Chapter 255: Our Party got Huge.

“Thank you for having us! We already met yesterday, but let us introduce ourselves again, Hestia-san. I am Ishigami Kyouya from party Misfits. I’ll be happy if you will address me with Kyouya.”

“Nagata Tatsuya. We haven’t done a proper introduction in a while, so it feels a bit weird to use the Japanese naming structure again. Artorias and Aureolis use the western version. Anyways, we will be in your care, Hestia-san.”

“S-Sakamoto Haruka. Pleased to meet you, Atsuko-san! I’m not very useful with fighting, but I hope I can still be of some use to you.”

“My name is Mikami Daichi. It is good to finally meet another person from Earth in this world outside of our classmates. I have heard much about you, Princess Hestia! So I hope we can get along well!”

… Okay, this guy is a bootlicker. Feels like I’m speaking with a noble. Even that smile feels unnatural.

After my slightly awkward talk with Mellox— Mother, I felt a bit too tired to do anything after everything that happened yesterday. Since I wasn’t in the mood to create their rooms in my subspace, Saori’s students decided to meet up with us on the next day. As such, it gave me some more time to spend with Mother — which made her quite happy, especially when we had a bath together in the hot spring.

Cernust did mention dragon mothers were like helicopter parents. Mother really wants to do everything with me to create memories. Can’t say I blame her. If I were in her position, I would have done the same, even to the chagrin of my own child.

Speaking of Cernust, I heard he was in the city right now with Severa, acting as her bodyguard. I really should find some time to meet up with them. Saori told me he greeted Mother once, since she was his empress, and immediately fled the scene. Mother’s mere presence made dragonkins nervous, it seemed.

In any case, once I woke up, the plan was to meet up with Saori’s students and hold a meeting between all three parties with the goal of merging all three. It looked like we would all be working together now to proceed with our goals. We shared a lot of goals in common with each other due to the demonkin threat.

It was just a bit overwhelming that we were gaining so many new members all at once! Twelve to be exact, not including Mother, the snow wyvern twins, and Rajah and his family… Oh boy.

So, who exactly are joining us? Well, we first had “The Magical Biscuits”, which included Tamae, Nishio, Misaki, Kazumi, Kohaku, and Yorshka, whom we had already met in Cedaraille. The second set of students were the “Misfits,” which included Kyouya and Tatsuya from yesterday.

The other members were Haruka, a smaller girl who was a year older than me with the smell of a foxian, and a fire mage by the name of Daichi, who seemed like a yes-man with a very slimy smile. The last two members were—

“Champion Hestia,” a blond young man in full white armor kneeled for me, holding his sword before him like a knight showing respect to a king. “In the name of the Goddess, it is an honor and blessing to meet a champion like you. May the Goddess bless this auspicious meeting with bountiful light. I am Elrick von Karstein, a humble paladin of the Knights of Aurena.”

… Yorshka did say the student parties were all watched over by a knight of Aurena for their own protection, but I guess I didn’t realize that we would have somebody as devoted to the church as Eshe in our midst now. The only difference was that I wasn’t sure if he was aligned to Aurena or the church.

If it was the latter, then I couldn’t trust him. But that wasn’t important right now, since the last member of the Misfits was about to introduce herself.

“Hanazawa Asaka.” And that was all the blue-haired girl said before looking away.

“…” Unfortunately, while that was a decent enough introduction in my book, the same couldn’t be said for Saori, who let out a quiet sigh before telling everybody she’ll wait for us inside the RV, creating a chilly atmosphere between them.

Deciding it would be better to get everybody inside, I led the Misfits and The Magical Biscuits into my subspace’s dining room, the largest room we had. There, Tasianna and Svena were about to finish placing some treats and drinks on three round tables placed together, while Grimnir welcomed us.

“Oh, good morning, lass,” he greeted me. He was still sleeping in his smithy when I ate breakfast. “Good to see you awake, but you sure you want to have this meeting this early? You deserve some time off. Good for your head.”

Grimnir was being considerate, believing I needed more time to mourn. In a way, yes, I had to agree. I didn’t think I was fully ready to get over Eshe’s death yet, but it’s not like time would stop for me as I kept whining. I had three weeks’ worth of stuff to catch up on, and since I was the leader of Aurora, I had to determine what our next destination and goals were.

