A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

Rye, tomato, potato, carrot, aubergine, onions, garlic, sugar beets, and cabbages. Those were the types of produce you could get from the local Aureolis City farms, fully available at good prices to the citizens, while everything else would have to be delivered through merchants at exorbitant prices. As such, sugar and honey were the most common seasonings around, with salt and peppers being mostly imports.

Naturally, farm animals were also abundant, with sheep, goats, chicken being the most common; even most of the city natives had one or two giant chicken chocochuckles. Rounding out this core selection of meats, the farmers also had domesticated skorrs and equerochsen, supplying pork and beef.

As I noticed on the day I arrived here, there were also a few fishermen, meaning fish was part of people’s diet as well. Mostly river fish, though, as it would be too costly to import other kinds of seafood.

Those were our options to help the restaurateur. No imported goods or spices, nor anything fancy that required too much work to make. Yeast was an option I had considered, but the contract I had with the Sarlenzia company made it too much of a conflict of interest to use here. It was a “luxury” product in Artorias, so it should stay that way for a bit to help me rebuild my finances.

In any case, those were the requirements and our restrictions! What did my friendly Aurora chefs say?

“Sounds like a ripe opportunity for gossip gathering.” Saori smiled.

“Something easy to make, only uses local produce, and has to be enough to dazzle people into eating!” Tamae excitedly smiled as she began to brainstorm, only for me to clear up that last part. “… It doesn’t have to be amazing? Just enough to be considered new by the locals? Well, that is a shame. Where is her joy for good food? Oh well, I can still do something with that. To the kitchen, Sensei!”

It was still relatively early into the afternoon, so the two had quite some time to prepare something. The unfortunate part was that they had to use my kitchen since the students didn’t have their own, as their rooms were designed with the intention of going to the church’s private cafeteria to eat. My room, for instance, now smelled like roasted meat; even though it was a nice scent, it was still pretty annoying to sleep with, since it kept making me hungry.

Once morning came, I went through my new routine properly while those two kept on working inside my kitchen, planning to go to the eatery at lunch break. Morning prayer was decent, although a bunch of priests were still giving me the side-eyes courtesy of yesterday’s issues; additionally, the vicar still wasn’t showing. Afterwards, Master and I had a talk with High Bishop Rasheid concerning Master’s demands, catching the old man slightly off-guard.

“I understand they must have infuriated you, but you have to see reason, Saint Kushlek’zar. We need the support of the mages, as well!”

Master growled. “My student deserves a modicum of respect for all she’s done. She has been fighting and risking her life for the sake of Goddess Aurena’s goal, and all your fellow clergymen do is spit upon her efforts! Failure should be discouraged, but ignoring success only hinders the growth of young minds.”

“Then how else will we do this?” the bishop turned to me. “You told me you aren’t willing to tell me the entire story for now, and that the Pope is the Goddess’s enemy. That your Divine Quest demands him to abdicate his role as the leader of the Church of Aurena to hand it over to the blessed. If it is the Goddess’s will and if it helps avenge Lady Eshe, I will support you, but not like this. This makes my efforts futile!”

“You didn’t hear how much they insulted me. You were in the auditorium, teaching. I’m sorry I was late yesterday, but I am not used to such a strict schedule.”

School … It has been too long.

I continued, “A weird first day, then a dramatic second day; sounds pretty normal considering nobody is used to a dragon blessed. If I had been a human kid, sure, everything might have gone well and quiet … but I’m not.”

Rasheid let out a small sigh through his nose, looking displeased but less agitated than before. “That is … true. There are no documented draconic blessed, at least, none who have ventured into Altrust.”

“None at all,” Neill replied, wanting to accompany me today after what happened yesterday. “Kramps is a cranky old man. No dragonkin, whether lesser or true, or even dragonewts. None of my family was … adequate—yeah, that’s a better word—for his standards, until my little sister was born.”

“And we’ve also never had a beastman blessed, either,” Rasheid continued. “Ah, I see. Yes, considering how the majority of the beastmen of any kind view the Empire, I really shouldn’t be surprised … but it feels too out of place, considering we live and breathe to serve the Goddess! A blessed is the extension of Her will.”

