A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

I rarely got the chance to appreciate the fur on my arms and legs, but along with my coat and my red scarf made from Hestia’s mana, they really did make me feel warm and cozy despite the shivering temperatures. Looking up at the clear afternoon sky and then back down to the mud-stained snow blanket around me reminded me a bit of our stay in Carine village. Being able to meet the villagers again after one of Hestia’s concerts made me feel nostalgic, and I could only imagine how Lorena and Ruld must have felt.

Best part was the rice alcohol. Ahaha, greatest present ever, aside from some nice gear and clothes.

“Wait, doesn’t she look like a—”

“Shut it. A wolfkin working for a Champion can hear even whispers.”

People were always loud; no matter if they were a grey-robe, a white-robe, or a knight, they would gossip. Everybody was gawking at the lone ebony-haired wolfkin—me. I wasn’t wearing my amulet of Marsven, but I did have Belzac’s vessel with me and, while it certainly looked ominous since it was a wolf skull pendant, I was hiding it under my clothes. Not to mention, aside from my white shirt and red scarf, my outfit’s color scheme was predominantly black with a few shades of purple here and there.

Considering that the stereotypical Marsven priest wore roughly the same color scheme, added on to the fact that I didn’t look too much like a normal adventurer, people were already assuming I was affiliated with the Pantheon of Dark. Well, I was, but that was beside the point. Asaka, being a Saintess of Ilsaphone, and me, being a Champion of Edna, probably would cause Hestia some trouble down the road, but it was already made clear we shouldn’t worry about it.

And I wouldn’t. We could handle it after we reached that point, and before we did, I had to do my part of the work.

[“Uno, Varya; have you found where Yorshka and the kids are?”] I asked my shadow pack.

[“Master Hestia went to the orphanage!”] Rajah reported. [“She’s currently waiting there, asking for a person called Amadeus. If I had his scent, I co—”]

[“Rajah!”] Varya raised her voice to scold her oldest son. [“Your master is the Alpha. Master Hestia can take care of herself, but if you are called to act as a shadow pack member, you should act as such. Isn’t that right, Vidia?”]

[“The pack is strong because we stick together,”] Mom answered in a matter of fact tone.

Hearing the two mothers reply like that, Rajah couldn’t help but pout, shrinking a bit within my shadow. Little guy really loved Hestia, and since he was separated from us when we went to Belzac’s grave to train, he probably didn’t feel as much as a “member of the pack” unlike his mother and younger siblings.

I didn’t want to pull him away, but Varya did seem like she wanted her son, her pride and joy, to be with her and fight as a unit. I guess it was similar to Melloxtressa wanting to be with Hestia and my own garm mother wishing to spend time with me. A mother’s bond; you couldn’t deny nature like that.

In any case, ignoring Rajah, Uno gave me his report. [“Yorshka led your students to the knight’s building, where I overheard them wishing to speak with the Knight-Commander. I did not try to enter the building to not risk anything.”]

[“Good decision. We are in enemy territory here. We do not know if the church has a way to stop [Shadow Dash] or [Umbral Skip],”] I commented, prompting Belzac to speak up.

[“The dragon girl’s ability to heavily weaken demonic influences as well as water and ice elemental attacks with her songs should already be evidence enough that it’s possible. If the Churches of Aurena and Marsven dislike each other, then both sides would have figured out a way to counter each other’s element,”] he stated. [“If you want an example, an easy way to counter [Shadow Dash] would be to simply ensure there are only small shadows. If you are too large, you can’t dive in them, right?”]

I also knew a far more effective case, when I fought that necromancer lich during the Griffonpeak attack. Someone who worshipped Ilsaphone and thought of me as a rival to garner the goddess’s favor. She had a spell which could inflict necrosis on others, and similar to a virus, it would spread through your body. You could try healing it, but it spread too fast, requiring a [Cure] or another status-healing spell.

Kushlek’zar had a catalyst which reduced the effectiveness of fire attacks, while Tasianna’s [Fairy of Winter] could reduce the damage of fire attack by 5%. Being extra wary of the capabilities of our enemies was the minimum.

