“What the—?” My eyes were glued at the scene presented before me, where all I could see was just mounds of rubble and bodies—both from monsters and people. This blackmarket was just thriving a moment ago, but it had been decimated and left … lifeless.
“Don’t worry, Wisperia and I managed to get the slaves out before all of this happened. Avoided them all with my arrows.” The woman responsible scratched the neck of her treant owl, looking proud at her handiwork. “One rat hole down, many more to go, honestly.”
I turned around, noticing Saori’s and everybody else’s incredulous faces. All of us were used to large-scale destruction, so none of us were groaning or uneasy with it. We just hadn’t expected it to happen here, simple enough.
“Oh, and I hadn’t had the chance, but I am sorry I nearly hit you, Meoschaera,” Muraina apologized. “Whisperia felt an incoming influx of mana, so I shot an arrow in your direction. I didn’t expect you to be here.”
So that arrow was from her. It did feel familiar when the arrow just stopped mid-air.
“Neither did we,” I replied. It was water under the bridge. “Why exactly are you here, anyways, Muraina? This is the Lecartiglio duchy, right?”
“My job.” It was a concise answer. “Well, to be more precise, this is Saelariel’s way to uphold our alliance with Artorias. In other words, my role as a liaison can finally begin and I can actually do something to help outside of running the Hunter’s Guild. First thing on the agenda, make sure Shaturein is the only underworld inside the country to minimize potential issues like during the Griffonpeak attack.”
Muraina was one of the Saelari who actually supported friendly relationships between Saelariel and Artorias, belonging to the “Enforcer” faction. From what I remembered, their goal was to monitor humankind more directly by interacting with them, assuring travesties like the War for the Faefolk would never happen again.
She didn’t talk much about her role in it, outside of acting as an unofficial ambassador, but would this count as one of her duties? Well, I didn’t need to think too deeply about it as she continued her explanation.
“Once news of the summit arrived, I began preparing my hairetis to cleanse Artorias from the filth underneath. Slavery is outlawed in Artorias, and this is something Caedhul, Loatryx, Saelariel, and Ankor-Nazta agree with. What better way to make sure our alliance is solid than to help Duke Lecartiglio deal with some of his issues, so he doesn’t have to send his own troops?” She smiled, sounding a bit like a politician with the way she looked at things. “You did a good job, Meoschaera. From forcing King Drangleic’s hand to tell me the truth, to assuring the alliance is sealed. I’m now free to flex my fingers outside of merely defending the capital.”
“You don’t have to call me ‘Meoschaera,’ you know?” I sighed. Some people just loved calling me princess. “Well, getting to this point wasn’t exactly easy, even if King Drangleic and King Fugnarus wanted the alliance. I still have this gnawing feeling that King Elutis isn’t too happy about it.”
“Don’t worry, he is,” she reassured me. “My king has to balance his interests with the enforcers and isolationists, meaning he has to take a hard stance on certain topics. Not to mention his own hatred for what Folschreck did during the war. He is happy he can ally with King Drangleic, and from what I heard, is just apprehensive of your idealistic approach.”
“Well, it did lead us here,” Saori added.
How could we have guessed we would meet two more sin heirs in the span of two days, huh?
“I see, well, come on. Let’s go up for now. The slaves are probably worried, and I want to hear why all of you are here … and why one of your allies is a demonkin.”
All of us turned to Vifi as we noticed that her electric horns had appeared on her forehead, albeit they were barely tangible. In fact, her face was pale and she had this sick look in her eyes, to the point I questioned if she was even listening to my discussion with Muraina. Did she even realize her emotions were uncontrolled right now?
Saori and Vifi did just give me a summary of what had just happened when they met “Rein’Yond.” Considering I experienced [Original Sin: Yaldaboath] myself with Mom, I could imagine what could have happened. Reminding you of your worst memories and then controlling you within that dreamscape. I had to watch my other half, “Hikari,” get swallowed up by it, after all.
Unlike Saori and Grimnir, though, Mom and Vifi weren’t protected by [Hestia’s Retainer]. Mom, however, had a strong enough soul to endure the damage until I came to free her, but it might have been different for the latter. Vifi looked like she was still affected. She probably saw a pretty terrible memory.
