Four human men were anxiously wriggling around on the ground, struggling to free themselves from their bindings. They were hiding their faces and bodies with winter-thick hooded cloaks. Taking it off, the men looked like the type of guys who would intentionally make themselves look gruff and tough, with wild hairstyles and stubbles on their faces. Thankfully, they weren't filthy like the bandits.
Considering they should be working for the lord of these lands, a noble, I guess they had to groom themselves properly. The lack of a strong scent was probably to help them sneak.
“Pardon me,” Saori said as she looked at the captured spies with calm, but serious, eyes. “Those are mana threads. As long as I can supply them with mana, it would be very hard for you to break through them without sufficient strength. I would ask you to stop struggling.”
They looked at us in defiance, unwilling to speak as they shuffled their eyes around to look for an opening to escape. Sweat was moisturizing their faces, clattering their teeth at the sight of the saurians.
“Grrrr,” Akast growled, having been awoken from their fear of him.
“Please, be at ease," I started out, attempting to diffuse the situation and calm the men down enough to speak to them. “We have no intention of harming you. Your little surveillance job was becoming a bit of an annoyance, so we wish to resolve a few things with you."
“Ashlak’leel sa’got toth zacotl,” Master Kushlek’zar greeted them in the saurian’s tongue, bowing in a prayer pose. “We are faithful servants of the Depth Goddess. As members of the Tide Watchers, I swear on our faith to our Goddess that no harm will befall you, on the assumption that you have no ill will against us.”
“You heard him.” I nodded in Master’s direction. “I’m not technically a priestess or shrine maiden, as I admitted many times, so I can’t promise to Goddess Aurena. Nevertheless, my party also wishes to stay peaceful with Lord Helvas, as we have plans to stay in Carine village for winter.”
The spies stared at each other, discussing with their eyes. The eldest looking guy directed his brown eyes to the ground, before raising them with a hint of anxiousness. “… We can’t say anything, my lady.”
Curiosity was tempting me to look at his profile, but he was not an enemy. That was where I drew the line; where our party drew it. There had to be a certain amount of politeness concerning other’s personal information, if I didn’t want to turn into a creep or make them my enemy. People didn’t like others snooping.
Well, not like I could stop others if they wanted to be a bit sneaky, of course. However, I had [Identity Blocker Lv. 10]. Master told me people usually used trinkets enchanted or equipped with [Identify] and [Identity Blocker], so most didn't have these skills at a high level. In fact, anybody with those skills above level five was rare, and it was more common to find people with items to use [Identify Lv. 10]. Even then, they wouldn’t be able to see everything.
A bit reassuring that I didn’t waste 1750 SP for nothing. Saves on cost in the future.
“I understand you have your orders, but I believe you owe us answers,” Saori stated, picking up her cup of tea to drink from it. “Every morning I can detect six men watching over our house. We have ignored it long enough. Well, our elven friend, at least, is not too fond of you disturbing our peace.”
Although I was ignoring it, Tasianna was exerting a chill. Her [Terror Aura] wasn’t high level but it was enough to scare the captured men, all far low-leveled than her. She hasn’t diverted her gaze once since the men came into sight.
Saori then freed the men from their bindings as a peace offering. “We are not your enemies, I repeat. We want you to tell us what you, no, your lord wants.”
Their confusion was expected but none of us gave it a second thought as Grazlahta, Krim-Slak, Akasht, and Tasianna went back to their lunch. Saori began pouring tea into cups that she took out from her storage and offered it to the spies. Once she was done, we started the interrogation with Master Kushlek’zar, Saori, and I.
Showing them a friendly smile, I hoped to thaw the ice between us. “I believe you should know enough about us, especially from Chief Colwyn’s report, correct? So, let us skip our introductions and go to yours.”
I never saw Colwyn or his family hand in a report, nor did they tell me about it, but I would be a idiot to not assume it. Considering they were responsible for the management of the village, whose ownership belongs to Count Helvas, it was only normal for him to do so.
I also heard from Colwyn himself that he had to request Count Helvas about our stay. Apparently, moving into a village wasn’t so easy as to just ask Colwyn for it. As the fief lord, Count Helvas had full possession of everything on it, including his serfs—the villagers. As such, he got to decide on who could stay here. The village wasn’t an inn, after all.
Although, at first I did think Colwyn’s family were serfs—villeins, if you want to use the more appropriate term—but they were wealthy enough to buy their freedom from their lod. They were considered yeomen—freemen—and were employed as official village caretakers. That explained why their family was so educated.
“… Jecht,” the oldest looking person finally answered, momentarily baffled at their sudden freedom.
“Well, a pleasure to have met your acquaintance, Mr. Jecht,” I responded.
Widening his eyes in surprise, Jecht’s jaw slacked as he repeated, “‘Mr. Jecht?!’”
“Is something wrong?” I tilted my head. “You’re obviously older than me, so addressing you with ‘Mr.’ is the polite way to do it.”
His face reddened at my answer, causing him to stutter as he spoke, “M-my lady, I am a simple servant in the service of Lord Count Helvas. There is no need for you to show me this amount of care.”
Damn, they really do think I’m a noblewoman. Guess showing-off my education is making things kinda easier as Saori and Tasianna told me so. Still … being treated so highly out of nowhere kinda feels awkward.
However, it seemed like realizing I was a noble in his mind caused the man to put his guard back up, as he prudently made sure his words didn’t reveal anything else. It really seemed like torture might be the only way forward … until I remembered I was an idol, not the end-game dragon villain.
In addition, it also didn’t feel right to do it. They weren’t tied up anymore, but they weren’t even making any attempt to escape. It seemed like they were actually waiting for us to torture them for information. Actually, did they think we would kill them>
I guess if you thought of it, that was the inevitable fate of every spy, right? Either you don’t get detected, or you do and get abandoned by your lord to die. Spy flicks usually made this clear; torture and death was something every spy had to be prepared for.
