Chapter 391: Loatryxian Fervor. [Release Version] (Patreon)

“Clan Kargryxmor of Loatryx; ready to serve.”

“Clan Nordor of Loatryx; ready to serve.”

An assortment of dragonewts kneeled before us, interrupting the many dwarven artificers trying to work. They were glaring at us while stuck at their workstations, unable to move with how cramped it had gotten with all these people inside. Not to mention, all these dragonewts had large wings, long tails, and were just bulky in general.

“Out,” Neill suddenly stated while waving her hand at the dragonewts. She was pinching the bridge on her nose as she tapped my back.

“Yes, Your Grace!” Without hesitation, all the dragonewts stood up with their tails placed in between their legs, before they rushed out of the room.

Neill turned to the dwarves, apologizing to them for the interruption, to which the latter told her that since it was resolved quickly, we should just forget about it. With the room emptied, they quickly resumed their work, having just removed what had happened from their minds. Professionals.

Neill then led the way, telling the twins and me to just follow her lead. Noticing this, I asked if she had to deal with this sorta situation when she first came to Inkoran-Tazul, but she told me this was a thing way back on Miononbolax. She had to deal with them the moment she was born!

“Just imagine the Church of Aurena being able to meet Aurena all the time; that she walks with us in the mortal plane. That is exactly how most dragonewts think of us, so prepare yourself with that thought,” she explained.

“Ooooh, so they are like us!” Beth concluded, nodding her elven head. “Most wyverns dream of becoming similar to true dragonkins one day, or, in our case, be useful to them! Being close to the glory makes us shine, as well.”

Shay scratched his chin, looking a bit pensively at the ceiling. “A lesser dragonkin can’t transcend their limit though … You can only strive for greatness through evolution like Astalos. However, that point is a bit moot since we have Princess Fargryneill before us.”

Neill shook her head, letting out a sigh as she looked at the two wyverns. “You two … I will just say it now, but true or lesser doesn’t mean anything. It’s all about how you use your strength and your rank. At best, your lineage affects your true potential, but don’t let that stop you. Rank A. That’s our goal, alright?”

“Ours?” The twins looked at her in confusion.

“Think. I need to get to rank A to return home! You two aren’t my retainers; you are my sister’s and Melloxtressa’s. However, all three of us will join the Event Quest expedition, meaning we will be working together. The unique Job isn’t our only goal, it’s also the experience we can gain.”

[Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] granted people with it increased experience gain, and I could share it with others through [Hestia’s Retainer]. Neill was currently level 34 in her kirin form, while the twins were both level 13—level 93 in humanoid terms.

Neill herself had the [Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] title since she was a Kargryxmor dragon, but it didn’t have the special features about it, since mine was an actual blessing. Meaning, she just got the increased experience gain after I gave her [Hestia’s Retainer]. Naturally, to my prideful sister, this was a blow to her ego, but sometimes we had to do what we had to do.

So when Neill made that clear to the twin wyverns, they immediately latched onto the idea with Beth pumping her fists. “Strength matters! Brother, we cannot stray too far behind from Tasianna! We must gain Princess Hestia’s respect and gain [Hestia’s Imperial Guard], too!”

“Correct, Sister.” Shay curled his hands into a fist. “It is our duty.”

Are they that jealous of Tasianna?

Those two were the only ones who really minded that Tasianna gained [Hestia’s Imperial Guard] during the Elyonda siege, which made sense since those three were among the few real retainers I had. Svena, Lorena, and Haati were household attendants, while Grimnir was my personal smith. Technically, I also had Ellaine and Yorshka amongst my knights, but they didn’t seem to care.

Now, Saori, the saurians, the students, and anybody else I haven’t listed were just there for the benefits. I saw all of them more as allies than anything retainer related. Saori liked the roleplay of it, but she rarely committed to it outside of official situations.

In any case, that wasn’t really important right now. Neill and I had to deal with these dragonewts.

