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Chapter 363: Deju Vu Awakening. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2022-10-30 02:40:50 +0000 UTCEdit: Changed the Divine Quest reward into something more meaningful of a reward
Edit 2: Also added Neill mentioning forcing Vifi into an oath and have Hestia stand by her decision.
Edit 3: Added the changes I had made in how Hestia let Vifi go.
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<Unique skill creation completed. [True Spear Technique Lv. 10] [Evasion Lv. 10] [Acrobatic Lv. 10] [Air Walk Lv. 6] [Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 6] [Mid-Air Maneuvering Lv. 9] [Aerial Fighter Lv. 7] [Speed of Sonic Lv. 6] merged into unique skill [Drakonian Sunlight Edge]>
<Unable to automatically merge [Hellblade Dragon Lv. 5] into [Drakonian Sunlight Edge]. Requirement: [Hellblade Dragon Lv. 10]>
…?
This was … my room. In my subspace. Definitely … Hmm? My last piece of memory … What was the last thing that happened?
Ah, right. The fight! The siege and the giant sea noodle. Urgh, and then those demonkins … Ah. I get it now.
I pulled my hand out of my blanket and looked at my right hand, noting how I was missing my index finger. Bandages covered the stump and I felt slight phantom pain whenever I clenched my hand into a fist, feeling the sensation of my thumb and middle finger touching what was no longer there. What a scar, honestly.
It was then that I noticed soft whispers touching my neck. I turned around, where I caught a glimpse of Mother’s sleeping face. She was in her [Humanize (Moderate)] form, as usual, whenever she wanted to sleep next to me. Her silver white hair was a delight to the eyes, and I could feel the soft touch of her fingers on my left arm, hugging it like a body pillow.
Deju vu. Yeah, damn. [Symphonie des Feuergottes Movemetn (Finale)] might be freaking strong, but it sent me into the same dangerous situation as before. Well, I guess it is a low price to pay for nearly defeating a rank A Warbringer.
… Nearly really sounds pathetic. I need to defeat people like that with my finishing ability. Two casts of it, and I couldn’t finish things off. However, next time? It will truly be a finale.
“Thanks for working so hard … Mom. Good work defeating that noodle.” I gave her a quick peck on the cheek, feeling a bit embarrassed I was kissing her with such fondness. Still, considering how she was, she probably would love this sorta affection from me.
“Pff!”
“H-huh?!” I snapped my head around as I heard the sound of somebody crackling in my room, activating my [Detection Sensor] to notice another person was in the room outside of Mother. Two, in fact.
[“Master!”] And this person jumped right on me, shoving me right back onto my pillow. Licking my face once, the black-white tiger cub began rubbing his face against mine, to the point I felt like sneezing.
No, actually, I had to sneeze right about—
“Kra! Kraaachooooooo!”
Argh, that was not cute at all!
A noisy sneeze coming from my throat, instead of a soft one from the nose. I immediately hid my mouth and nose with my hand, feeling conscious of what happened, before feeling like I had something slimy in my nose. It made it stuffy and hard to breathe. Wait, did I actually get a cold? It wasn’t mentioned in my Profile, though.
“Shihehe, well, that is a surprise. Once you get [Abnormal Status Nullification], catching something like a cold or a cough should be impossible. You really overworked yourself with that healing stunt,” the second person—Neill— spoke up after waving at me with a carefree smile. I also noticed her horn was still missing.
“Well, this is a sur—” I tried to speak with her, but a white magic circle suddenly appeared in front of my face.
[“Cure!”] Rajah shouted. [“Master’s sick?! No! I’ll cure you, Master can’t be sick!”]
My little tiger cat was rubbing his face on me like crazy, forgetting the fact he was nearly as big as an actual tiger! Sure, he technically was still a cub, but he was smothering me with the intense care of an actual cat. Was he attempting to suffocate me with his thick fur as revenge for leaving him out from the raid?!
