Well, welcome to Family Feud, everybody. I’m your gal, Hestia Kargryxmor. We've got something good today and we've got just the right clan heads to duke it out so the rest don’t have to.
To my right, representing the former head of clan Kargryxmor, we have the divine Black Tyrant of the Skies and the Dragon God of Oaths — Kaaaaaarrrrrrgrrrrrryyymor!
And to my left, we have the current matriarch of clan Nordor, the illustrious and majestic Silver Diamond of the Frozen Peaks — Meeeeeelllloxtressaaaaaaaaaa!
Both coming right up from the land of the dragons, Kargryx, these two giant natural disasters wrapped in scales are about to have themselves a clash of ideals!
… And I was right in the middle of this. No, this wasn't fun. This was actually pretty cringe and painful. After all, two giant dragons who lived longer than the Julian and Gregorian calendars of Earth were quarreling right before me. The worst part?
They were my granddad and mother.
“Then tell me, oh mighty god, what has your ascension brought to dragonkind? How did we benefit outside of a single dungeon to satiate our hunger? Your apotheosis started a civil war in Kargryx and Loatryx, a war you could have stopped if you had taken any of it seriously! Eltharion would not have ended the war in that way if you had!”
Holy shit…
You know how your parents sometimes wouldn’t get along with their parents-in-law? Yeah, I guess that was the situation I was in right now. My Papa and Mama had a pretty good relationship with my grandparents, so I wasn’t exactly used to my mother absolutely despising my grandfather.
But, this is my life now.
“Could you two please stop?” I attempted to stop them, since nobody else was inside Mother’s cave. The snow wyverns were interacting with the others right now, to give us all some space.
When Mother sighed and looked at me, Kramps’ voice stopped echoing in my head, but I knew he was still listening in. “First things first, stop arguing when I have to send it through to Mother telepathically, Kramps! Secondly, why did you two start arguing like this?! I was supposed to learn how to control my [Battle Frenzy] today!”
In my day-to-day life, [Battle Frenzy] had pretty much stopped appearing randomly after I evolved into a [Young Sunfang Dragon]. Of course, I still had some tinglings if I went without a single fight for a while, but enough had happened in the prior month for it to be a non-factor. The only time when it activated was during the whole Griffonpeak invasion was when I saw Eshe’s body and immediantly went berserk with [Battle Frenzy (Major)].
However, after I finished that demonkin off in my berserk mode, I learned from my parallel minds that I had received some help from Kramps to control it during the fight. That I was able to access the powers of my godly blessings in that form. As such, aside from my draconic body and abilities, I had to also control my innate ability from my bloodline.
Mother, although her soul was strong enough thanks to her advanced age, wasn’t receiving Kramps’ words directly, but was instead relying on me to pass it on to her. In a reverse from Aurena's saints and champions, it wasn't Mother's soul that was incapable of supporting a conversation with Kramps for an extended time, but rather it was her lacking faith in him that would cause her to take damage from doing so.
Similar to my dragon father, Eltharion, I had the “honor” of having a soul able to resist the damage, and was a better vessel to speak through. Just like with Aurena. As such, if he shouted, that would echo through my head and begin to hurt my soul.
“Yes, very much appreciated, Kramps. I really wouldn’t want my soul to suddenly explode or crack again.” I massaged my temples, just happy that I wouldn’t have to continue listening to an angry dragon ranting inside my head.
After things seemed to have calmed down, Mother began to speak. “If you wish to learn how to control your bloodline’s battle lust, I could teach you by myself, Hestia.”
Kramps scoffed as he responded, but kept his anger in control.
“Eltharion has taught the other empresses how to help their children control their bloodline’s rage. They taught me. Not only can I help Hestia make another core for herself, teach her how to control her scales better, and control her draconic abilities, I am fully capable of supporting her anger management. You are not needed.” Mother was strict, denying Kramps any chance to contribute to my education.
<… Do you now understand why female dragons are said to be overprotective? Don’t tell this to your mother.> His fleeting voice reminded me when he warned me of that. Maybe Cernust’s mother was also as territorial as mine?
