CHAPTER 9: Tears of the Sea
A/N: This chapter is co-authored by hackslashbash. Thank you for sacrificing hours of work into this chapter.
Due to inconsistencies, Chapter 7 is re-uploaded.
That night, she slept at the inn. The straw bed and its pathetic excuse of a cover had kept her up all night. She had missed her bed in Nazarick terribly. As soon as she opened her bleary eyes, Yuri had come through 『Gate』 to greet her.
"It's time to wake up, My Lady." Yuri said with her usual smile.
She snuggled deeper into her pillow. The bed was horrible, but the pillow was alright, and it was still better than her pillow back on earth. She wanted to sleep more, but more sleep means more time in that awful straw abomination. With that thought in mind she reluctantly sat herself up on the bed.
"Mrn'n Yuri…" she drawled, still feeling sleepy.
Tiamat sat up on the bed, but she still had her eyes closed. She is awake, but needed to take some time to collect all her lost HP from this God awful bed…
Through her sharp sense of hearing, she could hear the soft tinkle of metal against glass. Yuri was probably doing something related to that. Then as soon as Yuri finished, she could smell the best scents to date ever since she arrived in this Fortress City.
"For today's breakfast, I have prepared poached salmon and mint salad. We have toast, scones, and Pain de Campagne on the side. Which would you prefer My Lady?"
"Mn, scooones…"
"The tea set is wedgwood blue and white, courtesy of Lady Bukubukuchagama."
She remembered that tea set; Bukubuku-chan had wanted to buy that tea set with her salary after she finished that ecchi voiceover. She had been a fan of the neoclassical style, and had been saving up to buy the Jasperware tea set which had survived the apocalypse and was auctioned at a ridiculously high price.
Of course she didn't get the teapot, so instead she did the next best thing and asked a designer to insert it into the game. Ainz had agreed, because if some of the members kept copyrighted books and other paraphernalia in the Nazarick library, he couldn't see how adding one tea set would hurt.
Yuri put the breakfast on the rickety wooden table, and helped her walk to the chair in her morning grogginess. But her eyes immediately widened at the delicious spread in front of her and she started to devour it.
Yuri poured the tea into the iconic blue and white cup, and its divine scent wafted over to Tiamat. The relaxing scent of tea combined with breakfast, as she had said before, couldn't be more comforting.
"It's delicious Yuri, thank you very much."
"Seriously," she mused, "This tastes a thousand times better than the oatmeal that the inn offered."
"It was nothing My Lady. Should I read out the information Neuronist-san has gathered?"
She nodded.
"After the interrogation session by Neuronist-san, she had found out that they are called the Sunlight Scripture and came here to interrogate Gazef Stronoff by using the Baharuth Empire as a diversion. A man called Nigun had mentioned during his session that a noble within the Re-Estize Kingdom had been working with Slane Theocracy to kill Gazef Stronoff. However, the noble's identity had been concealed from the Sunlight Scripture. Just as you suspected, My Lady."
"What else did you get from Neuronist?
Yuri fixed her glasses upwards. "Apparently the Slane Theocracy possesses the strongest national power due to its powerful military presence. They also have the greatest fighting ability among all the countries on the continent. For instance, they conducted espionage operations within the bordering nations with the intention of suppressing demi-humans and other non-human races. Moreover, they are also capable of conducting large scale rituals and resurrection magic."
"Demi-humans and other races?" she questioned Yuri. She felt that that was an odd distinction to make. Couldn't humans be of threat as well? Why so oddly specific?
"Yes. The Slane Theocracy's doctrine promotes the discrimination and eradication of all demi-humans and non-humans. They see the formation and existence of demi-humans nations as a grave threat to the supremacy of humanity. Their military had wiped out entire villages of demi-humans in accordance to their doctrine."
"Hoo?" she mulled to herself. "Interesting..."
Interesting indeed. In all probability if there are human players from YGGDRASIL who came into this world like she and Ainz did, then they would definitely agree with the Theocracy's xenophobic beliefs and join the country to serve its cause.
As far as she knows, there are no Adventurers' Guild in the Theocracy. So it would be impossible for her to receive any private quests from that country in the future. Right now, she could definitely rest assured that she most definitely has to keep her distance from the Theocracy.
At the same time, she noticed that there was a startling flaw in their nation's ideology. What if they were bordered by a powerful non-human entity like Nazarick? Their radical citizens would most likely come together and form a militant movement against Nazarick, but that would be their downfall, and would likely result in them destroying themselves in the process.
Turns out Yuri was far from finished, and she pulls her back from that train of thought. "Moreover My Lady, they are currently at war with the Elf Country, however their progress is slow since it is difficult for humans to transverse the woodlands. However, Elves are currently popular as slaves within the Theocracy, resulting in numerous slaver excursions to the country."
"Elf slaves?" that was surprising. She thought that a country with such strong humanocentrism beliefs would at least promote the same rights to the same kin. In YGGDRASIL, humans and elves would often work together to PK the heteromorphs. But in this world the elves turns out to be slaves huh?
Tiamat let out a small chuckle towards that piece of information. "How ironic…"
"That's the information that Neuronist had gathered from the Sunlight Scripture members you've captured My Lady. I have the full report with me if you wish to read it as well." Yuri handed a thick paper report to Tiamat, to which she accepted gratefully.
"Good job Yuri." she gave the report a quick skim. Most of the content in the reports were about Talents and the political relationships of the Theocracy with other countries. Those bits of information were important but she doesn't think they'll be useful when she's taking her very first quest.
Putting the report in her inventory, she looks at the small parchment she placed on the table the night before.
[A-rank quest.
Submitted by : Captain Barbbossa
Quest : A curse has been attacking the sailors at the port west to Re-Estize Kingdom. Please purify the curse that ails the sailors.
Reward : 50 gold coins]
She silently mulled over the somewhat eerie quest. She had grabbed one in a panic, since she wanted to avoid anyone who wanted to recruit her into their team, but luckily, the quest she grabbed had turned out to be very interesting.
'They call it a curse, but in YGGDRASIL can it be classified as a debuff? What sort of curse is it and why only sailors?'
No matter, she could find out on her way.
Unknowingly, her body shivered in excitement. This is her very first adventure here in the New World, and a sense of nostalgia washed over her. Too bad that the rest of Ainz Ooal Gown couldn't be here.
Her mind continued to wander, and she wondered who their friends would side with in her bet with Ainz. Well, she roughly knows the answer to that question.
