Shame, they didn’t level up after taking the Job. Well, it’s to be expected since I just bought those two skills.
“And Miss Tasianna is now a [Wind Mage]. Thank you very much, and I hope your new Main Jobs will serve you well,” Melia, the katzune receptionist of the hunter’s guild, stated after we were done switching our Main Jobs. She then took out my ID from that printer-like machine attached to the guild’s [Crystal of the Divine System] and handed it back to me. “You are now a registered tamer of the hunter’s guild. Please, have your tamed garms wear these collars whenever you bring them into a town or city, otherwise you might receive problems with the local hunter’s guild.”
“Thank you. The experience sharing should be similar to the party system, correct?” I replied.
“Yes, you will be able to see their health, mana, and stamina while also being able to divide the experience amongst yourselves.”
After listening to Gael, I registered myself as a tamer at the hunter’s guild and got myself four collars for my garms as well as an ID update. Now I was able to open the tamer menu through my party bracelet, meaning I could finally train my garms properly now! The registration was free of charge, but the collars weren’t, sadly. I could have used Hestia’s name to obtain them through a favor, especially the newest models, but I would rather not abuse her status too often.
I took out some silver coins from my money pouch and handed them over to Melia, paying the fees for the Job change and collars. We had to pay a total of two small silvite and twelve large copper coins for it, so a total of 3200 Davi; neither cheap nor expensive.
It was a shame that destroying Davison’s rampaging corpse didn’t yield enough experience for Hestia’s Job to reach maximum level, but I guess having her go out and hunt some skorr for the restaurant should be sufficient. In fact, assuming that she had some spare time after her church trip, I asked her to go to the hunting grounds anyway, since we were running a bit low on pork.
Now that the business side of our meeting was over, Melia smiled as she looked behind us, realizing there wasn’t a line. She leaned forward and began to gossip, “Have you two heard what happened with the alchemy guild?”
“Yes, that was the number one topic our restaurant customers spoke about during lunch,” I replied, remembering how everybody had their own wild theory about the destruction of the alchemy guild’s guild building.
“Restau—Oh, your street eatery! That does remind me that I should visit it one of these days. But, if I recall correctly, it’s quite expensive,” Melia voiced her worry.
Probably because of their enhanced hearing, some hunters began to interject themselves into the conversation. “More expensive than what you get from the kitchen, but you would be missing out if you didn’t try it once, Melia. Something new to eat, ya know.”
“Definitely worth the money. Some new food really works wonders after a hard-earned pay. What a great treat after a bunch of dried meat and tasteless soup for a week.”
“Oi, shut up. You try to cook with only salt and dried ingredients to create something an inn would serve. Next time you want something good to eat, go away from camp and hunt some monster or something.”
It was past lunchtime, however the hunters who are currently working outside Firwood shouldn’t be back yet. That meant the ones sitting around in the guild were those who haven’t accepted a Quest today, either because they were resting or nothing on the questboard interested them. It was easy to distinguish the latter from the former from how fresh their wounds and bandages were.
“If you want, I could deliver you some curry and fried rice after closing time. Normal price, but you wouldn’t have to walk over. I will even pack it up to make it easy to deliver home,” I offered Melia, seeing as she had done quite a lot for us as our handler. To be honest, we haven’t used her services enough considering we’ve been in Firwood for a while.
Melia answered with wonder-filled eyes, “Oooh, that does sound enticing. Uhm, only the curry would be good. I’m a small eater and I heard more praises coming from your curry.”
“Yeah, good choice!” An adventurer shouted from behind me. “The curry rice is something to experience. Heard it comes from the levianewt place, uhm, Caedhul or something.”
Hearing him speak prompted the others to do the same, causing the entire guild to turn even rowdier. “Haha, you can try the lesser version from Port Annencia! Those Lecartiglio people are missing out on some authentic, or at least, good curry. Yo, Saori, gotta thank you for the good grub! The lesser version is far more expensive than what you offer.”
Ahhh, seriously? I could have priced it higher? Haaa … I can’t really change it now with all the praise. Bad PR.
More money would have been nice, but I guess being liked was more beneficial for all of us.
Our financial situation had stabilized thanks to our restaurant and the additional revenue through the fanwear sold at Hestia’s concert—which I was so very glad it sold out as I was a bit nervous it wouldn’t fit Peolyncian’s taste. Our party should probably strive for rank C after we acquired our equipment boosts.
With Tasianna’s catalyst and the weapons we bought from the blacksmith, our offensive options have increased. Now that I had a taste of how runes worked in battle, I believe it was about time we added them to our arsenal … Only, I hadn’t heard of any runesmiths in town. Ogni, the dwarven blacksmith we commissioned some of our gear from, would have mentioned something if he was one.
I asked Melia about it, but she confirmed we wouldn’t be able to find a capable runesmith in this duchy unless we asked its duke. If we didn’t want to interact with a noble, then we had to leave the Greenveil duchy and move north to the Groushia duchy, which bordered the dwarven kingdom.
A shame, and I didn’t believe Hestia or Tasianna would want to take the craft up with how busy they were. I wouldn’t want to. Honestly, I wish we could have one permanent party member who could deal with blacksmithing and runesmithing duties, so we wouldn’t have any problems on the road. Not like we could trust anybody though, sadly.
As I was feeling down, I suddenly noticed the guild had gotten strangely silent. Noticing Melia’s uncomfortable expression, I followed where her eyes were staring at, making me turn around to see a young man covered in armor standing at the entrance of the building.
He had sleek, clean, dark red hair and looked around his late teens, although he seemed to exude an air of maturity and responsibility belying his physical age. His knight-like armor had minor signs of being used in battles; however, compared to the knights from yesterday who oversaw the trial of House Chezaic as eyewitnesses, his armor lacked the dents and scratches that proved a long military service. An emblem of an eagle surrounded by large wings and talons could be seen on his chest, in addition to feathered adornments decorating his armor.
The young man walked towards the counter with a perfect pose, exemplary even. He gave Melia a short bow before announcing why he was here with a professional smile. “Madam Melia, it is good to see you again. May I ask if the guild master is available? I would like to continue our discussion from this morning.”
Melia seemed meek before the knight. “Uhm, Sir Antonio, I am already preoccupied with customers.” She nudged her eyes towards us, leading the knight to look at us with surprise, and bowed dramatically.
“Ah, I apologize for my horrible manners, my dear ladies. How unchivalrous of me to ignore two beautiful … uhh, wolfkin and … elf.” His flamboyant guise quickly faded the moment he noticed our ears, and his face seemed to twitch as he stuttered. Noticing his own reaction, he quickly composed himself and recovered his former posture. “I apologize for my intrusion in this discussion but I must ask you to step aside. I have something important to discuss with the guild master and I must ask for a meeting.”
How he said it was rude, but he’s polite enough to ask for a meeting? How weird.
