CHAPTER 11: FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

**Kuro**

Freedom.

It was just one word, yet in my society, this carried weight. After thousands of years living under the ‘guidance’ of men and women whose authority ‘came from God’, Earth’s humanity suddenly had enough of oppressive and decadent rule of kings and queens, and threw off their yoke. Then, from kingdoms, republics came forth. Countries rose and fell in the name of freedom. Wars were won and lost for the cause of liberty. And, people lived and died ‘safeguarding’ everyone’s ‘right to express themselves’.

“…”

However, no matter how ideal it might sound, freedom had another side. Just like the ‘Yin and Yang’, ‘hot and cold’, ‘black and white’, freedom had responsibility. For every individual’s right, there was a line where it ended and another where another person’s rights began. To infringe on that was to violate the very principle that made the words ‘democracy’, ‘liberty’ and ‘freedom’ popular to the common folk.

Sadly, in my world, this was the case. While there were past sins that needed to be acknowledged, in the quest to ‘liberate’ and give ‘equal rights’ to everyone, the oppressed became the oppressor. What’s worse? The ‘leaders’ who ought to ‘lead’ divided the people, and cultivated a tribalistic mindset where ‘those who are not for you are against you’.

“…”

Good lord, I’m getting edgy and ranting off again…

But yes, responsibility. In my society, it was a word that was intentionally lost when it should be put together with freedom. Everyone just wanted to be heard, and granted rights, without fully understanding the possible consequences of their actions. As such, communities were upended, families separated, and lives destroyed.

Equality was heading the same course, at least, from what I observed. Stupid arguments, absurd rules, and the practice of ‘shutting off your opposition by shouting or repeated chanting’ (a.k.a. ‘canceling’) effectively putting down discourse, were the characteristics of a society thriving on oppression masking itself as a ‘democracy’.

Ah, the hypocrisy…

Any case, as per the story of Lady Hughes to me, the Golden Hammer was originally a human who was ‘summoned’ to this world, just like my story. Her guild’s warriors, the ‘Hughes’, were the first ones to ‘rescue’ that man, and introduced him to the dwarven society. Back then, Equality was known by a different name, though it was lost in time, and the tall skyscrapers and ‘modern’ technologies we witnessed here were far from any dwarf’s mind.

The Golden Hammer, in turn, told them of his technological ideas and concepts from his world. ‘Horseless’ carriages (automotive), smart phones, concept of electricity (applied thru mana batteries)…even the city plans of a modern urban settlement, as well as proper nutrition and mass public education, improved the lives of the dwarves. As a result, dwarves became wealthy and literate, and their heights moved closer to that of humans.

Well, it’s one of the best results of proper diet…I also observed this in my students. Those who eat better tend to have taller bodies than the ones who eat just to survive.

“…”

Nevertheless, with modern conveniences came the slow decay of their society, according to Lady Hughes. Dwarves were naturally drawn to material possessions, so they tended to overproduce everything. Before, dwarf guilds were ‘inter-dependent’; cooperation was key to everyone’s survival. Now, she lamented, guilds encourage toxic competition in an effort to monopolize industry.

Of course, such arrangement would bring inequality and unemployment to those who were at the losing end. And what did the Church of the Golden Hammer do? They encouraged ‘equality’ by forcing everyone to abide by their doctrines. Those who opposed them were labeled as heretics, thus, were not worthy of the Golden Hammer’s blessings. While it did work for some time, causing some of the guilds to rethink of their greedy ways, in the long run, it became apparent that it was a ‘double-edged sword’.

I can only listen in silent horror as Lady Hughes recounted how those policies slowly unfolded…

While the rules promulgated by the Church focused on enforcing ‘sharing’ and ‘equality’, soon, other groups began to clamor for ‘equal recognition’. There were guilds, whose purpose was ambiguous, who campaigned for recognition, and—because of the discontent of the unemployed dwarves—played on their anger, slowly built strength and influence. Those who opposed them were ‘cancelled’, or harassed, and those who harbored dissenting opinions were forced to shut their mouths, for fear of attracting the anger of those dwarves.

“You guys are basically doing the very things that brought our world to a worse condition than these guys originally intended,” I commented. “I know those ideals are good, but these people are pushing those philosophies down everyone’s throats!”

