Disclaimer - I do not own Ah! My Goddess or Dungeons and Dragons.
This chapter was Betaread.
-oOoOoOo-
When Skuld's sight returned, she first saw two figures.
A human wearing some armor with Belldandy's symbol on it and Belldandy herself.
"Onee-sama!" Skuld cried out as she launched herself at Belldandy with the intent to hug.
Keiichi smiled as Belldandy hugged Skuld back. He muttered, "I probably should visit Megumi sometime. It's been awhile."
Urd asked, "And where is she?"
Keiichi answered, "Last letter I got said she's working under Chihiro. She was my first party leader and now is a merchant. I think I might get a discount, but that was back when I was in Whirlwind."
"Maybe a family discount?" Urd asked. Keiichi shrugged.
When Skuld calmed down, she looked around. "Urd, I'm… I'm glad to see you too. Who's the human and…. And…"
A shocked Skuld leapt from Belldandy's hug and pointed at the last person in the room. "Hild?! What's Hild doing here?"
Hild was in her adult form, dressed in short-shorts, a tank top, a flak vest, and a few pouches tied on her arms and legs. She waved at Skuld.
"Hi, Skuld-chan! Don't worry! I've been separated into so many mini-mes that I don't need to seal my magic," Hild said as she ran her hands through her jewelry-free hair. "Oh ho ho! I feel so naked without them!"
"Wh-wh-why is she here?" Skuld asked, wishing she still had her bombs. She had blown them up over the years out of an attempt to escape her prison.
Belldandy put a hand on Skuld's shoulder, calming her down. "Skuld, she's helping us free everyone."
Hild nodded. "Yup! Since this world currently uses job classes, I chose Rogue! Urd is a Sorcerer with some Alchemist levels, Belldandy is a cleric that prays to Yggdrasil, and the leader of their party is Keiichi, a Paladin with levels in Scout, Porter, and Blacksmith!"
"Keiichi? Blacksmith?" Skuld muttered as she looked down at the ground for a little bit. "I think I granted some wishes and boons to some people who mentioned you, but never you?"
"Yeah, I didn't think I deserved a wish," Keiichi muttered.
"And by not wishing, it allowed you to free us and our fragments," Belldandy said.
Hild grew less cheerful as she added, "You were very quick to grant him a wish when he freed you. You got lucky that the wish the current you granted doesn't prevent him from freeing the other yous who didn't grant him a wish."
Emboldened by the fact Hild wasn't anywhere near at her full strength, Skuld stomped towards her and said, "Hey! Don't insult Onee-Sama! She's your senior in the party!"
Hild laughed. "Oh, you silly girl. I'm not in the party. I might help from time to time, but a mission to free demons and gods requires eyes and ears hidden in the darkness to pick up what hides from the light."
"What?" Skuld asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Oof! Rolled a one. Critical mental fumble," Hild cheerfully said, getting a glare from Skuld and Urd.
"Hild…" Urd said in a flat and annoyed tone.
Hild sighed before she said, "Everyone will be looking towards Belldandy and the others. They'll often hide things from her sight because they don't want to disappoint her. Things and information needed to free the sealed ones. So it's up to me to discover it and get it all within your sight. Understand?"
"I guess?" Skuld muttered, her face scrunched in confusion.
"Skuld," Keiichi said, getting her attention. "How about a job class? I think you'd be a great Artificer."
"What's that?" Skuld asked.
"Well, they are wizard specialists who channel magic into or through nonliving items. Going by what Urd and Belldandy told me of you, you'd probably use it to make constructs, mechanical beasts, and Warforged, which are an entire race of sentient constructs," Keiichi explained.
Skuld looked down. As much as she wanted to gleefully accept such a job class, she wanted Belldandy to have offered the Artificer job class.
"I'll think about it," Skuld muttered.
There was a knock at the door. A gruff voice asked, "You free your sister?"
"Yup! Belldandy's repaired the thing, so Skuld can still offer wishes, boons, and boosts," Urd replied to the door. She looked back at Skuld and said, "You're in a Gnome town. They're the ones who came up with the Artificer class and could understand us being sealed in the rocks, unlike the humans. Wanna go check the class out?"
"Sure," Skuld quietly said.