This became clear when both Master and Saori nodded to each other and stood up, looking down at the spies. They clicked their tongues, accepting what was about to come.
“Well, we’re done here. You may go, goodbye.”
“Huh?” came out of their agape mouths, confused at how the former two were being so lax about it.
This prompted Master to speak, “I swore to not harm you if you show us no ill intentions. As a follower of the Goddess of Water, I keep my word.”
“I believe my lady has made it clear that we wish to not create any problems for Lord Count Helvas,” Saori continued.
With their answers given, I laid a hand on under my chin to support my head. With a short nod, I then gave them a request to help them out of their befuddlement. “Could I ask you to stop your surveillance? Oh, and please also relay a message to Lord Helvas that if he wishes to speak with us, then we are ready for the invitation at any time. I too wish to converse with him.””
With a lady-like smile, I waved them goodbye as the spies slowly slinked back into the woods, disappearing after a certain distance. However, although our vision couldn’t find them, our skills and senses were still sharp, easily tracking them as they fled.
“Hmm, I didn’t know you wanted to speak with the fief lord,” Master stated with an intrigued voice. “You are royalty from Kargryx, so I presume you know how to deal with them, nevertheless, I hope you will ask Chief Colwyn for advice. People from the mercenary guild always advise members to properly respect human nobles as they are quite fickle, prone to take offense and act on their privileges. Cultural differences should not be underestimated.”
“Lady Hestia would have no trouble with that. What is a lowly human noble to dragon royalty?” Tasianna commented with pride. “Regardless, I know we must do this, Lady Hestia, but I do want to mention that dealing with any humans will only cause trouble for us. The less we must interact with humans, the less we must be wary of them.”
Hearing the contempt in her voice, Saori shook her head. “We need help entering towns. It cannot be helped. We literally have zero funds to our name.”
Saori was speaking the truth. We had rejected the Quest bounty so we could build our winter house in the village, not to mention the villagers just had no money to pay for our supplies. The only work we could do was construction work, which was easy since I had magic on my side, but in either case, we could only trade and receive eggs and milk.
“There is an entrance fee if you cannot provide an ID,” Master Kushlek’zar added. “Vagrants and adventurers can be troublemakers, so an ID is necessary to ascertain they aren’t criminals. Temprary IDs will be issued to keep them in check, but that will cost Davi. In your case, I would recommend a noble’s support to avoid the free, my apprentice.”
I nodded with a frown. “I don’t want to deal with nobles if I can help it, but we need more than normal IDs. You said it yourself, Master, we need IDs which can hide our Profile. Also, Tasianna, I won’t abuse my [Princess] title. Unless necessary, I will remain ‘Hestia Atsuko.’”
I was currently acting under the assumption that Colwyn would ask Count Helvas to do us a favor, considering we did just eliminate a troubling bandit group and rescued his subjects and returned their winter rations. If the man was a benevolent noble, then we wouldn’t have any problems.
However, our party wasn’t naïve enough to think that it would go according to the plan entirely. Nobles were like politicians and businessmen, always seeking to further their influence and gain benefits. He would try to take advantage of us and that was something we had to prepare for.
… I hope his politician talk, or noble talk in this case, won’t be too hard. I’m not the best when it comes to reading between the lines.
With that resolved, lunch was over and we resumed training. Whether it was furthering our literacy or working on custom spells, we did everything you would assume in a magic theory lecture. Even if I wasn't making too much progress with gaining the last two advanced magic casting types, the training still benefited me as it increased my total mana slowly through effort.
Learning how to write and read would become more effective when I actually did some proper reading. The Church of Aurena’s holy book was a good help, but reading it over and over again was boring. It has been a long while, but I finally took out a few of the books I found in that elven shack inside the Belzac forest.
Now that I thought about it, paper was nonexistent, huh? I mean, I should have expected that as it was a medieval world, but looking at the holy book and these elven books now, I kinda forgot about it.
Just like the books, the Quest paper Colwyn handed us was made out of parchment. Only, the former used higher quality ones called vellum. On the other hand, our group had to use self made wooden tablets and coal to write things down. I would love to use some ink like the one in these books.
I guess the reason why I hadn't realized it until now was that I didn't think too much about it. It was irrelevant in my life in the forest and would have just been a waste of brain cells. Now that I had to read and write again, my desire to write a diary came back, but I pushed that childish thought away. It was embarrassing, really.
My second life was different from my past, and my reason for starting one in the first place didn’t exist anymore. Aside from how frustrated I was about my decaying humanity, I didn’t have too much to reflect on. I wasn’t a victim of bullying, I had two great best friends, I regained my courage to perform, and my first idol concert was coming up soon.
Anyway, forgetting about those talks, I decided to start reading one of these looted books. The first one was titled “The Wedding in the Dark: The Birth of our Relatives,” a book about the marriage of the God of Darkness Marsven and the, now, Goddess of Monsters and Fertility, Edna.
It retold the tale of how the Origin Gods suddenly appeared in the world, and how they slowly established themselves as the rulers of Peolynca through the Divine System. Unfortunately, it didn’t go too much into the myth, as it immediately focused on Edna when she was still a mortal high elf, or just elf, since dark and wind elves didn’t exist back then.
The woman that would one day ascend to godhood was a monster tamer in her lifetime, a capable and reputable one. While her own prowess in battle wasn’t anything to talk about, her ability to tame and command beasts of any kind through a supernatural charisma was her strength. After all, who could call this woman weak if monstrous wolves, hydras, wyverns, and many more monsters protected her.
Eventually, on a typical day where the elf would pray to the new gods, Marsven appeared before her as an elf with blue-purple skin. Unbeknown that he was Marsven, Edna began dating him, spending time with each other, and fighting side by side.
However, this time eventually ended due to a debilitating toxin that Edna received after her most recent successful tame. She might have tamed the beast but the cost was too high.
