Wreath of Lilies, Cauldron of Poison

Chapter 193

Grand Teacher

Mayor Harrison walked up the stairs that day with a suspiciously invigorated look that morning.

“Top of the morning, Marybel!” the man greeted a servant who was wiping the floor with a wide smile.

“G-good morning, Mister Mayor,” the woman blinked, unsure of what to make of the greeting. The man had been so stumped with work lately that acknowledging their existence was something rare. It was, however, far better than Hordin’s temperamental outrage.

“Is Lady Steelheart around?”

“She’s at the backyard, Mister Mayor.”

With pep in his step, he stepped out to the garden behind the mansion where she spotted Connie spectating Akula sparring with Nick.

“Ah, Harrison. Would you like some tea?”

“Thank you, Lady Steelheart,” the man said, accepting the offer. It would be rude not to. He wanted to go straight to the heart of the matter, but was afraid if it would seem too forward. As such, he took the hot tea and drank it. However, his excitement made it so that he could taste nothing.

Connie smirked at this. She did not know what he wanted to talk about, but the only thing in mind that could make him so jittery was about her offer. After letting him stew for a bit, she asked. “So, have you made your decision?”

“Yes,” the man said with an excited smile, almost too fast. “I’ll support you with all that I have.”

“Very good. Then, let’s make an event out of it. We will talk about the details over lunch.”

Late night on the same day, when the people of Greyvault had surrendered themselves to sleep and the Town’s Guards had changed to the night shift, things were happening in the woods near Greyvault.

Connie, Akula, and Illumca were navigating through the dark woods, with Nick in the lead. He held a torch aloft, which flickered gently in the night wind. The night was blanketed with the chill of winter’s end which made his wounds from the morning’s spar sting a little.

They spotted a few sources of lights a few feet away. Illumca could hear idle conversations coming from the direction of those specks of moving light.

“Attention,” Nick spoke as they reached their destinations. His voice, though not loud, alerted the people in various garbs. Immediately, the men stood to attention and saluted smartly.

“Milady. These hundred people are those that you have ordered me to find. All of them had been drilled properly in the ways of the Knights,” Nick said, while shining the torch at their direction. “They are still rough around the edges, but I guarantee you they are better than run-of-the-mill soldiers.”

The men were visibly excited when they realized that they could finally meet the illustrious Lady Steelheart that had her deeds sung by bards at the taverns all over Arlaine. Of course, the act of putting a Demon’s skull the size of a normal human on display did also have an effect.

“Good job,” Connie said to Nick in response before turning her attention to the men, inspecting them with a cursory glance.

Akula saw some familiar faces among the men and whispered to Nick. “I recognize some faces. But aren’t they from the Town’s Guards?”

“Yeah, I added some men when the ones I chose failed. These are good men, shame to waste them on stopping some drunk bastards doing stupid shit,” Nick replied with a lowered voice.

Connie rubbed her chin with a smile. “Now, do you know why I called you here, at a time when people should be sleeping?”

A brave-looking youth saluted and spoke out. “No, Lady Steelheart!”

“I am in need of people. Loyal, trustworthy people that will serve me.”

“Yes, Lady Steelheart!!” all of them answered at the same time.

Connie raised her arm to silence them and spoke once more. “Don’t be too hasty to answer. What I’m looking for are people who will serve me. And only me. Not the crown. Not the Kingdom.”

At this, the faces of some of the men changed. A few were steadfast in their looks, with a hint of pride in their faces. But some were more hesitant.

Suddenly, Illumca’s ears twitched and she took out her dagger.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” the Dark Elf spoke, her expression tensed.

The hundred men heard a bush rustling behind them. Quickly they turned around, weapons at ready. Though they did not do it uniformly, none of them cut another while they took out their weapons. A sign that Nick had drilled enough Knightly training into their heads.

A small figure came out from the bushes. A pair of eyes shone in the darkness.

“Martell?”

The men were familiar with the Beastfolk, and immediately parted their lineup so that a path was formed in the middle.

The boy’s clothes were dirty and unkempt, the skin underneath his eyes were dark and swollen. There were strands of hay all over his hair and he smelled like he hasn’t bathe for a few days. But for some reason, he looked vibrant and refreshed.

He walked until he was but a few steps away from Connie, then fell on his knees with a loud thud, eyes never moving from Connie’s face as he did so. He saluted with a firm clasp of his fist, just as he was taught by Madame Sui.

“Forgive me for my insolence, Mistress. I felt that the curse is starting to take its hold on me once again. And before it does, I need to see you.”

“How did you find us?” Illumca asked as she stored her daggers.

“I followed the Mistress’s scent,” he answered curtly. He then turned to Connie once again. “Mistress, I want to thank you for what you’ve done for me.”

Akula, who was confused by his words, asked. “Why are you thanking her for being punished? Isn’t punishment supposed to make you feel - I dunno - sorry?”

