“Stream of numbing cold, freeze the very breath of the Goddess of Wind, Icicle Gale!”
Jumping forward while shouting out “H-H-Huuuuuuummmmmaaaaaannnnnn”, Tasianna conjured up a cyan magic circle as she was about to launch the level three ice spell [Icicle Gale] at the person laying on the ground, fully intending to ravage them in a storm of ice.
Thankfully, as Tasianna hadn’t max leveled her [Chant Revocation] yet, she still had to chant, giving Saori and me enough time to react to her sudden antagonism towards the human.
Saori cast [Dark Tendrils] to fully restrict our unusually aggressive companion while I shot out a [Fire Ball], reforming its shape into a shield using [Pyrokinesis] to block the activated [Icicle Gale]. Tasianna’s spell sent a blast of wind and simultaneously froze it while it moved, creating something akin to a hail only with very, very sharp ice, launching itself at my flame shield and, luckily, melted before it could do any harm.
“Tasianna, you must calm down, please!” Saori called out in panic.
Tasianna struggled in a frenzy, fervently trying all she could to free herself from Saori's spell, “NO! Let me go, Miss Saori! Stream of numbing co-!”
“Tasianna!”, I shouted as I placed my hands on her cheeks and pulled her head to face my eyes. Looking at her with a bit of annoyance and worry, I strained my eyes and kept eye contact with her as if I was staring into her soul. “Please, calm down, Tasianna. Look at the woman. She’s lying face-first on the dirt and it doesn’t even look like she’s conscious!”
Turning her head to the side, I drew her attention back to the human, showing in what sorta state she was in. Ragged clothes that looked like they haven’t been washed in weeks, shoeless feet with plenty of scratches and grime, and dark green hair thickened with grease and flakes of skin. I couldn’t see her face nor in what condition her body was in but as the scent of blood was faint on her, it meant that she wasn’t in immediate danger…I guess.
Tasianna gave her a short glance before asserting her position to me, “Please, unhand me, Lady Hestia! I must, I must do this for-”
“Do it for whom?” instead of me, Saori spoke out from behind Tasianna who then told me to step aside for her to speak. “Tasianna, we have spoken about this already. Hestia and I have a goal, and that goal includes assimilating into society, which includes human society. I am grateful for your help and I also understand that I am asking you for something difficult, but I have given my warning already, have I not?”
Saori's aura felt as cold and ruthless as the one she just had when she wanted to speak with Tasianna, causing our fairy friend to shrink down from the sheer intimidation force. Cold beads of sweat began to form on her forehead as her eyes started appearing wet.
“M-Miss Saori, I-I-,” Tasianna struggled to speak, stumbling on every letter as she tried to respond.
However, Saori felt no pity and kept speaking, "No excuses, Tasianna. That was a near attempt of murder. Do you not remember what you tried to do for Hestia when she was consumed by anger, ready to attack the lizardmen due to them kidnapping the virigress cubs? Do not be a hypocrite.”
It is true that I wanted to attack and kill Caszcur and the lizardmen when we first met. I was angry when I heard they’d attacked the family of Rajah, my former virigress pet, and were about to turn his two siblings into a meal.
Tasianna was the only one among us that wanted me to be diplomatic about it. Looking back, that was a mistake that I narrowly dodged 'cause of Tasianna. Reflecting on it, I made the correct choice to speak with the lizardmen first instead of deciding to be a murder hobo.
Which makes this scene so bizarre. Tasianna has her quirks but it never blemished her dutiful maid persona. The Tasianna from back then and the one standing before me now were completely different.
“We cannot afford antagonizing humans every step we go, especially when we are in a town or city," Saori said with a grim expression. “I have said this already, Tasianna, if you do not want to learn how to control your urges, then we will have a problem. I understand that your trauma is controlling you here but even my patience will grow thin if we must repeat this every day.”
It would be a problem if she were to behave the way she did when she saw me as a human. I want to humanize when I sleep as I've found out that my sleeping posture has improved massively due to not having to deal with my horns and tail.
[Humanize Lv. 9] and [Humanize Lv. 10] are the only ones that removed a majority of my draconic features while also changing my race into human. I already had to deal with the fact that I would receive [Humanization (Major)] while also lacking the ability to use dragon abilities, I also didn’t want to experience Tasianna acting uncomfortable around me.
“You told me that you are doing this for your late mistress, Princess Schuri? Tell me, how would she feel if you kept going on with this pseudo-vengeance of yours that you are masking your trauma with? Are you not just afraid that everything will happen, again? You told us that Plesia is the Goddess of Honor and Order, correct? What you were about to do, cold-blooded murder, would have gone against all of that.” Saori gave her frank analysis.
