Not every noble demesne is the same, huh? House Helvas’s is literally a mansion with walls around it while Baron Teullon’s home is a castle.

While I wasn’t an expert on the homes of nobles, I have experienced a few of them, or more specifically, three. House Helvas’s mansions near Carine Village, Firwood, and that one home that House Helvas’s Viscount neighbor. As you can see, I am an expert. No joke, of course.

Jokes aside, this was my first encounter with a noble’s castle, and honestly, it fitted more with my image of how a noble would live outside a city or town. A defensive structure situated amid the wild, designed for the pure protection of both fief and home. Not only a bulwark for the noble’s family, but also a symbol of conflict for his enemies.

It scratches another fantasy itch, you know. I was aware I could’ve seen a lot of castles if I were to just tour around Europe; for example, “Edinburgh Castle” in Scotland is super famous. But, well, that option is kinda impossible now. So, watching the lonely, grey castle towering over me from inside these snow-white covered woods instead was just great. Sure, I’ve been saying that my “fantasy itch” has been scratched a lot, but can you blame me if I keep experiencing new stuff in this world?

Then, it kinda does peeve me that none of the people from this castle were doing exactly what I figured a noble should be doing: protecting their land and people. Ellaine always kept reiterating that nobles should serve as protectors of their lands honorary given to them by their masters, so I guess that impression must have been imprinted in my head. How funny that I was being influenced by Ellaine here.

“Who goes there?”

As my party was approaching the massive gates of Baron Teullon’s castle, a single soldier watching over the walls called out to us. He looked at my party for a moment before directing his eyes behind us — to the gathering of Rashan villagers who followed us up here.

“I greet you on this auspicious WindDay, Mister Soldier. Please, open the gates!” I shouted in response, so he could hear me.

“Huh?” flabbergasted at my sudden remark, the soldier took a moment to recompose himself. “This is the castle and demesne of Lord Baron Teullon! The gates will stay closed until orders are given to open them! Even the servant of the Goddess does not have the authority to order the opening of the gates!”

Well, ok, they recognize me at least.

I shrugged and continued speaking, “If you, Mister, cannot open up the gates, then I request you send for Captain Zik of Baron Teullon’s garrison.”

“Captain Zik? Well, he’s-”

“Are you rejecting my request? I can understand why opening the gates might be too much, I don’t wish to cause you any problems, but surely calling the captain of the army is the minimum courtesy you can afford. It is early in the morning on this winter day, and I have come here despite the cold. Will you send away a priestess of the Goddess when she wishes to speak?”

My insistence seemed to have persuaded the soldier, who nodded his head and literally ran away as he asked me to be patient.

After he was gone, I heaved a deep sigh as I complained to the person next to me. “…Urgh, speaking like this is so annoying. It really doesn’t suit me.”

“Hang on, Hestia. You are doing a fine impression as a noble. Just remember that we are doing this for the villagers.” Saori, whom I was complaining to, gave me an encouraging pat on the back.

“Yeah, I will. Straighten the back, chest out, and speak confidently while maintaining eye contact. Imitating Ellaine on this was the correct choice.” I scratched my head with a wry smile as I remembered the image of Ellaine giving out orders to her servants and retainers. I then walked over to the village chief who was standing a bit further behind me with the other Rashan villagers. “Mister Jorgen, how are you and the others faring?”

“Thank you, Lady Priestess. The cold isn’t good for me, but I’m pretty sure the others should be doing better than me and my wife, ha ha ha!” the elderly village chief joyfully answered. “However, is this really necessary? We can protect ourselves in the village, there is no need to get yourself in trouble for us, Lady Priestess. Even the Goddess wouldn’t want you to do this much for us when you’re about to head in a battle to protect our village.”

“Don’t be like that,” I bluntly denied his words. “Didn’t you hear what we said? The onnikai will lead another horde into the village and attack you while we are gone. Sure, we can get rid of this current horde, but the ruin is very deep. If we go to the bottom floor and some onnikai sneak past us and into the village, then can you really say that the guards are enough? You need to fight inside the castle with the soldiers, otherwise you’ll just be overwhelmed. This has nothing to do with Goddess Aurena.”