“No, it’s okay. I’m ‘fine.’ Fine enough to at least act as a leader for us, Grimnir. I heard from Saori that she handled everything while I was out, so I better do my part and get up to speed. There is still time for me to mourn after it's done, don’t worry,” I told him, showing him a small smile to not make him worry.

He shrugged. “Mhmm. I’m not good with comforting others, but even I can see you weren’t totally over yesterday. Not even today. Make sure to take care of yourself, lass. The world and time will wait, especially once you reach the max level of [Space-Time Magic], I tell you! Gahahahaha!”

“Ehehiehiehie,” I giggled. I know I could slow down time with the later spells, but who knows if I could stop it. Still, even if he does grumble a lot, Grimnir knew how to have a good time.

After Tasianna and Svena led the students to their seats, Saori came out from the kitchen and seated herself on our table, right next to the middle chair. Tasianna also seated herself next to the center, while Grimnir took the chair next to hers. Svena bowed and went back into the kitchen.

… Can’t forget that she’s still a maid contracted to House Helvas. Who would have thought that she would actually choose to continue working as my maid on their payroll? Well, glad to have her on board for now.

“Ahh, sorry for being late!” As I sat myself down, the door suddenly opened up to Ellaine rushing in, with her maid Josine right behind her, trying to fix her hair. “I apologize, Father forced me to handle some of his paperwork while he and Brother had to settle some dispute and also fill up the void left behind after the recent noble purge. Ahh, there is so much to do. Josine, the papers, please.”

I showed her a wry smile, feeling sorry for how much work she’d been doing. I didn’t have the chance to catch up with her yesterday.

“It’s alright, Ellaine. We haven’t even started yet so slow down and calm yourself.” I waved at her and she nodded. After putting the papers on the table, she came over to me and hugged me.

“Don’t push yourself, Hestia,” she whispered into my ear.

[“Her heart is set, Ellaine. If you worry too much, you’ll just be patronizing her desires,”] Klea’Hatma chided Ellaine’s comment. I personally didn’t mind everybody’s worry as much as Klea’Hatma thought, though.

Idols, or public entertainers in general, are expected to lie. Put up a mask. But while I’m with all of them, I don’t need to hide it all. It’s good for them and for me to know how I am.

Regardless, once Svena and Josine filled everybody’s glasses with fresh magically-made water, I announced the beginning of the first meeting between Aurora, Misfits, and The Magical Biscuits. I’ll be honest and totally not biased, Aurora had the best name among the three.

“Thank you everybody for coming on such short notice. I am Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor, but you may simply call me Hestia. Yes, I was reborn as a princess of the Dragon Empire, Kargryx, but please don’t even think of addressing me as Princess. Makes it complicated and such, you know. Instead, I want us to think of each other as equals.” I clapped my hands, smiling at the rest of them. “As such, I would like to welcome everybody to our first meeting as a team!”

I sat back down and let Saori handle the formal stuff. I still had three weeks to catch up, so it was better to just listen to those who had better knowledge than I did.

“Alright, as Hestia said, thank you very much for coming everybody. It’s been a long time. As such— Yes, Tamae-san?” Noticing Tamae raised her hand like a diligent student, Saori paused and acknowledged it.

“Is Empress Melloxtressa not coming?” she asked.

I answered, “Mother’s currently sleeping in my room. Catching up on seven-ten years of sleep? Maybe even more, but she didn’t specify it. The two snow wyverns in their dragonewt forms are taking care of her right now. Any decision I make has her consent, as long as I follow her rules.”

I just learned that older dragons, especially ancient dragons, literally have to take time to sleep to control the massive amount of mana stored inside their bodies. The more they sleep, the more they will recover. Immortality does have its downsides, huh?

In any case, Mother technically didn’t have to hibernate peacefully for the whole period, but it would be better if she did. She decided she would sleep whenever she could while waking up to spend time with me. Even if it meant harming herself, she was not willing to sacrifice even more personal time with me. She wanted to make memories. So, she’ll probably wake up tomorrow when we design her room.