[“Miss Saori, this human is making it hard for me to stop disliking his kind. Could we leave so I can cast my memory of him into the abyss of my consciousness?”]
[“Tasianna, you do not have to be like that … although, I would prefer to not meet this person again if I could either.”]
Melia’s wry smile made it clear she didn’t want to speak with him, and as she was looking at me as if she wanted me to handle it, I could only sigh internally. Handling rich people was part of my job as a teacher at Shiroko High, so it wasn’t like I had no experience dealing with peopl like him. Well, time to dust it out.
“Sir Antonio?”
He acknowledged me. “That is my name, yes.”
“Well, Miss Melia is currently answering a few questions concerning our party, so I would like to ask you to wait in line. Which is not long, mind you. Within an adventurer guild, you do not have the authority of a noble to aid you in forcing your agenda. Please, have patience.”
I was expecting the noble to flip out and shout at me, considering how everybody in the guild was reacting to him, but he didn’t display any agitation, only displeasure. I didn’t feel like he was someone I couldn’t handle and any noble-related consequences could be taken care of using our party’s own noble connections.
“Then so be it, I shall wait. However, I ask you to make haste for my concerns have something to do with the kidnapping of a noblewoman. As a knight, you must understand that I must see to her safe return,” he stated as he stepped behind me.
“Kidnapping?” I wondered aloud.
“Yes, my sister, Severa Victori Moreschi,” he answered before directing his voice to the rest of the guild. “House Moreschi will reward any brave and just adventurer if they possess any information on the kidnapping of Severa Victori Moreschi! She was kidnapped by a green-haired, muscular bovline who calls himself an alchemist. He should have brought my dear sister to Firwood! House Moreschi will be in your debt if you can bring her back safely back to our home in the Lecartiglio Duchy!”
Green-haired?
[“Miss Saori, is he talking about Cernust?!”] Tasianna inquired through [Telepathy], as she didn’t want this to be overheard by anybody.
Thinking back at the ox beastman we met who taught Tasianna some alchemy, the description the knight presented fitted him well enough. Green-haired, he was a brawler, and was a skilled alchemist with a backpack full of seeds and ingredients for his potions. We even sold some of his products through our restaurant.
I grabbed Tasianna’s shoulder and pushed her to face the counter. [“Not now, Tasianna. Act normal. We will discuss this later.”]
The knight didn’t go away as Melia wanted, so we had to fake the lie that I gave him. After I was finished, Melia led the knight upstairs to Farron’s office.
The moment we thought he was out of earshot, one of the beastmen in the guild finally spoke out, “Dammit, that mana blood just doesn’t get a hint. Nobody wants him here.”
“Poor guild master, getting annoyed by that mana blood a second time in a single day. Gets sent away and just comes back. Hate them.”
“Hmm? Wait, are you not keen on nobles? Then why are you being so polite to my lady?” I asked amid the guild as I overheard this, pondering why they would admit this now.
“Huh? What? We’re not talking about your dragonewt mistress, Saori. The girl is fine, not even remotely similar to those mana bloods from Lecartiglio!”
“You guys aren’t from here so listen up. Don’t go to Lecartiglio or the Atadoro Kingdom south of here. Beastmen hating places. Well, all except avisians. Lecartiglio nobles have a fondness for them cuz they’re hippogryph and griffon lovers.”
From my discussion with Zeather and his sister Quini, I’ve already heard that the Lecartiglio Duchy and the Atadoro Kingdom were best avoided if we want to avoid dealing with racism. This was supported by the history of the Kingdom of Artorias and Atadoro, as the latter was the remnant of a beastman hating kingdom. Lecartiglio was supposedly better, but I guess bordering Atadoro must have influenced their nobles.
At this point, one of the other receptionists came closer to clear things up for us, explaining what happened this morning with the Farron. Considering Farron was at our restaurant this morning, speaking with Hestia, it was probably the same info Hestia got.
“In addition, the hunter’s guild does not handle bounty hunting, although it isn’t forbidden. However, the reason why everybody is so anxious is that most parties have one or two beastmen. Flying arvisians for scouting, bulky leonids as fighters; I mean, you should know how physically tougher and flexible you are than us humans. So any Quest related to a Lecartiglio noble isn’t very popular with them.”
I guess if you list the benefits out, beastmen were pretty good teammates to have.
“Nah, dealing with Lecartiglio nobles is, in general, a pain,” this time, a human spoke up. “Most of them are military and part of the knight’s order, so they’re always stuck up. Little respect for even mercs. They hand adventurers the shit work that none of their soldiers want to do, or any Quest likely to cause casualties. If you’re a full-time soldier, you’ll have it good. You a merc, though? Then get your ass out of any noble dealings. Simple.”
“Nobles and merchants in Greenveil are full of shit and uptight, but at least they pay you well for any Quest you do. Well-earned for the difficulty, you get me? They treat us as expendables, but not like shit under their boots. Any veteran merc over at the merc guild is probably saying the same thing to newbies. We work in Greenveil ‘cause we don’t want to deal with other duchies’ nobles.”
Adventurers were travelers and vagabonds, so they were able to go around and pick their base of operations—experienced ones, at least. So, it would make sense that they didn’t want to do work for another duchy’s noble if they preferred their current one.
I’m a bit worried about Cernust …
We left the hunter’s guild after saying goodbye and went over to the inn Cernust was staying at. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there; according to the innkeeper, apparently he was moving to another inn to “experience the rest of the town,” but didn’t say to which one. As we couldn’t do anything for now, we left and went to someone who could probably track Cernust down.
We owed Cernust our thanks, as he taught Tasianna alchemy, so it was only the right thing for us to help him out if he needed this. Besides, if he really did kidnap a noblewoman, then it would be better if we got to him first before Sir Antonio.
“Ahh! Saori, Saori! Glada see you again. Ooh, ya brought a pretty friend with ya today!” Bo, Gael’s acquaintance once again greeted us in front of his apartment. And once again, a stink cloud was covering his entire body.
“Hello … Bo,” I forced myself to say while pinching my nose to block the foul stench.
“Oi! Ya closing your nose again before poor ol’ Bo. These things hurt this ol’ man, hahaha!” His joyful laugh was completely devoid of anything resembling shame or hatred. He was just having fun.
“Please, take a bath then.”
“Please, stay away from me.”
Sadly, the two of us couldn’t keep our rude remarks back. He was Gael’s roommate, he had the opportunity to shower and clean himself as Gael did.
Tasianna and I ascended the stairs to Gael’s apartment, where I took out one of the wine bottles I received after the Rashan Village Quest. I knocked on the door and called for Gael. As always, Gael didn’t respond immediately so I had to start banging on the door again. After the fifth loud knock, the door opened up suddenly.
“Haha, yo, Saori! And Tasianna, too! Ahaha … I didn’t think you would come so soon.” Gael’s hair was disheveled, probably bed hair. Did he just wake up?