This might be a part of what those two privately talked about. I can’t say much as I wasn’t able to deduce that on by myself. I only knew that Tasianna’s trauma was caused by her past experience of having lost the person that she last served, the youngest princess of the royal fairy family.
I was curious about this vengeance that Saori mentioned, but I’ll have to leave that alone for now. However, I will have to ask them about this. This sounds pretty serious and, honestly, should be something that I know about. We are a party after all, right?
“I personally have not experienced what responsibilities a maid has, however, I understand that you consider protecting somebody a duty, correct? You admitted that you are traveling with us now because of your desire to atone through serving Hestia,” Saori continued. "Do you still want to serve her? Do you still want to travel with us? Then this moment here will be the start of your change. I can and will help you Tasianna when it is within my abilities, but you personally have to start accepting it."
“I-I-I…yes,” Tasianna said with tears streaming down her face. “I do not want to be abandoned. Please, don’t leave me, Miss Saori, Princess Hestia. I want to be useful and I want to know that these 87 years haven’t been a complete waste.”
As Tasianna’s anger began to subside, Saori’s tendrils disappeared and released her, letting her body slump down in defeat. Still silently crying, she continued, “I will change, I will change. I swear this on my faith to Plesia, the Goddess of Order and Honor, and Zephira, the Patron Goddess of the Faefolk.”
With a quiet “thank you”, Saori turned her head around and gave a fierce snarl, as if she was letting out all her stress until now. With numerous whimpers resounding from the thickets and bushes, around six wolves scurried away from the area, terrified of Saori, a superior canine monster.
The signals are now reduced to one…only the woman’s.
Considering this scene, she must’ve collapsed in exhaustion after being pursued by them. Speaking of her, I was currently walking over to her as I was the cleric of the party. Saori understood this as there was no communication between us and she quietly kneeled down to console Tasianna.
She’s light…either it’s ‘cause of my high Strength or…yeah, that is what I thought.
Her body looked thin, unusually thin. Her arms and torso weren’t only skin and bones, but it was clear that she had been malnourished or starving for a few days now. I was already able to smell it further away but coming closer, the intensity of her sweat and grime caused my nose to be overwhelmed by a serious rotten egg smell. I had to cast [Air Shield] around me to prevent having to smell that shit…actually, she literally did smell like feces and urine.
Breathing? Good. At least she’s not dead…urgh, too bad I don’t have some tic tacs for her…
If I remembered Saori’s medieval lectures correctly, from her appearance alone, she must belong to the lowest class of the medieval feudal system. Well, Saori also elaborated it further by explaining about the “Yeoman” and “Villein”, the two distinctions for the somebody who didn’t belong to either nobility or the clergy.
In essence, a yeoman is a commoner who is able to own some sorta land, a house, for example. They could live in cities and had rights similar to a normal citizen, which is akin to how we treat people in modern time on Earth.
A villein is a serf, a person that owned nothing and is bound to work on the land of their lords. Usually, you can just think of them as the stereotypical peasant that has to work the land and take care of farms while being forced to hand over a certain amount of their harvest as a tribute.
I was leaning a bit on the villein side for this woman, but appearances can lie. Still, that was my first impression once I had a good look over her body’s current state.
There are some wounds on her back, signs of being snared around her wrists, and also…urgh, oh no…oh no. Th-That, I can't fix that…
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I laid her down softly before having to stand up and close my mouth in disgust, walking a bit away to digest what I just saw.
"Hestia! Is something the matter?" Saori asked, still beside Tasianna.
“I’m fine…I’ll explain everything later. Let’s just make camp and rest for the day, please…,” I said as I scratched my head in exasperation.
**********************************
“Ok, now I understand the true reason why you left your village. Thanks for sharing that with me, Tasianna,” I told Tasianna who was kneeling down, helping me put on one of Saori’s clothing. “Still, you can’t go around trying to kill every single human you see, Tasianna. Not all of them are like that person, you can’t stereotype people.”
“Yes…your words are wise, but how am I supposed to know that? What if they went against their words like those poachers who attacked me? As your retainer, I will never allow them to ever harm you, Lady Hestia,” Tasianna said with a conflicted tone.
After I healed some of the woman’s wounds, Saori washed her using Tasianna’s water and shampoo, who was adamantly against doing that as she considered it as “wasted” on a human. We covered her up in a mana blanket and laid her closer to our campfire.
With nothing else to do until dinner, Saori suggested that we try some of her designs out as she believed four days of work should be enough to test out outfit combinations. Honestly, there were a lot. Trying them all on gave us enough time for Tasianna to explain to me what Saori meant with her “vengeance”.
