Hello and welcome to my first RP series for Sorras. This will be the main series that I tell about Cypria. TWofD is a self-RP, meaning it is closed to outside interference from other nations and RPers. This series has been ongoing for since November of 2021, which is about a year and a half before the launch of Sorras itself. Thank you so much for reading one of my largest stories to date and my current pride and joy!!
The morning sun glistened from the dreary inn’s window, which she had rented out for the week. Naho was thankful that the inn had given her the hospitality that she sorely needed, since numerous people have feared to provide any form of support due to her Demi-Hyuman nature. Her distinct Oni characteristics of silver hair, red eyes, tan skin, and triangular ears were hard to hide, but she did the best that she could. The long, pale-green cloak that she had worn for a while, covered her petite body. Sitting up on the bed, she sneezed. Despite the room’s enclosure, none could stop the chilly weather, but she had no choice. After all, this inn was the best that she has at this point, and subjecting herself to further suffering to find somewhere that isn’t dreary was out of the question. Naho slowly meandered out of bed and changed into her normal set of winter clothes; being a thick long-sleeve white skirt that went down to her knees, a thick pale-green overlay that was held around her waist by a brown leather belt, which combined with a dark green t-shirt and small brown corset, covered the majority of the skirt, matching long brown leather gloves and boots, pale-green winter socks that were twice as long as her boots, and a padded pale-green cloak. (OOC Note: just please do yourself a favor and look at the image linked above for the clothing, and not what I have described here lol. All that’s changed from the picture is that the cloak goes down to the ground instead of her elbow, plus whatever else I have described differently.) She then flipped the hood of her cloak up to the point where it would be hard for the average person to see her face, and walked out of her room, closing the door behind her. She then walked down a flight of stairs to the main lobby area of the small inn and waved at the owner as she continued towards the rather large entrance of the inn.
“Oi, oi, lassie,” an old husky voice called out. Naho froze, but didn’t dare turn around just yet. “I know you ‘eard? me Oni,” the voice called out again. Reluctantly, Naho slowly turned around, her body tense from nervousness as she faced an older hyuman male with a thick white mustache and beard.
“Sir?” she replied nervously.
“I haven't yet received payment for your week’s stay,” the old man said slyly.
“I’ve already paid the fee, sir. One gold and three silver is already a lot for a week’s stay, no?”
“Heh… Well the prices changed, it’s now one gold piece per night.”
“One gold piece a night?! That’s outrageous considering I was freezing my ass off all night!” Naho half-yelled annoyingly.
“You dare to insult my family business by calling my prices outrageous, demi-hyuman?!” the owner replied angrily.
“N-No sir, that’s not what I-” Naho was cut off by the irate inn owner before she could finish.
“Tsk. If all you want to do is insult my business, then you’re not welcome here. Get out of my sight, demi-hyuman,” the old man directed.
Naho said nothing as she glared at him for a few seconds. She then turned around and quickly walked towards the exit, forcefully pushing the door open with a shove, and walking outside, leaving the door to slam shut. She could hear the muffled yelling of the angry shop owner, but she didn’t care. It had happened many times before to her--but why? Tears started to roll down her cheek as she sat down and leaned against a stone business that was adjacent to the inn that she had just left. As soon as she sat down, she quickly started to sob, as waves of emotions hit her all at once. People who were walking past her stopped and stared at her for a bit before carrying on with their days, but to this, she also cared not. The tears finally stopped after a few minutes, and she used her pale-green shirt to clean her face. She then stood and took a deep breath, with her breath showing in the cold January weather. Just then, something large bumped into her back and she stumbled forward, nearly losing her balance. She turned around to find that it was a younger male hyuman, with his scruffy face indicating that he was probably in his early 20s. He was dressed in a long white shirt with an olive vest over it. He also had on black pants which looked high-quality as if he had money.
“Ah, sorry. Are you okay, miss?” the man asked while he looked at her with an embarrassed expression.
“Y-Yeah, sorry,” Naho said quietly. “This man can tell that I am a demi-hyuman, right?” she thought. “I mean he certainly isn't acting like it in the slightest. I don’t see any look of disgust on his face or anything. Weird.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about, I was the one to bump into you after all,” he replied with a slightly awkward smile.
“Y-Yeah… Well I-I gotta go!” Naho quickly stammered out as she turned and left the man with a sense of urgency. She used her smaller frame to her advantage as she quickly disappeared within the growing crowd of morning-goers.
“Hmm… that was odd,” the man thought to himself. “What was even more odd was that I sensed a great amount of mana surrounding her. I need to find out what’s going on here, as she could be someone that is dangerous. I really hope I didn't upset her or anything, as that would ruin my chances of finding her again. I’ll keep an eye out for her for the time being, which’ll be hard considering she’s trying her best to hide her rich amount of mana, but I do have a spell which should help with that.”
“May the Lord be my guiding light on this holy quest of investigation,” he muttered to himself as his irises suddenly shifted colour from grey, to bright green.
As night fell on the capital city, Naho found herself looking for an alley to fall asleep in once again. She’d done this before, so it wasn't that difficult for her to bear, it’s just that she’d rather sleep on a bed, if given the opportunity. She sighed as she entered a small alley in between a shop and a rather large house (which was about 15 yards long from entrance to its end), but that didn't matter to her. Her ears suddenly twitched as she heard footsteps approaching her. One, two, three, four people she could make out. She turned to face them at the entrance of the alley. As they entered the alley, they formed a semi-circle around her, effectively trapping her. They looked like your average thieves, with black ragged clothing and handkerchiefs covering the lower halves of their faces. Two of the men had visible scars on their faces, but this didn't faze Naho.
“Well well well… what do we have here?” one of the shady men said.
“I’m just trying to find a place to sleep for the night, so if you guys could fuck off, that would be great,” Naho replied.
“Ohh… I guess that means we should leave sleeping beauty alone, right guys?” One of the men stated, while the others laughed. “Well, I’ll get straight to the point, demi-hyuman. We heard that you have a lot of money on you, so therefore, you should make a generous donation to the local charities run by us.”
“And what if I say no?”
“Well then we’ll just have to take it from you, right guys?” stated one of the men as the others nodded and took out hidden daggers from their backsides. Just as they were getting into a fighting stance however, a familiar voice appeared from around the corner.
“Now, four on one seems a bit unfair, now doesn't it?” a mysterious man asked.
“What are you doing here?! This is not your problem, get out of here!” Naho yelled to him.
“Now just who might you be?” one of the thieves asked, turning to face the man.
“No one special, just someone who’s gonna make your day end painfully,” the man replied.
“Big words from a man who looks like the type to run away from a cockroach,” the thief replied with a hearty laugh.
“Oh, we’ll see about that,” the man shot back. Just then, three of the thieves quickly turned on the man as he punched one of them in the gut, sending him backwards onto the ground. Another lifted his knife into a stabbing motion from above as he leaped at him. That thief got a less than welcomed ending, as he was kicked in the groin, then fell back onto the ground with a yelp. Naho winced at the sight of that hit, as the one thief focused on her charged her with a sword. She quickly outstretched both arms and yelled, “Binding Thorns!” as thick vines inlaid with thorns quickly sprouted from the cobbled alleyway, and wrapped around the thief’s arms and legs, rendering him immobile. The mysterious man who had seemingly joined her side in combat was then charged by the last thief from behind.
“Duck!!” Naho shouted as the thief jumped towards the man. The man ducked and Naho yelled, “Razor Wind!” as a visible blade of air appeared from her outstretched arms and went into the thief, cleanly decapitating him. The tink of the thief’s knife and the thump of his body hitting the ground were nearly simultaneous as the man stood up. He looked at the thief’s head, as it rolled a few times before stopping.
“T-Thank you...” he said, partly disturbed by what he had just witnessed.
“Do you always get yourself into fights like this?!” Naho exclaimed in a semi-authoritative tone. “If it weren’t for me being a skilled mage, you’d be dead right now!” She paused and stared at him for a few seconds before continuing. “Who even are you anyways?!”
“Ah, my apologies, miss. My name is Vivian Balor,” he replied. “I am a priest at a rural church not too far from the city. What’s your name?”
“I-I’m Naho,” she replied a bit more calmly. Her triangular ears twitched as she heard the thief that she had previously wrapped up in thorns, struggle and grunt in pain as he tried to break free. Naho turned to face him. “Don’t think we forgot about you now,” she said with a slightly smug expression.
“I-I don’ wan’ no trouble now, miss!” the thief stammered out.
“Mmm… Well, you might ‘get no trouble’ if you can tell us who you work for,” she replied mockingly as she squatted down to his level.
“We ain’ have no boss! I-I swear on God!”
“On God, eh?” Naho laughed. “Well lucky for you, you’re facing one right now, so let’s see if you’re really telling the truth.” Despite the thief’s protests, Naho waved her right hand over his face and his pupils turned white as his facial expression became extremely distant.
The girl looked to be pondering something as Vivian stood a bit away from her with a shocked expression on his face. “First off, that teenage girl has an extreme amount of mana. Second off, she just admitted to being a God, which doesn't make sense considering anything I’ve learned over the past few years, and third off, what is she doing to him?!” Vivian thought as he walked over to her.
“Hey, what are you doing to hi-” Vivian said, before being quickly interrupted by Naho, motioning for him to be quiet. After a few minutes of him watching her perform some sort of ritual or something on the thief, the mysterious girl spoke.
“Alrighty, I’ve just interrogated him by viewing his memories. We should go someplace secluded to talk about this further,” she said as she waved her hand back over his face, returning it to normal. Afterwards, she clenched her right hand, and the vines constricted, crushing him to death as he let out a yelp, then went limp with blood dripping from his mouth. The vines then disappeared, leaving his lifeless corpse to lie on the ground as she stood back up and dusted herself off.
“So, do you live not too far from here?” Naho asked.
“Y-Yeah, why?” Vivian replied, even more perplexed by her character.
“Well, because I can sense a handful of guards moving in on us as we speak.”
“Ah, well follow me then,” Vivian said as he motioned for her to follow, which she did with a sense of urgency.
OOC NOTE:
Special thanks to @Illusia for helping me format this first chapter and improve upon my writing skills. The rest of the chapters from here on out are authored by only myself.
After what seemed like an eternal walk, they finally reached a large manor in the upper-class part of town. Naho looked at the house with curiosity.
“So you must be one of the nobles in this city then?” she asked.
