Chapter 207 Karmine’s Return
Van was in the waiting room within the halls of blood and justice alongside Luna. The time had finally come for the two of them to sign the new contract that Venadetta had managed to alter.
The door then opened and Venadetta walked in. “Sorry for the wait, I had to go over a few things first.” She walked over and sat across from them, placing the revised contract on the table between them. “Please read through this one last time, if you're happy with what you see, then sign your names on the lines provided to you. After that, Karmine will come and sign her name as well. Once that’s done, the revised contract will take effect.”
“Please keep in mind that once you sign this contract, you become responsible for Karmine’s actions, as well as any of the former bandits that have decided to join in on the contract as well.” She then began giving off a list of things that Van was responsible for and how anything Karmine could do would reflect back onto Van and Luna. “Do you two understand?” She asked, after she finished.
Van and Luna nodded and began rereading through the contract one last time together to make sure there was nothing out of place. But other than what was told to them before by Rosalyn, and now Venadetta, the contract was largely straightforward. So they signed it on the spot.
“Very good then, now it’s Karmine’s turn.” With a signal from Venadetta, a guard walked in with Karmine in front.
Karmine was not looking worse for wear. It seemed she was treated relatively well, all things considered. Though she was wearing a dull gray and brown cloth like sack and was shackled by a strong piece of iron and silver that glowed with runic enchantments to restrain powerful criminals on both her arms and feet. But other than that and the frizzy hair, she was looking just fine.
Upon noticing them she gave them a vibrant, easy going smile, as if spending the past few days in a jail cell was a breeze. Nothing seemed to be able to knock her sense of self confidence down, and she showed it.
“Hey Van, Luna, how are you two doing?” She asked casually, as if this was just any other day.
“Please refrain from speaking with them just yet. Your first priority should be signing the contract. After that, you can talk to each other. Though keep in mind that this new contract will give Van and Luna more power over you then the previous one, please make sure to read it thoroughly before signing.” Venadetta said, frowning a little at Karmine’s flippant nature.
Karmine just quietly nodded at that and walked over to lean down and take a look at the contract on the table. Venadetta turned the contract over in her direction and handed over a pen and a jar of mana ink.
Karmine took the pen, and not reading the contract at all began signing away. Once she was done writing her name on the last line, the magical contract began to glow and the group felt a new power connect to them. The shackles restraining Karmine broke off.
“Finally… I really hated those things…” Karmine grumbled, rubbing her wrists.
Van and Luna’s eyes widened as they were inundated with information and a new perspective of Karmine. It was like what Van felt with one of his summons, or bloodbonded. No matter where Karmine went, he and Luna would know where she was and what she was doing. More importantly… They realized Karmine’s full strength and potential, in fact, they knew a lot of personal things about her now that they didn’t know before. It made the both of them feel a little icky for intruding upon the former bandit boss’s psyche. But also aware how lucky they were to have such a powerful new ally.
Van and Luna got up and stretched out their hands in almost silent agreement. “Let’s work well together from now on, okay?” Van said.
“I still don’t really like it… but welcome to the team… I just want to remind you though… I’m only accepting this because it gets back at Karmila… This doesn’t mean I fully forgive you…” Luna said after Van.
Van was surprised by that, but Karmine only seemed to smile proudly in return. She shook Van’s hand saying she would be glad to work with him. But when she shook Luna’s hand she said. “I understand,” A more feral smile forming on her face. “Let’s get back at Karmila together. And if you think you're ready, I’ll help train you to become stronger than me… whatever it takes to beat that bitches face in… I'll be happy whether or not it was you or me that does the beating...”
Luna accepted the handshake and returned it with her own firm one, the two coming to some sort of silent agreement after they were done.
“Well… it seems like we're done here.” Venadetta said. “Van, Luna, please wait outside, me and Karmine still have to talk about a few things if you don’t mind. She has some forms to fill out and some personal items she has to collect. It shouldn’t take more than half an hour to have her properly processed alongside any of her friends that decided to go with her. Or if you want, you can wait in the lobby, or have us escort them to your place of residence, whichever works for you.”
