A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

“Shine!”

I’ve encountered and fought enough onnikais already to know what to do here. While not all were connected to Ilsaphone, the Goddess of Death, a good portion of onnikais were weak to holy attacks. In addition, the place we teleported to was where Saori was supposed to be—the Belzac forest—meaning these wolf-like spirits could only belong to one being.

Bright, glaring light shone from my fingertips, forcing the onnikai wolves back. With the spell still active, I snapped my fingers and created a spark to ignite some white flames, before using it to create a small firewall to separate our two groups.

[“I am Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor! I have come to meet with my friend Saori Segawa, the current [Belzac’s Successor]!”] I announced for everybody to hear, including the owner of that telepathic voice.

[“…”] As the onnikai wolves began to cower, the voice remained silent. It wasn’t answering me, but it also wasn’t accusing us of being intruders either. [“… I see. The dragon who invaded my realm.”]

“Huh?” I tilted my head. “What do you mean with invade? I was born here.”

[“False.”] That growly, old man voice rebuked resolutely. [“Your egg landed here, dragon whelp. You are no more a denizen of this forest than a migrating bird. Your place here is questionable. Furthermore, you are not supposed to be in my rest area, nor were you allowed to bring your allies with you! This insolence … as expected of an outsider!”]

I snapped my head back to Tasianna, Ellaine, and Grimnir, all of whom were considered intruders by Belzac. Not to mention, the portal was still open, so any of the students would follow us through any moment now. Was this actually about to turn into a fight?

Not only could I vaguely feel an aura coming from the tunnel where the onnikais appeared from, but with [Mana Eyes], I even confirmed a strong concentration of mana at the end of it. It was nowhere close as strong as mine, meaning I could defeat them in a mana endurance. Not to mention, I had long lost my severe weakness to dark elemental attacks, so I wasn’t even scared of Belzac or his tricks.

“Already on it, lass! Just give us the go,” Grimnir stated as his new armor activated, shining bright blue before the sound of moving cogs began to fill out the eerie silence of the cave. The widgets of his blasthammer began to move, letting out some steam as if to say it was ready for a fight.

Tasianna and Ellaine had also gotten ready, with the former already preparing her catalyst and the latter cladding her entire body with her exosuit. They readied their weapons, intending to fight back against this wolf tyrant.

[“You trespass in my home. You bare your weapons and fangs at me! Worst! Grrrrrm!”] I heard him taking a loud sniff. [“That stink! Do you think I will forget that stink?! You dare free her and bring that fellbeast into my home?!”]

Fellbeast?

[“You dare bring her to mock me?! Me? Belzac, the Harbinger of Grim?! That demonic stink! I will never forget it, and you dare BRING HER TO MY HOME AND GRAVE?! Dragon whelp! Humans! Dwarf! Elf! YOU ARE ALL THE SAME IN EVERY AGE! KLEA’HATMA, I SMELL YOU!”]

“Grouuuuuuuuuh!”

Shit! He’s coming!

My eyes instantly noticed the concentrated mana explode in size, gathering the mana from the surroundings to suddenly form itself into something I couldn’t really describe. Regardless, it wasn’t as if I had the time to think. This newly formed creature was crawling with elongated arms towards us, before, finally, my white flames shone a light on its form.

Before us stalked a skeleton of a wolf attached to a small pool of black slime, only able to move with those weird, longer-than-its-spine arms. Weird thing was, it wasn’t an actual skeleton but it looked more like solidified slime. Was this Belzac himself manifested, or was this just a golem of his?

Nevertheless, he was attacking!

“Rajah!”

[“Yes, Master!”] With that confirmation call, [Dark Tendril]s shot out from the shadow cast by my fire, grabbing the limbs of the skeletal wolf as it charged forward.

[“Pack member?!”] Belzac shouted in surprise during this ambush, almost letting the skeleton fall onto the ground.

With an opportunity created, Grimnir jumped before me and turned his blasthammer into its gun form. Instead of a manablast or its flamethrower, his weapon shot out a blast of steam at the onnikais and the skeleton, pushing them back through the force instead of hurting them. Without any skin, the blazing hot steam was more like crowd control.

[“GET! OUT! OF! MY! HOME!”]