“You could say that,” he paused. “I mean this is really a summer home that my family owns, but I’m the only one using it right now,” Vivian replied as he unlocked the door and led her inside. “Guiding light!” Vivian chanted as the inside of the house lit up with candles that seemingly had no wicks.
“Even magic as simple as illumination magic can do wondrous things to improve our daily lives,” Naho commented as she gazed at the elegant interior of the large manor. She could tell that the manor was constructed with cheap structural lumber (as one not of her nature could not tell without ripping apart the walls of the manor), but the entire interior was layered with fine Dark Oak, a tree that is not native to Cypria, and must have cost the owners a heavy sack of platinum coins at least. The walls were lined with detailed paintings and miniatures of people and places she did not recognize. This exquisiteness reminded her of when she first left her hometown of Yoitz, with a mission of making the Cardinal who was responsible for the destruction of the small village, pay for his crimes.
“You said you wanted to discuss something further? I can put some tea on while we talk in the salon*.” Vivian suddenly asked, as if to pull her out of the curious trance she found herself in, while her eyes danced from wall to wall exploring the manor.
“Erm, yes. Sorry, I was just lost in memory is all,” Naho replied as Vivian pointed to a large semi-separated room adjacent to the entryway. She then slowly made her way to the salon, and sat down in a white silk-cushioned armchair. A few minutes later, Vivian returned holding a silver tray that contained a steaming tea pitcher, a small glass jar of sugar cubes, and two matching white and gold teacups with saucers. As he approached an identical silk armchair, he set the tray down on a coffee table that was positioned nearly perfectly even between both armchairs. He then poured tea into both teacups and put two cubes of sugar into his, as he nudged the tray closer to her. To Vivian’s surprise, she elegantly picked up her teacup and saucer, and sipped it just as a noble-woman would.
“So what was it that you’d like to discuss?” Vivian asked.
“Before we get to that, I’d like to ask you a question,” Naho stated. “Why did you join a fight that was clearly not your own?”
Vivian stared at her in silence for a moment, then burst out laughing. Naho’s face changed to one of annoyance until he somewhat regained composure a few seconds later. “It was because a four-on-one fight with a little lassie doesn't seem fair, now does it?” he said jokingly. Naho then shot an angry look at him and opened up her hand to reveal a green flame. “Alright, alright, I get it,” he stated, shifting to a more serious tone. “It was because I saw an amount of mana within you that could rival many powerful priests, such as myself, within the church, so I kept an eye on you to see if you were malevolent.”
“Oh?” Naho replied with a smile as she closed her hand, removing the flame. “So then I’m assuming you have the ‘Gift of the Insighted’ then?”
“It is a generational gift from my lineage, yes.”
“That gift can become very powerful and pragmatic with immense training,” she replied, sipping her tea. “Since he told me that I have power rivaling that of mere priests, then it’s probably safe to say that he cannot see completely through my mana deception. I’ll hold on to my secrets for as long as I can then.” she thought.
“That’s what my grandfather told me before I moved to the city.”
“Then I’m assuming he was very powerful?”
“Oh yes, very much so,” he paused. “Which brings me to my next question: Why did you refer to yourself as a ‘goddess’ when speaking with the thief back then.”
Naho suppressed her nerves as she replied as calmly as she could. “I-It was merely a figure of speech. Back in my old village, I had the nickname ‘goddess’ because I share my name with a goddess of the pagan religion that my village followed.”
“Ah, interesting,” Vivian replied as a loud banging was heard at the front door, startling them both. “I think I know who this is. Go upstairs and hide in one of the closets, as I don’t know what he’d do if he found out that a demi-hyuman was here.”
Naho set her teacup down and stood up. “Things may not be as they seem,” she warned as she turned to face the large staircase. She could sense the ill-intent of the beings at the front door, so she climbed the staircase with a sense of urgency. Once at the top, she looked around and found a magic-locked secret door behind a bookshelf. “How cliche,” she quietly said to herself, as she waved her right hand in a circular motion and unlocked the magic sealing the invisible door in place. She then swung the bookcase slightly ajar and shimmied her way inside, moving it back into place and sealing it once she was inside. Naho opened her palm and a small green flame appeared, lighting up the dark room. It was small, and hundreds of books lined the walls. She could sense that some of them held powerful magic within, while others did not. Suddenly, she heard a loud, but very muffled voice as her triangular Oni ears twitched. “Cat’s Bliss!” she whispered as the sounds once muffled by the walls were now heard with clarity.
“Hey bro!” a deep voice stated with a forced glee.
“Did you really have to knock that loudly, Clyde?” Vivian replied.
“Well, you didn’t answer at first, so I thought you were sleeping, or busy with a lady friend,” Clyde said with a smirk as he made his way into the manor.
“I-I’m a priest, you especially should know that I cannot marry!”
“Bro, one of these days you gotta learn that you don't always have to be a goodie-two-shoes and follow the rules to a T!”
“I can see that’s working out for you well…” Vivian said as he looked at the two guards clad in light infantry armor, and armed with spears. They then followed Clyde inside the manor and shut the front door behind them.
“Hehe… Well them’s the rules! When you get to my rank, you’ll understand, little Bro.”
“I will, eh?”
“Oh yeah!” Clyde paused. “But I digress…” his voice trailed off.
“I’m assuming that you didn’t just come here to assert yourself as the older brother again?” Vivian asked, monotony.
“Hah!” Clyde chuckled. “You guessed it!” he paused. “You see, there were some eye-witness reports of a man matching your description, and another person beating up a bunch of shady folks.”
“So what, they attacked me. Are you here to avenge them?”
“Hehehe, no. However you, little bro, will tell me all that I need to know about your acompless, won’t you?”
“Acompless? I think your ‘eye-witnesses’ might have gotten a few things wrong.”
“Oh? So you wouldn’t mind challenging me to a duel to prove your strength was enough to defeat all of them?”
“N-No… Certainly not at this hour!” Vivian protested as the two guards blocked the front door.
“Well then what’ll it be, Viv’? Would you like to lose to me in a duel, or just simply tell me some information on your accompless?”
Vivian got into a fighting stance, and Clyde followed suit.
“I guess you really do have a death wish, huh…” Clyde’s voice trailed off. “Well, no matter to me-” Suddenly, a loud whistle sound was heard in the salon. “Wh-Who’s there?!?” Clyde shouted in the general direction of the whistle, as both of their heads turned in that direction.
“Vivian, you know you can ask for my help, right?” Naho stated confidently from inside her cloak as she walked down the stairs, with her hand sliding down the railing as she descended.
“G-Get out of here! I’ll hold him off until you escape! This isn’t your fight!” Vivian yelled over his shoulder.
“Have you forgotten what you said to me when I told you to run?” she paused, not waiting for an answer. “‘It was because a four-on-one fight with a little lassie doesn't seem fair, now does it?’” she quoted with a smirk as she reached the bottom of the staircase.
“I… I feel like I’m being mocked here,” Vivian said with a sigh.
“Heh. Well, lucky enough for you, I just happen to owe you for that nice pot of tea you made,” she stated as she walked across the salon to both men.
“You owe me for something as simple as tea…?” his voice trailed off. “Alrighty then. But be warned, my older brother Clyde here is a lot stronger than I am.”
“Oh? Thanks for the information,” Naho then suddenly threw off her cloak, revealing her demi-hyuman features.
“A-A demi-hyuman?!?!” Clyde exclaimed, shocked. “Hah, who knew that you would have stooped down to a low of allying with one of them,” Clyde then took a closer look at Naho, seemingly using the Gift of the Insighted. His eyes then widened in shock for a split second, then returned to normal.
“Oh? It seems you have broken my mana deception, no?”
“Heh, mana or no mana, you are just a mere demi-hyuman, so there’ll be no getting past me,” he stated with unwarranted confidence.
“Is that so? Well then I shall defeat you without using any magic,” Naho replied with a smirk. “Vivian, I trust that you’ll be able to handle two measly guards?”
“Uh… Yeah!” Vivian replied as he shifted away from her to face them.
Clyde then removed his own cloak and revealed his large, bulging muscles. “Rhino’s Heart!” he exclaimed as clenched his fists and charged Naho. Naho then smiled and responded in kind, by swiftly moving towards him. As Clyde swung, however, Naho used her small frame to her advantage and dodged the hefty swing by sliding behind him, between his legs. His fist landed square in a wooden door behind where Naho previously was, which then promptly splintered upon impact. Before Clyde could turn back around, however, Naho jumped up and roundhouse kicked him in the back of the head, rendering his conscience undone as his large body hit the floor with a loud thud.
“I told you that I would end you without using magic…” Naho stated proudly as she turned and faced the fight between Vivian and the two guards. The two guards proceeded to charge him with their spears. “Magic Wall!” Vivian chanted as both of the spears clinked off of a green shield that surrounded him. While the guards were confused for a second, he winded up his fist and punched one of them in the jaw, breaking it, and sending him backwards onto the floor. Vivian then approached the second one, and proceeded to wrestle his spear out of his grip and hit him in the chest with the back end of it, also sending him backwards onto the floor. He adjusted his grip on the spear and held it vertically as he turned to face Naho, seemingly awaiting to join the fight. He was shocked, however, to find that the battle was already over.
“Y-You didn’t kill him, did you?” Vivian asked as Naho stood with a proud smirk on her face.
“Nope! He’s currently sleeping like a baby,” she replied.
“Okay good,” he paused. “Clyde may bully me a lot, but he’s still my brother.”
“He also might have useful information, so best to get it while he can still tell us,” Naho stated as she walked over to where she had thrown her cloak, and picked it up. She shook it a few times before adorning it once again.
“Y-Yeah…” he paused, thinking. “How did you even…” Vivian’s voice trailed off. “Now that I think about it, I never even heard any magic chants beside Clyde’s.”
“That’s correct,” she replied. “I am stronger than I look.”
“I guess that is true…” Vivian sighed. “Thank you for saving my ass again, Naho.”
“N-No problem!” Naho replied, seemingly surprised at the sudden gratitude. She turned her head and looked off to the side at Clyde, as her ears twitched. “He’s waking up,” she said.
They both turned to face the sleeping strongman as he struggled to turn himself over onto his back. Once he finally did so (with a lot of grunting and groaning), he looked at Naho and Vivian, seemingly confused.
“Hey Viv’, I lost, eh?” he asked.
