Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 235

Chapter 235: Ties of Solidarity

Lysette and Mirae made their way through the heart of Ciricu, stopping no small number of times to greet and make smalltalk with the townsfolk going about their daily lives.  A few of the kids begged and pleaded for ‘air rides’, as they’d dubbed the short flights around the village, but with both of them still quite fatigued from their earlier fusion, the divine couple had to postpone the requests for at least the time being.

With the planting season quickly approaching, many of the village’s farmers were away at work in the fields, tilling and aerating the soil in preparation.  With three deities, no fewer than eight other Cultivators assisting in major village projects, and hundreds of villagers moving past the basics of Cultivation into augmenting their strength and vitality, the total productive capacity of the town was easily double that of the previous year.  And so, for the first time in generations, the people of Ciricu were extending their fields out by several hundred yards on account of both the influx of labor and mouths to feed.

“Ah, Miss Lyse!” Theo said, rushing from one of the side streets to greet her and Mirae with a head bow.  “May I have a moment of your time?”

“I don’t see why not,” Lysette said.  “Is there something you need?” 

“I just had a question about Cultivation.  I’ve been trying to improve my manipulation of plant life like you do, but I feel like I’m hitting a wall with it.  I try to apply more Essence into learning the ability, but I feel like I’m not able to move forward with it.  Almost like my Cultivation is fighting my attempts to continue Cultivating?”

“Have you been learning or improving any other techniques in the meantime?”

“No.  I saw what you were doing these past few months, making sure all of us had enough food to eat, even when we had so many new mouths to feed.  But I know that you won’t be here forever.  At some point, you’ll have some other mission or group of people you’ll need to take care of.  So I need to make sure I’m stepping up so Ciricu and its people are taken care of once you’ve moved on.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” Lysette said.  “And as much as I want to say that you’re wrong, there probably will be times where I’m needed elsewhere for weeks or even months at a time.  But I promise that as long as I am able, I’ll always make time to at least stop by and visit.

“To answer your question, you will need to focus on other techniques and shoring up your foundation more before you can improve that particular ability further.  It’s just like you need to learn the fundamentals of throwing a punch or swinging a sword before you can perform any elaborate sparring sequences.  Your techniques build off one another, but if you aren’t making sure your foundation is solid and your slate of techniques is properly balanced, you’ll end up with Cultivation collapse.”

“I’m guessing that’s not good, by the sound of it.”

“If that happens, the best case scenario is that Mirae and I get to spend months of effort slowly and painstakingly repairing your Spark from scratch so you can maybe try to Cultivate again.  Worst case scenario, you die, and neither of us can bring you back if that happens.”

“I–  I see.  Thanks for letting me know before anything irreversible happened!”  Theo was shuddering and gritting his teeth.

“No worries,” Lysette said.  “I’m glad you asked me about it before you pushed through with something that would harm you.  Do you need me for anything else?”

“I think I’m good for now.  Going to Cultivate some more later, and I will definitely keep your advice in mind.”

Theo darted off to the north, probably to keep watch for any sign of Terean invaders or scouts alongside Amalia and Gerald.  Yet another ominous day of no troop movement on the northern front.  Saffron was continually insistent to remain on watch for signs of activity.  And Mirette had identified that there were a number of strong Cultivators still in Terea.  But each day grew warmer, and with it, the chances that the battlefield would soon follow suit.

The real question was: who benefited by a long delay before the resumption of hostilities?  Lysette reasoned that, despite her demonic powers and her overwhelming growth in strength over the past half a year, despite the growing strength of every person in Ciricu, and despite even winning over several dozen Terean soldiers who had defected to her cause, the delay wasn’t going to favor her side.  Terea simply had the resources of at least Godslayer in addition to an entire nation and all the infrastructure and knowledge it possessed.

But Lysette still had the two advantages which she’d leveraged to get this far: a lot of allies, including many who would soon be among the elite Cultivators of Kraciell, and the complacency of her enemies.  The latter in particular remained her keenest blade, and the one she would have to rely on as she continued her own preparations still to come.

The couple made their way over to the detention facility, which, at this point, was starting to look far more like a massive apartment complex than a prison.  The individual cells weren’t yet fully furnished, but both the interior and the exterior of the complex had continued to be modified away from its original purpose.  And, between even more recreational space, laxer security restrictions, and minimal oversight by Lysette and the Ciricuan representatives, the dream of wholesale integration of the former Tereans into their new home didn’t seem so far off.

Lysette and Mirae entered the front lobby and quickly looked away from Nicholas and Kiarra.  The two of them were apparently now also a couple, as evidenced by the fact that they had been caught kissing behind the administration desk.  Once Lysette had gotten their attention with a pair of mental messages, the two quickly broke off their liplock and scattered to the far sides of the desk, not looking at each other or Lysette as they sheepishly greeted the two demigods.

“Uh, Lyse,” Nicholas said.  “Please, please don’t tell my sister about this.”

“Why shouldn’t she?” Kiarra asked, crossing her arms.  “You think you’re too good for me? Or are you ashamed to be seen around me?”

