Chapter 488 - Fatherly advice (Patreon)

Hera's Status

Reaching Boothudurn ended up being much easier than anyone expected. There was no monster attack in the Charring Wastes, and when reaching the Sand Beach, they stayed for a day to rest and prepare for the next leg of the journey. Since Adriel was with them, they would keep with the 3 crossing limit. But, since the Ocean Trail didn't have many hotels and no one wanted to stay in Dzviery after the attack, moving a single room was the best option. In the end, they stopped in the Kobold Road and stayed in one of the hotels there before returning to the city under the mountain. During the two days they traveled, Alex did her best to shoot her shot, and things seemed to be progressing in the right direction, despite the age difference. Adriel was 70 years old, but for an elf, that was still considered young.

Thanks to their time gathering everything, the dwarves had already prepared a new laboratory to Helena's specifications. Not just that, but Ogryn joined forces with some of the architects in the city to make something new for the kingdom. He built a new set of laboratories on the outside of the mountain. It was still close to the entrance, but the place would be etched into the stone of the cold peak. His idea was to allow some forges to use a more extreme heat and not let the workshop be unbearable to those working there. There was a way to go from the city to this new kingdom area. One would have to take the tunnel that stopped by the Weeding Disaster dungeon and keep going through a new path that was created. As a defense mechanism against rampages, that new area was also kited with some blast shields that would cover all the entrances and a few enchantments that would repel and damage any monsters that might try to break through. Everyone felt very confident about that since even Naka had trouble going through one of those shields. She was able to, of course, but it would take her several attacks or one of her most powerful skills to create an opening on those defenses.

While Helena and Bonnie set everything up, Ogryn pulled Hera to the side, "Say. Hera, are you free this evening? Rutigan and I are having a… dinner, and I would like to invite you to it."

"Oh, sure. I'll check with Blue, too," Hera said with a smile. It's been a long time since she talked with the King.

"Ah, sorry. We only have space for one more person. It's a bit of a personal situation for the King, and it will be just us. So I would appreciate it if you didn't invite Blue. You know we adore her, but this is a more… solemn occasion, and I don't think our friend is able to go along with the mood," Ogryn asked while making sure that no one else could hear him.

"Oh… Ok. I mean, I can go, I guess. Is everyone ok?" from the way Ogryn was talking, Hera felt like someone had died.

"Everything is fine. You don't have to worry. I'll explain everything to you tonight. Come to my house at 6, so we can go together," Ogryn grabbed Hera's hands as a thank you and walked along to assist with the new laboratory.

'He seems weird, right?' Hera asked her court. Right now, she had Nimbus on her waist, in his tonfa form, Armory and Scythe as her accessories, and Daskka on her neck as usual.

'I think I'm the only one here who already knew him, and yeah. That secrecy was a bit odd,' Daskka nodded.

'Even I can tell something is going on,' Armory added.

'He looks nervous. His eyes kept darting around while he spoke,' Scythe pointed out.

'That being said. I don't think he has any bad intentions. I felt no aggression coming from him,' Nimbus spoke.

'I guess we will figure out later,' Hera sighed and looked back to Helena, "What else do you need me to do?"

"Did you bring in all the heavy boxes?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah. Should I start putting the books on the shelves?"

"It's better if you don't. We need to keep them organized," Helena was setting up some of the equipment that had to be attached to walls and to the floor.

"I worked in a bookstore for two years. I know how to organize books," Hera scoffed. She was the only one who was helping them set up. After Adriel dropped the crates everyone split off to do their own things leaving Bonnie and Helena on their own.

"I know, but it's one thing to organize them for selling, another when you do it to work with. The organization is different. We don't put things together because of a title or an author," Helena continued to tighten the screws in place.

"Ok… should I put this equipment on the table then?" Hera opened up a crate.

"No! We need to finish setting up another three pieces of equipment before that one. We need to make them work together, and they have to be properly aligned," Bonni quickly stopped Hera before she could take any of the items from inside the crate.

