[“Wait, she did what now?!”] I asked in disbelief.
[“She destroyed the clinic tent, nearly killed some of the injured and Apsala. If I had not stopped everybody from fighting, the whole camp would have been turned into a bloodbath,”] Saori explained exasperatedly while drinking some fulinoe tea Tasianna made for her. [“This was after that whole leviathan problem. The arcane corruption was slowing down my senses… Oh, and this tea really does taste like black coffee! Mhmm, tastes like home~”]
True enough~
Nevertheless, I was starting to feel a bit bad for Saori. Not only did she watch and help us deal with that A rank monster, she also had to stop the virigress mother from killing literally everybody in the camp and vice versa. Goodness, we might have been in a life-or-death situation but Saori had to babysit literally everybody.
Then again, wasn't teaching a whole class and bringing them to trips sorta babysitting? She should’ve been used to it. The life of a teacher, mhmm, mhmm.
Removing ourselves from the entrance and the celebrating lizardmen, our now reunited party was walking together to where the virigress family was. [“Well, how did you solve everything?”]
[“I did not. There was too much hostility between the two groups,”] Saori responded to me. [“You remember anybody with a huge claw mark when you were in the clinic tent? Poisoned? He and his friends were not happy to see the mother.”]
I nodded, still remembering the face of the first lizardman I healed. I didn’t catch his name, but he sure was grateful I saved his life.
[“Well, that’s good, right? Wasn’t he our first patient, Lady Hestia? I am sure we can work something out,”] Tasianna joined in the conversation, staying optimistic.
Saori simply said “maybe,” telling us she mentioned my name to them but that they were so consumed by the moment they wouldn’t stop. Neither the virigress mother nor the lizardmen were willing to drop the bad blood between each other.
To stop the conflict, Saori had to unleash her [Terror Aura] to intimidate everybody into submission, something I knew could be extremely chilling. It stopped the fighting for now, but that didn’t change anything about the tension between the two groups. Apparently, they were glaring at each other from a safe distance up until we came.
The virigress mother hadn’t fully recovered yet but her [Exhaustion (Moderate)] and [Sleep Deprivation (Minor)] were thankfully gone. Saori also boasted how her relationship with the virigress family had improved since I was away, explaining through some questioning she learned they were wary of her ‘garm smell.’ Apparently, the mother knew about the matriarch, and had her children avoid any garm-smelling territory for their safety.
Talk about an apex predator, right there… Now that I think about it, how did dragons mark their territory? … Not like it was important.
After walking for a bit, we made it to where the felines were — a small spot in the rainforest a bit further away from the camp. Letting ourselves be known by calling out for them, the mother dropped down from the top of a tree branch and quickly approached Rajah, before licking and grooming him clean like crazy.
“Reowww!” she called out.
“Mreow?!” Rajah cried out in confusion.
Oh, this is a wholesome sight. How precious.
Enjoying the cute sight of a mother worryingly embracing her son after he left for a long time, our party left them to catch up. The two other virigress cubs also climbed down from the tree and the four-headed family finally reunited with cuddles and licks.
[“Hiehie…”] I giggled at the sight, feeling slightly jealous as I wanted to see my own Mama at this point. However, knowing I couldn’t do that in this reality, I turned back to our group, looking slightly serious. [“So, what is our plan now?”]
With the successful rescue of the lizardmen’s group, we had fulfilled our promise to them. We didn’t have any obligations anymore to stay with the lizardmen, so it might be time to continue our journey up north. There was also the case of the virigress family we needed to discuss, considering how Rajah has been reunited with his family and technically didn’t need us anymore.
As much as it pained me to say this, we couldn’t keep Rajah with us if he wished to stay with his mother and siblings. Could we even take them out of the forest?
[“To go north, to the Elven Kingdom, Saelariel. However, I do not know if we can make it before snow falls,”] Tasianna stated bluntly.
[“If we were to hurry then I believe we can make it. If Hestia and I assume our original forms and take turns traveling while carrying the others, we should have no problems,”] Saori suggested, causing me consider it positively.
[“That certainly would be efficient. We can manage our Stamina efficiently and I believe our [Terrain Maneuvering] can help us travel even faster. Hehe, flying would be faster, though…”]
Tasianna presumed we would need two months to reach the elven country, but we had honestly made fantastic progress due to how hard it was for either Saori or me to become tired. It took us less than two weeks to reach the swamp and we spent about a week with the lizardmen. We could definitely make it to the border in one week if we rushed it.
Although…
[“Rushing means we won’t have any time to hunt. The forest of Saelariel has fewer threats compared to Belzac, after all. We could use some more levels, right, Lady Hestia?”] Tasianna looked at me with an innocent smile.
I flinched back, stuttering from being suddenly confronted with her words. [“Y-Yeah, that’s true. Uhh, I still kinda want to see the swamp but…”]
You could say that was the main reason, but I was more worried about not having the time to practice my singing and dancing. I “wasted” a whole week without any sorta practice, after meeting the lizardmen. I couldn’t do my daily routine with how everybody was more or less depressed, okay?
Not to mention the rescue mission and treating Caszcur’s arm. I just didn’t have any free time to practice. Just thinking about it made me anxious, now that I didn’t have anything else to worry about. I could feel the rust.
However, no matter how much I wanted to slow things down, I couldn’t endanger my friends. [“I think we should leave the swamp as soon as possible. That… thing. That giant snake was only one part of an even larger monster.”]
