“Wow, for a medium-sized wagon, this room surely is a bit too large,” Muraina expressed her surprise at the sight of our communal room, noticing how spacious it was and filled with furniture for rest and recuperation. She then noted the five rooms and our bathroom inside the corridor next to it, now completely confused at the situation. “… This is space-time magic, correct?”
I gave my thumbs up. I explained to her what [Room] did and how it worked.
“I see … it is extremely rare for someone to learn [Space-Time Magic], since the condition to receive it is so difficult to fulfill. Even once acquired, the spells are mana-intensive to use and long. Ah, you and Saori certainly are lucky, Lady Hestia.”
I then gave Muraina a tour around the different rooms of our subspace before stopping at our sauna and artificial hot spring.
“Everything took so much money to furnish. Without Count Helvas’s staff, we probably would not have finished it all in one week, and even then, there are still some things that we need to work on,” Saori informed Muraina as she followed us. She then snapped her fingers, having remembered something. “Which reminds me. Shoyi, come out.”
At her command, something black suddenly oozed out from her shadow, wobbling around like jelly as it slowly formed into an oval, squishy creature. It crawled up Saori’s leg like a snail, prompting her to pick it up and give it a gentle tap on its body before caressing it like a cat.
Eeek! It’s a slime, urgh …
“Hestia, let me introduce you to the answer to our plumbing system—Shoyi! My fifth shadow pack member, a [Lesser Shadow Slime]!”
The slime’s skin suddenly moved up and down like a wave, responding to Saori’s excited voice with something similar to elation.
I gulped and forced myself to look at the small slime, still slightly afraid of them from my past experience with a larger variant. “I know Ellaine suggested that we buy one of them, since noble houses use these aromatic slimes to eat toilet waste and keep bathrooms smelling good, but does it still work as one after you made it into a shadow beast? Also, ‘Shoyi?’ Did you really name it after ‘shoyu?’ Soy sauce?!”
The black slime did remind me of a globule of soy sauce, but it felt weird calling it after a condiment. Somehow, Saori disagreed.
“Nonsense, Shoyi is an acceptable name, Hestia.” She was adamant about it and stroked the slime again, who reciprocated Saori’s affection by slightly moving its body. How did these two get so familiar so soon? “And, yes, you do not have to worry about it. My [Shadow Pack] skill does change my tamed beasts’ races, but it does not change their skill sets. [Lesser Aromatic Slimes] like Shoyi have a racial skill called [Detritus Aromatic], which helps them process waste better and create a pleasant aroma. In the wild, they use this smell to attract animals towards them for ‘food,’ if you understand what I mean.”
When I asked Saori how Shoyi was seemingly reacting to her words, she explained how sensitive slimes were to external stimuli, as they lacked the ability to see and hear. Slimes weren’t intelligent, so they couldn’t react to Saori’s words. However, it could feel her warmth and gentleness whenever she touched it.
“[Shadow Pack] creates a link between me and my shadow beasts, and it’s probably an improved version of the normal tamer system, similar to how your [Idol] is an improved version of the bardic system. Shoyi still isn’t sapient enough to think or make its own decisions. It still acts through instincts alone, and, even if I ordered it to, it would not be able to become your retainer just yet, Hestia.” In other words, the slime had to evolve. “I asked the other tamers at the hunter’s guild for tips, and they told me that I can control the evolution of my monsters through the tamer system, although they have to be loyal enough. Uno, Song, Sarasa, and Quatre shouldn’t have a problem with that, and I am now making sure Shoyi won’t either.”
Shoyi also was too small to multiply itself into individual blobs until it evolved into something able to control them from a distance. Saori was hoping that she could have some time at the elven outpost to hunt some monsters to power level her garms and Shoyi. Speaking of the garms, they were still too stubborn to accept my [Hestia’s Retainer] title.
As Saori continued playing with Shoyi, Song suddenly poked her head out from Saori’s shadow and began wimping at her alpha. Feeling bad, Saori allowed the garm to exit her shadow and began playing with her giant dog. Saori really was like those people who didn’t want a pet but would turn into pet lovers the moment they got one. Nobody would believe Saori didn’t want to take the garms in at first.
“This is fascinating. If I remember correctly, [Shadow Pack] should be one of your custom spells, Saori? I don’t remember the details anymore, but are you constantly summoning them, right now?” Muraina asked, having started stroking her spriggan Whisperia’s treant body due to Saori.
“Not exactly; in fact, for some reason, my custom spell turned into a unique skill. I still have no idea what triggered that event, but I am happy with the results. Still … Muraina, do you possibly know why Edna would suddenly keep watch of somebody?” Saori explained to the elf how she got the [Watched by Edna] title after evolving into a B rank, omitting what monster she evolved into to keep some secrets.
Muraina nodded. “Hmm, well, Edna is the Goddess of Monsters and Fertility, and was renowned as one of the best tamers when she was still a mortal elf. I don’t think you’ve given birth yet, correct, Saori?” Saori vehemently shook her head. She admitted to being a virgin, even in her past life. “Then it has to be due to your [Shadow Pack] skill, the monster race you evolved into, your blood connection with Belzac, or some combination thereof. Those are the only possibilities I can think of. If you really want to know more, maybe pray you become her blessed?”
“… I must commune first, right? Where would one of these altars be?” Saori replied.
“You’re considering it?” Muraina’s eyes widened as she raised an eyebrow. “Well, there is one in Saelariel’s capital, Caindha, in the temple dedicated to Marsven.”
Saori initially wanted to ignore the title, but it seems that she wasn’t able to entirely. With nothing happening with it for a whole month now, she probably got impatient. Remaining in the dark about the god’s plans felt unnerving, and I guess Saori was intending for me to speak with Edna to understand what was going on.
In any case, once the tour was done, we left the subspace, returning to our living room in our RV. There we saw Ellaine slouching on the counter stool, slowly eating her breakfast as she attempted to keep her eyes open.
