"Listen and listen closely." Styx's voice boomed across the dreary and dark waters of the underworld river. "A deity has taken an oath upon my name and broken it. Punishment must be rendered."
"Find him; let the Oath of Styx carry meaning still. Let all Oathbreakers fear the weight of my waters."
"What's the name of the god?" Ocean Song asked. "Who's legs am I breaking?"
"He is Aristaeus." She said solemnly.
"...who?" Ocean Song blinked.
Styx sighed. "The God of Bees and Cheese."
"We have a god for those things?' Ocean Song was surprised. "Why do we have a god for those?"
"Why are you asking me that? Do you think I have any say in every little deity that pops up and tries to claw out their own domain?"
Ocean Song scratched his head. "Were all the good domains taken?"
Styx shook her head with a sigh. "Do you think it's easy for a newly ascended god to gain a powerful domain? By our standards, he's still young. By the time of his birth and ascension, the world had mostly been filled. As a god, he could not simply claim something beyond his reach lest he become the ire of others."
"But Bees and Cheese? I don't think he was even trying."
"He also possesses the domains of husbandry, hunting, and olive cultivation." Styx explained rather patiently. "However, all of those fall under another deity, where he can barely take the tiniest share. He is allowed to have a foot within those spheres of influence; they are not his by right."
She was being patient because it pertained to an assignment from her. Ocean Song was her agent, her herald; therefore, it was her job to explain the background of the deity she was sending him after.
"Great Goddess, by Cheese, do you mean all cheese?"
"Yes?" She didn't know what he was asking. "Cheese is cheese."
Ocean Song's thoughts came to a still, and his whole body went rigid. "But…all the best foods have cheese. He is far too powerful to let live." He immediately got serious. "This will require my full effort."
"...very well, you may depart." She didn't know what he was acting that way, but far be it for her to dissuade him from fulfilling his job to the fullest extent of his abilities.
Hecate would understand, he told himself.
This wasn't merely a mission assigned to him by Sytx. This was a mission to protect the world most precious to him.
He cannot let a criminal who controls the world's [Cheese] go free.
Ocean Song hopped onto his sword and shot off into the Underworld's sky, heading off towards the surface, breaking through the barriers between realms at lightning speeds.
He broke through the clouds and turned into a streak of light, heading towards the West.
There was one place in this continent that he knew he would find the god.
The Capital of Cheese.
Wisconsin, the land of cheese!
He swept his Divine Sense out, and he found his target.
It was a festival of cheese; therefore, a god of cheese would no doubt be nearby!
That was the plan, and it was foolproof.
Ocean Song shot to the ground; his feet touching concrete, a gust of wind lightly blew outwards as he touched down. The humans nearby barely even noticed his presence due to his superior cultivation prowess.
With a very serious face, he pivoted on his foot, turning around and walking up to a human behind a table.
"I would like to buy one cheese hat, please."
"Sure." The human took the money Ocean Song sat on the table and handed him a foam cheese hat in the shape of a wedge of cheddar cheese.
"Excellent." He put the cheese hat on his head before clasping his hands behind his back, his robes billowing heroically. "I have successfully blended in with the natives."
He slapped his storage pouch to reveal a handful of paper money.
And just like that, he practically skipped to the next concession stand and purchased cheese-based snacks.
"Excuse me, Fellow Daoist. What are those?"
"Cheese curds."
"I shall purchase a container."
He moved on to the next rather quickly.
"Fellow Daoist, what are those?"
"Uh…Deep-fried mozzarella stick."
Then on to the next.
"I shall purchase two of them."
He waited patiently in line for the next.
"Fellow Daoist, what is that?"
"A wheel of cheddar cheese."
"I shall purchase it."
Cheese wheel under his arm, cheese hat on his head, two sticks of fried mozzarella between his fingers as he awkwardly clutched a container of cheese curds, he happily found a seat as he looked up at the advertisements hanging around above the festival grounds.
He paused as he took a bite of the fried cheese. "What was I doing again?"
He went still, only slowly chewing what he had in his mouth.
"...."
"...truly the Cheese God's Dao is so profound that it nearly befuddled me!" He cleared his throat because that was the only plausible explanation. "This only proves that the Cheese God must be stopped at all costs!" He stood up, declaring loudly.
"Mommy, what's that strange man doing?"
"Don't point, sweetie; it's rude." A mother ushered her daughter away from the strange man shouting weirdly as people passed by.
