Demonic Devourer's Development

At the sound of my voice, Bishop pushed the door open so quickly it almost hit me on the nose. The old man was smiling from ear to ear, and if there was some sleep in his eyes before, now it evaporated.

"My lord! You have returned!" He paused, taking my new look in. "You look even more majestic than before." Then, he noticed Gi. "And who's that with you?"

I ignored the questions for now, as well as the old man's enthusiasm, of which there was too much if you asked me. "Let us in, Bishop, and bring out whatever food you have stored."

"Of course, my lord," Bishop hurried inside. In ten minutes he lit up oil lanterns, filled the table with what must've been the entire contents of his cellar and cupboards, made tea, and put on clothes.

At the table, I did a convenient trick of morphing myself a second mouth for talking while I used my main mouth to eat. After all, the raw meat without salt, pepper, or—what a dream—sauce, raw vegetables and yesterday's bread were the best delicacies I could dream about.

And that's for me. Gi, who never even seen anything like this—who looked at the flicker of fire in the oil lantern like it was black magic—looked like he found himself in Heaven already.

"Bishop, the pipsqueak's name's Gi," I gestured at him with my upper right hand while my lower left put a pickle in my mouth for eating. "I picked him up in the caves. There actually was a whole village of humans… Before I ate them."

My eating mouth made a loud crunch of the pickle, but Gi was so absorbed with his own pickles that he didn't even react, to my slight disappointment. I gave him a level look. "But this one I kept alive. I think he will be useful for my plans after he trains. At least he'll be able to hunt monsters. He has high stats because of this thing." I pulled out the rainbow stone out of my chest and put it on the table, where it immediately began to spread its rainbow light onto the tablecloth.

"What is this?" Bishop leaned closer. "It's not just a glowing stone, is it? Can it truly raise one's stats? I've never seen or heard about a thing like that… Though, chaos is the origin of many strange things."

"It can. There's been more of it, but I ate the rest. Its power dissolves in whatever the stone touches, after which you can consume it. Like with water. Now tell me, Bishop, how things are on your end? Did your people made any progress with what I asked you?"

"Oh, we did, my lord! There are several avenues we can explore. But…" Bishop closed his eyes shut, then blinked fast several times. "If you don't mind, can we talk in more depth about it tomorrow?"

"Sure. Oh, and Gi will need somewhere to sleep until then. Floor will do."

⠀⠀

In the morning, Bishop made breakfast for everyone, which included Yvenna, whom he also invited to the meeting. Gi huddled in the farthest from the window corner of the room and watched Yvenna and Bishop with squinted eyes.

"Who's the pipsqueak?" Yvenna asked when we settled down, pointing at Gi.

"My name's Gi!" he exclaimed. It was the first word he said since getting into the city. "Don't you call me a pipsqueak, too!"

"I can call you whatever the fuck I want, pipsqueak!" Yvenna immediately retorted with a snarl. "Bishop, what he's doing here?"

"I brought him." My statement made Yvenna's eyes widen in surprise. "Ignore him for now. Bishop, tell me you found something about getting to the bastards who call themselves gods."

"Yes, yes, my lord. I've sent my flock to research the theme of going to Heaven, and of gods descending from there…" Bishop stood up to get several books from his shelves. "These are all have mentions of the gods descending to the mortal realm bookmarked. It happened many times in history, and after exploring each occasion, I concluded that most of the time gods either descend to bring their wrath on an adventurer who did a great sacrilege, or to reward an adventurer who did a great heroic deed."

"Always an adventurer?"

"Always. But, besides that, my lord, just recently I've heard a troubling rumour. The priests of Goddess of Wizards and her adventurers all had a vision about you, my lord. Now her priests warn people about a demon named Devourer, who escaped from Hell. But they don't know you are here, and neither do templars have a whiff about our connection."

I narrowed my eyes. "These bastards… Well, this just shows how blind they are… for now, at least."

"You don't have to worry if your devotees will keep secrets, my lord," Bishop added quickly. "Now they all know that there won't be forgiveness for them if they were to turn to templars, even if they wanted to. But I can assure you, the spirits in your church had been high ever since you appeared in front of us. Though, after your long absence, it would be really nice if you could greet them again, my lord, and show them your new visage…"

I shrugged. "Sure. But that time, prepare a feast for me. With delicacies."

Bishop brightened. "As you command, my lord!"

"So, was this all you found on the bastards who call themselves gods? I know they will jump to me if I just show myself, but this is of little help."

"No, there's more. It was a unique occasion, but after some research, I confirmed that it truly happened and wasn't just a myth. There was an instance in which a normal person, not an adventurer, reached Heaven only thanks to their own power, only to be struck down by the gods. His name is in every history textbook, though very few mention that last bit. Archmage Willorio."