A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

“Your Highness!”

“Princess Hestia!”

Voices clamored as the citizens of Iceskale watched Hestia’s stream broadcast in the sky, looking down at all like a giant projection of the System’s transparent blue screen. Despite the introduction of this new, revolutionary technology to the traditional, slow-progressing dragonkin culture, the fact that it mirrored the usual blue screen every civilized denizen of Peolynca should come to know through their hustle-and-bustle made it easy for even the least technophiles to understand what was going on.

“All citizens of Frozen Nest living in the highlands, tundras, and prairie, you are advised to prepare for your leave. The estimated arrival of this foe to our lands is about three to four more bells, or hours, as you can see on the clock of my stream.” I pointed on the upper left side, double-checking my crystal that I was pointing at the correct UI—user interface. “Most elder scales—including our dragoons—strong enough to fight were called to the leviathan battle, including my mother, the empress. We currently only have young scales, so this type of battle will be difficult. Yet, for now, all citizens will be evacuated to the Iceskale! All wyverns, dragons, and drakes large enough to carry humanoids will be sent to escort them south! This is my order as your imperial dragon princess! … And your streamer and idol, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor—so get to it, already!”

Certainly, Hestia’s infectious personality and body language made it easier for many to accept. The digital media guild’s first product in the recorder, after all, was only known and available to a small circle of people close to Hestia. The majority might have heard that their empress’s daughter was funding, with their tax money, a new artificer guild consisting of dwarves, but they weren’t sure what she would create with it.

Although she was only three years old, many citizens, especially the prominent clans, knew about how their princess was born on Altrust after her egg was lost—a national tragedy for Frozen Nest. Due to her participation as a city official under the tutelage of Siegragxus—the most prominent of the true dragonkin working as a city official—many had been able to learn that Hestia didn’t act like a normal whelpling of her age.

Many understood her mental age was that of a fledgling who had undergone their adulthood pilgrimage since she was an [Otherworldly Reincarnator], but many didn’t treat her as such due to her scent. Even strong perfume and oil scents wouldn’t be able to hide the draconic pheromones true dragonkin naturally exuded, and every dragonkin could recognize them to tell another dragonkin’s general biological age.

This mix-match between her behavior and scent threw many dragonkin off when they first met Hestia as a city official. She could read documents without falling asleep after a few pages. She could calculate budgets and give valid reasons for their amount depending on Frozen Nest’s laws. She could even resolve civil issues without suddenly agitating a battle. These traits were already hard to find in true dragonkin; almost impossible in normal dragon whelplings.

It was like giving a five-year-old human-child administration work.

Capabilities aside, the normal citizens of Iceskale were skeptical of Hestia’s new guild, while those working in the administration were worried the “emergency funds” would be wasted even if the invention she was trying to create worked. After all, the cost to make the recorder was put down on the patent, and those were processed by Frozen Nest’s city hall.

Yet, to see was to believe, and none could argue against Hestia when it came to ingenuity and a willingness to innovate. To the dwarves working in the digital media guild, the existence of Hestia was the dawn of a new “Revolution Queen.” The recorder was an invention of their beloved High Queen Dravlia, and it would now be the foundation for the creation of live filming and the start of a connected information grid.

Hestia becoming the first streamer on Peolynca was merely the start. It was a simple advertisement for the digital media guild, used in a manner to show its worth. Being able to warn Iceskale of the approaching renewed elemental emperor and show its army growing and moving south was enough to cause many to panic when they first saw the threat to their peace.

“Time will move on, but your stories remain ♫

A legacy made upon the warmth of your heart ♫

The light shines so brightly, all in your honor ♫

May the light guide you to the plains of souls! ♫”

Yet, they were also privileged to listen to Hestia’s angelic voice performing for them.

“You can hear me, right? Vifi, you can hear my voice, right? Then don’t you dare lose to this bastard!” Hestia through the stream. “Because I won’t let you get away from me now that we share a goal together! I know how you spoke of those goals of yours in that dream-like, idealistic way, just as I would do! As a dreamer like you… Then it’s only right that this idol helps you reach that realization, right?”

“Lady Hestia! Fight well! Everybody, we need to prepare!”

“Princess Hestia! Princess Hestia! Daughter of Empress Melloxtressa, princess of Frozen Nest!”

The people cheered as Hestia’s imposing voice bellowed through the stream, resonating with them while affected by both [Music Resonation (Major)] and [Gazing Upon the Ruby Star (Minor)]. Being both inspirational and having the ability to sound commanding were virtues to dragoon commanders, and this was not lost to the many soldiers and dragoons who weren’t sent to fight with the true dragonkin against the leviathans.

