Finally rid of the pungent smell of unbathed men, Toreii took a breath of fresh air as she came out of her teleportation. She was back where she started, on the other side of the forest from where she drifted in from, along with the elves – whom she summarily teleported once again to the flat grasslands, for security's sake. There were plenty of Players like Iago back in Yggdrasil, who would do anything to make a quick profit, but it was still exhausting for her to deal with him.
"S-STAY BACK!" The older elves clamored. They huddled their youth behind themselves, using their physical bodies as a barrier against Toreii. "PLEASE LET THE YOUNG ONES GO! Eat us if you have to! We beg of you! The little ones have nothing to do with this!"
Toreii tilted her head in confusion, looking back at the elves who were inching further and further away from her. A wall was formed by the adult elves whose goal seemed to be to block her view of the captured children.
Her wikia/fandom page might have had some nasty comments and false rumors on it, but accusing her of eating children was a new one.
She took 1 step forward… and the elves responded with 3 steps back. Why they had not just started running away, she could only guess. If she moved anymore, both parties would have had to shout to be heard by one another. Unlike with the traders, where she had to make stuff up on the spot, Toreii chose her words carefully with the newly freed slaves.
"Why would I eat you?" Toreii asked, standing her ground. The month she spent practicing her speaking abilities still needed some work, but as long as she took her time, her anxiety could be contained.
"We know you're a d-dragon in disguise!" One of the elves spoke, with her companions nodding their heads in agreement.
'Huh? What? Can dragons do that in this world?' She wondered. Doppelgängers were the only race in Yggdrasil she knew of capable of changing their appearance without the need of an item. It seemed in this New World, there were special abilities unique only to it too.
Still confused with their answer, Toreii replied back, "What makes you think I'm a dragon?"
Like it was the most obvious answer, the elves shouted in unison, "We can smell your dragon blood! And that golden spear! Only a dragon would ever be capable of owning something so frightening!"
'I smell like dragon blood?' Toreii thought to herself as she gave herself a whiff. At best, she could only make out a tiny hint of iron on her robes. Now that the elves had mentioned it, the young Deity had yet to bathe once since coming to the New World. Her immortal body did not age or make secretions like her human body used to, so she didn't feel the natural urge to do so.
Even with superhuman senses, Toreii lacked the experience the New World natives took as common knowledge. Although dragons were considered mobs whom Players grinded for their EXP and material in Yggdrasil, it was a complete 180° in this world. A dragon was something to be feared, instead of farmed. However, that raised another question inside of her mind, since all of the dragons she had seen thus far were roughly akin to the Level 60 dragon mobs she used to farm.
Now that she had magically-inclined natives who were not on the kill-her-on-sight parade, it was time to test the limits of the New World. From the hydra, she knew Tiered Magic existed in this New World, including spells which were not native to Yggdrasil. Without her HUD, the only way to learn about these spells was to ask directly.
Thinking she can kill two birds with one stone, Toreii used some of the dramatic flair she practiced for the nobles. Sharply moving her arm into position, she pointed at ones of the elves like a God appointing his disciple. Out of all the elves to choose from, she picked the one who stuck out the most.
Because of the heterochromatic eyes watching her silently and diligently, an elf child was singled out by Toreii. Immediately after, the elves mobilize to block her view of the child. As if to play dumb, another elf spoke up to draw her attention away, "I will gladly be your sacrifice! Please allow the others to go! Great honorable dragon! I beg of you!"
Toreii was getting tired of these roundabout answers she kept getting, and she was even more tired of being called a dragon. With a silent sigh, she went with whatever cooperation she was going to get. "What Tier Magic can you use?"
The young adult elf who had volunteered herself stiffened in emotional panic, feeling like she was a produce at a market, being judged whether she was worth eating. She swallowed a hard knot in her throat and lied to make herself more appealing. "I c-can use fi-" she choked on her words as tears almost spilled out of her eyes, "se-... se-... THIRD! I can use T-Third Tier spells!"
The other elves around her did not have the heart to look at her. It was obvious to the ones old enough to understand what the single girl was doing. Her body shook nervously, using up all of her energy at once. Without the company of her kin, she was afraid she would fall to the ground any moment. Light green eyes which once sparkled turned red and puffy, as she held back her tears as best she could.