Regardless, thinking about this wasn’t my problem for now. Knowing where they were now, I went over to the Knight of Aurena’s headquarters to meet the kids, but when I got there, knights suddenly approached me, some even stopping training and following their comrades while still sweating and breathing heavily.

“You aren’t welcomed here, dark mage. Leave.” One of them scowled at me, blocking my path to the door.

“You already stain our Goddess sanctified grounds; we don’t need you to taint our order’s light, abomination.” Another adjusted her grip over her spear, ready to strike if I made a bad move. “You think you can trick some blessed and come and spy on us, Carmanian? We aren’t fooled!”

They think I’m part of the alliance? What is with this prejudice?

“Excuse me, but you are misunderstanding something. I am not from the Beastmen Alliance. My only allegiance is to Lady Hestia and our party; nobody else,” I asserted. “I am just here to talk to the Heroes of the Goddess.”

“That’s ‘Goddess Aurena’ to you, beastman,” a third scoffed. “Do you see your kind amongst us? Beastmen aren’t allowed within our order.”

Hello, Yorshka?

“U-uh, Sir, we let Captain Yorshka inside, though.” As if he had read my mind, he understood the irony in what was said.

“Omit the damn title. Not only did she resign without any fanfare to the comrades she made here, but also how she hid the fact she was a dragonewt! Our Lord Commander didn’t even know about it up until now! She’s a traitor and liar; we need not show respect to her. The only reason why the rest of us let her in is because no one could stop her, unless it’s the Commander himself.”

I raised a brow. “Seems to me like you respect her, though, and you are just taking your frustrations out on me.”

Hearing me say that, the older-looking knights turned their heads to me, frowning in displeasure. With a loud “Stay outside, civilian” they then resumed what they were doing while two knights guarded the front door, literally screaming, “We will arrest you if you come closer.” I sighed through my nose; they were even more complicated than the grimgarians!

[“Their faction’s animosity towards the dragon is strengthened around you, as you are far from their ideal image of a companion to one of Aurena’s blessed. Knights embody the virtues and demerits of a nation; this is something you will have to learn how to deal with. We aren’t in a beastmen friendly area,”] Belzac lectured me.

Mother sent me a mental image of her shaking her head. [“Seems so foolish then … Daughter, why not prove yourself to them then? If they let Yorshka in, then can’t you do the same?”]

[“I am not here to stir up trouble.”]

[“You either engage or intimidate them away when you enter another’s territory, Saori,”] Mom tried to change my mind, but in the end decided I understood humans in a societal environment better.

Deciding to just take the quiet route, I went over to a nearby bench and sat down after cleaning the snow off it. Watching priests roam around the area, listening to the knights grunting and sparring, and even just hearing the sounds of a church bell ringing made me wonder if my students experienced this every day.

Kidnapped and forced into a war they had no association with, robbed of their chance to choose what they wanted out of their future. Well, “robed” was a pretty strong word, considering some of the kids had parents who planned out their children’s future. Some appreciated and embraced it, while others, like Asaka, rebelled and turned their lives in both school and their home into a wreck just to experience a smidgen of freedom and choice. Then again, I also had Tatsuya who never really had much ambition outside of playing games, surfing the internet, and reading manga.

Would things be different now if I had been in the classroom earlier? That way, I would have been transported with them and I wouldn’t have died.

Honestly, it was a conundrum. It made no sense to play make believe since the past was set in stone, and no matter how many “what ifs” I could imagine, my historian side knew it was meaningless. Still, I sought the catharsis of choice and consequences. To envision a brighter future, by going through how different actions could have shaped this reality.

Naturally, in that case, the most obvious change would’ve been Hestia. She had repeated herself often enough for me to understand that, if I hadn’t been there for her, things could have changed for her, and rather drastically. Her loneliness affected her mental health, and even if I now knew the reason for her [Parallel Thoughts] was her split soul, it still scared me to know she was constantly speaking to herself. Would Hestia have met Tasianna without me? Would she have turned into the idol I knew today … or would she have embraced her draconic side more, to the point she abandoned her dream.

