Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Hellblade Dragon Lv. 5] [Lightning Magic Lv. 4] [Corrosive Fire Lv. 5] [Terra Magic Lv. 4] [Draconic Barrier Lv. 8] [Delayed Cast Lv. 5] [Continuous Cast Lv. 4] [Trap Creation Lv. 10] gained

Spells gained: [Overload] [Ruinous Rockfall]

[Music Resonation (Major)] [Stage Fever (Critical)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

“Somebody once told me the world doesn’t revolve around me ♫

I ain’t the protagonist of the story ♫

A look in the mirror, and the memories that I’ve made ♫

And I couldn’t help but feel so sorry ♫”

The shimmer of the obsidian walls, the powerful glow of the spotlights, and the sound of people cheering all directed to the middle of this place. A humongous arena, far too large for my dragon form, but one meant to be large enough for Mother to stay in. It wasn’t close to what I imagined the final product to be, but the project I began with Mother blossomed for today’s show.

With her mana as fuel to create a cavern even larger than hers, my “lair,” my “nest,” was made. A dragon had to have her own boss stage, right? The one I made in the Belzac forest when I was stuck in that cave wasn’t around anymore, but now I had this — the “Obsidian Orchestra” as I liked to call it.

The stage was in the very middle of the arena, surrounded by seats. I never really dreamed of having my very own concert hall, but look at it now. I made the obsidian hull with [Volcanic Blaze] and I was now singing and performing before all my fans. This was, clearly, an evolution of all my previous stages.

I loved it.

“Well, ‘fuck you, too.’ Not gonna give up now ♫

You’re just a hater, don’t bring me down ♫

You don’t get a say who’s the hero here ♫

You get meaning in life with the actions you’ve done ♫”

The music echoed throughout the room. After quite an extensive amount of testing, I managed to control my [Aerokinesis] to the point where I could maintain the same volume across the entire room, no matter where you were seated. Sure, it meant more of my parallel minds had to be preoccupied with maintaining the volume. I was already using eight parallel minds to maintain all the special effects, lights, instruments, and sound.

From a combat perspective, I couldn’t fight at my full potential right now. I only had two unoccupied [Parallel Thoughts] left, and those two were responsible for whatever went wrong. Currently, I had no help with this concert. I was the skeleton crew. In other words, I had little to no time for those pesky dragonslayers interrupting my concert right now.

I couldn’t give them any more of the attention as I was giving to everybody else here. All I could do was continue singing.

“Big Sis! Your singing is amazing!”

And the cheers of the crowd told me I should. Seeing the orphanage kids from Griffonpeak shout and encourage was the best! Watching all the fans I made from Artorias release the light bulbs into the air, illuminating the obsidian floor in their brilliance was what every idol dreamed to see!

Kids, watch me! All of you, your idol won’t fail today!

“Showtime, get yourself up, the spotlights are here for you! ♫

Hey now, you superstar, flare-up, you’re number one ♫

All those cheers are for you ♫

You’re the centerpiece of your tale ♫”

The music exploded with the chorus. Louder. The music had to fill up the hall. Let this music enter your soul and awaken your enjoyment of it. Food and music! What brings people together even in the most hopeless times. While I give you the time of your lives, enjoy yourself in the numerous merchant stalls Reajaen, Amelia, and Haruka had to persuade them to appear here today!

“Whooooooo!” the common people of Gleisvale shouted! They were fully immersed after only one choir and pop song!

“These concerts are the best! Praise the Goddess for our Champion Hestia!” The raucous Griffonpeak folk celebrated while they visited the many food and merchandise stalls.

Greenveil and Helvas personal helping out was always a huge help. They benefited by selling a ton of stuff, while I benefited from a fervorous crowd.

However, even then, there were a few who weren’t enjoying the show from both sides. It couldn’t be helped, considering I was singing a pop song, which was a far departure from the priestly church music from before.

