"Alright, enough of that, Sharur. Have your dog heel for the meantime. Let's all eat first before we start catching up."
Vijaya and Ichaival arrived shortly after, and managed to finish scouting the biggest village out of their five targets.
Otaczac forest was usually a quiet place at night, but this particular forest fragment was filled with boisterous laughter as the two scouting groups united in a small merry feast.
The two group leaders sat beside each other and started sharing more detailed results of the investigated villages so far.
"What were your impressions on Poludnie and Nisko?"
"I think all of them have lived sheltered lives, and when they met their first major trial they succumbed to it and forgot their faith and converted to what's convenient."
"Faith? Converted? What do you mean?"
Adder straightened his posture and looked at Sierra seriously.
"Huh? Don't you know about the four major religions in Zectas? Tlaltezinism, Chalchizinity, Tezcazinism, and Cuezaltzinity. Have you heard of those names before?"
"I've only heard about Cuezaltzinity. That's the order that my mentor Nenek is under. I think most citizens in Centeo are Cuezaltzinians."
"If your mentor is a Cuezaltzinian Priestess, why didn't she teach you about Cuezaltzinity?"
"She wanted to, but I ran off the moment I got everything I needed to find Smoke."
Adder looked at Sierra sternly. He couldn't believe how she treated her mentor and how she ran out on a lecture about Cuezaltzinity.
"That was very disrespectful of you. Anyway, Cuezaltzinity isn't an order. It's the major religion of Chayotl Kingdom (Western Kingdom). We Condortlians are all Cuezaltzinians, and the same goes for the Nanahuatlanos. Even when our freedom was taken from us. We believed that the great god Cuezaltizin will deliver us from bondage."
"Oh, that's what I meant when I said that Nenek was from the order of Cuezaltzinity."
"Right... And I guess you also know what Cuezaltzinity is all about?"
Sierra sighed and asked in an exasperated voice.
"Like I said, I was in a hurry to find Smoke, and left the moment she started talking about Cuezaltzinity. Can you just tell me what it is already?"
"Cuezaltzinity tells us that you get what you deserve. It may not come at once but it will come. If you've done good to others then good things will happen to you. That's why when we were enslaved our people knew that it wasn't simply because of the virile and fecund lizards it was also due to the fact that we prayed to another god."
"Wow! I guess great god Cuezaltzin doesn't like you worshiping other gods."
"It isn't only him. All of the great gods will not allow it if you give homage to any other god that isn't under their realm."
"That's really harsh. Are you sure that all of you believe that?"
"I know that all of us here believe that. Aren't you a Cuezaltzinian?"
"I guess I am... But I've never heard about the other three religions? They sound like their religions from the other great gods? Can you tell me more about them?"
Adder simply stared at Sierra in disbelief.
Sharanga who sat near them saw the tension between the two leaders and decided to answer in Adder's behalf.
"That's right, the other religions are from the other four great gods. Tezcazinism is the main religion in Thayotl Kingdom (Eastern Kingdom). They believe that the afterlife doesn't exist. That this world is all there is to it. That's why most of them strongly value zecs and other worldly pleasures."
Sierra didn't mind Adder's stare and faced Sharanga instead.
"Wait, I thought their god was dead? Aren't all the four great gods dead?"
"Eh? Dead? Where did you hear that? They aren't dead. None of them are. They just left this world to us mortals. I'm sure that somewhere they're watching us and giving us 'Gahum', their spiritual energy and divine guidance from a far."
"What about the the other two religions?"
"I'm not really sure about any of the other religions. All I know is that Tlaltezinism is the main religion in Vitzytl Kingdom (Southern Kingdom). Tlaltezinism believes in natural selection. The strong has all the rights in the world while the weak exist only to support the strong."
Sierra faced Adder again and asked.
"Is this what you meant? Earlier, when you said that people are converting... Why would anyone want to convert to Tlaltezinism?"
Adder was still upset about Sierra's lack of knowledge about Cuezaltzinity but answered her anyway.
"For survival. If the residents give in and convert then they believe that Tlaltezin will protect them and will allow them to live longer."
Sierra kept on shaking her furry head back and forth. She couldn't believe the kinds of religion in Zectas.
"I guess that means Chalchizinity is the major religion in Mictaztl Kingdom (Northern Kingdom)?"
Adder nodded his head.
"Yes. Chalchizinity believes that death is the true meaning of life. I don't know exactly what it means, but that's all I know about it."
Sierra was dumbfounded with the overload of information. It has almost been a year since she had been playing but she never knew the importance of the four major religions.
She remembered reading somewhere about the main religion of the kingdoms, but most walkthroughs and FAQs indicated the same thing.
That it was negligible. Seeing that the kingdom's description was practically the same as the described religion. The game guides also stated that rather than focus on religion, a player should focus on fame and charm to get better intimacies with NPCs.
In the one year that Sierra had traveled around Chayotl Kingdom (Western Kingdom). She had never stayed in one place long enough to note the differences in the people living there. She decided to ask Smoke about this on their next conversation.
Sierra realized that if she were to analyze all the religions and their effects it would take too long and that their main objective was to find the labyrinth not convince the residents to convert or to stay to a certain religion.
"Umm. Can you refresh my mind again? Why are we talking about all these religions? What do they have to do with our mission?"
