[November 3rd DxD/June 27th DBT]
With no one from the palace arriving to escort him or insist that he visit, Vahn spent the days since Demiurge's visit wandering and getting a feel for the capital.
'Looking at the faces of the people here, you wouldn't think a war is on the horizon...' Vahn noted, moving unseen through the capital's markets, where merchants and the Kingdom's wealthier citizens happily exchange information and coin. Those drafted to fight in the war were farmers and peasants who couldn't afford the commutation and substitution fees that allowed wealthier people to avoid conscription. As such, while the people who financed their existence and filled their tables with food were sent to fight and die in wars, the residents of the capital lived as if it had nothing to do with them.
Stopping at the entrance to a particularly filthy alleyway, which served as the demarcation line between the city proper and its slums, Vahn glanced down a line of severely malnourished, mostly barefoot men and women in threadbare clothing. They were mostly middle-aged, and with an average life expectancy of only thirty-eight years, it wasn't an exaggeration to say many had been left out to die.
As Vahn was observing the alley dwellers, a small procession of Clerics and a single Priest passed by on the opposite street. To his surprise, the Priest actually had his subordinates stop. But instead of offering relief to those in the alleyway, the Clerics were ordered to take up a collection to overlook the alley's occupation...
"..."
Seeing the fittest of the beggars hand over a pre-arranged collection of brass and copper coins, Vahn's expression flattened. The exchange made it clear that the alleyway dwellers were routinely extorted. And with how overweight the Priest was, it wasn't difficult to imagine where the exorted funds ended up.
Waiting until the Priest and his cohorts had left, Vahn made his way down the alley, passing right in front of those lining the walls. Despite this, they didn't react to his presence, as, with his Veil of the Traveler and the fourth skill he acquired as a Pilgrim, Natural Fixture, he was functionally invisible so long as he didn't breathe or move faster than 5km/h. It was limited to two uses per day, but as he didn't need to breathe, it could be maintained indefinitely.
Though it wouldn't change much unless they were willing to use it well, Vahn slipped five gold pieces into the collections of each beggar, which was nearly twice what a normal, unimpoverished family made and spent in a month. It wasn't a life-changing amount, but it was enough to receive treatment at a Temple and purchase a change of clothing for those willing to resume work.
Punctuating his act of philanthropy, Vahn glanced in the direction the Priest and his subordinates had gone before tapping the ground with his right foot. As he did, one of the smooth stones forming the path rose ever so slightly, just in front of the Priest's foot.
"Wha—!? AAAAAAAAAGH—!"
With his priestly sandal getting caught on the stone, the Priest stumbled forward and nearly faceplanted. He managed to get his hands under him at the last moment, but his weight, combined with an hedonistic lifestyle, left him unable to brace himself. As a result, pain shot through his wrists and left knee as he landed heavily upon them.
Turning away from the group as they hastily ministered aid to the injured Priest, Vahn began walking in the opposite direction toward a large, well-maintained Temple. It was a building that resembled a Catholic Cathedral, but in place of crucifixes, they had red, blue, green, and brown shields at the corners of the Temple to represent the Gods of Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth.
Stopping outside the Temple's grounds, which were ample enough to accommodate a football field, Vahn scanned its well-maintained prayer square. Dozens of slum-dwellers could be seen sweeping and washing the grounds on their hands and knees, supervised by Acolytes and low-ranking Clerics. It was by completing these menial jobs that many slum-dwellers received blessings and healing they otherwise couldn't afford, keeping the Temple looking pristine. Those from outside the slums could also substitute pay with labor, but they were given more specialized work, like sewing, transcribing documents, and helping process the dead, which first needed to be purified before they could safely be cremated or laid to rest.
Extending his right hand, Vahn tentatively touched what should have been an imperceptible, uninteractable barrier of pale golden light. As he did, its surface shone beneath his palm, followed by a feeling of resistance as the faith that made the land beyond hallowed resisted the encroachment of a foreign influence.
'So the Four Great Gods actually exist...' Vahn concluded, his presently golden eyes narrowing slightly. He knew that a higher power had to be involved to facilitate Ainz's transmigration. But since he couldn't view the world externally, the identity of that power and the setting's hierarchy of divinity were unknown to him.
Synchronizing with the barrier's energy, Vahn passed through it without setting off alarms or triggering a reaction from the Temple's security and response forces. He had heard they had a specialized unit known as the Order of Retribution and Punishment, consisting of twenty-eight Paladins and many more support units. Even the weakest Paladin was as strong as a Mithril-ranked Adventurer, so despite existing as an independent entity, the Temple had a military on par with the Kingdom's most powerful Order of Knights.
Moving unseen to the Temple's entrance, Vahn stopped a second time as another imperceptible barrier came into view. With his ability to interpret any language, he had an intuitive sense of what barriers and magic circles were meant to do. The one before him was designed to dispel stealth and illusions. And beyond that was a volumetric barrier, blocking teleportation and tracking objects within by how the volume shifted in response to their presence.
