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Chapter 378: A Stage of Grudges: Royal Edition. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2022-12-21 21:57:07 +0000 UTCI made a continuity error in the last chapter. Maagneil is the father of Broggart and Darlion, which means he is Grimnir's uncle. I will be fixing that. Sorry!
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“How does one punish a despicable asshole for what he did when the person is both influential and sorta beloved by the people in his city? Not to mention—and very importantly—in a manner that wouldn’t make me public enemy number one in the eyes of the city folk?”
Well, that was the biggest issue in our plan to get back at Maagneil, the current clan leader of the Luedbrumdar clan. Grimnir thought we could talk with the hold king, but here was the thing: I didn’t trust the situation. The weird city guards, no punishments on them, no apology, no nothing from the hold king. After the students, Ellaine, and I spoke about these matters, it became clear we couldn’t go with Grimnir’s “dwarvish” plan that relied on honor and respect and such.
This especially became clear after Tasianna showed me the crowd in Artorias and how they cheered me on and how they refused to believe the lies in the newspaper. It made it clear to me that doing good could benefit you, although I also understood some situations required a stronger hand. Killing and violence shouldn’t be overruled, if I wasn’t worried about my reputation as an idol.
So, that was what got me into this current situation where I was shoutcasting inside my obsidian orchestra, filled to the brim with Artorian, Estralian, and Yeosians to one side, and a good amount of seats full of Gazahan-Orn citizens on the other. This was the result of me questioning myself on how to solve this not only as Hestia the leader of Aurora, but also Hestia the dragon, the idol, and the princess.
As such, it took me eight days to finish all this planning. Why? Weren’t we planning to meet the hold king of Gazahan-Orn and get Grimnir to solve this like a blacksmith and dwarf? Well, we were, until I decided to send Rajah to confirm the king’s real intentions. Well, when he returned, the news wasn't very thrilling to listen to.
Essentially, the dude was on some stuff and Maagneil was his supplier. Got the king twisted around his fingers, he did. Rajah even overheard him say “I hope that dragon just disappears … just go away. Leave me home alone.” He actually wanted me to never come back and confront him on the fact he just ignored everything, meaning he was fully okay with what happened!
Rajah, of course, also checked on his wife. Sadly, she was also in the know, although she seemed a bit more ashamed about the fact. Unlike her stoned husband, she understood the gravity of the situation a bit better than him, to the point she couldn’t sleep the night after my rescue plan. Respectable in a way, since she was protecting her family, but it also meant this was a pretty big problem.
So, this was where my princess status came in. Seven days ago, the day after my initial visit to Gazahan-Orn, King Drangleic began his trip to Ankor-Nazta. Since I had a fast travel point in the capital of the Equevanna duchy, which bordered the dwarves to the northeast, he could cut his trip down to two days.
While he was there, getting comfy with the Ankoran King—essentially the ruler of all dwarven hold kings—he also delivered the message I wanted the dwarven high king to read. It was a report of everything that had happened, and that I wanted him to help us out, if he could. Apparently, his way to help was to wander the city as a random adventurer and to conduct his inspection like some detective.
Why didn’t I visit him myself, or why didn’t I meet up with him while he was in the city? I was busy, getting this giant concert ready and also accepting the fact this apology concert to increase my reputation as a idol would send me into the red. Yes, even with all the passive income I was due, I couldn’t stay in the green …
Saori, where are you? Being poor sucks.
Well, I didn’t know the worst of it, but seeing how I owed Duke Greenveil and Arcanuess Helvas money, it sure was demoralizing. Ellaine and Grimnir advised me not to put money in between friendships or alliances, which probably would be Saori’s suggestion in this scenario, so I just took the debt, instead of demanding money from them for free.
Even asking countries I helped felt a bit awkward, honestly. Yeos was currently in a financial hole and I’ve been in a give-and-take relationship with Artorias for a while, to the point I valued them as an ally, so I didn’t want anything to get in our way. Which left me with Estralia.