However, the moment we stepped outside the room, we noticed the dragonewts were kneeling down, blocking the hallway for multiple dwarves. The latter were complaining loudly, even trying to threaten the former with physical violence, but they just didn’t care. They greeted us with glistening eyes, as if they were talking to their idols, while they gave the cold shoulder to anybody else.

Neill smacked her face with her open palm, looking exasperated. “Go to the foyer. We will talk there.”

“Yes, Your Grace!” Just like before, they dashed away with one single order.

Yorshka was right. Dragonewts really were enamored with dragons, especially royalty. Neill’s advice to prepare myself mentally wasn’t a tip, it was a necessity.

Now in my princess mindset, the four of us walked through the hallway, but before we met the dragonewts, I noticed a medium-sized room with a shrine, looking like a chapel. A single female dwarf in a brown-grey robe cared for it, cleaning it and placing offerings to the many small figurines on it.

Entering it, I noticed from the figurine it was a place of worship for all the dwarven gods—members of the Earth Pantheon. There was the Origin Godddess Crustacia, the God of Runesmithing Dhuinn, the God of Alcohol Gnogvir, the God of Artificers Khungard, and so many more. Naturally, though, Goddess Chihiro was in the very center with Crustacia, acting as the second most important figure in this small church.

Strangely, I couldn’t identify the figure for Bleidla, and I was sure Grimnir had given me a quick summary of all the dwarven gods. As such, I asked the priestesses manning it, causing her to scoff at me, telling me off for expecting “to find that swine” in this guild.

“Dear, Bleidla is a damn bladdarg for what he did to Goddess Chihiro and her works. Taboo? Pah! Preposterous; her works allow us dwarves to branch out in new directions! See, it is because of Bleidla’s constant worship that our ingenuity keeps stagnating! It’s too damn conservative around!” she answered with the mouth of a sailor despite being a priestess, although that was just a normal dwarf thing. “He should have stayed in Origin God Danterno’s pantheon, I say! He betrayed the Earth Mother once, now he is ruining everything once again after he begged her to join the Earth Pantheon. Tazics and Inkos forget this fact too easily! Read more books, I say!”

“Oh right, I heard that happened,” I remembered Grimnir saying something like that. “How did it happen exactly? God Bleidla joining Shi—God Danterno and then transferring to the Earth Pantheon?”

“Oh child, that is a long tale. History isn’t so easily distilled into a few words, and I can see your companions wish you to hurry up.” She pointed at Neill who was leaning on a wall with her eyes closed. “To summarize, God Danterno and Bleidla just have an affinity with each other. Smithing requires fire, not just earth. However, Bleidla also didn’t understand that the Fire Pantheon is also filled with mighty fighters with explosive personalities. Every man and woman of our race grows up learning how to fight, but not to the point we can kill beasts of any size. Bleidla realized he was in the wrong pantheon, not to mention the many arguments he supposedly had with God Danterno. Of course, this all came from the Blessed of that time, so take it as hearsay or not.”

The priestess suggested reading a book to learn more about it, or asking the archbishop of the Church of Chihiro and one of three elders of the railroad guild, Yvonne. Not only was she a wisewoman, but she was also a member of the Church of Crustacia on top of her role here in the guild.

Well, it wasn’t like I needed to associate myself with Bleidla, so I put that option to the side for now. Instead, I asked her if I could pray to Crustacia and Chihiro, to which she agreed. The reason for this was to potentially speak with them, considering Aurena did mention how I was allowed to speak with other gods and garner their support.

Essentially, I wanted Grimnir to be blessed by Crustacia or Chihiro, or any of the other gods. I wanted this whole zuekluk thing to stop for him, even if I understood he broke the law. Not to mention, since Saori was a Champion of Edna, the Goddess of Monsters and Fertility, having another blessed in our midst would help our party strength.

Aside from Shiterno, I planned to do the same with Plesia and Zephira when I reach Caedhul and Saelariel respectively. Having them bless my members would helpAurora’s total power soar.

