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Chapter 36: A Warm Shower and Meal, what could be better? [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2020-02-10 20:00:05 +0000 UTC“La la la la la la la la la. ♫”
First a relaxing bath a few days ago and now a refreshing shower. The water droplets falling onto my face and skin felt so liberating, as if all the dirt and stress just washed away. And all of this at no risk of overusing our water supply. What could I say, but these past days have been the best of my life~
[“Take as much mana as you want, Tasianna,”] I said while washing my hair and horns, tapping my tail happily on the ground.
My new travel companion, Tasianna, was casting [Greater Create Water] right now to create a ball of water, allowing it to drizzle down on me like a shower. After I warmed it up with some fire, the shower was so similar to whatever you would use at a normal home. It was brilliant.
As Tasianna explained, fairies couldn’t accumulate arcane corruption, so it really didn’t matter how long she kept this spell up. This shower could last as long as I had mana for her. However, there was something else she brought to our party, something so important Saori jokingly told Tasianna how much she loved her. I did, too! And for What?
Shampoo.
Tasianna knew how to make shampoo using materials you could find in the forest. Apparently, her fairy village produced a lot of floral products to trade with whatever wares wandering elves would bring in. I couldn’t thank her enough for this.
The feeling of cleanliness as the aromatic, viscous liquid touched my hair, cleansing the dirt, grime, and unpleasantness away, restoring the silky touch my hair once had. It didn’t foam much, but the small bubbles it created was satisfying to my ears.It felt good to be squeaky clean, again. You only really valued the luxury of shampoo after going without it for six months.
[“Thank you very much, Princess Hestia,”] Tasianna gave an energetic answer, clearly expressing a sense of pride with how delighted I was about the shower.
It has been two days since we rescued Tasianna from the clutches of those trolls. After accepting Tasianna into the party, I immediately fell asleep from the fatigue of the day. Considering I was directly hit by the projectile of an artillery weapon and also tossed around like a play toy, I think merely falling asleep for a day was acceptable, right?
After I woke up from that one night, Saori decided to evolve as she had made up her mind for an evolution choice as I was sleeping. That gave me and Tasianna a good amount of time to talk about things.
At first, I was extremely apprehensive with Tasianna addressing me with “Princess Hestia.” It was the same reason I gave Saori, but while Saori only did it jokingly now, Tasianna was extremely inflexible in this as she was thought for nearly 60 years of serving the royal family to call princesses princesses.
While I was okay with playing along with Saori’s role-play — we even enacted a whole ball scene, where Saori learned [Royal Etiquette] and I learned she had rarely ever danced before — hearing it from Tasianna felt awkward. She spoke and addressed me as if I was a being far above her, placed on a pedestal, you could say.
I wanted this to be a friendship but Tasianna thought of herself as a servant, my retainer. It should have been obvious considering Tasianna was the maid and attendant of a royal family member for most of her life. She didn’t know better than to treat royalty with reverence and respect.
For her, addressing me without showing me the utmost devotion was not an option. I actually abused a bit of my “authority” to force her into doing it but that just caused more problems than it was worth.
She wouldn’t stop fidgeting around like a fly. Constantly asking, “Princ…H-Hestia, do you need me to do something?”, or, “No, I can do that for you. Please allow me to do that, Princ… Hestia!”. She just couldn’t stay still. She just couldn’t, and I felt bad.
That was when I had to choose what was less annoying. Being called “Princess Hestia” but having my new companion feel comfortable; or being casual with each other but having an annoying fly zoom around me.
At this point, it wasn’t worth arguing about it. I chose the former on the sole condition that she would slowly adapt to our party’s dynamic. The intention was to gradually have her become comfortable enough around me, so she would simply call me by my name. I had to look it through her perspective, and being patient was a good thing amongst friends. I wanted to become good friends with her, after all.
