And It Doesn't Like Being Treated Like A Stranger

We were still within the thick of the forest even after tree whole days of traveling. It wasn't the best of the situation, but it was nonetheless very good. I almost feel liberated just to be able to see scenery and areas that weren't the exact same as the ones that have been there all the time.

What am I saying? Oh, I realized that there's another leech on my leg. I pulled it off as I clicked my tongue at the annoyance of the free-flowing blood that was staining my shoes because of all of this.

I wasn't going to lie, this was more of a hindrance if anything. I needed to clean this up and put something that can bring back the coagulating effect that blood's supposed to have. It's confusing at first, but explanations aren't all that bad to try and give.

Leeches have enzymes that outright stop coagulation. They make you sick, and they could easily drain a couple milliliters of blood when you aren't being all that careful. I didn't want to end up dead with only about thirty or fifty lives within me right now.

And yes, I mean thirty or fifty. I noticed something odd when I made the artifact that gave me the choice of getting into my proper role in this world.

The dungeon diamond? Yes, I know, it's a horrifically droll name. It needed more than a couple years worth of energy. And I was shocked to see that I wasn't getting any new jewels within my teeth as the days passed after that event.

I was scared that I lost one of my "wishes" that were clearly stipulated within the contract that I had with that goddess. But after a year, it finally returned to me.

That was one of the days that breathing a long, deep sigh relief was something that would become regular as time passed by. I didn't want to outright do anything that would get me killed, but these "artifacts"?

They didn't care about timing, they just make themselves whenever I seem to trigger something in my mind. And that was something that I never wanted to gamble on.

"Alright lass, have you made yourself familiar with this unfamiliar territory, because we need to start moving again."

She just looked at me, and then the deer and her pet. She then promptly ignored me for a while longer as she groomed the little hedgehog.

I'm still confused as to how something like that little creature was capable of having a miniscule level of magic within it. But I thought about it no longer as we were beginning to notice that the trees were beginning to thin out.

When we noticed that things were getting thinner, I could've just jumped up for joy like a child and ran over, but I'm old. Old age gives you a gut feeling like no other. My gut was telling me that this was a bad idea.

I looked again at the supplies and realized that we weren't anywhere close to running out. So I began to weigh the options. I could go over there, completely butt naked, and scout out what exactly was over there that gave me the severe case of heebie jeebies.

The lass and the deer didn't really care anyways, they knew that I could come out of many situations completely and utterly unharmed.

So I groaned, and stripped down into my underwear, which was just a shirt and shorts, and walked further and further away, making sure to mark the trees to help me figure out which way was I suppose to go to should I need to go straight back.

I braved the far, and my eyes did not deceive me. The trees, they thinned out even further. We neared to the end of the forest. I walked even further as I finally saw something else that wasn't complete arse.

The sight of a cliff.

I was wrong, it wasn't complete arse. It was complete arse that had blood, shit and cum coming out of it. I could've sworn that I wanted to try and throw myself off of the cliff, not for the call of the void, but for the despair and fatigue that was beginning to overcome me when I made contact with the sight.

I couldn't just let them think that we came all the way over here for absolutely nothing at all. And since it was a cliff, I supposed that I could spend another couple years on this, right?

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/Precept of the Church of the Systemheld/

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Thou shalt not collude with the kindred of the Fall'en. The taint shall rend them and their kin, as much as it as rended the many sinners and traitors that have done so in the past.

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/Inquisitorial Sector, Era of the 29_';:!3)*;';#3/

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I came to once more, looking at the sights before me, the smoke that was came from this side of the city, the city that was promised to be a jeweled blade against the tides of the For'eign.

What a load of dire horse shit that one was. The Inquisitorial Sector was the biggest shithole of the city, somehow even being worse than the slums that existed within the other parts of the city.

How so? The filthy merchant companies that seemed to have had the bright idea of stealing the designs from the filthy and tainted hovels that the For'eign use to create their automatons of destruction.

They saw that it was "salvageable" and "still worthy of usage" and tore it down, had it "blessed by the Church of the Systemheld", and promptly went off to try and use it just to fill their coffers with even more coin than whatever they and their families would ever need within their lifetimes.

I wasn't all that peeved to be honest. But the thought that you could simply remove the taint is just madness. Fall'en, For'eign? All of them, touched by the foul taint of the metal that the For'eigner had forged with pure hatred within his veins.

I didn't want to think that they were all sinners, but it makes it rather difficult when the very constructs either made by the For'eigner, or by the Hands of that bastard were being brought and sold off to people that didn't even know how they properly worked.

If there was any consolation that would've been gained out of this situation, I would say that it would be the alcohol that I'd have the most fun with. There's more booze on the streets now than ever thanks to those accursed machines.

But that's not going be stopping me from performing my proper duty to the world, to ensure that the taint never returns. Let the heroes be heroes, us inquisitors, we have our own battles to bleed and die in.

I walked over to one of the more peculiar factories that the Mage Arthis had requested to be scouted out. The papers were all as regular as they could be, aside from the fact that someone had contracted the taint from merely opening the letter that contained them.

I truly do pray for those that have been tainted to such a degree and made out to be enemies when they were but mere victims to the foul touch of the For'eigner.

But to those that seek to harm others solely because they found opportunity to make those that had wronged them suffer under the same malediction as they had, well, let's just say that the office was going to have to heighten the cleaning budgets for this era.

The factory was more or less like the others, quickly built, of decent material, and with hundreds of forms of advertisements on it, either being painted on by ruffians or posted with paper by unknowing individuals.

Some of them weren't even actual advertisements, some of them were most likely even plans for cults and the such. Those types? Those ones are the annoying ones. But my focus shouldn't be swayed.