“Which is why it is so hard to change things, High Bishop,” Fleindia added. “This is a major upheaval in how the church will be governed and led. If all the stars had aligned in Hestia’s favor, maybe what happened yesterday wouldn’t.”

Regardless, what was done was done. I fully supported our actions yesterday, as I actually feel pretty peeved at people calling me out for something they had no idea about. Nevertheless, giving up on them was, as the bishop said, not the smartest move, although I didn’t need all of them to agree with me. I just needed some to accept me.

As such, the easiest way to show them that I was one of them was to show it. Separating from most of my current companions, I went to the mage’s training field with Master, Tasianna, and Ellaine. In view of everybody and even those in the admin building, we took up a small area for ourselves where the four of us continued with our magic training.

“‘Would it be possible for you to transfer your blessings onto others?’” Master tilted his head. An [Air Shield] blocked any sounds from escaping, so we were speaking loudly.

I nodded. “Your revelation in Elyonda, remember? How I can imbue my usurped blessings into my songs? Now, I haven’t exactly tried Ilsaphone’s, Plesia’s, or Edna’s—maybe Yeostar or Erithia, too, if I could convince Renee and Fleindia to become my retainers—but I have proven your hypothesis with Danterno’s and Aurena’s blessings. Now, what if I developed a way to bless my retainers without needing to use my songs? Give them a piece of the pie?”

It was just a random thought, but Kramps made it clear [Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood]’s primary function was to allow me to access my blessings’ power, allowing me to use [Light Horizon] from [The Light]. It honestly sounded like Kramps and Aurena might have planned for me to go on a pilgrimage to gather the other Origin Gods’ favor, but due to the circumstances of my birth, it all changed. Not like I wanted to hear about their original plan, anyways.

Due to my usurpation, I’ve been able to do some crazy stuff with [Idol], although I really have only recently dabbled in intentionally adding blessings to my song spells. However, what if I could do more than that? [Hestia’s Retainer] protected my friends’ souls, allowing them to talk to gods similar to a normal blessed, so what if I thought bigger? What more could I do?

“It might sound like a fine idea, but I believe you should focus on your own set of skills first, my apprentice,” Master gave his view. “You haven’t even mastered [Battle Frenzy] yet, nor have you tried implementing other blessings into your song spells. I mean, your song [The Will to Fight and Survive] is still blessingless. Why not ‘remix’ it, as you call it?”

“Not to mention, why haven’t you tried to do something with God Kargryxmor’s blessing?” Ellaine suddenly asked.

To be honest, that never really crossed my mind since I didn’t really know what exactly his domains would give me. I mean, whenever I fell into a [Battle Frenzy] and could use [Light Horizon], [Flashfire], and even breathe underwater, then that would be his “blessing.” He was the God of Dragonkin and Oaths — what could I possibly implement into my songs using those two options? Empower dragonkins when only four were in my party?

… Well, five. I was included, too, and that makes it a party. Hold up, Saori would count as a lesser dragonkin now, too, due to her incorporating my blood into her evolution. Uuuh, huh? Wait, so Saori, Neill, the twins, Yorshka, me … and Midirn. Seven … I should really give some thoughts to this idea. Goodness, would I have to make more songs?

After this talk, Master wanted me to continue finalizing the custom spell he made for me, but I told him I wanted to let out some steam first. Some sparring was the ideal way and Master, Ellaine, and Tasianna pretty much all agreed on the spot; Tasianna was especially all for it after she learned what had happened yesterday. Were we all turning into battle junkies?

“Free for all! Restrictions, of course, as this is no real fight. Ellaine, without a catalyst and sword, this will be a major handicap for you, but bear through it. A warrior must be able to adapt,” Master said.

Ellaine sighed, probably annoyed that she couldn’t fight with her whipsword, or, she was thinking how, even without our catalysts, Tasianna and I would still go wild. This spar will probably get out of hand quickly, and for a good reason. High Bishop Rasheid thought too small. Show up at class and do some show-and-tell? Why not just do the show and let everybody see what three Aurora and one depth serpent could do?