I stared at him, awaiting his answer after I asked him about it.
He flinched back, twitching a bit. He quickly groomed his hair as best as he could and tried to act cool about it. “Uhm, nah, nah. I just forgot about taking care of myself since I wasn’t expecting a visit. You know, after what happened yesterday. I wanted to just stay at home, hehe.”
“There is still sleep dust under your eyes, Mister Gael. Have you also forgotten to wash your face or blink?” Tasianna pointed out, making his excuse pretty unbelievable at this point.
A fact he understood as he threw his facade away. “Alright, alright. I was still sleeping until now, okay? Give me a break, ladies. I’m getting old and rusty, and last night’s battle was my first in, like, ever—not including the little squabble we had or the random thugs on the streets or roads. I was completely cold. Didn’t even drink.”
Well, he did help us quite a bit … especially helping that alchemist we accidentally left to die.
I sighed at his excuse, shrugging to show that we should just forget about it. Gael then invited us in after presenting him the bottle of wine. It was our payment for the information we wanted.
“Those heroes? Yeah. I have more information on them, but it won’t be a lot compared to what House Helvas has dug up. If you want the rest, you might need to wait until the Count or Countess return,” Gael stated before digging into some curry. “Mhmm! Oh shit, this really is fucking good. You know, it might actually be better than the one I had in Caedhul, but then again, that was so long ago, so maybe my taste buds have just forgotten about it. Worth the coins, here.”
And we were 40 Davi richer.
“That is good to hear, but I really cannot wait for more information. Please, tell me more,” I urged him.
He stared at my face for a moment, probably noticing how impatient I was about it. “Hmm, in negotiations or information brokering, try your best not to look desperate before paying the price. A bottle of wine wouldn’t be enough to pay me normally. Somebody in my profession would tease you with bits of info to lure you in, then overcharge you as much as your desperation is willing to pay. Look professional, stoic, like how you always act when you visit me.”
Did he just give me a … good tip? Gael, thank you. I nodded, looking impressed to show him my gratitude.
While chewing, he stood up and picked out a sheet of parchment from a drawer, laying it before me. “The information I have was to supplement the one House Helvas has found themselves. It isn’t conclusive. Mostly ‘cause of the church hiding them like dirty laundry.”
Looking through the paper, their names were written in Common tongue, but they didn’t resemble any of the names of my students. At this point, I’d assume they were working under a pseudonym to hide their real names for some reason or to make it easier for people to pronounce them. The Carine villagers did note Hestia’s and my name for sounding foreign.
Back to the list, the description of their appearances and personality was what sealed it for me, as they were very detailed. Hair, skin, and eye color were a given, but this paper also noted their jaw shape, how they spoke extremely formally, were prone to bow during greetings and appreciations, and also their approximate height … which also included the approximate three sizes of the girls.
Whoever did this report is scum.
Nevertheless, the information sheet only registered ten heroes. There was also some public knowledge from the church, declaring that each hero possessed unique skills granted to them by Goddess Aurena. One of them was even a Saint candidate … something I couldn’t fathom if it was the same girl I knew back on Earth. The church was even nice enough to grant these heroes each a title according to their unique skills just so people could remember them better.
Rush Hour, Ardent Defender, Foxian Slyness, Kamikaze, and Saint’s Wrath. Those five belonged to the party “Misfits.” Whoever gave this party its name should be scolded.
Enchanter’s Oath, Sovereign of the Elements, Samurai Distinction: Yumi, Tricky Kitty, and Dwarven Runeslayer composed the second party, “The Magical Biscuits.” As you would expect, the information on their unique skill was unavailable and any attempt to appraise them would be futile, I presume. The existence of those [Identify] blocking Rings made it hard to appraise people with them.
Samurai Distinction: Yumi? Kawano-san, is that you? You were the only one in my class who was part of the archer club.
If it wasn’t obvious enough at this point, then this skill was the nail in the coffin. Of course, due to the Revolution Queen’s influence on dwarven culture, they might have something similar to a yumi or even the bushido code. This might be a red herring, but the description of these heroes was too similar.
They were definitely my students!
“The church blocked a lot of information, and my informants weren’t able to dive any deeper without risking the ire of the church. If you want more, wait for House Helvas to say something.”
“Thank you very much, Gael. Honestly, I hate to say this but I am in your debt for this. This information is extremely valuable to me.”
“Don’t sweat it, I was paid to do this. However, if you want to repay me, mind telling me why you’re so interested in these kids? I know they probably come from the same world as you and the princess, but what exactly is your relationship?”
“He, I expected you to ask for more,” I snickered, knowing he could have tried to dig up some blackmail or even ask for information on Earth. Anything would be more valuable than what he just wanted. “Those heroes … they are—were my students back when I was still a teacher on Earth. I have no idea how they were transported to Peolynca. I actually don’t have a duty to find out about them nor meet them … but I guess I cannot cut out the memories I made with them. I want to know if they are safe.”
“Hmm, is that so? Admirable. The teachers I had in my life all either backstabbed me or abandoned me when they found something more lucrative to do than working with some dirty kid from the streets.” Gael then opened the wine bottle and poured the red liquid into three metal cups. “A bit early, but how about we taste this bottle? Let’s celebrate.”
“I don’t drink,” Tasianna stated, looking befuddled at the wine cup. “Also, what is there really to celebrate?”
“Well, for one thing, we are all alive after what happened yesterday, right? That’s worth celebrating. Also, ‘cause we are alive, we can complain about stuff like my terrible mentors, Saori’s elusive students, and I guess your hatred for humans, Miss fairy. Especially if you lost somebody in your life, sometimes it’s better to just enjoy yourself to stave off the sadness, and something tells me that the three of us could use some fun. Now, to life!”
“To life,” I exclaimed, summoning my three garms, causing Gael to flinch.
They deserved to celebrate with us, although I guess they made Gael’s apartment very full. I used this time to put the collar on my garms, holding onto the last one for when Quartre finished his transformation. The garms weren’t happy with them on, but they couldn’t defy me. It was for their growth, so they had to relent.
Tasianna hesitated for a moment, looking at her cracked catalyst. She let out a small sigh, clapped her cheeks, and picked up the cup of wine, clanging it against ours. “To life!”
After finishing our cup of wine, I went ahead and asked him if he knew if any more of my students were summoned to Peolynca, but he couldn’t confirm anything. If Kaian or even those bandits from back then were here, maybe they could’ve added something, but that wasn’t possible. I had to wait for House Helvas’s information.
Regardless, with the knowledge that my students were in Peolynca, we had another goal to fulfill, although we didn’t know where they exactly were. Were they still in Griffonpeak, I wonder? Thankfully, Hestia’s goal was in Griffonpeak, so we had to go there anyway.