Sadly, though, neither Crustacia and Chihiro answered back. Just like all the other gods recently, they were completely silent. There wasn’t even a single message. If I remembered correctly, Renee mentioned how Yeostar had gotten into trouble or something. Wait, did this mean somebody forbade the gods to speak with me or something?

Did Yeostar get in trouble ‘cause of me?

… Goddess Aurena. God Yeostar. Kramps! Anybody! Please, I need an answer!

But my plea entered the void, as nobody reciprocated. I understood I shouldn’t be speaking with them too often, but this was unreasonable at this point. This was beyond infuriating and it just made me want to visit Aurena’s shrine in Griffonpeak to speak to her in her divine realm.

Sadly, that had to wait, as I had an envoy of dragonewts awaiting me. As such, I returned to the others and we went to the foyer where we saw the dragonewts kneeling before we came in view. Did they smell us, or were they in that pose all this time?

Regardless, after we stood before them, Neill sighed and told them to stand up. As mentioned before, quite a few dragonewts had either black or silver scales, with a minority having a different scale hue. All of them towered over me and were bulky, making it hard for me to differentiate between them.

Quite a few looked like knights, similar to Yorshka in her dragonewt form, while the four in the front were either diplomats or merchants with their embroidered and decorated suits and dresses. Two of them—the right was a Kargryxmor and the left a Nordor—came forward, bowed with their tails in between their legs.

“We lower our tails to—”

“Right, Air Shield.” I snapped my finger before they could speak to envelop ourselves in an air bubble to stop the dwarves from listening. At this point, it was a bit too late and probably didn’t matter, but I guess stopping dragon and wyvernslayers from hearing it was necessary. “I don’t want to be rude, but let’s get to introductions.”

“Same. Anyways, you know me already.” Sis then turned to me. “Hestia, this is Pradreo Kargryxmor, the diplomatic representative of the Kargryxmor clan and Loatryx. Yes, they are distant relatives to us yada yada many generations and so on. Just like the other Kargryxmor dragonewts, as they descended from Kramps.”

“It is an honor!” This Pradreo stiffened up, placing a hand on his chest before bowing once again. “The Kargryxmor dragonewts are eternal servants of the Kargryxmor dragons. It doesn’t matter which prince or princess, we are all your ardent followers. Your Grace, we have all heard Dame Yorshka’s message. Is it true?”

He kneeled down with the rest of his entourage, looking up at me with wet eyes. Some looked like they were about to cry, while others couldn’t help but stutter while mumbling how it had to be me. They noted how I smelled similar to Neill in some aspects.

“Lord Pradreo, it is exactly as you expect.” However, I didn’t need to answer as the left dragonewt kneeled down with his posse, too. “Princess Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor, my name is Skardrvo Nordor. Clan representative of Clan Nordor. The moment the Ankoran King had sent his invitation to us for the summit, we have been here. Waiting for the long-lost hatchling of our clan matriarch. I can sense her scent on you, You Grace. Your horns, your tail; they match hers … We are hon—guek, huek—honored! Elated. That you—huek—alive!”

<20 beastmen have become your followers>

<Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 18649>

Wha—?!

I was flabbergasted, to the point I didn’t even bother to read whatever the System notification told me. The silver-scaled dragonewts before me cried, shedding tears to the point they couldn’t even speak properly. Seeing this, the black-scaled ones couldn’t hold their tears back either, unleashing the waterworks as they all shouted “Princess Hestia! We welcome you to Peolynca. May you live long and find the happiness you seek!”

I gulped, finding it hard to stop my eyes from feeling wet. The raw emotions they showed their words and actions infected me. I didn’t really think of them as family, although I knew they sorta were since Yorshka and Mom told me about them. The former treated me as a great-aunt, loving me the moment we met despite being strangers. Now here, these dragonewts were crying for me.

I had distant relatives on Earth, too, but I couldn’t ever remember such a scene. Then again, my memories weren’t completely back yet. However, this certainly struck my heart strings.

I left them to cry, until they calmed down and stood back up. At that point, I thought it would be a bit insensitive to ask them about it, but I did want to know why they cried that much for me. We were strangers; it just … Honestly, it felt exactly like when I first met Yorshka and Mom. I just couldn’t get my head to understand it properly. A mental block that took a bit to resolve itself.