With that out of the way, Saori continued, “As such, I would like all of us to work well together. You aren’t my students anymore, so you don’t need to call me ‘Sensei’ or ‘Segawa-Sensei.’”

“You’re still our ‘Sensei,’ Sensei,” Nishio, the bespectacled mage, stated firmly. “Even adults call their former teachers with Sensei. Even if you continue arguing that you are a ‘different’ person, you still are the same person with whom we spent those three years with. I don’t think we need to change that part. The others agreed.”

Everybody aside from Asaka nodded.

Saori sighed. “Well, do what you want,” she said, before continuing where she left off with a satisfied smile. “First things first, since we decided to merge our three parties into one, I would like to suggest we form a ‘hunter’s company’ with our combined groups. In essence, it is simply a larger party, but it allows us to accept certain Quests without having to partner with other parties.”

Kyouya raised his hand. “Sensei, we already talked about this when we were traveling together. Dame Yorshka suggested to us to stay as individual parties, since companies are restricted with the type of work you may take. Individuals cannot take on personal Quests, we are only allowed to take Quest at or above our current rank, and we will be taxed more for our Quest.”

“Hmm, I did say that, right?” Yorshka chimed in. “However, the circumstances have changed. Yes, staying as individual parties means flexibility, but companies aren’t without advantages.”

As the name already implied, it was a company. A guild company acted similarly to a liaison according to Yorshka. Like the white and black mercenary companies I’d heard of before, hunter companies were expected to go around and seek jobs by themselves.

Normally, as adventurer parties, we would go to the local guildhall and simply take a Quest from the Questboard. Sometimes you would get a commission while wandering into a village. But those were normal things any adventurer could experience. The difference a hunter company brought to the table was—

“Reliability and trust.”

“Reliability already comes from our ranks though. That’s why they force you to do soooo many Quests just to give them a reason to trust us with more daring Quests,” Kazumi, our resident human-turned-katzune, complained.

“True, but what I’m talking about is the liaison part, remember? Conducting investigations that can get you remuneration without a Quest, acting as a moving Quest board for areas the adventurer guild doesn’t wish to build a guildhall for, and, I guess what Saori is intending, going around with the authority of a state. In this case, a sovereign state.”

“I plan to finally use Hestia’s influence as a princess of Kargryx,” Saori explained. “Previously, our party tried to keep our real identities low, but as it was recently exposed in the Griffonpeak battle, it will be impossible to stop word from spreading. Gael and Muraina, our underworld sources, have already confirmed that this information is leaking everywhere down in Shaturein. Soon, it will spread to other countries and completely beyond our control. As such, to protect ourselves, we need to establish our image and reputation.”

“Of course, they can do this as a normal party,” Yorshka continued, pointing at everybody from the two other parties. “The thing is that they have you kids on board, now. Instead of using this influence for themselves, why not share it? Yes, as a company, we have some very annoying restrictions — the taxing part is the worst — but the fact is, the Guild trusts us enough to allow us to establish a company. Understand?”

“Oh, the Quest part, right?” Haruka seemed to have understood what Yorshka meant. “Uhm, I heard we’ll be using this RV as our main method of travel, correct? If we market ourselves as a company, that means people will swarm us with Quests they can’t be bothered to go to a guildhall to post. Even if we have to file these Quests later on to the Guild to have them taxed and record our accomplishments, we should be allowed to negotiate with the Quest givers ourselves!”

Just like with Carine Village and the village chief, huh? We got some money for the bandit Quest, but they also allowed us to stay inside the village for winter. Even allowed us to build a house.

If we are talking about influence, we also have Mother. The personal recommendation from an empress and a princess should assure Aurora’s safety. If Tasianna’s fairy form or Ellaine’s identity as a “demonkin contractor” were to be exposed, we could always rely on Kargryx’s influence. We had diplomatic immunity, in effect.

Of course, this meant the nobles would flock to us. Companies are larger, allowing them to work with larger contractors. Meaning nobles, governors, and rich merchants. Sure, some of them would hand in Quests to the guild, but from all the ones our party has taken on, only three Quests came directly from a noble — the two handed to us by Carine village’s fief lord, Arcanuess Helvas, an the one from Severa’s brother to find her.

