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Chapter 441: Cultivating the Idol Culture of Peolynca. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2023-08-09 04:22:52 +0000 UTCEdit: Emergency edit for the ending part, for the sake of flow. The new ending fits better with what was told in this chapter, so I had to pivot in the last second.
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<13266 human, beastman, elf, dwarf, half-elf, half-dwarf followers gained>
<Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 39957>
<142 human, beastmen, half-dwarf followers lost>
<Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 39815>
<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Solar Core Lv. 6] [Venerated Saintess Lv. 6] [Lightning Magic Lv. 6] [Corrosive Fire Lv. 6] [Delayed Cast Lv. 6] [True Unarmed Technique Lv. 3] [Foresight Lv. 6] [Detection Sensor Lv. 5] [Saint’s Aura Lv. 2] gained>
<Magic gained: [Ramuh]>
“After quite some lengthy discussions with Saintess Fleindia, Lady Ellaine, Saint Kushlek’zar, and your sister, the Shakaie-Narn Alliance has decided to heed our head’s demands. We will accept your proposal for a ‘faith war’ against Aureolis, halting our war efforts against the Folschreck Empire and the Kingdom of Bole’Taria,” King Fugnarus stated as he read from a piece of parchment in front of all the members of the summit. “However, our head, Champion Hestia, is to speak with the current cardinal of Artorias, Theodore Samuel Sirius, to acquire support and a plan to proceed with this plan.”
Yes! I pumped my fist under the round table, keeping myself from smiling.
“As such, the Church of Aurena from Saelariel and Loatryx will support you in this endeavor. The two entities will conduct their own measures separately from you, but once you have exposed the Prince of Envy as the false pope, they will quickly come to your aide. This will ensure authority of Aureolis will go over to the blessed of Goddess Aurena, instead of the clergy.”
“To avoid giving them a casus belli, this is what we have to do,” King Elutis stated. “However, do keep in mind this does not absolve them of our casus belli. If the Empire threatens you in any way during this phase, we will answer in kind. As such, we will continue building up our forces.”
“So, I just need to maintain this as a blessed versus Church of Aurena deal. Not ‘Princess Hestia, who is also a Champion, wishes to dethrone the pope,’ right?” I asked, prompting the kings to nod.
“Don’t forget that they can twist it however they wish,” King Drangleic warned me. “You need to make them think that this new Champion of Aurena wishes to overthrow not the church or the Empire’s culture, but the person guiding everything. Saintess Fleindia, a known blessed, will be your supporter in this, although your negative reputation will be a hindrance.”
Renee, representing Yeos, nodded. “Which is why I will do the same, announcing to the world that ‘Champion Hestia saved Elyonda!’ As the next Champion of God Yeostar, this will give you additional support.”
“The main point you need to reiterate is that we do not need the pope,” Saintess Fleindia explained. “‘With all the conflicts, the pope’s control in the far west has become far too weak for the success of the war. To achieve victory against the demonkin, we blessed need to take rein over the church and its Knights of Aurena order just like in the past! Before the pope became a position.’ Do you understand, Lady Hestia? Right now, you are a politician. You need to choose the correct words. Do not let them find a single hole to use against you.”
“In other words, the pope has to defend himself personally and his role as the leader of the Church of Aurena. You will bring up history to support your claim,” Reajaen said. “This will mean he can only bring the church into the mix. The Holy Emperor of the Folschreck, unless he wishes to anger the rest of the blessed, cannot do anything or interfere in any way. In addition, this also means you cannot use the alliance’s influence for anything, as that would allow the Emperor to interfere as well. With the current religious turmoil created through your faith war, this will also build a buffer for Artorias for the future when they secede.”
King Drangleic agreed, “I will join the alliance, but both King Fugnarus and King Elutis have agreed I am to remain a vassal for the Empire until you take over Aureolis. We will keep it as a trade agreement until then. Once the day comes, I will announce my kingdom renouncing our vassalship.”
“But won’t they take advantage of this? Unless the Folschreckian or the demonkin are actually dumb, they will just continue to drain you of resources which you cannot refuse!” I stated.
He smiled, putting a finger up. “Ah, but here’s the thing, my diplomats need only use the most powerful move possible—excuses.”