Fortunately, I could demand money from them, specifically Reajaen, since she owed me her life right now. Still, I only had her cover the cost of promoting my concert, workforce to get this set up, and to act as today’s security. Forcing her to give me plain cash felt morally wrong, to be honest. It felt like I was stooping to her level with such a tyrannical or mafia-like manner of blackmailing somebody. This was why I had her offset some of the cost this manner.
Having favors and such was nice, but abusing them could just spiral things out of control. Although I was indebted to Duke Greenveil and Arcanuess Helvas, they practically told me I could repay them whenever and however I wanted, with no additional costs or interest. So, really, no pressure on my side. Having trust for each other was quite awesome.
To summarize, what did all of this planning and debt taking result in? Well, my obsidian orchestra was set up for a concert, the dwarven high king and queen visited this place and inspected things for us, I got to torment our enemies and watch their furious and anxious faces, not to mention, more fans.
<231 human and beastman have become your followers>
<Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 18634>
Well, free food and some good music didn’t help me out with dwarven fans. I was collabing with Rosserto so I could produce music dwarves would like, that was why I was doing a progressive rock song with him. My singing did excite Rosserto’s fans, but most of the love went to him. Which was cool.
In any case, the main stage of this performance wasn’t really ours, it was actually the showdown between Grimnir and Maagneil’s smithing contest. With Grimnir now on the stage, illuminated by the spotlights above, I turned my head back to the angry dwarf in the distance. Standing next to a merc-looking dwarf, the leader of the Luedbrumdar clan looked on the verge of exploding.
“And on the other side, Luedbrumdar clan’s leader, Maaaaagneil!” I announced, pointing at him with a wide smirk. “So… what is your answer, honorable clan leader? Will you honor your deal?”
I used my dragon princess title to cajole royalty to help me out as the dwarves were allied with Loatryx, and in a way, Kargryx. I used my idol role to create a stage fit to not only prop up Grimnir and hopefully help him get his exiled status revoked, but also to shame Maagneil and bring out the truth.
So, what about my dragon role? Well, killing was completely off the table, no matter how much this man annoyed me. In the eyes of the dwarves, I would just be a murderer no matter how justified I was, since he was a prominent figure. I didn’t want the controversy, in this case. No, no, what a dragon did was to stomp the ants down. In this case, the plan was to ruin this guy in the face of society. Dwarves respected honor, like samurais? Well, let us use that against him then.
“Ha, as if!”
And how would I do that? Well, obviously, with social pressure. The moment the challenge was issued, the dwarves around him began to shout. The crowd became restless as a zuekluk was issuing a challenge against an honorable dwarf leader.
“That last ‘ime was damn luck! The Luedbrumdar don’t need’cha anymore, zuekluk!”
“Damn fraud kicked Broggart down! He dead ‘cuz you spited Bleidla!”
“Blacksmithing ain’t for ya anymore! Stay outta the mountains, ya damn milk drinker!”
Tough crowd.
Since the rescue operation involved no deaths or collateral to the city, outside of the Edgesworn’s base, the dwarves easily forgave me for my actions. Maybe they still held a grudge, but some beer and food was enough to make them overlook my actions. What my apology didn’t help was Grimnir’s reputation.
As my blacksmith mentioned, there had been a competition between him and Maagneil before, where they showed off their creations around spectators. Grimnir was chosen the winner with Ellaine’s new armor, but there were doubters who accused him of using demonic materials to make it. That was the misunderstanding, which I presumed wasn’t just random comments as I had a feeling Maagneil or his clan cajoled them to say it.
The last challenge was to make some equipment before the competition, which resulted in the chance for people to pounce at him for using a trick to win. However, this time, before a huge crowd where everybody could see what was happening, I was planning something more traditional but effective.
