...

"...hey."

"Yeah?"

"Will it be okay?"

"The announcement?"

"Yeah... I am scared, to be honest."

I would be lying if I said I don't, but don't worry too much about it."

I mean, any logical person out there would tell you that an elf, much less a snow elf, and a human together as lovers is just a figment of the imagination."

"That said, look where we are now."

"I can't believe this. What a situation."

"Hey, we just need to announce it officially. What's the worst that could happen? I'm pretty sure no one would try to even go against me - the Heir in the Yukihana Family. "

"You flaunting that power for me is just overwhelming."

"Always for you, my love."

"Sweet talker."


"Signals of Hololive 3: The Legend of IRyS"

CHAPTER 2: Fated Complicated

Upon knowing the aforementioned item, the orcs wondered why he was holding such an important artifact that was first entrusted to Hundar, their famed and beloved orc warrior. Ayer, meanwhile, still does not realize how big of a big deal the issue was. When the orcs' mood started to go south, Riss quickly butted in and defended Ayer by explaining to them their current predicament.

The orcs, however, did not buy their stories and excuses, but they were willing to bring them to the orc elders for further questioning. The two kids were terrified at this as dark situations ran across their minds, especially for Riss, but Ayer held her hand and the two silently nodded to one another.

The two followed the group of orcs until they reached a place that appeared to be a small village. As they walked by, the two kids could not help but look around in both wonder and horror as the village was full of orcs. Judging by what they were wearing, they appeared to be war-like in nature.

The group so entered a house that differed from the rest. The leader of the Orcs pulled the two kids inside while the rest stood outside. The Leader made a growling noise, like that of a signal, and an old-looking orc emerged from within the veil of another room. The Old Orc asked the leader why he brought two human kids; the latter then showed him the gauntlets.

Upon seeing said item, he immediately ordered the leader to let the kids go. The leader was confused, but he did what he was ordered. The Old Orc apologized to the two kids who were frightened and told the Leader that, if Hundar really gave it to them, then they are to be trusted. The Old Orc reminded the leader that Hundar spent all of his life holding that gauntlet, and if by some circumstances he gave it to someone other than his own dead body, then he really trusted that person.

The Last quickly understood the situation and apologized to Old Orc before doing the same thing to the kids, both of whom were perplexed, but they accepted his apology. After this, the leader left the house without a heavy huff. The Old Orc turned his attention back to the kids and told them to sit down, for he would explain to them what was going on.

He first told the kids that there was no need for them to be afraid; the gauntlets they're holding are the same thing that the orc warrior had been holding ever since he came here. He was the most powerful orc they had and, as such, they respected him. The Old Orc then asked what happened to him. This made Ayer hesitate, but he nonetheless explained what happened.

The Old Orc, after hearing the news of the fall of a great warrior, could not help but feel grief after hearing the news. Despite this, however, he remained composed after shedding a tear or two. He told the kids that Hundar always held the gauntlets like they were part of his body and would not let anyone take or even touch them, unless it was destined.

And that's when something clicked for the Old Orc. He looked at the two kids, specifically at Ayer. The Old Orc then told them that Hundar left the village a few days ago, telling him that if he did not return, it would mean that he had entrusted the gauntlets to a destined person who has the potential to save the world.

It was, of course, a farfetched speculation that even the Old Orc could not believe, but because this came from the mouth of their most beloved warrior, he could not help but hope for it. However, the only way to find out for sure is to lead Ayer and Riss to go to the Snow Haven and meet the Snow Spirit King. The two kids, still confused at the last part, decided to nod.

The two exited the house and were guided by the Old Orc towards a small gate north of the village. No one can enter here except for some chosen people. The Old Orc told them to enter, and they would find an altar at the end. They must wait there for about a given time to see whether the Spirit King will respond to their approach, and if not, the Old Orc will guide the two kids out of the village to safety.

The two kids entered. They quickly noticed a thick layer of snow and cold around them, in contrast to the outside that was warm and spring. Up ahead, true to the Old Orc's words, they could see an altar. The Old Orc told them to stand in front of the alter while he simply stood to the side. The two kids followed his words and stood in front of it for a few seconds.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind breezed around them, which was shortly followed by snow that started to whirl around the two kids. Surrounded, Ayer and Riss could hear a voice calling out to them.