No more words were shared among them, but their silence was deafening. From behind her, a soft, small hand gently grasped hold of hers. She could no longer hold back her tears, as the salty droplets ran with full force down her face. Every fiber in her being told her to turn around, to glimpse at who she was protecting one last time, but she could not. There would be more anguish for everyone if she did. It was now her burden to bear, and hers alone.
Had her vision not been blurred by tears, the young elf would have seen Toreii's quizzical look. With a single eyebrow raised as if asking, 'Is that all?' she patiently waited to see if there would be more exposition from the elves. A full minute passed and there were still no more answers to her questions.
"Third-Tier?" Toreii repeated out loud. The elves reeled back from her voice, as if they wanted desperately to shout to her, 'What more do you want?!' "Can all of you use Third-Tier? Or just her?"
Dozens of eyes looked away from the Deity, unable to force themselves to become the next martyr. The elf girl who spoke up earlier realized she was alone in this confrontation. The unity she felt earlier crumbled away piece by piece, as resentment poured its way into her heart. Her hand gave a tiny squeeze to the child's whom she was desperately trying to protect, and she took her last stand, "It's o-only me…"
If the elves knew Toreii could see magical auras, they would not have been so callous as to lie to her. Every adult elf she looked at had the same magical prowess, if her vision is to still be trusted. All of the children had little-to-no magical auras at all, except for one: the single elf girl with red and purple eyes. She had her suspicions earlier, but since the slavers made no hassle about it, Toreii thought it was for only cosmetic reasons heterochromia existed and was prized.
Tired of not getting any straightforward answers, Toreii had to step out of her comfort zone to get what she needed. "The girl behind you; can she not use spells higher than the Third-Tier?" Toreii asked politely. Among the light flares of magical auras, the heterochromatic girl was the only one with a concentrated and focused light. "Who is she? What is she to you?"
"S-she's just a child! M-My… younger sister! Please s-spare her…" the girl cried. As long as the girl she was protecting lived on, she was fine tarnishing herself in front of the other elves to do so.
A gentle whisper came from behind the elf, which caused her to freeze up, "Lyra… It's okay. I'm sorry I got you involved in this. I'm sorry I got everyone in this mess…" Gently pushing her way from behind the crowd, Lyra, who was still holding her hand, collapsed onto the ground.
"I am sorry to have deceived you for so long," the young girl spoke to Toreii. Walking away from the protection of her group, the others could only hang their heads low in shame. "I am Vy Nir Nythymyr, Third Princess of the Elven Kingdom of Gallahan," she proudly proclaimed with a deep bow to Toreii. "From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for freeing my people. They have endured much to keep me safe, but I can no longer stand to watch them suffer. I am unable to repay you for the kindness and mercy you've us, but I can offer myself."
"P-Please reconsider th-"
"I am capable of Fourth-Tier Magic," Vy announced like it was a royal decree, silencing her subject's protest.
'Only the Fourth-Tier? I guess she looks pretty young to be getting into the higher tiers. But she's royalty? Maybe she can teach me how to act around the nobles! But… Should I bring her to Asgard? Maybe just my base for now… I don't know how they will react to the natives of this world…' Ai thought to herself. Things were finally starting to look up for her, but the time crunch of the noble meeting was almost here. With only a few days left, she would have to learn quickly and as much as she could from the princess.
"Do you have a place to go?" Toreii asked. Bringing them to Asgard was a definite no right now. If there was an elven kingdom nearby, she could sit and watch one of their royal proceedings and learn for when she had to do the same.
Keeping her head bowed, the elven princess's voice turned to a low whisper, "I'm… afraid not. I have run away from my home, thus abdicating my title and any claims to my kingdom. In the eyes of my people… I'm nothing more than a lowly traitor."
"You ran away from home?" Toreii softly spoke. Although sudden, after gaining her own daughters, the Deity wondered everyday if they were happy. Being confined to their place of birth exclusively was not exactly what she wanted for children. Hearing Vy ran away from her own kingdom made her wonder if any of her NPCs would ever do the same.
