Chapter 195: A Champion’s Divine Quest.

“I am sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice like that, regardless of the situation. Venting my anger at you like that was just childish and inconsiderate, especially when you made the effort to warn me of the danger. Also, thank you very much for helping Ellaine and for accepting our rather selfish and, honestly, risky idea.” The first thing I did after the piece of Ellaine’s spirit had left Aurena’s divine realm and rejoined her body was to apologize to her personally for my rude outburst and thank her for helping Ellaine’s demon problem.

“If you’re mad about it, I can understand. Although, uhm, I pray you’re not that super angry at me…”

However, Aurena dismissively waved her hand as if there was nothing to apologize for and continued speaking with her smiling poker face. “There is no need to worry about it, Hestia. I wasn’t exactly angered, more surprised, as this is the first time any mortal spoke so roughly to me. Sure, sometimes the prayers to me do have unpleasant topics attached to them, but my angels usually remove them before I read them.”

“Urgh…” Was she a sheltered goddess or was I just overthinking this? Then again, considering how she handled the demon and viciously destroyed Lust’s original body right in front of us, maybe my complaints weren’t worth minding, like a kid letting out a tantrum in front of an adult.

Regardless of the reason, getting away scot-free for shouting at a goddess is good enough. Gives me the chills to imagine her being more hot-headed, urgh.

With that out of the way, it was time to finally talk business. Sure, Aurena’s relationship with the demon was interesting to me, as well as the fact that the demon was pretty much a demigod, but… I was seeing flashbacks of Aurena being actually angry the moment the demon mentioned something about her. She obviously did not want to talk about it, so let’s leave it be.

“In any case, it should be I who should apologize, Hestia. Despite the circumstances, I pretty much did forget about Klea’Hatma’s racial abilities, which left you in a precarious situation and led to your friend’s rings to be infected by Lust’s mana,” Aurena reciprocated my apology with her own, reminding me of how the demon’s arm erupted from its prison and attacked me.

I shook my hands, forcing a wry smile to show it was water under a bridge. “It’s alright, I hate to admit it, but the demon was right, it did save Ellaine’s life in the fight. Haa, I wish Kargrxymor had just told Astalos to call off the escort business. We wouldn’t have gotten in this situation if he had just said something.”

Astalos was a wyvern and a follower of Kargryxmor. If Aurena’s statement also applied to subordinate gods, that the gods could see through the eyes of their followers, then couldn’t Kargryxmor have said something to stop him from trying to kill everybody? It wouldn’t have caused that near wipe in our fight against the Boltreaver Wyvern.

As I was sighing at how negligent my “grandpa” was, Aurena's smile suddenly disappeared and she looked at me with serious eyes. “No, the blame does not belong with Kargryxmor in this case. The one responsible for the wyvern continuing his pursuit was none other than me.”

“Huh?” My eyes widened.

“This was a test and a valuable source of experience for you now that you had reached rank B before your maturation. Kargryxmor wanted to call it off, but I decided you needed this challenge. You have been growing magnificently, but even with all your allies, the road before you is not without shadows.” Aurena’s gaze was entirely devoid of kindness and warmth, bringing the uncomfortable belief that she wasn’t an entirely kindhearted goddess. Considering she came from the same place as that demon of lust, I should’ve been more on my guard.

“T-Then Ellaine—”

“Banish that thought, Hestia. This was officially a divine test; thankfully, Elder Plesia gave me permission for it, allowing me to intervene. Kargryxmor and I were already prepared to stop the fight and protect every member of Aurora if it was necessary. Your journey has just begun, after all, and I was not willing to set you back so much under my own terms. Although, you had faced enough close calls in your one year of Peolyncian life, challenges which I was not allowed to do anything about, unfortunately.” She had adopted an apologetic look but I was still unnerved by everything.

“T-Then Astalos was sent against me just to act as an experience bag? He died just for that?!” I was baffled at what Aurena had revealed, showing a side of her personality that was a far cry from how she acted during the previous two discussions I had with her.