However, the chat was in full view of all the watchers. With their generally excellent hearing and eyesight, the dragonewts, levianewts, and any visiting elves quickly understood their folly.

Those who knew where the digital media guild was racing to their building, while the rest stormed into the different artificer guilds on Iceskale’s floating city, all willing to update their bracelet to enable the streaming capability.

Using their IDs as identification for their account, many didn’t struggle with setting their account up, and if they did, they could speak with their clan or their young scales. The choice of a name, though, gave many citizens difficulty since it was recommended to “maintain some anonymity.” Regardless, accounts were being created in mass as Hestia started her “abduction” plan with Vifi.

As the chat grew, so did the preparations for the incoming battle. The dragoons and the dragonewt representatives of the clans took command per Skardvro Nordor’s orders until Rhekkraxus delivered Hestia’s words. Once again, Frozen Nest’s military would be taken over by an elder scale.

The only elder scale left on Frozen Nest wasn’t an ice dragon, though, but a fire dragon. A fire dragon refugee whose clan just moved to Frozen Nest for political asylum and who was all too willing to prove himself. The draconic culture of power—the willingness to display strength, whether martial or in the arcane arts—and their veneration for those older than themselves, meant Clan Kleodrastia couldn’t abstain from duty, especially since the order came from Frozen Nest’s princess.

His mother would prove herself during the battle against the leviathans, while her son, and heir, would protect his new home and carve a place for his clan in Frozen Nest’s hierarchy. To force people to overlook the historic tension between fire dragonkin and ice dragonkin, it was paramount for Fehrkatruk Kleodrastia to rise to the occasion.

“Follow the wyverns and Lord Rhekkraxus without complaining about it, Kylunavus,” Fehrkatruk instructed his younger brother as the latter got ready to depart with a rescue team to escort the people living outside Iceskale. “We can’t assure that random elementals or monsters wouldn’t go on a rampage with the elemental emperor active. If a blizzard appears, you need to retreat immediately! Don’t fight, don’t try to prove yourself; only focus on rescuing the humanoids.”

[“Yeah, yeah, I got it already, Big Brother! Don’t worry, I won’t disappoint our clan!”] The young, boisterous red dragon roared, flapping his wings as his dragoon and wyvern retainers saluted, looking slightly weary of their young lord’s excitement.

In truth, Fehrkatruk was apprehensive of sending his inexperienced younger brother into danger, as the latter hadn’t even ventured on their adulthood pilgrimage yet, but every true dragonkin willing to help the evacuation effort meant fewer trips in general. Wyverns alone wouldn’t be enough to rescue all the dragonewts living in the prairie and mountain area due to the long flying distance. Even with minimal resting time and perfect travel conditions, it would still take days to fly to their destination and then back to Iceskale.

Rhekkraxus, prioritizing rescuing his people under Hestia’s orders, had enlisted every single able rank B and even rank Cs and Ds, like Kylunavus Kleodrastia. A true dragonkin was naturally larger than most wyvern, and that meant more dragonewts and elves could be rescued. Since they were only meant to rescue, combat was less likely but not impossible.

“I am not playing games with you, Kylunavus!” Fehrkatruk roared, agitating the dragons and wyverns, getting ready with his little brother. The mere presence of an over 800-year-old rank A could unnerve even the chilliest-natured ice dragon fledgling. “Kleodrastia isn’t here to make a name for ourselves. We serve Frozen Nest like every other clan directly working for the imperial retainers. Lord Rhekkraxus is your superior here, not only from age and rank, but he is your lord’s second son.”

[“All right, all right! I got it!”] Klyunavus groaned from how uptight his older brother was. [“Besides, these are orders from Princess Hestia, correct? Even more of a reason to not botch it.”]

Klyuvanus turned around to see more fire wyverns preparing for the rescue mission, eying Regolustrus amongst them. These wyverns were the same fire wyvern retainers Hestia had gained after her Inferno Nest trip.

Kylunavus’s words also reached the older wyvern, earning him a confirming nod as both acknowledged this mission was their way to repay Hestia for her warm welcome to Frozen Nest. Without Hestia, Clan Kleodrastia wouldn’t have had a secure source of income through being artificers for the digital media guild. The wyverns wouldn’t even have a home to return to if Hestia hadn’t forgiven their original intent in joining her as a retainer.

Both sides understood they had to repay Hestia and show her they had worth in her life.

“… Good. Fly with the inferno burning your wings, Brother.”

[“You, too. Don’t let the ash cloud your eyes.”]