“Your mother, Your Grace. Although Queen Melloxtressa hasn’t been active inside the clan, she does frequently visit us. Our clan also manages her roost back in Miononbolax,” Skardrvo began. “Not to mention, your uncle, Lord Odlesstrus, had been searching for you all this time. He flew and dived into the ocean, believing your egg fell into it when your royal egg-carrier died. We have searched Caedhuel for the entire year you went missing, until Dame Yorshka brought us the great news. You are our matriarch’s daughter—a child she had wished for so dearly she pushed her body through many trials.”

Mom wanted children like her brother, but due to her trauma from the dragon civil war, she swore to herself to only become a mother once she was strong enough to protect them. She trained and became the second rank SS dragon in the modern era and married my dragon father, the Dragon Emperor. She trained so I could live a safe life.

Sadly, nothing worked out like she planned. I went missing in the Belzac forest and she was stricken with grief. Nobody found me but Kargryxmor, but due to the god’s restrictions, he couldn’t exactly tell them about me. And, well, everything else was history now that we met. I met my mother now … so I couldn’t understand why these dragonewts were like this.

It was like a giant, loving family finding out one of their newborns was lost. If I was in their shoes, I would be panicking and crying, too. I understood it now. This damn mental block was finally gone, and now I just felt terrible for having trouble getting used to this. These people were my family, too.

“So … will you be joining the summit between Ankor-Nazta and Artorias?” I asked now that things became clear to me.

However, both representatives shook their head. “We are only diplomats, not actual leaders.”

“Then it’s probably the current leader of the kinkyuro,” Neill stated, earning her nods from the dragonewts.

The kinkyuro was a grouping of the most influential dragonewt clans, composed of the Kargryxmor clan and the five clans descended from the five other rank SSS dragons who ascended with Kramps. One of them was the Gueillxar clan, which was Sis’s dragonewt relatives. Sadly, the Nordor clan wasn’t amongst them, since Mom’s father was only rank SS.

After trying to remember who it could be, Neill shrugged her shoulders. “Anyways, it doesn’t really matter who they are right now. Actually, now that I think about it, I did want to talk to you about something. But, first, how did you even find us? We were walking about as humans.”

Both dragonewts looked at each other, before they turned back, anxious. Skardrvo cleared his voice before giving his response, “We have been alert for a while. Three dragonewts reported smelling dragons about two weeks ago. We’ve been searching around, but nothing. We only recently overheard some drunk dwarves talking how dragonewts entered the royal palace—”

“Oh, those damn dwarves, of course!” Neill acted as if this was that serious. “Urgh, well, it was a matter of time anyway with how much those shorties can’t keep their mouths shut over a drink. Then, let’s get down to my question, since it really only looks like you are only here to greet us, right? You aren’t trying to bring us to ‘safety,’ right?”

The dragonewts went silent, until a group of the knights came forward, kneeling before us, causing Shay and Beth to move forward. Even in their elven disguise, they hissed at the knights, almost like territorial cats. Nobody talked, but it seemed like both understood what was going on.

Even Sis took a step forward, almost as if she was protecting me. What exactly was going on here?!

“We don’t need it,” Neill stated before releasing her [Draconic Aura] to intimidate them.

However, both endured it and stepped forward, with Pradreo rebuking his princess. “… Dragonslayers are coming to the city, Your Grace! We lodged a complaint to the Ankoran King when the notice came out with the Event Quest, but he didn’t increase security high enough! Wyvernslayers have managed to enter the city, not to mention, there may even be a dragonslayer here hiding!”

“We cannot risk it!” Skardrvo insisted, offering us a hand. “Please, ignore this Quest and come with us! We must depart to Loatryx, where you may find safety. You are risking your lives here. Our agents, with the help of Caedhulen sympathizers, helped us cull some of those miscreants but we haven’t been able to find—”

“Wait! Hold on!” I pushed myself forward. “High King Fugnarus told us some wyvern slayers were murdered a few days ago. I thought they were random vigilanties, but you’re telling me you ordered for them to die?!”