To begin the second phase of this Quest, our first objective was to get the villagers to safety, or at least get them to an environment where the chances of surviving is the highest. With the possibility of onnikais sneaking out while our party fought in the depths of the ruin, leaving the villagers inside their village would be too risky. We learned about the existence of Baron Teullon’s castle when we overheard the conversation between the guard and army captain, so that’s why we’re here.

Persuading the villagers themselves to move wasn’t much of a challenge, as most see me as a priestess of the church of Aurena after my sermon. I feel like a pastor who’s using their authority as a religious figure to move people purely through faith alone. It’s certainly an experience, and it’s certainly good that it happened now.

A few of the villagers were reluctant to go, even with my word, but that quickly dissipated once I informed them that the onnikai wasn’t interested in destroying their homes and belongings, but their cattle and lives. It was a “weather the storm” kinda moment for them. There were a few with some annoying reason that made them want to stay, but we handled it somewhat. I can calmly say that every single villager and guard was with us right now.

We waited for a while until Captain Zik appeared on the walls. Surprisingly, a man in a fine suit also showed himself.

“Lady Priestess?” Captain Zik said before noticing the village chief and Dan, the guard captain.

“I hope the winds of Goddess Zephira have found you well on this beautiful WindDay, Captain Zik. I have but a simple request for you: Please, open the gates and allow the villagers from Rashan village to enter and stay inside Baron Teullon’s castle while my party enters the ruins and eliminates the problem plaguing your Lord’s fief,” I stated in my noblest tone and conduct.

However, instead of Captain Zik responding, the man next to him moved forward and spoke, “Ah, a grandiose WindDay to you too, Lady Priestess of the Church of the Goddess. I am Evalk, the seneschal of the Teullon Barony. While I admire you for showing so much concern for our dear serfs, as the seneschal of Lord Baron Teullon, I cannot allow the gates to be open.”

Ahhh, so he’s the seneschal. Well, this will speed things up nicely.

“Ahh, the illustrious seneschal of Baron Teullon, it is a pleasure to meet you. This will expedite the process,” I said with genuine joy at this welcomed surprise. “Please, can you open the gates to let the villagers in? Our party will fulfill the Quest the moment they are safe.”

He raised a brow, looked at me for a moment, before widening his smile. “My Lady Priestess, I believe my voice is not powerful enough to deliver my words to you while this wall stands between us. Perhaps speaking over some tea will be more pleasant for you. However, my previous words still stand. I cannot open the gates.”

…He just called me deaf, huh? Hie, fair enough. I did just ignore what he said.

Placing my hand on my cheeks, I continued my current persona. “You cannot? Oh, may I know why?”

“Why, my Lady Priestess, isn’t it obvious? As the representative of Lord Baron Teullon in these lands, I cannot afford to risk his lordship’s home. I have heard a very clear report from Captain Zik, and news of the previous adventurer group has appeared, which makes me worry for my Lord’s land. As the seneschal, I must choose the correct choice to protect his possessions.”

“Oh, then what about the villagers? Isn’t their safety important, too?” Directing my hand behind me, I presented the mass of villagers standing before the castle walls. Their eyes bore through at the seneschal.

He acknowledged them for a second, but the next moment he began stroking his beard as if he wasn’t affected by it. “I heard the reports from the village chief about what you told everybody. A horde of these ‘onnikais’ was inside the ruins, yes? Truly terrifying. I will make sure to send a few soldiers to reinforce the garrison of the village while your Ladyship fixes the problem at its roots. It sounds like a plan, no?”

The seneschal looked so smug when he said that. He was about to say goodbye to me, but…

“Huh? Are you possibly deaf or just forgetful?” The seneschal froze in place, his expression began to harden as his eye twitched for a split-second. “Didn’t I say that I will fulfill the Quest the moment the villagers are guaranteed their safety? Do you believe I would simply have brought the villagers to the castle in the first place without considering other options? Does Baron Teullon have so little care for his subjects, or are you the problem here, Seneschal?”