Essentially, she withheld information from me. When she explained the reason why she left her village, it wasn't only 'cause of her self-exile but also 'cause she wanted to avenge the death of Princess Schuri, her late mistress.
The poachers that captured them were executed under the laws of the elves so there shouldn’t be anybody she could direct her wrath to, right? Well, it would seem like those poachers had an employer, and that very person was the one Tasianna was aiming for.
What made this even crazier was that Tasianna had absolutely no idea where this person was, only that they were somewhere in human territory…which is absolutely zero help as the continent is huge, according to the people that I've talked to.
“So, why were you in the vicinity of the Belzac forest anyway? How did you get captured by those trolls, in the first place?” I asked.
“My first objective was to become strong enough to pose a threat to that person and to be able to defend myself. I was a fool, I believed that I could survive due to having 87 years of experience with magic, despite it only being rudimentary. I did not lie when I told you that I was a simple maid, for that is what I have always been. My streak of victories consisted merely out of two [Loopabit], uhm, those rabbits with those antlers, before being overwhelmed by a D rank and having to be rescued, which is ironic as they immediately made me their prisoner.”
“That so? That must have been very conflicting for you, Tasianna,” Saori commented as she used my mana to create crimson mana strings. “Being first rescued by the trolls and then being put into a mana drainer? Disastrous.”
“Actually, no. They simply put me in a cage when I was lying on the ground, exhausted and battered. I actually believed at that point that they were doing it to protect me as they treated me well,” Tasianna continued with a sigh. “Aside from the shaman, who was extremely deranged and mad, the four troll warriors were kind people. It was naïve, now that I reflected on it, but I wouldn’t have minded if I could’ve stayed with them, especially if they had told me that they attempting an attack on the humans.”
Huh? What am I missing here? I thought when I heard that.
Noticing my confused expression, Tasianna explained it to me, “Apologies, Lady Hestia. Well, do you still remember what the lizardmen told us about how they made it to Belzac Forest?”
I nodded, which prompted her to continue, “Trolls are like ogres, kobolds, and goblins. They count as demi-humans, also known as grimgarians by the elves. When the lizardmen talked about an army of grimgarians, I instantly thought of the trolls who pulled a huge mana cannon and massive stocks of equipment with them through the forest. What else could they have been planning with that amount of weapons?”
Urgh, how could I forget about that mana cannon? It was literally one of the attacks that were able to break through my [Draconic Barrier] and caused me actual damage in the form of two nearly pulverized arms.
However, I do remember seeing some weapons and armor in a pile…but my attention was instantly drawn to the barrel filled with supplies and the pleasant-smelling cauldron.
“My theory was then further reinforced by the appearance of that giant grimgarian army and their mana cannons while the wyverns were escorting us. I believe that point should be irrefutable,” Tasianna concluded. “If they weren’t so willing to use me as fuel for the mana cannon, I probably wouldn’t have escaped on the day we met. In fact, I might have decided to join them as their objective sounded so…fulfilling. I deserve to be reprimanded; I know…”
“War is a difficult topic, indeed. The history on Earth has shown many times that hatred and anger, primal human emotions, are usually great motivators for the worst wars,” Saori said solemnly. “Never forget, Tasianna. A warpath that you walk because of your emotions will always create more people like yourself. It will not bring you happiness, in fact, it might actually cause more harm to the people you love.”
“I understand…thank you, Miss Saori. Despite our difference in age, you show not only more maturity but wisdom,” Tasianna admitted.
“…Do you still want it, Tasianna?” I asked cautiously. “Your revenge. On that person, that employer guy, I mean.”
“I know I withheld my true reasons. Lying isn’t considered a sin as it doesn’t break any of Plesia’s tenets, but that doesn’t change the fact that I only told you a half-truth, Lady Hestia,” Tasianna looked into my eyes for a second before nodding. “If I am to be honest, then yes, I do; however, you are my primary goal, right now, Lady Hestia. I have sworn my loyalty and I will not abandon my duty this time, as I have told you when we first met! My carelessness, my emotions, and my lack of competence made me neglect Princess Schuri. I will not make that mistake once more.”
Tasianna stopped fiddling with my clothes and then took my right hand, firmly grasping it with both of hers, “I cannot forgive them nor can I forget my wish for revenge, but I promise that it will not affect with my duty. My wish to become your cold, indomitable shield is true. I want to become stronger for you.”
…I admit, that sounded extremely cool.
“Do not forget what you just said today, Tasianna. Do not treat every human like that person. A trauma is harsh, but you must make an effort to overcome it,” Saori remarked.
“Yes…I will do my best…,” Tasianna said as she looked at the unconscious female human.