Skardrvo shook his head, allowing me to breathe out in relief, but what came out of his mouth next caused my chest to tighten up, again. “Wyvern or dragonslayers, it matters little. They are rats! They coat their weapons and armor in dragonkin blood, making potions and oil to increase their effectiveness against dragonkins! Wyvernslayers feed dragonslayers with lesser blood, allowing them to make weapons able to circumvent dragon resistances! They are criminals, every last one of them!”

“Death to wyvernslayers! Death to dragonslayers!”

Every single dragonewt shouted those two sentences over and over again, almost like the chorus of a bunch of zealots. Their soft, caring eyes hardened up, looking bestial as they radiated pure animosity.

“Silence!” Neill shouted, even causing me to jerk back.

W-woah, Neill. Wow.

The dragonewts, hearing her roar, shut their mouths immediately, before prostrating themselves before us to ask for forgiveness. “Stand! I don’t care about the formalities here, but are you two admitting you just broke Loatryx’s agreement with Ankor-Nazta? We have laws to prevent vigilantism, to avoid you going feral within allied areas! If you aren’t part of the local guard, hunting of dragonkin slayers is forbidden within any dwarven hold!”

“This is a special case, Your Grace!” Pradreo shot his head up, standing up to retort. “Your sister—our youngest princess—is here. We didn’t know you were in the city, but we had to take measures against them for her!”

My face grimaced, distorting itself, not enough if I should be angry or flabbergasted. “You killed them for me?!”

Skardrvo nodded, repositioning himself to kneel before me. “The summit is approaching. With the Event Quest out, it was only a matter of time until you would visit this city with Queen Melloxtressa. We could not risk it. We could not allow any of them to raise a finger, even if the matriarch could kill them all! If only we knew you were in the city all along, and with Princess Fargryneill.”

“We would have increased security. No! The Ankoran King knew you were here but he didn’t raise the defenses at all?! How is he allowing dragonkin slayers entry into the city?! Abhorrent dirtman!” Pradreo slammed his long tail on the floor, agitating the rest.

What is even going on here?! This is getting out of control.

“Stop it!” I shouted, slightly perturbed at all the tail slamming. “I-I admittedly am new to all of this. All of you. I do appreciate you going so far to help me, despite me only being a stranger, but—”

“You are no stranger to us! You are our matriarch’s daughter; aren’t you still family, even if I don’t know you? This is our duty. To protect family, to protect you and Princess Fargryneill.” Skardrvo stood up. “We know the Empire sent murderers, assassins, and killers. They are not here for a random rampaging dragonkin, they are here for you. What would you do if one of these slayers were to attack you?”

“… Then I-I …” I grimaced, knowing he pushed me into a corner, argumentatively. “I would hurt them back. Self-defence. Kill, if I have to.”

“Then why can’t we, your ardent subjects, defend you by cutting the root of the problem? Preventative measures.” Skardrvo had abandoned any sense of his caring side at this point, looking nothing more than a psychopath. “Besides, we warned them. Intimidated, threatened, gave them time to flee before we called the guards; they did not listen. We told them they couldn’t slay either Manethala or target you … they did not listen. They asked for it.”

… Th-that does make sense.

“Princess Hestia, allow us to speak with Queen Melloxtressa. We know your circumstance, and we respect that you are an otherworlder. Our cultural differences aside, you as a dragon are not allowed to be on Altrust. To be outside of Miononbolax until your adulthood pilgrimage. By the laws set up by your own father, Dragon Emperor Eltharion, we must ask you to accompany us so we can return you to your home. Allow us to speak with the Sixth Queen.”

I couldn’t say anything, considering Mom was asleep. What was going on here? I thought this was supposed to be a happy family reunion of sorts, but they were now ordering me around? Didn’t they know we were just strangers and they were now deciding what I could and could not do? What BS!