“No, No, not at all, Kia!” Nicholas said with open hands held near his head.  “I’m enjoying our relationship, but you are still the scion of one of the most influential noble families in Domaria, and a big symbol for all that we’ve been trying to change during our time at the Academy.  I want to tell Kris myself, and I want to do it when and how I think it’ll be easiest to break the news to her.  So please, just give me a couple more days.”

“Lyse,” Kiarra said.  “If I’m not allowed to be a stuck-up asshole who acts all high and mighty anymore, then neither does he.  He’s got three days to own up to his decision or I expect you to tell his sister for him.”

“Wait, both of you,” Mirae said.  They closed their eyes.  “I do not sense any shame from him regarding your relationship.  But he seems uncertain about what his relationship with his sister will look like after he tells her about you.  And he wants to preserve that bond as well.”

“Wait, you can tell all that just by looking at him?” Kiarra asked.

“Of course I can.  My Domain is Devotion, after all.  The bonds that each of us have with one another, especially the strong bonds between family members or…” Mirae held up their engagement ring.  “Or soon-to-be family members.  They are at the heart of that Domain.  And they empower me, and fill me with rapturous joy.”

“So then, I just have to be second to his sister?”

“How would you feel if he made you disavow your family and your name just to be with him?”

“I–  I–”  Kiarra sighed and slumped in her seat.  “Thanks for pulling my head out of my ass.  Guess I needed to see it from the other side to realize I was being a bit unreasonable.”

“Maybe a little,” Mirae said.  “But there’s nothing unreasonable about wanting to be open about your relationship either.  And I wish you two all the best.”

“So, are you two–?” Nicholas asked.

“We are,” Lysette said.  “I asked them yesterday, and they agreed.  Though the ceremony won’t be for a good while.  A lot of planning to do!”

“I can imagine!” Kiarra said.  “I’m sure everyone is going to want to be there.”

Lysette blushed a bit.  “Anyway, are Jules and Katie around?  We were actually looking for them.”

“No, I think the two of them went to help out in the fields this morning.”

Lysette looked back toward the fields with her left eye and, sure enough, the two of them were tilling right alongside some of the farmers.  Her vision grew blurry thereafter, and she had to sit down to recenter herself as her body trembled from the continued overuse of her abilities.

“Are you okay, Lyse?” Kiarra asked.

“Just… fatigued.  Fusing with Mirae is… stressful on both of us.”

“Fusing?” Kiarra asked.

“The two of us becoming a single being.  I’m not sure if it'll get easier with practice and experience, but it is enormously taxing.”

“I’ve never heard of two people fusing into one before,” Kiarra said.

Lysette shrugged.  “Given how many conditions have to be met just for it to be possible, and then how taxing it is on us afterward, I doubt it’s possible except between two deities who are also lovers.”

“So, you two might be the only two who can do it at all?” Kiarra asked.  “I guess that’s why there’s no information about such an ability in any of our libraries.”

“Without evidence to the contrary, I’m inclined to agree with her,” Mirae said.

“Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Honestly, some prayers and worship might help,” Lysette said.  “It will also give us some insight into why we’re so fatigued.”

“Well, I’m not going to start singing hymns to your glory, Lyse,” Kiarra said.  “But some silent prayers are fine.”  She lowered her head and began to mutter under her breath.  Lysette heard no words, but the prayers still reached her mind.

“Lyse, I don’t know if you can hear or feel my words somehow, but I wanted to let you know that I appreciate all that you’ve done for me and everyone else these past few months.  When I agreed to accompany you on what I thought was just a routine mission, I thought I’d finally understand the true nature of your power and find some way to make it my own.

“But a goddess?  I know it to be true, and yet, I still find it hard to believe.  Through these months, I’ve seen you continue to carry out feats of strength that would rival those my great-great-grandfather did in his youth.  But despite such overwhelming strength, you’ve always maintained an air of humility and genuine concern for your subordinates.”

Lysette didn’t particularly care for the term ‘subordinate’, preferring ‘friend’ or maybe ‘adherent’ or ‘believer’ for those with whom she wasn’t as close.  But she continued to listen to Kiarra’s prayer.

“You showed me what I was lacking, why I would never be able to match Lord Dozel.  Showed me that having others by my side, learning to trust, making connections and working with others wasn’t a weakness.  That going it alone in isolation wasn’t strength.”

Lysette felt a bit hypocritical about that with how isolated she’d kept herself during her first month.  Perhaps out of necessity at the time, but she had slowly built connections even then and especially in her second month as a goddess and beyond.

“That we can do more together than the sum of what we can each do alone.  You keep talking about your Reciprocity and things I consider high-minded and overly idealistic for this world we all live in.  But the more I see how Ciricu is changing, how the people are working together, the more I think that things can continue to change.

“The road ahead will be difficult.  My family and countless others will surely try to stop you.  But you have a lot of allies as well, and more every day.  May all our prayers empower you forward, Lyse.  I look forward to the world you plan to build for us.”

Lysette smiled as the Kiarra’s and Nicholas’s prayers filled her with vitality.  Nowhere close to her full strength just yet, but quite a bit more than she was expecting.

“It won’t be just me,” Lysette said.  “We’re all going to build this new world.  Together.”

Chapter 234: https://www.patreon.com/posts/113683289

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 236: https://www.patreon.com/posts/113910876