It was the start of a sunny day in the Larimar market, on the planet Gloom. Nebai had just finished reviewing sales reports and reading some letters from her uncle, the dwarf king.
Since Zaimo and the whale first visited the place, they taught the main dwarves the basics of tech building. Now, with that knowledge, everyone who was taught could develop their own inventions, and those dwarves were passing the learning on to others.
The dwarves were focused and creative, coming up with innovative ideas. The level of armor and weapons produced by them was growing every day. Alm and Bruno didn’t have to worry about them anymore; using the markets to get resources, they were becoming more and more powerful over time.
Nebai, who used to split her time between running the market and improving her own armor, now worked only half a day in the market. The rest of the time, she dedicated to taking care of herself, aiming for the best possible pregnancy.
Her eyes sparkled as she saw the results: "Awesome, all the auctions have skyrocketed in profits. I made what would take thirty years in just two months. Now, I just need that sect to come after me...!"
It was at that moment she felt something was off. Turning quickly to the entrance of her office, she sensed a distant presence of a new visitor through the market’s formation. An intense agitation in the laws and throughout the building made her eyes widen.
"One, two... four heroes?" she murmured, stunned.
In a second, the four auras focused at the top of the building, where her office was located. Nebai quickly grabbed the tablet that controlled all the formations of the structure.
As Mistie had explained earlier, the Larimar market was physically closed to outsiders from the planet. The only way in was through teleporting from other markets, leading directly to the center of the building. The visitor would be confined within the market and would have to use the same teleport to get out. (Chapter 611)
The building’s formation had been constructed at a high cost, since Mistie had announced that a disciple of the God of Forge was present. The market was designed to be extremely secure, preventing followers of the God of Wealth from infiltrating. If the formations were activated to prevent someone from escaping, even a hero would have some trouble.
Nebai had only a second to act. She sent an emergency message and then activated the entire sealing system with her tablet.
*CRACK!*
The office door shattered the next second. Four humanoid figures entered, with cold looks. They were four men: a human, a dark elf, and two beast-like humans.
Nebai looked up, pretending to be surprised. The four heroes stared at her and nodded, filling the room with a golden light.
"Are you the one responsible for selling this?" the dark elf asked dryly, as some pulsing leaves with magical energy appeared in front of him.
The red-haired dwarf nodded seriously. "Yes, hero. I received them, organized the auctions, and sold them."
"Who supplied this to you?" the human hero asked coldly.
Nebai took a deep breath and bowed: "I apologize, I’m a follower of the God of Merchants. Because of his laws, I’m prevented from revealing my suppliers without proper authorization."
"You dare not answer?" the human laughed maliciously. "You have no idea what you’re getting into. This tree and everything related to it is taboo. It shouldn’t exist. Only someone like a Heaven-Defier could have gotten this. Tell us now who gave you those leaves, or we’ll destroy everything related to you."
Nebai paled upon hearing this. Alm and Bruno never directly revealed to the dwarves what they really were; everyone genuinely believed he was the God of Forge. However, during the preparations before the convention, the whale altered the runes of the Empyreans for everyone, removing any influence from the queen.
Upon hearing those words, the pieces clicked into place in Nebai’s mind. But, interestingly, she didn’t feel any aversion to what she had discovered. The God of Forge had left many things for the dwarves—knowledge, techniques, teachings... among all that, he also wrote autobiographical stories and humble fantasies.
There were many; that dwarf was quite creative and willing. Among the fantasies, there were several stories about a divine evil... that enslaved and dominated people from the shadows.
In all those stories, there was also a sacred and saving figure: the missionary sent by Heaven’s Will. This figure was constantly attacked by evil with lies, making everyone turn against him.
The stories were obviously treated as mere fantasies by the adults. But since the God of Forge was revered by the dwarves, all the young ones read and consumed everything about him. With that, all the dwarves either read the books or heard about those fantasies at some point. Over the millennia, ’The Divine Evil and the Missionary’ became part of dwarven folklore and imagination.
Alm and Bruno read those stories when they visited the dwarven kingdom and perfectly understood the God of Forge’s plan. He was really shrewd, orchestrating everything so that the missionary would be accepted upon arrival.
