Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Storm Magic Lv. 4] [Draconic Barrier Lv. 7] [Mental Warfare Lv. 6] [Spear Mastery Lv. 7] [Draconic Aura Lv. 4] [Royal Presence Lv. 4] [MId-Air Maneuvering Lv. 9] [Aerial Fighter Lv. 5] [Wind Resistance Lv. 10] [Dark Resistance Lv. 4] gained
Skill requirement fulfilled. [Wind Resistance Lv. 10] evolved into [Storm Resistance Lv. 1]
Spell gained: [Cyclone Madness]
Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Sundering Enhancement Lv. 10] [Piercing Enhancement Lv. 10] [Crushing Enhancement Lv. 10] [Danger Perception Lv. 10] [Mental Corruption Resistance Lv. 10] [Mind Protection Lv. 10] [Sacred Resistance Lv. 5] [Storm Resistance Lv. 5] [Speed of Sonic Lv. 5] gained. 3650 SP remaining
Skill requirement fulfilled. [Sundering Enhancement Lv. 10] [Piercing Enhancement Lv. 10] [Crushing Enhancement Lv. 10] merged into [All-Damage Enhancement Lv. 1]
2 wyverns have become your followers
Total follower count updated. Total follower of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 7717
[Drifting Snow Wyvern, Shayatierus], [Drifting Snow Wyvern, Bethlieranha], [Shadow Stalker Virigress, Varya], [Young Dusk Virigress, Shere], [Young Dusk Virigress, Ajay], [Young Black-Light Virigress, Rajah] have received the title [Hestia’s Retainer]
[“You know, I always found it impressive that you can cheat the System this much just through SP. Sure, you spent 7900 SP for it, but you still have a ton to spare. Haaaaaa, if only Ellaine could use her SP on [Okl’Luthier’s Power], she could use my more interesting powers. Pulling out an Origin Sin technique would be quite a sight.”]
[“Tch… Yes, yes, let’s continue. Dear, how is your meditation?”]
[“Going well… Outside of you two arguing inside my head and all. I would like it if you weren’t speaking with Kramps so often that I have to put my parallel minds to work.”]
Two days full of training had passed ever since we departed from Ullistar, and from today onwards we were no longer inside the territory of the Kingdom of Artorias. We were officially inside a new country — the Republic of Estralia.
Saori informed us about it after she passed through border control. Apparently, even after we showed them a border pass issued by King Drangleic himself, the sentries still found they needed to search through our RV, since they were not Artorian soldiers, but Estralian ones.
Thankfully, Saori had Rajah hide the [Room] runes in her shadow before then. In fact, the four now fully assimilated Shadow Pack virigresses had all worked together to hide some of the more sensitive stuff to avoid any problems. Mostly, Tasianna’s alchemical potions she left behind in the garden.
“You certainly are well equipped. But not much cargo. And, how did a wolfkin like you receive a border pass from a King?” they asked her after their search.
“Connections. May I pass?” she had responded, which sounded super cool when I imagined it. Still, I guess this was enough of a warning that Estralia won’t be like the parts of Artorias that I visited.
Regardless, stuff happened. Nothing to be bothered by, really.
In any case, as you might expect, the road towards the first town of Estralia was full of traffic. Like, there were a ton of merchants moving together in a caravan for protection, all having their own mercenaries to act as a guard for the collective group. Some also escorted carriages with travelers inside them, issuing them a protection and escort fee. I also heard some offered food and drinks for a price. All to either make a profit or to pay off their guards. Shrewd.
We didn’t want that. Mostly since those merchants pestered Saori with offers after they heard she had a border pass from King Drangleic. They immediately recognized her as the wolfkin who fought on the frontlines of the Griffonpeak defense, calling her “The Jet-Black Thunder Wolf,” or something like that. Some didn’t believe she was a fenrir, some did but kept it to themselves. Still, most wanted to hire her.
It was good to hear that her reputation was growing, but everybody agreed it was better to just get away from the caravan. Sure, getting protection in a group was nice and all, and it would also get us some money, but the caravan was going south of Estralia's capital to one of its cities. They were looking to make money, after all.