“That is why, dear crowd!” I interjected using my [Aerokinesis] microphone to drown out the voices. “We will be having this competition once again! Grimnir issued Maagneil another challenge behind doors, but this time, let’s keep this fair and square, yeah? If these dwarves call themselves real blacksmiths, then let them show it! Or, will they reject it in front of not only their Ankoran King and Queen, but also a foreign guest in the form of moi, the eighth child of Emperor Eltharion of Kargryx?!”
“As if! Clan leader, do it!”
“This time he ain’t gonna fall for that zuekluk’s tricks! Maagneil, get your smith here already!”
Social pressure, social pressure, social pressure; oh, how lovely. It just needed a sprinkle of salt, to spice up the wound now.
“To make this fair, we will be using the forges and ores High Queen Tragaya had brought with her when she arrived on the train! No one can cheat!”
Aaaaaaaaaaagrrrrrrak! I felt something pierce my heart as I said that, experiencing pain beyond my expectations. It was just phantom pain, but the fact I had to make a third debt to assure Grimnir’s reputation got restored somewhat pained me like crazy. It was for a good cause, but I felt terrible.
The third debt I made was with King Drangleic, asking him to request the Ankoran King to bring two forges and its tools, in addition, to some ores. It was to make the competition so fair, no one could question the results of the match. It was such a shame that doing this the correct way cost money.
As I was feeling horrible, High Queen Tragaya, a brown-haired Inko dwarf who looked like a Japanese noble with her elaborate kimono and fur coat, clapped her hands, and from the foyer of my orchestra, multiple of her handmaidens and guards appeared. All of them transported the forges, tools, ingots, and buckets of blood onto the stage, prepping them there for everybody to see.
The Queen then entered the stage herself, presenting the ingots for everybody to see, stating how they were of the same purity and size, with each side having the same amount. In addition, with the furnaces already roaring blazing fire, she also explained how each forge was fitted and ready to create runes.
“Pig blood! Simple, but always dependable!” She shouted, showcasing the buckets of blood. “The chants have awakened the fire of the undermountain, ready for a runesmith to smite Dhuinn’s words onto steel! No large-scale equipment or smelters, nothing but ya own hands shall touch this craft! Runesmithing, blacksmithing, and artificership; showcase what a real dwarf can do in the forge! Show these humans and beastmen what we children of the mountains can do! Our pride!”
The invigorating speech of the Ankoran Queen spurred the dwarves to chant and bellow out “Umslid fie Dhuinn! Umslid fie Crustacia!” meaning “Honor to Dhuinn! Honor to Crustacia!” The sheer energy coming from them was intimidating, but the people from the Artorian, Estralian, and Yeosian seats couldn’t help but be infected by the sheer energy.
The words of the Ankoran Queen wasn’t just a display to the dwarves, but it also told everybody else how this was a privilege to watch dwarves craft. Some of the humans and beastmen were probably crafters or smiths, meaning this by itself was an incredible opportunity to watch and learn.
My performance had kept the mood from dipping, but Queen Tragaya’s voice sent it to its peak. Running away now would only shatter everybody’s opinion of whomever fled.
“Elaborate, young highness.” The high queen glanced over me for a moment, prompting me to nod in response. “Good to finally meet the lost egg child of Emperor Eltharion and Sixth Empress Melloxtressa. Royalty should speak, so let us delay that for later.”
Her voice from before was rough and wild like any dwarf I had met up till this point. However, right now, it was soft and gentle like a cool breeze, making me want to let my guard down for a moment.
In a whisper, I replied, “It would be an honor. Thank you very much for your help, despite the short notice.”
“It was our honor to help an ally of Ankor-Nazta and the mediator for the future summit. But be warned, your friend Grimnir and his cousin still broke into the workshop of Goddess Chihiro. That is still a crime.”
Reading between the lines, his exile was still justified, in other words. Gentle but strict… Maybe my plan to help Grimnir wouldn’t pan out completely, but it was too late to turn back now. All that was left was for the man himself to execute on it.
“Maagneil! Maagneil! Maagneil!”
“Luedbrumdar! Luedbrumdar! Luedbrumdar!”