"Tell you what. How about I get out of your hair? That way, you can do whatever you want, and I won't be in the way?" Hera raised her hands and started going to the exit.

"Hera! We didn't want to be mean. There are just a lot of things here that need to be set up in a specific way," Helena finally stopped working to look at the explorer.

"I know. Don't worry. I'm not mad or anything. I just think I'll be on the way if I stay. Am I wrong?" Hera looked back but saw how none of her two friends could deny her statement, "Don't worry. Do your thing, and we'll talk later."

Hera left the new laboratory and walked through the newly created area of the city. She had to admit that the place was amazing. It was a 10 stories tall building created on the side of the mountain. There were many windows that would all show the view of the snowy peaks that surrounded Boothudurn. It was an incredible sight, even if they were outside the room itself. The entrance to this place was on the 5th floor. From there, going up would allow you to go to the forges, having the hottest one on the top floor. If one wanted to head to the laboratories, be it alchemical or for magic, they would have to go down. On the bottom floor were the largest ones, and they would be smaller in scale until the 4th floor. On the 5th floor, one would only find a few storage areas, a cafeteria, some meeting rooms, classes, and a large auditorium. When Rutigan found out about the new laboratory that Helena asked for, he decided to create something close to a university so the dwarves could increase their technology and knowledge. He also hired some consultants from the guild to help modernize everything, but in Hera's opinion, they might have gone a bit overboard.

As fun as having smart houses sounded, the moment a water cooler would say the water temperature, and how much she drank out loud, it felt like a line had been crossed. Not to mention the entire look of the building. Everything here had that rustic 'made in stone' feel to it. The laboratories looked like they were carved out of the mountain and not built, which was true for the forges too. However, the 5th floor was very different. Everything there was made out of stainless steel, or at least painted to look like it. There were sharp angles and odd shapes everywhere. Glass windows that would almost let anyone see the entire floor, but they could also be changed to become opaque or tinted black. There was even a cleaning robot moving around. In a word, this felt unnecessary, but it reeked of Rutigan. She was sure the King saw this design and accepted it immediately without talking with anyone else. Luckily for Ogryn, Rutigan wouldn't agree with the rest of the building before talking with the people who were actually going to use it, and that was their saving grace.

Even with the clash of aesthetics that would happen when someone moved from the main floor to the rest, the place was still incredible, and many people were itching to move their workshops here. Rutigan decided to first allow the people of his kingdom who wanted a new place to work to lease the rooms inside the new area. Helena was an exception for two reasons. First, she was the reason why they decided to create a place like this. Second, she was Hera's friend and savior. Despite all the talk about how Boothudurn was a place for everyone and equal opportunity, Rutigan would show some favoritism to his people like any king would.

Hera thought about going back to their place, but she decided to stop by her dad's house first. If she went home, the only person there was going to be Blue, and she was sulking a bit after the trip. The problem was Alex and Adriel. It's been a long time since Blue had something more than just a fling. But to start, she would need to find someone she actually liked, and ever since Quinn, she didn't find anyone like that. Hera wanted to help her friend, but Blue complained almost the entire time during the trip, and Hera wanted a small break. Not to mention she also wanted to introduce Nimbus to her dad. The griffon would be part of her life now, and it felt only fair to introduce him to her family. She only hoped that Bonnie's mom wasn't going to be around.

A few moments passed after Hera knocked on the door before Eridan opened it, "Hello? Hera!" he jumped into a hug, "How are you, Goldilocks? I missed you."

"I missed you too, grumpy bear," Hera smiled. She still felt so happy to be able to meet her father like this.

"Come, come, let's head inside," Eridan gestured for Hera to come in, "Have you eaten? Do you want anything to drink?"

"I haven't, but I'm not hungry now. I would take water or a soda if you have," Hera replied.

"Of course, of course. I'm so glad that you are back. I know you're going through some things, and I wish I knew how to help you. But let me know what's going on with you. You barely answered my texts these past few months, and I was worried," Eridan grabbed a couple of drinks and returned to the living room.

