“She’s driving us forward like slaves … Why do we have to hike while she rides on that tiger monster?”

“Do you think she actually knows Segawa-sensei? I mean, she could have gotten the information from brainwashing Nagata and Ishigami. Maybe that dragon is posing as a holy mage, but is secretly working for Marsven?”

“Don’t forget what the cardinal said. Don’t go too close to her. They said she removed our classmates’ unique skills. I mean, look at Tatsuya and Kyouya. One turns into a werewolf, the other gains an armor of shadow? Screams the Dark God.”

My god, are you telling me they ate up everything the people at the church said? Come on, even I know Marsven, Edna, and their daughters aren’t completely antagonistic, even if their followers constantly try to kill me …

“If you want to whisper, make sure you buy and use [Telepathy] for it. I’m a dragon, remember?” My response caused three of the student party members to jerk, looking at me slightly scared as they kept their heads down. I couldn’t help but sigh here. “Just saying, but I really am not a follower of God Marsven despite all the rumors the church made up about me. I’m not a fiend who enjoys the misery of others. I promise you, I will heal Yuuko of the wounds I inflicted on her. No matter how terrible.”

I then looked up at the temple lingering behind the veil of mist. “… I hope I can promise to get everybody off of this floor, though.”

Seeing me sigh out loud probably didn’t do anybody's morale any favors. The fact they believed I had them “captured” and that they had to look for a way to “get free” really wasn’t doing me any favors either. Just as I was wondering how I could overcome this wide distance, I noticed Franz suddenly coming up to me.

But before that, he looked over to those three students. “She keeps her promises. Even if it takes a while to fulfill.”

Always weird to think that ‘Hestia’ had only met him for less than a day, but he already knows some of my tendencies.

In any case, I dismounted from Rajah and waited for his report.

“Sir Royce is back on his feet, and it seems Sir Lautrex is amicable for now. There is the issue with Sir Karlst, my guardian knight but—”

“No, there is no ‘but’ here!”

Speaking of the devil, my next two challengers came up to me, strutting up with their hands on their weapons, thinking they might have a chance now that I was “tired” from my previous “fight.”

The first to speak was Falamm Astolfus, the guardian knight for Yuuko’s party. “Do you really think that we will accept thi—”

“Accept going hungry? Oh, of course not,” I immediately interrupted him, pulling out a stone pot full of uncooked rice kernels. “I’m fully willing to cook for everybody. The food can even come from my pockets, even if I’m technically in debt right now … Don’t worry, food cooked from Aurora will always have assured quality. Restaurant Aurora has a reputation to uphold, after—”

“Would you stop interrupting us?” Karlst spat out in that thick accent of his, sounding a bit French. “You call yourself a Champion of the Goddess, but I have never seen such a loudmouth like you before! Goddess Erithia forgive me, but watching you act and speak is a disgrace to all blessed of the Goddess! Learn some manners!”

“Oh, I grew up with manners and two friends pretty much urging me to act like a proper girl. Speaking of which, Goddess Erithia didn’t seem to like me that much the last time I spoke with her, so bringing her up won’t help it.” I shrugged, waving my hands in the air at that suggestion. “She’s probably watching me now, like all the other gods in the Light Pantheon. ‘How will I solve this situation?’”

Falamm’s mouth went agape at my words, looking like his head was about to blow up like a microwaved tomato. “Blasphemer! You dare suggest you have the piety to be graced by the words of a Goddess?! You ungrateful cur, you dare show so little respect to the gods you serve?!”

“Oh, so you do admit I’m a blessed of your religion!” I snapped my fingers, smiling widely only to further agitate the two knights. The original reason for why they wanted to talk to me was probably forgotten at this point.

“You! Little—How dare you treat us Knights of Aurena with such little respect! Do you even have any idea what we—”

“No, I don’t,” once again, I did not allow any of the knights to get their last words in. It was grating to listen to. “I have told you my identity, I have shown you the minimum courtesy for people who were sent here to assassinate me! You have not shown me an inkling of your respect, neither for my status or as a person. Respect is a two-way street, and I owe you nothing. The Empire and Aureolis have both blemished my reputation, making it possibly impossible for me to perform a concert in any of their affiliated countries. Your emperor sent dragonslayers after me … I will tell you this, you four knights are currently on the very bottom of my ‘caring’ list.”

