“C-Champion Hestia!”

Both white-robes jerked back, instinctively moving behind their knights and grey-robe attendants—which also meant they moved away from Amadeus, and that was all that mattered right now. From a quick scan without [Mana Eyes], the two white-robes and the four knights all looked pretty young, probably in their early twenties but not over thirty. They didn’t look experienced, but they had this hostile look in their eyes that made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

I stepped forward. “Trying to use the gods as an excuse for your actions is rather irresponsible. You wanted to know more about me? Well, here I am. Do you have any questions, or do you just find joy in ganging up on a lone person?”

“G-ganging up? Nonsense!” one of them tried to refute. “We are white-robes, my lady! Former nobles who shed their name to serve our Goddess! As if we would do anything you just accused us of! Just ask him. We didn’t do anything, right?”

Amadeus turned his head around to the priests, silencing him as he continued staring. Letting out a small sigh as I couldn’t believe they were trying to talk their way out of this, I decided to take the first move.

“Hey, Amadeus,” I called for him, drawing his attention, before smiling at him. His face had become slightly more masculine, but it still looked androgynous to me. “It’s been a while, right? You look … well, pale, but definitely less thin.”

His eyes widened, looking down as he shook his head. He then stood back up, nodding with tears welling up. “It has, it has. Almost a year now. Happy new year to you, my lady.”

He stood up all by himself?

Ellaine waved at him. “You look stronger, Lord Amadeus. Even through the baggy robes, I can see you’ve been more physically active.”

“I have, Lady Ellaine. Also, there is no need for ‘Lord.’” He shook his head with a wry smile. “The bishop I’m serving has been feeding me well, as well as putting me through some demanding tasks just to make sure I can grow some well-needed muscles, ehe. My arms were like sticks when I first arrived here.”

“I-I’m surprised you still remember me … We’ve only met once at your fath … Yes.” Ellaine corrected her flabbergasted expression and nodded. She looked satisfied. “I was afraid something might have happened to you here. It lifts a weight off my consciousness knowing you are doing well.”

“I do apologize, I haven’t been sending you any letters.” Forgetting about him did sour my mood, especially with how energetic he looked. I had to correct that mistake. “As such, if you need any help, I am here to do so this time. Would you like me to stand up for you?”

Amadeus blinked, mouth slightly agape before he turned around, staring at the anxious-looking priests. He then turned back, smiling. “They were pestering me, yes, but with you here, I think—”

“Nothing happened, I swear!” The priests shoved their knights forward, shivering to the point it looked like they were expecting me to hunt them. Like little scared rabbits.

The knights grimaced, mortified they were made to speak with me. Two let out louds gulps before they scrambled amongst themselves, trying to figure out who should go forward.

“These are knights?” Midirn scowled, looking embarrassed as he held a hand over one of his eyes and the other on his hips. He then growled, stepped forward and shouted. “You!”

All four were rattled, shrinking even further as the towering dragonewt walked up, casting his shadow upon two of them. Similar to the saurian warriors, Midirn was like a mountain of muscles, all hidden behind a layer of tough scales and armor. The only difference was that his wings made him seem even bulkier than a strongman, while his onyx scales made him naturally intimidating, similar to Neill in her full dragonewt form.

With his long snout, he huffed, showing off his teeth as he cringed from their behavior. He massaged his temples, looking furious.

“Posture!” he commanded, causing all four to straighten their backs. “You call yourselves knights? Knights of Aurena? Bah, a mere 200 years and this is what the Knights of Aurena devolved into? It’s to the point they let whelps like you four in? I’ve read the tales of the dragoons of Loatryx and the Knights of Aurena have fought together in the past, vanquishing terrible beasts and criminals endangering our countries. You are the warriors of our god’s god, and yet you dare defile the Pantheon of Light like this?”

Oh right, Kramps is Aurena’s subordinate god. Even Yorshka worships Aurena a bit. Didn’t think Midirn would do the same to the point he felt second-hand embarrassment.