Time passed quickly as Iceskale erupted into action from Hestia’s orders, with her voice serenading many through the night before the stream stopped only to wake them up when dawn arrived. Yet, seeing her fighting on their behalf wasn’t enough to truly rally the ice dragonkin. Watching Vifi and Hestia destroying the rank A and greater elementals inside the latter’s monster room made it seem “easy” despite the urgency.

To see was to believe, and if everything seemed to be working as planned, even those most unguarded would loosen up due to mental fatigue. They needed to see Hestia perforated by the ice spear of the mandril for them to finally understand that they were putting all their trust on a three-year-old dragoness.

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Similar to many noble clans in how they valued the successes and achievements of their members, they weren’t like dwarven clans in how much they valued, almost fanatically, honor and historic relations. “To lower one’s tail” to resolve a dispute for the sake of the clan’s survival or to “hand over one’s scale” to show respect was wisdom with how strong a dragon’s memory was.

Clan Kleodrastia was a prime example of “let bygones be bygones” for the sake of survival, where they lowered their tail to the true Dragon Lord of Ice despite the historic bloodshed between the fire and ice dragonkin. Wisdom was a sign of power, as well.

However, something the dragon clans did share with the dwarves’ and the elven houses was the fact they venerated their elders, especially the founder and the most prominent member as if they were like gods. Bloodlines were taken quite seriously since they affected the elemental mana and the amount the descendants would have, as having strong children was an instinct dragonkin inherited from their less civil days.

To the Nordor clan, they venerated not Odlesstrus—the Nordor dragon every Nordor dragonewt descended from—but their founder, Nordoramsul, and their current matriarch, Melloxtressa. Although every Nordor dragonewt did not possess Melloxtressa’s blood, the fact of the matter was that she was their former Dragon Lord, their current sixth dragon empress, and also the second-rank SS dragon of this age. These were achievements even outshone their original ancestor in Nordoramsul, never mind their ancestor in Odlesstrus.

She was their matriarch and secondary god, only behind Kargryxmor, and many of these dragonewts had witnessed the warm tears she had shed after her formal marriage to Eltharion and the glacial ones drowning her with sorrow after she lost Hestia’s egg. The first descendant through their matriarch’s line might have been a fire dragon, but to every Nordor member, she might be more precious than the jewel of the world.

She was their goddess’s happiness and they would protect this with their lives.

“Commander Estranor,” Skardvro addressed the Knight-Commander of their clan’s dragoon order, and the vice-commander of the “Unified Dragoon Army of Frozen Nest.” “As planned, we shall be working with Princess Hestia’s ability to teleport people with [Spatial Rend]. As the stream had just ended after Princess Hestia’s scales turned silver, please be aware that our princess will be in a precarious state if she manages to survive and open the portal.”

“You do not need to finish the sentence with an ‘if.’ She will because she is our princess,” the commander, a tall, stalwart silver dragonewt clad from horns to tail with thick, white armor, replied, slightly disgusted with Skardvro’s lacking trust. “I was honored to watch her spar with Prince Kahalameet, so I know her power well. As Vifi’Yok is with her, there is even less to worry about. That demonkin’s power is without question, and seeing her fight through the recording was enough to assure me that she had only gotten better in her travels through the glaciers. It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when our princess desires our protection. Until then, my subordinates shall wait.”

And the time came when Vifi was sent into the subspace before Hikari released her [Solar Overdrive] to kill the mandril. The time it took for her to eat and drink and to brief the dragoons until Hestia opened the subspace again was too little for her to rest properly.

Commander Estranor saluted his princess, slightly disappointed he couldn’t witness her in her silvery splendor but quickly pushed those thoughts away. With a commanding voice to ensure his dragoons did the same, he announced his arrival.

“Princess Hestia! Glory to Clan Nordor!” He raised his polearm, prompting all to copy him. “Send us to battle! Your words are our command! Your life is our duty!”

With a full mouth, Vifi jumped out of the subspace when did they so, giving Hestia’s a quick breakdown of what the dragoons wanted before jumping out of the hole to fight the greater elemental. Although drained with her solar core broken, Hestia obliged and started casting [Spatial Rend] to slowly teleport about a third of the dragoons, prioritizing the strongest so they could support Vifi and Shay.

Due to all the fighting, though, arcane corruption started to show with Hestia’s decreasing mood, worrying Skardvro and her dragoons when they brought it up. Yet, the stubborn dragon princess was adamant about doing something to help her friends fighting above, as she couldn’t with her current exhaustion. Yet, this was quickly stopped when Beth arrived and presented her cut-off arm, prompting Svena to finally voice her opinion.

