Chapter 18 – Reversal of Fortune
For 10 minutes, the two women waited in the cart. The whispers of the Gromnar villagers had died down, if only slightly. The children were less subtle in their curiosity. A pair of boys had walked passed them half a dozen times now, stealing looks when they did so. Reina wondered if they thought they were being sneaky.
Finally, someone exited the chief's home. Reina immediately pegged him as a shaman, seeing as he was about Vyrdrun's height and didn't have the same nodules the other men did.
"Come inside. The chief is ready to speak with you." He said, holding the pelt cover away from the door.
Reina and Maria exited the cart, the latter floating over and quickly passing through the doorway. Reina soon followed her in and saw the inside of the house. She wouldn't quite describe the layout as 'basic', but there was less here than she thought for a village chief's home.
Off to the side were a few thick pelts on the ground, likely used as a bed. In the center of the room was a large fire pit with some sort of boar monster cooking over it. There she found Vyrdrun sitting with three women and one man. One of the women was the druid from before, though the other two were dressed in a similar fashion, unlike the other women in the village. The man, however, was the largest, bulkiest Gromnar she'd seen yet.
"The Totem Hero is still short." The man said, looking her way.
Reina wanted to sigh or complain, but she figured doing so wouldn't help her at all. She repressed the urge and instead asked, "What do you mean 'still'?" It wasn't the best question to ask in her situation, but she was curious nonetheless.
"It doesn't matter." The chief waved off her question. "I am Chief Gralin of the Stony Hills Tribe."
"Reina Suzuki, the Totem Hero." Reina introduced herself.
The chief looked to the Gromnar. "Shaman Vyrdrun says you need to use the human's magic gate to go to the empire. He has asked us to power the gate for you."
Reina nodded at his words.
"Normally, I wouldn't consider aiding a hero in any matter." He stated sternly. "However, there is something we could use your help with. Do this for us and our druids will help you."
Coughing to clear her throat, and her nerves, Reina spoke. "What do you need help with?"
"We don't need anything from you, human!" The druid from before spat. A sharp look from the chief caused her to immediately turn her head down.
"Excuse her outburst." The Chief Gralin said, turning back to Reina. "She hasn't had good dealings with humans in the past."
"S-Sure." Reina nodded nervously.
"It is also the humans of these lands that have caused this issue, as well as their own undoing." The chief continued. "Over one month ago, the humans fought a dragon that dwells nearby."
Reina already did not like what she was hearing.
"It survived the battle with heavy wounds and returned to its home, a lake that the humans get water to their city from. Since then, the lake has become a swamp, the water fouled. Our shaman and druids believe the dragon has since died and its corpse is polluting the water. Eventually, it will spread further into our own supply of water. Remove the corpse and we will aid you."
It sounded simple enough to Reina, but there had to be some sort of catch. "If I may ask, why haven't you removed it? Vyrdrun can cure poison, and I assume druids can too."
The chief shook his head. "The poison isn't the issue. We can cure the lake but not remove the source. The dragon's den is somewhere underwater and we lack the ability to travel that deep. Human magic should be able to accomplish that."
"Oh." That was another difference between their magics. It seemed like water breathing would've been something they could do, but apparently not. "Then…why didn't you talk with the people in the city? I mean, before they died."
"They attack us on sight." Chief Gralin stated.
"Oh, right…" This country was still a part of the empire before, so they didn't have a reason to listen.
"Even if we did, nothing would have come of it." Chief Gralin went on. "From what my shaman tells me, this poison is more effective against mages. Without the aid of a druid or shaman, they would have perished attempting to fix the problem."
That was even worse. As Reina understood it, curing ailments was second nature to shamans, and also druids. Medicine was more effective against poison and disease than human magic, and much more expensive. If this poison was as deadly as it seemed, the mage might have to continuously chug potions while underwater, and Reina really didn't see that happening.
It did beg the question of what kind of monsters dragons were. They were clearly magical, but why would a disease or poison from their corpse hurt mages specifically more?
"Do you agree to this?" The chief asked.
"Um." Reina turned to Maria. "Do you have a spell to let us go underwater?"
"H-Huh?" Maria jerked her head up. "Oh, uh, y-yes. I have a water breathing spell."
"Really?" Reina felt doubtful of that. "I thought you didn't know any water spells."
"I don't really." Maria tilted her hat down. "But I don't really like fish, so it's fine."
That was all the explanation Reina needed about the contract's restriction. She turned back to the chief. "Then yes, we agree to help you."
"Good." The chief stood from his spot and walked over. He extended his hand to Reina. When she slowly reached for it, the chief gripped her forearm, a toothy smile on his face.