[Spiral Hellfire] was the only spell which managed to hurt the snake and it only broke off some scales and singed a bit of its flesh. My [Spark Claws] made a small puncture in its huge eye, but as a consequence, my entire arm was crushed from the impact. And when we escaped, I noticed the eye was fully healed anyways. That thing probably just woke up from a sleep, too.
Neither magic nor my [Spark Fire Dragon] abilities worked. I also didn’t have any information on it besides the [Identify] description and my fight with it. How many snake heads did it have? I didn’t even properly appraise it, although, could I even? It was too dangerous and who knew what level it was?
[“That thing is not a boss, it’s a super-end game-mega boss. At least, to us. We haven’t even optimized our builds yet, not to mention we need to level up properly for us to even have a chance!”] I admitted, confusing Tasianna with the unknown terms I spewed out.
[“Did you not mention that its description said it had multiple heads? Those snakes? If we’re going off your little games, then could it be similar to the Lernean Hydra or maybe Yamato-no-Orochi?”] Saori worked off my statement, only to surprise me and make me ask “How do you know that sort of fantasy RPG info?”
Saori let out a small sigh, looking disappointed in me. [“Hestia, those are mythological creatures. Myths and legends are an important part of a culture’s identity, which is also history. Fiction and games take inspiration from them, even taking creative liberty to spice things up.”]
Before she could retell “The Twelve Labors of Heracles” and “Nihon Shoji” in her excitement, derailing our entire discussion, the virigress suddenly came over to us, meowing as if they wanted to say something.
[“Oh, hey you four, what’s up?”] I asked.
“Mreow,” the mother said before licking my shin once and then staring into my eye.
Since we couldn’t verbally communicate with each other, or have a telepathic conversation, I always had to interpret what the virigresses wanted. Maybe it’s ‘caused I got used to them, but I was able to understand what she wanted to convery.
[“Oh, it’s alright, don’t you worry about it. Rajah is your cub and helping his siblings goes without question. He’s a companion of ours, after all.”] My smile twitched at the word companion, knowing the possibility of us separating soon.
I wanted to say something to the purring mother, who was snuggling her head on my legs, causing her cubs to do so too. I noticed their appreciation for me, but at the same time, I understood why she was doing this. It was hard not to.
Steeling my will, I scratched her chin to draw her attention to me, [“I… I wish to ask you and your family something.”]
I explained to her about our travels and our wish to go to the elven country, to civilization. I also talked about the fact how I’d adopted Rajah as a pet when he was separated from her and my wish to keep him and continue our travels with him.
I knew it was selfish to ask, especially after they just reunited with each other, but I had to ask. I couldn’t run away from the problem for too long, anyways.
The mother contemplated it for a while, looking at Rajah and her other cubs for a bit, until she began pushing Rajah towards us. Was she telling me that it was ok?
Rajah kept meowing, asking his mother what she was thinking when she pushed her, but she just continued staring at him. As Rajah was defiant about it, she grabbed her two other cubs by the scruff and started walking away from us.
Rajah kept meowing and ran towards her, unable to part ways with them but was quickly rejected by his mother with a quick tail swipe. The crying virigress’ cries became more frequent and more depressing. He truly wasn’t ready to part with her…
[“Wait!”] I called out after grabbing Rajah to dash in front of her. [“… It’s fine. It’s fine. I-I-I can’t… It's fine. Please, don’t leave him. It’s fine.”]
The mother looked at me as if she couldn’t understand what I was talking about. At one moment I wanted Rajah to join me and, in the next, I was begging her to take him back? Crazy. She must have respected my wish and was willing to give me her cub after all I had done for her.
It might, once again, sound like she was cold about it, but her aloofness couldn’t hide the sadness in her eyes of having to part with her son. Now staring into her eyes, I could see how watery they were, not to mention the small growls she was letting out.
[“He… doesn’t want to part with you. He doesn’t want to part with you. Please, don’t accept my selfish, egotistical, self-centered, inconsiderate, thoughtless, greedy request,”] I chastised myself, unable to accept Rajah like this. [“Please, don’t abandon him.”]
I put Rajah down on the ground, who licked my hand in gratitude. The mother placed the carried cubs on the ground and thought about it for a second, before looking at me as if she wanted to confirm my decision, one last time. I nodded, which prompted her to affectionately lick Rajah without showing any signs of stopping.
I embraced Rajah and his family one last time before saying my farewells to them. Once I was finished, I stood up and walked away hastily. I said all I wanted; I couldn’t stand it anymore.
I heard Tasianna and Saori say their farewell too, then loud meowing, and then the slow steps of the virigresses. I didn’t turn around. I didn’t want to see them off.
Gosh, how was saying farewell this hard…? Why did my chest hurt so much? We’d only known each for a week, so why was I so sentimental about it? Why was this so painful…
While I suffered from this pain, a hand began rubbing my back. [“You could have asked for them all to stick with us. Why didn’t you.”]
[“Of course, I wanted to…”] I replied back to Saori while not turning around. [“I did. I really did… It should have been the obvious solution. She knew we could protect her but… she didn’t. She thanked us by saying goodbye to her son. She didn’t want to join. I can’t allow their family to be torn apart…”]
[“… Well, I do not know if this is the correct choice, but if you think it was the correct choice, then it was, Hestia. At the end of the day, they are wild animals. Not pets. We should not treat them like that,”] Saori said warmly, soothing my worried mind.
[“They looked happy when we saw them off. Their thankful cries; you must have heard them, Lady Hestia. Please, don’t berate yourself any further. Only a truly selfish person wouldn’t have done that,”] Tasianna comforted me, caressing my head with her tiny hands.