“Tell me, lads. Are you soldiers and knights, or just grunts who think they can just smile as some priests act out of their station?” Midirn then grabbed one of the knights and pulled him forward, smacking him on the back just enough to make him reel from the pain but to not fall down. “I can see your emblems. You are knights of Aurena! Stand tall!”

“Sir, yes, sir!” they screamed.

“You will address me as ‘Sir Midirn,’ a dragoon of Loatryx, serving Champion Hestia as a guard and comrade-in-arms.”

“Yes, Sir Midirn!”

“Good! Now, quickly decide amongst yourself who will answer for those priests; otherwise, I will take command from your drill commander and begin a session!” He grinned, showing off his fangs. “One, two—who wants to sweat? Thre—”

“Sir, yes, sir!” All four shouted, before they all looked at each other, trembling so hard their armor rattled. Eventually, one of them pushed the other three back and held his head up while trying to avoid eye contact with Midirn. “Sir! My fellow knights and I followed along the priests in order to question this grey-robe for information on Champion Hestia for the sake of our bishops and superiors! They have shown their suspicion—”

“You fool!” Both priests tried to shut the knight up, but Tasianna quickly moved forward. Keeping her hands together, she gave them the stink eye as her body began oozing icy, white mists.

“… My lord priests, the weather is cold and you are shivering. I would suggest we stop for today and return to our respective dwellings to warm up.” Tasianna swallowed her anger and spoke with them calmly, like the ideal maid.

“Mhm, I agree.” Midirn nodded. “Knights, you are dismissed. Return to your posts, and learn how to straighten your back and calm your muscles when you meet somebody.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

Seeing the situation spiral out of their control and me approaching Amadeus, the priests grit their teeth as they realized they were exposed. In a last ditch effort, they stepped forward despite Tasianna glaring at them. “Please, there was nothing! Nothing happened here!”

Why are they so desperate? I squinted my eyes, confused at their behavior. Sure, I caught them in the act, but the manner they were trying to shift the blame away from them, or even stopping us from finding the truth out was weirding me out. Were they that scared of me? Or was—

“What exactly is going on here?”

I turned around at the sound of that voice, only for my face to sneer the moment I saw the three people in front of me. Disgust filled my throat as if I had eaten something weird, as I couldn’t hold back the memories I had of these men in shining knight armor. I had expected to meet an acquaintance in Amadeus here … but not three of my former assailants.

As this fact quickly dawned on the knights, all three scowled as they readied their hands on their swords. The four of us leered, clear to everybody in attendance that we had history together.

“Hahaha!” The first to break this silent standoff was me, unable to hold my laughter back as I remembered what happened to them the last time I met them. “Karlst, Falamm, aaaand that ‘Knight-Captain’ Royce, right? I see you three recovered pretty well from your injuries, aside from those scars on your face.”

The guardian knights of the students on Franz’s side. Along with a Hand of Heaven knight, they had accompanied the three other student parties to participate in the Event Quest, although their real reason had been to find and capture me, under the pretense that I had brainwashed Tatsuya and the others to my side. That I was an enemy.

The last time I met them, we had an initial scuffle inside the dungeons of Inkoran-Tazul where I defeated them with nothing but the martial arts skills Neill taught me, showcasing I outstatted them all by a fair bit. We had reached an “armistice” due to the situation inside the dungeon, until they backstabbed me, only to be stopped by King Fugnarus, his soldiers, and two elven rangers.

With the help of Franz’s companion, or whoever that trickster was, they were transported out of the dungeon and escaped. Franz, even if I heavily disliked his choice, went back to the Empire, and I had expected these three to go with him, but it seemed like they had been dumped instead! Dumped and left here in Aureolis! How could I not laugh after realizing this fact!

“You little—” Royce, the man standing in front of the trio, was about to draw his sword, only for Elliane, Tasianna, and Midirn to step in between us.

“Even without our catalysts and weapons, we can still defeat you three.” Tasianna’s anger finally seeped out, twisting into chilly words and with clear killing intent.