The high elves at that time were still experimenting with the System magic of the Origin Gods, trying to create new, magnificent custom spells. Even the magic that they used prior to the arrival of the Origin Gods weren’t effective against the venom of this unique monster. After all, he was the first of his kind.
The toxin would have ended Edna's life, extinguishing her existence from this world, if it wasn't for Marsven himself. Unable to accept the death of his lover, the God of Darkness used his authority as an Origin God to appoint Edna as his first subordinate god, granting her the divinity to purge the impurities inside her body, saving her life.
But little did they know at that time that Edna was pregnant with Marsven’s children. The ascension of its mother and the divinity of its father made it so that the child born was a true god, possessing the blood of an Origin God and Subordinate God.
That first child was born as the first dark elf in existence, the Goddess of Death and Necromancy, Illsaphone—Goddess Death, for short. Whether it was due to the influence of her mother’s looming death or her father’s elemental affinity, the child possessed the ability to command souls and the dead.
Although at first hated for her power, as it was considered sacrilegious, eventually the goddess was accepted into the lives of mortals. They would pray to her when their loved ones were on their deathbed, bidding for them to have a peaceful afterlife. As the Peolyncian Goddess of Death, she was also the arbitrator of this world’s reincarnation cycle.
However, even with one child, the Goddess of Fertility didn’t stop there. They conceived two more girls. The second child was the first of the vampires—the Goddess of Vampires, Vivachel. While the third child, the Goddess of Vengeance and Grudges, Kronnaz, was the progenitor of all grimgarians.
Inherited from their mother, the three goddesses acted on their horniness and started conceiving children. Knowing that this would cause great harm to the world if demigods began appearing too rapidly, Plesia ordered Marsven to weaken each child. Meaning, each demigod was stripped of their divinity so they may live life as a normal mortal.
The balance of powers wasn't disturbed due to this decision, as all three new races were able to adapt to their new existence on Peolynca. The population grew so quickly that even towns could be populated by one of these races alone.
However, in the end, the goddesses, coined “The Night Sisters” in the book, were punished by Plesia. The book described it as the act of a “strict mother” as Plesia personally took care of their education until a 1000 years had passed. The story ended in this manner, almost as if that was the punch line.
… Holy, this sounds like some fiction. Romance novel at the beginning, but mythological stories about how horny these goddesses were in the end, until they got punished by a higher standing goddess. It honestly felt like I was reading some Greek pantheon stories, wow.
“So, how was it?”
“Bwuh!” I shrieked as somebody tapped me on the shoulders, waking me up from my thoughts.
I snapped my body around, seeing Saori there with a dumbfounded look. “Oops, sorry about that. You were so engrossed in your reading that nobody wanted to interrupt you, however, the sun is about to set. We should probably end it for the day.”
“Oh, is that so?” I responded as I looked up, witnessing the sky slowly turning black. “Well, I just finished this book anyways. You should probably read it when you have the time. You like Greek god stories, correct? You would like this one, I think.”
I handed her the book, invoking a smile from her. “Once we return home, let us take those books out and categorize them. I honestly want to immerse myself into as many of them as possible.”
Packing up our stuff, we were about to leave when Master Kushlek’zar stopped us. “Wait, I think you forgot something, Hestia.”
I looked at him with confusion, prompting him to continue, “Well, did you forget about your evolution? You wanted to evolve today, correct? Your evolution only requires a day and I wish the honor to watch, if I may.”
Well, it was true that I needed a day to evolve, but that would mean that I would awaken during the same time tomorrow. If Count Helvas invited us to come tomorrow, then we couldn’t exactly deny it as I did say that I wanted to meet him.
“We cannot do that, Master Kushlek’zar,” Saori said, figuring out the problem and explaining it to him.
Realizing his mistake, Master apologized for his mistake caused by his excitement. Instead, he suggested doing it tomorrow morning or during lunch, whenever it was a good time for me.
I could see he was really interested in it, but reading the story and letting my mind wander a bit did make me reconsider my decision here. I was starting to believe it wouldn’t be smart to evolve right now.
“Actually, I don’t think we should go through with it.” I stated as Saori and Master were talking, shocking everybody. With everybody frowning, it seemed I had to elaborate on it. “I mean, I don’t want to evolve. Not now, at least.”
“W-Wha?!” Master Kushlek’zar’s slacked his jaw, displaying the razor-sharp teeth in his mouth. “Hold on, Hestia, from what I understood, you can’t level up anymore. You need to evolve. The fact that evolution bonuses are tremendous is something you can’t just ignore!”
“I know,” I said, scratching my cheeks as I forced myself to answer his question. “But … the thing is, I don’t want to become too strong, you know?”
“Hestia.” Weirdly, the moment I answered, Saori and Tasianna already took a step forward. While the saurians looked at me in an incredulous look, my friends, on the other hand, looked serious.
“You’re worried for us, isn’t that correct, Lady Hestia? That we aren’t strong enough.”
“Huh?”
I had not expected them to guess that correctly.
“We knew something was wrong after the bandit raid,” Saori continued. “You realized when your body went berserk that it could happen again. It had already happened once because we were stuck in the cave, but now it happened because a god did something. You believe, if those two uncommon situations could cause you to go crazy, that it would happen, again. That we cannot stop you … Did I guess that correctly?”
… Now I was speechless. I actually wanted to ask her if she read my mind somehow, but I kept that comment to myself. Instead, I couldn’t help but feel this seriously annoying feeling inside my chest growing. It felt uncomfortable, making it hard to breathe.
Frankly, saying I wouldn’t evolve was frustrating for me to no end. It was just as Saori said, I didn’t want to evolve after what happened with the Shiterno. I couldn't afford to evolve now, not before my two companions were strong enough to stop me if I ever went on a rampage again.
It gnawed at me. I wanted to protect my friends, and the best way to do so would be to evolve, gaining more strength while allowing me to earn more levels and SP. Stagnating like this was infuriating. I didn’t want to laze around, but even training my magic skills with Master endangered my friends.
