A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

“Crustacia, Origin Goddess of Earth. Goddess of Craftsmanship, Minerals, and Creation. Earth Mother, Primarch of Earth, the Innovator, the Muse of Passion—all titles I’ve been given, but honestly, all these introductions aren’t exactly necessary, as we all know each other well enough. Nhahaha!” Sitting on her grand throne, the dwarven goddess bellowed out a laugh that shook the entire room, causing little pebbles and dust to fall from the ceiling.

I placed a hand over my left ear, finding her divine aura a bit oppressive. I wanted to speak up against it, as this could harm Tasianna and Grimnir, but quickly noticed that they weren’t here. The only person here was Ellaine, or more specifically, her slightly pink-colored soul.

“… They weren’t invited,” she stated, a statement I echoed.

“Of course! Why would I invite them into my divine realm when I need to speak with ya for a bit, huh?” Crustacia stated before jumping off her throne, only for the ground beneath her to catch her. Like peasants carrying their royalty on their backs, the ground slid forward to bring their goddess over to us, before morphing the earth to construct a fairnite table and three golden thrones decorated with jewels.

She sat down and bid us to do the same. “Bit gaudy, unlike Aurena’s more simple elegance, but I personally like it. Come on. What ya standin’ around for? Sit!”

Ellaine and I looked at each other before accepting the gesture. Crustacia smiled, clapping her hands as if she was telling us she had been anticipating this for far too long now, and that she was enjoying us being here. Considering she had her blessed to speak with, why was she so interested in us?

“To clear things up, Grimnir and Tasianna are still on standby, if ya could call it like that. This discussion will take a while, and even with yer title’s protection, Hestia, neither of them would handle talkin’ to me for too long. I will invite them in once I am done givin’ ya yer third reward,” Crustacia stated.

Third reward? Right, the information on why the gods haven’t spoken to me in a long time. It’s been a while since I heard Kramps’s and Aurena’s voices.

“Speakin’ of protection …” Crustacia turned to Ellaine. “Ellaine Fiero Helvas. Human. Accidentally bonded with the archdemon of lust, Klea’Hatma, and also the receiver of little Aurena’s help to contain that beast and use her power for the success of Hestia’s Divine Quest. Quite religious, but ya haven’t done as much prayin’ due to yer stressful environment. Now, yer a proper artificer with a dwarven master and some skill in the use of yer whipsword and demonic lust powers. Certainly a resume.”

Ellaine’s face tensed up, well, as much as she could as a soul. She then turned around, looking at empty air before turning back to Crustacia. “… Goddess Crustacia, you stared at Klea, right?”

“Hit the nail on its head. No problem with ya, kid; more of a general dislike that Marsven, that idiot, just had to leave this thin’ alive. Lazy ass. Urgh, she might just be a blob of mana, but just seein’ her makes my skin harden.”

[“So happy to see me, eh, Goddess Crustacia?”] Klea’Hatma’s teasing voice eked into our minds, sounding as sultry as ever. [“Or maybe would you like me to call you by your real name?”]

“Ya dumb?” The Goddess of Earth was as blunt as a rock.

She’s a bit more respectful towards her than Aurena, I noted about how Klea’Hatma spoke to Crustacia. Aurena did address Crustacia as an “elder,” so maybe Klea’Hatma was showing the older goddess the necessary courtesy.

“Well, whatever, I’m not exactly here to pick a fight or somethin’. Little Aurena asked me to check on Ellaine and the demon. Her eyes through Hestia and the skill she gave ya keeps tabs, but she wants to hear if ya have any complaints. Saw ya unlocked [Okl’Luthier’s Powers Lv. 6] and use [Flesh Strings]. Any weird feelings?”

Ellaine shook her head. “Nothing particular … Wait, does the color of my soul have something to do with it? I remember it being almost see through when I last visited the Goddess.”

The pink hue really is a change?!