“Tasianna, threatening them will do us no good. Stop.” Ellaine, on the other hand, tried to be a bit more diplomatic as these were the holy knights of her religion. Yet, despite her respect, her form suggested she was ready to lunge forward, ready for a tackle.

Midirn, on the other hand, couldn’t help himself. He smiled widely, almost like Vifi whenever she was ready for a fight. “Argh, come on! Tasianna got the right attitude. These thugs aren’t even—”

“The audacity!” All three unsheathed their weapons. “We are no thugs! We are knights, you lizard abomination!”

“Ha! That’s the best you can think of to insult me? Heard worse from my levianewt buds after some drinks, and that can really get intense.” Midirn lowered his head, pointing at his neck. “Wanna try cutting down a dragoon? I’ll give you the first strike! Try to make me bleed, you spoon-eared mayflies!”

Oh gosh! I gasped a bit, instinctively touching my ears before I remembered I was a dragon now, not human. Similarly, Ellaine did the same, actually looking flustered, making me wonder if the insults stuck or not, especially that last one without her demonic phylactery.

“Bastard!” And just like that, Midirn’s provocation hit one of them—Karlst, a Folscreckian.

Royce cried out for him to stop, but it was too late as a large smirk appeared on the dragoon’s face. His head snapped forwards the moment Karlst swung his sword, catching his weapon by the blade with his fangs, shattering over half of it into shards with a loud, growling crunch.

Swinging his jaw wide open, Midirn shook his head, throwing the bits of metal all over the snow-covered field like a sprinkler, causing each piece to cling and clang upon landing. Karlst stared in horror at his broken weapon, only to turn back to the manically laughing dragonewt, enjoying this mental victory.

“Rogue!” the knight protested, only for his words to fall to deaf ears.

“Ha, calling me out as a liar? I’m a damn knight, you soft skin. I’m not some tail-hiding hatchling, or some milk-sucking swine like you.” He pulled out a sword shard stuck in between his teeth, throwing it away without a sense of urgency. “I will only respect honor between those I deem equal or worthy of my attention. You three? I heard everything from my princess. Knights of Aurena raising their weapons at a blessed without proper reason? Despicable.”

Royce clenched his blade harder, before darting his head at me. “Ha, for the crimes she’s done, it was the right decision. She is no Champion of the Goddess, only a fallen-from-grace beast like any other monster. Even now, she hides behind others to protect herself from us.”

“Protect?” I scowled, thinking he was losing some screws. “The last time I checked, I defeated you all by myself without any magic or my dragon abilities. Only my fists and skills, against the three of you and that Lautrex. Just because you got beaten the second time by King Fugnarus doesn’t invalidate what I did, especially with how you repaid my mercy back by stabbing me in the back and attempting to kill Tatsuya and Kyouya!”

“Sir Lautrex?” The knights and priests behind me mumbled “Wait? Fugnarus? Isn’t that the dwarven high king?”

Royce scoffed, continuing his delusions. “You? A Champion? You are supposed to be a one-woman army for our Goddess, and you dare have this blasphemy of nature handle us? Or how you are siccing a fellow human at us? And even your damn maid? You are an embarrassment of a Champion. Even God Yeostar and Goddess Erithia cannot redeem your failure!”

Maybe Erithia has a bone to pick with me, but Yeostar? Yeostar? The god who risked his divinity to save me and his people? Okay, that is not right!

Squinting my eyes, I took in a deep breath, calming myself down. Just like Midirn, he was trying to agitate me. “You—”

“And you call yourself a Knight-Captain?”

However, before I could speak up, Ellaine stepped up, a hand on her hips.

“Using these words to address somebody on our side and supporting our Goddess? Have you no shame, Sir Royce?” Ellaine and her love for the idealized knight couldn’t help but speak up, despite usually being extremely respectful. “A Champion is a person like any other of us, as is a Saintess. They are mortal, and if they require our help, then we have a duty to do so for the Goddess! What is this fantasy of yours, or are you trying to put all the pressure on another person’s shoulders? If we go by your logic, why do we need another knight-captain of the Order, when Dame Yorshka is sufficient in strength?”

