Thank you for having us! We already t yesterday, but let us introduce ourselves again, Hestia-san. I am Ishigami Kyouya from party Misfits. Ill be happy if you will address with Kyouya.
Nagata Tatsuya. We havent done a proper introduction in a while, so it feels a bit weird to use the Japanese naming structure again. Artorias and Aureolis use the western version. Anyways, we will be in your care, Hestia-san.
S-Sakamoto Haruka. Pleased to et you, Atsuko-san! Im not very useful with fighting, but I hope I can still be of so use to you.
My na is Mikami Daichi. It is good to finally et another person from Earth in this world outside of our classmates. I have heard much about you, Princess Hestia! So I hope we can get along well!
Okay, this guy is a bootlicker. Feels like Im speaking with a noble. Even that smile feels unnatural.
After my slightly awkward talk with llox Mother, I felt a bit too tired to do anything after everything that happened yesterday. Since I wasnt in the mood to create their rooms in my subspace, Saoris students decided to et up with us on the next day. As such, it gave so more ti to spend with Mother which made her quite happy, especially when we had a bath together in the hot spring.
Cernust did ntion dragon mothers were like helicopter parents. Mother really wants to do everything with to create mories. Cant say I bla her. If I were in her position, I would have done the sa, even to the chagrin of my own child.
Speaking of Cernust, I heard he was in the city right now with Severa, acting as her bodyguard. I really should find so ti to et up with them. Saori told he greeted Mother once, since she was his empress, and imdiately fled the scene. Mothers re presence made dragonkins nervous, it seed.
In any case, once I woke up, the plan was to et up with Saoris students and hold a eting between all three parties with the goal of rging all three. It looked like we would all be working together now to proceed with our goals. We shared a lot of goals in common with each other due to the demonkin threat.
It was just a bit overwhelming that we were gaining so many new mbers all at once! Twelve to be exact, not including Mother, the snow wyvern twins, and Rajah and his family Oh boy.
So, who exactly are joining us? Well, we first had The Magical Biscuits, which included Tamae, Nishio, Misaki, Kazumi, Kohaku, and Yorshka, whom we had already t in Cedaraille. The second set of students were the Misfits, which included Kyouya and Tatsuya from yesterday.
The other mbers were Haruka, a smaller girl who was a year older than with the sll of a foxian, and a fire mage by the na of Daichi, who seed like a yes-man with a very slimy smile. The last two mbers were
Champion Hestia, a blond young man in full white armor kneeled for , holding his sword before him like a knight showing respect to a king. In the na of the Goddess, it is an honor and blessing to et a champion like you. May the Goddess bless this auspicious eting with bountiful light. I am Elrick von Karstein, a humble paladin of the Knights of Aurena.
Yorshka did say the student parties were all watched over by a knight of Aurena for their own protection, but I guess I didnt realize that we would have sobody as devoted to the church as Eshe in our midst now. The only difference was that I wasnt sure if he was aligned to Aurena or the church.
If it was the latter, then I couldnt trust him. But that wasnt important right now, since the last mber of the Misfits was about to introduce herself.
Hanazawa Asaka. And that was all the blue-haired girl said before looking away.
Unfortunately, while that was a decent enough introduction in my book, the sa couldnt be said for Saori, who let out a quiet sigh before telling everybody shell wait for us inside the RV, creating a chilly atmosphere between them.
Deciding it would be better to get everybody inside, I led the Misfits and The Magical Biscuits into my subspaces dining room, the largest room we had. There, Tasianna and Svena were about to finish placing so treats and drinks on three round tables placed together, while Grimnir welcod us.
Oh, good morning, lass, he greeted . He was still sleeping in his smithy when I ate breakfast. Good to see you awake, but you sure you want to have this eting this early? You deserve so ti off. Good for your head.
Grimnir was being considerate, believing I needed more ti to mourn. In a way, yes, I had to agree. I didnt think I was fully ready to get over Eshes death yet, but its not like ti would stop for as I kept whining. I had three weeks worth of stuff to catch up on, and since I was the leader of Aurora, I had to determine what our next destination and goals were.