It was harrowing. I thought of her as a younger sister at this point, and I couldn’t allow such a fate to blossom. Then again, what about my students? They were separated into two groups with Franz now forcing himself to carry an empire-worth of pressure on his shoulder, all for the benefit of his beloved little cousin.

Saori, you fool.

I never noticed his stress. No, in fact, I did remember his hair turning grey and how his personality became even colder after what happened, but I never took an interest in helping him. I let him brood since I feared his father. Was it wrong of me to neglect him, despite being his homeroom teacher? For us Japanese, being a teacher was being a guide and a counselor for these young souls. I failed, no?

Regardless, there was also Asaka; if there was a student I could agree I failed with, then it was that “delinquent.” Could I really blame my perfectionistic nature on that, or was I just naturally more inclined into ignorance? All so I could scowl at her and her issues just to enjoy an easier job. After all, it was all for Mother. For her health, I threw away my dream and became a teacher.

And now, I’ve only really been able to help Tatsuya and Kyouya get over their issue with each other. Allowing Kyouya to speak his mind, while prodding Tatsuya to release his pent-up anger and frustration for Franz.

Sadly, these were only two of my 25 students.

Therefore, could I have done anything if I had been transported with them, instead of dying and allowing my soul to be reincarnated into a wolf? … No. My frustration probably would have gotten worse, especially with Asaka. I would have freaked out even further since the pressure of guiding my students would have amplified my dread over coming to this new world and leaving my mother, while traveling with Hestia allowed me to drop the former worries. All I needed to worry about was to stand next to Hestia as an equal in strength.

No, no, haha, no, no! The first two months were exactly what I feared! I couldn’t kill anything, felt like baggage, and then nearly got killed by a chameleon and fell into a small existential crisis for being worthless! Haha, yeah! 100%. It would have been even worse if I hadn’t heard Hestia give me the tips I needed.

My pride as an adult and teacher would have skewed my opinion if I had Tatsuya or Daichi speak up about my failures and what I should have focused on. I was the adult, I had to take the lead. Yet, in the Belzac forest, I had accepted Hestia as the more experienced individual when it came to surviving and battle since she had experienced death far more than I did.

Maybe that was why I always accepted her as the leader, never questioning or disputing it. Was my warg instincts acting up even then when I thought of her as my “Alpha?”

[“… What exactly are you thinking, pup? You are staring into the void.”] Belzac woke me up.

[“Nothing, old man. Simply … reflecting on everything. Am I not allowed to show weakness when you are around?”] I closed my eyes and smiled, before turning my head around. [“Or, were you worried I wouldn’t notice them while daydreaming?”]

“Sirs and Dames?” I spoke to the five approaching knights, each staring down at me with eyes I was too used to. Even if I had been in Shaturein or with the grimgarians, I wouldn’t have failed to recognize those bloodthirsty, vengeful looks. “Do you require me for something?”

“Stand up and leave the church grounds …” An older knight with a scar running down from his scalp to the edge of his upper right lip ordered me. “Not only has that false blessed brings a bunch of beastmen in, but she also brainwashed Saintess Fleindia and Champion Rhea! That forked tongue of hers! Get out!”

As we suspected.

“She has a right to be here, and as her vice-leader, I have a duty to be here with her,” I argued, sensing this wouldn’t go down too well if I remained as meek as before. I stood up. “Or, are you denying Goddess Aurena’s decision?”

“This beastmen actually has the gall to call us heretics? Us! Enough!”

The five knights put their helmets on before unsheathing their weapons, with one using [Gale Steps] to create distance between herself and me by moving toward the knight building. The other, less hostile knights stared at the situation in confusion only to jerk back when the female knight nocked an arrow on her bow, causing the latter’s runes to light up and enchant the arrow.