“…Hmph! Impudent!” the seneschal responded. “How rude of you to think so little of my Lord, Lady Priestess! There is courtesy to be shown to a servant of the Goddess, but you are exceeding my patience! Lady Priestess, mind I remind you that you are an adventurer who has accepted our Lord’s Quest as a representative of the hunter’s guild? Why are you threatening me that you will not fulfill the Quest if we do not fulfill your demands? There is a limit to a Priestess’ authority, especially from a foreign one!”

Sure, there is a limit to a priestess’ words. I’m just a “priestess” now, and a foreigner to boot. It wouldn’t make sense for my words to have the same authority that a clergyman from Firwood would have.

However, I am not just a priestess.

“Saori, your turn.”

With that simple command, Saori activated [Air Walk] and quickly ascended to eye level with Captain Zik and the Seneschal Evalk. She then pulled out a parchment hidden inside her jacket, rolled it open, and began reading from it.

“‘With this official document signed by me, Marquess Lambhart Richard Sirius, I attest to the identity of the person holding it. Under my authority as the Lord of Firwood and an advisor to Lord Duke Isaac Albreaus Greenveil, I hereby grant full ownership of this document to Hestia Atsuko. Under the authority given to me by Lord Duke Isaac Albreaus Greenveil and His Royal Majesty, King Artorias — the noble, Hestia Atsuko, from the Dragonewt Country, Loatryx, will be granted the privilege of a temporary Greifnoble of the Kingdom of Artorias while she remains in the Duchy of Greenveil and the lands of His Royal Majesty, The King. This magic contract was signed under the scrutiny of all involved Lords and the eyes of the Goddess!’”

A smile crept on my face. “Captain Zik, you have seen my name on my ID, the day before yesterday. What is my name?!”

Shocked at what just transpired, Captain Zik gulped before bowing his head slightly. “Lady Hestia Atsuko! Captain Zik of Lord Baron Teullon’s army, welcomes you to the Teullon Barony!”

In general, a member of the church would usually have a higher social standing than a schwertnoble, which includes barons and baronets, but would be lower than a magnoble and greifnoble. However, as not every white-robed priest and priestess is a noble, commoner-born clergy would rarely ever be treated better than even a baron. There is a certain amount of respect that must be given as a servant of Aurena, but that was all.

Villagers like the people from Carine and Rashan Village have been taught to treat every white-robed clergy as a noble, so the respect I got from them was already ingrained in them. However, people from the city or with a decent education knew better. Not every priest is a noble, and you can differentiate a noble from a commoner from the design of their white robes.

Mine was decently decorated thanks to Saori and I have been recognized as a noble quite often, but I also was able to see how a real noble-born priest’s white robe would look like. From my visit to the temple in Firwood, I was able to see the robes of shrine maidens, priests, priestesses, and also the high bishop to get an impression of how they were supposed to look like. Compared to most of them, mine was a bit minimalistic. Which went contrary to the noble’s mindset of maximalism.

I don’t know if his tone was due to me being a dragonewt, and therefore a foreigner, or ‘cause he thought I was a commoner. Now, I don’t like using my status to change how people treat me, but this was necessary for today. If the seneschal had complied, I would have kept my identity hidden.

But that is not how it went. Using the super scary document from Marquess Sirius, I had planned to strongarm the situation and just brute force myself to a favorable situation. You know, I didn’t learn about the fact that the King actually gave me the rights of a greifnoble until I read the document.

When Ellaine told her servants to treat me like a greifnoble, I thought it was just her consideration to me, but I was wrong. They had to treat me like a greifnoble, it wasn’t even an option not to. Those guards we scared off with this document — yeah, I felt bad for them already, but now I feel even worse. This document truly is the scariest thing I ever held in my hands!

“Seneschal Evalk, do tell me where Baron Teullon is. Where is your Lord, and why isn’t he here to protect his land, honorably given to him by Lord Duke Greenveil?” I demanded to know. I thought addressing a duke properly should be something I should do in this situation to show I care about status.

“Uh, uhm,” he stuttered while forming his words. “H-He and his family are currently at t-the capital. They attended the Origdiviel Arashan balls held by His Royal Majesty, the King.” Unlike his previous attitude, the seneschal’s current one was pretty meek.