Huh?
Although I was confused, everybody else nodded their heads as if that was the most obvious answer. Seeing my confusion, King Drangleic elaborated.
“To be precise, unless they send somebody to us, they cannot prove we aren’t doing our best to fulfill the Empire’s wishes. They want more levies? I will tell them the peasants are revolting. They want money? Just state the recent grimgarian attacks on Port Annencia or all the disruptions during the Griffonpeak attack had drained our coffers. I cannot even have two meals per day during this crisis! Haha!”
“… That sounds too simple. Too banal.”
“Oh, they are. However, as I stated, unless they have an imperial statesman or one of the Lycrepth, all they can do is take us by our word through our letters. What are they to do? Antagonize us simply because we fell into hard times? Do they wish to show their tyrannical rule to the other vassals when you are currently trying to overthrow the Pope in a religious manner? Or how about the grimgarian attacks on the other countries?”
Oh!
I didn’t think of using the recent grimgarian invasions in such a manner! That made sense! Every nation with a larger port south from here was attacked by a grimgarian fleet—not just Artorias and Yeos—and most of them had their lands overtaken by the aggressors. This was an actual major issue, not just an excuse.
If the Empire were to act too harshly towards Artorias, then what about the other countries? “Would the Empire enforce taxes while we must fight back the grimgarisn,” would be a constant fear, even if they knew Artorias was an outlier for possibly being traitors. Furthermore, as they were vassals, then one had to ask why wasn’t the Empire doing anything about it?
“If needed, we’ll just use the Atadoro kingdom as an excuse for everything, ahaha.” King Drangleic tried his best to cover his scheming smile to his wife’s chagrin. “Even if the Empire criticizes us for not helping our fellow vassals, I’ll just remind them how much Atadoro despises us. We’ll never be able to move our army through them, while Estralia and Aureolis are neutral zones. We can’t move our forces through them. Ha, our geographical location is finally helping us.”
“And I’ll just make sure the train will be mostly unusable from Hadjuk-Orn to stop imperial officers from coming over to Artorias in a timely manner,” King Fugnarus added.
“However,” Neill chimed in. “We are on a time limit. We can’t keep this state forever; as such, with our small elite retinue, we need to succeed in overthrowing the Pope before the end of next month. Use the new year wisely, Sis.”
Fugnarus then pulled up another piece of parchment, one that I could see was enchanted with mana. “As such, with this, the first summit of the Shakaie-Nazta Alliance concludes. Princess Hestia, this here is the contract between all of us. With your signature as the official head, you will finalize the alliance’s creation. I assume you will have no complaints?”
So I have until WinterSun—a bit over a month’s time. No pressure.
Still …
“Ahaha, Sis! I love you!” The moment we got home after the summit, I immediately jumped on Neill and gave her the biggest hug ever!
“Argh! You better!” She pushed my head slightly away as one of my horns was poking her. “Haaaa, I am sooo exhausted! This should’ve been only a few days! I didn’t expect to have to play politcsc every day until it was over!”
“And for that, I can’t help but thank you! I could fully focus on what I loved and some training, because you are the bestest, westest, mwestest older sister this little sister can ever, ever wish for!” I snuggled up to her, too happy to let go.
Ahhh, it was the 22nd of AutumnMoon—13 days had passed since I held my first concert in Hadjuk-Orn after we helped the Carmaniate beastmen get back to their country. I’ve held three concerts with a few side shows here and there. Now that I thought about it, maybe I wasn’t just happy ‘cause of Neill’s selfless, sisterly act but also since I’ve been doing what I loved—I’ve actually been able to be an idol, instead of an adventurer or princess, during all this time.
While I was focusing on my dream, Neill had fully taken over my role in the summit, and all I had to do was to listen to everybody at the end and sign the contract. A mana contract that would bind everybody in attendance. Like most contracts, they enforced the conditions written on it, similar to the contract of alliance I had between Artorias and Shaturein.
“With the names immortalized onto this contract, let the God of Oaths be the witness as his blood is sealed onto it. All those who break this contract will have their treachery revealed to the other members!” was what was written on it at the very end, after all the clauses and details that were far too long to read in one sitting. And, yes, my “signature” was made with my blood.
