A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

“Skardrvo, I need you to rent out the eastern block completely. Leviretus and Gueillxar clans will provide their own servants and attendants, so don’t worry about that, but we will need all the furniture and tools for our extended stay.”

“We can’t risk ships with the leviathans rampaging around, so we will deliver our supplies during these times. I still need you to arrange meetings with your merchant guild for what we need immediately, though, Siegragxus.”

Not a second back home, and those two empresses are already taking over the household, hahaha…

Was I too much of a carpet if I let my step-mothers take over the household as if they owned the place? Technically, they’ve been here more often than I was, considering they were ancients, but with Mom away, I technically was the woman of the household now. Yet, it felt weird bringing this point up to Forminaxtrass and Yuilengreill, considering how normal this must feel to them.

In fact, I probably would look like an “usurper” if I were to stop them now. It probably wasn’t worth worrying about.

“Your Grace, we have escorted Kaishta and the other dancers back to their homes. You should also be aware that a few annoyances might approach you if you were to leave the mansion,” Estranor reported to me as I was hanging around at the entrance of my home in Iceskale. “The border officers reported that ‘highly ranked’ members of the mages’ guild have entered Frozen Nest.”

Although we did have the adventurers’ guilds on Frozen Nest, it wasn’t like this international guild was that close to their headquarters in Folschreck. They sent reports to them to keep them updated due to their contract to bear the “hunters’ guild” and “mercenary guild” names, so they could continue issuing hunter’s rank, but that was about it. The guild was more loyal to the Frozen Nest state since the guild master was a dragonewt.

The same applied to the two other international guilds in the merchants’ and mages’ guilds. They did the minimum to continue offering the services the two guilds would allow, like the former’s ability to store money like a bank and the latter’s privilege to contact and use Aleistunum’s resources.

As such, when Estranor mentioned “members of the mages’ guild,” he was talking about foreigners. People from Altrust, and maybe directly related to Aleistunum beyond their guild membership. Exactly why they visited Frozen Nest despite the news of the Caedhulen Event Quest, I wasn’t sure, but it just sounded like massive trouble.

“Rhekkraxus, call your father and have him summon the senators for the Event Quest. We need to control the situation for Hestia. Also, Jadhund, get your people to finalize the documents you need to hand in to the imperial palace. The faster we can get our funding, the sooner we can start completing the final fixes on the information tower and auction the privilege to have us build it,” Formiaxtrass ordered, acting like she was the current guild master of my own guild!

“Already on it!” Though it didn’t seem like his pride was getting the better of him. “But the issue is the number of artificers. We already have our eyes on some apprentices, yes, but we just can’t accommodate them with our current tools and the size of the guild building. This is our invention, Empress. I’m not giving the idea out to other artificers.”

“Fine, fine! You dwarves and your possessiveness over your inventions. Knowledge like this should be shared to advance the entire populace! Pah, we keep it within Frozen Nest and Dusk Nest. Within the digital media guild, okay?” the third empress stated dismissively. “In any case, don’t worry about the tools or workshop you need. These are the growing pains. We will have to endure the delayed production and growth to sustain the foundation building. Image capture and information transfer through mana have proven their value through our emperor’s interest, so don’t worry about any potential opportunities we might be giving up. We have to ensure this will work, or Eltharion will scrap any goodwill towards it if we waste funds.”

“Ahhh, and we have to deal with this while having to interact with those rats from the mages’ and artificers’ guilds on Altrust!” Jadhund complains, finally making sense of why those mages’ guild members were entering Frozen Nest. “King Fugnarus told me Aleistunum and Saelarial got interested in the streaming tech, so we have to make sure we silence some mouths.”

“Worry about your own people, and I will do with mine. The dragonewts on Frozen Nest are too loyal to betray Hestia. Not to mention with her upcoming idol work.”

Huh?

“Wait, what?” I finally reacted after just standing around while my household unpacked our belongings from our one-week trip to Coral Beard.

Drawn by my confusion, Forminaxtrass turned around. “What? Your schedule is packed, dear. While trying to complete your mother’s trial, you will need to speak with Frozen Nest to reinforce your standing and give your speech. Do you understand? You have to play the politics game to legitimize this democratic process. Loatryxians might understand how voting works, but the true dragonkin won’t accept it so easily. Make sure everyone does.”

“Not to mention, don’t forget that holy dragonkin are already on Frozen Nest due to their alliance talks with Alextraxus. This is why we are hurrying things!” Yuilengreill added. “We have to deal with the Senate and get the paperwork done. You have to start packing to get back to your nest. While you are doing your trial, we will deal with the background stuff that you shouldn’t be doing alone, which includes the talk your father is having with your alliance. Happy to have you in the family, my dear Hestia. This is what your siblings have to deal with. Reminder: we might not share blood, but we are your mothers still, so accept the help!”

“Mom!” I heard Neill shout before appearing over the mansion’s wall. “Holy dragonkin have noticed our returns!”

“Go!” Formiaxtrass gestured to her dragoons and true dragonkin retainers, prompting them to leave the mansion. “Tasi—”

“I have already given the orders to her maids and butlers!” Tasianna returned in a hurry from the mansion. “Rations and potions have been planned. Lady Annaheil’s accommodations are also finished, including a room inside the subspace for her healing. Empress Yuilengreill, the room Lady Hestia prepared should also be ready to be furnished.”

