Disguised, I hired a lot of bards to go to Lonid and Sadian along with the other neighboring minor countries to spread the legend of the [Saintess] and the fact that Zacheia was now Goddess of Children. Included in there was childbirth, fertility, protection for the youth, etc, etc. I sent one-way {Messenger Birds} to concerned parties all around the world urging them to assist the church of Zacheia with their orphanages. That would settle my side of our bargain.
Torgo increased his campaign against the Tabard. I couldn't endure this bastard’s claims that he was Eric’s grandson and related to Lorna. I’d {Appraised} the guy and he had not an ounce of silk-folk blood. In other incarnations, I’d have killed him already. His smear campaign with the slogan "Why trust a piece of cloth" wasn’t gaining traction because Windemere was basically the birthplace of the silk-folk. And if there was one thing the silk-folk revered more than anything was items made of {Living Threads}. Since I was the only creature in the world with the [Unique] Perk, all such items could be traced back to my incarnations.
The only circumstance where the silk-folk weaves {Living Threads} is when the womb of a silk-woman weaves a new baby. Because the System said so, silk-folk can actually breed with other species. The male’s sperm can fertilize flesh-and-blood females, and the silk-women can trigger a transformation that changes the {Living Threads} into flesh, bone, and sinew. The half-silk-folk have some natural talent for weaving and working with cloth but otherwise are as normal as humans.
The thugs watching the church vanished. Kazuyran’s highly trained [Assassins] did a great job. Over the next few months, the number of people seeking the [Saintess] aid stabilized. Rosebush was flourishing and profiting as a hotspot for religious pilgrimage. Inns rose like clockwork, tax, and toll money went into the Lord’s coffers. One might think it was a good time to be the Lord of a city now that the King wasn’t getting his piece of the pie, but they had tons of bribes and faction members to appease so the money left the coffers even if he didn’t want to. Hiring an army of thugs, in the long run, was expensive, but it was the only way these guys kept a King from emerging for so long.
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The year passed and my time to go through "Apprentice day" came. More craftsmen came along with the pilgrims and filled the vacuum left by the [Divine Revenant].
We bathed, put on our best clothes, got our hair braided by the priests, and walked to the chapel to meet our future masters. Wisteria came with us and gave a little speech.
"Welcome, master craftsmen. We thank you for your willingness to take one of our cherished orphans and teach them your trade. Zacheia’s heart is filled with joy and she will surely shower you with her graces as you guide these young men and women along their path to become productive citizens.
Seven of us were lined up, Marisol and I included. The craftspeople asked us questions about ourselves and our preferences, what kind of previous experience we had, and so on. I noticed one dwarf, a blacksmith by the smell of soot and slag coming from him staring at me. More precisely, at my fox ears. I knew from Kazuyran reaction a year ago that the tragic tale half-dwarf-kitsune baby made the rounds a few years ago, with the idiot matricidal dick of a husband that killed my mother stupidly committing suicide by Tabard. Not only the fucker fucked up with my life from day zero, but he also fucked with the country immediately after, as those bastards against the Tabard used his bleeding death as a selling point to the dangers of the "cloth rag". I’ve never seen anyone fuck up so fucking thoroughly.
Damn, my mood soured instantly. Scowling, I stared at the dwarf. For some stupid reason I’d curse for years later, that made him smile and approach me, rubbing the beads threaded in his beard. He was stocky and short, the standard build for dwarves focused on physicality. His beard and hair were dark brown, almost black and he had almond eyes. I could see the calluses in his rough hands.
"Hello, miss. Well met!" He kept smiling as he greeted me in dwarvish.
I wanted to tell him to fuck off but I held back. But I lacked the self-control to pretend I didn’t understand what he said. A glance sideways told me Wisteria was watching. I knew deep in my heart I couldn’t blow up and fuck up the first non-corrupted Apprentice Day.
"Well met, master dwarf," I clumsily curtsied on purpose.
"Oh, don’t you have a good grasp on the language, eh?" He grinned, amused.
"I learned many idioms from the library and priests growing up here, sir," I lied.
After humming-grunting for a while, he asked me something in Lierin elvish. I replied. Then Auvani, far to the south. Nailed it. Next, I asked him how the weather was in Pekotian.
