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Chapter 425: Chihiro’s Workshop. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2023-06-09 07:18:49 +0000 UTC<99 human, beastman, elf, dwarf followers gained>
<Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 22461>
“… I’m dead. I never want to do that ever again.”
I turned around, smirking as I watched Asaka laying on Rajah’s back like a starfish with her limbs limply wiggling around as the ground continued to shake like a miniature earthquake. Her new robes—an edgy black overcoat-like robe made from mana threads with white-golden stripes and embroidery, mostly depicting Ilsaphone’s symbol and the moon,given to her by Saelariel’s Church of Marsven—were getting dirty from Rajah’s shedding fur
“Hello, ‘Dead,’ but sadly, you will have to continue since I just learned how useful it is to have more than one holy-mage cleric. Water magic just can’t heal as much as we can, hehe.”
Asaka glared at me, clearly unamused by my dad joke, but she just didn’t get the real joke! The play on words considering she was now a certified and accepted Saintess of Ilsaphone! Ah, this “delinquent” sure had the humor of a dry fish if she couldn’t understand my genius!
… Okay, my attempt to cheer her up a bit kinda failed. Well, it was true she was exhausted, but so was I, as the both of us had spent the last four days as medics for the many people injured as a result of Maagneil’s attack. Far too many people died, but, fortunately, most were injured inside the Hub and the festival grounds.
Asaka fully utilized her [Twilight Paladin] to mend people’s wounds with that beige slime, while I performed the more complicated surgery with [Miraculous Grace]. Honestly, watching her work was more interesting to me, as her slime acted almost like glue, keeping organs, limbs, and skin together. Considering the unique skill came from Ilsaphone, it made sense why it acted and felt so similar to the onnikai’s body regenerating slime.
She could totally make some zombies using that thing if she learned how to control them. Fitting for a Saintess of Ilsaphone. The only thing stopping her from learning how to do it would be her own lack of interest in fighting.
But, that wasn’t the real reason why we spent four days as doctors; it was ‘cause of the big guy sitting before us as the ground was rumbling, due to it acting like an elevator. I looked up, inspecting the titanic rank A drake, Manethala, a being large enough to push a skyscraper down like a kid kicking down a lego tower. Still, he was far smaller than the leviathan I met in the Belzac forest.
It took four days for Manethala to recover from his wounds and the mental corruption inflicted on him by Maagneil’s aberration. Due to his fight with Neill, Yorshka, Master, and the other blessed, his outer carapace he used to roll around was broken, leaving his rock-like skin exposed. In addition, this meant we could see multiple scars across his body from spears, arrows, and a certain attack that left long line-like wounds, as I couldn’t heal him after the fight as I had [Arcane Fever].
Honestly, Neill’s bragging was a bit exaggerated, as the efforts of the other fighters was apparent, but the long line-like scars, so similar to the scars left from lightning damage, caused by her dragon paths would decorate this drake’s body for a long time. Scars could be prevented if you healed them with healing spells in time, but if you allowed it to heal naturally or through potions, they would remain.
Regardless, unlike Mom, he woke up sooner than I thought. Thankfully. Still, his time asleep gave me the time to heal the people from the expedition force. The dragonewt pair who helped me out with that rank S dragonslayer Galg—Pradreo and Skardrvo—had lost multiple limbs, Farron’s organs were in disarray, and the many other survivors were all sporting devistating wounds in need of a miracle to heal. I was just glad they lived through everything, considering how many had died to that dragonslayer.
Speaking of Galg, I was right to assume that one of his party members had recovered from her near death experience by my sister’s hands. Rikara, the leonid berserker, had lost her right arm and a part of her chest in that area hit by Sis’s [Freikugel], to the point I saw her ribs and lungs. She was transported out of the dungeon, where people confirmed she survived through potions and her huge Health stat.