Verdammt, I can’t imagine how much I will have to deal with them now… But we need the protection.

In any case, the talk about the company was agreed upon unanimously, mostly since all of us understood we couldn’t stay in Griffonpeak forever. We needed to travel, and having some protection and ability to go around flexibly would be best. However, we still needed a tool for this.

“Grimnir, will you be able to continue production of those [Room] runes?” Saori asked.

“With the lass up and about, I can,” Grimnir replied. Due to me being unconscious, he hadn’t been able to produce more [Room] runes since he needed me. We needed them to expand the fast travel nexus.

“Damn. Honestly, I had thoughts of fast travel, too, but with how hard it is to level up [Space-Time Magic], I had given up. It’s still only level two for me,” Tatsuya noted. “Are you really able to do it?”

“Of course, my lady is fully capable of it,” Tasianna spoke up. “Everybody, I have been testing the functionality of this idea with my lady since the very start. We will require the [Room] runes Master Grimnir makes and also my lady has to be around to make it work, but we are able to teleport around from one city to the other in seconds.”

“Unfortunately, long-distance will be hard,” I stated. “The further away two rune portals are, the more mana you will have to spend. You can use a catalyst to bypass having to shoulder the cost yourself, but it will become a problem if we want to go from Altrust to the Empire, for example.”

The students nodded, understanding what I meant by that. Grimnir smirked for some reason, and was ready to explain what he had in mind… Only for Haruka to speak out before him.

“If the mana cost increases by distance, couldn’t we make the fast travel system work with a waypoint system? Put a [Room] rune in every city or town we trust, and when we need to travel from one country to the next, we can simply use this system. Every catalyst can be filled enough to teleport to a city, then take a break, and then continue the trip until we end up at the designated destination.”

“Bladdarg, you damn brat! I was going to say all that! Arrrgh, by Crustacia’s twin-tails, I was waiting to explain all that!”

“U-Uh? Uhm, I’m sorry?”

Eheheh… Poor Grimnir.

In other words, a cooldown system to offset the mana cost. Ways to charge up catalysts or mana batteries with mana were abundant with Aurora in the equation. We even have Mother, and her mana usually overflows when she doesn’t take notice of it. She makes a good AC, though.

The problem was that only I could control the nexus with my [Mana Eyes]. The mana issue was solved, but I had to be around for the teleportation to work in the first place. Without me, no teleportation.

Still, it meant we could continue using Griffonpeak as a hub. The RV would be our transportation method, the subspace our gathering point, and Griffonpeak our hub for materials and information. That’s what Saori explained afterwards.

And then it was Ellaine’s time. She picked up some of her paper and began announcing the news concerning Artorias as a whole.

“A lot of things have thankfully calmed down during the three weeks since the siege and coordinated disruptions within the seven duchies. However, due to the noble purge issued by his Majesty, there have been some changes in the kingdom itself, especially concerning the church.”

Church-wise, Eshe’s death was a massive blow to them, which affected not only Griffonpeak but also all the other temples in the kingdom. “Why couldn’t the church and monarchy protect her? What about the empire entourage?” Commoner dissatisfaction was at a high towards the church and aristocracy.

The duchies affected most by this were the Lecartiglio and Olivus duchy. The Lecartiglio have large groups of beastmen actively hostile to humans, especially after the whole kidnapping and slavery incident there. Meanwhile, the Olivus duchy, being on the border of Aureolis, the religious seat of the church of Aurena, had people illegally migrating into the holy capital, believing Olivus cannot protect their faith.

There were also other problems outside of these locations. Equevanna just had their duke resign after his second son was executed for high treason, but Ellaine stated that House Equevanna wasn't entirely in the clear.

“Due to a historical friendship and debt to House Equevanna, House Artorias decided to pardon them for now. However, Father told me that one more foot out of line and even their previous history cannot save them any further. Including their branch houses. If House Equevanna cannot prove their value and make up for their failures, then another ducal house will succeed them.”

The former Duke Equevanna was stripped from his noble status and was now treated like any other servant at the castle. His dukedom lost a vast amount of nobles and houses through the noble purge, and we could expect King Drangleic’s spies to keep them in line. House Equevanna practically lost all their reputation and influence and was now at the mercy of the vultures that were the other ducies.

