Cute granddaughter I dunno, it honestly sounded a bit too weird coming from a giant, intimidating, arm-crossing dragon. The contrast between his appearance and what he said was so gap moe, it makes it hard for to understand what his personality is supposed to be.
Kargryxmor, the Black Tyrant of the Sky. According to Yorshka, Kargryxmor was the strongest and one of the oldest dragons to have ever lived in Peolynca, ruling over the skies over Miononbolax and the surrounding ocean. Having made the other dragons of legends the ancestors of the five kinkyuro dragonewt clans and the five empresses of the current dragon emperor, excluding my mother bow to him through strength, he founded Kargryx as a country in order to rule over all dragons.
This very legend was now standing before as the God of Dragons and Oaths. Despite being a fire dragon, his scales were colored jet black with small accents of dark red on the edges, making it look like cooled lava. The scales on his stomach were of a lighter color, grey, while his spikes and horns glistened like radiant obsidian.
As a two-legged dragon, my grandfather stood before with his well-proportioned arms crossed, looking like a stern, well-built old man. His tail was thick around his butt, but beca slimr the further away it was from his body, looking nowhere close to my dragon forms tail though it did have so similarity to my dragonewt tail, just missing the tail spikes.
As I continued looking at him, my eyes couldnt stop taking a look at his massive wings. They were far longer and larger than his main body, complete with red-glowing webbings and pitch-black scales, looking like actual limbs with the four claws at the end of them. As he noticed staring at them, he had his wing-hands grab each other and fold close, making his wings look like a long cape. It gave so overlord emperor vibes.
Child. Kargryxmors voice wasnt as deep as I imagined, it sounded average, like an ordinary older man. Of course, despite opening his mouth whenever he spoke, his voice was transmitted through so sorta telepathy and it was booming inside my mind.
Y-Yes, God Kargryxmor. As I was shivering down here from his sheer presence, Kargryxmor nodded his head for so reason, before his body transford into black particles. Condensed into a smaller body, Kargryxmor reappeared, looking a bit like a dragonewt, although it really was just a smaller version of himself.
Control your fear, little whelp. You stand not before a predator, but your ancestor. I wish not for you to tremble before on our first eting, a eting I have been awaiting for far too long now. Co, we speak. This piece of your soul must return soon, so ti is of the essence. His voice did not invoke fear, on the contrary, it was rather soothing. Not as comforting as Aurenas, but his voice has the sorta familial charm, as if this God of Dragons was speaking to his own child. Well, in my case, I technically am his granddaughter.
And here I thought I was his great-great-great-great-great-whatever amount-granddaughter, at first.
I took in a deep breath, controlling my shaking soul until I could move it again. I closed my mouth, gulped down so spit, and began massaging my hands to calm myself. I then looked up into the Dragon Gods eyes, nodded at him, and stood up from my chair.
Good. Fear is no sha, as it is the quintessential ingredient for the birth of courage. I will make my intentions for this eting clear. First, I must talk with you about the current situation in Kargryx. Second, Goddess Aurena has asked to give you so advice for your travels, Kargryxmor stated, looking aloof after praising . However, I believe we must first settle so other concerns first. Hestia, my descendant, I believe you have questions. Allow to hear them.
You arent mad? The first thing that ca out of my mouth was a confused remark. I rembered how I wanted to separate myself from Kargryxmor, how I complained about him and Aurena leaving alone in the Belzac forest, and how I went against his wish and rejected the escort he sent over to .
I was sure he was angry. I was anticipating it the whole ti.
Kargryxmors left wing let go of his right wing, using it to scratch his jaw like a wizard touching his beard to think. Anger? Anger at you? Little, not worth ntioning. Why do you ask?
Huh?
I an, arent you angry at for, you know, not eting you earlier? I could have been speaking with you far earlier if I had not killed your first set of escorts and then fled the second one. I an, Astalos was an ardent follower of yours, and I killed him. Sure, I guess you planned this with Aurena, but I thought you would be more irritated, I explained, but Kargryxmor didnt react much to it.
Why should I worry about you slaying so wyverns? I was more angered when I saw them failing to fulfill my Quest. Incompetence. If I still had so sway over the lacking dragon youths of this age, I would have sent them to pick you up, but, alas, their lack of faith in forced to rely on lesser dragonkins, Kargryxmors expression contorted into disgust as he thought of the wyverns he sent , showing the anger I thought would be directed toward . On the contrary, you have made proud; elated to see your growth. You survived alone as a G rank whelp inside a forest filled with nothing but enemies, struggling to reach the sa rank that a Kargryxmor normally should have been born into. You ask if I would denigrate your efforts? Preposterous.