“In the first place, it was the wyvern’s choice. Kargryxmor had already annulled the Divine Quest, but Astalos had continued on despite that, desperately wishing for power. This is no excuse. Hestia, let me reiterate this once more for you to understand, for becoming my champion and agreeing to help me reform my church, I told you I would aid you in every way I could,” Aurena sighed deeply, her eyes looking tired. “As much as I want to act compassionate and kind exactly as my followers imagine me to be, mercy without strength or influence is nothing more than a wasted dream. If this side of me scares you, Hestia, then I apologize once more, but with your future enemies, you cannot allow yourself to let your guard down.”

It was scary. What a god thought of their mortal followers was incomprehensible to me, although sometimes I imagined it would be similar to humans looking at our pet dogs while enemies would be similar to ants to somebody like Aurena. Astalos’s life was fuel for me, Aurena’s champion, to become stronger, just a trial to overcome and grow from.

Aurena’s switch from a smiling to a serious expression and then to her currently exhausted look made me wonder what was going through her head. Is Aurena hiding her ruthless side behind a poker face or was this just another layer of Aurena’s true personality? Something she was not comfortable sharing with her normal worshippers?

“It’s fine.” In the end, I decided to stay calm about it. The last thing I want to do is another childish fit. “If you can keep your promise of being truthful to me and sending me to visit Earth once more, then I’m alright with it. Scary as it was, I expected it a little bit from a god. Just, please, could you not endanger my party again? We already cause ourselves enough trouble.”

“I can’t promise that, but I’ll try.”

After Aurena sipped her tea, smiling once again, she projected a screen on the table, showing a map. From how much I’ve educated myself of this world, I knew this was Peolynca. A red spot kept blinking, glowing and dimming over time, on the far west of the continent Altrust. From its position, north of it was a mountain range and to the west was a giant forest area. This was the Kingdom of Artorias.

“As you should know, this is the map of this world. The red dot is where your soul is right now — the Kingdom of Artorias. Have you perhaps learned where the Holy State Aureolis is? The capital of my church’s faith?” I nodded and pointed at a small country southwest of Artorias, surrounded by five others including Artorias. Like a wall, this place seemed important as it began to light up after I pointed at it.

“Correct. Aureolis, a country made in my honor after the old faith of this world clashed against the new, brought about a large increase of faith to me. As you might expect, I did not start out as the patron goddess of the humans; it happened over time as more and more humans favored my magic over those of my elders. The human religions most fitting to mine merged into one, forming the current Church of Aurena.”

Aurena had also told me of how not every human in the world revered her as their patron goddess. Some preferred other origin gods, others only prayed to her subordinate gods, and a minority were either godless, those who did not pray to any of the established gods or pantheons, or preferred to pray to the old “gods.”

“Peolynca actually had gods before the Origin Gods came? I thought you six were called that way because you were the first actual gods to appear before the Peolyncians,” I asked, wondering about this inconsistency.

“Oh, we are the first. When I mentioned ‘old gods,’ I meant what the Peolyncians used to worship before we came. None of them were technically gods, but were in the process of apotheosis due to all the faith they garnered. Once we arrived, the only way for them to ascend was to become our subordinates,” Aurena explained. “To become a god, the amount of faith you require is extremely vast, but the moment your followers are gone, all of that progress would disappear like that,” she explained with a snap of her fingers.

I wonder how many would-be gods were crushed after the Origin Gods appeared and stole everybody away with the Divine System. Well, it’s not my problem, but it’s hard to hear of so many ambitions crushed like this.

As I was wondering about what I just learned of the world before the Origin Gods appeared, Aurena then pointed at a huge landmass in the east of Altrust. “The Folschreck Empire,” I answered, to which she nodded.

“Do you know about ‘The Home of the Holy Emperor of Light’ yet?” Aurena asked, but I shook my head. I only knew it was the country where I could get one of the ingredients for Farron’s medicine as well as the place that 15 members of Saori’s students went to.