'Looks like this is where my exploration ends...' Vahn mused, exhaling from his nose. With his present capabilities, the odds of his being able to enter the chapel or the chambers beyond without garnering attention were slim. He had more than a few ways to become incorporeal, but the downside of such abilities was that they left the user blind and unable to perceive their surroundings, as photons and particles passed through them. He normally circumvented that downside using his Domain, but in his presently limited state, maintaining it required a concerted effort. Doing so without creating spatial distortions was next to impossible.
'I wonder how Lupusregina was able to bypass this...?' Vahn wondered, recalling that Lupusregina had entered the Temple in E-Rantel in search of the person who sent him a letter. Her Complete Invisibility didn't make her intangible. If she were to fully submerge herself in a body of water with it active, it would produce an outline of her body where the water could not flow. That was what made volumetric barriers so troublesome.
Deciding that he could simply ask Lupusregina when he returned to her, Vahn turned to leave, his expression flat as he once again scanned those performing labor on the Temple's behalf. With the existence of Cleaning and Lifestyle Magic, the Temple shouldn't require people to perform such tasks. There was even Magic to produce minerals and spices, so while he understood the value of working to acquire what one wanted, he couldn't help feeling that the Temple was demeaning people to keep them in their place.
'Maybe I should open a school to teach people Cleaning and Lifestyle Magic...' Vahn considered, closing his eyes and navigating through the slums using his Domain. There seemed to be a consensus that ordinary people couldn't learn Magic or Martial Arts, no matter how much effort they put into it, but he knew for a fact that wasn't true. There might be those who were more talented as a result of special genetics, but just as Divine Magic was given form and power through faith, a powerful enough desire to learn could overcome any obstacle. The average person simply didn't have the time or energy to study Magic or practice Martial Arts, as they were too busy surviving and exhausted from hard labor...
With such thoughts in mind, Vahn meandered his way through the slums, discreetly lining pockets, tripping up thugs, and interfering with crimes in progress. He took care not to kill anyone, but he left behind many broken bones and misplaced coin purses. The Kingdom had dispatched Knights to investigate the cause of the marked increase in accidents and injuries in the area. But as the affected were primarily those with criminal records, they weren't overly concerned with bringing it to an end...
...
..
.
Reaching the inn where he and Lupusregina were staying in the late evening, Vahn found the voluptuous redhead lying face down atop a comfy table while someone who shared his appearance down to the flecks in his eyes gave her a massage.
"Welcome back. Did you have fun playing hero~?" Lupusregina asked, turning her head and smiling the moment Vahn revealed himself. At the same time, the version of him providing her a massage placed his right hand over his heart and bowed, stating, "I shall excuse myself..." before turning into a figure that resembled a fleshy mannequin with dark voids for its mouth and eyes.
"Mmn. Thanks for standing in for me..." Vahn expressed, offering the somewhat disconcerting-looking figure, a Greater Doppelganger, an approving nod.
Bowing even lower, the Greater Doppelganger took on the appearance of Narberal Gamma, one of Lupusregina's sisters. Doing so allowed it to use Greater Teleportation—its form disappearing with a flash of bright, bluish-white light.
With Vahn making his way over to her to continue where his stand-in had left off, Lupusregina issued a throaty, sensual groan before revealing, "A few servants representing various nobles and wealthy merchants came by to request a meeting, but we sent them away using the usual excuse that if their masters truly wished to meet you, they would come and pay a visit themselves."
"Did anyone from the palace drop by?" Vahn asked, sliding his right hand from Lupusregina's butt and slipping his fingers between her warm, humid thighs.
"There was a brat who introduced himself as the personal Knight of the Second Princess, Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself. He was pretty insistent that you be the one to go and meet Princess, but I shooed him away like the yapping dog he was..." Lupusregina hummed, turning onto her back, spreading her legs wide, and pulling her feet up to her butt to hold Vahn's gaze with glistening golden eyes.
'The Golden Princess...' Vahn mused thoughtfully, his expression a natural smolder as he bent over Lupusregina to kiss her. Ever since his encounter with Demiurge, he had been considering which of the Royals was working with Nazarick. Princess Renner was famed for her kindness and the many reforms she had introduced, but it was often those who yearned the most for change that were willing to commit the most egregious acts. The other two candidates, assuming the King himself wasn't involved, were the First and Second Princes.
Based on the information he had acquired during his wanderings, the First Prince, Barbro Andrean Ield Ryle Vaiself, was a jingoistic brute rumored to be entangled with The Eight Fingers' Drug and Trafficking Division. As for the Second Prince, Zanac Valleon Igana Ryle Vaiself, remarkably little was known about him. There were rumors that he was a fat, power-hungry fool who coveted his brother's position and his sister's genius, but Vahn hadn't heard of anything that directly implicated the Prince in any wrongdoing. It was highly probable that the rumors smearing him had been spread by his elder brother and the Noble Faction to undermine his status as a prospect for the throne.
Since the only way to substantiate his suspicions was to meet with the members of the Royal Family directly, Vahn decided to send word to the palace that evening to inform them of his visit the following day. Before that, he had an aroused and very ravenous Werewolf to both appease and reward for holding down the fort in his absence...
...
..
.