“Indeed,” Lady Hughes had a poignant expression on her face, as her eyes looked far towards the window. “The Golden Hammer…he is a wonderful human. And I can only imagine his anguish as he watched the concepts, which he meant for good, become the tools for these idiots to oppress and perpetuate themselves in power.”

Silence ruled between us for a few moments, as I realized the gravity of the situation we unwittingly accepted. Lady Hughes never moved from her spot, and her gaze never wavered. She looked at the direction where the temple complex lay…

“Is this…Is this the wish of the Prince Uhrian?” I asked.

“Not only his wish, but also of mine,” she reiterated. “However, unlike my uncle, I can’t bring myself to trust you. Forgive me, Kuro, but I don’t know you that much to place my full confidence in you.”

“It’s fine—”

“No,” the dwarf raised her hand to my lips. “Please…I want to help the Golden Hammer, yet, I can’t do it alone. The Prince Uhrian sent you, yes, but I’m afraid of hoping. Still, though I have my doubts, you’re the only one who can do this…I’d like to believe.”

Ugh…I hate this. I mean, I’m just a human, though I may have come from another world. I’m not a god. I’m afraid I can’t deliver on my promises, and disappoint them.

“…”

But…I guess, there’s no other way out of this. My other self, the Black God, had already put the expectation on me. Besides, if I helped the Golden Hammer, our search for the missing Dwarf Saint would certainly be easier than sneaking around his temple complex. Not to mention, our time was running out; I needed to get the god-power of the Lady Helgath soon…or an even greater disaster would destroy this world.

----------

***The skies above the city of Montserrant, the next day…***

The Bishopric of Montserrant was the ecclesiastical body of the Church of the Golden Hammer that was tasked to oversee the compliance of the Cole Miners’ Guild to the conditions set by their leaders. Because of this, there were no amicable relations between the church dwarves (who saw the miners as a barbaric, heretical lot), and the miners (who looked unto the church people as their oppressors). So, it was with this situation that the highest echelons of the church assigned powerful ‘holy military orders’ to help the Bishop of Montserrant enforce the rule of the Golden Hammer.

And these military units are always on alert…

Nevertheless, when the first signs of rebellion came to the attention of the Bishop of Montserrant, Queen Paula’s army was already attacking the skies above the Bishopric.

The Church’s control over the skies of Montserrat was cemented by the presence of three military dirigibles, which the dwarves use as ‘mobile floating fortresses’ and were bristling with cannons and machine guns. Unlike the military dirigibles of WW1-era Earth, the dwarves of Equality were yet to invent bombs like the barrel ones employed by the Royal Air Force of Cherwind, though those aircraft could still assert its dominance in the dwarf realms’ battlefields. Squadrons of fighter planes backed those behemoths, and for extra protective measures, armor was often installed in the most vulnerable parts of the airships. Conventional military thought dictated that attacking those powerful ‘floating fortresses’ with the small fighter aircraft armed with steam-propelled machine guns were foolhardy, but Queen Paula had other designs. As she wanted to greet the Bishop upon the launch of their rebellion, she planned to set those ‘mobile fortresses’ on fire.

However, her army managed to burn only one of the dirigibles.

“Enemy attack!”

At once, the pilots of the Church scrambled to get their planes launched to the air. Everyone was taken by surprise, though the rebels still subscribed to the military tactics and ethics of their people. Because of this, the air forces of Queen Paula waited for their enemies to fly, when they could prevent the latter from getting airborne at the airfields. Fortunately, their opponents struggled to form cohesive units to resist the miners’ rebel air forces, and the planes loyal to the Bishop of Montserrant had to contend with another threat…

“What’s that?” one of the ground crews pointed towards the skies.

The lookout immediately turned his binoculars in the direction that required his attention. He reported, “It looks like a lady with black wings?”

The squadron leader made sure what his dwarf was seeing. He yanked the binoculars from him and looked unto it himself. “What? Even the beastmen are attacking us?”

However, it was the last thing he and his crew saw. Even before they could make out of her true identity, the Overseer Saint, Seirna Stephanie, put an end to their misery by destroying their planes with her ‘black fire’.

