A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

“‘I have witnessed the Prince of Envy transform into Pope Gwyn. The Goddess’s Divine Quest has enlightened me!’ That was what our Holy Radiant told us—the person appointed both a Champion and Saint,” Saintess Fleindia began. “Lord Leamerx is our Holy Radiant, the leader of the Pantheon of Light blessed inside the Empire. Due to the size of the Folschreck Empire, having a central figure for us blessed was important to hold our different opinions together. So many cultures, personalities, and, especially, patron gods comprised our blessed that it is hard to keep everybody united when all of our opinions vary.”

“Right, and the lot of you rarely receive a proper message from your god, which makes it hard to follow the ‘correct path.’ You have to follow what you think is the correct one … even if it’s wrong,” Vifi’Yok commented, causing Fleindia to scowl at her. The former just shrugged, but, thankfully, decided to drop the matter.

Fleindia closed her eyes, before opening them up again. “‘Holy Radiant’ was the title given to the church of Goddess Aurena’s first pontifex, and it has been a tradition ever since to make the one most worthy of becoming both Champion and Saint our leader. However, over time, the church leadership split apart into the Holy Radiant, the leader of the blessed, and the pontifex, the elected leader of the church. That is why we call him ‘pope,’ as in for the most popular person for the role.”

“I’ve heard about the Holy Radiant,” King Drangleic stated. “However, the common person probably hasn’t, as the local bishop would be the leader they’ve in mind. To most in the western countries worshiping the Goddess, the Holy Radiant might as well just not exist.”

“It is also a human concept,” King Elutis interjected. “‘Both champion and saint?’ The first was, but isn’t the current Holy Radiant only a saint? That is how the leadership between the blessed and church split apart in the first place, as the Goddess of Light had decided not to nominate another with both roles.”

Fleindia brows furrowed slightly, but she nodded nevertheless. “Correct. It cannot be helped, but we still require the Holy Radiant as a role for those in the Empire. The Champion of Yeostar guides us in battle, while the Holy Radiant maintains peace between us, as we are the Pantheon with the most blessed. I understand Saint Ynagar has no need for them, though.”

“I see you’ve met our Pantheon of Light saint.” King Elutis’s eyes slightly widened. “Yes, that traveler of ours is too independent to follow behind any man or woman for any reason. Saelariel hasn’t heard from him in a long time, but he is most likely still traveling around as a human to preach the Light Goddess words and granting healing to the needy.”

So the elves do have a Saint of Aurena? And he travels around, hiding as a human to help others? Wow.

Fleindia continued, “Nevertheless, Lord Leamerx is still the one ‘closest to the Goddess’ and as such, was chosen as our Holy Radiant … Well, until Champion Hestia was born. In any case, it was through him that we’ve become aware of the Prince of Envy for ten years now.”

I hadn’t exactly heard from Aurena how long the Prince of Envy took over the pope position … But how strange that it coincided with the fact Davison, that alchemist we met in Firwood who captured faefolk for his experiments, also left Estralia and ventured into Artorias to build up his reputation and cause the near extinction of the Belzac garms during this exact time. He had a “Master” and even used a refined demonic potion.

When I brought this up, King Drangleic and King Elutis nodded to me. They’ve come to the same conclusion when they heard this information.

“How curious that it all connects to this main point, again.” Elutis looked over at Reajaen for a moment, causing the foxian to nod.

She rummaged through her notes, bringing up a piece of parchment. “Davison and O’Bloom were both demonkin sympathizers. The former only joined up with the latter after we had our disagreement, but I always found it weird how they joined forces so quickly. Maybe they were already in contact before the poaching blew up in our faces?”

King Drangleic massaged his temples, looking perturbed by this revelation. “How insidious. So the diplomatic scandal Davison almost caused with his actions was probably also part of the demonkin’s plans, or, it wasn’t and just a side effect of his partnership with the Prince of Envy or whoever.”