Suffice to say, fire, water, wind, earth, holy, ice, and lava bombarded the small area of the church like a lightshow, the sight overwhelming the few mages training,leaving them unable to take their eyes away. [Air Shield] quickly dissipated from my scale-dust sucking away the oxygen inside, exposing the cold winter’s day with merciless flames, melting and evaporating the snow within seconds.

Tasianna’s and Master’s spells clashed against mine, growing the steaming fog as it rose into the sky, blanketing the nearby admin building in its misty, lung-scorching veil. The earth and wind moved upon Ellaine’s command, almost as if she was trying to imitate using her whipsword with spells, but without [Aerokinesis] or [Geokinesis] for fine control, it felt more like the usual terra and storm spells. Too bad those skills weren’t available in her SP shop.

The magical elements assimilated into one single chaotic symphony even I couldn’t properly describe, outside of maybe comparing it to Giuseppe Verdi’s interpretation of the “Dies Irae” requiem. A sense of foreboding created through arcane might, ravaging the area, almost too similar to a fight to the death. You could hear people crying out as if doomsday was happening.

It alarmed people to the point the knights were called in, at which we stopped the sparring just before they could actively stop us. I blew away the steam while my friends fixed up any destruction we left behind. Lastly, we also planted some macula plants to suck the mana out, before we donated everything to the local mages.

Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [All-Damage Enhancement Lv. 2] [Water Resistance Lv. 7] gained

“Thank you very much for allowing us to train here!” I smiled at a group of baffled, jack-slawed white-robes.

“T-that was supposed to be training? You weren’t having a dispute? You were casting all those advanced magic elements, though!”

“Why would I want to kill my maid, my knight, and my mentor?”

“[Banishment Beam], [Azure Blade], [Bedrock Blades], and all those explosions! That doesn’t even include the many others. You even spat out l-lava from your mouth as if you were a dragon!”

“Oi!” Another mage smacked him on the shoulder. “She is a dragon! Didn’t you listen to our seniors?”

“I only came here for the training and research under the professors before returning to Aleistunum. Why in Istari’s name would I concern myself for church matters? Why didn’t anybody introduce me to her? Who is she even … aside from the fact she’s a dragon.”

… Does this guy live under a rock? Sorta cute reaction, though.

“Do you live under a rock, Kuunick?” One of the white-robes just read my mind! “Champion Hestia—that’s really all that fulinoe-addled mind of yours can remember anyways, to Istari’s chagrin. She’s the one the professors mentioned yesterday. The one who was supposed to listen with us.”

“Listen? Listen? She should be teaching, Istari’s chagrin. All of them have [Chant Revocation Lv. 10], and none of them even used a catalyst. We got four master mages with the potential to be archmages, and all our professors can think is to have them listen to some lecture?” Kuunick, as he was called, praised me with widened eyes, pointing at the training field. “If this is how a Champion and her companions spar, then I should forget about ever reaching the rank of master! Young mistress, you have to come to the seminar. The church could use some spice, some new blood!”

“See? I told you so,” Master gloated, prompting me to wave dismissively.

Sadly, before we could continue speaking, the other white-robes pulled their excited companion away, at which point I noticed the gold and red colors stitched to the rem of their robes. Shrine caretakers, the male counterpart of the shrine maiden. From the sound of it, they weren’t here for faith, but for knowledge and learning.

Once they were done, the other people were chased away as the knights were somehow “securing the perimeters.” The person who came forward was a familiar face—Royce.

“Only the third day and you’ve already caused three incidents. Champion or not, you do know people live and work here? These sanctified grounds are dedicated to the Goddess, and you … you besmirch it by casting spells to ruin it?” he scowled at me, his hatred clear.

“It was just sparring. I didn’t hurt anybody. None of us did; we even cleaned after our mess. See?” I pointed at the cleaned up training field. Aside from the small holes where we plucked the macula plants out of, any other evidence that we fought here today was gone. “If you call that little fight a ‘ruckus’ or ‘incident,’ then I got my answer how you and your two knights got beaten up by me. Maybe try training a bit more for the next time?”