The voice introduced itself as the Snow Spirit King, then it mentioned Ayer and called him the "Inheritor of the Cold."

Ayer raised an eyebrow in confusion, thinking that the Spirit King may be talking to a different person. The Spirit King, however, noticed this and he told Ayer that it was him that he was calling. Before Ayer could talk back, the Spirit Kings proceeded to explain to them that the future of the land is in peril and that he would soon face difficulties and challenges.

The Snow Spirit King then manifested before them in the form of a human made up of snow. It then approached Ayer and placed a finger on his forehead. The Spirit King told him that it would be his blessing before its power started flowing to Ayer.

Eventually, the snow around them slowly stopped, and the Spirit King disappeared alongside it. Riss was baffled at what she witnessed and looked at Ayer with eyes of amazement, but the boy, still in bewilderment, simply nodded but told both himself and her that it was... weird.

Nonetheless, they got the message and left the place. The Old Orc, meanwhile, was waiting for them outside to guide them back to his house. He asked what had happened, and Ayer explained everything to him. The Old Orc was smiling all the time and told the young boy that he was indeed the blessed one.

They were then interrupted when the leader of the Orc suddenly barged in. He told the elder that a group of bandits and a powerful human were demanding to hand over the two human children or else they'd destroy the place.

Ayer and Riss paled, but the Old Orc quickly guided the two kids out to safety. He told the leader to keep those invaders at bay for the moment, to which the leader agreed and hurriedly left the area. The Old Orc then brought Ayer and Riss to a hidden passage to the west.

There, the two kids saw an orc who looked similar to Hundar. The Old Orc told them that he was Hundar's twin brother, "Ra'Khar". and that he will guide them to their ancestor's catacombs and out to safety.

Ra'Khar swore on his name that he would be with them to ensure their safety. Ayer and Riss thanked the Old Orc for his hospitality and left with Ra'Khar, who then led them to a secret entrance. After entering, the orc then punched the ceiling of the entrance until it collapsed, thus sealing the entrance with big rocks.

Ra'Khar told them to be careful and quiet in the catacombs, as it was their holy graveyard. Ayer and Riss nodded and threaded carefully with the orc. They headed straight deep into the catacombs for the entrance as the place was lit up by torches that were placed on the walls.

Suddenly, the clattering of bones can be heard inside as the dead start to rise. Ra'Khar was angry to see that someone was forcing the dead to return home and disrespecting their resting place.

The three charged their way through the area. The deeper they went, the stronger the undead they faced. Fortunately, they reached the bottom without any injuries or serious wounds. They finally found the source of this problem. In the middle of the room, a Necromancer could be seen summoning the dead. Ra'Khar demanded the Necromancer to stop what it was doing, but it only laughed at him.

The Necromancer told them that he was just doing this after getting paid and that there were no hard feelings between them. Ayer quickly told Ra'Khar that they should defeat it to bring peace within the catacombs, and the orc nodded. The three fought the Necromancer, who had the numerical advantage and constantly summoned powerful undead to varying degrees.

The group struggled to fend off the wave of undead one after another, with seemingly no end in sight. That's when Riss noticed that the undead they destroyed fixed themselves back up and looked at the Necromancer. She turned to Ayer and Ra'Khar and told them that they must defeat the Necromancer itself or else they will fall.

Ra'Khar told the kids to stick close to him from behind as he'd charge through the crowd towards the Necromancer. With this in mind, the kids followed, and the orc let out a roar before charging through the undead. The undead archers tried to stop the orc, but it did not stop. The Necromancer, getting worried, commanded a wall of undead to cover him.

But it was no use.

The Necromancer cried in despair as Ra'Khar destroyed the wall and beheaded the monster. The three let out a sigh of relief as the undead around them started to fall into pieces, unmoving. The kids are tired and would like to stop for a moment, but Ra'Khar tells them that the place is too dangerous. He simply told them to ride on his shoulders instead, as he walked towards the exit, which the kids took and thanked him for.

Upon reaching the surface, they looked around. A clearing could be seen up ahead. Upon reaching the end, Ayer and Riss noticed that they were near the Sacred Tree Ground. Recognizing the place, the two kids would like to go back to their village to see if everyone's okay. But Ra'Khar was worried, so he'll accompany them, asking the kids to reassure the human adults that he's okay, to which both of them give him a thumbs up.

