Huuuuu~
Hedin walked into the ground dragon stables and looked around. He and Rem had arrived at Crusch's place with two ground dragons and a carriage. The carriage had already been transported to the front. The ground dragons were left because they were currently being fed.
Hedin had made a good relation with the two beasts. His glory allowed him to connect with other animals better, simply by projecting his emotion of good will towards them. One could say it created bonds not present and deepened the bonds that were there. It worked especially well on animals who didn't have complex thought processes.
The ground dragon stables weren't lined with stone or brick, instead, they were left bare in dirt. The stables themselves were large. Almost twice as large as a house in terms of sheer area and the ground dragons were aplenty.
Most of them had been bred here and the selective few had been bought from outside.
Hedin walked past the majority of them. While doing so, he could not help but notice the curious glances each of them gave him. Ground dragons were, after all, one of the more intelligent species on the planet. Their cousins - the dragons - were fully capable of speech and feats of intelligence on par with humans.
Just then, he felt one of them reach out and grab onto his trench coat with it's mouth.
Hedin looked back, finding a majestic black ground dragon, bipedal in nature and with a sharp snout. As it noticed him staring back, it let out a satisfied roar and seemed to jump with joy.
"Hey there, you." Hedin smiled and patted it's head. The dragon leaned into his hand affectionately. For a moment, Hedin froze. He could feel the sheer joy the creature was feeling upon interacting with him.
Why? He thought to himself. He had never met the creature. Never once seen it or have been seen by it.
But then, he shook his head and enjoyed the dragon's affection. He was an animal lover after all. He could spare himself this small moment of respite. The dragon groaned gleefully, almost jumping out of it's enclosure.
Seeing it's enthusiasm, Hedin almost felt that it was a shame to leave this one here. Almost.
"Woah, there. You're pretty enthusiastic. What are you called?" He asked, not expecting a response.
But the response came from the side.
"She doesn't yet have an official name, sir." He turned his head, finding the stable boy there. "But I call her Patrasche."
Hedin nodded at the boy and turned his attention back to the ground dragon.
"She seems pretty taken by you, sir." The boy said, walking to him and patting Patrasche's head.
"I'm as surprised as you are." Hedin snickered. "It's not everyday you find someone as enthusiastic as this girl."
Patrasche roared in understanding.
After playing with the cheerful ground dragon for some time and chatting with the stable boy, who was apparently named Gerad; Hedin had to take his leave and get his own two dragons.
Patrasche groaned softly in protest as she felt Hedin leave.
"Sorry, but I have to leave. I bid you farewell, Patrasche." He said softly and patted her head a final time.
With that, ignoring her noise, he turned to Gerad and asked, "I take it that the ground dragons have finished eating?"
"They have, Sir. I shall have them transported to the front post haste." The man bowed and ran off to attend to his work.
I came to play with the ground dragons while they ate. But I guess I was able to do that anyway. Hedin shook his head as he walked out of the stables. Such moments of respite were ones he was not able to enjoy as a hunter. Now, he felt that they were growing on him.
He did not if he was supposed to like that or not. Sooner or later, he wanted to return back to his own world. There, he could not hope to have such small moments again when he was back on the front line, ready to take on the great ones over and over again, spending each night fighting to the death.
Sigh!
He sighed deeply and felt that whatever would come next would not be unlike the situation he had to face everyday.
Just like the witch cult, the blasphemy of the great ones threatened the global population. They had to move fast and strike hard, always. Most of the time, they had to take out entire villages because they could not get there on time and the villagers had been had by corruption.
He could only hope that he would not be too late to Arlam Village. While Roswaal was indeed evacuating the village, there was no guarantee in the end. Anything could go wrong.
There's also the matter with Rem... Suddenly, Hedin felt a blush creep up his cheeks. Truly, he was weak at social interactions. It's difficult to do these things.
Hunters weren't recommended to marry in the first place. In his world, a hunter's family can become their greatest weakness. Others were more prone to corruption because they did not have glory to shield them. And the hunter could not always be present.
Furthermore, they could be manipulated blasphemy if it got to their family. Such a thing had been witnessed by Hedin right before he was sent here.
Remembering Wilson and then thinking back to Rem, he already felt a headache forming.
He sighed again.
"You seem conflicted." Suddenly, a voice came from the side. Hedin already knew what this was.
"Good afternoon, Sir Wilhelm."
"Please do not refer to me as that. I am, but a humble butler." Wilhelm chuckled and came to stand beside him, hands folded behind his back.
"You would not allow me to call you teacher. Adding a sir before your name is the least amount of respect I can give you."