“Lady Hestia, you need to enter the subspace!” she shouted, grimacing as she saw Hestia shivering, even curling her tail up to save body warmth. “I understand your father, His Highness, has forbidden you from entering the subspace or a [Room], but this time you might not have a chance. Your core is broken, and that means your ability to survive in this cold has been weakened. Please… allow yourself to rest.”

[“Their blizzard does not reach me down here, Svena,”] Hestia replied, trying to hide her exhaustion. Her want to sleep wasn’t caused by a sudden illness or strike of lethargy, but due to her inability to properly regulate her body temperature as a fire dragon. [“I can recreate my arena to warm myself up, so don’t worry about it, Svena. I have plenty of fulinoe tea left in my storage.”]

“How long will they need to cleanse you of the arcane corruption, though? Can you maintain your mana regeneration while you teleport the Sirs and Dames and when their companions need them? Will you be able to keep yourself warm while you regrow Miss Bethlieranha’s entire arm? You must understand that regrowing an entire arm will be complicated, especially since this is a wyvern arm, correct?” Svena bombarded Hestia with arguments, flabbergasting the young dragoness.

While multitasking was Hestia’s forte, doing so while [Arcane Fever] was about to happen with her constant use of mana while manually maintaining her body temperature with [Pyrokinesis] didn’t seem very smart. The moment the debuff appeared, Hestia would essentially be blocked from using her mana to recover properly, and if that were to happen, she wouldn’t be able to continue supporting her friends.

[Sun, Consume All], [Hydra], and [Aerokinesis] were all still active to support those fighting above, although [Ruby Star] was deactivated due to the absence of her solar core. The giant sapphire star Hikari had created had already fizzled out, unable to grant [Gazing Upon the Ruby Star]’s healing effectiveness any further.

Even with fulinoe tea, she knew the arcane corruption was spreading through her body. Her scales might hide the blueish discoloration on her skin from others, but her mood and slowly declining focus couldn’t. Yet, despite her troubles, Hestia found it hard to go against Eltharion’s words, just because it would only make their next meeting awkward when she had to admit to everything… only for her to remember her mother’s words.

“Expectations can be both an elixir and poison.” It was a lesson she had never been able to learn back on Earth and it still took her to personally face Melloxtressa’s scolding to internalize it.

It doesn’t matter what Eltharion expects from me or not. If he would lecture me on breaking his law in this situation, then why am even trying this hard to make him like me? He just needs to live to prevent this civil war from worsening. Him liking me should be his problem, not mine.

Clicking her tongue, Hestia let out a deep sigh as she switched the entrance into her subspace from the training field to her obsidian orchestra. Taking in a deep breath, she jumped right into the subspace and started melting the obsidian underneath her, causing warm gasses to surround her body as she used the lava to prevent the cold air from affecting her too much.

After some time had passed where she stopped expending mana to warm herself up, her dragoons and maids arrived in the orchestra room, ready to perform their duties. The former group was slowly being transported to the glaciers, while the latter started preparing Hestia’s meals and bath for the first time since she fell into her coma. Svena, Lorena, and Haati all looked energized as they could finally serve their mistress.

Once the last dragoon was transported to the glaciers, Hestia started regrowing Beth’s arm with [Miraculous Grace], while metal, ice, and lightning clashed from outside the subspace. A hurricane of snow and hail blanketed the area like a large stormy cloud, fully controlled by the elementals as they tore down bits of the mountain, erosion accelerated through unnatural magics.

Sunlight alone was unable to pierce through this darkness, requiring the purifying white flames of [Sun, Consume All] to scatter and shower upon the 45 dragoons fighting alongside Vifi and Shay. The cold created in this storm froze the moisture in the air while the turbulent weather with the occasional thunderstrikes from Vifi’s elemental weapons was blocking every other note of Hestia’s spell song.

Yet, despite the growing number of greater elementals arriving to reinforce their companions, the situation did look bleak. No, even with [Hydra] being unable to support the warriors efficiently as it kept getting frozen by the elemental’s ice spells, constant healing and even [Music Resonation (Minor)] was plenty enough.

Amongst the 45 knights of Clan Nordor’s dragoon order, ten were of rank A. Their commander was around Vifi’s level of 150, while three were slightly weaker than Yorshka at around 135, with the remaining being the “standard” rank A between level 100 and 120. Although the remaining dragoons were rank B, they still formed a strong backbone as they assumed their positions in the sky with their senior dragoons, supporting them with their skills honed through years of training, instead of raw stats.