I finally forced him to sit down so I could lean against the headboard. With my overeager cat finally disciplined, I also made sure he didn’t wake up Mother. However, seeing how some of his fur was on her face, I raised an eyebrow in surprise at how she hadn’t woken up.
“Don’t be surprised. Your ‘mom’ is finally catching up on all the sleep she neglected just to make sure she was awake when Karhalantheel attacked,” Neill answered my confusion.
“Sleep?” I was reminded how I was worried Mother hadn’t been taking her usual multi-day sleep.
Neill nodded. “The older a dragon gets, the more sleep is important to make sure they rest their soul. Immortality doesn’t come without some problems, after all. For example, your soul being filled up with memories.”
Neill reminded me how Mother hadn’t slept much when she was impregnated with my egg and then after when she lost it. And once she met up with me, she had been recovering her schedule, but since she wanted to make up for all the time we lost as mother and daughter, she had only taken two to three day “naps.” They should have lasted for months or even years.
“You’ve been asleep for a week or so. I think, nine days?” she told me after I questioned her how long I was out.
Urk, this is deja vu. I massaged my temples, smiling wryly as I noticed the similarities to what happened last time. This really wasn’t a good habit to start.
Then, I remembered why I shouldn’t have slept nine bloody days. “Tch, dammit. Neill, how is Elyonda? Did something bad happen after the raid? What about all the injured people?!”
I knew I had that System message with all these weird skills combining into [Drakonian Sunlight Style]. Although I wasn’t sure how I earned it at this very moment, the message sounding in my head certainly woke me up. At the same time, it made me worry if I had missed other messages or not, considering I was unconscious for this long. Did anybody die? Did I lose any fans?
“Jeez, okay, calm down. Come on.” Neill stood up from the chair she was sitting on, telling me she had fallen asleep yesterday. She began to stretch, looking rather stiff from her terrible sleeping posture, before slapping me on the back. “Get up. I’m hungry. Let’s get some grub before we speak.”
My stomach then grumbled, causing me to look through my profile to confirm I had [Starvation (Minor)]. I was starving, right now, which made sense since I only had a light snack after the finale fiasco.
Meanwhile, I also removed my wings with [Humanize], noticing I had ruined my bed between them, my talons and my tail. My scales and claws were sharp; I always have to remind myself how, if I wasn’t careful, I would just break and tear things up. It felt like living in a world made of glass. As nice as having power was, it felt less nice to have when you realize not everything was as sturdy you were.
“Orrrgh.” I groaned as I stood up, feeling like the blood was all rushing to my head.
“Take it easy. Here.” Neill handed me a pair of somethings as I recovered, noticing they looked eerily similar to my sun core, only split into two. “Your mother extracted your core before she went to sleep. That stinking demon bitch really likes breaking things, huh?”
Neill pointed at her horn, making me realize it wasn’t broken, but instead was regrowing. I looked down my shirt, noticing a small gem set in the crevice where my core was usually at. I wasn’t as heavily injured, but that final battle did take a toll on me.
As I was comforting Rajah who was worried about my injuries, Neill rang the bell next to me, causing the door to open. Behind it was Beth.
[“Your Grace!”] The snow wyvern, in her dragonewt form, charged right into the room and embraced me just as suddenly as Rajah, swinging me up and down before placing me back on the bed. [“Thank goodness, you’re awake, Princess! Brother and I are beyond sorry for our failure! We should have been stronger …”]
Hmm? I raised an eyebrow as the wyvern twin grimaced, looking like a child waiting for a scolding. I looked over her shoulder, noticing Neill pointing at her winged arms.
They were bandaged and the webbing of her wings were ruined. They looked like they were punctured and ruptured by something sharp. While her arms weren’t broken, probably healed by Tasianna or Master, it seems that, from the way her bandages were wrapped, she was missing chunks of her flesh. Upon a closer inspection, there were similar wounds all over her body.
This wouldn’t do, of course. Water magic had [Ocean Healing] for most of their healing needs, but it just wasn’t as strong as [Major Heal]. The battle was as brutal for her as it was for me, and I couldn’t overlook this no matter what. Especially since she was this glad to see me.