Well, only if the others could do anything. Lecartiglio and Olivus were dealing with massive unrest and population decreases, and Morgiana and Myrrdin weren’t better off. Many of their commoner citizens were actively wishing for equal standing between the classes. Their internal affairs were being plagued, so moving out will be problematic.

However, Greenveil was the least impacted by all this drama. In fact, due to nation-wide dissatisfaction and problems, the Sarlenzia company — Amelia Greenveil’s soon-to-be company — has been expanding into the other duchies. Their populace’s satisfaction has been growing since, thanks to Aurora, they managed to avoid the other duchies’ problems, and I expected them to make their move soon.

“Of course, at the end of the day, none of this is Aurora’s issue,” Ellaine stated flatly with a smile before throwing the paper away and scratching her hair in distress. “Ahhh, but it’s my problem since I’m a Helvas! Argh, they really want to push Greenveil to become more influential in the next meeting between the dukes and his Majesty. Argh, so much work.”

Thank you very much for all your hard work, Ellaine.

“In any case, as I said, we do not have to deal with anything. This is the kingdom’s problem and they will have to find a way to solve it. However, with all this unrest on top of Saintess Eshe’s untimely passing, the other countries have taken notice of our failings. One of them is our southern neighbor.”

The Atadoro kingdom. They were responsible for the recent beastmen problems in the Lecartiglio duchy. They were the enemy of Artorias.

“Hestia, I had to talk with King Drangleic in your and your mother’s stead,” Saori informed me. Amazing work, second-in-command. “Once you are awake, he wishes to arrange a meeting between you, as a sovereign party, and him with his dukes to discuss future plans. From what I presume, he wishes to see what your future plans will be. As such, this meeting will also be talking about our goals for the future.”

Saori then turned to her students. “As such, I wish to talk about yours, first.”

“Hold on,” I interrupted. “Well, I don’t mean to be rude here, but…” I glanced over to Elrick. “Should we be talking about everything here?”

Elrick showed me a wry smile, unsurprisingly, as if he knew his presence wasn’t welcomed. However, he didn’t complain. While I was waiting for somebody’s feedback, Yorshka voiced it.

“Don’t worry. Elrick is church-aligned, but he won’t be doing anything with them any time soon. I have it under control, so speak as freely as you want. In fact, Saori agreed to tell him about everything. You wouldn’t imagine the religious shock he went into when we told him about the false pope, hahaha!”

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“Grk, Captain Yorshka…” Elrick frowned, looking ill.

“You don’t need to call me that. I’m just doing this for appearances,” Yorshka said. “Just for your information, the students, Elrick, and I are all still affiliated to the church due to the control the church possesses. If I were to step down as a knight, they would simply send somebody new to take my place since we have a ‘saint candidate’ amongst us.”

Yorshka pointed at Asaka.

“Elrick has a secret, which makes him easy to control. The new person? Not so sure, so we need to keep this status quo for now.”

Yorshka can be as devious as Gael and Muraina, huh? Well, I guess that’s an adult for you. And I thought she was more on the carefree side.

In any case, that wasn’t the discussion point. What was important was to hear about Saori’s students’ goals.

Tamae began for her group. “Return to Earth.”

Then Asaka. “Don’t die and return to Earth.”

… Huh.

“…”

There was silence.

Damn, I should probably say somet—

“If that is the case, then may I present a proposal?” The one to speak was Tasianna. “Lady Hestia, Miss Muraina has found something we could check. If possible I would like us to go there after we wrap up a few things in Artorias.”

There could be only one reason why Tasianna would be the one to speak up like this.

“… Is it about fairy hunters?”

“Yes, she managed to find an underground market dealing in items favored by alchemists and magicians in the Republic of Estralia.”

“Estralia is a commercial hub in the western part of Altrust, Hestia,” Ellaine explained to me. “Bordering the Equevanna duchy, the capital of Estralia, Gleisvale, is protected by an incredible stone formation while being built upon a part of the Ankoran mountain ranges. Commissioned by its founder, the city was built by dwarves to act as a hub of commerce. Including being located next to the river Gleislain which follows even into the Folschreck Empire, they are the merchant powerhouse in our region.”