Crustacia shook her hand, however, wrinkling her mouth as if the answer was not right or wrong. “Yer right that the pink isn’t normal. The soul of a person adapts to its vessel, like our little dragon here slowly turnin’ more and more into a dragon.”

I looked down at my own soul, flinching back when I noticed I had a large snout in the way of my eyes. I tried to touch it, but my soul hands just went through it. Calming myself down, I stared at my hands and body, noticing the scales covering my soul had spread throughout my body, to the point I barely saw any of the holes I used to see.

The fact my soul looked like swiss cheese was my reminder that my memories were broken and needed to recover, but from the look of it, I was healing up. Did my encounter with Franz fix me up further? It was highly likely as seeing and talking to him had allowed certain emotions to surge out, even if I couldn’t fully remember him. The fact I could hear my past life’s name—Hikari—made this theory of mine sensible.

“The soul of a person adapts to its vessel.” Aurena and Crustacia were right about this as my human soul was turning into a dragon’s. Looking up and down, I could attest to this as I was in my [Humanize (Minor)] form, instead of my [Humanize (Major)] or [Humanize (Moderate)] as like my previous visits to the divine realm.

“Don’t look too surprised. Ya’ll be just like yer grandpapa soon enough—ya’ll be visitin’ us in yer dragon form, Hestia. Hahaha, Aurena and Kargryxmor failed to remove yer memories ‘cause of that third god’s interference, but, how would ya look at that, yer just like my Chihiro,” Crustacia stated. “Didn’t try to erase her memories when I brought her to this world. Just gave her a second chance to live. Haa, it’s just a shame she got unlucky with her body again. Died from an illness back on Earth, died young again in this world.”

My eyes widened when she mentioned the Revolution Queen—my [Otherworldly Reincarnator] predecessor. I couldn’t just let this chance to ask her about her fly by. “Illness? What exactly was it?”

“Brain cancer.” She was blunt as always. “Got her before she could retire back on Earth. She probably would still be alive when ya were born. Her dwarven body? Issues, too. Healin’ potions and spells can’t cure yer body if it considers it ‘natural.’ Good girl, though, made the best out of the situation and somehow I just had to offer her an apotheosis for what she did. Nhahaha! She’s the reason me faith got a golden age.”

Hearing the goddess blast out her lungs with that joyous crackle made me speechless. She slapped her thighs, trying to hold back her laughter with her hand, but everything failed as she wheezed one her golden chair. Elegance? Imposing? Neither adjective could properly describe how Crustacia acted; it was as if I was meeting any other dwarf.

She fits her patron race perfectly. I concluded. It was no wonder the dwarves worshiped her this much. She felt like a far cry from the Earth Elemental Emperor who created the dwarven race, as the latter claimed that his “children” were imperfect and flawed creations, while Crustacia accepted them with open arms.

After she finally stopped, Crustacia groomed her stone-hard hair, making sure she still looked the part of a goddess. “Hehe, well, Chihiro is probably enjoyin’ the reward I gave her. She’s not an active goddess, but she does her part.”

“Reward? There was more than just becoming a god?” I asked.

“Sure.” She nodded. “I gave her a chance to be reborn again, this time back on Earth.”

Huh?

“Her powers are suppressed while she’s there, as her vessel is a mortal’s body. Still, she’s probably havin’ fun in the modern age of Earth, and probably enjoyin’ yer adventures.” Seeing Ellaine and me tilt our heads, Crustacia leaned forward. “The video recorder? She can watch what is happenin’ on yer side whenever ya film things. Get it?”

My eyes widened as the implications of this. Meaning, the moment we obtained the recorder, Chihiro had been watching everything we’ve been doing, including our fight with Maagneil? The aftermath with Manethala. So …

Crustacia smiled as an idea just crossed my mind. She shook her finger and tapped the stone table. “But, let me get to the point before we derail. Ellaine, Klea’Hatma is certainly affectin’ yer, but that is cause of yer ‘non-binding contract’ with her. Ya rejected it, but she made one with ya.”

