Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 252 (Patreon)

Chapter 252 – Concerns

With Mercy’s permission, I stepped out of the small radius that my shrine covered, and into her dungeon. I needed her permission first, of course, because otherwise that would be an invasion, and spark a dungeon war. And neither of us wanted that.

We walked in silence, a study in opposites. However, whether it was luck, or some influence of Mercy’s upon the surrounding area, we did not meet anyone else along the way. Most likely, it was both. Since we weren’t near the main paths, it wouldn’t take too much influence from the dungeon to guide people away.

Even so, Mercy stopped, and looked both ways before stepping off the path to the side. When she disappeared behind a glamour, I smiled. How very appropriate to the myths, that a kitsune should be using illusions to hide things, after all.

Stepping through the glamour, I found myself in a pleasant little burrow, like I had been shrunk down and placed in a fox’s den. Or, I corrected myself, looking at the walls, perhaps a hobbit’s home? The den was certainly comfortable, but it was decorated in a traditional Japanese style, rather than hobbit-fashion.

Mercy was already sitting on a cushion next to a low table. No chairs, but cushions covering a tatami mat floor. She definitely wanted to go with the traditional look for this place! As I sat down, Mercy began mixing tea, in the traditional way.

“Have you ever been in a tea ceremony before, Pleasures?”

“No, I haven’t, nor have I had traditional green tea before.”

“Ah, well, I am glad that I can introduce you to this custom, then.”

The conversation lapsed as Mercy went about preparing the tea, whisking hot water in with the tea leaves that had been ground to powder. It was night and day from my experiences with tea, growing up in the South. For one thing, the water was merely hot, not boiling, and there was no sugar to sweeten it.

Once she offered me the bowl, however, I had to admit that the tea certainly didn’t need sweetening. There was only a hint of bitterness, but also a bit of sweetness, to balance it, and the whole thing had an almost nutty flavor. I bowed my head in appreciation, and said, “Now I can see why the tea is talked about so highly. Though it doesn’t compare to the company.”

“Oh, you,” she shook her head. “It is no use trying to flirt with me, Pleasures. I have been watching you long enough to know where that route leads, and I want no part of it.”

“Oh, fine. You can’t blame me for trying. Especially not when you choose to look like that.”

I saw a scowl cross Mercy’s face, “I know perverts like you have those kinds of fetishes, but this is how I looked before the Apocalypse, aside from the obvious changes with taking on the kitsune race for my avatar. The silver hair, the ears, and the tail are new, but the rest is what I looked like when I served as a miko in this temple. I did not do it to be an object of your perverse fantasies.”

I chuckled, but didn’t say anything on that. Anything I said would just make her more upset with me, and Mercy was one of the dungeons I got along with best, so poking those buttons wasn’t something I wanted to go overboard with. Instead, I decided to change the subject.

“So, why did you ask me to come all the way over here?”

Mercy took a deep breath, and then said, “It is about the kami. As you know, the lack of the System caused faiths to lose real power in the world, making them be only a spiritual guide, to keep people on the right path. This is part of the reason why humans have so many gods, rather than the single pantheon other peoples might get.”

I nodded. “Yes, the lack of any direct response to prayers left people to question, and those questioners eventually found new answers, making saints and gods out of anyone or anything they thought would help. Over in the States, there was a case where an Army man started praying to ‘St. Patton’ while in my dungeon, and he got a response. Or there’s the fact that there is a god of Misfortune, Chaos, and Mayhem currently forming under the name of Murphy.”

“Then it is as I feared. Three days ago, an entity claiming to be Susanoo appeared at a shrine down by the sea, and his appearance conjured a thunderstorm. And the Monkey King has been sighted in several places in China, according to reports. Even here, sightings of kami and oni have been on the rise.”

“Ten thousand kami in Japan, and who knows how many are still venerated, right? And it is hard to tell what is a divine manifestation, and what is just a monster conforming to myths, unless you have the proper skills. I take it that, with everything that has gone on, more and more sightings are taking place, and more and more people are asking themselves what to believe?”

Mercy sighed, and said, “That is correct. The System is also empowering those like monks, priests, and shamans, who have historically been considered to have spiritual strength, and the ability to channel the divine. Along with it, people are flocking to shrines and temples, with newfound faith.”

“That doesn’t sound like it would be a problem.”

“Normally, it wouldn’t be. But, with the revelation that the kami are shaped by the believers, that gives me some pause. I do not know if you follow such things, but anime and manga have long had various portrayals of the kami in their works. I am worried that the kamis will be changed by their depictions.”

I frowned, considering that. “I will admit, I haven’t paid too much attention to anime and manga. Are there any gods in particular that you are worried about?”

