Chapter 626: Nongramos’s Pilgrimage.

“… Hestia, dear, you look terrible, honestly.” It was the first thing I heard from Virrflax as we met outside the digital media guild on Frozen Nest.

“Just happened to be so, ahaha…” I forced a smile, trying my best to stand without swerving around like a rocking boat. I felt like I could fall unconscious on the spot, with a perception lag that made it hard to determine if what I heard just happened or five seconds ago. “Training, you know? It is what it is. Same ragebaiting-type training, but it’s more focused on helping me gain a state of zen. I might be sleep-deprived, and my brain is only functioning due to a bunch of fulinoe tea and a lot of healing magic, but I’m fully okay!”

‘Hey, Hestia, could you not speak so long? It’s giving me a hea—’

Shut up, Hikari! Go take a snoozefest then, if you’re that lame.

“… If you say so, dear.”

Yup, everything was all right with me! My brain was working overtime, and that wasn’t just an exaggeration due to my deteriorating sanity. After all, I didn’t have [Battle Frenzy (Major)] active at this point, as it was my break… after five days of constant usage whenever I wasn’t sleeping.

With Father’s permission, now that I have reached the “next” phase of my wrath training, I’ve been hunting monsters inside the Dungeon of Infinite Feasts whenever I could, just like I did back on Frozen Nest with the tundra monsters. The fact that I couldn’t level any longer kept irritating me, but, thankfully, seeing my unique Job’s prestige going up was a good enough dopamine hit. I could leave the prestige point investment for one big spending session, like I always do for my happy moment.

Honestly, there were a lot of dopamine moments for me these last five days, like Beth finally reaching level 45 and evolving, or how Grimnir told me that several members of the railroad guild had come to Frozen Nest for the airship plans. Having dragons around to fly people quickly from one continent to the next was super convenient.

And I would soon see that excitement now that my “date” with big Empress-Mommy Virrflax was happening today… Empress-Mother Virrflax. Maybe I was a bit brain-dead right now. Though it was better than that constant mental fog when Vifi and Neill kept teasing me to a boiling point. I didn’t feel good, but I was certainly in a zen state, despite my [Battle Frenzy] overuse. Sadly, there was still no System notification to show me my progress.

“Well, let’s not stand here in this cold, yes? Come on, a lot of people are hard at work in the back, so let’s see them before we ta—Whoa!” Virrflax dodged to the side as two dwarven women suddenly charged into the guild’s entrance, pushing in two minecarts full of what looked like their tools and belongings.

“Coming in, coming in with carts!” one of them howled like a trumpet. “The unload is here! Woohoo, rocking-fast delivery through wyverns and dragons came just in time, brothers and sisters! Got the tools for the job, right here!”

“Crustacia’s twin-tails, how’d you guys even work with all this old-fashioned manatech? Can’t believe you managed to get that new tech working with all this decade-old slop!” the other shouted into the building, attracting the attention of not only our dwarven artificers, but also the many trainees and journeymen dragonewts.

Not the best way to make frie—

“Ah, shut it, lass!” one of our dwarven digital media guild members rebuked. “You learn this stuff in your first few years: you make your tools to adjust to what is needed! Gotta fit in your hands and stuff. Who cares if it’s old tech, when it works well! The fact that you lasses needed to wait until you get it together is the embarrassing thing.”

“You can shut it, Gomhart! My tools rule—incoming, incoming, outta way! Got some delivery of Old Shasheen’s jerky, as well!”

“Yeaaaaaaah!”

“Hope you bought more than just jerky. Heard a lot of ‘miners’ cakes and pies from the masters, so hope you got some of them. Even cold,” one of the dragonewt artificers said after his cheer, prompting his comrades to do the same.

“Got the ingredients packed and ready, scaly. We’ll cook up some of it later on after we finish planning out the circuitry for the turbines, yeah? Wooo, I thought the train was gonna blow up everything, but air travel? Where we don’t have to put our trust in some random birds or lizards? Sign me up!”