“Regardless, the result would have been similar if Princess Hestia hadn’t stopped him for you.” Elutis’s words were harsh, prompting Drangleic to nod. “I expect you and your people to uphold our alliance this time, my fellow king.”

“And I will assure my heir and theirs will remember this pact. I swear this on my grandfather’s and father’s names.”

“… Yes, your father would be immensely proud of you. This is one sin we Saelari, myself especially, will hold on our hearts. For the good and well-being of this alliance.”

“The demonkin only wish for humankind to splinter.” Fleindia’s words caused Vifi’Yok to pout for a split second, before she turned away again.

Meanwhile, Klea could only giggle. [“With how everything went in Griffonpeak, Estralia, and in Yeos, I would be more surprised if humanity didn’t splinter. They’ve prepared for so long, after all … So, let me guess, it took you this long to actually execute your plan to kick out the prince and, in the end, it all failed?”]

Fleindia scowled, irritated by Klea’s words. She closed her eyes and opened them again after she took a deep breath. “Yes … demon. Lord Leamerx and the blessed back then tried to expose the pope, but during the night before we made the announcement, Lord Learmerx suddenly told us to stop.”

Eyes widened, pale face, and twitching hands—those were the characteristics as Fleindia remembered back then, which surprised me mostly ‘cause I didn’t think Fleindia was that tenured of a Saintess. She didn’t look as young as my blessed mentor, Eshe, but she also didn’t look like she was in her forties or so.

In any case, Learmerx was a stern and prudent cardinal before he became a blessed and the Holy Radiant, as they called him. Consequently, his change in attitude caused an uproar within the blessed, prompting the blessed to try to pray for wisdom from their gods, but they were met with silence.

“The gods cannot intrude too much into mortal affairs. As you can see, the Head Goddess herself will punish even Origin Gods if this law is broken,” King Elutis commented, referring to the penalty on the Pantheon of Light.

Whether the gods couldn’t speak or it was ‘cause of this divine law, the damage was done. A Divine Quest was given to this Leamerx and he had told everybody to bide their time until the time was right to strike back against the pope. Time went by as they watched the pope rise in power, while the blessed began to lose their influence as corrupt clergymen and women rose in status.

Closely monitored by the pope’s people, the group of blessed had begun to splinter apart as the pressure and wait strained on them. “Patience like a saint” sure wasn’t preached amongst everybody in this group. It was exacerbated by the fact they knew the Empire was changing and that they couldn’t do anything about it, all while the gods couldn’t advise them on this matter.

“I was one of the many who joined the insurrection. Our rebellion against the pope. All this time while I was performing my duty as a Saintess, all I could do was watch over my shoulder as shadows snuck outside my bedroom. The lycerepth had become more stringent, His Holy Majesty, the Holy Emperor of Light, believed the false pope over the Holy Radiant, and it felt like everyday the faith towards the church of Aurena’s ‘Goddess’ was rising, while our real Goddess was left to lament about our inability and incompetence … As such, I agreed to fight back, to banish the shadow enveloping the light and hope within our home!”

“… And that led to the news of multiple blessed being assassinated, correct?” Ellaine stated, remembering what I told her.

Fleindia’s fervor vanished, the light in her eyes disappeared for a moment, as if she had momentarily lost all hope. Tears began to seep from her eyes. “Saints are usually accompanied by Champions, as long as there was one available. Mine, Champion Cleionvall, had been both my mentor and partner since I became a Saint … During that despicable night, we were all ambushed by multiple demonkin assassins, including one fighter we hadn’t expected to appear … a Warbringer.”

“… The second seat. The left-hand man of Lord Wrath,” Vifi answered. “I had only heard the sin heirs of Lord Gluttony and Greed had participated—weak fighters, more schemers like Envy. The first seat would never leave Lord Wrath’s side, while I was in Estralia during that time; it had to have been the second seat.”