Aurena nodded, “Have Eshe explain to you about the details of the Folschreck Empire. Also, I asked her to teach you about the intricacies of my church. This should also be a good way for the two of you to bond a bit, seeing as you two are my latest champion and saint respectively.”

So, Aurena did send her to Artorias for this reason.

“However, for the purpose of our discussion, at the very least you must know that the Holy Emperor of Light is the title of the emperor of the Folschreck Empire, given to him by my church’s previous pope. As a result, the Folschreck Empire and their vassals are an extension of my church’s will,” Aurena explained. “This arrangement is the reason why, from a faith standpoint, I am the second most influential Origin God, behind Elder Plesia.”

The ocean vs. the land. If Plesia had leviathans praying to her, it was no wonder she was the head honcho.

“So the situation is like the Holy Roman Empire?” I wondered out loud. After I gave Aurena a general explanation of what it was to Earth’s history, Aurena confirmed my assumption, causing my face to contort in dread. “Urgh, if that is the case then, well, y-you aren’t implying what I’m thinking about, right?”

“Rebuilding my church also involves confronting the empire in a way, yes, but I’m not asking you to go to war against them. Now, before we continue, I want to ask your opinion on my church. Do you remember, I asked you to learn more about my church by experiencing it through an unbiased perspective?” Aurena said, reminding me why I was supposed to go to Griffonpeak before the whole demon fiasco.

Demon fiasco? I should ask about it later on.

I explained to Aurena about what I learned. I told her how I found the white-robed and grey-robed system too similar to a noble and slave relationship, as I didn’t recall Theodore or Barathan — House Helvas’s seneschal for their fief — explaining to me how they were paid outside of food and accommodations.

While I liked the priest and shrine maiden system, I did not like the divide between the noble and commoner white-robes. The commoner white-robes I met in Firwood’s hunter’s guild were acting so subservient towards me, believing I should be treated differently ’cause of the social status I inherited. Even farmers and the townspeople understood to not anger a white-robe, as they could risk angering a noble. Not a priest of Aurena.

I also did not like the whole “payment for healing” part. However, I came to realize it was due to my special situation. I still haven’t obtained a Peolycian’s common sense yet, where mages were paid for services, due to my obscene mana pool. Healing somebody was like snapping my fingers for me; not a lot of effort was needed. However, normal mages had to learn magic the hard way, not through the SP system, and then needed to spend mana, of which they regenerated only so much each day and risked Arcane Corruption, to cast a spell.

I learned how naive it was to think a professional mage wouldn’t request money for their services. I still wanted to keep my rates at 500 Davi, but I now understood why this system was implemented. Aurena’s spells were a “miracle” but the people casting them weren’t only saints or gods. Theodore even mentioned how nobles would ask favors in return for healing, something he and I tried to do to resolve the Chezaic situation, so condemning compensation wasn’t okay for me anymore.

However, what caught my attention the most was the fact the church literally kidnapped Saori’s students from Earth. They weren’t dead like Saori or me; the students were just living their lives. They went to school, were waiting for class to begin, and were then transported to Peolynca. From what I heard from Tamae and Nishio, Saori most likely died during the summoning and her soul was transported to Peolynca. In other words, the church was also responsible for Saori’s death on Earth.

With Aurena confirming she wasn’t the one who did it, all the blame was placed on the church. They forced Tamae and the others to work for them, to fight the demonkin king like a generic anime trope in exchange for being allowed to return to Earth. Imagine getting kidnapped and doing something risky like that. Even with cheats, I would despise this situation.

Technically, Aurena and Kargryxmor were doing the same thing with me, but I was already dead. I had no choice in the matter if I wanted to continue “living.” If they had erased my memories as planned, this would have been a non-issue in the first place, as morbid as it sounded.