When she noticed us, she waved her hand. “Hestia, I forgot to apologize for not attending your concert. I’m also sorry I couldn’t sing the third song with you, despite how much we practiced together. I can’t believe I forgot about that when I came back.”
Ellaine and her parents didn’t sleep at all yesterday, so when Ellaine came back to the mansion, she looked terrible. She complained how they couldn’t find Jonathan and that her parents couldn’t stop looking, despite how tired and stressed they were already from all the work they put in for the concert and yeast deal. When Barathan heard this, he shook his head and murmured, “They haven’t changed since we traveled together.” and flew out on his gargoyle to fetch them.
From what I remembered, Barathan was the attendant who traveled with the Arcanuess and Arcaliess when they became adventurers, so he probably was extremely close to them. Considering how he was entrusted to take care of so many important operations like managing the arcanarch and the yeast production, it seemed that he was a reliable person.
I gave her a thumbs up. “It’s all right. If I was in your position, I would do the same. Family is everything; I can always reschedule a concert, after all.”
Ellaine smiled softly before asking Saori about how well the pastries and sweets sold. Showing a proud smile, Saori responded, “We sold out. The mountains we managed to bake sold out before Hestia could even finish the concert. Lady Amelia received some complaints from the nobles about how we should not have sold so many to the ‘masses’ if we couldn’t keep enough stock for them. We profited immensely and managed to recuperate a majority of our investments.”
Ellaine clapped. “Amazing, hiehie. Exclusivity and scarcity will always lead to complaints. Ahhhh, Father’s promotion into an Arcanuess will proceed smoothly with us monopolizing the nobility’s recent fancy. Lord Duke Greenveil will most likely perform the ceremony once my parents return to Griffonpeak. How vexing … I am the daughter of an arcanuess now.”
I clapped her shoulder and told her to finish her breakfast before Saori, Muraina, and I moved upstairs, where we saw Tasianna tending to our garden while making some mana potions. After we expanded the garden during the renovations with the [Room] runes, Tasianna was able to include more herbs as well as various other plants which could benefit our potion-making. We even left a bed inside this “greenhouse” in case Tasianna had to stay here and sleep.
“Oh, which reminds me of something, your catalysts are finished!” Putting her bow down, Muraina opened her travel bag and pulled out a head-sized red orb and two palm-sized dark green balls. Handing them over, Tasianna gleefully asked us to appraise them.
Mana Eyes.
From just the first glance, doesn’t it seem like my catalyst is more catered towards a supportive role? Then again, it makes sense that Saori’s catalyst is more powerful since they were made from Asterios.
Noticing my sullen look, Tasianna said, “Lady Hestia, when Master Krymdar made your catalyst, I was allowed to give him my opinion on what you and Miss Saori preferred. From a combat standpoint, do you really require more methods of attack?”
She had a point. Concerning my offense, I had so many tools under my belt that I haven’t fully mastered yet. While adding more wouldn’t hurt, and I was always looking on creating more custom spells and toxins, there was a point where having too many options would become detrimental.
Everything in moderation. If there were ways for me to improve my existing toolkit by empowering those options, then I would become stronger without risking decision paralysis. After just receiving [Unheilige Engel] and [Halo of Consecration], there were now more things I had to incorporate into my fighting style.
While thinking deeply on this subject, Tasianna continued, “The skills on Miss Saori’s catalyst were chosen to improve her new abilities, strengthening her offensive and defensive abilities even further. For you, Lady Hestia, I believe more defensive options would be better, no?”
“Am I not already pretty resilient against anything fire related?” I responded.
“Resilient, yes, but … how about immune? Impossible to defeat?” Tasianna’s reasoning had some merit. “In the case you aren’t happy with your current catalysts, Master Krymdar has taught me enough for me to replicate his technique. Even if I did forget, he sold me a few of his reference materials and also wrote down a notebook for me to review. She then pointed at the stacks of books next to her alchemy bench. We should add a bookshelf for her later.
Tasianna then urged Saori and me to register our mana into them, finalizing the progress. After filling the catalysts with our mana, the orbs glowed their respective colors and our name appeared in the “Owner” area. When mine activated, a warm aura began emanating from it as it floated around me. It reminded me of a mobile heater.
“We can finally ask Grimnir to start producing weapons and equipment suitable for our catalyst, Saori.”
Speaking of him, I looked out the window and confirmed our RV was about to reach the gates as Grimnir drove it forward. Our trip would normally take two days with a wagon, but since two of Saori’s garms would always drag the RV forward, we probably could reach the elven outpost a bit earlier, assuming there weren’t any disturbances.
Since we didn’t have anything else to do for now, Muraina, Saori, and I decided to help Tasianna harvest some of the produce. As we were about to finish filling the fourth crate, we felt the RV halting still, probably at the gate inspection’s queue. As the line moved forward, the RV would move and then slow to a stop every other minute like clockwork. However, on the fifth time, it came to a sudden halt, unbalancing us.
That was when we heard Grimnir shouting, “Bladdarg, you stupid akongs! What in Crustacia’s name are you doing, jumping in front of a wagon for, huh? You got a date with Ilsaphone?”
A commotion. There were other people speaking around the RV but Grimnir’s voice stuck out the most, leading to a man responding.
“We, suicidal? You got it the wrong way, dwarf. We’re just doing our duty as hunter’s by confronting these giant wolves you got here, I mean, you gotta be dull to not have noticed how uncomfortable they’re making things for the common people around us, right?”
“Yeah, look at that scarred one. If you don’t know it yet, we have a festival in the city right now and youse are making it pretty bad for everyone if these wolves suddenly start to rampage around.” Another stranger spoke up, supporting the man from before.
“So?” Grimnir was holding back his temper. “Those garms ain’t doing anybody any harm, they aren’t even growling at you four idiots. I’m currently leaving the city, so how about you four move your asses out of my way and stop blocking the DAMN LINE!”