“A monster.” Fleindia’s words unnerved me, as I knew myself how powerful Vifi was. How much stronger were the three people standing above her? “I did not watch how my fellow blessed were cut down, as we were all separated during that moment. I only learned everything later. Champion Cleionvall charged into my room in the middle of the night, informing me we had to escape, only for that Warbringer to appear … I could never forget the blood tainting the muddy water covering his body, nor the horns and tail he showed.”

“Yeah, that’s him, all right.” Vifi nodded, confirming her guess.

I ignored her comment. “How did you survive?”

Fleindia sighed, looking exhausted at this point. Retelling the story had drained her, but she continued, “My Champion died during the battle to protect me, but before the demonkin could kill me, Light appeared. Hero Light, whom you may know as Franz, appeared just at the right moment, scaring the demonkin away with his party.”

Franz?

She continued, “You mention him being your cousin from your past life, correct? You should be proud. Jumping right in front of a Warbringer who killed a Champion. Indeed, even if he is a false hero, his actions were heroic. He saved my life. After the demonkin escaped and the guards arrived, I learned that nine champions and saints had died during this encounter. I would’ve been the tenth … although …”

I bit my lips. “Saintess Eshe …”

She nodded, looking like she was about to cry. “W-we all heard about you from the Goddess. We couldn’t leave the Empire since we were monitored, so when we heard Saintess Eshe was able to leave Sarkafiina, we were elated, as she would escape … but we didn’t think her tenure as one of the blessed would end so quickly and abruptly.”

“I’m sorry.”

One of the largest wounds in my heart re-opened as I remembered finding Eshe’s body during the Griffonpeak siege, murdered by a demonkin. Just like the blessed in the Empire, the demonkin sent to Artorias were meant to kill Eshe and me, all to finish their coup d’état. I managed to avenge her afterwards, but seeing one of my friends dead before I could even help her …

Hearing this once again made me grip my hands into a fist, but I held myself back from even tearing back. In fact, all of this only steeled my will even further. Eshe, that benevolent person who loved orphans and risked her life and status to save them was made a Saintess ‘cause of that. Instead of saving herself, she sacrificed her life to save the people from Griffonpeak.

Would that person want another huge war? Would that person want me to lead people to kill people from her homeland?

“She will always be remembered here in Artorias, Saintess Fleindia,” King Drangleic stated, looking mournful. “She had no duty, but she still saved numerous commoners when my knights and guards couldn’t. ‘Saintess Eshe Day’ will be a beloved day, I assure you that.”

“Thank you. She should not be forgotten. I had hoped my fellow blessed would be remembered in the Empire, but after a day of mourning, nothing else has happened. The nobility and commonfolk are just … living their lives.” Fleindia sounded a bit vindictive. “Lord Leamerx has been unconscious ever since that day. Light became my new ‘Champion’ as a way for the church to monitor me after they ‘scared me’ out of rebelling, while the former kept me at an arm’s length as he believed I was at his side to monitor him. Admittedly, I did not trust him as I knew he was part of the demonkin’s plan to destabilize the church.”

“Destabilize how?” I asked.

“Similar to the false pope, the heroes were summoned there as an alternative to the blessed of the Goddess. It was to weaken our influence by making those otherworlder more important in the minds of the people, and, if everything else fails, the demonkin could turn the young men and women into scapegoats to take the fall for any disaster and, consequently, make people second guess the Goddess. It’s all in the effort to create chaos within the Empire. To break it apart. The ensuing civil war would engulf everything, I believe,” she stated. “In fact, that dragonslayer was actually contracted to kill me. I was to die by his hands while the Empire tried to spin it to denounce you, Champion Hestia. That you killed me.”

Wait, what?

“Did Galg tell you that?”

She nodded. “His katzune companion did, and it seemed like they accepted the request as a party, instead of just him. No eye witnesses were allowed to live, so they killed everybody around me as they weren’t allowed to kill the otherworlders. Luckily, the gambit portal opened just in time and, instead of coming after me, his eyes locked on you. That saved my life.”