Kargryxmor hatchlings were ant to be born as C ranks, but I was an early birth. Without all the blessings and the fact I had my mind from my past life, it would have been impossible for to survive as a G rank in the Belzac forest. The first day alone was already a close call. I did feel a bit happy to hear Kargryxmor shower in praises, but I did not feel safe to thank him just yet.
Yes, we could have t sooner, but a year is nothing to either a god or a dragon. I also would have liked you to fully embrace your bloodline by taking a black dragon evolution, but your mutations have turned you into a magnificent dragon with shimring scales and abilities worthy to hold my blood. Astalos might have just been a wyvern, but he was formidable in his own right. You did well enough against soone far above you in levels and combat experience. Kargryxmors mouth curved into a smile. Those wyverns did well to allow you to demonstrate to your abilities. They might have failed their original task but they have made confident you will be able to fulfill the goal I set for you.
You dont seem to hold those wyverns in a good light. Werent they your followers? They died for you but it sounds like it sounds like you couldnt care less about them. It was unnerving for to hear this from him. Aurena seed to at least care about her followers even if she had her ruthless monts.
Wyverns are lesser dragonkin, beings who cannot stand up against us dragons. To , a lesser dragonkin is nothing. To , a wyvern is similar to a human or an ant. I gulped. I only respect the strong. If a wyvern or human manages to contest against , then I will give them the respect they deserve. To , even the true dragonkin and the dragonewts bearing our blood are uninteresting if they cannot prove themselves.
But I knew speaking against a god wasnt the wisest idea, especially if it isnt soone like Aurena. However, my gut told I could and I should speak up against the way Kargryxmor was thinking. My sentence was interrupted, but he didnt seem annoyed.
Do not try, Hestia. I do not care what opinion you have on this topic, and I would dislike it if you tried to change my mindset, as if yours is the righteous choice. When you have lived as long as I have, all you can do is look down on others. Respect can only be earned. Kargryxmors wings ford back into a cape. Enough about this topic. Is there anything else you wanted to ask?
Yes, I replied. It was a question Ive been asking myself since the beginning. Why ? Why did you choose to be reincarnated? Im just one of many, soone not even worth ntioning back on Earth.
As depressing as it sounded, it was the truth. Aurena already explained that she chose due to my dream to beco an idol, that she felt I would be the best one for the job as this dream could motivate to help Aurena. Even with my past mories erased, it would still drive forward. The only question is, why exactly ? I bet other boys and girls would have had the sa unfulfilled dream.
Kargryxmor, understanding the aning of my question, allowed himself to think. For a couple of monts, the realm was silent, only to be broken by the Dragon Gods voice. I despise oath breakers. I have always hated them. Lies are for the weak, subterfuge is for those who cannot confront others head-on. This ntality sounds inflexible but it is far from it. I understand that sotis fighting must be avoided, that combat is not the only way to resolve a situation. An emperor who cannot use both diplomacy and violence to open the way forward is a failure. I was forced to learn this lesson to uphold my oath to Kargryx and my followers.
He continued after pausing, It is true that your soul wasnt anything special, Hestia. Goddess Aurena wanted sobody to gather followers better and I needed sobody who will never go back on their oaths, their promises. You might not have been special, but you were the choice the two of us agreed on.
I had a dream I wanted to fulfill desperately, to the point I swore not to cry until I beca one. Although I couldnt keep this promise after coming to Peolynca, my dedication to it made a candidate for Aurena. The fact I even made this promise in the first place and kept it ongoing until Saori gave that speech, impressed Kargryxmor. These two parts of my past self were what should have been left in after I was reborn and had my mories wiped.
Dont second-guess yourself, Hestia. You were our first attempt and you have vastly surpassed our expectations. Your birth is not important, what makes you valuable and special is what you decide to do with your life. Even I had to shed blood and sweat to beco even a footnote for the scholars. Kargryxmors tail moved, patting softly on the head. There is still much I want you to do, but you have already impressed , my Granddaughter.
You are my Schatz. My treasure in German. I love you, **k***
Your Papa and Mama will always support you. Your dream is our dream, **k***
Fuck Papa. Mama.
mories hidden inside the cracks of my soul erged, causing to rember certain mories of my past. I could hear it. I could hear sothing similar to a na as my soul felt like weeping. Saori and Tasianna had already told several tis that I was special, that I was unique. I already felt special just from having friends like them. Kargryxmor was a stranger to , so why did I feel this sa urge to cry?