There was more I wanted to say but those details were minor. Aurena sipped her tea once I was done, starting to speak again only after putting the cup down. “Hmm, I guess only Firwood’s temple as reference isn’t enough. You should be able to form a better opinion after you learn more about Griffonpeak’s.”

True. Theodore seemed like a competent bishop, so Firwood’s shouldn’t be—

And then Aurena dropped a bomb. “The demonkins summoned my supposed ‘heroes.’”

…

“WHAT?!” This wasn’t just a bomb, it was a nuke.

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Aurena calmed me down, asking me to sit before continuing. “I do not know what the demonkin’s goals are with this act, but I know for a fact a god from my previous homeworld helped them in this task. You were still growing inside your egg when we Origin Gods sensed something penetrate the barrier we maintain to defend against our old acquaintances. The demonkins, who mostly worship the gods the demons used to serve, somehow managed to achieve this feat through the current seven demonkin princes of sins.”

Faith allowed the Origin Gods to grow stronger and achieve near-complete control over all their subordinate gods, which also seemed to also apply to the gods of their previous world. In a ritual, the princes of sins — the demonkins with the highest compatibility with their demon bloodlines’ sins — managed to commune with these alien gods and had them summon the students to this world.

It was fucking crazy. I thought I was dealing with Peolyncian threats, but now there were alien powers, too?

“As you know, I can only see through the eyes of those faithful to me. The previous pope, the one who blessed the current Holy Emperor of Light, was supposedly still active but I was not able to see through his vision for a long time. After a while, I reached out to Ilsaphone, who confirmed that this pope had died and his soul had reached her, which led me to find out the current pope is a demonkin of envy using the previous pope's appearance to disguise himself and rule my church.”

It was getting wilder and wilder. Revelations were dropping on me like a landfall as I wondered what the hell I was supposed to do to fix this problem. I’m just a normal girl who wanted to become an idol, for crying out loud.

“A-And you have no idea what they are trying to do with Tamae-san and the rest? What about those alien gods, will they interfere? How am I supposed to do all of this, Goddess Aurena? This seems… impossible for me to fix. I know I made a promise, but this… y-you didn’t even reveal all the details before. OMG, why did I agree to it?!” My heart sank, I was feeling a mix of dread and fear for the grand nature of the task. I didn’t even know the demonkins were this deep into all this political and religious fuckery.

“To collapse an empire, the most efficient way was by corrupting the core. The demonkins have hated me ever since the humans began to worship me excessively, who in turn used me as an excuse to ‘purge the corruption of the world.’ One of my biggest mistakes for why my church is collapsing, was not stopping these zealous followers of mine.” Aurena massaged her temples in exasperation, looking troubled at the situation of the map, showing black color spreading through the Folschreck Empire and a large island landmass in the south like a plague.

She continued. “While I did say the demonkins worshipped the gods from my homeworld, some still pray to us Origin Gods. We came from the same world, after all. Although, I am the only one they universally detest. Some also dislike Elder Plesia for a past event, but not to the point that they would try to massacre the levianewts.” Aurena then pointed at an area west of the Avitor mountains, the location of the grimgarian army. “The demonkin created this army, provoking the grimgarians’ hatred for humans and beastmen. The rebellion orb and the black transformation potion were also demonkin plots.”

… I-I want to go back into my bed. I just want to sleep and wake up, forgetting I learned all of this…

“However, fortunately, you were there. You caused a series of setbacks in their plans.” Aurena leaned forward, smirking as she rested her head on an arm. “The grimgarian army were stopped twice by you — first you destroyed their main way into Artorias by rescuing Tasianna and secondly, you stopped a battalion and flooded their second entrance into Artorias. Now, the grimgarians are locked in their camp with no other available ways to infiltrate the human lands. The seas are blocked due to the sudden S rank evolution of a leviathan, someone you already know, according to Elder Zephira’s footage of Tasianna’s vision. The western oceans are a maelstrom of waves and monsters right now, making it impossible for the grimgarians to either launch an attack or request for supplies.”