Grimnir nodded. “Aye, us dwarves used to trade with them a ton before the whole war stuff, I heard. They have an entrance inside our tunnels through Gleisvale, so they were also the main source of dwarven, dragonewt, and levianewt goods for you humans. They remained neutral during the war, as expected from merchants, but it still soured our relationship since they didn’t do anything about the fae hunters.”

And now, there was confirmed news of there being fairy hunters there.

“If Hamil’s information was correct, I might be able to find the person who commissioned those fae hunters who killed Princess Schuri. If there is a connection there, there might also be something on Davison. He used to live there, right? Also, with the Equevanna duchy bordering that place, there might also be more information on Hamil.”

In the whole Hamil and cardinal relationship, Hamil was merely a contractor for the cardinal. However, it shouldn’t be ignored that Hamil was who was dealing with the demonkin. Under their orders, probably, he arranged all the chaos that forced the dukes to leave the capital just a day before the attack on Griffonpeak.

At this point, we needed more information on the demonkins. It was either going to the Empire or using what connections we had to find more about them. However, with a small group like ours, we couldn’t just waltz into enemy territory. I wasn’t strong enough and Mother already expressed her wish for neutrality. If I suddenly get into a fight I could not handle this early, Mother would simply drag me back to Kargryx.

Four years until I become an adult. All that time will be spent in Kargryx. Yes, I might become stronger by then, but that also meant I would allow the demonkin to go wild during that time. I already planned to absolutely stomp on them for angering me. At least that demonkin of pride.

But, most importantly, this is for Tasianna to find closure.

“Okay, agreed,” I gave my okay. “Just to make sure, I don’t want to vote for this by myself. Does anybody have any complaints?”

Saori and Grimnir gave me their thumbs up. Ellaine cheered, expressing how they meant she didn’t have to do any work anymore. She even bragged about how she could drop out of the royal academy with this. Oi, girl, you should not brag about that!

However, the students on the other hand…

“I have one complaint,” Nishio raised his hand. “Hestia-san, concerning what you said before, you are right. We are technically joining you mostly for our own safety, but we aren’t intending to do this without working for it. We will contribute, don’t worry. We also understand that we need to get stronger.”

“That’s right,” Tamae took over. “That’s why, if we want to improve our chances to go back to Earth, we need to build up some allies. And currently, I would say that would be Artorias, no?”

It’s true. Even if I am the princess of Kargrx, I won’t be able to rely on my supposed subjects because of the Emperor and his neutrality stance. I could maybe ask Loatryx, but I would feel bad about ordering them. I want them to accept it if they wanted to. If we think of it like that, Artorias most likely would be the best candidate to help out since they have a grudge against the demonkin.

“Tamae-san, we aren’t planning to abandon Artorias,” Saori pointed out. “Griffonpeak will be our hub and due to the Ankor-Nazta and Artorias alliance we want to promote, we need to help them with that. Especially if we want Saelariel and Loatryx to help out, too. We know Artorias is our ally.”

Saori looked over at Ellaine. She smiled back.

“No, no, Sensei, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that all of us shouldn’t be going to Estralia together. Look at us. We are 17 people, excluding the demon Lady Ellaine has with her, which to be honest we can’t trust fully right now.”

From the looks of the other students, it seemed they felt a bit uncomfortable also. I could sympathize. Even after spending some time with Klea’Hatma, the only one who seemed to have warmed up to her was Ellaine. And that was ‘cause Ellaine is a real sweetheart behind all that noble stuff.

Tamae continued, “As such, I would like to suggest we split up into groups to deal with issues. We have 17 people, we should not force everybody into a single event just because we can. Once we register our company, shouldn’t we use that influence a bit more?”

Thanks to our connection with Muraina, she will probably make the company registration process easier. She isn’t into nepotism, but I don’t think there is a reason for her to decline it professionally. We just helped her ward off an A rank monster with hundreds of adventurers as witnesses.

“Then what do you suggest, Tamae-san?” Saori asked, not following her.

“Sensei, I would like to ask that you allow me to become your restaurant’s head chef and manager!”

My eyes widened.