Sadly, before I could speak up, Neill did, “Queen Melloxtressa is currently in slumber, but before she fell asleep, she gave me guardianship over her daughter. My sister is staying with me. Father’s law does not affect her, as she was born outside of Mionionbolax. Do our laws affect dragonkins born outside of Kargryx? No, they don’t.”

Neill was my guardian? Why did she never tell me—Wait, why would she? It wasn’t like she needed to do so up until now. Mom knew this would happen?

“Shay! Beth!” she called out for my wyvern retainers, causing them to transform back into their dragonewt forms and spread their winged arms out. “We don’t need your protection. I don’t care what you do with the dragonkin slayers, but abide by the agreement and do it outside the city! You bring only trouble for the Queen Mothers as they will have to resolve this with our allies, the dwarves.”

All this talking about the dragonslayers, reminded me that to me and any other dragons they were practically hitmen. Professional killers sent after me for a bounty. If somebody were to send an assassin at someone close to me, wouldn’t I act similarly to Pradreo and Skardrvo? It just made me wonder even more how Neill was thinking about this situation.

“Also, don’t criticize one of our allied dignitaries when you know yourself no one can prevent all rats from slipping out of the cracks. The city would have to undergo a total shutdown for that to be completely prevented, but that is impossible for the Event Quest told him to keep the gates open. Keep that in mind. Now, I have said enough, my sister will stay with me. I can deal with her threats.”

Neill’s strong showing silenced all of them, allowing themselves to cool down to the point their eyes looked normal again. However, there was still a glimmer of determination. None of them gave up, or wanted to listen to what Neill was ordering. As such, Pradreo stepped forward.

“… Princess Fargryneill. Dragonslayers are coming.”

“I know that, you told me that already so—”

“Twin Reaver Galg is coming with his party.”

“—Gurk!” Neill stiffened up, trembling after she heard that. A sense of fear appeared on her face and eyes, replacing the haughtiness she just showed them.

Sis?

Pradreo, seeing this, shook his head, confirming the fears of all the dragonewts before us. Their rage reawakened, they flaunted their teeth as they grimaced. “… You’ve changed Princess Fargryneill. You barely resemble the young fletchling I met all those years ago. You’ve grown, developed. Was that because of your sister, meeting someone younger and wishing to protect her? Or did the sense of dread scare your arrogance away, revealing the truth why we dragonewts must exterminate all dragonslayers in the world?”

They bowed to me, wishing for me to dispel the [Air Shield]. However, worried about Neill and how she was grabbing her arms, shaking to the point she looked nothing like the proud older sister I’ve came to know, I had to ask them. What did they mean by this “Galg?”

“Twin Reaver Galg, the most prolific dragonslayer currently alive, and the best at his work,” Skardrvo snarled. “Not only does he have a party of rank A slayers, he himself is a rank S, certified by the Empire himself. Apparently, three rank A non-Kargryx associated true dragonkins died by his party’s hands. He is the Folschreck Empire’s greatest weapon against dragonkins … and he very much will come here.”

One of the dragonewt suddenly pulled out a newspaper and handed it to me.

“We read about it, Princess Hestia. The crimson dragon and your crimson scales … As we said, we know they are coming here for you. Galg is coming here for you!”

I nodded to Skardrvo’s comment.

“Then, please, come with us! Please! I beg you, Princess Hestia!” He prostrated himself before me. “Please! Stop being so prideful of your own power and come with us! Please! Don’t risk the life your mother fought for so desperately!”

My parallel minds suddenly reminded me of something. A small sentence too long ago, when I first was in Griffonpeak. At a ball where I presented myself to the Artorian nobility, I met a Lycerept agent—the Empire’s faith police—called Pestrodus. He mentioned something about the Empire not being afraid of the dragons.

I thought it was to show he couldn’t be intimidated, but was this the real reason? A dragonslayer? So the Empire … was actually declaring war against me?