I shrugged and walked forward, only for Royce and two of his fellow knights to block my way, prompting both Tasianna and Ellaine to step forward, brandishing their weapons despite still showing signs of being worn out. While Royce tried to suppress his animosity, these two weren’t even putting up a facade.

“The fourth time. This is the fourth time.” Tasianna oozed an icy aura, chilling the air even further. “I am Her Ladyship’s retainer. She had already told you enough about her service to Goddess Aurena and shown you mercy TWICE. She asked for your life to be spared. And this is how your stubborn skorr mind thanks her, huh? If you want a dispute, Ican show you one, right now. My fellow guards wouldn’t mind either.”

“She is correct, Sir. You’re a disservice to the ideals of the Knights of Aurena, as well as those of an Artorian knight. From what I heard of you, House Loucestro should be disappointed in you. For shame! You belittle our capital’s savior, Sir!” Ellaine twisted her wrist, ready to cast a spell if needed. “Have you heard nothing? You should be relieved to know that Her Highness hadn’t even considered reporting you to your family in the Groushia duchy. Attempting to murder an ally and a blessed of our Goddess; your older brother would have lost his arcanuess rank if Duke Groushia had heard about this.”

Royce walked forward, unfettered by my friends, looking down at Ellaine with this pitting look. “The moment I took up my oath, I ended any and all associations with any sort of country. I serve the Goddess and the Church of the Goddess alone; King Drangleic lost my respect the moment I learned he allied himself with this crimson scourge. Instead of woefully following this beast, you should have listened to the newspaper the Empire has been sending out. Pope Gwyn has personally reported that this … dragon was responsible for attacking him. Ha, but your father rose in rank, right? I can see how, my lady.”

Why was it that every time I had to meet this person that something would turn weird? Why was he still accusing me of everything? Hadn’t I debunked this enough? I brought people here to speak up about me, but he was still trying so hard to ignore everything? Ask anybody from Elyonda, nobody would call me an enemy.

Was this religious zeal? Was this how a cultist thought? Fully believing in their leader to the point they would refuse to look at any evidence? From those Shiterno cultists to these extreme fanatics from the Church of Aurena. I … just couldn’t understand this mindset.

“However.” He gripped the handle of his blade. “I am just here to remind the Champion that we have rules here. Our venerable cardinals and bishops need to work here, not be distracted. I have no problem with her … but Dame Ellaine? You are a ‘knight?’ Knighted by whom? Not by King Drangleic, your rightful liege. I have heard some of the younger knights and priests speak about you. Betraying your own countrymen for some foreign princess; you, my lady, should be ashamed.”

“I have no regrets. Those who deserved to be brought to justice were given just handling. My friendship only made me confident enough to speak up about the crimes happening within our country. For example, yours.”

Royce grinned, eyes blazing with anger and an eagerness for battle. “Good, then let me—”

However, before this escalated, I pushed my friends slightly to the side to allow me to speak to the knight. With a smile, I address all three. “You two, enough. And you, Sir, I would say you’ve tried to bully enough girls in your lifetime already. Lookie there, our escorts are here!”

The knights turned around, only for most to twitch and jerk back as they saw four individuals approach—Sis, the twins, and Midirn. Sis yawned, looking uninterested in anything, a stark contrast to the twins as they glared down all the knights with unbridled bloodthirst, almost as freezing as Tasianna’s rage.

Midirn, on the other hand, kept his emotions in check, but the way he was caressing his chin, almost as if he was trying to de-stress, told me otherwise. He stopped before Royce, looked down at him before bellowing a laugh just as something on the former’s arm started to beep—his [Identify]-blocking armlet. With a disinterested look, he bumped into the former as he was dumbfounded at Midirn’s [Identify] usage, pushing the knight away to make way for Sis.

“The others used the RV to deliver everything. You want to come now?” she informed me.

I gave her a thumbs up and followed them out of the church, much to the dismay of the knights forced to stay behind. Well, at least Royce should have felt it, considering what Midirn did.

Once at the eatery, my eyes widened as I saw a huge crowd gathering around it, shouting as they wanted to sit down on one of the tables to eat. The eatery owner I met yesterday smiled wryly, both enjoying the number of interested people but also being overwhelmed by them. Meanwhile, I saw Tamae call for the students to help her serve the food, managing the cooking station with Saori.