“Klea?” She stared to the right, but the demon didn’t answer.

“Embarrassed? Oooh, little wibble lusty havin’ a flush. Haha, didn’t want yer friend to hear that, huh?” Crustacia teased, causing something pink to suddenly appear on Ellaine’s shoulder, wiggling around like some spirit.

[“Shut it!”] Klea’Hatma’s voice reappeared.

Crustacia smacked her leg. “Haha! Knew it! I guess that’s yer lust right now, huh? Well … good to see. Ellaine is even calling ya by yer first name, but yer didn’t even think to explain that ya made a contract with her to do that assimilation, huh?”

First name? I wondered, asking them what they meant by that, only for it to be revealed that demon and demonkin names were written in a “First name’Last name” style. I thought Ellaine was calling Klea’Hatma by “Klea” to simplify it as the demon’s name was quite long. Like a nickname.

“… So, Klea’Hatma is ‘Klea?’ Vifi’Yok is ‘Vifi?’” I stated, earning me a nod by everybody.

“That orphan got her name from her adoptive parents, as ya probably heard from her yerself.” She then pointed at Ellaine, who was showing the wiggling pink blob of gas a wide smile, causing the latter to just complain even further. “There really is no problem. [Hestia’ Retainer] protects her from the demonic influence, her own personality makes it hard to accept the lust sin easily, and her connection to a supportive Klea’Hatma allows her very high resistance to demonic influences. Aurena … really created a good demon hunter, huh?”

I shrugged, but couldn’t help but smile as I watched the two interact.

“I knew it! You do consider yourself a part of us! You always make it seem like you have to stay away from everybody, but just look at you! You are interested in us!” Ellaine teased the demon.

[“Dear, you don’t understand it one bit!”] Flustered, the demon had to drop her sultry manner of speech just to argue back. [“As I told you all this time, I’m interested in your adventurers and how you and Hestia will develop! The fact Hestia recruited Vifi just makes it more interesting! I am not interested in Aurora as a whole.”]

“But you stated before that you are interested in me, right? What about the contract Goddess Crustacia talked about? I did reject it.”

[“I had to make it behind your back to make sure you could assimilate my mana! Otherwise, you probably would have just revived and immediately died to that knight boy—whatever his name was—again. You see—Don’t laugh!”] Klea’Hatma shouted as Ellaine giggled. [“Ellaine, don’t misunderstand this as friendship. As I told you before, the moment you and Hestia stop being interesting to me, I will find a way to break out of Aurena’s control. Enough with this naive drivel!”]

“More like, the moment I begin to distrust you, you will have a reason to not be interested in me anymore. Hiehie, I get it, don’t worry.”

[“… Insufferable brat.”]

… Maybe I should—No, that is Ellaine’s job. It is still better for me to listen to Klea’Hatma and distrust her just enough. Just like Vifi’Yok. They are still potential enemies until we can get rid of all reasons to distrust them.

The interaction between the two continued for a bit longer until Crustacia clapped her hands before telling Ellaine her time was about to run out. It felt weird to hear that since we spent most of the time just talking about Chihiro and Klea’Hatma, but I guess it did clear things up about those two situations. Especially the former with the recorder.

Once Ellaine’s soul returned to the mortal realm, Crustacia told me that was the reason why she invited Ellaine to her home in the first place, so it wasn’t like it was wasted time. It would be better for me to explain everything to my allies anyways, instead of risking damaging the souls of my allies.

“I really don’t know what to think of Klea’Hatma. Aurena probably didn’t say this, but that demon had served me once or twice before. In fact, every Origin God knew her before we were pitted against each other,” she revealed to me. “Seraphims. Ya remember that word? One of the nine orders of angels from yer world, which I stole for the name of the unique Job System. The ‘Seraphim Protocol,’ I called it when I suggested it to the others.”

