The Cult of Riona

As Alkis proceeded on his way from home, his mood had again returned to its previous pleasant state. He giggled every now and then as he looked down at his waist pouch, where the luminous object was kept.

"Hehehe I was really not expecting to find something so valuable in the fields; I don't know how much it costs, but it must be a lot. Even if I am unable to use it, if I offer it to the cult's esteemed envoys, they will certainly reward me..... hehehe"

The people around him gave him strange looks, seemingly disturbed by his unsettling laughter. Alkis, on the other hand, was too engrossed in his own thoughts to notice them.

After around two hours of ride in a horse-cart, Alkis arrived in front of a large and majestic building with three pointed roofs and a height of roughly 20 meters. A statue of a majestic and stunning woman with most of her body covered in enormous lily petals stood at the summit. After witnessing that building, one would consider the neighboring buildings to be slums.

When Alkis saw that statue, he didn't hesitate to get down on his knees and begin kowtowing to it, muttering continuously,

"All hail Riona's greatness!"

Passers-by had little reaction, as if it were a usual occurrence, except for a few who joined Alkis and started doing the same.

After about 15 minutes of worship, Alkis stood up and entered the building; the guards did not stop him, which surprised the other worshippers as they realised his identity. As he entered the building, he greeted numerous people by name, and they returned the greeting by calling his name. Soon after, he arrived in a large hall. There was a similar but bigger statue of the woman inside the hall, and numerous individuals dressed in plain white robes were kowtowing and worshipping the statue. The person closest to the statue was an elderly man who had a white robe with golden lines forming a pleasing design at the borders. He emitted an aura that made people feel at ease and relaxed.

Alkis waited by the gate for the prayer to be finished. As the event came to a close and everyone was getting ready to leave, he approached one of the white-robed men and bowed and greeted him.

"Greetings, envoy"

When the white-robed person observed a commoner within the worshipping hall, he frowned, but soon relaxed when he saw the commoner's face.

"Hello, Alkis. What is it that you want from me?"

The envoy asked directly, without wasting time, in a gentle voice. Alkis was unsurprised by the envoy's direct approach and responded,

"Sir, I wanted to request a meeting with the head envoy with your recommendation, I have something valuable to show him."

The envoy frowned and asked

"What is valuable enough for you to request a meeting with the head envoy, you do understand that if you cause him any trouble, your status as a core worshipper will be revoked, right?"

Alkis smiled and took out the luminous object, which he then showed to the envoy. When the envoy saw the luminous object, his expression shifted from bewilderment to surprise to shock, pointing his trembling hand to the object he exclaimed

"T-this..... This is a l-law treasure, and it's a rare one!"

Alkis was also surprised to hear that, when he first found the treasure, he assumed it would be a common law treasure used by force-users; he never imagined it would be so valuable as to shock even a force-user. However, this only raised his anticipation for the prize he was going to receive.

"Then can I request a meeting with the head envoy now?"

The envoy took a few moments to regain his composure, and when he did, he stated,

"Of course, you can meet the head envoy; after all, you discovered such a valuable treasure."

He had a peculiar glint in his eyes when he said this, which he quickly hid.

"Let me go meet the head envoy and ask him"

He walked out of the hall after saying this. The envoy returned only after about an hour of waiting and said,

"Follow me to the core area, Head envoy is waiting for you there."

Even though he had been a core worshipper of the cult for ten years, this was his first visit to the cult's core region. Only envoys and force-user guests were allowed in. There were several weird gold designs and portraits of unknown people in the hallway. They arrived in front of a massive black door about 5 metres long as they continued down the path. The envoy took out a strange star-shaped crystal from his pocket and inserted it into the star-shaped hollow design on the door. A few moments later, the door opened and they went inside it.

What Alkis saw inside gave him the shock of his life. There were strange floating orbs near the roof which provided light to the room and a menacing beast sitting near the sofa on which head envoy rested. When the head envoy saw Alkis, his face showed curiosity and glanced straight to the pouch in which the treasure was placed. After seeing the pouch for about 5 seconds his face showed surprise and as he stretched out his hand, the object magically floated out of Alkis' pouch and landed in his hands shocking Alkis,

"Woah, a four-layered law treasure, and a nourishing one at that, you certainly found something valuable..... uhm what's your name young man?"

An elderly voice came from the head envoy's mouth. It was the first time Alkis had heard the head envoy speak, but he didn't have time to think about these things as he answered quickly,

"Sir emissary, my name is Alkis. I discovered this treasure while working on my farm, and because of its fluctuating glow, I recognized it as a law treasure, so I decided to offer it to the cult."

"You did the right thing; if you had kept this treasure for a long time and a force-user happened to pass by your house, he would undoubtedly discover it and kill you and your family in order to steal the treasure and silence the witness."

While examining the treasure, the Head Envoy said, and after another 5 minutes of examining, he continued.

"I've heard you're a core-worshipper as well, so in honour of her eminence Riona, I've chosen to award you 5000 ryos and give you the opportunity to train as an envoy-in-training. If you want to join the cult, you can do so starting tomorrow. Otherwise, we can offer you an extra 2000 ryos."

Alkis was taken aback when he heard this; he had never expected to receive anything more than 2000 ryos. He hadn't earned more than 300 ryos despite working as a farmer for 20 years. The chance to become an envoy was even more shocking; even after many rich commoners had emptied their wallets, they were denied the chance to become a force-user, let alone one from the Cult of Riona. But he quickly regained his calm and exclaimed joyfully.

"I will certainly join the cult, sir emissary."

The Head Envoy smiled at Alkis and said

"Well then you may join the cult from tomorrow, also call me sir or teacher from now on. Alright, you may leave now."

"Yes sir"

Alkis answered and left the room. A few moments later the envoy came out of his shock and said

"Teacher, why did you reward him so heavily? I thought-"

Before the envoy could complete, the Head Envoy interrupted him

"You thought I'd kill him and take the treasure, didn't you? Well, you weren't wrong; that was my initial plan, but when I found it was a four-layered treasure, I changed my plan."

"Always remember, Elias, that you should develop your plans with the broader picture in mind. Now go and spread the word about a guy presenting a treasure and becoming an envoy, do not mention the grade of treasure and exaggerate the rewards. As a result, more people will begin offering whatever treasure they discover rather than keeping it for themselves."

"Also spread a rumor that a commoner was killed by a force-user because he possessed a law treasure"

Hearing the head envoy's plans, Elias looked at him with eyes filled with admiration and respect and said

"I will do as you said, teacher."