“Scalekin! You little tramp!” The dragonewts roared, prompting the dwarven ladies to burst out in laughter.

I’ll take the words back. Seems like the atmosphere just got more explosive.

Inside the guild, the busy mood certainly wasn’t an illusion, as I could see the foyer filled to the brim with artisans, suppliers, and contractors. Dragonewts and dwarves were already a familiar sight, but far more elves and even a few humans could be seen mingling around.

“Champion Hestia, welcome! And thank you for allowing us to participate in this project of yours! May the Goddess always bless you!” Every single human—their accent suggested they were Artorians—greeted me with a bow before they returned to their work. Honestly, it has only been five days, but they’ve already gotten so much of the bureaucratic process done.

The guild feels so overcrowded.

“We’re really only missing Aleistunum’s delegation,” Virrflax said as she pointed to the second floor. “The ship project is conducted on the bottom floor in the back, while the recorder and stream function team was sent to the second and third floors. We still have to keep those ideas hidden from the other countries. Though we can’t prevent them from experiencing the functions now that they are here.”

“I can hear it,” I said as a smile formed on my face, as multiple songs started piercing through the loud crowd. I could hear all of them from upstairs.

“Oh, falling star, please listen, grant me now this one wish ♫

For all the sadness that fills my mind, let your shine burn it away from me! ♫

This is life’s story—of the sadness and trials that we must face every day ♫

But I feel paralyzed, as every steps leads me closer to the nothingness ♫

I shout into the night ♫

Without my tears it feels like my chest is holding everything back (I feel tired) ♫

Until it blows upon the e-e-edge. (Darkness is here) ♫”

Seriously? ‘Champion of The Light?’

“The day’s so wonderful ♫

The night’s so colorful ♫

But all I need is your smile ♫

These hands will catch’em all ♫

But all I want is you ♫

However far it is ♫

But I’ll never give in-in ♫”

Ahhh, ‘Ring on Hand.’ We’re bringing out the wedding song to chill around, huh?

Did I recognize those two songs? Of course, I did! “Champion of The Light” and “Ring on Hand” were both my songs. Usually, people would use the music player function to play the songs in their head, like using [Telepathy], so if they were playing it this loud, they must be having a party up there. Or maybe they were trying to get their creative muse going with some energetic and chill songs. Quite contrasting, though, song-wise.

With my mouth unable to stop smiling, my steps had a small skip in them as I entered the room in the back, noticing a quite noticeable change from what I was expecting as a small meeting room. Usually, the artisans would meet suppliers and commissioners here, but it was now one giant white room. It was the opening of a [Room].

“I mean, I did help Grimnir with the new [Room] sets, but it feels a bit surreal that it has no connection with the main subspace,” I said, slightly in awe, despite it being mine.

As per Father’s orders, I had Grimnir make a completely separate set of [Room] runes. This one was disconnected from the main one I used as my mobile base, meaning I couldn’t use the main subspace’s nexus to teleport to the secondary one.

As such, it was perfect for allowing strangers to enter it without causing any trouble for me, similar to [Room]’s spell version. Only two sets were created for it: one used at the digital media guild and the other under my control. The secondary subspace’s purpose was also to allow me to send people I heavily distrusted into a portable prison, so I needed the extra pair. Well, it could only be used for that purpose once the airship project was finished.

The important part was that Grimnir and I confirmed that we could create subspaces separate from each other. No matter how much I tried, there was no way to connect each one outside of putting the portal entrances right next to each other. The idea was similar to how all the various monster dungeons didn’t have one combined nexus point. This idea has been a long time coming, so I was glad to confirm the idea.

