Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 212

Chapter 212: A Brief Sojourn

Three more days passed, during which time Lysette, together with Jules, Mirae, and Katie, produced large quantities of maize and wheat to bolster the foodstocks of the town of Ciricu.  And with Gerald, Lilia, and Serrena working tirelessly to grind, process, and store the grains for the duration of winter, the oncoming food shortages that threatened the village were headed off before they could become an issue.

Finally, on the fourth day of the year 7473 after the founding of Domaria, Serrena and Lysette, the latter via her avatar, prepared themselves for the flight back to their home country.  Both were eager to finally head out on a trip that had been planned for months, but kept being postponed on account of one urgent matter or another.  And each had expressed hopes to finally get some useful information that might be one day wielded against the gods themselves.

At the first light of the sun’s disc, the two prepared to depart, but were stopped by Rayleigh’s frenetic approach just as they took wind.

“Serrena!” she called out.

“Rayleigh.  I’m glad to see you here this morning.  Commendations are in order.  Even far away from the resources available back in Domark, you have continued to progress remarkably as a Cultivator.  I am proud of you.”

Rayleigh offered Serrena a half-bow.  “I did what I could to make the best of the resources and blessings I was given.  And I will redouble my efforts to live up to my Goddess’s commandments even in her absence.”

Serrena grinned.  “Well spoken.  And it is my will that you look after everyone in my absence.  Defend them with all the strength at your disposal, and neutralize anyone who would threaten them.”

“I understand.  I will do so to my final breath, should it come to that.”

“Remember that Mirae and I will still be here,” Lysette interjected.  “I would be willing to continue your training in Serrena’s absence, should the both of you be amenable.”

“I think this would be good for you, Rayleigh.  Lyse is the queen of stealing wins out of her ass, and I’m sure there are things you can learn from her as well.”

“I know what you two have said, and it is still difficult to fathom that Lyse is both of them.”

“I would encourage you to reconcile that discomfort quickly,” Serrena said.  “Our enemies are the gods themselves, capable of shaping the entire world to their benefit.  If you cannot even cognize the possibility of a single being inhabiting two bodies, let alone strive toward doing the same yourself, you are failing to uphold my precepts.”

“I–  Yes, of course, Goddess.  And may your travels prove fruitful.”

Serrena nodded.  The two shared a curt and somewhat awkward handshake before separating.  And with a nod and no further words spoken between demigoddess and disciple, Serrena took to the air, with Lysette’s avatar following shortly behind.

Barely five minutes passed in the air before Serrena turned to Lysette with her signature scowl.

“You’re slowing us down.”

“Apologies.  I’ve been mostly using this body to assist with growing food for the villagers, so I haven’t optimized my use of accumulated Essence for combat.  I’ve been giving it some here and there, but losing a partition of consciousness to operate my avatar diminishes my ability to passively Cultivate.  And I have to allocate that Essence between both bodies, making sure this one is powerful enough to do what I need it to do while also keeping up with you with my main body.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve speaking of keeping up with me.”

“That’s my nature.  I Reciprocate others’ tendencies back at them.  To Mirae I am a Devoted lover.  To you, I am a rival to your Ambition.”

“A rival, huh?  I could think of worse.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that there aren’t that many people I respect enough and whose opinions I value sufficiently highly to consider them a worthy rival.  And by ‘not that many people,’ I mean that you’re currently the only person worthy of that honor.”

“I’ll endeavor to remain worthy of that title.”

Serrena grinned.  “See, you have what it takes to be a worthy disciple.”

“Not the first time you’ve called me that, either.”

“Huh?”  Serrena paused for a moment.  “Ah, now I remember.  Right when you helped me awaken to my divinity for the first time.  Well, I can say that you’ve lived up to those hopes I’d held for you.”

Lysette smiled.  “Again, I apologize that my Cultivation decisions to this point have been somewhat suboptimal.  I can only act in what ways are best given the information I have at my disposal at the time, including my knowledge of what is best.”

“You did what you needed to do for everyone’s benefit.  I can’t fault that.”

“What would you have done in my position?”

“I don’t understand the question.”

“I want to understand how the Demigoddess of Ambition and her values would have approached the situation I’ve found myself in, taking in these prisoners and trying to house, feed, and rehabilitate them.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t use the word ‘rehabilitate’.  As far as I’m concerned, none of them have done anything wrong simply by taking up arms and fighting for their liege’s cause.  This Highest Priestess of Thosse, who is likely also her Godslayer?  Absolutely, she has waged war against us and we will show her exactly as much mercy as she has shown our people and therefore deserves.”

Lysette smiled at that small bit of Reciprocity that Serrena had embodied in that declaration.

“I don’t know if I would have been able to show as much restraint as you had, were I in your shoes that night.  Especially with those demonic impulses, as you called them.”  Serrena shook her head.  “No, my Ambition, untempered by your Reciprocity, surely would have slain every one of them and added their power to my own.

“From a practical perspective, I still don’t fully trust the wisdom of your decisions.  The best way to create a world modeled on your ideals is to gain enough strength to shape that ideal world into reality.  And I’ve seen just how ridiculous your strength grows after you absorb the Sparks of the enemies you slay.

“But I also understand the wisdom of not letting your abilities master you.  I certainly would consider it a perversion of my Ambition were someone to surrender their very selves on the altar of power.”

“That’s still not really an answer to my question, Serrena.”

“I was getting there, Lyse.”  Serrena blew a small puff of smoke in Lysette’s direction.

