Jackal Among Snakes

Chapter 665: Lying in the Confessional

Argrave had learned throughout his life that words could be twisted in very exceptional ways to make the horrible seem almost noble. Robin Hood, for example—objectively, this supposedly skilled archer was a dirty criminal, likely guilty of enough theft to cost him his head. Yet he was the hero of the tale, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Stealing was wrong, yet people thought him good. It was all clever applications of words, and a creation of a narrative to steal the hearts and minds of the people.

Argrave had been thinking about how to make himself the hero of his own story for a long while.

Objectively, Argrave had strengthened Gerechtigkeit pursuing a way to end the cycle forever without consulting any of the members of the Blackgard Union. Now, he intended to do his best to exclude all the influences of divinity from what came next, because he didn’t trust them to hold mortal interests in heart. He’d also blatantly took advantage of Law’s inclination toward honor, too, to protect Sophia—who was ostensibly the cause of Gerechtigkeit’s enhanced power. Laid out like that, it sounded selfish, narcissistic, and controlling. That’s precisely why Argrave couldn’t lay it out like that.

In truth, Argrave was a bit offended. Gerechtigkeit was trying to manipulate people with lies, misdirection, and uncanny knowledge about events? That was Argrave’s bread and bloody butter. He felt it was long overdue to answer this offense with a decisive beatdown, putting his adoptive daughter’s brother in his place.

Law’s Justiciar led Argrave and his company into a grandiose room that might be called a concert hall, down to the large stage at the head of the room and long rows of chair throughout the rest. Gods had already been assembled since long ago—not just minor ones, either, but most of the big fish. There had been a lot more big fish that had come into being after the siege of Kirel Qircassia. Many gods came forth to give their greetings to Argrave like he was the don of the family. Royal dynasties were essentially mafia families with excessive pageantry and no secrecy.

It became evident that Argrave was among the last of the people to arrive, as one of Law’s Justiciar took to the head of the stage and announced the meeting with gusto—an ‘airing of grievances,’ it was called, where they would come together to discuss recent troubles. Argrave didn’t miss the countless glances sent their way. He could tell word had already spread about the third, unspoken subject of this meeting.

The assembly began recapping the things that Argrave was already intimately aware of. A malignant power battered against the White Planes, breaking it down. Attempts to reinforce it had all come to naught, and none of the original architects were still around to build it again. They did consult Argrave on the subject, but he could tell from their words that the assembled gods meant to test whether or not the rumors were true, and Argrave had inherited Erlebnis’ knowledge. Compelled by Law’s Court, he couldn’t lie—but then, he didn’t feel the need to conceal his inheritance. He did refrain from telling them how he had inherited it, though. Let them speculate. It raised their wariness of him.

Various people briefly raised ideas about how the White Planes might be reinforced, but they were quickly shut down in favor of moving on to a more pertinent issue. Gerechtigkeit was whispering sweet nothings in populations around the world, utterly destroying local governance. This had never before been seen in any cycle of judgment. The other gods did confirm, however, that Gerechtigkeit couldn’t touch the minds of the gods or their servants. That, or he was keeping that card in his sleeve.

Either way, things steered in the direction that Argrave suspected they would. Gods brought up the fact that Argrave had prepared for this mental control ahead of time by crafting rings—Argrave confirmed it. Other gods mentioned rumors that Argrave had known Gerechtigkeit would be more powerful during this cycle—Argrave confirmed it. Everyone’s attention gradually shifted away from wider issues, and toward this strange mortal king that seemed to know far more than he should.

After a time of pointed questioning, all driving toward the same point…

“Let’s cut past the insinuation and innuendo. I can tell that all of you here today want answers from me, in particular. For the sake of all our time, I’ll head to the stage and tell you all

the concert hall as they pondered Argrave’s words. On the stage, the Justiciar initiated a vote. The whole room raised their hand (or closest appendage), nigh unanimous in their

may join the mediating Justiciar on the stage,” Law’s

hand in quiet reassurance, and then he broke away from them. He walked past countless gods, all of whom eyed him with a mixture of respect and wariness after what he’d done in the past and what

joined two of Law’s Justiciars, usurping the dais from

on Amazon without the author's consent. Report

to the honest law of

“I do,” Argrave confirmed.

of

He felt nothing more than a righteous indignation after

am to get this information to you all, even under these circumstances. To start out with, allow

for thousands of hours,

everyone. The words that Argrave was speaking were patently ridiculous… provided, of course,

tens of thousands of times.” He took a deep breath. “But… there’s been a recurring problem. Whenever I’ve beaten Gerechtigkeit, it was an end to things. The only way I could continue to exist in this world was by

times, choosing slight differences in each route because I wanted to see if the developers

said, while others looking at Law’s Justiciars and questioning

we clashed in earnest, I eventually beat Gerechtigkeit every time, without

I loaded a save whenever I died until