The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 187: Retaliation or Incompetence?

"Yes, the Superintendent is on our side," Flicker confirmed when I finally, finally got that coveted slot in his reincarnation appointment schedule. "In a manner of speaking. But I wouldn't push my luck if I were you, Piri."

I was so happy to see him in one piece and healthy (if typically overworked) that I let his comment slide. So how much does Glitter actually know? About what we've been doing for the past, I don't know, few years?

"More like several years, at this point."

Flicker's answer surprised me, not because time had passed faster than I realized, but because of his vagueness. I'd have expected him to correct me with the precise number of years, months, days, and possibly even hours that had elapsed since Aurelia and I had struck our bargain for me to protect Taila. Maybe my casual approach towards the passage of time was rubbing off on him, the way my happy-go-lucky approach towards rules and regulations patently had.

"The Superintendent probably knows most of what we've been doing, I think? It's hard to get anything past her. I was wondering why she hadn't called me in and raked me over the coals for all the...irregularities in my workdays. And my work."

Maybe she thought Aurelia made you do it.

Anyone who knew Aurelia would know that she wasn't the selfish sort of goddess who'd force a lowly clerk to neglect his duties, but maybe Glitter hadn't interacted with her often enough to figure that out. It could be a convenient excuse for Flicker to pull out: "Don't blame me for the quality of my work or my frequent absences. Blame that really high-ranking goddess over in that other bureau...if you dare."

Flicker hunched his shoulders, obviously uneasy about scapegoating Aurelia for his work ethic, or lack thereof. "I don't know that the Superintendent would care."

I recalled how sour Glitter had looked when Aurelia visited the Bureau of Reincarnation to meet with me and ask me about her former daughter's reincarnation's last moments before the catfish demon ate her. The spontaneous meeting must have thrown off the day's scheduled reincarnations, but Glitter had allowed it. Because she'd had no choice.

Oh, she'd care. She might tell you that she doesn't cave to pressure from the gods, but she does.

Flicker shifted in his chair, even more uncomfortable at the suggestion that his fearsome Superintendent was not, in fact, omnipotent. I let it drop.

Anyway, how are things going on Earth? The Goddess of Life hasn't tried to murder Lodia again, has she?

"Murder Lodia? Why would she – oh, yes. You were no longer, uh, conscious for that part."

For what part? What happened? What did she say? What did she do?!

"The Goddess of Life graciously accepted your offer to put her in charge of a unified temple to all the gods, and to take responsibility for overseeing the collection and distribution of offerings from that temple to the rest of Heaven." Flicker managed to recite all that in a perfectly neutral tone.

I took a moment to parse the sentence, then nodded to myself. Well, of course she'd accepted my offer. It cost her nothing. She hadn't committed any of her own resources to the project, unless you counted the bare modicum of self-restraint required for her to not assassinate the public face of the Temple. She hadn't even publicized our alliance. No one in all of Heaven or on all of Earth, not even her own head clerk, knew that she had met with me. If I could have completed my negotiations with her, I'd have wrangled some concessions out of her, but she'd shredded me before I could get to that part, and Flicker hadn't known to bargain for more.