So, before we continued this discussion, I healed up her wounds. Beth was overjoyed, plucking off any bandages and the leather things over the wounds like a kid picking candy. In the end, her hand was filled with all the rubbish, filling up the trash can in my room in a matter of seconds. At the same time, she mentioned how her brother, Shay, had been unconscious after the ordeal, so I decided to postpone breakfast until after I checked up on the people in the medbay.
Oh, right.
Before we left, I bit off the recovered flesh on my missing finger and used [Miraculous Grace] on it to regrow the digit. As I was testing out the new sensation of this new body part, Neill, Beth, and Rajah didn’t give much of a reaction to what I did. I guess to all of us, this was just normal now.
I also corrected Mother’s sleeping position and tucked her properly in my bed. Since she was hibernating, I had to leave questioning her about her battle with Karhalentheel for later. It certainly would be an awesome story, but for now, she deserved some rest. Another sneaky kiss to the cheek and I left my room.
“Beth, inform the others Hestia’s awake. Yorshka planned to have a giant feast before she and the others went back home, right? Get it ready, okay? Don’t skimp on anything, you understand?” Neill ordered Beth with a wide smile, infecting the snow wyvern with her enthusiasm. Neill listed out the dishes she wanted to eat, which mostly included the Earth cuisine Priscilla would have to prepare, while Beth wrote everything down. I suppose she needed to listen to Neill as much as she did to me, seeing as my Sister was an imperial princess, too.
Once Neill was satisfied with the menu, she sent Beth off while she wrapped her arm around my shoulder and licked her lips. When I asked her why she was so excited about breakfast, Neill eyed me like a cheeky delinquent. “There was a ton to do after the fight, and poor Renee worked like an equerochs. Well, she kinda hinted about it, but you know she’s technically Yeosian royalty, right?”
I nodded. She and Markval pretty much confirmed it to me after they told us their plan.
“So, something happened in the past with the Sealight and Caimlace families. The latter were the former’s cadet family, intended to be a knight's house for the Sealights. Yeostar? A Sealight, and also the reason why the family nearly went extinct,” Neill explained on the way to our subspace’s clinic. “After Yeostar was turned into a god, his son and daughter, both heads for their respective families, went on to rule the principality. It expanded and grew over the years since Yeostar’s training and wisdom was still ingrained into his family and knights. ‘The golden era of knighthood,’ as Renee described it. You gotta remember, Yeostar was alive when the Origin Gods came, so this family is over 2000 years old.”
“… Now that you say it, that is pretty impressive for a human family.”
Over 2000 years. The Kingdom of Artorias wasn’t even close to that age. However, it did make me question something Princess Anasthasia mentioned before, about how the Principality of Yeos used to go under different names.
“Oh, is that what you think? One of the problems of being a human is the fact you die far too young compared to the long-living races. It doesn’t matter if your first and second kings were fantastic individuals if you suddenly get a bad egg later on. Bad decisions lead to arrogance, and arrogance leads to bad downfalls.”
Neill explained Yeos used to not exist at times, being either absorbed into other countries or being founded under a different name. Regardless of what happened, the Sealight and Caimlace family survived through it all, though. Yeos, in whatever form, would reappear as long as these two families stayed alive.
However, it all crumbled at one particular ruler. During all the struggle, the values of Yeostar was maintained. Knighthood, Bravery, and Loyalty; these tenets endured through Caimlace and Sealight. So it made sense that when, one day, a Sealight ruler completely abandoned these values their country started to deteriorate.
“The ruler at that time was a woman, apparently. You know how the Yeosian nobility has such a hatred for women with authority? Mhmm, Neill told me history didn’t treat her too well, but she also totally blundered everything. In fact, history completely killed her off. Not even a name is left. People only remember her for her issues.”
I heard this story from Jethro. This princess almost caused the downfall of Yeos as a culture, but before she could, she died from a “sickness.” Neill explained from there, the Sealight family started to die out since this conflict caused them to distrust their Caimlace knights.