After a brief pause, the young elf finally spoke, "Y-Yes… That is why I am unable to repay you for your kindness. All I have is my being and my knowledge, but please… " Vy's voice was barely audible to a normal person now, her royal presence from earlier melting away. "Do not ask me to betray my kingdom. My people… Let me die today knowing they are safe than to let me live to see their anguish. That is my only request of you, noble dragon!" She asked, her tears fully flowing and leaving droplets on the grass below, her earlier composure completely gone after so long under this 'dragon's' intense scrutiny.
A bit petered she was still being called a dragon, Toreii closed her eyes and gently sighed. The first thing she was going to do once she was back in Asgard was take a bath. Of all the basic necessities to forget about, bathing should not have been one of them. Why not even her own NPCs had mentioned it to her once made her embarrassed.
"I'm not going to eat you…" Toreii sighed to the bowing elf, "And I am not a dragon! I've just been… slaying a bunch of dragons recently." Technically it was only a single hydra, but if she were counting heads, it would have exceeded over 1,000.
Surprised by the sudden proclamation, Vy looked to the Deity in a new light, "Y-You've slain dragons?!" If what she heard was true, then merely bowing her head was the greatest insult she could have shown to her savior. "W-What Tier Magic was able to kill a dragon?!"
"What Tier…? Uhh… I guess at least the 7th? Maybe the 8th for a quick kill," Toreii answered nonchalantly as if it was common knowledge. Dragons in Yggdrasil had a great deal of natural resistances among their kind, but any Level 100 Player with good spell rotations and kiting skill could zerg a dozen dragons down for their material with ease. The spawn timer Players had to wait in-between each run took longer than actually killing the dragons.
Vy's head immediately hit the ground with a soft thud, as she prostrated before Toreii. The claim was as preposterous as the myths about dragons she heard growing up. However, with the golden spear at her side and the smell of dragon blood on her body, it was impossible for Vy to dismiss such claims like the 7th- and 8th-Tier of magic. Her own father, the King, was capable of the 6th-Tier after learning for some 300 years. If the rumors she heard from her captors were true, then the being before her was truly about 10,000 years old.
"P-Please forgive me! I meant you no disrespect," her muffled voice cried through the ground she was facing. Her forehead was deep in the dirt, lower than her own lowest bows to her father in the past.
'Why is she bowing so deep… Didn't that hurt? A kid shouldn't be made to do this…' Toreii thought to herself. Everyone only had one childhood, and to see the kid in front of her lose hers made her feel uneasy. She raised a hand to try to stop the elven princess, but the gesture was going onto deaf ears. "You don't have to bow to me. I'm not that special."
Seeing the girl was not going to raise her head any time soon, Toreii sighed internally and slowly approached the elf. The group behind the princess who once stood motionless now moved into action to try to intercept the Deity. They all stopped in their tracks as Toreii shot them a glare she had spent hours practicing beforehand. She was done dealing with their nonsense and non-answer answers.
Her entirety body stiffened as Toreii gently touched her shoulder with a hand.
The yellow rays of sunlight were burning into a crimson purple, which told her she would have to return to Asgard soon. With no idea as to how the Asgardians would react to foreigners, her Parthenon was the only immediate shelter she could offer.
"Please don't bow to me," Toreii assured with a gentle tone, "I was only doing what was right. My… friends taught me that." Although she did not know if the rest of them were alive or not, she could at least be proud to know they left an impact on the New World through her.
Vy barely peeked her head up, just enough to get a glimpse of a being capable of killing a dragon. The young girl looked no older than she did, which was misleading since the elven princess was almost 50 years in age. However, the only thing she saw through her tears was a warm smile from her savior.
If there was a female God, this was her… and she looked 10.
"I-I heard from those humans you were… 10,000 y-years old? Is that how you're able to use the 8th-Tier?" Vy asked.
"Oh… that… Well, you see…" Toreii began her explanation. Of all the possible lies she could have come up with, it was hard to explain why she was not a few eons old. However, it was probably easier to roll with the punches instead of evading them, because there's a high potential of getting suckered by another. "Yeah… I'm 10,000 years old. Is it not common for people to know of the 8th-Tier?"