[“Come on, Hestia. Let it all out, you can cry now… OOF!”] I interrupted Saori by wrapping my hands around her like a teddy bear, giving her a heartful hug.
[“I can’t do it now,”] I said with a wry smile, digging my face into Saori’s chest to hide my wet eyes. [“I haven’t cried for so many years. I probably could cry a river full at this point. I can’t let Rajah feel bad about his decision nor do I want to break my… oath.”]
Gripping Saori even harder, it took me a very long time until my sadness disappeared. If I had cried, would I have felt better sooner? Probably.
Goddess, please keep them safe. Please, keep them safe, Aurena.
Afterward, we returned to the camp and were welcomed with open arms by the lizardmen. They were wondering where we went as they hadn’t gotten the chance to thank Tasianna and me for all our help. They really wanted to hit it home how they were indebted to me.
Wanting to celebrate the successful rescue mission, the lizardman planned to have a feast in our name. Apparently, after they heard from Saori how we succeeded and were returning home, they had made prior preparations for it. Various fish, meat, and fruits were gathered, ready to be turned into an unforgettable memory.
Wanting to help, Saori and Tasianna participated in the cooking, while I… well, I told them I needed some rest. Casczur, Apsala, and Aksmias were clearly bewildered and worried about me but Saori stopped them, presumably, explaining to them what happened.
I went into the forest and just waited there until the food was ready. My mind wandered between my farewells to Rajah, the time I spent with him, and the family’s safety. I also wondered about the pain I felt when I said farewell.
It still hurt so much… Would I have the chance to meet Rajah ever again? Shouldn’t I have been more assertive and plainly asked the whole family to join us in our travels? I wanted to meet them again, but in this forest, I wasn’t so sure if that was possible.
Please, please, stay safe!
“Haaaa, regretting about it… how pitiful of me. Maybe I should run af—huh?”
…
“Pff… hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!” I couldn’t control myself; the laughter wouldn’t stop.
After what felt like five minutes of non-stop laughing, the lack of air finally exhausted my lungs enough I had to forcibly stop myself. Once I recovered my heavy breathing something else flashed into my brain, but this time, it caused a sharp pain. Like a single moment of intense headache, or maybe it was more similar to having a spike drilled into my head?
Something like that, only this was a System message.
… He he he he… verdammt nochmal… I really fucked it up, huh? So praying was the trigger? Looking through eyes? … Ehehe, so that is why Tasianna stopped Apsala from praying to Kargryxmor.
Granting Rajah and his family her protection and sending me this message at about the same time was no coincidence. I asked her for a favor, and she fulfilled it. Great, I now had a debt to her and also a reason to get into contact with whatever she was planning for me. Absolutely awesome…
… Then again, she wasn’t exactly forcing me to do it now. Urgh, gotta look at the bright side, I guess. This was gonna happen sooner or later. I couldn’t exactly play ignorant now, so maybe it would be best for me to plan a detour to a church.
“Thank you very much for helping me, Goddess Aurena… and fuck you for looking through my mind! Privacy breach, indeed! Just ‘cause you’re a goddess doesn’t mean you can do this to me, you damn stalker!” Since she allowed me to, I screamed my frustrations out.
How she practically abandoned me until now. How she just had to put me in the Belzac forest of all places. How she wanted to alter and erase my memories. How she just had to reincarnate me for her plans! If she went back on her words now, then I would know what I was going up against.
“… However.” Finally satisfied and freeing myself of that burden, I bent my body 90 degrees, showing a bow to the sky. “Thank you for reincarnating me. I don’t know if I actually deserve a second chance but thank you so very much. I don’t know why you want me to gather all those followers but I will do my job as an Idol and gather as many fans as possible!”
What? Wait, hold on, wouldn’t it be better to call them stans instead of fans if this is the equi… Actually, whatever. That’s really not the point, huh? … Enough running away!
I’d made up my mind. If I wanted to become an Idol, if I actually wanted my dream to come true then I couldn’t slither around my tail anymore! Who cared if my first concert wasn’t the perfect performance, huh?
I am good. I am good. I can sing amazingly and my dancing is passable. I am good. I’ve trained so long for this! I can't second guess myself. I shouldn’t!
Not every K-Pop star made it big from their first single. Sometimes, they wouldn’t get anywhere. However, there was always a chance, but there wouldn’t be if I gave up. It was as Goddess said, this was my second chance. I failed too many times to just give up like this, throw away all the things I learned! All the damn tears I stopped myself from crying!
I can do it!
My heart was racing as I firmly announced my renewed determination to fulfill my last and current life’s ambition. My mind ran through the many things I needed for my first performance. What sorta song should I sing, should I use a dance choreography I already knew or should I try to make a new one, and, of course, my outfit. Saori enjoyed sewing; I had the perfect fashionista already with me!
Once I was back in the camp, the lizardmen had already finished most of the preparations. It seemed Saori used quite a lot of our own spices so we could celebrate properly, while Tasianna helped prepare massive amounts of tea and juices.
It would seem like giving them all our cooking equipment and supplies was the correct choice as I was impressed by the sheer volume they made for us. I could smell the delectable aroma of freshly grilled meat, not to mention the veggies and fruit.
“Ahhh, I wish there was some sake…” Saori mumbled through the loud cheers of lizardmen.
… Nope, my aloof friend was an alcoholic. She didn’t just say she wanted sake. She was a responsible teacher, the very role model for a young teenager like me. Wow, this fragassa juice is amazing, mhmm.
