"So, what are we going to do about this one?"
As Adam was still actively choking on teargas, Tom turned his attention to the old man in the important looking chair.
"I'm still torn between boiling or burning him alive."
"HII!"
While Tom had some vague ideas forming, Clair was very pragmatic in her approach; Oldsted had to die, preferably slowly, and it was just a matter of figuring out how exactly.
"Yeah that's sadly not going to happen."
"What?"
While there was nothing Tom wanted more than deposing a dictator who had caused him nothing but problems by ventilating his cranium, Tom had long since come to the conclusion that king Oldsed was worth more to them alive than six feet under.
"I've overthrown a lot of governments in my time, and it is always messy. We don't need that kind of mess right now."
"You can't be serious."
Clair was under the believeth that Tom was sent to this world as a living saint to serve the most ruthless lady of the hunt, and she couldn't see one reason to spare the king. And that was Clair's current flaw, she had no idea what had been going on outside her jail cell.
"They're still taking slaves from everywhere, we need him to have them safely returned."
The moment Tom mentioned slaves Clair felt stupidly naive.
(Of course they would continue taking slaves after I surrendered myself… How could I ever have been so stupid.)
"Right Oldsted, wouldn't you be happy to assist us?"
"Yes, of course!"
Seeing a thin line through this current crisis with his head intact, king Oldsted was ready to do whatever it took to survive.
"Okay then. By sunrise the day after tomorrow, forces from the elves and beastkin will be crossing into this kingdom to free their kin and bring the slavers to justice. Do I need to illustrate what will happen to you if any of them are harmed or interfered with in any way?"
"N-no! That will not be necessary!"
"Great."
Getting Oldsted somewhat coerced agreement to his request, Tom acted immediately and pulled out a radio transmitter.
"You there?"
Releasing the transmitter, Tom waited through static for a few seconds before a familiar voice came through.
[Yeah, what's up?]
Hearing her sister's voice from the strange tool Tom was holding, Clair let out an exasperated sigh, she shouldn't be surprised anymore and yet she was.
"We're done here, everything went to plan."
[So we're moving tomorrow?]
"The day after tomorrow, at sunrise. We have the king's word."
[Okay then… Is she there with you too?]
Having confirmed the important things, Mari fell silent for a bit before she turned to personal matters in a far more uncertain and nervous voice.
"Yeah Clair is here too, I'll show her how to use the radio when we get going so you can talk."
[Okay, I'll await that call.]
Finally turning to leave the audience hall, Tom seemed like he had forgotten something and turned back to the king one final time.
"If I have to come back here again, for ANY reason, I'm skinning you alive."
Imparting his last promise to king Oldsted, Tom, Lisa and Clair finally left the castle, with Tom placing a few shots into Adam's corpse on the way out.
Immediately outside the castle, Tom and the others were immediately surrounded by a detachment of knights led by a particular knight commander.
"Oh, it's you."
Tom was pretty sure this was the same knight he had met multiple times before, the one who had gone after him and Lisa when they were heading north, and the one he was pretty sure died when he tried to ambush Tom later.
"I was pretty sure I shot you in the face."
"No, that was my comrades you 'shot in the face'."
Clearly still holding Tom very much responsible for the friends he lost, the gryphon knight commander hadn't drawn his sword yet, but he was about to.
"Yeah that's what I did, I also just shot Adam in the face and now I'm going to leave. You probably want to attend to your king, I'm pretty sure he soiled himself."
Seeing the conversation was over, Tom started walking past the knight commander, but when he tried passing he was blocked and immediately the Boarhound reacted as it let out a low mechanical growl. Likewise, Clair reformed her halo and Lisa raised her rifle.
"You really want to die here, right now?"
While Tom held some amount of respect for the knight commander, he wasn't above gunning him and his friends down in the street. That's when Clair stepped in, her body radiating enough devine mana to be considered a sacred object in of itself.
"Adam is dead, and I've killed the seed that was entrenching itself in this world. That means we are the only living saints supporting life on this continent. Harm us and you will suffer."