Hestia was already supportive of my plans when I told her about it yesterday, but I wondered if her curiosity would grow even further once we confirm they are 100% my students. She already wanted to know more about me as a teacher, so maybe it was time I told her more about everybody from my homeroom.
I also had Gael look for Cernust for me, paying him two bottles of wine for it. In addition, I asked him to teach me something.
“Saori, what I said last time wasn’t an excuse, you’re already good. Sure, I have some personal abilities, but you’re already better than me as an arcane trickster with your magic skills.”
I nodded, “That might be the case. However, that does not mean that you have nothing to teach me. That movement skill, you know? Uhm, I overheard from Hestia that [Gale Steps] was a fundamental unarmed Ability everybody should learn.”
Gael whistled, nodding his head a bit. “Damn, correct you are. The Ability scales quite a bit with your agility and allows you to ‘teleport’ in front of people as it temporarily boosts your agility through a perfected foot movements. It’s been iterated over the years and any knight, warrior, and rogue worth their Davi should know it. You don’t; that’s an issue.”
I did remember the saurians, Grazlahta, and Krim’Slak having it; however, they couldn’t teach it to me due to time constraints. Considering I saw Gael use it during our little fight, learning it from him while still in town would be the best use of my time.
“Come back tomorrow. I guess you’ll be going soon now that you have this info, so think of it as my farewell gift. However, stop asking about more tutoring, ‘cause my pride is too fragile to teach somebody better than me, haha!”
Tasianna also asked Gael if he knew somebody who could fix her orb. He told us that we should simply wait for Countess Helvas to come back, as she would probably fix it for us for free simply because Tasianna was a fairy. The Countess was a former noble of the Morgiana duchy after all, similar to Manuella. Otherwise, the alchemy guild was our other option, but then we would have to pay, and I would like to avoid paying if possible. We needed the money for equipment and Hestia’s concert stage!
“So … Miss Fairy.” After another toast, Gael looked at Tasianna with a rather serious expression. “Not to spoil the good mood but … You asked me something, so it should be fine to ask you, right?”
Tasianna raised a brow when she heard this. “… What do you want?” she said suspiciously.
“Nothing important really, it’s just, you know, the whole affair. Davison. Fae hunting. Onnikais. You know the kingdom wants to keep this all a big secret, correct? Artorias has been working very hard to repair their relationship with the elves, and this whole event could become the catalyst for it to break apart and dissolve.”
From the standpoint of a noble of Artorias, I could understand why they wouldn’t want this to come out. It would be bad for diplomacy if other races knew that Artorias allowed Davison’s fae hunting to fester for so long despite advocating to become the elves’ allies, again. Any goodwill would simply die out.
Still, hiding information wasn’t any better. Deception and trying to sweep things under the rug would only make the eventual reveal worse, and three of the black mercs we fought during the Davison raid did escape our clutches. Nevertheless, this wasn’t my problem, Artorias had to handle it properly.
“Gael, we did not come here to be blackmailed or threatened, do you understand?” I warned Gael as I had a feeling the nobles would feel threatened by Tasianna and her origin. It would make sense for a fairy to despise humans even more after what she saw in the cellar.
“Hey, hey, you seem to misunderstand. I don’t exactly care if the kingdom becomes friendly with the elves or not. If it doesn’t lead into a war, I could care less,” he responded quickly to diffuse the situation. “It’s like I said, I just wanted to know Tasianna’s stance on everything. Curiosity. Gotta cool down, Saori. Even your Princess seems calmer than you, and she was the one to scorch the land around the alchemy guild.”
You wouldn’t know her much, Gael. You only saw one side of her personality. She can be sweet at one moment and then ballistic the next.
Tasianna nodded. “Well, Mister Gael, regardless if you tell the truth or not, you may rest assured that I won’t tell anybody about what happened. This isn’t even influenced by my lady or Miss Saori, but my own choice”
She took him a deep breath. “Not all humans are evil. I am not very familiar with politics, but if the alliance between Saelariel and Artorias can benefit both kingdoms then I do not want to be the one to destroy it. I would instead expect Artorias to reveal this truth one day—as naive as it sounds—so their alliance can be formed under trust, similar to how Saelariel trusted the Morgiana Duchy before the war.”
It was good to hear Tasianna sharing my opinion.
“I see … well, here’s to hope that the royal family doesn’t fuck around. If you wanted, you always have the princess and fairy card to play, Tasianna.” Gael then raised his cup after he was done talking. “Let’s finish this cup. To life!”
“To life!”
After another cup of wine, we left his apartment and went back to Ellaine’s mansion. Once we made it back, Manuella and Svena guided us through the mansion, acting as if Tasianna and I were a noble. Tasianna was baffled at what was happening, but the moment the door to the dining room opened, her eyes widened in surprise.
“Happy Birthday, Tasianna! Congratulations on becoming 88 years old!” Standing on top of a chair was Hestia, creating sparkles as she congratulated Tasianna on her birthday.
“Wha-what?!”
“Sorry for being so late, Tasianna,” I told her. “It’s past the actual date, but I hope we can still celebrate it, hiehie. Surprise!”
Tasianna’s birthday was on the 8th of WinterBloom—the 8th of February—however, due to our preparation to raid Davison, we completely forgot about it. This was the first time we would celebrate a birthday with her, but it still didn’t excuse the fact that we forgot about it.
“I-I don’t know what to say. I-I mean, fairies can live forever so we really don’t care after the first few years of our life. If it weren’t for the System, I believe many fairies would simply forget their ages. Oh by Plesia, I didn’t expect this.” Tasianna’s astonishment was clear to understand, as she considered herself more a maid and retainer to Hestia, however, the moment she became part of our party, she became our friend. And friends celebrate birthdays with each other.
“Come on, just like what Gael just said,” I nudged her forward as Manuella and Svena moved to present the cake Hestia and I made for Tasianna.
“Celebrate … for living. To life?” she said meekly.
I winked.
“For life. Come on!” I took her arm and pulled her into the room. “Lady Hestia, did you manage to hunt some skorrs while you had the time?”
“What? Saori is that really the first thing you say? Why not praise for how well I decorated everything with the maids and butlers! I had to redo everything twice to make it just right, you know?” Hestia pouted. “And yes, I got us some skorr. I even changed my Job, so all the chores are done for today. Are you happy?”
“Very much so!”
The party lasted until midnight, where Tasianna’s loud “Thank you very much, everybody!” was the perfect closure to everything. When morning came, Tasianna’s wish to repair her catalyst came.
… And also a duel between siblings was about to begin.
AbyssRaven To life, everybody!
If you guys want to support me, Hestia and "A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale" (or just read up to 20 advance chapters + any Patreon-only chapters) please check out my Patreon: Rawr
For two dollars, for the cost of a coffee, you can read up to four chapters for the whole month! You will have my eternal gratitude for any support you can give me! Please.
Thank you for reading this chapter.