The lizardmen were delighted to see me regain my positive attitude as they found the depressive me quite worrisome. How rude of them to say that directly to my face!
Not letting it annoy me for long, the whole camp began merrily joking, feasting, and partying. Driven by my determination to express myself, I had no choice but to begin singing, accompanying the cheerful clapping and tail slams of the beastmen. I had to vent my excitement, allow my emotions out. Even my body started playing the wind violin, fully entranced by my mood.
And it worked, as I managed to share the merriment inside my head to them. The lizardmen and Tasianna couldn’t understand the lyrics I sang, but they told me how they understood what I wanted to express. “Soft and soothing to our ears,” that was how they described my singing, in addition to how it brought up the feast with the way I played the music.
They enjoyed it… That’s all I needed to hear.
Sure, this wasn’t the stage I wanted, but every musician needed to start small. Performing in the public was important to gain confidence. At the end of the day, an idol’s job was to entertain others and bring a smile to their face. I wanted to see them smile.
The children, the men, the women, all of them. Cazscur, Aksmias, Apsala; they, too. But I was even more delighted with how Saori and Tasianna laughed and hummed with me. It was so simple. There weren't even enough people to call this a venue, but I felt happy. Relieved.
Honestly, now that I thought about it, maybe being taught classicsally by Papa and Mama really hampered the way I thought about my musical career. I really should have thought about going at it through the internet and streaming, instead of trying to become a traditional idol like everybody addicted to K-Pop and J-Pop.
I couldn’t believe I had to die to figure something this simple.
As long as I can make others smile with my songs, then wasn’t I a good idol? It really made me want to cry.
At the same time, I promised to myself I would polish up my dance skills and my [Aerokinesis] skills so I could show all of them what a musician of my talents could do. If there was one thing I wanted to be arrogant about, then that would be my musical skills. It was my pride and passion… and I wanted to share it with everybody else.
As the night continued and midnight came, all of us slowly fell asleep like sloths as we had enough of all the partying. Once morning came, our party approached Caszcur, Apsala, and Aksmias as it was time for us to tell them about our plans.
**************************************************
In another place, deep inside a cave there was a cavern where a giant ogre sat on his throne with two armored ogre guards flanking him. In front of this ogre king was a single green goblin, groveling before the mighty beast.
“That is what truly happened? I have your word, green midget?” the ogre king growled in an imposing voice.
“Y-yes, great one. A-A big-big-big dragon attacked us and our leader, the ogre g-general, fought strongly but was r-roasted by their yellow zap-blitz.” The stuttering and shivering voice of the green grimgarian made it hard for everyone to hear, especially with how feeble it sounded. Fortunately, the ogre king was already used to how to the goblin race’s speech impediment.
“How did they look?” he asked.
“L-Large wings, two feet, long tail, monster head. So strong-powerful, great one. It attacked us when we just arrived where we should meet the ugly ones. There was a landslide and a single dead-rotten ugly one there. The-The cave was broken!” the goblin further explained, retelling the aftermath of Hestia’s and Saori’s fight against the trolls outside the cave. “Ogre general commanded us to fight-kill, but they-they all died-died! The shamans all died-murdered. They are not looked upon by our Night Father!”
Tears streamed down his face as he remembered the sight, the smell, and the sound of the electrified bodies. He knew he had felt the Goddess of Death’s cold mercy on that day. “We are all the remaining-left. Dragons stopped before killing us all to fly away. So fast like they had to go someplace. However, they not stop-finish… wagons are all gone-broken.”
The ogre king contemplated the words of the goblin, eventually coming to a decision. Crushing his throne’s arms with his hands, he shouted, “Kargryxmor! You dare interfere in our conquest?!”
How could it be a coincidence that they were there at the perfect time, thought the ogre king.
Wyverns weren’t as strong as true dragons but they were still dragonkin, subjects of the god of all dragonkins on Peolynca. Upon realizing this fact, the Ogre King’s face turned red like a tomato, livid to the extremes.
Kargryxmor sent his minions and destroyed the trolls and stopped their plans, eliminating a whole battalion of his warriors and also the supplies they were transporting. Weapons, armor, and rations were in it, but most importantly was the “ace” they planned to give the troll shaman.
That demonkin will further chastise me for this…
The plan was already delayed due to the late arrival of the trolls but now it was further hampered by the collapse of the cave and the, presumably, deaths of the trolls. It was likely due to this interference and the coming winter their war on the humans wouldn’t happen this year.
“Goblin… stand up,” the towering grimgarian demanded.
“Y-Yes, oh, great one!”
“Get out of here and get new weapons…” He waited for the small goblin to run out of the throne room before bellowing from the top of his voice. “GET YOUR WEAPONS, MEN! WE ARE GOING WYVERN HUNTING! FOR THE GODDESS OF VENGEANCE AND GRUDGES, KRONNAZ, WE WILL AVENGE OUR FALLEN WARRIOR!”
“““Niakash Baal’ak!”””
With the war cry of the ogres resounding from every single corner of this cave and the clattering metal coming from outside the cave, the army of demi-humans were readying themselves for revenge.
AbyssRaven Niakash Baal'ak means "Victory of Death" in the grimgarian's tongue. Also, imagine that, Hestia, although not voluntary, just caused the grimgarians to hate Kargryxmor! Nice work, little idol!
If you guys want to support me, Hestia and "A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale" (or just read up to 20 advance chapters + any Patreon-only chapters) please check out my Patreon: Rawr
For two dollars, for the cost of a coffee, you can read up to four chapters for the whole month! You will have my eternal gratitude for any support you can give me! Please.