Forming countless limb-sized bright red crystals in the air around her, Clair started floating as her eyes were filled with a red gleam as she delivered the final part of her ultimatum punctuated by divine right.
"Then after I've made you suffer, I will burn down the entirety of this heretical country and the deal Tom just stuck with your king to show all of you mercy in return for our imprisoned people will be null and void."
Clair was aware that what she was proposing would be worse for all parties involved, but she hardly cared as it was clear these people had forgotten all about her most feared lady they all owed their existence to.
With other gods trying to entrench themselves in this world, her most ruthless lady needed loyal followers, and if that loyalty wasn't freely given it would be enforced and demanded.
Perhaps only now realising what they were getting into, the other knights following the commander were clearly gripped with fear in response to Clair's words, all of them had loved ones they could lose if they tried fighting against two living saints right here and now.
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
Seeing all of the knights back down, Clair returned to the ground as she dismissed her spell as she saw the fear overtake them. Walking past the knight commander, Clair remembered one of Tom's earlier treats he had used just a few minutes ago and decided to reuse it.
"If I have to come back here again, for ANY FUCKING REASON, I'm skinning all of you alive."
After that, leaving the capital was far easier than it had been for Tom and Lisa to enter it, for when the ordinary citizens, guards and knights saw the halo floating above Clair's head they parted ways and let them pass.
Once outside the capital and past the endless fields of crops supplying it with food, Clair Tom and Lisa finally relaxed for a bit as they set up camp in a forest clearing. Putting down his light machine gun, Tom dropped his plate carrier right next to it and stretched as a USIE standart survival ration materialised in his hand.
"Here, refuel."
"Mmm, thanks."
Tossing the ration to Lisa, Tom sat down as another one materialised in his hands.
"What's that?"
Having returned from a nearby stream to bathe, Clair who had just returned wore a black tank top and a pair of blue jeans Tom had summoned for her.
"It's food, here."
Summoning another pack with little effort, Tom tossed Clair a ration as he opened his own one and started eating an extremely dry cracker PB&J sandwich.
"That hardly looks like foo-... You know what, nevermind."
Getting help opening her own back from Lisa who was also busy stuffing her face, Clair wasn't impressed by the food she found inside, but when she got to smell the vacuum-packed pound cake she had just opened her body instantly reacted with a loud growl and she started eating the surprisingly okay tasting pastry.
"So you can summon all these things?"
Having seen Tom making things appear out of nowhere with no sign of mana a few times before, Clair decided now was a good time to bring it up so she could understand how he did it.
"Yeah, that food, your clothes, Lisa's equipment, all our weapons and the remaining Boarhound are all things from my old world I can bring into this one through a system set up by our divine lady."
"Your old world? As in the place that shitstain also came from?"
"Basically. After fighting for a few hundred years as an indentured slave of the USIE armed forces as a mercenary, they finally sent me on a mission where I was meant to die and when I finally did I woke up in front of this massive living metal figure. It asked me what 3 things I needed to fix its world, so I requested a healthy body, a rifle and a way to resupply said rifle before I was brought to this world where I started killing slavers."
"So you can just make things appear… Nevermind, that'll have to wait for later."
About to ask more questions about Tom's strange ability and how he even met Lisa and Mari, Clair held herself back as she noticed a change in the air.
"What are you-"
OBJECTIVE_STACK_PRIMARY_UPDATED.
FIX_THE_WORLD.
STATUS:_0.190000001143%_COMPLETE.
ELIMINATE_HOSTILE_AGENT.
OBJECTIVE_COMPLETED:
OBJECTIVE_REWARD(S)_AWARDED:
PERMANENT_POINT_DISCOUNT_FOR_ALL_WEAPON(S),_AMMUNITION_AND_EQUIPMENT.250.000_POINT(S)_AWARDED.ALL_NON-WMD_WEAPON_RESTRICTIONS_UNLOCKED.UGV_CLASS_FULLY_UNLOCKED.UAV_CLASS_FULLY_UNLOCKED.USV_CLASS_FULLY_UNLOCKED.UUV_CLASS_FULLY_UNLOCKED.DIRECT_DIALOGUE_INVITATION.
