A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

“Stop.”

However, just when I thought we could move forward, two people immediately raised their arms, putting an end to any hope of a quick resolution. I looked over, seeing both Uncle Guyul and Sieg displeased.

“Ignoring the economic value this invention will bring, I must inquire something—how are you expecting this to be made in Frozen Nest?” Sieg asked.

Ah, he’s asking for the budget. Naturally, I got too hyped up after only persuading one person.

“I know a talented runesmith-slash-blacksmith and two rising artificers, with one of them specialized in making system-based manatech. They’ve all worked with the recorder before and, if we give them the time and funding, they can probably reverse engineer it so we can produce more of it,” I replied, but Sieg’s look just told me to “go on,” so I did. “Once we have the blueprint, I’ll have them train our artificers and then we can start producing them.”

Uncle Guyul sighed as the dragonewts all looked at each other with awkward smiles. Confused with this reception despite how captivated they were by the video, I looked around the room, only to see Mom smiling like always.

“Princess Hestia, I believe you have heard me give you an update on our artificer situation, correct?” Sieg continued. “We lack natural arcanuit deposits, meaning we must import mana batteries, raising the price we would need to sell at to make a profit. Besides, why would any artificer wish to live here, when it is more beneficial for them to be in Ankor-Nazta? Not to mention, wouldn’t it be better for you to have these products made there, instead of here? We do not have the facilities for mass production.”

… Ah. No, this wasn’t to talk about the budget. He’s actually trying to kill the dream.

Well, it wasn’t like I hadn’t expected this. I did just hear everything and could read it in the reports, but I also felt this was such a lacking argument to say otherwise. Here was the thing—Frozen Nest’s only important industry was the fishing industry. Everybody knew this but it also was clear nobody was willing to branch out of it. It didn’t help that the closest thing to a second profitable industry was still exporting raw goods as well; there was next to no manufacturing industry in Frozen Nest.

They were all for improving on the existing fishing industry, but I guess it was different when it came to taking a risk on something different. Which was weird to me since Frozen Nest had more money than Aurora had ever earned! … Which wasn’t saying much since I was comparing a small adventurer party to a whole country that has been alive for over 2000 years now with a thriving fishing industry.Why am I thinking of fish all the time? Vifi would give me the eww face.

“Then you misunderstand me!” I replied. “My intention wasn’t to bring a manatech revolution. On the contrary, I’m not the best with tech anyways, so I leave those stuff to my friends who know how to bring those ideas into existence. I’m thinking about focusing on the tech’s usage.”

“What is the difference then?” Uncle Guyul asked, his brows softening a bit.

“Because it is my dream to become an idol that can bring smiles to people!” I said, baffling everybody but Pradreo … and in a bad way at that. “Everybody knows my situation; I just learned everything during the visit with Father. I am here not only to learn how to be an imperial princess but also help out Mom, since Frozen Nest is now my home. I have to treat it and its citizens well, because I am the sort of person who wishes for people to smile.”

‘A bit cringe to say that in an official budgeting meeting, no?’ Hikari needled me with a slight giggle.

You’re me! You would do the same!

‘I’m not that bold!’

Shut it, let me speak!

Composing myself as I felt my chest tightening in pain from what I said, I continued confronting these old men stuck in their ways. “To me, music and dancing is everything. I know this might seem weird to hear from a dragon and a princess, but while the succession crisis is important to deal with, I intend on prioritizing myself and my dream right now. Mom asked me to help Frozen Nest progress, to keep up with the rest of the world, but I am also doing this purely for myself. This recording?”

I pulled up the recorder and replayed the video of me singing on stage, huffing loudly with a wide grin as I finished a song. With a beaming smile as I heard the crowd roar into a thunderous applause, I felt proud when I saw myself give them a massive bow. No haughtiness of a dragon princess to be seen, just the humble gratitude an idol had to give to her fans.

I could help myself from smiling. The muscles in my face couldn’t be controlled.

“I want this to spread to the entire world. I want people to see me everywhere, at any time, til the end of always. I want them to hear my voice when they have a bad time or when they need some peppy hype. I want them to consider what song to play for their current mood, but also just leave my playlist on auto-loop in the background while they work!”—I clapped my hands in excitement—“That’s right, I’m suggesting something only I and the people around me can do! A musical revolution through the power of videos!”