Yeos survived this ordeal, but it still caused a major problem as a result. Most of the history during this time period was destroyed or lost, so only the gist was retold to people of this time. The Sealight family kept this history to themselves, as they were forced to abandon the throne for their own survival. From there, the Caimlace family took control as Yeos’s rulers.
“Royce, Renee’s genderbender … crossdresser? Lady—I-I don’t know how to call it properly.” Neill scowled at her inability to find a proper adjective to describe the situation. After I told her I understood what she meant, she dropped the subject. “Anyways, her mother was a Sealight, a fact known by the previous prince and his wives, the current Princess Dowager and Princess Anasthasia’s deceased mother. What an irony that their roles were reversed, right? Royce was the knight, while Markval’s father was the ruler.”
It certainly cleared up one mystery. I wasn’t too interested in Yeos’s history, nor the cultural background of why the nobility were misogynistic, as this place was just a Quest destination for me. It wasn’t like Artorias, a kingdom I had learned quite a bit about. Even if I didn’t consider Artorias a home, it sure was a place I wanted to learn more about, just ‘cause we were allies.
“So, where is Renee now?” I asked after Neill’s story was over.
“Doing royalty stuff. Meeting with dignitaries, making deals, and also taking care of the country. For now, it seems, Markval will stay as prince until they sort things out. Can’t do much, if they don’t figure out how to accommodate all their serfs and yeomen.” I could only imagine how hard this had to be. I guess lifting the siege was only the first part of Yeos’s problem.
However, that could wait until after I took care of my own party.
Just as I thought that, we went through the corridor for our living quarters and ended up in the living room. Nobody was there, surprisingly.
[“Master’s attendants and friends are all in the other rooms. Miss Svena and Miss Josine are taking care of your yummy drink, and Miss Tasianna went to train. Master’s sister told them she would call them when you wake up!”] Rajah informed me, allowing me to understand why Neill sent Beth away.
In any case, we went through a random exit door, teleporting us to the clinic.
[“Oooh, I see, I see!”] I heard somebody’s telepathy being sent to everybody inside. [“How brave of you, Sir Farron! I now understand how lacking I am as an imperial guard. You’re a far cry from the ‘knights’ of this country!”]
“See! I told you can’t be so serious about it, father! Shay is the type of person who takes every advice to heart, whether exaggerated or not!” Priscilla complained to her bedridden father, before she turned to snow wyvern, who was also stuck in a bed. “Shay, you can’t take Father’s tales too much to heart! He likes to bring himself up! In fact, I know it! Mother told the same story, but I know she did more than you, Father!”
Farron panicked as his daughter glared at him, forcing the man to laugh it off, only to start coughing like he was going to hack up one of his new lungs. His daughter groaned, blaming him for trying to joke about it. At the same, I heard more laughter erupt to my left, noticing both Krim-Slak and Grazlahta were there, also injured!
“Gahahaha! Look at that guy, Graz! Gahahaha!” Krim, as always, was a cheerful fellow, but his laughter stopped the moment he saw me. The red saurian grinned, baring his sharp teeth, despite having bandages covering his scalp. “Young scale! Good to see you awake, finally! Hahaha, don’t I just look pathetic, right now?”
And with his loud outburst, it also signaled everybody else to turn towards me.
“Hestia!” Priscilla charged right at me in a giant embrace, raising my count of “People trying to squeeze me to death today” up to three. “Everybody said you would be alright, but it still took you this long to wake up! Mhmm, don’t you know how much I wanted to cook for you? Mother wanted to celebrate so much!”
Priscilla was jumping like a small rabbit, swinging her tail up and down without rest. I could only smile wryly at her affection before I couldn’t help myself, ignoring my embarrassment as I returned her hug by lifting her. The young girl smiled, shining so brightly I couldn’t help but feel my heart was being enraptured by her cuteness.
Oof!
