Chapter 135: Nothing to Fear

 

Uriel gazed at the Empress as she calmly walked next to her. They were heading out a side door wearing common clothes. Some of Uriel’s guards have put on a disguise as well giving them the appearance of being Uriel’s travelling companions.

The Silver Maidens were an order of spell blades that answered directly to Uriel herself. They excelled in infiltration and covert missions. However, they could also be deployed for high risk deep penetration assaults, like attempting to destroy the enemy headquarters in the middle of battle.

The Empress has also ordered some of her guards to to disguise themselves as well so the group just looked like a small band of travellers. Granted the band of travellers also had some extremely attractive women but it was in Uriel’s experience that being pretty does have its advantages. 

“Mother, what do you intend to see?” Ariel asked and Uriel paused for a moment as she let her legs carry her towards the merchant district.

“How the people live, when one lives with hope it will show. When one lives in despair it will also show. There is an old saying my daughter, the measure of an individual cannot be seen from how they treat their equals. It can be seen from how they treat their inferiors.

To have the power to strike but instead hold back, to have the status to soar above but to walk skin to soil, to have wealth to hoard but then gives it freely. That my daughter is true grace.” Uriel replied and Ariel nodded, committing another of her mother’s lessons to memory.

“So to your question my daughter, what do I wish to see? I wish to see the grace of the Empress and the Beast in the people beneath them.” Uriel replied.

Uriel turned her gaze to the street before her. It was clean, she smelled no refuse in this city. Which was saying something, considering the stench of the slums in Divonian cities was inescapable for Uriel. Her senses were so sharp that the stench of death, disease and waste could reach her even in the perfumed halls of the Divonian Royal Palace.

Yet on the topic of perfumes, Uriel noted a distinct lack of it in this land. Yes there were sweet scents but it seems the Empress relied on fresh flowers and fragrant teas to fill the palace with wonderful scents. 

On the street here it was no different Uriel could smell the fresh flowers that lined the balconies of the houses. She could also smell the aroma of freshly baked bread and fruit wines being sold. Overall the atmosphere was rather pleasant, Uriel could see children laughing and playing in the street. They all looked healthy with full cheeks, their eyes betrayed the fact they didn’t have a care in the world. To them, the future was bright and full of hope. 

Surprisingly she saw the children paid the beasts of the hive no mind. There were many of them scattered about. Since this was a merchant district she could see many of the beasts were pulling carriages. As Uriel examined the beasts of burden she noticed something about them. While they were indeed obviously built for great strength which was what made them good at pulling carriages their design was… lacking in certain aspects...

It was a clever disguise honestly, Uriel had to give the Great Beast props for this at least. Uriel was not sure of the reason that the Great Beast chose this design but she had two possibilities in mind. This design was but a robust and flexible base for the Great Beast to attach additional adaptations.

Uriel had seen such a design philosophy before, some of the Vanguard Hives favoured such a doctrine. Those also happened to be the ones that were far more adaptable than their peers, albeit at the cost of specialisation. Interestingly enough, the Eternal Mother’s hives never used this strategy yet this design philosophy was scattered across all the other hives that served the other Firstborn. Uriel always felt that little detail seemed like they got the idea from somewhere. Initially, she thought the hives were just copying each other but now perhaps they were imitating the first Vanguard Hive. It could be the Eternal Mother developed an aversion towards this design philosophy due to the rebellion.

Not that she could ever confirm this fact, her people shed a lot of blood to stamp out the hives. So with the ancient hives and their masters gone, there wasn’t anyone who would know the truth. Except of course the Great Beast himself. 

Still, even without the additional adaptations, this large hound-like beast was still more than enough to kill the average human. These beasts could most definitely pose a danger to an untrained Cherubim, as for the higher classes of angels all of them were combat trained to an extent. Their powerful jaws, sharp fangs and powerful legs made them formidable creatures to the average human. If these were the creatures pulling the wagons it was little wonder that banditry had been wiped from this Empire.

As to why the Great Beast would choose this design it could either be because he wanted to convey a subtle threat to the Seraphim. Any angel that fought the Firstborn would recognise this design doctrine at first glance. The other possibility was that the Great Beast could simply have been lazy so he just used this extremely stripped-down version of one of his old designs. 

Uriel then spotted a pair of children run up to one of the beasts with a piece of meat in hand. They held the meat out and the beasts gently took it from them before swallowing it. Then she noticed the words “Betty” was scrawled haphazardly in paint on the side of the beast. There were even children's drawings on its white armour plates. 

“We humans can get used to almost anything.” Cecilia commented from the side when she noticed Uriel staring at the beast.

“You can just talk to them, you know, the people are very open to everyone. Violent crime is almost nonexistent in my empire. We had three murders in the past month in the entire empire. All of which were crimes of passion.” Cecilia said and Uriel turned to face her in surprise.

That crime rate was lower than even Heaven. Three murders in the span of a month for an Empire this size is very impressive. 

“So they were due to infidelity?” Uriel asked.

“Unfortunately yes. Love can be quite dangerous wouldn’t you agree?” Cecilia replied and Uriel nodded in response.

“Indeed it can be…” Uriel muttered as her mind wandered to her husband. Uriel often disagreed with many of the things that her husband did, viewing his actions as too brutal and merciless. Yet he was the father of her children and she loved him. She loved him enough to look the other way when he enacted horror onto the denizens of Terra. Yet this was problem was becoming more pronounced during this war with the Syndicate, the last few months have certainly put a strain on their relationship.