I didn’t know how Saori, and seemingly Tasianna, too, guessed this so perfectly, but not having the chance to say it myself irritated me. I bit my lips, feeling tiny before everybody’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Master. I know you were excited, but if I evolve now and you leave, who could possibly stop me? I would become a rank B; that isn’t something a nor—”
However, before I could finish my sentence, a chill ran down my spine. It gave me goosebumps and I froze up for a moment, unable to do anything. I then slowly turned my head back around, eyeing the red mists coming from my companion’s red eyes. “S-Saori?”
“‘An educator’s job isn’t to teach students about what will come on the next quiz, our true duty is to help them flourish, help them to grow into responsible adults,’” Saori scolded me as a dark aura cloaked her body. “That was what my senpais, the senior teachers, taught me when I started out.”
She clenched her fist, grinded her teeth together, glaring at me with a frown as the red mist intensified, to the point all I could see her glowing iris behind the blood-red veil. “I am normal, right? I am holding you back, right? I know that. I know that very well. Nothing was more anguishing than watching you suffer due to Danterno’s influence. I couldn’t do anything while Mister Kushlek’zar was shooting his spells, forcing your fire back. I couldn’t prevent your torment … I still can’t repay you for all you did when we first met.”
I lost my breath when she reminded me of our early days. Of a young little dragon traveling with a small garm on her back, fighting against anything the scary forest threw at us. Of our days bathing together or being forced to build shelters to avoid the rain. Those wonderful, simple days when all we had to think about was to get stronger so the both of us could survive.
I just realized. My current thought went anathema to our old thinking.
Her eyes started to wet, but she pushed it all back. “I want you to evolve, Hestia. I am not your teacher, but I am your friend. As your friend, all I can ask you is to believe in me. Believe in us.”
Saori tapped Tasianna’s fragile-looking elven shoulders, pulling the girl closer to herself. With her brows equally contorted as Saori’s, the fairy girl stated, “We won’t ask you to spar with us. Miss Saori and I had already talked about the matter the day after we returned. We can defeat you if we abuse our usual sparring rules, but in a direct battle? We aren’t ready yet.”
My mouth curved downwards, feeling the conflict slowly dwindling away. “But, then … what are you—”
However, she wouldn’t let me speak, going against how she usually treated me. Tasianna seemed disappointed.
“But if you cannot accept your own strength, then how are we supposed to push ourselves? It would be stressful, Lady Hestia. Everyday we would have to train, otherwise we would have to live with the guilt that you are weakening yourself because of us. Your time is as precious as ours, nay, to me, yours is more important than mine! How could you consider this decision without thinking about how it would impact you? The longer you wait, the later you can evolve into a rank A!”
“Hey!” I finally snapped. “Don’t just make me seem like that! I am thinking about you ‘cause I care for both of you! Do you two think I didn’t even give this more than a day’s thought? I was working with the idea for a whole week! We are a party! Why are you telling me to be selfish and ignore your safety?”
“Then be selfish!”
“Uek!” My face twitched when Saori reciprocated my shout with her own.
I gulped as Saori continued after I went silent. “Be. Selfish. For once, think of yourself. Not only for me, for Tasianna, for Rajah, for the lizardmen, for Lorena. For yourself. Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor. Number one; you are the number one, right now.”
Saori then placed her hands on my shoulder, looking down as the taller woman continued her speech, “I have been on the receiving end of your friendship for a long time now. I appreciate and am grateful for everything you have down for me. You have infuriated me once or twice, but I never condemned you for it. Not during our rocky first week, nor when you went against my wishes to help the lizardmen.”
She then closed her eyes, placed her forehead against mine. The warmth coming from it was soothing, compared to this heated argument.
“I killed the bandit leader with your help. That venom was well placed, even if you took a punch for it.”
“I know.”
Saori nodded, rubbing her head against mine. “I am not ready yet, but you can see my progress. I am close to my own rank B evolution. Even if you get stronger, I will be in hot pursuit. As a cadejo, I will not let go of the hunt. I will chase your shadow until my own dwarves yours. Even if you become a star, I will become the moon to keep you safe as you shine without care.”
She then separated herself, but I couldn’t get a moment to speak before Tasianna hugged me. Although a bit chilly due to her skills, her embrace tickled my wish to cry, again. It made me remember what we spoke about in the cave after my [Battle Frenzy (Moderate)] moment. It reminded me of why I had cried back then.
“You promised to not leave us, my lady. As your maid, the fact I am so weak is an insult to your magnificent, but it only drives me forward. I have a goal I need to succeed in. I need to become your shield, your blade, and a companion you can trust your back to.” She caressed and patted my back. “My life is yours, I just ask that you trust me to protect you. That my ice will one day be able to freeze your flames.”
I tightened my grip around Tasianna, unwilling to let go of her, but eventually, my mind reseted. The emotions I felt were placed back into their vault. I let go of Tasianna, noticing the serious look she was giving me. She wasn’t backing down.
“I …”
“Hmph!”
But, once again, nobody allowed me to speak. This time, however, it was Master.
“You are right, Saori. A teacher is there to help his students flourish, right? Well … you might not be her teacher, but I am.” The lanky raptorsilian walked closer to me, blocking the sun and casting his shadow down at me as he gave me a rather condescending stare. Stroking the feather plumage on his head, he scoffed at me, once again. “As a dragon … do you think you can defeat me if I were to fight you as if it was a death match?”
“Eh?”
Where did that come from?! Master?!
“Tell me … are you really that conceited to believe you are the strongest being in this world? If you are … then this Master of yours will educate you on how wrong you are. I will have you relearn the beauty of becoming stronger!”
AbyssRaven If Saori and Tasianna cannot persuade her with their friendship, then it's time for her mage tutor to spank Hestia. Bad dragon. I already have your evolution planned, so just evolve already!