Feeling the awkwardness and chill in the air, it didn’t surprise me that Mother wasn’t enthusiastic to continue this discussion. Still, Kramps did ask me to convey his words to her and, for the first time since I spoke to him in his divine realm, he was willing to help me with my growth.
Intending to warm up this iceberg, I attempted to soothe Mother. “Mother, isn’t it fine for Kramps to help me out? Considering how much you’re intending to do, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone who knows my bloodline as well as he does.”
“I have enough time to kill, Hestia,” Mother flatly rejected my proposal. “The life of an ancient dragon is mostly just sleeping, hunting, and eating. It is mundane. To my elation, finally, a little vibrancancy appeared for me to care about outside of leveling up and sleeping.”
Mother then walked up to me and gave me a warm embrace. “And that is you. I have enough endurance and patience to teach you, Hestia. I have learned enough to teach you what you need to grow up well. And I will not allow anybody to steal my time with you! Especially not an arrogant elder scale who believes he still has any control over us dragonkin!”
Kramps grumbled.
“There is no need to rush things. She has enough time to handle your ‘issue.’ She is just a whelping. The world is not in danger for her to hurry.”
Aurena and Kramps told me that my early birth had accelerated the progress of their plan. So, I was a bit worried about how Kramps told me I should hurry up a bit more. Was there anything going on that I should know?
“Do not lie, Kargryxmor!” Mother snarled aggressively. “All us ancient dragons know there is no threat to the world with the Origin Gods around. The only threat is to its inhabitants. But, what is the significance of such a fact for a being like us? A being who can live until time ends itself? I witnessed human kingdoms and empires fall just for another to replace them. A memorable day today is a fading memory tomorrow.”
Mother let go of me and continued shouting at Kramps by looking at the ceiling. “You call us slothful? Just because we aren’t following your plan for us? To become this world’s protectors? You wish for us to lay waste to all threats and wage more wars?! There are enough ashes and dust in our history already. What does it matter if the demonkins rise and ended the era of the human’s dominance of Altrust? In the next millennium, the beastman may rise against them. Or the dwarves. Or the humans might want to reclaim their throne? It doesn’t matter. Miononbolax will stand and endure.”
Mother was speaking from the perspective of somebody of who had lived ages, making it very, very hard for me to truly understand her. From what she said, I could deduce she doesn’t hold much attachment to the world. The only reason why she’s forcing herself to sleep less is for me. To spend time with me.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
<… Then what about Hestia? The faster she trains and gets stronger, the less tragedies she has to endure. She would have the strength to make this world kneel, just as I did.>
… He brought that up, huh? Still, he has a point.
The stronger I become, the fewer people like Eithalr that could stop me. If I could waltz right through people like him, I could protect my friends better. I know Saori and the others will become stronger to fulfill the same goal, so I couldn’t slack off to make them worry.
“If my daughter isn’t strong enough to survive this world, then she should not be exposed to it.” Once again, Mother stomped her foot down. She was like an unmovable fortress. “I will bring her back to Kargryx. There, I will protect and train her, allowing nothing in the world to threaten her until she becomes strong enough to not need me. I will make sure even if I were to ever disappear, she will be capable enough to stand strong alone.”
“M-Mother?!” I expressed my shock. “W-What are you implying?!”
I was not in the mood to discuss the mortality of my mother!
She caressed my cheeks, looking at me warmly with love. “I didn’t mean it like that, so please don’t worry about me. I am healthy and I can live as long as you wish me to, my whelpling. However… the future holds unknowns, and even someone like me cannot predict it. Just like how my parents ascended with Kargryxmor’s apotheosis, you cannot be sure nothing will happen to me. When all the elder scales like my father and mother left, there was no one to protect my brother and me. All we had was ourselves, and then the civil war began. We chose neutrality, but that was for our own safety, as we wouldn’t have survived if we had participated.”
Yorshka had told me Mother and my uncle didn’t participate in the succession war, but she never told me the actual reason for why they didn’t choose a side. However, as I guessed, the real reason was for their own safety. I just didn’t know that mother wasn’t confident in her strength back then, unlike now where she would proudly proclaim being able to introduce an ice age to the planet.
