Fractured God

With Elizabeth officially joining those in the parish, Mr. Bentley decided to ease up on the use of funds, as, to put it simply, she was a nosy little asshole. And with the lessening of the funds, they returned to the state the guild was in before he met the cultists. Which wasn't terrible but it certainly put a halt to some plans he had to bring the branch to greater heights. It was also around this time that those “Marrow of Lucifer” fellows were making noise around the country and parts of the continent as a group of ravenous cultists.

“All this gold and nothing to use it on.” The old man sighed.

Ezekiel was in front of him with a shovel in hand.

The pair were both in the middle of a dense forest. It was about midday and Mr. Bentley was sitting on a log, watching Ezekiel dig a hole, with a sack of gold in his lap.

“Shit, am I even digging in the right place? Oh, there it is. Old man, toss the bag over.”

He obliged and flung it over. Ezekiel caught it before dropping it inside.

“Any more and we're either gonna need another hole or a deeper one.” He said as he started shovelling the dirt back in.

“Have any idea when the girl is leaving? She seems quite disappointed with the parish.” Mr. Bentley asked.

“I honestly don't see her leaving unless our branch closes down. She seems like she is already getting friendly with the locals.”

“What a conundrum. We wanted the funds to improve the guild yet as long as she remains we'll probably never be able to use them. Sigh.”

Ezekiel started filling back the hole and Mr. Bentley continued to watch him until it was time to leave.

As they made their way back to town, they noticed more rumbling than they'd like. And the further they walked into town, the more people they witnessed until they made their way to the branch building.

“Boy, I feel we should lay low. This might be some sort of investigation.” Mr. Bentley said as they approached.

“Don't worry I overheard some people talking, it sounds like Elizabeth dragged some bandit or something through town and came here.”

“Damn, I thought she'd overlook my other associates. Maybe it'd be better to try and transfer her to an adjacent branch.”

The pair made their way inside, where they witnessed a bloody Elizabeth. She sat in a chair, holding onto the shirt of an unconscious man who looked to have been brutalised. His face was bloated and unrecognisable from her punishment and Elizabeth had slit the tendons in both his hands based on what they could see. She had an inhuman look in her eyes while she held him.

“Finally, you're back. Where are the healing potions? I have to get this worm to talk.” She said as she wiped some blood off her face.

“Now Elizabeth, what could that man have done to warrant this? I'm not even sure he's still alive.”

“Please just get the potions. He has to speak on his actions, I can't let him escape my questioning that easily.” She coldly stated as she stared into his eyes.

“And why should I waste potions on this gentleman?”

“This monster needs to speak up for his actions!” She shouted. “Do you know what this walking sack of human shit did?” Elizabeth asked him. “He and his friends annihilated a village I was going to help deliver some wheat to town. All of them. The men. The women. The elderly and the children. They killed all of them!” She said at the top of her voice. She seemed to be holding in her anger the best she could, though she littered in some fury as she spoke.

“(Oh shit!) Wha- he did what!?”

“For the time being please, I have to know what his goal is. Please bring some potions.” She asked as she tried to calm herself down.

Ezekiel then ran the gossiping crowd away while Mr. Bentley took as much time as he could, to find the potions. He ended up giving only one and pretended they had run out. He had Ezekiel console Elizabeth after and soon sent her on her way home.

“Here, she said she picked this up from one of their bodies.”

Ezekiel soon pulled a pouch out of his pocket. Mr. Bentley quickly opened it and looked inside. It was the blue crystals he'd seen the priest create. He placed it into his pocket and turned around, signalling for Ezekiel to follow.

“At least we have something we can use to help mend our bridge with him. For the time being, get half of the gold out we've received from them, it won't return his men but we should be prepared to end things on an amicable note if it comes to it.”

A day passed and as Mr. Bentley worked in his office, he heard strange noises coming from downstairs. A knock was soon heard at his door and a new receptionist he hired had entered.

“Mr. Bentley there are some men downstairs saying they want to discuss something with you.”

He brought his head up and stared at her blankly for a moment.

“(Already? Damn, Ezekiel hasn't even dug the gold up yet) I-is that so? Thanks for telling me and by the way, you're off for the day.”

“Oh fuck ye-” She covered her mouth. “I mean heck yeah! Thanks for the time off, boss.” She said before wasting no time leaving.

Another knock was heard from the door.

“Come in.”

The priest entered through the door, looking somewhat peachy alongside a pale-skinned woman with long flowing black hair. While their beauty was one thing, they had a certain aura to them, that had Mr. Bentley on edge.

The duo pulled out seats for themselves and sat in front of Mr. Bentley’s desk.

Before the old man could say anything, the priest opened his mouth.

“I suppose it was a bit too idyllic to expect no deaths. But you've certainly raised a monster, haven't you, you old bag of bones.”

“I can assure that-”

The priest cut him off. “Frankly, I'm not too bothered by their deaths. Apparently, some of my men decided that the village was a nice place to ransack every so often for food. They didn't officially file a commission with you, correct?”

“How do you know that?”

“One of my men liked to rest in the village when he could and was even quite friendly with some of them. He informed his brothers to inform me that the villagers were planning to get an adventurer to help them with something, as an excuse for protection.”