Maybe it was the stress of dungeon diving for too long. Even if [The Light] wasn’t making me uncomfortable being underground or inside caves any longer, my past bad experiences being inside one probably contributed to my agitation. It also didn’t help that I hadn’t seen the sun for over a week now and only had one core-worth of solar energy left, until I was completely depleted.

Or, the actual reason for my bad mood was that I was putting up with nine people who were sent here to kill me, who showed me as much distrust as I was giving Vifi’Yok. Speaking of the latter, I was also anxious about her trying to snatch the chip away from me. Could I trust her? Could I rely on the students to not try to knock me out with the knights? I didn’t want to underestimate them just ‘cause I was stronger than all of them.

While I walked away from them, going in front of Rajah, Franz came running up.

“That was quite … I would like to call it sass, but the truth leans more towards haughtiness. Not the same I am used to,” he stated, reinforcing the idea that my past life did have moments where she went ballistic. To my fellow trainees, maybe my parents, maybe even my friends.

I guess I am not that extremely different.

“Happens, I guess. It’s not that I even want to act like this but speaking with them just annoys me. Even if I can sympathize with them and what they might think of the situation.”

Franz nodded, expressing his own worries of how he would have acted if he hadn’t learned about me before the church’s propaganda. Once again, he showed how he had information on me despite how little the Empire actually knew about me beyond the church's propaganda, all because he realized I was an otherworlder due to the Berliners I sold in Griffonpeak. Imperial merchants had brought some pastries back and he had gotten his hand on me from them.

It sounded plausible, but that made me just wonder how he would be able to get his hand on something like this? Olive’s Garden, the name of the shop Amelia sold my pastries through, should be selling Berliner even today, but how would a merchant know how good I was through some pastries they bought back home to sell or give to friends? I mean, Amelia’s employees could have spoken well of me, but still.

However, before I could really finish this thought, Franz brought up another important matter. Something he had to use [Telepathy] for.

[“You won’t tell them you’re an otherworlder?”]

I shook my head. [“If your classmates can’t guess it from my name, then it isn’t my problem for now. I don’t trust the knights with this information, and the last thing I want is for the demonkins to try to use any of this information against me. After this is done, I will have no further responsibility towards them and I won’t imprison them or something, you know.”]

[“Right, not to further antagonize people. Smart.”] Franz then looked back, making sure nobody was looking and reached his hand out. [“You've heard it already, but the church knows you can get rid of ‘our’ unique skills. Nagata and Ishigami confirmed it with me. You did the same for their party and Tamae-san’s. Considering they know about it, those unique skills are most likely used like GPS signals. I want you to get rid of mine.”]

[“Now?”] I snapped my head around.

So he doesn’t know I can’t usurp it? So, why can’t I usurp it?

I already tried to get rid of his [Justice for All] before already, but was somehow unable to. Trying it again wouldn’t help here, but I also didn’t want to make it awkward so I decided to delay it for later. I didn’t think bringing it up now would be beneficial.

[“Are you sure you want to do it now? Don’t you need the power boost?”] I deflected. [“We don’t know what will happen and I certainly would like to have your lying detecting skill for Vifi’Yok. We don’t need to rush things. Also, since I know the demonkins are responsible for all of this, taking away your GPS signal now won’t benefit you or them.”]

[“Well, if you think so, then I’ll rest the point for now … So, do you have an idea how solve our little predicament?”]

He was probably talking about the situation about the key and how only two teams may live. How were we supposed to break the rules without actually breaking them?

[“Let me guess, [Space-Time Magic]”]

I snapped my fingers. [“Bingo. That’s our only way forward.”]

[“The main rule we have to abuse is number three. ‘Once both artifacts leave the floor through their usage,’ it demands, but what happens when the used artifact returns to the floor? Can it be used again? The description didn’t say it was a one time use,”] Franz correctly caught on to the reasoning why I thought it might be possible to get everybody. However, there were some issues here.

[“Will the dungeon master let us? [Space-Time] spells cost a lot of mana to maintain, so how long can we do so? There is also a huge problem about trust here, as I bet at least three teams distrust me completely. If you trust me, then your party might, I presume. And then we have the Ankoran King and his party.”]

[“The dwarves are fully allied with the elves, and the elves have a multi-generational alliance with the dragons. High King Fugnarus will not betray you … On the assumption he knows you’re a princess.”]

Geopolitical knowledge, too, huh? Well, aren’t you certainly prepared my dear cousin.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

28 humans and beastmen followers lost

Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 22418

“Wha—!?”