“You did? Well, I thought the Job System needed an update considering how grindy it was, but you suggested it? May I ask for what reason?”

She nodded. “Drop the formality. But, yes, the System was archaic, something we made at the beginning. The one we got used back in our world was far different, and we had to wing it for something that fitted this world. Can’t bring exactly the same stuff over here, or it’ll just be Edjurl 2.0, right?”

I nodded. I understood her reasoning and it was even admirable that she was willing to rework the current one to make it less grindy, in a sense. Of course, you still had to grind a ton of levels for the unique Job System to be worth it, but it did feel more fulfilling to level up a development Job to max due to the prestige points, unlike the former.

A god accepting her mistake and then persuading the others to help her change it. Yeostar did mention Aurena couldn’t speak to me as she was preoccupied with working on the Job System. I could see why “Creation” was part of Crustacia’s domains with how she was pushing things. Pushing to reincarnate an earthling into this world and now this whole rework.

Speaking of which, I had to evolve my Job after this.

“The idea is to allow the blessed to become stronger and closer to us through the unique Job System, even if it will benefit the demonkins, too. I don’t know if ya heard it yet, but archdemons like Klea’Hatma acted like our angels and agents back on Edjurl, and we’re trying to imitate that function here. The angels we have supporting us are just administrative aides.”

I was slightly confused what she meant by angels here, as I had never heard Aurena mention them. Crustacia told me it wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things, so I just ignored it for now since “administrative aides” meant they were probably secretaries. Although I was a bit curious, I decided to not push a goddess into speaking about something she didn’t want to. She might be easygoing, but who knows.

Instead, I told her Klea’Hatma had already told me about the whole agent part, even revealing how Marsven was Aurena’s father. Crustacia let out a loud laugh, nodding at me to confirm the statement. “From darkness, light can be born, you can say,” she told me.

“Well, that’s the whole background to that part … Hmm, been speakin’ a lot, huh?” Crustacia leaned back on her chair and supported the wait of her head with her arm. “Hope ya don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” I smiled. “That’s what I liked when I spoke with Goddess Aurena. That feeling that she’s transparent. Admittedly, not being able to speak to her all this time has made me want to catch up with her, even if she knows what was going on through my eyes. I am thankful you are willing to speak this much to me.”

“Nhaha! Don’t get too used to it, ya special brat. Yer the only mortal right now who can speak with us for this long, and that’s only ‘cause Aurena and me like mortals. Most Edjurl gods aren’t the same, they would try to kill you with their divine aura the moment you pop into our homes. Poof. Gone.”

Yikes, scary. Just like when I first met Aurena, huh?

“… Well, I guess its time to make up on my part of the deal, right?”

I held my hand up. “Before that, could you tell me what I should do with the Earth Elemental Emperor?”

The former Primarch of Earth and the creator of the dwarves; I was literally holding on to a semi-godly creature in my subspace currently, as the elemental was trapped inside the catalyst Maagneil put it in. Although it was affected by demonic corruption at the time, we later learned that the Earth Elemental Emperor was partially at fault for the destruction of a good portion of the Hub.

Crustacia wanted me to uncover the truth about it through a Divine Quest, even requesting me to solve the matter in a good manner if I wanted better rewards. I did exactly that, retrieving the fallen elemental from Maagneil and uncorrupted it with my usurpation powers. Now, I wanted to know what to do with it.

“Yer choice.”

“Huh?” I tilted my head, questioning if I heard it right.

Crustacia sighed, nodding with a slight frown. “The Elemental was me rival Primarch back when I first came to this world. I defeated it like it was some pebble on the side of the road, even if I was weakened upon entering this world. A god’s power comes from the faith within a world, and Peolynca, when we first arrived here, didn’t even know we existed.”

Bragging, I see?

Crustacia’s expression changed, telling me off as she probably predicted what I was thinking. She hadn’t read my mind up until now, I believe.