Are you telling me ‘cause Galg was hardcore obsessed with killing me that Fleindia survived all of that? That his obsession for dragon hunting took over his senses to just finish the easy job for the money? OMG, how am I supposed to feel about that bastard now?

“Meaning, the members who accompanied me were collateral,” King Fugnarus responded, looking pensively at his documents. “And then that mage tried to taunt me using the bodies of everybody … Damnation. I pray Goddess Death resurrects those slayers as humanoids in their next lives, just so I can smash them into a bloody pulp.”

With Fleindia’s story done, most looked at Vifi to gauge her response, but she just shrugged it off. She told us there was nothing to say, as anything she could say would only fall into deaf ears. “War is war,” she told us, the same mantra she had been telling me. Everybody kept quiet, as there was no need to say otherwise.

“There is one last thing, Champion Hestia,” Fleindia began. “In case you haven’t heard, the Hand of Heaven—the Holy Emperor’s imperial guards—were once the personal knight order of the church of Aurena, founded by Goddess Erithia. In her last message, she had also mentioned, ‘Hands. Return. Hestia.’ If I may be so bold to interpret it, I believe she wants the Hands of Heaven to once again serve our religion, and that she wants you to do so.”

Of course, me. That Erithia was the one to put all that damn pressure on me back in Elyonda! Tsk, if she even thinks of reading my mind right now, then you better hear this … Pah, I don’t want to taunt a Goddess who already hates me.

However, regardless of that fact, Fleindia’s story had given me the arguments, motivation, and, most importantly, reminders of what I had to do. Who cared if I didn’t have any political power in this matter? Who cared if I was just the ‘leader’ of this alliance in name only and that my decision wouldn’t have an impact on their opinion?

I am not a political pawn. I am Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor. I am a fucking idol with the backing of an Origin Goddess.

I grit my teeth and clenched my hands into fists once again, took a deep breath, before sharpening my gaze upon the six people sitting before me. I was no longer the mediator.

“With that said, let me lay this before you all. I oppose a full-out war onto Bole’Taria, and, consequently, the Empire of Folschreck.”

The four main members of this alliance looked at each other, slightly shocked, but not overly. Once they were finished—whether they talked through telepathy or not—they turned their eyes back onto me. Their expressions looked sterner than before.

King Fugnarus said, “Your opinion as the figurehead and mediator has been taken into, as such, we shall—”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” I wagged my finger. “This isn’t my decision as your alliance’s face. No, you will all accept my decision, unless you want me to officially leave this group.”

“You’re intending to step back?” King Drangleic’s eyes widened.

“Preposterous.” King Elutis’s gaze sharpened, looking slightly irritated. “This alliance was made in addition to aid you in your Divine Quest, Meoschaera. I understand you might not like the terms or our goals, but we share an objective. It would not do you any good to throw this chance away.”

Oh, is he calling this a tantrum? Okay, how about I escalate it then?

“There it is.” I pointed at him with a softer tone than before. “I see your opinion of me right now. Just like King Fugnarus when we spoke about this on the train. Both of you are seeing me as only a child, a naive child who wishes for something better. This is where I have to remind you that I did say that a war is inevitable. I understand the social and political repercussions King Fugnarus will face if he doesn’t act on this casus belli. I understand that, and I will not stop him.”

“Then—” Maelexus wanted to speak, but was promptly silenced by Neill talking over him.

With a face equally as curious as everybody else on the table, she asked, “Then what are you exactly stating? You know my opinion already, so I’m a bit confused about what you are aiming for here with this argument.”

It’s ‘cause I’m freestyling here with this new information, Sis. Sorry!

“My point is that a war cannot be stopped, even if you, me, or anybody else in Aurora speaks up against it. It isn’t our place to speak up against the countries who wish for it. The issue I have is the ‘full-out war’ I spoke up against, the fact that nobody is properly taking into consideration that this will only involve even more innocent people!” I then directed my head to Drangleic. “Saintess Eshe loved the orphans she saved, but even she does not wish for more orphans to be made. You are spitting on her legacy by accepting this war without proper limits!”