“Aye,” Vivian replied, shooting a look at Naho. “She’s stronger than she looks.”
“I guess you’ve picked yourself a good accomplice there, Viv’!”
“W-Why do you say that, Clyde?”
“Well, I mean she has enough power to,” Clyde paused as he glanced over at Naho with his Gift of the Insighted activated. Even with her masterful mana deception, he could still see an immense amount of mana pouring out of her. Although this wasn't nearly all of her mana, it was still on par with the level of some of the most talented sages in Cypria. He knew not to make an enemy of her. “...to take me out in one hit, using no magic.”
Naho smiled and said, “As payment for all the trouble you’ve caused, you mind giving us some information?”
“Depends…” Clyde paused. “On what?”
“Minister Vesta,” Naho replied.
“V-Vesta?! What do you want with him?!” Clyde exclaimed.
“Hmmm… Can’t say really,” Naho said nonchalantly.
“Alrighty, alrighty…” he paused. “You didn’t hear it from me, but last I heard, he was in the small village of Westwell performing some sort of a miracle for the villagers. If you ask me? It’s all bullshit. God and his son are the only ones who can perform miracles on a scale like that. Anyways, that’s about all I know. I don’t really keep tabs on the guy because I don’t like him very much. He comes from a more wealthy and powerful noble family, and he knows it.”
“That’s perfect, thank you so much,” Naho replied.
“No problem, demi–I mean Miss,” Clyde corrected as he forcefully smiled.
“Ehehe…” Naho gave a forced laugh as she flashed a look of disdain towards him. She then turned her head towards Vivian. “So what’ll it be, Viv’?”
“W-What do you mean ‘what’ll it be’?” he paused, slightly embarrassed. “A-Also, why did you decide to suddenly call me ‘Viv’?! I don’t let people who I’m not close to call me that, you know.”
“Oh, I just thought it’d be a good nickname. You don’t like it?”
“I…” his voice trailed off. “Since when does she get to pick a nickname? What am I to her, a child?” he thought. “More importantly, could you please answer my first question?” he shot back, changing the subject.
“Oh yeah,” she replied, holding back a smirk. “I mean like, do you want to come with me to Westwell or not? It’s obvious to me that we both have similar goals.”
“How can you trust me?”
“An old wise village chief once told me that trust is built on the chance of betrayal,” she paused. “Also, you kinda did save me earlier.”
“You trust people too easily…” Vivian’s voice trailed off.
“W-Wait… What are you planning on doing once you get there?” Clyde chimed in.
Naho looked back towards Clyde. “Oh, we’re just gonna talk some sense into him is all,” she replied with a wink. She then turned towards Vivian and said, “Since we don’t know how long he’s staying, we should probably leave as soon as possible.”
“It’ll have to wait for the morning then, because neither of us have supplies, nor horses ready for the journey,” Vivian replied.
“Alrighty then,” she paused. “What do you want to do with your brother?” she asked.
“He can go. I trust that he’s not going to speak a pip about anything now that he lost to you, am I right Clyde?”
“Y-Yeah. You have my word,” Clyde sheepishly replied.
“Okay then, now go. Take your men and leave,” Vivian commanded. Just then, the guards seemingly awoke from their slumber, and Clyde ushered them out of the manor along with himself. Once the doors shut, Vivian relaxed his posture and sighed.
“Today…was a long day,” he said, exhausted. As soon as those words left his mouth, he suddenly stumbled and his body slumped to the floor.
“V-Vivian?! Are you alright?!?” Naho exclaimed as she half-caught his body on the way down.
Vivian’s eyes opened slowly as he gathered his consciousness. He looked around and made a small groaning sound as he went to sit up on his couch. Wait… his couch? Since when did he end up here? He then heard light rustling to his right as Naho awoke from her slumber and stretched.
“Mornin’,” she yawned as she adjusted herself in the armchair that she had fallen asleep in.
“M-Morning,” Vivian replied, both confused and slightly embarrassed. “What happened last night? The last thing I remember saying something to you, then falling asleep.”
“Heh,” Naho smirked. “Well, something like that happened, yes.”
His face turned red as he glanced away. “I-I don’t like you being vague like that.”
Naho burst out laughing for a few seconds before gathering herself again. “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you what happened,” she paused. “After telling me that you understandably had a long day, you collapsed onto the ground. I tried to catch you as best I could, but you are pretty heavy, so unfortunately I only half-succeeded in that.”
“Ah…” Vivian replied, now even more embarrassed than before. “I didn’t hurt you or anything, did I?”
“Nope, I’m good. But I can imagine you’re pretty sore from yesterday though.”
“I’m actually fine myself,” he swung his legs off of the couch and went to stand up. “Let’s take this day to prepare for the trip tomorrow, seeing as it’s already late morning, alright?”
“That’s fine by me,” Naho replied.
“Alrighty. I’m going upstairs to have a bath and change. You’re welcome to it after I’m finished if you wish,” he said as he made his way towards the stairs.
“I think I might…” she paused to yawn, “...take you up on that.”
Vivian disappeared up the stairs, and Naho was left alone to her own thoughts. Being a goddess of the forest, her body scantily required bathing as it was formed out of the manifestation of many of the spirits which called the forest home. She still enjoyed them anyway, so she wasn't about to not take up the offer. A decent bit of time had passed before the silver-haired Vivian appeared again, and walked down the stairs.
“The bath’s ready if you still wish to use it,” he said while pointing back up the stairs.
“Alrighty,” Naho replied as she stood up and walked towards the stairs. “If you try anything I will erase your existence from this world and the next,” she said in a serious tone once she reached the top of the stairs.
“Don’t worry, I have no plans to do anything that you might imply with your speech,” he replied as he made his way to the kitchen.
“Good, now if you’ll excuse me…” her voice trailed off as she made her way to the bathroom.
“Hmmm… I have no idea what she might want to eat as I stupidly forgot to ask her,” Vivian thought to himself. “Welp, I guess I’ll have to make something that a lot of people like. Something inoffensive. Oh, eggs! Everyone likes those! Maybe with toast too, and ham. Alrighty then, let’s get to cooking!”
Vivian had just wrapped up his cooking when Naho wandered down the stairs and into the kitchen. Her nose twitched as she smelled the delicious food that was prepared.
“Do you need help with anythi–HOLY SHIT ARE THOSE EGGS?!?!” she blurted.
“Y-Yes they are…And ow my ears,” he replied, slightly annoyed at the state of his hearing vessels.
Embarrassed, Naho covered her mouth with her hands and spoke in a whisper. “Sorry…”
“It’s alright,” he paused. “You haven't had eggs in a while or what?”
“Yes!” she replied in a normal tone once again. “It’s been literal centuries.”
“That’s quite the exaggeration there, miss,” he replied with a chuckle.
“Hehe y-yeah! I just don’t have them where I’m from, is all,” she said nervously.
“Oh yeah, where are you from, anyways? I never thought to ask before.”
“I’m from a village in the northwestern forests.”
“Oh interesting! What’s its name?” Vivian then asked. After a bit of silence he turned around from the cooking area to face the Oni teen. She had her head hung low and sniffled. “A-Are you okay, Naho?” He paused. “D-Did I say anything wrong? I’m sorry!”
After a few seconds she finally responded. “N-No you’re okay. I just…remembered something is all,” she raised her head and wiped her eyes of tears.
“I…I didn’t mean to invoke any memories by that, my bad,” he replied solemnly.
“It’s…It’s alright,” her voice trailed off as Vivian quickly plated the eggs. “It’s just that the village where I’m from no longer…exists.”
Vivian was shocked. He thought back to see if he could remember any reports of an Oni village ceasing to exist within the past half-dozen years. “It couldn’t have been that long ago because she doesn’t look much older than 14……Wait. Don’t tell me she’s the survivor of Yoitz. Well I mean the only way to find out is to ask I guess. I’ll try not to hurt her feelings, but this changes everything if she is.” he thought to himself.
“Naho,” he stated. “I am extremely well-versed in the history of this nation. I think I might know which village you are from.”
“Alrighty, well this makes it easier to explain then,” Naho snapped her fingers once and even time itself seemingly bent to her will as everything stopped its movement around him.
Vivian looked around as the atmosphere got extremely heavy. “N-Naho? What is happening?!” he exclaimed. He then looked back to Naho, who had a bright aura around her. She began to float as she picked her feet up off the floor. Her long green cloak fell to the floor, which revealed glowing naturistic markings on her face. “Who, no, what are you?” he asked, this time with fear.
Suddenly, an echoey angelic voice spoke from Naho’s body, “All will be explained in the story I am about to tell you. No other mortal has heard this story of mine so far,” she paused, as she manipulated what Vivian could see. She moved his sight to that of an ancient forest with a massive tree in the middle of a large field. “I am Naho the Wise, Goddess of the Dryad. For many centuries I have watched over the great forest to the northwest. But, this story begins around 400 years ago, from whence I was born. I was created out of the many different lesser dryad spirits that inhabit Yggdrasil, the land of gods. My goal was to guide and protect the Oni that inhabit the great forest. I was given great power to complete this task, including the ability to control time itself. Now skip back to four years ago. Many villages recognize me as their protector, as was my duty.”
Suddenly an immense fire engulfs Vivian’s view of the great forest. All that is left is ash and destroyed villages in its wake. Thoughts were endlessly swirling around in his head like a torrent of water chipping away at the edges of a river. He tried to open his mouth to say something but no words came, only shock at what he was witnessing.
“Cardinal Yulis’ battalion of fire mages destroyed most of the Oni-controlled part of the forest, and many of the villages, causing an untold number of innocent lives to be taken,” she continued. “Even me with my untold power just wasn't enough for every single part of this incident because it was so spread out. You know what this filled me with? Hate! Hate and guilt!!” She paused to shift Vivian’s view from the fire to the destroyed remnants of an Oni village. She fought back waves of tears as she continued her story, “Guilt that I could not protect them as it was my duty, and hate from all of their spirits. As they perished, I absorbed their spirits so that they would not live in anguish. I took on their burdens, planning to release them once the forest regrew to its original size. But, their hate soon manifested inside of me, so I decided to release it before it corrupted me,” she shifted Vivian’s view once more to Cardinal Yulis’ manor, then to the crime scene where his body was found.