Ocean Song's Divine Sense swept out again, trying to find his destined foe. But to his surprise, there wasn't anyone here. Or rather, the vast majority of the residents here were just normal humans. He found a few monsters, but they weren't even causing any problems. They were actually joining in on the festivities.
He decided to find one to question them.
It was a Telekhine.
Also known as Sea Demons.
Their most notable feature, within their inhuman appearance, was their dog-like head.
Ocean Song descended on him with the elegance of a proper cultivator. He threw his Cheese Wheel from across the fair, smacking him in the head, knocking him out.
He quickly ran over to the unconscious monster and dragged him out of view for a proper interrogation.
Ocean Song smacked him upside the head a few times to rouse him. "Hey, wake up. Wake up."
The Telekhine groggily opened his eyes. "Who…what? What happened? I was just walking, and then something hit me."
"A strange cheese wheel went flying through the air; I saw it and came to assist." Ocean Song said without a shred of falsehood.
The Telekhine looked up at his hate, confused at first, but then showed a smile. "Oh, you're here for the festival too? No one else I know likes to come here; they say the cheese smell is too pungent for them."
The Telekhine, of course, noticed that Ocean Song wasn't human rather easily.
"Do you like cheese too?" He looked up at Ocean Song with an expression that wouldn't be out of place on Tyson.
"Of course. If there is one thing this Water Melody loves, it is cheese." He said without any hesitation. "What's your name, Fellow Daoist?"
The Telekhine blinked. "Oh? My name is Rick. Nice to meet you." Ocean Song helped him stand up. "Have we met before? I feel like I've seen you somewhere."
"I live far to the southeast." Ocean Song waved off. "What are you doing here, Fellow Daoist? Merely enjoying the fun? Not thinking of eating a few more snacks other than cheese?"
"You mean eat humans?" His eyes widened and he all but backed away. "Oh, no way! No one eats humans anymore around these parts. Not after what happened before. My cousin told me that a whole bunch of Monsters were killed over in New York because they didn't follow the new rule."
Ocean Song was surprised.
The rule he set back then was still working!
Truly, he had great foresight as a cultivator.
And he had much face.
Ocean Song realized that this monster was rather nice. It was rare to meet a nice monster like this, so now he felt bad for throwing the cheese wheel from before. "Do you live around here, Fellow Daoist?"
Rick already caught onto his weird way of speaking but paid it no mind. A lot of monsters were strange, so it wasn't anything too abnormal. "I live a few minutes away. I and my family own a mechanic shop. We fix human cars to make money, and in our spare time, we make robots."
"...come again?" Ocean Song had to do a double take.
He knew that Telekhines were natural smiths, similar to Cyclops'. In fact, they were the ones who made the Titans' weapons and even Kronos's scythe. But the words he spoke were rather strange to hear out loud.
"Well, I guess they're more like Autonomatons." He scratched the back of his head. "But it's really fun! We like making them and then having them fight each other!" His eyes lit up. "We have tournaments, and we see who can make the strongest robot fighter!"
Ocean Song's eyes widened.
He realized he found a puppet sect!
"Can I see?" Ocean Song asked hopefully.
[Line Break]
Rick took him downtown to their mechanic shop.
Ocean Song could see the mists were a bit thicker around here. The Junked Cars were out in the front and in the back; well, they weren't cards. They were piles of vaguely human silhouettes made of various materials.
There were probably a dozen other Telekhines here, some of them dragging the broken bits away to be reused; one was tossing another onto a nearby pile. And a handful were actually working on real cars since it was their actual job.
"Hey Big Bro, I brought a friend," Rick called out.
Another Telekhine slid out from under a big truck. He was easily a head above Rick, and his body was much more burly, with sweat and oil covering much of his upper chest.
"This is my Big Bro, Berry."
Berry gave Ocean Song a scrutinizing gaze. "A friend?"
"Greetings, Senior Berry." Ocean Song clasped his hands. "I have made friends with Rick here at the Cheese Fair. We have shared an interest in cheese and become acquainted."
Berry scrunched his nose. "No wonder you both smell. Only you, Ricky, can handle that pungent stuff."
"My friend here wanted to see our robots."
Berry gave him another look. "Yeah?" He was still skeptical about Ocean Song's appearance. Ricky was perhaps a bit more innocent, but Berry was clearly more wise in the ways of the world.