He winced, so I continued by looking over at King Elutis.

“King Elutis, tell me, do you knowwhat my Divine Quest actually means? I am to root out the issue in the church of Aurena and fix the foundation for it to grow.”

“Unless you rid yourself of the demonkin agitating everything, or change the Empire supporting the church, you will not be able to,” he argued with no hesitation. “You will face nobles, commoners, and fanatics who will oppose you unless you can change their ways. Can you do that?”

“Whether I can or not is another question, because I am not just a champion; I have declared myself an ‘Idol of Aurena.’ I am an idol through-and-through, and that means I am an entertainer who wishes to bring smiles to everybody through my songs, dance, and actions. I might be a dragon who can solve things with claws and fire, but I also wish for the awe of people. This war will not serve that purpose for the Empire.”

“Smiles? What about the smiles lost because of the demonkin? The smiles lost when the Empire reaped the life of faefolk? The smiles lost upon the conscription of foreign soldiers from vassal states, to send them to die on the frontlines whether they are old or simple children? Do you oppose the fact that I feel Saelariel threatened? That I feel my people will soon be in danger from all of this? The children, women, and men I am supposed to defend? To leave everything to, what, your entertainment? … Do you see this as a game?”

“I see this as reality.” Like him, I couldn’t step back. One wrong move or opening was all he needed to shut me down completely! “The reality that you are forcing your hatred of the Empire, or maybe even just humans in general, onto a different target now that three human countries are ready to ally up with you. You do not want to wish ill upon your allies … but a hundred arrows onto your enemies for what they did to your allies. Correct?”

“… Your point?”

Bull’s eye.

“Do you consider the young humans born after the War for the Faefolk enemies? How about those who had never heard about it and are just living their lives day-by-day? Are they at fault?” I used my experience during the onnikai incident as my main points. “I say no, or are you condemning children for what their elders did? You are far older than me, so I am curious. Has my father or grandfather done anything you didn’t like? Has my mother done something you liked? Vice versa? Will you attribute all those achievements as mine now, twisting my image? Or do you currently see me as my own person who is discussing with you within this summit as an equal?”

“… The latter, Princess Hestia. You made your point, I can see the logical fallacy in mine, but it still doesn’t answer my woes. What about my people? I need to defend them.”

“And you will, because I wish for them to listen to my singing as well to make them happy. I am not asking for the world here, but I am asking for everybody to be reasonable, instead of deciding everything with a rash mind.” I then turned to Maelexus, Drangleic, Reajaen, and Renee. “However, unless you do, I will have to leave this alliance, and I will assure you, I will fight back against your decision. I will make it harder on all of you.”

“You are speaking as an opposition now, Princess.” King Fugnarus grimaced, along with his wife. Both looked like I was betraying them. “I do not take kindly to you trying to undermine my duty as a king, even if we had bled together on the battlefields. I consider you somebody I can trust with my back at this point, lass, to the point I was willing to work with your previous stance. However, at this point, your arguments are grating on my ears.”

I furrowed my brows, slightly insulted at his last sentence. “If it hurts you, then how do you think I felt listening to everything up until now, King Fugnarus? War? Can war be declared that easily, or did you not think about the lives that will be lost in this? Did any of you consider my situation in this, or did you believe you were doing the correct move because it was ‘obvious?’ What is obvious about me slaughtering people who genuinely worship Goddess Aurena? To get to the corrupt nobles and church members, we have to sacrifice so many lives to achieve that. Lives who love and pray to the Goddess of Light with the purest intent!”

“No war can be won without some casualties. Do you assume I will forgive and forget those who died during Maagneil’s rampage?” He banged the table, seething with rage. “Enough! If we cannot concede to each other’s points, and you have to rely on insults to get me to talk, then this discussion is worthless. Leave if you must. The alliance will move, regardless.”