I then pointed at Uncle Kary. “That love can also become part of every industry in Frozen Nest! This is the power of videography that Earth possesses, and that I now want to bring to this world. I don’t need the factories of Ankor-Nazta to achieve something like this, I just need a focused crew to bring this ambition to life!”

Standing up, posing with my fist raised in the air, I was trying my best to sound as passionate as possible. Maybe a bit too much, but I wanted to hide the whole awkward succession crisis stuff and capture their imaginations with my reasoning.

I needed this to get greenlit. I meant it when I said this was a selfish idea I was only doing for myself. Music videos and song recordings were my next goal now. Seeing how I was stuck on Frozen Nest made me wish for a way to contact not only my friends but also my fans.

Entertainers going on hiatus was just part of showbiz, with many going out unannounced. At least in my case, my friends and allies notified my fans, but it also meant that for the next two years, I wouldn’t be able to sing to them. Such a long time without fanservice would make it easy for people to forget me, especially with their daily workload.

After seeing Neill and Yuilengreill meet, I really felt this fact drive home even further. Sure, with Tasianna around, the mother-daughter duo could continue speaking to each other, but what about when Tasianna returned to Frozen Nest? I felt bad for Yuilengreill, which made me wish we had a phone network in this world.

This idea then expanded into what I had now after I saw and heard the reports.

The world of Peolynca needed video streaming. I needed it!

“… So, instead of the manatech industry, you’re intending to expand on the cultural management and service industries?” Uncle Guyul asked as he leaned his chin on his hands, hiding his mouth in the process.

“That is the basic idea, yes, but, frankly speaking, we should do something to help our artificers. We don’t need to make it part of our main financial backbone, but we really do need to make sure they would want to stay here with their family. Doing the bare minimum won’t cut it with how the importance of manatech development is rising with every year,” I answered, thinking how obsessive Grimnir was as a Saint of Chihiro.

Uncle Guyul closed his eyes, tilting his head from one side to the other, taking his time before speaking, “This video recording would also help with education, no?”

“Yes. You can record people giving lectures; back on Earth, there was a wide collection of videos on just about every topic imaginable that you could learn from.”

“… Karydrinos, this would solve our issue with hibernating dragons.”

Huh?

“Elaborate,” Mom interjected.

“Yes, your majesty,” he stood up. “As we are quite aware, it is rare for the older dragonkin to attend certain meetings due to their need to sleep and rest their souls. In other cases, they might be watching over their children and grandchildren hunting to level up. Anything can happen, and that can disturb the senate assembly, forcing the different clans to send dragonewt representatives. As a republic, this is far from the ideal situation, since, for certain decisions, we will need the patriarchs and matriarchs to speak up.”

“You wish to record their words?” Mom asked, making the entire room realize where this was going.

“Correct. Video evidence of the person speaking would help us when we dragons must convene. It won’t help right now, but for the future, I can see a use for it. Not to mention, when one of us goes to our eternal slumber, leaving behind a piece of yourself like this sounds quite enticing,” Guyul argued, bringing up one of the things I hated hearing the most. “We can leave behind training advice for future generations, without needing them to rely on their memory or aging books. We can immortalize the beautiful sight of our country for everybody to see. The potential is massive.”

“… Of course, it would be.” Mom glanced at me with a quick smile, reminding me she was recording me when I was hunting my first mammoth. She probably wanted a recorder for her own selfish reason …

“I agree with the proposal,” Guyul stated, followed by Uncle Kary and Pradreo. “I would like to suggest diverting the innovation funds into cultural management. How much can we afford?”

The dragonewts took a while discussing amongst themselves, crunching numbers with their abacus and [Mathematician] skills before finally coming to a number. “After calculating the wages for the necessary artificers, new hires, and also the potential needed material, this is what we can offer at a low risk to our treasury.”

Pradreo handed me the parchment.

Okay, let’s see, how many … 50 large goldite coins!

50.000.000 Davi! That was about almost double the amount I had to spend for my [Crystal of the Divine System]. This was so much money!

“Why only 50?” Mom asked for some reason as my widened eyes were glued on the parchment.