No, its okay. Im fine. Fine enough to at least act as a leader for us, Grimnir. I heard from Saori that she handled everything while I was out, so I better do my part and get up to speed. There is still ti for to mourn after it's done, dont worry, I told him, showing him a small smile to not make him worry.
He shrugged. Mhmm. Im not good with comforting others, but even I can see you werent totally over yesterday. Not even today. Make sure to take care of yourself, lass. The world and ti will wait, especially once you reach the max level of [Space-Ti Magic], I tell you! Gahahahaha!
Ehehiehiehie, I giggled. I know I could slow down ti with the later spells, but who knows if I could stop it. Still, even if he does grumble a lot, Grimnir knew how to have a good ti.
After Tasianna and Svena led the students to their seats, Saori ca out from the kitchen and seated herself on our table, right next to the middle chair. Tasianna also seated herself next to the center, while Grimnir took the chair next to hers. Svena bowed and went back into the kitchen.
Cant forget that shes still a maid contracted to House Helvas. Who would have thought that she would actually choose to continue working as my maid on their payroll? Well, glad to have her on board for now.
Ahh, sorry for being late! As I sat myself down, the door suddenly opened up to Ellaine rushing in, with her maid Josine right behind her, trying to fix her hair. I apologize, Father forced to handle so of his paperwork while he and Brother had to settle so dispute and also fill up the void left behind after the recent noble purge. Ahh, there is so much to do. Josine, the papers, please.
I showed her a wry smile, feeling sorry for how much work shed been doing. I didnt have the chance to catch up with her yesterday.
Its alright, Ellaine. We havent even started yet so slow down and calm yourself. I waved at her and she nodded. After putting the papers on the table, she ca over to and hugged .
Dont push yourself, Hestia, she whispered into my ear.
[Her heart is set, Ellaine. If you worry too much, youll just be patronizing her desires,] KleaHatma chided Ellaines comnt. I personally didnt mind everybodys worry as much as KleaHatma thought, though.
Idols, or public entertainers in general, are expected to lie. Put up a mask. But while Im with all of them, I dont need to hide it all. Its good for them and for to know how I am.
Regardless, once Svena and Josine filled everybodys glasses with fresh magically-made water, I announced the beginning of the first eting between Aurora, Misfits, and The Magical Biscuits. Ill be honest and totally not biased, Aurora had the best na among the three.
Thank you everybody for coming on such short notice. I am Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor, but you may simply call Hestia. Yes, I was reborn as a princess of the Dragon Empire, Kargryx, but please dont even think of addressing as Princess. Makes it complicated and such, you know. Instead, I want us to think of each other as equals. I clapped my hands, smiling at the rest of them. As such, I would like to welco everybody to our first eting as a team!
I sat back down and let Saori handle the formal stuff. I still had three weeks to catch up, so it was better to just listen to those who had better knowledge than I did.
Alright, as Hestia said, thank you very much for coming everybody. Its been a long ti. As such Yes, Tamae-san? Noticing Tamae raised her hand like a diligent student, Saori paused and acknowledged it.
Is Empress lloxtressa not coming? she asked.
I answered, Mothers currently sleeping in my room. Catching up on seven-ten years of sleep? Maybe even more, but she didnt specify it. The two snow wyverns in their dragonewt forms are taking care of her right now. Any decision I make has her consent, as long as I follow her rules.
I just learned that older dragons, especially ancient dragons, literally have to take ti to sleep to control the massive amount of mana stored inside their bodies. The more they sleep, the more they will recover. Immortality does have its downsides, huh?
In any case, Mother technically didnt have to hibernate peacefully for the whole period, but it would be better if she did. She decided she would sleep whenever she could while waking up to spend ti with . Even if it ant harming herself, she was not willing to sacrifice even more personal ti with . She wanted to make mories. So, shell probably wake up tomorrow when we design her room.