Dammit. I havent even accepted you as my grandfather yet, dont make want to cry
After calming myself down, I told Kargryxmor I was ready to hear why he wanted to summon an otherworlder to Peolynca. And the reason was
I need you to kick my lazy descendants and subjects back into action. Their complete disregard for the world and their true task is causing my faith and Goddess Aurenas trust in to waver.
It was practically the sa reason as Aurenas. Fix my faith sohow.
Kargryxmor seeing my confusion, quickly began explaining, I am one of two mbers of Goddess Aurenas patheon who did not beco her subordinate god because of faith. Including the God of Knowledge and Magic, Istari, we joined Aurena for personal reasons.
I was further confused. I was sure Aurena told only those faithful to her could enter her realm, so why was Kargryxmor able to beco a subordinate god in the first place? That was when I rembered Yorshkas words.
Oooh, I rember hearing you accepted her apotheosis due to a deal. You would join her in exchange for the Dungeon of Infinite Feasts, right? I told him what Yorshka already told .
Correct. You rembered the dragonewts words, he nodded. Most of Goddess Aurenas subordinate gods beca part of her pantheon due to their faith in her, that she was the one true god among all the Origin Gods. Most of these subordinates are consequently human. On the other hand, Istari joined due to the mystery of the Origin Gods howorld, wishing to learn it while in Goddess Aurenas presence. I wanted to alleviate the dragons famine issues.
It didnt take long to connect the dots. Ahh, our hunger. Im already a glutton, so I can imagine beings far larger than having even more problems. The dungeon is there to solve this problem, right? The na is pretty much a dead giveaway.
We dragons can sustain ourselves using Mana, or in your case, from the sun. We rarely need food while we hibernate, but, once we awaken, the tastelessness of mana is enough of a motivation to hunt for flesh and blood. Hunting grounds were contested for this reason, making it impossible for Miononbolax to sustain a higher dragon population without bloodshed between the hunters. As the strongest dragon, I wanted this to end.
So you, soone who could go against demons, literal demi-gods, beca Goddess Aurenas subordinate for the future of your race? That is pretty admirable. It was the lofty aspirations of the first founder of a country that made it so likable. So why are you losing Goddess Aurenas trust? Im not sure why you are losing faith, but at least I can understand what you an by that.
Also, it doesnt help that you allowed so of your followers to die, old man!
I made an oath to Goddess Aurena in exchange for my apotheosis and the dungeon, Kargryxmor stated. To beco her subordinate and turn the dragons into the worlds defenders, following what many of my followers and I did during the Demon War. Of course, I do not expect all dragons and drakes to do so, but at the very least, my son should have been more competent. Eltharion Your father is a foolish procrastinator, Hestia.
Co on, dont tell that, thats a low blow to him. Besides, I havent accepted the fact that I have a new family in this world yet, so I dont know what to say to that. It honestly felt like a grandfather complaining to his grandchildren about his own son. Youre putting in a weird position, old man.
Kargryxmor shrugged and continued. Hmph, unfortunately, I expect you to do so. You must have heard enough from that dragonewt, Yorshka, about the situation with Kargryx. While the dragonewts havent lost faith in yet, most dragons rarely, if ever, pray to . The children and so grandchildren from dragons of my era have beco so lazy in their advanced age, that most only stay inside their lairs. Only the whelps journey the world, but they are in a similar situation to yours, Hestia. They arent strong enough.
In other words, buncha boors.
Then, how am I supposed to do this? The current task Goddess Aurena gave is already forcing to journey around to make allies to rebuild her church and, I guess, get rid of the threatening demonkins. I was expecting Kargryxmor to tell to kick Emperor Eltharions ass, to make him move to his fathers whims.
I will reveal more once you reach Kargryx, Kargryxmor told , explaining his plan for now. I suggest you beco stronger first, Hestia. Your mother most likely will co for you, but if she asks you to co back with her to Kargryx, then decline her request.
Why?
Because once you arrive in Kargryx, you may not leave until your adulthood pilgrimage. Hmph. A pathetic law Eltharions scale-mates established to protect the empires children. Truly, the females of our race are far too overprotective, Kargryxmor scoffed, looking annoyed.
Hey, Im a female of our race over here.
If that is the case, then itll delay Aurenas plans, I replied. Still, Im pretty sure she said your plans have advanced far more than you expected due to my circumstances. Wouldnt waiting a few years just bring back into the original plan? I didnt exactly want to go to Kargryx, but I was just stating questions out of curiosity.