On the way, they saw the Hunter, and he ushered them to not go to the village because there were a bunch of cruel bandits searching for the two of them.

Although the kids tried to assure the Hunter that they could save the village, the Hunter disagreed, saying that it was the order of the Keeper to not let the two go in. That they must not worry and they can deal with this. The two kids were uneasy, but nonetheless, they followed the Hunter to where he would take them. He led the three into the cave where, there, the Keeper was inside. She would tell them the rest, and the Hunter nodded before leaving.

The Keeper was glad to see the kids alive, but the Hunter noticed the orc, Ra'Khar, was following them. The two adults got terrified at the sight of Ra'Khar and were about to attack, but Ayer quickly stopped them and assured them that he was on their way. Ra'Khar formally introduced himself and swore to protect the two kids from harm. This assured both the Keeper and the Hunter, who were familiar with the customs of the orcs that were similar to the knights when it came to upholding their honor.

After this, the keeper told the two kids to go down deeper into the cave and they would find their way out. The cave had a puzzle system, and the Keeper gave Ayer the answers. After that, she told him to go north and that he would find a small city. She told him to go find a friend of hers that is a dwarf there by the name of "Garrel" and that he would help them.

Meanwhile, back in the village, Dread can be seen inside the church-like house. He was confronting a nun who was standing before him, blocking a door. He told her to move but coerced her, but the nun remained at her place. At the end, he lost his patience and ended up stabbing the nun. He threw her to the side before opening the door and smirked as he saw a tunnel leading to somewhere.

Back in the cave, the keepers sensed something was approaching from afar and quickly told the kids to go ahead. She turned to the orc warrior and asked him to take care of them, which Ra'Khar understood quickly. They hurriedly made their way deeper, but a loud voice called them out from behind. They looked back, and they saw that it was Dread. The boy Ayer pointed out that he was the one who killed Hundar and Ra'Khar.

The orc warrior was pissed and was about to turn back and fight, but the Keeper stopped him before telling them to not confront Dread. She will deal with him herself; she's familiar with him and knows that even he, or an army, wouldn't do anything against Dread.

The dark warrior, upon getting close, noticed that there was something more than met the eye of the keeper, but he brushed it off as he glared darkly at the two kids behind her. The Keeper told Ra'Khar to ignore everything and get the two kids out of here. The orc warrior hesitated, but he complied in the end and lifted the two kids, who called out to the keeper to be careful and come back. The three disappeared into the darkness, leaving the dark warrior and the Keeper behind.

The sinister man laughed at what he had just seen. He asked the Keeper what her point of sacrifice was. The Keeper merely smirked at him before telling him that she knew him very well. Dread could only chuckle. Since she knows him well, then he won't kill her as his show of mercy, as long as she does not stop him.

However, the keeper did not listen. She instead fired a surprise attack of ice magic at Dread, who narrowly dodged it. In response, a blazing fire emerged from the side of his face as he glared at the woman.

The Keeper then cast an ice wall behind her, and she prepared herself to cast another ice spell. She asked Dread if he knew her, to which the man replied, "No." The Keeper then lifted her hands up and showed a floating symbol made up of ice. This time, Dread remembered something.

He recognized the symbol and called for the woman, whom he heard was known as "Glasera." Upon hearing this, he let out a maniacal laugh as his whole body suddenly lit up in flames and a thirst for a good fight emerged from his face. The two then fought each other.

Back to Ayer, they were still solving the puzzles and, judging by the look of it, they were almost done. Though the kids were sniffling and almost close to crying, Ra'Khar could only stay in silence as he did the heavy work. In the end, they managed to finish the puzzles, and a door to the exit of the roll opened. They exited the cave, and they are now on the other side. A valley can be found below, only to suddenly find a man waiting for other.

Ayer and co. looked at the man and vice-versa. The said man coughed. He told them that he was a mercenary and told Ayer to hand over the gauntlets. There were a few seconds of silence before Ra'Khar yelled at him for a challenge while the two kids screamed in terror. As the orc and the mercenary fought, the two kids stepped back to relax. They were about to assist Ra'Khar when the orc yelled at them to stay back.