Even the crowd couldn’t stop after what had happened. Although the Artorian, Estralian, and Yeosian were a bit more quiet than usual, it was also ‘cause they came here for me, not the two dwarves smithing it out. So, I really had to make sure I kept their attention. As boring as it might seem, I had watched Grimnir’s smith so many times now; it really wasn’t boring watching him work.
“I will be fully investigating this matter now.” She curtsied slightly before leaving with the hold king, his queen, and his guards, leaving Maagneil standing there alone with only his guards. The merc-looking dwarf clapped Maagneil on the back before, pointing at everybody shouting for him to step into the ring—Uhm, stage.
The merc then walked away from him, waving at me for a moment, before sitting down hard at an open seat next to King Drangleic and his wife. He adjusted his posture and position, trying to get himself comfortable before letting out a loud crackle as King Drangleic commented on his thick armor.
“You shouldn’t have worn something this heavy, King Fugnarus. I am sure you got the memo,” King Drangleic joked, causing the dwarf to bellow out again.
“Gahahaha, for sure, my good man. There aren’t many opportunities for a king to don his armor in this time of peace, don’t you agree?”
“I would rather there not be any. Us Warrior-Kings should know fighting isn’t everything.”
“Wise words. Let’s drink to it, eh? Would ya like to partake, my lady?” The merc-like dwarf, now revealed to be the Ankoran King, addressed Drangleic’s queen, prompting her to decline. As such, the two men shared a glass of wine.
Jeez.
Ellaine acted as my contact person for the whole group, since I was busy during the waiting time. This was my first time meeting the Ankoran royalty, so we still had a whole introduction thing going for later. In addition, as the Queen mentioned, there was the whole egg thing. She probably was probably notified that I had been found from the dragonewts of Loatryx thanks to Yorshka’s messages, but maybe she wanted more details on things.
Oh well, I could just consider it the price to ask her about Chihiro. Grimnir told me they were related to Chihiro’s mortal family, so they probably could give me some context on the dwarven reincarnator.
Nevertheless, back to Maagneil trapped inside my plan. We didn’t need to reveal the truth of the matter, since we could leave that to the Ankoran Queen. He probably understood what we were planning, but what if he made a stink about everything? Well, I already apologized for everything, so if he wanted to handle this the hard way, then I would double, no, triple down on it.
Meaning, he had only one choice to keep his “honor” intact. Anything else would just lower his standing with his non-diehard fans and followers.
“… Get Ugoval and the others here, right now! One of each!”
The challenge had been accepted.
“Yeaaaaaaaaaaah!” And the crowd cheered.
During the down time, I continued my singing, entertaining everybody and just emulating how dwarves would behave inside their taverns. With the lax and comfy atmosphere, it was the right choice not to heavily promote the concert to nobles or rich merchants—my main income source if I wanted to monetize things.
Instead, I kept everybody’s moods up, collabing with either Rosserto for my rocker moments or Tasianna for ballads and pop songs most of my fans came for. Switching from my goth outfit to my popstar one felt pretty weird, but this was just part of show business. Still, it was fun sharing my hoarse voice with everybody, reinforcing how I really should start turning more people than just Ellaine and Tasianna into my idols-in-crime.
Once the Luedbrumdar team arrived, the show had to stop, but I widened my eyes a bit as I saw the team. Behind Maagneil and a beardless dwarf, an organized row of nine dwarves walked with them. Amongst them, three middle-aged dwarves flounced around with fire in their eyes, eager to start the competition, while each had two younger and short-bearded dwarves accompany them, looking more nervous than cool.
This was a bit worrying, as I thought they would bring three people max. While Maagneil and the beardless one stepped to the side, the nine artisans walked onto the stage. Watching the three older ones glared at Grimnir, I became a bit anxious, but watching Grimnir just shake his head as if it was nothing, I kept my cool.
“Since I’m not an expert with blacksmithing, let me introduce you to my co-commentator. Jadhund Heimhunter!” The name of the man came with mild fanfare, as not everybody knew him too well. Those in the artificer and railroad, the train, guild cheered quite heavily for him, though.