With that out of the way, Saori continued, As such, I would like all of us to work well together. You arent my students anymore, so you dont need to call Sensei or Segawa-Sensei.
Youre still our Sensei, Sensei, Nishio, the bespectacled mage, stated firmly. Even adults call their forr teachers with Sensei. Even if you continue arguing that you are a different person, you still are the sa person with whom we spent those three years with. I dont think we need to change that part. The others agreed.
Everybody aside from Asaka nodded.
Saori sighed. Well, do what you want, she said, before continuing where she left off with a satisfied smile. First things first, since we decided to rge our three parties into one, I would like to suggest we form a hunters company with our combined groups. In essence, it is simply a larger party, but it allows us to accept certain Quests without having to partner with other parties.
Kyouya raised his hand. Sensei, we already talked about this when we were traveling together. Da Yorshka suggested to us to stay as individual parties, since companies are restricted with the type of work you may take. Individuals cannot take on personal Quests, we are only allowed to take Quest at or above our current rank, and we will be taxed more for our Quest.
Hmm, I did say that, right? Yorshka chid in. However, the circumstances have changed. Yes, staying as individual parties ans flexibility, but companies arent without advantages.
As the na already implied, it was a company. A guild company acted similarly to a liaison according to Yorshka. Like the white and black rcenary companies Id heard of before, hunter companies were expected to go around and seek jobs by themselves.
Normally, as adventurer parties, we would go to the local guildhall and simply take a Quest from the Questboard. Sotis you would get a commission while wandering into a village. But those were normal things any adventurer could experience. The difference a hunter company brought to the table was
Reliability and trust.
Reliability already cos from our ranks though. Thats why they force you to do soooo many Quests just to give them a reason to trust us with more daring Quests, Kazumi, our resident human-turned-katzune, complained.
True, but what Im talking about is the liaison part, rember? Conducting investigations that can get you remuneration without a Quest, acting as a moving Quest board for areas the adventurer guild doesnt wish to build a guildhall for, and, I guess what Saori is intending, going around with the authority of a state. In this case, a sovereign state.
I plan to finally use Hestias influence as a princess of Kargryx, Saori explained. Previously, our party tried to keep our real identities low, but as it was recently exposed in the Griffonpeak battle, it will be impossible to stop word from spreading. Gael and Muraina, our underworld sources, have already confird that this information is leaking everywhere down in Shaturein. Soon, it will spread to other countries and completely beyond our control. As such, to protect ourselves, we need to establish our image and reputation.
Of course, they can do this as a normal party, Yorshka continued, pointing at everybody from the two other parties. The thing is that they have you kids on board, now. Instead of using this influence for themselves, why not share it? Yes, as a company, we have so very annoying restrictions the taxing part is the worst but the fact is, the Guild trusts us enough to allow us to establish a company. Understand?
Oh, the Quest part, right? Haruka seed to have understood what Yorshka ant. Uhm, I heard well be using this RV as our main thod of travel, correct? If we market ourselves as a company, that ans people will swarm us with Quests they cant be bothered to go to a guildhall to post. Even if we have to file these Quests later on to the Guild to have them taxed and record our accomplishnts, we should be allowed to negotiate with the Quest givers ourselves!
Just like with Carine Village and the village chief, huh? We got so money for the bandit Quest, but they also allowed us to stay inside the village for winter. Even allowed us to build a house.
If we are talking about influence, we also have Mother. The personal recomndation from an empress and a princess should assure Auroras safety. If Tasiannas fairy form or Ellaines identity as a demonkin contractor were to be exposed, we could always rely on Kargryxs influence. We had diplomatic immunity, in effect.
Of course, this ant the nobles would flock to us. Companies are larger, allowing them to work with larger contractors. aning nobles, governors, and rich rchants. Sure, so of them would hand in Quests to the guild, but from all the ones our party has taken on, only three Quests ca directly from a noble the two handed to us by Carine villages fief lord, Arcanuess Helvas, an the one from Severas brother to find her.
Verdammt, I cant imagine how much I will have to deal with them now But we need the protection.
