An Unwavering Craftsman

"What did you do?!" exclaimed the priest, staring in horror at the broken statue.

"Nothing," answered Damien with perfect honesty. "Grungle opening a portal here was enough for the Other to work out where he was hiding."

"What? But..." he stammered. "Is all hope lost?"

"Not all hope," said Damien. It would have been easy to flex his [Mana Weaving] feat right there. To produce a thousand bracelets, each imbued with the power to multiply experience gains by millions. Should he? Would the first person to get their hands on one try to limit access to anyone else? Would the city start fighting among itself for them, even at the expense of their defence?

Would a farmer with a perk-boosting enchanted item be able to grow food for the entire city in a single garden plot? Did they get growth speed bonuses or similar as perks? Would such a setup destroy the fertility of the soil in a single night? Even if so, would it matter if they worked in conjunction with a priestess of Gaia?

Would the skills and prayers of priests continue to work following the deaths of their patrons?

"Let's go see Gaia," said Damien. "And then... Let's go conquer Hrellflan."

"What?" exclaimed everyone, even the priest.

"There's a reason Lana took [Loyal Equipment] for her final feat. It's likely that if we don't help, civilization is going to get decimated, but if we start giving out items freely, we could cause more problems than we solve."

"And how does that lead to conquering our homeland?" demanded Shigeo.

"Well, we don't have to take over. We just need to ensure there's no-one in a position to abuse the items we produce. If we supplied equipment to the king, what do you think he would do with them? They'd go to his political allies, but even then, he'd probably only give a subset of effects. The experience booster and protection, maybe, to ensure he still had more power than them. And do you think those nobles would pass on anything to their common soldiers?"

"It's a good point, and one I know we've all been thinking about," said Fleta. "Yes, the potential for abuse is horrendous, and we're sure to attract the greedy and unscrupulous. It's why Lana has used [Loyal Equipment] on everything, and why we've handed out very few items to outsiders so far. But at some point, we're going to need to take that risk. My suggestion is to produce a standardised set of accessories, and we'll find some way to ensure everyone gets one. That evens the playing field."

"We'll think about it some more on the way to Gaia's high cathedral," sighed Damien, before remembering it no longer existed. "Or... the nearest town with a temple? Whatever, given the amount of 'divine providence' I'm stuck with, I'm sure we'll find something. If I'm not dancing to someone else's tune, I'm stuck in situations with no right answer."

"Wait, you're just going to leave without supplying us with anything?" pleaded the priest. "What about the people defending the city gates? The fellow priests of this temple?"

"They aren't dealing with monsters at the moment, just farmers trying to get inside the sturdy walls."

The group left the temple and the city, sprinting to the north-east. What they found there was a refugee camp. Ten thousand people, at least, of all ages, milling around alongside a crater, where a patch of farmland was quickly being turned into homes by high-tier carpenters, masons and even earth mages, building empty huts from soil.

"What happened here?" asked Lana as they approached the camp. "These can't be people fleeing from other islands."

They had, at last, reached the edge of the new continent, with the port city still facing the sea. Or at least, the crater where the city used to be. Unlike Thale, which had been sunk rather neatly, this one was obviously the result of a massive impact from above.

"I believe they are the population of the destroyed city," supplied Greenhair.

"What? They survived... that?"

"No. They almost certainly did not."

"Greenhair's right," said Shigeo. "Kari must be involved."

"Then let's find her, and whatever higher-ups of Gaia's temple are here. They're likely to know something about her current situation."

A priestess of Gaia wasn't hard to find among the crowd, but finding anyone of any importance was, for a reason anyone from the city was happy to share. Half an hour later following some clear directions further along the coast, and the group encountered an isolated hut, in which were seated Kari the [Chosen of Gaia], Arial, the [Oracle of Gaia], and last but not least, a thoroughly defeated-looking Gaia the Mother.

"You'll have to forgive my lacklustre abode," she said in greeting, "but my divine realm has been torn apart, and I felt that remaining in a populated area would be too great a risk for the other residents. That thing cares little for collateral damage." She glanced upwards, as if she could see the Other through the fabric roof of the shack. "Frankly, I don't know why I'm still alive. Or why these two insist on remaining with me."

Damien immediately found himself liking the Mother more than the rest of the Five, her actions being far more selfless than anything he'd yet seen from the others.

"If you die, what remaining purpose does my life have?" asked Arial. "I may as well die with you."

"Foolish mortals," she muttered, but with a warm smile on her face. "And to what do I owe this visit?" she asked her visitors.

Damien didn't answer, on account of having no idea. Gaia was here? In the real world? Damien had witnessed the Other tearing apart Grungle's realm, so presumably it had done the same to Gaia, but how had it found her when it couldn't find Grungle? She had connected to the real world for some reason? But now that she was here, why hadn't the Other attacked her again? Perhaps Kari had been overlooked the first time, but she wouldn't be the second. It could simply kill both of them. Instead, it had sent Damien to pass its judgement.

It had never told him what its judgement was.

"I think I'm here to tell you A̶̤̍r̸̤͠a̵̗̽c̴̖̾ḧ̷ͅ-̴̜̽ã̶͎c̷̙̊h̵͋͜a̴͓̍ń̸̼o̶̮͂l̴̢̉ forgives you," said Damien, causing everyone in the room to wince. Thankfully, they were all high level, and no-one started leaking. Also, no tentacle-based violence descended upon Gaia, despite the invocation of its name, which formed another slice of evidence in Damien's theory.

Gaia's eyes opened wide. "Why would it? I was as much a part of everything as anyone else..."

"Who knows? I doubt any human could understand how that thing thinks."