People died. Some of my fans suddenly died, which hadn’t happened since, well, for a veeeery long time now. Honestly, considering the Event Quest, I had expected to lose a few fans here or there but how did I lose 28 followers just like that?! At once? Where was this happening?

It couldn’t be the Ankoran King, but seeing this annoying System message caused my stress to surge again. I snapped my head around, noticing the others were having a lull time right now. I even saw Tatsuya and Kyouya speaking with Aiko—I heard they were good friends back on Earth.

“Eh?!”

Strange?

The moment Aiko turned around to look at me, she snapped her head back and began to move slower to the boy’s confusion. Well, it certainly unnerved me, too.

Yes, stress. Stress. It is stress, definitely. I need to calm down.

Losing followers was a normal thing; it shouldn’t be weird for me to expect to lose some of my fans here or there considering the world didn’t revolve around me. People die every day, it was just reality. Maybe I lost a few people from the Event Quest, but none of them were people I personally knew—my friends.

Knowing my mind might be a bit unstable from all the chaos, I called for Franz and Vifi’Yok—I should call her Valeria while the students were around—to help me out. I jumped up on Rajah and pulled out some pots and ingredients. Using [Unheilige Engel] I asked them to cut some of the stuff for me; starting to make some good food would help everybody.

Since we had to slow down our hike for the students and knights, it probably was the correct time to do so. Pouring some water in a stone pot full of rice, I placed it on my head, balancing it there while increasing my body temperature. While I very much disliked Saori and Tasianna using me like a rice cooker, popcorn maker, and so many other weird cooking utensils, it was, unfortunately, efficient of me to act as one right now while we continued our march.

With mobile cooking stations for both Franz and Vifi’Yok to cut some stuff in, I began making some stew, adding the usual spices Saori, Tamae, or Asaka would use and began the stew. As more and more ingredients were added, the rice finished, allowing me to let the aroma of everything spread around before I finally found some time to pull out my geigler.

Franz watched me play a tune as I controlled the stew ladle with [Aerokinesis], prompting him to laugh a bit before asking me why I didn’t have a violin made specifically for a dragon. As in, wasn’t my tail similar to a bow in some sense? What a weird suggestion to make … Although, he does make a good point. Why don’t I have a violin made for my dragon form?

“Good to see you still enjoying it,” Franz smiled as I kept playing. “If I had one myself, we could do a duet like we used to do.”

Franz can play, too? That wasn’t part of my memories.

In any case, music and food; it was a good combination which enticed people’s senses. I could see the students eagerly looking at what I was cooking, only for it to stop when the knights and Takuma told them to refocus. “It might be poisoned,” they stated, which was a grave insult to every chef’s handiwork.

As such, they didn’t get to eat anything if they wanted to stay stubborn. Instead, my party got to enjoy some rice with beef stew, coupled with some fresh iced fragassa milk. Oh, naturally, some fulinoe tea to keep Tatuysa’s addiction at bay.

“Can I have some more fragassa, please,” Kyouya asked as we all ate on top of Rajah, while I fed the latter by holding up his plate with [Unheilige Engel].

“Seconds, please. More meat, too,” Vifi’Yok demanded, which I obliged immediately. Although I didn’t trust her, I wasn’t callous enough to deny her a meal.

The six of us filled up our stomachs before Aiko broke down, asking if she could get anything. This escalated into a situation where everybody but the knights and Takuma came up and asked for a portion. The former could only sigh before they took out their rations and began to eat their dried meals, while Takuma glared at me as if I was the devil.

“So, you really know Segawa-sensei? Strict, overly perfectionist, history nerd?”

“So, Tama-chan and the others from The Magical Biscuits are with you guys?”

“I don’t really care. I haven’t gotten proper warm food in over a week with all the golems attacking us in the previous dungeon.”

“… Are you sure you three weren’t brainwashed? Valeria, are you okay?”

What the hell, don’t speak about me like that in the open!

Well, it was better than their complete mistrust but hunger drove them towards me. Whether this would help later or not would be left up to future me, but it was nice to share a meal with everybody as we hiked through this hillscape.

Eventually, we had to stop, as we finally reached our destination. Tatsuya instantly noted how there were clear signs earth magic was used, and how he could see two ropes along the walls. After we scouted the area a bit further, we also noted how there was an entire staircase of earthen walls made from the earth of this hill. Whoever created this was clearly a skilled mage.