“We’ll get your alchemy workshop sorted, so focus on Hestia’s needs. Vif—”

“Security is already ready!” Vifi reported, already having finished her quick visit to the dragoon order. “Shay will have the wyverns readied. Nobody will be entering Empress Melloxtressa’s mountain without our awareness. The ice elementals should be helpful as well once Tasianna talks to them.”

“Perfect! Things are actually moving well!” Forminaxtrass cheered before returning to give out orders.

… They did tell me things would be moving fast, but this is extremely fast. No wonder Uncle and Aunt couldn’t join us in Frozen Nest.

In any case, it quickly became clear that everybody believed that I would struggle with Mom’s trial. To be fair to them, this was her order. She told my stepmother that she didn’t believe I would be able to surpass the blizzard where she roosted in a single day, and that I would need, at least, a week to find a way to break through. Which was why we were planning rations and such to accommodate my security personnel.

First, I did appreciate that everybody knew I wouldn’t like a huge party to “protect” me from the holy dragonkin, which was why it would only be my party members, my retainers, and a few dragoons I had fought with during the elemental emperor battle. Second, I couldn’t refute Mom that Hikari and I might not be able to beat Mom’s test in a day. The last time I tried to enter that ice-aligend hell tunnel that led to Mom’s roost, I used it more to level up [Ice Resistance] instead of thinking of defeating the cold.

With Hikari’s body turning all my resistances to fire into ice, I should have a better chance now, yet we haven’t tested that theory. We only knew we could endure the water and wind elemental emperor’s ice attacks, but unlike Mom’s mastery with true ice, that elemental barely learned how to control it.

We might not be facing the wrath of Mom’s true ice, but the mountain was our ancestral home since my grandfather and grandmother roosted there. Mom has been lingering in that place for a long time, and you could only imagine how much her mana must have been absorbed into the land.

Would I be able to conquer such a place? The same place where Tasianna, Shay, and Beth started learning how to cast true ice spells? Only one way to know.

“The preparations are done! Everybody, on my back now!” Sieg proclaimed after an hour had passed. I had only just arrived in Iceskale, and an hour later, I would depart.

Once everybody boarded Sieg’s back, we were out of the city before anybody could really say anything. With Tasianna helping his flight efficiency with her [Aerokinesis], we didn’t get into any trouble with the weather or meet another dragonkin on our way back to Nordor Valley. With Sieg’s flight speed, we made it back home just after lunch.

… Hold on, now that I think about it, can’t I do it now?

[“Sieg?”] I called out as my retainers and friends started getting off him to unpack what we had stored in my subspace for my stay at home. Once I got his attention, I continued, [“Would you mind if I started a stream now? A vlog?”]

[“Our telepathic connection allows me to understand when you are using Earthern words, but you also have to include its description,”] he said, slightly exasperated, before I did what he wanted. [“… A ‘virtual log?’ As in a report made through a video?”]

[“Yes, the idea behind a vlog is to make a video update about your life and what you are doing for your fans to keep up with your life. You should understand the concept of ‘fanservice’ after all the idol lectures I gave, right? A vlog is a form of that,”] I explained. [“‘Content is king’ is a catchphrase many ‘content creators’ and entertainers use back on Earth. As long as people yearn for a certain type of ‘content’ like media news, drama, or gossip, it is the content creator’s job to create it. People want to devour content or goods, which increases demand.”]

[“Simple supply and demand principle, only that it applies to entertainment through experiencing the life of their favorite entertainer? I understand.”] Sieg nodded, going silent for a moment to think it through. [“I do not believe it would interfere with anything. Just make sure not to expose any confidential information. You can mention you are at your nest. That wouldn’t be a problem. Our information tower, currently, isn’t connected with the rest of Miononbolax, so only a few ‘irritiables’ will be seeing it.”]

[“Nice. Thank you!”] I nodded with a smile after I got off “Manager” Sieg. After I said goodbye to him, I pulled my recorder out and connected it with my party bracelet to start the streaming function.

However, before I did, I noticed the recently established news station’s stream was currently online. Pulling it up, I couldn’t help but smile awkwardly when I saw that I was the main news.

“We were asked by the city hall to delay this information by two bells, so we have to apologize to all our listeners for the wait,” the news anchor reported in a very emotive manner, looking both sorry and not. Since the news station was trying to recruit our former criers and city announcers, many of them understood the value of being expressive to garner attention. “But, I believe everybody should understand this is for the safety of our princess! Listeners, I hope all of you didn’t ignore the news that was streamed yesterday. What we report just now is factual, and it was witnessed by many. The Videos on Demand are still up—both our coverage and His Majesty’s announcement. Frozen Nest’s priority should be the safety of our princess, and we must ensure her will is enforced.”

… And with the news came the expected type of comments.

<SeaButterfly_Offshore: We all know who Mr. Seurenk is talking about here. Beware the intruders now that our ancient barrier is down.>

<TracerOfSkylines: No need to be rude here, Seabutterfly. We know, but the holy dragonkin haven’t been that rude. If the rumors are true, they will be our allies for this new process. Princess Hestia has the support of two dragon rulers and, most assuredly, their nests.>

<Floatickle: That’s the correct mindset, instead of feeling annoyed at the holy dragonkin’s ulterior motive. We should worry about Inferno Nest’s response. Let’s be frank—Maustoovaka must have developed a grudge against Princess Hestia, and this isn’t even mentioning the fire dragonkin’s attitude towards us and how they hounded our sky territory like crows. They are a threat, and they know Prince Kahalameet and Princess Wendriosa need our princess’s support.>