She continued, “We Origin Gods did not kill our rivals. We defeated them and stole their followers, effectively turnin’ the aspiring gods back into mortals. ‘Would you use all yer power on an ant,’ kinda deal.”

“But you made it sound so important when you gave me that Quest!”

“Oh, of course, that was for you!” She pointed at me. “Also, I kinda had to find an excuse to persuade Plesia to allow me to talk to ya. Really wanted to do it, hiehie! As such, whateva ya think is correct, do it. Destroy it, siphon its mana, or just release it into the wild. I don’t care. If it causes trouble, I’ll just send Rudigan or another blessed to fetch it for me again.”

And there was that ruler mentality I suspected from a god. Similar to Aurena who hid some of her darker sides behind her elegant and caring persona, Crustacia’s could switch from a boisterous and relaxed goddess to somebody who had no fear of anything toppling her. Like an immovable mountain able to face any crisis.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but that was just the impression I got from how she answered. Well, not like it would be an issue to me as long as I didn’t go around making enemies with her patron race or Peolynca.

In the end, I decided to hand this issue over to the Ankoran King as he was the one most affected by the Elemental Emperor. It seemed fair and Crustacia agreed that it would probably make him like me more.

“Truth and trust.” She shook her own hands. “If you want to negotiate in this new alliance, ya need to have your own bargaining chips. Ya got the benefits that yer the leader, Hestia, but if ya want the best outcome, ya need to make sure everybody is happy so they will listen to ya. Ya gotta find a way to appease that Ankoran Queen.”

I nodded, but I did wonder why she was singling out Queen Tragaya out here. Shouldn’t King Fugnarus be equally as angry at what happened to his people and city, but I still heeded her warning due to her change in persona once again. From a bundle of laughs to confident ruler and then into an actual goddess who gave tips and advice.

Now with that out of the way, it was high time for my first part of the reward. Crustacia cleared her voice, correcting her posture as she returned to her “confident ruler” persona, oozing an aura that told me it was business time.

“The reason was Yeostar,” she said, staring me directly into the eyes. “He broke the rules of us gods and directly intervened during the Siege of Elyonda by personally teleporting that leonid and the drowned undead out of his dungeon. That is a violation, as you know, and nobody hates having the rules broken more than Plesia.”

I let out a deep sigh, already having figured out that it was probably this reason for all the silence. Yeostar shouldn’t have teleported Gorush to save the citizens if it would bring him such trouble, and he even told me that he would handle the consequences. That idiot; I might not have been able to save everybody, but I could have probably pushed Gorush out to save a few at the very least!

He sacrificed himself for us … Still, the truth couldn’t be denied. Yeostar helped me a ton.

“That was inexcusable as a god trying to interfere with every event, no matter how trivial or severe, will only make it so that mortals will begin relyin’ on us too much. Mortals should live and thrive without us breathin’ down their necks. It corrupts ya, makes ya too similar to us gods. It eats away at your autonomy and slows down progress and development.” Her hand gripped the table, causing it to crack as her passionate speech made her ignore her tightening hand. “Essentially, Plesia and the rest of us do not wish to rule over like kings and queens, but as watchers and protectors. That is why we call ourselves administrators; we administer Peolynca and the Divine System that gives its inhabitants the ability to grow ever stronger.”

I had heard that word being used by Aurena before during her first message to me. With the reasoning now revealed, it made sense to me why they used it.

“And blessed are like ‘moderators’ in this case, right? As admins, you have incredible authority and power to influence something, but you would rather stay in the background and fix stuff there. Instead, you leave the day-to-day issues to moderators you hire—blessed—so they can deal with things on equal grounds,” I said.

“I knew an Earthling like you would understand it! The internet and games make it easy to understand, right?” Crustacia smiled, probably influenced to be like this by Chihiro. “Exactly. There are issues here and there, and some rules are a bit too restrictive. We’ve been loosening things up like allowing some gods to visit the mortal realms as long as they stay inconspicuous with their actions. There was also a rule where, outside of Divine Quests, we weren’t even allowed to talk to ya, like now!”