----------

In the safe confines of his office, the Bishop of Montserrant watched as his squadrons of fighter get decimated by the surprise attack. After all, the members of the Cole Mining Guild’s air forces were all winners of the Montserrant Air Show, and even when their planes were ‘rudimentary’ compared to his aircraft, the rebels made up with what they lack through skill and talent. Nevertheless, while he looked on with concern, the dwarf was still confident of his air power, which was reinforced by his two remaining military dirigibles delivering punishing fire against the rebel squadrons.

Still, the Bishop saw something he didn’t like…

“Who’s that one?” he asked one of his aides, pointing towards the lady with black wings. For a while now, Seirna Stephanie continued destroying the planes sent after her, and the Bishop was getting impatient in having her eliminated.

“We don’t know Your Eminence,” the dwarf aide replied, looking through his binoculars. “Probably some mercenary beastfolk hired by the miners.”

“Hah! Those fools siding with idiots!” the Bishop bellowed, slamming his fists on his chair. “I want her taken down right now! Make her an example to those tourists who thinks they can help those miners win their stupid cause!”

“Yes, Your Eminence,” the aide saluted. “We shall send the signal and prioritize killing her.”

High in the air, and though she danced to evade the bullets being shot at her, Seirna could hear the Bishop’s thoughts. She couldn’t help but smile; her distraction worked, and the squadrons of the Bishopric fighters were now hell-bent on killing her. Nevertheless…

“It’s funny how you faithless dwarves try to kill me,” seeking to impress the rebel forces into siding with her and Kuro, the Overseer Saint played around the planes pursuing her…and made sure that she got everyone’s attention while doing so. “But you, in your unholiness, forgot one thing…I am the Saint of the Apocalypse! The Lady of Death herself, personified!”

“!!!” Skillfully maneuvering herself from the front gun-sights of the multitudes of fighter pilots shooting their machine guns, Seirna turned the tables on them by teleporting behind. The poor dwarves only realized that everything was over— and they were falling towards the dreaded ‘void’ below—when they saw that their aircraft shredded to pieces.

They don’t even have the time to scream…

The Bishop of Montserrant could only glare in shock as the best dwarves in his air forces were killed en masse. Panicking, he screamed orders to his aide, “I don’t care even if you send the entire army to take that black thing down! Throw every damn bullet and shell to her! Destroy her to pieces!”

Sending the signal, soon, the two military dirigibles maneuvered from the cloud cover, guns blazing. The counter-fire caught some of the unlucky rebel planes who flew on the way of those behemoths, yet, the dwarves manning the cannons and machine guns spared no ammunition trying to land a hit on Seirna. Still, the Overseer Saint had seen through this, since she really wanted to provoke the Bishop into sending the best of his units to kill her.

“…”

Meanwhile, the rebel air forces could only look on with a combined feeling of awe and terror, as everyone were aware of the futility of fighting against those ‘floating fortresses’. Queen Paula Cole—flying in her own plane—watched in revering silence, as the Overseer Saint faced off with the behemoths of Equality’s skies…

Of course, Seirna could destroy those machines with relative ease. However, she was after something else…especially that she already pledged to help Kuro become Chersea’s god. Brandishing her rapier, the Overseer Saint flew straight towards the military dirigibles, evading the machine guns and cannons with ease. To reinforce the fact that she was just ‘playing’, Seirna made sure that everyone saw her smiling…

“!!!”

With her rapier, she ran through the steel frames and canvas of the military dirigibles as if cutting through butter. Then, to add ‘flavor’ to her ‘kills’, Seirna set those alight with her ‘black flames’, effectively eliminating the gunner dwarves—as well as the Bishopric’s air power—by burning everyone to ashes.

“…”

It was a terrible sight. Even the rebel forces, with all their hatred directed towards the church, fell silent at the horrible spectacle. Everyone just flew in complete stillness for a few minutes. But then…

“Kill that lady! Kill that accursed lady!”

From his elevated platform, the Bishop of Montserrant slowly lost his sanity. He screamed and pulled any remaining hairs he could, banging his head on the metal handles of his crow’s nest. It was then that the dwarves realized they were in the middle of a battle, and the fighting resumed.

“Puny, heretical dwarves,” Seirna scoffed at the Bishop. “This is a fitting end to your faithlessness!” Then, she turned towards Paula’s air forces, raised the rapier in her hand, and shouted, “Destroy that church!”

At that moment, hundreds of planes descended from the clouds, aside from the ones flying behind the Overseer Saint.