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Thank you for reading this chapter.
Four human men were anxiously wriggling around on the ground, struggling to free themselves from their bindings. They were hiding their faces and bodies with winter-thick hooded cloaks. Taking it off, the men looked like the type of guys who would intentionally make themselves look gruff and tough, with wild hairstyles and stubbles on their faces. Thankfully, they weren't filthy like the bandits.
Considering they should be working for the lord of these lands, a noble, I guess they had to groom themselves properly. The lack of a strong scent was probably to help them sneak.
“Pardon me,” Saori said as she looked at the captured spies with calm, but serious, eyes. “Those are mana threads. As long as I can supply them with mana, it would be very hard for you to break through them without sufficient strength. I would ask you to stop struggling.”
They looked at us in defiance, unwilling to speak as they shuffled their eyes around to look for an opening to escape. Sweat was moisturizing their faces, clattering their teeth at the sight of the saurians.
“Grrrr,” Akast growled, having been awoken from their fear of him.
“Please, be at ease," I started out, attempting to diffuse the situation and calm the men down enough to speak to them. “We have no intention of harming you. Your little surveillance job was becoming a bit of an annoyance, so we wish to resolve a few things with you."
“Ashlak’leel sa’got toth zacotl,” Master Kushlek’zar greeted them in the saurian’s tongue, bowing in a prayer pose. “We are faithful servants of the Depth Goddess. As members of the Tide Watchers, I swear on our faith to our Goddess that no harm will befall you, on the assumption that you have no ill will against us.”
“You heard him.” I nodded in Master’s direction. “I’m not technically a priestess or shrine maiden, as I admitted many times, so I can’t promise to Goddess Aurena. Nevertheless, my party also wishes to stay peaceful with Lord Helvas, as we have plans to stay in Carine village for winter.”
The spies stared at each other, discussing with their eyes. The eldest looking guy directed his brown eyes to the ground, before raising them with a hint of anxiousness. “… We can’t say anything, my lady.”
Curiosity was tempting me to look at his profile, but he was not an enemy. That was where I drew the line; where our party drew it. There had to be a certain amount of politeness concerning other’s personal information, if I didn’t want to turn into a creep or make them my enemy. People didn’t like others snooping.
Well, not like I could stop others if they wanted to be a bit sneaky, of course. However, I had [Identity Blocker Lv. 10]. Master told me people usually used trinkets enchanted or equipped with [Identify] and [Identity Blocker], so most didn't have these skills at a high level. In fact, anybody with those skills above level five was rare, and it was more common to find people with items to use [Identify Lv. 10]. Even then, they wouldn’t be able to see everything.
A bit reassuring that I didn’t waste 1750 SP for nothing. Saves on cost in the future.
“I understand you have your orders, but I believe you owe us answers,” Saori stated, picking up her cup of tea to drink from it. “Every morning I can detect six men watching over our house. We have ignored it long enough. Well, our elven friend, at least, is not too fond of you disturbing our peace.”
Although I was ignoring it, Tasianna was exerting a chill. Her [Terror Aura] wasn’t high level but it was enough to scare the captured men, all far low-leveled than her. She hasn’t diverted her gaze once since the men came into sight.
Saori then freed the men from their bindings as a peace offering. “We are not your enemies, I repeat. We want you to tell us what you, no, your lord wants.”
Their confusion was expected but none of us gave it a second thought as Grazlahta, Krim-Slak, Akasht, and Tasianna went back to their lunch. Saori began pouring tea into cups that she took out from her storage and offered it to the spies. Once she was done, we started the interrogation with Master Kushlek’zar, Saori, and I.
Showing them a friendly smile, I hoped to thaw the ice between us. “I believe you should know enough about us, especially from Chief Colwyn’s report, correct? So, let us skip our introductions and go to yours.”
I never saw Colwyn or his family hand in a report, nor did they tell me about it, but I would be a idiot to not assume it. Considering they were responsible for the management of the village, whose ownership belongs to Count Helvas, it was only normal for him to do so.
I also heard from Colwyn himself that he had to request Count Helvas about our stay. Apparently, moving into a village wasn’t so easy as to just ask Colwyn for it. As the fief lord, Count Helvas had full possession of everything on it, including his serfs—the villagers. As such, he got to decide on who could stay here. The village wasn’t an inn, after all.
Although, at first I did think Colwyn’s family were serfs—villeins, if you want to use the more appropriate term—but they were wealthy enough to buy their freedom from their lod. They were considered yeomen—freemen—and were employed as official village caretakers. That explained why their family was so educated.
“… Jecht,” the oldest looking person finally answered, momentarily baffled at their sudden freedom.
“Well, a pleasure to have met your acquaintance, Mr. Jecht,” I responded.
Widening his eyes in surprise, Jecht’s jaw slacked as he repeated, “‘Mr. Jecht?!’”
“Is something wrong?” I tilted my head. “You’re obviously older than me, so addressing you with ‘Mr.’ is the polite way to do it.”
His face reddened at my answer, causing him to stutter as he spoke, “M-my lady, I am a simple servant in the service of Lord Count Helvas. There is no need for you to show me this amount of care.”
Damn, they really do think I’m a noblewoman. Guess showing-off my education is making things kinda easier as Saori and Tasianna told me so. Still … being treated so highly out of nowhere kinda feels awkward.
However, it seemed like realizing I was a noble in his mind caused the man to put his guard back up, as he prudently made sure his words didn’t reveal anything else. It really seemed like torture might be the only way forward … until I remembered I was an idol, not the end-game dragon villain.
In addition, it also didn’t feel right to do it. They weren’t tied up anymore, but they weren’t even making any attempt to escape. It seemed like they were actually waiting for us to torture them for information. Actually, did they think we would kill them>
I guess if you thought of it, that was the inevitable fate of every spy, right? Either you don’t get detected, or you do and get abandoned by your lord to die. Spy flicks usually made this clear; torture and death was something every spy had to be prepared for.