It felt like one of my veins just popped! “Then don’t attack us before we can, you castle doctrine abuser!”

“Grrrrraaaaah!” Belzac’s golem thing roared out again, forcing Tasianna, Ellaine, and me to actually conclude this might be a potential battle we couldn’t avoid.

Rajah’s and Grimnir’s moves were to prevent a battle, since I knew we weren’t enemies. However, if Belzac really wanted a fight, then he would get it! I did not come here let him run over me, if he didn’t want to help me diffuse the situation!

[“Begone!”] Black magic circles began to appear around the skeleton golem as well as above and under us. It was a fight, then!

[“Stop!”] A female voice suddenly called out.

Due to this sudden telepathic message, my head snapped to the left, towards another tunnel entrance, as I detected three signals coming towards us. Noticing my momentary lapse of attention, Belzac shot out what looked like [Dark Bolt]s, prompting me to snap my head back to him and raise my aflamed arm.

Yet, I didn’t need to spray any flames out or use [Sanctuary] to defend us. Instead, from the left tunnel, a sudden wave of black-purple slime stormed right out of it, blocking the dark spells before it retreated from the white flame wall. The purple fluids squirmed for a moment before it grew in size, turning itself into … a plush dog?

“What?” The four of us blurted out at this unexpected sight. What was this comical thing inside the den of a dead wolf?!

[“Slime, get out of my way!”] Belzac shouted, only for the dog plush to slightly turn fluid again, moving forward to block the skeleton wolf from coming any closer. [“Slime!”]

Slime?

“Shoyi!” Instead of me, Tasianna managed to shout out its name first, causing the melting-looking dog plush to turn its head and form its bead-like eyes into happy half-crescents.

“Damn! The slime really grew in size the last time we met! Is it supposed to still clean our latrines at that size?” Grimnir crackled a bit after he said that, raising his hammer up and down as if to cheer for it. “Nice one, Shoyi. You’ve grown stronger!”

The giant purple plush dog quivered in excitement, confirming this really was our toilet-cleaning slime. The weird liquid sounds it made felt slightly disgusting to hear with all the squishing noises. Even with that and my dislike for slimes, in general, I still couldn’t help but feel happy to see it again.

Not only did it help us, it was even pushing Belzac and agitating him further. It was good to see Shoyi in his evolved form, but it was even better to see he was still an ally as always.

If Shoyi was here, then that meant the others couldn’t be far away!

[“Mom!”] Rajah suddenly jumped out of the shadow as a signal rushed at us, revealing itself to be an elephant-sized, green-black leopard. My black-white horse-sized tiger cub pounced at the leopard, licking her with full affection as the other reciprocated in kind.

[“Rajah!”] The female voice from before appeared in my head again. It belonged to Varya!

“Varya!” I called out to her; the pressure inside me dissipated with her appearance. With wide arms and wings, I joined the mother and son duo, hugging before it as best I could, despite the huge size difference. “You evolved as well! C? No, no, B!”

[“Mistress!”] Varya gave me a big lick against my face, drenching me in her spit. [“It’s been too long!”]

Just like her son, Varya had evolved twice since our party split up during the Elyonda events. Once only the size of a normal virigress, she was now double of Rajah’s size with a muscular body. Her fur around her legs and tail were hardened to the point they felt like metal, and sharp enough to cut things, including me if she hadn’t intentionally softened them up before I hugged her.

It sounded exactly like Rajah’s rank B evolution descriptions—Vayra, Rajah’s mother, had evolved into a rank B vircaguga.

[“What is this?!”] I could still hear Belzac’s voice. [“Step away from her, vircacuga! She brought an enemy into our ho—”]

[“Ancestor, stop.”]

“Gruk!” My body snapped as I felt a freezing shiver running down my spine, forcing my body back into combat mode. I stopped hugging the virigress pair and stood back up, warily looking for the origin of that voice.

What the—?! I was slackjawed; that woman’s voice caused such a weird reaction from my body. I didn’t just feel agitated, but a sense of fear was welling up as an old memory resurfaced from my mind.