In any case, the talk about the company was agreed upon unanimously, mostly since all of us understood we couldnt stay in Griffonpeak forever. We needed to travel, and having so protection and ability to go around flexibly would be best. However, we still needed a tool for this.
Grimnir, will you be able to continue production of those [Room] runes? Saori asked.
With the lass up and about, I can, Grimnir replied. Due to being unconscious, he hadnt been able to produce more [Room] runes since he needed . We needed them to expand the fast travel nexus.
Damn. Honestly, I had thoughts of fast travel, too, but with how hard it is to level up [Space-Ti Magic], I had given up. Its still only level two for , Tatsuya noted. Are you really able to do it?
Of course, my lady is fully capable of it, Tasianna spoke up. Everybody, I have been testing the functionality of this idea with my lady since the very start. We will require the [Room] runes Master Grimnir makes and also my lady has to be around to make it work, but we are able to teleport around from one city to the other in seconds.
Unfortunately, long-distance will be hard, I stated. The further away two rune portals are, the more mana you will have to spend. You can use a catalyst to bypass having to shoulder the cost yourself, but it will beco a problem if we want to go from Altrust to the Empire, for example.
The students nodded, understanding what I ant by that. Grimnir smirked for so reason, and was ready to explain what he had in mind Only for Haruka to speak out before him.
If the mana cost increases by distance, couldnt we make the fast travel system work with a waypoint system? Put a [Room] rune in every city or town we trust, and when we need to travel from one country to the next, we can simply use this system. Every catalyst can be filled enough to teleport to a city, then take a break, and then continue the trip until we end up at the designated destination.
Bladdarg, you damn brat! I was going to say all that! Arrrgh, by Crustacias twin-tails, I was waiting to explain all that!
U-Uh? Uhm, Im sorry?
Eheheh Poor Grimnir.
In other words, a cooldown system to offset the mana cost. Ways to charge up catalysts or mana batteries with mana were abundant with Aurora in the equation. We even have Mother, and her mana usually overflows when she doesnt take notice of it. She makes a good AC, though.
The problem was that only I could control the nexus with my [Mana Eyes]. The mana issue was solved, but I had to be around for the teleportation to work in the first place. Without , no teleportation.
Still, it ant we could continue using Griffonpeak as a hub. The RV would be our transportation thod, the subspace our gathering point, and Griffonpeak our hub for materials and information. Thats what Saori explained afterwards.
And then it was Ellaines ti. She picked up so of her paper and began announcing the news concerning Artorias as a whole.
A lot of things have thankfully cald down during the three weeks since the siege and coordinated disruptions within the seven duchies. However, due to the noble purge issued by his Majesty, there have been so changes in the kingdom itself, especially concerning the church.
Church-wise, Eshes death was a massive blow to them, which affected not only Griffonpeak but also all the other temples in the kingdom. Why couldnt the church and monarchy protect her? What about the empire entourage? Commoner dissatisfaction was at a high towards the church and aristocracy.
The duchies affected most by this were the Lecartiglio and Olivus duchy. The Lecartiglio have large groups of beastn actively hostile to humans, especially after the whole kidnapping and slavery incident there. anwhile, the Olivus duchy, being on the border of Aureolis, the religious seat of the church of Aurena, had people illegally migrating into the holy capital, believing Olivus cannot protect their faith.
There were also other problems outside of these locations. Equevanna just had their duke resign after his second son was executed for high treason, but Ellaine stated that House Equevanna wasn't entirely in the clear.
Due to a historical friendship and debt to House Equevanna, House Artorias decided to pardon them for now. However, Father told that one more foot out of line and even their previous history cannot save them any further. Including their branch houses. If House Equevanna cannot prove their value and make up for their failures, then another ducal house will succeed them.
The forr Duke Equevanna was stripped from his noble status and was now treated like any other servant at the castle. His dukedom lost a vast amount of nobles and houses through the noble purge, and we could expect King Drangleics spies to keep them in line. House Equevanna practically lost all their reputation and influence and was now at the rcy of the vultures that were the other ducies.