After that was settled, my wish came true and we actually got along pretty well from then on. Not only could she make shampoo but her tea was probably one of the best I ever tasted, like it was godly level. I was a tea and coffee girl, but she was making me love tea even more now.
On the other hand, cooking wasn’t her specialty though, as she was around the size of my palm. She never cooked for somebody my size before, and was mostly a vegetarian, and while I was okay with greens, I didn’t want them everyday. However, she made for a good cooking assistant, although she did tell me princesses weren’t expected to do menial task like cooking, and she would do everything for me if the circumstances weren’t so inconvenient for her.
I probably had to get used to the “princess” part eventually. I had to. It was very likely this would be common sense in this world, and I personally didn't want to enforce the values I learned on Earth to this new world. I didn’t know it yet, and all I knew about it came from Tasianna, and she only knew her village and the elven capital.
This was my new life. I had decided to do my best to adapt to it once I reached civilization. I wanted to act more mature. That was why Tasianna’s behavior towards me was a good way for me to learn about cultures. If I wanted to make the idol culture part of this world, I needed to learn what people thought of such ideas first. I couldn’t become a full-fledged idol if nobody appreciated it.
Outside of this, I also had a talk with Tasianna about my title [The Light] and its corresponding title [Hestia’s Retainer]. From there, I learned Tasianna’s description sounded different from what I knew from Saori.
This was Saori’s.
<Hestia’s Retainer: A title given to a person that has sworn loyalty or fealty for a person with the title [The Light]. This title allows the owner to be aware of the other party’s condition, even when they are separated. This option can be disconnected by the other party’s choice. Grants the owner of this title certain benefits from the sworn person’s titles or skills. Received benefits include: Reduced SP cost for skill acquirement and improvement>
And this was Tasianna’s.
<Hestia’s Retainer: A title given to a person that has sworn loyalty or fealty for a person with the title [The Light]. This title allows the owner to be aware of the other party’s condition, even when they are separated. This option can be disconnected by the other party’s choice. Grants the owner of this title certain benefits from the sworn person’s titles or skills. Received benefits include: Access to the SP System, Reduced SP cost for skill acquirement and improvement, Skill proficiency increase during combat, Experience Increase>
It should’ve been obvious as my access to the SP System came from [Otherworldly Reincarnator], however, I didn’t expect to be able to share it with others. Tasianna had access to the SP system. It made me really wonder what this Aurena was planning to give me such a broken effect.
It was another reason for my headaches, but our party's potential just increased with this. It also meant I had to hide this fact from strangers. The SP System was powerful, game-breaking even. If we ever invited another member into the party then it should only be someone we could trust 200 percent.
After my shower, I dried myself off by using [Aerokinesis] and [Pyrokinesis] to create a hairdryer, or body dryer, and put back on the one-piece Saori made for me. Tasianna wanted to help me put my dress on but was too weak to actually help.
Being in high spirits from showering, I did a handspring and landed in front of Saori, who was cooking our breakfast. “Saori, asa gohan wa nan desu ka~?” (Saori, what’s for breakfast~?) I spoke in Japanese here.
While preparing what looks to be stew, Saori blinked a couple times in succession until she gave a sigh in exasperation. She then opened her own space storage and gave me two pieces of smallclothes, clearly a bra and panty.
“Please, put these on before doing anything flashy,” she said with a facepalm before returning back to cooking.
It took me a second to realize what she meant with this, but the realization was enough to make my head dizzy from the blood rushing up to my head. I quickly headed back to the impromptu shower to put on my underwear. Tasianna wanted to help me put them on, stating “I have to help Princess Hestia put her clothes on,” but was quickly caught and persuaded to stay by Saori. I could see her pout after she was once again denied a chance to “serve” me.
Sheesh, she doesn’t act her age at all…
As Tasianna said, fairies aged mentally very slowly, which I probably considered was due to hormones and why fairies were “mischievous,” as she called the majority of her race. The same was also the case with elves, who she described could act like brats even at the age of 100. For example, Tasianna might be 87-years-old, but from how she acted and looked, she seemed like an adolescent girl around 19.