"Only those of great talent and skill are capable of using magic higher than the 3rd-Tier. My… father… He was a prodigy from birth. After 300 years of academics and self-study, he was able to achieve the 6th-Tier." The knot in her throat threatened to completely block her airways, as Vy peered at her first counter of a true immortal. "W-Were you sealed away by the dragons? Did they fear your 8th-Tier spells? Is the 8th-Tier… the realms of Godhood?"
'Godhood…? In the 8th-Tier? Do the natives of this world not have higher-tier spells?' she wondered to herself. It was probably best to not mention there existed the 11th-Tier for now. If the elf girl thought only Gods can use the 8th-Tier, then she would hate to see her mind shatter under the weight of knowing there were Super-Tier spells.
"Yes…" Toreii replied, giving no indication as to what question she was answering.
The royal visage Vy once adorn had already crumbled away, as her true maturity started to shine through. There was excitement in her voice, the young girl giddy from learning some fairytales were actually true. "W-Will you accept me as your st-student?" she begged.
"My… student?" Toreii repeated with hesitation. If it was just a single student in academics, she could probably manage, but a teacher in magic? She had barely grasped how her own magic worked in this world, and to teach someone else something she had no clue on was just asking for trouble. However, she needed to learn nobility skills before her upcoming meeting. If it was just teaching Vy the 5th-Tier, then Toreii might be able to manage. If it took the elf's father 300 years to learn the 6th-Tier, then she had plenty of time to stall till then.
Choosing her words carefully, Toreii crafted a dialogue tree in her mind. She had all the cards in her hands – all she needed to do was not tell more outrageous lies about herself. "But don't you already owe a debt to me for saving you and these other elves?"
As soon as she mentioned it, Vy's face was crestfallen. The elf princess was already in debt to her savior, and now she was pushing for more than she should have. What the Goddess in front of her said was true. Although her intentions were pure, Vy had no way to repay the debt she already owed. She ran away from her kingdom because she was weak. There was no other explanation for it. If this fated meeting did not occur, she might have spent the rest of her long life in slavery, becoming a lowly human's plaything.
Now was the only chance she had to change her destiny. A walking God who knew magic strong enough to kill dragons was staring her down. It was surreal to meet someone, who was just mere moments ago, pure myths and legends to her. All these thoughts swirled around in her mind, but it all ultimately led back to her people. She ran away because she could not save her people. She was weak, and frail, and young, and useless…
"Teach me the 8th-Tier… and I will give you my kingdom," Vy declared proudly.
'What…?'
"M-My lady! You mustn't!" The older elves cried as they rushed to her side, with the children following them closely after.
"Silence!" Vy demanded, sharply throwing her hand to one side with regal elegance. Not only did the other elves go quiet, but they also recoiled back after remembering whose presence they were in.
"Didn't you say earlier you left your kingdom?" Toreii questioned in a panic. She did not expect the royal descendent to rush into learning magic this badly.
"My kingdom is at war with the Orcs. It has been so for the last 100 years, even if it is not officially declared. My people… They are not warriors or mages, or even have a fighting spirit. We live in harmony with the spirits around us. My father… He will not stand up for our people… But I will fight for the lives of my fellow elves!" Vy spoke like a true paragon.
Toreii was speechless against the ruler's disposition. As if she was swooned by a natural 20 on a critical speech check, there was not much argument she could put up — beside the fact she did not know how magic worked in this New World. However, the setting sun meant she was out of time. Asgard and its inhabitants needed her presence.
"Let's make a deal."
"Mother! You've returned safely once again," a cheerful voice clamored as Vy blinked away the blurriness in her eyes from teleporting. "Do we have more guests this time?"
"Yes… I'm sorry to burden you all the time, Viridi," Toreii apologized. "I'll be back later, so please treat these elves well."
The young God before her was gone again in a swirl of purple light. Using her small hands to rub her eyes, Vy forced them to adjust to her new surroundings. Ample amount of gasping could be heard behind her, which caused jitters in her heart as to what her savior was talking about earlier. With her vision finally clearing, the green grass and trees were no longer here, replaced by grey stone instead. The earthy smell she was used to was instead replaced by a flowery aroma, the same kind she loved during the first blossom of spring.
