24 Shut Down

After waiting for a few hours, Ibly Archer arrives at the Guild and tells his Familia Captain to deliver us to the Denatus hall in Babel Tower.

He didn't join his Familia members in detaining my Familia, instead, he accompanied Ganesha to act as a messenger later (which is what he's doing now).

Members of the Ganesha Familia accompany Nahza, Cassandra, Daphne, and me to Babel Tower. The rest of the adventurers have already left.

On the way, I think about how I should act in front of the gods in the Denatus.

First of all, I must withhold all the information about my origin, my strength, and the system.

I can't lie because gods are walking lie detector machines. And I can't refuse to answer questions either; It would make them even more suspicious.

As an adventurer, I have the right to protect my information. But the foxes of the Denatus will use the fact that I'm on trial to force me to disclose some details.

When that happens, I have to give them answers that are true but not the truth.

To put it simply, the words coming out of my mouth will be true, but they won't necessarily be the answers to the asked questions. I did the same with Miach before, and it seemed to work on him.

Also, I have to be calm and collected. Every word I say and every action I do must be calculated beforehand.

I don't want to intrigue someone who shouldn't be intrigued or anger someone who shouldn't be angered.

Upon reaching this line of thought, we reach our destination.

I'm led inside the Denatus hall while everyone else remains outside. The gods and goddesses who were freely chatting all stop to watch me as I enter the room.

I stand next to Miach at one end of the table, in front of an old god… 'Is that Ouranos?' If my memory serves me right, Ouranos didn't attend the Denatus for decades.

Why would he attend now? Just because they think that Miach hid my true level!

Also, why are all of the gods here looking at me like this? I feel uneasy, something is definitely wrong.

After a few moments of silence, the first one to speak was Hermes (the last one I want to converse with).

He is wearing a merchant's clothes and his signature hat, and he is sitting in between the gods on the left side of the table.

"So, do you know why you're here?" He asks with a friendly smile on his face.

"No one has told me anything yet." I answer.

"Well, you're here because we want to examine your Status. Take off this robe and show us you back, please." He says without changing his expression.

"Isn't that breaking the rules?" I ask.

Show my status to everyone present? This is stupid. Why isn't anyone interfering? Shouldn't Miach try to stop him? What is going on here?

"Oh, my dear child! This is the Denatus where the rules get made." What an actor! If I didn't know better, I would've thought that this wasn't sarcasm.

"If those who make the rules want to break it, then there must be a good reason. Can I ask about that?" I calmly ask as I look at Miach. 'This is your cue'.

This clown 'Hermes' will tell me nothing. Miach should join in on the conversation right now and give me some information.

No?

Nothing?

I thought you were smarter than that. I'm really starting to regret joining your Familia.

"Say, do ya use any healin' abilities?" Asks Loki with her mouth half-smiling and with her eyes half-closed. She is sitting next to Ouranos on his right.

"Healing abilities?" … Ah, Shit!

All this is about Miach's Blessing activation in the War Game. Why of course! Receiving power from your god other than Falna is illegal.

Also, I don't exactly know the reason why I have it. Did Miach give it to me willingly? Did the system forcefully extract it from Miach's mana? Did I receive it instead of the power-up that usually accompanies Falna?

Also, it's the only thing that doesn't appear on my Falna Status (along with the Inventory and the Store).

Anyway, I just unconsciously gave a surprised expression.

"Bingo!" Says Loki.

You damn trickster! She intentionally gave me the answer I wanted in this roundabout way. Did she do it to see my reaction?

"Well? Tell us about your healing ability." Says Hermes.

"Umm… I mean, I can use healing magic. I used it to heal Loki Familia's poisoned members, right?" A say as I look at Loki.

I'm trying to tell her 'I helped your children so back down'. I know that she wouldn't help me in any way, but at least she shouldn't take be leading the other party like this.

"Ya know 'tis not the one we're askin' 'bout." I notice her half-smile get a little bit wider as she says it.

"I know, I just don't know what to tell you. I know next to nothing about the one you want… I know that it gets activated spontaneously when I'm in a near-death situation. And the fact that Lord Miach told me nothing about it."

I didn't lie and I didn't say anything about the system.

Well, by saying the last sentence I'm basically directing all the blame to Miach.

I think that he deserves at least that much. He didn't even say a word since I entered this room.

I observe the gods and goddesses in the room as I explain. Some of them narrow their eyes, others widen them. A few get surprised while a few enter a state of deep thinking.

But the ones that worry me the most are those who don't show any visible reactions, like Loki and Hermes.

"When did you acquire it?" some god asks.

"The first time it got activated was umm… about a week after I joined the Miach Familia. There was a monster party and I got surrounded."

"How many times have you used it?"

"Three. One time at the monster party, another one when I was facing a particularly strong monster (during the class quest) and the third was in the War Game."

"Can you show it to us now?"