The man himself came onto the stage with a deep frown, only deepening when Maagneil and the beardless man glared at him with widened eyes. Jadhund wiped his face with his hand before moving next to me, trying to avoid them as best as he could.
“Is that the son?” I whispered to him.
He nodded. “I told the Ankoran Queen everything… Thank you… for solving this in this manner.”
I nodded back. Jadhund had been vehemently against me rescuing the students, Grimnir, and Ellaine due to the two-sided nature of this story, including how the Luedbrumdar clan was being viewed. Whether he was worried I was planning on causing a huge ruckus or not, he never told me, but it seemed going down the pacifist route earned me his trust.
Not like I would call this the pacifist route, really. ‘Cause, let us be honest here, this would be bloody as hell. Bloody since dwarves used blood for runes and such, you know! Not to mention, Grimnir would smear Maagneil’s tears on the ground after he beat his ass in this smithing contest!
“Get the damn zuekluk, Maagneil!”
“Show the King and Queen who da real deals are! Show them!”
“Zuekluks ain’t cheating this time with so many people watching! Crustacia and Bleidla, witness this challenge!!”
On the other hand, the dwarves in the crowd thought differently. Let the haters come!
“Grimnir…” Maagneil scoffed at our blacksmith, glaring at him with his enlarged eyes as he took a seat in the front rows. With Grimnir ignoring him to check on his tools and the furnace, all the clan leader could do was stay silent with a menacing look.
On the other hand, the beardless son of his couldn’t stop himself from cursing. “Where is that damn milk drinker?! Huh, zuekluk?! Spraying fire at me beard and letting some gal rescue him? Bleidla’s hammer, strike him.”
“Here.” A girl’s voice answered the man’s provocation through the sounds of cheers. Instead of armor or a dress, the noble girl of Artorias strutted on stage in her artificer clothes, consisting of a simple-designed shirt, a baggy trousers, and an apron with all her tools.
“Ellaine!” Three people from the side called for her, drawing the girl’s attention before she smiled sheepishly, scratching her cheeks a bit. As I looked over, I could identify not only her brother Jonathan and parents, Arcanuess and Arcaliess Helvas, but also her best friend Amelia.
While her brother, father, and Amelia looked proud of her, even clapping to encourage her to continue, her mother had a worried smile on her face. To a noble lady like her, it probably was a shame to see her only daughter look like some random commoner, if you disregarded her clean face and well-groomed hair.
On the other hand, the young man accompanying her was wearing standard blacksmithing clothes, aside from the eyepatch he had covering his left eye. With blazing red hair, he grimaced at the beardless son of Maagneil. However, at the sight of him, the cheers from the dwarves instantly turned into boos and curses.
“Daichi?” Ellaine turned around, worried, but the young man didn’t bat an eye.
“Hey, assholes! If you can’t shout louder, I can’t HEAR IT OVER THE DAMN BANGER THE SINGER IS PRODUCING!” Instead of cowering, Daichi for some reason provoked them even further. “YOU CAN SLAM ME IN A JAIL LATER! Watch me beat these dwarves in your own game!”
The baseless swagger infuriated the crowd even further, to the point Daichi taunted them all into showering him with curses, instead of Grimnir. The amount of “zuekluks” and other name calling disappeared, replaced by people hurling insults at him. Nevertheless, he took the hate onto himself as he grabbed a hammer from the prepared forge, trying to stop his shaking hand.
I couldn’t help but shake my head before increasing the volume of the background music. He was right, a competition like this demanded louder music, something that can keep people up.
“Take your positions!” I announced before pulling out a piece of parchment, given to me by Ellaine this morning. Quickly reading through it, I then nodded and announced the goal for this challenge. “This is an urgent request from High Queen Tragaya herself! Her husband demands a new set of armor for himself. You are to produce high-quality plate armor from the ingredients provided, including a pair of gauntlets equipped with a mana circuitry for increased mana flow. Using the set of blood, you are to fill up all three rune slots. If any of the three requirements are not fulfilled, you are automatically disqualified!”