“That is where some of it went,” she continued. “But not nearly all of it. This is why I am on my journey. My journey to root out all of the corruption within the Church of Edith, and make sure that none of my people are hurt by their bloody clutches ever again!” She paused to wipe her eyes of tears before speaking once more with composure. “Now I will not force you to join me, but if you do not, I will have to forcefully wipe your memories of our interactions. I know we have aligned interests, I can see it in your spirit!” Naho stared directly into Vivian’s clear eyes with those filled with tears and emotion. She smiled and outstretched her right arm to him. “So, what’ll it be, Viv’?” she asked.
Vivian’s eyes began to cloud with tears as his left hand outstretched and met hers. The visions she was forcing upon him soon faded as his eyes slowly adjusted to being back in his own home. Naho’s feet touched the ground once more as she was pulled closer to Vivian. The symbols on her face faded as she embraced him. She tried to hold it in, but the inevitable torrents of tears came rushing down her face and stained Vivian’s dark green vest. Vivian felt a similar torrent approaching him, but was able to fight most of it off. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and gently stroked the top of Naho’s head. She was an individual that sparked curiosity within him. She was this all-powerful goddess, but at the end of the day, she’s just as emotionally vulnerable as anyone else. It reminded him of his younger sister. Even though she was just around the same age as Naho when their mother passed, she tried her best to keep on moving forward with herself. But, it had its flaws, because there would be those times where he would come into her room and comfort her just like he is doing now with Naho.
“Th-Thank you,” Naho said as she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at Vivian.
“I-It’s okay. I’ve done the same thing many times for my sister when our mother passed all those years ago. She was about the same age as you too,” Vivian replied.
“Ah, I’m sorry!”
“No no it’s fine, you just remind me of her is all,” he smiled. “Now that I know the truth, I have a lot of questions myself, but I’ll hold off on those for now seeing as we need to prepare and all for the trip. Would you like to eat first?”
“Yeah…” her voice trailed off as she let go of Vivian and sat down at the table nearby. Vivian finished up breakfast, and served it. Some conversation was had between the two, but none important enough for the other to remember. The events that lay before them occupied their minds the most along with the events that just transpired.
“Was it to your tastes?” Vivian asked.
“Yup! It was very good. Thank you!” Naho replied.
“Do you want to head out and prepare now for the trip?”
“Sure. What are we gonna get?”
“Well it’s two days by wagon and five days walking, so definitely a covered wagon to start. Food, water, and other things,” he paused. “Actually, thinking about it now, you should probably stay here and hold down the fort while I go out and acquire the necessary goods. Even though technically the specifics of our situation have changed, it would still be bad for me if I, as a priest, was seen with a demi-hyuman. I do apologize.”
“I forgot for a second that the church meddled in comedy,” the Goddess chuckled as the priest shot an annoyed look back at her. “Yes yes I do understand,” she sighed. “It would be bad to burn bridges this early into the journey. I’ll stay here if that is what you wish.”
“Anything specific you want me to get while I’m out?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“Alrighty, then I guess I will see you when I get back,” Vivian stood and walked around the corner to the entryway.
Naho heard the wooden door clang shut and stood. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to be a little nosy, right?” she smiled as she made her way up the stairs and into the secret room she was in earlier. She once again opened her palm and a green fire appeared, illuminating most of the small room. She began to take a closer look at some of the books he had stowed away on the shelves. She saw a myriad of topics ranging from simple and complex medical procedures, philosophies, religious studies, and magic. She found that the magic was mainly religious-focused, but she noticed a few seemingly forgotten powerful spells that could even rival her own mid-tier spells.
After spending seemingly hours snooping around the priest’s secret room, Naho heard the front door creak open. She quickly put the book she was holding back onto the shelf and muttered, “Light Teleportation”. The Goddess suddenly appeared in front of Vivian as his head was facing the other direction, looking down the other end of the hall. He turned his head back to the front and suddenly noticed the small demi-hyuman standing in front of him.
“GAH! Jeez…” Vivian exclaimed, startled. “Did you use a quick-step spell just to scare me?”
“Maybe…” Naho lied, hiding it under a smug expression.
The priest sighed. “Wait, a quick-step spell doesn’t mask sound…eh whatever,” he looked at the girl’s smug expression. “I got everything that we need,” he stated in a slightly defeated tone.
“Even a carriage?”
“Yup! Oh yeah I got this as well,” Vivian pulled out a silver necklace. On it sat a matching silver pendant with a detailed tree design carved into it.
“Oh that’s pretty!” Naho replied, staring at the pendant.
“Sorry it’s a bit plain, the jewelry shop I normally go to was closed.”
“W-Wait, this is for me?”
“Yeah. I personally don’t care for accessories that just flaunt money too much, but this just caught my eye and I thought it would suit you.”
Naho’s face turned red for a second before she exclaimed, “I-I-If you’re trying to flatter me, it’s not working!” She quickly took the necklace and clasped it around her neck before throwing on her cloak and running past him out the door. This left Vivian in a puzzled state.
“Jeez, that man is dense when it comes to implications!” She muttered to herself as she climbed into the back of the covered wagon out front. “Still though, it makes me have faith that not all hyumans are careless bastards…” she smiled and reached into her cloak, clutching the pendant.
Vivian eventually made his way outside and climbed into the front bench, grabbing the reins. He began to lead the horse pulling the wagon in the right direction and turned around to look at Naho.
“I just bought you the pendant because I thought it would look good on you, that’s all,” he eventually said. “Sorry if you took that the wrong way, just trying to loosen the tension from earlier, is all.”
“No I get it, it’s fine,” she replied from beneath her hood. “But to be fair it does give off a certain implication when you give a girl a silver necklace,” she turned her head and made eye contact with him, as if trying to get him to realize something. After a few moments he finally chirps up.
“Ohhhh…Wait no that’s not at all what I meant. I just thought it looked nice, honest.”
“You really are textbook dense, huh…” the girl chuckled.
“H-Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Vivian turned back to the front.
“I cannot believe you completely overlooked that implication!” She laughed harder.
“How was I supposed to know? Us priests cannot be in relationships, let alone even marry, or anything else of the sorts.”
“That sounds incredibly depressing,” her laughter calming.
“Eh, I just don’t really think about it at all. I’ll choose to be blissfully ignorant here than be dealing with the depressing knowledge later.”
“Fair enough I guess…” her voice trailed off. “I never thought about it like that.”
“Well I mean you don’t really have that option to be blissfully ignorant about stuff, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“That seems really stressful, did you ever find time to relax?”
“Quite a bit actually. The forest was relatively peaceful when it existed, and so was the village. Spending time there and conversing with the residents of each was how I relaxed.”
“So then your duties were your relaxation then?”
“Not all of them. Yggdrasil has politics akin to those of mortal nobles here. Quite a shame, really.”
“That’s quite different from what our knowledge has. Even though Edithism describes Yggdrasil as a place for our monotheistic God, other pagan/polytheistic religions describe it as a place of birth and meeting for many gods and goddesses. It’s a sacred and holy place away from mortal politics.”
“I mean it’s technically away from mortal politics, but the political structure of it is akin to mortal noble politics with different alliances for different ideologies. I try to stay away from it if I can, as it doesn’t help anyone in my opinion.”
“Interesting, what are the alliances like?”
“There are two major ones. The Free Alliance, which values individual freedom and prosperity where hard work equals a fruitful reward, and the Prosperity Alliance, which values collective prosperity where both work and rewards are shared equally. Personally, I’m with neither. While I prefer the latter, I just don’t agree with the useless political conflict.”
“I thought that the Gods weren’t meant to have greed and were impartial.”
“Heh, that’s a funny joke,” the Goddess snickered. “They all have it to some extent, but are just too arrogant to admit it. Me? I can’t admit what I don’t have!” She stated proudly.
“In saying that, you are yourself admitting that you are the same as them.”
“I-I…” she stammered out. “Well whatever, I’m tired of talking and am going to sleep now. Wake me up if anything bad happens,” Naho quickly faced away from Vivian and pulled a thick brown wool blanket she found next to her over herself.
“Good night then,” Vivian stated. “She behaves more like us than she realizes,” He thought to himself. “Still, I can feel my theology shattering around me. What’s more important; knowledge, or religious teachings? It’s pretty damning to be conversing with living evidence against your own teachings, I’ll say that. Makes you feel a bit hollow. But, my hunger for knowledge is also stated by this fact, so now I’m in whatever this weird balance of consuming knowledge and shattering your own theology is. Eh whatever, I’ll just focus on getting us to where we need to go until more conversation can be had later.” He snapped the reins and the horse galloped down the dirt path, wagon in tow.
“Hey Naho, we’re here,” Vivian stated as the village was brought into view by the morning sun. As expected, it took about two days to get there from the capital.
“Keep caution, I can sense a very powerful magic source coming from within the village,” Naho responded sternly.
Vivian saw the concern on her face. “Would you be able to defeat it if things go awry?”
“Defeat it? I don’t know. I’ll be able to defend and buy time, though.”
“I hope that’s not one of Vesta’s cards.”
“Me neither.”
The wagon was steered through the entrance to the village and into the stable area. The duo dismounted and made their way down the cobblestone street.
“Vivian, duck!” Naho suddenly shouted.
Vivian crouched as Naho threw out her hand towards him and chanted, “Negative Shield!”. Semi-transparent purple hexagons surrounded the priest as three shards of light in the shape of playing cards quickly approached. They bounced off of the shield and dissipated as both Vivian and Naho turned to face where the attack had come from. Naho clenched her hand and the shield dissipated as a boy clad in an odd red and white checkered coat, and flat cap waltzed out from behind a building. He approached the duo with his arms behind his head, seemingly viewing them as weak enough to not be a threat.
“Well well…” the boy said. “I thought I recognized that powerful aura. You should have told me that you were stopping by, Naho,” he stated sternly, then suddenly smiled at the end.
“So this is the weird outfit you’re ‘fooling’ everyone with, Kanade?” Naho replied.
“Weird~? I think this look is quite befitting of myself!”
“I’ll give you that. It does fit your weird personality.”
“I simply believe that everything in this world can be solved with a game!” he paused, quickly switching from a tone of glee to one more threatening. “Befitting that mindset, riddle me this; why are you protecting one that reeks of the stench of Edith?”
“I have deemed him worthy.”
“But how can you deal with the stench?”
“It does not bother me.”
Kanade stared at Vivian before shrugging and switching to a more cheerful demeanor. “Well, it’s not my place to tell you who to travel with.”