“AH, SHUT UP, ALREADY!” Somebody with a deep voice declared with clear hostility in his voice, before a metallic sound similar to unsheathing a weapon followed. “The boss is hiring us to get some good leather for him, so let’s just kill these things already and be done with it! I ain’t going all the way over to the Olivus Duchy for that C rank quest.”
The moment she heard this, Saori shouted “The nerve!” and jumped out of the window on the second floor and rushed over to the front of the RV with [Air Walk]. Unable to see what was happening from that one, we opened the small window in the front of the room to look down at the scene of Grimnir and Saori staring down a four-man group of fully armored men.
Yellow and brown glossy scales were shimmering on the four men’s armor, looking like hardened carapace with spikes attached to them, as if some edgy teen designed them with the sole purpose of looking cool and intimidating. They weren’t wearing their helmets right now, as they were being carried under their arms.
Weapon-wise, they were quite balanced. I could see a bow, a spear and shield, a greataxe, and a massive hammer divided amongst them. It didn’t seem like those four were magicians as they didn’t have any visible catalysts on them, but I could be wrong.
“I am a registered tamer at the hunter’s guild and these garms are mine!” Saori pulled out her ID and showed it off to the men without coming any closer, glaring at them down as red mist exuded from her blood-red eyes. Seeing her protect them, Uno and Quartre, the ones who were dragging the RV along, suppressed their growls to act like disciplined wolves before the crowd.
Yet, it didn’t seem to have impressed the men.
“You’re a tamer, beauty? Well, then we have somebody reasonable to talk with, instead of a drunk dwarf,” the one with the bow snarled. He pulled out two gold coins from his pouch, showing them off to Saori. “Two small goldites for both of them. Good price, aye?”
Two? That’s 100k Davi per coin! That’s enough money to pay Krymdar the 80k Davi we owed him for the catalysts while still having enough left over for two more commissions!
Saori, as a person, valued money greatly due to her experience after her father died. Yet, she wasn’t a greedy person, she only strived for stability. She could be shameless, but trying to offer her money to kill her valued canine companions? Her pack?
That fury could be seen on that snake-like grin she showed the men. “Money? Sounds like a good deal, but I have a better suggestion for you four. How about you go fuck yourself and leave my garms alone before we call the guards on you.”
“GUARDS! Hahahaha! This girl doesn’t know who we are, brother! Listen here, subhuman, we are the rank B adventurer party ‘Sky’s Oblivion.’ We are an upcoming A rank party made out of four wyvernslayers and a Champion Candidate of the Goddess of Light. You think we’re afraid of some fucking city guards? Ha!” the guy with the hammer spat out, looking like your typical gangster as he spat on the ground. To push his point forward, he began exuding a [Terror Aura] around, emphasizing his point by scaring the surrounding people.
… Wyvernslayers? I eyed cautiously. Meanwhile, the crowd was starting to disperse.
“S-shit, it’s those guys! I remember! Those guys have a noble as a party member. Let’s skip.”
“Who cares about this, let’s just ignore them. Get away.”
The smirks the men had on their face as they saw the guards not reacting to any of this, proving their point, was starting to make me frustrated. I wanted to punch their rotten teeth out.
“Fuck this! Enough negotiations, let’s just ignore the bitch and kill the monster. The pay we get for getting the boss some rank C wolf fur should be enough to bribe the guards.” All four men agreed with the greataxe user, acting smug as they all unsheathed their weapons.
Unfortunately, that was a mistake.
“Let’s do this bro—Urgh!”
As the spear user was about to announce the start of the battle, all four men suddenly froze in spot as an incredible bloodthirst was being exuded from underneath our window. Looking down, I saw black lightning coursing through Saori’s body as the red mist around her eyes intensified. Uno and Quatre had begun growling again as Song and Sarasa revealed themselves from Saori’s shadow.
Grimnir flipped the four men off and grabbed his hammer, jumping down as he prepared to join Saori’s menacing march forward. The four men calmed themselves from Saori’s aura and began smiling like a bunch of battle junkies, readying their weapons to engage Saori and Grimnir. I turned to Tasianna and we both nodded. If somebody threatened a member of Aurora, then they better be prepared for retaliation.
Yet, before we stormed down, we stopped in place when we noticed Muraina wasn’t with us. “Hoooot!” the shrill cry of an owl suddenly appeared from outside the window, pulling our attention back out, only to see Whisperia shooting down four of its arrows into the ground, piercing the stone streets deeply.
“You know, I’m all right with guild members settling their disputes by themselves, as long as they don’t end up killing each other. So how about stopping this before anything happens?” Walking casually into the scene with her hands on her hips, it was Muraina. She was still smiling as she spoke but her eyes looked dissatisfied with the situation. “Sky’s Oblivion, the wolfkin woman and her garms haven’t caused any issues for anybody since they came to Griffonpeak. I heard the middle district had even gotten used to those giant wolves. Move aside and stop provoking quarrels. I don’t need rank As agitating every single person from my guild.”
The mood changed. The auras from the men and Saori dimmed down and they began staring at Muraina. As if to break this awkward mood, the bow wielder suddenly broke out in laughter.
“True, true, Guild Master Muraina. The boss wouldn’t want us to delay his rank A upgrade anymore than we’ve already done. Come on lads, let’s get out of here. We have work to do in the Olivus Duchy.” And, just like that, everything ended. The three men clicked their tongues in frustration but listened to their leader anyways. They cut in front of the line, leaving Griffonpeak through the gates.
I let out a sigh. This was unreal. There was no need for any of this crap.
After we left the city, Muraina gestured for us to come down. When Tasianna and I ran down the stairs, we noticed Ellaine had fallen asleep on the counter, realizing that was why she hadn’t reacted to anything.
The two of us giggled. We decided to leave Ellaine there and explain everything to her later on.
In essence, that was the adventurer party we’ve been hearing around about. The one led by that Charleslyt or something. The second son of Duke Equevanna and a star among the younger nobles due to being a rank B adventurer. Somebody sponsored by the temple’s cardinal … Yet his party members were nothing but thugs.