Taking advantage of the faith of people, I asked the Temple of Aurena, of Mercurias, and of the Six Origin Gods to come today. It was easy to persuade the bishop of the first temple, since he was already basically worshipping me as a champion, but it took some honeyed words to get the other two. In the end, however we did it didn’t matter, what mattered was that I managed to bring in as many people as possible here to ruin the plans of the Church of the Edjurl.

Specifically, the plans that Saori told me about. How they knew murdering me wasn’t the answer here, but driving me out with hate was. And to do so, they needed people who hated dragonkins and scalekins to rile up the crowd. They were planning on using pack mentality and fear-mongering to drive me out.

Not a problem, really. I had this whole place created for such a situation. Well, not specifically this situation. It was there in case a city got attacked again, like Griffonpeak. To give the citizens there a haven where they could seek refuge at. This was the real reason for the creation of the “Obsidian Orchestra,” but that didn’t mean I couldn’t still make concert plans for it.

And now, with a massive counter like this, I wondered what the two parties of dragonslayers were planning on doing? Outsmarted and baited into a trap. What would they think of doing now?

“Mind control! These people were charmed!”

As expected, they were checkmated. It was the obvious answer they could have given.

“We need to stop the beast!” A human archer, the one standing in front of one of the two hunter groups, ordered his party before readying his bow.

“Wait!” One of his companions, a heavily armored adventurer with a humongous tower shield, grabbed his arm and pulled it down. “Are you cra—”

“Hey, fuck off, ya fuckwit!” One of my attendees shouted at them, spilling some of his drink on the floor.

“Yeah! Get the hell out! Oi! Guards get those assshits outta here!” A woman tugged on one of the venue guards, drawn from the many soldiers of House Helvas and Greenveil for the day, and pointed his attention towards the adventurers. I could see the guard looking disturbed, seeing as I told them explicitly to not interfere against the dragonslayers.

The guards instead directed their attention back to the Gleisvale crowd. Them getting rowdy was expected, really. They acted pretty much as I came to learn during the promotion event for the pastry shop. Since the hunters were in the middle of Gleisvale seats, they were being insulted by people who just wanted to have fun.

Not to say the Griffonpeak people were any less loud. I could hear them complaining how none of the guards were stepping in to protect the “Champion.” The whole of Artorias didn’t know me, of course, but those in Griffonpeak did. I guessed making my appearance as a dragon there and how King Drangleic told everybody I was the city’s heroine helped a bit with my reputation.

With nobody really stopping them, outside of the belittlement of the crowd, the human archer seemed to become even madder. He rebuked his party member and then told the others about how wyverns used to destroy their homes and kill their loved ones.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

It was a bit of a heartbreaker, until you remembered he probably wanted to kill me here. I couldn’t really feel bad for him if he was looking to shoot me down. Besides, I wasn’t even done with my first song yet.

“Showtime, get yourself up, the spotlights are here for you! ♫

Hey now, you superstar, flare-up, you’re number one ♫

All those cheers are for you ♫

You’re the centerpiece of your tale ♫”

The second chorus.

“Fuck it! We need to take her down and free everybody! Witch!” And with a firm pull on his longbow’s string, he released a bone arrow strong enough that my [Danger Perception] recognized it as a threat. How strong was this person?

But I didn’t react to it. I didn’t even use my scales to block. After all, I had the aid of some powerful bodyguards.

From above me, two large beams of ice blasted through the area where the arrow was, destroying it. Once the beam dissipated, snowflakes could be seen flying around before Shay and Beth landed on the frozen floor. Their wyvern maws scowled at the dragonslayers, readying themselves for a fight.

“Shit! Attack!” Undeterred, the archer retrieved another arrow while his teammates finally agreed to participate. Three melees charged forwards while a mage began cloaking his arrow with electricity.

But, before they could do anything, I poured mana through my feet, breaking the ground apart with [Volcanic Blaze]. The obsidian shards of the ground began to glow bright yellow, like magma, heated up by my mana. While making sure it wouldn’t hurt anybody, tree roots shot out from the gap, constricting the hunters’ legs.

[“Good work, Shay, Beth, Cernust. Make sure to kick them out without actually hurting them.”] I told my helpers telepathically before returning to my performance.