Apparently, the contract parchment was made from the skin of the dragonewts of the Kargryxmor clan. Willingly! Of course. In any case, this “dragonkin mana contract” was made by the Church of Kargryxmor, using his authority as the God of Oath to properly enforce them even away from the mana catalyst the contract was made within.
Usually, mana contracts were connected to the mana catalyst responsible for the mana barrier surrounding the city or town, only allowing the contract to bind and punish people who broke the contract. That was why Artorias was bound by one with the Folschreck Empire, while the contract Artorias had with Shaturein and me only really enforced it between the two cities. To assure they didn’t betray each other.
However, this dragonkin contract was connected with the System using the authority of a god and the blood of one of his direct descendants—so, Neill and I, in this case. Even if we were separated by continents, if even one alliance member were to break the contract, the System would inform the others of the traitor’s actions.
Since the contract had to be made from a Kargryxmor dragonewt’s skin and blessed by a member of the clergy from the Church of Kargryxmor in addition to the blood of a true Kargryxmor dragonkin, the usage of this contract was extremely rare. As such, these contracts would only be used if Kargryx was involved in it.
In any case, once I signed, it was done! The alliance was finally formed and the summit had ended after nearly a month of discussions. Now was the time for all the plans to fit together, so our party’s next goal was to head to Griffonpeak. Thankfully, we could use a portal to get there while the boys and Rajah would ride the RV over to meet up with us.
“We should hurry,” Fleindia stated and I couldn’t help but agree.
“Also, do remember to train, Hestia! You haven’t leveled once in this entire trip!” Master scolded me, despite training me here and there. I leveled some of my skills …
I wish I could stop time. [Space-Time], please, help. Sadly, [Space-Time] had to be level nine for me to get [Time Control: Deceleration] and, even then, it probably didn’t slow down global time.
Well, whatever. I would listen to Master, but I had a whole list to do stuff first, including visiting with Saori now. Entering the training room without the others, I gave Gravy a pat on his head as I stared at a couple of slimes wandering around the garden.
Yes, slimes. Actual blue goopy creatures with a mana core swimming in the middle of their bodies were moving around, all while a black-colored one the size of a house was sitting in the corner, almost staring at each of them despite not having eyes. Why? ‘Cause the black one was Shoyi and he was in charge of overseeing the five slimes Gravy successfully created for the monster room!
Now, why slimes and not some goblins? Well, the simple answer was that I created five slimes as they were the cheapest options to spawn and that slimes were easier to control than potentially intelligent girmgarians or other monsters. The complicated answer was due to our toilet problem during Shoyi’s entire absence.
Since using slimes was an entirely normal thing to clean the waste from a toilet, Saori decided to buy Shoyi for this job. However, over time, the slime evolved and became an actual member of the shadow pack with the sentience to become one of my retainers, and as such, it got a promotion! It was now a combatant, so we needed a replacement and this was why I made these slimes, as it was possible for monsters to wander out of a monster room, although they wouldn’t serve the monster room any longer.
Thus Shoyi, acting as the slime leader as it could communicate with them in slimnese, would train them up before we placed the five into our toilets. Economical usage of our monster room! In addition, it also acted as a test for me since I still had no idea how this monster room would function in the future. I had planned on using it as an experience grinding room, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“Gravy, your mana, please.”
<Total Mana: 184910>
It was enough for me to spawn multiple raccoons or some of the higher stated monsters, but for now, I allowed Gravy to just absorb the surrounding mana. After three weeks of being idle, the mana regeneration was pretty generous, especially if I regularly injected mana into the garden.
After petting my pet rock once again, I moved into the actual training room, where I witnessed a large ball of shadow manifested in the middle of the room, while several others sparred with each other around it. Uno, Song, Sarasa, and Quatre were fighting against Krim-Slak, Grazlahta, and Akast, while the students were being trained by Yorshka and Farron. I could also see Vifi inside the room, for a change, training against Ellaine, Grimnir, and the wyvern twins.
She’s wearing Grimnir’s metal arm, I noted, eyeing the arm Vifi was wearing, although she was having some difficulty raising or closing her prosthetic hand into a fist the prosthetic.