This became clear when both Master and Saori nodded to each other and stood up, looking down at the spies. They clicked their tongues, accepting what was about to come.
“Well, we’re done here. You may go, goodbye.”
“Huh?” came out of their agape mouths, confused at how the former two were being so lax about it.
This prompted Master to speak, “I swore to not harm you if you show us no ill intentions. As a follower of the Goddess of Water, I keep my word.”
“I believe my lady has made it clear that we wish to not create any problems for Lord Count Helvas,” Saori continued.
With their answers given, I laid a hand on under my chin to support my head. With a short nod, I then gave them a request to help them out of their befuddlement. “Could I ask you to stop your surveillance? Oh, and please also relay a message to Lord Helvas that if he wishes to speak with us, then we are ready for the invitation at any time. I too wish to converse with him.””
With a lady-like smile, I waved them goodbye as the spies slowly slinked back into the woods, disappearing after a certain distance. However, although our vision couldn’t find them, our skills and senses were still sharp, easily tracking them as they fled.
“Hmm, I didn’t know you wanted to speak with the fief lord,” Master stated with an intrigued voice. “You are royalty from Kargryx, so I presume you know how to deal with them, nevertheless, I hope you will ask Chief Colwyn for advice. People from the mercenary guild always advise members to properly respect human nobles as they are quite fickle, prone to take offense and act on their privileges. Cultural differences should not be underestimated.”
“Lady Hestia would have no trouble with that. What is a lowly human noble to dragon royalty?” Tasianna commented with pride. “Regardless, I know we must do this, Lady Hestia, but I do want to mention that dealing with any humans will only cause trouble for us. The less we must interact with humans, the less we must be wary of them.”
Hearing the contempt in her voice, Saori shook her head. “We need help entering towns. It cannot be helped. We literally have zero funds to our name.”
Saori was speaking the truth. We had rejected the Quest bounty so we could build our winter house in the village, not to mention the villagers just had no money to pay for our supplies. The only work we could do was construction work, which was easy since I had magic on my side, but in either case, we could only trade and receive eggs and milk.
“There is an entrance fee if you cannot provide an ID,” Master Kushlek’zar added. “Vagrants and adventurers can be troublemakers, so an ID is necessary to ascertain they aren’t criminals. Temprary IDs will be issued to keep them in check, but that will cost Davi. In your case, I would recommend a noble’s support to avoid the free, my apprentice.”
I nodded with a frown. “I don’t want to deal with nobles if I can help it, but we need more than normal IDs. You said it yourself, Master, we need IDs which can hide our Profile. Also, Tasianna, I won’t abuse my [Princess] title. Unless necessary, I will remain ‘Hestia Atsuko.’”
I was currently acting under the assumption that Colwyn would ask Count Helvas to do us a favor, considering we did just eliminate a troubling bandit group and rescued his subjects and returned their winter rations. If the man was a benevolent noble, then we wouldn’t have any problems.
However, our party wasn’t naïve enough to think that it would go according to the plan entirely. Nobles were like politicians and businessmen, always seeking to further their influence and gain benefits. He would try to take advantage of us and that was something we had to prepare for.
… I hope his politician talk, or noble talk in this case, won’t be too hard. I’m not the best when it comes to reading between the lines.
With that resolved, lunch was over and we resumed training. Whether it was furthering our literacy or working on custom spells, we did everything you would assume in a magic theory lecture. Even if I wasn't making too much progress with gaining the last two advanced magic casting types, the training still benefited me as it increased my total mana slowly through effort.
Learning how to write and read would become more effective when I actually did some proper reading. The Church of Aurena’s holy book was a good help, but reading it over and over again was boring. It has been a long while, but I finally took out a few of the books I found in that elven shack inside the Belzac forest.
Now that I thought about it, paper was nonexistent, huh? I mean, I should have expected that as it was a medieval world, but looking at the holy book and these elven books now, I kinda forgot about it.
Just like the books, the Quest paper Colwyn handed us was made out of parchment. Only, the former used higher quality ones called vellum. On the other hand, our group had to use self made wooden tablets and coal to write things down. I would love to use some ink like the one in these books.
I guess the reason why I hadn't realized it until now was that I didn't think too much about it. It was irrelevant in my life in the forest and would have just been a waste of brain cells. Now that I had to read and write again, my desire to write a diary came back, but I pushed that childish thought away. It was embarrassing, really.
My second life was different from my past, and my reason for starting one in the first place didn’t exist anymore. Aside from how frustrated I was about my decaying humanity, I didn’t have too much to reflect on. I wasn’t a victim of bullying, I had two great best friends, I regained my courage to perform, and my first idol concert was coming up soon.
Anyway, forgetting about those talks, I decided to start reading one of these looted books. The first one was titled “The Wedding in the Dark: The Birth of our Relatives,” a book about the marriage of the God of Darkness Marsven and the, now, Goddess of Monsters and Fertility, Edna.
It retold the tale of how the Origin Gods suddenly appeared in the world, and how they slowly established themselves as the rulers of Peolynca through the Divine System. Unfortunately, it didn’t go too much into the myth, as it immediately focused on Edna when she was still a mortal high elf, or just elf, since dark and wind elves didn’t exist back then.
The woman that would one day ascend to godhood was a monster tamer in her lifetime, a capable and reputable one. While her own prowess in battle wasn’t anything to talk about, her ability to tame and command beasts of any kind through a supernatural charisma was her strength. After all, who could call this woman weak if monstrous wolves, hydras, wyverns, and many more monsters protected her.
Eventually, on a typical day where the elf would pray to the new gods, Marsven appeared before her as an elf with blue-purple skin. Unbeknown that he was Marsven, Edna began dating him, spending time with each other, and fighting side by side.
However, this time eventually ended due to a debilitating toxin that Edna received after her most recent successful tame. She might have tamed the beast but the cost was too high.