----------

**Kuro**

The next day, we went back to our goal…

“…”

Hemelin’s main airship tower was on one of the nearby peaks connected to the mountain of the main temple. From there, we took a train ride to the closest station near the Golden Hammer’s official residence, though it was still located underground. A few elevator-rides up the caverns, and we found ourselves in the surface, battling the gale force winds that was typical of a busy urban street in Equality.

“…”

We only had to walk to the gilded gates of the temple, as it was close to our spots. Lady Hughes was also urging us to proceed on our own, which we’d already planned to do even before alighting the airship. Well, even if we’re not allowed without a guide, we were still nobilities from Chersea. Diplomacy could still be effective, especially that I’d like to ask some questions for the Golden Hammer himself. Attacking us, or throwing us into dungeons would mean war against the four peoples that made up this universe.

That’s where Lily and I ‘anchored’ our hopes to gain an audience to the Church of Golden Hammer’s supreme leader…

“Good luck, Ku—I-I mean, Lawrence,” Lady Hughes gave me a tap on the back. It was the first time I saw her say something sincere to me, which unnerved me for a bit. I mean, with her like that, she’s indirectly telling us that we’re in for some headaches.

“…” I’m praying it will not come to that. The Golden Hammer—if my hunches are right—is a fellow ‘summoned being’. I’m betting on that common ground to gain his trust.

Lily, who was still reeling from the overwhelming sights she saw earlier, readied her weapons—a dagger concealed under her dress, and a small, derringer-type gun held by a hidden belt at her back. I prepared myself as well, though I made my weapons conspicuous, since those were the ‘bait’. The Iron Princess’ weapons were our real arms if things went south; mine would be used to ‘show compliance’ to the security policies of the temple.

Just as we took our first steps towards the temple complex, however…

“!!!”

Lady Hughes quickly pulled us again, this time, dragging us to back into a hidden spot.

“What’s that for?” Lily asked, quite annoyed.

“We’re being followed.”

“Huh?” was all I could say. We’re not even halfway into the purpose of our visit, and we’re already detected?

“How can you know?” the Iron Princess put up that question; she had the same look of disbelief on her face when she learned that.

“Just…” Lady Hughes was wary and uneasy; yet, for some reason, she was withholding something from us. “I…I saw some people following us earlier.”

“Why did you just tell me now?” Truthful, or not, I guess it’s not to our best interest to risk getting captured. “So, what’s your suggestion we do?”

“Let’s back off for now.”

“We can’t, especially now that we’re here,” I told her. “Besides, we increase the danger of capture if we catch another flight out here.”

“If we can, we should head to other dwarf settlements before going back here,” Lily advised.

“But of course, we should escape our pursuers first,” I readied my gun. “What’s your plan?”

The dwarf suggested, “We go separate ways?”

“Where shall we meet then? If we lost you, then there’s even a greater chance of our capture. We have no freaking idea of how to navigate this place!”

Lady Hughes fell silent when she realized the impracticality of her suggestion. However, just as she was about to say something…

“!!!”

There was a tremendous explosion nearby, and we saw one of the incoming dirigibles burst into flames. We literally froze in our spots as the aircraft—as well as its passengers—fell to their deaths.

----------

“What’s going on?” Lily asked, confused.

However, though my human companion was having difficulties in watching the events unfold, I could understand what’s happening. The dwarves, though those were the ‘primitive’, early airplanes reminiscent of the First World War, had managed to build it, and were now dogfighting before our very eyes. The small planes flying around like mosquitoes over the dirigibles, some of which began shooting back.

Damn, I hate to admit it…this is fascinating.

“I don’t know,” Lady Hughes replied, laughing. “But in any case, we can escape with this!”

A loud siren then echoed throughout the city streets, as the other dwarves realized they were being attacked and rushed to over. By this time, a few of the small planes were already shot down, and fell on Hemelin itself. Lily couldn’t hide her fear, and so was I, for I had not experienced this even back in Chersea. I had to watch the skies for falling debris, while also paying attention to where we were going.

Lady Hughes, however, seemed to enjoy it.

“Haha! This is fun!” she commented. But then, she blurted out, “Oh shit!”

“What’s happening? You got shot?” I asked.

Lady Hughes shook her head, “We’re still being followed!”