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“Do not dare name that traitor!” Falamm shouted, face reddened by that unapologetic burn. “Imagine the horror we heard when we heard this monster arrive in the Holy Capital? Not to mention that traitor of a lizard woman, disguising herself as a human, all to spy on us! Where is that Elrick, huh? He dares resign when he was to guide the Heroes of the Goddess? No wonder the Heroes were brainwashed! No wonder Saint candidate Asaka is working for a snake like your mistress!”

“Mind your words!” Tasianna and Ellaine both shouted, almost in sync. “You are disrespecting the lady we serve!”

Haaa, this is annoying already. First day, and this is happening?

I stepped forward, pushing my way through my three companions to stare Royce down—now nothing but air was in between us.

“… Now I know why Light and the others left you here. You are baggage.”

I felt slightly bad that Franz thought of him as nothing but a liability, but only a bit. After what happened during the Event dungeon, Lautrex the Hand of Heaven was the only knight he could have possibly trusted or relied on, since he apologized to me after what he did. I still disliked him, as it was clear he despised beastmen, but he was too far away for me to care about right now.

Unlike Royce and his posse.

He sheathed his sword and drew his head closer to mine, looking down at me. “When the truth is finally revealed and your sin of letting Saintess Eshe die is heard by Pope Gwyn, then I will enjoy the day of your execution, lizard. Your Emperor and country will not be able to defend itself against the might of the Holy Emperor of Mankind! Before Folschreck, you are nothing!”

… He is delusional.

I smiled, knowing he actually had lost all his marbles. “You are fodder.”

There were times when I couldn’t understand why the Empire was trying to antagonize me for no apparent reason, making one of their allies into an enemy. I just couldn’t understand it. However, from the time I’ve met people exposed to Folschreckian culture, or maybe just their propaganda, it was starting to make sense.

The Lycerepth, the Empire’s state police and adjudicators, once had sent one of their judges to Griffonpeak. His name was Pestrodus, and I remembered him talking about how the Empire didn’t fear dragons. Was it a bluff, or was it just actual brainwashing for patriotism to make sure Folschreckians believe they were the best nation in the world. Royce was an Artorian—he was born far away from Folschreck—but it seemed he was fully a believer of this notion.

I didn’t know how to feel about understanding this fact. Even if Kargryx as a whole couldn’t come to my rescue, or would even avenge me, due to their strict isolationism and anti-war doctrines and principles, did they actually think they could fight against an army of dragons? Did they actually believe they could contend against Mother and her clan of dragonewts?

It felt like I just came to know the world better … unfortunately.

We left the knights and the priests at this point, helped Amadeus gather the tossed laundry, before going towards the white-robe dormitory where Tasianna suggested helping him with everything. He initially rejected it, since it was his duty, but Tasianna told him he was probably far behind his schedule after what had just happened. Call it a maid’s instinct, but she hit the nail on the board.

“So those people were also Artorians?” Ellaine grimaced as Amadeus explained what happened, now that he was taking a break, already winded after only cleaning two robes.

“From Equevanna, my lady. While I was here, my master informed me of what happened in Artorias, including the betrayal of our cardinal and even the fact you’re a dragon princess! Haha, what a surprise. In any case, I know the previous Duke Equevanna was banished, his second son executed, and many complicit families as well.”

“So, does this mean you heard about …” I prompted, causing him to nod.

“My half-sisters? Yes. That they allied themselves with the traitors. I … my relationship, as you know, was never good. Their mother murdered mine and trapped me inside that basement, but I don’t hate them. I never did … just envious, maybe—Agak.” Amadeus let out a small cough, a sign his health still wasn’t tip-top. Still, he continued. “I know my words don’t matter since they tormented Lady Amelia and you, Lady Ellaine, but their bad personality was cultivated from my Father spoiling them—happy he had normal children—and my step-mother always reminded them that we ‘arcanuesses’ always have to be better than our lessers.”