… Right, a real “hero” wouldn’t be treated this way, no, if they were to be treated this way, they would just stand up. They would shout “I don’t care!” and continue being a symbol of justice. Aurena tasked me to help her religion, to make sure the rot would be removed. Now, the nation with a huge portion of her followers were now trying to kill me ‘cause the church they were following was taken over by a demonkin, their greatest enemy.

How bloody ironic.

“Sis,” I grabbed Neill’s shoulder, before giving her a hug from behind, trying to help her warm up. “… My vendetta aside, your happiness and that of my family and friends is the most important part. We don’t need to be here. The summit can still be held in a different manner, even if we are in Loatryx.”

“… Wh-what are you t-t-talking about?” Neill turned around, stuttering out words as she looked like on the brink of tears.

I knew this look on hers as I shared a similar trauma—she was afraid and this phobia controlled her emotions. However, unlike my fear of amphibians, Neill forced a smile and looked me straight into my eyes.

“I-I’m your big sister. You have a job to do for the big angel woman upstairs, and you’re asking me to let this chance go b-by? A chance to get stronger? To help you beat the ass of the fucker trying to kill you? D-don’t give me that shit!” She took a deep breath, slowing down her trembling body. “W-what better way for the world to know about Fargryneill Qilinus Kargryxmor, than for me to kill the strongest dragonslayer around? Rank S? Come on! We beat the ass of that Warbringer! We two, with Tasianna, can beat anything we want! I-I am noooot a coward! By Father’s horn, I am Emperor Eltharion’s daughter!”

Her shrieking voice, to the point I thought her voice would break from how high it was going, showed her real feelings. She was terrified and from the look of it, she had met these dragonslayers before. That trauma controlled her … but she was no coward.

She was brave—courageous! Far more than I was. Even now, she was thinking of helping me out, not wanting to jeopardize our future attack on the Prince of Envy. It wasn’t her responsibility to do so, but she was willing to help me out ‘cause we were family. ‘Cause she was my older sister.

Was this how it feels to have a sister? My embrace tightened around her body as I closed my eyes.

“Princess Hestia!” I immediately opened them when two voices called me out. It was Shay and Beth. “We will keep Princess Fargryneill safe in the expedition. Please, trust in us.”

Correct, the Ankoran King and King Drangleic had accounted for something like this to happen. They knew I wasn’t allowed to die since I was the figurehead of the alliance. If I were gone, Loatryx and Saelariel might not join up with the dwarves and Artorias, meaning the Empire might declare war on the latter.

As such, Neill would join the Event Quest expedition force to obtain the unique Jobs, while I settled myself in a different dungeon. It wasn’t my choice in this matter, it was Neill’s choice. And she chose to stand tall and fight against her fears.

What else could I do but support her?

“We won’t leave with you,” I declared, shocking the dragonewts before I fizzled the [Air Shield] out. “… Stay safe, though. We will meet again.”

With the four of us, we left the railroad guild, but were immediately stopped by Skardrvo’s shout, “Any who slip into the city despite knowing the laws banning them from this soil will die by our hands! We will kill all of them in the dungeon! If this is what you wish to do, then we will remain your ardent protectors! Allow us to kill them all!”

I did not turn my head around nor give them an answer. From their point of view, what they said today was justified, especially with how Neill was traumatized by a previous encounter with dragonslayers. She even warned me of them.

Today, I learned the true nature of the dragonkins and it wasn’t what I had wanted to hear. The zealotry was all hyperboles up until now, I thought, but Yorshka was correct all along. At the same time, it made me wonder how they got to this point culturally. Skardrvo even mentioned it was a duty to his family … to Mom, our clan’s matriarch.

To protect those they consider important, they are willing to break laws and speak back at us. Their princesses. Is this … considered a lust?

Once again, time passed and more training filled up my days. The various representatives for the summit slowly entered the city, wanting to meet with  me. At the same time, the time for the Event Quest was drawing closer and we have gotten information that a train from the far east—close to the Empire—was traveling to Inkoran-Tazul.

Who could these people be? Dragonslayers? Empire knights? Or, could these people be one of Saori’s students? … Or worse, could these people be demonkins?