Shame, they didn’t level up after taking the Job. Well, it’s to be expected since I just bought those two skills.
“And Miss Tasianna is now a [Wind Mage]. Thank you very much, and I hope your new Main Jobs will serve you well,” Melia, the katzune receptionist of the hunter’s guild, stated after we were done switching our Main Jobs. She then took out my ID from that printer-like machine attached to the guild’s [Crystal of the Divine System] and handed it back to me. “You are now a registered tamer of the hunter’s guild. Please, have your tamed garms wear these collars whenever you bring them into a town or city, otherwise you might receive problems with the local hunter’s guild.”
“Thank you. The experience sharing should be similar to the party system, correct?” I replied.
“Yes, you will be able to see their health, mana, and stamina while also being able to divide the experience amongst yourselves.”
After listening to Gael, I registered myself as a tamer at the hunter’s guild and got myself four collars for my garms as well as an ID update. Now I was able to open the tamer menu through my party bracelet, meaning I could finally train my garms properly now! The registration was free of charge, but the collars weren’t, sadly. I could have used Hestia’s name to obtain them through a favor, especially the newest models, but I would rather not abuse her status too often.
I took out some silver coins from my money pouch and handed them over to Melia, paying the fees for the Job change and collars. We had to pay a total of two small silvite and twelve large copper coins for it, so a total of 3200 Davi; neither cheap nor expensive.
It was a shame that destroying Davison’s rampaging corpse didn’t yield enough experience for Hestia’s Job to reach maximum level, but I guess having her go out and hunt some skorr for the restaurant should be sufficient. In fact, assuming that she had some spare time after her church trip, I asked her to go to the hunting grounds anyway, since we were running a bit low on pork.
Now that the business side of our meeting was over, Melia smiled as she looked behind us, realizing there wasn’t a line. She leaned forward and began to gossip, “Have you two heard what happened with the alchemy guild?”
“Yes, that was the number one topic our restaurant customers spoke about during lunch,” I replied, remembering how everybody had their own wild theory about the destruction of the alchemy guild’s guild building.
“Restau—Oh, your street eatery! That does remind me that I should visit it one of these days. But, if I recall correctly, it’s quite expensive,” Melia voiced her worry.
Probably because of their enhanced hearing, some hunters began to interject themselves into the conversation. “More expensive than what you get from the kitchen, but you would be missing out if you didn’t try it once, Melia. Something new to eat, ya know.”
“Definitely worth the money. Some new food really works wonders after a hard-earned pay. What a great treat after a bunch of dried meat and tasteless soup for a week.”
“Oi, shut up. You try to cook with only salt and dried ingredients to create something an inn would serve. Next time you want something good to eat, go away from camp and hunt some monster or something.”
It was past lunchtime, however the hunters who are currently working outside Firwood shouldn’t be back yet. That meant the ones sitting around in the guild were those who haven’t accepted a Quest today, either because they were resting or nothing on the questboard interested them. It was easy to distinguish the latter from the former from how fresh their wounds and bandages were.
“If you want, I could deliver you some curry and fried rice after closing time. Normal price, but you wouldn’t have to walk over. I will even pack it up to make it easy to deliver home,” I offered Melia, seeing as she had done quite a lot for us as our handler. To be honest, we haven’t used her services enough considering we’ve been in Firwood for a while.
Melia answered with wonder-filled eyes, “Oooh, that does sound enticing. Uhm, only the curry would be good. I’m a small eater and I heard more praises coming from your curry.”
“Yeah, good choice!” An adventurer shouted from behind me. “The curry rice is something to experience. Heard it comes from the levianewt place, uhm, Caedhul or something.”
Hearing him speak prompted the others to do the same, causing the entire guild to turn even rowdier. “Haha, you can try the lesser version from Port Annencia! Those Lecartiglio people are missing out on some authentic, or at least, good curry. Yo, Saori, gotta thank you for the good grub! The lesser version is far more expensive than what you offer.”
Ahhh, seriously? I could have priced it higher? Haaa … I can’t really change it now with all the praise. Bad PR.
More money would have been nice, but I guess being liked was more beneficial for all of us.
Our financial situation had stabilized thanks to our restaurant and the additional revenue through the fanwear sold at Hestia’s concert—which I was so very glad it sold out as I was a bit nervous it wouldn’t fit Peolyncian’s taste. Our party should probably strive for rank C after we acquired our equipment boosts.
With Tasianna’s catalyst and the weapons we bought from the blacksmith, our offensive options have increased. Now that I had a taste of how runes worked in battle, I believe it was about time we added them to our arsenal … Only, I hadn’t heard of any runesmiths in town. Ogni, the dwarven blacksmith we commissioned some of our gear from, would have mentioned something if he was one.
I asked Melia about it, but she confirmed we wouldn’t be able to find a capable runesmith in this duchy unless we asked its duke. If we didn’t want to interact with a noble, then we had to leave the Greenveil duchy and move north to the Groushia duchy, which bordered the dwarven kingdom.
A shame, and I didn’t believe Hestia or Tasianna would want to take the craft up with how busy they were. I wouldn’t want to. Honestly, I wish we could have one permanent party member who could deal with blacksmithing and runesmithing duties, so we wouldn’t have any problems on the road. Not like we could trust anybody though, sadly.
As I was feeling down, I suddenly noticed the guild had gotten strangely silent. Noticing Melia’s uncomfortable expression, I followed where her eyes were staring at, making me turn around to see a young man covered in armor standing at the entrance of the building.
He had sleek, clean, dark red hair and looked around his late teens, although he seemed to exude an air of maturity and responsibility belying his physical age. His knight-like armor had minor signs of being used in battles; however, compared to the knights from yesterday who oversaw the trial of House Chezaic as eyewitnesses, his armor lacked the dents and scratches that proved a long military service. An emblem of an eagle surrounded by large wings and talons could be seen on his chest, in addition to feathered adornments decorating his armor.
The young man walked towards the counter with a perfect pose, exemplary even. He gave Melia a short bow before announcing why he was here with a professional smile. “Madam Melia, it is good to see you again. May I ask if the guild master is available? I would like to continue our discussion from this morning.”
Melia seemed meek before the knight. “Uhm, Sir Antonio, I am already preoccupied with customers.” She nudged her eyes towards us, leading the knight to look at us with surprise, and bowed dramatically.
“Ah, I apologize for my horrible manners, my dear ladies. How unchivalrous of me to ignore two beautiful … uhh, wolfkin and … elf.” His flamboyant guise quickly faded the moment he noticed our ears, and his face seemed to twitch as he stuttered. Noticing his own reaction, he quickly composed himself and recovered his former posture. “I apologize for my intrusion in this discussion but I must ask you to step aside. I have something important to discuss with the guild master and I must ask for a meeting.”
How he said it was rude, but he’s polite enough to ask for a meeting? How weird.