Well, only if the others could do anything. Lecartiglio and Olivus were dealing with massive unrest and population decreases, and Morgiana and Myrrdin werent better off. Many of their commoner citizens were actively wishing for equal standing between the classes. Their internal affairs were being plagued, so moving out will be problematic.
However, Greenveil was the least impacted by all this drama. In fact, due to nation-wide dissatisfaction and problems, the Sarlenzia company Alia Greenveils soon-to-be company has been expanding into the other duchies. Their populaces satisfaction has been growing since, thanks to Aurora, they managed to avoid the other duchies problems, and I expected them to make their move soon.
Of course, at the end of the day, none of this is Auroras issue, Ellaine stated flatly with a smile before throwing the paper away and scratching her hair in distress. Ahhh, but its my problem since Im a Helvas! Argh, they really want to push Greenveil to beco more influential in the next eting between the dukes and his Majesty. Argh, so much work.
Thank you very much for all your hard work, Ellaine.
In any case, as I said, we do not have to deal with anything. This is the kingdoms problem and they will have to find a way to solve it. However, with all this unrest on top of Saintess Eshes untily passing, the other countries have taken notice of our failings. One of them is our southern neighbor.
The Atadoro kingdom. They were responsible for the recent beastn problems in the Lecartiglio duchy. They were the enemy of Artorias.
Hestia, I had to talk with King Drangleic in your and your mothers stead, Saori inford . Amazing work, second-in-command. Once you are awake, he wishes to arrange a eting between you, as a sovereign party, and him with his dukes to discuss future plans. From what I presu, he wishes to see what your future plans will be. As such, this eting will also be talking about our goals for the future.
Saori then turned to her students. As such, I wish to talk about yours, first.
Hold on, I interrupted. Well, I dont an to be rude here, but I glanced over to Elrick. Should we be talking about everything here?
Elrick showed a wry smile, unsurprisingly, as if he knew his presence wasnt welcod. However, he didnt complain. While I was waiting for sobodys feedback, Yorshka voiced it.
Dont worry. Elrick is church-aligned, but he wont be doing anything with them any ti soon. I have it under control, so speak as freely as you want. In fact, Saori agreed to tell him about everything. You wouldnt imagine the religious shock he went into when we told him about the false pope, hahaha!
Grk, Captain Yorshka Elrick frowned, looking ill.
You dont need to call that. Im just doing this for appearances, Yorshka said. Just for your information, the students, Elrick, and I are all still affiliated to the church due to the control the church possesses. If I were to step down as a knight, they would simply send sobody new to take my place since we have a saint candidate amongst us.
Yorshka pointed at Asaka.
Elrick has a secret, which makes him easy to control. The new person? Not so sure, so we need to keep this status quo for now.
Yorshka can be as devious as Gael and Muraina, huh? Well, I guess thats an adult for you. And I thought she was more on the carefree side.
In any case, that wasnt the discussion point. What was important was to hear about Saoris students goals.
Tamae began for her group. Return to Earth.
Then Asaka. Dont die and return to Earth.
Huh.
There was silence.
Damn, I should probably say sot
If that is the case, then may I present a proposal? The one to speak was Tasianna. Lady Hestia, Miss Muraina has found sothing we could check. If possible I would like us to go there after we wrap up a few things in Artorias.
There could be only one reason why Tasianna would be the one to speak up like this.
Is it about fairy hunters?
Yes, she managed to find an underground market dealing in items favored by alchemists and magicians in the Republic of Estralia.
Estralia is a comrcial hub in the western part of Altrust, Hestia, Ellaine explained to . Bordering the Equevanna duchy, the capital of Estralia, Gleisvale, is protected by an incredible stone formation while being built upon a part of the Ankoran mountain ranges. Commissioned by its founder, the city was built by dwarves to act as a hub of comrce. Including being located next to the river Gleislain which follows even into the Folschreck Empire, they are the rchant powerhouse in our region.
