Chapter 177: Crooked Raijin

Even after Kassie and I left the Nave, the words she uttered then didn’t completely leave me alone. Somehow, for some reason, they continued to get at me.

I exhaled and leaned on the railing of the ship, letting the salt air fill my lungs. Tristan found me there a few moments later.

He stood beside me in silence, stealing glances when he thought I wasn’t looking.

I broke the silence with a sigh. "You know you really need to do a better job at that."

He turned away, feigning cluelessness. "Better job at what?"

I rested my chin on my arms and gazed out at the ocean in the darkness. Somehow, I had gotten quite used to it. The sea-sickness didn’t entirely leave, but it was manageable now.

"Don’t mess with me."

He scoffed. "I’m just examining how much you’ve changed. It seems to me that you’ve grown even taller."

My eyes found him immediately, bright with hope. "Really?! You think so?"

"Yes, I do. Didn’t you used to be like... this tall?" He measured with his hand against his upper arm. "Now you’re reaching almost to my shoulders."

"Na, no doubt about it. There’s been rapid growth. Is it because of Po’s serpent soup?"

I frowned at him with playful hostility. "What do you mean Po’s serpent soup? All the workout and training — is it because I want to play around and love the feeling of my muscles burning?"

He chuckled. "Of course not. Six-gods, I was only messing with you. I know, I see it, you’ve been working really hard to grow and it’s paying off. When last did you look in a mirror?"

"I hate mirrors to begin with. But let’s say about three, four months ago?"

Tristan looked at me and shook his head helplessly. "Geez, it’s not that bad."

I glanced at him. "Easy for you to say."

He had white hair and blue eyes, the kind of features every man would kill to have. It was little wonder why Tristan was pulling all those ladies back then with his lame stories — and they were plainly falling for it.

Although his luck seemed to be out these days. Or maybe he just wasn’t in for it anymore.

Nisha walked out of the cabin and towards Derry, who stood at the helm of the ship. Remembering her distant disposition, I turned to Tristan.

"Do you know Nisha? Like, very well? Before now?"

Tristan smiled. "I do know all of them, yes. Fun fact, I used to chase them anytime they decided to come out of their rabbit holes."

My eyes widened. "What? You were an Inquisitor?"

I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised. It was already base knowledge that Tristan used to be a part of the Eternal Light church. I just never expected that he had been an Inquisitor.

It now made better sense how he knew about pretty boy so well.

Tristan nodded. "Yes I was... I wasn’t so proud of it though. The teachings and everything... drove me to madness. The result of that madness was slaughter."

I looked at him, struck by the weight of what he’d just admitted — and genuinely glad he’d found his way out.

"But how did you get out? And why?"

’Maybe I could get some tips here for my babe Maggie.’

Tristan stalled for a moment, his gaze resting on the distant and dark horizon.

"It’s a product of many things. Brutus, Levi... my experiences too at the time. Brutus kind of sealed it by handing me my first and major humiliating defeat."

"Oh..."

’Way to go Brutus...’

I listened as he continued.

"I have a Sovereign tier spirit. Do you know what that means?"

’A sovereign tier? Oh wow. Isn’t that like a tier beneath Calamity!’

It was no wonder he was S rank!

"I’m not sure I do..."

The academy didn’t even mention Sovereign and Calamity to us except once, outlining how impossible they were. Yet here I was, standing next to someone who had achieved exactly that.

"Every rank of spirits is very deliberate," Tristan said. "They speak of certain stories. The world itself remembers stories and grades them into tiers. There are stories of mortals, there are stories of immortals, there are stories of destruction, there are stories of heroism, there are also stories of gods, and there are stories of Cataclysm. A Sovereign tier—one could refer to it as stories of gods."

I digested his words carefully, turning them over.

"Oh wow, interesting." I met his gaze. "But aren’t there just six gods? How could there also be stories of gods?"

Tristan chuckled. "There are six gods right now, but who’s to say there weren’t more in the era before summoners? Despite having spent so much time in this world, so much about the gods and the world itself remains unknown. One, because the Eternal Light church is gatekeeping information. Two, simply because of the vastness of the world and its diversities and hostilities."

"Hmmm..."

’That makes sense... I haven’t even been to any part of the world after all.’

When I looked to my future, I felt a spark of something like anticipation. One thing was sure: it would be filled with exploration and adventure—and many dangers that would try to kill me, judging by the weight in Tristan’s voice.

But that was all beside the point.

"So... your summon is a god?"

"In the stories, he is known as Raijin. The Thunder Spirit Guardian. He was said to live on the tallest mountain in the world, a mountain that he carved far away from humanity. Because of his presence there, it was untouchable — a place of perpetual storm. Many people offered him their prayers in times of drought.

"The Thunder Spirit Guardian didn’t have direct power over rain, but he had contact with who did. He would lure her into an argument which would cause thunder to ripple across the sky, annoy her over and over again, and she would just cry because she was a very fragile guardian. Whenever she cried, the people had rain. Finally Raijin would apologize and say nice things to her, causing the rain to stop and a beautiful light to spread across the sky."

’What a crook Raijin is!’