[“Master. Priscilla. Hug me, too!”] Rajah, the jealous little tiger snuck right underneath us to rub his head against our legs. Since he wanted to play, I placed Priscilla on him, causing the tiger cub to groan a bit, before accepting it.
“Wooah, Rajah!” Priscilla yelped a bit as Rajah began running around with his insane Agility, making me worried he would hurt the young dragonewt, but I trusted him.
“My lady!” Moments later, Shay tried to stand up, only for him to groan.
“Hey, Shay, get back to bed. Warriors need to learn when to rest,” Farron chastised him, waving at me with a defeated look. “Not the greatest look, huh, kiddo? Urgh, the first thing I do after you heal me is get my chest caved in. Ahaha, urgh!”
“And now I have to heal you again, old man. At least, you’re still alive for me to do so.”
“Ha! Just barely, if it weren’t for that Saint. Urgh, the wyverns, my wife, and I probably would have died if Kushlek’zar hadn’t kept us alive. Cast too many spells, though.”
My eyes widened as I heard this, wondering where my master was if that were the case. I shouldn’t have lost a fan, however, maybe I actually missed that notification ‘cause I was asleep?!
“Woah, calm down.” Before I could speak, Grazlahta slapped his tail on the ground, standing up. “Kush is doing well. He’s with Tasianna, I believe. Don’t forget, Kush isn’t just your mentor, he’s also hers.”
I sighed in relief, happy to hear he was all okay. However, my attention was then turned over to Grazlahta, noticing how he was missing his tail. I remembered the saurians wanted to hunt down the last two remaining grimgarian rank Bs.
Once I questioned him on this, Krim bellowed out a loud laugh before tapping the short horns on his carnotaurus head. They were one of the few unharmed areas on his head. “Dead. Our experience. Akast really ripped them into pieces once one of them smashed my head in. I would have died if he hadn’t since the level up saved my tail. Oh, just saying, but that last rank B really felt my wrath once the knights arrived! Gahahaha!”
“Krim …” Grazlahta shook his head, looking like he had a headache. “Well, such is war, I guess. We nearly lost Krim, but he also went out of his way to save some of the knights. Fearless, hardy, and foolish.”
“Fuck off, gahahaha!”
“Hehe.” I couldn’t help but laugh, too, seeing the gusto of Krim and the aloofness of a real warrior from Grazlahta. Their dynamics was something I missed, seeing as they weren’ making jokes during the siege. “Well, you guys all worked hard. No worries, the best healer—probably—in this world will heal all of you, now!”
If they had lost a limb or a small body part, I would simply use [Miraculous Grace], while anything else could be covered using [Major Heal] and my white flames. Grazlahta and Farron were the only ones who needed the former spell since both either lost a limb or an organ respectively. Just after I healed up his lungs the first time, Farron just went all-in using them by letting Ghorush smash them up. Does this guy have something against breathing?
Krim’s injuries were mostly blunt force trauma, so he really only needed some rest. Still, I healed him up since it would help accelerate things. Shay was probably the one with the best condition, but that wasn’t saying much, since he had lost a few fingers and toes. Still, he didn’t have any internal injuries compared to his sister, so he did come off the battle better than the others.
[“My princesses.”] Just as I was about to leave, Shay stood up and kneeled before me. [“I apologize for not being able to completely fulfill your wish. We couldn’t slay the leonid. If it displeases you, you may punish me for my lack of ability. My sister is still lacking when it comes to fighting properly, so please, I ask you only punish me.”]
Huh? I was flabbergasted at Shay’s sudden behavior. This guy was a pretty aloof wyvern who rarely spoke more than he needed. However, here? He was speaking up a storm when he could have just said “I failed in killing Ghorush. I deserve a punishment.”
Seeing me like this, Farron suddenly began to speak. “Well, can’t say he’s wrong. We did let that Streiga go. In an embarrassing manner, too.”
Ghorush is still alive?
Wanting to know more, I asked Farron to explain it to me, prompting him to ask me to sit down, before Priscilla realized she should be going to the kitchen to prepare my breakfast. Once she was gone, Farron began telling me what happened on his side of the battle once I was taken away by Vifi’Yok.