“Oh, uh, give me a second,” Van said, then talked into his vespera bangle, asking the guard that Rosalyn assigned to them if it was okay to send the former bandits to the castle. After getting the okay that they will be treated well, he told Venadetta that Rosalyn’s guards will take care of the former bandits, though they wanted Karmine to stick with them. They still had a few questions to ask her afterall.
“Understood, I’ll see it so that they get transferred to the castle safely. Is there anything else that you would like to ask me before you leave?” Venadetta asked.
“Actually… yes… there is… though it might take a while… it’s a personal matter…” Van said hesitantly.
Venadetta nodded and looked towards the guard and Karmine. “Just follow the guard, she will guide you through the procedures.”
Karmine nodded, curious, but walking away without complaint.
After Karmine and all the guards left, it was just him, Luna and Venadetta.
“So… how can I help you?” She asked.
“Well… this is a little hard to explain… or to ask but…” Van took a deep breath. “You're the only one I can ask… so…” His voice trailing off.
She nodded. “You're a godling, correct?”
He looked up at her in surprise.
“It’s not that hard to figure out. Especially when you're someone like me that deals with a literal goddess who also happens to be your mother… At first it was hard to tell… But when you obviously tried talking about it, the last piece of the puzzle clicked in and I understood.” She pulled out a teapot and a few cups from her soul realm and began pouring. Making sure to pour some for Van and Luna and then gently taking a sip from her own cup.
It looked like she was getting ready for a long conversation and wanted to make sure she was ready. “Alright then… what are your questions…?”
He honestly didn’t know what questions to ask. Already he was wondering if this was a good idea. Questions can also give answers after all, and he wasn’t sure he felt comfortable exposing himself like this. In the end though, he decided to ask a few safe questions first and see how she responded.
“How did the goddess Tellia… become the goddess? Where is she now? How are you, her daughter? How did she gain her powers? Her followers? And what are the duties and responsibilities of a god? How do you grow your domain? Your power? And how do you use it? Are all gods born from godlings? Where did we come from? How did we happen?” as well as a bunch of other questions that he began to ramble on about.
Venadetta sighed and put down her tea cup. “That's a lot of questions, I'm not sure if i’ll be able to answer them all… but let’s see if we can’t get through them all as quickly as possible…”
“The goddess Tellia was just like anyone else… a common vampiress who just so happened to have a bit of divinity in her that she, nor anyone else, knew about. Long story short, she was betrayed by those who she trusted most and fell into a great pit of despair. She then went on a slaughter spree, killing all those who had wronged her. But when she had no one left to inflict her pain, anguish and revenge on, she turned it on others who also wronged others. Slowly, she earned herself the title of the goddess of blood and revenge… which awoke her hidden divinity…”
“But as the decades went by, her inner anger slowly burned out, leaving her feeling empty. And she began to learn that mindless revenge was not the way to go… it only spread more suffering… so she changed tack, and tried to change herself into one of justice… it was hard going… but by then she had adopted a daughter… a young girl… in one of her bouts of revenge fueled hatred, she had killed a small noble family that had been taking advantage of their small fiefdom and its people unduly. They reminded her of a certain traitor, which earned her ire.”
“After the dust had settled though… she had realized that because of her actions… a young innocent girl… would no doubt seek revenge on her… for all she knew as her parents love… and the newfound hatred burning inside her at what Tellia had done… it was not the first time that Tellia had experienced this… but this time it was different… it had been too many times she had to deal with those who sought revenge on her… And so she decided to change herself, adopting the child of the parents she killed…”
“Despite her efforts to change though… Tellia was still unable to trust people… but… with a magical contract… that might be different… She used her growing powers to add contracts to one of her domains, and promised a contract with her new adopted daughter… should Tellia ever fall back into a mindless revenge killing spree without first enacting justice… her adopted daughter had free reign to kill Tellia… and Tellia would not resist…”
“From there, her daughter became the first priestess of Tellia… which grew centuries later to what you see now…”
“As for where she is… She is either traveling around or inside her godrealm. A special realm that all gods gain after their power grows. She gained her followers by reaching out to them… promising those who had been wrong the justice they so rightfully deserve. She gained more power by letting her actions speak louder than words, and by achieving great feats she was able to spread her religion far and wide.”