Honestly, the more she kept ranting at Kargryxmor, the more I learned the reasoning for all her actions. Why she doesn’t want to fight or help me with my quest, why she wants to bring me to Kargryx if I cannot fight my own fights, and why she doesn’t like Kramps.
However, I also understood that she was too stubborn to be persuaded if you weren’t being forceful.
I grabbed her hand, stopping her from caressing me and looked her in the eyes. “If you want me to become strong enough to protect myself, then allow Kramps to teach me.”
Mother looked bewildered. Shocked that her words weren’t getting to me. However, I understood what she meant very well.
“Please, don’t speak like you will disappear one day, Mother. I already lost one, I don’t want to lose another right after meeting her,” I told her truthfully. “As you said, you want me to be strong enough to protect myself, so you should allow Kramps to help me. Family helps each other, right? Yorshka is already helping me with my spearmanship, you are helping me become a better dragon, now Kramps can help me with my blessings.”
“I do not want you to spend more time with him.”
Holy shit, Mother!!! This woman is stubborn!
I frowned. “Mother, I know you want to spend every second you can with me since you missed out on it for an entire year. Also, since I’m such a ‘weird’ child, I also know I robbed you of your chance to properly raise a sweet baby from infancy to adulthood. I know that, and I’m sorry about it.”
The more I got to know her, the more I felt bad about that. Every mother should have this opportunity. Instead, due to my reincarnation, Mother was robbed of that chance. Even if she considered me a ‘baby’ due to my mental age, it wasn’t the same.
Mother formed a wry smile, holding my hand with both of hers. “It’s alright. I am perfect—”
“No, no, no!” I interrupted her, astounding her once again. “This is something a hatchling wouldn’t be able to do, right? See? And it will probably happen even more in the future, and that’s why I can understand why you wish to spend more time with me. However, if you really want to do that, then you shouldn’t be staying inside this cave all the time. There are so many other opportunities for us to bond together instead of training or just during breakfast, lunch, or dinner.”
“Hmm?” she tilted her head. A confused expression plastered on her face. “But, what else would we do, Hestia? That’s how parent and child bond.”
It seemed like Mother was still thinking a bit too much like a dragon. Sadly, her daughter was also a human inside this dragony body.
“Maybe show some interest in my hobbies?” I suggested. “Outside of when I mentioned my idol career, you haven’t asked about it ever since. Neither have you mention my singing or dancing. In fact, you haven’t asked me what my hobbies were, Mother.”
For the first time since we met, Mother’s face reddened a bit. “W-Well, but you are still a whelpling, no— Oh…”
Yeah, it couldn’t be helped. Not only our age but also our common sense were different. To her, I was still a whelp, but I had the mind of a teenager.
“Ehehe,” I giggled, flustering Mother and causing her to hide her blush with her hands. “Your daughter might be a dragon, but I was still raised by human parents, Mother. I have a lot of hobbies and interests. I can’t speak much about boys now that I can’t even feel any sexual attraction, but I’m sure we could speak more about fashion or cultural norms. Training and dragon education is all fine and such, but you should come watch me do what I dedicated both of my two lives for.”
“Y-Your idol career?” she said meekly.
“Yes! Correct!” I paused to raise one arm over my head, curling all my fingers except my index finger. “Your daughter is about to bring the idol culture to Peolynca but you aren’t even giving me your support, like a real mother should! You have to sleep, I know, so you want to spend all your time when you’re awake with me, but how about we not spend it all together for training. That’s booooooriiiing.”
“Boring?!” Mother looked shocked.
Well, I didn’t think it was boring at all, but I was exaggerating a bit to get what I want here. To have Mother actually enjoy her life more. I wanted to be a better daughter this time around.
“T-Then what are you proposing we do?”
“Well, how about we stop training today and you come watch me train with Ellaine and Tasianna for our upcoming concert? I can share with you the music culture of Earth and you can give a rant about it if you don’t like it. If you like it, though…” I formed two Korean heart signs and winked at her. “Your daughter will love you even more~”
“Huh!” she gasped, her hand covering her chest. “Y-Yes, you’re right! I should do that! I cannot just spend all my time inside this cave! I should spend more time with you! We can always push the training to another day, there is no need!”