“The capital? Excuse me, but it is already WinterSun! The new year! This Quest has been up for more than a month and your Lord has not made it back to his fief to take care of the situation? I heard the nobles of the Kingdom of Artorias are supposed to be the elite and protector of the land. Your Lord was given this fief by a Duke, but he cannot even find the time to protect his subjects? This is embarrassing,” with no will to stop driving in the dagger, I continued knocking the seneschal down from his high horse. “I am here as an adventurer to solve the Quest, not as a priestess nor a noble. However, while my Job is to secure the safety of the villagers, I am sure I didn’t have to persuade them to come to their Lord’s castle and then ask refuge for them, right? Isn’t this the duty of Baron Teullon?”

I continued. “Is Baron Teullon incompetent? A foreign noble is taking care of his subject for him, while he is frolicking in court? Does he have no respect for Lord Duke Greenveil, or why is he managing the fief given to him so poorly? Meanwhile, his seneschal, his representative, not only rudely insults this very same noble as deaf, but also actively goes against any attempts to properly protect his Lord’s subjects. What have you to say of yourself, Seneschal Evalk?”

Still standing in the air, Saori spoke in her aloof tone, “You stand before Lady Hestia Atsuko.”

“…Open the gates, now!”

He certainly expedited the process.

Once the gates were open, I told the guard captain and village chief to lead the villagers inside. They were visibly surprised to hear what was written on the document, but they quickly adapted to it. To them, a greifnoble and a schwertnoble was practically the same thing. It was likely comparing super spicy with super-hot spicy for somebody who couldn’t eat any spicy food in the first place.

Inside, the army captain Zik and seneschal Evalk walked up to me and bowed themselves before excusing themselves for their previous behavior. I told them to stand up and make sure the villagers would be safe while my party was away dealing with the problem inside the ruins. They accepted it immediately.

After the seneschal slithered away, Captain Zik once again bowed his head to thank me, “Lady Hestia, I would like to thank you for persuading the seneschal. As the captain of the army, I will make sure to protect everybody.”

“Don’t worry about it. I did it for the sake of the Quest, nothing else really. I don’t really deserve any praise for something this obvious,” I responded. I then took out a bag and gave it to Zik. “Here you go. We won’t be able to help and I don’t know how many of the onnikais will attack the castle, so consider this insurance on my part. They are consumable items that I created that should prove useful once a siege begins.”

Captain Zik accepted the bag and took out one of its content. It was a round rock with a pin attached to its top, while its side had a large “W” painted on the side. “What is this?” He asked, frowning in confusion.

“This is a ‘bomb.’ They are tools I created using my magic. Once you pull off this pin, immediately throw the bomb into a horde of onnikai. Once a few seconds pass, the bomb will create a giant explosion,” I explained, causing the captain to pale. “Don’t worry, it's relatively safe if you follow my instructions correctly. I suggest only you or somebody you trust should use them, as they can cause accidents if you don’t listen to my words. I made two versions: one with normal fire marked with a giant ‘C’ for crimson, and ‘W’ for white. Think of the C bombs as dragon fire bombs made by a dragonewt and the W bombs as the holy flames of Goddess Aurena.”

“…I understand. Thank you very much, I swear I will return them to you if we are lucky enough to not use them,” he bowed once again before turning to the guard captain Dan. “Dan! Bring the guards and militia to the armory! Lead the women and children into the basement of the castle, and any able man should register at the armory. We will get them ready to protect our land!”

“Good luck. Also, when you see the forest turn into a sea of fire, that’s me fighting, so don’t come close.” With that last message, I left the two captains.

After we said goodbye to the villagers and soldiers, our party returned to the woods where Silva was waiting for us. As we will depart soon, we once again redistributed the potions and tools around.

“Okay, from the five minor mana potions that Saori brought, Tasianna used one in our previous battle. Good choice, safety is the top priority, after all,” I said to calm Tasianna down from blaming herself. “With Silva’s portion, we have eight minor mana potions, two minor health potions, and two moderate health potions. There is also a minor agility potion. You three take them all and don’t be stingy about them.”

They nodded.