Simple, why must you restrict yourself to that single continent? Altrust is far larger than Miononbolax and far richer in culture and experience. In addition, once you et your mother, you will understand why I call females overprotective. A low fertility rate causes dragon mothers to be rabid when it cos to protecting their whelps. Do you want her flying over you for everything?
No, Sir Cernust already made aware of how dragon mothers could be. Having a helicopter mother keep watch of every single one of my actions was not possible for .
I will not advise you on how to handle your mother, but you mustnt go to Kargryx with her. Once you reach A rank, your pilgrimage would be finished, so you may visit and leave Miononbolax as you wish. To grow stronger, you need more autonomy, Kargryxmor paused for a mont before continuing. Which leads to our second discussion point. Hestia, I disagree with your human companions choice to accept the demons powers. They are not to be underestimated. Etch this advice into your mind so you may prevent KleaHatma from corrupting your companions and, through her, your mind.
I nodded, steeling my will to not give the demon one inch. I will protect Ellaine and help her conquer her demons, literally and figuratively.
Good. Rember, you will not be able to befriend or win over a demon. They will always strive to fulfill their sin, especially Lust, the most hedonistic of all Demon of Sins. If you wish to keep her in check, awaken her curiosity and make her want to stay with you. This will allow your companion to use a demons powers. For Kargryxmors goal to co true, he needed Aurora and to beco stronger. Survive against more ordeals, is all I can say to help you and your companions to beco stronger. Just as I once did. Now, concerning what you learned from Goddess Aurena today, I suggest you withhold this information from the saintess and anybody not already your retainer.
Wait, what?! Aurena I an, Goddess Aurena hasnt told Saintess Eshe about the fact a demonkin is impersonating the pope of the church yet?! What is she thinking?!
Considering Aurena just told all of this information to fulfill her Divine Quest, I thought she had already told her saints and champions about it, since, you know, this concerned the sanctity of her church! Why did she tell about it but not her other followers?
You do not need to hold up etiquette with , Hestia. Istari and I are the only subordinate gods who Goddess Aurena allows herself to reveal her true personality to since we arent actually her worshippers. I am formally addressing her since I respect her strength.
Kargryxmor explained that Aurenas followers had a clear image of her personality and conduct, spread and told through the church of Aurenas bible. The serene, angel-like Goddess of Light was what everybody thought of her, so she forced herself to keep that persona on whenever she spoke with any of her fervent followers, especially her current subordinate gods.
In fact, the only ones she could trust right now were Istari and Kargryxmor, who didnt care about her facade. The other mbers of her pantheon werent actively working against Aurena; in fact, most of them were trying their best to spread her religion to help her overthrow Plesia as the number one most influential Origin God. The issue was, most of them believed they knew what Aurena wanted.
She did show her full personality if it was sobody she could trust. While she was thankful for her subordinates aid, she also finds it hard to share everything with them. If she did, they might do sothing she had not planned. She could tell people her plans, but she worried she could risk breaking the illusion they had of her, turning their zealous faith against her.
Wow, this reminds of a certain skeleton sorcerer king. Amazing, as expected from Goddess Aurenas ability to turn faithful worshippers into gods.
Hold on, she showed her true personality to . What does that an?!
Speechless at Aurenas situation, I continued listening to Kargryxmor without replying to anything. Goddess Aurena has not told you what to do with your newly acquired knowledge, as she expects you to figure it out yourself. That is why I am here. I suggest you tell none of this information to any clergyn, champion, or saint. This will just cause chaos amongst the ranks, distrust in your ability to interpret the Goddess words, and it will alert the demonkins fully to your existence.
The last part did make sense. Currently, none of the demonkins should know I knew demonkins had infiltrated the church and the empire of man, but if they did, they would probably send people to kill off. I could also imagine so people ridiculing for believing the pope was killed and replaced by a duplicate, since the pope is one of the most important mbers of the church. Even if they did, how would they solve the whole demonkin problem then?
Still, why would they think I was interpreting Aurenas words?
Noticing my confusion, Kargryxmor continued. Aurena cannot interfere, as this is a worldly issue. Yes, the summoning of the heroes was sothing we gods could interfere with, but the interfering foreign power is gone now. The demonkins, themselves, did not summon the heroes, they simply petitioned the gods who did. Not punishable.
Kargryxmor then summoned his admin window and showed my profile, pointing at my age. Hestia, the reason why I said you had a limited amount of ti in the divine realm was due to the risk of overloading your soul with words. Goddess Aurena should have inford you already. The Demon of Lust currently has so of her mana mixed into Ellaines soul, making her able to visit the divine realm since the demon is a demi-god, but not as long as you. No champion or saint of Aurenas can do this.
