While Michael was busy dealing with consolidating the Golden Road in the rest of the Grafted Cluster, Fudge took this time to appreciate this unexpected turn of events.
Everywhere his clones touched, everywhere the Shadow Orcs were placed, all they could hear was gossip and discussions about what happened during that fateful day—that day when the metallic woman appeared and changed their whole lives.
It was evident from the fervor in their eyes that they believed this as a miracle: a divine being touched down and graced them with their presence. And more importantly, this Goddess only showed themselves through this golden-haired boy.
Because of that, a lot of the citizens in the central town of the Grafted Cluster treated Michael, and subsequently the Reborn company, as graced by the goddess herself.
This incident spread quite fast in the Grafted Cluster. Those that witnessed it themselves began telling it to the other territories, who began to believe the rumors once a lot of people corroborated the story.
It was quite a strange phenomenon to see. After all, it seemed that this incident had caused Michael and the Reborn company's name to spread even faster than when they constructed the Golden Road.
"Boss Fudge. Shall we have our Shadow Orcs sow doubt and disbelief within the citizens?" Narito, the Orcanine Orc Chieftain, respectfully asked.
"Our men have already taken note of any individuals with fervent belief that the automobiles are made by the Goddess. We shall use our illusions to make them disbelieve such a notion," Sasuki added.
Fudge looked at the two Shadow Chieftains and tilted his head. "And why should we do that?"
The Orcs looked at each other, wondering if they heard Fudge correctly.
"Master has already told us to try and change that belief," Narito reminded Fudge.
Michael already told Fudge and the Shadow Orcs to subtly spread word that the 'goddess' they saw was merely an illusion of a high-level wizard.
However, judging from the look on Fudge's face, it seemed he had a totally different plan.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Fudge clicked his tongue. "You guys are not thinking further ahead! Short-term thinkers, that's what you are. I, however, am a visionary–someone who sees the future and what it could be!"
The two Orcs looked strangely at Fudge.
"What are you suggesting, boss Fudge?" Narito asked, a little bit suspicious of the violet slime's intentions.
"I'm not suggesting anything," Fudge insisted. "I'm just saying, we don't need to do anything. Don't make any illusions and don't change any minds."
Sasuki leaned forward. "But if we do that, they will continue to think that the Metallic Woman is some kind of God, and that Michael is their chosen one."
A smile slowly formed in Fudge's violet amorphous body. "Exactly…," he muttered with quite an evil tone.
…
…
…
A few days later, there seemed to be a new…group…that emerged within the citizens of the central town. They were made up of people who completely believed the metallic woman's divinity, to the point that they regularly looked up at the skies and hoped to see Her magnificent figure once again.
Although these people seemed crazy, it only took a few days before they had hundreds of members within their midst.
They called themselves the Iron Maiden.
This new group treated Her as their savior. She was the one who sent Michael to save them from the tyrannical rule of the Flarecorp company. And because of that, they had an… intense… fascination with Michael and the Reborn company.
All the metallic machines that the Reborn company had in their possession were immediately treated as some sort of divine object or even a product of the divine Herself.
One example of this was the automobiles. This became the subject of fanatical fascination from the group to the point where they kneeled in the street whenever one of them passed by them.
There was even an incident where this group became enraged when an automobile accidentally crashed on the street. They became livid. They immediately alerted the Rebornians to the scene, wanting them to 'heal' the automobile before it died.
It was only that point where Michael was alerted of this behavior.
"Hmm? I thought this was already taken care of. Fudge…," he called out.
The violet slime popped out of his shadow and flashed an innocent smile towards Michael.
"Yes, Master?"
"I thought you dealt with this already? How did this Iron Maiden thing escalate to this point?"
Fudge tilted its head like a dog. "I tried, Master! But it seems that this group is a lot more persistent than I thought. The Shadows of Reborn are at a total loss. We can't get rid of them no matter what we do!"
Michael squinted at Fudge. "I seriously doubt that."
"Didn't you know that their group is growing even larger now? What do you want me to do, Master? There's too many of them."
Of course, he couldn't really rely on the mischievous little Fudge. That was why he had his own clones spread around the town to try and see what was happening and why they were spreading so fast. They seemed too organized to be just an impromptu gathering of like-minded individuals.
And as it turned out, they were being led by one man called the Priest.
Nobody really knew who this Priest person was. Even when Michael attached his clones to the members of this group, none of them ever met with the Priest himself. They only communicated through letters hidden in very obscure places.
"Fudge…who is Priest?"
The self-proclaimed 'ninja' shrugged his shoulders. "No clue," he said.
"Really? No clue?"
"Yep, Master, no clue. As much as it pains me to say this, but even my powers are not enough to discover the identity of this Priest. They are too elusive. They stay out of the shadows at all times, as if he knew that our members are hidden in the shadows."
Michael simply didn't believe Fudge even a single bit. The violet slime may act as a doofus 99 percent of the time, but his skills in the shadows was the real deal. There was nothing that could hide from this ninja.
He could force Fudge to tell him the truth, or he could even use his own powers to discover it himself. But for now, Michael let Fudge do whatever he wanted. As long as it wasn't too overboard, then he was willing to let the little slime have his fun.
"I just hope you know what you're doing," he warned Fudge.
"Of course, Master! If there's anything that will hurt the Reborn company, then you can be sure that I will be the first one to stop it!"
Michael sighed and let the matter rest. Sometimes, Fudge was just too darn cute to be lectured.
"By the way, do you have any news about that guy called Hestu? He just disappeared all of a sudden."
Fudge's body shivered for a moment, as if being seized by surprise. However, he quickly changed his own posture and acted like nothing happened.
"Haaa…I have no idea Master. Well, it's time to go hehe."
The slime immediately descended into the shadows before Michael could ask any more questions. Typical.