Well, she was now in stable condition due to Asaka and I, and was now in the custody of the dwarves. Honestly, considering she tried to assassinate me, I really didn’t want to deal with her. Whether to judge or to interrogate her, I left it to people who were more invested in it, as I couldn’t really be bothered by it. I mean, I had bigger things to do, like speak with a Goddess!
“Correct call to wait.”
Asaka and I weren’t the only ones going down to the dungeon’s temple. Tasianna, Ellaine, Grimnir, Master, and another blessed were accompanying us—Rudigan Vagunyga, a Champion of Crustacia and the cousin of the Ankoran Queen. Strange, as aside from a one time greeting, we were practically strangers. So, why was he here while Saori wasn’t?
Well, that wolf friend of mine had her own Divine Quest to fulfill, as she was being tasked to transport over 1000 beastmen slaves from her raid on the grimgarian army back to the Beastmen Alliance, Carmaniate. That meant she had to move them all from the very south up to the dwarves to allow them to use the train.
I mean, sure, I could have sped up my friend’s job a bit with my subspace fast travel function, but I was distrustful of them. There were over 1000 people I didn’t know or could trust; not even Saori could! Also, there was the logistical impossibility for me, as the subspace fast travel function demanded a huge amount of mana due to the distance from Port Annencia, where they were located, to the dwarven capital.
Who was supposed to shoulder that for over 1000 people? Me? I could transport multiple parties full of people once per day, but a 1000? Yeah, why not just kill me with arcane corruption already. Mom? Hell no, I wouldn’t use my own mother as a mana battery for something like this … and Saori understood that, as she never asked me to do any of this. She was a good friend.
That was why she wasn’t here, while Mister Rudigan was here to help with my own Divine Quest.
<Divine Quest: Uncover the truth behind this “golem” and solve the problem on hand with them
Quest Giver: Origin Goddess of Earth, Craftsmanship, Minerals, and Creation, Crustacia
Description: Yo, Crustacia here on the permission of Aurena, little Hestia! Kinda a bad moment for me to “meet” you, but I honestly didn’t expect to meet them in this dungeon. The earth told me they would return, but this?
Well, me vision through me dwarves told me enough to get the gist of the plan, but I can’t tell you! Yeostar’s intervention made Goddess Plesia veeeery mad and she just put out a punishment I ain’t wishing to experience. You gotta do it yourself and it’s not gonna be easy, but I promise ya a big reward. And, trust me, I know how to please an otherworlder quite well! So, accept it, little Hestia!
Reward: A unique skill on anybody you wish, +1 level, reason for why the gods aren’t speaking, an additional reward depending on how you solve this whole situation>
For my reward, I wanted Crustacia to bestow upon Grimnir a unique skill, but not only that, I also wanted her to make him a blessed.
“As much as I like the underground, going through this dungeon all over again would have driven me crazy,” Grimnir agreed with what Rudigan just commented. He then turned silent, though, grumbling a bit with downcasted eyes. “… But, still, lass, are you sure?”
I nodded. “You are the fifth member of Aurora. I know you are keeping your oath to me by helping out as a smith, but I know you have your own stake in this Divine Quest of mine now. You have a real reason to fight, aside from service, loyalty, and friendship.”
Grimnir’s eyes went wide, letting out a deep sigh. He stroked his beard, contemplating my words, but he understood I was speaking the truth. During the Maagneil incident, Grimnir saw the dead body of his beloved cousin, Broggart, being “resurrected” by a demonic aberration of the Prince of Greed. With the mastermind nowhere to be found, and Maagneil dead, Grimnir couldn’t understand how all of this happened.
How did his cousin and uncle get into this mess in the first place? The only way to find the answer was to find the mastermind behind everything and what exactly happened, so Grimnir needed the strength to fight back. He had to transcend from being a rank B fighter, even if he was also a master blacksmith and runesmith.
[“My apologies, dwarf,”] Manethala suddenly spoke to us.