Reina returned it with a nervous smile of her own.
~Forging Legends~
The group went back out to the sight of Gromnar children gathered around the cart, some of whom were petting the docile nipeigh. They quickly scattered upon seeing the group exit the home.
With a plan in place, Reina, Maria, and Vyrdrun were escorted to the lake by a druid and her two guards. Thankfully, this was a different druid from the one they first met.
Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, Reina asked the Gromnar a few questions about their society. Some of it was what she expected based on the few observations she made in the village. There was a chief who was in charge. Generally, the chief was the strongest among them, though cleverness was also valued. Druids and shamans, as the magic-capable Gromnar, advised the chief on certain matters.
One point she didn't know was how old the druids were. Of the three the village had, Reina thought the oldest looking one was maybe 40 years old. She was, in fact, over 70. Gromnar retain their youth more than humans, and druids did so even further.
It was also a bit strange to realize Vyrdrun understood them, same with Maria. While the area of the map she saw wasn't exactly vast, she was under the impression Gromnar villages were more isolated. Apparently the imperial language had spread like their currency, so it was understandable why Maria was able to keep communicating in other countries so easily, but that shouldn't be the case with Gromnar. Maybe magic was involved.
"Hey, Maria." Reina was careful not to speak too loudly. They were helping the Gromnar out, but that didn't mean they'd answer all her questions, or be particularly happy to hear all of them. "Do Gromnar travel between villages a lot?"
"H-Huh? Oh, yes…" Maria gave a quiet and short answer.
Reina ignored the wizard's hesitancy and continued. "Enough that they all speak the same language."
"Sometimes…" Marie mumbled.
"Well, I'd like to know more, but I guess it's not really important. I should just take her more subdued attitude as a win for now." Reina figured not being constantly assaulted was enough for her.
Eventually, the group reached the lake-turned-swamp. Reina had no doubt this place was once beautiful. Where shimmering water should have been was instead filled with stagnant, violet slush. The grass surrounding the lake had already died, not to mention the trees and other plants.
"We shall wait for you here." The druid said. "Should Shaman Vyrdrun's healing not be enough, we will aid in curing you upon your return."
"Okay." Reina gave her a nod.
The three of them approached the swamp. Reina could already feel her lungs starting to burn. Vyrdrun placed his hand on her shoulder, instantly relieving her of the discomfort.
"Ready?" Reina asked the other two.
"Yes." Vyrdrun said. Maria responded with a nod.
The plan was simple. Maria would cast her spell on them, Vyrdrun would constantly cure them with his magic while holding them close, and Reina would have her spirit out in case anything came at them, as well as a source of light with its Flaming Fists.
"Water Breathing!" Maria cast her spell.
"Cleanse!" Vyrdrun spoke his own spell.
"Forge Spirit!" Reina sent their guardian forward.
And so, they left.
Vyrdrun walked into the swamp, Maria and Reina in his arms. The surface of the water came quickly. It was a strange sensation to go from air to water. Worse, though, was the feeling of her lungs alternating between burning and cooling. Vyrdrun's constant magic kept it from getting too intense, but it was highly unpleasant.
They kept close to the floor, Vyrdrun slowly walking across the bottom as it sloped down. Despite the swamp's condition, Vyrdrun's spell as able to push some of the poison away from them. Or, more accurately, purified it as they went, only for the polluted water to mix in behind them. They were able to see a couple dozen feet ahead of them. With the general location of the dragon's den given to them, it would help in locating it.
Something appeared just at the edge of their sight, next to Reina's forged spirit. A long snout bit into the spirit, jerking around. Based on its appearance, Reina thought it was some kind of alligator. The movement might have been its way of attacking, but it was equally likely it did so out of pain. Even underwater, her spirit burned hot when it activated Immolation.
An XP notification told her the monster was dead. Her spirit dragged it back over, allowing Reina to absorb it before moving away again.
Poison Alligator Athame
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: poison resistance (small)
Reina switched to it immediately for a bit of relief, placing another batch of tokens and a gacha bonus into it for power. With how easily the alligator was killed, she wasn't concerned about losing to them.
After about 15 minutes of walking and fending off the occasional monster, they came across an underwater cave. The size was easily large enough for Vyrdrun to walk into. As it sloped up, Reina and Maria shifted to his back so he could aid their ascent by climbing. A little bit more and they breached the surface of the water.
"Whoa…" Reina let out.
The size of the cave wasn't too impressive. The light from her forged spirit reached the walls and ceiling easily, though not enough to make out all the details. Instead, her focus was on the rotting corpse of a black dragon on what she assumed was its nest.