“He is a problematic person who hired those B ranks as his ‘party members’ after they made themselves known as a group of wyvernslayers. His rank has been steadily rising from then on,” Muraina explained.
Charleslyt didn’t seem to be a good person at all, seeing how Muraina was calling him out for effectively buying his current hunter rank. Which raised the question why he was made a B rank in the first place.
In the hunter’s guild, nobles had no privileges at all and were to be treated by the personnel and their fellow hunter colleges as any other adventurer. After all, helping Muraina out was our party’s punishment for causing a monster outbreak due to our negligence. I wasn’t getting out of this, even if I was a princess.
However, the issue was more complicated than I thought.
“When he joined the hunter’s guild, he did so in Equevanna. According to the ‘reports’ from the guild master there, this nobleman hasn’t cheated and is rightfully a rank B Profile-wise. With no evidence of any illegal actions, I can’t do much, since I’m just another ‘branch master,’” Muraina explained. “When I did my own research, I learned how Charleslyt has an extensive history of bribing people with his father’s money. There are even rumors to implicate him as a member of Artorias’s underworld—that he has connections in Shaturein. Nothing proven, of course.”
“And now his party is using this reputation and influence to their advantage to coerce people into things? How is this allowed? Shouldn’t nobles be held to a higher degree of responsibility, especially from a duke’s second son?” Saori complained, still livid at what just occurred.
“It’s exactly what you said, he’s a duke’s son. Trouble has no consequences if he and his party aren’t actively committing crimes under a guard’s ‘dutiful watch.’ And I have heard that some witnesses became richer right after meeting them. Luckily, the boy isn’t level 100 yet, so I have a good case to completely deny his promotion into a rank A despite him having the ‘necessary’ rank points. Haa, in my time, rank A candidates wouldn’t go around trying to curry favor to make people believe you ‘deserve’ the promotion.”
Now I understand why Rooster Head acted like that. If I heard something stupid like this, I would be livid, too!
We forgot about the situation for now, as we didn’t want to ruin our trip. Muraina took over Grimnir’s spot as the RV’s driver and the rest of us returned inside. I then entered the subspace and created a guest room for Muraina to sleep in for later that night, furnishing it with the essentials.
The day then moved by normally without anything happening. With the garms intimidating monsters and bandits alike, nothing disturbed our trip as we traveled to the elven outpost. While acting as the driver, Muraina even hunted down some deer and brought them back to the RV for Saori to butcher. Elves weren’t all vegetarian like my fantasy books had led me to expect.
After we parked the RV at a safe spot for the night, we spoiled ourselves with a hearty meal. When we were about to go take a bath and get ready for bed, Grimnir told us to go ahead while he returned to the smithy. Our hot spring was split into genders, so it didn’t matter if he wanted to bathe at the same time as us.
“Ooh, a hot spring. I haven’t been to one since I visited the dwarves and Loatryx.” Muraina was well acquainted with hot springs it seemed. As such, we only had to explain hot spring etiquette to Ellaine and Tasianna.
This was our hot spring’s maiden usage. Tasianna filled the tanks with water while I created a calm flame to warm everything up. We then added some minerals into the water to simulate the healthy effects of a hot spring. Doing it this way was the reason why we called this an artificial hot spring.
Once everything was done, we moved into the changing room. “First, please, take off your clothes and put on these towels to hide your skin.” Saori, Muraina, and I were already used to open-air hot springs so we knew we would go into it naked with other women, but both Tasianna and Ellaine were surprised to hear it was done like that.
Tasianna naturally shrugged it off as she was kinda used to seeing others naked from our time in the Belzac forest, where she had to act like a shower head for us. On the other hand, Ellaine was red as a tomato, unwilling to go into the hot spring even with other women. Sure, she was used to her maids seeing her naked, but she didn’t like the idea of seeing others naked.
I grabbed her hand. “Trust me, it will be fine. I don’t think anybody will stare at you. You wanted to learn more about Earthen culture, well, this is just one part of it.”
With Ellaine acquiescing, we entered the bath space, softly moaning as the soothing warmth massaged our naked skin. The steamy air of an indoor hot spring entered our lungs and pores, helping us relax as we continue into the washing spot. There, Saori summoned Song, Sarasa, and Shoyi and noted how she left Uno and Quatre outside.
“Certainly very considerate in making this place this large. Those large garms fit in without a problem,” Muraina commented. She then stroked her familiar. “Well, Whisperia, let’s clean your body.”
A full ladies’ night with a genderless slime and spriggan. Nice!
After we washed the dirt and sweat we accumulated today, all of us stepped foot into the hot spring. I felt the warm water on my feet, and noticed that it was slightly too hot for other people to use. I mentally made a note to properly test the ideal hot spring temperature next time.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah …” We all moaned as we settled into the hot water.
“Ruuuuuuuuuuh …” The garms did, too, looking like they were enjoying the calm and relaxed atmosphere.
“Boing.” My mind made that sound when I saw Shoyi’s jelly-like body float around on the water.
We didn’t hear anything from Klea’Hatma, probably ’cause Ellaine told her not to speak up with Muraina around. It was for the best. It was rude to think that way, yes, but I didn’t feel comfortable with the demon speaking with us anyways. I wanted some peace and quiet.
This is just the best. Our party really made it far …
As fun as the hot spring was, staying inside for too long wasn’t good. I could since I didn’t get dizzy from the heat, but we came in as a group so we had to leave as a group. After drinking some cold fragassa milk, our bodies were refreshed and healed from stress. Sleep came naturally.
As Muraina expected, it took us another day on the road for us to reach the outpost. Once we were there, the large forest came into view.
“I can see our welcoming party, everybody. Prepare yourselves. After I check in for the latest news, we’ll be moving to the field immediately.”
Another day, another battle stage for Aurora.
AbyssRaven Hot springs are really fun!