Leviathan? Does she mean the one from Belzac forest. I remember him mentioning he was about to evolve into an S rank.

Aurena continued, “You stopped a foolish human’s gambit to help the demonkins by stealing away Lust’s prison ball and stopped an onnikai’s invasion which should have acted as a diversion for the grimgarian battalion to enter the kingdom. The rebellion orb did cause some damage, but nothing significant. Cedaraille did not fall, meaning Artorias’s source of food won’t be depleted and they won’t face a famine any time soon. Sabotages in the other duchies are in motion, but you can simply share this information here to those responsible, once you believe you can trust them.”

Points of interest appeared on the map. I carefully memorized each one so I could inform whoever was interested in this. Aurena mentioned I did not need to go there personally, but I could if I wanted experience or adventure.

However, I still had my doubts. “But aren’t all of these just small events in the grand scheme of things? Don’t get me wrong, I am happy nothing terrible happened to Greenveil. I have enough friends I didn’t want to get hurt, but this doesn’t seem like it will change anything. Goddess Aurena, t-this is overwhelming.”

Aurena nodded, fully understanding the scope of everything. That was why her next words surprised me. “I wanted to let you know how much you are already doing without a real plan. Pure coincidence. However, this isn’t just a local problem; this is a worldwide issue. This is why your next objective isn’t to march into Aureolis and denounce the pope, but to go and make allies.”

“Allies?”

“Do you understand why you were born as a dragon princess? Why I thought working with Kargryxmor was the correct choice? Can you guess, Dragon Princess Hestia Atsuko Kargrxymor? The youngest of a prestigious line and the daughter of the only two living SS rank dragons?” Aurena winked, assuming I had already something in mind.

I said the first word I thought of. “Connections.”

It was the most obvious answer ever but Aurena smiled.

“I have two extremely powerful parents, parents able to level a whole country if they wanted to. I have a whole dragonewt clan on my mother's side willing to become my ally, if my niece is to be believed. If I can rally Kargryx, Loatryx will rally, too. The levianewts, elves, and dwarves all are allies with Kargryx, so they might consider my words more carefully since I am a dragon princess.”

“Your goal right now is to gain allies and reach maturity. You need to reach A rank, or possibly even S rank, in order to become a real threat to the demonkins. You need to bring the dwarves, elves, dragonewts, and levianewts to care about humanity again. Considering how much the demonkins are preparing to cause the downfall of the empire, you need to prepare your own faction, too,” Aurena gave me more concise instructions. “In addition, the rest of Aurora must become stronger as well. They may go down their current road or they may ask for the help of my elders. The other Origin Gods cannot help me with my issue without a champion willing to fight for this cause. I won’t force your friends to do so, after all, I would like to believe you are enough.”

Of course, all of this sounded like a bunch of politics and diplomacy, something I wasn't anywhere good at. I could cast spells, fight well, bake, and do idol stuff. Politics? I barely followed them when I was still in the US. I get nervous whenever I speak with a noble and I just feel uncomfortable inside an etiquette-focused environment.

It was good news that Aurena did not expect me to do this all alone, but this was still crazy. How am I supposed to do this? I can’t speak with foreign dignitaries like an orator, and I don’t think anyone else in my party could do it perfectly, either. There was no way for me to-

Wait!

“Ahh, it seems you’re starting to understand, dear. Hestia, I did not choose an idol for nothing,” Aurena’s smirk almost seemed like it was laughing at me for being so slow.

I was reminded of how I became suspicious of how [Idol] and [The Light] fitted together perfectly. I remembered how Aurena didn’t fully explain why she needed an idol exactly, outside of rebuilding her church. When the reason dawned on me, I finally understood.

“To rebuild my church, it does not require you to be a spiritual leader. An entertainer, a celebrity can bring people from different backgrounds together just by having them enjoy your content. That is what I learned from Earth’s culture after doing my research. Cultural and political barriers can be crossed using a medium of entertainment — in this case, music,” Aurena explained.