Bukubukuchagama would immediately go to her side, and Peroroncino would unwittingly be dragged along by Bukubukuchagama even though he would want to side with Ainz. Then Ulbert, Tabula, and Ainz would make this evil alliance just to satisfy themselves in ultra-winning the bet. While Touch Me-san would unwittingly become the mediator.
She silently smiled to herself. It was fun reminiscing about the good old days.
But soon that smiled turned sour, because she knew, if only she had done something, anything, they could have had an eternal adventure together.
"Thank you for today Yuri, you may return to Nazarick." she opened『Gate』, and an ominous portal cut through reality, opening up into an oval, swirling, waiting for Yuri to be transported to Nazarick.
"Should I help you prepare, My Lady?" Yuri asked, looking as if she wanted to stay longer with Tiamat. She had noticed her mood had changed almost immediately after looking at the low-quality parchment, and she wondered what was wrong.
Even though the Supreme Being in front of her was tender-natured and motherly towards all the citizens of Nazarick. Yuri had known that Lady Tiamat, despite showing her gentle, sensitive side towards her and the Floor Guardians must have had countless worries of her own as well. But their Lady doesn't seem to open up her heart to anyone, not even Lord Ainz.
Yuri was actually against Lady Tiamat going out of Nazarick by herself. Even though she had repeatedly begged her Lady to at least bring a full party of mercenary summons with her, she still refused, saying that her Pentakrisis would be enough.
Honestly she felt jealous of her younger sister, Nabe. Nabe's job is to protect Lord Ainz, and she gets to do so inside and outside of Nazarick. But Yuri wasn't even given the chance.
Yuri had consulted her sisters, asking them what could possibly be wrong with her that the Supreme Being did not want her protection, and her sisters couldn't say anything since what has been given to Yuri was the Supreme Being's decision.
"My Lady…" Yuri forced out, finding it difficult to find the right words. "Can't I go with you just for today?" she pleaded.
Pleading… her eyes widened in realization and she immediately knelt down in shame. How low of her to beg the Supreme Being to entertain her selfishness.
Of course Lady Tiamat would choose her own Dragon instead of herself. How could she make such obvious blunder? There was no way she could be compared against her Lady's very own majestic creations.
"Yuri…" Tiamat looked at Yuri, and her heart ached. She could see that Yuri was sincere in her request, and she could understand why she wanted to come with her, but a bet is a bet…
"I'm sorry for being too bold, My Lady! Please forgive me!"
Tiamat smiled softly to Yuri, whose head was still down. "Tell you what Yuri, let's make a compromise."
"A compromise, My Lady?"
Yuri finally looked up, and there her Supreme Being sits. She is sitting on the only wooden chair in the room, and behind her back is a small window that allowed light to shine into the dingy room. Her Lady sat there, completely out of place in the miserable inn room, yet still shone with an aura of regality and nobility.
Her hair is a gleaming river of silver, reflecting the morning sun and her eyes held the allure of violet moonlight. Those orbs twinkled playfully as if they had discovered some amusing secret. She angled her face to look towards Yuri's direction until her face was suffused in the radiant sun.
Here, Yuri kneels in awe towards the Supreme Being. Even under disguise, she couldn't deny the waves of power that surges through the Dragoness's body. She had expected to be punished, and she understood that she definitely deserved it. However none of it mattered. In front of her, fear and grief and close kept secrets held no sway over the Goddess. Instead her eyes were filled with love and kindness.
"After I finish the bet with Ainz, no matter the outcome, you can come with me. How does that sound?" she offered towards the eldest sister of the Pleiades.
Yuri's breath immediately catches in her throat and without her even realizing, she had happily answered, "Yes. With pleasure My Lady!"
Tiamat nodded. "Good, I don't know how long the bet is going to take, but if things go as I planned, then it will not take more than two days. I hope you can wait until then."
"I understand My Lady." and gracefully rose from her kneel as she returned to Nazarick. Her heart swelled with pride. Lady Tiamat had given her a chance to prove that Yuri is capable of protecting her, and Yuri was not so foolish as to waste such an opportunity.
After Yuri went back to Nazarick, she closed『Gate』and stood up to start preparing for the day. As she went over the numerous tasks ahead of her in her head, she released an exhausted sigh.
She knew that being a Supreme Being was hard. Very hard. Apparently in this new world there were a lot of expectations that came with the title. She kinda understood why Ainz had to be the way he is to uphold his own image.
If she were to be honest to everyone, she would immediately tell them the truth. The truth that she and Ainz were nothing, no one, nobodies. Just sad excuses of people trying to escape a reality that is stacked against them, questioning if the current reality that they were in is even real. Ainz was just a young adult who had a lot of insecurities while Hannah, the real Hannah, was a failure of an adult.
They were not an Overlord and a Goddess. Both of them were just broken people in the same circumstances. Yet, she could feel her heart slowly breaking at the maids' and Floor Guardians' disappointment if they were to know the truth.
She couldn't afford to let them know.
She couldn't afford to disappoint her new family.
Shaking these thoughts out of her head, she noticed the heat rising up in her room. Apparently she had unconsciously activated her passive aura. Quickly switching her passive off, she hurriedly began to prepare to go on her quest. Thankfully the room had a bathroom furnished with a small mirror.
Using her item, 『Ragnarok Scale』, an item that allows the user to disguise themselves in any appearance or race they desired. She found this to be a lot easier than having to disguise her stats as well, much like Ainz when he was using Perfect Warrior. She was not as well versed in game mechanics as Ainz was, and found changing classes just for the sake of a disguise to be more of a hassle than anything.
This was because she was so used to using her current character from the first moment she played YGGDRASIL. Just like Ainz was well-versed in everything, she was the indisputable master of her unique playstyle.
Finishing up her disguise, Tiamat went down to the inn's lobby with her staff in hand, inwardly thankful the lobby was not as packed as last night, but already she could see some people who had already sat down turning their heads towards her direction.
She had never felt more uncomfortable.
Feeling the tension in the atmosphere, she heads towards the bar where the burly man from last night is standing.
"Good morning." she greeted him.
"Hn. I'm assuming you want breakfast?" he offered.
"No, that's alright. I'll be returning the keys for today." she slid the key of her room to the innkeeper and he took it in one swift motion.
But the innkeeper kept on staring at her.
"Is there something wrong?" she asks.
Something flashes through the innkeeper's eyes. "You've got guts, lil' lady. You didn't even come out of your room last night. You have no idea what happened huh?"
