True Motives
When I wake up, I shoot up from my bed and check for wounds but I don’t seem to have any. My clothing is also completely fine.
“Rose, are you okay!? How are you feeling?”
“I feel fine…I think I had a bad nightmare though…”
“R-really? What did you dream about?”
“It’s better I don’t say…It was dumb.”
“No, please do say it.”
“I dreamt that we summoned the knight but he was actually you- our dad and he tried to kill me…”
Holding my hands Scarlet looks me in the eyes and says, “Rose…That wasn’t a dream.”
“What?”
“It did happen but dad didn’t try to hurt you, he thought you were someone else trying to hide you from him.”
“W-wait, th-that w-was real?”
“Yes but you’re not in danger anymore. Dad won’t do anything to you. He actually cares about you a lot!”
“H-he isn’t st-still here is he?”
“He…He is but he won-”
“I don’t want to see him again. Keep him as far away from me as possible!”
“R-rose…I know that was scary but it was an accid-”
“N-no! I-I don’t want to be near him! Please, don’t make him hurt me again!”
“H-he won’t, I promise!”
“You also promised that everything will be fine if we summon the knight! You liar! I thought Dragons don’t make promises they can’t keep!”
“W-we don’t! I-I just had wrong information to go by! I-I’m sorry…”
“I trusted you!”
“I know and you still can! Rose, look at me, I made a horrible mistake and I’m really sorry but I genuinely thought you would be safe. But I’m still your sister and you can still put trust in me, right?”
“Y-yeah…Sorry, manya. I-I said a bit too much.”
“No it’s fine, you said what you were feeling and I understand. I just want you to know that I’ll always be there for you.”
“E-even if I don’t want to go to Blaze anymore?”
“Yes. Even if you don’t want to go.”
“And if I don’t want to see your dad anymore?”
“I…I can’t promise that. He said he’ll stay here for a while and I can’t force him to leave.”
“I…I see. He-He isn’t going to hurt me again, right?”
“Of course not! How about this, you just woke up so you’re going to be awake for a bit, I’ll put you in my pouch for now. That way you are super safe.”
“Hmm…But what about our job?”
“I’m sure dad can do your work for you today.”
“Okay…”
“Would it also be alright if I talk to dad while you’re in my pouch, we’ll have to coordinate after all.”
“Y-yeah, sure…I guess that makes sense.”
“Can I also bathe you later today?”
“S-sure.”
“Great! I’ll make sure you’re comfortable and safe.”
“Okay…Thanks, manya.”
“You’re welcome.”
She then presses down on my back, picks me up and puts me in her pouch. It feels like a warm and tight hug around my entire body. The sound of Scarlet’s pulse and her breathing is really relaxing and helps drown out the outside. It feels like I’m in my own little world right now, completely safe from the outside.
“Kyuuuu~” (sigh of relief)
—---------------------------------------------------------------
Stepping outside, the Shooting Stars are already assembled.
“How is she?” Sher Aka asks.
“Not…Great. But it could be worse. It was all a little too much for her…She’s relaxing in my pouch right now. Where is my dad?”
“Still talking to the Saintess. Rayla and Mr. Martin were asked to join them a few minutes ago.”
“I see…What about the rest of the Blood Hounds?”
“They seem on edge but that’s about it. They did however ask to see Rose when she wakes up. Just to know if she needs more medicine or not.”
“Alright…Let’s swing by real quick then and tell them she’s fine.”
At the campfire Susan asks, “How is he, I mean she?”
“She’s fine now, the potion helped wonders.”
“May I look at her?” Maria asks, “I know light magic won’t work on her but I still should be able to determine if anything else needs to be done.”
Speaking into her cleavage, to the confusion of the Blood Hounds, Scarlet asks, “Rose? Can you hear me?”
“Gao.”
“The Blood Hounds want to do a check up on you. Dad isn’t here right now, if that’s not okay just stay quiet, if it is please say something.”
There is a bit of a pause but Rose then answers, “Gao…” and Scarlet pulls her out of her pouch causing the Blood Hounds to react shocked with Maria even crying a little.
“Is-Is that Rose’s true form?” Maria asks.
“You could call it that yes. Though her curse alters her appearance a bit.”
“I see…There don’t seem to be any obvious wounds on her. Rose, could you turn over?”
She shakes her head.
“Ah, Rose is still too young to do it on her own, here let me do it for her.”
“Hmm there are no visible injuries, the scale color seems off though.”
“I think it’s because she’s starting her first molt soon.”
“I see…And she really is a girl.”