Thank you for reading this chapter.
[“Wait, she did what now?!”] I asked in disbelief.
[“She destroyed the clinic tent, nearly killed some of the injured and Apsala. If I had not stopped everybody from fighting, the whole camp would have been turned into a bloodbath,”] Saori explained exasperatedly while drinking some fulinoe tea Tasianna made for her. [“This was after that whole leviathan problem. The arcane corruption was slowing down my senses… Oh, and this tea really does taste like black coffee! Mhmm, tastes like home~”]
True enough~
Nevertheless, I was starting to feel a bit bad for Saori. Not only did she watch and help us deal with that A rank monster, she also had to stop the virigress mother from killing literally everybody in the camp and vice versa. Goodness, we might have been in a life-or-death situation but Saori had to babysit literally everybody.
Then again, wasn't teaching a whole class and bringing them to trips sorta babysitting? She should’ve been used to it. The life of a teacher, mhmm, mhmm.
Removing ourselves from the entrance and the celebrating lizardmen, our now reunited party was walking together to where the virigress family was. [“Well, how did you solve everything?”]
[“I did not. There was too much hostility between the two groups,”] Saori responded to me. [“You remember anybody with a huge claw mark when you were in the clinic tent? Poisoned? He and his friends were not happy to see the mother.”]
I nodded, still remembering the face of the first lizardman I healed. I didn’t catch his name, but he sure was grateful I saved his life.
[“Well, that’s good, right? Wasn’t he our first patient, Lady Hestia? I am sure we can work something out,”] Tasianna joined in the conversation, staying optimistic.
Saori simply said “maybe,” telling us she mentioned my name to them but that they were so consumed by the moment they wouldn’t stop. Neither the virigress mother nor the lizardmen were willing to drop the bad blood between each other.
To stop the conflict, Saori had to unleash her [Terror Aura] to intimidate everybody into submission, something I knew could be extremely chilling. It stopped the fighting for now, but that didn’t change anything about the tension between the two groups. Apparently, they were glaring at each other from a safe distance up until we came.
The virigress mother hadn’t fully recovered yet but her [Exhaustion (Moderate)] and [Sleep Deprivation (Minor)] were thankfully gone. Saori also boasted how her relationship with the virigress family had improved since I was away, explaining through some questioning she learned they were wary of her ‘garm smell.’ Apparently, the mother knew about the matriarch, and had her children avoid any garm-smelling territory for their safety.
Talk about an apex predator, right there… Now that I think about it, how did dragons mark their territory? … Not like it was important.
After walking for a bit, we made it to where the felines were — a small spot in the rainforest a bit further away from the camp. Letting ourselves be known by calling out for them, the mother dropped down from the top of a tree branch and quickly approached Rajah, before licking and grooming him clean like crazy.
“Reowww!” she called out.
“Mreow?!” Rajah cried out in confusion.
Oh, this is a wholesome sight. How precious.
Enjoying the cute sight of a mother worryingly embracing her son after he left for a long time, our party left them to catch up. The two other virigress cubs also climbed down from the tree and the four-headed family finally reunited with cuddles and licks.
[“Hiehie…”] I giggled at the sight, feeling slightly jealous as I wanted to see my own Mama at this point. However, knowing I couldn’t do that in this reality, I turned back to our group, looking slightly serious. [“So, what is our plan now?”]
With the successful rescue of the lizardmen’s group, we had fulfilled our promise to them. We didn’t have any obligations anymore to stay with the lizardmen, so it might be time to continue our journey up north. There was also the case of the virigress family we needed to discuss, considering how Rajah has been reunited with his family and technically didn’t need us anymore.
As much as it pained me to say this, we couldn’t keep Rajah with us if he wished to stay with his mother and siblings. Could we even take them out of the forest?
[“To go north, to the Elven Kingdom, Saelariel. However, I do not know if we can make it before snow falls,”] Tasianna stated bluntly.
[“If we were to hurry then I believe we can make it. If Hestia and I assume our original forms and take turns traveling while carrying the others, we should have no problems,”] Saori suggested, causing me consider it positively.
[“That certainly would be efficient. We can manage our Stamina efficiently and I believe our [Terrain Maneuvering] can help us travel even faster. Hehe, flying would be faster, though…”]
Tasianna presumed we would need two months to reach the elven country, but we had honestly made fantastic progress due to how hard it was for either Saori or me to become tired. It took us less than two weeks to reach the swamp and we spent about a week with the lizardmen. We could definitely make it to the border in one week if we rushed it.
Although…
[“Rushing means we won’t have any time to hunt. The forest of Saelariel has fewer threats compared to Belzac, after all. We could use some more levels, right, Lady Hestia?”] Tasianna looked at me with an innocent smile.
I flinched back, stuttering from being suddenly confronted with her words. [“Y-Yeah, that’s true. Uhh, I still kinda want to see the swamp but…”]
You could say that was the main reason, but I was more worried about not having the time to practice my singing and dancing. I “wasted” a whole week without any sorta practice, after meeting the lizardmen. I couldn’t do my daily routine with how everybody was more or less depressed, okay?
Not to mention the rescue mission and treating Caszcur’s arm. I just didn’t have any free time to practice. Just thinking about it made me anxious, now that I didn’t have anything else to worry about. I could feel the rust.
However, no matter how much I wanted to slow things down, I couldn’t endanger my friends. [“I think we should leave the swamp as soon as possible. That… thing. That giant snake was only one part of an even larger monster.”]