I can understand Ellaine, but why am I an exception? Also, why not send the champions and saints a System ssage? I asked since this was sothing I needed to know.
A mortals soul isnt the strongest, and yours wasnt either. However, since your soul had no vessel when you died, we took our ti to allow your soul to attune itself to a gods aura. [The Light] is a result of this, sothing we gods cannot replicate on living followers since their bodies would just explode. You had to accept Aurena first for the title to begin working.
So when I prayed to Aurena to keep Rajah and his family safe, that was when I accepted Aurena as a goddess?
Kagryxmor then sighed after his explanation. As to why we cant rely on system ssages, it is because the ssage rarely ever reaches them intact. Do you understand why I used the word interpret? If the ssage isnt pitifully easy to understand, our followers would try to analyze every detail of the ssage. As zealous as Goddess Aurenas followers are, they would not accept the fact the youngest and newest champion understood the words of their goddess better than they could.
So many issues.
So, what do you want to do with this information? I wondered.
Tell this to your party, tell this to the heroes. Make these allies of yours stronger. The people you can trust. According to what Goddess Aurena showed , I believe the best excuse you can give people about your Divine Quest is to say, I am supposed to bring union between all Peolyncian races. Humans do not consider grimgarians or demonkins Peolyncians, and it keeps your goal vague while fitting Goddess Aurenas teachings, Kargryxmor gave a good reply, sothing I could agree with.
However
Isnt this lying? I thought dragons didnt lie?
M-My sweet granddaughter, sotis not revealing the whole truth is acceptable. Technically, Goddess Aurena wants you to unite the humans with the dwarves, elves, dragonewts, and levianewts to form a coalition against the demonkin princes of sins, right?
Hmph. Nice co back, old man.
I accepted Kargryxmors suggestion, believing information should be controlled. I also did not want the demonkins to take notice of just yet, although, if they had agents in Artorias already, it might be hard to conceal it.
Good. This is all. Ti is soon over. Kargryxmor closed his eyes and nodded, returning to his aloofness.
Thank you very much, God Kargryxmor. Ill try my best to fulfill what you and Goddess Aurena have tasked with. Kargryxmor nodded, smiling. He was probably expecting to leave now, but I want to ask him sothing else. One last question, I heard you call my cute granddaughter. Did you really say that? Did you?
Go now, otherwise your soul might explode.
Hehe, old man.
Having my chuckle, I closed my eyes, saying goodbye and returning back to the altar room inside the temple of Griffonpeak. When I opened my eyes to check the surroundings, I noticed sothing wet flowing down my face. When I touched it, I realized I actually cried a bit.
Verdammt. What am I supposed to do with this whole dragon family thing? Haaaaa, I dont know what the correct answer is
There was also sothing else I noticed: the tips of my hair were white.
Saori and Tasianna did ntion my hair turned white when I prayed. Is it cause Im talking to Aurena? Maybe I should ask this the next ti I et her.
As the white tips disappeared the mont I noticed them, I shook my head and shoved these two issues to the back of my mind, picked up Ellaines unconscious body and looked into my storage for the demon orb. As Aurena ntioned, it was broken, but I still needed to confirm sothing.
Lust?
Two eyes revealed themselves on Ellaines two rings, staring at in anticipation. A voice entered my mind. [Yes, dear?]
Dont try to corrupt Ellaine. I can destroy you at any ti, I gulped a bit. I knew [Shine] worked on it, so I imagined I could probably destroy the rings in their current state, but I still felt so fear for the demon.
[Of course, dear. I will be a sweet, good girl just for you and little Ellaine.
Goosebumps, urgh.
With my business done, I decided to leave the church and find a place to stay at, probably Ellaines family. The mont I opened the door, several n and won in silver armor with blue and green tints stood in front of the door. As they stared at , I couldnt help but widen my eyes.
W-What is going on?!
I apologize, Lady Hestia, the one to answer my question was High Bishop Theodore. Apparently, the magic field surrounding Griffonpeak had detected an unidentifiable visitor. Soone who had not registered themselves at the gates
My jaw dropped, instantly incriminating . One of the armored n took off his helt and bowed to . Lady Priestess, as mbers of the Knight of the Lionheart, we must ask you to co with us for questioning. Unlawful entry into our kingdoms capital must be taken seriously, even if you are a priestess of the Goddess.
Theodore nodded, urging to be civilized. Lady Hestia, I suggest you accompany them. Everything will be alright once dawn cos, I can promise you this.
I had no other option.
May I have a lawyer?
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