Chapter 433: The Twins’ Growth. [Release Version] (Patreon)

<51 human, beastman, elf, dwarf followers gained>

<Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 22512>

<You have accepted your rewards from the “Greatest Gambit” Event! Your valor and actions have been noticed by the gods, so may you use the rewards you have gained to gain even more strength!

Rewards: [Heart of a Thunder Lion], [Immature Carapace of an Adamantoise], [Slazzigula Ash Burner], [Poison-Scarred Manticore Stinger], various common ore ingots, various minor stat elixirs

Divine reward: Granted by the God of Blacksmith and the Searing Volcanoes, Bleidla—[Fossil-ash Soil]>

<Minor Strength Enforcement Elixir: A minor elixir made and handed out through Event Quests, created through the System. Permanently increases Strength by 5 per potion as long as base Strength is in between 0-450>

“The Dwarven Merchant Union is buying stat potions for five small silvite each!”

“The Ankoran Business Bureau wishes to buy your Event rewards. Fair prices after an appraisal. This we swear to the Merchant God, Mercurias. The Ankoran Queen has granted us this approval!”

“Saelariel wishes to buy any wood- and plant-based rewards. Our Majesty, King Elutis, has pledged to buy fairly!”

Holy smokes. It’s been almost two weeks since the Event and it’s still this active?

I gazed outside the main temple of the church of Crustacia, located inside the inner city of Inkoran-Tazul. Last time I was here, I was performing live to the many brides and grooms walking out of this holy door. Sheesh, it was already 26 days ago; nearly a month had passed since that day thanks to the dungeon fiasco.

Got a lot of levels though. Started out at 27 and got to 32 from all the trials and the Divine Quest. Bunch of skills and also other loot.

I pulled out the two dragon-blood daggers I “stole” from that ninja guy from that Takuma guy’s party. Hayato was his name or something? Urgh, thinking about those students only made me feel worse, especially since Franz just had to swoop them back to the Empire for whatever he was planning!

… But it was too late now. My information broker still hadn’t given me a report about them yet. In that case, it meant they managed to get through Estralia and were back in Folschreck territory already. Whoever Franz’s allies were, they were efficient and prepared, and it made me believe Vifi’s guess that they were affiliated with the Yanderu Elusseus.

Regardless, I couldn’t take care of that now. This was currently relaxation time.

“… I really should’ve gone out more,” I stated as I looked at the crowd outside, before turning around to notice the various people storming out of the temple with bags full of rewards from their Event participation.

The voices around me were deafening, to the point hearing my own thoughts was difficult. Adventurers and soldiers were cheering as they talked to the numerous merchants outside, bartering with multiple organizations to get the best prices. The first Event Quest of the world, and the ending was equally as raucous and crazy as the opening celebrations, despite the tragedy that happened nearly two weeks ago.

Then again, it was probably due to that tragedy with Maagneil that the temple was still this active. After all, I recognized a couple of the people here.

“A-ah, P-Princess Hestia, right?” A human man approached me. His arms were covered in bandages, but he had an elated face on as he held onto his stuffed backpack tightly. “The nurses told me you were the one to save my life. Thank you very much, may the Goddess bless you, Lady Champion! When I got stabbed, I thought I was about to die!”

<1 human followers gained>

<Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 22513>

And this was why I had gained 51 other followers while staying around here.

“You should also say your thanks to Saintess Asaka, all right? She was the one who found you and gave you first aid. I wouldn’t have been able to perform the surgery if she wasn’t there first,” I told him, still remembering how I had to regrow an entire lung and his heart for him. The puncture scars on his face made it easy to remember him.

“Yeah, I have, my lady! … Honestly, I was surprised to hear a blessed from Goddess Death was the one to save me. I thought all of them were necromancers. Never thought to be saved by one, instead of being turned into an undead.”

That was the main sentiment when it concerned Asaka after she exposed her status as a Saintess of Ilsaphone to the healers and alchemists of the city, though I hadn’t exactly talked to her much about what she was doing about it. Still, hanging out around the entrance of the temple had let me catch up on a lot of what I had missed out on in the last twelve days.

It was due to all the injuries during the tragedy that people were still coming to the temple to obtain their Event rewards. Even with the bad mood lingering around, seeing gifts normally given to the blessed being granted to normal people made everybody excited.