“Don’t worry about it.” Grimnir waved his hand, still looking pensively. He then looked at me and nodded. “Right you are, lass. Right you are … I need to understand.”
Manethala told us he didn’t know how Broggart was “brought back to life,” as he didn’t witness the event, while Klea’Hatma and Vifi’Yok—our two most knowledgeable members when it came to anything demonic—explained it would be impossible for the aberration to perfectly mimic a person before their death. That demonic orb thing could transform into monsters to protect itself, after all.
So, how did all of this happen? Well, that was why, in the end, Grimnir agreed to become the third blessed for Aurora, despite how he still viewed himself as a criminal. He wanted, no, I think he needed to know.
Also, after having to rely on my allies so much in the events this last month, it reinforced the idea that their strength was also mine. As Saori and everybody told me, it wouldn’t hurt to put my trust in them, especially for any future battles, and that was why I wanted to get more blessed.
It wouldn’t hurt to usurp some more divine powers from those blessings, right? Ehehe. I smiled at the fact [Battle Frenzy] allowed me to use the divine powers of my blessings and those I usurped, like [Flashfire] and [Light Horizon], although considering what Plesia and Ilsaphone did to circumvent my ability, Crustacia could just troll me with a useless skill.
<[Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] effects on [Battle Frenzy]: [Flashfire] [Light Horizon] [Marine Lungs] [Soul Vision]>
Those last two … Haaaa. If you can’t stop the usurpation, just troll the system.
“Grimnir.”
Interrupting my thoughts on how the gods were giving me mediocre skills for me to usurp, I turned around, watching a dwarf in a full suit of armor walk over to us. With every step he took, the ground shook a bit from the weight of his equipment, as the “Earthshaker” armor he wore made him seem like a tank on legs.
Ever diligent, huh? I thought as everybody was wearing casual clothing, while he looked ready for a fight.
“Even with the Divine Quest of Princess Hestia, ya should prove yourself. As one of her Champions, I will not allow you to join the illustrious blessed of the Earth Pantheon if you lack even an ounce of piety or conviction.” Although a Champion just like Tehmrayn, that stoic, stick-up-his-ass naga blessed of Plesia, Rudigan was quite a bit more lax. Still, his deep voice escaping his visor was intimidating and it made him scarier than he should be.
“You think I’m weak?” Grimnir raised an eyebrow.
“I’ve seen ya fight, ya idiot. You could use some training unless you want to embarrass the Earth Mother and ya young mistress … but it ain’t bad,” the dwarf scoffed.
However, Grimnir only bellowed out a laugh, causing Rudigan to do the same. Both dwarves shook hands, showing the camaraderie they built up as two expedition members. They fought side by side inside the Event dungeon, so would you call this a bromance? Similar to what Tatsuya and Kyouya shared?
Rudigan took off his helmet, revealing a dwarven man with a long scar going from his forehead down to his lips, blinding his right eye and taking a chunk off his nose. He had other smaller cuts on his face, too, but another prominent scar was a large burn wound that removed the left side of his hair and ear, leaving him bald. I couldn’t help but gulp.
“A Champion must be strong ‘cuz they fight for their god; ya ain’t fighting random bandits or monsters, ya get rank A warriors, titanic creatures, and sometimes also other blessed. That Tehmrayn knows best for the latter one.” He then pointed at his two scars. “This slash? A duel with a swordsman striving to become a sword saint. This burn? A Champion and Saint of Danterno messing with lava under a hold. Got another wound on me chest from a rank A monster.”
Blessed from Danterno? Tsk, those people from his church keep causing trouble.
Grimnir scoffed, “Hmm? And? I fought a rank A before. Fought an Earth Elemental Emperor, even if they’re weakened. Never alone like you perhaps, but if you’re imply my brav—”
“Ain’t the point. The point is that a smith ain’t need to see combat if his stuff keeps everybody else alive. My opinion. Unlike Plesia and Aurena, the other four Origin Gods don’t take too many blessed, I believe, since their respective patron races’ Territory ain’t too large.” He then put his helmet back on. “The Earth Mother has a right to get more blessed, but she prefers quality over quantity. People that can serve her interest, even if you aren’t the strongest. Will this serve her?”