Tiamat forces herself to remain calm, despite the innkeeper's seemingly annoyed tone. "No, what happened last night?"
He let out a large sigh. "Another pretty lady with no brains…" he muttered. "Listen here lil' lady. Last night a bunch of Adventurers came to my inn causin' a ruckus. They wanted to recruit you. I knocked on your door last night but you didn't even answer. You have to realize that there are no Mythril adventurers who can survive out there on their own. You need to form a well balanced, strong team, or you're gonna die. You got that?"
Ah… turns out her silencing spell worked inside and outside the room huh? Good to know…
"Is that so?"
"Tch, whatever. You're on your own lil' lady."
Tiamat stepped towards the door, and was immediately bathed with appraising looks from everyone in the room-when suddenly someone grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her towards his direction.
The man in front of her was unarmored, his muscles visibly bulging under his clothes. On his neck was a necklace, a gold plate, which swayed with the man's movements.
"Pretty little thing ain't cha?" he spoke in a threatening manner with a sword in one hand. It gleamed as he clenches her wrist.
Although everyone seemed to focus more on their bland breakfast, it was obvious that they were looking forward to a good show, many of whom began to exchange coins betting on the outcome. But despite the growing tension in the air, neither the innkeeper or any of the other Adventurers stepped forward to stop it. They all sat there watching silently.
He was only slightly taller than her by an inch at most, and he glared at her with hateful eyes. Since he didn't say anything, Tiamat decided to speak.
"Excuse me, please let go of my hand."
A dangerous look crept into the man's eyes as he began to press harder. If she was just a normal human, the pressure he exerted would have definitely broken her wrist. As it was, she didn't even feel an ounce of pain because of her high defensive stat.
"I'd let go of you if you'd become my woman. Don't you know me? Me and my team are pretty famous. If you sleep with me for just a night. I'll let you join my team. How's that?"
"Fuu…" a small chuckle escaped her lips. She couldn't help it. This was like some cheesy romance drama where the heroine was attacked by the bad guy and the hero swoops in to save her. But that cheesy line had most definitely suited him.
"What? Do you think this is funny?" he raised her wrist high, as he keeps on inserting pressure into it. He had pressed so hard, but he hasn't heard the crack that he is familiar with.
Tiamat just stared at him. This buffoon was nothing compared to the hardships she had experienced back on Earth. Moreover, she didn't want to cause anymore trouble, so she just replied to him in a steady voice.
"Nothing…" she stopped chuckling and looked him dead in the eye. Her amethyst gaze pierced his brown, and she deadpanned at him. "You sounded so pathetic, I couldn't help myself."
"Wha-?" the man's face flushed red.
To his shock, Tiamat swiftly threw the man with a flick of her wrist across the room.
The man couldn't even dodge, much less resist the sudden movement. He went "Uoh!" in surprise as he was thrown into the air, and let out a pained "Buagh!" when his back made an unpleasant 'crack' against the brick wall.
A wave of shock swept over the inn. She looked so dainty, yet was capable of throwing a full-grown man across the room. The other Adventurers who were watching started to debate in excitement. How strong could she be if she could launch that guy airborne with just her wrist? Their imaginations started to run wild and a heated debate grew within the lobby.
But she didn't pay attention to any of that.
The only thing she was thinking about was the guild rule. She had been briefed by the receptionist that friendly fire was prohibited among adventurers. Although the guy was the perpetrator, her high defense meant that there was no injury to her body. The one who caused the most injuries was Tiamat herself.
All in all, she'd be dead meat if this guy and his friends reported the incident to the guildmaster...
"It seems that I was too rough on him..." she kneeled to investigate the damage she has caused to the broken man. It hadn't even been a few hours since she had received her Mythril plate, and she had already caused trouble. She sighed, clearly disappointed by the turn of events which left much to be desired.
Despite the clear crack that currently marked the wall, the man's injuries were not so severe that she could not repair them. A mild concussion, possibly a shoulder sprain, a fractured spine, nothing too serious.
'Okay, maybe I went a little too far' Tiamat winced as she noticed the man's snapped spine.
Thankfully, this was a simple enough problem to solve, even taking into account the current paralysis of the man. She had caused the damage, so it was only fair that she should fix it. She began casting『Full Cure』. This spell would restore the target's HP to full as well as cure all debuff and status ailments, 『Light Heal』would most definitely have worked on his injuries, but she decided to cast a stronger healing spell just to be safe.
She didn't want him to report to Pluton Ainzach about this afterall, so a little bonus like this might serve as an incentive for him to remain quiet over the affair.
This simple action sparked the silent tavern into a wildfire of activity.
The man began to stir, and Tiamat held out her hand to help him stand. "You okay there?" she worriedly asked him.
"Uh...yeah." his ears reddened under her concerned gaze, and as he took her hand to get back up, he couldn't help but notice the softness of her hand.
Looking at her like this, with him below her had sparked an embarrassment that he had never felt before in his entire life, yet at the moment all he could think about was her hand, and her fingers in his palm. Every Adventurer or village women he knew were stiff because of manual labor and couldn't even be compared to the person in front of him.
He had imagined seducing this sinfully beautiful maiden. He had dreamed of holding her delicious curves in his arms, her body naked beneath his while he kissed those full lips and seeing her lovely face drowned in ecstasy. He had dreamed of taking her, filling her, and satiating himself with her. He had planned to have her at his mercy.
But now as he looked up at the radiant face of this maiden, no, Goddess, he could only weep at the thought that he had the audacity to defile divinity itself.
"Are you really alright?" she placed her chilly palm onto his cheek, and he instantly jerked his head away. He didn't deserve such kindness from his Goddess after what he tried to do.
Because of such an unexpected action, his heart nearly burst through his chest and he screamed out of reflex.
"Y-Yes! I'm fine!"
"That's good then." her face lit up in relief, and when he looked at it, he knew he was in danger of losing his soul to this goddess, so innocent and bright.
He also knew that he didn't mind offering his soul up to such a deity. And so he began his ascent as the first among the zealots of the Dragon Goddess.
"You know, if you want to work together, you could just ask politely. You didn't have to go and be an asshole." his Goddess said crossly, and he bowed his head in shame. But upon hearing the rest of what she had to say, his head jolted up in surprise and his eyes wept in gratitude "Next time, if I get the chance, I would be happy to go on a quest with you and your team." his Goddess said with a bright smile.
He was in shock that his Goddess would forgive him so easily, and silently chastised himself for believing that the face of divinity could ever be petty.