The high elves at that time were still experimenting with the System magic of the Origin Gods, trying to create new, magnificent custom spells. Even the magic that they used prior to the arrival of the Origin Gods weren’t effective against the venom of this unique monster. After all, he was the first of his kind.
The toxin would have ended Edna's life, extinguishing her existence from this world, if it wasn't for Marsven himself. Unable to accept the death of his lover, the God of Darkness used his authority as an Origin God to appoint Edna as his first subordinate god, granting her the divinity to purge the impurities inside her body, saving her life.
But little did they know at that time that Edna was pregnant with Marsven’s children. The ascension of its mother and the divinity of its father made it so that the child born was a true god, possessing the blood of an Origin God and Subordinate God.
That first child was born as the first dark elf in existence, the Goddess of Death and Necromancy, Illsaphone—Goddess Death, for short. Whether it was due to the influence of her mother’s looming death or her father’s elemental affinity, the child possessed the ability to command souls and the dead.
Although at first hated for her power, as it was considered sacrilegious, eventually the goddess was accepted into the lives of mortals. They would pray to her when their loved ones were on their deathbed, bidding for them to have a peaceful afterlife. As the Peolyncian Goddess of Death, she was also the arbitrator of this world’s reincarnation cycle.
However, even with one child, the Goddess of Fertility didn’t stop there. They conceived two more girls. The second child was the first of the vampires—the Goddess of Vampires, Vivachel. While the third child, the Goddess of Vengeance and Grudges, Kronnaz, was the progenitor of all grimgarians.
Inherited from their mother, the three goddesses acted on their horniness and started conceiving children. Knowing that this would cause great harm to the world if demigods began appearing too rapidly, Plesia ordered Marsven to weaken each child. Meaning, each demigod was stripped of their divinity so they may live life as a normal mortal.
The balance of powers wasn't disturbed due to this decision, as all three new races were able to adapt to their new existence on Peolynca. The population grew so quickly that even towns could be populated by one of these races alone.
However, in the end, the goddesses, coined “The Night Sisters” in the book, were punished by Plesia. The book described it as the act of a “strict mother” as Plesia personally took care of their education until a 1000 years had passed. The story ended in this manner, almost as if that was the punch line.
… Holy, this sounds like some fiction. Romance novel at the beginning, but mythological stories about how horny these goddesses were in the end, until they got punished by a higher standing goddess. It honestly felt like I was reading some Greek pantheon stories, wow.
“So, how was it?”
“Bwuh!” I shrieked as somebody tapped me on the shoulders, waking me up from my thoughts.
I snapped my body around, seeing Saori there with a dumbfounded look. “Oops, sorry about that. You were so engrossed in your reading that nobody wanted to interrupt you, however, the sun is about to set. We should probably end it for the day.”
“Oh, is that so?” I responded as I looked up, witnessing the sky slowly turning black. “Well, I just finished this book anyways. You should probably read it when you have the time. You like Greek god stories, correct? You would like this one, I think.”
I handed her the book, invoking a smile from her. “Once we return home, let us take those books out and categorize them. I honestly want to immerse myself into as many of them as possible.”
Packing up our stuff, we were about to leave when Master Kushlek’zar stopped us. “Wait, I think you forgot something, Hestia.”
I looked at him with confusion, prompting him to continue, “Well, did you forget about your evolution? You wanted to evolve today, correct? Your evolution only requires a day and I wish the honor to watch, if I may.”
Well, it was true that I needed a day to evolve, but that would mean that I would awaken during the same time tomorrow. If Count Helvas invited us to come tomorrow, then we couldn’t exactly deny it as I did say that I wanted to meet him.
“We cannot do that, Master Kushlek’zar,” Saori said, figuring out the problem and explaining it to him.
Realizing his mistake, Master apologized for his mistake caused by his excitement. Instead, he suggested doing it tomorrow morning or during lunch, whenever it was a good time for me.
I could see he was really interested in it, but reading the story and letting my mind wander a bit did make me reconsider my decision here. I was starting to believe it wouldn’t be smart to evolve right now.
“Actually, I don’t think we should go through with it.” I stated as Saori and Master were talking, shocking everybody. With everybody frowning, it seemed I had to elaborate on it. “I mean, I don’t want to evolve. Not now, at least.”
“W-Wha?!” Master Kushlek’zar’s slacked his jaw, displaying the razor-sharp teeth in his mouth. “Hold on, Hestia, from what I understood, you can’t level up anymore. You need to evolve. The fact that evolution bonuses are tremendous is something you can’t just ignore!”
“I know,” I said, scratching my cheeks as I forced myself to answer his question. “But … the thing is, I don’t want to become too strong, you know?”
“Hestia.” Weirdly, the moment I answered, Saori and Tasianna already took a step forward. While the saurians looked at me in an incredulous look, my friends, on the other hand, looked serious.
“You’re worried for us, isn’t that correct, Lady Hestia? That we aren’t strong enough.”
“Huh?”
I had not expected them to guess that correctly.
“We knew something was wrong after the bandit raid,” Saori continued. “You realized when your body went berserk that it could happen again. It had already happened once because we were stuck in the cave, but now it happened because a god did something. You believe, if those two uncommon situations could cause you to go crazy, that it would happen, again. That we cannot stop you … Did I guess that correctly?”
… Now I was speechless. I actually wanted to ask her if she read my mind somehow, but I kept that comment to myself. Instead, I couldn’t help but feel this seriously annoying feeling inside my chest growing. It felt uncomfortable, making it hard to breathe.
Frankly, saying I wouldn’t evolve was frustrating for me to no end. It was just as Saori said, I didn’t want to evolve after what happened with the Shiterno. I couldn't afford to evolve now, not before my two companions were strong enough to stop me if I ever went on a rampage again.
It gnawed at me. I wanted to protect my friends, and the best way to do so would be to evolve, gaining more strength while allowing me to earn more levels and SP. Stagnating like this was infuriating. I didn’t want to laze around, but even training my magic skills with Master endangered my friends.