With the dragoons having previous experience hunting down rampaging greater elementals, they showed their worth in this fight as they opened multiple openings for their commander and Vifi to exploit. The former utilized powerful physical attacks augmented by runes and enchantments to land precise thrusts to destabilize the elemental’s ice body, while the other relied on their raw power as a Warbringer to crush anything that dared to take on the full blow of a Thunderspeed Roar or Thunder Divider.

With every victorious war cry over the destruction of a greater elemental’s body, the blizzard blanketing the area became ever more silvery. The snow would be replaced by used silver powder and torn-off silver scales, while the hail started resembling an avalanche created by the destroyed bodies of the elementals.

The fae who assumed the bodies of wyverns, dragons, and other great aerial monsters would soon lose sky superiority as the dragoons dove from even greater heights, hunting down the elementals like birds of prey, snatching the life away of rabbits and snakes with a singular strike.

‘Dragons rule the skies, as their dragoons crush land and sea under their sight!’ Though you once ruled over the world as the gods and mages of old, there is a reason why we dragonkin rule over Miononbolax rule over these elementally scarred lands today! Know your place, and bow to your true rulers and god, fae! Dragoon-Commander Estranor shouted in his thoughts as his spear pierced through the body of an elemental.

… Yet, despite this dominance, it still shouldn’t be understated that the elementals were once the pinnacle of everything concerning mana. They were the first magicians, they were the first elemental manipulators, and they were once the first arcane masters.

They guided dragons through the art of casting magic as an additional them forming elemental might through their biology. They taught the elves the wonders of life and gave them the fascination to learn science. They gave the humans the power to change their fate to become Altrust’s most dominant race.

They nearly became Peolynca’s gods.

As such, no matter how much the dragoons could overpower the elementals when it came to fighting, skill expression, and coordination, they were still toddlers in front of the undying might of a greater elemental. No matter how severe the damage, as long as they could continue absorbing ice-aligned mana, they could regrow to their full size in a matter of seconds. This time, there was no arena filled with fire-aligned mana to trap them in a state where they could be trapped.

Yet, as long as the dragoons could keep breathing, they would fight. As long as [Sun, Consumes All] healed their wounds and kept them warm from shivering frostbite, they would fly. As long as Hestia’s singing voice could stifle the noise of the storm, they would roar and cry for each other’s name as Vifi’s thunder shattered the air and Shay’s bullet-like scales turned elementals into pincushions.

They all knew their duty was simply to protect Hestia and to give her some time to rest, and this loyalty and trust would be rewarded as a bright, red light broke into the blizzard with a deafening explosion. Yet, instead of continued detonations, violins, clarinets, and drums started playing [The Trial of Kings and Queens] once again, designating Vifi as the sole “protagonist” in this battle, while its music guided the fury of the dragoons towards the weakest of the congregation of elementals—the “antagonist.”

The voice of Hestia became even louder, and with it, the numerous flaming explosions increased. The perpetual darkness created by the elemental’s blizzard started to vanish as holes decorated the entire cloud like Swiss cheese, revealing the cause for all of this—the obsidian orchestra’s ensemble was playing inside the subspace’s concert hall, revealing their allies with their music while blasting their enemies with blasts of flames.

Yet, their conductor was nowhere to be seen inside the obsidian-covered hall. However, while one couldn’t see the young maestro’s ability to command everything, her silent moans of satisfaction could be heard from an open door inside the dressing room of the concert area. A temporary entrance was created by Hestia, connecting the orchestra to the bathroom where Hestia and Hikari were supporting their allies while bathing in the warm waters of their hot springs.

Ahhhhhh… how I have missed you, sooo much… Hestia smiled as she let her fatigued body enjoy the water like an exhausted office woman after a round of overtime. And in this luxury, she was watching her stream as Gravy continued recording everything happening on the battlefield, while a newly healed Beth guarded the entrance of the subspace with her unique skill.

Even if this fight would take a while, it would eventually lead to their victory as Hestia graced all with a musical raid upon the enemies of her home.

I see… to reach my freedom is no easy path. Death, life… what does it matter? Delay me all you want to protect your people, but I will reach the paradise that has been stolen from me. Come, flies and ants seeking the light of the divine, witness the ascension of a demigod into godhood as it was meant to be.

From the glaciers to the tundra, not even the storm of a dragon prince could hold back the renewed Wind Elemental Emperor. Even if the dragons and drakes came to slaughter them, the elemental emperor of wind and water would not stop their stride.

The heart of Frozen Nest would soon beat no longer.