Essentially, after I was separated from the group, Ghorush further split the party by sending out his ship golem to separate Tehmrayn from the rest, dragging him away from the island. Tasianna didn’t help with this, since she immediately flew away before anybody could say anything.
“Ghorush tried to stop her, but the others handled him. I was sent after her since we kinda realized you guys wouldn’t have a proper frontline since Renee was underleveled,” Neill explained, imitating how Tasianna panicked and just acted by shrieking and shouting “Lady Hestia!”
“…” I stared at her weirdly, seeing as she was laughing her ass off at Tasianna’s expense.
“Well, regardless, we had to deal with that guy. Streiga was a rapier master and also could create enough golems to the point he forced Yorshka and me to focus on only them. Would've given all of us holes if Kushlek’zar hadn’t reacted fast enough. Beth and I were both nearly killed by him. By the time Tehmrayn returned with that Qaltil’s head, your Master looked like a purple lizard.”
He smashed right through the armor Farron used, breaking his bones and chest. Ghorush was fully ready to take everybody down to finish his job and did a pretty good job of it,since everybody but Larent was heavily injured before Tehmrayn came back. Even the swordmaster himself had injured both of his eyes in the process.
Once the Champion was back, however, Yorshka, Shay, Larent, and him challenged Streiga for the final phase, while everybody else retreated to treat each other's wounds. It was then they were forced to just jump off the island entirely, as four Territories activated simultaneously.
“Yorshka got her Territory after she spent some SP to evolve her [Terror Aura] into [Tyrant’s Aura]. She has been waiting so long for it, since she had a terrible time leveling it up during her job as a holy knight. She just didn’t get any targets to use it on, outside of the Knight-Commander.” Farron slapped his face, expressing how he acquired one himself but was disappointed in how he couldn’t use it during the fight.
[“We had him,”] Shay interjected as Farron was chastising himself for the rust on his body. [“Sir Tehmrayn and Sir Larent had cornered him after Dame Yorshka and I froze his head. We took his leg, destroyed the army of golems he conjured with his Territory, and were a hit away from depleting his Health. It was then he tricked us by sending in his last golem.”]
A perfect replica of the leonid, down to the personality and fighting style. However, Shay did describe the golem clone of the leonid to be in a berserker state, so the group were fooled by this at first. It was only for a split second, but none of them noticed how this clone had an intact head and two functional legs.
Although they eventually realized what was happening, the golem still stalled everybody long enough for Ghorush to swim away on a shark golem. Tehmrayn wanted to chase after him, but that was when Tasianna and Renee arrived, announcing they had to take down the leviathan.
“The Champion determined the Divine Quest was more important than the leonid. Yorshka, Shay, and Larent were all too tired to chase, so we had to abandon it. A terrible decision, considering what had happened afterwards on your side.” Farron’s retelling causing me to twitch a bit. It made me wonder if he knew. “Well, I guess it was a small price to pay for taking that leviathan down. Tehmrayn had to create that water vortex, right? He was the only one who could do it.”
“Yeah, and that isn’t counting the fact you wanted to leave those demonkins alive,” Neill complained, causing me to frown a bit. “H-hey, I didn’t want to sound angry, alright? It isn’t a choice I would make, but it isn’t like I couldn’t sympathize with it. War is not cool.”
“… I guess you told that part to everybody, huh?” I mentioned after noticing how nobody in this room reacted to her comment.
“Yeah, of course, why shouldn’t I? It’s a big deal. Just a reminder for next time you’re crazy enough to let somebody that strong live, make them swear an oath under your name to not kill you and yours, okay? At least if they break it, you’ll have a reason to argue against Father if you want to bring a dragon or two to help defend your honor. Tsk, I cannot believe Ghorush managed to save them before I could do it.”