“Fed their superiority complex from a young age, I presume?” Midirn commented, earning him a nod. “Hmm, same thing happened to Yorshka. That woman was like a feral basilisk when the both of us trained as dragoon squires. People called her a genius and it got the better of her until she received her humbling moment with Farron.”

“Yeah, I heard that love story already …” I smiled wryly, still remembering her being so lovey-dovey when she retold her history with her husband.

He nodded before turning to Ellaine. “On that point, I should apologize. Let my tavern voice speak for me there. Got too angry at some—ha—as you said, fodder. Didn’t want to seem like I hate humans.”

Ellaine, giggling from the awkward discussion, touched her ears, causing her to look a bit uneasy. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m not too offended by the short life part; I accept that. It’s just … do my ears really look like spoons?”

“If your ears look like spoons, then mine are arrows!” Tasianna approached us after she was done with the laundry. “In other words, don’t take it too seriously. You know what people say in taverns. Most of the insults are exaggerations. Speaking of which, must you do this all the time, Lord Amadeus? That looked like the clothing of your master, in addition, with your fellow attendants.”

“Oh, not at all.” He shook his head. “Two other grey-robes accompanied me, but we were ambushed, as you know, and the white-robes chased them away. I think they must be speaking with my master, right about now, and they should be coming to where we just were. Haa, a lot of trouble today.”

I nodded, but regardless, it was good to understand everything better.

Those priests and knights had family members from the Equevanna duchy who died in the purge after the Griffonpeak attack. Due to this fact, they interrogated Amadeus since they knew he supported the investigation which doomed his parents, meaning he should know me. He didn’t tell them much, and even if he could, we were practically strangers. All I knew about him was his history, the tragedy that involved his family, his illness, and his fondness for music.

“Do you still play the geigler?” I asked.

He nodded, smiling widely. “Yes! I’ve been playing the songs you gave me, my lady. Haha, High Bishop Rasheid was especially enthralled by them when he made me his personal musician. Although he accepted me because of our past, I think I would have earned the respect of my fellow attendants without your help. The blood and sheet music you gave me has changed my life.”

“Blood?” Midirn widened his eyes.

“I did it willingly.” I quickly stopped his suspicion, since using dragon blood, unless you were one or had their permission, was a high crime for Loatryxians. “I used it to strengthen his mana paths, just enough so his mana doesn’t kill him from laughing or crying. Even now, he doesn’t look good.”

“Well, that cleared things up, but who was it who suggested it? I know your situation, my princess, so I don’t believe for a moment that you figured out how dragon blood works without prior knowledge. You can’t heal your wounds or birth illnesses from drinking it raw, you need an alchemist to concoct it. Tasianna? Was it you?”

I shook my head. “Will you hurt the person if I say anything?”

“I can’t promise that, depending on what they say.” He looked wary. “The issue is not that they asked you about it, but that they knew about it in the first place. You actually need specific ingredients to fully make use of dragon blood, similar to the anti-draconic blood dragonslayers use. I don’t like this sort of information being spread around, and I want to plug that leak. Was it an Artorian? It happened in Firwood, right? Was it Farron or Yoshka?”

It didn’t seem like he would give up on this, so I told him Theodore had asked me, but that he wouldn’t be too harsh on him. Midirn agreed.

After this discussion we stayed around a bit to make sure the laundry went into the cellar, where the kitchen’s furnace was located to dry the laundry. While Tasianna and Amadeus were doing that, a group led by a single white-robe came into view. With darkened skin and mud-brown hair, he looked like he came from a middle eastern country like Eshe. Without a beard covering half of his face, it was pretty easy to identify the wrinkles on his face, making me think he was in his late fifties.

Strangely, aside from a few human grey-robed, there were five other people with him—the saurians and Theodore. When they saw us, Master gave a hearty laugh before he patted the white-robe’s back, causing him to do the same while patting his large belly. The latter then waved at his grey-robes and they quickly approached them, before kneeling down, praying before me.