“… Spit it out. Get to the end, already, I know you’re leading up to something.”
He then turned to me. “Your highness, I suggest God Bleidla as his patron god.”
“What!” Grimnir burst out, but Rudigan spoke before he could argue back.
“God Bleidla does not take too many blessed, as he is restricted to only a few due to his deal with Goddess Plesia. Blacksmith guild gets [Blacksmith’s Eyes] in exchange for far weaker blessings.” Rudigan then patted Grimnir on his shoulder. “Give it a thought. I thought ya got over ya hatred for him. Don’t serve a Goddess you can’t properly serve, choose a god that fits ya, just like how a god must choose somebody who fits their ideal.”
Grimnir went silent, nodded, and went over to Ellaine to discuss the subject with her. I then called Rudigan out, asking if he wanted me to heal his scars for him, but he rejected the offer. As a warrior, those scars were both medals for his victories but also reminders for him to be stronger. Each scar had a story, I guess, and it seemed he had already gotten used to fighting with one eye and ear.
After that discussion, Manethala stopped the elevator, as we had reached the lowest floor. As the wall opened up like a gate, it revealed the devastated gold piles of the drake’s hoard. Molten gold and gems covered everything, while large fissures and earth spikes made it extremely hard to traverse on the ground. This wasn’t even mentioning the rather dangerous smog cloud gathering on the ceiling, where I noticed a giant hole.
As I went closer, I noticed it was about the size of Manethala and my [Sun, Consume All], meaning this was the hole those two used to chase after us when our party pursued Maagneil. The hole’s tunnel was molten shut, revealing hardened magma everywhere. That, with the molten wealth pile, probably created all this life-threatening smoke.
As I was mostly resistant against earth gases as a sunfang dragon, I could breath everything in without any worry, although it did stink like junk. On the other hand, the others had Tasianna’s cover them with an [Air Shield] to prevent them from suffocating. Manethala, naturally, was also doing okay with the smog.
[“… Chihiro mentioned how material objects can always be replaced but this is—”]
“Hard to swallow,” Ellaine interjected. “One’s home is one’s paradise and safe haven. Losing everything would be a major setback to everything.”
[“Correct. I’ve been gathering all of this over the centuries I’ve been a dungeon master. Scavenge, but it’s mine.”] Manethala walked over to the pile of gold, silver, and cracked gems, causing none molten pieces to cling and clang as they fell onto the ground from the shockwaves his steps caused. [“Sometimes I would even use [Dwarfenize] to run my own dungeon as a challenger, earning my loot fair and square like my many ‘intruders.’ Hmm …”]
I really can’t sympathize when most of your valuables were ripped from some unfortunate adventurer, dude.
Manethala ignored my frown and sigh, moving towards the broken down wall where Maagneil pushed him through when we first entered the dungeon’s last floor. The giant drake then raised his neck up, letting out a small growl that sounded like a ship’s horn to me.
Still, as a dragonkin myself, I could guess what he was saying even if I still didn’t understand the dragon tongue. Sorrow, resignation, and memories of his past and the nostalgia he lost through the decimation of his home. The following sigh was deep and long-winded, enough to create a small gust to blow up a dust cloud.
… Good thing the smog smells worse than his breath.
Disregarding this moment, we left Manethala alone for the time being to let him calm down, before he turned around and nudged his head towards the hole. We walked through it, reaching a large set of stairs similar to those you found on those large ancient Greek buildings like the Acropolis of Athens, and moved down. Remnants of Manethala’s fight with Maagneil quickly introduced themselves as sections of the staircase were just gone, leaving an empty, gaping hole.