As Virrflax and I entered the subspace, going deeper into it to enter through another door, I whistled as the environment changed once more. Instead of a completely blank, white room, the floor, walls, and ceiling were brown and patterned like wooden planks. It wasn’t empty either, as plenty of large machinery, crates filled with metal bars, monster materials, and logs could be seen stored in the corner, with plenty of artisans taking stuff out and putting more into the stockpile.

The blacksmiths, runesmiths, artificers, and carpenters were split into their individual rooms, but the one we were in was where everything was smelted, processed, and also prepared before it was delivered to the respective rooms. Blood for runes, resin for the wood, and enchantment designs were also made here. The smelters, alchemists, and enchanters were hard at work.

“Come on! Get on and move those damn crates! We need to get all of this in the room before they start hammering the metal hull!” A familiar voice attracted my attention, causing me to swerve my head around until I saw Daichi pushing a cart full of finished steel bars into the blacksmithing room with a couple of other humans.

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Sheesh, they really are fast if they want to be; I marveled at the draconic efficiency once Father gave an imperial order. He set their butts on fire, and they were running around to get it extinguished.

Daichi and Haruka had initially decided to stay in Ankor-Nazta, instead of joining Grimnir to come to Frozne Nest, but with the current situation, they were brought over here on the double. Speaking of Haruka, she was working in the last room I hadn’t mentioned, and that was where the airship and zeppelin would be planned and, mostly, constructed. The vehicles still had to be fully put together outside since the subspace entrance was too small.

There, Haruka was currently in a meeting with a few familiar faces from Ankor-Nazta, specifically the various guild leaders. Metosei and Ruttigar, the artificer and train maintenance elder, respectively, were passionately presenting their ideas on the airship construction, while Ryanno and Haella, the blacksmith and artificer guild leaders of Inkoran-Tazul, respectively, were either agreeing or rebuking them. Grimnir was also around, sitting next to his runesmith master and guild leader, Boron.

Aside from the dwarves, Forminaxtrass had a place at the table with two dark dragons, giving their opinion for the dragon side, as the zeppelin and the first couple of airships were to be made for Kargryxian usage. Though I could already hear the dwarves wanting to add a ton of extras to future-proof it for their usage. As long as it worked, in my opinion.

The last group was the elves from Kel’Thun, as the ones from Saelariel still needed time to form their team. Considering I haven’t visited Kel’Thun once yet, nor did I know anybody there, I didn’t have much to say about them. Though they did give their valued opinion on shipbuilding, enchantments, and resin creation. They would be responsible for the hull.

“Your mother is currently bolstering the defences, and Yuilengreill has to be at the port, managing the various deliveries, both from the sea and the sky. The four of us are here, while Gyadiosa and Gaistrus are currently in Quake Nest, building the floating island for our ‘visit’ to Caedhul,” Virrflax explained. She then pointed to the back of the room, making me raise a brow at the sight of a wooden skeleton of a ship that was there. “They are currently trying to determine how large each ship was allowed to be. And if we want to rely more on manatech, runes, or enchantments to keep the ships afloat. Whoever prevails in the debate will probably take control of the project. A small bit of politics, even now, haha.”

Oooh, man, office politics… or is this guild politics? Huh.

Once Virrflax was done giving me the tour, we went outside the subspace and went to one of the free rooms, where we sat down. After she poured me some water, mostly to wet her throat, she let out a deep sigh, relaxing her neck against the back of her chair, looking like she didn’t want to be here. Massaging the bridge of her nose, she made it very clear.

“I heard what happened from Taimatrak and Fargryneill. I know why you wanted to speak to me, but I must tell you that I am a bit uncomfortable. Still, would you like to know why I accepted your request?” she said.

I shook my head. “I didn’t put too much thought into it. With how my brain has been working in the last five days, I didn’t think too much outside of hunting and keeping Hikari and myself from breaking down like a burning building.”

Virrflax raised the left edge of her mouth, pouting a bit in disappointment. “If I have to be honest, talking about my son’s pilgrimage without his permission is wrong. If he doesn’t want you to know, then you cannot and shouldn’t make me or him say it.”