[“… The stew smells wonderful, Madam Saori,”] Her energetic but small voice came over the impromptu shower’s walls.
[“Thank you, Miss Tasianna. I do hope the taste will be to your liking.”] A calmer voice could also be heard, clearly Saori’s, while I started undressing.
After the initial slow start, both of my companions seemed to have hit it off, vibrantly talking with each other about this world’s history. Saori was already interested in it during Tasianna’s story, but now that we had a Peolyncian inhabitant here with us, Saori wanted to milk Tasianna for info as soon as possible.
I felt a bit jealous. I wanted to be part of the conversation, too. My companions were enjoying each other’s company, while I was putting on underwear. Sadly, that was how it was. In the meantime, I used this chance to re-organize my thoughts on Saori recent evolution. I barely had any time to do so this morning.
Name: Saori Segawa Level: 0 Race: Young Shadowstalker Cadejo
Age: 2 Month
Status: Health: 3882/3882(+1841) Mana: 1278/1278(+661)
Strength: 2358(+971) Intelligence:852(+431)
Vitality: 1592 (+687) Wisdom: 1742 (+706)
Agility: 3229 (+1138) Stamina: 1491/2409(+918)
Effects: None
Skill Points: 50 (-3800)
Unique Skill: [Shadow Armament Lv. 1] (New)
Skill: Magic skills and related:
[Mana Efficiency Lv. 1] (New) [Arcane Mind Lv. 4]
[Mana Control Lv. 5]
[Dark Magic Lv. 5] [Space-Time Magic Lv. 3] (New)
[Space-Time Efficiency] (New) [Chant Revocation Lv. 9]
[Mental Stability Lv. 2] [Mental Warfare Lv. 2] [Silent Casting Lv. 2]
Physical skills and related:
[Unarmed Technique Lv. 1] (New) [Sundering Enhancement Lv. 1] (New)
[Piercing Enhancement Lv. 1] (New) [Crushing Enhancement Lv. 1] (New)
[Enhanced Claws Lv. 8] [Enhanced Fangs Lv. 7] (+1)
Senses and movement skills:
[Primal Senses] [Stealth Lv. 8] (+2) [Prediction Lv. 5]
[Concentration Lv. 1] (New)
[Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 6] [Danger Perception Lv. 3] [Tracking Lv. 2]
[Night Vision Lv. 5] (+3) [Presence Killer Lv. 7] (+2) [Evasion Lv. 5]
[Acrobatic Lv. 5] [Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 4]
Resistances:
[Physical Super-Resistance Lv. 1] [Absolute Pain Tolerance] (New)
[Bleed Resistance Lv. 1] [Poison Resistance Lv. 1]
[Paralyze Resistance Lv. 10] [Torpor Resistance Lv. 1]
[Arcane Corruption Resistance Lv. 8] (+4) [Fire Resistance Lv. 1]
[Earth Resistance Lv. 4] [Wind Resistance Lv. 1]
[Dark Resistance Lv. 3] (+1)
Stat growths and related:
[Health Recovery Lv. 4] (+2)
[Mana Recovery Lv. 3] (+1) [Stamina Recovery Lv. 4] (+1)
[Enhanced Health Growth Lv. 5] (+1)
[Enhanced Health Capacity Lv. 4] (+2)
[Enhanced Mana Growth Lv.´4]
[Enhanced Mana Capacity Lv. 2] (+1)
[Enhanced Strength Growth Lv. 5] (+1)
[Enhanced Strength Enforcement Lv. 4] (+2)
[Enhanced Intelligence Growth Lv. 4]
[Enhanced Intelligence Enforcement Lv. 2] (+1)
[Enhanced Vitality Growth Lv. 4]
[Enhanced Vitality Enforcement Lv. 4] (+2)
[Enhanced Wisdom Growth Lv. 4]
[Enhanced Wisdom Enforcement Lv. 2]
[Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 5]
[Enhanced Agility Enforcement Lv. 4] (+1)
[Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 5]
[Enhanced Stamina Capacity Lv. 4] (+1)
Others:
[Identify Blocker Lv. 2] [Identify Lv. 4] [Terror Aura Lv. 4] (+2)
[Bloodlust Lv. 1] (New) [Battle Mind Lv. 1] (New)
[Lifetaker Lv. 1] (New) [Mana Weave Lv. 5] [Sewing Lv. 4]
[Royal Etiquette Lv. 2] (+1) [Cooking Lv. 6] [Dismantle Lv. 2] (+1)
[Humanize Lv. 6] (+1) [Telepathy]
Magic List: Dark Spells:
[Dark Bolt] [Dark Tendrils] [Shadow Dash] [Dark Slash] [Shadow Clones]