I nodded at Sis’s tip, feeling like I really shouldn’t have let my sympathetic side out in such a crucial moment. In a way, it wasn’t rational, but in another way I also had Mother’s memories still in my head when this whole siege began. What would have happened if we had met under different circumstances? Just like my dragon father and his siblings. Was war really the only answer?
Honestly, I really didn’t have the mindset for a war. I was okay with a small skirmish or small tussle against bandits where I didn’t have to think about the morality of keeping them alive. I thought I would feel the same with the demonkin, but hearing that Warbringer mentioned how she wanted to repay a debt to Amelia, how she cared for her subordinate, and how she liked my singing and donuts …
It reminded me how I wanted to learn both side’s story. I wanted to understand what I was actually fighting for, instead of following whatever Aurena said. Sure, the demonkins probably were destroying her region, but I wanted to understand if the demonkin race as a whole were the target, or just the Princes of Sins and their Edjurl gods.
I wanted an unbiased view of the demonkins through Vifi’Yok.
However, before I could continue contemplating this, Neill ruffled my hair with a slightly tired look. “Hey, it’s alright. You have your own way of doing things, and I have mine. You let her live, I would have killed her. If it comes back to bite your tail later on, then so be it. Deal with the consequences of your actions then.”
Reajaen and Vifi’Yok. Rationally speaking, I shouldn’t have left either of them alive. Reajaen was a criminal who had performed numerous irredeemable crimes, even if they were for her son. Vifi’Yok was an enemy who would undoubtedly hit back in some way, even if her honor told her she owed me for saving not only hers but her friend’s life.
“Thanks for cheering me up, Sis. You’re cool.” I gave her a thumbs up.
But I stood by my decisions. They were mine to make.
“Shihaha! Of course, I am the best older sister you could ever wish for! You should be happy Tehmrayn has already departed.”
“He did?”
“Yup, he’s a Champion and Depth Adjudicator, Hestia,” Krim answered. “His Divine Quest was a success, so he had no other reason to stay. The moment he made sure the Caedhulens were alright, he was gone. That Larent, too, is gone.”
“Left to chase after that leonid,” Grazlahta added.
It shouldn’t have been surprising, but I still felt a bit down hearing this. I thought our feast would include everybody, but it seemed the party would miss a few important participants. I had to remember not everybody had the same goals as us. That everybody had their own lives. A whole week went by, so it was to be expected.
“Well, nothing to be done, I guess.” I stood up and picked up Rajah. “More food for us, right?”
“Yeah!” Krim cheered, jumping off his bed before slapping Grazlahta off his.
Obviously, his partner wouldn’t enjoy that. “Krim, you skink!”
“Wooo! Food! Let’s gooooo!” Neill cheered, clapping her hands and skipping out of the room.
Shay and Farron joined up, in a less audible manner, as all of us left the room while Rajah kept “Mreeewing” to express his hunger. Once we were in the dining room of the restaurant, two familiar faces walked up to me and bowed.
“Lady Hestia!”
“We are ready to serve you once again!”
It was Svena and Tasianna. Neither of them made a big deal about me waking up, but I could see in their eyes that they couldn’t help but be happy about my recovery.
“Happy to have you two at my side again. Is the food ready?” I grinned like a greedy girl, anticipating a grand feast seeing as I could smell all the aromas covering the room, enrapturing my taste buds. I couldn’t help but swallow my spit.
“Heeeessstia!” And just when I took a single step into the room, number four on my list of “people trying to squeeze me to death today” ran right up to me, only this time, it felt like a train ran right into me.
“Uuuuurgh!” I yelped as the dragonewt bullet slammed me against the wall, only to fling me up into the air and catch me. “Yorshka! Stop!”
[“Master will vomit!”] Rajah tried to help, but he was helpless against Yorshka’s gorilla embrace.
“Hahaha, I can’t hear you, great aunt! How could I? It’s time to begin the damn feast, woooo!”
Her wings beat hard before she carried Rajah and me over to the tables, gently letting us down as Lorena and Haati both came over and placed some spaghetti bolognese, a meat-toffel stew, and some fragassa milk on the table. “Please, enjoy!” both told me with wide grins.