Is she admitting to knowing about it? Thought Kramps said he lied to everybody in the family. Kramps?

<I did not lie.>

So Virrflax doesn’t know the entire story?

<Correct. See the way you worded it differently? Nongramos lied to his mother as well, but did tell her some correct details. Not enough, though, for her to understand the entire story.>

That makes sense.

“If I have to be honest, there is a small issue, even if I were to reveal his pilgrimage history.” Virrflax sighed once again. “My son wasn’t being quite truthful when he explained his entire trip.”

She knew?

<She knew. Once again, do you see the details? I cannot explain the entire situation to you as a god, and even though I mentioned that Nongramos is a liar, it doesn’t tell you the entire story, correct?>

Well, it seems you’re getting better at the whole vague speaking part. Nice to have a blessed to practice those skills on, right?

<… I will allow that snide. Heh!>

Ignoring Kramps’s tinge of pride, I refocused on my meeting with Virrflax.

“Did you know that he is the fledgling with the longest pilgrimage in the family? Which, to be fair, isn’t an important record to remember since this tradition happened during Eltharion’s rule. One of you would have been the longest, anyway, and it isn’t uncommon for younglings to spend too much time outside Kargryx due to other reasons than finding opponents to evolve. The idea behind the pilgrimage is to help fledglings learn about the world. To keep an open mind, unlike us elder scales,” Virrflax explained, starting to go on a tangent. “Honestly, Gyadiosa and I were the two who were quite against making the Adulthood Pilgrimage mandatory, since it is dangerous. History has shown that we were correct, with so many of our fledglings dying during their travels, and it is always a problem when we have to calm the agitated parents. I am always thankful for our family’s luck. All our children are alive and healthy. I am also thankful that… watch me speak. Hestia, could you get some of the dwarven fire wine, please? And a glass with ice?”

Fuck.

The moment somebody asked you for alcohol with a melancholic “please,” it was obvious somebody was about to lay their feelings on the table. With a wide smile like a good daughter, I rushed out of the room with gritted teeth as I asked Jadhund if he had any fire wine around. After I got a full bottle, which had just arrived a moment ago, and a glass with some ice balls, I returned to the meeting room.

“Jadhund said it shouldn’t be drunk with ice.” I handed her everything, feeling a bit uneasy before sitting down.

“I know,” she replied before slicing the bottle’s neck open and pouring the wine in like whiskey. She then downed the full glass with multiple gulps, letting out a sigh that lasted longer than the time she needed to pour her drink. “Fuck. I don’t want to speak about it, dear. I really don’t.”

I shot up. “Then—”

“Sit.”

I sat back down.

“The start of his pilgrimage was quite normal, from the letters he sent me. He eventually stopped sending them before he reached the Evidian desert in the Folschreck Empire, making me worry something had happened to him. If I have to describe how I felt back then, then imagine how your mother felt when she lost your egg.”

I nodded.

“I couldn’t, though. It didn’t lead to a fight like with your mother, but it still took Gyadiosa and the others a long time to persuade me. I was crying all night, trying to find a way to dull my nerves. That’s… how I got into drinking.” She raised the bottle and poured herself another glass. “Your mother is a better drinker than I am, and she’s terrible at holding her liquor. Your father is amazing, but I dislike drinking with him. It feels so inelegant. Unfitting for an empress to drown her sorrows with wine and spirits, when your father drinks it for pleasure. Though, considering how much he spiraled from his weakening soul, maybe, just maybe, I should have gotten over myself and shared a drink with him. Pride, dear, is such a fatal weakness for us true dragonkin.”

She downed the drink before slamming the glass on the table, barely able to control herself from destroying both. The circular indent on the table and the cracked glass, though, probably had to be replaced later.