Space-Time Spells:
[Haste] [Storage Magic]
Title: [Belzac’s Successor] [Otherworldly Reincarnator] [Hestia’s Retainer]
Saori having evolved into a [Young Shadowstalker Cadejo] meant she finally caught up to me when it came to monster ranks. She was a rank C monster now. As it was with me, her [Humanize] leveled up with her evolution and she gained most of her human-like features back, most notably her face and the ability to talk
In her current form, her hair was longer than mine, reaching down to her back in a loose style. Sharing the same black color her fur had, it contrasted well with her pale complexion. With the addition of her blood-red eyes, after she evolved, it gave her a feral beauty that would make any man’s heart skip a beat.
Aside from her face, most of her body was still covered in the same thick, fluffy fur she would normally have in her previous humanized forms. She still had her wolf ears and tails, in addition to her claws and sharp fangs. Just like me, her new [Humanize (Moderate)] form was still very capable of breaking bones, she only looked less intimidating.
Speaking of intimidation, she also gained three new skills upon evolving.
<Shadow Armament: A mana manifestation skill that increases in effectiveness and strength depending on [Dark Magic]’s level. Uses mana to shroud an object in a coating of dark element. Shadow Armaments may interact with [Dark Magic] spells. [Shadow Armament] shares any effects applied to [Dark Magic]>
<Bloodlust: A skill that transforms the user’s natural bloodlust into a skill. Boosts the user’s abilities in a life or death battle by a certain amount, depending on the level of this skill>
<Lifetaker: This skill is given to those who have slain many enemies in a short amount of time or those that have committed themselves on a path of blood. Temporarily increases the user’s parameters for every kill they perform. The amount this effect can activate depends on the level of this skill, increasing by one by each level>
… Very scary skill names.
With her evolution, she gained the unique skill [Shadow Armament], although she lost [Mana Strike] for it, which allowed her to coat her body and those around her in a dark elemental shroud, looking very much like a shadow. If I didn’t resist it, the armament could envelop my entire body.
From a few tests, Saori could now take us with her during [Shadow Dash] if she clocked us with [Shadow Armament], albeit it would cost her more mana depending on the number of people she brought with her. Still, it was neglectable, since Tasianna or I could lend her our mana.
While under the skill’s effect, we also gained some temporary resistances against dark elemental attacks. It covered my weakness a bit but [The Light]’s disadvantages were still too strong. It didn’t hurt but the claustrophobic feeling of being mummified made the whole experience unbearable for a prolonged time for me.
The other two skills improved and synergized well with someone who could run around and kill monsters in record time, before running out of steam. I wanted those skills for myself, but my parallel minds were unable to find them in the shop.
While I was worried that I might have turned my friend into a killing machine, I also realized that worrying was redundant in this case. Our party had gotten much stronger and Saori seemed unchanged, personality-wise.
Besides those, the rest of the evolution bonuses were nothing special. They simply improved Saori’s stealth and physical capabilities.