I walked to the entrance, pushed the large door open and deeply frowned upon the feel and smell in the air. Rot, not the cold unwaveringly alien feel that the taint normally gives off.

This is something different. This is the work of someone else, someone that's trying to use the cover of another tainted to try and do their nefarious deeds.

This will not stand. I intend for that to occur. I continue the investigation with what looked to be one of the For'eign machines. Sadly I never did get into the Scholastica, in spite of my effort to study the language that the For'eign makes use of. The same language that most of the heroes from the other worlds also speak.

English.

There have been occasions where the heroes point out the similarities between our world and theirs, with us being able to continue our technological advancements with the help of the gods that have been with us for so many years.

In truth I am out to awe at the idea that they were able to get to our level and even shoot past further beyond to even land on their moon itself.

All without the help of either their gods or magic. But they insist that the former is still a heavy point of contention between their lands and people, so I my need to rescind that point.

But I suppose the reason why things were so much faster for them must be due to the fact that they only had to deal with their tyrants that stayed dead and were more than likely more in touch with their own mortality than us in our world.

However, when something can bring forth a taint that can even rend the gifts of the gods away from even the greatest of beings, it really starts to rally the people together. Sadly, it only happens in truly desperate times. Times that aren't occuring right now.

The machine within the factory was more than some enough to deduce, seeing all of the metal around it. But what irked me was that the taint, was waning far more than what would've been normal as stated by the papers that were brought in.

The diseases that could be brought upon by the smell alone can already be an issue, but a machine that's losing the taint far faster than whatever we could've ever feasibly realized? That's something fishy, as some of the heroes would say.

I decided to leave the factory when all of a sudden I see four men appear in front of the door.

"Well well well, what do we have here? Good day to ye Inquisitor, fine day for some inspections?"

I made sure to keep my spells at bay while answering the men that were looking at me nonchalantly.

"Aye sir, we've been noticing that there's been some issues with your papers. They've been tainted."

The man in front of me begun clicking his tongue.

"That'd be a true shame sir. Give me consolations to the poor person that had to open them."

"I would have, but right now I'd like some answers, you see. I've been looking around a little bit, and I distinctly notice that there's little to no ambient feel to the taint within this warehouse. You? You don't feel alien, neither do your men.

What you do feel like however, is very very tired. So tell me sir, why is it that your papers have more taint in them than the machine that would have been put under cleansing and certification.

Last I recall, the taint doesn't quite come out as often as this, to the point where you could barely feel it even when your face is right next to it."

The man shifted a little as the other three bastard started to look a little more worse for wear.

"Sir, I can make a good explanation fer this. Ya see, we've noticed that it's a lot faster than the regular tainted machine from the For'eign raid hovels, and we were lucky enough to get the chance to purchase it straight from the auction.

But what we didn't know was that it was more than just the taint. This here machine sir, this be a holding machine."

I looked at him like he was a madman, a holding machine? What manner of beast did they keep under to make it have the scent of rot.

"We're destroying it, that's the end of the discu-"

The machine began whirring to life as the four men ran over to it and dripped their blood into some form of input as it slowly made the machine turn off.

They seemed to have gotten a little bit older by doing so. I grabbed the one that I was talking to by the collar as I shook him eye to eye.

"Talk. Now."

"Blood, sir! It needs blood to calm down! That be the only way to make sure that whatever be inside of it doesn't ever leave."

"And you haven't reported this yet to the Inquisitorial Office yet?! I should have the lot of you strung up by the arms and left to rot in the face of the Bloodied Warrior's Church. They'd appreciate fools who can't seem to understand that we need to remove these foul creations to keep ourselves safe!"

"Sir, with all due respect, we'd be executed just for harbouring something of this complexity. It's a bloody machine from the For'eign, for the Gods' sakes!"

"And that's exactly what'll happen if you don't report it this instant. I shouldn't have been here in the first damned place. I should've picked a better occupation if I knew that there would be days like these and dullards like you."

I looked at the foul creation and noticed something off. There was a sigil here. One that I've recognized from my old application test for the Scholastica. One of the few answers that I knew.

"You there! Yes you, the one that gave their blood! Why is there a sigil here?"

"Sir? Me sir?"

"I was referring to the garbage behind you, of course I mean you, you imbecile! Why, pray tell, is there a sigil on this machine!"

"A sigil sir? As in, from a proper mage? That can't be right sir. It wouldn't-"

"Be able to work while being so close to the taint, I know what that means. My question is, why is it THIS specific sigil being placed onto this creation, hmm? A sigil, no less, to lessen violent outbursts of all things."

"What? Sir that's bloody nonsense, if it was a sigil to make sure that there wouldn't be any outbursts of violent emotion, then that would mean that it would require-"

"A conduit that gives a more mellow emotion. And seeing as there appears to be an input area for such a conduit, that means-"

I didn't even need to continue my words as they pieced together as well. I'll give them credit however, complete dilapidation aside, they seem to be quiet folk. That's good.

Except now their faces showed off a rather understandable degree of horror when it comes to what they've just been doing all of this time.

"By the gods."

"Indeed. Or better yet, by your idiocy. You didn't know what were you supposed to put into it. And I have an inkling that you seem to be either smart or stupid enough to not be able to figure out that it was a much less tense emotion tat required to be channeled into the creation.

I'd give you a medal, but protocol requires me I put you in chains instead."

They nodded at me as I couldn't help but scoff a little. Whatever is in this creation must never be allowed to see the light of day. It needs emotions that aren't anger. Emotions that don't lead to anger. How in the world will I get willingly happy participants to give up conduits to keep this thing pacified?