Wanting to cheer her up, I offered her a donut, but she rejected it, stating she wasn’t hungry. She was that out of it, huh?
“Come on, lass.” Grimnir patted her back, prompting her to follow us up.
Revealing our reasons for being here, Muraina sighed in relief that Gael was alive before expressing her surprise that the Prince of Envy would send people in so early after we just exposed the last cardinal of Artorias’s betraying his country for the demonkin. While it probably wasn’t planned at the start, the fact they predicted us to follow the spies with Shaturein’s help was pretty frightening. They read us like a book.
“You know there are ways to silence sound, right? Do you have ways to let your song bypass them?” Muraina asked, understanding what the issue was.
Up until now, the only enemies who listened to [My Darkest Thought] and managed to escape from it were Vifi and her adjutant, Hee’Rlak. I wasn’t so sure if the latter said anything after I healed him, but if he couldn’t remember anything due to all the damage he took, like being burned alive, then this Rein’Yond now knew that my songs need to be heard for them to apply their effects.
“My unique Job allows me to affect others through mana, but only if I apply [Music Resonation (Major)]. Problem is, that means I have to really bust out the music and that I can only do so in my humanized form,” I replied, talking about the Job skill [Musical Crescendo].
Musical Crescendo: A skill that applies additional effects the longer the bard continues playing any kind of spell songs. Escalation depended on [Music Resonation] and the length being played. Minor: Increases bard’s stats by 5%. Moderate: Shares the full effects of all buffs on the bard without reaching Major. Major: Songs travel through mana, bypassing any silence fields or sound protection areas
“The fact [Original Sin: Yaldaboath] can incapacitate us like that will be a big hurdle for us to overcome,” Grimnir stated.
“Not to mention [Original Sin: Demiurge],” Saori added. “If it can perfectly, or almost perfectly, replicate another being’s appearance and abilities, that means the two envy demonkin princes will be extremely tricky to fight with. They will be a jack-of-all-trades but with multiple unknown abilities, and even if we could appraise them during a fight, doing it too often will just overload our brains. It is too much information unless Hestia’s parallel minds skim through them for us.”
“So the problem lies in that we have to rely on my sister for a proper fighting plan?” Neill clicked her tongue, dissatisfied with the reality of things.
If they set up a silence field like what Renee could do, it would prevent me from singing altogether unless I fulfilled [Musical Crescendo]’s requirement. That did mean I would need to lose one-third of my stats at least, since Job skills could only be activated while I was a dragonewt. According to Vifi, Rein’Yond was around her level and power, and the Prince of Envy himself was much stronger and higher leveled than either.
This would essentially turn into the same battle Tasianna, Neill, Renee and I had with Vifi. Although, unlike her, they had time to prepare and might expect me to have something similar to [Musical Crescendo]. In fact, they probably will use those dimensional balls again or some other way to separate me from the main raiding party.
[My Darkest Thought] was our biggest trump card over the demonkin, without a doubt. I had to be in the area for people to listen to me, however … Which just made me regret having to take [Musical Renaissance Diva] as my idol job specialization. [Giocoso Dreamer] could have been useful here.
“Spreads music through people listening to your songs” sounded so powerful. Too bad, but it was for my own survival.
Damn Galg! Damn all dragonslayers!
Well, being able to apply two song effects was still pretty powerful. The combos I could do with the skill made the specialization strong. Choices suck. Why couldn’t I get both?
Regardless, we eventually made it to the surface, where I noticed we were inside a lake area coated by a thick layer of snow. No matter where you looked, you could see the footprints of monsters leaving their marks in this white blanket
According to Muraina, we were in a monster-infested area similar to the Belzac forest, called Guimi’s Woods. West from here was the town, Adrot, under the rule of Count Jabsmorg, a vassal of Duke Lecartiglio.
“There is an apex monster inside this forest—similar to Saori’s grandfather before his death—so it made it pretty much impossible to invade this blackmarket without getting attacked by it. The people here made sure to keep their presence inconspicuous, so nothing had happened to them until now.” Muraina then pointed at the salamandra having broken through a layer of ice in the lake. “That’s why I scared the monsters with my aura, pushing a horde of them to attack the place. Since monsters usually accidentally invade the blackmarket, many thought it was just a normal event, until I found the leader of the blackmarket and killed him. Afterwards, well, a hail of arrows turned this place into history.”