“Oh really?” I tilted my head, lowering my voice a bit. “Should I remind you who I am, King Fugnarus? I have no political power like you, and I won’t use my name here. What I have are my achievements and what they have brought me. The information I’ve learned up until now. For example … King Drangleic, how much do the commonfolk in Griffonpeak, Firwood, Cedaraille, and Ullister support me?”

His eyes widened once again, speechless as he realized what I was aiming for here.

“Correct.” I smirked. “I don’t need the latter three in this, all I need is to destabilize your capital through my reputation and songs. Make sure the people understand what you are doing here, and I can tell you, I will persuade your dukes into supporting me. How about Shaturein? Do I need to remind you that you two swore an oath of friendship with me?”

I then turned to Reajaen and Renee. “Gleisvale in Estralia know me, and I can perform once again. Estralia is a merchant state, and they follow what is most profitable right now, and that is my knowledge from Earth. I don’t need to say anything about Yeos’s Elyonda, right, Re—Rhea?”

She chuckled, shaking her head with a wide smile. “No, you don’t, Your Grace. The people of Elyonda and the refugees love you for granting their most severe wounds the white grace. Even if they hate the Empire right now, our knights and soldiers will feel apprehensive about fighting them, especially if you were to make your opinion public.”

“And I only serve your will, Princess Hestia. My life is in your hands until I have to face judgement.” Reajaen then turned to King Elutis. “Until she deems me worthy to die, I will only support the one who saved my son. Who granted him a second chance on life.”

King Elutis’s hands twitched, almost clenching them into fists.

“You were chosen by God Yeostar!” Markval, surprisingly, spoke up. “You saved numerous people when we were all stuck inside that arena. The nobles and knights will not forget your actions, Your Grace. Your mother defeated Karhanlantheel and your allies saved our city. You defeated the demonkin who attacked our capital.”

“He’s right.” Vifi sneered. “No political power might be correct, but you have public sentiment on your side for three, no, four nations, right?”

“She’s right,” Neill agreed, leaning back on her chair as she looked over at the dragonewts of Loatryx.

“… Father,” Midirn in the back whispered.

Before Maelexus could speak, I drilled the dagger deeper. “There is something Kramps has told me when I first met him in his divine realm. The dragonkins are supposed to be the defenders of the world, that was his part of the oath to Goddess Aurena. What has Kargryx done? What has Loatryx done? I am not suggesting you to go to war here, as Kargryx and my sister won’t support that opinion, but the fact remains that you are agreeing to join a war like this without really considering your role in Kramps’s eyes.”

I pointed at my clan Kargryxmor emblem on my dress, before raising my hand up to the ceiling. “Choose one: do not wage war, or do what is correct and help change the world for the better. Assure that lives won’t be wasted because this war has a wrong target. Your enemy isn’t the Empire as a whole, it is the corrupt nobles, priests, and such. Your war target, on the other hand, is Bole’Taria’s leadership!”

I rose from my chair.

“This isn’t just a war, this is a faith war. A war between Goddess Aurena and the Pantheon of Light against the ruined church of Aurena and their ‘Goddess.’ This isn’t one where blood will change anything, no, the only way to change animosity is with words and belief. This is the war that I will lead, until our military prowess is needed to push the demonkin out of the Empire. That is my Divine Quest!” I declared. “Have I made myself clear?”

“We lower our tail in your presence!” Maelexus and Midirn both rose from their chairs to kneel before me with their tails placed in between their legs.

“Elyonda supports the Cham—Nay, the Idol of the Goddess!” Renee and Markval stated.

“House Resclave will serve Princess Hestia, and will mobilize Estralia’s resource to our mutual benefit.” Reajaen bowed to me.

King Drangleic, on the other hand, hesitated and looked over to his wife and advisors. They were whispering with grimaces, understanding the situation was dire enough to fully dedicate, what felt like, five minutes to finish their talks. After they were done, the king looked in pain, while his queen pushed him to speak with a nod. He took a deep breath.