“So… I had a relative track him down for me. A dragoon from my clan, trained as a scout, traveled around the desert until he found Nongramos in a city at the border between the desert and the grassland of Folschreck. Haaaaaaaaa… from the reports, it seemed my son found a human lover.”

… Oh no. Why can I already see where this is going?

“E-Empress-Mother, is this going where I think it is? I don’t know if you heard this from my siblings, but Nong kind of… got pretty emotional when he beat me down like a sandbag.”

“Oh, good, then you have an idea already. Do you want some?” She offered me a drink, but I declined it, prompting her to shrug and pour another glass. While she wasn’t tripping over her words, she looked plastered, like a drunk coming out of a tavern after midnight. “Honestly, it isn’t uncommon. Dragonkin finding love outside of the empire is entirely normal. That’s how dragonewts came to be, after all. Nongramos was also at an age where love should come easily.”

She then placed the drink against her lips, trying to drink it, only for some of the liquid to fall out of her mouth. After she finished it and cleaned herself up with my handkerchief, she threw the glass on the table and took a sip from the bottle’s sliced neck.

“I wish I had your recorder back then, Hestia. I just wish I could have seen her face. I wish I could have seen the woman he loved, instead of only hearing it through a report. I wish I could have stopped myself from cheering when I heard about all of this. I wish Nongramos had never met her… because it wouldn’t have broken his heart when she died,” Virrflax said exactly what I feared. “I don’t have the full picture of what happened. The scout wasn’t there to see what happened, and Nongramos didn’t tell me. He left out his lover entirely, never mentioning it to anybody in the family. As if she never existed, but he couldn’t hide it from me. Everybody thought it looked more mature. Praised how his adulthood pilgrimage had gone, but I just wanted to grab my battle-sisters and their children’s shoulders and tell them the truth. I wanted to do it so badly, but…”

“It wasn’t their business? Just as you told me just a moment ago?”

She shrugged. “I thought it over for you. You deserve to know because he is using that trauma as the reason to ensure it wouldn’t happen again with you. He loves you, Hestia. He really does. He was overjoyed when he first met you, finding you so brilliant, bright, and energetic. I think he saw a bit of his past self in you, and I agree. If you consider him a peacock now, then you should have seen him when he was a whelpling. Haha… how I wishyour recorder existed back then. I want to see my hatchling again, instead of… what he had become. Haa, embarrassing to say as his mother.”

She then took a swig like a sailor drinking grog… also, Mom probably told her that I liked calling Nong a peacock. Dammit.

Sighing, she slumped on her chair, slowly falling into the seat. “Haaa… the reports stated that a wild wyvern had attacked the city. However, after a while, it suddenly departed for no reason. I presume Nongramos did it, either scaring or persuading it, but the most important part is that he probably had to leave the city when that happened. I presume he warned the wyvern to escape before the wyvernslayers came. That is what I believe my hatchling would have done. He adored the image of the ‘Black Tyrant of the Skies,’ and that means protecting other scalekin. Even if it’s a wild lesser.”

“And something happened while he was gone?” I asked, trying to bring Virrflax’s attention to me. Her wet eyes already told me that she had retreated into her own world.

“I can imagine it, dear. All of it, but I can’t imagine Nongramos’s face, nor his beloved. I couldn’t. I couldn’t imagine what my son must have felt when he came back to the city, only to see that a few demonkin had infiltrated it and assassinated its governor and fief lord. And, get this, on the same day, a delegation of imperial knights visited them for a training session! Hahah, I can imagine those demonkin’s thought process. Have a wyvern distract the city guard and the imperial knights, and then kill two important figures, all while under the noses of those knights. What an embarrassment!”

Destabilizing from within. Even if the demonkin caused it, this action would cause the public to lose faith in the Hands of Heaven. At least, I presume she meant the ‘Hands of Heaven’ when she said ‘imperial knights.’ In any case, that fits the modus operandi of Bole’Taria. Makes perfect sense.