Are you serious?!

I consider Tamae a friend. We only met for a short time, but I was able to get a decent idea of who she was. It could definitely be categorized under: Nice. But, wasn’t this just absolutely impertinent. The restaurant Aurora worked so hard to make; she was asking to become the head chef?!

I can’t allow that!

“Tamae-chan, that is—”

“Brilliant! If you would do me the honors, Tamae-san!” But Saori was fully on-board.

“S-Saori, isn’t this the restaurant you work so hard for?! You put so much work to make it successful, you even dragged Tasianna, Ellaine, and me into it! You even used me as a rice cooker to make it work!” I was flabbergasted. All the work Saori put into the menu and her own cooking, and she was about to hand it over to somebody else.

“Hestia.” But Saori just gave me a confused face. “Don’t forget that my dream is to travel the world and learn more about this place. My restaurant was my method to get our party a consistent, reliable way to earn funds for your concert, our travels, and equipment.”

… Oh. I forgot about it.

“Beside, Tamae-san is the daughter of two successful Michelin star restaurant proprietors. In addition, she knows how to cook a variety of dishes, while I am limited to Japanese cooking and whatever Western dishes you can explain to me. Having her as the head chef and manager is the best option for us.”

“Also, please, don’t worry that I will kick Sensei out of her own kitchen, Hesti-chan! She’s a phenomenal chef in her own right! But, if you ask me, the kingdom currently needs our help right?”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Nishio interjected himself back in. “The kingdom is currently going through a tumultuous time with how many nobles were executed. This isn't good. If this were a company, that would mean there will be a huge power vacuum left behind from all the firing. People will vie for those positions. They want to be acknowledged. They want money, power, and influence.”

That was a given, but what could we do about it? This wasn’t our problem.

“I suggest we from The Magical Biscuits stay behind in Griffonpeak, Hestia-san. Since the restaurant is done remotely through the portals, we can have it serve both people in Griffonpeak and those you meet on your travels. A perfect place to gossip, since we don’t have the internet here.”

… That glint in his eyes. What did his father do again?

“Hestia-san, before you probably thought we didn’t have any ambition in this world, correct?” He looked at me straight and I couldn’t help but become flustered.

“Wha—?! W-Well, I, uhm, d-didn’t think about it like that. Wait, do you have a mind-reading skill?!”

It could totally exist!

“No, I just know how to read expressions as part of my education that my parents put me through to become their company's heir. I just learned how to do it.”

Or, not.

But, then again, he was right. I did think it was weird they just answered with “Return to Earth.” It was such a simple but understandable answer.

It was a case of us both having the same end goal, but we had a difference in how to achieve it. The students have no grand motivation to place their mark in Peolynca like me, who has accepted this place as my new home. They just wanted to get back home. It was a perfectly acceptable situation.

I understood from some of their faces that this world had left its marks on them, but that didn’t mean they could just sit it out, I thought. I mean, I personally would have a very good reason to shut up and sit things out, but an idol wouldn’t do that. If I hadn't persevered up until now, that idol dream would have been buried by everything I experienced.

But now you were telling me I was wrong?

“We are all planning to return to Tokyo, but we aren’t trying to do it tomorrow or the next year,” Misaki, the professional archer, stated.

“My father is a mangaka, and I wish to become as good as him one day,” Kohaku, the sword-chuuni, said. “As such, this whole world is a paradise of ideas. But I’m also not delusional enough to fully immerse myself without a care. It’s pretty painful, and I wish I could just return to my room. Seeing how reality is… not fun, if you ask me.”

Kazumi nodded. “Yeah, things are hard here. You know, I never really experienced such in-the-face racism before. Sure, you see it all the time on the internet with how people speak with each other, but you know, it’s the internet. People are assholes there. But… looking at all the hate between the beastman in the Lecartiglio duchy was an eye-opener.”

“This might be rude to say, but while we are staying with Aurora for our own safety and trip back home with your deal with Aurena, we won’t be dead weight. We intend to continue training or at least be useful to you guys in some way.” Tamae explained truthfully. “My talents as an alchemist suck, but what I can do well is make sure a restaurant is successful! So, leave it to me! I will make it so the nobles will crawl towards our restaurant! Oh, and don’t forget to get lots of ingredients for me to cook! I want to try them all!”