The four still in front of me went into formation, directing their weapons at me. Unable to keep a cool face at such a behavior, I frowned, thinking this was just exhausting to deal with, like a bunch of punks ambushing students after they finished playing at an arcade, all to ruin their day.

“We will reiterate it for courtesy’s sake—leave the Holy Capital, now. We do not welcome Carmanians here, especially a dark mage like you!” one of them shouted.

This was the same sort of misunderstanding Hestia had to face before she accepted being Aurena’s Champion. People believed she was a shrine maiden of the Church of Aurena simply because she was wearing a white robe cosplay from a game she liked, and now these knights were doing the same with me. History showed people loved labeling others by the accessories and clothing they had on.

How should I handle this? Well, we did agree to not be too aggressive, but then again, Hestia did just do that stunt in the basilica.

[“Alpha?”] Uno prompted me, snarling.

[“Don’t,”] I told him. [“And, Mom—”]

[“I will watch. See how you deal with humans compared to grimgarians,”] she replied patiently.

I guess it would confuse her why I treated grimgarians, the beastmen slaves, and these humans differently.

“Once again, I am not from Carmaniate. I was not born there, I do not have any ties with them, I do not fight for them, so I would ask you to stop classifying me as such. My allegiance belongs to Champion Hestia …” I took a step back with my right leg, getting into a comfier posture to retaliate. “As such, I will ask you knights of Aurena to lower your weapons. I am not your enemy.”

“But you are now! Arrest her!” the knights shouted before the four charged at me while the archer in the back shot an arrow at me.

I clicked my tongue, raising my arms up to defend myself, only for my [Foresight] to activate. I jumped back at the same time the knights did, probably detecting a projectile flying from the side. As if it was perfectly timed, a stone flew in between us, snapping the arrow mid-flight, before it lodged itself into the ground.

“Haha, see, Graz? Told you I could hit it in time!” A loud, rambunctious voice drew my attention to my right, where I saw a red and green saurian walk up to us—it was Krim-Slak and Grazlahta. Behind them was our hulking sarcosilian companion—Akast—lumbering forward as the ground shook from his bulging muscles and heavy armor.

“Kri,” the green carnosilian, Grazlahta, flicked a silver davi coin over to his red pal, prompting the latter to bellow out in laughter. “Whatever. Hey, Saori. Are the people here causing you as much trouble?”

“Graz? What are you three doing here?” I raised a brow. Shouldn’t they be with Kushlek’zar?

Krim-Slak answered for him, “When you guys were speaking inside the room, a few of the grey-robes gave us some pretty bad looks. Scared, probably. So, we decided to take a walk through the nearby garden and returned to the dorm later, only to find out you guys left. You know where Kush is?”

“Oh, he—”

“Don’t skip my question.” Graz shook his head in annoyance. “Those knights. None of us are welcome here, and unlike with us, they found you easy pickings. Like a bountiful rainbow flower awaiting for a butterfly to sap it, only to feel its hidden fangs end your naivety in a split second! Come, knights!”

Krim-Slak cracked his shoulder and neck, readying himself as if this was a bar brawl. “You want to fight our little student? Then how about you taste how us saurians fight? You humans probably never heard of Aelozonia before, so let us show you the ferocity of the dinosaur-roaming continent! Xohulotel, laruz! Witness us break these fools!”

“XOHULOTEL, LARUZ!” Akast roared, feeling like a sonic attack with how his throat was vibrating.

Fully intimidated by the fearsome Depth Serpents, the five knights quickly tried to call for their comrades to help them, but before it could escalate, the door of the knight’s building opened and Yorshka revealed herself. Walking forward, she smiled, looking at us and her former order.

Ignoring them, she moved forward with the students behind her, and somehow the situation diffused as my aggressors sheathed their weapons and snuck away. I allowed them to.

“Thanks for that,” I told them.

“Ha!” Krim banged his wide chest, taunting the fleeing knights. “If they had actually fought you seriously, they would have experienced more than just shame. Although … maybe actually showing your strength would’ve been better.”

“This is not a bar fight, Krim …” I sighed at his comment. “The more we anger them, the more it will cause trouble down the road.”