“I might not be able to fully get away from doing diplomacy, but in order to get the elves, dwarves, levianewts, and dragonewts to want to help the humans in the first place, there has to be something to bind them together.” I then went through all the background benefits Aurena handed to me. “My social status is required to initiate diplomacy with open minds, while my musical skills are there to help people bond together. If the demonkins do not threaten anybody besides the humans, the other races can simply ignore the problem, since they’re still carrying a grudge over the past events during the War for the Faefolk. I am the glue.”

“Your singing is not only a religious tool to help you garner followers under your banner, but it is also there to soothe relationships. A person able to rally the populace can not be ignored by a country’s leader. This was the case when my religion became larger, the people in power had to take notice.” With me finally understanding what I had to do, Aurena clapped her hands. “I believe you need some time to think this over. This talk has gone lon-”

“Wait a minute!” I raised my hand before this discussion ended. “I had this question for a while, but I remembered how you said you couldn’t take physical objects from the mortal realm. Only copy them. How did you destroy the demon’s body like that? I thought you also needed God Marsven to unlock his seal.”

“Oh, I didn’t pull your orb from your storage, Hestia.” I tilted my head in confusion. “I had already gotten permission to unlock Elder Marsven’s seal. When I opened that crack in space, I used his seal to unlock the orb and I then took out the demon’s soul. The ‘main body’ was Klea’Hatma’s soul. The only way for Klea’Hatma’s race to die is to either vaporize every single cell or to destroy their soul.”

“Then why was it in the form of an orb?”

“Elder Marsven’s seal stuffed the demon’s soul into the orb, and the demon needed mana to regenerate its body. If you ask why he did not destroy it, then blame his slothfulness. He most likely would have become the God of Sloths if he wasn’t considered someone on par with Elder Plesia in our previous world. At this current moment, Elder Plesia and his wife, Goddess Edna, are most likely scolding him.” Aurena then placed her hand on her forehead, sighing so deeply it felt like she was exasperated. “The ball Klea’Hatma used to be imprisoned in is still in your storage, but it is just a normal gemstone now. Also, there is no need to worry about Klea’Hatma in her current form. Even if you touch the rings or her body parts, nothing will happen. Just don’t allow her to corrupt Ellaine’s soul.”

I’m just gonna pull this flag out of the ground. Nothing will happen to Ellaine while a member of Aurora is around.

Aurena then clapped her hands together, finishing this discussion. “My part is done, now it is time for the second part.”

“Second part?”

“Yes. I shall take my leave now. Have fun with your grandfather, dear.” Waving me goodbye, Aurena’s body turned into light particles and shot up in the sky like a pillar. As I was flabbergasted at the situation, a dark particle cloud suddenly appeared in a vast, empty area. It began growing and growing, to the point it almost seemed like a mountain to me.

“Greetings.” An older man’s voice suddenly filled Aurena’s divine realm, booming inside my mind as my jaw dropped the moment the particles formed a body.

Black wings, black scales, and a humanoid body standing on two legs. Imposing and intimidating, this giant had his arms crossed together as his full appearance appeared before me.

Kargrxymor?!

“Hestia.” His red eyes glared down at me and I could feel my soul quivering in response. My fight-or-flight instincts were activated but I couldn’t move a single muscle — every bit of my soul was paralyzed in fear. As I looked up at the mountainous monster, I couldn’t utter a single word.

Oh no, oh no, what is he gonna do?! I ignored him so often he has to be so fucking mad! So fucking mad!

As the silence continued with nobody speaking, Kargryxmor opened his mouth once more, “It is great to finally meet and speak with you, my cute granddaughter… Hold on.” Kargryxmor’s neck snapped his head to the side as his scales began to form a frown on his face.

What?! Huh?! What did he just call me?!

He turned his head back to me, mimicking the intimidating glare he had before. “It is great to finally meet and speak with you, my descendant. You have left me waiting.”

Did this old man just call me “cute?!”

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