“May you rest your weary body at the end of this week. We welcome Champion Idol Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor to Aureolis. May the Goddess forever keep watch over your actions, guiding you towards a brighter future,” all of them greeted.

My eyes widened, too surprised by an actually warm salutation after the cold reception my party had gotten up till this point. I scratched my neck, slightly baffled and flustered, although I quickly recovered as Master came closer.

“May the Goddess light your path forward. Thank you very much. How may I address you, Lord Priest?”

“I am High Bishop Rasheid from Sarkarfiina. I had heard from a few grey-robes that you helped and accompanied one of my attendants, and considering the impression I got from your master, I presume it was all true?”

Urgh, Sarkarfiina … He probably knows about Eshe, then.

Ignoring that thought, I nodded, and, almost as if they had timed it, Tasianna and Amadeus exited the cellar and came back.

“High Bishop!” Amadeus gave a prayer bow to his master, before giving a quick summary of what happened, pleasing the middle-aged priest. This prompted the latter to invite us into his room for some tea.

As we entered the dormitory, I took this chance to ask Amadeus where his wolfkin maid was, as I had expected them to be together. Sadly, he revealed to me that Lily couldn’t become a grey-robed in Aureolis, since only humans were allowed to join the clergy or the Knights of Aurena. In fact, beastmen weren’t allowed within the city at all!

Fortunately, Lily was allowed to stay within the walls by working at one of the farming villages surrounding the place, one made for beastmen only. This made me question why the grey-robe at the orphanage didn’t tell me about this, only for High Bishop Rasheid to tell me he didn’t want to anger me.

“I personally believe every person should be given grace through serving the Goddess in her temples, whether as a grey- or white-robe. Faith should not discriminate between race or nationality, otherwise, how can we properly serve her? After all, don’t we have non-human subordinate gods?” Rasheid frowned. “Many beastmen variants have blood that descended from humans. Should we not allow equal faith? Sadly, Aureolis follows the Empire’s view on beastmen priests, unlike that of Artorias.”

At least somebody understands the problem of segregation … Then again, up until now, I haven’t seen a single beastman holy priest, either grey or white, other than myself.

It was another point that had to change, in my opinion. Well, that was for the “after party” anyways, so I left that thought in the back of my mind and entered the bishop’s room.

Surprisingly, while there were a ton of rather exotic and curious trinkets and items inside his room, it still looked rather modest for a white-robe. I didn’t let that thought appear on my face, of course, before we all took a seat, aside from Akast, who was staying outside with the saurians, once again.

“So we met inside the library while Cardinal Theodore spoke with a few people about Akast’s loggings. Sadly, he has to stay inside the equerochs shed or be inside the ‘RV,’” Master explained.

That was the code word for our subspace.

“That was when the both of us met when we wanted the same book! Fascinating, our minds thoughts alike, making me wonder if God Istari had guided us towards each other. What a surprise that one of your grey-robes was acquainted with my apprentice!”

“Hoho, pray, I would never presume anything about the gods. Even if some were once mortals, they are people I have only read about in books. To me, that was a pure coincidence, my friend. After all, unless one of us is a blessed of God Istari, I don’t think he could guide us! Hohoho!”

Rasheid sounded pretty jolly, like an old man happy to finally have somebody around his age to speak to. A weird thought, since most of the cardinals I saw in the basilica had greying hair. His smile was gentle as he drank his tea, taking a small moment to enjoy the music Amadeus was playing in the background … after taking a moment to enjoy it myself; after all, it was my song, “Till Morning Arrives.”

What a beautiful rendition. A few changes were made though; transposing my more hopeful version in C minor down a semitone to B minor. More opera, grand? Hmm, a bit too deep for the higher notes … or? Hold on.

Curious about the music, I activated [Aerokinesis] and imitated Amadeus’s play by playing the song a bit lower on my air violin. Some of the happier notes turned a bit somber, as if hope was harder to achieve.

“The approaching storm ♫

Transforms our world into white and black ♫

The falling snow ♫

Will not shy, to bury us in it. ♫”

Yeah, yeah, I do have to go into mezzo a bit. But, at this point, I have to raise it back up to soprano, though? Or?