“Under these circumstances …” He gulped, his eyes darting around the room. “Artorias will continue to support Saelariel and Ankor-Nazta.”

… Crap.

Artorias’s whole reason to betray the Empire was to reconnect with the dwarves and elves. This was the wish most of his dukes desired, so I understood why he had to take their side on this matter. It was not an easy decision for them, as King Drangleic was the initiator of this summit. Betraying his friendship with me, or betraying his diplomatic pact with Ankor-Nazta, which he had been working on for years now.

This created an impasse. I sat back down. I stared at King Elutis and King Fugnarus. Fleindia did thank me quietly for supporting her, but she was now wary of the two strongest factions in this summit.

None of us said anything.

“… I suggest we dismiss this topic until the next day.” As I was no longer the mediator, King Elutis stepped forward. “There is also the subject of the Earth Elemental Emperor and the dragonslayer leonid.”

“You may have him.” I took out the orb with the elemental from my storage and threw it over to King Fugnarus’s bodyguard, having him inspect the catalyst before giving it over to his king. “He hasn’t spoken much, but just remember that Goddess Crustacia didn’t wish him to die. She told me to keep him, but I believe he would be better in your hands.”

“… Thank you very much, Princess Hestia.” Queen Tragaya bowed for her husband. “The church of Crustacia abandoned our ‘father’ for the Earth Mother, but we wisewoman will still treat him with the dignity of our former god.”

“There still has to be consequences for what he did to our land, though,” King Fugnarus added. “He might have been affected by demonic influence, but he still stole many lives through his actions.”

I agreed, and it was best for them to deal with this subject. I didn’t need to know about it now, but I could see the results later on. As such, it brought us to the dragonslayer topic, and to summarize it, the dragonslayer leonid, Rikara, only mentioned what Fleindia said and then how we were “encouraged” to seek out the dragon in the newspaper.

“To the losers, only death awaits them. You will get no answer from me, haha!” she said, followed by a ton of coughing, according to the interrogation report. The guards tried to get even a crumb of information from her, but the leonid had too many mental fortification skills to be broken down.

“Unless you wish to speak—”

I stopped King Fugnarus. “No thanks. I don’t need to know every single detail of the life of my assassins. If she is to be executed, then have Neill do it or somebody else.”

Uurgh, tired.

The discussion hadn’t been long, but I was already at my mental limit. Freestyling that last part had garnered me support from our two weakest members and one top tier in Loatryx. Sadly, the three other leading members of the alliance hadn’t budged. That was headache inducing, and I just wanted to stop it here.

“Princess Hestia.” However, King Fugnarus wouldn’t let me. “Why exactly are you trying to do this the hard way?”

“… Because it is the correct way. The war between the humans and demonkin has to stop, otherwise one side will be annihilated. No race deserves to go extinct.”

“Do you think you can win against the pope, though?” To my surprise, Fleindia asked. “To go on a religious war, you have to convince our holy capital to acknowledge you as a blessed and that your way is the correct way, including exposing the pope. Can you overcome years upon years of religious upbringing, and then do the same for their loyalty to the Empire? If you can’t, then there will be an actual war.”

“Ha!” I laughed in her face as my mouth curved into a smile. “A cute girl with the Goddess backing her while she sings and helps people sounds more charismatic compared to a grimy old man sitting on his religious throne surrounded by sycophants? No contest. Besides, I now have you, and our memories of Eshe. I won’t let her down … and if an actual war happens, then we have plan B.”

I pointed at the alliance. “As I said, a war has to be waged, but that doesn’t mean you need to start it right away. There is time to ready yourselves, muster your forces, and craft gear. You don’t need to charge right into it the moment the casus belli is called upon, or at least, that is what I think.”

“… We shall consider it.” King Elutis stood up and adjourned today’s meeting.

Heh. Consideration is better than nothing.

Yup, politics was hard … so I guess it was time to recharge my batteries with some fun moments now! Time for the monster room, loot appraisal, and unique Job time!

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