The mercenary, after getting cornered, pulled out a scroll and shot a spell towards Ra'Khar, but in doing so it went towards the children. Ayer and Riss could only notice it before a spell suddenly hit the latter and instantly turned her into stone, at which the boy was horrified. Ra'Khar swiftly knocked the mercenary down and approached the boy. Ayer cried as he uselessly tried to find a way. The orc noticed something and told the boy that Riss was still alive. It appeared that she just went to sleep while petrified.

The orc told the boy they should ask for help from a person the priest woman was being mentioned as. Ayer agreed with hesitation and Ra'Khar hid Riss within the deep foliage. The young boy could only look back and promise that he would bring her back as the two left the area and headed north.

They eventually arrived at a small city; it was the Banquet City. Most of the people there, especially the guards, were shocked to see an orc following the kid and almost resort to violence, but Ayer managed to convince them with Ra'Khar 's decree of his guardian. Well, everything was okay. At least, that's what the boy thought as he asked the guards where to find a dwarf by the name of Garrel.

They pointed out that he was in his blacksmith just near the center of the city. They headed there and saw the said person. Ayer called out the name of the dwarf, and the latter asked who he was. The boy introduced himself and also the keeper, who mentioned him, and after that, Garrel turned serious and urged the two to come inside his blacksmith.

For some reason, the woman begged him to promise that if a young boy came to him by her name, he would look after was confused, and Ra'Khar reminded him that maybe the Keeper knew his destiny and just kept it secret for him to find out naturally instead of saying it.

The boy was frustrated at the term and kept on denying it, in which the orc wouldn't pursue any further. After that, the boy asked Garrel for help about a spell that could undo a petrification spell. The dwarf said that it's easy to obtain the said anti-petrification scroll, but they must at least kill a certain number of monsters, to which the boy wholeheartedly agreed.

Garrel then told them to go to the Misty Forest to the northwest and kill a stone snake. But before that, it was already dark and the small city would be closed, so the dwarf told them to sleep. The two accepted that and went to sleep.

Morning came, and Garrel informed them that the guild had accepted their request, and he gave Ayer the objectives for the Misty two then headed out there. True to the forest's name, it was misty indeed. Fortunately, the said stone snakes were found easily, but in the midst of that, Ayer saw a girl standing there.

He felt something nostalgic when seeing the girl, but he didn't know who she was. He waved hello to the girl, but the girl got scared and ran away. The boy told her to wait and followed, while Ra'Khar returned to find the boy sniffed the air and found the direction where he was headed and followed snake.

The two kids, who don't know each other, continued to run, only for the said girl to trip and fall on the grassy ground. Suddenly, a group of stone snakes appeared and were ready to bite her, but Ayer saved her and guarded her. The boy managed to kill some monsters, but there were still so many. Fortunately, Ra'Khar arrived to save the day and defeated the snakes.

Ayer introduced himself and Ra'Khar to the girl, who looked scared still. The boy asked the girl's name, to which he had gotten a silent response since the beginning. But when he asked if she would like to come with them so that they could protect her, the girl's features softened as she approached Ayer and nervously tugged on the fabric of his clothing.

The boy sighed as he managed to convince her to come with them. After Ra'Khar collected the carcasses from the stone snakes, they headed back to Dome City. They returned back to Garrel's blacksmith and gave him the carcasses. The dwarf told them to wait for him to give this to the guild and head out. As Ra'Khar wandered around the blacksmith, looking very closely at Garrel's collection of weapons, Ayer asked the girl why she was in the forest.

That she lived in that forest was a small and quiet boy found it odd for the forest to be surrounded by stone snakes, but nonetheless, he was glad she was fine as he patted her head, which earned a cute look from the girl, and the boy found it adorable. Garrel returned with good news and handed Ayer the scroll of anti-petrification spell.

The boy gave his thanks to the dwarf who welcomed him back. Ayer and company left the blacksmith and went south to return to the Humanian Edge. Upon arriving, Ayer was thankful enough that nothing happened to Riss as a statue while Ra'Khar pulled her out. He hoped for the anti-petrification spell to work as he placed the scroll on Riss.

It appeared to be working, but only for the scroll to break apart. This gave a shock, especially to Ayer, who started to think negatively the moment the scroll was lost, when suddenly, the girl he brought along pulled out a small staff. He watched the girl stand in front of the statue of Riss before her scroll started to shine white.