Dedoldia Village

Once we arrived at Dedoldia Village, we were welcomed into Gustav's house. It was the largest house in the village. Built into the trees well above the ground, it was about three stories tall and entirely made of wood. In fact, all of the buildings and walkways were built onto large trees to protect the from the flooding of the rainy season.

Gustav explained to the rest of the Dedoldia warriors how we had rescued the children and saved the two of them after they had been defeated by the enemy. The rest of the Dedoldia warriors were shocked to hear that as Gyes and Gustav were the two strongest of the tribe.

Whilst we were being shown around the village, Eris perked up, seemingly recalling something important.

She held out her hand, showing off her ring, and asked, "By the way, do you know of Ghislaine? She said she is from this village. This was her ring."

The only Beastfolk that understood Human Tongue were Gyes and Gustav.

"Ghislaine?", Gyes said as he scowled. "She's still alive?" Gyes' voice filled with disgust. "She's a stain on our tribe."

"Huh? How could you say such a thing!?", Eris shouted angrily.

"Ghislaine always refused to study and practice. She would attack people who tried to help her. She was just a destructive good for nothing. That ring was something our mother had given her to stop her from going berserk without reason, not that it ever worked; and to top it all off, she abandoned her duty to protect our village and fled."

"Oh shut up!", Eris shouted. "What do you even know about Ghislaine!? Ghislaine is amazing! If you call for help, she will come to save you immediately. She's super fast and super strong! Ghislaine is... not someone... you can talk about like that."

Eris had begun crying, but somehow held back her anger so as not to get violent. Ghislaine had been violent when she was here. If Eris did the same, Gyes would be able to retort "See? Like teacher, like student."

Gyes looked confused rather than angry. He took a couple steps back, not knowing what to do.

Elinalise stepped forward to confront Gyes. "I don't know what Ghislaine did back when she was a child, but I shall not let you badmouth her like that. I owe her my life many times over."

"The same goes for me!", Tallhand yelled as he slammed his fist against his chestplate with a loud 'Clang'.

Eris turned around and wiped her tears, appreciating the support from her new friends.

"Gyes, it would seem the Ghislaine you remember and the one we know are two very different people. At the very least, I also respect her very much", I added.

"It can't be... Ghislaine is... respected?" Gyes muttered.

I explained to everyone how Ghislaine instructed both Eris and I in sword training. I also told them how Ghislaine was a successful apprentice in magic and even learned arithmetic and writing.

Elinalise and Tallhand joined Gyes in his disbelief that Ghislaine had learned reading, writing, and arithmetic.

"She's come a long way since she left the Black Fangs", Elinalise commented.

"That's because Rudeus is such a great teacher!", Eris yelled.

"I am very sorry", Gyes bowed. "Ghislaine and I have not seen one another in a very long time. It would seem my younger sister has matured a bit during our time apart."

After we ate for the night, Elinalise and Tallhand began regaling stories of their days adventuring with Ghislaine.

Eris, Roxy, Minitona, Tersena, and I all listened intently. Most of these stories I have never heard before, so I was honestly quite interested.

Meanwhile, Ruijerd was chatting with Gustav in the other room. They seemed like two old veterans swapping war stories.

The next day, the eight of us were shown to a house given to us to stay at for the duration of the rainy season. We were also given food whether or not we helped out in the village.

Minitona grew close to Eris and would often come over to play, occasionally spending the night at our place cuddled up with Eris.

Eris began training Minitona in the sword each morning. Gyes couldn't be happier about this as he had been trying to do the same, but Minitona had no interest in learning until now.

After hearing that Roxy had not only trained me, but was also the Shirone Kingdom's court magician, some Beastfolk children and warriors began asking her for lessons.

When one of the children first asked her, shy tried to push them away, saying "Rudeus is a far more talented magician. You should ask him for help."

"Don't sell yourself short, Master Roxy. I may be talented, but you are a far better teacher."

"I don't know why you always insist on praising me so...", Roxy said as she looked away shyly.

In the end, Roxy caved and started teaching them the basics.

I proposed that Ruijerd help the Beastfolk warriors in defending their village from monsters, but he refused, stating that doing so would trample on the Dedoldia's warrior pride.

Ruijerd changed his mind, however, when a Chameleon monster managed to sneak into the village and nearly snatched up one of the children before I had blasted it away with a stone cannon.

When the Dedoldia warriors directly asked him for help, he agreed, if only to ensure the safety of the children.

Roxy had also saved a small girl who had fallen down into the floodwaters using her magic. Her reward for doing so was many more children excitedly following her around asking her for lessons.

Ruijerd spent most nights chatting with Gustav. I often overheard them talking about the good old days and how the warriors of today were far too soft and weak.

Elinalise on the other hand was not having a good time here. Despite her best efforts, she was really struggling to find any man willing to help satiate her lust. After about a week, she started to get desperate, almost attacking some of the Beastmen.

Gyes was angered by her behavior and nearly threw her in jail until we told him about her unfortunate curse. If she didn't find men to sleep with on a regular basis, she would literally die.

After hearing about her circumstances, some of the Beastmen reluctantly agreed to help her. None of them were too happy about it as it wasn't mating season and nobody was really in the mood.

We also realized that Geese was here as well, stuck in the village's jail cage. Elinalise and Tallhand mocked him when they found out, but later that day they convinced Gustav to let him free as he was a friend of the saviors of the village.

The Sacred Beast made it a habit to always stop by my room every day when he was being walked. Whenever he came by I would play with him. Once we wore each other out he would cuddle up against my thigh with his head rested on my knee as I stroked his neck.

One day I accidently called him Leo, and he approved with an excited 'Ruff!'. Laklana (Leo's guardian) was furious with me when she heard me call him that.

"You have no right to name the Sacred Beast!"

"Ruff!", Leo Protested.

"It doesn't matter if you like it. You are meant to be the partner of the great hero. What will you do if they give you a different name?"

"Ruff Ruff".

Laklana frowned as she realized she was fighting a losing argument. "The Sacred Beast will allow you to refer to him as Leo...", she said while giving me an annoyed look.

I couldn't help but chuckle watching someone lose an argument to a dog. It never ceases to amaze me how the Beastfolk can communicate with Leo so clearly.

In what felt like no time at all, for me anyway, three months passed and the rain began to subside. As the floodwaters began to recede, we all started getting excited to leave, especially Elinalise.

One person who wasn't happy about us leaving though was Minitona. The moment Eris mentioned that she would be leaving soon, Minitona threw a fit and got in a fight with Eris.

Eris spent her last few days in Dedoldia village cooped up in her room not speaking to anyone. She and Minitona were almost like sisters at this point and the things Minitona said obviously hurt her. I tried convincing Eris to smooth things over with Minitona before we left, but she wouldn't listen.

Thankfully, Gyes had a talk with Minitona and convinced her to come by and apologize to Eris before we left. Eris gleefully accepted her apology and they stayed up all night talking as Minitona spent the night with her.

The next morning we all said our goodbyes and were sent off by the whole village. Minitona gave Eris a big, teary-eyed hug as we left. Once we had all finished our goodbyes we made our way to the Holy Sword Highway with Geese tagging along with us to Milishion.