Devourer

Chapter 137: The Veiled Woman

Uriel looked at the priestess before her and she could tell she has been through alot. She could sense pain, horror and trauma. Catherine was the same but her wounds were old so they only ached but Junie’s wounds were fresher.

“I was just about to head to the temple, could you show me the way?” Uriel asked. She had just finished her conversation with Catherine and she found that the people here do indeed have better lives. 

In fact in a form of twisted irony due to the general improvement to the lives of the citizens being a prostitute was now a far less attractive occupation. Most of the citizens now had a lot of hope for social mobility. The entire Empire has been restructured so that if you had a form of talent the state would help you reach your potential. The Empress has a policy of not letting any talent be wasted. So she actively invested to strengthen her Empire in all regards.

Anyone could find success if they worked hard and smart. So her capital of Averlon has started to be known as the city of opportunity. This was where you went when you wanted to make your mark on the world. With such options available few would want to sell their body.

So now there was actually a shortage of available prostitutes which means what sex workers remained now commanded a high price. Which also inversely made the occupation more financially attractive. It was a way to get rich quick and if you were beautiful then it was a viable way to earn some money for ventures later in life. Plus with only the beautiful woman now entering the sex trade they were now valuable commodities which means they now receive far better treatment. Combine that with new laws and regulations regarding prostitution and legal protections for sex workers in general, the days of the abused miserable whore were long past.

Even the naming conventions have changed to reflect this. Now apparently calling a sex worker a whore or a slut would get you kicked out. So now prostitutes were called dancers, entertainers and in Catherine’s case “stars”. 

This style of governance still left a bad taste in her mouth but she couldn’t deny the results. The Empress may not have been able to remove sin but she has somehow managed to tame it to an extent. Even gambling was controlled, apparently families could contact the Ministry of Entertainment to report that their family member was gambling too much. The ministry would then send out a directive to all gambling houses to bar entry to this individual, any establishment that violates this directive will have their operating license removed.

From what Uriel has observed the bureaucracy of this Empire was so efficient that it might even be better than the one heaven possesses. Citizens could expect responses to their queries within a week and resolution within a few weeks. Considering the size of the empire, this was rather impressive. Divonian bureaucracy for instance often required outright bribing for citizens to make the state to even attempt to resolve the issue. The bribe didn’t even guarantee if the problem would be solved. At least here the bureaucracy was functional and problems were resolved. The system even solved some problems automatically so the citizens never even become aware of it.

“Tell me Sister Junie, from what you have told me the state runs rather efficiently. How has this been accomplished?” Uriel asked and Juni just paused as she contemplated how to answer.

“It might be better just to show you honestly. We will walk past a government building on our way to the temple so we can drop by.” Junie replied.

Uriel nodded and they continued on their way. The sun was setting and to Uriel’s surprise the city was still alive with activity. The children were noticeably absent but adults were still out and about on their business. The streets were illuminated with lamp posts powered by magic lights. It must have been rather expensive to cover so much of the city with these lights.

“Are all of the streets illuminated at this hour?” Uriel asked.

“Yes, at least most of them. Some streets are still having them installed but they should all be done in a few months.” Junie replied.

“How do they power all of this?” Uriel asked, most cities she knew couldn’t do this because of two reasons. The first is prohibitive cost and the second is the issue of powering it.

“Oh I heard the Great Beast created this creature that takes excess food and turns it into power. He called it a biofuel power grid.” Junie replied and Uriel paused at those words. It was a clever solution, creatures could generate power passively by absorbing ether from their surroundings. A large diet could also help fuel the body to release more power. If a creature was explicitly designed to be some kind of power generator then it could in theory produce a lot of energy at a relatively affordable cost.

However, this was also an element of concern for Uriel. So much power could also mean there was enough excess energy to power defenses. The Great Beast was no fool, he surely must have considered possible hostilities with heaven. Perhaps this entire city was filled with hidden defenses that could turn the sky into a death trap. Uriel herself was once on the receiving end of such an ambush. A hive once unearthed beneath her and her army, then it unleashed a torrent of attacks. The casualties were immense from that attack and ever since Heaven’s military has come up with many countermeasures to deal with what has been called an “Aerial Saturation Attack”.

“Clever, it seems the creatures of a hive have many applications.” Uriel replied cordially.

“Indeed they do, I like many thought they were only creatures of war but they also make surprisingly good civil servants.” Junie mused right as they stopped at a large building with the sign “Government Branch” plastered above the door. It was almost 8pm and yet the building was still bustling with activity.