“Wh-What the fuck are these?!” The hunters tried to free themselves from the root, but every time they managed to cut themselves out, more grew out of the gap.

“Wrong place to try to harm our Princess, assholes!” Cernust, the [Woodland Drake] I befriended in Firwood, appeared from the ground in his dragonewt form, rustling his head to get rid of the obsidian dust. “You want to leave, or should we kick you out?”

[“Leave now.”] Shay commanded them, glaring at them imposingly while his sister took her combat stance immediately.

“Showtime, get yourself up, the spotlights are here for you! ♫

Hey now, you superstar, flare-up, you’re number one ♫

All those cheers are for you ♫

You’re the centerpiece of your tale ♫

…

Thank you very much!”

“Wooooooooooooh!”

“Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Applause and cheers.

201 humans and beastmen have become your followers

Total follower count updated. Total follower of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 8080

The finale of the music, ushering in a small moment of silence before I thanked my audience. And a second later, my own ears were overwhelmed by the booming explosion of the claps and voices. The shower of praise tickled my skin and made me smile reflexively. I could never get enough of this.

“Thank you very much! Thank you!”

I saw King Drangleic and his seven Dukes standing up at their seats. Yes, all seven dukes were here. Similar to the dinner, they were here to foster our friendship even further, and I invited all of them here to give them a taste of what an idol actually was.

I could see Duke Groushia, Lecartiglio, and Greenveil not liking the first song too much, but it seemed the others did. Their smiles were more genuine. I sent the former trio a telepathic message, apologizing to them if they didn’t like the first song, and that I will be performing more styles later on. They smiled wryly, noticing I could see them before nodding and saying “Do not mind me, Lady Hestia.”

I know they like opera and orchestral songs. Maybe I should spice it up and include them? I guess I should since I’m in my orchestra house. Yeah, time to improv. Ballad time.

The King and the Dukes showing themselves wasn't just to show their approval of me, but also to show the dragonslayers they were supporting me. Well dressed and with all the griffons and hippogryphs circling around them, I don’t think anybody keen enough could miss them.

And whilst waving to my fans, I turned around, eyeing what the hunters would be doing. The human archer was telling everybody they would fight, prompting Shay, Beth, and Cernust to glare at them. I hoped they wouldn’t, since I promised Cernust’s fiancee, Severa, that he wouldn’t be fighting. He had such a hard time persuading her parents for her hand, I couldn’t allow him to hurt himself.

But, before the situation escalated, a person from the other hunter group grabbed the archer’s shoulder. A bulky, scarred man in an above-average-looking scale armor. Nothing was overly-fancy about it. It was just well made.

And this veteran was the one person I felt very wary about.

“Come on, Simeon, let’s go,” he told the archer in a rather thick accent, reminding me of Pestrodus. “Nothing we can do here anymore.”

“What?! Sir Larent, are you mad?! We need to kill her now, otherwise we’re letting a damn dragon roam free, destroying lives! Kargryxmor or not, to hell with him! You can slay her!” The archer kept insisting on killing me over and over again. Talk about a personality here dude.

“The contract is to drive her—”

“Fuck that fat fuc— Oof!” With a quick right hook, the archer was knocked out by the veteran. Unsheathing his sword, the man sliced apart the roots so fast I wasn’t even able to properly see his movements.

… Uhm, yes. Okay.

The man also freed up the archer’s other party members of Cernust’s roots and told them to carry their leader out of here. They were done here, since their contractor didn’t explain all the details properly, he said.

With no one complaining, they nodded and began their path of shame, getting booed by the crowd. As the man stared at me one last time, he turned around, making his way out.

… Hmm. Too much negativity. Oh well, let’s do it now. Prayer.

[Blessing of the Goddess (Major)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

406 humans and beastmen have become your followers

Total follower count updated. Total follower of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 8486

The shimmering radiance of this buffing spell enveloped the entirety of the cavern, basking everybody in its shine. Once again, the crowd erupted. Songs are powerful, but something like [Prayer] was just too effective. No wonder the Church of Aurena called this custom spell they made a gift from the Goddess Aurena. It was so easy to rile up people to your cause.