“Exactly!” I exclaimed. “Mother, you probably don’t know much about the current world, so how about we go shopping when we reach Ullistar? I haven’t explored the city there yet so I want to go around with the others. If you were to come, it'd become even merrier!”
While I was holding her hand and slowly dragging her out of her room, Mother frowned a bit. “Mhmm, but this world will just change after a few years. If I were to become too familiar with it, I would feel worse if it were to change.”
“Oh, really? Then what about your memory of me?”
“Why, I would definitely remember those. Every second spent with you is a blessing to my life, Hestia.”
“Good! Then we can reminisce about all of this after our whole journey is over. Mother, I understand you fear everything will die while you will live on, but staying so pessimistic won’t help your happiness. Let’s live in the present. Let’s have some fun.”
“… Ehehe.” Her laugh was short and quiet, but her wry smile told me she understood I was speaking the truth. “Maybe, I’ll try… But all this fun will sap my time to help you develop. I will still need to sleep and that I cannot change.”
“Delegation.”
“Correct.”
One word each was enough.
“Kargryxmor!” She stopped moving and looked at the ceiling with a scowl.
Stop acting like an asshole, Kramps!
Ignoring that sassiness, Mother continued speaking, “I will only allow you to help Hestia with her [Battle Frenzy] and divine training. Do you hear? I will help her remove and reform her sun core. I will help her with her scales and dragon abilities. Have I made myself clear?”
“I already know what you want,” she sneered, showing off her fangs. “Eltharion will not change his mind, even if I were to speak with him. None of the five empresses would either. We will not heed your call.”
<… Then it seems I must rely on Hestia, then. Hestia! We will begin training soon, so make time in your schedule. I will not tolerate any delays, granddaughter.>
“Uuuhhh, yeah, sure, Kramps.” My carefree tone infuriated him, but before he could scold me, I asked him something. “What are you trying to rely on me for?”
And with that, Kargryxmor stopped speaking. With the old man out of the equation, I brought Mother to our smithy, where I saw Ellaine tinkering with Grimnir’s blasthammer 2.0 prototype.
When I told her we were doing our choreography training now, Ellaine looked too surprised to answer, so I simply grabbed her hand and forced her out of the room with my superior Strength stats. Grimnir seeing Melloxtressa with me did not complain.
“Good luck, lass,” Grimnir wished her luck.
“W-What?! Master Grimnir, say something! Help me!” Her pleas went down the drain.
I then visited Tasianna and told her about my plans.
“Oh, wonderful! I had nothing better to do than to maintain the plants. Let us go now, Lady Hestia,” she agreed immediately, to Ellaine’s chagrin.
“Are you kidding me?! Hestia, you shouldn’t just drag people away from their own plans! Tasianna, you shouldn’t accept this so easily even if she is your mistress! … Hold on, didn’t I do that a lot with Josine when I was little?”
It seemed Ellaine attained some sorta revelation but it wasn’t that important to me. Instead, I dragged them both into our idol studio, which was outfitted with a room for singing and dancing. It was just made recently, since we needed a proper place to train now with so many people just joining the crew.
Tasianna and Ellaine both wanted to join me on the stage during my concerts, so this was just the preparation for that. Training was important. Still, we weren’t actually an official idol unit yet, as both couldn’t perform multiple songs and their choreography for a single concert.
Still, “yet” was the point. Well, hopefully it would happen one day. Being solo was nice, but having a full unit performing together sounded amazing. Just imagining all of us on stage with proper outfits made my tail waggle so much, I nearly broke the ice mirror Tasianna made for us.
In any case, our concert in two weeks needed some planning and I also had to get back in the groove. The foundation was the most important, and I will drill into everybody the trifecta of dancing, singing, and fanservice!
The Aurora fandom will grow even more!
“Ehe.”
And sitting on a chair, Mother was looking at us dancing with a smile. I wondered what was going through her mind as she saw me instruct everybody and get their feedback on the choreography, but that could wait for later. Now, it was time to dance!
Don’t worry, I’ll get strong enough to not make you worry, Mother. This time, I will be a better daughter!