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“Wow, for a medium-sized wagon, this room surely is a bit too large,” Muraina expressed her surprise at the sight of our communal room, noticing how spacious it was and filled with furniture for rest and recuperation. She then noted the five rooms and our bathroom inside the corridor next to it, now completely confused at the situation. “… This is space-time magic, correct?”
I gave my thumbs up. I explained to her what [Room] did and how it worked.
“I see … it is extremely rare for someone to learn [Space-Time Magic], since the condition to receive it is so difficult to fulfill. Even once acquired, the spells are mana-intensive to use and long. Ah, you and Saori certainly are lucky, Lady Hestia.”
I then gave Muraina a tour around the different rooms of our subspace before stopping at our sauna and artificial hot spring.
“Everything took so much money to furnish. Without Count Helvas’s staff, we probably would not have finished it all in one week, and even then, there are still some things that we need to work on,” Saori informed Muraina as she followed us. She then snapped her fingers, having remembered something. “Which reminds me. Shoyi, come out.”
At her command, something black suddenly oozed out from her shadow, wobbling around like jelly as it slowly formed into an oval, squishy creature. It crawled up Saori’s leg like a snail, prompting her to pick it up and give it a gentle tap on its body before caressing it like a cat.
Eeek! It’s a slime, urgh …
“Hestia, let me introduce you to the answer to our plumbing system—Shoyi! My fifth shadow pack member, a [Lesser Shadow Slime]!”
The slime’s skin suddenly moved up and down like a wave, responding to Saori’s excited voice with something similar to elation.
I gulped and forced myself to look at the small slime, still slightly afraid of them from my past experience with a larger variant. “I know Ellaine suggested that we buy one of them, since noble houses use these aromatic slimes to eat toilet waste and keep bathrooms smelling good, but does it still work as one after you made it into a shadow beast? Also, ‘Shoyi?’ Did you really name it after ‘shoyu?’ Soy sauce?!”
The black slime did remind me of a globule of soy sauce, but it felt weird calling it after a condiment. Somehow, Saori disagreed.
“Nonsense, Shoyi is an acceptable name, Hestia.” She was adamant about it and stroked the slime again, who reciprocated Saori’s affection by slightly moving its body. How did these two get so familiar so soon? “And, yes, you do not have to worry about it. My [Shadow Pack] skill does change my tamed beasts’ races, but it does not change their skill sets. [Lesser Aromatic Slimes] like Shoyi have a racial skill called [Detritus Aromatic], which helps them process waste better and create a pleasant aroma. In the wild, they use this smell to attract animals towards them for ‘food,’ if you understand what I mean.”
When I asked Saori how Shoyi was seemingly reacting to her words, she explained how sensitive slimes were to external stimuli, as they lacked the ability to see and hear. Slimes weren’t intelligent, so they couldn’t react to Saori’s words. However, it could feel her warmth and gentleness whenever she touched it.
“[Shadow Pack] creates a link between me and my shadow beasts, and it’s probably an improved version of the normal tamer system, similar to how your [Idol] is an improved version of the bardic system. Shoyi still isn’t sapient enough to think or make its own decisions. It still acts through instincts alone, and, even if I ordered it to, it would not be able to become your retainer just yet, Hestia.” In other words, the slime had to evolve. “I asked the other tamers at the hunter’s guild for tips, and they told me that I can control the evolution of my monsters through the tamer system, although they have to be loyal enough. Uno, Song, Sarasa, and Quatre shouldn’t have a problem with that, and I am now making sure Shoyi won’t either.”
Shoyi also was too small to multiply itself into individual blobs until it evolved into something able to control them from a distance. Saori was hoping that she could have some time at the elven outpost to hunt some monsters to power level her garms and Shoyi. Speaking of the garms, they were still too stubborn to accept my [Hestia’s Retainer] title.
As Saori continued playing with Shoyi, Song suddenly poked her head out from Saori’s shadow and began wimping at her alpha. Feeling bad, Saori allowed the garm to exit her shadow and began playing with her giant dog. Saori really was like those people who didn’t want a pet but would turn into pet lovers the moment they got one. Nobody would believe Saori didn’t want to take the garms in at first.
“This is fascinating. If I remember correctly, [Shadow Pack] should be one of your custom spells, Saori? I don’t remember the details anymore, but are you constantly summoning them, right now?” Muraina asked, having started stroking her spriggan Whisperia’s treant body due to Saori.
“Not exactly; in fact, for some reason, my custom spell turned into a unique skill. I still have no idea what triggered that event, but I am happy with the results. Still … Muraina, do you possibly know why Edna would suddenly keep watch of somebody?” Saori explained to the elf how she got the [Watched by Edna] title after evolving into a B rank, omitting what monster she evolved into to keep some secrets.
Muraina nodded. “Hmm, well, Edna is the Goddess of Monsters and Fertility, and was renowned as one of the best tamers when she was still a mortal elf. I don’t think you’ve given birth yet, correct, Saori?” Saori vehemently shook her head. She admitted to being a virgin, even in her past life. “Then it has to be due to your [Shadow Pack] skill, the monster race you evolved into, your blood connection with Belzac, or some combination thereof. Those are the only possibilities I can think of. If you really want to know more, maybe pray you become her blessed?”
“… I must commune first, right? Where would one of these altars be?” Saori replied.
“You’re considering it?” Muraina’s eyes widened as she raised an eyebrow. “Well, there is one in Saelariel’s capital, Caindha, in the temple dedicated to Marsven.”
Saori initially wanted to ignore the title, but it seems that she wasn’t able to entirely. With nothing happening with it for a whole month now, she probably got impatient. Remaining in the dark about the god’s plans felt unnerving, and I guess Saori was intending for me to speak with Edna to understand what was going on.
In any case, once the tour was done, we left the subspace, returning to our living room in our RV. There we saw Ellaine slouching on the counter stool, slowly eating her breakfast as she attempted to keep her eyes open.