“Ah, I wouldn’t worry too much about that.” Yorshka smiled. “How do you make an order composed of mostly snot-nosed noble brats and condescending veteran knights from throughout the human nations respect a commoner whose background was only verified by its Knight-Commander? You beat the older ones up, you then drill those batmouthing you because you’re just plain out stronger than them, and then you make sure the squires remember that you can take out bandit groups and monster attacks all alone without any help and come out of them unharmed!”

She raised her arms, directing her smirk at all the knights who complained about me. With complicated faces, they turned away and left us alone for the moment. Seeing them act like this, Yorshka shrugged and sighed, mumbling, “The order is still like this, huh?” Her flamboyant attitude disappeared and was replaced by the look of disappointment.

She was formerly a knight from this order, so I could imagine she had opinions and expectations for the people around. I ignored her and directed my attention to my students instead. “This is what you guys had to experience for all this time? Please, tell me at least your tutors and the priests were better and less opinionated.”

“They were.” Asaka shrugged, making me wonder if she was being truthful or just getting a laugh from my worry. “But, seriously, these idiots treated us relatively well, considering we were practically their prisoners. Well, we were never allowed to leave the church grounds aside for events or travel. The teachers, eh; they didn’t change my opinion at all.”

“Helps being summoned by ‘Goddess Aurena,’ right?” Tatsuya shrugged. “Aside from Aiko-chan and Asaka, the rest of us practically had to pay for everything from our own pockets if we wanted anything beyond the bare necessities. If you were smart about it, then there wouldn’t even be a dull moment, since there was always something to do.”

“Didn’t help you when you still fangirled hard when you saw your first beastman or half-elf …” Kyouya teased his friend, causing him to hide his face while the other students chuckled.

After this small talk, I told Krim and the others that Kushlek’zar went with Theodore to the admin building to talk about their accommodations. Thanking me, they left, leaving me to follow after Yorshka and my students. During our walk, I also noticed quite a few people staring at Yorshka and me, or more specifically, our animalistic features.

“I guess it is not a coincidence that there are no beastmen inside the city?” I asked Yorshka.

“Nope. No beastman priests or knights, no exceptions. There is a small village on the edge of the outer walls made for beastmen who want to serve the Goddess, but nobody considers them part of the city. Think it more from the view of the people here; the vast majority are either from the Empire or from a vassal state. Some of those states do not practice slavery, but they know about it and some have middling opinions on beastmen. Doesn’t help that most are nobles within the clergy and knight order.”

“Made it all seem like a cult when it was explained to me …” Asaka scowled. She then sighed, looking down at her black robes. “Besides, I don’t think they are staring just at you. They’re also assessing me. You saw the receptionist’s look.”

“Oh, Miss Amalee’s?” Haruka replied. “Y-yeah, I guess … Well, I guess it’s pretty clear. You aren’t even trying to look the part.”

Asaka shrugged. “Because it doesn’t matter. They know and can expose everything later if I try to act undercover. There is a reason Hestia didn’t tell me to be part of the whole praying part, she knows it, too.”

I guess it was obvious enough to understand from context alone. Without their unique skills acting like trackers, the demonkin already know they switched sides.

After some walking, Tamae told me she wanted to meet up with a few tutors of theirs, hoping they could get some information out of them or maybe have them support Hestia. As such, I joined Yorshka as she suddenly had the urge to leave the church grounds to inspect the rest of the city. She even cajoled me into joining her by mentioning that I was probably curious. Oh yeah, I was curious!

There were some complications at the gate, as the knights didn’t want to let the kids through, but Yorshka reminded them they weren’t forced to stay inside the church any longer per the Pope’s order. Since they haven’t gotten any orders yet to keep us inside the area, we got out, followed by Yorshka saying we got lucky. They didn’t expect us to want to leave this soon.

“Sensei, do you think you can put up the portal?” Daichi asked as we entered an alleyway.