It’s her … I could hear the beating of my heart inside my head, followed by the slow footsteps from the tunnel Shoyi and Varya came from. The audible tapping of claws against a hard surface, something any dog or cat owner would know too well.

[“These are—”] I snapped my head around, feeling smaller than usual as the figure of a zombie-like wolf with black slime covering its body appeared. It looked down at me. [“—our allies.”]

Garm matriarch …

I could never forget her face nor her destroyed limbs.

“Sensei!”

“You are alright, thank goodness!”

Saori hugged Tamae, Kohaku, and Kazumi, while the boys and Misaki stood aside to smile. All of them looked happy to see each other again, especially Saori brightened up a bit, despite her more feral-looking appearance.

“Asa-chan.” On the other hand, Haruka embraced a surprised Asaka, who couldn’t hide her embarrassed face in front of Kyouya, Tatsuya, and Daichi. The latter two were even smirking, making fun of the usually abrasive blue-haired girl.

[“Hmph.”] Meanwhile, the voice of the displeased Belzac was mostly ignored by the now more celebratory mood. Still, since I wasn’t hugging anybody, it did weigh on my mind a bit.

[“Don’t let him agitate you. Outside of this shrine area, the ancestor’s presence and ability is non-existent. You should have realized with that excuse of a golem.”]

I snapped my head around to that voice, noticing the zombie-like wolf sit next to me. Hearing her voice after so long … it felt unnerving. [“It’s hard not to … But, thank you, Vidia.”]

Vidia, that was the name Saori gave to the garm matriarch—to her garm mother. Just like mine, her name had some mythological inspiration, coming from an alias of the Norse giant Angrboda. Also known as Iarnvidia, the giantess was known as the mother of the monsters Fenrir and Garm, making it far too fitting. It felt weird for a daughter to give her mother a name, but hearing it from Saori herself, it seemed her mother wanted her to give her one.

Seeing Saori once again really drove home just how long it had been since we last saw each other. I missed her a lot, but I had mostly gotten over since I had Mother and Tasianna around during my Elyonda stay. Now that we met again after Vidia calmed Belzac down, it finally felt like my heart could calm down. The full Aurora reunion was finally here after so long … Even if it only was just a month or so apart.

The siege made everything feel so much longer …

Now, though? Saori and Asaka were catching up with their group, while mine were taking care of the virigress, Shoyi, and, well, Vidia. Ellaine and Grimnir were playing around with the form-morphing Shoyi, who seemed to have gained a more developed ego ever since its first evolution. It was playing around with the two, stunning them at how it could understand us well.

Meanwhile, Rajah was playing with his siblings, who were still only rank Ds. The two other cubs were stunned at how large Rajah was, while their mother looked over them while laying on a bed Saori sewed for them. This medium-sized cavern could fit everybody inside it, and it really looked like a home after some lights were turned on.

Meanwhile, Tasianna had just finished preparing tea, handing me one while offering Vidia some, too.

[“I am good, but I appreciate it,”] Vidia stated before pointing at her body, noting how she was more-or-less still in an onnikai-like state. [“Unlike my daughter’s pack, my black slime hasn’t fully repaired my body yet. So I still haven’t been able to integrate my onnikai form into it yet. I still need some time, but I am already a member of the shadow pack.”]

I looked down at her legs, noticing the fractured bones. The last time we met, Vidia was my enemy … and my first teacher. She died from blood loss with [Arcane Fever] reaching the critical stage, which caused her rampaging mana to explode, destroying her limbs. The wounds I inflicted on her torso and head with my spells were gone, only her legs remained to be repaired.

“… I’m sorry.” Overwhelmed by seeing her like this, I couldn’t help but eke that out sheepishly. I couldn’t even find the confidence to directly look in her eyes; something inside me was still frightened of her, despite our current gap in strength.

Vidia looked at me, tilting her head around as she couldn’t understand what I was saying. As such, I explained to her what had happened after our battle, even reminding her how I had killed not only her partner but also her older children. I couldn’t understand why she was so calm around me; the fact she wasn’t showing any hostility made me feel even worse.

“I know it was self-defence, and that I didn’t have much of a choice after they didn’t relent, but still … I stole everything from you. If the fight hadn’t happened, they would still be alive. I might have even been able to heal you before your condition got worse. I could have bought [Major Heal] to save you.”