I then looked at both sides, furrowing my brows a bit.
“… According to the rules of royal challenges, each required craft may have only one certified master artisan in each artisan field, while each master may have two certified apprentices under his or her leadership. As such, you may have a maximum of nine participants, but you may participate with less, as long as the prerequisites are to be followed!”
On our side, we only had Grimnir, Ellaine, and Daichi. Grimnir was a master blacksmith and runesmith, but his two apprentices were still just that. As such, we could only bring those three since we had no other smiths.
On the other hand, the Luedbrumdar team brought nine people. I was a bit worried when I read it this morning, as I figured this would be the case. And, what did you know, it happened exactly as I guessed.
“Don’t worry. Grimnir knows these rules,” Jadhund reassured me, reminding me how Grimnir told me to not worry. Daichi and Ellaine both looked rather undaunted, meaning they probably had a plan… right?
“This time, it will be different, zuekluk.”
The pre-battle smack talk began with the Luedbrumdar side beginning it.
“Broggart wouldn’t have died if you had just kept your greedy mittens off Goddess Chihiro’s vault.”
“You are old and forgotten. Make way, Grimnir. Runesmithing don’t need’cha.”
There seemed to be history between the three master artisans and Grimnir, but that was to be expected. He was one of the most competent smiths in the clan before his exile. Although, the hostility might be a bit too much.
I thought Grimnir would spit back and grumble like he always did when he was angry, but surprisingly, he began to laugh. “Gahahaha! You three? Show me up? Crustacia’s twintails, the only thing you will do today is show this place why I am serving a dragon princess and you three are still working in some downtrodden hold with an incompetent hold king and a tyrannical clan leader!”
“Zuekluk!” They all shouted, but it went into deaf’s ears as Grimnir and his two apprentices turned their backs away, readying themselves for the challenge.
The time for talk was over.
“Now, with the rules established, you have one and a half bell time to finish your product! For you dwarves, that is one hour and 30 minutes! You will finish your product in that time!”
It was just not enough. An hour and a half for not only plate armor, runes, and a pair of gauntlets with mana circuitry? For a nine man team with professional craftsmen, it should be possible since each person could take on a job, but for only three people? It was just downright insane.
As I remembered, when Grimnir and our party of five helped him with his runes, it took us far more than an hour to even finish a single rune, not to mention he needed to finish three. The issue was, Grimnir had to make plate armor and also some gauntlets. How would he have time for that?
Ellaine was the artificer and, while talented, if they couldn’t finish the runes, Ellaine’s circuitry work wouldn’t do them any good. Daichi learned blacksmithing from Grimnir, but he couldn’t finish everything in time for Grimnir to start making the runes. You had to make the piece of armor first before you could attach the runes on them.
Urgh, what are you guys planning?
Regardless, this was the time for me to believe in them. Grimnir was our resident blacksmith; if he, Ellaine, and Daichi believed that they could surmount this, then I just had to give them the chance to everybody who was actually superior.
“As such, your allotted time be—”
“Stop!”
But before I could start the match, somebody interrupted me. He charged onto the stage, pushed a blacksmithing apprentice off, before putting on a work apron. It was the beardless dwarf, Maagneil’s second son, Darlion.
“I haven’t taken my master exam yet,” Darlion stated as he eyed both Grimnir and Daichi. “I can act as an apprentice, right?”
I looked over at Jadhund, who reluctantly nodded.
“Always jealous of his cousin. Always jealous of Grimnir,” was what Jadhund told me when I first met him in this hold. The stocky, sharp-eyed younger brother of Grimnir’s cousin Broggart, Darlion, was somebody I heard about, but I didn’t know much about. What did he mean by saying he hadn’t taken his master exam yet?
… This could be problematic.
Sadly, without further ado …
“Begin!”