“For me, that punishment was more of a reward, Zalkhin Altanghazar. Mistress had given me time to properly mourn my Master.”

“It’s a punishment,” Connie said with a grunt, one arm behind her back. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Martell smiled brightly. “Nevertheless, for me it was a precious gift.”

Then, he continued. “Mistress. When you took me in as your disciple, I kowtowed before you three times as a formality. And today, while I still have control over my emotions, I want to show you my sincerest gratitude.”

Martell slammed his forehead onto the frozen ground, causing the men who watched him felt an odd sense of admiration.

“The first one, is to show my gratitude for accepting me as your disciple.”

He slammed his head once again, his forehead red from the initial bow.

“The second one, is to show my gratitude for allowing me to meet my Masters.”

The red bruise on his forehead had begun to bleed.

“The last one, is my vow to follow you until I draw my last breath.”

With the last one, Martell suddenly stayed still.

When he raised his head, the deceptively innocent look in his eyes had returned. The sharp gaze met Connie’s without blinking. When the blood running down his forehead fell near his lips, he licked it with a smile.

Connie bent down and helped him up. “I accept your vow, Martell.”

“I will serve you well, Mistress.”

Martell flicked his tears away. The curse had once again taken hold of him. The remorseless little monster had returned once more.

The whole scene had taken hold of the men’s heart, and the sense of loyalty in their heart rose. For how great was she to inspire such a young boy to swear his allegiance to the point of hurting himself after a punishment?

Martell took his place by Akula, who patted his shoulder proudly.

“As you have seen just now, I am a fair person. I will reward you if you do well, and I will punish you if you make mistakes. Regardless of your upbringing, your status, or your bloodlines.”

“Those of you who aren’t willing, is free to leave. But they must forget that this meeting ever happened. There will be no repercussions,” Connie said again.

Shortly after, one of them said out loud.

“Lady Steelheart, you have given my son a second lease in life with your medicine. Were it not for you, I would be left alone in this world. I am willing to be loyal to you!”

“Yes! What does the Kingdom care about us? The only one who extended a hand to us were you!”

“We are willing to serve you to the death!!”

“We swear to serve you! In the name of Junnaveil!!”

Almost in conjunction, the men knelt before her. Hearing them swearing their allegiance in the name of their Goddess, Connie laughed and clapped her hands in appreciation.

“Excellent. I am someone who takes care of my people. You all will be paid two gold coins every month, with a bottle of Rejuvenation Pills to be dispensed every two months! With possibilities for Knighthood if you perform well,” she said. “But that is not all! I will also teach you Cultivation. With it, you will become true Elites that can sweep over any enemies!”

Though the men did not understand what Cultivation she was talking about, the excitement made them cheer.

“Henceforth, you shall be named Grey Ghosts. And you will become the swords that will lay waste upon my enemies!”

“All hail the Lady of Arlaine!!”

Connie smiled as she listened to the cheers.

That’s one thing settled. A few more to go.

Three days later, in a brisk weekend morning, about a thousand or so people were gathered in the square. A stage had once again been placed in front of Bet-Zebek’s skull. Some of the men in charge of setting it had even thought of letting it be a permanent fixture in the square by how often it was being used.

“Do you know why Harrison made us gather here?” a farmer asked a friend standing beside him.

“I don’t know. But whatever it is, I don’t think it’s gonna matter much to us. I’m just here because the missus made me go take a walk,” the man said. “I hope it’s not a tax raise. Junnaveil knows I had to tie up my belt a few notches tighter recently.”

The man nudged his friend and spoke. “Look, it’s starting.”

The Mayor and the Lady in Centipede Robe walked up the stage and faced the audience. The Mayor started with a brief greeting and quickly handed the stage over to Connie.

“Good morning, my people. How goes your day?” she spread her gaze at the townspeople. “I know, it’s been eventful few months. We had a change of leadership and the Demon’s attack. And you, my people, had stayed strong all this time.”

“Yet we all must face reality. Greyvault is on the path to recovery, but the wounds that Azure Dream had caused us lingered still. The time for planting seeds is in the horizon, and yet we don’t have many able people as a result of the sickness. And the town’s coffer is almost spent because of the situation.”

A sudden fear of the future came over the people and Connie could see frightful faces pale from an image of a bitter future.

She smiled inwardly.

“But fret not, because today, I want to introduce you to someone who can help us.”

Connie turned to look to the North. The audience’s eyes too followed hers, wondering what she was looking at. Then, they saw something in the sky approaching them.

“Look to the sky! Something is coming!” a man shouted.

“Is that a bird?” A child who was sitting on his father’s shoulders pointed out.

“No! It’s a person!”

A figure wrapped red flew towards the stage and gently floated down onto it.

“Brother. Welcome!” Connie greeted him.