A certain part of me didn’t regret killing them, as it was all part of surviving, but I still felt a shimmer of guilt that it had to end like this. The loneliness of being inside the Belzac forest was suffocating, to the point I thought I was going crazy. If we had just become friends or just tolerated each other, how would my story have gone?

[“You are wrong, child.”] Unexpectedly, Vidia didn’t agree with my statement. [“You didn’t steal everything. Don’t you remember? I entrusted you with my daughter, and look how she grew. It has only been a year since my death … but she’s grown so much. Far beyond what I could have achieved. Child, I hold no anger towards you, as you managed to fulfill my wish. You kept her safe.”]

“…” I looked away. “I guess I did … Still, it feels complicated to me. I didn’t just do it for you … I just wanted somebody around. A friend. I mean, I even forgot how you told me to bring her back here. I didn’t even know you were talking about Belzac back then, that he told you Saori and I were the same.”

The last part wasn’t confirmed by anybody, but I figured it out through the evidence on hand. Her words, “The ancestor had advised me not to do it after I communed with him.” Everything that happened that night felt so vivid. The lessons I learned from the garm matriarch during her spartan training were ingrained in my body and were the reason for my continued growth.

While I couldn’t remember every single detail, I could recall a good portion of my discussion with Vidia with the help of my parallel minds. All of it just made sense now. Which confused me since Belzac should have known me. I mean, he did, but he was instantly hostile.

“Life is more complicated than a few exchanged words,” Vidia countered. “However, considering how I was reborn as an onnikai with the ancestor’s powers, maybe a portion of me is angry at you. Enraged that everything I built up was destroyed during that night, no, during the last months before my death. All those years I’ve dedicated to regrowing the Belzac garms, and it was all destroyed by my singular mistake … Can I truly be angry at you, when you managed to preserve my happiness? Allowed me to witness my daughter with all her gained strength?”

I didn’t know her past. I couldn’t deduce it all, but I could understand what she was trying to tell me. Maybe I should follow her example and bury the hatchet; water under the bridge. Since she wasn’t feeling any rage, then I should just accept it. Still, what did she say again? “Life is more complicated than a few exchanged words.” Emotions shared the same problem.

“Hestia! Tasianna!” Saori came over to us, hugging us. I could smell quite a strong stench of blood on her. “I hope everything worked out with the dwarves, but seeing how Grimnir looks better than usual, I can already guess.”

“What is that insult, eh, lass?” Grimnir pouted. “Calling me weird looking when we’ve just met again? Why not just be blunt and call my appearance disgusting! I can say the same with how you reek!”

“Master Grimnir, please!” Ellaine scolded our resident grumbler.

Saori laughed, though, waving her hand as if she wasn’t taking it seriously. “Hehe, forget it. I will not take it personally. I know how much Asaka and I have started to smell. All the fighting and hunting, and I forgot to restock on shampoo and such after we revisited the subspace after so long. It reminded me of our days before we met Tasianna, Hestia.”

My face flinched. “Urgh! You mean the greasy hair and stuff? Oof, yeah.”

“And the cold showers and baths!” Asaka suddenly interjected. “Segawa told me you had those heater ball thingies back then. Why aren’t you making more of them? Segawa only has [Create Water]; she even told me she wouldn’t buy [Fire Magic] to make our life easier!”

Oooh, the memories. The heater balls I used to warm up our showers when we were first stuck in the Belzac forest. That was nostalgia, alright. Sadly, since Shiterno stole my fire spells, I couldn’t reproduce it properly until I got my catalyst, but by that point I had forgotten about it. Honestly, I haven’t done much tool creation outside of different kinds of bombs ever since we first reached Firwood.

Seriously though, it had been so long since I was in the Belzac forest that I did feel some homesickness. This was my birthplace, no matter what Belzac wanted to say to me. Sadly, we were stuck in this underground place due to the old wolf, so I could only continue my discussion with Saori here.

Once everything settled down, we did begin on a nearby table, where I noticed Saori had a husky plushie sitting on a rock chair. She and Asaka had made all the furniture inside this cavern by themselves, so a dog plushie stood out a lot. When I brought it up, Saori quickly hid it, mumbling something about “Goma-kun” or something. Also, didn’t Shoyi transform into a dog plushie as well?