Again, Damien was correct in that it was difficult to translate the thoughts of Arach-achanol into something comprehensible to humanity, but if one were to try in this case, the answer could be Gaia's fear. Or perhaps respect. Gaia had never believed she could hide from the world's god forever, and accepted her eventual fate. While the others sought to preserve the bowl to save their own lives and positions, Gaia had never sunk that low. She did it to protect humanity, knowing full well that when the time of safety ended, she would likely pay for it with her life. Nevertheless, she had been prepared to pay that price in order to buy as much time for humanity as she could.

Now that time had ended. She'd immediately opened her divine realm to send Kari out, to aid those harmed by the voice of Arach-achanol, or by the earthquakes caused by it throwing the islands around. She'd exhausted her own power to bless not only the city, but all the lands of humanity, desperate to do what she could to aid their plight before the Other came for her, despite her activity in the real world being the very thing that allowed the Other to find her.

And when it came for her, she hadn't screamed in anger or despair, nor did she plead for her life. She'd simply apologised as the fleshy appendage grasped her, and begged it to help protect humanity as it squeezed. Her class, [The Mother], was well earned.

"Then I must get back to work," she declared. "Monsters must be spawning already, and so many of humanity's warriors have died... We weren't at all prepared for the dissolution of the bowl. Everyone must be so scared. We need... I don't know. Please, I beg you, will you help me to protect everyone?"

Damien glanced around, seeing the sceptical looks on the faces of their group. It was a thought he shared. Gaia may not have made any direct moves against him, but...

"Illumis, Kakkerxat and Murill made attempts on our lives. You might not have, but you didn't so much as send a warning..."

"Sorry... When we first came up with the idea, the bowl was supposed to be temporary. We were going to send people back once they could look after themselves, but it worked so well... I didn't want to. I would never have used force to keep people here, but when Illumis made it clear he didn't want to leave either... I made the deliberate decision not to interfere."

Damien frowned, unconvinced. She'd more or less admitted to exactly what he'd accused her of. Yes, she hadn't ordered attacks on him, but neither had she so much as spoken out against those that did.

"Very well. I expected to die anyway. You can have my life in payment, if you promise to protect humanity in exchange."

If the group had been sceptical before, now they were downright incredulous. Was she being serious? Was she trusting that no-one in the group would ever do such a thing?

Greenhair, ever the cold pragmatist, saw an easy way to find out. He drew his blade and sliced it through Gaia's neck. Damien may not have achieved anything by punching Grungle, but Greenhair's knife was enchanted by both Damien and Lana. It slid through Gaia's flesh and bone without resistance.

Fleta tried to react, but Greenhair's suddenness had caught even her by surprise. Despite her speed and reactions, it still took her time to comprehend what he was doing, and by the time she'd grabbed his arm, it was too late to stop him.

A second later, everyone else reacted. Gaia's head smiled at Damien, even as it fell through the air, no longer joined to her body. Arial pulled Kari away, interrupting her attempt to cast [Resurrection]. "It was her wish. Leave her!" Arial shouted over Kari's screaming. Shigeo, Fleta and Grace dragged the unprotesting Greenhair away in the opposite direction.

Damien, after a brief mind-blank, saw Lana's sad smile. Lana, who knew Greenhair the best.

His mind started racing as he watched Gaia's body collapse. Everything he knew about Greenhair's mentality told him he should have approved of Gaia's actions, yet Lana wasn't at all surprised.

He'd been wondering how to tell if Gaia was being truthful. He would never have chosen the direct route to finding out himself. But Greenhair would, safe in the knowledge that Kari was right there. It could be a bluff; letting herself die safe in the knowledge that they would let Kari resurrect her, but... It would be a truly desperate act, putting her life completely in their hands. He couldn't see Illumis doing it. Even if she knew them well enough to believe her life was in no danger, it was certainly an impressive display.

He watched Gaia's unmoving body on the floor, probably not dead yet, but even one of the Five would surely be unable to survive a decapitation. Or did Gaia have a skill like Valerie's? Valerie would have started regenerating by now, so it was a poorer performing one if so. Kari was still struggling to save her, with Arial doing her best to keep her away, so obviously they didn't think Gaia could save herself.

"Everyone stop!" he yelled.

Everyone ceased their struggles.

"Kari, heal her. Greenhair, I respect the lengths you're willing to go to just to prove a point, but please don't suddenly cut people's heads off, even if they ask you to."

"No-one else was going to do it, so I did what needed to be done for you to trust her," he answered. "Now you know we have a powerful ally."

It was true enough, but even so... Damien had been worried that Greenhair's alien thinking would one day cause problems, but he'd never expected him to do that. Damien sighed as he watched Kari perform [Resurrection], Gaia's decapitated corpse dissolving and reforming into a living, breathing whole.

An ally, Greenhair called her. One who had, with full knowledge, stood back and let the others try to kill him and his other allies. Her reasoning was logical; the small amount Damien knew about this real world was enough to convince him that wanting to remain in the bowl was a sensible goal. One that, in the interests of saving as many lives as possible, might even be worth killing to protect. And she was one step removed from that.

An evil act, perhaps, but he could understand the position of someone who believed the ends justified the means, even if he didn't agree with them.

Besides, Greenhair had just murdered her. With Kari a couple of metres away, Damien wasn't sure it counted, but it was still an 'evil act', by his standards. And Damien had wiped out an entire town. Damien would happily admit he had no right to cast the first stone. None of his actions had been for revenge or justice; they'd been for self-defence. There was no self-defence required here. Gaia had never been a valid target.

"If we wanted someone at the top with enough clout to keep people in line as we start to dish out our enchanted items... Well, I can't think of any better options."