“To truly grow your power, you must be true to yourself, and choose domains that most match up with your personality. And by doing those things that are your domain, you can get more power from it, and draw more people to you who also are drawn to your philosophy or way of life or what you can provide.”
“As for how to use it… I’m not a goddess or have any divinity in me, though I know how to channel it. For that, I'm afraid you will have to learn for yourself. As for how you godlings are born, I don’t know, though it is suspected that those that have a spark of divinity in them, ethier have someone in their ancestry that had a god as a father or mother, or they match with a domain so well that they are influenced by that domain at birth. Some even say one's soul domain has a huge effect on whether or not you are a godling. But not all godlings are born… some are collections of spiritual energy when enough prayer is given to a concept or idea.”
“An example is lady luck herself. Who was just a concept, but became a real goddess due to everyone always praying to her everytime they make a gamble, or wish for things to go well. She even was able to make an avatar for herself, get married, and have kids. One of which is the god of Thram which bank you use.”
Now, if you want to hear a bit more, I do have a few more things to say if you're willing to hear me out.”
Van nodded eagerly, already amazed by what he learned in just the preamble of what Venadetta just casually spoke up just now.
The two then talked for about an hour, Van asking questions, and with each one Venadetta answered, gave him a sense of enlightenment that helped reveal more of what it meant to be a god and a godling.
For example, that god realm thing, first learned a little about from Ren, but Venadetta went into more detail about it. She explained how to give better blessings, how to unlock certain power and abilities of a god, and the importance of domains and how a god portrayed themselves.
Sadly it was not meant to last… Venadetta was a busy woman, and she had people to judge and evidence to read through. With a few last questions asked, Van and Luna excused themselves first so as not to be rude and take any more of her time.
“Goodbye Van, I hope I helped answer some of your questions. If you still have more, don’t be afraid to make an appointment with me with the woman at the front desk. I don’t have much opening… but if our schedules coincide, I would be happy to talk to you again, and maybe even meet your priestess as well? I am also interested in how other priestesses handle their jobs, or what it’s like serving other gods.”
Van nodded. “Sure, no problem, I’ll be glad to bring Anna over next time. Let's hope it would be sometime soon.” He said with a smile.
She returned the smile, and the two parted ways.
Outside, Karmine was leaning against the wall of the building waiting for them. Her eyes closed and looked like she was resting. Her items were returned to her, which meant she was back in her old clothes. Even her hair was fixed. Upon sensing them she opened her eyes and smiled.
“How was your talk?” She asked casually.
“Good… I got a lot of my questions answered…” Van replied happily.
Karmine nodded sagely. “Do you have any soldiers to bring with you to Bloodhaven? The max amount is a hundred… and even with my girls, which is only fifty that are coming. We reach only half that, even though I probably make up for more than the other half.” She said smugly.
Van felt like she was going somewhere with this and asked. “So… what do you want to do about it?”
Karmine smiled. “I know a few friends at the mercenaries guild. I can introduce you to a few of them. I was actually a merc myself for a few years until my mom forced me to become a bandit… so I know my way around… I can put in a good word for you, get you some skilled personnel on the cheap as well, what do you say?”
Van and Luna looked at each other, they were planning to go to the mercenaries guild eventually… might as well be now… right?
With a shrug, they agreed.
“Great! Oh you will love it there! The guild is part of the coliseum, there might even be a few fights still going on. Let’s head over as quickly as possible! Come on!” Karmine then led the way happily, Van and Luna in tow. Luna also looked a little excited, she had been wanting to visit the coliseum for a while now, and so was looking forward to it.
Van was just wondering who in the world they were going to hire and how? They didn’t exactly have the money… it seemed they were going to have to charge it to Rosalyn again… he wasn’t looking forward to that…
He also kinda wished they could just take out a few more of his goblins… but it would still be too suspicious for them to do so…
Speaking of which… he would have to tell Rosalyn about this eventually… he was already getting nervous about that… hopefully, everything would work out though…
And as he was thinking, the streets passed him by until he found himself in front of a large circular stone building… the coliseum…