“Oh, so that is how it concluded. Wow.” Saori and Asaka were watching the footage we had made on the video recorder after I had explained everything that had happened on our side to them. “So there is an entire Tiny Japan in Inkoran-Tazul.”

“Yes, yes, but you shouldn’t just focus on that, Sensei!” Tamae, the biggest foodie amongst us, couldn’t help but put another video on. “Here! Look! This is actually a new carbohydrate that I couldn’t find an equivalent to. The shopkeep told me it can only be harvested in Loatryx and the border of Caedhul due to the soil being cultivated by forest dragonewts.”

“Ah, you mean ‘Knakahai?’” Grimnir added. “Yeah, very crispy and quite hard to bite. Weird thing is, you can’t eat it entirely cooked, otherwise it turns almost as hard as rock from the heat. You need to keep it cool once you harvest them, but it soaks up juices like a sponge.”

“Yup!” Tamae pulled something like a dark brown cube from her storage. “Raw—it looks like an apple, but trying to break it apart felt like the crust of a pie. There isn’t any meat inside, but you can taste the juices and other ingredients so well!”

Saori tasted it, breaking a portion off like an energy bar. Once she swallowed it, she couldn’t help but nod as she agreed. She seemed to have liked it, making me curious enough to visit the local market to find some more dwarven or other cultural food. It was nice to have little Japan and dwarves liking Japanese food, but, honestly, outside of the nostalgia, it was weird to eat Earth food in Peolynca. Similar to eating a burger or fries when you visit a place like Vietnam or Spain.

Furthermore, Grimnir explained the reason why we haven’t seen this ingredient more often was due to its low international demand. Knackahai was loved by levianewts and dragonewts since it was crunchy and stimulated their stronger jaws, but even to the hardy dwarves, it felt too difficult to eat and prepare. Evidently, as Tamae told us she could only find them being sold by dragonewts.

Now, our little catch-up sessions turned into an impromptu meal. Well, having some food was nice since the next topic was also about what had happened to Tatsuya and Kyouya after they left the Belzac forest. Not to mention, the heavy topics weren’t over, since we also got an update on the whole grimgarian invasion Saori and Asaka did.

“…Vampires really are assholes.” Asaka looked downtrodden, sounding like she had vaguely figured out Vivachel shouldn't be trusted 100%. “What now? That vampire princess sounded like a lunatic, boys. Do you two think she might become a problem, ‘cause I think she has that sorta vibe.”

“She definitely hates the archerudite of Aleistunum. A fight probably won’t be avoidable,” Tatsuya declared, which I fully agreed with.

Vadisma, the current Blood Princess of Purchigchia, seemed like a problem ready to happen. Sadly, back then, trying to confront her on these topics didn’t seem smart. I mean, even the archerudite, Uzerra, didn’t want to do anything right there. With them most likely once a couple with a strained history, I could guess what he was feeling.

“Although, would they even call for help? Aleistunum struck me as a place that is too proud to call on others. They believe their magic is everything, after all,” four-eyes, Nishio, gave a concise analysis on the situation. Hopefully, this problem won't come to a head any time soon … So we better hope Uzerra’s lifespan wouldn’t end in the near future.

Once that problem was covered, we then went over the grimgarian situation, with Saori explaining how the beastmen slaves she released were starting a rebellion. She reminded me about the lizardmen we met in the Belzac forest and how the grimgarians invaded their lands and turned them into slave labor to work on their “kingdom.”

With the ogre king mostly isolated since he sent a major portion of his forces out to invade the ports as part of the grimgarian invasion, Saori’s invasion was actually very easy. There was barely anybody strong enough to threaten her and her shadow pack outside of running into the ogre king and a few shamans. Still, she made it through and managed to evolve all her garms and Varya to rank B.

“Uno and the others are currently traveling to the swamps. Belzac ordered me to consolidate my role as the ‘alpha predator.’ Since we left, a ton of monsters have spawned, and a good portion of them have taken territory. I am cleaning things up.”

