Relief from the Light Part 2

-Shoggoth-

It’s been about a week since Ruddy arrived in Mesolefko, handing out delicious meals every afternoon to everyone who came, somehow always having enough for not only everyone to have one bowl, but for many to have seconds.

It was obvious to everyone that Ruddy was some sort of missionary, yet the only time he ever peddled his god, was a brief thanks after dinner was served.

The people were still a little suspicious of the man, but free food was free food, especially if it came from a ‘fool.’

Still, there were a few people in the crowd who let out muffled, half-hearted cheers of thanks. Parents who could now feed their children at least one more meal, beggars on the verge of death, those beyond grateful for firsts, let alone seconds.

But the voices were always drowned out by the crowd. No one wanted to stand out in this city. So even if more wanted to give even half-hearted thanks, they followed the same path everyone else was.

“It’s called ‘herd mentality.’” Shoggoth spoke to Ruddy as he walked down a particularly dry and cracked dirt road towards the farms. The carriage was unattended, making Ruddy fear for the horse, but Shoggoth was still somehow protecting both, while following Ruddy. “So, we need to get more vocal supporters.”

“And, how are we doing that? Saving the farms?” Ruddy tossed out some far-fetched idea, having no clue what Shoggoth was thinking. He had no qualms sprinkling a hint of mockery in his tone.

“Exactly.” Ruddy stopped, though he wasn’t sure if it was because of the response, or the smile in the shadow before him.

“What?” Ruddy asked, and got no answer. Shoggoth always saw fit to hide the answer till Ruddy could see the results of his efforts first.

So, Ruddy kept walking, waiting for the next instruction. “There, that farmer, middle field.” There was a cat-man farmer, body both strong from tending the land, and weakening from a lack of good harvests. He had deep blue hair and furry cat ears and tail, and striking yellow eyes.

The farmer’s field wasn’t the furthest away from the city, but it wasn’t the closest either. It was pretty much at the halfway point down the road. Not that it mattered much, since his wheat was limp and sparse, barely worth the effort to harvest, let alone eat. The soil looked moist, yet nothing was growing well.

Still, Ruddy was impressed, even proud of the guy. Demihumans were rarely allowed to own farms, considered too savage to grow crops.

It was a cruel oppression, one by words as much as deeds. ‘Demihumans,’ as if the other animal-like people were uncivilized monsters like slimes or ogres. They only ‘earned’ such a title and place in modern society because their species is ‘useful’ to humanity, and thus they can be considered ‘somewhat human.’ And many other species are just tossed to the side, considered less than a slave, while wolf-people guard houses and cat-people hunt rodents and bird-people scout above.

“Hail, good sir.” Ruddy started. Though he always kept his face behind a hood, it wasn’t unusual in these parts, so he didn’t look too suspicious. Ruddy even recognized this guy from dinner time the past three days. “I see you’re having trouble with your crops. Is there anything I can do to help?”

The farmer scoffed, wiping sweat from his brow with a dirty rag. “Unless you and your ‘god’ can somehow get things to grow in my field, I don’t think there’s anything you can help with.”

Ruddy felt a hefty leather sack placed in his hands under his cloak. He pulled it out to investigate, opening it to reveal a pile of white seeds. The farmer raised an eyebrow when Ruddy extended his hand. “Here, my friend, try planting these. I’m sure you’ll find this a more successful venture.”

The man took them, picking one up to hold up to his eye. “I’ve never seen seeds like these. What’d they grow?”

Ruddy was silent, hoping that Shoggoth would provide some answer. But once again, it was up to him to sell the deal. “Why, it’s a miracle crop. It can even grow where wheat fails.” It was an outlandish promise, but Shoggoth would be the one to suffer if it was false, which filled Ruddy with a sense of satisfaction.

The farmer rolled his eyes and scoffed. “And, I suppose you want my child in exchange?”

“No, my friend. No cost at all.” At the farmer’s very suspicious look, Ruddy explained. “Helping the farms will only help all of us, you see. My daily meals can only help with the symptoms, but we must get to the underlying cause, if we are to truly save this city.”

“Uh huh, sure. Well, I can’t see what harm they’d do. But don’t expect any thanks, you hear! We lasted this long without any gods, and we surely don’t need some know-it-all god now!” The man trotted off to his field, leaving Ruddy to sigh and sag his shoulders.

“Am I going to have to do that for all the farms?”

“No, not yet. Just this one farm will do for the next few days.” Shoggoth guided Ruddy back to the carriage.

“But one farm can’t possibly help the city that much! What about the other struggling farms?”

“Oh, don’t worry, the other farms will get their share soon. But we simply need to let envy build for a time…”

Three days later, as Ruddy finished giving out the last bowls of some sort of thin noodles covered in meat sauce and shredded cheese, a handful of farmers approached him.

