Reincarnated With A Summoning System-Chapter 551: 551
"Mister Cain, welcome, welcome. Are you here to make an offering? Have a nap? Do you need a massage?" The Bunny acolyte at the door greeted Cain as he reached the temple.
"Today has been mentally stressful, I would really appreciate a massage," Cain informed him, with a smile.
"No problem, we have many acolytes and clerics available right now. Do you have a preference?" The Acolyte asked.
"Not really, as long as the massage is good, I am happy with whoever gives it." Cain agreed, following the small man into the massage rooms.
"Just wait right there and I will bring your masseuse."
The acolyte practically ran out of the room, alarming some of the others nearby until they realized that he was just excited and not in any danger.
Cain prepared himself and laid out on the table to await the Bunny's arrival, using his skills to listen in on the thoughts near him. They were almost all about massages, naps, food, or other such daily activities, but there was one set of thoughts that were more calculating, trying to memorize everything that they saw.
Cain suspected that this was a spy for Morgeth, since the thoughts weren't sexual or possessive, as one might expect of an intruder into the Bunnies' sanctuary. But he couldn't locate the actual source of the thoughts.
They were definitely close, possibly in the same room as him, but even with the Mana sense of the Ancients, he couldn't locate them.
They must have been using a rather high-level stealth skill to evade his notice, which meant that at the very minimum they were an Awakened Transfer, likely a rogue type class, or possibly a druid, who could blend in with natural surroundings.
There was a garden above Cain on the roof, so they might be hiding there if they were a druid-type class who could merge themselves into plant life to hide, but it seemed less likely than a rogue type for an infiltration mission.
"Master Cain, it is good to see you again." A Bunny Cleric announced, hopping on top of Cain to give him a hug before spreading oil over his back.
"It's good to be back, I hope that things are going well for you all here on the farm. You aren't missing your old temple and homes too much, are you? We have enough people now that we could go fix it up if you have members who want to move back." Cain suggested.
"Oh, no it is very pleasant here. In fact, we are thinking of opening other temples in the area, at the nearby farming villages, now that they all have Guardians to keep them safe from monster attacks. We have been sending people into the cities with the trade groups, the Bunnies who wanted more exploration or to help with more childbirths, and that is helping with our numbers even if we really do have a lot of people here now."
The Priestess was rambling on as she massaged Cain's back, and Cain sensed more than a little bit of jealousy from the mysterious set of thoughts in the room.
Whoever it was wanted to join in and feel this sense of community, but felt that they weren't worthy of being accepted in such a place.
That seemed strange to Cain, everyone was welcome in a Bunny Temple, as long as you didn't attack them. It also meant that whoever it was that was observing him was actually in the room, and not just nearby.
"Maybe that is the best solution to our troubles. Now that the armies Morgeth raised have stopped and we know where they are, we can try sending people around to make sure that the people in the cities that they captured are living decent lives." Cain suggested, waiting for the response from their hidden visitor.
[Like hell I raised those armies. They have been stealing Morgeth's name this whole time and spreading my Curse.]
There it was, a solid response from their visitor.
It was more than Cain could have hoped for, and now he had something to work with.
"It feels like the people might have had a wide area curse cast on them. If we send some Bunnies to put everyone in a good mood, along with a Record Keeper to stealthily dispel everyone who comes to visit them, we might be able to break the effect that is forcing them to be so violently loyal to Morgeth." Cain suggested, causing the bunny to hug him again, heedless of the massage oil between them.
"A path where nobody dies? That would be amazing, and definitely, Bunny God approved. I am certain that some of our kinfolks would risk danger to try out that method." She informed Cain with a joyful smile, rubbing her face against his in a show of happiness while she clung to his back.
"That's settled then. After this, we just need to find Morgeth, and try to stop the Curse from spreading again. Assuming that it is a Curse type ability. That might take me personally though since I can modify a Transfer's Skills."
Again Cain was fishing for a response from the hidden person in the room, and again he got just the response that he was looking for, a reminiscence about the skill that was affecting everyone's minds.
The hidden watcher was a Djinn, a Mythic Demon with a very unique once-in-a-lifetime ability to grant a wish. When they arrived in the world, just after the Awakened Zone barriers began to collapse, they were immediately captured by a local warlord.
The warlord realized immediately how valuable they were, and spent a long time considering how to phrase the wish that he viewed as his own. The law of possession was the only thing he really understood. He had the Djinn imprisoned, so she was his, and so were her abilities.
What he had finally wished for, using the life of the one friend that the Djinn had made while in Captivity as leverage, was for everyone under his rule to Trust and Obey him unconditionally.
He was paranoid about being assassinated and wanted to take over the Continent, so he had formed a plan.
But that was the moment that the Djinn, their mysterious watcher in the room, broke from her reverie and returned to the present moment, leaving Cain dangling on what the actual plan was.
He could guess at least a fair bit of it. The Djinn had been upset about using Morgeth's name, so the leader wasn't actually named Morgeth, and that was why the Oath Breakers couldn't find them in the crowd. The real leader was likely posing as one of his own right-hand men to do the dirty work, and the one name Morgeth was a figurehead that was brought out for the sake of putting on a show, and to become the target of assassins like the ones that Cain had sent.
That was actually somewhat brilliant, and the real leader could order everyone to change their allegiance and recognize them as the true leader whenever they wanted.
The revelation also told Cain why he couldn't find the infiltrator, Djinn could become incorporeal, so one with stealth abilities would be impossible to trace. If the warlord hadn't caught them when they just arrived and didn't yet understand or have access to their powers, they would have never been in this position, to begin with.
"You might as well come out, Miss Djinn. We have a lot to talk about and the massage table beside me is open, with a Masseuse waiting." Cain called into thin air, startling the Bunny Clerics.
Confident in their ability to escape, but confused as to how they had been spotted in the first place, a slender demon with bright blue skin appeared right in front of Cain.
"How did you know that I wouldn't assassinate you when you announced you knew I was here?" The girl asked. And it was a girl, even calling her a teenager might be overestimating her age by Cain's estimation.
"If you had actually wanted to kill people, you wouldn't have started with me. You have been here for a while now, and I didn't sense any hostility from you, only curiosity and a dedication to recording everything that you saw." Cain shrugged, sighing as the Bunny moved to massage his legs.
"You really should lay down, the Bunnies work magic with their hands, and you seem stressed. Once you have had a moment to unwind we can talk about solutions to this issue."
Reluctantly, she agreed, laying down on the massage table beside Cain, and staring intently at him.
"You know, you are a very strange sort of person? Even your followers don't make any sense at all. I was sent here to determine what your plan for taking over the Continent was, and it still escapes me." She said softly.
"Oh, that's simple. We bring them a better life, dedicated merchants, Guardians who actually care about the people, and fluffy Bunnies. Who would say no to that? Don't think of it as an Empire, but an alliance between cities." Cain explained.
The young Djinn was clearly naive to the ways of the world, and while Cain's words were technically true, she didn't seem to understand the underlying attraction to the force that could accomplish such things.
"That seems better than simply ordering entire cities to do exactly what you told them and forcing the people you drafted into the army to be loyal until death." She agreed, then gasped at the warm oil on her skin as a pair of Bunny Clerics went to work.