Usually, most travelers or merchants wouldn’t go directly to Estralia’s capital. The journey was long and less profitable, since the only stops on the way were medium-sized towns. These places were good for adventurers, but not for merchants. In a merchant’s journey through Estralia, these places were only visited when you decided to depart to Gleisvale.
As such, to avoid them, we were driving on this road. It was less populated by merchants and more by traveling carriages — the medieval taxi, you could say. Saori had a plan to open up a traveling restaurant for them, but they moved slower than our RV, the power of our garms driving it forward. But, our garms also caused the travelers problems since our giant wolves scared their horses.
In any case, we were now all alone. During the time when Saori and Elrick switched coach positions, I decided to use that chance to get some air. Mother was sleeping and it was a break day for Yorshka. What else was there to do but to practice with Kramps, right? The next concert wasn’t assured yet so idol training could be scheduled for another day.
After I borrowed Klea’Hatma from Ellaine, equipping the rings to listen to the demon’s lecture on the sin of sloth, I also brought Beth and Shay out with me. At this point, everybody was calling them with their shortened names, except for Mother and the twins themselves.
Those two would act as my “coolers.” Since the roof of our RV was large enough to accommodate multiple people, we sat up there while Elrick drove us.
Klea’Hatma restarted her explanation from the beginning, after derailing a bit. [“Well, in any case, back to the topic. As you know, we demons represent the seven sins of all beings. Mostly, these are an emotional concept, as that affects both mortals and immortals. It also means our seductive powers are less useful against those unable to feel any emotions.”]
[“On Earth, there were scriptures about the heavenly virtues being the contrast to the cardinal sins. Is that the same case for you demons?”] I asked.
[“Virtues and sins are two sides of a coin. It’s all about the emotional spectrum of a person and the deposition of their moral compass. However, to answer your question, no, there was no such thing as a demon of purity or temperance, or whatever. We leave that to the mortals.”]
If you thought about it, the opposite of the sin of lust was the virtue of purity or chastity. In a way, Ellaine was a perfect fit as Klea’Hatma’s other side.
[“Now, the ‘foundation’ of Kargryxmor’s training means you must understand the sin of sloth. To us demons, sloth is about being content with everything, but it is also the most annoying of all the sins to control. As slothfulness is about being apathetic with your surroundings. It is about idleness, depression, and indifference!”]
I noticed some annoyance in the demon’s voice. Does she not like sloth?
Curious, I asked her. [“Did something happen with you and the demon of sloth?”]
[“Pah, nothing interesting, really. As the sin of lust and the ultimate hedonist, I abhor the ultimate idler. Being content should never be the end goal. Even I am capable of doing good if I wanted to, but a sloth? Never. They will only do the bare minimum to stay alive, but outside of that, nothing else matters to them. However…”]
Klea’Hatma let out a deep sigh.
[“However, on the flip side, the sloth can also be the most diligent.”]
The demon explained that, while the demon of sloth was lazy and lacked any sense of urgency or goals, the moment you took away their happiness, they could do the most heinous deeds to re-achieve their idle life. During the war, the demon was mostly defensive — their specialty — but the moment somebody tried to attack them, they would eliminate anything threatening their peace.
[“Soooo, who ended up destroying the demon of sloth?”]
Kramps answered and Klea’Hatma confirmed it.
[“Your grandpapa managed to annoy most of my former companions, you see. Even killed two of them — sloth and pride. The rest were handled by the other champions of the Origin Gods. All of them are now subordinate gods”]
[“Who defeated you?”] I wondered.
[“A subordinate god of Plesia. Hmm, what was his name again?”]
Ah. I had heard about them from Tasianna. Didn’t really remember much, though.
[“Ahhh, was that the leviathan’s name? Mhmm, mhmm. I remembered managing to survive by hiding in that old fortress, only for some humans to release me. Then that wolf came to beat my weakened self up and then God Marsven imprisoned me in that orb you found me in. Sure, I managed to survive, but wow, was I ever mishandled. Well, in any case, let’s get back to the topic at hand.”]
That should have been Belzac, if I remembered the murals inside that dwarven fortress correctly.