Ocean Song also noted that the other members of his family were not-so-subtly listening in and were ready to do something if it proved he was a threat or came here with ulterior motives.
"Robots are a man's romance." Ocean Song answered without hesitation.
Berry's eyebrows raised before he slammed both palms down on Ocean Song's shoulders. "A kindred spirit." He shouted loudly, raising his head up. "Get the fighters ready; we have a guest!"
The others cheered around.
"A friend of Rick's is welcome here! Since we have a guest, let's get a fight going!"
Ocean Song couldn't even offer a protest as Berry all but dragged him out back.
There was a boxing arena set up, and the others, Telekhine, were dragging over large robots—automatons—and setting them up in the arena.
One of them had a lithe body made of some sort of steel and iron. It had six arms, each with a different weapon or shield.
The second was bulkier, a much bigger frame, but with only two arms. It had a shield in one hand and a large axe in the other.
"Come on, brats, get it set up! Let's show our guest the best show of his life!" Big Berry yelled.
"How do they work, Senior? Do you have remotes? Are they controlled through commands?" Ocean Song asked.
"Heh, just wait a second and you'll see."
The Telekhine climbed out of the ring.
Big Berry held his hand up. "Activate."
The two robots came to life, and light flashed in their mechanical eyes.
They immediately saw one another and started fighting without any commands. The one with six arms turned into a whirlwind as it slashed and spun at the other.
The Big One was like an unmovable mountain, using its much larger frame and shield to hold off the assault while also using large and heavy swings of its axe to try and disrupt the other.
The most surprising thing to Ocean Song was that the two robots were using some smidgen of combat techniques. He wouldn't call it proper martial arts or fighting wisdom, but at the very basic level, it was like they had some idea of what to do.
Shield up to blow a heavy blow that would cause damage, use that opening, and try to take advantage of it.
Trading a small hit for a big hit.
Dodging if it can't be blocked, stepping out of range to disrupt the opponent's rhythm.
It was awkward a bit, but the underlining concept was present.
"Amazing!" Ocean Song blurted out, making all the Telekhine preen at the praise.
Eventually, the bigger one managed to grab one of the arms of the smaller one and ripped it off. From there, it became an inevitable conclusion as the big one began to pull off the arms one by one, with the smaller one losing combat ability each time.
The big one finally lifted the smaller one up over his head and ripped it in half.
Ocean Song was about to cheer, but the Big Robot attempted to jump out of the ring and charge at one of the Telekhine, but as soon as it stepped onto the ground, it shut down.
Big Berry pat Ocean Song on the back, noticing his surprise. "Don't worry, we left a failsafe in them. If they leave the ring, they shut down automatically. Makes it easy to deal with them."
"Do they attack anything?"
Berry rubbed his head. "Well, no. But it's too expensive to make a proper targeting system. It's cheaper to just make them attack anything around them that's a 'threat' and then have a shut-off when it hops out of the ring after the fight is over."
Ocean Song nodded; it made sense.
"Are you going to rebuild them?"
"We'll make new ones." Berry grinned. "Since these models showed flaws, we'll try to fix them and do another round. It's cheaper to make one from scratch than trying to fix the insides. Unfortunately, a lot of parts still need human money to get our hands on, so we can only make a few every month or so."
"Oi, someone grab the six-armed body. Those joints were shit; I want better joints on the next model!" Berry yelled. "Whoever made them, I'm going to kick your ass if they're just as shitty the next time."
Ocean Song could see the excitement and rather innocent joy from the simple life they lead. Work on cars, make money, spend money to make robots, and have robots fight each other.
Rinse and repeat.
They weren't stupid people, just simple sort. Despite the fact that they were making robots.
"Senior Berry. Do you all take commissions?" Ocean Song asked.
"Commissions?" He blinked. "You want us to build you a robot?"
Ocean Song cleared his throat. "Perhaps a few more than one. Perhaps with a few specifications."
"Well…" He rubbed his chin. "We've never made them for someone else before. I don't see why not, but it won't be cheap. You know, each one costs around—" He stopped because Ocean Song slapped his Storage Pouch, and a loud thump reached his ears, and his eyes landed on the source.
"Behold, a solid gold, jewel-encrusted toilet." Ocean Song was introduced. "Now, let us talk about the commission."
[Line Break]
Ocean Song: Important Mission!
Also Ocean Song: Distracted by Cheese and Robots!
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