Chapter 271 – Wele to the Church of The Reader
"Loyalty." Cassius said calmly, watching the surprised faces of the twins, their silver skin lending them a rather enchanting look under the room’s light.
This had been the goal all along.
Everything he’d done so far had been aimed at securing the loyalty of the two before him.
As he let the silence settle, giving the twins time to fully grasp the situation, Cassius watched their expressions shift.
Aminata’s face might be identical to her sister’s, but her expression always carried a touch of coldness, impatience, and an untouched yearning simmering just beneath the surface, ready to erupt at any moment.
Awa was softer and more reasonable, her silver eyes glowing with a constant thoughtfulness, as though her mind perpetually drifted somewhere else, preferring the space inside her own head to the reality around her.
Yet something about her felt off. Something Cassius couldn’t quite place.
’The Game really didn’t show much of them. Or maybe their arcs were meant to unfold in the Second Game? Damn it.’
Cassius was starting to regret not at least dabbling in the Second Game.
Still, he refocused on the moment, watching his words take effect on the twins.
It didn’t take them long to grasp what he wanted from them.
"Loyalty, huh." Aminata muttered under her breath, brushing a stray strand of blue hair from her face.
"Yes, loyalty." Cassius nodded, "Money isn’t a concern for me, but I wouldn’t want to invest it in people I have no faith in. Don’t take it personally, that’s just how it is. I don’t know you well enough yet to trust you pletely."
"That’s perfectly reasonable." Awa said before her sister could open her mouth, "But you have nothing to worry about. We e from a tribe that values loyalty and trust above everything else."
She smiled, gripping Aminata’s hand tighter, "We wouldn’t do anything to break your trust in us. Not after everything you’ve done for us."
Awa meant every word. And even Aminata agreed, the thought of ever going against Cassius didn’t even cross her mind.
Because what Cassius had done went far beyond simply handing them money. He’d saved their parents’ lives, and everything the family had worked so hard to build in this Kingdom.
He’d also protected them from a horrific future, while helping mend their relationship with their parents along the way.
Well, that last part mattered mostly to Awa. Aminata was indifferent to it.
Still, all of it had e from Cassius, who’d been willing to give them even more money after they’d simply asked.
Taking all of that into account, Awa and Aminata didn’t feel that loyalty alone was enough repayment.
Cassius had given them so much that they were starting to feel like they weren’t giving back nearly as much as they should be.
And it seemed they were both thinking the same thing, because when their eyes met, they nodded in unison, having reached the same conclusion.
They turned their attention back to Cassius, finding him waiting patiently.
"We won’t betray your trust." She repeated, "and we’ll do our best to brew potions that will be useful to you."
"But we don’t think that’s enough." Aminata added, "So we’ve decided, as a gift to thank you for your generosity, to offer you something of our own."
"A gift?" Cassius said, a questioning note in his voice.
"We can’t give it to you right away, we’ll need to go capture it, but yes." Awa said, a bit embarrassed, "It’s a Wraith-type monster that walks the Path of Emotions. Fear, more precisely."
"It’s a monster we came across on one of our missions. But it was unusual, because it had a human appearance." Aminata tilted her head, "It looked like a young boy. Though its body was actually made of thousands of maggots clustered together."
"A Wraith-type monster with a physical body?" Cassius asked, "That’s fairly rare. You don’t e across them often. Unless they’re Tier Four or above, and if that monster had been Tier Four, you wouldn’t be standing here now."
"Oh?" Awa and Aminata exclaimed together, "So you’ve seen something like that before? We never have. What’s the difference?"
Cassius drew on his knowledge from the Game and explained it as simply as he could, "It essentially means the monster was born from the union of at least two Tier Four Wraith-type monsters. Which is extremely rare, given how difficult it is for monsters to reproduce."
"Oh." They murmured, unsure what to say to that.
Cassius, meanwhile, was caught up in his own thoughts, piecing together something from the Game only now.
The beast the Twins had given Emrys in the Game had been a black-and-white maggot capable of entering a victim’s body at will and influencing their emotions.
A subtle creature. But absolutely lethal, under the right circumstances.
’So that maggot came from the monster with the young boy’s appearance they’re describing? Or are they one and the same?’
That was interesting. Offspring of two Tier Four or higher monsters, still young and weak enough to capture, were exceedingly rare.
’What would happen if I let Stella devour that monster? I hope the process of devouring carries the victim’s memories along with it.’
If it did — and if Stella provided some way to access them — Cassius felt he could deepen his knowledge of monster civilizations significantly.
That thought excited him greatly.
There was still so much humans didn’t understand about monsters and their origins.
’As if I know where we humans came from.’ He snickered inwardly, ’though I’ve read it’s from dust, clay, and earth, given life by the World. On this point, at least, the Book of First Revelation and the Book of Second Revelation don’t contradict each other. For once.’
He sighed and shook his head, refocusing on the twins.
"I’ll gladly accept your gift." Cassius said with a grateful smile, delighting the twins.
