Ten of Swords (Draft Only)

Chapter 25

One. To knowingly bring harm to the innocent or righteous is foul and wicked.

Two. Harm may be brought through inaction.

Three. One's own life is valuable. Inaction to protect oneself from harm is not foul or wicked.

Four. All life is valuable. One may protect the life of the foul and wicked if doing so does not knowingly bring harm to the defenseless, innocent, or righteous.

Five. To protect the defenseless and innocent and offer aid to those in need is righteous.

Six. If one is forced to protect one life over another, one should only consider the previous truths. There is no priority.

Seven. Righteousness is voluntary, but only the righteous will be granted favour.

The truths of Miellena were vague, leaving much to interpretation. Elise could only assume one was supposed to make good faith assumptions about their meanings, but something about it screamed loopholes. Though, it would probably be an even greater red flag if it went into detail, outlining the definitions of every classification of person in its text. Regardless, it did not bode well.

"Do you know much about this Miellena figure? I know she is supposed to be about protection and pregnant women and Taig'ropoi, but I don't really know what that means. It's all just words." She didn't really want to think about it, but she knew it was in her best interest to understand what kind of creature had taken an interest in her. It filled her with sadness and anger in equal measure, to think this being had the audacity to offer help now, after everything that had happened. It had let Pepper suffer, even though Pepper was supposed to be one of its people and was in need of protection.

The elven made hummed thoughtfully. "She is known to be very selective with her clerics, but not to discriminate between those who do and do not worship her. She isn't opposed to theft, violence, or killing, so long as it is morally justified. Though she is one of most widely known, she is controversial, especially among the wealthy and elite. They say she is a boorish god. It's difficult to tell what she wants. The Taig'ropoi believe she was the first of their kind, similar to how humans believe some of the gods to be their ancestors who later ascended to godhood. Pregnant women were not originally a part of her perceived sphere of influence. I'm not quite sure how that part came about."

It wasn't a lot of information that Elise didn't already know. Pollus had failed miserably in actually giving her anything she was after, like what protection was supposed to mean in the context of the goddess. She was too irritated to follow up on it however, so instead she focused instead on the distance between them and the castle gates. It wasn't far now.

Magic seemed inconsistent at best. Useful, but inconsistent. For one, why should she have to use an incantation for one spell, and say whatever she wanted for another? It could be that she was trying too hard to understand it all at once. For now, she would have to be satisfied with the conclusion that what she knew as magic was more than one thing. There were still things like mana condensing, the difference between channelling and casting, and any number of ridiculous things that she had yet to learn about. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to remember any of it. It was no wonder why even intuitive mages went to college. Unfortunately, she didn't have the luxuries of money or circumstance required to do so.

The line slowed down considerably once they passed the outer walls of the castle. They were in the outer courtyard now and could have a much better look of the gardens and architecture. Most people who were still waiting had stopped talking, growing tired of conversation with their neighbours and waiting anxiously for their turns. Up and down the line walked a couple of individuals of unknown profession, looking between those waiting in line and pages in a book. Perhaps they were keeping an eye out for those who were prohibited of coming within close proximity to the king.