I didn’t know how Saori, and seemingly Tasianna, too, guessed this so perfectly, but not having the chance to say it myself irritated me. I bit my lips, feeling tiny before everybody’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Master. I know you were excited, but if I evolve now and you leave, who could possibly stop me? I would become a rank B; that isn’t something a nor—”
However, before I could finish my sentence, a chill ran down my spine. It gave me goosebumps and I froze up for a moment, unable to do anything. I then slowly turned my head back around, eyeing the red mists coming from my companion’s red eyes. “S-Saori?”
“‘An educator’s job isn’t to teach students about what will come on the next quiz, our true duty is to help them flourish, help them to grow into responsible adults,’” Saori scolded me as a dark aura cloaked her body. “That was what my senpais, the senior teachers, taught me when I started out.”
She clenched her fist, grinded her teeth together, glaring at me with a frown as the red mist intensified, to the point all I could see her glowing iris behind the blood-red veil. “I am normal, right? I am holding you back, right? I know that. I know that very well. Nothing was more anguishing than watching you suffer due to Danterno’s influence. I couldn’t do anything while Mister Kushlek’zar was shooting his spells, forcing your fire back. I couldn’t prevent your torment … I still can’t repay you for all you did when we first met.”
I lost my breath when she reminded me of our early days. Of a young little dragon traveling with a small garm on her back, fighting against anything the scary forest threw at us. Of our days bathing together or being forced to build shelters to avoid the rain. Those wonderful, simple days when all we had to think about was to get stronger so the both of us could survive.
I just realized. My current thought went anathema to our old thinking.
Her eyes started to wet, but she pushed it all back. “I want you to evolve, Hestia. I am not your teacher, but I am your friend. As your friend, all I can ask you is to believe in me. Believe in us.”
Saori tapped Tasianna’s fragile-looking elven shoulders, pulling the girl closer to herself. With her brows equally contorted as Saori’s, the fairy girl stated, “We won’t ask you to spar with us. Miss Saori and I had already talked about the matter the day after we returned. We can defeat you if we abuse our usual sparring rules, but in a direct battle? We aren’t ready yet.”
My mouth curved downwards, feeling the conflict slowly dwindling away. “But, then … what are you—”
However, she wouldn’t let me speak, going against how she usually treated me. Tasianna seemed disappointed.
“But if you cannot accept your own strength, then how are we supposed to push ourselves? It would be stressful, Lady Hestia. Everyday we would have to train, otherwise we would have to live with the guilt that you are weakening yourself because of us. Your time is as precious as ours, nay, to me, yours is more important than mine! How could you consider this decision without thinking about how it would impact you? The longer you wait, the later you can evolve into a rank A!”
“Hey!” I finally snapped. “Don’t just make me seem like that! I am thinking about you ‘cause I care for both of you! Do you two think I didn’t even give this more than a day’s thought? I was working with the idea for a whole week! We are a party! Why are you telling me to be selfish and ignore your safety?”
“Then be selfish!”
“Uek!” My face twitched when Saori reciprocated my shout with her own.
I gulped as Saori continued after I went silent. “Be. Selfish. For once, think of yourself. Not only for me, for Tasianna, for Rajah, for the lizardmen, for Lorena. For yourself. Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor. Number one; you are the number one, right now.”
Saori then placed her hands on my shoulder, looking down as the taller woman continued her speech, “I have been on the receiving end of your friendship for a long time now. I appreciate and am grateful for everything you have down for me. You have infuriated me once or twice, but I never condemned you for it. Not during our rocky first week, nor when you went against my wishes to help the lizardmen.”
She then closed her eyes, placed her forehead against mine. The warmth coming from it was soothing, compared to this heated argument.
“I killed the bandit leader with your help. That venom was well placed, even if you took a punch for it.”
“I know.”
Saori nodded, rubbing her head against mine. “I am not ready yet, but you can see my progress. I am close to my own rank B evolution. Even if you get stronger, I will be in hot pursuit. As a cadejo, I will not let go of the hunt. I will chase your shadow until my own dwarves yours. Even if you become a star, I will become the moon to keep you safe as you shine without care.”
She then separated herself, but I couldn’t get a moment to speak before Tasianna hugged me. Although a bit chilly due to her skills, her embrace tickled my wish to cry, again. It made me remember what we spoke about in the cave after my [Battle Frenzy (Moderate)] moment. It reminded me of why I had cried back then.
“You promised to not leave us, my lady. As your maid, the fact I am so weak is an insult to your magnificent, but it only drives me forward. I have a goal I need to succeed in. I need to become your shield, your blade, and a companion you can trust your back to.” She caressed and patted my back. “My life is yours, I just ask that you trust me to protect you. That my ice will one day be able to freeze your flames.”
I tightened my grip around Tasianna, unwilling to let go of her, but eventually, my mind reseted. The emotions I felt were placed back into their vault. I let go of Tasianna, noticing the serious look she was giving me. She wasn’t backing down.
“I …”
“Hmph!”
But, once again, nobody allowed me to speak. This time, however, it was Master.
“You are right, Saori. A teacher is there to help his students flourish, right? Well … you might not be her teacher, but I am.” The lanky raptorsilian walked closer to me, blocking the sun and casting his shadow down at me as he gave me a rather condescending stare. Stroking the feather plumage on his head, he scoffed at me, once again. “As a dragon … do you think you can defeat me if I were to fight you as if it was a death match?”
“Eh?”
Where did that come from?! Master?!
“Tell me … are you really that conceited to believe you are the strongest being in this world? If you are … then this Master of yours will educate you on how wrong you are. I will have you relearn the beauty of becoming stronger!”
AbyssRaven If Saori and Tasianna cannot persuade her with their friendship, then it's time for her mage tutor to spank Hestia. Bad dragon. I already have your evolution planned, so just evolve already!
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