Stray Soul

“Time to get up.” I muttered to myself as the sun started rising and started chatting with Rifu-san for a bit to talk about our plan to make me a deity, then she suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

“...They are coming this way”.

“Can you...not be so cryptic?”

“I meant the goblins. I can feel a lot of small creatures coming towards us, but there is less of them than last night.”

“Hmm... what do we do then? Meet with them, and beat them up again or just ignore them?”

“Like what I said last night, showing your strength to them is the correct option, so go ahed, meet them.”

“Well then... hopefully the necromancer is not with them...”

As I marched through the forest, in hopes of finding the deity from last night, I couldn’t help but be worried.

Next to me stood Gara, and behind us were 14 goblins, who had followed us since last night.

Though I had hoped for some to follow us, I was hoping not many would betray Krone and come with us.

Afterall, there was a reason why he was the shaman. He has always been good with his words and able to convince others or give them the courage to continue.

Though for the last few days the cliff between us had been obvious to the other goblins, they didn’t know why that was. And with Krone’s defeat last night, and the appearance of a new deity, and me wanting to side with that new deity instead of Krone, they had to take a leap of wait and decide who to support, and while I was happy with their decision... there was a small problem.

“Where is that guy...” I muttered softly, as we had been going in circles for the last few hours and I was not able to find where the deity had gone.

“Hoooh...” Heaving a sigh, I stopped and turned around.

“This is all for today, we set camp here. And, though we were unable to find the deity from last night, don’t be disheartened! I am sure we will be able to find them today!” I said to the men behind me with all the enthusiasm I could muster, and... they just seemed tired.

Not that I could really blame them for it. After all they had fought against a deity only a few hours ago, a battle where they had no hopes of winning and the only solace they had was that the deity promised to not kill them.

Not that they were sure if it would even honour its promise, they had to just hope it did.

Hopefully though, the deity would be interested in talks, and wouldn’t kill them when they met... not that their chances of getting out of this forest would be that high if they stayed in the village with Krone mind you.

...

It hurt me, it hurt me greatly for my friend to dedicate himself to a tyrant whole heartedly.

Though not that I could really blame him. I mean, how can a man go against a god? Deity or not?

Simple, they do not.

Its only normal for him to bow down to that Troll. But I would’ve wished that he had seen what his absolute devotion brought to the tribe, but sadly, he wasn’t the one to change his ways easily, or see things from a different angle.

“...What a shame.” I muttered to myself and as I was about to start giving out orders, I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

“What is a shame?” The deity from last night asked, and I immediately turned around, and was faced with the Cave Terror that was covered in greenery.

“...” I was stunned for a moment and couldn’t talk, but after a few moments, I realized its intentions were not to kill—or at least not to kill us immediately.

“Nothing important.” I said, and for a few seconds, no one said anything.

“Hmm... keep it to yourself then.” It replied, and I could not tell if it was angry or not.

“I assume you come to me to talk?” It then added.

“Yes. I’ve come here to negotiate a deal for my people.” I replied, and for a few second it didn’t say anything like before.

“Does this mean all of your people, including the necromancer have accepted my demands of becoming my followers?” It then said and... I was not sure why it was waiting for a few seconds before saying something.

Was it a form of showing superiority? If so, these negotiations might not go well as I wasn’t planning on giving it too much authority over our lives.

That had already happened with Krone, and I was making sure no deity got hold of too much authority and power over us.

“No, our shaman doesn’t want to change sides, and has chosen to remain as a priest of the great one. I am here of my own volition, and so are my compatriots. And we want to talk further about the offer you’ve given us about you becoming our deity.”

“Oh? I thought I made my wishes known clearly. I want you to change sides, stop praying to whatever deity or god you are praying to, and start praying to me as your deity. And in exchange, I’ll protect you from their wrath and many other things. Was that not clear?”

“The things is...

“... Is this guy... joking?” Rifu-san said through our connection, exasperated, after I finished telling her whatever the goblin said.

I couldn’t understand what it was saying, but I could repeat it to Rifu-san, which then translated it to me, and translated my response into goblin language, and then I repeated it to the goblin.

“Huh? What did he say?” I couldn’t help but ask her.

“Not something worth thinking about, just repeat what I say. Gogogox—”

“No no—I think I’d really like to hear what he said.” I said, cutting her off.

“...Haah. He just said something along the lines of wanting a separation of church and the state. Nothing worth con—”

“And what’s wrong with that?”

“...What?”

“I mean, that was kind of how I was planning to rule in the first place, so I don’t mind a separation of church and state. If anything, that’s going to make my job waaay easier.”

“But you won’t have control over the village? And any other villages or towns that may be created in the future?”