"I know. I wasn't really sure what I was doing. Then I guess I just didn't want to talk to anyone about it," Hera smiled and took her glass.

"Do you still not want to talk about it? I heard that support groups or maybe a psychologist could help a lot."

"I know. Everybody's telling me that. And they're probably right. I really messed up what I was doing," Hera sighed.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine…. No, I'm not, but I'm improving. I don't think I even explained what I was doing to you," Hera looked into her father's eyes.

"No, you didn't. You just said there was a dungeon that could help."

"Okay. So, the dungeon I wanted to go to was a war zone. A place where I could kill people inside a dungeon but not real people, just constructs. You know how some dungeons have those, like the Weeding Disaster."

"I do. I still find it very weird, but I understand what you're saying. I still don't get how that would help you."

"Well, that idea was that if I killed enough dungeon people, I wouldn't feel so bad about having killed someone in Dzviery. I thought I was working it out, but after three months, I realized that instead of helping me cope with what I did, I was training myself to…." Hera tilted her head, feeling guilty about the last part.

"To become a killer?" Eridan replied, and Hera stared at him with a surprised expression, "C'mon, Goldilocks. That's not so hard to figure out. You don't feel bad because you think killing is wrong. You feel guilty because you took a life, even if it was self-defense. The answer here wasn't going to be to kill more people until you think killing is okay because, again, that's not the issue."

"Then what is the issue?"

"That I don't know, sweetheart. That's why I told you to seek a professional. They might be able to help you understand the problem. Tell me, honestly, do you think it is wrong to kill someone if they're trying to kill you?" Hera shook her head, "When you were attacked, did you fight back with the intention to kill him?" Hera shook her head again, "So it was an accident. If you did the best you could and followed your personal code, why are you beating yourself up so much about it?"

"I… I don't know."

"That's why you might need help. I don't know either," Eridan held Hera's hand, "Whatever is the case. I'm here for you. Always."

"Thanks, dad. If I had talked to you, I might have struggled less during these months," Hera smiled. She was feeling better. Not because she had a breakthrough or anything like that, but just talking with someone really helped. But this trip wasn't all bad news, "So, dad. I want you to meet someone. Is there a place we can go to talk in private? I don't know if Renette is around, but it's not something I want to share with her."

"Come to my workshop," Eridan got up with a grunt and guided Hera to the back of the house, where there was a thick set of walls, before reaching an area filled with woodworking tools. From modern things like power saws and grinders to the more basic chisel and hammer, "Renette knows not to enter here without talking to me first since some of the equipment here can be dangerous. I think you will want to do your sound bubble thing," Eridan replied, thinking that it was something to do with her Legacy. He knew Hera had the court, and he was extremely proud of his daughter because of it.

Hera nodded and created a soundproof bubble around them before starting to explain what were the titled blades. After that, she summoned Nimbus and let him and her dad talk. Both men wanted to protect Hera with all their hearts, and that devotion made them get along really well. Nimbus even showed some interest in woodworking which only made Eridan more excited. After a few hours, she realized it was time to meet Ogryn. She said her goodbyes and rushed home for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Soon she was in front of the councilor's house.

"I'm glad you made it, Hera. Please come in," Ogryn said with a smile. There was no one around, but the mage didn't say anything. He just gestured to Hera to follow him and keep quiet. The explorer found that odd but obeyed the old mage. He guided them to the basement and then to a hidden set of stairs reaching an empty room, "Please, stay in the middle of the room with me and grab my shoulder. Do not let go under any circumstance."

Hera did as she was told, but she was already worried, "Ogryn, what is going on?"

"We are having a meeting, and no one must know about it. I will be teleporting us there now."

"You can teleport people? Since when?"

"Since today," Ogryn said with a smile as he tapped his cane on the ground, revealing several runes around the walls that started to glow brighter and brighter. When the light vanished, the room was empty, and there was no sign of Hera or the mage.