“Of course she is! Though it’s not like you could tell from looking. We don’t develop external genitalia until puberty.”
“Oh, I see, my apologies. My inspection is done now.”
“I’m putting her back in my pouch then.”
A bit of time passes and eventually Ralya, Martin, the King and the Saintess come to the fire together.
The Saintess speaks up, “I’m sure all of us are quite surprised by the circumstances. His Majesty and I have come to the conclusion that continuing both of your missions is in all of our interests.”
Hearing this, the King is visibly angry and annoyed.
“As such we shall continue as planned. Please prepare your wagons. May the Gods bless this joined mission.”
The Saintess then leaves for her carriage causing everyone to ask questions like,
“What happened?”
“Explain”
Or “What the hell is going on.”
Martin speaks up, “I’ll keep this short. We’re fucked. That’s it.”
“Oy, can you keep it a bit longer you asshole!” Cory yells.
“Yeah, explain brother!”
“Fine…The ‘seed’ the demon spoke of refers to the dormant power of a saintess. Turns out the church got an oracle a few days ago that a dormant saintess has released some of her energy to talk with the divine, basically marking her as a giant ass target. So now we have to either try to awaken the saintess or protect her till she reaches puberty, which is when the dormant saintess’ energy will naturally go away. So, the point where we’re fucked is that the saintess we would have to protect is a Dragon and it will take hundreds of years for her to reach puberty in which she will constantly be under attack by demons trying to eat or corrupt the energy.
‘Why not just make her a saintess then?’ I hear you think, because currently all saintess artifacts are in use and no one can make more. So, our job is to go get the ore needed to make a new one while some asshole calling themselves a hero is on some dubious mission that no one has any clue about to retrieve the tool needed to create more saintess artifacts.
So, our whole fucking mission hinges on a random fucker no one has heard of before to find an artifact. Now the next question you were probably thinking about is ‘Why the fuck is that our problem?’ Good question. The answer is, the church is making us personally responsible if this mission fails because we leave. So we have to stick it out or have the inquisition on our ass.”
Maria asks, “W-wait, brother are you t-telling us that Rose is a Saintess candidate?”
“Correct, the ‘demon’ you tried to bully turns out to be a Saintess. I’d call that divine justice.”
John speaks up, “Hold up a second here. Rose isn’t human. How can she be a Saintess Candidate?”
Rayla answers, “No one knows. We also have no idea how her light magic rejection will work with the awakening because a Saintess, by their nature, are beings of light magic.”
“They’re also, by their nature, female. How is that gonna work with her curse?”
“I don’t know.”
Sher Aka raises her hand and asks, “Do we know why she contracted this saintess seed? Is it like a disease? Is it a birth defect?”
“Well, apparently, according to the Saintess, to qualify as a saintess candidate you have to fulfill some criteria. You need to be ‘pure of heart’, kind, selfless, willing to or have risked their life for someone, need to have faith in at least one of the Gods, be compassionate and have a divine birth. The birth one is optional but I think we can all agree it is still fulfilled…”
“So if she stops being one of those it will go away? Can we make her torture a puppy or something and make her unqualified?”
“No. Apparently once the qualifications are met and the ‘seed’ has been acquired she could kill someone and still stay a candidate. Once ‘the seed’ is there you can’t get rid of it until puberty and if she gets awakened it’s permanent even if she does a complete one eighty and becomes a horrible person. Apparently, it’s like a divine certificate of faith in you by the Gods. Once you have it you can’t get rid of it.”
Scarlet, a bit panicked, asks, “You aren’t thinking of giving her to the church are you!?”
“No,” the King answers, “The deal is for her to get ordained and then go home with us.”
“Rose is never going to agree to that! Not after…”
“It’s for her own good, Scarlet. She’ll understand in time.”
“No! She needs time and I promised her I won’t force her until she’s ready! If you force her to come back with you I will personally escape with her and become a fugitive until she’s ready!”
“Don’t be stupid! She’s a child, a hatchling. She needs to come home!”
“I won’t go back on my word papa! Unless you intend to imprison both of us I’ll wait for her decision! Even if…Even if that means she’ll never imprint on you or mama!”
“Listen to what you’re saying, Scarlet! That child needs parents and a safe environment to grow up in!”
“What she needs even more right now is a choice! And I won’t budge on that no matter what you say!”
Martin claps his hands together, “Let’s stop this here. You won’t solve this family drama right here and now and we need to get going. Any second we waste is a second we’re stuck in this shitty situation.”
“Fine, I’ll go to the wagon then. Let’s get going.”
“Scarlet! We’re not done!”
“Yes we are! Let’s get moving.”