When she noticed us, she waved her hand. “Hestia, I forgot to apologize for not attending your concert. I’m also sorry I couldn’t sing the third song with you, despite how much we practiced together. I can’t believe I forgot about that when I came back.”
Ellaine and her parents didn’t sleep at all yesterday, so when Ellaine came back to the mansion, she looked terrible. She complained how they couldn’t find Jonathan and that her parents couldn’t stop looking, despite how tired and stressed they were already from all the work they put in for the concert and yeast deal. When Barathan heard this, he shook his head and murmured, “They haven’t changed since we traveled together.” and flew out on his gargoyle to fetch them.
From what I remembered, Barathan was the attendant who traveled with the Arcanuess and Arcaliess when they became adventurers, so he probably was extremely close to them. Considering how he was entrusted to take care of so many important operations like managing the arcanarch and the yeast production, it seemed that he was a reliable person.
I gave her a thumbs up. “It’s all right. If I was in your position, I would do the same. Family is everything; I can always reschedule a concert, after all.”
Ellaine smiled softly before asking Saori about how well the pastries and sweets sold. Showing a proud smile, Saori responded, “We sold out. The mountains we managed to bake sold out before Hestia could even finish the concert. Lady Amelia received some complaints from the nobles about how we should not have sold so many to the ‘masses’ if we couldn’t keep enough stock for them. We profited immensely and managed to recuperate a majority of our investments.”
Ellaine clapped. “Amazing, hiehie. Exclusivity and scarcity will always lead to complaints. Ahhhh, Father’s promotion into an Arcanuess will proceed smoothly with us monopolizing the nobility’s recent fancy. Lord Duke Greenveil will most likely perform the ceremony once my parents return to Griffonpeak. How vexing … I am the daughter of an arcanuess now.”
I clapped her shoulder and told her to finish her breakfast before Saori, Muraina, and I moved upstairs, where we saw Tasianna tending to our garden while making some mana potions. After we expanded the garden during the renovations with the [Room] runes, Tasianna was able to include more herbs as well as various other plants which could benefit our potion-making. We even left a bed inside this “greenhouse” in case Tasianna had to stay here and sleep.
“Oh, which reminds me of something, your catalysts are finished!” Putting her bow down, Muraina opened her travel bag and pulled out a head-sized red orb and two palm-sized dark green balls. Handing them over, Tasianna gleefully asked us to appraise them.
Mana Eyes.
From just the first glance, doesn’t it seem like my catalyst is more catered towards a supportive role? Then again, it makes sense that Saori’s catalyst is more powerful since they were made from Asterios.
Noticing my sullen look, Tasianna said, “Lady Hestia, when Master Krymdar made your catalyst, I was allowed to give him my opinion on what you and Miss Saori preferred. From a combat standpoint, do you really require more methods of attack?”
She had a point. Concerning my offense, I had so many tools under my belt that I haven’t fully mastered yet. While adding more wouldn’t hurt, and I was always looking on creating more custom spells and toxins, there was a point where having too many options would become detrimental.
Everything in moderation. If there were ways for me to improve my existing toolkit by empowering those options, then I would become stronger without risking decision paralysis. After just receiving [Unheilige Engel] and [Halo of Consecration], there were now more things I had to incorporate into my fighting style.
While thinking deeply on this subject, Tasianna continued, “The skills on Miss Saori’s catalyst were chosen to improve her new abilities, strengthening her offensive and defensive abilities even further. For you, Lady Hestia, I believe more defensive options would be better, no?”
“Am I not already pretty resilient against anything fire related?” I responded.
“Resilient, yes, but … how about immune? Impossible to defeat?” Tasianna’s reasoning had some merit. “In the case you aren’t happy with your current catalysts, Master Krymdar has taught me enough for me to replicate his technique. Even if I did forget, he sold me a few of his reference materials and also wrote down a notebook for me to review. She then pointed at the stacks of books next to her alchemy bench. We should add a bookshelf for her later.
Tasianna then urged Saori and me to register our mana into them, finalizing the progress. After filling the catalysts with our mana, the orbs glowed their respective colors and our name appeared in the “Owner” area. When mine activated, a warm aura began emanating from it as it floated around me. It reminded me of a mobile heater.
“We can finally ask Grimnir to start producing weapons and equipment suitable for our catalyst, Saori.”
Speaking of him, I looked out the window and confirmed our RV was about to reach the gates as Grimnir drove it forward. Our trip would normally take two days with a wagon, but since two of Saori’s garms would always drag the RV forward, we probably could reach the elven outpost a bit earlier, assuming there weren’t any disturbances.
Since we didn’t have anything else to do for now, Muraina, Saori, and I decided to help Tasianna harvest some of the produce. As we were about to finish filling the fourth crate, we felt the RV halting still, probably at the gate inspection’s queue. As the line moved forward, the RV would move and then slow to a stop every other minute like clockwork. However, on the fifth time, it came to a sudden halt, unbalancing us.
That was when we heard Grimnir shouting, “Bladdarg, you stupid akongs! What in Crustacia’s name are you doing, jumping in front of a wagon for, huh? You got a date with Ilsaphone?”
A commotion. There were other people speaking around the RV but Grimnir’s voice stuck out the most, leading to a man responding.
“We, suicidal? You got it the wrong way, dwarf. We’re just doing our duty as hunter’s by confronting these giant wolves you got here, I mean, you gotta be dull to not have noticed how uncomfortable they’re making things for the common people around us, right?”
“Yeah, look at that scarred one. If you don’t know it yet, we have a festival in the city right now and youse are making it pretty bad for everyone if these wolves suddenly start to rampage around.” Another stranger spoke up, supporting the man from before.
“So?” Grimnir was holding back his temper. “Those garms ain’t doing anybody any harm, they aren’t even growling at you four idiots. I’m currently leaving the city, so how about you four move your asses out of my way and stop blocking the DAMN LINE!”