“Actually, since you’re here,” Naho relaxed her posture. “Could you help us with something?”
“What would that be?”
“We’re looking for–” Vivian started to explain but then was cut short when the boy suddenly morphed into a towering black demonic bull monster.
“Silence, Edith mortal,” the monster growled.
“Don’t freak out, Vivian! That’s just illusion magic!” Naho said as the monster turned to her and swung its right fist towards her, smashing a giant hole into the ground where she once stood as she quickly dodged to the left.
“Shadow of the Demon, that’s the spell, right?” Vivian stated as he stared up at the giant monster. The monster then dissipated and the boy appeared again in its stead.
“You’re brighter than I thought, Edith mortal,” Kanade said with one eye open, staring at Vivian.
“One who does not constantly seek knowledge will fall behind.”
Naho stood beside Vivian. “This is Kanade, the God of Tricks and Puzzles, commonly known as ‘Kanade the Playful’ here.”
“I assumed he was one of your friends,” Vivian replied.
“Awwww, you ruined the surprise!” Kanade said sarcastically. “I could’ve made a game out of it!”
“Or you could help us,” Naho said sternly.
“Fine…” he signed. “What do you need help with?”
“Vesta, you heard that name before?” Naho asked.
“Yeah,” Kanade made a half-disgusted expression.
“We need to ‘talk’ to him, if you get my meaning. You can help with that, no?”
“I can,” the God smiled almost menacingly.
“Good. Catch him while he’s alone and bring him to an area where others won’t bother us. Let us know when you do that.”
“Will do~” Kanade said gleefully. He then snapped his fingers and disappeared from their sight.
Naho turned to Vivian. “You look less shocked than I thought you would be.”
“I think all the surprise went out of my body when you bent reality to your will earlier to tell me your backstory,” Vivian nonchalantly replied. “Why does he hate Edith worshipers seemingly more than you do?”
“Similar reason as me, but for him it’s the fact that the church around here will sometimes kidnap Demi-hyuman children and pregnant mothers to run experiments on to see if they can change them to ‘normal’.”
“Now that’s just horribly horrific. I can see why it’s never been documented,” Vivian let out a defeated sigh. “Well, we should probably find an inn here and get our living quarters figured out for the time being.”
Naho nodded in agreeance and Vivian led the search in finding an inn. After walking for a few minutes, they stumbled across one and walked inside.
“Two rooms, please,” Vivian stated to the older woman working the counter.
“How many nights?” She responded.
“I’m unsure of the exact number, so I’ll pay you by the night if that’s okay.”
“That’ll cost you an extra three copper a night, then.”
“Fine by me,” Vivian reached into his coin pouch and pulled out two silver and three copper coins.
The woman reached under the counter and grabbed two keys. “The rooms are across the hall from each other, second floor all the way down to the end of the hall on your right once you get up the stairs.”
“Thank you very much.”
The woman sweeped the coins into her hand and nodded. Vivian and Naho made their way upstairs and down the hall to their respective rooms. The room was small, but the bed was sort of comfortable so it was fine. Naho plopped down onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking of what was to come. She did this for a while until eventually falling asleep.
A couple of hours later, Naho awoke to Kanade staring at her and smiling. She sat up and noticed him floating upside down, sitting criss-crossed.
“How do you get so relaxed around him?” Kanade asked. “You know no matter how much of a facade he puts on, he still is an Edith worshiper, and a priest at that.”
“I trust him,” Naho growled, sitting up. “He’s more interested in knowledge than the church’s schisms,” she paused. “Would it hurt you to have a little trust in me, Kanade? I don’t care if you don’t trust him, but it seems like you’re not trusting me here.”
“Is it not my right to care for a friend who had their whole life turned upside down by the church and is now working with someone from the same church?” Kanade replied. “You haven’t been to Yggdrasil since the incident, and I’m not the only one who’s been worried that your spirit balance was altered by it–especially after you killed the Cardinal who started it. That wasn’t like you. You were caring of all who entered the forest, no matter who they were.”
“My spirit balance was altered because of the incident, that is true,” Naho stated in a semi-defeated tone. “But, I’ve been slowly getting back to normal the more I move towards my goal, and I think this journey is helping me get better.”
“BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!” Kanade burst out laughing as he floated around the room.
“W-What?” Naho said, embarrassed.
“Oh gods, the irony is going to kill me,” he said in between fits of laughter. “You’re using an Edith priest to help balance your spirits who became unbalanced because of an Edith Cardinal.”
“W-We have the same goal is all. And traveling to see other places is helping me to take my mind off of things! He also wants to rid the church of those who use it as an excuse to abuse their power,” she clutched onto the silver pendant hanging around her neck.
Kanade took notice of this. “Oh? And what’s that?”
Naho released her grip on it and revealed it to Kanade, who floated close to it. “It’s just a silver pendant with a tree on it.”
“And here I thought that you didn’t like jewelry!”
“I don’t really…” her voice trailed off. “But Vivian gave it to me,” she muttered softly.
“Oh?” Kanade’s face lit up with an extremely smug smile. “So that’s how it is.”
“Whatever your bastard mind is conjuring up I can assure you is incorrect.”
“Okay okay…” Kanade shrugged and switched to a more serious tone. “I’ll trust you. It’s pretty damning for someone to be with living proof that denies their own theology, and it’s even more so to try and work/live with them,” he paused. “I’ll work on trusting him later, but I’ll trust your judgment as a sane one.”
“Thanks, Kanade.”
“No problem, just trying to look out for you,” he paused. “Oh yeah, I got that Vesta guy. Man he was rude up until I put his mind into an Eternity Box for a few seconds.”
“Eesh… I might even start to feel bad for him at this point.”
“Don’t be, he’s an ass.”
“Figured as much. Are the rumors about him true?”
“Yup! Not only is he stuck up, but he also kidnaps demi-hyuman people–specifically Akus–and tries to forcefully convert their biology to that of what he wants, which is hyuman.”
“That’s totally not at all fucked in any way…” she sighed. “I’ll go grab Vivian, then you lead us to him.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Kanade sarcastically saluted as Naho stood. She threw on her cloak and headed out the door, walking across the hall to Vivian’s room.
“Vivian, Kanade has everything all set up, it’s time to get going,” she stated as she knocked on his door.
She heard muffled footsteps as the door opened. “Alrighty, let me grab my stuff real quick,” Vivian replied as he went back and grabbed a couple of things. He appeared once again and followed her back to where Kanade was waiting for them.
“Yahoo~!” Kanade said cheerfully whilst floating upside down like before.
“You seem pretty care-free given the circumstances, Kanade,” Vivian smiled.
“Eh, being serious all the time is boring! And plus, you’ve already seen that side of me hehe,” the God chuckled as he got back on his own two feet and began to pace back and forth. “Okay, I’ll take you to him, but be warned that he might be in a slight hysteria from what it took to get him here. Vesta really just couldn’t stop being rude to me while I prepared the Eternity Box for his mind to sit in total spatial deprivation while I moved his body,” he stopped pacing for a second. “Oh yeah, walking is boring so I’m just going to teleport you~!” He winked.
“Wait no Kanade, Vivian has never–” Naho’s protests were cut short by a large magic circle appearing on the floor beneath the trio.
“Greater Teleportation!” Kanade chanted.
The trio suddenly appeared in a dimly-lit warehouse. Vivian stumbled a bit backwards, then bolted for one of the unlit areas where he promptly threw up the day’s food.
“Kanade, you ass,” Naho stated as she walked over to check on Vivian.
“Sorry sorry, I thought you would’ve teleported with him at least once,” Kanade replied semi-sincerely.
“Remember before how I said that I liked the act of traveling? What about that means teleporting?” she retorted, very much annoyed.
“Alright alright…My bad,” Kanade threw his hands up.
“Are you okay, Viv’?” Naho crouched down beside him.
“As okay as a person who just had their stomach tumbled around like butter in a churn, yeah,” Vivian used a nearby rag to wipe his face off and stood. “Where’s Vesta?” he stated, turning to Kanade. Kanade stepped to the side and revealed what can only be described as a near-broken shell of a human being tied to a post.
Vesta looked up at Vivian with a great fear in his eyes. “F-F-Father Balor! We must get out of here at once! There are great evils in here with you, please take care of them and get me out of here!!” he pleaded as Vivian walked closer to him.
“You look like you’ve just seen the devil, Father Vesta,” Vivian replied, slightly taken aback by his appearance.
“I have, and he’s standing right next to you! Hurry up and deal with him so that I can get out of here!!!”
“With all due respect, if you lost, then how in the actual hell am I going to win? Actually you know what? Fuck respect, I’m here to talk to you about some things that have been happening off the book.”
Vesta gulped. “L-Like what?”
“Oh nothing big, just the kidnapping of Akus and running experiments on them. Does that ring a bell?”
“Oh that? If you wanted to learn more about my research to save the falsely-born hyumans, then you just could’ve asked me without all this extra stuff!” Vesta stated proudly.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘falsely-born’?”
“All Akus are just hyumans born with innate evil, you see. And to return them to their normal, righteous-selves, I need to step in and cure them. The Book of Edith does not describe specifically how to do this, so I am still trying to figure out ways to do it. I’m very close, I just need some sort of catalyst I believe. Then, we can save them!!”
“I can’t tell if you’re genuinely enveloped by the scripture this much, or you’re just clinically insane, or both. Probably both.”
Vesta began to cackle for a bit before shouting. “I AM NOT INSANE, I AM A VISIONARY–SOMEONE WHO TAKES RISKS AND ACHIEVES GREATNESS! VIVIAN, COME AND STAND WITH ME AS WE SAVE THOSE ETERNALLY DAMNED PEOPLES FROM THEMSELVES!”
“Yeah no,” Vivian calmly replied. “I have seen enough in the past week–no, day–to have come to the conclusion that you are unfit for your position, Vesta. Please step down, or face consequences.”
“You’re going to punish me, for trying to save those people?”
“That isn’t saving, that’s torturing them to satisfy your sadistic twist of racism against the demi-hyumans.”
“I just go by the scripture.”
“Yeah, and it totally says to torture others because they’re slightly different,” Vivian stated sarcastically.
“Would you like to live with those who call themselves ‘Akus?’”
“First of all, they don’t even call themselves that. ‘Aku’ is a name that we thrust upon them due to their horns. Second of all, yes, yes I would! As long as they do no evil, then I don’t fucking care what they look like and who they call themselves!”