Using it we quickly made it up to the top of the hill, where we confirmed a similar looking temple from the first was there. We entered through the gates, noting how it was open. The door into the parish had a small gap, and this was where I noted signals coming from below. There also wasn’t a date chip at the altar placed next to the miniature of Goddess Chihiro.

“Heard somebody,” Vifi’Yok brought up, confusing everybody but Tatsuya and me, who had pretty strong hearings.

Rajah had to stay outside due to his size, sadly. The demonkin led us deeper into the building until we found an opened basement door. Getting closer, it was clear voices came from it.

“H-hand over the key!”

“You aren’t getting through us!”

“R-Ryuji-kun, do you think—”

“Shut it! We need to fight or we will die! Doesn’t matter if we’re outnumbered, we need to figure out a way!”

Girls and boys; the voices were varied and generally pretty young sounding, full of energy. In addition, they were speaking Japanese. On the other hand, the next set of voices were deeper, growling and had audible accents you would attribute to the dwarves of Inkoran-Tazul.

“Lads. Lasses. Out of the way.”

“Crustacia have mercy, but you will not stand in our king’s way.”

And then there were two more holier-than-thou voices which accompanied the former two. I wasn’t sure if they were deeper-sounding women or higher-pitched men, but they were easily distinguishable from the dwarven accents.

“Our king ordered for the Ankoran King’s survival, you won’t stand in his way.”

“You young folks are so devoid of wisdom, it is only the fate of humans like you. I say it’s mercy to end your lives now.”

“Shit! Back up! Behind me!” one of the younger voices from the beginning shouted as I heard something wooden running along a wooden table.

One of the antagonistic voices responded, oozing bloodlust to the point my [Danger Perception] warned me to be careful. “Your chances are over. Mundari, let us take them down!”

That’s the sound of a bow!

“Fuck! Ryuji!” Franz, surprisingly, was the first to storm through the door, running down the stairs, only for an arrow to suddenly graze his arm, causing him to slip down.

“Franz!” I shouted.

“Their reinforcements are here! Take them out! Avoid the second one in the far front!”

“Aye, yfleis! I feel something dangerous!”

My [Danger Perception] and [Foresight] instantly went into action as I noted multiple attacks coming at us. I used [Wind Blast] to blow everybody behind me back, before sending my scales out to protect them. As the first arrow shot through the ground, it pierced through my scale barrier, but got stuck in it.

I jumped into the basement, somersaulting down, protecting Franz from incoming arrows but flapping my wings, causing a miniature explosion to destroy it, before turning my body around. I noted nine young humans to one side, being bombarded by arrows and getting attacked by two short heavily armored people. None of them were hurt, but their frontline was easily broken through and pushed back.

“Ryuji!” Franz sprang up on his feet again as he conjured up his spectral sword, throwing it towards an axe-wielding warrior, completely unidentifiable due to his, or her, armor. However, unlike the other armored warriors, he, or she, was taller than all of them, dwarfing them by a half of a head.

Elves! Dwarves! I instantly noted seven opponents, only for my eyes to snap around as I saw a dwarf with a katana easily deflect the spectral sword flying towards the axe-wielder. His, or her, blade shone brightly by a rune and it looked like they were about to attack Franz while the axe-wielder took care of a tall young man wielding two gauntlets, looking like a brawler.

Stop! I poured mana through my throat, ready to shout but stopped when I saw the katana dwarf snapp their head up.

“Hmm?!” They reacted, before shouting in a deep voice. “Stop! Princess Hestia, sighted! Meoschaera roy Sheothrudra, yflei! Hands down, stop your aggression!”

The chaos was instantly stopped by the voice of that dwarven man. The ranger-looking elves retracted their bow and arrow and kneeled, greeting me as “Princess of Dragons” in elvish, while the dwarves saluted me.

However, this momentary peace was instantly broken as the students charged at the axe-wielding dwarf, almost grabbing what looked like a data chip from his belt, only for them to be suppressed by the other dwarven warriors. The katana-wielding dwarf had his blade pressed against the brawler-looking guy, causing the latter’s face to turn pale.

Franz stood up, but instantly froze up when the elves suddenly got back on their feet, bows readied on him. They were like gunslingers with those reflexis!

“Stop! Weapons down!” Understanding the gist of the situation, I stepped in front of Franz, shouting at them to stop all aggression. “Saelari, this person is my party member! Arrows down or I will fight!”

