Stray Soul

Looking at the goblin warband or whatever, I couldn’t help myself but be a bit scared, I mean—sure, they wouldn’t be able to truly kill me unless they had that necromancer or whatever with them, which they very well might.

But even if they don’t have the necromancer or any other magician with them, I’d still be fighting with 3 bodies at the same time, which was something I didn’t really have practice with, so I was more so afraid that I’d be unable to stop a body of mine from killing a goblin rather than the goblins being able to kill a body of mine.

But hopefully, weak goblins wouldn’t be attacking me, and I only had to worry about the mace goblin... though I doubted that as there were more goblins than before, and a few others next to the mace goblin who were wearing similar armour to him, other than a goblin behind them that only had a weird robe... yeah, that’s the necromancer isn’t it?

Hopefully the turtle is strong enough to defeat that guy because I am going to need to use my other bodies to fight against the other goblins.

“Let’s start I guess...” I muttered to myself and all 3 of my bodies started getting up, but unexpectedly, Rifu-san told me to wait.

“...Why?” I couldn’t help but ask her.

“Remember how I told you I’d guide you to deity hood? This is as good as any other place to give a speech to your future subjects and maybe convert a few of them.”

“...I still can’t speak goblin, you know? Maybe a few words at best, but that is it. How am I supposed to convert them by saying ‘Hello’ and ‘How’s your day going?’?”

“...Take out the Sceptre and repeat what I say.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just repeat after me, I’ve got a plan.”

“Well... if you say so...”

Looking at the 3 plant beings sitting down, Krone couldn’t help but be excited and worried at the same time.

Excited, because he was sure he’d be able to accomplish his god’s wishes!

But worried at the same time because, Gram had told him that there was only 1 plant being, not 3.

And because of the unexpected increase in the plant beings... some losses might be taken.

But he had already accepted those might happen, no matter however much he wished they didn’t.

Shaking his head, he turned towards the 3 F rankers he’d brought with him, Gram, Grok, and Gara.

He’d hoped that this would’ve been just another learning chance for his son without much of a threat to him, but it seemed like he’d have to fight... what a shame.

Looking at the 3 plant beings, he quickly concluded that either the Cave Terror, or the bear shaped one would be the weakest... but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to send him after the weakest one as that wouldn’t be challenging enough for him to develop.

“Hmm... plant beings shouldn’t work like undead so wouldn’t the Cave Terror be the weakest?” He thought to himself, as a big part of keeping the strength of an undead mattered on if or if not you could corrupt its original soul.

If you managed to corrupt the original soul of a being, which depended on their strength compared to yours and their will power, you’d be able to use the undead without any problems at a power level close to when they were alive.

But if you failed to corrupt the soul, and it escaped, you could always just take the soul of another being and slap it onto the undead, but that would always produce a weaker undead and would cost a lot more mana to do, and other than that, the cost of keeping that undead in a mint condition would increase too, so sometimes it was just better to leave the corpses of strong enemies behind rather than turning them into undead if you failed the first time.

But these plant beings should only use the base corpse of the beings they are using, so they shouldn’t be much stronger than their adult forms...

“Grok, you will take your group and go fight the bear. Gara, you will fight the Cave Terror. Gram, I will be taking care of the turtle myself as it seems near my level, you just be prepared to advance forth and help Gara or Grok if something unexpected occurs, understood?” I swiftly ordered all 3, and they nodded back at me, and as Grok and Gara were about to retreat towards their respective groups, the Cava terror’s chest suddenly flew open, and branches brought out a sceptre out of it, and from the sceptre I could feel the divinity of a foreign god and could see a divine core attached on top of it.

Grasping the sceptre in one of its claws, the Cave Terror’s chest closed, and it got up on 2 its hind legs and laid one hand on the shell of the turtle to support itself and started speaking.

“Goblins.” It started, its voice a bit slurry and sometimes too loud, and sometimes too quiet, but understandable, nonetheless.

“I am the...”

“William-san, don’t repeat what I am about to say but... do you have a god name in mind?” Rifu-san suddenly asked me after having me say things I didn’t understand.

“A what?”

“A god name. You know, my real name is Rifu Matoriaaku, but all my followers call me The All Mother, because I am the mother and creator of all of them and they are my children, but everyone outside of my domain also knows me by that name and it has fused with my divine energy after so long, so if someone just randomly started praying to The All Mother, I’d hear their prayers unless that person had another specific goddess in mind while praying.

So, a god name is something that will be used to define who you are, and what you are god of in the future, and it is a name that holds great power, so you will be able to hear the prayers of your followers if they start their prayers with your name.”

“Well, that—that’s an important decision I’ve got to make in a short time frame that should actually be thought out through the course of weeks or months...