"Sure!" she said happily. "Well, not right now. I have to go to the port for my first quest."
Immediately, his friends who were coming over when they saw him flying through the air rushed up to her and began to excitedly talk over one another. She struggled to pick out what they were saying and managed to hear one question in particular.
"Can we come with you?!"
Well, Tiamat thought she could somewhat understand. They wanted to work with someone who was able to tame a Dragon, especially one as titanic as ŇƗǤǤĦØǤ, since Dragons were apparently the strongest beings in this world.
The team consisted of five people, six including the man she had just thrown to the wall, Antonio Vallilis, she learned from his enthusiastic party members, and they all looked to be in their early thirties. Their armor appeared to be made from the same materials, mostly consisted of leather and iron. Their arms were muscular and their palms covered in calluses from wielding their swords.
A small gold plate hung around their chests, and shook mightily as they got more excited.
"I want to try my first quest by myself. Maybe we could go on one together afterwards?"
"Is that a promise?" one of them asked excitedly.
'Cute.' was the only word that popped into her mind right now.
If she saw them back on Earth with their haggard appearance and scars, she would probably assume that they were part of the Yakuza. But right now, it was like she was looking at a bunch of puppies wagging their tail eagerly at her.
Perhaps this is what Yamaiko would call Gap-Moe?
Remembering her old friend, she wistfully smiled, and said. "Sure..." to which the team excitedly began fist-pumping to.
One of them took her hand, and shook it vigorously. "We'll be waiting here at the inn until you finished your quest. Just in case we aren't here, our team name is Hissing Vipers. " as they clumsily scribbled it down on a scrap of parchment
"Okay, well then. See you later?" she asked the group. They waved their goodbyes at her and with that she left the inn.
As soon as her shadow left the door, she could hear a deafening 'YOSHA!' which shook the entire inn. She could only chuckle light-heartedly. Were they really that happy to be working with her?
Nah, they just wanted her dragon, right?
o(;;)o
As soon as her shadow left the door, the buddies of Antonios, who Tiamat had thrown, rushed up to him and began hugging him in excitement. The inn which was previously silent exploded into a flurry of chatter.
"You did it man, you convinced her to join us for a quest!"
"Did you see that? Her arm strength was unbelievable!"
"Fuck! Dude, you guys are so lucky to get to hold her hand!"
"Lucky bastards. Next time we ain't gonna miss the chance to recruit her."
The scattered conversations around the inn were circling the one man who is just flabbergasted at what just happened.
"Did that really just happen?" Antonios asked himself, and perhaps his comrades.
Did his Goddess really agree to party with them, who were not even worthy to lick the soles of her shoes?
Ever since she arrived in this city, he knew that she was not an ordinary person.
Just by a glance, he knew that her impressive staff was not something that could be bought. Perhaps it was inherited from her predecessors, or found on a long-forgotten battlefield or ruin.
At first the Gold plated adventurer only wanted to measure her ability...and perhaps something else as well. He coughed and blushed at the thought of his recent blunder. Just like what they did with many other newcomers, because everyone in the guild were both comrades and competitors. But as it turned out, none of the new recruits could actually pass the test.
In other words, her sudden jump from Copper to Mythril was truly not something they could scoff at, and they knew if they were to have her as an ally, then they would have the backing of a being of unimaginable might.
A Dragon. And not just any ordinary dragon, but one that appeared to have burst straight from ancient myth; a being that rivaled the fabled Dragon Lords themselves.
"Now what about your injuries kid?" the innkeeper gruffly asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Did the lil' lady really patch you up?"
Antonios wanted to punch the innkeeper. How dare he imply that his Goddess would do something so contemptible? He was about to berate the innkeeper for his insult, but took a deep breath and calmed himself, for he knew the innkeeper was truly concerned for his well-being.
Antonios turned his neck and started to stretch his body. Nothing felt out of place. Even though he had hit that wall hard enough to leave a deep indentation in it, his body didn't feel any discomfort. In fact, he hadn't never felt this good in years.
So he tried to take a step, and he never thought that 'it' would happen.
His friends who were with him were so shocked that no words had come out of their gaping mouths.
That was because they had seen something that wasn't supposed to be there.
"That leg…"
Four years ago, he had lost his leg during a massive monster movement phenomenon called the Stampede that happened once every decade. When he came to, most of his friends had died and he had lost his leg along with his career as an Adventurer. Not even Lizzie Bareare, the best herbalist in the region could help him.
When he asked her if she could heal it, she had told him that the most potions could do was to heal lost fingers. But healing a lost limb was impossible.
Yet, he refused to give up. He went to the temple to see if they could succeed where the herbalist had failed, and his friends had helped him collect money for the treatment by doing all sorts of odd and menial jobs, hoping that they could once again go on adventures together.
The priests had rejected him at the door, saying that there was no magic accessible to mankind that could restore a lost limb. They could re-attach it if he still carried the limb with him, which was sadly eaten, but making something as complicated like an arm out of nothing was out of the question. According to them, only holy magic of the highest tier could undo such damage.
The problem was that no one in the Kingdom or the Empire was able to use holy magic better than the Slane Theocracy. There were only a few mages in the world, and from those mages, even fewer had an aptitude for the holy attribute. Moreover, the entry fee into the city was three times more expensive than getting healed at the temple.
After years of struggling to find a cure for his condition, he'd tiredly accepted his fate, and decided to continue becoming an adventurer with his friends until their dying days.
Yet here he was today, staring at the leg he never thought he would see again in disbelief.
His wooden prosthetic clattered to the floor, no longer attached to his thigh, and he hesitantly took a step forward. He only looked down, dumbfounded and slowly wiggled his toes.
"Oi, you alright?" his friend worriedly asked him, clearly concerned over Antonios's silence and all he got in reply was a joyful sob as tears started falling from his comrade's face.
"My leg, it's all healed..." he looked up and inwardly thanked the Goddess who had taken pity on him despite his foolishness.
Amidst all the mixed up emotions within the inn, a cloaked bystander who sat in the very corner excused himself from his acquaintances and went out.
As the maiden left to go to Re-Estize Kingdom on her very first quest, a rumor slowly spilled onto the streets of E-Rantel.
A rumor that a Holy Saint had finally descended upon the world, and that she was accompanied by her Goddess's most favored creation. A white Dragon.
o(;;)o
The Re-Estize Kingdom was located west of the Azerlisia Mountains, north-west of Nazarick, and was a reasonable distance from E-Rantel, especially if she flew over. Within half an hour, she arrived at the capital city of Re-Estize Kingdom, and looked down at the city from Pentakrisis.