“Hey, you! We’ve got a bone to pick with you!” One called out to him. Ruddy finished serving the last of the bowls first, knowing Shoggoth was saving a bowl for him as always.

Once he finished his job, Ruddy finally turned to the men. “What is wrong, my brothers? Is the food not to your liking?” He noticed them show up, and took a bowl each, clearly wanting to eat first before complaining.

“We’re not your brothers, pal.” One heckled. “And we want whatever you gave ol’ Persi!”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand, who is Persi?” Ruddy wasn’t as acquainted as he would have liked with the locals, many still viewing him with suspicion.

“It’s that cat-man farmer we helped out three days ago.” Shoggoth spoke in his mind.

“Ah yes, the farmer in need of assistance. Has something happened to our friend?”

“More like, what hasn’t happened! His fields are full of green… green… I don’t know what they are, but he’s selling them like he’s struck gold!”

Ruddy’s eyes widened. The crops grew? And in three days? Impossible! Shoggoth wasn’t some sort of agriculture god! There was no such thing, only the goddesses of light and water came close. “Please, show me.”

So, Ruddy rushed over, ignoring his dinner, as he sought to investigate what happened, not as a priest, but as someone who thought he knew all there was to gods and what they can do within their domains.

He knew Shoggoth as a god of knowledge, as unheard of as it was. And he believed it too, as Shoggoth regularly displayed uncanny awareness and frequently used unheard of ideas.

It should have been impossible for Shoggoth to cause crops to grow faster. There was nothing special about the seeds, nothing done to the field. At least nothing done that Ruddy knew about.

Shoggoth had been shown to be able to move around and act on the physical plane regularly despite his lack of a humanoid form. It was entirely possible Shoggoth left Ruddy for a bit to do something to the field.

And whatever Shoggoth did, it worked. Persi’s field was full of rows of healthy green bushes, each packing several strange long green pods, which each held a few seeds in them.

Ruddy had never seen such food before.

But Shoggoth knew exactly what they were. “Green beans. Delicious when cooked, but can even be eaten raw.”

As Ruddy was checking out the new plants, the farmers were getting up in Persi’s face, who was gloating pridefully. “Well, I just don’t know what to tell ya, fellas. Looks like things are finally going my way.” Persi chuckled, seemingly not aware of the danger he was in.

“Well, we’ll see how things look when we-”

Ruddy quickly inserted himself between Persi and the other farmers before hostilities could arise. In his hands, he held a few of these ripened ‘green beans.’ “I see your crop has been blessed by Shoggoth, my friend. An excellent crop of green beans, a delicious meal to be sure.”

Persi snorted and averted his eyes, clearly not planning on giving any thanks, but still understanding of the source of this good fortune. So instead, Ruddy turned to the other farmers. “Do you perhaps seek the blessings of Shoggoth as well?”

“Blessings? We don’t care about no blessings! We’s starving, day and night! And this blue fleabag is gloating like he’s king o’ the world! He owes us some of that crop!”

“Yeah, I fed him some of my meager grain two winters ago when he came knocking! He owes me!”

The slighted farmers were getting more enraged, so Ruddy turned to Persi. “Why don’t you go back inside, and I’ll take care of this, my friend?” It took a bit of gentle, yet firm, pushing to get Persi to retreat inside, and giving Ruddy the opportunity to follow Shoggoth’s latest plan.

“We’s don’t care if we have to go through you, priest. We just want our pound of flesh from that fat cat!”

“Now now, there’s no need for violence.” Ruddy felt another leather bag placed in his hands under his cloak, which he pulled out. “Shoggoth is here to help everyone. Here, plant these, and you’ll soon find your field just as green.” Handing the bag to the closest farmer, Ruddy felt a second bag pop up under his cloak, which he proceeded to hand to the next farmer.

As he went through, passing out seeds, he followed Shoggoth’s instruction. “Now, remember, if you want your crop to grow as Persi’s has, recite a simple prayer to Shoggoth, and you’ll find your fields full of green before you know it.”

“A prayer?” One farmer exclaimed. “Do we look like religious folk to you?”

“Oh, Shoggoth doesn’t require anything complex. Just give Shoggoth your thanks, and that’s it. So simple, you lose nothing by taking a moment to do it.”

The words felt a little sickening in Ruddy’s mouth. Though his blessing of Silence means prayers are not needed, he still deeply understood the purpose of a prayer. Giving a vague thanks? That was no prayer at all. He couldn’t understand what Shoggoth was getting out of this. They’ve been here a week, and have made seemingly no progress creating allies for the Trifecta.

The only thing they had been doing was feeding people. Which Ruddy does approve of, it’s the only reason he’s been sticking around this long.

Well, that and the fear of what Shoggoth might do to him if he tried to leave.