"No, I have no control over it or maybe I just don't know how to do it yet. Anyway, it gets activated by itself."

This god is actually helpful. He is genuinely interested. He is asking all this out of curiosity, not as a type of investigation.

He gave me an idea about what all this is about. Also, my answering his questions directly and quickly made the surrounding gods less hostile. I think I can ask questions now.

"Why is this… healing ability so special that I 'who is a human' would get immediately summoned to the Denatus 'meeting of deities'?"

"'tis part of Miach's Arcanum." Loki answers while waving her hand disinterestedly.

"Huuuh, why ruin all the fuuun?" Asks Hermes.

"'tis but wastin' time. Let's check his Falna an' get it over with." Answers Loki.

"So, we're back to square one. Rick, take the robe off and show us your back." Says Hermes.

"Umm, you want to check my Status to see if Lord Miach gave me the ability to use his Arcanum?" I ask.

"Yes."

"What would happen if it was proven that he is guilty?"

"Miach will be sent back to the Upper-World and be prohibited from entering the Lower-World for eternity. And the Miach Familia will be disbanded."

"And what would happen to me?"

"Both the Arcanum and Miach's Falna will be taken from you. You will still have most of your current abilities, but you won't grow.

According to how the situation goes, maybe you will be forced to join Argus Familia to compensate for destroying his Familia or maybe you will even be banished from the whole city of Orario."

"And if Lord Miach was found not guilty?"

"Ah, umm… everyone can go home, I suppose?"

So they've already decided that Miach is guilty and all this is just to prove it.

"Then, I refuse!" I declare.

"Huh, refuse what?"

"Whether Lord Miach is guilty or not, I don't plan on quitting being an adventurer. It's a universal rule that adventurers must keep their Status hidden.

So, I refuse to let any deity who is acting as a patron of a Familia see my Status.

And if someone (who is not affiliated to any Familia) is to check my Status, he (or she) will have to take an oath not to join any Familia (as long as I'm alive) and he (or she) can never mention my Status, strength, weakness, or abilities.

The only thing he (or she) can speak of is whether Lord Miach is guilty or not."

"This is a trial, Rick. You are pushing it too far." Says Miach. It seems that most of the gods present here feel the same as Miach.

"Excuse me Lord Miach, but I'm not the one being tried here. I'm the witness (along with the Falna on my back)."

"Fufu… Aren't you supposed to be a Familia? A god and his child are treated as one entity in here." Says some goddess.

"Not in this case. If Lord Miach really broke the rules and gave me his Arcanum without telling me, then he is not treating me as Familia.

According to what Lord Hermes just explained, I'll be penalized if Lord Miach is found guilty.

In this case, I would be the victim." I say.

"Hey, hey! The victim is Argus Familia here." Some god says.

"The idiots blew up our house while Lord Miach and we were inside. They deserved every bit of it." I reply.

"Let's get back to the point, shall we?" Hermes interrupts. "Mr. Rick, you want someone not affiliated to a Familia to check your Status AND make an oath not to speak only about whether Miach is guilty or not? That's a bit too much, considering the situation."

"It sounds fair to me." Says Ouranos who was silent all the time.

He was silent enough that my subconsciousness registered him as a statue. He didn't move a muscle and his face didn't show any impression.

"Ouranos!" Says Hermes.

------

Ouranos didn't care about most of what happens in the world. This includes War Games and pity squabbles between Familias.

He would ask about the aftereffect of War Games. He wanted to know the ranking of different Familias and the standing of each god, he wouldn't care about anything else.

His interest could only be piqued an accident that would destroy the world or break its balance, an abnormality, a paranormal happening, and an unprecedented incident.

When he received a message asking him to act as judge in some trial, he was about to ignore it as he normally would. Then, the judge's role would be fulfilled by the highest-standing deity attending the trial (in this case, Loki or Ganesha).

But then the message said that the god is being accused of bestowing his Insignia to a child!

This unprecedented abnormality was enough to make Ouranos leave his room and attend the Denatus for the first time in decades.

He entered the Denatus hall and sat at the head of the table and stayed silent. He only spoke words to answer the greetings of other deities.

He didn't speak during the trial; he didn't need to. Unless an argument or a fight breaks out, the Denatus will carry itself out without a leader.

Until the part where the child (Rick Stark) refused to do the bidding of the Denatus unless it's by his conditions.

The child wasn't wrong; his conditions would force the Denatus to follow the rules.

But for a human young man to be able to keep his composure and state his conditions like this in front of all these deities, he thought it was outstanding.

The deities around Ouranos were about to object. They knew that the child's conditions are just. But they wanted to see his Falna for themselves.

They were curious; How can a human wield the Insignia of a god?

Maybe what brought Ouranos to this meeting was this human's good fortune. Ouranos wouldn't let other deities break the rules in his presence.

And the other deities couldn't object to him; he is one of the oldest most respected deities and one of the first to descend to the Lower-World. He is considered to be the ruler of Orario city after all.