"Then we’re glad." Awa said, clapping her hands with profound joy.
Just yesterday, they’d thought the world was ending. Now everything had been resolved, and they’d even gained a sponsor.
And that sponsor was Cassius Desdemona himself.
Suddenly, they felt the urge to thank some god for such a blessing. But then the twins remembered they didn’t actually believe in any god.
The Guardian Totem their tribe worshipped had abandoned them the moment they’d left.
If they ever dared to pray to it now, they’d only invite a curse.
So, for a moment, they felt lost, only now grasping just how empty they’d bee after losing a spiritual connection they’d carried since childhood.
That emptiness urged them to fill it with something.
And when their eyes landed on Cassius again, they remembered the veiled goddess from the Entrance Test, the one who’d helped him.
Their eyes lit up with hope.
"Angel?" Awa called out, "which goddess do you worship?"
"Hm? Me?" He asked, and they both nodded, so he answered with a smile, "I worship {The Lady Who Reads The End}. Her name is Lady Ananke. I call her the Queen of Fate. She’s the Owner of the Gate of Fate and Secrecy."
The string of titles left Awa and Aminata in a hushed awe. It felt like simply speaking those names had tinged the air around them with divinity.
’Fate...’ Awa whispered inwardly, her heart trembling at the sheer weight of the concept.
She’d always been fascinated by Fate, spending countless nights wondering whether hers was to spend her whole life paying off debt, or forever dependent on her parents.
She feared it too. Because what if her Fate had already been decided before she was even born, and it wasn’t the one she wanted?
Could she change it? Would she even have the will to fight against it?
’But what if I became a believer in Fate?’ Awa thought, something unfamiliar trembling deep within her, ’What if I worshipped Fate itself? Would Fate favor me, then?’
Awa hadn’t expected an answer. But...
[Fate will favor you.]
...Lady Ananke answered her directly, her divine voice echoing through the mortal’s mind, again and again.
Awa barely registered what was happening before she found her knees already on the ground, her head bowed low.
Cassius looked at her, eyebrows raised, and saw she was crying, yet smiling too, as though some missing piece of herself had just been restored.
Aminata, meanwhile, had fallen into her own trance, one word repeating over and over in her mind: ’...secrecy.’
She liked that word more than she probably should. Perhaps because she loved doing things her own twin sister knew nothing about, and would prefer she never learn of.
Because it revealed a side of her she’d never acknowledged, and never intended to. A side she wanted buried forever, something only possible with...
’...secrecy.’ She thought again, heart pounding, ’...will my secrets stay protected, Queen of Fate? Will Awa stay oblivious to what kind of sister she has, until the day I die or this world ends? Please, answer me, I beg you, Queen of Fate!’
[Your secret is safe with us.] Ananke replied simply, her tone divine.
Almost immediately, Aminata sank to the ground, kneeling behind her sister.
They’d prayed for as long as either could remember, and yet this was the first time a god had ever answered them directly.
They felt seen, loved, and accepted by something divine.
That feeling swelled inside them, burst, and spread through every part of them.
They’d e here searching for a way out of a horrible situation.
What they’d found instead was an angel from an unknown heaven, and a goddess willing to take wretched mortals like them under her wing.
They’d found light. They’d found guidance.
They’d found purpose.
"If you’ll allow us," Awa said, lifting her head to look at Cassius, "we’d like to join the Church of the Queen of Fate."
"We’re sincere about this." Aminata added, "We want to worship the Queen of Fate."
"Why?" Cassius asked, standing and approaching the two of them, still kneeling in awe of Ananke, "Why do you want to worship the Queen?"
He stopped in front of them and crouched down, meeting their eyes without flinching.
"Because I think I could navigate this life better with her as my guide." Awa answered honestly.
"Because I think I could keep being myself, with her as my Queen." Aminata echoed.
"Are you sure about this?" Cassius asked again, "You know what happens to those who abandon a faith, right? It’s not pretty."
They finally hesitated, their eyes meeting for a moment. This was a significant decision, one that would shape the rest of their lives from here on.
It would have been wiser to step back and reconsider.
But in that moment, they were certain of their choice. And the Queen felt right for them.
"We’re sure." The Faye Twins said in unison, full of conviction.
And what neither of them knew — except Ananke — was that Awa and Aminata had accepted this faith so readily largely because of Cassius.
Because Cassius was Ananke’s Blessed. And a Blessed was a mirror of their goddess.
If they trusted Cassius enough to swear loyalty to him, they felt more than capable of extending that same trust to the Queen of Fate.
And so...
"We won’t take back our words."
Cassius smiled at them, genuinely surprised. He hadn’t expected them to want to bee believers of his Queen at all.
This turned out better than he’d hoped.
’Would I have been able to make them believers if I’d chosen to blackmail them instead?’
He doubted it.
"If you’re certain of your decision, then," he took each of their hands, his smile blooming into something so beautiful it made their hearts skip a dangerous beat,
"I wele you into the Church of The Reader."
—End of Chapter 271—
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