“Don’t fear the cold ♫

My flames burn bright ♫

Seek, now, my voice ♫

As if, I’ll let you freeze! ♫

Stay close to me ♫

Listen to my voice ♫

To fight against the cold, ♫

Till morning arrives. ♫ … Hmm, hmm. Oh yeah, that’s actually okay. Yeah.”

“Haha!”

My attention was swiftly taken when I heard Amadeus laughing behind me, shocking me when I saw everybody looking at me with widened eyes. Tasianna and Ellaine were equally surprised, but immediately giggled when they realized I wasn’t really paying attention.

“My apprentice … You really love music too much.” Master shook his head with a wry smile.

“See, Master? As I said, she was the original composer of the songs,” Amadeus added. “I wouldn’t be able to play all of this without her. A musical genius and a wonderful singer, I must say.”

“My word …” Rasheid smiled.

… Oh. I grimaced once I noticed I let my passion get the better of me, feeling the heat welling in my face. … I want to die.

“Hoho, no need, no need! Bravo, Lady Hestia! Bravo!” Rasheid stood up to clap, before sitting back down with an impressed smile. “If I remember correctly, the original was written higher, no? It did seem a bit unnatural when you sang it, as if you weren't practiced.”

I nodded. “That’s true. When I usually sing it, it’s usually with my sopr … Wait, Ellaine, you never told me the Common words for the musical terms, or?”

Considering I’ve only been giving Ellaine and Tasianna the music sheets without really speaking too many technical terms with them, I guess I never really had learned what transposition, chords, and the rest were translated. Then again, people could read my music sheets here, so the terms should be mildly understandable to the residents.

Damn, can’t believe I only now realized this fact.

“Ahem, I’ll try my best for now, you can tell me the terms later. When I usually sing, I use soprano—the highest female pitch—but I had to lower it down to mezzo-soprano right now, since Amadeus changed my C minor version of the song to B minor. I can sing deep, but I usually like hitting high notes since, well, I can do it pretty well.”

“Hmm, well, I won’t say I understood every bit of what you said, but from one musician to the other, I get the overall meaning of it,” Rasheid admitted. “Curious, really. Hmm, but not surprising … Now, I would love to continue talking like this, but I did invite everybody here for a reason, so I don’t want to waste too much time. Champion Hestia, I, as you know, am from the Great Evida Desert. From Sarkafiina, and I presume you must know our former Saintess.”

I furrowed my brows, sighed through my nose, before nodding.

“Yes, news, as you know, has spread. Aureolis knows that Eshe had died and that our newest Champion, before Champion Renee, was there when the assassination happened. I do have mixed feelings towards you, as I was acquainted with Saintess when I returned home once to meet her. A bright, hopeful young woman. A tragedy that she was taken from us from a demonkin, as the many other blessed were in the Empire.”

“I don’t really know what to say. That day—”

“No, no, it’s fine. I do not blame you completely. You were, after all, our newest blessed, not to mention, from how you look—young, bright, full of potential. You might be a dragon, but you aren’t Kargryxmor. You aren’t a god; how can everybody put all the blame on your shoulders when we should be blaming the murderer. They took our Saintess away from us, not you. You might have failed that day, but I have heard what you’ve done since then. The news on the Siege of Elyonda was widespread. There was much written on the newspaper, but I also received direct information from the pupils of a friend.”

Pupils?

“They’ve mentioned most that happened at the end of the siege, talking about how the Archerudite had spoken to a few of his ministers about that story. I think I know the truth, but I would like to hear it from you. Not a third party.” His eyes sharpened, sounding like he was ready for business. “What happened that day? What about your journey up until now? Tell me, why are you here and why did you bring two other blessed with you to support your claim to revoke the papacy? What has our Goddess in plan?”

… Well, Theodore, I think it’s time for me to start our plan. Time to make allies here … although, did I make him more willing to hear me out after I sang?