“Here are a few bombs and also all the dragorade I still have in reserve. Use them and stay alive, alright? I won’t be able to help.”

Saori scoffed at my worry and smiled wryly. “Yes, but your role will be the most stressful. It isn’t noon just yet, but it is winter so dusk will come sooner. You need to hold on until we solve everything on our side. Jeez, this plan is too dangerous.”

“Miss Saori, this is the plan that we all agreed on. We are all strong. We will save the onnikai and finish the battle before the sun goes down,” Tasianna adamantly stated.

“Don’t worry, Saori. Don’t forget, a sunfang dragon never loses when the sun is up. While I can keep my sun core at 100% while going all out, I am a powerhouse.” I reassured the worried Saori. Still, my statement was never actually put to the test so I guess this will be the first time. Hopefully, I’m not a braggart.

“Yes, yes, I do worry too much sometimes. I have to trust in our party’s strength,” Saori said, before turning to Silva. “Miss Silva, are you sure that the onnikai beast won’t interrupt us once the battle begins?”

“Yes,” Silva answered. “Since the onnikai beast is an accumulation of the onnikai’s mana, it won’t be able to disrupt us once it’s led away. It’s like a fairy once its mana solidifies. Of course, this is assuming that the onnikai will focus all its mana into the beast to strengthen it and then send it to fight us.”

[Music Resonation (Minor)] [Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Moderate)] [Sanctified Blaze ] [Various Spell Buffs] [Insatiable Glutton] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

With our preparations finished, Saori, Tasianna, and Silva hid behind some ruins while I entered the ruin entrance.

“Good luck, guys!”

“Stay safe, Hestia!”

I charged into the ruins. My destination? The depths. I was thinking of simply breaking through the floor and descending down that way, but I’m still scared that the ruins would simply break and cave in. Finding the entrance while leaving behind a trail of mana thread was the safest way for me to do this.

Any zombies that stood in my way would be obliterated on sight. I couldn’t afford to be slowed down as the plan our party was currently running was heavily constricted by time. Whether it was Mana or Stamina, I used up my resources liberally. I don’t know how long it took me, but once I reached the third floor with the giant hole caused by the onnikai beast, I knew I was close to my goal.

I jumped down the hole and made my way to the last floor. There, in the last chamber, a giant beast stood with its army of onnikai zombies and four wolf guardians. The form of the onnikai beast has changed once again.

It still had the body of a centaur, but its body looked like it was completely covered up with black armor while it held onto a large shadowy warhammer. The onnikai beast looked a bit like a knight riding on a horse in this form. Certainly, due to its giant size and menacing-looking black form, the onnikai beast looked the part of a boss now.

“Yooooouuuuu! Haaaaveee reeeetuuurrrned! Giiivvveeee meeeeee-” the voice of the boss resounded through the chamber but was interrupted before it could finish its monologue.

A ray of white flames burst out of my mouth and shot into the army of onnikai, incinerating a portion of them. “Look here, you useless hikkokomori, all your mana is inside these plants! If you want it, then catch me you piece of shit! Bye, sucker!” Provoking them with the macula plants I made yesterday using the onnikai’s mana, I dashed out of the room as fast as I entered it.

“…Gurooooaaawhhhhh! Kiiiiiiillllllll!”

A thundering roar chased behind me as bellowing footsteps became clearer and clearer. Looking behind me, a horde of zombies were hot on my tail while the onnikai beast gave chase by contorting its body to fit through the hallways. Weirdly, the garms didn’t chase me.

Following the path I took to descend down, I ascended through the ruins in a mad rush without worrying about anything else. The onnikai beast would occasionally shoot out black projectiles or other attacks to slow me down, but using my spells to protect myself was easy enough with my defensive skills warning me about the attacks.

After a while, I exited the ruins while the onnikai beast kept screaming and screaming non-stop. Following the plan, I led the onnikai beast away from the ruins and into the forest. Meanwhile, music began to play.

Loud electric violins and guitars began playing, accompanying me and the onnikai horde in our chase. Once the drums began to play, I felt like I was attending an electronicore band’s concert, as the heavy sounds of the percussion fused with the shrill electric music.