Simple but effective, also seemed to apply with the skills she upgraded and bought with her SP. The only thing worth mentioning was how she bought [Space-Time Magic] for 1000 SP, 400 SP more than mine.
As I almost slept through an entire day, Saori realized she couldn’t rely on me alone for [Storage Magic]. She had to pitch in, she thought, or at least, so she could safely transport my toxins around without accidentally dropping them. The corpse of that poisoned troll was still fresh in her mind.
Unfortunately, she did admit that leveling [Space-Time Magic] was extremely exhausting, although she did get [Storage Magic] and [Haste] in the end. Once I woke up, I lent her my mana to acquire [Space-Time Magic Lv. 3] and subsequently [Space-Time Efficiency].
We couldn’t spend SP on this skill for some reason, and it was a bit infuriating. It was the same issue with [Humanize] when we wanted to level it up to level six, but couldn’t for some reason. Were there certain restrictions we weren’t aware of, and was it just not possible. However, at that point, it was just too much of a bother to think about.
Back to reality, having finished putting on my underwear, which fitted me absolutely perfectly, I went back to our group to see that Saori was filling our bowls with the some vegetable stew.
<Rousing Herbal Stew filled with wild Toffels: A stew made out of a vegetable and herb base, filled with seasoned toffels. A masterfully made dish that rouses the senses and stirs the appetite>
Toffels were this world’s potatoes. They shared their appearance with Earth’s yams but the taste and texture were undeniably akin to potatoes.
““Itadakimasu.”” (Thank you for the food.)
[“May Goddess Zephira and Goddess Plesia grace our food.”]
Sitting down, Saori handed Tasianna and me our stew using the bowls I made in my spare time. Both were human-sized as I didn’t have the time to make one specifically for Tasianna. After expressing our thanks for the food in our own ways, we began eating and chatting among ourselves.
Using a crudely made spoon, I scooped up a good amount of the broth and gave it a try. Once it entered my mouth,it soaked my tongue in an aromatic bath, tingling my taste buds into action, before swallowing it.
I then gouged out another part of the stew, filling my spoon with broth, sliced toffels, and other vegetables. Saliva began filling my mouth from just looking at it. No longer able to hold it back, I shoved the mini stew into my mouth.
“Mhmmmm,” I unconsciously let out a voice filled with satisfaction as I continuously chewed the hearty vegetables. Sadly, Tasianna was mostly a vegetarian as she disliked the taste of fat, so we didn’t add any meat into the dish.
She was okay eating it, of course, but unless we prepared it in a less greasy way, she wouldn’t want to eat it if possible. She was also a light eater, so she told us we didn’t need to care too much about her taste.
As I was enjoying this meal, Tasianna suddenly asked us something as she curiously inspected my homemade bowl. [“Hmm, these bowls are a bit… crude? May I ask where they were acquired?”]
Kuek! I felt something stab my chest.
[“… Sorry, I’m not exactly a craftsman, Tasianna,”] I said while averting my eyes, feeling ashamed at my work. It was embarrassing to hear that kinda criticism for the things I made, especially concerning their appearance when I tried my best to keep it as proper as possible.
Noticing me averting my gaze in embarrassment, Tasianna panicked and gave me an apology, stumbling on her words, [“Wha-What?! No no no, I didn’t mean it that way. Please, forgive me for how rude I was, Princess Hestia!”]
[“W-Hold on, Miss Tasianna.”] Saori quickly came to the rescue to diffuse the situation before it got awkward. [“Hestia is probably not taking it as hard as you think she is. I think she knows her carpentership is not there yet, but was just surprised to hear it from you.”]
I was pouting, so I could understand why Tasianna would misunderstand it with annoyance. I already knew too well how simple they looked, but how could Tasianna know about them? They looked like something you would loot from a junk pile or something.
As a way to change the topic, Tasianna asked me about my life on Earth. She already heard Saori’s version, but we weren’t able to talk about it due to how hectic yesterday was.