She and her fellow escapees were standing on a warm stone path, just a few steps away from an ascending stairway leading to a monolith. As if she were transported through space and time, the architecture was nothing short of the work of God. Every inch of the alabaster stone was finely detailed with arcane patterns never seen before in elven history. Even her own castle, which stood several times higher than this building, would be akin to nothing more than an eyesore.
Yet, her eyes were entrapped by the lone beauty who was able to call a God her 'mother'. Angelic wings, light and fluffy, were as pure as the gowns the elfling wore. Even with a life of pampering and handmaidens at her beck and call, her own blond hair was lackluster to the shining golden locks the descending elf had.
Claim to her father's throne flowed through her blood, but what was a king to a God?
Kneeling down on one knee, the demigod smiled warmly to Vy, speaking in a calm tone like a mother to a child, "My name is Viridi. Welcome to my home."
~~~ 1 Week Later
The integration of the elves went as smooth as she could have hoped. Although they were solely confined to her Parthenon, it was far more spacious than their previous enclosure. Viridi had everyone cleaned and clothed properly by the next morning Toreii had visited. Her eldest daughter did not seem to mind busy work in the slightest, but she still felt bad about dumping a small town's worth of elves into her lap.
As if she were in Athens, all of the beings walking around her base were clothed in togas. The younger elf children were aloof, playing with each other by the water fountain which Toreii had managed to fix with Yggdrasil gold. Thankfully, the guild base still had its functionalities, which meant it could still be used as a stronghold if needed. Although that was not the only thing which made her heart flutter in happiness…
The inhumane scars the humans had left on the elves' ears had been fully healed, something which all of the elves had considered nothing short of a miracle. Even the elves who were psychologically damaged, Toreii was surprised Viridi had the ability to edit the memories of the ones who wish to forget their traumatic experiences. These kinds of skills would have been considered useless in Yggdrasil's PVP community, but to the elves, it was a godsend.
Every day, when Toreii came down for her lessons with Vy, a crowd of elves could be seen discreetly following Viridi, to whom overnight these elves had turned from followers to worshipers of her everything. Toreii would have been very embarrassed by the attention, but her daughter accepted the glorification with open arms. Even Gratia was not immune to the confidence and charisma the ancient elf extruded. The once proud and temperamental dragon girl was eagerly following Viridi, dressed in a maid outfit no less, no longer caring about her own self-image.
From what she could gather discreetly, her choice of levelling up Viridi's racial levels as an [Elf] meant that to Vy and her fellow elves, her angelic daughter could be considered their great ancestor – a progenitor of the race, one could say.
It only made it more awkward when she followed that line of thought: She was Viridi's mother, whom the elves now considered an ancient spirit worth worshipping. So, Toreii's standing in their eyes rose exponentially again, necessitating her to reconstruct her agreement with the elves about how to react around her.
Her Parthenon, once barren, was filled with chatter and commotion, something which she wanted to achieve with her 30 NPCs originally, but that dream was cut short. She wondered how long this moment was going to last, as she gazed from the fountain entrance. Today was the last day of her lessons with Vy, whom she had struck a bargain with. The elf may have appeared to be a mere child, but her actual age was greater than Ai's.
It was strange to be acting like a 10,000-years-old God, and the lies she had to keep track of was getting more and more out of hand. So far, she was an old God, born well before the time of civilization, or any of the other Gods which the elves worship. However, some time ago, about 5 or 6 thousand years, she had been sealed away by all of dragon-kind as they feared her powers. During her banishment from this plane of existence, the world had forgotten her, including the dragons who were supposed to keep her sealed. Upon obliterating her magical prison, she summoned her greatest treasure and massacred a horde of dragons numbering in the millions. Every retelling of her fake backstory had a new element to it, which was usually a new highly-exaggerated feat.
Even by Yggdrasil standards, Toreii was apparently accomplishing things which would make even the devs think was unbalanced. She desperately wanted to correct them and to say it was all a big misunderstanding, but the lies just got bigger and bigger. Toreii could do nothing but weather it, and hope none of this gets out to the outside world.
Vy was at least able to contain her own imagination, sticking to the bargain Toreii had planned out. In the next 100 years or so, the elf princess had to let her body grow in order to be able to handle the pressure of the higher-tier spells — at least that was the lie Toreii had come up with to delay teaching her. She was sure by then she could figure out how magic could be learned and taught in this New World.