I left them to them alone and moved towards the black orb, where I saw Vidia, Saori’s garm mom, waiting like a guard dog. She only had eyes on it while weird explosions erupted from inside the object. Using [Mana Eyes] made my eyes hurt from the sheer concentration of mana, but I could identify two wolves fighting against each other—one was bulky and looked like Saori’s silhouette while the other was larger but built leaner, similar to Vidia’s current body.
“Are they sparring again?”
She nodded.
“I guess from the number of explosions Belzac must have increased the intensity of the training, so I hope he isn’t going too hard on her,” I added, talking about Belzac’s ability to create almost perfect [Shadow Clone]s able to speak and act like other people. There was a limitation on it, apparently, so he was teaching Saori how to do it properly.
Vidia nodded once again.
I went silent, glancing nervously at her while her head hadn’t moved once since I spoke with her. “… As a Belzac wolf, shouldn’t you be inside, too? It wouldn’t hurt to learn.”
[“I am [Belzac’s Successor] no longer.”] To my relief, she finally spoke. [“My daughter has her path, and I must now walk my own … Even if I am not sure how to begin nor where it will lead.”]
“I see … Well, good talking with you.” I turned around and left the training room, before letting out a loud sigh.
“Life is more complicated than a few exchanged words” was what Vidia told me after the two of us met again inside Belzac’s cave. She had regained her old body and turned into a zombie garm through Saori’s help. I had apologized to her for how I ruined her life back then—killing her partner and children—but she forgave me. Buried the hatchet, in other words.
My first “teacher” and also a serious enemy as her partner nearly killed me when I was still a tiny dragon hatchling in the Belzac forest. It seemed she was more thankful that I kept my promise to keep Saori safe and alive, but to me, I didn’t know how to feel about it.
I did believe in letting the past go, but I still murdered her family. Sure, it was out of self-defense, since her partner didn’t want to just listen to me and capitulate, thinking I was some kind of “menace” for singing. I felt awkward when I first brought this up to Saori, but back then, she told me she had no connection to her garm family. What about now? Maybe she wanted to know more about her garm father and warg siblings?
Or maybe I was needlessly worrying about something meaningless again, just like always. Man, human and monster interactions were hard.
After joining everybody in the hot spring and taking a breather after a stressful week of performances, we had our meal, filling up our stomachs before I exited the subspace with my usual bodyguards. Usually, I wouldn’t need the twins or Tasianna to be around me as I walked around, buuut, after all the concerts I’ve given, people knew me.
“Hey, Skardrvo,” I greeted the silver-scaled dragonewt as I exited the subspace, before I grimaced at the loud noises outside our room.
I am a celebrity now.
“Oh, hey, it’s the Crimson Saintess! Hey, nice song ya gave yesterday!”
“Excuse me, excuse me, can I have an autograph on my shirt!”
“My lady, my lady! Please, consider selling us the recipe! Our coffers are large enough to pay any price! Name the number of Davi!”
… I just had to have people saying that name again, huh?
“Crimson Saintess,” oh, how long has it been since anybody called me by that name? Well, it was cringe back then and it still was now, but it was a pretty adept way to call me. Well, it was certainly better than the nicknames the shoutcaster in Elyonda always kept calling me by. Honestly, if he had thrown another name at me when I performed in Elyonda, then so help me …
“I’m sorry …” I apologized to the inn owner as I stared at the packed foyer and outside, filled to the brim with people not here to stay at the inn but to gawk at me.
“No, no, my lady. My Crustacia’s twin locks, the business you brought for us was amazing. Can’t fault you for this,” the kimono-wearing dwarf woman told me with a boisterous laugh. “Even after you left, we got a good number of people coming. Far more than usual.”
It was the same hotspring inn we used to book during our initial stay in Inkoran-Tazul. After our tour began, we had to leave but we came back today for the nostalgia effect, even if we weren’t using the hotspring. It also made the perfect place to go around the city without the hassle of crashing at King Fugnarus’s place.
I was having mixed feelings about what A list celebrities felt. All the concerts up to my tour had only gained me some fans here and there, and while quite a ton of people knew me, they didn’t know me to the point they would swarm places just for my attention. Strangely, most of the people here were the Beats’N’Rocks fans, people who had already experienced being music enthusiasts. Even if the whole idol culture was different, they knew what an autograph was.