It was a pleasant chat filled with Tasianna’s wonder-filled eyes upon hearing me retell my memories, asking stuff like, "That ‘PC’ sounds very similar to our Divine System messages,” or “Are all the residents of your world are lightning mages?!”
It was cute.
Eventually, the discussion drifted towards the history of Earth, so Saori took over. Her blood-red eyes were sparkling when she was able to assume her history teacher-guise once again.
The whole discussion even led back to what they talked about before I woke up. Most of the topics were about Peolynca’s gods, the many races and their culture, and about the history and myths of this world.
Saori's face brightened up from pure curiosity while she listened intently to every detail Tasianna told us. I bet she would be taking notes if we had paper.
The enthusiasm to learn about this new world made her already pretty face seem even more enviable. The youth of her 18-year-old humanized form was beaming at a glaring rate, kinda contrasting to her usual calm and cool behavior.
Looking at her now, memories of the day of when she gave me my name reappeared. Her wish was to travel with me around this new world, fulfilling her unfinished dream to travel the countries on Earth. That was the reason she wanted to travel with me, as it coincided with my own dream.
It made me wonder… would everything really work out as we planned?
Having Tasianna join us has solved one of my many worries of entering civilization in this world. Knowing the culture and history was an important step for us to assimilate, but we still only had limited sources of information when it concerned the social norms in human society. Saori and I weren’t humans anymore, but we wanted to learn more about them.
I could guess Tasianna was a sheltered girl, and from the hostility she showed humans, asking her about anything related to humans would be useless. Actually, I believed if I were to do so, it would displease her greatly. Her story painted her hatred for humanity in a vibrant color, evoking a bit of animosity even inside me.
However, I knew well enough to differentiate between hating a extremist portion of a group and an entire race. Of course, there are terrible people everywhere, but there are also good. Tasianna’s first impression of humanity probably was the worst, and it clouded her storytelling when she told us everything.
As Saori always mentioned, getting primary sources would always be more reliable since people have biases. I should make my own opinion on things. If Peolynca’s humans were truly vile and obtuse as Tasianna described, then so be it. However, I could hardly imagine that. The people in Tasianna’s story definitely deserved the punishment they received, but do all humans? No.
After all, would I call myself a bad person after all the kobolds, orcs, and trolls I killed? Tasianna informed me these “monsters” were actually a race called grimgarians, intelligent monsters the System determined were sentient enough to be categorized as a “humanoid.” Beings with the ability to access the Job System.
In other words, I essentially hunted down and murdered a bunch of beings you could call “primitive people.” Honestly, it wasn’t as strong as a blow to my consciousness. I already had a feeling I was doing something like that, so I knew I had to at least abstain from eating their meat.
Was killing them bad? Sure, it was, no doubt about it, but I’ve been killing soooo many monsters up until now that I really didn’t know if I should stress out about it. After all, weren’t the garms also intelligent? If you asked me, they sounded far smarter and more human than the kobolds and orcs.
Fretting about it would probably be the worst decision I could make right now. Letting this information shake my moral compass for a moment was good enough. If I had to kill for experience or defend myself, at least I would now know what I was going up against. If I ever faced one of these grimgarians again, or even something like those garms, I would have a better idea how to proceed.
“Survival was winning” was all I needed to remember.
But, it wasn’t like I was dismissing all of the implications. I was supposed to be an idol, but I have been killing more than my share of beasts. My hands were soaked in blood and ashes, far more than most girls would ever experience. Still, I ate and lived my life as if it was normal, ‘cause it was normal to me at this point.
Still, could I become an idol like this? Thoughts like “Can I really do it?” or “Won’t people be freaked out by me?” kept appearing inside my head. I didn’t mind killing if I had to, but it was weighing on me at how people would perceive me. It made me feel too much like a narcissist.
I thought it would be easy for me to just show up on a stage and start singing cheery, hyper songs with a wonderful voice. However, Peolynca was more akin to a fantasy world you would imagine from movies like LoTR or games like TES. Could they accept me?