[“The dragon is a threat. She threatens your role!”] Belzac suddenly interjected, trying to frame me as somebody evil in Saori’s eyes.

“Ancestor, shut it!” Without a single hesitation, Saori shouted to defend me. “I do not need you directing every action of mine. I know you ordered my mother to entrust me to Hestia, so will you not keep quiet and let us speak?”

However, grumpy grandad wolf couldn’t care a bit. [“She has done her duty. Fulfilled our wishes. She must now leave like any other outsider. You are still weaker than her, she threatens your rule as the alpha!”]

“Yeah, threaten my friend’s goal. Are you serious?” I scoffed at how scared he was of me, making me feel embarrassed at how intimidated I was of him. “You should be lucky I didn’t bring my sister with me, or my mother! Or my wyvern guards.”

Saori clapped her hands, smirking at the silenced voice. “Ha! Speaking of your sister, you should introduce me to her eventually. It feels like somebody else had to handle your antics in my stead, and I want to hear it all from your sister. Oh, ahem, and I hope Melloxtressa is also doing well.”

I nodded. Mom had been sleeping pretty well, to the point she was sleep talking. A lot. Since I hadn’t moved her out of my bed yet, outside of when my maids had to change bed sheets, I knew her condition pretty well. Still, there was no sign she would wake up anytime soon.

In any case, with the less annoying topics out of the way, Saori and Asaka explained to us the grimgarians were threatening to invade the forest. They had found scouts and even an attempt to make a forward camp through their logging attempts. It was likely another fight would soon begin.

“Then let me help you,” I suggested.

“Us, too, Sensei!” Kyouya joined in with Tatsuya in tow. “We have to sit out of the Event Quest anyways, so we have a ton of time to kill. Daichi, Haruka-chan, and even Tamae-chan are around to help. Well, with the planning, at least.”

However, Saori shook her head. “There will not be a fight. The army is far too large for our small group. Instead, I am planning on using their slaves against them to deal them a bigger blow to them.”

Saori’s plans were inspired by something called the “Haitian Revolution,” which I honestly had never heard about. She was planning on freeing more of the beastmen slaves over there, inciting conflict by having the beastmen flee into Caedhulen territory with the grimgarian’s warship.

This would seriously reduce the grimgarian’s development potential, which would forcefully curb their aggressive tendencies, even forcing them to recall some of their troops overseas. This would help the affected countries from fighting back, potentially even calling for help from stronger countries like Artorias or the Empire. Her intention was to stop the invasion.

“But that won’t stop them from attacking you,” Misaki pointed out. “They are followers of Kronnaz, right? They will only take this as an even worse slight. With more troops recalled, they would only have you as their target.”

“Which is okay,” Asaka replied. “The big bad wolf told us it didn’t matter if we lost the Belzac forest or not, we could always reconquer it when we were stronger. All that mattered is that Segawa survives with her shadow pack and manages to master her training.”

“… So when you meant the ‘clean up,’ you meant you are hunting the monsters in the forest?” Haruka figured it out, causing Saori to nod.

“I have gained a good amount of levels after everything happened, but there are more monsters around to hunt. If the grimgarians want revenge, then let them. I will leave an empty forest for them to own; an empty forest with endless respawning monsters.” Saori then turned silent, letting out a silent sigh as she looked away. She then returned her eyes to us. “As such, Asaka and I cannot leave the forest. We will not join the Event Quest.”

We were shocked, but before we could complain, Asaka raised her hand.

“It isn’t just ‘cause of the grimgarians and our plan. I mean, I would rather go with you than stay with this nagging hag.”

“Oooh, and here I thought we were building up a rapport, Asaka. You wound me.” Saori smirked, looking mischievously towards the uneasy Asaka.

“… Shut it, you … Whatever. The point is, the wolf gave us a Quest to prevent us from leaving this place entirely. Or, to be precise, he had asked Ilsaphone to send us a Divine Quest to learn what he wants to teach Segawa.”

“Yes, and it will unlock our unique Jobs for us.”

We all widened our eyes when she said that.

“As such, we will stay here and handle things for you on this front. Get stronger and then we will attack the Prince of Envy together! Hestia, could I ask you a favor and have the Ankoran King send a message to Caedhul for us? To potentially await beastmen slaves?”