Sure, at the end of the day, none of them could compare to what I had received as rewards, but the fact random monster materials, ores, and these new stat boosting elixirs suddenly appeared out of thin air on an altar made it exciting. Once again, the presence of the gods couldn’t be disputed, and I bet a ton of prayers were given due to this Event.

The gods must be feasting on prayers.

“Hey, Hestia!” somebody called out.

“Ah, I should be leaving. Thank you once again.” The man bowed before joining the other people in the crowd.

As I turned to the voice from before, I smiled and waved at them. “Took you guys a bit. I’ve been talking with a ton of people here.”

The first to speak was Neill, who shook her head. “And you’re complaining while still wearing your dress? You asked to come here before we changed clothes.”

After the strenuous discussion at the summit, I had my friends and allies join me to the temple to pick up our Event rewards. Ellaine, Shay, and Beth had already gotten their stuff earlier, and while I only expected Fleindia to not have received hers, as she was unconscious up until today, Vifi and Neill apparently hadn’t either.

Vifi was obvious, as she didn’t want to leave the subspace without me due to her former status as a Warbringer, which possibly could cause some trouble. Neill, on the other hand, had been so busy cleaning up her mess that she forgot about visiting the temple. Thankfully, the Event rewards had no time limit to when we need to accept them by, as the System would simply snap them into existence for us.

“Don’t be like that with your sister. Your habit of eavesdropping on people slowed us down.” Renee, who joined us to catch-up with Neill, chastised her friend. “Sorry, she heard about a tournament happening Astraford and got interested, until I reminded her about that issue she had there.”

“Urgh!” Neill shivered.

Astraford was the Aleistunum-hating country to the east of Estralia, and it was also there—if I remembered correctly—that Neill met Renee after the former’s close escape from Galg and his dragonslayers. It was there they partied up and Neill was humbled by her experience.

I thought after killing two dragonslayers and helping me kill Galg that she would get over her trauma, but unfortunately it still lingered in the back of her mind. Well, it was better to be more cautious, after all.

“You’re still into joining tournaments?” I wondered.

Sis shrugged. “You heard about how people saw us kill Galg? They’ve been gossiping.”

I shook my head, reminding her I hadn’t been outside in a while.

“Visit the adventurer guilds or the Hub while incognito, and you can hear people gossiping like crazy about what happened during the attack. A number of soldiers and adventurers spread the word of our victory, and the fact is—Galg and his crew were pretty famous. They were the dragonslayer party from the Empire, and two dragonkin just killed them—two young rank B princesses, at that! You know what rank S dragonslayers like Galg kill? Rank A dragonkin. I know we had a grudge match with him, but do yourself a favor and wander the streets a bit. Listen!”

“I don’t need an ego boost from killing my assassin …” I furrowed my brows. “I understand it’s big news, but why should it matter to me?”

Neill jerked forward, looking flabbergasted. “You can’t hear it because everybody knows you are here! Look at you! You’re still wearing the same damn dress you had at the summit! People have been talking about it, people have been talking about the fight, come on, look outside at the fact how much people want to buy these worthless elixirs.”

I did feel like a hermit these past days, but I had a bunch of meetings with people that I couldn’t find much time for leisure. I needed time to prepare for the summit and practice my speaking skills … Still, I couldn’t refute my sister. She was probably worried that I was spending too much time on politics and speaking, instead of what I was good at.

“Come on, give them to Ellaine. Let her sell them and take a moment, you need the money.”

I handed five strength, one agility, and two stamina elixirs over to Ellaine, who smiled wryly as she also had Neill’s, Vifi’s, and Fleindia’s rewards to sell. Literally everybody only received minor versions of these new stat boosting elixirs, probably since the gods didn’t want to destabilize the economy too much with something as precious as “free” stat boosters.

Sure, they were only minor right now, but what about the future? Moderate, major, critical; what if the higher-tier elixirs didn’t have a cap and could give a rank A adventurer more mana or health? They would be priceless since these elixirs weren’t a natural creation, not until somebody learned how to synthesize them through alchemy. After all, we already had the temporary stat booster potions.

Tasianna and Rita would probably love one copy.

As Ellaine went over to the merchants, I asked what rewards the other three got, to which Vifi told me we should go back to the subspace before we showed everything. We all agreed.

Walking out of the church, I sharpened my hearing, trying to listen to people as Neill suggested, but it was just so loud, just like any other marketplace. I had to look around, focusing on one group to separate the voices.