Klea’Hatma continued. [“In essence, the sin of sloth is about contentment with your own situation, even ignoring the larger picture just to remain in your own bubble. Stagnancy breeds carelessness, you see. But, it also brings comfort when fate has its way with you. To be slothful, you must first be diligent, you might say.”]
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
[“Certainly philosophical, Kramps. Despite how it sounded more like your own interpretation of the sin of sloth. But… finding contentment with myself, huh? Let me try.”]
I invoked images of my days with Saori, Tasianna, Ellaine, and Grimnir. Of our travels and how we spent our time once Aurora was formed. How we shared stories and how we just lived our lives on the road. Training in the morning and then a dip into the hot spring in the evening before bed. It was peaceful and amazing.
I didn’t want to lose this time. I wanted to protect it… but then—
Flash!
The conflicts we faced and how we were barely able to handle most of them. Getting out with either a lot of bruises and injuries or a whole area destroyed. Our path was filled with fighting, even if I wanted to live a more calm life. The conflict I had between my dragon and human selves, and how my actions didn’t fit what I envisioned an idol would do.
Every foe out there — Eithalr, the demonkin princes of sin, the church of Aurena, and the looming war over Artorias’s head — it made me uneasy. I couldn’t feel relaxed with everything going on. How could I be content with my own situation when my to-do list was still filled with all these things? How could I just stay still for a moment?
[“But, the situation is getting worse. You’ve seen what the demonkin of pride did to Artorias. They drove the kingdom to the brink of destruction, killed so many people, and even slew Assurfel. Griffonpeak’s Griffon King is dead. Who knows what they are planning now? If my name spreads, I will become an even greater target to them.”]
‘Haste makes waste.’ My dance trainer used to tell me that. Have I really forgotten his advice? … Take another deep breath. Recall my past.
I remembered my urgency to better myself so I would be accepted at an audition. This desire to succeed only led to me swearing an oath to myself to never cry or cause my parents undue worry. Most likely, that was also the reason why my past self became so troubled.
I remembered how I made Saori and Tasianna worry when we were still in the Belzac forest. How I kept things from them to not cause them problems, only to make them think I couldn’t trust them. About how I worried about my [Battle Frenzy] going out of control and possibly harming them. About how I didn’t want to evolve to prevent such a situation.
I even felt fear to perform on stage after all that happened. I was a bag of constant anxiousness. I just couldn’t stand still so I kept training and training, becoming stronger and stronger. Until I felt too scared to become stronger after Shiterno’s idiotic “present.”
I hurt myself.
… Take another breath.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaa…”
Descendant of the Black Tyrant Kargryxmor, you have begun your path towards the inner peace of your blood. The seven paths of transcendence await you onwards on exalted wings. The path of Sloth has been fulfilled. Paths unlocked: 1/7
[“… Well, I guess. Damn. If it’s this hard with the first step, then I can’t wait for the others. Will be totally awesome, yay.”]
That was sarcasm, old man. Whatever.
Kramps could hear my thoughts, so I didn’t think too much about it. Instead, I opened my eyes and let out another sigh, falling onto my back.
[“Princess, how did it go? You did not fall into [Battle Frenzy],”] Beth asked with worry, covering the sun from my eyes with her arm wings.
I asked her to let her arm down so I could get some rays before telling her I did fine. “It would be a bummer if I failed at the first step. Anyways, Beth, Shay, how long have I been meditating?”
[“Not too long. Saori has not called us in for lunch yet,”] Shay answered, but suddenly somebody responded to his words from below the roof.
“Miss Saori did not want to disturb you while you were meditating, Lady Hestia. Looking at the position of the sun, it should be a bell after lunchtime now. Would you like to eat something?”
I moved to the edge and looked down, seeing Elrick manning the coach of the RV. “Well, I am a bit peckish. Thank you for asking, Sir Elrick.”
“Is that so? Then, allow me to fetch you something fitting.”
Elrick suddenly jumped off the coach seat and grabbed onto the sidebars we attached to the RV, using them to enter into it. A few minutes passed and the door opened up, revealing Elrick with a small wooden bento, with Asaka following right behind him. In addition…
“Rajah!”