“And that’s the punishment?” I asked, considering we were talking about Yeostar here. “I can understand him not talking as he did it, but wouldn’t it be too restrictive when it concerns every god?”

However, she shook her head. “Only the Pantheon of Light was punished. Aurena took on some of the responsibility, arguing that she’s been ‘too close’ with you, and that it made her too lax with her pantheon. Good on her, as if she hadn’t persuaded Plesia, Yeostar most likely would have suffered the same fate as Danterno.”

I tilted my head to this, finding this mention coming out of nowhere. “… Shi—God Danterno? But he’s an Origin God. No way would Goddess Plesia strip him off his divinity now, right?”

“Goodness, girl, what are ya thinkin’?” Crustacia admonished me for my creative mind. “No, of course, not! Urgh, no, killing or removin’ a god from their domains can cause some really destabilizing problems. This isn’t worth dealing with that crap. Also, Danterno is Plesia’s bloody brother, no matter what he does, that water goddess ain’t permanently hurtin’ her own family.”

… Okay, maybe I did go a bit wild with my imagination.

As such, I inquired what his punishment was, as it seemed like Crustacia would answer it, unlike Aurena.

“To become humbled and understand his followers and faith—that is what Plesia forced him to do. His role as Primarch of Fire was temporarily usurped by Plesia, but she isn’t taking over the administration, instead, handing it over to Danterno’s subordinate gods … You can expect an incompetent inferno like him to have nurtured zero worthwhile right-hand gods.”

Crustacia leaned forward, whispering “Shiterno, right?” and causing me to nod vigorously. Guy had it coming for granting me his blessing without my or Aurena’s approval.

She continued, “He’s currently inhabiting the body of a mortal with the limitations of one. Until he finds the answer to his travels, he won’t be returning to the divine realm. He should also hurry as Plesia had no intentions of controlling his Pantheon at all to punish her brother. Just saying, but to most gods, a mortal life or some years lost isn’t too impactful. We can always rebuild. Aurena, Zephira, and I disagree with this idea massively, but primordial gods like Plesia and Marsven, well, they have the wisdom and experience to know these ‘small’ issues don’t matter in the grand scheme of the world and universe.”

And it was a perspective somebody like me really couldn’t understand. That was what Crustacia was saying with that last part as she wanted to make sure I understood she wasn’t one of those callous gods. Still, “primordial gods,” huh?Plesia and Marsven must be something if Crustacia would call them that.

“… So you’re telling me to expect more issues with the Pantheon of Fire now that God Danterno is on ‘vacation?’” I grimaced, as I couldn’t imagine the amount of crazy Shiterno fanatics were wandering the world now.

To my chagrin, Crustacia nodded. “Your issue to deal with, sorry. If you want to expedite things, find Danterno and help him out. He probably would be receptive towards his ‘newest Saintess,’ right? Nhaha!”

Even as a soul, I could already feel my brain burning up by this thought. A painful headache was stinking into my head, making me feel not only ill but slightly unmotivated with dealing with any of this crap. Why was Shiterno such an idiot of a god? Couldn’t he have just handled things like his sister and colleagues so the world wouldn’t have to suffer for his incompetence? This was maddening!

“Thankfully, Yeostar doesn’t have to deal with it, but it’s probably almost as severe, as he lost his ability to directly train his blessed.”

“… Oh no, the reason to become a Champion of Yeostar is the training he provides,” I stated, remembering Champions of Yeostar were the strongest blessed amongst the Pantheon of Light due to this fact. In exchange, he could only possess one blessed at a time. “Renee won’t like hearing this.”

Crustacia nodded. “He lost a ton of privileges as a god, honestly. It’s not the worst, but the ripple effects of this will affect his religion and you, too, Hestia.”

