The Bargainer 18

The Bargainer
Chapter 18

-VB-

According to Fagasin (one of the four “blessed” who remained in Saath), the city of Gorok sat deep inside the steep mountains in Omber. The city used the mountain as their refugee against any dothraki that came, and the fact that the city itself was situated inside those mountains prevented the dothraki from overrunning them because the passage into the city itself was perilous on foot, nevermind horses that had little to no experience climbing steep cliffsides.

It was in this city that Jobyo took refuge in.

She was not one of the seven.

That said, I didn’t immediately head towards Gorok. I stopped by Saath.

Fagasin bowed as he entered the room I intended to use to sleep tonight.

“Come in,” I greeted him without looking up from the map he’d provided me earlier today. I reached for a grape and plucked one off. “What is it?”

He hesitated.

“I-I have a personal crisis of faith, Your Holiness.”

“What concerns and doubts do you have?” I asked him casually, continuing to peruse the map.

“... Are you truly a god?”

I paused and looked up.

He knelt before the bed I laid upon, looking down at the ground and planting his fists firmly on the marble floor.

“Why do you ask that?” I asked him.

The usually eloquent man remained silent. Or rather because he was eloquent, he remained silent as he organized his thoughts and words to maximize how best to present himself. Such a skill usually didn’t ingrain itself in people quickly, even those with natural talents for oration and connections. Humans being endurance hunters meant they would rather continue to talk, to continue to chase, then stop, think, and end - restart if necessary.

That skill was discipline.

“I am aware that you, the Beast that Rends, are powerful. In fact, you are the only god I know of to descend to help us. To deign to help us. It makes you greater than the Faith of the Seven that the Andals have. Only the Fire and Death have help their worshippers, and even then, this is not something done without a price. You helped us without demand.”

“Then why do you ask?”

“Because I want to hear from you, Your Holiness! I will say again if I must, but I still believe that you are a god, but I am now under questioning this very fact because … you are too good to be true. There must be some sort of price.”

Ah, so that was the cause of all this. He doubted because he couldn’t believe. He intellectually understood that I had the power and the “divinity” - shown to him and others by the “blessings” I offered - but spiritually feared for the worst.

Fagasin, being the man in charge of social interactions and connections of the Saath society, knew exactly how someone could undermine another. Patience and infiltration could bring down a whole community from the inside out. He was merely applying what the power his shard granted him and applying it to the image he had of me and saw holes.

In most religions, those like him would become theologians to seek the truth, either by debating with each other or meditating on the meanings of the holy book or the flow of nature.

But I was not a dead or fake god, was I? No, I was a living god just as the Abrahamic God was.

“But I already gave you the price you must pay.”

He looked up, and I could see a bit of horror leaking through.

“Make Saath a city worthy of millions.”

And just like that, I defused his horror neatly.

“Did you think that my decree was easy?”

“No, I -”

“Do you know what it means to take care of millions, daily?”

“I… no.”

“What do you need to live each day? List them for me anything and everything.”

He started listing with only a bit of reluctance and confusion. “I … need water and food. I drink about six small jugs of water and at least four small loaves of bread and three fruits.”

“How many loaves of bread, fruits, and jugs of water do you need a day for millions?”

He paused.

And paled.

“And do you not empty yourself at least once each day? How will you deal with that?”

And paled further.

“Have you thought about the defenses that will need? The network of alliances and logistics necessary for moving army and food?” I glanced up from the map. “I did not give you an easy task.”

His lips opened and closed. Opened again and fell wide open and then closed again.

“Normally, such a task can be achieved in many generations. But did I not gift you and your kin power? Why did you think I blessed you all? Merely because you were my followers? No. To achieve what I demanded, you needed those powers because none of you were once in a century geniuses who might get the task done with mundane means. All of you were too mundane.”

I sat up and let my legs hang from the edge of the bed. “Do you understand now why I am angry at your peers who left Saath? It would have been a hard work with all of you combined, but they left without even trying. Saath is still the same size with barely a larger population.”

I leaned forward and he shrunk.

“I did not freely give out those powers for no reason, Fagasin. You and your peers and kin pledged yourself to me. Did I not speak of a War in Heaven? Did you all think I was grandstanding?”

“N-No!”

“Then you now know better what task lies ahead of you,” I dismissed him as I rolled back onto the bed.

He prostrated himself again before hurriedly leaving the room.

Hmm.

This was a nice map.

All of my future preys listed so neatly and orderly.