“Well met, sister,” a voice, devoid of accent and laced with authority answered her.

The two clasped hands in a show of respect.

When the people looked at him, they saw that the man wore a thick, hooded robe with a luxurious red that only rich Nobles could afford. The thick, billowing robe hid any features that could distinguish the person. Contrasting all the crimson red colour was the white mask he wore. It was plain except for the red spider lilies that had been drawn on the left part of the mask.

“This person is my brother-in-arms. A fellow practitioner of the same School of Thought as me. And he is here to offer you a gift.”

Connie nodded at the man in red. Seeing this cue, the man walked forward and gestured to the people.

“Greetings, people of Greyvault,” said the man in red. “You can call me Grand Teacher. And I brought with me a gift called Cultivation.”

“Cultivation? What is that?” the people spoke among themselves, wondering what this mysterious person was talking about.

“Let me explain. Cultivation is a path. A path that allows us to cultivate the Dao. To achieve the highest level of existence by understanding our own selves.”

The townspeople looked at him with the same puzzled look.

“Yes, I understand your confusion. We shall talk no more about the concept. You need only to know that by following the path of Cultivation, you will no longer need to fear death from starvation.”

The concept of Cultivation flew right above the heads of laymen, but when talking about something closer to their livelihood, they began to clamour.

“When you Cultivate, you will draw Energy from your surroundings, allowing you to eat less. The higher your Cultivation the less you need to eat. Simple, right? Thus, you can save food for your children. Or if not, you can allow yourself more luxuries. Beautiful clothes, bigger houses. Anything you can think of.”

Though it was in the script, Connie balked at this in her heart. To her, Cultivation was a complex path to self-betterment. Understand the Self, Understand the Dao. To peddle it like a father trying to make his son start saving money cheapens the whole idea.

However, it was the easiest way to convince uneducated people to embrace Cultivation.

“Are you trying to fool us? There is no way something like that could be true!” A sceptical man shouted. A few people nodded in agreement to the man’s words.

“You idiot! The man was able to fly without a Staff!! Do you think a simple Mage can do that?”

“I understand your doubts. As such, I will answer you with proof. All the Healers hard at work in curing the Daydreamers have embarked on this path. Not to mention your current Mayor have also joined the Sect. Is this not enough proof that what I am saying is truth?”

The people turned to the Mayor, who had been standing behind the stage. He nodded solemnly. Then they turned to Connie, who shrugged with a smile. When they saw this, they became excited.

“Is there a catch to this?” a cautious man asked.

“The only thing I need you to do is to join our Sect.”

“Do we have to worship another god now? Only, my family’s a staunch worshipper of Junnaveil, and I don’t think it’ll work if I have to hide every time I pray.”

“Yea. That’s right!”

Without missing a beat, the Grand Teacher answered. “The Sect is simply a gathering of people following our School of Thought. The Sect does not restrict your belief. You are free to pray to the Gods as you always have,” the man in red said. “The only thing you have to do is live your live while daring to think and ask questions. For example, why is the sky blue? Or why is water wet?”

“That’s all?” The one asking the question said. “That doesn’t sound hard.”

“Indeed, it isn’t,” Grand Teacher answered.

Then an elderly woman asked him another question.

“What’s the name of the Sect, then?”

The night before, as Connie and the others were hard at work to prepare for the tomorrow, Lihua asked through her bat familiar.

“What will be the name of the Sect, Mistress?”

“I’ve really been struggling with one. I mean there are so many ways to name it.”

“Why not something simple like, Demon Subjugating Sect, or Never Die Sect?” Nick offered. “It’s just a name, right?”

“No. A Sect’s name is an identity that will follow it for as long as it exists. I will not stand for random names.”

“Then how do people in your world choose a sect’s name, Mistress?” Martell asked.

“There are many ways. A location, a weapon the members used, many things. For example, the Plum Blossom Sect was named after the plum trees that grew in the mountains where the Sect was. Infernal Demon Cult was named after the Demon God that the cult worshipped.”

“Hmm…why not give it a name that will resonate with the people? We don’t want to make it sound too threatening too. People won’t join something called an Infernal Demon Cult,” Nick offered.

“Not too threatening. But also, easy to understand. Hmmm…” Akula put her brain to work. “Hurgul’s Beard! It’s a question better left to people more learned than me.”

“…question…wait,” Connie had a spark in her head and plucked a brush from an inkwell. She grabbed a parchment and started to write with large, exaggerated motion. She then finished with a flourish.

She brought it up for everyone to look at.

“Hoh, I don’t know why, but the name sounds very lofty,” Akula said.

“And simple.”

“Do you all like it?”

With a series of nods, the name of the Sect was decided.

Grand Teacher looked at the woman who asked the question after a brief pause and answered.

“The name is…Questioning Heaven Sect.”