“Why? Are you that antsy without Grimnir or a hammer in your hands?” Seeing him smile gave me the answer I needed, so I sighed and smiled wryly. “Not here. I do not want to risk them knowing about that place just yet. They know you guys are void-touched, so they might be aware of [Room]. We’ll do it once I transport you into the shadow world.”

“That’s possible?” Kyouya asked.

[“As long as you are connected with a [Shadow Dash] user, you will always, always end at your destination. Marsven had made that spell with that hidden function to assure his mages never wind up trapped by an accident. Bringing along others with [Shadow Armament] is an exception though,”] Belzac explained, revealing more truths about Marsven’s domain. [“If you put the portal stones inside the slime’s body, you can keep it safe without an issue. The slime is sentient enough to distinguish what it can consume and what not to.”]

“Shoyi is a smart blob,” I stated, having already tested its intelligence inside Belzac’s grave.

“… Won’t we be totally wet when we enter him, then?” Tatsuya asked, causing the other students to squirm, before I had to explain to them that it’ll feel like going inside a pool. It wasn’t that bad!

“Enough of your prattling!” Yorshka interrupted us. “Anyway, welcome to the second most delicious eatery in the town! No matter where you go within this place, you cannot find anybody else who can maybe rival the food the church makes in the cafeteria.”

Wondering if she was exaggerating it a bit, I shrugged and entered a small house deep inside the back alley of the city. Unlike a normal “slum,” this place was relatively well maintained and I haven’t been able to detect a single street urchin anywhere. It also smelled decent enough, confirming there was a working sewer to remove all the filth.

I guess Fleindia was right about how this city shouldn’t have any poor people. It was extremely well regulated and you could see soldiers patrolling even in the alleyway and making conversation with the slum people. There were even two inside the eatery, enjoying a meal.

“Haaa, best decision ever to save up the money!”

“I told you it was a smart idea to speak with that knight! Extra coins for that Quest was really nice, and all we had to do was carry his stuff and cut the beast open.”

Hearing this I asked Yorshka if there were any adventurer guilds around, but she denied it. Tatsuya told me everything was maintained by the military here, which included the knights. They wouldn’t even hire any mercenaries; however, as we just heard, soldiers could be recruited to help knights with their duties as long as they were paid adequately.

Yorshka explained it was to ensure Aureolis was never in debt to another country to keep itself as an unbiased participant concerning human affairs. They didn’t want nations to ask favors from them without being in the advantage in the negotiations.

“Politics even within a theocracy, huh? Seems all too familiar.” My mind wandered to what the Christian Papacy did during the medieval ages.

In any case, instead of taking some seats the moment we entered the eatery, Yorshka spoke with a nearby waiter and asked to go “in deeper.” The person recognized her, which was par for the course since she actually worked here as a holy knight before. Funnily enough, if this was the second best eatery in the city, then it sure wasn’t full despite it being almost dinner time.

And my expectations were confirmed when we headed down a staircase to reach a lively place with a bar to the side and waiters quickly bringing out food to robed people and a few merc-looking people.

“Welcome to the ‘Noble’s Secret.’ Great name, right?” Yorshka smiled. “You live too long as a pious clergy and you’ll sometimes want to eat some nostalgic food and get something nice, right? However, the priests don’t want to be known by others, so it’s all hush-hush with people respecting each other’s privacy. An open secret most long-standing clergy members and knights know. Whatever happens here doesn’t come out, no matter what. If you do, the actual manager of this place will straight up blacklist you, even if you’re the Holy Emperor himself.”

Well, now that’s scary.

In any case, we all covered our faces with our hoods and sat at a nearby table. After Yorshka ordered some food, tankards full of mead were delivered for all seven of us.

“I cannot believe I am actually drinking with my students, again …” I said. “I honestly thought I would do it if you guys remembered me after your second year in uni.”

After all, Japan’s drinking age was 20.

“Probably not,” Asaka said bluntly, before bumping her tankard against mine. “So let’s enjoy it now.”

Ehe.

“Ahh, don’t listen to her!” Tatsuya encouraged me with a wide grin. “We probably would! You were lame as a teacher, but you always were our favorite!”