Jeez, Tamae-chan can be more than I thought, huh?

“Hestia-san, I hope that settles your worries for us.” Nishio then leaned forward, holding his hands together like some scheming villain. “Don’t worry, we agree with your plan. We are the newcomers, so if you have anything to do, feel free to do so. However, if I may, you are going to the meeting with King Drangleic, right?”

“Hmm? Well, that’s right.”

Of course. Politics or not, things have to be handled. A lot of loose ends would remain if I don’t confront King Drangleic about the problems I have, especially how he handled the day of the invasion.

“As I thought. Alright, we need to go through a few things. You need to know which questions to ask for us, Hestia-san.” Suddenly, Nishio stood up and grabbed Kazumi’s arm. “You’re coming, too.”

“W-What?! Let go of me, Nishio-kun! What are you doing?!”

“Stop complaining. We all know your father’s a PR manager for multiple people inside our circle. You don’t like speaking about it but, come on, even you should realize we aren’t dumb enough to not recognize ‘Hoshino’ and how much you look like your mother. Your father prances her around like a decoration to hide their unstable relationship!” Nishio just revealed something private to everybody in attendance.

“Gaaaaaah! Dammit, you don’t have to reveal everything going on in my home, you ass! It’s supposed to be a secret! Stop talking about it!” Kazumi easily freed herself from Nishio’s grip afterward, a testament of a rogue’s Strength compared to a mage’s like Nishio.

They then came over to me and began to form a list of things I should say and shouldn’t say, while also helping me learn how to lead a business discussion. As if they took this as a sign that the meeting had ended, everybody else said their goodbyes, leaving me behind to suffer.

Of course, we had to talk our plans and goals in detail later on, since this meeting was there to inform and keep people in the know. Still, it wasn’t like I was completely satisfied with it.

I still hadn’t heard from the “Misfits” and their opinions on stuff. They just agreed to our plans but never really explained to me what their goals in this world were. Tamae’s group made it clear to me.

In any case, things were settled that evening. Tamae’s group will be staying in Griffonpeak with Yorshka to handle matters here, while the Misfits will join us on the way to Estralia. Of course, since we will always meet inside the subspace, it wasn’t like this was farewell.

And this was important. Yorshka and Mother were experienced people, perfect to help our group develop and refine our skills. There were also other tutors in Griffonpeak, like Muraina, Thyra, and whoever else we could find. In other words, I would not miss out on training in the future.

Plans were made for me to meet up with King Drangleic, and it was planned that we would meet up in a week's time. Naturally, I didn’t waste this time. First things first was to create everybody’s rooms. Fortunately, Mother allowed me to use her mana to construct everything, so even creating a room large enough for her dragon form wasn’t too hard. And, boy, was it huge, like huuuuuuuuuumooooooongous.

While some good things happened, sad things did too. Pestrodus, his lycerepthors, and Krymdar had to leave on the next day, carrying the coffins for Eshe, Sir Alikar, and Dame Anivh. Aside from mourning before them, I didn’t have much time to pray for her soul’s well-being. They left and all I could hope for was that they would arrive safely in Sarkarfiina.

Spending time with the children was my next important objective. I had to catch up with them. There was also Cernust, who still couldn’t handle Mother’s presence and even fainted right in front of me. He would stay with Severa in Griffonpeak, so I could always meet them when Mother wasn’t around.

In any case, time flew by. Training was set to the minimum as Yorshka told me to rest and recuperate. She forbade me from exerting myself and simply told me to spend time with Mother. Spending time with family and friends made everything move faster, huh?

And when the time of the meeting came, I was completely ready for everything and anything. Nishio and Kazumi were surprisingly pretty experienced with marketing and PR talk. I guess it made sense given their parents. I never expected Nishio to be the son of a talent agency. I thought his parents would be economists or scientists with how he acts.

However, even with all their preparations, I didn’t expect what they told me that morning.

“Hestia, Shaturein has announced to be there at the meeting. They are waiting at the citadel as we speak,” Saori informed me.

A conflict between the kingdom and their past was about to happen. All while I was in between them.

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