He also wanted to see Rick's Falna. But according to the conditions that the child stated, the only one in the room who can do it is Ouranos himself.

He would have to take an oath not to tell others, too bad for them. Ouranos wouldn't care much about them.

So as the judge, Ouranos accepted Rick's conditions and decided to check the Falna. The present deities were dissatisfied but no one voiced their feelings.

Ouranos then started citing in some strange gibberish.

"Care to translate for me?" Rick asked Miach. "Verbatim, please."

Miach started interpreting the words:

"I hereby take an oath on myself in the name of heaven, to never disclose any information about the Status or Falna of Rick Stark as long as he is in the Lower-World. I can freely disclose information related to Arcanum only. And if I were to break my oath, I'm to be sent back to the Upper-World indefinitely."

Ouranos deviated a little from Rick's conditions by adding the part about freely disclosing information about Arcanum.

He did it to satisfy the other deities by indirectly giving them the information they need. Otherwise, they would just kill Rick in order to annul the oath.

But Rick got suspicious and asked, "Does any of Excelia, Basic Abilities, Advanced Abilities, Skills, Magic, or Status fall under the categorization of Arcanum?"

"No, he just protected you". Miach answered.

It took Rick a moment to realize that if Ouranos repeated exactly what he said, then the loophole in the oath would be his death.

"Umm, is this oath obligatory? Can he break it behind our backs?" Rick asked.

"No, he must keep it, or he would really be sent back to heaven". Miach answered.

….

Ouranos, Miach, and Rick entered a separate room.

Rick sat down and bared his back, then he got alerted and glared at the corner of the room.

He sensed someone (or something) standing in the corner of the room. Some skill similar to his 'Stealth' was used to make that entity invisible.

But via Sense stat, Rick could clearly see the aura emanating from the outline of a human body. He also sensed that he was being watched from that direction.

"Stop spying!" He angrily said.

The entity turned around and faced the other side of the room at the same time, the sense of being watched disappeared.

"Okay, you can start." Said Rick.

Miach pricked the tip of his finger and let drops of blood fall on Rick's back. The Hieroglyphs of Ricks Falna appeared.

"Did you encrypt…?" Ouranos tried to ask Miach something, but Rick interrupted him. "Don't speak, someone is listening!"

Ouranos also pricked his finger and made his blood touch Rick's Falna.

Ring~

[The Deit#*^… Shut Down!]

And the system suddenly went silent.

'What?!' Rick was beyond surprised.

'What the hell happened? Did Ouranos find the system and shut it down?... No, no, no way!'

'Inventory. Inventory? Status! Store? … shit shit shit."

As time went by, Rick only got more and more nervous.

On Rick's back: The Hieroglyphs got scattered and regrouped, then scattered and regrouped again under the effect of Ouranos's deep scan.

When it was finally over, Rick looked nervously at Ouranos waiting for him to say anything.

He was truly nervous, there is no faking the look that was on his face.

His biggest and strongest supporter in this world had just disappeared on him. Of course, he would be aghast.

Ouranos was surprised when he saw his face and wondered if all the previous confidence was just some tough-acting.

When Ouranos first saw Rick's attitude, he liked and respected his confidence and courage.

Then, Rick detected the presence of Fels in the room. Ouranos felt threatened and started to think that there was more to Rick than just some confidence.

But then he saw that Rick had an Advanced Ability called Sense. It explained why Rick was able to easily detect Fels.

But still, Rick's abnormally full Status was alarming and intriguing,

And now this scared look on his face… Ouranos completely dropped his guard and unconsciously started to like the HUMAN in front of him.

Human contradictions (strong but weak, confident but nervous, courageous but coward, proficient but helpless) are what makes deities interested in humans.

And in front of Ouranos, stood a human who could his hide imperfections well enough to threaten Ouranos (one of the oldest deities out there).

In the eyes of Ouranos, it was a display worthy of respect and admiration.

He wanted to calm the man down and let him put his tough act back before returning to the hall.

"I found nothing". Ouranos said.

"What does that mean?" Rick asked.

"I could not find anything that indicates your ability to use any type of Arcanum."

"So, what happens now?"

"You will stay with the adventurers that escorted you here and we will discuss this matter between ourselves."

----

From the System Point Of View:

I was about to ask the Master for his permission to let a Deity named Ouranos see my master's precious Data.

But then, that bad Deity started running a Deep-Scan.

He was trying to find abnormalities (aka ME) in my Master.

So, I had to quickly shut myself down to completely hide my innocent presence from the bad Deity.

And I left my Master alone with the bad Deity :(

I'm sowwy, Master!

-----

*N.B.: Fels wasn't in the room to spy.

He had normally accompanied Ouranos to the Denatus and watched the trial from the shadows.

Then, he thought that Rick's conditions were too specific. They could be only applied to Ouranos.

So, he went into the room to protect Ouranos in case Rick was planning something.