[“Master!”]
It was Rajah and his family! The young virigress and his two siblings slipped through Elrick’s and Asaka’s legs, nimbly jumping up to the roof and into my embrace. I cuddled the three jaguar-looking cubs and held onto them tightly. With a large jump, their mother also made it up.
Varya the mother, Shere and Ajay the two brothers, and then Rajah, the youngest of the group. After the virigresses were done with their assimilation, we needed to give them a name to call them out easier, as with the wyverns.
As I was the one to give Rajah his name, Saori asked me to give his family ones, too. However, I have a feeling it was more 'cause of Saori’s bad naming sense than anything else. In any case, after I named them, I also had them accept my [Hestia’s Retainer] title to give them an experience boost and access to the SP shop. I did the same thing for the wyverns, since they saw Mother and me as their masters now.
Personally, I did feel a bit awkward since we were kinda enemies once in the Belzac forest, but I guess it was water under the bridge at this point. Since these six were now our allies, I had to make sure they could grow up strong.
“I didn’t expect you to come out like this, Rajah, Shere, Ajay, and Varya. Did you guys want to spend some time with me?” I asked them.
[“Yes, Master!”]
While Rajah responded back with a telepathic message, the other two cubs simply growled as confirmation. The same thing with Varya. As the other three didn’t have [Telepathy] since they didn’t go down the same evolutionary path as Rajah, they had to respond like any other virigress. At the very least, it seemed they could understand Common, similar to Shoyi the slime.
“Well, look at the cat lover.” That came from Asaka. With Elrick’s help, both of them were now sitting at the coach spot. “Here you go, a bento. Thought it would be fitting for the first bento of Peolynca to go to you since you made this box yourself.”
“Awww, thanks!” I graciously accepted it from her. I hadn’t done much carpenting recently, so I decided to practice making a bento box to keep my skills up. Surprisingly, I was still pretty good with my claws.
“But, you know, the first ever probably was made by the Revolution Queen of the dwarves. She was Japanese, too,” I told Asaka but she simply shrugged it off.
“What evidence? Grimnir sure as hell hadn’t heard of it. Shut up already and eat it, Hestia-san. It’ll get cold, and I don't want you to eat my stuff after it gets all cold and disgusting.”
I gave my thanks to Asaka and opened up the box full of goodies, only to have my eyes lit up even more. It was full of cute food. Panda-looking rice balls, octopus sausage, and vegetable bunny faces, all wrapped into a comfortable-looking omelet blanket. It was so sweet looking, I thought I could get cavities!
“… You sure have a gap moe, Asaka-san. I knew you could cook, but I didn’t think you would make a bento like this despite your, you know, rough exterior.”
Asaka scoffed at my remark, responding back with a lecture, “A bento is all about expressing yourself artistically. It’s not just a box full of food, it’s all about the care the chef placed into it. I like expressing myself, and I personally think a dull-looking bento is a waste of effort, really. If you want food, get something instant from the Konbini and be done with it.”
Konbinis were Japanese convenience stores that were open pretty much 24/7 made to suit the life of hard-working Japanese. Filled with a ton of instant stuff, it wasn’t really that bad, honestly. The food was in fact pretty good if you weren’t used to gourmet-level food. I just wasn’t expecting somebody with rich parents like Asaka to know them so well.
“What is that look?” Asaka noticed my confusion. “I told you, I hate my parents. If I had the chance to cause them grief, I would. That’s why I would usually ditch school and go out and do something. You learn about the ‘peasant life,’ as my father called it, if you mingle with them. That’s how I learned how to use graffiti and such. Never would have learned it with my parents around.”
While I did have some problems with how she treated her parents, I held my opinion to myself. Asaka already told me about her past with them, so it really wasn’t my place to complain about her. After all, I wasn’t much of a good daughter myself, apparently. Also, I could sympathize with her a bit about “mingling with the peasants,” since I also felt a bit alienated from normal people due to my upbringing.