In addition, I also saw the saurians standing around, acting as guards for Fleindia while she was healing people. It … sorta reminded me of how our party used to handle our own eatery. Saori cooked, Tasianna served, and I would heal and play music.

I went up to greet the chefs, learning that the recipe the two settled on was … potato cheese pancake?

“Uh, that’s the special recipe? Why did it take you guys a night and a morning only to end up with this?” I asked.

“Experimentation!” Tamae cried out, looking disappointed in me. “As I told you, trying to find a dish that fits the local produce to keep everything cheap was pretty hard, as I’d gotten used to using all the expensive stuff back when we stayed here. It took me quite a while to understand that elven yeast is expensive while sugar is cheaper than back on Earth.”

“Here, taste it. You will understand why it took so long.” Saori handed me a plate with an entire uncut pancake.

Using a fork, I scratched the top of it, nodding in satisfaction as the potato screeched comfortably like toasted bread. This sound and the smell of fried potatoes and melted cheese made my mouth watery with saliva, making me feel hungry. Cutting a piece off, I noticed the pancake was actually two separated ones, attached together by the molten cheese.

In addition, upon a closer inspection, the pancakes actually didn’t look like German kartoffelpuffers or American shredded hash browns. No, no, they were actually individual slices of potatoes all “glued” together with each other. Like a bunch of nacho chips kept together by the sticky cheese sauce.

Biting in, the crispy, crunchy sound intensified inside my mouth, causing me to groan in surprise. The aromatic scent of fried potatoes caused my tongue to tingle in joy, making me feel a bit guilty as I was enjoying a “junk food.” Yet, all I could say was that my new body didn’t care about weight problems, since I would burn through it eventually anyways! Haha, cheated the system!

“The texture is like eating chips, far away from the comfiness of crumbly hash browns. Although, I think that’s the reason why it’s making me want to eat more. Addictive. Mhmm, that extreme crunchiness with the cheese makes me feel so good inside … but also so guilty.”

“Yeah.” Tamae and Saori agreed with me, but shrugged it off, telling me weight problems didn’t matter if we mostly fought and trained every day. That was what I said!

Regardless of the simpleness of the recipe, it was exactly for that reason that the eatery owner loved it to bits. All the recipe really needed were potatoes, potato starch which could be substituted with wheat flour, frying oil, cheese, and salt. Salt would make the dish more expensive than the other menu options, but as long as the owner wanted to cut corners, salt wasn’t a necessity, per se.

“I would recommend it for the sake of good food, though, but Aureolis is far from the sea, sadly.” Tamae frowned.

Tamae explained the preparation method to me.

First, cut the potatoes into thin slices, although not too thin that they would burn up immediately. Once down, put them into a bowl of water to let the starch out, helping the crispification of the dish later on. Apply salt, shredded cheese, potato starch, or wheat flour, and pepper, if available, before mixing everything together. The salt would help the coating by draining the water out of the potatoes.

Midway in, I asked Tamae why she wanted to apply potato starch onto them when she just told me to sap them out with water. She explained it had to do with the chemical reaction within the potato, mentioning how during the cooking process, the starches would break down into sugars. She also mentioned this was why cooking unwashed potatoes would cause them to go mushy. You want the potato to cook longer before it turns into mash potatoes, essentially. Using dried potato starch, on the other hand, wouldn’t do this, and instead create that amazing golden-brown color, similar to fried chicken.

“Knowing a bit of chemistry and biology goes a long way!” The girl flaunted what she learned from school and her parents.

Anyways, once the potatoes were properly coated, drop them into an oiled saucepan and stack them together until it looked like a sheet of chips. Let it cook until the chips glue together from the coating and turn crispy, before turning it over. This took about seven to ten minutes to finish. At this point, you could serve the pancake as is with melted cheese, or make another layer to make this a “hamburger” pancake.

“The owner can prepare the sliced potatoes in advance, and the cooking process itself is pretty quick. If you want to be smarter, cook the double pancake and then just serve half a slice. More money!” Saori rubbed her fingers together, glistening with greed. “In addition, you can add some meat strips, veggies, and other ingredients if you want to fill people up. It is a bit like a pie.”