By reflex, I looked behind me. While I couldn’t make anyone stand out (for everyone was in panic), I moved behind my companions to protect them. Well, as long as those ‘pursuers’ were not shooting at us, we could focus on running.

Explosions after explosions impeded our escape, but we still went ahead. The sound similar to machine guns would occasionally be heard just above us, and we would instinctively dive to avoid any bullets that might hit us. Dirigibles and planes both falling from the sky, hitting some transports…or worse, some confused civilians who were unlucky to be on those vehicles’ path. As we’re also trying to shake off those people running after us, we followed the crowd. After all, blending with them was our only chance to lose them in this chaos. Nevertheless, I had my doubts in my mind…

Is Lady Hughes telling the truth, or she’s just trying to lead us away from entering the temple complex of the Golden Hammer?

----------

Finally, we entered one of the underground passages, where the rush of the crowd from outside and all the pushing and shoving would increase our chances of escape. Lady Hughes held on to my hand, and I held Lily’s, as the dwarf lady led us from one street to another. Then, when we found a relatively isolated spot, we stopped there to catch our breaths.

“So, where are we going from this point?” Lily asked when she was finally rested.

“We can escape, I guess?” I proposed.

However, Lady Hughes was silent, as if pondering on something. When I tapped her shoulder, the dwarf nearly jumped from where she sat, and stared at me.

I reminded her, “We’re still escaping, right?”

“Ah, y-yes…”

“And why are we escaping again?”

“Our cover is blown.”

“Really? How’d you know?”

The dwarf lady gave me another long stare. It’s as if she said something she shouldn’t have told me, yet couldn’t take those back. “I…I…”

But, before she could say anything, several dwarf vehicles appeared and surrounded our group. Lily and I had no chance to pull out our guns and fight back, for the dwarves that came down the automobiles had their own guns trained to our heads. I immediately moved to protect the Iron Princess out of reflex, though it was a futile gesture should the bullets started to rain.

As for Lady Hughes…

“Hey, what’s the meaning of this?” she bellowed.

“You can’t hide forever, milady,” another dwarf alighted from one of the cars. The newcomer wore dark eyeglasses, just like those ‘secret agents’ in movies. And she never hid the fact that she commanded everyone who trapped our group. “We got you now. If you resist, your human friends will be shot.”

Lady Hughes immediately threw a glare on me; if it wasn’t for me insisting she come with us, she would still be running free. Not wishing to make things worse for all of us, I guess this is the best time to intervene and use my noble titles to bargain, “Milady…”

“Farah Koh,” the other dwarf lady introduced herself, producing a small notebook from her pockets and looking at her notes. “Chief of Security for the Golden Hammer. You must be…the Lord Kuro of Arles, Duke of Maverny? And the lady beside you is the Iron Princess of Nerfes, Lilyhaven Tamriel. By all rights, we have the authority to arrest you now for falsifying your identification papers under the assumed names of ‘Lawrence Beatty’ and ‘Charlotte Deakin’.”

It felt like my stomach was punched when she said revealed our identities. In my mind, I kept thinking, ‘did the Prince Uhrian betray us?’

“Uncle won’t do that!” Lady Hughes screamed at me. “I know him! He won’t do it!”

What…how did she—

“And,” Miss Koh wasn’t finished yet, though. “I’ll also inform you that you’ll be placed under investigation for instigating the Miners’ Guild to rebel; after all, they won’t show up in the skies of Hemelin if not for your presence.”

“I did not even have contacts with them!” I replied.

“The Golden Hammer himself will see if your words are true, human,” the dwarf security chief told me, all the while looking at Lady Hughes.

“Kuro…” Lily squeezed my hand, bringing me back to our situation.

“Miss Koh,” I explained. “I’m sorry for our unannounced visit; I will take responsibility for this rude gesture. However, I’d like to ask for an audience with your most holy leader…”

“You don’t need to plead for that,” Miss Koh replied. “You’re lucky; a first-timer to this place won’t have the same privilege. But, the Golden Hammer himself is waiting for you.”

“Waiting…” the Iron Princess and I exchanged surprised looks. “He’s waiting for us?”

“But, you’ll come with us in handcuffs,” the dwarf security chief produced our restraints. “You humans are tricky; we can’t risk you getting near our Golden Hammer without limiting your movement.”