.

“In my purgatory, I make the devil cry ♫

In Hellfire ♫

All you hear are his screams, begging to be released ♫

It’s Music ♫”

.

A blue mist exited my body and two long, crimson scaled wings spread. The music continued playing as I entered even deeper into the woods. It had to be as far away as the ruins as possible.

Once enough distance was made, I took off my party bracelet and amulet of Aurena and put them inside my storage. I stopped and my voice resounded through the woods once again.

“I descend on Earth with Wings of Death! ♫”

The surrounding trees burst into flames. No plant, no stone, no insect was left untouched as the whole woods turned into a sea of fire with the snap of my finger, scorching this place like hell on Earth. A wall of flames marked the edge of this purgatory, incinerating anything attempting to escape outside this arena.

[Music Resonation (Moderate)] [Stage Fever (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

.

“A Storm of Fury ♫

Creating Ash and Dust ♫

I am the Incarnation of the Sun ♫

I shine so brightly, I bring your death ♫

My lineage belongs to the God of Dragons! ♫”

.

Blue mist once again covered me, but this time, it blocked my whole body like a veil. My limbs grew larger, my muscles began to expand, and my bone spikes erupted from my body. My whole body wasn’t just being armored with scales, but the scales grew to a size that could serve any human as a decent small shield.

Once the mana mist disappeared, my eyes locked with the onnikai beast’s. A low rumbling could be heard exiting from my mouth, while the ground beneath me was crushed under my weight.

I am a dragon.

[“So, how do you like the present? I made sure to find a proper stage for our battle and music to make this a legendary encounter. You know, I haven’t gone wild for a looooong time!”]

Fire appeared from the ground, not due to my scale-dust, but through the power of my second [Idol] song [Dragon Fire]. It was the first “damage” based song that I created and it had the special ability to not only imprison anybody to wander inside my arena but also independently produce flames to attack my enemies. It was a boss stage creating song.

[“We’ll be spending some time together, so hopefully you’ve become stronger as I told you to be! You will receive the privilege to fight me in my true form!”]

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, maaaanaaaaaa! Youuuu! Eneeeeemyyyy! Kiiillllll!”

Suddenly, the onnikai beast form changed once again. Its head grew in size as a purple-black aura began forming around its body before it traveled to the front of its mouth. [Danger Perception] and [Foresight] were warning me like crazy as they told me to dodge the attacks at all cost. In my dragon form, my [Draconic Barrier] was supported with my higher Vitality and Wisdom stat, so tanking a couple attacks was the easiest in my true form, so hearing my skills tell me I can’t take this attack was a bit frightening.

I have come this far by listening to my instincts and skills, so I didn’t even hesitate the use pounce to the side like a lion. My dragon body looked pretty cumbersome with all my spikes and carapace making me look like a tank, but I still had an agile, serpent-like body designed to stay mobile since my days as a [Young Spark Fire Dragon].

After dodging, the onnikai beast released a giant ball from its mouth, shooting and landing at the location where I used to stand. A massive black explosion erupted from the spot, scorching the location in a liliac light and leaving a crater behind. It then looked at me for a moment, changed its body back to a centaur but keeping its eldritch-like head with spikes as teeth.

Ok, ok, you got stronger. Definitely creepier, though.

With the noon sun glaring down on me, I activated [Purple Flash] and quick-cast [Symphony des Feuergottes] as I think using my whole power would be the best choice now. A massive red magic circle appeared in the sky and a rain of fire poured down onto me for a second, erasing a massive amount of onnikai zombies that got locked inside the arena while they were chasing me.

[Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Allegro)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

Flames began surrounding me like moths attracted to light, rotating around my body in a defensive formation. The music of [Dragon Fire] was booming through without any signs of stopping, accompanying this battle like inside a video game.

“Scales of steel, claws of destruction ♫

The Dragon Fire will scorch the lands ♫

The Idol will never fall ♫

She will bring Absolution! ♫”

My voice was being accurately replayed through [Aerokinesis], making this whole song feel like battle music. It empowered me.

[“Welcome to my stage. Let’s rock ‘n roll.”]