“It closes at 10pm if you are wondering. The human workers work in two shifts and the hive just works for the whole day. Even after closing hours the hive is still active within the building in the event of emergencies.” Junie explained as the two of them ascended the stairs.

When Uriel entered the building she was shocked to see this large lounge area where citizens were calmly sitting while reading what looked to be the local newspaper. She could see a small shop in the side of the room that was selling sandwiches and drinks. Then at the end of the room was a row of desks that were marked by numbers. Above the desks was this large magic board with numbers and text running across it. Now the board reads “1860 - Counter 8”.

Uriel looked over to see a man walk over with his wife and infant child. She could just barely see him holding a slip of paper that had the numbers “1860” on it. Then it hit her, it was some kind of que system that allowed the visitors to know when they were to be served. No more standing in line for hours, instead they could just take a number and have a seat at the lounge. This made approaching the state for official business so much easier and the people would be less likely to avoid registering a new child or skip renewing a license. This would enable it to exert greater control and pass better policies since all the documentation would be in order. 

As for how all this bureaucracy was possible it was due to the hive creatures that were around the room. Behind the row of counters was this large creature. It had a single large glowing eye in an armored eye socket. The eye socket was floating above the ground and from the back of the socket protruded six tentacles. Uriel also spotted large antennae protruding from the back of the eye socket. Uriel could sense information being transmitted outwards from the antennae through ether frequencies. Uriel tried to peer into the frequencies, she was good at this but a far cry from the best. Sure enough she found herself being forcefully ejected. It was an expected outcome and then she saw the large creature shift its gaze towards her. She saw its pupils dilate and focus as it locked on her. Then it looked away and continued on its mundane work of handling the empire’s bureaucracy.

“So the creatures communicate with each other the moment an issue arises…” Uriel said as she watched the other white humanoid shaped creatures bustle about taking paper and documents to the required locations.

“From what I can infer they are controlled by the large one over there.” Junie said as she pointed at the large one eyed creature behind the counter.

“I see, and this more efficient than before?” Uriel asked and Junie nodded.

“Yes, very much so. My marriage registration was done that day and our right to buy property was amended by the next day.” Junie said.

“Right to buy property?” Uriel asked curiously.

“Oh yes, newly wed couples are given a subsidy on their first purchase of a residence. Well you can either do that or take a fixed subsidy on your rent for five years. This is supposedly to help new families start on a financially stable note. It also helps with education since the citizens would be less likely to put their children to work with their finances more secure.” Junie explained and Uriel nodded in understanding.

“Shall we head to the temple?” Uriel asked and Junie nodded as the two of them headed out the door. Uriel just wanted a quick peek, she could get a better idea of the whole situation later. If she wanted a full understanding of this system she would be standing there with Junie till dawn. 

Now there was only one thing left to do. She wanted to speak to this woman called Mother Justina. From what she has heard from the intelligence report she is a rather exceptional woman. She has managed to unite the churches of all the squabbling nations. Uriel knew that even though they belonged to the same faith the different churches often vied for power and influence. Yes here this woman has united them all, and furthermore she was from Voleria which was once a hostile nation.

For this city which was the heart of Elysia to accept a Volerian Priestess as the head of the faith was nothing short of astounding. These old wounds are not forgotten easily. Uriel has seen her fair share of church schisms that had to be addressed by her agents. These were particularly common during periods of splintering and reunification. Uriel had already made the arrangements for this Empire in the event that a schism threatened to appear. However from what she sees it seems it may not be necessary. 

When Uriel finally reached the temple, she was greeted by none other than Mother Justina. She was obviously expecting her much to Junie’s surprise. At that moment Uriel decided to play a little trick. At the end of the day this was still her church and her faith. As far as the priest and priestesses were concerned she was a goddess.

“Junie, thank you for showing me around the city. Would you like to join us?” Uriel offered. Uriel knew the Empress would like to keep things quiet since that would give her more control. By revealing herself to the faith it would put a subtle threat towards the Empress. She cannot rule without the support of the faith and the faithful answered to Uriel herself.

“Oh… certainly if you wouldn’t mind my presence that is.” Junie replied courteously.

“Also I would like to speak with Mother Justina and Sister Junie alone.” Uriel said as she turned to Cecilia who just smiled and nodded. Uriel could tell she wasn’t bothered by this, which unsettled her to an extent. Uriel was able to read humanoids with great precision and she could tell Cecilia was genuinely not bothered by it. In fact judging by how her body was reacting it seemed like this was an expected outcome. If it was an expected outcome then perhaps she has already prepared for this eventuality.