“AH, SHUT UP, ALREADY!” Somebody with a deep voice declared with clear hostility in his voice, before a metallic sound similar to unsheathing a weapon followed. “The boss is hiring us to get some good leather for him, so let’s just kill these things already and be done with it! I ain’t going all the way over to the Olivus Duchy for that C rank quest.”
The moment she heard this, Saori shouted “The nerve!” and jumped out of the window on the second floor and rushed over to the front of the RV with [Air Walk]. Unable to see what was happening from that one, we opened the small window in the front of the room to look down at the scene of Grimnir and Saori staring down a four-man group of fully armored men.
Yellow and brown glossy scales were shimmering on the four men’s armor, looking like hardened carapace with spikes attached to them, as if some edgy teen designed them with the sole purpose of looking cool and intimidating. They weren’t wearing their helmets right now, as they were being carried under their arms.
Weapon-wise, they were quite balanced. I could see a bow, a spear and shield, a greataxe, and a massive hammer divided amongst them. It didn’t seem like those four were magicians as they didn’t have any visible catalysts on them, but I could be wrong.
“I am a registered tamer at the hunter’s guild and these garms are mine!” Saori pulled out her ID and showed it off to the men without coming any closer, glaring at them down as red mist exuded from her blood-red eyes. Seeing her protect them, Uno and Quartre, the ones who were dragging the RV along, suppressed their growls to act like disciplined wolves before the crowd.
Yet, it didn’t seem to have impressed the men.
“You’re a tamer, beauty? Well, then we have somebody reasonable to talk with, instead of a drunk dwarf,” the one with the bow snarled. He pulled out two gold coins from his pouch, showing them off to Saori. “Two small goldites for both of them. Good price, aye?”
Two? That’s 100k Davi per coin! That’s enough money to pay Krymdar the 80k Davi we owed him for the catalysts while still having enough left over for two more commissions!
Saori, as a person, valued money greatly due to her experience after her father died. Yet, she wasn’t a greedy person, she only strived for stability. She could be shameless, but trying to offer her money to kill her valued canine companions? Her pack?
That fury could be seen on that snake-like grin she showed the men. “Money? Sounds like a good deal, but I have a better suggestion for you four. How about you go fuck yourself and leave my garms alone before we call the guards on you.”
“GUARDS! Hahahaha! This girl doesn’t know who we are, brother! Listen here, subhuman, we are the rank B adventurer party ‘Sky’s Oblivion.’ We are an upcoming A rank party made out of four wyvernslayers and a Champion Candidate of the Goddess of Light. You think we’re afraid of some fucking city guards? Ha!” the guy with the hammer spat out, looking like your typical gangster as he spat on the ground. To push his point forward, he began exuding a [Terror Aura] around, emphasizing his point by scaring the surrounding people.
… Wyvernslayers? I eyed cautiously. Meanwhile, the crowd was starting to disperse.
“S-shit, it’s those guys! I remember! Those guys have a noble as a party member. Let’s skip.”
“Who cares about this, let’s just ignore them. Get away.”
The smirks the men had on their face as they saw the guards not reacting to any of this, proving their point, was starting to make me frustrated. I wanted to punch their rotten teeth out.
“Fuck this! Enough negotiations, let’s just ignore the bitch and kill the monster. The pay we get for getting the boss some rank C wolf fur should be enough to bribe the guards.” All four men agreed with the greataxe user, acting smug as they all unsheathed their weapons.
Unfortunately, that was a mistake.
“Let’s do this bro—Urgh!”
As the spear user was about to announce the start of the battle, all four men suddenly froze in spot as an incredible bloodthirst was being exuded from underneath our window. Looking down, I saw black lightning coursing through Saori’s body as the red mist around her eyes intensified. Uno and Quatre had begun growling again as Song and Sarasa revealed themselves from Saori’s shadow.
Grimnir flipped the four men off and grabbed his hammer, jumping down as he prepared to join Saori’s menacing march forward. The four men calmed themselves from Saori’s aura and began smiling like a bunch of battle junkies, readying their weapons to engage Saori and Grimnir. I turned to Tasianna and we both nodded. If somebody threatened a member of Aurora, then they better be prepared for retaliation.
Yet, before we stormed down, we stopped in place when we noticed Muraina wasn’t with us. “Hoooot!” the shrill cry of an owl suddenly appeared from outside the window, pulling our attention back out, only to see Whisperia shooting down four of its arrows into the ground, piercing the stone streets deeply.
“You know, I’m all right with guild members settling their disputes by themselves, as long as they don’t end up killing each other. So how about stopping this before anything happens?” Walking casually into the scene with her hands on her hips, it was Muraina. She was still smiling as she spoke but her eyes looked dissatisfied with the situation. “Sky’s Oblivion, the wolfkin woman and her garms haven’t caused any issues for anybody since they came to Griffonpeak. I heard the middle district had even gotten used to those giant wolves. Move aside and stop provoking quarrels. I don’t need rank As agitating every single person from my guild.”
The mood changed. The auras from the men and Saori dimmed down and they began staring at Muraina. As if to break this awkward mood, the bow wielder suddenly broke out in laughter.
“True, true, Guild Master Muraina. The boss wouldn’t want us to delay his rank A upgrade anymore than we’ve already done. Come on lads, let’s get out of here. We have work to do in the Olivus Duchy.” And, just like that, everything ended. The three men clicked their tongues in frustration but listened to their leader anyways. They cut in front of the line, leaving Griffonpeak through the gates.
I let out a sigh. This was unreal. There was no need for any of this crap.
After we left the city, Muraina gestured for us to come down. When Tasianna and I ran down the stairs, we noticed Ellaine had fallen asleep on the counter, realizing that was why she hadn’t reacted to anything.
The two of us giggled. We decided to leave Ellaine there and explain everything to her later on.
In essence, that was the adventurer party we’ve been hearing around about. The one led by that Charleslyt or something. The second son of Duke Equevanna and a star among the younger nobles due to being a rank B adventurer. Somebody sponsored by the temple’s cardinal … Yet his party members were nothing but thugs.