“We expect to spend over 100 large goldite for the initial investment into the plans, your majesty,” Pradreo answered, shocking me even further. “Thrahasa expects to spend money on acquiring another divine crystal, as we overheard Princess Hestia mention a System-based artificer. I can confirm this, as I saw the need for the crystal to enlarge the video. Connected to one, you can project it to the point a crowd larger than a plaza can see it.”

Oh, right, I forgot to mention that. Good thinking Pradreo.

He continued, “We could borrow one from the kinkyuro, but I presume we would like to have one ourselves for this new industry.”

“E-excuse me, but 100 goldite? I spent about 26 large goldite for mine. Do we lack dungeon core shards?” I asked.

“No we don’t, my lady. We actually have enough to make three more [Crystals of the Divine System],” he answered. “But aside from the crystal, we will also need to spend quite a bit of money to produce more of these recorders, especially spares in case any of them break. The 100.000.000 Davi is a precaution, the maximum we are willing to spend on materials, since we are unsure what is needed. I suspect you will need this amount.”

“10 large goldite is on employment fees and training, which means we are allocating about 150.000.000 Davi for this entire project,” Thrahasa summarized. “This is what the senate can approve once we have an agreement between clan Nordor, Liandsee, Ievfuchsdra, and Thalaxarus.”

Hearing this, everybody looked over to Sieg. To me, this was a large sum of money that was enough to keep my idol tour afloat for multiple concerts even if I took losses on each one. This would be enough for Grimnir to go absolutely crazy without having to worry about the costs. So, what was this amount to Sieg? Was it too much to risk on my idea?

“… Princess Hestia, let me remind you that this isn’t clan Nordor’s money, this is the city’s and country’s. The citizen’s taxes,” he said, making me feel nervous. “Empress Melloxtressa, to ensure the proper procedures are held up, may I accompany her in the execution of these plans? She is still inexperienced with Loatryx’s bureaucracy.”

“A fine idea. Do that. Pradreo, her siblings will soon arrive from the mainland to help her with her [Battle Frenzy] training as well. Act as her assistant and make sure she follows her duty while training. I want her to be strong, do you understand?”

Considering my first action as a princess was to jump right into this project, Mom should be happy for now. Still, since I had personal investment in this project for my career, I had to make sure it worked.

After this decision was made, the assembly continued with Mom discussing other points she wanted to be updated on, but nothing substantial enough for me to contribute to. Once the meeting was over, my first order was to have Sieg gather up the artificers needed for this project and to tell them a meeting will happen soon.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

When that meeting would happen was the question though, as I needed Grimnir, Ellaine, and Haruka together all at once. The issue, as Tasianna explained, was that every single member of Aurora and the students were all on their own long-term adventures. In the three weeks that I’ve been awake, Neill was truly the only person I’ve met, and that was ‘cause she was just culling dungeons around a city I had a portal stone in.

Grimnir and Ellaine were with Saori in Carmaniate, and the students were wandering around investigating the supposed demonic-influenced dungeons. All I could do right now was to ask Neill to send a missive to the students and have Svena send a letter to King Drangleic for information on Saori and the others.

Which meant waiting for two days until I got a reply.

“‘Tatsuya and the others are currently deep inside a dungeon with Yorshka and Farron. Too many intertwined dragon paths for me to find there any time soon,’ Neill wrote,” I read the letter to the rest of my party. “‘So, here’s the warning. I’ll be going in, bye!’”

I went silent, grimacing.

“Haha.” The only person bemused by this was Vifi. “That kirin knows exactly what she needs to do. Really makes me curious what’s going on back there, but I guess we can learn about it later when Wolfboy comes back.”

“Yeah … Well, that means Haruka won’t be around for a while, but as long as we have Grimnir, things should work out just fine. Okay, second letter. Please.” I took a moment and prayed before opening King Drangleic’s report on the situation. Please be good news. “‘I greet the third princess of the Dragon Empire of Kargryx, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor. When I first heard from Arcanuess Helvas that you’re—yada-yada-yada-fluff.’ Oh, here we go. Ahem, ‘With the formalities done, I wish to grant you a report of the current Carmanite envoys. As you have mentioned in your letter, Miss Saori, Lady Ellaine, and Master Grimnir have been sent by the alliance to allow us to make formal contact with them for our future war with the Empire of Folschreck.’”