Ruthless!
She then led us to the side of the entrance, where we saw a bunch of poorly clothed and dirty people munching on goods like a ravenous horde of animals, only kept at bay by a few elven rangers, or haireti. I could also identify a few less desperate people, as they simply watched what was happening in trepidation.
“Haiteri!” The rangers saluted their ranger general.
“Good work. Let them have their fill, and then we will extract them from here. What happens afterwards will be left to Count Jabsmorg and Duke Lecartiglio’s decision,” she replied, before pointing at Neill and me. “Also, surprise!”
“Meoschaera!” The rangers bowed. I recognized a few. “We thank you for your work, Meoschaera Hestia! The enforcers will do our best to assure good relations!”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
They didn’t recognize Neill? Well, it didn’t bother my sister so it didn’t matter.
… Although, now that I thought about it, there was something I was bothered by.
Sheesh! It’s freezing today! I shivered as a cold wind touched my skin, digging right through my clothes. With every breath, white smoke came out of my mouth, reminding me once again that it was currently winter.
“Same.” Neill nodded, letting out a small fire breath to warm herself up. “Not being inside a city sucks during winter. Guess they had a climate controller inside that blackmarket.”
Ankor-Nazta, Griffonpeak, and Shaturein all had manatech’s called [Season Regulator], allowing them to keep portions of their cities warm and cozy as if you were in summer. It was pretty chilly when I went to the lower city of Griffonpeak, but it wasn’t as bad as inside this wood. Weren’t we going further south? Why weren’t there more Mediterranean temperatures here?
Unfortunately, cold and fire dragons didn’t mix very well as I once again felt drowsiness affect me. After several seconds, though, my solar core kicked in and began to automatically regulate my body temperature, bringing my mood back up. That uncomfortable feeling made me want to molt my old skin off later tonight.
Well, aside from my biological needs as a dragon, I also had something important to ask Muraina now that we were done with our explanation.
“Join the fighting?” Her eyes widened.
Saori nodded for me. “The idea is for Hestia to announce herself as a Champion and to have Aureolis recognize her as one. After three more concerts—two of them will be in Lecartiglio and Olivus duchy—we will enter Aureolis in the next month and proceed with the plan with Cardinal Theordore’s and Saintess Fleindia’s help. This is Hestia’s religious war, but we will need you for the aftermath.”
“Particularly the combat phase,” I continued. “We will not invade with the alliance army, but instead focus on using an elite force to take down the Prince of Envy. Yorshka, Farron, and Master Kushlek’zar have agreed to help us out, and then we have my sister and also the otherworldly ‘Heroes,’ as you know them. They won’t be fighting in the main raid, but will be taking care of the Knights of Aurena for us.”
“They are that strong?” Muraina looked doubtful. I guess she had met Tatsuya and the others before. “I don’t know if Yorshka told you this yet, but the Knight-Commander of the order is no slouch. He’s level 158, for your information. And that’s a level 158 human, too, which means he had to work hard to reach that high; so unlike us long-lived races who can take our time leveling, you should probably consider that grey-hair pretty competent.”
… So he’s around Vifi’s strength, but nowhere close to Tehmrayn’s or Gorush’s. Well, anybody weaker than Galg wouldn’t be a challenge, anyways.
“Those otherworldly kids have been in this world for one? Almost two years? They’ve become pretty good if they can contest against actual knights. Are they around level 75?” she asked.
“Ha!” Grimnir smacked his knee. “Most are in the 90s. Two are three levels away from 100.”
Muraina whistled. “Your experience boost is a pretty strong trait, Meoschaera. How I wish I had something similar after I reached 130. Leveling at that point had stalled down to a halt until the war happened. Afterwards, my levels exploded from all the tough fighters on the human side. Goes to show how wars can benefit those already privileged or strong, right?”
I shrugged, not enjoying the thought of that. Sure, if I was only focused on pure strength, the sound of fighting during a war would probably be more compelling to me.