“He is a problematic person who hired those B ranks as his ‘party members’ after they made themselves known as a group of wyvernslayers. His rank has been steadily rising from then on,” Muraina explained.
Charleslyt didn’t seem to be a good person at all, seeing how Muraina was calling him out for effectively buying his current hunter rank. Which raised the question why he was made a B rank in the first place.
In the hunter’s guild, nobles had no privileges at all and were to be treated by the personnel and their fellow hunter colleges as any other adventurer. After all, helping Muraina out was our party’s punishment for causing a monster outbreak due to our negligence. I wasn’t getting out of this, even if I was a princess.
However, the issue was more complicated than I thought.
“When he joined the hunter’s guild, he did so in Equevanna. According to the ‘reports’ from the guild master there, this nobleman hasn’t cheated and is rightfully a rank B Profile-wise. With no evidence of any illegal actions, I can’t do much, since I’m just another ‘branch master,’” Muraina explained. “When I did my own research, I learned how Charleslyt has an extensive history of bribing people with his father’s money. There are even rumors to implicate him as a member of Artorias’s underworld—that he has connections in Shaturein. Nothing proven, of course.”
“And now his party is using this reputation and influence to their advantage to coerce people into things? How is this allowed? Shouldn’t nobles be held to a higher degree of responsibility, especially from a duke’s second son?” Saori complained, still livid at what just occurred.
“It’s exactly what you said, he’s a duke’s son. Trouble has no consequences if he and his party aren’t actively committing crimes under a guard’s ‘dutiful watch.’ And I have heard that some witnesses became richer right after meeting them. Luckily, the boy isn’t level 100 yet, so I have a good case to completely deny his promotion into a rank A despite him having the ‘necessary’ rank points. Haa, in my time, rank A candidates wouldn’t go around trying to curry favor to make people believe you ‘deserve’ the promotion.”
Now I understand why Rooster Head acted like that. If I heard something stupid like this, I would be livid, too!
We forgot about the situation for now, as we didn’t want to ruin our trip. Muraina took over Grimnir’s spot as the RV’s driver and the rest of us returned inside. I then entered the subspace and created a guest room for Muraina to sleep in for later that night, furnishing it with the essentials.
The day then moved by normally without anything happening. With the garms intimidating monsters and bandits alike, nothing disturbed our trip as we traveled to the elven outpost. While acting as the driver, Muraina even hunted down some deer and brought them back to the RV for Saori to butcher. Elves weren’t all vegetarian like my fantasy books had led me to expect.
After we parked the RV at a safe spot for the night, we spoiled ourselves with a hearty meal. When we were about to go take a bath and get ready for bed, Grimnir told us to go ahead while he returned to the smithy. Our hot spring was split into genders, so it didn’t matter if he wanted to bathe at the same time as us.
“Ooh, a hot spring. I haven’t been to one since I visited the dwarves and Loatryx.” Muraina was well acquainted with hot springs it seemed. As such, we only had to explain hot spring etiquette to Ellaine and Tasianna.
This was our hot spring’s maiden usage. Tasianna filled the tanks with water while I created a calm flame to warm everything up. We then added some minerals into the water to simulate the healthy effects of a hot spring. Doing it this way was the reason why we called this an artificial hot spring.
Once everything was done, we moved into the changing room. “First, please, take off your clothes and put on these towels to hide your skin.” Saori, Muraina, and I were already used to open-air hot springs so we knew we would go into it naked with other women, but both Tasianna and Ellaine were surprised to hear it was done like that.
Tasianna naturally shrugged it off as she was kinda used to seeing others naked from our time in the Belzac forest, where she had to act like a shower head for us. On the other hand, Ellaine was red as a tomato, unwilling to go into the hot spring even with other women. Sure, she was used to her maids seeing her naked, but she didn’t like the idea of seeing others naked.
I grabbed her hand. “Trust me, it will be fine. I don’t think anybody will stare at you. You wanted to learn more about Earthen culture, well, this is just one part of it.”
With Ellaine acquiescing, we entered the bath space, softly moaning as the soothing warmth massaged our naked skin. The steamy air of an indoor hot spring entered our lungs and pores, helping us relax as we continue into the washing spot. There, Saori summoned Song, Sarasa, and Shoyi and noted how she left Uno and Quatre outside.
“Certainly very considerate in making this place this large. Those large garms fit in without a problem,” Muraina commented. She then stroked her familiar. “Well, Whisperia, let’s clean your body.”
A full ladies’ night with a genderless slime and spriggan. Nice!
After we washed the dirt and sweat we accumulated today, all of us stepped foot into the hot spring. I felt the warm water on my feet, and noticed that it was slightly too hot for other people to use. I mentally made a note to properly test the ideal hot spring temperature next time.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah …” We all moaned as we settled into the hot water.
“Ruuuuuuuuuuh …” The garms did, too, looking like they were enjoying the calm and relaxed atmosphere.
“Boing.” My mind made that sound when I saw Shoyi’s jelly-like body float around on the water.
We didn’t hear anything from Klea’Hatma, probably ’cause Ellaine told her not to speak up with Muraina around. It was for the best. It was rude to think that way, yes, but I didn’t feel comfortable with the demon speaking with us anyways. I wanted some peace and quiet.
This is just the best. Our party really made it far …
As fun as the hot spring was, staying inside for too long wasn’t good. I could since I didn’t get dizzy from the heat, but we came in as a group so we had to leave as a group. After drinking some cold fragassa milk, our bodies were refreshed and healed from stress. Sleep came naturally.
As Muraina expected, it took us another day on the road for us to reach the outpost. Once we were there, the large forest came into view.
“I can see our welcoming party, everybody. Prepare yourselves. After I check in for the latest news, we’ll be moving to the field immediately.”
Another day, another battle stage for Aurora.
AbyssRaven Hot springs are really fun!
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