Tall buildings towered over the center of the city, and as she looked further out, the quality of the place gradually dwindled down. There was a massive difference between the rich and the poor, and this place reminded her of the medieval era back on Earth.
'As well as the modern era.' she quietly thought to herself.
She forced the gradually darkening train of thought to a halt. She didn't have time for sightseeing. All that was important right now was finishing this quest before Ainz arrived.
Now that she had a map of the kingdom, she could use 『Gate』to travel wherever she desired, just in case something happened. But this time, she landed just outside the gates of the Re-Estize Kingdom.
Pentakrisis definitely caused a mini-panic, but as soon as she showed the guards that she was a certified Adventurer from E-Rantel, along with her quest parchment, she was finally allowed passage inside the Kingdom. After that small spectacle she decided to hide in a small alley to teleport towards the western part of Re-Estize Kingdom.
When she arrived, the first thing she did was to inhale the new scent surrounding her. The sublime smell of salt against the wind. She ran excitedly towards the port and could only widen her eyes in awe.
The scene in front of her looked like it came straight out of a painting.
The water mirrored the blue sky, and the sun shone over the horizon that separated land from sea. She had never seen such a large body of water in one area before. A ship was sailing into the distance and disappeared over the horizon.
The view would have been much more superb if she flew above the sea with Pentakrisis. But if she did so she would inevitably cause another mass panic. Seriously, the people here were scared of nearly everything …
Anyways, she had a quest to finish.
She walked down to the port, and the hustle around her seemed to amplify the atmosphere of the place. It was most definitely a welcome change compared to the Fortress City, but still fell short of Nazarick afterall. Should she convince Ainz to create a new floor within the Great Tomb? A floor with a beach perhaps? Perhaps she could make that her reward for winning the bet.
There were several shops open for business. Most sold fish and various other fishing and sailing goods, while to her side were several restaurants where the people in aprons bustled around carrying goods.
In this densely populated commercial district, she had to look for a ship by inspecting a picture on the quest parchment. Finding it was probably going to take a few minutes, since there were so many ships lined up at the port.
Before long, she finally found the ship that she was looking for.
Looking up at the imposing mast, she should've guessed that a client rich enough to afford a Mythril plate adventurer would definitely own the largest ship at the port. One sailor, she assumed he was a sailor because he was carrying crates into the ship, had put down the box he was carrying and looked over in her direction.
"Good afternoon." she warmly greeted him.
"A-ah, yes."
"Is this Captain Barbbossa's ship?" she asked the young sailor.
"Y-yes!"
"Do you work for him?"
He nods.
"Is he here?" she took a step closer towards the boy.
He nods, his face flushed red like a boiled crab, and dashes inside the ship.
Did he want her to follow him?
Slightly shaking her head, she took her first step towards the raised platform of the ship and saw the sailor waiting for her.
The deck of the ship was just as grand as its exterior. Surely a ship of this size would definitely require a plethora of people to manage it. But as she looked around she saw not a single soul, and her ears couldn't pick out any signs of life either. It was almost as if the Captain and the sailor were the only two people on the ship. Three with her included.
The sailor lead her to the office right on the deck, where a well-groomed man she assumed was Captain Barbbossa sat.
She had expected someone with a fancy hat and a massive white beard like in some of the movies she had used to watch, but to her surprise, the Captain appeared to be relatively young, in his mid thirties at the most.
"Are you here for the quest?" he asked her hastily.
Tiamat immediately answered. "Yes." from the Captain's tone, she understood that if there is no time for idle chat, then the situation must be gravely serious.
The so called Curse of the Sea.
"Please follow me." He demanded, to which she complied.
They exited the Captain's office, the boy hurriedly tagging along. The Captain led her down into the city and away from the port.
"What can you tell me about the curse, Captain?" She asked, legitimately curious of the nature of this quest.
After a brief period of silence, the Captain replied. "Actually, I've submitted the quest to the Adventurers' Guild for years now and every time, all they did was recommend me to the temple to get my crew healed. But that's not what I want." He explained.
"As the quest stated, I came here to purify the curse." She replied kindly.
"As did many others before you." He stopped to look right into her eyes. From his facial expression, it doesn't seem like he handled the repeated failures of her predecessor's very well.
His words left much to be desired, but she knew one thing for sure. No one had been able to dispel a curse of this magnitude before.
This was seriously intriguing. She felt like she was in some sort of game world right now, taking on a quest to solve an unknown curse. How exciting!
'Well, this world is somehow equivalent to a game world right now.' she thinks wryly to herself.
But she had to remain calm and maintain professionalism. She couldn't afford to make any mistakes due to excitement right now. The client might take it the wrong way.
"What can you tell me about the curse?" She repeated her question, staring back at the Captain, her gaze undeterred.
The Captain could see the determination in her eyes. He nodded and continued leading the way. "You're not from here, are you? The curse is fairly famous among sailors. Us sailors, we can't make long distance travels because of this curse."
"Why is that?"
He began to tell her about the ominous curse that eradicated the sailors at sea. "If we were on the sea for more than three months, the sailors gradually began to display signs of the curse. For each person the curse differs. For some, they will bleed even though they are not injured. Some begin to experience seizures or have their old wounds reopened. Some hallucinate. But the most common sign of the curse is that their teeth fall out." He mentioned eerily.
Eh?
She stopped in her tracks.
Haha, There was no way right?
"The journey at sea has always been considerably difficult, but there usually isn't much damage to the ship itself. This is the curse; those who stay at sea will be cursed to death by an invisible force. We're here." said the Captain.
They stood in front of the temple. The architecture was similar to the Parthenon temple she had once seen in a history book with its towering columns. The Captain led her into the room where the surviving sailors were being treated.
As she walked past the doorway, she stumbled as the putrid odor assaulted her nose.
Even though it was a temple used as a contemporary hospital, the place was a hygienic nightmare.
The patients all slept on the floor due to the lack of room. The unwashed blankets and pillows were slowly turning a sickly yellow-brown in color. Blood and dirty gauze was laid unwashed, creating a fishy and rotten smell that permeated the air. It smelled like Death.
The smell was so pungent that Tiamat had to cover her nose with her hand.