Grimnir nodded. Aye, us dwarves used to trade with them a ton before the whole war stuff, I heard. They have an entrance inside our tunnels through Gleisvale, so they were also the main source of dwarven, dragonewt, and levianewt goods for you humans. They remained neutral during the war, as expected from rchants, but it still soured our relationship since they didnt do anything about the fae hunters.
And now, there was confird news of there being fairy hunters there.
If Hamils information was correct, I might be able to find the person who commissioned those fae hunters who killed Princess Schuri. If there is a connection there, there might also be sothing on Davison. He used to live there, right? Also, with the Equevanna duchy bordering that place, there might also be more information on Hamil.
In the whole Hamil and cardinal relationship, Hamil was rely a contractor for the cardinal. However, it shouldnt be ignored that Hamil was who was dealing with the demonkin. Under their orders, probably, he arranged all the chaos that forced the dukes to leave the capital just a day before the attack on Griffonpeak.
At this point, we needed more information on the demonkins. It was either going to the Empire or using what connections we had to find more about them. However, with a small group like ours, we couldnt just waltz into enemy territory. I wasnt strong enough and Mother already expressed her wish for neutrality. If I suddenly get into a fight I could not handle this early, Mother would simply drag back to Kargryx.
Four years until I beco an adult. All that ti will be spent in Kargryx. Yes, I might beco stronger by then, but that also ant I would allow the demonkin to go wild during that ti. I already planned to absolutely stomp on them for angering . At least that demonkin of pride.
But, most importantly, this is for Tasianna to find closure.
Okay, agreed, I gave my okay. Just to make sure, I dont want to vote for this by myself. Does anybody have any complaints?
Saori and Grimnir gave their thumbs up. Ellaine cheered, expressing how they ant she didnt have to do any work anymore. She even bragged about how she could drop out of the royal academy with this. Oi, girl, you should not brag about that!
However, the students on the other hand
I have one complaint, Nishio raised his hand. Hestia-san, concerning what you said before, you are right. We are technically joining you mostly for our own safety, but we arent intending to do this without working for it. We will contribute, dont worry. We also understand that we need to get stronger.
Thats right, Tamae took over. Thats why, if we want to improve our chances to go back to Earth, we need to build up so allies. And currently, I would say that would be Artorias, no?
Its true. Even if I am the princess of Kargrx, I wont be able to rely on my supposed subjects because of the Emperor and his neutrality stance. I could maybe ask Loatryx, but I would feel bad about ordering them. I want them to accept it if they wanted to. If we think of it like that, Artorias most likely would be the best candidate to help out since they have a grudge against the demonkin.
Tamae-san, we arent planning to abandon Artorias, Saori pointed out. Griffonpeak will be our hub and due to the Ankor-Nazta and Artorias alliance we want to promote, we need to help them with that. Especially if we want Saelariel and Loatryx to help out, too. We know Artorias is our ally.
Saori looked over at Ellaine. She smiled back.
No, no, Sensei, I didnt an it like that. I ant that all of us shouldnt be going to Estralia together. Look at us. We are 17 people, excluding the demon Lady Ellaine has with her, which to be honest we cant trust fully right now.
From the looks of the other students, it seed they felt a bit uncomfortable also. I could sympathize. Even after spending so ti with KleaHatma, the only one who seed to have ward up to her was Ellaine. And that was cause Ellaine is a real sweetheart behind all that noble stuff.
Tamae continued, As such, I would like to suggest we split up into groups to deal with issues. We have 17 people, we should not force everybody into a single event just because we can. Once we register our company, shouldnt we use that influence a bit more?
Thanks to our connection with Muraina, she will probably make the company registration process easier. She isnt into nepotism, but I dont think there is a reason for her to decline it professionally. We just helped her ward off an A rank monster with hundreds of adventurers as witnesses.
Then what do you suggest, Tamae-san? Saori asked, not following her.
Sensei, I would like to ask that you allow to beco your restaurants head chef and manager!
My eyes widened.
Are you serious?!