“Then you have abandoned the scripture, Father Balor.”
Vivian looked back at Naho. “You want anything specific from him?”
“Yeah, but I’ll handle it myself,” she approached Vesta and waved her hand over his face. His eyes became glassy and distant.
“Where are you keeping the Akus?” She asked.
“In a dungeon underneath my personal manor,” Vesta replied monotonically.
“How many are there right now?”
“Four.”
“How many guards, and what kind?”
“27 guards, eleven spearmen and 16 knights.”
“How do we gain access to the dungeon?”
“The commanding knight has keys, but there is also a secret passageway in my bedroom behind an illusion wall.”
“Who else is working with you?”
Vesta did not answer.
“Who else is working with you within the church?”
“Head Priest Barron, Father Kurst, Father Berun, and Father Ambreil.”
“Oh lord, Barron too? Goddamnit…” Vivian muttered to himself.
“The spell is wearing off, but I think I got everything I need. Anything you want, Kanade?” Naho asked.
“I already had my fill when I made his consciousness sit in the Eternity Box, do what you wish,” Kanade replied.
“Alright,” Naho shrugged. “Anything specific you think we should do with him, Vivian?”
“I can handle that,” the Priest replied as he approached Vesta. Naho backed up as he began to stretch his shoulder a bit. “Rhino’s Charge!” he chanted and pulled his fist back. He then sent a really powerful swing at Vesta’s chest that stopped just short of hitting him.
“Vivian, you know you’re supposed to hit him, right?” Kanade said, half sarcastically.
Just then, blood spurted out of Vesta’s mouth as the horrible sound of bones and flesh crunching together was heard. Blood continued to slowly drip from his mouth as his head slumped forward. Vivian shifted back into a normal position as he inspected his vest for Vesta’s blood.
“Wouldn’t want to leave too much of a mess for those who own this building, right?” He stated. Both deities looked on at him with a bit of shock. “W-What, I can be strong too, you know!”
Naho burst out laughing, followed by Kanade. “I never expected you to do that!” Naho said through laughter. “You are the opposite of who I thought you would be,” Kanade said before eventually calming down alongside Naho.
“I guess a monk specialization does suit you,” Kanade said. “After all, you can get very powerful through immense training.”
“Although,” Vivian half interjected. “Not a lot of people know this, but part of the monk specialization is training through studying. I’ve actually learned how to use a lot of these spells not through training, but through studying and gathering knowledge of the monk specialization.”
“Oh? So that’s who you are. You are like the antithesis of what a normal Priest is.”
Vivian shrugged. “Eh, I just have a hunger for knowledge, that's all.”
“You remind me of Barbados, the God of Wind. He put an automatic system in place to control the land’s wind and air in order to give himself more time to devote to his studies.”
“He seems pretty deep into the chasm of knowledge, then.”
“Yeah, you could say that. He’s practically become a shut-in because of it. Constantly running experiments, reading, or just generally doing other things. You know I once tried to put his mind into the Eternity Box for fun because I was bored, but he immediately unraveled its magic from inside out and broke it. Still stumped about that one…”
Naho’s ears twitched at the sound of footsteps nearby. “Sorry to ruin the blossoming friendship here, but we should go. Company’s here,” Naho said.
“Alright, come close to me, I’ll teleport us again,” a magic circle appeared beneath Kanade and Naho and Vivian stood next to him. “Greater Teleportation!” he chanted and they disappeared. They suddenly reappeared in Vivian’s room at the inn. Vivian stumbled backwards a few steps, but was able to keep his stomach in sorts.
“It’ll get easier the more you teleport,” Naho said.
“I hope so…” Vivian’s voice trailed off. “Anyways, when darkness comes, how about we break into Vesta’s manor and free the Akus there? We might also be able to find more intel there about Barron’s and the others’ dealings with him.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Naho replied.
“Okay!” Kanade followed.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and a muffled female voice spoke, “Father Balor, are you in here? Father Balor!” Naho tensed up, but Vivian motioned her to back down.
“Who’s asking?” Vivian stated.
“It’s me, Sister Noelle!” the voice replied.
Vivian slowly opened the door, which revealed a hyuman woman with shoulder-length dark red hair, clad in Temple Knights garb with oval glasses. The Temple Knights garb is a silver chestplate and leggings with a white cape that has a red cross on it. Her eyes widened when she saw Vivian and she kneeled before him.
“Is there something urgent that needs my attention, Sister Noella?”
“Not anything specific, Father. I came here of my own volition to find you because you weren’t at the church for the past few days. We were afraid something bad had happened to you, so I came to find you.”
“I can assure you that I am okay. Thank you for your concern, Sister. You may rise, and please have a seat within this room.”
“As you wish,” Noelle stood and walked into the room. She noticed both Kanade and Naho as she stood next to Vivian. “Might I say, the amount of mana in here is almost stifling, who are these two, Father?”
Vivian made a somewhat nervous glance to Naho, who sighed. “Do you trust her?” she asked.
“Yes, she is loyal to me,” Vivian replied.
Naho nodded. “Then I shall introduce myself with utmost importance,” she paused. “I am Naho the Wise, Goddess of the Dryad,” she glanced over to Kanade.
“I am Kanade, God of Tricks and Puzzles,” he bowed dramatically.
The knight blankly stared at the two self-proclaimed deities for a moment before her face shifted to an angry expression. Her right hand quickly moved to her broadsword situated on her left hip and she drew it with haste. “What is this mockery of our religion, Father?!” She exclaimed. “How dare they claim to be of the same status as God!” Her voice trembled with anger.
“Sister Noella, lower your weapon!” Vivian commanded.
“But—!”
“Do not make me pull rank here, Sister!” The priest growled.
Noella stood her ground for a few seconds before sighing and sheathing her weapon. “As you wish, Father,” she stated in a defeated tone.
“I’ve heard that Father Vesta has been missing for the past few hours. Do they have anything to do with it?” She asked with disdain.
“Oh please, like you of all people care about his well-being,” Vivian retorted.
“Personal grudges or not, he’s still a member of the Church, and one that outranks you, I might add.”
“What if I told you it was done under my orders.”
Noella closed her left eye and gave Vivian a judging side-eye look. “Then this Sister would pretend she never heard it and continue the search elsewhere.”
“Then it was under my orders.”
“I shall note you as having no useful information on his disappearance—Wait really?” She stared at Vivian with curiosity.
“Yes, and they helped me,” Vivian motioned in the direction of both deities.
Noella stared at both of them. “Do you trust them, even with their slander towards our teachings?”
“I trust Naho with my life, and Kanade not to kill me,” he smiled. “And it’s not exactly slander if it’s true.”
“Heh, sounds like a fun relationsh—Ehh?!? True!? What are you saying?”
“Naho I know is telling the truth, and Kanade doesn’t take himself seriously enough to inflate his character to anything more than the truth.”
“BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Kanade burst out laughing before floating towards Vivian. “I had my reservations about you, but no one else besides Naho has been able to make me laugh from a joke at my own expense. I’m starting to like you now!” He paused before looking at Noella who was shocked at how he was floating without an incantation. “You picked a good one to serve under, because he actually uses the mortal gift of an endless craving for knowledge to his advantage, unlike those other Church lackeys,” he paused. “Oh yeah, we’re gonna go over to Vesta’s place and wreck shit, you in?”
Noella made a confused expression before glancing at Vivian.
“Wrecking the place is a strong phrase, Kanade,” Vivian reassured. “We’re just going over there to free the trapped Akus, and to find more evidence of his wrongdoings.”
“I understand, but what if he comes back during our little excursion?” Noella asked.
“He won’t,” Naho replied sternly. “He’s dead.”
Noella gripped the hilt of her blade tightly before releasing it. “I see…” her voice trailed off. “I wanted to be the one to do it, dammit,” she muttered and thought for a moment. “I shall join you in this mission, but my main duty is to protect Father Vivian, and not some self-proclaimed deities.
“Suite yourself,” Kanade replied. “I’ll leave your orders to Vivian then,” he paused. “I’ll deal with any guards at the front. After I cause a commotion, Naho will sneak inside to look for evidence, and you two religious folks will go and free the Akus. I trust you can do that?”
Kanade glanced out the window and saw the darkness of the night almost completely swallowing the sun. “Well, I guess if we’re all ready, then I’ll teleport you there,” he stated. “Ms. Knight, have you teleported before?”
“I have not,” Noella replied sternly.
“Well I hope you liked what you ate for dinner, because you’re about to taste it again!” A large magic circle appeared beneath the group.
“Wait wha–”
The Knight’s confusion was cut short by Kanade chanting, “Greater Teleportation!”. They suddenly arrived in the forest near Vesta’s manor, and Noella’s stomach lurched as she stumbled to a nearby tree and vomited profusely. Vivian walked over and patted her on the back.
“Just get it out, it’ll be fine after that,” he stated.
“How……do you…know?” Noella asked through groans and coughs of pain.
“Because it happened to me earlier today. Here’s my handkerchief to clean up when you’re done. Don’t bother returning it.”
Noella quickly snatched the handkerchief from his hand and hurled a bit more before wiping her face clean.
“You good?” Vivian asked.
“Good is a word I would not use to describe my current situation, but I am able to complete the mission,” Noella responded as she tossed the now soaked handkerchief into her bushes beside her.
“Fair enough,” he turned to Kanade. “You seem to enjoy this now.”
“What? Me, enjoy this? No never!” the God sarcastically denied.
“Your humor is twisted, save that for the equally morally twisted people.”
“I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one, my humor is objectively amazing,” Kanade snapped his fingers and warped into the giant demonic bull monster Vivian had witnessed him turn into before. It then ran off in the direction of the front gate of the large stone wall surrounding the manor.
Noella began to draw her blade but was interrupted by Vivian gripping her right wrist. “Is that boy a demon?” Noella asked.
“No,” Vivian let out a defeated sigh. “Probably not…”
The knight returned her sword into its sheath and also sighed. “I see what you mean by ‘I trust him to not kill me’ now.”
“Don’t pay him too much mind, he is the floating incarnation of sarcasm and twisted humor,” Naho said.
“How would you know?” Noella half-sneered.
“Because in mortal terms, he’s a half-sibling of mine–Except that I was created out of many lesser spirits, and he was created out of a large manifestation of greed from the Gods in Yggdrasil before the factions formed.”