"Then please, on my own request, simply refer to me as Wilhelm. Or I too shall begin to call you 'Sir Hedin.'"
Hedin chuckled. "Then I will comply with your request, Wilhelm."
Wilhelm nodded. "Now shall we refer to the thing that is bothering you?"
"What?" Hedin acted oblivious.
"I know that look, young man. It is a man who is denying his own heart." Wilhelm patted his shoulder and continued in a softer tone. "Fickle is the heart, Hedin. You must grasp any opportunity it provides to let it free. Make it roam around and find a place for itself."
"I don't think it's that simple." Hedin shook his head.
"Maybe not." Wilhelm took a deep breath. Then, he looked towards the sky in quiet reminiscence. "But isn't that the task for a man? To make the love of his life his own, even against all odds? Fighting for it is one of the ways a man can prove his own emotions."
Hedin paused, thinking it over.
"That's good advice if it comes from you." He smiled. "You must have trained so hard for it, huh..."
"The hardest." Wilhelm admitted.
"And in the end, it was all worth it. Every single moment of it."
"That's good to hear." Hedin said. Wilhelm let out a soft hum in response.
They both stood in silence for a few moments. Only the soft sound of distant chatter lingered.
Before long, Wilhelm said, "Then I shall take my leave. Most of your preparations are done. I do hope you will allow us to serve a final meal before you take your leave."
"While it would be an honour, Wilhelm, sadly, I cannot. It is official business."
Wilhelm nodded.
"Then I shall not trouble you further. Your belongings will be packed and delivered to the front of the mansion in half an hour." Wilhelm bowed in the end and left without another word.
Hedin stared at his back which kept getting smaller and could not help but sigh again.
"So? What do you think?"
Raven landed atop his head and pecked at it a few times.
"Stop that."
Peck!
Peck!
"Come here you damn bird!"
Flap! Flap! Flap!
...
It didn't take long for the preparations to be complete. Hedin and Rem bid their final farewells to Crusch, Felix and Wilhelm and so they were finally off to the Mathers Domain.
As the carriage left the Crusch estate behind, Hedin subtly used the miracle he had cradled to make the ground dragons sure footed and for the ground itself to be more favourable towards them. Alongside that, he also infused them with glory, making them travel far faster than they normally would be.
Mind you, ground dragons could already travel at the speed of a train. With the speed they were now travelling, they would get to the Mathers domain before sunrise.
Hedin pried open the curtain and glanced outside. The sun had already slanted over the horizon and it was beginning to get evening.
If he had to guess, it would be somewhere between 3 to 5 at the moment.
"I guess, I'll train in the meantime."
...
Mathers Domain, the cave occupied by cultists.
In the cave, the sick sound of flesh crunching could be heard. Dozens upon dozens of people, all dressed in purple black robes lined up before a single man.
The man in question was a tall and lanky individual, his skin white as bone. He was so white that one would wonder if he had any blood left at all. Yet, looking at what he was doing, they would instantly find their answer.
The man, dressed in the same clothing as the others, except for a cape that trailed behind him, was incessantly biting into his fingers as he uttered a single phrase over and over again.
"Slothful! Slothful! Slothful! Slothful! Slothful!" The man said the same word, over and over and over and over and over again like a broken record. Every time he did, he bit a little more into his fingers, drawing more fresh blood to spill onto the stone below.
"Believers!" His head suddenly tilted at an awkward angle with a sickening crunch. His back bent the wrong way as he looked at the entourage of followers with his face upside down and bent on a ninety degree angle. "we have been nothing but slothful! Slothful! So slothful! All of you!" He yelled, saliva mixed with fresh blood splashing everywhere.
He supported his bent body with his hands, standing on four limbs with his back bent the wrong way. Slowly, he began to crawl.
"All this time... all this time our beloved could have been resurrected! And what were we doing!? The beloved gospel!" He stood back up, back snapping back into position, as did his head. "The beloved gospel that has been bestowed upon us by her, it tells us that the key is there!"
He spread out his hands, proclaiming to the followers.
"We shall rid ourselves of our slothfulness! We shall resurrect her and bask in her love! We will move at night! Kill the villagers as offerings! Kill everyone in the mansion and take the body of that heathen! And then we shall welcome her into the world!"
Crunch!
The man bit into his fingers again, one of them being lopped right off.
Puu!
He spit out the finger, all covered in blood onto the ground. Then, his lips stretched into a grin that reached his ears.
"We must not be slothful!"
...
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Ye
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(Image Here)
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A/N: Enjoying yourself so far?
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Cheers~