I was so focused on wiping the grin off the dwarf’s face that I went too far without noticing. All the kids and the craftspeople were staring at Wisteria. The [Saintess] chuckled.
"Miss Haru was blessed by a deity," she shared.
"Oh! The gift of tongues!" A human with slightly twisted ears like those stupid cheap prosthetics people used in movies exclaimed
Purebreed elven ears were long and thin. Like popping above the scalp long They also kept close to the skull. Those sideways or backward-flaring meaty ears you see in oriental media are too fucking stupid. If elves had those appendages popping out of their heads like that, they wouldn’t have ears for too long. No. They are elegant and delicate, upward and close to the head. If an elf styles their hair to cover their ears, you sometimes even miss them, unless the tip pops up above the hair.
Marisol was staring at me with equal parts awe, disgust, and horror. I felt as if I was a body snatcher monster that replaced Haru.
"Are you perhaps a half-dwarf, miss Haru?" The dwarf insisted. Oh, yeah. He had me all figured out.
I replied with a coy smile. "I’ve lived my life here since I was but a baby, master dwarf. How could I know more about my heritage than what’s obvious?" I added a twitch of my ears at the end.
"Obviously," he rumbled while rubbing his beard. Then he called out, "Miss Haru, your blood runs hot like the forge! You are a half-dwarf-kitsune. I’ve known you since you were a wee newborn lass!"
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He had no idea. ‘My blood runs hot like the forge’, my ass. I had half the mind to torch this place just from a hunch of what he’d say next.
"I am Helger Stouthammer and I was friends with your father, Fangor," He was full of mirth, of himself, and of shit.
And that did it. I entered {Berserker Rage}. My {Eldritch Aura} flared to full power. The {Manastorm} raged unbridled. I shouted to the whole world at my maximum volume.
"If you relate me to that mariticidal asshole one more time, I’m going to fucking murder you! Fangor Battlehaven was not my father!"
I came back to my senses with Wisteria on her knees hugging me and rubbing my ears. "It’s fine, Haru. You are safe here. Nobody will hurt you."
I turned my Perks off. My outburst hurt everyone around the church. Fortunately, the unawakened children had practically no MP regeneration and were immune to the {Manastorm}. Their Magic Attribute was crap and without a Class and levels, your base MP defaulted to 1.
It didn’t matter. Wisteria burned a {Miracle} to shield everyone from it, anyway.
Ashamed, I fell on my knees and hid my face against the [Saintess]’ belly. Hugging her hips, I bawled out all my sorrows.
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Wisteria took me to her room.
"I need to go," she said from the door. "Stay here, stay comfortable. Go lie on my bed if you want. I’ll be back soon."
I knew she had to finish "Apprentice Day", which I had ruined completely. The anger, the guilt, the fear of losing control and pulling another Pekothas, the sorrow, the indignity of being dragged and tossed in that abyss. All of that raged inside of me. But it paled in comparison to what I saw when I looked at her.
The maternal worry in her eyes hurt me more than hundreds of dead mages torturing me. "I’ll behave," I promised.
She didn’t reply. The door softly closed behind her and I found myself alone. Almost alone. I threw myself on the [Saintess] bed and screamed in the pillows. Without sound-amplifying Perks this time. I bet the whole city heard me scream.
I sighed with relief,
I sobbed, laughed for a while, then whimpered. "Thanks, hon. I needed that."
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A couple of hours later, Wisteria returned with Stouthammer. I hissed at the sight of the dwarf but I held my shit together.
"Master Stouthammer told me about your origins, Haru," Wisteria said. "Before you turn him away, please listen to us."
I was denied even the dignity of puffy eyes. {Titan Skin} was a terrible Perk. I looked as fresh as a maiden on her wedding day.
Helger dipped his head. "Aye, lass. I apologize for my callousness. I had no idea you were aware of your origins."
Without averting his gaze, I clenched my teeth and pressed my lips together. My clenched knuckles were white from the pressure.