“Mother…” Ariel began but Uriel just held up her hand stopping her from speaking. Uriel knew what she was about to say and at this moment Uriel really didn’t want to hear it.

Uriel walked forward and approached the two children. The beasts shifted its gaze to Uriel and took a step forward as if to shield the children. The wagon it was pulling shifted and Uriel paused as she noted the beast's defensive posture.

“It’s ok…” Cecilia said soothingly as she approached and gently ran her hand along the beast’s snout. The beast didn’t react for a moment before it relaxed and returned to staring straight ahead ignoring Uriel.

“Can we help you miss?” the little girl asked as she walked up to Uriel a bright smile on her face. The other little boy started telling Cecilia about his best friend “Betty” and how she chased away a group of wolves on one of their trips to Cathay.

“Yes dear, you see I’m not from around here could you tell me about your beast of burden?” Uriel asked as she looked at the Hive creature who was keeping a very intent watch on Uriel since she was now right next to the girl.

“Betty is not a beast of burden!” the girl snapped back as she crossed her arms as if offended.

“She is my friend and she protects us! She caught a thief just last week!” the girl said as she put her hands on her hips in a childish show of indignation.

“Sophie be nice… Can I help you miss?” a middle-aged man chided as he approached.

“She called Betty a beast!” Sophie replied as she pointed an accusing finger at Uriel.

“I don’t think she is from around here.” the man said with a chuckle as he put a hand on Sophie’s head.

“You presume correctly.” Uriel said with a nod.

“So you were wondering about the Great Beast’s hive?” the man asked as he laid a hand on the side of the beast’s head.

“Yes, I meant no offence.” Uriel said apologetically but the man just waved her apology away.

“You have nothing to apologise for, my children never knew the danger of the roads and they do not know how dangerous the Elysian Woods used to be. Before the Great Beast came along I am sure that forest and our roads were just as dangerous from wherever you came from.” the man said with a smile.

“Yes I am from Divonia and on my way over I noticed this Empire is so much safer. I am sure that is extremely comforting, especially considering you have a daughter.” Uriel said and the man nodded.

“Yes, I remember just barely fighting a pair of rapists off in an alley with my wife behind me. That was almost ten years ago if I recall.” the man said with a shake of his head.

“That’s very brave of you, I am sure your wife was very grateful for your bravery.” Uriel said as she smiled warmly.

“Well she married me so yeah I guess.” the man said as scratched the back of his head and let out a laugh.

“I suppose that is a good indicator of approval.” Uriel replied with a chuckle of her own.

“So I suppose you want to know more about Betty here. Sophie here came up with the name, she insists I maintain the name she wrote on Betty so people don’t treat her like some common animal. Sophie even tried to invite Betty in for dinner one day but Betty couldn’t fit through the door.” the man said with another small chuckle.

“Is this practice common?” Uriel asked.

“Well the naming part is, they are loyal companions. As for writing the name on… well not so much. I thought monsters were mindless killing machines but these Mules have died protecting us.” the man replied.

“Mules? Is that their name?” Uriel asked.

“Officially they are called Hive Mules but we just call them Mules. Monster attacks do happen from time to time so it’s up to them to protect us. I have been told that the moment we are attacked these Mules are to delay and buy time for help to arrive even if it kills them. There are quite a few cases of this scenario playing out but so far no human has died. So the system is quite good. 

I will admit I have grown quite attached Betty here, you couldn’t ask for a better creature to pull your trade wagon. She always does her job perfectly.

Don’t you Betty?” the man asked with a smile and Betty gave him this odd grumble in assent.

“See? Smart isn’t she?” the man said with a smile.

“Indeed she is.” Uriel replied with a false smile. Uriel did not expect the beast to be intelligent enough to comprehend words. The hive creatures she knew were mindless beasts, did the Great Beast perhaps give the individuals within the hive greater autonomy? That would be concerning because one of the main advantages of being a species of individuals was their individuality and abilities of independent problem-solving. If the hive could also independently act while still remaining cohesive it would be an extremely effective fighting force. All the hives Uriel has faced previously had soldiers who were just mindless drones. If something as low-level as a beast of burden was smart enough to comprehend words then what about the higher-level servants?

“Are you not afraid of these beasts?” Uriel asked and the man paused for a moment before smiling.

“We were afraid in the past, I mean look at those teeth. Betty here could rip me in half if she wanted to.” the man said and Betty let out another grumble of assent as if to say yes she could indeed rip him in half if she wanted to.

“But horses could trample us or break every rib in my chest with a kick. Dogs can bite off your fingers. If you think about it humans could do the same, I could walk down an alley and get stabbed. Elysia just won a war not that long ago, if the Volerians conquered this city who knows what would have happened.” the man replied.

“So far there have been no incidents with these ones. They do their jobs, they protect us. The Empress made this nation great, now we don’t have many worries. The future looks bright, it seems the Divine has truly blessed us. I go to the temple every week to give thanks, you know. Considering what came before, this Empire is about as good as it's going to get. Couldn’t ask for much more, so I just go and give thanks and pray for it to continue.” the man said with a smile.

Uriel nodded in understanding. So it seems destroying this Empire will be a costly affair. There are still other places she wishes to visit, the house of a noble, the poor district and a temple. Once these have been visited, only then would she make her final decision.

With that thought in mind, Uriel smiled and responded.

 

I am sure the Divine has heard your prayers…