“Oh, shush, you! You were a terrible student, then!”

“Ahaha!”

As we all held our tankards up, we clanked them together and cheered, “kanpai” with Yorshka. While Haruka declined to drink, we all still enjoyed a nice evening with good food and good company. The meals certainly lived up to Yorshka’s hype, as they were extremely well seasoned, to the point I could smell out the salt, sugar, chili peppers, and even some saffron smell-alike.

Most of the dishes were from all over the Empire, so it certainly was a treat for Asaka and me, as we both brainstormed a bit about what we could make for the others, and if anything would interest Tamae. Okay, who was I kidding, Tamae would probably kick Yorshka’s behind for this.

And that she did, once we returned and got our lodgings.

Once we settled down, Hestia gave us an update on her side of things, explaining she had met Amadeus and a High Bishop dissatisfied with the current leadership ever since the Pope started to show himself less and less. The cardinals and the vicar have been taking Aureolis in a more aggressive manner recently, urging the Empire to put more resources into the battle against the beastmen, with rumors even flowing around that Carmaniate might be working with Bole’Taria.

Fleindia and Theodore also managed to get into contact with a few friends, allowing us to understand that Hestia was actually pretty well known amongst Aureolis for being the Champion who let Eshe die. In addition, although unplanned, this information somehow managed to reach Sarkarfiina.

“Oh … yeah. See, I met two Sarkarfiina mages in Elyonda for the tournament there. I told them what happened and so that’s probably my fault,” Hestia admitted.

“I left them in Aleistunum,” Renee continued, as she accompanied them to the Magical Capital during the siege. “They wanted to avoid the siege, and … it should’ve been enough time for them to reach Saltzwieder for a boat to the Evida desert.”

That was unfortunate, but it was human behavior. To the people there, Eshe was like a celebrity, so losing somebody like her probably hurt them a lot. Meaning, in the future, Sarkafiina will probably be even worse to stay in than Aureolis. Eshe was their martyr now, and their hatred would be directed against both the demonkin and Hestia.

In any case, due to this fact, many members of the clergy were unsure how to treat Hestia. In fact, they weren’t sure why Fleindia didn’t have any guards with her, and were assuming Hestia took over, as that was the duty of a Champion—to fulfill Divine Quests and protect Saints. In other words, Hestia had to prove herself to the people here.

Fleindia had planned for them to perform in tomorrow’s morning prayer. It was a chance for Hestia to show off more than just a [Prayer], which included her combat training.

“Is that the case?” Yorshka looked uneasy. “Theeen, I might have some bad news. You know that I talked with the Knight-Commander, yes?”

Oh oh.

“Yeah, see. As I had told you guys already, we knew each other in the past and he hired me, his friend, to spy on things as he suspected a sudden change in the Pope’s behavior. As such, I reported everything to him and, the poor old man, seemed to have gotten the worst headache ever … but also the most relieved laugh I had ever heard him give out.” Yorshka smiled. “As such, we will have his support in the matter. He is planning on nominating me as the new Knight-Commander.”

“Wow!” the kids cheered with Hestia as they celebrated that things might become easier by having such a strong fighter on our side … sadly, I had a terrible feeling. Yorshka did mention there was bad news.

When I prompted her on this, her smile twitched. “You see, the old codger embodies Yeostar’s values like nobody else. He takes pride as the Knight-Commander, and as such, holds his oath close to his heart. He will defend Aureolis until his last breath before he gives up his mantle … If you want me to translate that old fart’s words as a knight, he—”

“He wants to see if we are worthy enough.”

[“He seeks his successor through combat.”]

More than a few spoke up in unison. Looking around at their surprised faces, I noticed Renee, Neill, the twins, Midirn, and Kushlek’zar uttering that answer.

“Haha, that’s right!” Yorshka slapped her thigh.

“That bastard!” Tatsuya screamed, looking furious.

I looked over at Hestia and the both of us shrugged. It was just part of Aurora’s luck.