I consider Tamae a friend. We only t for a short ti, but I was able to get a decent idea of who she was. It could definitely be categorized under: Nice. But, wasnt this just absolutely impertinent. The restaurant Aurora worked so hard to make; she was asking to beco the head chef?!
I cant allow that!
Tamae-chan, that is
Brilliant! If you would do the honors, Tamae-san! But Saori was fully on-board.
S-Saori, isnt this the restaurant you work so hard for?! You put so much work to make it successful, you even dragged Tasianna, Ellaine, and into it! You even used as a rice cooker to make it work! I was flabbergasted. All the work Saori put into the nu and her own cooking, and she was about to hand it over to sobody else.
Hestia. But Saori just gave a confused face. Dont forget that my dream is to travel the world and learn more about this place. My restaurant was my thod to get our party a consistent, reliable way to earn funds for your concert, our travels, and equipnt.
Oh. I forgot about it.
Beside, Tamae-san is the daughter of two successful Michelin star restaurant proprietors. In addition, she knows how to cook a variety of dishes, while I am limited to Japanese cooking and whatever Western dishes you can explain to . Having her as the head chef and manager is the best option for us.
Also, please, dont worry that I will kick Sensei out of her own kitchen, Hesti-chan! Shes a phenonal chef in her own right! But, if you ask , the kingdom currently needs our help right?
Thats what Im thinking, Nishio interjected himself back in. The kingdom is currently going through a tumultuous ti with how many nobles were executed. This isn't good. If this were a company, that would an there will be a huge power vacuum left behind from all the firing. People will vie for those positions. They want to be acknowledged. They want money, power, and influence.
That was a given, but what could we do about it? This wasnt our problem.
I suggest we from The Magical Biscuits stay behind in Griffonpeak, Hestia-san. Since the restaurant is done remotely through the portals, we can have it serve both people in Griffonpeak and those you et on your travels. A perfect place to gossip, since we dont have the internet here.
That glint in his eyes. What did his father do again?
Hestia-san, before you probably thought we didnt have any ambition in this world, correct? He looked at straight and I couldnt help but beco flustered.
Wha?! W-Well, I, uhm, d-didnt think about it like that. Wait, do you have a mind-reading skill?!
It could totally exist!
No, I just know how to read expressions as part of my education that my parents put through to beco their company's heir. I just learned how to do it.
Or, not.
But, then again, he was right. I did think it was weird they just answered with Return to Earth. It was such a simple but understandable answer.
It was a case of us both having the sa end goal, but we had a difference in how to achieve it. The students have no grand motivation to place their mark in Peolynca like , who has accepted this place as my new ho. They just wanted to get back ho. It was a perfectly acceptable situation.
I understood from so of their faces that this world had left its marks on them, but that didnt an they could just sit it out, I thought. I an, I personally would have a very good reason to shut up and sit things out, but an idol wouldnt do that. If I hadn't persevered up until now, that idol dream would have been buried by everything I experienced.
But now you were telling I was wrong?
We are all planning to return to Tokyo, but we arent trying to do it tomorrow or the next year, Misaki, the professional archer, stated.
My father is a mangaka, and I wish to beco as good as him one day, Kohaku, the sword-chuuni, said. As such, this whole world is a paradise of ideas. But Im also not delusional enough to fully imrse myself without a care. Its pretty painful, and I wish I could just return to my room. Seeing how reality is not fun, if you ask .
Kazumi nodded. Yeah, things are hard here. You know, I never really experienced such in-the-face racism before. Sure, you see it all the ti on the internet with how people speak with each other, but you know, its the internet. People are assholes there. But looking at all the hate between the beastman in the Lecartiglio duchy was an eye-opener.
This might be rude to say, but while we are staying with Aurora for our own safety and trip back ho with your deal with Aurena, we wont be dead weight. We intend to continue training or at least be useful to you guys in so way. Tamae explained truthfully. My talents as an alchemist suck, but what I can do well is make sure a restaurant is successful! So, leave it to ! I will make it so the nobles will crawl towards our restaurant! Oh, and dont forget to get lots of ingredients for to cook! I want to try them all!