I agreed and thanked them for thinking of something like this. Once I was finished with my meal, I left Neill and the others as they were enjoying theirs to join up with Fleindia. With a wink, she sighed before telling her patients that they had to be patient for a moment. Some looked at her with these pitiful eyes, begging her not to go, prompting her to explain the white graces later would be even better.

As such, they agreed and she joined me. We sat down while I fetched my geigler from the RV, smiling as I plucked the strings. Sitting down with Fleindia, I then began playing it and used [Aerokinesis] to amplify the sound even further, to the point the people rambunctiously enjoying their meals stopped speaking and began watching us.

Acknowledging the melody, Fleindia began to sing.

[Music Resonation (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

“Oh, falling star, please listen, grant me now this one wish ♫

For all the sadness that fills my mind, let your shine burn it away from me! ♫

This is life’s story—of the sadness and trials that we must face every day ♫

But I feel paralyzed, as every steps leads me closer to the nothingness ♫

I shout into the night ♫

Without my tears it feels like my chest is holding everything back (I feel tired) ♫

Until it blows upon the e-e-edge. (Darkness is here) ♫”

People were instantly captivated by her singing voice. Although she wasn’t a professional performer, she admitted to having sung quite a lot in choirs for the church, which was why her voice sounded like it was fit more for an opera than anything. Unlike me, the intonations of each word sounded far more articulate, as she dragged each note, as if she was boasting about how well she could maintain these notes.

Well, it wasn’t that different to me, but I also delivered my lyrics with more emotions. Fleindia was used to the grandeur of a choir, dedicating the song to the heavens alone, while my songs usually appealed to a story or to have fun. I was energetic and adaptable due to my training with a wide-range of genres, while Fleindia could hold higher notes far longer than I could, while interpreting songs in a slower and calmer manner. Perfect for studying music!

“As I fall into my sleep, the cold water pulls me down with it ♫

But the warmth returns as my soul glows hot as my dream re-ignites! ♫

I thank the star for this chance to show this world my song ♫

I’d punch the sun to keep on singing just to see all the cheers and smiles (Cheer and smile!) ♫

Laugh at me all you want, but I will cry all this hate away ♫

Just to champion this light until my soul burns out! ♫”

And that was exactly what she did with [Champion of The Light]. Presuming Aureolis was more used to choir music, than those from bards or random bands, I decided to have Fleindia sing first before joining her. Joining up with her tempo caused the guests and even the owner to take a break and take a prayer, almost as if we invited the atmosphere of a church to this place.

Seeing their reaction made me question if this was the right move, considering it disrupted everybody’s meals. I expected the guest’s reactions would be stunned marvel, but it honestly looked like they were just praying. My fears became true once it was done, and instead of clapping, they thanked us and threw praises to Aurena.

… This is the wrong direction. I told myself. I didn’t like how this happened. I wasn’t even sure if the guests enjoyed the song for the art of it, or for the church-like grandeur of Fleindia’s singing.

Seeing me frown, Fleindia asked me if something was wrong, prompting me to tell her I was a bit disappointed in everybody's reactions. I did reiterate that I loved her interpretation of my song, but decided we should leave it at that. I would keep my [Aerokinesis] on to play some background music, all while helping Fleindia with the white graces.

Aside from sickness and some rather nasty-looking scratches, Fleindia also told me we sometimes had to do home visits, as some patients wouldn’t be able to attend these healing sessions. For example, she had three planned, so I volunteered to help her out.

She would attend two of them while I would take the one farthest away from the eatery. As she didn’t have any knights with her, the saurians decided to guard her as she left, despite the city being relatively safe. Well, unless you remember there were demonkin around.

As I was leaving, Saori, Midirn, and the twins decided to accompany me, telling me I shouldn’t be going out alone either. I didn’t need the protection, but I guess having some company would make the walk more enjoyable.

[“Master, I missed you!”] Rajah shouted in my head. My poor cat hadn’t been able to exit the shadows once during our stay in the city, since he had to stay hidden and help Saori with scouting.