The elves looked at each other, before they relaxed their grips, giving me a quick bow as they acknowledged my order. What a dicey situation, Franz or any of the people upstairs could have been turned into a pincushion if you only evaluated the elves by their drawing speed.

“Hestia!”

I snapped my head around as I heard that familiar voice, noticing the axe-wielder taking his helmet off, revealing himself to be the High King of Ankor-Nazta, Fugnarus Kongun. The beastman-dwarf moved forward, looking at me in elation with his two tiger eyes. He even bellowed out a laugh as he rested his axe on my shoulder.

“I shouldn’t be laughing, but am I ever glad to see those damn dragonslayer didn’t get to you first. Urgh, lass.” His face tensed up as he frowned, looking sad and frustrated about himself as he lowered his head. “It’s my damn fault. May Kargryxmor and your father, Eltharion, judge me for nearly sending you to your death. I should have made sure my damn dungeon master was still alive before sending you into the dungeon. If you demand my head to restore my clan’s honor, then you may have it!”

“Your Majesty!” The dwarven warriors instantly pushed the students aside as they rushed to their king’s side as he sat down on his knees. “You mus—”

“Silence! This is my punishment for my failure!” He roared out. “Goddess Crustacia had entrusted me with the first Event Quest, and I have failed in properly assessing the massiveness of it! I have failed to protect Eltharion’s youngest daughter! This face isn’t even worthy to see Elutis’s eyes ever again, until my honor is restored! Hestia!”

He pulled out the data chip the students almost grabbed from him. “As a recompense, I have gotten you the second key out of this death hole! Take it, but I ask of you to save my subordinates! It is selfish, I know, as you went down for the students, but please, listen to this fool of a dwarf’s wish!”

“Your Majesty!” All the dwarves kneeled down as they looked up at me.“We die with our liege! Princess Hestia, if you must restore his clan’s honor, then let us go down with him! Take the chip and rescue your allies! We accept the consequences for attacking them, even if it was for our king’s honor!”

“Nonesense, mundari! Stand up, High King!” The elves suddenly protested. “These humans? Your lives are more valuable than these waste of air and resources. Stand up, for the future demands you live, Ankoran King Fugnarus!”

Dammit!

“Stop it, right now! We can solve this situation, I just—Huh?”

My [Detection Sensor] suddenly warned me of a signal which just appeared underneath me. My eyes snapped down, noting that there was now black magic circle under our feet. Out of it, a black covered arm reached out, about to reach into my pockets where I placed the data chip. My tail moved, ready to smack it away, but I was too slow.

“Arrrghhhhh!”

For Vifi’Yok’s reaction was faster.

“Bastard!” she shouted as she pulled Hayato out of the shadow, kicked his stomach and broke his arm before throwing him onto the bottom of the basement.

However, this stressful moment didn’t end as her eyes recognized another arm slipping out of another shadow, this time aiming for the data chip the Ankoran King was offering me. Vifi’Yok didn’t rush, though, as the samurai dwarf instantly sliced the arm off with an iai-slash, causing the person to dissipate into nothingness—it was a [Shadow Clone].

“Don’t let them get the chip! The moment they have it, they get out of here scot-free!” Vifi’Yok commanded me as we suddenly heard the loud cries of two young men. Two very familiar men!

“Uraaghhhhk!”

Kyouya! Tatsuya!

Only to be followed by the sound of a shrieking girl.

We rushed up the stairs, only for my eyes to widen in shock as I saw Tatsuya holding his bleeding throat as his spear dug right into Chifuya’s stomach, causing the latter girl to cough up blood as she held her bloodied blade. On the right side, Takuma had already assumed his [Savior] form and had sliced off Kyouya’s left arm and was about to end his life before Franz charged in, parrying the greatsword before pushing Kyouya back, allowing Kyouya the time to materialized his knight armor and roar out Takuma’s name as he readied himself for a fight.

“Night Slayer.” Without his gauntlets, Lautrex suddenly materialized a sheathed sword made from light right in front of him. He grabbed it and pulled the blade out, revealing a longsword with an ever-moving chainsaw-like mechanism revolving around the weapon’s edge. It shone grey.

The knight smiled, showing his handsomeness since I healed his beat up face after our fight. “If the light of the Goddess can’t smite you, then I will rely on something more simple—mana. Aura blades, the true weapon of a swordmaster!”

Fucking betray me in the worse moment, you bastards!