"I remember everything starting from my first breath," I reported to him, my voice as cold as a glacier. "How I was denied my mother’s embrace. How the matricide left the room in a hurry. Your half-hearted attempts at stopping him. How patriarch Axejaw examined me like a rotten cabbage left to cook in the sun all day. How painful it was to be dragged by my tail across tunnels, naked and exposed, bumping my head against all sorts of rocks until he finally dumped me in that crevice."
"Amazing! How did you survive?" The fucker dared to ask.
"Fuck you, coward," I spat on his face.
"Haru!" Flustered, Wisteria came to slap me but stopped when Helger started to laugh and then cry.
"Don’t hit her, [Saintess]. Haru is right. I am a coward," the pain in his words was real. "I should’ve stood up for what was right. I should’ve knocked Fangor silly when he started to scream absurdities like that. I didn’t, and I lost two precious friends that day. I, Helger Stouthammer, am a coward. The Gods are my witnesses that she said the truth."
Wisteria reached me but instead of a beating, she caressed my ears. Beast-kin are very sensitive about their ears and tail. Touching these was allowed only to close family. Doing that in front of Fangor was a statement. Wisteria was telling him how she felt about me. ‘This girl is family to me. Mistreat her and you’ll see what happens,’ her veiled threat said. Feeling my anger shrivel like a pierced balloon, I leaned into her hand.
"Haru," she spoke softly, "I want you to become master Stouthammer’s apprentice. He told me your story and what he did after that. He no longer lives among the dwarves. He has owned a smithy in the capital for almost a decade now. It’s time for you to go, my child. Please, let him redeem himself by spoiling you."
"Aye, lass. Please grant this old fool a boon. I’ll treat you as my own daughter, no, as my [Princess]. I promise to tell you all the stories about ye mom I know of. We were childhood friends, me, her, and…"
He made a strategic pause moments before I glowered back at him. I intended every single word of what I said back there.
Wisteria’s soft hands caressed my ears and scalp. "Please, Haru. You both need to heal this wound together. Don’t let regret and hatred consume you. Look, I have a letter from the Academy headmaster. He visited me a few days ago and offered me a full scholarship for a pupil of this orphanage I considered worthy. Would you like to learn magic?"
Her earnest offer was so innocent and touching that the rest of my defenses, all the walls I put around myself crumbled like Pekothas’ royal palace against my magic. I was supposed to be immune to divine magic, how the fuck did this [Santiess] do that?
"Stouthammer, would you give us some privacy?" I asked the dwarf.
He nodded and left the room without a word.
Meeting her earnest eyes, I took a deep breath and spoke my piece. "Don’t waste the scholarship on me, I’m rich as a dragon. You won, Wisteria. Contact the academy and tell them an anonymous benefactor will cover my tuition. Keep the scholarship to another child that really deserves it. Before I forget again, this is for you."
"Oh, a surprise?" She squealed.
I moved my hand behind me and out of their sight. When it came back, a big leather bag of coins, too large to be in anyone’s pocket, was on it. "This is the money the head nun was embezzling from the church and a bit more. Should cover my tuition."
The [Saintess] had trouble holding the heavy bag, the coins inside making a "rich" rich sound. She opened it and gawked. "Zacheia told me about you but I didn’t fully believe it."
I grunted. "What did the cu… what did Zacheia say about me?"
She stood up as her face became serious. "That you killed Bundeus and Nurha-Boenir. That you also saved the world from four Demon Lords. How you founded Windemere. Also how you are reborn with all the memories of your past lives, Your Majesty [King] Locksley."
Her curtsy was so earnest that my only reaction was a chuckle.
I shapeshifted into a simple Eleon, Rosewise. "Locksley never existed. He was a character created to shield me from criticism and allow Rosewise Honorcoin to lead a relatively normal life. Regretfully, it didn’t do me much good in the end." Jumping out of the bed, I straightened my skirt."Well, I shan’t keep my master waiting."
She hugged me one last time. "Before we part, Haru, why did you choose this orphanage?"
"Rosebush is my hometown in Windemere, back when it was just a small village centuries ago. This was the only orphanage in this city. Maybe it was fate that brought us together, Wisteria. I think so. The System never puts me in boring places and sometimes I hate it for that."
The next day, I joined Helger as we departed on a carriage to the capital.