"This is the result of the curse." Captain Barbbossa pointed to her. "These are all members of my crew. Even though they've been healed by the temple, the curse still brings most sailors to the brink of death. Please purify the curse of the sea!" He pleaded.
She had an idea regarding the nature of the curse as she mulled over all the possibilities in her head. The symptoms of the curse had sounded familiar, but she had to make sure.
"Am I allowed to examine your crew?"
"Please…"
She nodded, and she immediately went to the patient closest to her.
Bruised skin like that of an overripe fruit. Skin dried into a crust of dirty brown. A burning fever despite the ice bag placed on his forehead. She ran her hand through his hand and came away with a handful of dried up. But the next part was the most important in confirming her suspicions.
"Excuse me." She opened his lips wide to look at his gum.
"W-wait what are you doing?" Screamed the Captain. "I ask you to purify the curse of the sea! Not to heal my crew, the temple can do that for me!"
"I'm sorry, but this is necessary." She patiently explained. It was indeed necessary. The most important part even.
She looked back to the man's teeth, her eyes filled with disgust. Each tooth was rotting and barely hanging on to the man's gums. But this was the most vital piece of information. Inflamed gums.
Tiamat was in shock. Her lips thinned in disappointment and the eagerness from her eyes thought the curse would be something fantastical, like the song of the sirens, or the vengeance of some water spirit, but never in her wildest dreams did she expect it to be something as ordinary as this.
She proceeded to inspect the next patient. After she finished, she moved on to the next person, and continued to do so until she cleared the entire room.
The Captain could see her face slowly shift from a detached kindness into a dark scowl as she reached the last person in the room. Her bright eyes struck him with a sense of foreboding, but he didn't know from what.
Once she had finished, she headed back to the door where he stood. "You want me to purify the curse right?"
The Captain nodded. 'Finally!' He thought to himself. "Yes."
"Did you bring any money with you?"
"Money? Ah, yes…"
"In that case, follow me." She leads the way this time. But he noticed that they were not going in the direction of the port. They were going further into the heart of the city.
"Where are we going?" The Captain asked, but the girl didn't bother to respond to his question.
Instead she asked the Captain one question. "What are the provisions like on your ship?"
The Captain's mouth opens wide in surprise. The question didn't seem to address the purification of his crew, but surely there was no harm in answering her question. Afterall, most sailors ate the same thing.
"For our long journeys, it's a stretch to say that we have an abundance of food, but we carry enough to avoid starvation. Our diet consists mostly of fish, biscuits, cheese, and rum."
"Food that can stay over long period of time, huh?"
"That is indeed the case. Sometimes, we stop at ports along our route. There are some small islands, southwest of the mainland, but anchoring near those islands without express permission may bring unnecessary trouble."
"What about you Captain?" she stopped in her tracks and turned towards him. This time she's the one giving him a hardened frown. "To be perfectly honest, there are irregularities in your stories. You say that you've submitted the quest for years now, yet somehow you yourself are unaffected by this curse. Why is that?"
The Captain started to pick up on what she was implying.
"How did you..."
He immediately noticed his blunder and shut his mouth, but it was too late. Her sharp eyes were already trained on him.
Suddenly, his throat felt unbearably dry. There were a thousand thoughts racing through his mind. What should he tell her? How much should he reveal? How should he prove his claims? He tried to make excuses, but when he looked up at the maiden in front of him, he knew that there were no excuses he could make that would allow him to escape that piercing gaze.
With a bit of desperation creeping into his voice, he said, "I obtained freezing scrolls years ago. As you might already know, a low-tier freezing scroll could be used to freeze one small area for a period of time. I kept a small crate in my office filled with fresh vegetables, meat and high quality wine, and the freezing scroll would keep the crate cold for months, which helped preserve the vegetables and meat on long trips. Everytime we dock at a port I replenish my own food and scroll supply while my crew eat from their provisions."
"I knew it…" she whispered to herself. That was the big difference between the Captain and his crew.
"I know it's wrong of me to do so, but old habits die hard. Once I got used to eating fresh meat and vegetables, I couldn't go back to the old provisions anymore. Perhaps, you could figure out something?"
Unknown to the Captain, his eyes shone bright with greed, and Tiamat had a nagging sensation in her gut that he was expecting something from her.
"Well, I believe I have the solution for this problem."
"Huh?" the Captain's surprised exclamation almost turned everyone's head to their direction.
"The curse is not a curse." she stated matter-of-factly, "It's a disease. A deadly one at that."
"A disease? But a disease would have to be directly be transmitted from one person to another, yet everyone displayed different symptoms. Moreover, none of those symptoms have afflicted the citizens of the Kingdom, which includes those who buried the bodies and the healers at the temple."
"Yes, you're right. But not all diseases are transmittable by nature. In this case, the main cause of their disease lies in their diet." she continued walking.
"Their diet?" the Captain repeated in surprise.
"When a ship is sailing for a long time, it is understandable to not have a variety of food at hand. Fresh meat and vegetables rot when they are not quickly consumed. That's why there was no choice for you but to depend on food that would last throughout the entirety of your journey. Good thinking on your part for using a freezing scroll, but sadly, you decided to selfishly use it for yourself." she sighed, scowling in disappointment. "Did you really think this kind of diet would be healthy for anybody?"
"I understand well enough how important it is to eat good food. However, it is difficult to believe that a healthy man would suddenly keel over from a limited diet. Are you sure this is the cause of the disease?"
Well, Tiamat was half-expecting that sort of reaction from the Captain. Most people knew that you would die if you didn't eat, but few knew that more people died from what they put in their mouths than the lack of food altogether.
"Think of it like this, Captain." she began to explain. "What materials do you usually use when you're building a ship?"
Still following her, the Captain was bewildered by the abrupt change in topic. Head tilted to the side in confusion, he answered, "First, you need a circular hull to store large quantities of cargo. The vessel itself must built from the keep up. A thick wooden skeleton would keep the ship's hull in place. The hull would then be lined with overlapping planks that would held in place with brass fastenings. The planks that make up the bow and stern planks are rather long, connecting the ship to the keep. Lastly, to make the ship waterproof, tarred moss is applied over the curved grooves."
"Right, so mainly wood, brass nails, and tarred moss. Then what happens if you're missing one of these materials?"
"Having no wood is out of the question, and without brass nails you can't keep the wood in place. The ship could still be built without tarred moss, but it would most definitely sink, which would make it useless."
"Similarly, the human body is like a ship, though much more complicated. If the body doesn't receive the materials it needs in its diet, the human body, the ship, will become fragile. In short, this disease is simply the case of malnutrition."
