
And Ivan.
"And me"
And Sofi.
"And me"
....
And several others.
Even though some people didn't consider Hannah to be one of the most influential members of the small community that formed around "God," it was undeniable that she was one of the most important. Fight an enemy with the one he had given, while he sent lightning and a new warrior came back from the dead. That would be the stuff of an epic.
Therefore, any consequences that befall her, especially bad consequences, would be a great loss for everyone. So they gathered all the courage they had and decided to take that risk.
*************************
Well, it seems like everything was resolved well?
Even though the group that brought the cart full of dead goblins is still showing some angry emojis and the red aura is getting stronger. But the main thing is that they let the cart with the goblins pass and now in front of the stone altar the notification I wanted appeared.
[Your believers offer you an offering of:
160 goblin corpses
You will accept:
- Yes.
- No.]
Okay, the game interprets it as an offering, without any thought I accepted and soon the second notification appeared.
[You have received 160 goblin corpses as an offering.
Do you want
- extract karma
- extract divine power
- turn into sacrificial coins (fragment)?]
Hmm?!
This is a little different from before, is it because the "material" are monsters delivered... raw? and not a "processed" animal?
I don't know, but I know that if I can get free Premium coins for basically garbage (from any perspective) then obviously I'm going to take the coins.
[It takes 5 goblin corpses to make 1 sacrificial coin fragment, it takes 5 fragments to make one coin.
Do you want to proceed?
- Yes
- No]
It was obvious that it would be too good to be true, right? But I'll still get the coins for free so I'm still in profit. Even though the 160 goblins will only yield me 3 coins and 2 fragments.
'Aaaaaahhhhhh really no company cares about Premium content, right...'
Huh?!
Before I could start wallowing in self-pity for the capitalist monster that is life, something rather unexpected ended up happening in the village.
*********************
'Damn!!!!, it wasn't supposed to happen like this!!!!'
Quiria wanted this God to get angry, to attack the beaches in some way, so that people would forget him. But why?
Had he helped against the goblins?
No, at least not for Quiria.
For her, 'he' only helped when he wanted to, when the monstrous goblin appeared, but before that he didn't do anything. The villagers were the ones who kept fighting, getting injured and even dying against the goblins until that creature appeared and only then did this 'god' decide to act, only after his grandson was killed (well one of them, she apparently forgetting that she still had two granddaughters).
She didn't follow any logic other than her own, just like the others. Angering a God is never something that ended well in the old stories, even with benevolent gods, but none of them cared about it, for them a part of the world had already fallen with their loved ones if not the entire world. Therefore, they were not too worried about what the consequences would be, even if it spilled onto someone who had nothing to do with it.
Because in their minds, these people who "had nothing to do with it" had some kind of guilt.
It wasn't something logical, sensible or even remotely credible to anyone who heard it, but for them that was enough and that's why they continued with this ridiculous theater. But just when they thought the belief and trust that people had (very quickly) cultivated was about to be shaken, those two brats showed up and ruined everything.
Obviously not, this happened because Tyler accepted the offerings, but for her and the little group 'he' had only accepted and not retaliated in some cruel way because his two protégés interceded. And soon the goblins' corpses disappeared in a white light just like the boar days before, but this time there was nothing that 'he' had given in exchange for this offering.
Some of Quiria's group even considered the idea of starting a riot based on this, but that idea soon disappeared. As foolish as they were being, even they were not so deluded as to believe that anyone who accepts rotten meat would still reciprocate with something, that is beyond anger.
But even with that, the anger they felt didn't subside and they also didn't intend to give up without trying one last thing.
"It seems that he is more tolerant than we imagined. But that is not an excuse for us to abuse this tolerance or his kindness. Do you understand..." Dan said a few minutes after the bodies disappeared, both to make sure that nothing had happened, and to organize your own thoughts.
Everyone in the square agreed and with the doubts about whether 'he' would really be a benevolent being answered, the trust they had in 'him' grew exponentially, to the misfortune of the group that wanted to eradicate that trust.
*Clenck**clanck**clenk*
And as soon as they heard another cart approaching, Quiria and his group prepared for their last attempt. Soon 5 people pulling and pushing a cart arrived at the square, inside there was no mere decomposing carcass like before. The creature in the cart was even well preserved as if it had been slaughtered just today, if it hadn't been for one of its severed paws from which a black, injured liquid was oozing out.
Everyone was in disbelief at the huge creature they were transporting, especially Ivan. That creature was the monstrous goblin's mount that was being kept safe in the "basement" of his house.