MapleHorn Village
We followed Daera to MapleHorn Village since she knew the forest better than us. It was a pretty casual walk so we decided to eat on the way there. I took out some fruits from void storage and tossed it over to each of my companions. I also gave Titan some horned rabbit meat until I could give him the steak I promised. As I was holding Titan, I began feeding him the meat. I decided it was a good time to start a conversation.
"Arcana", I said. "Thanks for having my back! I didn't realize you were so good with dual blades! We make a great team!"
"Yup!", Arcana said, smiling. That was probably the first time I've seen her smile like that. Despite cutting it close against a juggernaut, she was filled with joy. It was easy for the good vibes to spread to me.
"Haha. We make a great team! I thought you and Daera were overpowered but it looks like even you have real battles sometimes!", I said, smiling.
"Huh? No. There's way worse than that juggernaut. This is only the surface of what Yggdrasil has to offer, P.B. The enemies in Yggdrasil are nothing to-"
"Oi. What did you just call him?!", Arcana said, irate.
"I called him P.B! He's my boyfriend after all!", Daera said, proudly.
"Yeah right. All he wants are those oversized flaps of fat on your chest!"
"At least I don't have the strength of a juggernaut on berserk!"
"Nani? Do you want to take this to the forest? Are you all talk and no show?"
"Beasts need their discipline, right? I'll be happy to help you!"
"Let's go then! Right here, right now Artemis!"
Yikes. They continued arguing for a few minutes before I had a great idea.
"Why don't you guys play Rock-Pap-"
"Hell no! You think we would play that loaded game again?", they said in unison.
I guess their shared hatred of the game was enough to calm them down for now. They began to laugh at my game of RPS but seem to forget that two-fourths of the party members are here because of it...
A little while later, I asked the levels of Arcana and Daera since I didn't know them yet.
"Oh. I'm around lvl. 3000 at the moment. The former Dragon Queen(My mother) is around 4,000.", Arcana said, casually.
"As a Goddess, I'm unsurprisingly lvl.4000 but I'm somehow still not as strong as some of the male Gods.", Daera said, sighing.
Like I stated before, 2000 was considered demi-God tier and 4000 was considered God tier. I guessed that their current levels made sense seeing as it takes time in order to reach such a high number. The rate of increasing levels tends to decrease as you move up the scale. Even Daera, a Hunting Goddess, was lvl. 4000. However, Gods are usually specialized in an individual category so they usually have a weakness. Their lvl systems are also calculated differently from regular Yggdrasil residents. The level that she told me was just the Amera Lvl. System equivalent. When it comes to Gods, they could still be considered weak even if they have a perfect 4000. This is because their strength is primarily derived from their followers/believers. Her stated max of 4000 is what she can reach if a large number of followers do their daily prayers. Arcana was a different case. Dragon Royalty is usually seen as Demi-Gods so her level matches up. Being a Demi-God also doesn't automatically make you strong but it can be stronger than most. Classes can play a big role in how strong of a Demi-God you are. Arcana and Daera wouldn't show me their Status screens so I just have to trust them.
Before we knew it, we found a perfectly sized "town". I say town because it didn't look like a village at all! It looked to have stone roads, fountains, shops, schools, guilds, rest areas, and even an Ameran Research lab!
"Huh. When you said "village", I was picturing something a bit more...basic?", I stated.
MapleHorn was doing well for itself, since everyone seemed pretty happy from a distance. The town was in the middle of a large, open grassland that was near the forest. We were still in the Ameran Great Forest but I guessed that this was one of the areas that Amera wanted to domesticate. Judging by the perfect circle of grassland, I figured they found a way to clear out those miles of forest somehow. As we walked to the town with a giant wall, I noticed that it wasn't made of stone! It was actually made of some sort of metal, most likely a product of Ameran research.
When we got to the gate, we were met with two pairs of guards. Two were what looked to be human lieutenants. The other two were... Dullahans? Before I got to ask why they had dullahans, Daera spoke intently.
"Please let me and my companions into MapleHorn! We have the Paladin God Of Yggdrasil with us!", she stated firmly.
The Dullahans heads', which they were holding themselves, were surprised at the statement. The other two lieutenants began walking towards us.
"The Paladin Hero, huh? Why should we let you in? Just cause you brought a pretty Goddess?" he said, arrogantly.
It was clear this dude was an asshole so I went ahead and took out the sledgehammer that the juggernaut was using. If it wasn't for my strength, this oversized Warhammer would have crushed me! After he saw the Warhammer, he knew that I was the real deal so he decided to let us in.
"Uh...Sorry about that. Make sure to get your ID card and Rank from the guild so we can properly identify you. *Cough*. Please don't hurt me.", he stated, worriedly.
I decided to listen to his advice since I apparently needed an ID card to buy and sell things. Thanks to Ameran Technology, it worked similarly to a Debit Card or a Credit Card. It could not only identify you but it could also magically store your money inside it. It was too complicated to explain apparently. That was the most science-like statement that I've heard since coming here.
As we began to make our way towards the guildhall in the center of town, people began to call Daera's name.
"Daera! Daera! We love you!"
"Daera! Please bless our next harvest!"
"Daera! Please marry me!"
She gave a death stare to the last guy but she smiled and waved towards the rest. I didn't realize how famous she was in Yggdrasil. I can't say that I'm surprised by her ability to appeal to a large variety of people. I was happy for her since she seemed to enjoy the praise of the residents.
Meanwhile, someone important in our party was being ignored...