Yikes …
And, from the way the last concert went, this culture had begun to spread to the other races.
I sighed internally before taking a deep breath, bringing up a smile as I went into work mode. An idol could not rest and I was ready to deliver the fan service! I strutted forward and began addressing the crowd, telling them to form a line neatly and quietly, emphasizing that last part as I would leave them otherwise.
“Does everybody understand?”
“YES!”
YIKES! I flinched as the dwarves, and some humans, beastmen, and elves, shouted in unison, causing their voices to sound like a thunderclap … And it seemed I wasn’t the only one as I saw some kids recoil. Yeah, this couldn’t be allowed. This was my idol culture, one that would not be similar to Earth’s no matter what!
I used [Aerokinesis], silencing their voices around me for a moment before I signaled to Tasianna. She pulled out her catalyst and using the blessing of Zephira controlled the wind with such perfect accuracy that it made me slightly jealous of her version of [Aerokinesis]. She silenced everybody, even the chatter, causing them to panic a bit. With precise control, she allowed me to be the only one speaking.
“No!” I shouted. “I understand everybody’s excitement, but let me remind you that I am not a Beats’N’Rocks musician like Punker’s Paradise. I am an idol! I do enjoy everybody’s joy, but please, do remember that there are more than you who are here with me. You don’t know how much my heart is sent aflutter by you being here. I feel like a sparkling sun! However, my job as an idol is to bring everybody to smile! As such, if you are my fan, won’t you help me fulfill this dream of mine?”
Those who shouted looked around, noticing the kids and “normies” amongst them. All had their ears covered a moment ago, looking flabbergasted by what happened. I didn’t want to put some of my fans on the spot, but an idol afraid of their image or distancing fans would only cultivate an unhealthy, parasocial relationship with them. I would create my own stans.
Everything in moderation. It was my duty to control them. This was also part of fan service.
“I want everybody to nod. Please, get into a line and I will do my best to make this your day!”
After some confusion, people began to nod. Once Tasianna disabled the “silence field,” prompting a few of the fans to apologize to each other, almost meekly. It honestly felt weird for dwarves to act reservingly, but this felt good.
With Tasianna, the twins, and Skardrvo, I began the fan meeting, giving autographs or I just talked with people. Some of the kids ran up to me, showing me stone slabs with something drawn on it. As I held it in my hand, I couldn’t help but smile as I noticed the art instantly and what it depicted—me. My portrait, in fact.
Asaka, Kohaku, Kazumi … thank you.
This was their special project they were preparing for me. Asaka was a graffiti artist while Kohaku wanted to become a mangaka—a manga artist and storyteller—like her parents, so both of them were pretty good at drawing. They actually wanted to make me into a manga at the beginning, and while they haven’t given up on it just yet, this was the initial result—a fanware which was mostly cheap to make and was different from my clothing merchandise.
It wasn’t realistic at all. Although cartoonish, you could still recognize me and this made it pretty popular amongst my children fans.
With trembling hands, I gave the portrait my signature and handed it back.
“Thank you very much, Crimson Saintess! My brother and I love your songs!” a dwarven girl told me.
The boy smiled brightly. “Yeah, ‘The Will to Fight and Survive’ really broke the stone underneath me! That fire shower felt so warm; it didn’t burn me, Pa, Ma, or Sis! Haha, I thought I was a taz!”
“Glad to hear, you better live your life with that fire, alright?” I reciprocated with a grind before singing a bit. “The carnage of the blazing sun ♫
Blood rain from swords and claws ♫
The strive to pierce the sky ♫
The light that beckons you forth ♫”
“I couldn’t just stop now, my heartbeats ♫
The show must go on ♫
You cannot silence my voice now ♫
Be dazzled, be humbled ♫” the boy sang, although extremely offtuned.
Similarly to the girl. “I’m destined for the stars ♫
Prepare for a beatdown, no mercy ♫
Gonna overwhelm them♫
A chance for the spotlight ♫
Don’t regret getting burned to ash ♫”
“Nice, nice! Now, everybody! Not too loud, but let’s go! Sing the next part!”