Well, my domain is souls, after all even as we are currently speaking, I have my soul spread out through 3 bodies, so it only makes sense.

And what do souls represent... eternity, self, the dead?

So, umm... William/Will The Eternal, The Ever Living, The... Lord of Self?”

“...Seriously? That’s the best you’ve got? The Lord of Self?”

“You didn’t give me enough time to come up with different options! I can’t work under pressure!”

“...I am just telling them that you are Will, The Lord of Souls, and The Eternal One. Is that fine by you?”

“Sure, whatever... but won’t there being 2 names be a problem.”

“No, not really. People call me The All Mother, The Mother, Mother, All Mother, Mother of All, etc. all the time, it really doesn’t matter what they use as long they are thinking of you as the deity they are praying to. And whenever someone prays to The Eternal One or The Lord of Souls, their prayers will go to you, and you might get a few new followers, what’s the problem in that?”

“Well... okay I guess... so, are we continuing now?”

“Yes, now, repeat after me...”

“I am Will, The Lord of Souls, and The Eternal One. A deity under the protection of The All Mother, and I call you, mortals, to leave behind the Dark Lord and other deities or gods you may be worshipping, and convert to my followers, and I will protect you from both their wrath, and The Mother’s after you’ve entered her domain without permission. And I will let you live in these lands, free of any restraints and to your will.

If you accept my terms, guide me to your village, and accept me as your deity.

Even if you reject me now, as a sign of good will, I will not kill any of you and let you go away. Even if you decide to attack me with all you have, I will not kill any of you, but I cannot promise that no harm will not befall any of you, and you will leave without injuries.” The beast spitted out, daring to call itself a deity, and The Lord of Souls at that!

Hah! As if mere plants could ever compete with the Dark Lord over his domain.

But the even more hilarious part was that the beast dared tell them to leave their gods!

“...Look beast, I—”

“Save your breath, for I care not for what you have to say. Guide me to your village, and venerate me as your deity, or turn around and go back to your village to ponder over my proposition. But know that, if you make the wrong choice, you’ll lose your lives, and if you make the correct one, you’ll gain everything.

So, choose at your own risk, goblins. But know that I hold no grudge no matter what your choice is, for I’ve seen mortals greater than you make worse mistakes.”

...This beast dares?!

“...Gram, I’ve changed my mind. Go with Gara and keep the beast occupied. Gram, continue as normal. I will finish of the turtle and come extinguish that things soul before you know it.” I said decisively.

“...You know, this is the perfect moment to change your mind.”

“Do tell, what do you mean Gram? That we betray the gods?” I asked Gram, fuming that he’d talk about something like this right now.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.” He said and turned towards me.

“You know what I think about our gods, so I’ll cut it short. We should take its deal, then we can maybe make a deal with it.

In return for our prayers, it leaves us alone and lets us live as we wish, something it might do even if we don’t negotiate, mind you.

And if we don’t... well, you heard it. And let me tell you, I have no intention of being turned into a shish kebab before I am 50, and I just so happen to be 35.”

...

“Gram, as I remember you are supposed to trust me on this one, am I wrong?”

“...Yes, I said that I’d follow you, b—”

“Then keep to your word and follow my orders. My sins are mine, and I’ll take responsibility of anything that happens today, and for anything that might happen in the future. Stay by myside, and we will come out on top.”

“...As you wish, Shaman.” Gram ended and turned around.

I knew he was not pleased with how I acted, and what my plans were, but he simply couldn’t understand what the better option was.

I had always thought of him as a friend, and as a person who was objective, and while I still see him as a friend... I cannot say the same for his objectivity, and decision-making skills.

“Everyone, to your positions!” I ordered and everyone took their men and went to the places I assigned them to.

“...I see that you’ve made your choice, mortals. But I am a generous deity, so I will follow my word, and not kill any of you as a sign of good will. May the next dawn bring a new day, a new day in which you have understood your mistakes and have taken a step back and choose the correct option...”

“William, the rest is on you.” Rifu-san suddenly said after the goblins started moving towards me.

“The rest is on me? The hell did you say to them?”

“Nothing much, gave them your name, gave them an offer to make you their deity in which you’d be ruling them from the sides, as it seems that is what you wished to do, and said that you’d be not killing any of them today... also I threatened them with death if they didn’t make the correct choice.”

“Y—you what?!”

“Anyways, I’ve got a few things to do sooo... contact me after you are done with your little fight, see you later William-kun~~”

“Wait, don’t you d—and she is gone... great.”

Then I turned towards the goblins that were slowly approaching me with their weapons held high, and I could tell even from seeing the necromancer’s face that he was pissed.

“...Day by day, I thank god for guiding me toward such great allies! I couldn’t wish for ones that were better. Totally could not!”