Regardless, I took this chance to ask her for her level, confirming she was at level 172, meaning she was at the level of heavy hitters like Themrayn and Gorush, but far below the rank of S. I had a feeling she was that strong during the Griffonpeak attack, but that did make me question why she had so much trouble against the freshly born geisenlarg king. A new rank A should be level 125 in human levels.
“Don’t you remember what I told you? Those kings are born and bred to tip the scales for their colony, and this isn’t even considering that demonic foil around them.” She looked disappointed, as if I was expecting too much from her, only for her to shrug. “A single rank A hunter can take care of one rank B. Multiple rank A adventurers are necessary for taking down a rank A beast. Yes, if you put me into an arena with that insect and had us fight it out, I would emerge as the victor ten out of ten times, but I had to defend the city and assure my attacks wouldn’t leave any collateral damage. Did you forget there are numerous farms in Griffonpeak’s vicinity, not to mention all the people living there? You’ve seen what I did today.”
Oh right, she nearly hit me with an arrow, and then the arrow storm.
“I fought in a war where I could bombard hostile cities without needing to think of the inhabitants there. Innocent and ignorant men, women, and children died by my hands before they could evacuate their homes or walls. With peace comes responsibility for those with strength, lest we become nothing more than beasts.” She formed her fingers into a fist. “Could I have killed the insect faster to save the Griffon King? Maybe, but I would have had to take the lives of people. During the battle, did you see me use my Territory?”
“You have one?”
She nodded. “Of course. And like most, my Territory is focused purely on destruction and assuring I would win. I invented it during a time where our enemies outnumbered us and I had to do everything I could to survive. I had to hold back during the Griffonpeak battle, focusing on protection. Therefore … how would you use me during the battle, then? Should I be your sniper, or should I enter the holy city? Will you be able to assure the evacuation of the people there so I can go wild?”
I gulped. Her eyes just now suddenly dulled in color, looking dour and lifeless. I looked over to the others in my party, prompting all but Vifi to nod. As such, I agreed to her demand and placed that as another goal.
She smiled. “How exciting then. It makes me wonder how strong was the person who killed the Griffon King of Artorias, a level 57 rank A monster all by themself?”
I was about to ask Vifi about it, but Muraina quickly shushed me.
“No, no … it has been a while since I fought somebody stronger than me. Finding willing enemies is quite rare, you see. I can’t ask allies to fight to the death, so a chance like this where I can fight for a cause to my heart’s delight … I don’t want to know the surprise.” Her smile curved ever more as her eye’s dilated. “Somebody to bring an end to me …”
My mouth opened up, slacking my jaw as I shook my head to refocus. “… You want to die?”
“The voices, Meoschaera. The voices; they fill my mind. Only Whisperia’s embrace can truly soothe me each night. My hands wish to pierce the hearts of Saelariel’s enemies, while my heart knows I must stay alive for my rangers and Whisperia … Oh, but the years have caught onto me like any long-living race. I do not want to go to sleep like my many elders, hibernating for decades only to return for a year or two to speak outdated words too far removed to be taken seriously. I envy the grey-hairs of the human race.”
She raised her head, taking a deep breath, while her owl treant cuddled up to her, making this weird, pitiful low sound. The high elf embraced her familiar, rubbing her face against its hard bark before she opened her eyes again and looked at me with this look I couldn’t exactly compare to. There was determination, urgency, and … fear in them.
“Tell me, Meoschaera, if you were to face a force that you know—you know—you have no chance or hope to defeat. Where the chance is practically zero that you can come out of to live … but it is a fight you cannot escape unless you can accept the consequences and shame. Would you retreat and plan and fight at another time and date, or would you take the impossible task and go out in a blaze of glory, where your death would practically be worthless.”
“What sort of question is that?” Neill blurted out. “The damn answer is to retreat. Only a coward and idiot would take the second option. Even Father told us Kramps escaped with his tail tucked under his legs multiple times, all to continue the fight. Everything ends when you’re dead.”
I had to agree. “Survival was winning,” and that was all that mattered. Sure, I had times where I turned around to fight, as I had to, but they were always done with a modicum of planning. However, the two giant leviathans I’ve met in my life were both times I had to suppress my instinct to fight to assure I could flee.
There was no shame in that.