I frowned as I heard Saori say all of this, feeling very conflicted on what to say. I nodded to her request but my tensed face couldn’t relax, urging me to speak my mind.

“Saori … are you sure? This … All of this has nothing to do with your dream. Why are you staying in a single location; in a cave inside the Belzac forest at that! What about traversing the world with me! Watching me perform as an idol? Why … W-why …” I kept stuttering, as I realized I was being a bit too pushy here. “Why are you doing all of this? This shouldn’t make you happy, or?”

Saori showed slight shock when I said all of that, letting her eyes wander as everybody turned quiet. She rubbed her hand against her right eye, frowning like an annoyed kid as looked at the table.

“Things … Things just never work the way you want it all to work. I do not really know either. Maybe I have just changed?” She shrugged. “Like I changed personally by being around you. I do not think I would have done something this absurd without you showing me there was more than just being a coward. Too careful about everything.”

“Sensei …” The students knew Saori just as well as I did. In fact, they even knew her past self on Earth, so they should understand what Saori was doing here.

Instead of pursuing her own dreams and wants, she was once again forced to adapt to her new situation out of necessity. She had to become a teacher back on Earth instead of a historian due to money issues, and she even turned into a chef and seamstress to make money for our group, instead of pursuing her more intellectual pursuits.

At least, before, she could wander the world with us, seeing new sights and meeting new people, but now she was stuck inside this cave. For what? For training? Why couldn’t she visit us more often? Why was Belzac restricting her? It felt insane. She was placing our happiness before hers, just like what she did on Earth.

“… I don’t want to lecture any of you, but, sometimes, an adult just has to do what is necessary.” She shrugged once again, thinking nothing of it.

“You can do more than that, thought, lass,” Grimnir reprimanded her. “I know balddarg ain’t always good, and sometimes you just don’t have a choice, but don’t look at it too bleakly. If I had, I would have never joined Aurora.”

Tatsuya nodded. “Sensei, we’re not just your students anymore. We are adults. Ask us for help, too.”

“You should take your own advice, Saori …” I frowned, finding it sad to see her like this. “Lean on me, too, alright? We won’t push you about the grimgarians, but call for help, alright?”

“Hehe.” Saori smiled, but Asaka didn’t look too convinced of her changed mood. “Do not forget your situation is just as hard, or even harder, Hestia. Politics and your role as a party leader; you have grown well into it. Do not worry, once I am done here, I will get some fresh air. In fact, we still do not have information on our enemies in Aureolis, right?”

“We were planning on sending some Sarlenzia spies over,” Tasianna answered before frowning. “Please, don’t tell me, Miss Saori …”

The fenrir suddenly gave a wolfish grin. “I was planning on testing Belzac’s tricks and magics on somebody. Also, it would be fun to travel through Artorias again, if you ask me. Right, Asaka?”

“Leave me out of it. The moment we’re done here, I’m going back to Haru-chan.” She wrapped an arm around her best friend.

Saori just shrugged. “Then, I will just travel the country with my mother.”

My eyes widened when she said that, reminding me how she had wanted to do it with her human mother. I nodded, accepting Saori's decision at the end of the day.

“We have a date in Aureolis, alright?” My statement naturally caused the others to question why I was giving up so easily, but I told everybody we weren’t her parents. “I’ll kick her ass if she intends to stay here. In fact, I will kick Belzac’s stinky, skeleton out of his grave if he forces her to stay here.”

[“You insolent little …”] I could hear his growling and grinding teeth.

I smirked. “The point is, the intervention can wait until she breaks her promise. We won’t be able to persuade her when her mind is settled on this plan.”

“Thank you,” she thanked me.

I nodded before standing up to stretch.

The easy part is over.

“Ellaine?” I turned around to our blue-haired noble.

She nodded and raised her hand where her spell rings were. She then turned towards the direction of Belzac’s position. “Lord Belzac, I wish to ask you about Klea’Hatma.”

[“Grrrr … The filth.”]

Once mortal enemies, Belzac was probably one of the few mortals who was still “alive” to speak about the Archdemon of Lust, Klea’Hatma. Now, he would speak with her contractor.

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