[Spiral Hellfire] was the only spell which managed to hurt the snake and it only broke off some scales and singed a bit of its flesh. My [Spark Claws] made a small puncture in its huge eye, but as a consequence, my entire arm was crushed from the impact. And when we escaped, I noticed the eye was fully healed anyways. That thing probably just woke up from a sleep, too.
Neither magic nor my [Spark Fire Dragon] abilities worked. I also didn’t have any information on it besides the [Identify] description and my fight with it. How many snake heads did it have? I didn’t even properly appraise it, although, could I even? It was too dangerous and who knew what level it was?
[“That thing is not a boss, it’s a super-end game-mega boss. At least, to us. We haven’t even optimized our builds yet, not to mention we need to level up properly for us to even have a chance!”] I admitted, confusing Tasianna with the unknown terms I spewed out.
[“Did you not mention that its description said it had multiple heads? Those snakes? If we’re going off your little games, then could it be similar to the Lernean Hydra or maybe Yamato-no-Orochi?”] Saori worked off my statement, only to surprise me and make me ask “How do you know that sort of fantasy RPG info?”
Saori let out a small sigh, looking disappointed in me. [“Hestia, those are mythological creatures. Myths and legends are an important part of a culture’s identity, which is also history. Fiction and games take inspiration from them, even taking creative liberty to spice things up.”]
Before she could retell “The Twelve Labors of Heracles” and “Nihon Shoji” in her excitement, derailing our entire discussion, the virigress suddenly came over to us, meowing as if they wanted to say something.
[“Oh, hey you four, what’s up?”] I asked.
“Mreow,” the mother said before licking my shin once and then staring into my eye.
Since we couldn’t verbally communicate with each other, or have a telepathic conversation, I always had to interpret what the virigresses wanted. Maybe it’s ‘caused I got used to them, but I was able to understand what she wanted to convery.
[“Oh, it’s alright, don’t you worry about it. Rajah is your cub and helping his siblings goes without question. He’s a companion of ours, after all.”] My smile twitched at the word companion, knowing the possibility of us separating soon.
I wanted to say something to the purring mother, who was snuggling her head on my legs, causing her cubs to do so too. I noticed their appreciation for me, but at the same time, I understood why she was doing this. It was hard not to.
Steeling my will, I scratched her chin to draw her attention to me, [“I… I wish to ask you and your family something.”]
I explained to her about our travels and our wish to go to the elven country, to civilization. I also talked about the fact how I’d adopted Rajah as a pet when he was separated from her and my wish to keep him and continue our travels with him.
I knew it was selfish to ask, especially after they just reunited with each other, but I had to ask. I couldn’t run away from the problem for too long, anyways.
The mother contemplated it for a while, looking at Rajah and her other cubs for a bit, until she began pushing Rajah towards us. Was she telling me that it was ok?
Rajah kept meowing, asking his mother what she was thinking when she pushed her, but she just continued staring at him. As Rajah was defiant about it, she grabbed her two other cubs by the scruff and started walking away from us.
Rajah kept meowing and ran towards her, unable to part ways with them but was quickly rejected by his mother with a quick tail swipe. The crying virigress’ cries became more frequent and more depressing. He truly wasn’t ready to part with her…
[“Wait!”] I called out after grabbing Rajah to dash in front of her. [“… It’s fine. It’s fine. I-I-I can’t… It's fine. Please, don’t leave him. It’s fine.”]
The mother looked at me as if she couldn’t understand what I was talking about. At one moment I wanted Rajah to join me and, in the next, I was begging her to take him back? Crazy. She must have respected my wish and was willing to give me her cub after all I had done for her.
It might, once again, sound like she was cold about it, but her aloofness couldn’t hide the sadness in her eyes of having to part with her son. Now staring into her eyes, I could see how watery they were, not to mention the small growls she was letting out.
[“He… doesn’t want to part with you. He doesn’t want to part with you. Please, don’t accept my selfish, egotistical, self-centered, inconsiderate, thoughtless, greedy request,”] I chastised myself, unable to accept Rajah like this. [“Please, don’t abandon him.”]
I put Rajah down on the ground, who licked my hand in gratitude. The mother placed the carried cubs on the ground and thought about it for a second, before looking at me as if she wanted to confirm my decision, one last time. I nodded, which prompted her to affectionately lick Rajah without showing any signs of stopping.
I embraced Rajah and his family one last time before saying my farewells to them. Once I was finished, I stood up and walked away hastily. I said all I wanted; I couldn’t stand it anymore.
I heard Tasianna and Saori say their farewell too, then loud meowing, and then the slow steps of the virigresses. I didn’t turn around. I didn’t want to see them off.
Gosh, how was saying farewell this hard…? Why did my chest hurt so much? We’d only known each for a week, so why was I so sentimental about it? Why was this so painful…
While I suffered from this pain, a hand began rubbing my back. [“You could have asked for them all to stick with us. Why didn’t you.”]
[“Of course, I wanted to…”] I replied back to Saori while not turning around. [“I did. I really did… It should have been the obvious solution. She knew we could protect her but… she didn’t. She thanked us by saying goodbye to her son. She didn’t want to join. I can’t allow their family to be torn apart…”]
[“… Well, I do not know if this is the correct choice, but if you think it was the correct choice, then it was, Hestia. At the end of the day, they are wild animals. Not pets. We should not treat them like that,”] Saori said warmly, soothing my worried mind.