“Yikes, did you guys see! The dragon princesses hadn’t gotten their rewards yet! One of them was even part of the winning team.”

“And the other came out of the dungeon at the same time as that giant golem, right? Probably second place. If I was in their shoes, I would push my injured body from my bed just to see what I got! I wouldn’t be able to sleep!”

I was busy, okay! I was busy!

“Man, I wish they would somehow announce everybody’s unique Jobs. Wanna see how it works, ya know? Use that weird mana display or something they used to show the dwarf king speak.”

Those three adventurers were speaking the truth, in all honesty. I really was hyped about all the rewards when this whole Event Quest began, but due to everything, it had soured my feeling for it. Not to mention I was still exhausted from today’s summit meeting. My chest felt tight with how I wasn’t sure what the different alliance members were thinking, and the trepidation of having to follow up on what I said made me unsure if what I did was correct.

“Hey.” I turned around, seeing Vifi talking to me. She had her hoodie on, hiding her appearance with her cloak. “Didn’t get the chance to say it, but I did like it when you put your foot down … Think with the way you spoke, you’re keeping your promise.”

Did she read my mind? No. This is something else.

I nodded. [“It’s just what I think is the correct thing to do … but I do understand King Elutis. This is the hard way. Trying to beat Bole’Taria and making sure your race isn’t prosecuted afterwards. Haaa.”]

[“If you believe it is the correct way, then we will follow.”] Shay suddenly joined the telepathic discussion. [“My princess, a strong will shoulders the burden of choice. A strong mind knows when to give and when to get. Asterios, as you remember, was too desperate for that one last level to see the larger picture. Strength is important, but being a leader requires different strengths, and that is something you have an abundance of.”]

I stopped, staring at Shay with widened eyes. [“S-Shay, you’re usually more quiet. Stoic …”]

[“Like you, I’ve changed. You grew from when we first met. From a desperate hatchling prone to follow her instincts, now somebody who can see what she needs to do. I listened, my princess. You were a leader in front of many other leaders.”] He bowed his head. [“As I said, I’ve learned. I listened to others. I listened to Tasianna. I cannot just be a wyvern while serving you, I must be better. I must be better when the Empress wakes, too.”]

[“What Brother said!”] Beth, his sister, chimed in, literally pushing him aside for her to speak. [“I didn’t understand much of the situation until Brother explained it properly for me, so I wasn’t sure why the others weren’t listening to you. However, faith! The wyvern priestess had told us how humanoids in the past had gone to war just because of faith! My princess, it will be hard, but we stand by you! We’ve gotten stronger after the Event!”]

These two …

I hadn’t heard every single detail from the expedition crew’s dungeon dive, but Shay and Beth seemed different from before. Usually, Shay was the more quiet type who kept his sentences short, while Beth talked a lot like an enthusiastic college girl. I’ve noticed the former trying to break out of his shell since the Elyonda siege, a reaction to how his sister nearly died during it.

Although, maybe Beth hadn’t? She still seems so energetic like always. Shay seems more mature, though.

Feeling like they were opening up more, it made me want to speak with them. Learn more about them. “I remember Astrios mentioning this priestess. Who is she anyway?”

[“Our leader in Avitor Peaks,”] Shay stated. [“The only rank A wyvern alive there, and a follower of God Kargryxmor. I believe she came from Miononbolax, which is why she’s a priestess, and due to her strength we’ve come to follow her.”]

[“She is reaaaaally old! Like, she knew the griffon king during her time before he left with his arvisian descendant,”] Beth reminded me of King Drangleic’s great-great-great-granddad. [“Sadly, she got injured during that fight and she’s been lame ever since. She still leads us as she is strong enough to scare off the griffons around, but Asterios was acting as our leader in the skies after he got strong enough.”]

So if I had gone there with the wyverns, I would have met somebody who came from Kargryx? No wonder Kramps wanted to escort me out. Maybe I should visit her when we have to deal with the grimgarians. Get her support.

“If I visit your home one day, will you give me a tour?”

[“Yes, my lady!”] both immediately shouted, even kneeling down. Well, that solved that point.

… Although, their show of loyalty to me did attract quite some people.

“Hey, hey, hey! They are kneeling! Shit, did she overhear something?”

“Wait, the first place teams might have something good! Maybe we can ask for a deal?”