“Me?”

“Goddess of Nobility and Wealth, Erithia. Ring any bells?”

I nodded. The first time I met her, the manner she spoke and commanded me as if I was one of her pawns still grated on my nerves up until now. The authority she wielded to make me know my place, reminding me that I was a Champion and that I had to do what was good for Aurena.

“She can’t speak with anybody, but depending on how Aurena handles it, Erithia might hold a deep grudge for seeing one of her best friends lose so much influence. Don’t forget, they fought together back when they were mortals. They have a bond as strong as ya and Saori, for example.”

The more I heard about this, the more I wished I hadn’t asked Crustacia about anything. Thankfully, she did make it clear that it was unlikely Erithia would sabotage me too much as she still supported Aurena at the end of the day. I was still a “flag bearer” for the other blessed to combat the demonkins controlling the church of Aurena, so they couldn’t just denounce me. Still, I had to expect some hostility if I met somebody who worshiped Erithia.

“That Saintess you saved is one of them.”

You gotta be kidding me here.

Apparently, Aurora’s bad luck with encounters applied towards my fellow blessed, huh?

Regardless, it was good I finally understood what was going on now. Crustacia gave me a bunch of information and she asked me to shower her with flattery before she called in Grimnir and Ellaine for my third reward. This also meant that my time with Crustacia was coming to an end.

“Thank you very much for everything, Goddess Crustacia. It was quite long, but I appreciated everything. From information on Chihiro, to Klea’Hatma, and God Danterno’s situation, and to why Goddess Aurena and Kramps haven’t spoken to me.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She waved her hand in dismissal. “The punishment will be lifted … in your lifetime, so just endure it however long. It probably won’t happen until ya got the thing with the Prince of Envy sorted out, but if things are to be handled like this, it just won’t work. Laws are there for a reason, and that is something I agree with Plesia.”

“Well, I guess it also helps that you don’t have somebody like me around,” I stated, but Crustacia just laughed it off.

“Nah, as if! I spoke a ton with Chihiro, but I never did anything like a speaking voice in her head, nhaha. I gave no tips outside on how to handle a Divine Quest. She was completely independent as we gods expect,” she replied. “Besides Aurena’s religion is probably the one who interacts with its blessed the most. Zephira and I don’t have as many blessed, and most don’t need too much talkin’ to. Danterno isn’t too good at it, so he avoids too much personal contact. Plesia only thinks of her followers as ‘pets,’ while Marsven couldn’t care less if his followers were dead or alive, as either one would fuel him with power.”

The God of Darkness who has the Goddess of Death on his side … Yeah, I would guess he wouldn’t care if his followers were still kicking.

With that, my meeting with Crustacia ended. She waved at me as the fairnite table and golden chairs melted back into the ground. She waved at me, telling me to say “Hi” to the person I was about to meet, causing me to tense up, as I had a feeling who she was talking to.

“If everything goes well, then I will be glad to help you out on this Divine Quest, Hestia. Good luck, and make sure to translate everything for them.”

I nodded as my vision turned black. I closed my eyes, waiting for everything to end until I began to hear the sound of lava bubbling and the metal clanking of metal. I opened up my eyes, realizing I was currently inside a literal chamber made from lava.

My eyes darted around, where I noticed two souls next to me. Both were see through, but one was the size of my hand, looking very much like a fairy with her butterfly-like wings. The other was a stout man who reached up to my shoulder with two ram-like horns. Both of them looked around, before they noticed me.

“Tasianna. Grimnir. Hope I didn’t take too long,” I answered to them, before pointing forward at the source of the clanking.

There, a single dwarven man kept pounding his hammer onto an anvil, forging something glowing bright white. Once he was done, he dropped the item into the lava before wiping away the soot on his face. He turned around, holding on his hammer and looked at us while stroking his beard.

“… Bleidla,” Grimnir mumbled.