Lysette fired a small beam of ice at Serrena’s right foot.  It weakened the plume of flame which kept her aloft for a half second and sent her briefly careening toward the ground before she recovered.  She did so and rejoined Lysette with a blank look on her face.

“Reciprocation is my nature.  I would consider it a perversion of my own Domain were I to allow you to blow smoke at me like that without getting you back.”

Serrena’s incredulous expression turned to a grin, then to a laugh.  “I’m impressed, Lyse.  I didn’t think you had it in you to actually get back at me like that!”

“Do you and Rayleigh have similar antics between the two of you?”

“Of course.  She’s usually on the receiving end of my antics, but I just consider it added motivation for her to continue to progress as a Cultivator.”

“Whatever your methods are, they certainly are working.  I’d estimate her Essence coefficient is getting close to two thousand.  Maybe even a bit above.”

“Two thousand, eh?”

“Were you hoping it was higher?”  Lysette shook her head.  “A foolish question.  Apologies.”

“You’re getting better with your antics, but your wit and snark could use some work.”

“Well, thankfully I have a good teacher in those regards.”

“I’m going to forget this conversation now.”

And for a time, the two demigoddesses continued in silence.  They flew together over the Spire Mountains, and upon crossing back into Domaria, they were greeted by a vast sea of green and the warm foehns at their back propelling them forward.  Serrena in particular reveled in the cascading breeze, shaking her head and letting her vermilion locks flare out and flap about in the heat.  But Lysette still enjoyed the first bit of outdoor warmth she’d experienced in over two months, as well as the familiarity that came from once again being back in her homeland.

“So, where does your family actually live?” Lysette asked.  “I’d imagine not the capital, given how much it sounds like Solanna wanted to disappear from the record.”

“Obviously not.  We’ll be heading to a town called Rinno along the eastern edge of Domaria, not far from the Valdoran border.”

“What kind of a town is it?”

“Part of me wants to not tell you so you can see it out for yourself.  Though, while I’m sure I would be greatly amused by whatever antics you’ll get us into, I’m sure said antics will waste valuable time that we could be spending doing what we came here to do.  Or Cultivating.  Or training, or sparring, or anything else that actually serves a purpose.

“Anyway, unlike Ciricu or your hometown, people in Rinno actually have heard of Cultivators and what they can do.  That much should be pretty obvious based on the fact that Solanna and her family eventually settled down there and were able to remain under the radar for so long.”

“Are we going to have to deal with any arrogant jerks like Francis or Ki–  Or Patrick?”

“You were about to say ‘or Kiarra?’”

Lysette nodded.

“I don’t always understand your Reciprocity, but I will acknowledge that she really has made quite a few strides both as a person and as a Cultivator.  Then again, I’m the same way in that regard.”

Lysette smiled.  “She and Rayleigh decided to go for a sparring session shortly after we left.  Your disciple won, of course, but she made a fight of it.  The two of them seemed to bond over it, at least a bit.”

“Two bodies,” Serrena muttered under her breath.

“It’s not that difficult to construct an avatar, all things considered.  The only problem is that you’d need a vessel to store your will and Essence.  And I’m not sure if that vessel has to be a human corpse.”

“And you didn’t bother to ask?”

“I was busy asking other questions about how having an avatar would work, the risks involved, and so on and so forth.  Asking about constructing another avatar in the future wasn’t a high priority.”

“Fine, fine.  Maybe my mother knows something about it.”

“It’s worth asking.  Anyway, as you were saying about Rinno?”

“It’s a trading and merchant town, with a population around ten thousand.  So, much bigger than Ciricu, and much smaller than Domaria.  The weather is pretty hot and dry year round.  I love it and well… lack of water or temperature fluctuations don’t really bother demigoddesses, so we won’t have to worry about acclimating you to it.  Other than that, it’s still Domaria, so the whole pluralistic approach to religion and worship still applies.”

“I wonder how the people of Rinno will feel about having one more native daughter to add to that list.”

Serrena grinned.  “Perhaps you’re not a completely lost cause after all.”

The two flew lower as they made their way to the outskirts of the city.  It was, just as Serrena had described it, quite a large and geographically spread out town, with plenty of people going about their lives, shopping and eating and working in open-air canopies and under awning to shield them from the early afternoon sun.

Beyond Rinno, about a dozen miles further eastward, lay the border.  Unlike how the western border with Elithria had been months prior, the eastern border was considerably more militarized.  Every handful of miles, a makeshift fort and small detachment of soldiers stood watch on both sides of the border.  But despite that, there were no hostilities she could see from their height.

Serrena touched down not far from the northwestern edge of the city, and Lysette followed suit.  The two made their way into town, and upon making their way through the city of Rinno, they were greeted by a few stares which Lysette attributed to people who knew of Serrena and her fiery temperament.  Without acknowledging any of the onlookers, the two weaved through narrow passageways before arriving at a small apartment building that hardly stuck out among all the others.

Serrena hesitated before finally knocking on the door.  A woman’s voice shouted ‘Coming!’ from the other side, and about ten seconds later, the door opened to reveal a middle-age woman slightly shorter and wrinklier than Serrena, but with the same fiery red hair.

“Hello, mother,” Serrena said.

“Oh, Serrena!  I wasn’t expecting you here with everything that’s going on lately.  Well, come on inside.  Both of you, come on in!  And Serrena, I can’t wait to meet your new boyfriend!”

Chapter 211: https://www.patreon.com/posts/112440668

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 213: https://www.patreon.com/posts/112440676