The Devil’s Cage

“How do you view the Gods? The Gods of Naveya,” Kieran didn’t answer the question and instead replied with one of his own.

He purposely emphasized the term ‘Naveya’ in the second sentence.

“Divine, powerful and… always fighting with each other, secretly and openly.”

Atrina replied with an answer that everyone knew, but added the second part softly. Even though the Gods of Naveya were out of contact, the old habits never changed.

In fact, if the person in front of her wasn’t Kieran, Atrina wouldn’t have said anything disrespectful towards the Gods.

When the words escaped her mouth, a sudden realization hit her mind.

“You are saying?”

“Yes, it might be possible that everything happening right now might very well be progressing according to ‘his’ plans,” Kieran nodded.

“But it doesn’t make sense, ‘he’ doesn’t have to destroy the whole Naveya! It’s Naveya City we are talking about, the city that housed all the 25 temples!” Atrina shook her head in confusion.

“Maybe ‘he’ was thinking the number 25 was a little too many? If they fought secretly and openly, like humans, then having some greed like humans was reasonable, right?”

Kieran smiled at Atrina.

As a native, Kieran’s answer sounded unacceptable to Atrina, at least for the time being.

She was indeed smart and ambitious, but her ambition and bright mind was all contained within a box and never let out. When the thoughts escaped this box of hers, it was a little hard for her to accept.

However, deep down in her heart, Atrina knew Kieran’s claims were right and using that thought as a basis, Atrina quickly came up with some new guesses.

“Do you think everything that is happening right now has exceeded ‘his’ plans? ‘He’ might have planned and arranged everything, but during the crucial moment, something happened, hence the situation right now,” Atrina was thinking with one of her hands under her chin.

“Probably, but very unlikely,” Kieran denied Atrina’s guesses.

Although Kieran also wanted this guess to be real, his logical mind told him the probability of something going south was almost next to nothing. Had accidents happened, Kieran’s upcoming plans would be so much smoother.

Kieran then continued under Atrina’s focused gaze.

“As the main God in Naveya, if something really went wrong, ‘he’ wouldn’t have stayed calm during the last moment. Did you see any bodies from the Lightning Temple? The believers or priests? Or did you notice anything unusual around Lightning Temple during those few days?”

“No, everything was normal, until the very last moment, when Lightning Temple disappeared.”

“If this wasn’t planned beforehand, I can’t think of anything else . After all, if the Devourer really wanted to take ‘him’ out, it wouldn’t have gone silent.”

Kieran then looked at the door after his words.

Atrina was smart enough to stop her questioning, taking a pillow from the bed and putting it behind Kieran’s back and covering his legs with a blanket.

Kieran also went along with the act and put on a tired face.

After all the preparations, there was a knock on the door.

Dok, Dok Dok!

A rhythmic knocking sounded and with Kieran’s permission, the person entered the room.

The person was a middle-aged man in a body of armor. His chin was neatly shaven and had flourishing hair; his brown eyes were energetic and his nose was regal. There was also a scar on the left side of his cheek, extending all the way down to his lower jaw, which was supposed to be an old battle scar.

“Chief knight!”

The middle-aged man bowed without hesitation when he saw Kieran.

His face and eyes were burning with respect, hotter than the sun itself.

Nelson, a knight from Thorn Temple, had heard a lot about the man before his eyes, the stories like thunder to his ears. Once known as the ‘King of Assassins’, then the ‘Godslayer’, and now a ‘Hero’, Nelson couldn’t imagine how the man in front of his eyes had achieved all that in so little time. It was the reason why Nelson respected this man, who was supposedly a lot younger than himself. But most importantly, this man with many titles was also from Thorn Temple, and was the archpriest for sometime.

Nelson believed that if the Devourer hadn’t shown up, he would have only gotten the chance to meet this archpriest, who could very well expand, strengthen, and boost the temple to its prime state, after he ended his three year shift at the station and returned to Thorn Temple.

All the believers of Thorn Temple in Arya Outpost thought and anticipated the same thing.

That was if the Devourer hadn’t shown up.

Whenever he thought about the Devourer, Nelson, who had stern beliefs, felt enraged, but before his rage, he respected the man before his eyes even more.

Nelson knew that without the man in front of him, things would have unfolded in the worst way possible.

Just look at the tired expression on his face!

Kieran must have been fighting ever since the Devourer showed up.

It was unimaginable for a human with a mortal body to participate in the war of Gods, whether in terms of strength or bravery. Nelson admired Kieran, especially in terms of the latter, even more and the burning respect in his eyes grew a few times hotter.

“Nelson?” Kieran asked.

“Sir, yes sir!”

The outpost master looked at Kieran with delighted surprise when his name was called. He didn’t expect Kieran to know him.

Although once the archpriest of Thorn Temple, Kieran didn’t care about the affairs of the temple most of the time. However, that didn’t mean he didn’t put in an effort to understand the hierarchy of the temple structure, especially the forces isolated outside the city other than the archpriest, officiant and chief knight in their home turf.

Arya Outpost belonged to all 25 temples in Naveya City, but it wasn’t managed by all of them at the same time. A shift system was introduced and every three years, the management team would rotate, starting from Lightning Temple. All the temples would be included in the rotation and the cycle would be completed every 75 years.

This time, coincidentally, it was Thorn Temple’s turn to station their knights in Arya Outpost.

So naturally, the outpost master selected from the temple knights may not be the strongest but definitely the most loyal; Nelson was the one selected.

Kieran saw the details regarding Nelson before and he concluded his impression of the outpost master in one sentence: a fanatic with knightly spirit.

Only justice, compassion, bravery and other knightly spirits would be visible in Thorn Temple, who viewed ‘fate’ as a path to grind their spirit. it was almost unimaginable that the other temple knights had such knightly spirits, for example: the knights of Interrogator Temple.

Therefore, from a certain view, Lady Thorn was considered very generous.

It made her believers love her more and made her haters despise her more.

And without a doubt, the part where the believers loved their God was also present with Kieran.

“I’ve already prepared the food. It may not be as tasty as your expectation but the amount will be sufficient. Is there anything else?” Nelson asked.

“That will be it, just hurry up with the food,” Kieran smiled.

Nelson and the soldiers out there worked in never before seen haste when they carried out Kieran’s order.

Big chunks of roast meat and bread were served, plain and simple, very fitting for a military outpost.

Kieran smiled with his eyes when the smell of the roasted meat entered his nose.

He ate the food with astonishing speed and everyone in the room was shocked by his appetite, the amount of food served enough to feed at least 5 people.

“Everything about you is astonishing!” Nelson exclaimed.

“I always lose myself when the food tastes good. Oh and Nelson, I wish to take a rest, so if there isn’t anything of importance, please leave me alone for a while,” Kieran smiled and gave his orders.

“Understood, chief knight.”

Nelson and his men took the empty plates and left the house, together with Atrina, who was also willing to leave.

She knew this man had his own plan. She had her guesses when he appeared on the battlefield righteously.

The door was softly closed.

Kieran took a step back and went into the darkness.

Then… another ‘Kieran’ came out. He was sniffing the remaining aroma of the meat and the scrumptious smell of the bread in the air. Then, he covered himself with the thin blanket, looking dull, and hoped to give himself more warmth in his heart.