I wanted to cuddle with him quite a bit, but my room just wasn’t large enough for him to fit inside. As such, I gave him a telepathic image of me patting his head to soothe him, all while listening to Saori’s report.

[“Tasianna managed to learn that the papal mansion is barely visited nowadays, effectively isolated after you and your mother fled it,”] she started, pointing at the large building in the back of the church area. [“No servants may enter the place, and only the vicar was allowed to bring the pope his meals. If you ask me, I suspect the Prince of Envy’s retinue is properly taking care of the majority of the prince’s demands, but the vicar comes and goes with the meals to assure everybody he’s still alive.”]

[“So the vicar is without a doubt an enemy,”] Midirn concluded. [“All right, then I have to ask once again, why aren’t we attacking the mansion? Frankly, I’ve had enough of all these condescending, judgemental humans, my princess.”]

[“I know, but you have to endure it. Like we said, exposing the pope isn’t our only goal. Getting Aureolis and its populace on my side is the priority,”] I replied.

However, I was quickly met with resistance from the twins. Shay was extremely vocal about it. [“Cut off the head of the enemy and that is how you make sure everybody follows you. Strength! Do not forget, my princess, that as a Champion, your strength is what matters. And if you require help, we are at your command.”]

[“I just want to bite the head of that Royce off …”] Beth morbidly added.

[“You might, you may get the chance to try soon,”] Saori answered. [“However, unless we want Hestia to drop a [Heaven’s Sword] on the mansion to obliterate it completely, we do have to make sure we aren’t killing anybody innocent within it. Don’t forget what Vifi said; to turn into another person, the prince needs to kill and consume the person.”]

That was a valid point, but we also needed to figure out how many people were supporting the prince. In fact, we didn’t even know if he was inside the mansion at all, or if the vicar was just putting up a farce. We needed to confirm our enemies number and location, as well as gain any other information we could; as such, the next target was the vicar.

[“We should ask him. I’ll have Fleindia or Rasheid get us an appointment,”] I said. [“Although, after day one, I think doing that will be quite h—”]

“Oh, there you are, missy!”

My head snapped around for a moment for a moment as I detected somebody running up to us, followed by a woman’s voice. I saw a slightly chubby middle-aged woman appear from the corner of an alleyway, before noticing she wasn’t addressing us but a cloaked person sitting on a stack of crates while eating a plain bread. I shrugged and continued.

[“Sorry, so I think it might be hard for us to do anything since the vicar knows we are his enemy. As such, we should get some information from the other cardinals. Saori, can you try to get information on them? After what happened today, I think I managed to make some friends with a few people at the admin building who I could—”]

“No, it’s all right!”

I snapped my head around.

“No, please, I insist! Goddess forbid me from thanking my savior! If you hadn’t caught me, I would have fallen into the river with all my produce, please, please!” It was the lady from before, but she wasn’t the person my ears caught. That familiar voice came from the cloaked figure.

It was then that I also noticed the cloaked figure raise her head a bit, only to turn around to shake her gloved hands. She wasn’t talking any longer, prompting the woman to come closer and insist even further, trying to hand over a basket full of freshly-made bread. She was jumping up, trying to hand her it.

I stopped everybody and began walking towards them, clearly causing the cloaked figure to panic. As she was about to run away, the woman suddenly tripped, falling backward.

“Ma’am!” I shouted as I dashed forward trying to help her, only to stop on my heels as I saw the figure jump down and catch her, saving the basket full of bread in the process. As altruistic as that was, it all confirmed who this person was.

Her voice, her way of moving, and the way she was eating her bread. She was inconspicuous when we passed her, but my hearing was pretty good. I remembered voices pretty well … especially from people I was used to hearing every day.

I walked up to the awkward duo, smiling as I looked down at the cloaked figure. The latter helped the lady up and was about to turn around, only to be stopped again as the old lady tried to thank the hooded figure once again. The hood was deep, hiding everything but her neck, but I didn’t need to know her face to know who she was.

“He—”

But before I could say anything, something once again interrupted me.

“Alarm! Alarm!” I could faintly hear somebody shout through the noisy city before the sound of a bell rang. “Intruders! Intruders!”

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