“I don’t see a problem with that. I mean, aren’t I basically creating a new faith right now? And a deity doesn’t need to control every aspect of their followers’ lives now, does it?”

“...No but giving up your authority will mean you won’t be able to control every aspect of the economy, meaning the level of efficiency will drop. Is that really fine with you?”

“And since when were planned economies more efficient than free economies?” I wanted to say but didn’t want to complicate things even more.

“Its fine. If anything, it’s more beneficial to me! I’ll only have to focus on any priest and priestess I get, and the rest of the ruling of the village will be left to the people, and what little say I get in the workings of the state will be more than enough for me!”

“...If you say so. Then what do you want to say to them?”

“Hmm... Let’s see...”

The silence that overtook our surroundings was overwhelming.

And as I stood there, looking at the deity that had gone silent for far longer than ever before, I wondered if I had made a mistake.

...

No. I had seen what a deity with absolute control did, and I say no more!

If it rejects my proposition, that’s it!

At least I’ll die free, rather than as a tool for a deity that never cared for us anyways.

Then the deity started speaking.

“I don’t see a reason to say no.” It said, and I was honestly surprised that it let this go this easily. And, though I could not see the others, I bet they were as surprized as me too!

“But I have once question, how will you rule your village?” The deity than asked which surprized me.

“I will rule my people as the Chief of the tribe.” I stated matter of factly.

“So, is your word absolute as the chief? Or do you have a council that you need to listen to? And what happens after you die? How is the new chief or the shaman selected?” The deity asked once more, and its questions were weird to say the least.

“As the chief, my words will of course be absolute. And, though I’ll have a council of elders to help me in ruling, I won’t have to listen to them, and the next chief will either be of my blood, or someone I choose before dying.” I said quickly, and the deity stayed quiet for a few seconds.

“Well, that won’t do.” The deity said, and it made my heart skip for a moment.

“What won’t do?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“That style of ruling, it won’t do.” The deity said, and before I could say anything, it continued.

“If I am going to allow you to separate the church and the state, I am not allowing 1 person to hold all the authority of the state without any checks or balances.” The deity then said, which confused me, as how did it expect the state to balance the church’s power if its power was not consolidated under 1 person?

“And if I am going to let you become the deity of our tribe, I won’t let you separate us into smaller chunks so you can more easily control us.” I then said to the deity.

I was determined to not let it gain more control than I had already agreed to give it, and that was going to remain like that.

And as I expected the deity to push back against what I said, and maybe even threaten me it instead... laughed?”

“Hahaha!” It laughed for a few more moments before calming down.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just—you completely misunderstood my point.” The deity said.

“From the beginning, even before you asked me for it, I was planning to separate the church and state.” It then added, which baffled me as what kind of deity would give up control that easily?

“But what I want to say is—not one person should be allowed to control the state by themselves, otherwise, won’t it be like me forcing my will on your tribe?” It then continued.

...

“And what do you want to do then? Like what I said, I am not going to let you separate my tribe into smaller chunks.”

“Well, that’s not my plan so do not worry. What I am saying is that we should separate the power to rule the state into different bodies; legislative, executive and judicial.

Legislative body is going to be the body that makes the laws, regulates foreign relations, and controls the tax.

Judicial body is going to be the body that decides the meaning of laws and applies them to real situations. So, it is basically the body in control of the courts.

Executive body is the body that does the actual governing part. So, both you and the police are going to be the executive body, but you are not going to have absolute control as your power will be checked by both the legislative and the judicial branches.

If you overuse your power, the legislative branch will be able to just vote you out of your role as the head of state, and if you commit any crimes, the judicial body will make sure the laws of the state are upheld with the help of the police.” The deity said, and its idea of separating the state into 3 bodies made sense but... there was a problem.

How could I be sure that it wouldn’t put people into the legislative and judicial branches? Afterall, both branches could just kick me out of the executive branch, so it was not a risk I could take.

“And how can I be sure that you won’t try to take control of the branches?” I couldn’t help but ask it.

“Simple, you can’t.” It then answered shamelessly.

“The simplest thing you can do to make sure I don’t gain any power in the state is to ban any previous or active members of the church from entering any of the branches of the state, and make sure that the legislative and the judicial bodies do their jobs.” The deity than said and we both went silent for a few moments while I thought it over.

But before I could think about it thoroughly, the deity said something else.

“Of course, this is just an idea from me. Whatever type of government we make for your village from now on doesn’t need to be exactly what I have in mind, but you are here to negotiate, are you not? Then let’s negotiate.”

Though I was still unsure about it, it’s ideas were worth a try. And if it did something I did not like, I could always go back on my word. So, I accepted its offer of having a government with 3 branches... for now.