Jeez, Tamae-chan can be more than I thought, huh?
Hestia-san, I hope that settles your worries for us. Nishio then leaned forward, holding his hands together like so scheming villain. Dont worry, we agree with your plan. We are the newcors, so if you have anything to do, feel free to do so. However, if I may, you are going to the eting with King Drangleic, right?
Hmm? Well, thats right.
Of course. Politics or not, things have to be handled. A lot of loose ends would remain if I dont confront King Drangleic about the problems I have, especially how he handled the day of the invasion.
As I thought. Alright, we need to go through a few things. You need to know which questions to ask for us, Hestia-san. Suddenly, Nishio stood up and grabbed Kazumis arm. Youre coming, too.
W-What?! Let go of , Nishio-kun! What are you doing?!
Stop complaining. We all know your fathers a PR manager for multiple people inside our circle. You dont like speaking about it but, co on, even you should realize we arent dumb enough to not recognize Hoshino and how much you look like your mother. Your father prances her around like a decoration to hide their unstable relationship! Nishio just revealed sothing private to everybody in attendance.
Gaaaaaah! Dammit, you dont have to reveal everything going on in my ho, you ass! Its supposed to be a secret! Stop talking about it! Kazumi easily freed herself from Nishios grip afterward, a testant of a rogues Strength compared to a mages like Nishio.
They then ca over to and began to form a list of things I should say and shouldnt say, while also helping learn how to lead a business discussion. As if they took this as a sign that the eting had ended, everybody else said their goodbyes, leaving behind to suffer.
Of course, we had to talk our plans and goals in detail later on, since this eting was there to inform and keep people in the know. Still, it wasnt like I was completely satisfied with it.
I still hadnt heard from the Misfits and their opinions on stuff. They just agreed to our plans but never really explained to what their goals in this world were. Tamaes group made it clear to .
In any case, things were settled that evening. Tamaes group will be staying in Griffonpeak with Yorshka to handle matters here, while the Misfits will join us on the way to Estralia. Of course, since we will always et inside the subspace, it wasnt like this was farewell.
And this was important. Yorshka and Mother were experienced people, perfect to help our group develop and refine our skills. There were also other tutors in Griffonpeak, like Muraina, Thyra, and whoever else we could find. In other words, I would not miss out on training in the future.
Plans were made for to et up with King Drangleic, and it was planned that we would et up in a week's ti. Naturally, I didnt waste this ti. First things first was to create everybodys rooms. Fortunately, Mother allowed to use her mana to construct everything, so even creating a room large enough for her dragon form wasnt too hard. And, boy, was it huge, like huuuuuuuuuumooooooongous.
While so good things happened, sad things did too. Pestrodus, his lycerepthors, and Krymdar had to leave on the next day, carrying the coffins for Eshe, Sir Alikar, and Da Anivh. Aside from mourning before them, I didnt have much ti to pray for her souls well-being. They left and all I could hope for was that they would arrive safely in Sarkarfiina.
Spending ti with the children was my next important objective. I had to catch up with them. There was also Cernust, who still couldnt handle Mothers presence and even fainted right in front of . He would stay with Severa in Griffonpeak, so I could always et them when Mother wasnt around.
In any case, ti flew by. Training was set to the minimum as Yorshka told to rest and recuperate. She forbade from exerting myself and simply told to spend ti with Mother. Spending ti with family and friends made everything move faster, huh?
And when the ti of the eting ca, I was completely ready for everything and anything. Nishio and Kazumi were surprisingly pretty experienced with marketing and PR talk. I guess it made sense given their parents. I never expected Nishio to be the son of a talent agency. I thought his parents would be economists or scientists with how he acts.
However, even with all their preparations, I didnt expect what they told that morning.
Hestia, Shaturein has announced to be there at the eting. They are waiting at the citadel as we speak, Saori inford .
A conflict between the kingdom and their past was about to happen. All while I was in between them.
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