[“Miss Saori, this human is making it hard for me to stop disliking his kind. Could we leave so I can cast my memory of him into the abyss of my consciousness?”]
[“Tasianna, you do not have to be like that … although, I would prefer to not meet this person again if I could either.”]
Melia’s wry smile made it clear she didn’t want to speak with him, and as she was looking at me as if she wanted me to handle it, I could only sigh internally. Handling rich people was part of my job as a teacher at Shiroko High, so it wasn’t like I had no experience dealing with peopl like him. Well, time to dust it out.
“Sir Antonio?”
He acknowledged me. “That is my name, yes.”
“Well, Miss Melia is currently answering a few questions concerning our party, so I would like to ask you to wait in line. Which is not long, mind you. Within an adventurer guild, you do not have the authority of a noble to aid you in forcing your agenda. Please, have patience.”
I was expecting the noble to flip out and shout at me, considering how everybody in the guild was reacting to him, but he didn’t display any agitation, only displeasure. I didn’t feel like he was someone I couldn’t handle and any noble-related consequences could be taken care of using our party’s own noble connections.
“Then so be it, I shall wait. However, I ask you to make haste for my concerns have something to do with the kidnapping of a noblewoman. As a knight, you must understand that I must see to her safe return,” he stated as he stepped behind me.
“Kidnapping?” I wondered aloud.
“Yes, my sister, Severa Victori Moreschi,” he answered before directing his voice to the rest of the guild. “House Moreschi will reward any brave and just adventurer if they possess any information on the kidnapping of Severa Victori Moreschi! She was kidnapped by a green-haired, muscular bovline who calls himself an alchemist. He should have brought my dear sister to Firwood! House Moreschi will be in your debt if you can bring her back safely back to our home in the Lecartiglio Duchy!”
Green-haired?
[“Miss Saori, is he talking about Cernust?!”] Tasianna inquired through [Telepathy], as she didn’t want this to be overheard by anybody.
Thinking back at the ox beastman we met who taught Tasianna some alchemy, the description the knight presented fitted him well enough. Green-haired, he was a brawler, and was a skilled alchemist with a backpack full of seeds and ingredients for his potions. We even sold some of his products through our restaurant.
I grabbed Tasianna’s shoulder and pushed her to face the counter. [“Not now, Tasianna. Act normal. We will discuss this later.”]
The knight didn’t go away as Melia wanted, so we had to fake the lie that I gave him. After I was finished, Melia led the knight upstairs to Farron’s office.
The moment we thought he was out of earshot, one of the beastmen in the guild finally spoke out, “Dammit, that mana blood just doesn’t get a hint. Nobody wants him here.”
“Poor guild master, getting annoyed by that mana blood a second time in a single day. Gets sent away and just comes back. Hate them.”
“Hmm? Wait, are you not keen on nobles? Then why are you being so polite to my lady?” I asked amid the guild as I overheard this, pondering why they would admit this now.
“Huh? What? We’re not talking about your dragonewt mistress, Saori. The girl is fine, not even remotely similar to those mana bloods from Lecartiglio!”
“You guys aren’t from here so listen up. Don’t go to Lecartiglio or the Atadoro Kingdom south of here. Beastmen hating places. Well, all except avisians. Lecartiglio nobles have a fondness for them cuz they’re hippogryph and griffon lovers.”
From my discussion with Zeather and his sister Quini, I’ve already heard that the Lecartiglio Duchy and the Atadoro Kingdom were best avoided if we want to avoid dealing with racism. This was supported by the history of the Kingdom of Artorias and Atadoro, as the latter was the remnant of a beastman hating kingdom. Lecartiglio was supposedly better, but I guess bordering Atadoro must have influenced their nobles.
At this point, one of the other receptionists came closer to clear things up for us, explaining what happened this morning with the Farron. Considering Farron was at our restaurant this morning, speaking with Hestia, it was probably the same info Hestia got.
“In addition, the hunter’s guild does not handle bounty hunting, although it isn’t forbidden. However, the reason why everybody is so anxious is that most parties have one or two beastmen. Flying arvisians for scouting, bulky leonids as fighters; I mean, you should know how physically tougher and flexible you are than us humans. So any Quest related to a Lecartiglio noble isn’t very popular with them.”
I guess if you list the benefits out, beastmen were pretty good teammates to have.
“Nah, dealing with Lecartiglio nobles is, in general, a pain,” this time, a human spoke up. “Most of them are military and part of the knight’s order, so they’re always stuck up. Little respect for even mercs. They hand adventurers the shit work that none of their soldiers want to do, or any Quest likely to cause casualties. If you’re a full-time soldier, you’ll have it good. You a merc, though? Then get your ass out of any noble dealings. Simple.”
“Nobles and merchants in Greenveil are full of shit and uptight, but at least they pay you well for any Quest you do. Well-earned for the difficulty, you get me? They treat us as expendables, but not like shit under their boots. Any veteran merc over at the merc guild is probably saying the same thing to newbies. We work in Greenveil ‘cause we don’t want to deal with other duchies’ nobles.”
Adventurers were travelers and vagabonds, so they were able to go around and pick their base of operations—experienced ones, at least. So, it would make sense that they didn’t want to do work for another duchy’s noble if they preferred their current one.
I’m a bit worried about Cernust …
We left the hunter’s guild after saying goodbye and went over to the inn Cernust was staying at. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there; according to the innkeeper, apparently he was moving to another inn to “experience the rest of the town,” but didn’t say to which one. As we couldn’t do anything for now, we left and went to someone who could probably track Cernust down.
We owed Cernust our thanks, as he taught Tasianna alchemy, so it was only the right thing for us to help him out if he needed this. Besides, if he really did kidnap a noblewoman, then it would be better if we got to him first before Sir Antonio.
“Ahh! Saori, Saori! Glada see you again. Ooh, ya brought a pretty friend with ya today!” Bo, Gael’s acquaintance once again greeted us in front of his apartment. And once again, a stink cloud was covering his entire body.
“Hello … Bo,” I forced myself to say while pinching my nose to block the foul stench.
“Oi! Ya closing your nose again before poor ol’ Bo. These things hurt this ol’ man, hahaha!” His joyful laugh was completely devoid of anything resembling shame or hatred. He was just having fun.
“Please, take a bath then.”
“Please, stay away from me.”
Sadly, the two of us couldn’t keep our rude remarks back. He was Gael’s roommate, he had the opportunity to shower and clean himself as Gael did.
Tasianna and I ascended the stairs to Gael’s apartment, where I took out one of the wine bottles I received after the Rashan Village Quest. I knocked on the door and called for Gael. As always, Gael didn’t respond immediately so I had to start banging on the door again. After the fifth loud knock, the door opened up suddenly.
“Haha, yo, Saori! And Tasianna, too! Ahaha … I didn’t think you would come so soon.” Gael’s hair was disheveled, probably bed hair. Did he just wake up?