I shrugged and returned to my bento. And boy was it good. There was nothing fancy in it like Tamae’s or Saori’s cooking, but Asaka had this simple but good taste to it. As I began complimenting it and sharing it with the virgiress and twins, Asaka replied with “Cool” before turning around, bashful.
Am I ever glad I made the bento box larger than it should be!
Note, the bento is about as large as a dinner since making something larger was easier than something small for my first project in forever. A normal bento box was the size of a school lunchbox. Everything is larger with a dragon around, you could say!
Once I was done with the bento, I thanked Asaka once again and placed the box into my storage. Now free, I used this time to play with Rajah and his siblings, acting like a scratch post since I was impervious to their claws due to all my Vitality.
Varya, who was the size of an actual tiger, used this chance to go up to Sarasa and Quatre, who were driving the RV forward. It was training. Saori explained that Varya felt competitive towards the garms since she and her cubs counted as the new members of the pack. In a fenrir pack, the oldest and strongest always had seniority, which means even Shoyi, the E rank slime managing our toilets, had a higher standing than all four of them.
The only way to rise above was to become stronger. Virigresses were loners, but even Varya could understand her low standing. Not like it mattered to Saori, but it mattered to the garms and Varya.
Personally, I was rooting for Varya. I wanted her to become stronger than the garms just to show them that they could accept me as their “master” to receive [Hestia’s Retainer] while remaining under Saori’s commands. They still wouldn’t do it, which was a bit annoying. I wanted them to get stronger for Saori’s sake.
While I was playing around, I noticed after a while that the coach spot was pretty quiet. Looking down, Asaka and Elrick were just sitting there in silence. Nobody was talking. Thinking it weird, I tried breaking the ice.
“Hey, you two—”
But, a few people came to annoy us.
“Finally making their move, huh? Took them long enough to decide.”
““Huh?”” Elrick and Asaka were confused by my statement, but the garms, twins, and Varya instantly reacted to my words.
The RV stopped, only for an arrow to fly onto our path ten seconds later. It seemed we spooked them by standing still suddenly.
And here the masses come.
Ten? Twenty? Thirty? Yeah, about that amount and a bit more men appeared before us. All wearing shoddy gear and clothes which looked like they got from some trash yard or something. There was an almost equal split among humans and beastmen among them, but all of them were male. No woman in sight.
If this were a normal carriage, I was sure people would start freaking out at the large number of people appearing from nowhere, but I was more confused why they took this long to show themselves. I’d noticed them ever since Klea’Hatma and Kramps began arguing!
[“Boy, those people do not look too good, dearie. You would think they would turn around, but they actually went and tried attacking the group led by two giant dogs. Wow, wonder how many will piss their pants,”] Klea’Hatma commented.
“S-Stop the carriage!” One of them cried out. His legs were shaking like maracas, just like everybody else surrounding us.
This is pitiful.
“We already stopped a long time ago. How about you state your business with us?” I commanded them, looking more bored than interested.
On the other hand, the garms were growling, showing their giant fangs off. A single crunch and those fangs could dig right through a person’s skull and turn it into mush. In fact, our woofers were large enough to bite off your torso. They were the perfect deterrents for any small-scale threats, but some people can be a bit too foolhardy, huh?
The virigresses and the twins weren’t slacking either. Varya jumped back on the roof of the RV and began roaring with all her might, all while her cubs imitated her with their more-or-less cute meows.
Then there were the twin snow wyverns, who assumed a battle stance in their dragonewt form to protect me. Shay protected my back with his body covered in ice, while Beth held her wings in front of me, mimicking a shield.
“H-Hand over your goods!”
“Yeah! Hand over your goods! This is a r-robbery!”
Fucking hell, this is sooooo pitiful…
One thing stood out when I looked at all these bandits, all of them had bright blue shining tattoos on their faces. This was a slave mark.
They were all slaves.
“Haaaaa…” I stood up and unleashed my [Draconic Aura], causing some of my scales to suddenly molt and float around me. In the next second, all these scales burst into fire, releasing some of the scale-dust inside them.
This was already enough to scare and break the morale of a good chunk of the robbers. Klea’Hatma already counted four who lost control of their bowels.
“Some people really have the nerve…”