“Now, enough with this talk!” Saori clapped. “Hestia, how does it look?”
Inspecting myself now that I had everything on, I could only say “wow!” My clothing consisted out of two parts: the outfit, itself, and a glorious white mage cloak!
My outfit is mostly inspired from modern K-Pop outfits while keeping comfort and combat in mind. They had to look good but Saori knew that I will be fighting in them, too. Which meant no excessive accessories nor frills.
To the outfit itself, I was wearing a thin, white turtleneck to cover my whole upper body. With this as the base, Saori also added a stylish, grey form-fitting vest with a red short jacket. Finishing it was a red double-layered skirt with minimal frills to add a bit of cuteness.
My cloak was made with major inspiration from the white mages from the video game series “Final Fantasy”, which meant that it was completely white with a few red triangles at the hem. With a black ribbon to hold it together, I felt pretty excited to walk around with it.
He he, people from Earth might know the reference but I don't think the people on Peolynca will, which will keep my specialty a secret…also, this hood is large enough to accommodate my horns…and it feels so warm!
"Amazing!" I cried out once I covered the cloak over my whole body, feeling warm and fuzzy. "Wait, why do I feel so warm when I cover myself with the cloak? Wasn’t it made with the mana from my holy spells?"
Saori’s [Elemental Mana Weaving] allowed her to make colored mana strings according to the mana that she extracted it from. The thing is, if she were to extract it from our bodies then it would stay blue like always, however, as we know, magic circles have to be filled with mana. That is the trick behind getting colors.
During the spell casting step “Activation”, Tasianna and I create magic circles and fuel it with mana for usage, however, if we don’t go through with “Release”, which is the last step, we can just let the circle hang around in the air. Saori would create mana strings out of them and use both [Mana Weaving] and [Sewing] to create some fabric and then the clothing themselves after she got enough.
It might be free, as it didn’t cost us any money, but it consumed a fuck ton of mana for everything. This outfit here was just one of many, just imagine what an insane amount she had to take from me to create this primarily red outfit and this white cloak.
“Oh, there is trick to that. Do you know about the color spectrum?” I nodded to her question which prompted her to continue. “Well, then you must have also heard about “complementary colors” and “additive color mixing”, right? Your fire magic creates red strings while Tasianna’s ice magic is colored cyan. Red and cyan are complementary colors and if you mixed the two mana string types together, you get white mana strings. Due to them having both fire and ice mana infused in them, that cloak is actually pretty good at keeping you warm. I did add fabric infused with the holy element into them to reduce my usage of red.”
“Oooooh, sugoi!(Oooooh, incredible!)”, I called out as I jumped into the air, not having to suffer under the annoying effects of winter again! Due to my curiosity, I also used [Identify] on my cloak.
White Mage Cloak
A white cloak with red triangles created with [Mana Weave], consisting of mana from three elements. Protection is very limited without any enchantments, but it possesses a few natural skills due to its creation method
Skill
[Warmth Lv. 1]
[Cooling Lv. 1]
[Holy Resistance Lv. 1]
[Fire Resistance Lv. 1]
[Ice Resistance Lv. 1]
…Well, I finally got [Ice Resistance].
Even after getting hit by Tasianna’s spell a couple of times, I still haven’t gotten [Ice Resistance] so I’m not sure what to feel about getting the skill through equipment. Well, I guess it is normal to do so. Getting equipment to cover for your weaknesses is not only a staple in RPGs but also in human history.
As my outfit is completely made from Saori’s [Elemental Mana Weaving], every piece had [Fire Resistance Lv. 1] or [Holy Resistance Lv. 1]. Seeing all these skills imbued in my clothes begged the question on how they actually worked.
Are they additive or are they multiplicative? How do gear skills affect my own skills? Do override each other? There are still so many tests that our party had to conduct on them, as Tasianna didn’t know the answer, but, honestly, that sounds like a ton of fun. It sounds similar to learning how skills interacted with each other; you know.
…Or we could just circumvent everything and ask the next blacksmith or anybody with professional knowledge on it. Meh, sounds dull.
“Alright, I personally think this one is the best-looking. It fits you extremely well if I am allowed to praise my own work,” Saori said with a smile. “Alright, if you have no more complaints, let us do Tasianna’s now. I bet one of these dresses will suit your likes~”
“Mhmm.”
Immediately hearing a foreign sound, the three of us dropped what we held and turned our gazes towards its direction, wary of all threats and ready for battle. However, instead of an enemy, what we instead saw was the awakening body of the injured woman, feebly raising her body with her emaciated arms.
“Wh-where am I, wh-tails…beastmen…”