Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 570 Leaving Caethis

There wasn't much that needed to be said about Alice's night as she couldn't remember any of it herself. All she knew was that Arwen introduced a new rule for her.

When on shift, 3 drinks maximum.

By the time she woke up, customers and furniture were strewn all over the place. There were broken planks and even a chair embedded into the ceiling.

Arwen seemed fearful of what might happen after the third drink while Tristan seemed tired.

Their new schedule consisted of going to the Arena to have Alice make a bet with all the spectators and working at the Inn.

The organisers of the Arena were a little annoyed but her stunt had actually increased how many people were buying tickets so they allowed it.

As for Alyss, she was disappointed by the quality of fighters that she was seeing. None of them could really match up to what she had in mind and she used this time to try and refine her technique.

However, she wasn't able to enter the same mindset as before.

This continued for four days, a day or so longer than Alice had wanted but Arwen wanted her to stay one more day so Alice reluctantly agreed.

###

'Are you sure you don't want to give her a proper goodbye?' Alyss asked curiously as Alice leaned against the ship's railings. Explore more stories at empire

'Nah, if I do, do you think we'll be on the ship right now' Alice rolled her eye.

'Can't bear to part ways?'

'You try and say no when she does damn puppy eyes of hers.' Alice clicked her tongue. Truly she was afraid of Arwen asking her to stay another day.

'Fair point.' Alyss shivered when recalling the persuasive abilities behind those eyes.

Naturally, Alice wasn't idle for the extra day she stayed behind in either. She was gathering some information on Sikha from the travellers coming from overseas and managed to get a decent understanding of the nation.

Sikha was split into two major parts. The north east and the south east. The north east favoured culture and exchanges across nations while the south east preferred war.

And with them preferring war, it's only natural that the major religion in the south east would be the Cult of the Eclipse. Unfortunately, not much information leaves the east so that was about all Alice could gather.

The north east on the other hand was interesting in its own right since it was split into three minor regions. Each region has its own traditions and culture but when the outside world is involved, they band together as one.

The region that Alice was visiting now was the northern most region, the region of Jejin. It could be considered the most peaceful of the three as it frequently trades with other nations and even has its own passage way to the Abyss.

Either way, she looked forward to seeing what the east has to offer.

###

"I'm already missing big sis Alice…" Arwen lamented as she played around with the no more than 3 drinks sign.

"There there, you know she can't stay with you all the time." Tristan patted Arwen's head as he helped with the clean up.

Just as he was about to set up the tables again, he felt a stir and understood the Goddess was trying to establish the connection again.

Excusing himself, he made his way to the shrine that he prepared in his room as lunar light soon filled his room.

"Tristan~ Have you missed me? Were you lonely?" The goddess smiled, wrapping around Tristan as he chuckled and nodded his head.

"*Sigh~ I've been so busy recently that I haven't even gotten the chance to have a proper rest. What about you my dear cardinal?" She asked, leaning against his back.

"I'm been helping Arwen with running the Inn. We managed to solve her voice issue recently so she's been greeting the guests and enjoying herself." Tristan smiled.

The Goddess understood that Arwen's health was his priority. So if she were to learn this kind of event from someone instead of him directly, it might give her some second thoughts.

"Eh? How did you solve it?" Lumiria blinked her eyes in surprise.

She knew that Tristan wouldn't accept a method that would harm Arwen. It's why he rejected her offer of modifying the soul.

"I'm not quite sure of the inner workings. But I didn't sense any danger to Arwen's soul nor did I sense any malicious changes. It's like… the side effect simply disappeared." Tristan admitted truthfully.

Furrowing her brows, Lumiria was silent as she wondered what could've happened.

However, there was something else that weighed on her mind.

"Speaking of which, is there something you want to tell me?" Lumiria asked as she sat opposite him.

"Pardon?"

"I sent Esse to investigate this secondary source of Duality that you mentioned before. There were signs of use all over the city and even out at sea. But at some points, the traces just… vanished. It's like the power never existed at all and disappeared. But strangely, there were hints of it leading towards this Inn." Lumiria asked as Tristan paused.