"I made sure to get you some clothes and armor, so you wouldn't stand out," Urd said as she took Skuld's hand and led her out of the room.
Belldandy patted Keiichi's shoulder. "She'll like you. She's just a bit shy from being sealed for so long."
"What does she like?" Keiichi asked.
"She enjoys ice cream," Belldandy replied.
"Ah… Then we'll have to go to Yuki-Onna territory. They're known for their ice cream," Keiichi muttered.
"There's a Yuki-Onna village a few days away where the word is to never use their magic stone to grant any wish that requires repairing," Hild offered.
"Ah, that must be where one of Lind's fragments might be," Belldandy said. "She's very strong, but…"
"Repair work isn't her forte?" Keiichi asked. Belldandy reluctantly nodded.
Then with a wicked grin, Hild said, "Also, Belldandy, you might wanna get a couple of rings to make it look like you're married to each other."
"Why?" Belldandy asked, slowly turning towards Hild with narrowing eyes.
Hild gestured towards Keiichi. When Belldandy looked at him, he nervously said, "Yuki-Onna… if they don't hate humans, they are a bit desperate for husbands."
Belldandy immediately turned towards Hild, who had vanished and left behind a map with directions written on it.
After letting out a breath of air to calm down, Belldandy said, "Keiichi, how often did you visit this Yuki-Onna village?"
"A few times, but Tamiya and Otaki trying to get dates often made the Yuki-Onna think twice about trying anything with the rest of us. They… tried way too hard in their attempts to flirt and impress. Our group got glares from it, though I probably got them from how short I am and how wimpy I looked at the time," Keiichi replied. "Honestly, I'm still surprised we weren't banned."
Belldandy was silent for a few moments. "Keiichi, let's go visit one of the freeuse blacksmith and Jewelry areas. We can work together to make some rings."
Keiichi followed Belldandy out of the church. When they were outside, he asked, "Are you sure about this, Belldandy? I won't abandon you for anything. Nothing will ever tempt me from you. You saw that when you made me your paladin."
Belldandy stopped and looked down at the ground. "I… I know. I'm just… I guess I'm still afraid of losing you and being alone again."
Keiichi hugged her, saying, "Hild might be allied with us, but she does like to rile everyone up."
Belldandy nodded. After a few moments, "So the rings?"
"We can make the rings of protection. I can make the rings and you can do the enchantments," Keiichi replied. "We'll make sure our rings look like engagement rings. It should ward off most of the Yuki-Onna. The ones that aren't… Well, we can knock them out and hand them over to the proper authorities."
Belldandy looked Keiichi in the eyes and smiled.
-oOo-
Urd had taken Skuld to someplace where she could change out of her ruined goddess clothes into a new shirt, pants, boots, gloves, and a few other things.
"I thought Onee-Sama would give me all this," Skuld muttered.
"She's been a little out of it, since she's been freed. Maybe it's because she's been fragmented and sealed longer than either of us," Urd suggested.
"What sealed us?" Skuld asked.
"Dunno. I have a note telling me to never research it and it's in my writing," Urd answered as she shrugged. "So it's one of those 'ignorance is protecting us' situations."
Skuld frowned. "I hate those. But what if this Keiichi cast a spell on Onee-Sama to enslave her to him?"
"HA! Not likely," Urd uttered. "Not only would it fail without her even trying to protect herself because of how weak he is magically, but she'd probably pretend it worked to be near him."
Skuld grumbled.
Urd tousled Skuld's hair and said, "C'mon. We need to go check out the Job class office to check out that Artificer thing. I bet you can make some neat metal horses for us to ride."
Skuld smirked and let out a confident 'heh' noise.
"Just remember, if Keiichi gets injured, Bell will go out of her way to heal him, even if she has to spend several days by his side," Urd said with a slight giggle. She recalled the times she 'accidentally' injured him, so that Belldandy would be by his side in the same inn room to heal him. "So remember, target the arms and legs, but avoid the joints and hands. No hitting the head or crotch. Remember to do it during training and you'll be able to pass it off as an accident without much argument."
Skuld grumbled.
-oOoOoOo-
Notes from HotelKatz - Here's another DnD chapter.
This chapter was Betaread by Worldbringer of Joseun