Urgh …

I shook my head, dispelling those thoughts for now and continued, “However, something that we hadn’t expected is that Carminate is currently facing severe conflicts within. Another religious war, in fact, between two separate factions of God Danterno’s church.”

[“Shiterno? What abo… Ow!”] Beth blurted out, prompting her brother to lightly smack her on the head for copying my naming habit.

“Oh no, Shiterno!” Vifi added to support Beth, as Shay wasn’t brave enough to provoke the lightning beast.

Eyeing them for a moment, I refocused. “‘As you might know, the Church of Danterno isn’t quite as widespread as the other Origin Gods’ religions, mainly due to the negative stigma surrounding fire mages. However, this is less the case in Carmaniate, where the destructive might of a fire mage is considered a virtue for the nation’s war efforts. It isn’t their national religion though—Carmaniate worships all Origin Gods, save for Aurena, mostly equally. Some of the tribes even still pledge their loyalty to the old elemental emperors. Carmianiate is a nation not driven by religion, but rather through emotions and pride.’”

Then why is a religious war happening over there?

“‘Which is why none of us expected something like this to happen.’” He wrote, making me weary for my friends. “‘The two factions Lady Ellaine reported on were called the ‘Phoenix’ and the ‘true church of Danterno,’ with both seeming more like cults to her. In case of the former cult, they are gathering under the teachings of a ‘prophet’ while the other is led by the various blessed of God Danterno. Incidentally, this latter group is still trying to hunt you down, your grace, so your stay on Kargryx is quite fortunate, less we have more assassins attempt to take your life.’”

… Are you kidding? Even after I literally let two of their blessed return to Carminate alive? Sheesh, being nice to these zealots was just idiotic, huh!

“‘Meanwhile, the ‘prophet’ is confronting the main religious body in an attempt to stop these assassinations. Lady Ellaine mentioned this ‘prophet’ isn’t even properly leading his faction, but that people have been gathering under his wings due to his various good deeds in helping the tribes of Carmaniate’s savannah,’” he wrote. “‘Strangely, this person is an arvisian with wings on his back, similar to my family, but instead of normal feathers, his are constantly on fire.’ In addition to how he claims ‘to not harm the Crimson Saintess in the west,’ people have called him the prophet, as he acts as if he knew God Danterno’s thoughts, despite not being a blessed. In fact, aside from his fire manipulation, he is known to be quite weak. We can continue talking about the reasons behind this religious war for a later time, but for now, allow me to explain how all this has affected your party member’s situation.”

Essentially, due to the religious war, reaching the capital has become impossible for Saori, Ellaine, and Grimnir. Why? ‘Cause rumors have spread far enough that they know the “Stygian Wolf” is a constant companion to the “Crimson Saintess.” If they got to her, they would get to me, which was why Saori wanted to avoid going deeper into Carmaniate until everything cooled down.

Therefore, they’ve concentrated on the rhytilic acquisition, and managed to find something pretty interesting during it. They’ve reunited with the beastmen slaves they’ve rescued from the grimgarians, of which some of them are acting as guides to help Saori avoid the Shiterno worshippers. During this time, they learned one of the tribes living in the northern parts of Carmaniate was related to a certain somebody.

“‘Belzac. One of the local tribes was part of the original cult created around him when he defeated the archdemon, Klea’Hatma. This was confirmed by the two named figures. Therefore, Miss Saori has been preoccupied with multiple duties. At the time of this letter’s arrival, your party members should be ready in three days. Thus, I conclude this report. Many greetings from Artorias, and may the Goddess always keep you in her favor, Princess Hestia.’”

With that, three more days passed for us rather uneventfully, although I did use this time to finally go hunting. Fresh battles against other rank Bs kept my [Battle Frenzy] in check, but most importantly, it taught me how to fight ice-aligned monsters.

Overwhelming them with fire was entirely doable, but it did become a bit hard to fully rely on it, as the rank A dragons showed me just two weeks ago. I needed to adapt to how monsters in this country fought and also learn how their ice attacks interacted with my spells. Yet, most importantly, I had to go back to my roots when it came to leveling skills.