"Not only that, but you also came across the source out at sea. I believe it was during the battle with the outer god's minion. Do you recall anything now? Why didn't you tell me when I contacted you then?" She continued to question.

Hesitating for a moment, Tristan opened his mouth.

"I wasn't sure if it was the right choice. The… person with the power said that they were able to help Arwen. They seemed to want to hide their involvement so I respected that choice once they gave Arwen the help she needed."

The Goddess can naturally tell when he lies so he told the truth. But he also didn't want to implicate Alice so he hid parts of their interaction and details. Enough truth so it wasn't a lie but also enough lies so it was hard to track her down.

Lumiria seemed disappointed as she glanced down and tapped her finger.

"If you say so, I'll leave it at that for now."

Before Tristan could reply, Lumiria ended the connection early.

Letting out a sigh, Tristan knew that he disappointed her. But he would be violating his bottom line if he were to give her the information he has on Alice. Plus, it would also disappoint Arwen and that's the last thing he wanted to do.

###

Sitting on her bed, Lumiria could be seen with a cold expression. Veins bulged on her neck as she struggled to calm this raging anger within her chest.

For the first time in a long time, Tristan's faith wavered.

Tristan, her dear cardinal, someone who's claimed her favour all to himself, wavered?

Just thinking about it sent a wave of anger through Lumiria's body as she gritted her teeth.

Who was it? Who was it that was making him doubt?!

The man she'd been putting so much effort into was wavering…

"Griselda." Lumiria called out as the Apostle of Spirituality appeared in front of her.

Her puppet body creaked and twitched as she bowed respectfully.

"What do you think happened for Tristan to waver?"

"I'm… Not familiar with Tristan's personality so I'm unable to make a correct guess. But perhaps his feelings towards Arwen is… greater than his feelings towards you." Griselda theorised as Lumiria was silent.

"Perhaps. Dear Tristan has always loved his sister more than anything. Even joining the church was because we could look after his sister." Lumiria created a small orb of lunar light that reflected Arwen's appearance.

"But… It's not good enough! Where else has he seen a Divine entity show so much favour?! Does he not realise how fortunate he is? He dares to waver? In front of me?!" Lumiria snapped, crushing the orb as she closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm herself down.

"A man's faith only grows in adversity. Once all hell breaks loose and he loses everything dear to him, I will come in and help. Only then, will he understand. I will put on a performance.

"I will break him. I will remove his walls one by one, I will stab him where it hurts and remove the obstacles in my path. Once Arwen is dealt with, there will only be me left in his life. And once there is only me in his life, he will have no choice but to give his heart to me.

"In his lowest point, I will give him my warmth, my love, my dedication. I will mould him to my desires." Lumiria grinned as Griselda showed no expression to this plan. After a moment, she opened her mouth.

"Perhaps it's not wise to commit to this plan so soo-"

*BANG!!!

Before she could finish her word, a wave of force crashed into Griselda as she slammed into the ground.

Her puppet body started to show signs of breaking with cracks forming across the surface.

Lumiria walked up to Griselda, glaring at her from above.

"It's not wise? I'll give you one chance to explain yourself Griselda."

"The greatest joy sparks the greatest hate. He's already aware that you're displeased with him. If you act so soon he may blame you instead." Griselda explained calmly. Despite the predicament she was in, she was unphased.

After all, this wasn't the first time that Lumiria snapped like this. If anything, this was more true to her thoughts and feelings.

Leaning back slightly, Lumiria thought about it before nodding her head in agreement.

"You're not wrong… Alright, I'll let him savour this moment of peace for now." She waved her hand and the pressure around Griselda disappeared.

"I'm sorry, you know how I am sometimes. You forgive me right?" Lumiria lifted Griselda's chin as she nodded her head.

"Go get your body fixed and… bring in a patch of souls for my entertainment." Lumiria ordered with a smile.

Bowing to the best of her abilities, Griselda limped out of the room.

'This is the best I can do for you Triss…'