“And this is where it gets hard to understand. In the process of apprehending the assassins, the knights made a mess out of a city block. I presume Nongramos’s intervention with the wyvern ruined the demonkin’s plan, and they were forced to brute force it. While they managed to kill their targets, they were found out and had to fend off a couple of very furious imperial knights. A lot of people died, but my scout couldn’t find any information on the woman outside that she had died. Nobody cared about those casualties, since it was reported that one of those knights had died at the hands of a green, feathered dragon.”

I closed my eyes. The anger I was suppressing was starting to come back, not out of irritation, but out of sympathy. I could imagine myself in his shoes, as I had nearly done the same to the cardinal vicar after Akasht had died.

Virrflax then flapped one of her hands, making it look like it was flying away. “Gone. Flew off. He ended his pilgrimage two weeks after what happened. The report came three weeks later. I had already figured something went wrong when Nong’s smile felt so forced. I couldn’t say anything back then because I didn’t have the context. When the report came back, it was all too late. I couldn’t do it to my son. I couldn’t reopen the wound when he needed two weeks to heal. Haaa, I wish I had.”

“… Thank you, Empress-Mother. I know it couldn’t have been easy. I’m angry just hearing it.”

“It’s fine, dear. I’m drinking and ranting. It’s to dull the pain. I just wish I had done something back then. I thought it wouldn’t be a problem and Nongramos could get over it, and it did seem like it. He did become far happier when Fargryneill was born. He didn’t treat Ryranakus too well, but he had Phsothophus. Fargryneill needed him more because she was being treated badly because of her appearance, and… I should have probably noticed by then that he’s become more aggressive. Very violent in his approach, even if he never truly killed anyone.” She then finished the bottle with one loud gulp before throwing the empty bottle on the table. She then leaned forward, wobbling a bit as she supported her torso with the table. “If you ask me, Nongramos is motivated not only by his trauma, but also by a genuine wish to better the world. However, in the ‘Black Tyrant of the Skies’ method, that is why he aligned with Wendriosa. He hates the human-demonkin war. I don’t think he truly hates the humans and demonkin as races, but he probably came to detest their culture.”

“Therefore, he sees the current war as something similar. He wants to end this ‘cold war’ forever by vassalizing Lecullius.”

“Not quite, but it’s correct enough. He knows our rivalry will never end, just as you ice dragonkin will never fully forgive the fire dragonkin. Don’t think too much about this part. Focus on what you will do for the war, dear. I, personally, also don’t want to see you on the front line, and I presume your mother shares that view. Do what you do best. Don’t force yourself, just because of your pride.”

Pride, huh? Is protecting my family and friends actually a… no, it is, right?

<Pride is about duty. So, in a way, yes.>

Haaa, but it’s the right thing to do. As they protect me, so must I reciprocate in kind. That’s what family is about.

Virrflax asked me to leave first, and I did. I gave Forminaxtrass a heads-up on what happened in the room before leaving the guild, ready to return to the Dungeon to get back to training. Then again, I could probably visit Uncle Kary to check on the underwater documentaries I heard were almost done. I probably—

“Princess Hestia!”

I jerked as I heard my name the moment I left the building, snapping to them to see a couple of familiar faces.

“Kaishta! Oh, Aneilska, Epinik—all you girls are here!” I cheered as my backup dancers from my concert in Coral Beard came to greet me. I hadn’t met them in a long while, due to my training. “Sorry for not really contacting you girls for a while. But I have seen you in my stream! Hehe, what’s up?”

“Thank you very much for noticing!” Aneilska said before Kaishta stepped forward, looking a bit nervous like the others, except for Aneilska.

“My lady…” she said, gulping down dry spit as she paused. With a deep breath, she then lowered her tail under her legs and bowed slightly. “Please, train us in becoming idols and teach us your spell songs, please!”

… Sorry, Uncle Kary. I think I have to visit you at another time.