(MC POV)
Ironically, their hearing was taking place in a small chapel in the second district though it was in a small corner of the city so there's not a lot of traffic going on here.
Iris and Cai Hong stuck to me like glue, both of them holding my hands tightly while we followed behind the man.
Oh, in case you were wondering, he's ignoring Iris because of the face veil I gave her and I made a hair pin with similar properties for Cai Hong as well. Both of them stand out a lot on their own and if I didn't do that, we'd be swarmed by people trying to get their attention. They're both extremely attractive girls after all.
And of course I wouldn't ask them to change their forms, they're perfect as they are, so asking them to change is an insult really.
Just a note, the items do not actually make the both of them invisible. These things just made it such that they 'can be perceived, but they won't be regarded' to the people around them.
Also, I'm only letting them use it for now since this is also a little detrimental for them.
That's because if a horse carriage were to come along while they were crossing the street, it would not stop for them either since they won't be 'regarded' as an obstacle.
They wouldn't have been able to order the ice cream themselves too, which is why I didn't make one for myself either.
Hmm? Make it with better conditions? Meh, it's a one time use item that I'm going to discard after today so there's no point putting in so much effort to this junk.
Also, I'm lazy.
But we'll, that's why we were approached by this weirdo I guess.
This guy probably came to me because he realised I was a foreigner, so his prospects of recruiting sympathisers were higher with me than locals.
Hmm? He probably approached me because of my looks? Nah, that can't be possible, I look normal after all.
"This way," He gestured towards the chapel's interior, holding the door open for us.
Stepping inside, I quickly realised that although the outside looked like a chapel, they had redecorated the interior to be anything but.
The altar was still there since it was made of stone and looked to be difficult to move, but all the pews had been replaced with normal chairs and benches arranged in a circle so that everyone was facing each other.
Currently, there were about thirty or so other people inside, all of them turning to face us when they heard the door open.
One of them stood up from his seat and gave us a smile, "Ah, Allan, you've returned! With more people too!"
"I've returned, Vincent, and these are fellow comrades who wish for change. Ah… How careless of me, I never did get to ask your names?"
I almost defaulted to saying 'Jeff' but I managed to stop myself in time when I remembered I was a female now.
"Je… Jess."
Hey, it's not easy to come up with a fake name just like that ok? I did my best!
He nodded, "Short for Jessica isn't it? A beautiful name, definitely fitting for one as beautiful as you."
Dude, stop. I'm a guy. You don't know it, but you're simping for a guy right now.
"You came at the perfect time, Miss Jessica!" The one called Vincent bellowed, gesturing to a few empty chairs within the circle. "We were just about to begin our session!"
Session? I'm beginning to think that they are some kind of cult or something… Oh well, since I'm already here…
I took an empty seat and both Iris and Cai Hong sat next to me.
Iris was holding on to my hand now, her fingers entwined with mine. The strength of her grip told me that she was doing it more out of assurance for the unknown situation than any feelings of romance though.
Cai Hong, on the other hand, simply looked around in wonder, my little dragon thinking the place was interesting instead of scary.
Vincent clapped his hands together, "Perfect, now we can start! For the sake of our newcomers, allow me to introduce myself again! I am Vincent! The current head of this little group of ours! I will be in your care!"
This guy seems very energetic to say the least… I took the opportunity to look at the other participants in the room.
I quickly realised that most of them looked to be young men and women with the oldest looking one no more than their late twenties. I suppose it might just be a generation thing where they wanted to rebel against the status quo which was what led them to form this group.
Vincent started talking about how the country was built up following an invisible entity and that everyone was brought up to believe that the worship of said invisible entity was a natural thing to do. He then lamented over the fact that the country had stagnated and because of this, young minds like us were oppressed and held back from achieving our fullest potential.
Honestly, it really just looked like they wanted some change for the sake of it. Either that or they felt that worshipping something they couldn't see or touch was meaningless to them.
At least he wasn't suggesting the abolishment of the system, but they were really against the worship of me.
If you ask me, I'm all for it actually. But I know that's not possible since the 'god' they worship is literally right here.
Vincent finished his speech and most of them even clapped enthusiastically when he did, prompting him to give an elaborate bow.
I sighed internally. This is what happens when you build your country based on something like this, Tatiana. You'll of course get dissident groups like these popping up who don't like being told what to do.
Then again, I suppose this applies to everything in general so it's nothing special.
I raised my hand to get his attention.
"Ah! The new lady! What can I do for you?"
"You talk about wanting change at all that, but how exactly are you going to do that and what change will you actually bring about?"
He blinked at me, his gaze switching to Allan for a moment before moving back to me. Even then, he did not answer my question.
Taking his silence as an indication that he had no answer to give, I stood up.
"First, you advocate for change and yet you have no plan to achieve it and you don't even know what kind of change you want either. All I see here is that you're just whining about the status quo and you're satisfied with just that. If you really want change then you have to go out there and do something, not just sit in a circle and talk."
He gulped, "What… What should we do?"
Really? You're asking me? Aren't you supposed to be the leader here? Why form this group if you don't have the faintest idea of what you're going to do?
I sighed, "Maybe you should first reform your group to have a better understanding of what kind of change you even want first? More freedom of worship? Less restrictions on government positions? You know, that kind of stuff."
Well, I'm just throwing random things that I figured they might want out there since I really have no idea what they want. With this, they might actually be… Eh?
The next thing I knew, Vincent was on his knees with his hands clasped together in prayer.
"Goddess! Our Goddess has come! The true Goddess has descended and graced us all!"
What in the flying fuck?