Suffice to say, once Ellaine was done, we had to run away as fast as possible back to the inn where we’ve been staying in for the last weeks. And, no, we haven’t been paying them for a while now, as it seemed like our presence there as celebrities was bringing in so much money to them that they decided to just rent us the rooms for free as thanks. Certainly helped our slowly recovering coffers.

“So this is how it works,” Fleindia said once we were inside the subspace. She was observing the dining room as she sipped from her tea.

I nodded. “Yeah, you haven’t had much time to see the whole place, correct? Think of it as your home for the meanwhile. My attendants can take care of everything you need, but, just a reminder, I don’t treat them like the usual noble-servant relationship. All of them are my friends and I am paying all of them properly, aside from Tasianna.”

Even after spending so much time around us, Tasianna still didn’t care too much about her personal wealth. Then again, I wasn’t really paying any member of Aurena or the students. Only Lorena, Haati, and Priscilla were being paid since I personally hired them as staff members, if you excluded the chefs for our restaurant.

“… I see,” she frowned a bit. “It’s certainly different then. I shall make note of it.”

I knew the Folschreck Empire had a strong slavery system due to Eshe, and since I wasn’t sure if Fleindia was similar to her or to the Empire’s nobles, I made sure to warn her of my house rules. I didn’t think she would cause trouble, but so many people were living in this place that I had to make sure.

In any case, after the tea, we all went to a dip into the hotspring to clean ourselves after the exhausting summit. Thankfully, Fleindia was fully aware of hot spring culture, as she mentioned there being some in the Empire.

“The hot springs were reserved for nobles as a goodwill meeting, as one discusses during their most vulnerable time. No weapons and completely naked. To expose yourself,” she explained. “The entire mansion was managed by capable mages, assuring the quality of the facilities. The dwarves see hot springs as a place to clean oneselves and leisure, while we Folschreckians consider them a place for trust … or where one reveals their true personality.”

Neill glared at her as we all undressed. “Did you really have to put that last part in?”

Fleindia smiled. “The truth, sadly. My mother always warned me about them before I joined the clergy. I thought it would save me from all the drama, but I was such a fool. It was terrible, and it only got worse after the Prince of Envy took over. The imperial cathedral for the church of Aurena is so far away from the Holy Capital, but even then, his influence was incredibly clear.”

“It did make me curious, my lady,” Ellaine stated. “You mentioned exposing the pope, right? How were you planning on doing it when you knew the demonkin must be watching?”

Fleindia scowled, twisting her long locks. “The otherworlders, remember? Haven’t you heard, Lady Ellaine? The pope accompanied the otherworlders to our capital, only staying there for a little while, to return back home. We knew he would come since we knew the ‘Heroes of Aurena’ propaganda spread throughout the Empire was a bold-face lie! We tried to stage an ambush during morning prayer, intending to use holy magic to break his demonic powers.”

“I presume your blessing’s unique skill?”

“Yes. Our Champions all had ways to dispel demonic powers or weaken them, similar to Lady Hestia’s [Idol] with her spell songs, and we planned on exposing the fraud there and then. Sadly, they caught wind of us and it all derailed from there. Honestly, I cannot believe I actually made it here alive in the first place …” She then turned to me. “Their initial plan was to blame you for my death; however, they probably won’t say that now, since they can’t confirm my death. They will have to change the lie into something different.”

“That I kidnapped and brainwashed you,” I casually stated, already knowing this was the outcome and the main hindrance for me to use Fleindia in my faith war plan. “Don’t worry, I already have an idea on how to use you.”

“As expected of the blessed who may speak with the Goddess! Of course you would have a plan!” Fleindia suddenly praised me out of nowhere, causing her to catch herself, realizing her personality changed. “I-I apologize! It’s that sycophant part of mine speaking; I’ve had to utilize Mother’s teaching to survive in my temple. Ahem! I mean, Goddess Erithia might be strict, but I think she has a good eye for talent!”

… Or she fucking hates me ‘cause I failed to rescue Eshe. It’s probably nothing complicated.

Fleindia suddenly lowered her posture, looking sheepishly at me. “… Although, please, be honest, even if you managed to evoke this faith war you are planning, do you really believe you can win it? Champion Hestia, I think you vastly underestimated what the Holy Capital, Aureolis, and its pope represent. Nor the influence of the Folschreck Empire as the Bastion of Humankind.”