I stared at him, awaiting his answer after I asked him about it.
He flinched back, twitching a bit. He quickly groomed his hair as best as he could and tried to act cool about it. “Uhm, nah, nah. I just forgot about taking care of myself since I wasn’t expecting a visit. You know, after what happened yesterday. I wanted to just stay at home, hehe.”
“There is still sleep dust under your eyes, Mister Gael. Have you also forgotten to wash your face or blink?” Tasianna pointed out, making his excuse pretty unbelievable at this point.
A fact he understood as he threw his facade away. “Alright, alright. I was still sleeping until now, okay? Give me a break, ladies. I’m getting old and rusty, and last night’s battle was my first in, like, ever—not including the little squabble we had or the random thugs on the streets or roads. I was completely cold. Didn’t even drink.”
Well, he did help us quite a bit … especially helping that alchemist we accidentally left to die.
I sighed at his excuse, shrugging to show that we should just forget about it. Gael then invited us in after presenting him the bottle of wine. It was our payment for the information we wanted.
“Those heroes? Yeah. I have more information on them, but it won’t be a lot compared to what House Helvas has dug up. If you want the rest, you might need to wait until the Count or Countess return,” Gael stated before digging into some curry. “Mhmm! Oh shit, this really is fucking good. You know, it might actually be better than the one I had in Caedhul, but then again, that was so long ago, so maybe my taste buds have just forgotten about it. Worth the coins, here.”
And we were 40 Davi richer.
“That is good to hear, but I really cannot wait for more information. Please, tell me more,” I urged him.
He stared at my face for a moment, probably noticing how impatient I was about it. “Hmm, in negotiations or information brokering, try your best not to look desperate before paying the price. A bottle of wine wouldn’t be enough to pay me normally. Somebody in my profession would tease you with bits of info to lure you in, then overcharge you as much as your desperation is willing to pay. Look professional, stoic, like how you always act when you visit me.”
Did he just give me a … good tip? Gael, thank you. I nodded, looking impressed to show him my gratitude.
While chewing, he stood up and picked out a sheet of parchment from a drawer, laying it before me. “The information I have was to supplement the one House Helvas has found themselves. It isn’t conclusive. Mostly ‘cause of the church hiding them like dirty laundry.”
Looking through the paper, their names were written in Common tongue, but they didn’t resemble any of the names of my students. At this point, I’d assume they were working under a pseudonym to hide their real names for some reason or to make it easier for people to pronounce them. The Carine villagers did note Hestia’s and my name for sounding foreign.
Back to the list, the description of their appearances and personality was what sealed it for me, as they were very detailed. Hair, skin, and eye color were a given, but this paper also noted their jaw shape, how they spoke extremely formally, were prone to bow during greetings and appreciations, and also their approximate height … which also included the approximate three sizes of the girls.
Whoever did this report is scum.
Nevertheless, the information sheet only registered ten heroes. There was also some public knowledge from the church, declaring that each hero possessed unique skills granted to them by Goddess Aurena. One of them was even a Saint candidate … something I couldn’t fathom if it was the same girl I knew back on Earth. The church was even nice enough to grant these heroes each a title according to their unique skills just so people could remember them better.
Rush Hour, Ardent Defender, Foxian Slyness, Kamikaze, and Saint’s Wrath. Those five belonged to the party “Misfits.” Whoever gave this party its name should be scolded.
Enchanter’s Oath, Sovereign of the Elements, Samurai Distinction: Yumi, Tricky Kitty, and Dwarven Runeslayer composed the second party, “The Magical Biscuits.” As you would expect, the information on their unique skill was unavailable and any attempt to appraise them would be futile, I presume. The existence of those [Identify] blocking Rings made it hard to appraise people with them.
Samurai Distinction: Yumi? Kawano-san, is that you? You were the only one in my class who was part of the archer club.
If it wasn’t obvious enough at this point, then this skill was the nail in the coffin. Of course, due to the Revolution Queen’s influence on dwarven culture, they might have something similar to a yumi or even the bushido code. This might be a red herring, but the description of these heroes was too similar.
They were definitely my students!
“The church blocked a lot of information, and my informants weren’t able to dive any deeper without risking the ire of the church. If you want more, wait for House Helvas to say something.”
“Thank you very much, Gael. Honestly, I hate to say this but I am in your debt for this. This information is extremely valuable to me.”
“Don’t sweat it, I was paid to do this. However, if you want to repay me, mind telling me why you’re so interested in these kids? I know they probably come from the same world as you and the princess, but what exactly is your relationship?”
“He, I expected you to ask for more,” I snickered, knowing he could have tried to dig up some blackmail or even ask for information on Earth. Anything would be more valuable than what he just wanted. “Those heroes … they are—were my students back when I was still a teacher on Earth. I have no idea how they were transported to Peolynca. I actually don’t have a duty to find out about them nor meet them … but I guess I cannot cut out the memories I made with them. I want to know if they are safe.”
“Hmm, is that so? Admirable. The teachers I had in my life all either backstabbed me or abandoned me when they found something more lucrative to do than working with some dirty kid from the streets.” Gael then opened the wine bottle and poured the red liquid into three metal cups. “A bit early, but how about we taste this bottle? Let’s celebrate.”
“I don’t drink,” Tasianna stated, looking befuddled at the wine cup. “Also, what is there really to celebrate?”
“Well, for one thing, we are all alive after what happened yesterday, right? That’s worth celebrating. Also, ‘cause we are alive, we can complain about stuff like my terrible mentors, Saori’s elusive students, and I guess your hatred for humans, Miss fairy. Especially if you lost somebody in your life, sometimes it’s better to just enjoy yourself to stave off the sadness, and something tells me that the three of us could use some fun. Now, to life!”
“To life,” I exclaimed, summoning my three garms, causing Gael to flinch.
They deserved to celebrate with us, although I guess they made Gael’s apartment very full. I used this time to put the collar on my garms, holding onto the last one for when Quartre finished his transformation. The garms weren’t happy with them on, but they couldn’t defy me. It was for their growth, so they had to relent.
Tasianna hesitated for a moment, looking at her cracked catalyst. She let out a small sigh, clapped her cheeks, and picked up the cup of wine, clanging it against ours. “To life!”
After finishing our cup of wine, I went ahead and asked him if he knew if any more of my students were summoned to Peolynca, but he couldn’t confirm anything. If Kaian or even those bandits from back then were here, maybe they could’ve added something, but that wasn’t possible. I had to wait for House Helvas’s information.
Regardless, with the knowledge that my students were in Peolynca, we had another goal to fulfill, although we didn’t know where they exactly were. Were they still in Griffonpeak, I wonder? Thankfully, Hestia’s goal was in Griffonpeak, so we had to go there anyway.