[“Hey,”] I called the veteran man telepathically, seeing as he was staring at the residue of [Prayer]’s large magic circle in the sky, completely amazed and baffled. [“If you’re actually from the Empire, try to choose your employers more carefully. If you’re a follower of the Goddess, you should drop this contract.”]

He had an amulet of Aurena around his neck and his accent was close to Pestrodus’s. I wasn’t sure if he was from the Empire, but at the very least, he was one of Aurena’s worshippers.

He turned around and gave me a short nod before leaving the room. Hopefully, I won’t meet him again. He was the only one I felt was a real threat. His party members were probably B rank, but that archer guy felt like a C rank adventurer. Maybe his equipment was better, but not really important.

[“Mother.”] While I kept my smile up to the crowd, I spoke to Mother who was watching the whole concert behind a huge wall made from her diamond-like ice. [“I didn’t think they were able to get dragonslayers strong as that middle-aged man.”]

A problem from my last performance was that Mother had to make herself invisible to watch me without people fearing her. As such, the best way to solve this was to create a way for her to watch without that problem. My cave was literally next to hers. We were in the same subspace room, right now.

[“Hmm. Outside of that abrasive rat and his group of dissidents, I don’t believe the others were dragonslayers, Hestia. In fact, that rat only had equipment made from wyverns,”] Mother informed me, surprising me.

[“Seriously? Wow. The power of money, huh? Where the hell did O’Bloom find such a person?”] But I shook that thought away for now, it wasn’t more important than my concert right now. [“Still, hopefully, the others won’t have too many problems on their side.”]

After all, there was a demonkin of wrath they had to defeat… Buuuuuuuuut, this wasn’t the only trap.

A week was too much preparation time, honestly.

----------------------------------------

“Urraagah!!!”

[Lifestealer (41 Kills)] inflicted on [Young Stygian-Scaled Fenrir, Saori Segawa]

Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Stygian-Scaled Fenrir, Saori Segawa]’s Job [Assassin] has risen from [Level 0] to [Level 20]

Attributes have increased due to level up

Max level of Job [Assassin] has been reached

“No! No, please! Don’t kill me! Gruuuuargh?!”

Your fault for attacking my clone. Any talk for peace was over then, you perverted misbegotten.

With a dagger drenched in blood and my shadow pack tearing and ripping every single mercenary they faced into pieces, I had to shake my head. Aurora didn’t have a real dungeon, but Hestia could make an artificial labyrinth alright. Even an army would have trouble fighting against a trap like this.

Obsidian walls made using her [Volcanic Blaze]. She can shoot out corrosive flame and turn it into some solid walls. Then, she would just do some terraforming. Incredible… Yeah. It’s time to spread my horizons like she did.

My ears piqued to the other battlefield in this labyrinth. Tasianna, Ellaine, Grimnir, Tatsuya, Kyouya, and Asaka were on the other side. It seemed the goons were almost killed off, and only O’Bloom and his four demonkin contractors were left.

As such—

“Hello, Miss. We meet again.”

My opponent had finally arrived.

No longer was he in that casual clothing from before, looking nothing more like a citizen. He now had the appearance of a warrior with his scar-filled armor. The red and black fitted well with the rest of his image.

He drew a black staff from his hip before it burst up into fire, making it look like a solid magma longsword. It gave off a more controlled vibe. Similar to how the demonkin looked in general.

“I never got to learn your name, Miss. May I? Considering this is our rematch.” He was quite courteous for a person who could explode into fire. Considering his horns were only peeking out slightly, he most likely wasn’t super excited yet.

So his real personality isn’t much of an asshole, maybe?

“Saori Segawa,” I answered him.

“Hee’Rlak, but I already introduced myself.” He then readied himself into a stance. “No need to talk as enemies. Let’s go! Emotion SurrrrrRRRRRRRRRGGGGGEEEEE!”

“… Humanization.”