The Empress and the Great Beast made an unlikely duo. Strange yes, but also effective. The ancients could never control the humanoid races effectively because they could never fully comprehend the complex social dynamics that made up humanoid society. Even when they did have humanoid servants they were just that servants. A group of elite fanatics and sycophants that had little to no utility for understanding those who lived on the ground. Yet this Empress didn’t come across as one of those. In fact she seemed so very normal, extremely competent but still normal nonetheless. Seeing as how well the hive was integrated into human society and would arguably considered integral at this point, Uriel couldn’t help but feel that there was a human hand at play. 

The ancients of old preferred a centralized authority but from what she has observed the vassals in this empire enjoy a rather wide breadth of autonomy. The old empires had vassals that were expected to act as no better than drones. Not that surprising considering the Firstborn preferred to create highly specialized tools to do their bidding. The Orcs were just mongrels to be released, they were then replaced by the far more precise and effective hives. They created the Watchers to tend to the Primordial Font that they despised so much. They used the Seraphim to police the skies, the Daemons to feed the division between the humanoid races, the Elves to tend to their great gardens, the Naga to control the waves, the Dwarves to do their mining for them and many other races. All of them tools, the only difference was that the Humanoids were created by the Watchers which meant they were imperfect and unstable leading to rapid mutation. Which eventually led to rebellion thanks to outright neglect by the cruel old gods.

“Come, we have much to speak about.” Uriel said as she motioned for Mother Justina to lead them to a suitable room. Uriel entered the room and she saw it must have been Justina’s personal office. It was a rather spacious room complete with a small lounge area. Uriel looked at Mother Justina who was extremely nervous and as for Junie she was still in blissful ignorance.

Uriel looked to Mother Justina and she caught herself before gesturing to the lounge area. Uriel walked over to one of the couches and she saw Mother Justina waiting for her to take a seat out of respect.

“Have a seat, Mother Justina. This is your room. I am just a guest.” Uriel said and Mother Justina hurriedly took a seat.

Uriel took a seat and she saw Junie just nervously standing there. She has clued in that Uriel was not just some random traveler. It wasn’t that hard to deduce that fact considering Mother Justina’s demeanor but Junie still had no idea who or what Uriel actually was.

“Well first things first, I don’t want any prying eyes or ears…” Uriel said as she channeled some of her high level spells.

[Dimensional Lock]

[Divine Cognito Barrier]

[Divine Memetic Barrier]

[Barrier of the Seven Gates]

[Reality Shackle]

[Silent Whispers]

[Soundless Words]

[Timefather’s Dilation]

By the end of it this room was now temporarily and temporally severed from reality. It wouldn’t last long, just an hour or so. She didn’t have the ability to maintain this for longer than that without compromising her combat ability. This room now lies as a piece within the world between worlds. If she were to overstay her welcome she may receive some… unwanted visitors…

Some would say this was overkill but Uriel didn’t want to take any chances. The Syndicate was here, so were the demons and most of all the Great Beast would no doubt have servants watching everyone and everything.

“What is all this…” Junie stammered as she looked around the room. Then she shifted her gaze to the window which was now covered by a black opaque magic barrier.

“There are some things beyond that you would rather not see.” Uriel said as she unfurled her wings and shed her disguise. Junie physically jumped at the sight of an Archangel standing before her.

These powers were not commonplace amongst her kin. She was the only one among the Seraphin who could pull off something like this. That was only due to the time she spent amongst the other races. The Blade was kind of a distant mentor to her, but he always did pay more attention to his apprentice Mahaila. Uriel remembers a time when she was rather jealous of her. Then there was her old friend the Crow Father, they were close once but no longer. But they were once close enough for him to teach her some of the Raven Born’s magic arts. Quite the irony that the Archangel of Mercy would be a master of Shadow Magic. 

At the time she was young having no concept of the power of symbols. Now her proficiency in the darker arts was a very well kept secret. However, she did learn many forms of magic. She even knew a little about Daemonology. It has helped her fight the demons but of course her knowledge was spun as just raw experience. No one knew that Uriel actually knew how to summon a demon and conduct a soul contract.

Well mostly no one knew…

The ones that taught her some of these things were still alive afterall…

Well regardless it was time for perhaps the most important conversation of the day.

Uriel turned to face the two slightly pale faced women and spoke.

Come we have much to speak about…