The first of the lessons for Toreii from the elf started with correcting her posture and how to handle herself. From the way she carried herself to how she held her divine spear, it was with royal prose and purpose. Every step forward was with confidence and power, every sway of her twin pigtails with elegance and refinement, and every look with her eyes beautiful and intelligent.
It was completely different than the training she put herself through earlier!
She did not want to call it a waste of time, but it truly was all drama for the sake of drama. Instead of an extravagant display meant to showcase all of her movement, she was to act subtle, to let the weight and purpose of her intentions be the thing leaving an impact. Yet that was not even half the battle.
With only 7 days to get a crash course on how upper nobility behaved, her body once again practiced its pose while her mind learned. Although every form of government was different, every monarchy had noble families whom one would delegate sections of the city to. Each one was like rungs on a ladder, each one ranked by whatever system the devs had set Asgard up as. Government was always Toreii's foible, but that was no longer avoidable.
Things were finally looking up for Toreii, which was why she was worried something might come out of the blue to ruin all of her progression. She had managed to secure herself a teacher in all things royal, but that did not mean she was out of the frying pan just yet. Even if she could act and look royal, any decision made by her would also be a royal decree. Good decisions, bad decisions, any made by her would be taken as the law.
Although she had originally lied to Vy about… everything… The weight she felt now, the burden of a nation on her shoulders, that monumental weight has always been on the elf's since the day she was born. Toreii truly did want to come clean to the princess, so she might have someone to confide with about her worries, but for now, she walked the path of a lone God.
"Thank you, Vy," Toreii said from the bottom of her heart.
Watching the Deity practice since dawn, the princess was resting her legs by the fountain's ledge. Since the the lessons began, Vy began learning more about who saved her from a life of slavery. A God who knows right from wrong, when to help and how sincerity carried more weight than power. What astonished her most was not the 8th-Tier of magic or the God's heavenly home, but the humility Toreii was constantly showing.
Kings and queens born and raised to act superior to everyone, yet the one being who was superior to any king was as modest as the clothes she wore. All of her life, Vy expected Gods to be incapable of emotions, which was why they could so easily turn a blind eye to the suffering of the world they created. Yet these expectations were subverted every day she spent with this God.
"No, thank you, not just for saving everyone here," Vy spoke softly, looking to her people freely moving around. "Thank you for giving them a new home and for giving me… hope…"
"Really… I didn't do much," Toreii quickly retorted. Finishing her last day of training, the Deity took a long breather, stretching her arms and legs.
"Please don't sell short what you've accomplished! Not even I can give everyone here what you have…" Vy said back. It troubled her to see Toreii apologize for being a burden on Viridi, yet was fine to undersell herself with her own feats. "You're so… so… kind…" she mumbled in a whimper.
"Are Gods supposed to be mean?" Toreii asked back, "I've haven't met any other ones."
"No… I just mean… Well…" Vy hesitated, getting flustered, "The Gods my people worshiped were… more like spirits. They were the spirits of the air, of the land, of the animals, of the forest, of the mountains, of the rivers, or of the heart. Only humans really had any Gods to worship… but they are all nothing like how you act…"
The Deity gave a nonchalant shrug to the elf, aloofly asking, "Am I one of the Gods they worshiped?"
"No… I suppose not. But why did you save us? We're just mortals," the princess asked. She carefully looked Toreii up and down, "Even if I live to be 1,000, I'm still 10,000 years behind you. How… How can any of our lives be seen as worth saving to you?"
It would be hard to explain her actual reasoning for saving the elves. How could she just say, ":My friends were world champions, and they taught me to believe freedom is the right of all sentient beings!" How could she say straight to the elf's face, "I'm not actually 10,000 years old. I'm just a graduate student too afraid to become a professor." Who was she to judge a person's worth? Who was she to decide who gets to live or die? Who was she to decide if a person went to heaven or hell?
[Divine Judgement] was something only a Go-… an [Allfather] could pass…
Could she actually send the dead to Valhalla? Was there even a Valhalla in Yggdrasil? Is there a Valhalla in the New World? Did the devs even program in a Valhalla in the first place? What is Valhalla now? How did she decide who gets to go to Valhalla? These were all things she wished had been explained to her before the game ended. Not only did she not know much about the New World, but she also did not even know much about herself.