Thus, they didn’t see the need to reveal their true identity immediately. Pretending to be the God of Forge wouldn’t be a problem. And the connection with the dwarves would be strengthened slowly over time. When the truth came out, after removing the queen’s influence, they would accept the revelation easily.
But things were happening way too fast; Alm and Bruno would be seriously worried if they knew. However, Nebai wasn’t foolish, and Zaimo had already left her some hints.
With determination, she clenched her fists. ’So that’s it... the missionary really exists... the God of Forge was always one? Well, it doesn’t matter,’ she thought quickly.
Just like the Dragons who had a lot of knowledge about the heroes, someone prominent among the followers of the God of Merchants had access to all possible history of the universe. This was the first time Nebai, now free from her shackles, reflected on this. Alone, she reached the obvious conclusion.
Nebai looked at the heroes, and a glint passed through her eyes. In her mind, she concluded, determined: ’These heroes are the evil from the stories. The missionary tries to fight against them, but is hunted. The world is against him... his identity can’t be revealed.’
The four heroes noticed the rebellion in her gaze. The human roared: "You really dare to go against us... that should be impossible... great, looks like we’ve stumbled onto something accidentally, hehehe..."
"Heroes. I’d like to help, but that goes against the rules of the God of Merchants. If I do, I’ll be punished by him and lose everything I have. My life depends on this..." Nebai said slowly.
"Your life? A bug has no right to demand anything. I will find out absolutely everything."
The human stepped forward, but the dark elf, who seemed to be the leader, held up a hand to stop him.
"It’s useless. I’ve dealt with followers of the God of Merchants before. She speaks the truth. Even if we try, if it goes against the rules of that god, his influence will only increase. It’s not that she wants to rebel, the god is stopping her from going against his rules, and there’s a conflict of interest."
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"How can a mere merchant make her disobey us?!" the human roared.
"It’s not quite like that." The dark elf explained calmly. "You came from a place with different rules. In this universe, and in mine before, these bugs have greater free will. The Holy Goddess has left them freer to create new ways to worship her, but that has also given more influence to other deities to act on them. It’s a test for them to choose the true Goddess, but there have always been these kinds."
The human scoffed, clearly indignant, but he understood. This was only possible because, in the Queen’s universe, the chains were weaker. With the influence of the God of Merchants, she could even go against the hero’s orders.
"What will we do?" another hero asked coldly.
"She can’t speak, but we can force the information out of her; it won’t change much. However, if we try to use common methods, that god might make her soul explode, and we’ll be left with nothing. Let’s take her and do this slowly."
After the dark elf spoke, the other three nodded with malicious smiles. At that moment, Nebai sighed, and her eyes turned cold.
The heroes noticed her intentions and chuckled lightly. The human gestured, and the golden heroic power circled, attacking Nebai.
In that instant, she felt her body stiffen, but she just snorted, and the rune of a Conquering Empyrean appeared. All the hero’s influence briefly dissipated, and she activated the command tablet.
The whole building shook, and the heroes widened their eyes in surprise. "That bitch sealed the formation, what nonsense...!"
The dark elf stopped mid-sentence when he felt something strange. He turned to Nebai, who was now completely covered in armor. But that wasn’t all...
Every wall and corner of Nebai’s private room began to move. Hundreds of metal pipes revealed themselves — they were emergency weapons prepared by Zaimo.
’I still said this was unnecessary. He knew the danger he faced; I was just a frog at the bottom of the well,’ Nebai murmured mentally, as she waved her hand, activating all the weapons pulsing with power.
’Sorry... it didn’t last long, but I was very happy,’ she thought sadly. All her energies began to burn away to unleash the maximum power possible.
The four heroes felt an immense pressure as the whole environment started to pulse with power. "What the hell is this?!" one of them spat, surprised.
"Interesting, but it doesn’t matter," the dark elf replied coldly. "Do you want to kill yourself? Only in your dreams."
Suddenly, furious astral winds filled the room. Nebai turned to the human hero and tried to shoot... but... a shadow of an ethereal blade pierced the space.
*Puft!*
The holy sword was invoked immediately, ignoring all restrictions. The blade appeared in front of Nebai and pierced her chest, breaking through her armor and severing all the connection she had with the weapons in the room.