It was big, of course, but not monstrously so. Bigger than the giant insects they encountered in that forest, but not quite as big as the golems guarding Savia's castle. It was clearly dead, the blank look in its eyes clear to see as they approached. While the eyes weren't the same color, the placement of its horns were the same as on Derdir and his children.
"Maybe a weapon I reveal from it will be effective against them." She hoped. Since they were part dragon, anything strong against dragons should work.
The dragon wasn't the only corpse in the area.
More of those poison alligators were on the 'shore' that led up to dry rock. Getting a better look out of the water, they seemed to look a bit like the dead black dragon in places. Parts of the scales matched, as well as the fangs near the front of their mouths.
With a moment to check, Reina brought up her status and looked to her power up tab. Oddly, there were two new token stacks there. One was alligator tokens and the other was black dragon tokens.
"Okay, so a bit of lore from my games matches what I'm seeing here. I'm guessing this dragon mated with some alligators at one point and made a bunch of half-dragon children." Reina concluded. It was strange she got two different tokens from the monsters, both in equal amounts and the same as the number of corpses she absorbed. She wrote it off as dragons being powerful monsters for now.
Vyrdrun walked them over to the shore and got them out of the water. "You two can come down now. My magic will keep the poison in the air around us purified."
"How long can you keep it up?" Reina asked him, pointing at the corpses.
"As long as you need, but I won't be able to help." He answered.
"Alright." Reina gave him a nod. She dismissed her spirit now that she saw it was safe and started pulling the corpses into her weapon, letting Maria light the cave with a fire spell. With her athame, Reina cut into one of them and began to dissect it. She was able to get two more forms out of it.
Poison Alligator Meat Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: cooking 3
Poison Alligator Scale Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: defense 2
Reina made a note about the bonuses. The ones that increased her stats could be repeated, but the ones that were more like proficiencies weren't. Those ones, like cooking or gathering, were in a separate area and filled in spots like on a character sheet. In this case, she had cooking 1 and cooking 3, but not cooking 2.
It wasn't a new discover, but something Reina didn't think about too much. A strange quirk of the world most likely.
"Hey Maria, can you help me with this?" Reina called to the wizard.
"H-Huh? Oh, sure…" She mumbled as she floated over.
Reina quirked an eyebrow, but decided to continue letting it be for now. They got to work on what as likely to be a very productive session.
"Hey, Boss?" Maria halted them, pointing at the dragon's chest.
Reina walked over and saw what she was indicating. There was a gash in it, glowing in a dark violet light.
"I'm guessing that's what killed it." Reina surmised. "That doesn't look good."
"A cursed wound." Maria said.
"Curse…" That answered—or at least gave a hint—why a poison covered the lake and city. "One of the adventurers was using a cursed weapon of some kind."
"Stupid." Maria sneered. "Cursed weapons are strong, but rarely do they let their wielders use them without consequence."
That was the case in many stories Reina's heard. Great power at a great cost. Still, they had a job to do. She would just avoid touching the cursed part of the dragon while they harvested its body for weapon reveals.
Unfortunately…
Black Dragon Crosier level not met.
Black Dragon Leather Totem level not met.
Black Dragon Scale Totem level not met.
Black Dragon Talon Athame level not met.
Black Dragon Fang Athame level not met.
Black Dragon Bone Amulet level not met.
Black Dragon Horn Athame level not met.
Annoyingly, her level wasn't high enough for most of the weapon forms. Really disappointing, but something to look forward to, especially that Black Dragon Crosier. If it was anything like the Wave boss's weapon, it'd be really good.
She did get two forms she could unlock.
Black Dragon Meat Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: SP recovery (small)
Black Dragon Eye Amulet
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: Spirit Eyes
"Nice!" Reina would test those out once they were out of there.
Those two forms had decent stats, the amulet being good in magic. Still, the Flaming Brute Crosier was slightly better, plus it could double as a melee weapon. It also gave a bonus to fire spells, once she got one of those.
She also realized she didn't unlock a template for a black dragon. The weapon forms possibly needed to be usable for that to happen, meaning she needed more levels. Or, there was only a generic dragon template and she needed to absorb a different color dragon to unlock it.
"So, is that really it?" Reina asked the other two.
"Seems so." Now that they were finished, Maria turned away and floated closer to Vyrdrun.
"Don't want to stay too close to me?" Reina decided to tease her.
Maria visibly flinched as she floated in the air, but she continued on toward Vyrdrun.
Reina stood from where the dragon once rested, a smirk on her face. The reversal of roles felt extremely satisfying. She made a note to abuse her new position as much as possible.