257.550_POINT(S)_AVALIBLE
NO_SECONDARY_OBJECTIVE(S)_IN_STACK.
END_OF_REPORT.
"- … I see."
As Clair had sensed her divine lady grace Tom a split second before it happened he fell quiet mid-sentence as the rewards this time around were frankly extraordinary.
"What'd you get this time around?"
Although she was busy devouring her chemically heated pouch of mac and cheese, Lisa found room in between her shoveling to ask what the rewards were this time around.
"... Another permanent discount on all available weapons, ammunition and equipment, a quarter of a million points as well as the unlocking of all weapons and drones."
While Tom was astounded by the amount of rewards this time around, he was also slightly worried, given he now had no restrictions on procurement whatsoever he figured he would need a full arsenal for his next order / objective.
"Oh yeah, and I also got some sort of invitation to a 'direct dialogue'-"
"YOU WHAT!?"
Even surprising herself, Clair didn't have time to be embarrassed about the volume of her voice as she dropped her food and ran up to Tom, grabbing both of his shoulders.
"Accept it immediately!"
"Wha-"
"It's an invitation from her bountiful lady, a DIRECT invitation."
After Clair made it absolutely clear what he had just received, it finally seemed to click for Tom what he had just been awarded.
"... It would probably be rude to make her wait, right?"
"Yeah it would!"
"Okay then, but how do I-"
As soon as Tom thought about how to even accept the invitation his vision turned black as he became dizzy and collapsed.
(Not again-)
Next thing Tom knew he found himself in a white, featureless room, but this time he at least had clothes on.
"Hmm."
After he blinked a small cafe table appeared with a pair of chairs, Tom figured this was an invitation and sat down. When he blinked again, a figure appeared in the other chair.
"This is still a bit uncomfortable."
The figure wore a mask resembling some kind of fox, elk hybrid and was adorned with a long flowy dress made out of liquid gold.
"But it is nice to meet you, not quite face to face, but close enough."
As she made introductions, her voice sounded like it was dripping with honey.
"Likewise."
Hardly reacting to how hypnotic her voice sounded, Tom nevertheless remained polite to the god which gave him a second life.
"What's the occasion for this meeting? Is there a problem with how I've been carrying out your directives?"
Quite used to working for shadowy figures who only communicated his next orders through data packets beamed directly into his cranium, Tom thought this 'direct' meeting a bit strange and was therefore nervous about its topic.
"No, not at all."
As she spoke again, a cup filled with liquid silver appeared on the table in front of her, and after she took a quick sip of the 'tea' she spoke again.
"I've set up this meeting because you're making excellent progress, it's a reward, a chance for you to learn the how and why behind everything."
"Okay then… Why me of all people? Surely there had to have been a better candidate for the job than someone like me."
Realising he wasn't in trouble, Tom relaxed a bit in his chair as he asked the most pressing question on his mind ever since he obtained his second life.
"You seem to think very little of yourself, my child."
Taking another sip of her 'tea' as she paused to formulate her words, Tom felt like there was a warm smile forming beneath her mask as she started explaining.
"Among the countless billions of souls passing through my fingers each second, only a fraction of a fraction are resilient enough to survive even a split second in the aether you would call the afterlife."
As she spoke, the avatar of the hunt seemed like she was recalling a fond memory.
"Yet you, my dear, shone with a quiet determination unlike any other. At the time it seemed like a burning desire for revenge, but it was in fact a contentment for the end of your suffering… Seeing a soul stained so deeply in blood and damaged, yet still uncorrupted by it all piqued my interest."
"That had to be some sort of mistake."
Even if Tom heard it directly from a god he believed it was a mistake. There was no way his soul was still uncorrupted, that it hadn't been stained and completely broken by everything he did willingly and not in his last life.