“Don’t stop eating, alright?” My head moved up, noticing Master sitting directly over to me. He raised a tankard full of ale up before putting some meat, soft bread, and grilled fish from the set of dishes Akast was placing on this party-sized long table.
“Hestia … eat … much!” The giant sarcosilian greeted me before helping my attendants out.
“Ahoy!” I snapped my head around as I noticed a lizardman wave at the corner of my eye, only to notice he was Adhi. “Hey, Lady Hestia, glad to see you up and about! Sleep is good when you’re done with a voyage, but a sailor shouldn’t lie down when it comes to a feast! Waiting for ages, we were, so come on, let’s eat!”
“Ha, as if!” Neill came over and ruffled my hair, pointing at Adhi with a snarky grin. “You’re just staying around since you heard from Farron that you can teleport back to Artorias with Sis’s nexus.”
“Pah, you’re putting words in my mouth, Lady Fargryneill! By the Depth Goddess, I haven’t said a single lie! I can ask Her Grace after the party is done! So, first, we eat! Then, please, send me back! My crew is waiting for me, Lady Hestia!” Adhi went from excited to pleading in a matter of a second.
Everybody gathered up, taking their seats at the table once the last few dishes came out of the kitchen. Josine, Lorena, and Priscilla, once done, expressed their thanks for everybody's patience, before turning to the person this feast was dedicated to.
Tasianna, Neill, Rajah, the saurians, the Nordor family, the twins, Svena, Josine, Lorena, Haati, and Adhi were all here. It was lively and full to the brim, even with Tasianna and the other attendants not eating with us out of principle for their job.
However, sadly, it seemed Renee, Rita, and Mother weren’t here. It was also a shame that Larent and Tehmrayn couldn’t stay, but me waking up was a sudden surprise, after all. Renee and Rita were probably busy. I did wonder where Duke Greenveil was, but that was something for me to figure out later on.
“Alright!” I picked up my fragassa milk, readying myself for a toast. “I don’t really have much to say for something like this, but it is with a fact we all survived the conflict over a week ago! All the strife, all the problems, all the fighting. We survived! As such … TOAST!”
“TOAST!” Everybody on the table cheered with me, including my attendants, as I had forced them to do the same. Even if they were my maids, they were part of this small family, so they better participate!
<[Music Resonation (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
“Okay, everybody!” With the music on and everybody filled with anticipation, all that was left was to let loose! “Bon apeti—”
“Uhm, excuse me?”
I snapped my head around the moment I felt somebody entering the subspace. Behind me, entering through a door, was an elven man in his pajamas. With unkempt lime green hair and tired eyes barely hidden behind some glasses, the man stumbled forward, adjusting his glasses while carrying a book.
“O-oh, I apologize. It seems I came too late for the toast, right?”
Who is that?
“Hmm?” The man adjusted his glasses once again, leaning his body forward as he stared at me. “Are you—? Hoooo! The dragon princess!”
… Okay, this guy is creeping me out.
“Lord Erudite…” Tasianna shook her head, looking embarrassed as the man tried to stop himself from yawning. “Lady Hestia, I would like to introduce to you the leader of Aleistunum. The highest authority of the mage’s guild and the archerudite of the Church of Istari. This is Archerudite Uzerra.”
“Ohayo gozaimasu, as the Japanese would say it.”
Comments
Pog, that comment went under my radar. Glad to read that, thank you!
Diego Rossi
One of the best thing in how you write is that you have a fine hand in balancing combat chapter and slice of life/fun chapters. Bravo!
Diego Rossi
hid my nose and nose with my hand, -> mouth and nose I really hope that Hestia hasn't two noses. down3 -> down
They missed the feast! the protagonist feast! That is punishment enough
Imp
Awww... everyone left and didnt' stay for the party? How rude! That's it, those two are officially OFF my christmas card list! after we reintroduce christmas cards to Peolynca.
My words for your fun.
brunoid
Thanks for the chapter.
