The Insider System

Chapter 299: Lunch In The Temple

A minute or so passed after Donny had asked Keel to handle whatever was going on in front of them and they still hadn't moved. This made Donny think maybe he should move forward and see what was stopping them on the off chance it was something Keel didn't understand. This meant he would have to move through the people in front of him though and he still hadn't been able to weed out the problems yet.

Depending on what was going on in front of them this might be the last chance the Demon Worshipers had to kill him and anyone else they had their eyes on so if he decided to walk forward into the crowd this could be it. This and the fact there hadn't been a commotion from the front made him think it would be better to just wait a little longer.

A few minutes later this strategy paid off and he heard Keel call out. "They're alive, they were able to hold out inside a barrier like us and held this room." Donny had a dozen questions he wanted to ask to the people on the other side of the barrier when he heard this but he settled for one. "Is Rigbis alive?"

If Rigbis had made it through the assassination attempt it raised their chances significantly. "I don't know, they haven't given us any real information yet because they don't trust us to be who we say we are." Donny had the same feelings for the people claiming to be another group of survivors so he decided to just end this little outing now.

"Alright let's head back to the gate room. I don't know what's going on but the fortress seems to be intact so let's go back to guarding the gate." Donny really wanted to get to the bottom of the cleaned floors but he knew it wasn't safe to walk around the fortress looking for clues just because they hadn't run into any obvious enemies yet.

"Alright, are you going to lead us back?" Hearing Keel's question Donny said. "No, I'm not." It still wasn't safe for him to walk in the lead of their group so he walked a few feet away into another hallway and gave the closest group to him an order. "Start walking back to the gate room."

With him out of the way he could let them all pass before taking the position in the back of the group again. As Keel passed Donny was tempted to have him join him in the back of the group so they could talk about what Keel had picked up on about the group in the main room but decided to just wait till they were back in the gate room.

They would have plenty of time while inside the barrier and while he planned to sleep once they got back he could stay awake long enough to have a conversation with Keel about whether the people in the main room were who they said they were or not. Keel had been here longer than him so there was a good chance he knew the person who he had spoken to.

...

"Lake, do you want to come eat with us?" Hearing Dawn speak to him, Lake stopped walking away and thought about eating normal food. It had been a while since he only needed a few bites of bread a day allowing him to eat the stuff Millie made but he knew Dawn just wanted to talk to him and he didn't actually need to eat.

"Sure." Following them to a new room Lake sat down and waited for the two of them to get their food. "Are you not hungry?" Lake didn't know the man who asked him this but they were at the same table so he answered them. "I just ate a few hours ago." This seemed to satisfy the person who asked him the question and he went back to eating his food.

A few seconds later the two people he was here to talk to sat down and he could tell they were already in the middle of a conversation. Instead of interrupting what they were saying he just decided to listen and see if there was a place he could join. "I'm saying if the war wasn't currently being fought the Temple would be going after the coliseum."

"I really don't think that would ever happen. The Dark Guild Alliance assures we can't do anything to them for things like this." Hearing Tiff and Dawn were discussing their kidnapping, Lake stayed quiet to see how they felt about what happened. He had been considering the coliseum as a great target since it seemed they had a lot of money so more information on them would help him decide if this was realistic.

It seemed him being silent in this discussion wasn't meant to be though because the next thing that came out of Dawn's mouth was directed to him. "Who do you think would win, a coalition of the Temples or the Dark Guild Alliance?"

Lake knew nothing of the specifics of these two proposed groups or what would happen in a fight between them but he was currently sat in a Temple so he said. "The Temples. That being said, you all seem to have your plate full with your current enemies so I don't think we'll be seeing the Temples wiping out the Dark Guild Alliance any time soon."

Lake thought his answer made it seem like he knew what he was talking about so he was happy with it until Tiff said. "There's no way the temples would ever work together. They all act in the interests of the god they follow and not all of the gods like each other."

Lake saw this as a good opportunity to ask something he had been wondering for a while. "Do the Dark Guilds have gods that support them?" If her answer was yes he was sure the fight would be a lot closer than he had originally said. "There have been rumors forever about what you just asked. From the Fire God and the coliseum to the fact that the God of Antimagic was most likely in the Thieves guild at one point in his life there are undeniable links to some gods and the Dark Guilds."

Lake had known about the Fire God's ties to the coliseum but the news on the God of Antimagic was extremely interesting to him. He had already wanted to go to the Antimagic Domain but this made him want to meet the god himself. A past thief who had made it to the level of a god was sure to be a great person to talk to if he found a way to make sure it wasn't dangerous.

Maybe using the magic compass technique he had made he could start tracking down an artifact of the God of Antimagic. He was sure the gods were more polite to an artifact holder than just some random person who showed up in their domain.

Unless he stole it from someone who the god of Antimagic liked but he could just give it back if the God of Antimagic didn't like his actions. He was sure a past thief would get it, maybe it would help them become friends.

Realizing the conversation had completely stalled as he thought all of this, Lake quickly said something so it would get back on track. "Any others? You only mentioned two while there are a lot more Dark Guilds." It took Tiff a second to answer his question but eventually she said. "The Assassins guild most likely has a god backing them that isn't the Demon Lord even though a lot of people say it's him."

"What makes you think it isn't him?" Lake could already think of one thing before he even asked this question but he was sure Tiff knew a better reason than the Demon Lord wouldn't worry about it being a secret. "The Temple Head explained it better than I'm about to but I'll give it a try. So around the time the Demon Lord was injured and the Holy Goddess was killed the Assassins guild welcomed their first demigod, Mezull. No one was happy about this since Mezull hoped to become the god of Death and this included the other gods who quickly blocked the ascension of Mezull like they had Done With the Demon Lord. After this happen it was revealed that Mezull planned to leave the Assassins Guild and join the Demon Lord and the Assassins guild weren't happy about this because they had been the ones who had done most of the work to let Mezull become a demigod and the fact that they were at odds over this shows the Demon Lord isn't supporting the Assassins guild in the shadows."

Lake was easily able to follow everything Tiff said and felt it made sense. He would also come to the same conclusion if he had known all of this stuff ahead of time. "So do you have a guess on which god it might be if it isn't the Demon Lord?" Lake knew gossiping about gods probably wasn't a good idea, especially inside of a temple, but he wanted to see what Tiff thought. "No, in my opinion it makes more sense that the god that's supporting them isn't just one but a few different ones paying them to stop them from taking jobs on oracles and Temple Heads. It would be devastating to a temple to lose people to the Assassins guild constantly so it makes sense they are being paid since it never happens."

After Tiff answered this he stopped asking things so she could eat her food. He didn't want to stay in the cafeteria all day and it would be seen as rude if he just got up and walked away even if he tried to give a reason and with Dawn almost done since she hadn't been talking for a while he felt it was best to let Tiff start her meal.