If only she had a magical wish-granting tree…
"I just saw someone who needed help. I didn't judge if you were worth saving. Why would I need to?" Toreii aptly replied after some thought.
Vy was originally told the Deity had spent too much time away from civilization being sealed by the dragons. So the Goddess had asked the elf to teach her how modern nobility functioned and behaved. However, now that Vy had seen who Toreii is, she wondered if it was possible at all for such a being to ever fit into hierarchy type government. Very few people in Vy's life ever helped someone in need because it was the right thing to do. Politics was always a game of gains and losses, except it was rigged against every loser who thought they could claw their way to power.
She understood now what it means to have power, what it looks like to be at the top and to feel nothing but pity for those below. Yet it was not with contempt that a higher being came at her time of need, but with a passion for life. Vy understood now why she hated her father… why the strength of a person can only be dependable if there was also strength of character. Whatever reason Toreii had for wanting to learn about higher nobility, Vy knew in her heart it would be for the betterment for everyone.
"I guess… I was raised to expect help always came with a price…" Vy answered, eyes downcast.
"Who raises their kid to think that?" Toreii said aloud. Realizing she said it with her mouth and not her thoughts, she gave the elf an apologetic look, "I mean no disrespect to your parents."
"Who indeed…" Vy mumbled under her breath, careful not to let her savior hear. "It wasn't always like this… I only ran away because… I couldn't live with the person my father has grown to be."
"And your mother…?" Toreii carefully asked.
Closing her eyes, Vy took long, deep, calm breaths. As if a terrible amount of weight had been lifted from her conscience, she confessed to the only God she knew. "I don't know… I woke up one day and she was gone. My father… never said anything, so I didn't ask."
'Is this how Nanami felt every time I left the Parthenon? Do all my NPCs think this way? Do the Asgardians?' Toreii wondered. She had responsibilities now, not just to Asgard, but also to her own daughters. 'I really am a bad mom sometimes…'
"I'll help you fi-"
"NO! Please… You've done so much already… I can't keep having someone else solve my problems for me. I'm not a child anymore," the princess clamored.
Toreii leisurely walked to the fountain where the elf sat, taking a seat right beside her. She did not need the cosmic insight of Odin or her superhuman vision to know the elf was holding back tears. Every day that her thoughts wandered back to her NPCs, Toreii found herself thinking back to her own upbringing. 'What would my mom do?' or 'How did she get through with raising me?' were the things she constantly asked herself.
She did not know how to console someone else, nor had she ever done so… or needed to do so. If one of her students had failed the class or was nearing failure, it was their responsibility, not hers – she would have thought as such a month ago. Toreii did not personally mind helping the elves or their princess. It gave her something to take her mind off of Asgard briefly, which she was grateful for.
She could deal with stuff like slavery or unequal treatment of other races, since those could be solved by physical means. A child missing her mother but not wanting to bother others to help look for their missing parent was something well beyond her current comfort field. Toreii felt guilty, unable to find the words she wanted to say to the elf. With Vy as her teacher, in a single week, Toreii had managed to get her jitters from speaking to new people down to something more manageable.
The Deity no longer felt she needed long pauses to think of possible dialogue trees or the need to relate everything to a game in order to cope. Meeting new people no longer put her straight into 'impending doom' mode, but now only bothered her as much as an inconvenient hassle. 'Children are way easier to talk to…' she quietly thanked Vy for. At the start of the week, it was because her teacher was a small child that Toreii could get enough composure to learn something. Yet, as she got more comfortable, she was sure even if Vy was not a child, the same results would be achieved.
Reaching into her sleeve, Toreii searched through her inventory. "Here," she said, pulling out the chocolate bar she had hidden away. There was only a single piece missing from a month ago when she first arrived. She did not know if chocolate bars created by the Tree of Life had expiration dates, but since the piece of candy had not melted yet, her inventory was probably a good enough storage space for it.
Watching the Deity break off a tiny piece, Vy carefully accepted the unknown object. "What is it?"
Toreii wanted to jokingly say, "Food of the Gods," but knowing the elf, she would probably believe it. "It's magical," she answered, eating a piece herself. It was still as good as the first piece she ate so long ago. It could have been nostalgia melting her taste buds into total bliss, but in all honesty, hunger is the greatest seasoning.