"Well, they really don't, but I told Smoke from day one that I will free the oppressed and give justice to those who deserve it. That was our deal for me joining his private army. I know that it's also the same with the rest of them as well."
Sierra looked around and noticed that the boisterous noise had died out. Everybody was glued in on their conversation.
"Hi, everyone. How long have you guys been listening to our talk?"
Vijaya answered.
"Since we heard you were talking about the different religions."
It just dawned on Sierra that it was practically from the beginning of her conversation with Adder.
"And? What are your opinions?"
Sharur spoke rapidly, before anyone else could give their thoughts.
"I say we stick to our primary objective. We only have one more village to look at, and I think that the exit should be there. After that, we wait in front of any village and kill all these Brandals."
Sierra looked around their concealed base camp and saw that all their eyes glowed with the same desire. They wanted to free all the villagers from their current predicament.
"It looks like we've picked up a secondary objective to this reconnaissance mission."
Everybody cheered enthusiastically and clapped loudly, while the falcons produced a variety of sounds, from shrieks to clicks and whistles to show their approval of what Sierra just said.
"Okay, okay, I think we can all settle down now. For the benefit of those not present on Vijaya and Ichaival's report about their investigation on Silap. Vijaya, Ichaival, you have the floor."
Vijaya rose up from where she sat and stood in front of everyone, Ichaival followed and positioned himself beside her.
"I had Vij and Aya fly around the village. Outside its wall, of course. All these villages have strict rules about falcons flying inside them. I don't know why."
Ichaival made a forced cough to help Vijaya focus on her report.
"Oh, right. Anyway, my falcons found no other potential exit aside from the southern and eastern gate. I also observed that the people were very friendly. There were no signs of any attacks from the Brandals. They had a cemetery near the eastern gate but no mausoleums of any kind."
Ichaival picked up where Vijaya left off.
"As some of you may know, Silap used to be a 'stop off' village en route to Betul. All Silap had to offer were their hot springs and reasonably priced inns, but they always held the security of their guests, as well as their own, as their highest priority. Aside from paying the Cavalry Knights patrolling the area, they also have their own satellite base of the famous mercenary group, 'Avendre'. There are about fifty mercs stationed in Silap. Some residents from the pillaged villages migrated to Silap. Its residential area has tripled in size. Commerce is booming with the new business district. In conclusion, we think that they've already converted to Tlaltezinism."
Sierra watched all of their reaction to Ichaival and Vijaya's report. She noted that they weren't bothered that the residents converted, and from first glance it appeared that they were happy with the conversion.
Sierra gave her own opinion about Silap.
"With that I would like to state that I don't want to go on some kind of holy crusade. If they've decided to convert to their new religion I think we should respect their decision. I'm sure they've considered a lot of things before finally deciding to convert."
Adder, Ichaival, Jinggu, Sharanga, Sharur, Thyrsus, and Vijaya all looked at each other. They smiled and nodded and agreed with what Sierra was saying.
Jinggu looked at Adder and thought to speak in his behalf.
"We're not preachers, and we do respect their decision. I know that what you said makes sense. I think you had misunderstood what our secondary objective was. We don't want to convince anyone to stick to Cuezaltzinity. We only want to show them that Cuezaltzin's teachings are real and we can do that by eliminating these Brandal bandits. We just want to follow what Smoke did, nothing more nothing less."
Sierra's eyes widened, there were only eight of them and Smoke wasn't even with them. She thought that it was too dangerous to fight a bandit group, just by themselves. They didn't even know how many of them there were. There were too many factors to consider.
“Wait... what? I thought you only wanted to convince them to stay as Cuezaltzinians? Are you sure we could handle an entire bandit group with just eight of us? I'm confident with my life and defense, but I'm concerned for your safety. I don't think it sounds a simple as you say it is."
Adder looked at the troubled, Sierra.
"I have a proposal for our next operation. We'll send Ichaival and Sharanga to Betul, while we will send out all the falcons to stand guard on the plundered villages. Since we're not sure which particular village their next target is. I suggest we stay here until one of the falcons tells us the exact location of the Brandal's base. We won't take any direct action until we have all the information we need."
Ichaival did not listen to what everything Adder said, he only heard his name was together with Sharanga.
"Ahh, that's right! It has to be Sharanga and myself to investigate Betul because Vijaya can practically understand her falcons' shrieks and Thyrsus can see what his falcon sees. That does make a lot of sense."
Sharanga frowned and stayed silent the whole time. Adder noticed her and wanted to reassure her that this was a serious mission.
"Don't worry, you'll also have Jinggu and Sharur with you. They'll guard your from the forest their great range should see everything that's happening to you."
Sharanga finally relaxed and released her frown.
With all their planning, Sierra forgot to tell them of the great news that she got from Smoke earlier. She clapped loudly as she usually does to call everyone's attention.
"Everyone, I'd like to tell you some good news."
All the members of Smoke private army looked at Sierra to listen to what the good news was.
"Smoke has won the district championship. He's even won a glaive called Rzeka..."
Jinggu and Sharur both shouted at the same time.
"Rzeka! That's the ten million zecs glaive!"
Sharur could not contain his amazement.
"It used to belong to the famous General Grave, the legendary Cavalry Knight of Justice."