The curse was not a curse. It was scurvy. The result of vitamin C deficiency which could lead to anemia, debility, exhaustion, spontaneous bleeding, pain in the limbs, swelling in the joints, and ulceration of the gums followed by the loss of teeth.
A disease that was most often associated with sailors back in the 15th century on Earth, when long sea voyages made it hard to get a steady supply of fresh produce. Countless sailors had fallen to victim to the vicious disease.
A similar situation had also occurred during the Irish potato famine of 1845 and the American Civil War. The last she had heard about the disease was from the outbreak during the Arcology War, where countless people died from lack of proper nutrition.
She should have known. The New World didn't have a clue regarding the concepts of a proper diet or nutrition. It was frustrating to be forced to explain things without using modern words.
The Captain appeared to be deep in thought. He was silent, but his eyes were clearly fixated on her back. It seemed like he was looking straight through her, so she disregarded it and forced herself to endure.
'Remember Tiamat. This is an A-ranked quest. You're dealing with a veeery important client.' she thought to herself.
In spite of her efforts to encourage herself, she couldn't escape the waves of disappointment that roiled through her emotions. She had truly and honestly thought she was going to encounter a curse. Something new, something exciting, a new piece of information that Ainz would most definitely have been unable to obtain but through her.
She sighed upon thinking about how the quest turned out.
"I understand."
"Huh?" she lifted her head in surprise.
The solemn expression he'd been wearing the entire time disappeared as he finally smiled. "I believe you."
"Eh?"
"I didn't really understand your whole explanation, but I do know that you were being honest. So I'm just going to take a leap of faith, since I currently don't have the time to be idling around. Right now, you're the only one whose provided an option at all, and I'm willing to take my chances. Besides, somehow, there's a part of me that can't help but believe you."
"Okay…"
"Forgive me for being too forward in asking this, but do you know how to eradicate this disease?"
She nodded with the utmost seriousness. "This is why I'm taking you to the market. There are some ingredients we need to buy."
"In that case, I shall purchase the required items post-haste."
To take preventative measures against scurvy, she introduced the Captain to sauerkraut and pickles. Sauerkraut is a fermented cabbage used frequently as garnish in Germany, while pickles are pickled cucumbers, famous in the United States and Canada.
As soon as they bought all the necessary ingredients, they rushed back to the ship and she immediately went to work. He had eagerly asked her what ingredients she needed, causing her to feel a little sorry for him when she told him that all she needed were a few vegetables, salt, vinegar, and sugar.
First came the sauerkraut. Using a small knife she borrowed from the Captain, she removed the core of the cabbage, shredding it into pieces, and dashed each leaf with salt. Then she let it sit until all the water from the cabbage had come out and transferred those juices and the cabbage into a container which she had disinfected with hot water.
Next she had to prepare the pickles. She sliced the cucumbers into quarters with precise vertical slices. Then she made the brine by mixing together water, vinegar, salt, and sugar, until all the salt and sugar had dissolved, and then added the cucumber and brine into another disinfected jar.
"All you need to do after this is to place it in a cool area where the sun can't reach it for a week, allowing the vegetables to ferment." she told the Captain upon finishing the preparations.
Wiping her hand with a towel, she looked at the Captain and the boy who were taking notes. He held his chin in his hand and frequently glanced at the incomplete product.
"It's surprisingly simple."
"Were you disappointed?" she smiled at him, and as if compelled, the same smile crept across his face.
"A little bit. However, with so few ingredients and time, producing it in large batches will be easy. What comes next is figuring out how to distribute it."
At his words, she hesitated. "Do you know a merchant?"
"Captain may be my title, but I'm more of a merchant than anything."
"Is that so? In that case, I have a request."
The Captain's eyes jolted wide open, but quickly narrowed, carrying an edge of seriousness. Wordlessly, he urged her on.
"I want you to handle this as one of your products."
His lips thinned and he furrowed his eyebrows, clearly surprised by her request.
"You know, if handled correctly, this product could yield a fortune, and that of course would be very convenient for me. Are you sure?"
"I'm an adventurer, Captain. Let's say I tried to teach every sailor I met how to make this; I doubt I would even find one who would trust me. They would either think that it's too good to be true, or that I'm trying to swindle them."
Such a conclusion was obvious on her part. Afterall, there was no such thing as a free meal. A lot of people would be suspicious if you were offered something free of charge. In fact, she would be a bit worried if someone had accepted her proposal without reservations.
To get the job done, and in order to truly eradicate the disease, she had to turn to one who knew about the business inside and out. Luckily, her quest had provided her with such a person.
"I'm sure a trustworthy Captain of your caliber, with your wide connections and many customers, would do the job well."
"You honor me far too much."
"With that being said, I have two conditions that I'd like to set."
"Conditions?" he asked.
"First, if you are planning on selling them, then I want you to set the price low. Of course, I'm not so stupid as to ask you to set the price so low that you're unable to make a profit, but at the very least, I want you to keep the cost as low as possible."
She was aware of just how selfish her request was. The product was original and would certainly become a necessity for any crew making long voyages. There was no doubt in her mind that it would sell well.
Right now she felt like she dangling a hunk of meat before a large shark, while wiggling the meat around and teasing the shark until it snapped and devoured her.
She had prepared the products in front of him, yet told him not to capitalize it. She could only imagine the business deals and negotiations he would have to deal with in the future because of this.
Regardless, there was no change in his expression. Ever since she came up with a solution his face remained tranquil, content even, which made it far more difficult for Tiamat to read his mood. Was he angry? Disappointed? Well, no matter. Afterall, there was another bomb she had to toss at him.
"What about your other condition?" he asked.
"I want the recipe written on parchment and attached to the jar so that everyone can make it."
It was likely for Captain Barbbossa to have accepted her first condition if he had no qualms with small profits and quick returns. High demand would eventually yield high result. Moreover, he would have a monopoly over the product. If he was as capable as she thought he was, he would definitely rake in a large profit.
But the second condition overturned all of that.
She was literally asking him to release his monopoly over the product and throw away the profits he could have made.
"Hoo…" it was clearly directed towards himself more than her.
She continued smiling. "What do you think?"
"You know, I have worked in restaurants before. Usually, they devoted a lot of time and care into what they have made. But you didn't do that. You made the most basic version so that anyone can make it." he smiled a little, as if to say 'Am I right?'
Now that they were on the same page, her smile widened and she nodded in affirmation. "You're not refusing?"