Following her savior's example, Vy eagerly put the piece on her tongue. It was sweet, very light and not overwhelming. Honey and fruit were the only things she knew of whcih were naturally sweet, but as expected from a God, there were foods only a higher being could enjoy. "Thank you," she said, after all of it had melted away.
"Just treat me the next time we're in your kingdom, and I'll call it even," Toreii replied, her mouth watering at the thought of actual food in her stomach. Even if the elves ate nothing but fruits and veggies, anything was better than nothing in her empty belly.
"It will be your kingdom the next time we see it," Vy reminded her.
Asgard was already a handful for Toreii as was her Parthenon and the NPCs who guard it. She had yet to come up with a polite excuse for the elf, since outright saying, "I'm too busy to rule your kingdom. Can't you do it yourself?" would just be rude. Toreii had yet to master ruling her own kingdom, let alone a foreign one. However, if it were just an ambassadorial kind of deal, then Toreii could probably send a delegate every now and then.
"I'm sorry, Vy, but I have my own kingdom to rule. My people need me after being gone for so long," Toreii excused herself, remembering to go along with the fake God backstory. "I promised you I would teach you magic, so I'll keep to that promise. I don't know how long I'll be with my people, so for now, Viridi will be your teacher."
Viridi and her 'maid dragon' were already fast approaching the duo. "Good evening, Mother, Princess Vy," she greeted with a smile.
Vy quickly bowed to the demigod, remembering her status. She knew it was fine to be informal around Toreii, but Viridi had a presence which demanded respect. The elf-god was more akin to what she expected a God to behave, superior and always looking down on mortals. Despite the blood relation, the demeanor between the mother and daughter was like night and day.
"Good evening, Lady Viridi. Thank you for allowing me to learn from you," Vy greeted back, still keeping her head low.
With a purple glow, Toreii disappeared from among the two girls.
Finally back in Odin's chambers, Toreii breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a tough week, but she stuck it out. Learning the proper inner workings of nobility life was the biggest mental exhaustion she had faced yet. However, halfway through the week, it dawned on her the nobility are NPCs created by the devs. Upon the realization that, until she met with them personally, it was 50/50 whether or not the NPCs acted with subtlety or dramatic flair.
"My love! You have returned!" Frigga announced. The Asgardian was once again waiting around for Toreii's return, with a beaming smile and a hug ready for her beloved.
"I miss you too," Toreii said, getting her face stuffed with the queen's midriff, and the crown of her head nestling in Frigga's underboobs.
To be with her king again was heavenly for Frigga. Preparations for meeting with the nobles had been completed. Handwritten letters of invitations were sent out promptly a month ago, which were returned to her one by one by who would attend. With the list of families in hand, the Queen of Asgard had been meticulously shuffling around which families stood where, to cause the least amount of trouble for her husband. The smoother the proceedings went, the more time she would get to spend with her one true love.
"I have prepared everything for the meeting tomorrow, my beloved, as well as a list of things they wish to be addressed," Frigga said. Regretfully ending their warm embrace, she handed a parchment to the Deity.
Breaking the wax seal holding the scroll tight, it unfurled itself to the ground. 'This list is longer than I am tall! Who has this much stuff to talk about?! Is this meeting supposed to be a week long?!' Toreii cursed inside.
Well, admittedly, she's not that tall… No, she could be considered closer to being dwarf-sized, when compared to Frigga's supermodel-like figure. So the list wasn't actually that imposing…
"The first greetings shall start at daybreak, then we shall proceed with their questions for you, my beloved, and end with a feast for the nobles," Frigga informed, listing off the itinerary from memory.
'A feast? Maybe this meeting isn't so bad after all. This sounds great! I can't wait for tomorrow!' Toreii's stomach thought to itself. Even though physical food was the only thing on her mind, her conscience reminded her of her manners. "Thank you for handling everything."
Things were finally looking up for Toreii.
A/N: This took longer than I would have liked. I've read some of your feedback and I'll keep the New World stuff to side characters every now and then. For now I'll focus on Toreii and Asgard. Keep up with the feedback.