“Any of the main gods of Japan concern me, of course, but my biggest worry is actually a god from the mainland, from China. I told you that the Monkey King has been sighted, yes? But the Monkey King is a title, given to Son Wukong, also known as Son Goku.”

My face twitched. “I might not watch much anime, but even I have seen Dragonball Z. Let me guess, you’re worried about the anime mixing with the myth?”

“Yes. Specifically, I am worried about what would happen if the Son Wukong of old, who performed so many feats in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, were to gain the powers of Son Goku from the animes, and become a Saiyan, adding super-Saiyan and all its levels and forms to his existing powers of transformations. If that were to happen, and the Monkey King’s mind turned to mischief due to boredom or because he felt slighted? The consequences would be dire!”

I nodded slowly. Anime was not exactly a medium or genre known for things like ‘restraint’ or ‘balance’, and the myths of bygone times were little better. At least in the myths there were usually people who could stand against rogue gods and monsters. But were the adventurers of the modern world up to the task of taking on a full-fledged god empowered by modern culture and belief?

I could see why Mercy was worried. There was so much that could go wrong with a scenario like that. Eventually, adventurers would be at a point where a ‘hero’ or two could stand up and stop a god, but until then? I wouldn’t want to be in an area like that.

“I can understand your concern. Frankly, I share it. What I do not understand is what you want me to do about it? I am only recently elevated to godhood, after all, so I don’t think that any of the ‘old guard’ would pay much heed to me. Certainly not the more rambunctious types.”

“Yes, but you’re the only god I know. While Ginkaku-ji has the name because of the relationship to Kinkaku-ji, which was built by the grandfather of Ginkaku-ji’s builder, it is really a temple dedicated to Zen Buddhism, not Shinto, which complicates things. For instance, the official name of the temple is Jishō-ji. Your shrine is the only other shrine to a specific deity recognized within my dungeon, so you are the only one I could call on to ask about this.”

I nodded slowly. “And you haven’t tried summoning Buddha, or anything like that, right?”

“No, I wouldn’t try and forcefully summon a god unless there was no other choice. Even in the stories, such impudence rarely ends well for the summoner, even when the summoning is justified. Some things are not meant to be done.”

“And that’s why you’re one of my favorite dungeons on the global exchange. That idiot Freedomland would have just gone off and done it, if he was capable of even thinking of it. Iahab would have done it out of pure zealotry. But you actually consider the consequences of your actions.”

“Yes, well, all that aside, I would like to know whether you could do anything to settle down the local kami? Do gods have a hidden network, like the DEN, where they can communicate?”

“Yes, actually, which is one of the reasons why I was able to make some of the recent deals I made with some gods of Law. But, do you really want me to start getting involved with godly politics in Japan? Once that starts, there won’t be any stopping it, you know. Might be easier to have a chat with the Ambassador. She’s got her embassy in Tokyo, you know.”

“Oh, yes, I know. I assume that was your doing?” I nodded, and she just shook her head. “I thought so. Trust you to see a race of alien cat-people, led by a beautiful woman, and think, ‘I should send them to Japan!’ The otaku were practically beside themselves in joy. They almost stormed the embassy, wanting autographs and pictures!”

“Would you rather I sent the Dogik ambassador? I’ve been told that there is some really interesting artwork being made of them, and posted on the internet. And even a manga?”

Mercy shuddered, and said, “I will never understand the perverts who see a spider the size of a car, and immediately want to fuck it. That is just wrong, on so many levels! How the hell would it even work, anyways?”

“I’ve found that some questions are best left unasked, lest you receive the answers.” I sighed. “For what it is worth, I agree with you. The Dogik are not exactly prime specimens that I would ever like to see in the breeding halls. That is a question I will happily remain ignorant to the answer of, thank you very much.”

“Huh, so even you have limits?”

“Of course, I do! For one thing, I am quite assuredly heterosexual. While I don’t mind showing off in front of others, and I’ll watch plenty of porn, two guys doing it has never tickled my pickle, as it were. I am, perhaps, quite vanilla when it comes to that. I make up for it in other ways, of course, but that’s just how it is. I may be a dungeon, and a god, but I’m still not much changed from when I was human.”

Mercy chuckled, and said, “Anyways, to return to what we were discussing, I will be getting in touch with the Ambassador, like you suggest, to try and get some trainers here, so that those with spiritual classes can learn exorcisms and seals that can be used to deal with wayward gods. Yet, I think it would be good for all of us if someone were to look into the local god network, or whatever it is called, and see if there is anything that can be done to keep them from getting rowdy to begin with. The same as how we dungeons have started working together to ensure that the newly developing dungeons do not cause trouble for the rest of us.”

“Well, when you put it like that, I guess I’ve got to take a look.”