[“They looked happy when we saw them off. Their thankful cries; you must have heard them, Lady Hestia. Please, don’t berate yourself any further. Only a truly selfish person wouldn’t have done that,”] Tasianna comforted me, caressing my head with her tiny hands.
[“Come on, Hestia. Let it all out, you can cry now… OOF!”] I interrupted Saori by wrapping my hands around her like a teddy bear, giving her a heartful hug.
[“I can’t do it now,”] I said with a wry smile, digging my face into Saori’s chest to hide my wet eyes. [“I haven’t cried for so many years. I probably could cry a river full at this point. I can’t let Rajah feel bad about his decision nor do I want to break my… oath.”]
Gripping Saori even harder, it took me a very long time until my sadness disappeared. If I had cried, would I have felt better sooner? Probably.
Goddess, please keep them safe. Please, keep them safe, Aurena.
Afterward, we returned to the camp and were welcomed with open arms by the lizardmen. They were wondering where we went as they hadn’t gotten the chance to thank Tasianna and me for all our help. They really wanted to hit it home how they were indebted to me.
Wanting to celebrate the successful rescue mission, the lizardman planned to have a feast in our name. Apparently, after they heard from Saori how we succeeded and were returning home, they had made prior preparations for it. Various fish, meat, and fruits were gathered, ready to be turned into an unforgettable memory.
Wanting to help, Saori and Tasianna participated in the cooking, while I… well, I told them I needed some rest. Casczur, Apsala, and Aksmias were clearly bewildered and worried about me but Saori stopped them, presumably, explaining to them what happened.
I went into the forest and just waited there until the food was ready. My mind wandered between my farewells to Rajah, the time I spent with him, and the family’s safety. I also wondered about the pain I felt when I said farewell.
It still hurt so much… Would I have the chance to meet Rajah ever again? Shouldn’t I have been more assertive and plainly asked the whole family to join us in our travels? I wanted to meet them again, but in this forest, I wasn’t so sure if that was possible.
Please, please, stay safe!
“Haaaa, regretting about it… how pitiful of me. Maybe I should run af—huh?”
…
“Pff… hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!” I couldn’t control myself; the laughter wouldn’t stop.
After what felt like five minutes of non-stop laughing, the lack of air finally exhausted my lungs enough I had to forcibly stop myself. Once I recovered my heavy breathing something else flashed into my brain, but this time, it caused a sharp pain. Like a single moment of intense headache, or maybe it was more similar to having a spike drilled into my head?
Something like that, only this was a System message.
… He he he he… verdammt nochmal… I really fucked it up, huh? So praying was the trigger? Looking through eyes? … Ehehe, so that is why Tasianna stopped Apsala from praying to Kargryxmor.
Granting Rajah and his family her protection and sending me this message at about the same time was no coincidence. I asked her for a favor, and she fulfilled it. Great, I now had a debt to her and also a reason to get into contact with whatever she was planning for me. Absolutely awesome…
… Then again, she wasn’t exactly forcing me to do it now. Urgh, gotta look at the bright side, I guess. This was gonna happen sooner or later. I couldn’t exactly play ignorant now, so maybe it would be best for me to plan a detour to a church.
“Thank you very much for helping me, Goddess Aurena… and fuck you for looking through my mind! Privacy breach, indeed! Just ‘cause you’re a goddess doesn’t mean you can do this to me, you damn stalker!” Since she allowed me to, I screamed my frustrations out.
How she practically abandoned me until now. How she just had to put me in the Belzac forest of all places. How she wanted to alter and erase my memories. How she just had to reincarnate me for her plans! If she went back on her words now, then I would know what I was going up against.
“… However.” Finally satisfied and freeing myself of that burden, I bent my body 90 degrees, showing a bow to the sky. “Thank you for reincarnating me. I don’t know if I actually deserve a second chance but thank you so very much. I don’t know why you want me to gather all those followers but I will do my job as an Idol and gather as many fans as possible!”
What? Wait, hold on, wouldn’t it be better to call them stans instead of fans if this is the equi… Actually, whatever. That’s really not the point, huh? … Enough running away!
I’d made up my mind. If I wanted to become an Idol, if I actually wanted my dream to come true then I couldn’t slither around my tail anymore! Who cared if my first concert wasn’t the perfect performance, huh?
I am good. I am good. I can sing amazingly and my dancing is passable. I am good. I’ve trained so long for this! I can't second guess myself. I shouldn’t!
Not every K-Pop star made it big from their first single. Sometimes, they wouldn’t get anywhere. However, there was always a chance, but there wouldn’t be if I gave up. It was as Goddess said, this was my second chance. I failed too many times to just give up like this, throw away all the things I learned! All the damn tears I stopped myself from crying!
I can do it!
My heart was racing as I firmly announced my renewed determination to fulfill my last and current life’s ambition. My mind ran through the many things I needed for my first performance. What sorta song should I sing, should I use a dance choreography I already knew or should I try to make a new one, and, of course, my outfit. Saori enjoyed sewing; I had the perfect fashionista already with me!
Once I was back in the camp, the lizardmen had already finished most of the preparations. It seemed Saori used quite a lot of our own spices so we could celebrate properly, while Tasianna helped prepare massive amounts of tea and juices.
It would seem like giving them all our cooking equipment and supplies was the correct choice as I was impressed by the sheer volume they made for us. I could smell the delectable aroma of freshly grilled meat, not to mention the veggies and fruit.
“Ahhh, I wish there was some sake…” Saori mumbled through the loud cheers of lizardmen.