The knight stared blankly at Naho who then shot a look at Vivian.
“Ah, well we can explain this later,” Vivian said. Just then a loud roar and screams were heard in the distance. “Well, that’s our cue!”
The group ran towards the high stone walls searching for a way in, but none was found. Suddenly, Naho grabbed onto both Vivian and Noella. Before the knight could protest this action, the Goddess chanted, “Fly!”. The trio began to float into the air and Naho seemingly steered them up and over the wall and then safely down to the stone tile ground on the other side. Noella took a couple steps forward to stabilize herself before looking around.
“Well I can check that off my bucket-list,” Vivian said. “Let’s go look for the dungeon entrance.”
“Right,” Noella replied as she drew her sword and began to move forward. Just then an armored guard with a sword came at her. She ducked as he swung the blade at her, then spun around and sliced his arm open. The guard hesitated at the sight of his own wound, which gave Noella the opportunity to drive her sword right through his metal chestplate, and into his torso. He let out a gasp of air, then went limp. Noella raised her right leg and kicked his dead corpse off of her sword and it hit the ground with a metallic thump. “Come on, what are you waiting for?” she said to a now stunned Naho and Vivian.
“W-We’re right behind you!” Vivian replied as they began to advance towards the manor.
“Could she always fight like that?” Naho quietly asked Vivian.
“I uhh…I don’t know,” he replied.
“Well it seems I don’t have to worry about you at least. We’ll split off when we find the entrance to the dungeon area.”
“Sounds good.”
The group made their way to the front of the manor that was still heavily guarded. Naho counted about ten armored guards as they all turned and noticed the three intruders.
“Hey! You are trespassing, leave at once!” one of them shouted.
Noella drew her sword and stepped forward, but Naho put her hand on the knight's shoulder.
“I’ll handle this,” she stated as Noella backed up a few steps. “Thrice Maximize Magic: Binding Thorns!” she chanted. Large cracks began to form in the ground as even larger thorny vines emerged from them and grabbed the soldiers, lifting them into the air. Naho clenched her hand and the struggling soldiers screamed and writhed in agony as the vines constricted them like a large carnivorous snake. Their screams eventually fell silent and their bodies limp as the vines were draped in a veneer of crimson red. She opened up her hand once more and the bodies fell to the ground as the vines loosened their grip. She then snapped her fingers and the vines retreated back into the cracks, which then repaired themselves.
“All done!” Naho said proudly to the shocked priest and knight.
“In an instant…” Vivian said after a bit of silence. “Just dead…”
“That’s…That’s not…That’s not the power of a mortal,” Noella gripped her sword while staring at Naho.
“An old Oni village chieftain once told me that trust builds at the chance of betrayal, and I have only helped you thus far, no?” the Goddess turned to her with a smug look.
Noella loosened the grip on her sword. “I couldn’t win against that even if I went all out…” she sighed.
“Glad you see things realistically, Ms. Noella,” she smiled earnestly. “Now let’s get into the manor and find our way to saving those Akus!”
“Right,” Vivian replied as they made their way towards the front door. He tried the doorknob, but found that it was locked. He then pulled his right arm back and punched the air in front of the lock. A second later, the lock shattered and the door swung open. “Ladies first,” he smiled.
“Yes, yes,” Naho replied sarcastically as they stepped around the debris on the floor and into the manor. Vivian looked around and saw a large metal door protruding next to a stairway.
“I think this might be the entrance to the dungeon,” Vivian stated.
“Like that doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb at all…” Noella remarked. “Let’s find out for sure,” she stepped towards the door and tapped it with her sword. She then stepped back and outstretched her right hand towards it. “As it is God’s will, remove the object that is blocking us from destroying the source of evil that lies ahead; Rust Away!” she chanted. The dark steel door suddenly was encased in a thick layer of rust which Noella kicked with her right foot. The door seemingly disintegrated in an instant, and she stepped through it with Vivian following close behind.
“Be safe!” Naho said.
“Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine!” Vivian replied as Naho turned and walked off down the main hall of the manor. Vivan looked at Noella and nodded for her to continue. They made their way down the stairs and the air became damp and heavy. The walls were a dark stone brick lit only by torches stationed on the walls.
“Talk about a dense atmosphere,” Noella remarked as she reached the floor below.
“Yeah…” Vivian replied.
They looked around for a bit before continuing forwards down the hallway. Cells lined the walls for as long as the hallway went. The ones nearest the stairs were empty, but had varying items in them. Some had shackles chained to the ceiling, some had what looked to be operating tables stained a dark red in some places with carts full of tools around them.
“Fucking Christ,” Noella remarked. “This is far worse than I thought.”
“Yeah, we need to get them out of here as soon as possible, but watch out for traps too,” Vivian said.
“On it.”
After seeing a half-dozen cells like this, they finally stumbled upon some occupied ones. What was inside could only be described as not life, but not death either.
Noella stopped in her tracks and stared at the first occupied cell. It contained an Aku female wearing nothing but misfit ragged clothing covering her chest down to her upper legs. Her frame was frail and her hair was a short moppy mess. She was sitting on the floor with her head hung low, breathing shallowly.
She slowly lifted her head up at the sound of the outsiders approaching. “L…Lea-ve…me…a-alone…” she almost silently croaked though dying vocal chords.
“We’re here to rescue you. Let’s get you out of here,” Noella said.
“I…Lies…I heard them…before,” her eyes were glazed over as she stared right through them.
Vivian punched the lock on the cell door and it swung open. They both rushed in and squatted down to her level.
“They’re not lies,” Noella stated to the Aku before turning to Vivian. “Can you see what is ailing her?”
“Yes,” Vivian held out his hands towards her and a warm light emerged from them. The Aku stared at it but did not protest any further. A concerned look flooded Vivian’s face before he spoke, “Syphilis, acute cataracts, multiple torn muscles and bruises both internal and external, and other immune weaknesses caused by malnutrition and dehydration.”
“Shit. Can you cure it?”
“I can cure some of it, but not as much as a trained healer could. I’ll do what I can, and maybe Naho can get what I cannot.”
“Alright,” she turned to the Aku. “You’re going to be okay. You and everyone else trapped here will be freed, okay?”
Vivian’s hands glowed brighter as the Aku’s eyes began to clear up. Her skin became flush with colour and her lips no longer dry and cracked. “I’m…free? Why?” She asked, her voice still damaged.
“Please, rest your voice for now. The monster cannot hurt you anymore.”
“He…He will always be here…”
“No, I killed him,” Vivian stated sternly.
The Aku shook her head side to side and pointed at her chest. “In here…”
“I’m sorry…” Vivian said somberly. “If only I could’ve been here sooner.”
“What’s lost…to the monster…is lost……You go…help the children……They are not…yet lost,” she smiled as tears rolled down her cheek. Her body went limp and her breathing became more steady.
“Poor girl probably hasn’t slept in days…” Noella stood.
“Yeah. Probably hasn’t felt at ease…” Vivian followed suit, and they went to the next cell. Just then, a rock bounced off of Noella’s armored chest plate.
“Stay back! Don’t hurt my brother anymore!” A young Aku boy cried. “I don’t believe your lies, Vesta!”
Vivian stared at the boy. His eyes were filled with an immense fear, like he had seen death himself walk past. The boy wiped tears from his eyes and readied himself into a combat-like stance you would see in a children’s fantasy book.
“I’m not Vesta, kid,” Vivian said. “We’re here to save you and get you out—”
“SHUT UP!!” The boy screamed. “YOU WILL TRICK ME NO MORE!! I WILL KILL YOU SO THAT YOU WILL HURT US NO MORE!!!” The boy breathed heavily for a few seconds before chanting, “The anger that fuels the fire within me, rise up. For I command you to disintegrate that which causes my anger! Maximize Magic: Fire Arrow!”
No sooner did he launch the powerful spell, his body stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.
Noella stuck her sword into the floor and chanted, “Holy Wall!”. There was a bright flash of light when both spells collided. The dimly-lit dungeon was turned to daytime as the boy’s spell forced Noella to step backwards, but she held her ground. The fire arrow pushed and pushed against the holy shield, but it eventually dissipated a few seconds later, along with the wall. Noella sheathed her sword and looked at the boy who was now laying on the ground and breathing shallowly.
“He used up too much mana, get me in there,” she commanded.
Vivian nodded and punched the lock, sending the door swinging open once more.
She ran in and kneeled next to the boy. She lifted his head and pulled a small vial of blue liquid out of her bag. She poured it down the boy’s throat and he began to cough and slowly opened his eyes.
“Idiot! You used too much mana, you could’ve died just then!” Noella exclaimed.
The boy looked on in a shocked expression. He struggled a bit to move, but was unable to do so much as lift his head. “Please…Just please don’t hurt my brother…” he sobbed.
“We’re not hurting anyone, boy,” Noella responded. “We’re just trying to get everyone out of this hellhole.”
Vivian turned to the left and saw an older-looking boy laying on a small cot that seemed more dead than alive. “This your brother?” he asked.
The younger boy slowly looked over and nodded weakly. Vivian walked over to the cot and put his hand over the older boy’s forehead before quickly pulling it back. He leaned his head down onto his chest to listen for a heartbeat. The younger boy’s sobs were the only thing he heard. Vivian looked over to Noella, who was also now looking at him. He shook his head solemnly and stepped back from the older boy’s cold body. The knight’s eyes widened for a second and she hung her head low.
“Hey boy, what’s your name?” Vivian asked.
“Hm? Oh…M-My name is Niko…” he replied, wiping tears from his eyes.
“Niko…” Vivian’s voice trailed off as he thought carefully about how to break the news. “Your brother can’t be saved.”
“Wha…What does that m-mean?”
“He’s dead, Niko. We came too late to save him from the clutches of Vesta.”
“What…No…It can’t be!” Niko began to tear up once more. “No no no no no no!!!! WHY!?!?!?!?!?!” he screamed with anguish. “Why him?! Why not me?! Why did we…have to be born this way…in…in this world…” his voice was cut off by another torrent of uncontrollable sobbing. The boy pushed himself up and stumbled over to his brother’s cold body before falling to his knees beside the cot he laid in. He threw his arms over the body before continuing to sob.
“I think it’s best we leave him for a bit,” Noella stood.
Vivian nodded and they headed to the next cell, where they found a small Aku girl sitting with her head in her hands. Vivian bashed the lock with his fist and the door creaked open. The girl lifted her head and stared through them with gazed, soulless eyes.
