Answering the refugees.
The Qurayshi women nodded. One of them said:
"Of course you are not a holy man, but through your victory and your subsequent mercy, Al-Manat put you in front of us as a moral example. Weak people cannot have victory, and monsters cannot have mercy. Through your deeds, our suspicions about you are confirmed. You are the one who leads the way and the one who teaches, Mahdi. The divinity belongs to Manat."
I have to break the news to these women.
"I'm not a worshipper of Al-Manat. The Quraysh has taken me hostage, and my previously Qurayshi lover has given me a way out through the trial of Manat. So, I took the way out and survived. I worship a god called Apep. It devours the day and brings about the night. I'm not a holy man, and I'm not a Mahdi."
The Qurayshi women are visibly shaken. They aren't taking this too well. I've seen these Qurayshi people rip apart their own leader. Like hell, I am going to be their religious leader.
I will do no such thing. They can lose their false faith, for all I care.
I gripped my spear, ready to strike down any fanatic that might lunge at me.
"You all disgust me. Everything you do is done by force. Now that Qurayshi is weak, I get to say whatever I want. You all can never say anything to me. Nor can you stop me from saying things.
You will be subjected to sacrilage and can do nothing about it. You can't strike me down like you, Qurayshi, always did. Mald and seethe in your anger because, for now, you can't protect yourself from the truth with violence.
For the first time in your life, you are exposed to the naked truth. Squirm in agony, for you were living a lie. Since the threat of violence is gone, I don't have to respect that lie."
They are shaken. I'm mostly talking to women. That might be why they didn't lash out at me in anger. I pointed at one of the women who were looking at me with grudging eyes and said,
"You, yes, you! I understand you know your Manat worship, but do you know anything else? You ignoramous bitch. Guess what? You can't say anything about the fact that I call you an ignoramous bitch. Do you know why? I'm the one holding the spear. You can either accept that you are an ignoramous bitch or die. With that, the proposition that you are an ignoramous bitch becomes true. That's the logic of the Manat worshippers."
I circled the crowd.
"All you Manat worshippers disgust me. You are the lowest of the low. You are so deep in delusions that you can never do a good deed in your life. Everything you do is informed by falsehoods, and those deeds birth more falsehoods as a result."
I want them to hate me so they can be free of their delusions through me. She realized something and fell to her knees. The ignoramous bitch.
"I… I did all that. I watched my husband assault the captive women and said nothing."
Her world is crumbling. Everything she built herself on was a lie, and the truth has undone her. Now, she is in ruins, but simultaneously, everything makes sense.
She crawled on all fours toward me, crying.
"Mahdi, oh mahdi, what am I to do? Show me the way, please."
She is clinging to my leg. I can't be mean to her anymore; she is already in shambles. I lifted her cheek and looked into her eyes.
"Past is set in stone. What you did is already done, and now it lies in the past. You can now search for the truth and do good deeds based on the truth you find. Since the gods created the world, every truth and fact are their precious and holy words."
Her eyes shone. The random bullshit I just spew sounded like something she could construct her life upon.
"Mahdi, oh mahdi."
She is kissing my feet. The dumb bitch.
"The former Manat worshippers, leave now unless you have other things to ask me. I've said all I need to say. Rest of you, please ask me what you must."
A woman stepped forward. It's the bitch who fondled my balls. The ball fondler, if you will.
"You dashingly saved me from those bastards. You single handedly stopped the Qurayshi army, and on top of that, you are handsome. What I don't understand is, When are you going to push me down and fuck me?"
The crown burst into laughter. I squinted my eyes at the rambunctious woman.
"You don't hold your words back, do you?"
She put her finger on her cheek in a flirtish manner.
"I'm weak toward women. It's true. However, I already have three women back home. What if I impregnate any of you? I can't look after those babies with my soldier salary. I will not have bastard children. If we will do anything ever, it must not result in children; you must not fall in love with me until you can talk to my women in the capital. These are my terms."
She stared at me in a daze. She must have thought I would turn into a beast and pounce on her the moment she dangled sex in front of me.
"One more thing: I will not be swarmed by thirsty women. Those who lust after me should work something out among yourselves."
The women looked at each other in a dumbfounded manner. The ball is in their court. There is something they want. Will they be able to come to an agreement about what they want and who will get it, or will this push them into a pandemonium-like state in which a little Qurayshi tribe has formed? That's where their moral character comes in.
Everyone looked at the ball fondler.
"Fair enough, ı and the girls who think like me here should meet you at a designated time, so you can do what you want to do and with whom you want to do it."
I nodded in agreement.
"Those who wanted to see me for this reason, please leave. I will see you in two days after I'm done with my meditation in the evening."
Half a dozen women celebrated and hugged each other. And twelve women left, signaling that this is why they were here to talk to me about it.
"The rest of you, what do you want from me? "
I stared at the rest of the crowd. There are not many left.
"I just wanted to thank you, sir. I heard you fought with that sadistic Zahir and killed him. You can't imagine how much I am indebted to you for that." hic hic "I'm truly thankful."
I got up and hugged her. She needs the emotional support.
"It was hard on you, huh? What did you do to you?"
She cried even harder.
"He beat me black and blue and told me that I would fall in love with him eventually. And I almost did; I almost did in my delirium!"
I caressed her back in consolation. I can feel her warm tears on my shoulder.
"Do you have somewhere to go?"
She nodded.
"My former husband has a farm. I will farm, and with the money ı saved up from that, with the money all of us here make from that, with every coin we could spare, we will hire mercenaries to track down our children and bring them back home from slave traders."
I held her by her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
"I know a guy. I can put him in contact with you."
Salma's father can handle this. I hope he appreciates the work I'm sending his way. Alternatively, I could talk to Commander Kahir. He could leave a team looking into the matter. The victory means nothing if people's quality of life doesn't get better. And bringing back the enslaved children is crucial for that.
"I will talk to the commander for you too. I'm sure he could think of something."
There is no one left. I'm glad this is over and done with.
I went to the barracks, and one of the brothers in arms approached me.
"Nazhotep, did you see Horirem? He missed his check-in yesterday. One more day, and I would have to label him as a deserter."
I felt something was amiss.
"What has he been doing?"
I question.
"You know how Horirem is. He has been telling the prisoners of war that he was a prophet of Manat and trying to sleep with the women that way. "
I leaned in.
"That bastard always wanted a harem. He has probably swindled a bunch of naive Manat worshippers and truly deserted. For fucks sake, I thought the compulsive lying was a quirk of his . He always did what he was supposed to do in spite of all that. He was trustworthy when it came to his deeds."
The man in front of me looked like he had swallowed a bug.