[“Of course!”] Beth shouted, waving her long draconic tail. [“Death and tragedy follows one everywhere, whether one likes it or not. One mistake can end it all, but it doesn’t mean one should be scared for oneself. Fretting over your failure will only hinder you from flying forward. Nothing can be done if one cowers too long. If you wish for something to come true, then you must provide the first step and see it through!”]

… No, I was wrong. Beth definitely changed.

This wyvern twin faced death multiple times already. Once when I nearly killed her and the other time when she lost against Ghorush, not to mention how many times it probably happened in the past. She was similar to me in this instance. We learned how to move forward from our failures in the past.

Like my failed career as an idol back on Earth, the fact I ended my life due to all that stress, and how I always second questioned my actions. I still did this very thing just today. Saori always told me to worry less and to rely on my friends, but it took so long until I realized I could actually put my trust into my allies to stand with me. I thought I did in the past, but after the Elyonda siege and Maagneil tragedy, I now knew I could without fail.

That was why my plan required my friends.

“Yep!” I answered. “Just trust me on this, all right? … Oh, and question, can you dance and sing?”

“Uuuh?” Fleindia tilted her head. “Well, yes, of course. Why—?”

“Hahahaha!” Ellaine, Neill, and Beth all chortled as they entered the bath.

Leaving the baffled Fleindia to figure out what I was planning, I joined the others, where I saw some other people already inside the bath. I waved. “Kohaku-chan, Kazumi-chan, Misaki-chan, Haruka-chan, Tamae-chan!”

It was the students.

“Hesti-chan! Clean yourself up all ready and join us! It’s a good one today!” Kohaku stretched her arms, moaning in delight as she sank deep into the hot spring.

“I always make sure my catalyst is working properly, so of course, it should be good!” I complained. “You’re just happy Grimnir and Ellaine are planning out the improvements on our next equipment—Oh right!”

I then took out the monster material reward I got from the event—aside from the lion heart since Haruka had hemophobia—and showed it to them after an appraisal.

<Immature Carapace of an Adamantoise: The hard-as-metal shell of the true dragonkin with the highest vitality. Despite only belonging to an immature rank C, this shell can surpass most metal armor in performance alone. Hard to work with>

<Slazzigula Ash Burner: The dust ignition organ of a slazzigula, used by these monsters to create blades and wings of fire to imitate dragons. While only a fake, these ignitors allow the slazzigula to maintain their fire over an extended time by infusing ash or other minerals with mana, reducing total natural fuel consumption>

<Poisoned-Scarred Manticore Stinger: The poisoned stinger of a rank B manticore. As cunning as their lion-headed owners, the poison injected through a manticore’s scorpion tail is used to debilitate enemies, instead of outright incapacitating or killing them. The poison and stinger are great alchemical bonding materials>

“I also got the heart of a thunder lion, or whatever that is.” I shrugged and placed the stuff back into my storage. “Where should I put everything?”

“You can find everything in the smithy,” Tamae answered.

“You should’ve seen Grimnir!” Kazumi added. “Honestly, if you’re at all similar to the boys when it comes to dungeon loot, then I can already imagine you hopping around like a bunny, doing this.”

Kazumi then closed her eyes, making an excited expression before shaking her head, all while moving her arms up and down in a girlish manner. It was so exaggerated, I attributed it to how anime girls would sometimes act over the top to seem cute. Nevertheless, it wasn’t like she wasn’t speaking the truth.

Regardless, Neill dragged me back to clean ourselves. Once everybody was done, we all entered the bath, where I introduced everybody to Fleindia.

“It must have been hard,” she told them, causing them to all sigh collectively.

After some girl talk between us, Haruka suddenly walked over to me, sitting side-by-side before she took something out of her storage. It was a white metal slate with nothing on it, before she injected some mana into it, causing a blue screen to suddenly appear on it, making it look like a smart tablet.

“I had Master Metosei make it for me according to Daichi’s and my design,” she explained. “Something larger than the party bracelet’s blue screen, that can also function as a proxy for a divine system crystal. You know, so we aren’t restricted to doing everything on it—portable.”

I widened my eyes. Why haven’t I thought of that? That would be such an easy invention to make, considering how often I’ve seen these [Crystal of the Divine System]. I even owned one!

“It’s barely in the alpha stage; in fact, it doesn’t even work properly, but we did manage to add a note function as a test. I documented all the unique Jobs and Event rewards we gained, calculating the monetary value we might be able to get from the latter. Do you want to look?”

“Of course!”