Jumping over these with [Air Walk] or other methods, we continued our descent until we ended up at a small lush forest area with a broken down house in the middle of it, framed by trampled flowers and trees. Looking closer, the place looked like a traditional Japanese house with a small backyard and multiple buildings all connected to one mansion.
A lake led the way like any idyllic Japanese mansion—I could even remember my Japanese grandparents having such a home—but with the destruction, there was nothing left to enjoy. The peace had been broken by conflict, crushed under it. I looked up at Manethala who was waiting on the stairs like a puppy, lowering his head in shame.
[“… Even her shrine is gone. Reduced to rubble.”] His voice broke, sounding like he was about to cry. He turned around, walking back up the stairs. [“Deal with your matter fast. I have much to rebuild.”]
“What a reaction,” Rudigan noted.
Grimnir shook his head. “No … if you’d seen how Dravlia Kongun’s workshop looked like before it turned into nothing more than a ruined scenery, you would understand.”
Leading the way, he walked over to a small patch of broken tree. Using his hammer, he cleaned the shattered branches and bark away, revealing squashed flowers inside a giant footprint, with broken down rock fragments sprawled over everywhere. You could see pieces of metal here and there, probably manatech, but nothing was really recognizable.
“When I ended up in the Event dungeon, Manethala gave me a task to gather ‘keys’ from two locations. Two priors dedicated to Goddess Chihiro and keys that imitated ‘datachips,’” I commented when I understood what these remains were. “The fake Broggart mentioned this workshop was taken hostage to make Manethala comply, right? It’s so obvious from his reaction.”
“Love,” Ellaine answered.
Tasianna nodded. “It makes sense from all we heard about his relationship with her. How he was ‘mad’ that she had to ascend to godhood and as such revealed everything to the dwarves. It was probably all planned, but the drake wasn’t sad he lost a storyteller to keep him busy with tales, he was saddened he lost his friend and lover.”
“Didn’t he mention he could transform into a dwarf?” Asaka astutely brought up. “I wouldn’t put it past them to make this their ‘home.’ Loss breaks people. Such a strong reaction can only happen if he values this place immensely.”
Love really is blinding, huh? Maagneil probably felt the same.
[“… Should we rebuild it?”] Rajah suddenly suggested and we all nodded.
We cleaned up the rubble around the shrine, pushing things to the side to make the area clear. Grimnir and Ellaine turned a nearby rock chunk into a gravestone, while Rudigan chiseled words on them. Asaka, Ellaine, and I picked out the herbal flowers inside my storage, grimacing as I had nothing more romantic, before putting everything together to make the bouquet as colorful and beautiful as possible.
After we placed everything down, Rudigan then pulled out his amulet of Chihiro and laid it on the ground as a sign of respect between one blessed to the other. I prayed to her to show my respect, while Asaka didn’t know what to say, as Chihiro wasn’t technically dead. You couldn’t really tell a living person “rest in peace,” right? Especially if the person was a god who might be looking down on us right now.
‘Dravlia Kongun?’ Ah, that does make sense. Chihiro is alive, but Dravlia died before she gained apotheosis, I noted from reading the epitaph.
Some of us wanted to continue cleaning the area up a bit more, but Grimnir reminded us we couldn’t stay too long. As such, with Rajah’s large tail, we cleaned up the path to one of the buildings, at least. Since everything was demolished, we also had to push the remains of the house away, revealing a faint blue glow coming from a cellar.
Opening it, Grimnir beckoned us down, noting how it took Broggart and him a while to find this hole as they were distracted by the many inventions laying around. There was an intricate puzzle that was held shut that forced the two to delve into their knowledge of Chihiro to open … but we didn’t need to do that, as the insides didn’t remain intact.
Sadly, this was the fate for everything in this once peaceful home. From the looks of it, nothing worth looking at was around anymore. Chihiro’s many creations and blueprints were all destroyed here, all that progress was lost.