Before she took a step, she saw something out of the corner of her eyes. A slight gleam caught her attention. She walked over to it and saw it was a sword.
"A magic sword? I mean, I don't know that, but dragons collect rare and valuable things, right? This is, oh…" The moment Reina picked it up, half of the blade fell off of it.
There were other things assembled in a pile behind the nest. Just like the sword, most if it was in disrepair if not outright rendered unidentifiable. She absorbed all of it into her weapon, getting nothing for her troubles. Whatever other effects that dragon's corpse had on its surroundings, it was certainly unkind to its treasure hoard.
With a frown, Reina turned to rejoin the others. Then, something else got her attention. That instantly turned her frown into a bright smile.
~Forging Legends~
Maphai leaned against the wall of the Chief's hut, arms crossed. She let her gaze wander about the village they found themselves in. Large huts were spread quite far in the valley village.
Her eyes fell back onto Lola, who was busy playing with the young Gromnar children. They chased her around, trying to tag her, only to be foiled at every attempt. Sometimes Lola would duck under them, sometimes she flapped her wings and jump above. All the while, the girl had a smile plastered on her face.
"How foolish." Maphai dismissed her sister's antics. There were better things to do with their time than to play with children.
That said, she didn't have much to do while Father spoke with the village's chief inside. There was nothing productive for her to do while she waited. In a small way, childish Lola playing with the children was a better use of time.
In that regard, Maphai decided not to glare at the young Gromnar that thought he was being stealthy. Even with her eyes forward, she could make him out in her peripherals. Her senses were keen enough that she'd know he was approaching regardless.
The boy slowly moved his feet, careful not to make any noise. The soft sound of compressed grass barely made it to her ears over the sound of laughter. He was, admittedly, careful in his steps.
Only a few feet away, he began inching his face closer and closer to her. She kept her eyes forward, ignoring him. It was what he wanted, of course, as was what happened next.
Kiss.
The moment his lips touched her cheek, Maphai turned her sights to him. The boy immediately ran off, laughing like the younger ones.
"Children." Reina sighed.
"Then we have a deal." Father's voice alerted her. Maphai leaned over and peered into the hut. Under the door's cover, she saw Father and the chief grip each other's arms with a firm shake.
She moved from the hut's wall and stood upright, awaiting Father's emergence. He pushed back the monster hide and stepped out.
"We have their support?" Maphai asked, knowing the answer.
Father gave her a curt nod. "Four of Chief Vozrack's druids and his shaman. In exchange, we will wipe out two of his tribe's enemies."
"Humans?" Maphai eagerly asked, earning a shake of Father's head.
"Gromnar tribe." He said, dashing all hope from her. "They have been warring with one for some time now. The other enemy is a group of ghosts resistant to their magic."
Human ghosts, clinging to a life they've already lost. It wouldn't be satisfying in the slightest to purge them. Perhaps she could pretend they were still alive. That was the only way she could stomach ending their pained existence.
"Are we to deal with their enemies first?" Maphai asked.
"Yes." Father said. "A show of good faith from us."
Maphai knew well the reason for that. Her family members weren't Gromnar, which left only one sickening option in the eyes of the Gromnar. Trust was needed.
"Very well, Father." Maphai lowered her head. "I shall deal with the ill-fated humans."
"Capture them, if possible. It is rare for ghosts to form in groups, let alone resist the magics of Gromnar." Father's words made her smile.
"Yes, Father!" She nearly shouted with joy.
"Lola." Father turned to the group of children, his tone unchanging.
"Coming, Father!" She called back, flapping her wings to gain some height. She flew backwards, waving both hands at the children. "Bye-bye!"
"Bye-bye!" The children waved back before resuming their game.
Lola landed on the ground in front of Father, that silly smile still plastered on her face.
"You will have some free time. Spend it how you choose." He told her.
"Thank you, Da—Father!" She leaped over and gave Father a quick hug before turning about and taking off in the air.
Lola was always like that, ready to call Father something ridiculous the moment she got doted on by the smallest amount. But that was fine. Maphai was Father's favorite. After all, she was the one who got to kill the humans that stood in their path. Father had specific ones in mind, but he didn't stop her from having her own fun in the process.
Author's Notes:
Bit of a slow chapter this time around, short too. Nothing too exciting. Figured I'd throw Reina an easy win, what with everything she's dealt with (and will deal with).
It was a bit hard to write this one. I planned on it being longer, but I just couldn't get the words to come, despite basically knowing how I wanted it to go. Though, next chapter wasn't going to be that long, so now I have something more to add to it.
Follow & review to let me know how I'm doing.