Vivian was visibly unsettled by this and took a small step back.
“Mommy…” the girl murmured quietly.
“Pardon?” Noella asked, unsure of what the girl said.
“Mommy,” the girl repeated a little louder, but in a monotone voice.
“Mommy,” she lifted her left hand and pointed through Noella to a room behind them. Noella and Vivian turned around and gazed through the bars of the room to see what she might be pointing to. Vivian’s eyes widened as they discovered shackles, tools, and a stone table all caked in dried blood.
“Mommy,” a single tear rolled down the girl’s cheek, followed by another.
“Mommy,” she put her arm down and continued to stare through the outsiders.
Vivian shot a slightly fearful glance to Noella, who responded in kind. “This is the last cell, right?” he asked.
Noella nodded slowly and the two walked swiftly past the other cells before stopping at the one the woman was in. Vivian grabbed a small coin pouch from his pocket and tossed it at her feet as the woman was still asleep.
“Vivian, make sure you keep some for yourself,” Noella said.
“Oh, that’s not my money. That’s some of the money from the offerings dish I have at my service,” Vivian smiled. “I always use that money to give back to those who need it, not to fill the priest’s pockets like everyone else. My family is of high-ranking nobles, we have plenty of money ourselves, and so does the church.”
“I would expect nothing less of Father Vivian,” the knight bowed.
“Now is not the time for formalities, Sister Noella. Let’s get back up to the top and see if we can help Naho search the manor.”
“Yes, Father.”
The two made their way up the stairs and back into the manor proper. The brightly lit, extravagant interior was a welcome change to the hell that laid below them. Naho leaned up against one of the walls, staring at the entrance to the dungeon.
“Hey guys, did I miss any fun down there?” she asked cheerfully.
“No,” Vivian replied sternly.
Naho’s demeanor quickly shifted to a more serious tone. “So it was bad?”
Vivian nodded in response.
“Anything I can do?”
“No, unless you can revive the dead.”
“Eesh…Unfortunately I do not have that power. Barbados, or one of the other higher gods/goddesses might be able to, but now is not a time in which I can call one of them.”
“You can call them to help?”
“Technically yes, but that would mean owing favors, which I’m not desperate enough to do.”
“I see,” Vivian seemed deep in thought for a few moments before shrugging. “Well, there’s nothing left for us to do here unless Kanade need’s help.”
“He finished up a while ago, just watching the front for activity.”
“You find anything of note?”
“Yeah, found some invoices; proof of purchase of the Akus.”
“So he wasn’t kidnapping them?”
“Not directly, no. Looks like he paid a gang to do it in the city of Kaon west of here. Unfortunately that’s all I got.”
“I guess Vesta wouldn’t keep anything else on record, huh?”
“Probably not. We can plan what to do next after we get back to the inn.”
“Right, let’s go to Kanade and get out of here.”
Naho nodded and they headed out the door to meet Kanade at the front gate. After walking for a minute, they arrived at the front gate to see Kanade in his human form leaning in a relaxed posture against the gate pillar. Around him lay the bodies of the guards from out front.
“So, you find anything?” Kanade asked with one eye open.
“Yeah,” Vivian replied. “Apparently there is a gang in Kaon who Vesta paid to do his dirty work, aka kidnapping the Akus. We should find them and mitigate their threat level.”
“I can sense the emotion of what happened down in the dungeon, so I’m not going to ask about that. Shall we get back to the inn?”
Vivian nodded and Kanade stood, walking over to them. “Get in close, I don’t bite, probably,” he winked at Noella who glared at him angrily in response. “Greater Teleportation!” Kanade chanted as the group disappeared into thin air. Moments later, they warped into Naho‘s inn room. Noella stumbled backwards and fell onto Naho’s bed.
“Are you okay, Noella?” Vivian asked.
“Yeah, I just feel like I’ve been tossed around like a salad,” she replied after trying to catch her breath.
“It’ll get better the more it happens.”
“I hope so…”
“I’m assuming you’ll be heading to Kaon after this?” Kanade partially interrupted.
Vivian glanced at Naho who nodded. “Yes, you coming along?”
“Me? No. I still have to clean up the influence within the village. I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun though.”
“Alright, sounds good.”
“If you need my help, Naho knows how to reach me. If there’s nothing else, I need to go and attend to other things. Cya!” Without even waiting for a reply, Kanade snapped his fingers and teleported out of the room.
“Is he always like that?” Noella asked.
“Yeah…” Naho sighed.
“We should start the journey into the city tomorrow if we want to make it before information leaks out about Vesta’s death,” Vivian paused. “Which reminds me…How did you get here, Noella? You don’t know how to guide a horse cart yet.”
“I…hitched a ride on a merchant cart,” Noella sheepishly replied.
“Did you make sure they weren’t suspicious before you hoped on?”
“Y-Yes! I did!”
“That’s good. I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you just because you wanted to check on me. We have a cart already here so transportation isn’t an issue. We should get supplies tomorrow morning though.”
“Sure! Can I come with?”
“Yeah! I could use the help,” Vivian smiled. “Oh yeah, where will you be sleeping tonight?”
“Oh, I should probably get a room.”
“There’s a large festival happening in the coming weeks, there probably aren’t any rooms left.”
“Ah…Then I guess with you?”
“As much as I know you mean well, my room only comes with one bed so that wouldn’t look good due to both of our standings within the church.”
Noella quickly blushed. “I-I didn’t mean it like that!!”
“I know you didn’t, you’re fine,” Vivian chuckled.
Naho sighed. “I guess you can stay with me, although don’t expect me to share a bed.”
“Alright,” she sighed. “I’ll get some spare bedding from the front.” Noella stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Naho walked over to the bed and sat down on it. “What have you gotten me into, Viv’?” She sighed. “Sleeping in the same room with a Holy Knight.”
“At least it’s a girl?”
“Yeah, let’s go with that.”
“I can’t do anything to help that, I’m sorry. I’m her superior and I have to take responsibility. If it was a guy he’d sleep in my room, and it would cause so much controversy if anyone found out that a female celebate knight and a male priest slept in the same room together, even if nothing happened—”
“What, like you aren’t already doing any controversial things?! People will find out eventually what you’re doing—what we’re doing. I get that my physical appearance may not look like much, and I get these circumstances are not the best, but you have to also remember my position here too. I’ve got other people and responsibilities I gotta take care of too. Stuff that holds the fate of the country in the balance.”
“I-I’m sorry—”
“I’m not blaming you, I just don’t like you kinda dumping these things on me that I don’t totally understand.”
“Is there anything you want me to do to fix it in the future?”
“I know it’s probably not going to happen, but if Noella’s going to join us for the foreseeable future, you should try to get her to trust me at least a little. I’ll talk with her tonight, but that’s probably not going to do much.”
“I’ll try my best, but this is an extreme situation, you know?”
Naho nodded in reply as the door opened to reveal Noella holding an armful of blankets and pillows.
“I guess I’ll leave you guys to it,” Vivian said. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Father Balor,” Noella lowered her head as Vivian exited the room and closed the door, leaving the holy knight and the pagan Goddess in the room together.
Naho stood up and pulled the shades over the window. She then blew out the oil lamp, and snapped her fingers. Many little green lights began to dance around the room as she sat back down onto the bed and faced Noella, who was now wearing more comfortable sleepwear.
“I’ve never seen a spell like that,” Noella said.
“That’s because it isn’t one,” Naho replied.
Noella tilted her head in confusion.
“These are spirits. Specifically lesser dryad spirits. It is what this physical manifestation of myself is made up of,” the goddess pointed to herself. “I am made up of hundreds of these little balls of light which dictate everything including my consciousness. This Oni form makes it…easier to converse with most mortals who do not hold a bigoted view of the world.”
“Do you have another form?”
“Yes, although it is not something that I can call upon so easily. Vivian has seen it, however after this recent string of events, the other anguished spirits which I absorbed have been slowly calming, making it harder and harder to call upon my other form when I’m not in danger–Which is probably a good thing, lest I become spiritually unbalanced again.”
“W-Why has Vivian seen it?” she asked in a concerned tone.
“I’m not going to tell you the exact circumstances as it is a bit embarrassing for myself, but it is what led him to trust me as who I say I am.”
“Do you trust him back?”
“Yes. Probably not as much as you seeing as you two have known each other for a presumably longer time than I have, but I do trust him enough to leave him awake while I sleep–And to reveal my true identity, of course,” Naho smiled.
“There’s still not a lot about you that I trust, mainly due to the fact that your mere existence breaks my own theology…But I’m willing to trust you as Naho, the Oni.”
“Fine by me,” the Goddess shrugged. “As long as you don’t become defensive to any Yggdrasil business that may come to us, then sure.”
“‘Yggdrasil’?”
“Ah, that’s the ‘Land of the Gods’ so-to-speak. That is where I was born, and where many of the other Gods and Goddesses live. I have a feeling all of this noise that we’re making might attract the attention of some of the big-shots up there, especially with my past.”
“Your past?”
Naho drew in a deep breath and sighed. “Have you heard of Cardinal Yulis?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m assuming you’ve heard of the Yoitz incident?”
“Yes, the late Cardinal Yulis inexplicably sent in a battalion of fire mages to destroy an Oni village that were alleged pagan worshipers. In the process, he burned down a good chunk of the massive forest that surrounded it.”
“That was my village–or rather the village and forest I was created to protect.”
Noella’s face lit up in shock and horror. “Oh…Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry…”
“I need not your apology. I already made up for it when I killed the bastard, and began to work with Vivian to perhaps right some of the wrongs the Holy Church of Edith has been committing.”
Noella stared at her for a few moments before seemingly a lightbulb went off in her head. “Ohhh… you killed Yulis? That makes so much sense now. No wonder why even the inquisitors came up short on leads…”
“I leave no trail behind me whenever I use magic, not that I needed to use much anyways. Mortals are like ants to me in this way–Weak as individuals, but strong in groups.”
“That’s oddly terrifying…”
“And it shouldn’t be the only thing oddly terrifying about me, or Yggdrasil as a whole,” she yawned. “All this talking has made me tired, I’m going to sleep,” Naho said as she laid down and threw the covers over herself. She then turned to her side so that her back was facing towards the holy knight.
Noella smiled and laid down as well, throwing the covers over herself.