Hestia was already supportive of my plans when I told her about it yesterday, but I wondered if her curiosity would grow even further once we confirm they are 100% my students. She already wanted to know more about me as a teacher, so maybe it was time I told her more about everybody from my homeroom.
I also had Gael look for Cernust for me, paying him two bottles of wine for it. In addition, I asked him to teach me something.
“Saori, what I said last time wasn’t an excuse, you’re already good. Sure, I have some personal abilities, but you’re already better than me as an arcane trickster with your magic skills.”
I nodded, “That might be the case. However, that does not mean that you have nothing to teach me. That movement skill, you know? Uhm, I overheard from Hestia that [Gale Steps] was a fundamental unarmed Ability everybody should learn.”
Gael whistled, nodding his head a bit. “Damn, correct you are. The Ability scales quite a bit with your agility and allows you to ‘teleport’ in front of people as it temporarily boosts your agility through a perfected foot movements. It’s been iterated over the years and any knight, warrior, and rogue worth their Davi should know it. You don’t; that’s an issue.”
I did remember the saurians, Grazlahta, and Krim’Slak having it; however, they couldn’t teach it to me due to time constraints. Considering I saw Gael use it during our little fight, learning it from him while still in town would be the best use of my time.
“Come back tomorrow. I guess you’ll be going soon now that you have this info, so think of it as my farewell gift. However, stop asking about more tutoring, ‘cause my pride is too fragile to teach somebody better than me, haha!”
Tasianna also asked Gael if he knew somebody who could fix her orb. He told us that we should simply wait for Countess Helvas to come back, as she would probably fix it for us for free simply because Tasianna was a fairy. The Countess was a former noble of the Morgiana duchy after all, similar to Manuella. Otherwise, the alchemy guild was our other option, but then we would have to pay, and I would like to avoid paying if possible. We needed the money for equipment and Hestia’s concert stage!
“So … Miss Fairy.” After another toast, Gael looked at Tasianna with a rather serious expression. “Not to spoil the good mood but … You asked me something, so it should be fine to ask you, right?”
Tasianna raised a brow when she heard this. “… What do you want?” she said suspiciously.
“Nothing important really, it’s just, you know, the whole affair. Davison. Fae hunting. Onnikais. You know the kingdom wants to keep this all a big secret, correct? Artorias has been working very hard to repair their relationship with the elves, and this whole event could become the catalyst for it to break apart and dissolve.”
From the standpoint of a noble of Artorias, I could understand why they wouldn’t want this to come out. It would be bad for diplomacy if other races knew that Artorias allowed Davison’s fae hunting to fester for so long despite advocating to become the elves’ allies, again. Any goodwill would simply die out.
Still, hiding information wasn’t any better. Deception and trying to sweep things under the rug would only make the eventual reveal worse, and three of the black mercs we fought during the Davison raid did escape our clutches. Nevertheless, this wasn’t my problem, Artorias had to handle it properly.
“Gael, we did not come here to be blackmailed or threatened, do you understand?” I warned Gael as I had a feeling the nobles would feel threatened by Tasianna and her origin. It would make sense for a fairy to despise humans even more after what she saw in the cellar.
“Hey, hey, you seem to misunderstand. I don’t exactly care if the kingdom becomes friendly with the elves or not. If it doesn’t lead into a war, I could care less,” he responded quickly to diffuse the situation. “It’s like I said, I just wanted to know Tasianna’s stance on everything. Curiosity. Gotta cool down, Saori. Even your Princess seems calmer than you, and she was the one to scorch the land around the alchemy guild.”
You wouldn’t know her much, Gael. You only saw one side of her personality. She can be sweet at one moment and then ballistic the next.
Tasianna nodded. “Well, Mister Gael, regardless if you tell the truth or not, you may rest assured that I won’t tell anybody about what happened. This isn’t even influenced by my lady or Miss Saori, but my own choice”
She took him a deep breath. “Not all humans are evil. I am not very familiar with politics, but if the alliance between Saelariel and Artorias can benefit both kingdoms then I do not want to be the one to destroy it. I would instead expect Artorias to reveal this truth one day—as naive as it sounds—so their alliance can be formed under trust, similar to how Saelariel trusted the Morgiana Duchy before the war.”
It was good to hear Tasianna sharing my opinion.
“I see … well, here’s to hope that the royal family doesn’t fuck around. If you wanted, you always have the princess and fairy card to play, Tasianna.” Gael then raised his cup after he was done talking. “Let’s finish this cup. To life!”
“To life!”
After another cup of wine, we left his apartment and went back to Ellaine’s mansion. Once we made it back, Manuella and Svena guided us through the mansion, acting as if Tasianna and I were a noble. Tasianna was baffled at what was happening, but the moment the door to the dining room opened, her eyes widened in surprise.
“Happy Birthday, Tasianna! Congratulations on becoming 88 years old!” Standing on top of a chair was Hestia, creating sparkles as she congratulated Tasianna on her birthday.
“Wha-what?!”
“Sorry for being so late, Tasianna,” I told her. “It’s past the actual date, but I hope we can still celebrate it, hiehie. Surprise!”
Tasianna’s birthday was on the 8th of WinterBloom—the 8th of February—however, due to our preparation to raid Davison, we completely forgot about it. This was the first time we would celebrate a birthday with her, but it still didn’t excuse the fact that we forgot about it.
“I-I don’t know what to say. I-I mean, fairies can live forever so we really don’t care after the first few years of our life. If it weren’t for the System, I believe many fairies would simply forget their ages. Oh by Plesia, I didn’t expect this.” Tasianna’s astonishment was clear to understand, as she considered herself more a maid and retainer to Hestia, however, the moment she became part of our party, she became our friend. And friends celebrate birthdays with each other.
“Come on, just like what Gael just said,” I nudged her forward as Manuella and Svena moved to present the cake Hestia and I made for Tasianna.
“Celebrate … for living. To life?” she said meekly.
I winked.
“For life. Come on!” I took her arm and pulled her into the room. “Lady Hestia, did you manage to hunt some skorrs while you had the time?”
“What? Saori is that really the first thing you say? Why not praise for how well I decorated everything with the maids and butlers! I had to redo everything twice to make it just right, you know?” Hestia pouted. “And yes, I got us some skorr. I even changed my Job, so all the chores are done for today. Are you happy?”
“Very much so!”
The party lasted until midnight, where Tasianna’s loud “Thank you very much, everybody!” was the perfect closure to everything. When morning came, Tasianna’s wish to repair her catalyst came.
… And also a duel between siblings was about to begin.
AbyssRaven To life, everybody!
If you guys want to support me, Hestia and "A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale" (or just read up to 20 advance chapters + any Patreon-only chapters) please check out my Patreon: Rawr
For two dollars, for the cost of a coffee, you can read up to four chapters for the whole month! You will have my eternal gratitude for any support you can give me! Please.
Thank you for reading this chapter.