"Ha! I'm no saint, but I'm not such an idiot that I'd have no interest in the gem placed before me."
"Then you agree?"
He then suddenly laughed. He laughed so hard that his whole body shook. There were only two thoughts that went through her mind at the time. Whether she had made the Captain angry, or she had deeply troubled him.
"How cunning of you to make them in front of me and then telling me about your conditions afterwards. If you wanted me to accept your conditions, that recipe was the trump card you should've held on to until the very end."
Damn, he'd hit her right where it hurts. "You're not wrong." she conceded. "In fact, if you refused, I would have let you do as you pleased."
"What?" he was clearly dumbfounded by her reply.
"As I told you before. I am nothing but an Adventurer. You're a merchant. If the product is under your care, then nothing would possibly go wrong and it would reach nations further than I could have ever imagined. If you refused, then I would have gone back to E-Rantel to fix the quest, because in the end, there is no such thing called the curse of the sea."
Roughly speaking, she was leaving things entirely in his hand.
"I'm sorry for being so cunning." she smiled feebly, in response to the Captain's astonished face.
"You keep on surprising me…"
She just stared at him, waiting for him to continue.
"When you first came, I was really surprised. I asked myself, what could someone as young as you do to break the curse. A lone Mythril adventurer is simply unheard of. But as the day progressed, I noticed that even though you have reached Mythril at such a young age, you are not arrogant. Even with all that knowledge, you don't put yourself first." he stated.
She said nothing.
"You are correct. On a long trip by ship, food problems cannot be easily overlooked. The masses would've been suspicious if it had been marketed as a magical product, but a long lasting product is a different story. Even if the very idea of purifying the curse is a lie, it would be no great loss. Moreover the price is cheap and even the poor can buy it. Once again, I am filled with the highest regard for you. You are a tremendously incredible young lady." he looked at her with a straight back. "I accept your conditions."
On that day, another miracle had descended upon the world. It seemed that a solution to the dreaded curse of the sea had been discovered. A merchant had distributed the products over the market along with instructions detailing how to make it stuck on each and every product. Delicious in its simplicity.
Furthermore, it came with the blessing of a Goddess. The product was especially popular among the seafarers. The trade name was 'Tears of the Sea', from how the item was so salty it would make even the most hardened of sailors cry. It was said that the one benevolent enough to create such a miracle was a certain silver hair Priestess that had visited the port once upon a time.
o(;;)o
Today had been a long day indeed. Her first A-ranked quest had taken a few hours at the longest. If she wanted to rise faster than Ainz, then she needed to do better than this.
She wanted to return to E-Rantel as soon as possible, but first of all, there was one thing she had to handle before she could leave.
Two men in particular had been following her.
One when she was in E-Rantel, and another one in the Kingdom.
'What to do, what to do…' she idley thought to herself.
Currently, she was pretending to be sightseeing around the Kingdom. She could feel the man following her ever since she got down from Captain Barbbossa's ship.
Whether both of the people who followed her worked together or not, she had no idea. There was no way word of her arrival would travel from E-Rantel to the Kingdom within one day. It took far longer than a measly twenty four hours to travel on land between both places, and to arrange such a journey would take time as well, since you have to find the right person.
Most likely, the person following her is from E-Rantel and knew that she was going to the Kingdom for her first quest, which would explain why he was already here. Perhaps he knew from the moment she received her first quest.
Meaning the person who followed her was someone related to the Adventurers' Guild. Someone who knew who took what quest. Was it the receptionist? Was she selling information to other people?
Well, she had no way of knowing unless…
Which decision would be the most fun? Ah, decisions, decisions
Should she play around a little bit with the guy? Maybe she could get an idea of what his motives were.
If Ainz was with her, he would most definitely have avoided this situation.
Someday her curiosity would end up to be the end of her. Especially if she wasn't careful.
She looked at one of the invisible Eight-Edged Assassins who was scaling the wall. For her protection, Ainz had recommended her to take a team of invisible assassins with her just in case. She had balked at the idea when it was initially proposed, but she was glad she had decided to have followed his advice.
She smiled brightly to herself. Since the quest had been boring, she should have some fun on her own, right?
Using her skill 『Automatic Mapping』, she found the nearest alley with a dead end, and when she reached it, still under the pretense of sight-seeing, she innocently walked into the alleyway.
Not wanting to lose her from his sight, her stalker followed her into the alleyway. Preparing the syringe in his hand, as requested by his employer, he poked his head to the side and saw the Priestess's back, still cluelessly looking at the building designs of the Kingdom.
He looked left and right. No one was in sight. He took a deep breath. He could do this. She's just a lone woman. He was a trained specialist. Her dragon wasn't even here to protect her.
He whispered one of his martial art skills『Flow Acceleration』and hoped for the best as he began to pounce. Within mere seconds, his syringe was about to reach her neck, but was blocked by something invisible, something like...a force field?
Somehow he was thrown aside by something, and he lost his grip on the syringe which fell onto the ground.
"Well, well, well… what have we got here?"
Busted! He tried to run away from her. Suddenly the only exit out of the alley was blocked by a spider like abomination with eight razor sharp legs. Startled, he tried to scream. But just as he was about to draw his first breath, it hitched in his throat. Then he fell down onto the ground with a dull thud. His ears were ringing and his head felt heavy.
"Ah...I...too hard...alive?" was the only thing he could hear.
But one thing was clear. Behind her, a swirling red portal opened, seemingly cutting through the fabric of reality, and with that he closed his eyes, knowing that he had failed.
"Shall I kill him, My Lady?" asked the bizarre spider-like creature.
Tiamat picked up the syringe from the pavement. The first thing she did was to smell it. A sickly sweet smell. Sweet to the point that it was overbearing. What was it? And why did he try to inject her with it? Perhaps it was a sedative of some sort?
"No." she decided. "Bring him to Neuronist to be interrogated. Tell Demiurge to oversee the interrogation as well."
"As you wish." the spider then dragged the unconscious man through the portal, and the portal finally closes.
She walked out of the alley with a slight spring in her steps and once she went outside the gates of the Kingdom, she went to a secluded nearby forest and whistled. At her call, Pentakrisis landed gently, or as gently as he could, in front of her. He lowered his wings so that Tiamat could climb up his back.
"Shall we go back and continue questing?" she asked Pentakrisis, to which he happily nodded in agreement. He had really enjoyed this simple outing with his creator, and would do anything he could to prolong it.