"There is no mistake, my child. I don't make mistakes."
Earning a bit of her ire, Tom felt like a child being chastised by their mother. Faced with the word and confirmation from a god, he was forced to admit he was still himself at the core, that his time as an indentured slave hadn't broken him.
"T-then what about my current job, it is to 'fix' the world, but I don't understand how I'm aiding?"
Slightly choked up at the realization, Tom nevertheless managed to continue with his questions.
"I am part of a pantheon of gods, together we manage what you would call reality, a few of them in fact."
With a wave of her hand, the avatar of the hunt displayed a few clusters of galaxies to show what was under her stewardship.
"These realities we refer to as 'gardens', and recently these gardens have come under attack from foreign invaders,"
As she continued to explain, the series of stars became a single planet lush with green, then rapidly the planet withered before shrinking into nothing.
"The attackers are other stewards, foreign gods who see our gardens as fuel for their own, so they've come to take them from us."
"... So you're at war?"
Conflict was something Tom was very familiar with, so he started to understand a bit of why he had been called.
"In essence, my astute child. This war has been going on for some time, and due to the feuding between us and them, reality has started leaking, letting in corruption and even foreign agents that seek to entrench themselves like weeds in our gardens to steal their energy."
When the avatar of the hunt spoke of these weeds, pictures of the hostile agent, the corrupted seed in the sky above the capital and the monster den Tom had eliminated appeared.
"Although damaging, this corruption also brought with it an unexpected boon."
"... And that would be me?"
No matter how uncomfortable it made him feel to think about it, Tom did come from the same place as Adam, a foreign weed infecting the bountiful lady of the hunt's garden.
"Correct, my intelligent child. With the ongoing conflict weakening the barriers between our own and the adversaries' gardens weakened, I saw a bright light, a soul uncorrupted in spite of its hardship and gave it a new purpose underneath my stewardship."
"... That's a lot to absorb."
Not only learning of a grand conflict that he now found himself at the centre of, Tom had also figured out exactly why he had been granted a second life and found it a lot to take in all at once.
"You will learn in time my child, just like how you're adapting to the powers I've granted you."
Hearing her words Tom realised how his resupply system had been gradually evolving over time as he used it, thinking back on how much effort it had taken the first time, compared to now when it required no more than an idle thought it appeared like he still had the capacity to grow, even after all these years.
"Then what will my next objective be?"
Getting on the topic of his resupply, Tom remembered his worry about the sudden increase in powers, figuring he was about to face a challenge on par with his increased allowances.
"With the seed dead and gone there are no urgent fires to deal with, for now. But I will call on you again in time."
Seeing Tom wasn't quite satisfied with that vague response, the smile underneath her mask widened as she took another sip of 'tea'.
"The land which is a scar on the world is weak to my direct control, so it has been infected and further weakened. A number of monster nests have appeared across the land like open wounds, so you will need to close them up."
"More monsters?... Wait, what are monsters even?"
When the avatar brought it up, Tom remembered his system had referred to what the people of the world called monsters as corrupted creatures.
"Monsters; lifeforms and energy affected by the current war and brought into our garden like weeds. In normal peace times there are a few of these weeds growing in every garden, and trimming them is what we empower mortals to do… But these wartime weeds are different and abundant, affected by our opponents, they take the shape of things you might recognize as tools of war instead of the idealings and nightmares of the popular subconsciousness."
Still speaking in general and vague terms, pictures appeared in the air around her. A group of Boarhounds attacking a convoy moving through a desert at night with automatic gunfire, an unmanned armoured division prowling through a bleak wasteland and a group of UAV gunships patrolling around a blank metal sphere were just a few of the scenes Tom caught as they flickered by.
"This next challenge will be far harder than anything you have faced before, my industrious child, so prepare, and prepare well. Gather and strengthen your allies, form connections with the land and hone your mind. When you are ready I will call for you again and direct you towards the next objective."