38: Epilogues?

Murphy’s view

With the disappearance of the priests of light, and just about everyone who openly worshiped the god of light, the town became much more peaceful. I also started noticing something a little disturbing.

While I’ve not admitted it to anyone, I actually accepted Lae as my god fairly early on, but I keep it a secret because I want to display a neutral stance. The law needs to focus on resolving conflict and solving problems, not taking sides. Because of this, I became aware of just how nice her little heaven is. However, it is only now, after my investigations into disappearances that I have realized something: It’s possible to enter and stay in that realm forever. Not just in dreams, but physically.

I probably should’ve realized this sooner when I saw supposedly dead people returning from there, but I hadn’t quite connected all the dots yet. Most people seem to not want to stay there long term, but I’d not be surprised if that changes over time. That place can offer so much more than just sex, and compassion. I’ve heard rumors of some priests of Joy using their gifts to give people experiences unlike anything a natural life would have. 

When I first learned of people not dying, I worried about the population growing too much. It wasn’t something that’d be an issue anytime soon, as the city was lacking population from the war effort, yet it was something I worried about happening anyway in the far future. Now it seems I have an entirely different worry instead: What if everyone abandons this world for Lae’s? … I’m not even sure if that would be bad, or just weird. It would be a little sad though if everyone just left.

…

Lae’s view

It’s a little funny to say that I’m retiring, but I sorta am. While I didn’t exactly have a job to begin with, I no longer need to worry about things. My first big concern had been those crazy cultists, but Ophelia says they aren’t looking for me anymore, so I don’t need to worry. Apparently they like what I’m doing? I’m not really sure what that’s supposed to mean. What exactly did I do? 

It feels like after making Vivian a priest, things have been happening that I don’t really understand. When I think about it, I can’t shake this feeling that I’m better off not understanding. As if understanding would require giving up something important to me. I remember in my past life, the phrase “ignorance is bliss” was one I often ignored, because I preferred sating my curiosity over staying blissfully ignorant most of the time. Though, thinking on that now, I realize there were lots of things I chose to remain ignorant about. Places I deliberately chose not to visit online. After all, it’s not possible to unsee something. This feeling of not wanting to know or understand I get now, reminds me of that.

Deliberately choosing to not know something feels weird though when it’s something so directly related to me. This isn’t ignoring what others have done, but ignoring something I have done. Which goes back to the question of what exactly makes me me… I’m not actually sure I want to know. Somehow I get the feeling I don’t want to be me, but instead I want to be Lae, and somehow that’s not the same thing. Which is weird. It’s really really weird. I’m Lae! How could I not be?

…I think I need a hobby. Something besides making out with Vivian, and chatting with visitors of the church. Maybe I should do research on how to make better sex toys. Those are fun.

…

Bella’s view

Good news: I am not stuck telling everyone what to do anymore!
Bad news: Charlotte took lil’dee and fled. 

It took me a while to figure it out, but apparently her curiosity and my frequent praise was enough that she finally decided to try it in secret when I was taking a bath and liked it enough to keep it. After, she was too shy and embarrassed to admit it, and fled when I confronted her. I’m willing to forgive her, but I can’t when she’s run off! Amelia went to go find her, and we both agreed that it’d probably be better to search without me, since I’m the one Charlotte is scared to face right now. 

Somehow, the loss of lil’dee resulted in people not treating me like an authority figure anymore. I’m not sure why, but it seems my theory that lil’dee was the reason I’d become the defacto leader was right. I could probably get another if I asked our new town priest of joy, but I didn’t really want to. A new one wouldn’t be the same. I got the one I had from Lae and getting a new one would feel like abandoning it. It’d be different if I’d been able to properly bequeath it to Charlotte, but she needs to come back and ask. Until then, it’s still mine!... Actually, I’d probably ask Charlotte to get one for herself and give me mine back, unless she wanted mine specifically for some reason.

Anyway, thanks to my new found freedom from responsibility, I got myself a nice little shack a few hours from town where I could grow a nice little garden in peace. Well, mostly in peace; darn rabbits. Maybe I’ll ask Charlotte and Amelia to stay with me when they return. We could have our own land and house, and stop with the whole hunting of monsters and dungeons thing. Now that Lae is officially recognized as the new god in most cities, I hear adventuring has completely died off. The new church doesn’t want people hunting for monsters (not that there were many left).

… It’s not my fault or responsibility that tensions in the town seem to be getting really high, right? I do actually feel a little guilty about it when I visit my parents, but I wouldn’t know how to solve the problem anyway. People are arguing over every basic rule we’d ever had now that the old church is gone and they stopped coming to me for everything. Feels like these people don’t know how to decide things as a town without some dominant leader dictating it for them, and now that there’s no one they can all agree to follow, nothing is getting done. Feels a bit silly to me, having worked with a team of three for years without ever having an assigned leader, but maybe getting a consensus is harder with more people involved. Regardless, I’m not someone with any answers to this problem, and after the mess with the church of light’s angel, few people are willing to accept the new church’s suggestions or advice.

***Author Note***

How well does the existing power structure survive the disappearance of the church of light? 16. Wow, that’s pretty good.

I have no idea where I got that image from. Tried a google search for it, and it gave me nothing. Which is weird since I got that image back in 2010 I think. I know I didn’t make it. It came from the internet… somewhere.

Does Bella manage to escape her position as town leader? 18 Freedom!
How adventurous is her new life? 10 not very.
Does she make a family? 11… that’s about as close to a non-answer as you can get from a d20. Bah.
Is the church of Joy now in charge? 1… so that’s a no. Very much a no.
Is anyone in charge? 4… also no.
Bella’s town is now in a state of no governance at all.
How much of a problem is this? 16 uh oh.
Did Bella leave? 10… *sigh* I guess she’s on the outskirts? Far enough away to not really be there, but close enough to not count as having left? I suppose that fits with escaping from being in charge. Living a few hours walk from town is enough that people won’t want to ask her for help unless they have to.
Are her prior companions still with her? 5 nope.
How sexual is her isolation? 1… uh… what? She had lil’dee, did something happen to lil’dee?
Did someone steal lil’dee? 12… hmmm…
Belle needs something to do, preferences in Hunting 9, Gardening 19, Forestry 11, Crafts 7… gardening it is.

Fuck, did I just write an epilogue? The story isn’t done yet!

Belle and Charlotte’s future relationship: 14 I guess they eventually make up… I think Charlotte is going to keep Belle’s lil’dee though.