Without being perfectly in sync, people sang with the kids, going against the fact I wanted to keep everything quiet. Well, it was too late. It was just time to have some fun!
“The carnage of the blazing sun ♫
Blood rain from swords and claws ♫
As the music drops, our emotions will run wild ♫
Top the world ♫
The strive to pierce the sky ♫
The light that beckons you forth ♫
The promise to stand fast ♫
Against the tidal waves! ♫
The Will to Fight and Survive! ♫”
“That’s it! Wooo!” I pumped my hand in the air, hyping everybody up as if I was in a concert.
I apologized to the innkeeper once again.
Quite some time flew by until I was done with the fan meeting, and once I gave everybody a big thank you for enjoying my music, I just dashed out of there, even flying to avoid the merchants trying to get me to sell my pastry recipe! Once we got out of the cave, my retinue and I flew over to the royal castle, leaving Skardrvo behind to guard the [Room] runes inside.
Once there, we greeted King Drangleic and picked him and his retinue for the trip back Griffonpeak. While we were leaving, however, Maelexus suddenly appeared.
“Ah, Princess Hestia! It is good to see you, I actually have a separate matter I wanted to talk to you about now that the summit is over,” he began. “You should know my countrymen have been visiting your concert, right?”
I nodded. “How could I not? I see them cheering for me everyday; some even flew around! I know your son has been visiting the concert every single time, but I have to ask, he isn’t secretly forcing people to join, right?”
“Haha, if we could, we probably would to support you!” He grinned to my annoyance. “However, that isn’t the case. Although we dragonewts do worship dragons a lot, that doesn’t mean every single one of us does. The more noble your clan, the more you feel compelled by your bloodline to act in your service. Yorshka, for example, was extremely prideful in her early days.”
Yorshka did call her young-adult self a bitch. A haughty genius who had to get humbled to understand the world.
“Our knights will support you like when we appeared at the gate, but you also have the support of some wanderers and merchants. Those dragonewts just like your singing and that you’re different from our homeland. Our music choice is more instrumental and more rooted in rituals and such, not like the dwarf’s Beats’N’Rocks.” She scratched his chin for a moment. “Hmm, so, my son told me after I returned home that some of the dragonewts have complained about the concerts.”
“They did?” My eyes widened, even tilting my head in confusion.
He nodded. “Nothing about your performance, more like they want to see more of your dragon self. You’re a dragon, Princess Hestia. A daughter of Emperor Eltharion. You aren’t a dragonewt or human in this life, and, honestly, I personally would prefer to see your dragon form again. There is a certain difference in majesty between your forms.”
… I guess I am a dragon idol. Hrmm. I should, no? There is enough space on the stage, but won’t most be scared of me?
I wouldn’t have to care about the dwarves, elves, dragonewts, or Caedhulens, but I feared my humans and beastmen fans might be intimidated by myself. I mean, the Griffonpeak and Elyonda had seen my dragon form, so it shouldn’t be too surprising, but then again, I did look frightening. Would people still want to listen to me? I couldn’t even sing in my dragon form.
As an idol, I should consider my fan’s wishes …
In the end, I decided to consider it and went back to the inn with King Drangleic and his retinue. Once we entered the subspace, I had Skardrvo bring the [Room] runes to King Fugnarus for safekeeping.
Using the nexus, we fast traveled from Inkoran-Tazul to the Groushia Duchy, then to the Morgiana one, and then to Griffonpeak, all to prevent people from accumulating too much arcane corruption. With the royal pair back in their castle, I left it to return to Ellaine’s mansion in the noble district, before visiting the Cathedral with Fleindia. Time was of the essence with the upcoming war!
“Hello … you’re here earlier than I expected.” The lilac-haired man stated as he was reading a book inside his office, still looking as if he had insomnia, although his robes certainly upgraded from the last time we met.
“Theodore! Congratulations on your promotion to cardinal!”
Comments
good thing she can fly
Joseplh
I am wondering about the logistics of a dancing quadrapedal dragon. The size of the stage and how she would move.
Great. Will we have a heavenly tribulation soon?
Imp
Bad brain moment - suddenly turns ADIRT into a cultivation novel with idol-based cultivation. *meditates upon the dao of IDOL*