… Nope, my aloof friend was an alcoholic. She didn’t just say she wanted sake. She was a responsible teacher, the very role model for a young teenager like me. Wow, this fragassa juice is amazing, mhmm.
The lizardmen were delighted to see me regain my positive attitude as they found the depressive me quite worrisome. How rude of them to say that directly to my face!
Not letting it annoy me for long, the whole camp began merrily joking, feasting, and partying. Driven by my determination to express myself, I had no choice but to begin singing, accompanying the cheerful clapping and tail slams of the beastmen. I had to vent my excitement, allow my emotions out. Even my body started playing the wind violin, fully entranced by my mood.
And it worked, as I managed to share the merriment inside my head to them. The lizardmen and Tasianna couldn’t understand the lyrics I sang, but they told me how they understood what I wanted to express. “Soft and soothing to our ears,” that was how they described my singing, in addition to how it brought up the feast with the way I played the music.
They enjoyed it… That’s all I needed to hear.
Sure, this wasn’t the stage I wanted, but every musician needed to start small. Performing in the public was important to gain confidence. At the end of the day, an idol’s job was to entertain others and bring a smile to their face. I wanted to see them smile.
The children, the men, the women, all of them. Cazscur, Aksmias, Apsala; they, too. But I was even more delighted with how Saori and Tasianna laughed and hummed with me. It was so simple. There weren't even enough people to call this a venue, but I felt happy. Relieved.
Honestly, now that I thought about it, maybe being taught classicsally by Papa and Mama really hampered the way I thought about my musical career. I really should have thought about going at it through the internet and streaming, instead of trying to become a traditional idol like everybody addicted to K-Pop and J-Pop.
I couldn’t believe I had to die to figure something this simple.
As long as I can make others smile with my songs, then wasn’t I a good idol? It really made me want to cry.
At the same time, I promised to myself I would polish up my dance skills and my [Aerokinesis] skills so I could show all of them what a musician of my talents could do. If there was one thing I wanted to be arrogant about, then that would be my musical skills. It was my pride and passion… and I wanted to share it with everybody else.
As the night continued and midnight came, all of us slowly fell asleep like sloths as we had enough of all the partying. Once morning came, our party approached Caszcur, Apsala, and Aksmias as it was time for us to tell them about our plans.
**************************************************
In another place, deep inside a cave there was a cavern where a giant ogre sat on his throne with two armored ogre guards flanking him. In front of this ogre king was a single green goblin, groveling before the mighty beast.
“That is what truly happened? I have your word, green midget?” the ogre king growled in an imposing voice.
“Y-yes, great one. A-A big-big-big dragon attacked us and our leader, the ogre g-general, fought strongly but was r-roasted by their yellow zap-blitz.” The stuttering and shivering voice of the green grimgarian made it hard for everyone to hear, especially with how feeble it sounded. Fortunately, the ogre king was already used to how to the goblin race’s speech impediment.
“How did they look?” he asked.
“L-Large wings, two feet, long tail, monster head. So strong-powerful, great one. It attacked us when we just arrived where we should meet the ugly ones. There was a landslide and a single dead-rotten ugly one there. The-The cave was broken!” the goblin further explained, retelling the aftermath of Hestia’s and Saori’s fight against the trolls outside the cave. “Ogre general commanded us to fight-kill, but they-they all died-died! The shamans all died-murdered. They are not looked upon by our Night Father!”
Tears streamed down his face as he remembered the sight, the smell, and the sound of the electrified bodies. He knew he had felt the Goddess of Death’s cold mercy on that day. “We are all the remaining-left. Dragons stopped before killing us all to fly away. So fast like they had to go someplace. However, they not stop-finish… wagons are all gone-broken.”
The ogre king contemplated the words of the goblin, eventually coming to a decision. Crushing his throne’s arms with his hands, he shouted, “Kargryxmor! You dare interfere in our conquest?!”
How could it be a coincidence that they were there at the perfect time, thought the ogre king.
Wyverns weren’t as strong as true dragons but they were still dragonkin, subjects of the god of all dragonkins on Peolynca. Upon realizing this fact, the Ogre King’s face turned red like a tomato, livid to the extremes.
Kargryxmor sent his minions and destroyed the trolls and stopped their plans, eliminating a whole battalion of his warriors and also the supplies they were transporting. Weapons, armor, and rations were in it, but most importantly was the “ace” they planned to give the troll shaman.
That demonkin will further chastise me for this…
The plan was already delayed due to the late arrival of the trolls but now it was further hampered by the collapse of the cave and the, presumably, deaths of the trolls. It was likely due to this interference and the coming winter their war on the humans wouldn’t happen this year.
“Goblin… stand up,” the towering grimgarian demanded.
“Y-Yes, oh, great one!”
“Get out of here and get new weapons…” He waited for the small goblin to run out of the throne room before bellowing from the top of his voice. “GET YOUR WEAPONS, MEN! WE ARE GOING WYVERN HUNTING! FOR THE GODDESS OF VENGEANCE AND GRUDGES, KRONNAZ, WE WILL AVENGE OUR FALLEN WARRIOR!”
“““Niakash Baal’ak!”””
With the war cry of the ogres resounding from every single corner of this cave and the clattering metal coming from outside the cave, the army of demi-humans were readying themselves for revenge.
AbyssRaven Niakash Baal'ak means "Victory of Death" in the grimgarian's tongue. Also, imagine that, Hestia, although not voluntary, just caused the grimgarians to hate Kargryxmor! Nice work, little idol!
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