Common perception of medieval times was that women’s rights weren't very well established. Wouldn’t most people think of me as a freak for dancing and singing around, while trotting around in colorful outfits? I had my prejudices, and I should probably ask Tasianna about them.
Not to mention, was I even good enough to do all of this? Did I deserve to be an idol despite failing and turning into a real dragon? Hard to say, honestly. It was just nerve-wrecking.
I wanted my first performance to be an incredible hit, but in show biz, how often did the first performance of a newcomer really hit a homerun? Still, even if I knew this, I wanted it to be perfect! No mistakes. It had to go as planned. A good first impression was the most important thing for an idol.
[“Uhh, Hestia? You do know that you have emptied the cauldron, yes?”] A voice woke me up from my worry-filled mind.
With my worries pushed aside, I looked around myself. My two companions looked confused, awaiting my answer with one brow raised up. However, I ignored their gazes, hiding my inner turmoil, and directed my gaze upon the crudely made stone cauldron that was once full of stew.
Where did it go?!
[“If you were that hungry, then I could make more… Is something troubling you?”] Saori’s sharp nose not only caught monsters, but she knew me decently enough to notice when I was worrying about something.
Wait, I ate all of that?! I was feeling a bit peckish, but this self-made cauldron went up to Saori’s knees. That much food can’t fit inside me!
The shock of learning about my gluttony was enough to make me jump to my feet. Stumbling on my words, I tried to once again avoid talking about my problems. I felt so ashamed after everything happened that I couldn’t even force myself to speak to Saori about it.
[“Wha?! Uh, yeah, more stew, please. Y-Yeah, I think I’m hungry!"] I spoke telepathically as Tasianna was worried, too. As I could feel my face warm up even more, I had to change the topic somehow. [“T-Tasianna, right! I-I was worrying about if women are being treated differently compared to men in this world. Do you?”]
OMG, that was a terrible way to change the topic!
However, it was a success as Saori nodded, widening her eyes in curiosity. [“True, good point. That is actually really important for the two of us to know. Tasianna, could you tell us? Is there a social disparity between the two genders?”]
Tasianna tilted her head slightly, holding her fingers on her chin. [“What exactly do you mean by that?”]
It seemed it was necessary for us to explain what we meant, so Saori did me a favor and told Tasianna about the history of women from Earth. Tasianna looked genuinely surprised at what she heard, only to shake her head vigorously.
[“No, no! Well, at least not amongst us fairies or elves. With the System, men and women are given the same chances. It is very much possible for a woman to become even fiercer of a warlord or archmage than a man. It all comes down to perseverance and dedication,”] Tasianna explained. [“For example, let us take the races. Normally, a wolfkin would not be as magically gifted as an elf, but it was very much possible for a hardworking wolfkin to reach the heights of a master mage before a lazy elf would. Some things cannot be changed, though, like a dwarf becoming a mage. However, as long as the possibility exists, then a woman of any race could become whatever and whoever they wanted to be.”]
Tasianna didn’t specify humans, but if she didn’t exclude them, then the possibility should exist for humans to become almighty. I mean, if a wolfkin could become a master mage compared to an elf, then humans could rise above their “mediocrity.”
Good to hear I wouldn’t have to worry about being a girl, ha!
[“That’s right!”] Clapping her fist against her open palm, Tasianna seemed to have had an “aha!” moment. [“Speaking about magic, Madam Saori, shouldn’t we resume what we talked about the other day? Magic theory!”]
Saori gasped. [“Yes! I would be much obliged!”]
Saori opened her storage and took out more ingredients and spices, while Tasianna filled the cauldron with new water, preparing for the new stew I ordered. They then began talking about magic theory.
I relit a new fire under the cauldron, while silently listening to their rather interesting talks. However, even more silently, I was letting out a big sigh of relief.
Thank goodness, they changed the topic for me!