Muraina smiled wryly, nodding with us as if she agreed … only, I had a feeling she was dissatisfied with how we answered. She looked at Saori. “Do not worry, I know my role. If it is for the future generation, my bow will bring upon death, once again. If there is somebody hard to kill, then let me be the first to land a hit.”
“Guuuuuu …”
“Oh, speak of the wind.” We all turned around as a low growling could be heard deeper in the woods.
With the sound of stomping snow and moving trees, the figure of a red-furred creature was slowly approaching us. The people Muraina saved stopped eating and began shouting and shrieking, having identified the creature—a truck-sized fox monster with the mouth of a crocodile.
It sniffed and barked, materializing a brown magic circle, looking like it was intimidating us, or maybe it was readying itself for a battle, as I could feel we had encroached into its territory. We either ran or we had to fight it, there was no other option.
“I had received a letter that a certain adventurer under the name of Hestia had recently obtained the rights to become a rank A hunter. That she killed multiple rank B grimgarians in the Elyonda siege. So much credit was given to her and her sister, but only a certain Fargryneill chose to take her trial.” She then turned to me. “I don’t need to test your might, but I have to as part of my job. Alone, in your dragonewt form only, for you are a hunter. This is the apex predator of this place, a rank B. Won’t you finally join our ranks, Hestia?”
Mana Eyes.
Level: 18
I stood up. “Sure.”
Theodore wanted me to become a rank A anyways to have people respect me as a Champion, so why not do it now? I had expected to duel the guild master for the rank, but she was right that I was a hunter. I hunted monsters, not humans, beastmen, or demonkin. My speciality has always been these creatures.
I reapplied my spell buffs and let my parallel minds play [The Will to Fight and Survive] and [Dragon Fire], combining these two spell songs to severely reduce the fox’s fire resistances. I then turned into my minor form to regain some of my stats, before cracking my neck.
[Music Resonation (Moderate)] [Humanize (Minor)] [Various Spell Buffs] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]
I readied myself to snap my fingers.
Territory Release … Magmakammer!
Suffice to say, I’ve fought tricker enemies in my lifetime.
Experience for development Jobs has reached multiple breaking points.
[Star Idol]: Lv. 1 -> Lv. 30 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 7 Lv. 18
[Fire Mage]: Lv. 1 -> Lv. 35 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 12 Lv. 0
[Tyrant Hatchling]: Lv. 1 -> Lv. 30 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 9 Lv. 20
Prestige requirement achieved! Job max level has increased. Experienced accumulation and reward quality increased
[Star Idol] Max level -> 35
You may spend your prestige points when you are ready
Job evolution has begun for [Fire Mage]. Please, choose from the below option to continue leveling your development Job. Your choice of Job evolution will affect your unique Job’s future evolution and your choice of prestige awards
[Inferno Mage] [Wildfire]
You have chosen [Wildfire]. [Fire Mage] will now evolve into [Wildfire], resetting your level and prestige level. Prestige Points: 2, retained. Max level -> 25. Evolution bonuses given: [Mana] [Intelligence] [Wisdom] Development Job: [Lightbearer]
Development Job [Wildfire] replaced with [Lightbearer]. Max level -> 25
----------------------------------------
After a rather bumpy flight back to Griffonpeak, once we couldn’t take the waterway any longer, I handed the spies and fire blessed over to Griffonpeak’s knights before going to the hunter’s guild to update my rank with Muraina’s letter of recommendation. She couldn’t come with, as she still had work to do and wanted some time to prepare for the big day, which I didn’t mind.
All that mattered was that we got another ally for the real battle.
With our duties done for the day, we all went back home and had a long soak in the hotspring before it was time for dinner to update everybody on what happened. I also made sure to check on Gael and Vangrim, making sure they were alive, before it was finally time for bed.
Once morning came, Fleindia came back to us as we had to prepare for our next destination—Lecartiglio’s capital Gransromus—for my next concert. As scheduled, Tatsuya and Kyouya arrived at the capital, but to our surprise, there was another person traveling with them.
“Princess Hestia. Princess Fargryneill.” A tall black dragonewt kneeled before us, donning a full set of dragoon armor and a halberd. “I, Midirn, have come to you under the orders of my father and Loatryx. I will aid you in the battle for Aureolis!”
Our raid party has grown once more.