“… Even if Bleidla hadn’t forbidden it, we would have been able to prevent all her knowledge from being lost,” Grimnir commented, almost out of spite, caused by the discussion he had with Rudigan a moment ago. “Broggart was right. At least we managed to salvage the gun blueprint, the recorder, and maybe the giant golem design from all of this.”
‘Why can’t the Ankoran King understand what a waste it is to leave Goddess Chihiro’s plans and ideas to rot in that measly cave?! The world deserves to learn from them! Learn from Earth!’ I remember those words from his video memento. Makes him seem so … right.
“Hindsight, my friend,” Rudigan disagreed. “But … it is a shame. Didn’t ya mention the fake Broggart’s workshop was nearby?”
“Probably got destroyed,” I said. “A mana battery bomb blew up the smithy, while the resulting collapse buried the artificer shack. Maybe Manethala could help, but I don’t know if anything would remain.”
“We should look, at least.”
I nodded to Tasianna’s suggestion.
With Rajah in my shadow, I descended the ladder after everybody had gone down, realizing it was pitch-black in here for everyone without [Night Vision]. Casting [Shine] on my tail, I held it up like a torch, illuminating our path forward. Once we stopped at a door, we managed to find not only the dungeon core but also a small shrine. There we noticed a small figurine of a kimono-wearing woman holding up some tools and an orb—Chihiro’s statue.
Once I told Rajah and Rudigan to guard us, my group kneeled down and held our hand in a prayer position. The reason why I brought everybody with me and not just Grimnir was due to a test I wanted to perform—could people with my [Hestia’s Retainer] enter the god domain and listen to a god alongside me?
Naturally, as I was experienced in this, I knew that, aside from Ellaine since she had Klea’Hatma protecting her, nobody could survive a long period before a god due to their divine pressure. Meaning, Crustacia would decide if anybody would accompany me. She would know best who could survive.
“Oh Goddess …” Tasianna especially was shaking in her boots. As the most religious devoted person in Aurora, meeting Crustacia would probably lead to the same reaction when Ellaine met Aurena. I couldn’t wait to see her expression!
[“Ahhh, Crustacia. It’s been a while,”] Klea’Hatma naturally commented. [“I hope she’ll forgive me for almost seducing one of her priests back then.”]
… Great work, lust demon. I shook my internal head.
Regardless, we shut our eyes and I prayed to Crustacia, focusing on Chihiro’s statue as the catalyst to link my soul towards her realm. After a moment, I suddenly heard the sound of rolling pebbles, causing me to open my eyes and realize I was inside an earthen hall.
Not like the small room we were just in. No, it was a majestic throne room fit for a ruler, as it was decorated with priceless carpets, statues, and golden ornaments. Fairnite bat gargoyles furnished the walls and pillars, before fire all lit up in their mouths.
“Welcome.”
A young woman's voice drew my attention, waking me up with a rather thick dwarven accent, as she curled the L. I turned around, noticing a dwarven woman sitting on a bronze throne. Two pig-tails kept her mineral-rock hair together, while the smirk she gave us showed off her youthfulness and energy.
It was a far cry from the elegant, noble-like appearance of my patron goddess, who wowed me with her angelic aura. Meanwhile, this goddess looked and exuded an aura that told me she could crush any of us like a mountain could eliminate our existence if it were to be dropped on us. Tough and rough were the perfect words to describe her, but there was also a glint in her eyes, showing her interest and how much she had been waiting for this meeting.
Stretching her arm forward, she showed us a peace sign. “Yo, Hestia, nice to meet’cha!”
Comments
Is that a dad joke?!?! And yes, dad joke, as Hestia called Asaka "Hi, Dead." as Asaka said "I'm dead." The joke is that Hestia took it literally
Diego Rossi
Thanks for the chapter. dad joke - dad or dead?
brunoid
Thanks for the chapter.
