I decided to place Kalroth's body in my storage. Since he's already dead there should be no problem, and I'll need to perform an autopsy to figure out what happened to him.
After that, I went with Arana to an empty room and asked her to tell me about Cureva. Listening to her story made me understand why she seemed to hate her so much, she even caused the death of her mother... Cureva is even more dangerous than I thought, but that only makes me want to ask this question even more.
"Why didn't you tell me all of this earlier?"
"I didn't want to talk about that. And I didn't think that you would really understand what she's really like..."
"We keep coming back to this problem, don't we? Maybe I would be able to understand you and your problems if you actually tried to explain them to me."
"It's not so simple. It's a long story..."
"Then you should get started already. And make sure to tell me everything that I should know, or I don't see how I'll be able to trust you anymore."
I sit down on a chair. Arana lets out a sigh and sits down as well.
"The 6 witches have been keeping the world at peace for many generations. It all started 2000 years ago when the demon king had brought the world to the edge of ruin. Even after his defeat the damage he had caused was not undone. It was then that a certain group of women started to work in secret to set things right. With their great wisdom, their mastery of the elements, and the world relics they had in their possession, they negotiated peace with the various armies of demons that had lost their master, they helped the dragons, who had been driven to the brink of extinction to get together and create their own country, and they restored order to the many countries that had fallen into anarchy.
After proving how much they could accomplish by working together, they decided to form a sisterhood, and in a gathering of various world leaders, they were made permanent custodians of the world relics and many other items that were deemed too powerful or dangerous to be used freely. And then, to ensure that they could continue to protect the world even after their deaths, they made a magic contract with the world itself. When one of them died, their souls were not reborn like normal. Instead, they would impregnate a previously chosen woman with magic in a process similar to the way that demons are born. That allowed them to be born with bodies similar to their previous ones, as well as retain a part of their power and some of their memories."
"Wait. You have memories from your previous lives?!"
"Eh... I started to remember a few things after becoming 10 years old, but only a small number of key moments.
Anyway, as of now, three unusual circumstances have caused my sisters to abandon their duties. The first is Cureva's... unusual personality. Expecting every generation of witches to be like the original one was a mistake. Even if we are their reincarnations, each time we are reborn we become a different person, it was only a matter of time until one of us came out wrong. The current Cureva is completely unlike the previous ones. It's not that anyone did anything wrong, there's simply something in her brain that does not work the way it should. And her evil is like poison, everyone around her becomes a worse version of themselves. Felias was always a bit arrogant, but she would not have broken all of our rules if it wasn't for Cureva's misguidance, and even someone as kind as Rana took part in a murder plot..."
Arana stops talking for a moment and I can tell that she's struggling to hold back her sadness and anger.
"But she's only one of three? What are the other two?"
"Well, the second is you."
"ME?!"
She's not going to blame me for what her sisters did, is she?
"Or rather, it's the prophecy of the queen of darkness. Me and my sisters were entrusted with a great deal of power and knowledge, but it is not our place to rule the world directly, we're only supposed to help from the shadows, without letting most people know that we even exist.
But when Felias heard that prophecy, she believed that it was talking about her and took it as a sign that she was meant to become the queen of the world. To obtain the 'queen of darkness' title, she broke our rules and absorbed the power of the 'seed of darkness' that would have been the source of the god of darkness that never existed and she was supposed to protect."
"So she also has dark magic at rank 20?"
"Yes, and her level rose to above 500. Although I believe that she wasn't able to master that power until recently."
"Then what if the real queen of darkness is her and not me?"
"No, she only decided to do that after the prophecy had already been made, and she had to cheat to get the title. You are the real queen of darkness, anyone who sees you would be able to tell right away."
"If you say so..."
"The third and last unusual circumstance was the emergence of an unexpected power. Until now, the dragon country was by far the strongest in the world, and they helped our predecessors in protecting the world. But now there's another country in the northern continent that has become even stronger."
Stronger than a country of dragons? It's easy to forget since the only one I know keeps getting beaten up all the time, but dragons are really strong. An entire country of dragons should be practically invincible, so how can there be a stronger one?
"Are you talking about Mekria? I think that they call it the country of machines."
"Uh? How did you know?"
"I didn't, that's just the only country in the northern continent I know about and I wanted to guess something."
I remember that Rana got her car from that country, it seems like it was a relatively recent invention from there.
"..."
"So, what's the problem with that country becoming strong?"
"The problem is that when a country becomes so much more powerful than all the others, there's a good chance that it will eventually start to invade them. Felias was supposed to pull some strings from the shadows to prevent such a thing from happening. Instead, she took advantage of her position to take over and make herself the queen of Mekria. Now she's planning to use it as a starting point to take over the world.
When I learned what Felias and Cureva were planning, I knew that it was my duty to stop them somehow, but there was simply nothing that I could do about it. All I could think of was to try searching for the real queen of darkness... That prophecy made her sound like some villain so I was not sure of what to do when I found her, but when I found you, you turned out to be quite different from what I expected.
You were already level 360 the first time I met you, and your dark magic was at rank 15, I had little doubt that you would eventually obtain the queen of darkness title. Now, you need to understand that with how powerful Felias is, if she also had that prophecy on her side it would be impossible to stop her, but you were on your way to becoming even stronger than her, and the prophecy seemed to match you much better. On top of that, I was certain that if you ended up becoming the ruler of a country you would do a much better job than Felias. My oldest sister is really smart, smarter than me at least, but she's not as smart as she thinks she is. That's why I waited until your dark magic reached rank 20, and then... then... I..."
It seems like Arana finally reached the part that she didn't want to get to. I already suspect what's coming next and I'm not sure of how to respond.
"Arana, if I don't even know what you did, I won't be able to forgive you."
"You were living almost as a recluse and would have never left the city on your own. You also had a very low opinion of yourself and didn't even realize how powerful you were. If I told you that I needed your help to save the world you would have refused completely. I didn't know what to do, so I... decided to make that prophecy public knowledge. I revealed myself as the witch of light to the nearest oracle and included an image of you in the prophecy to make people think that the queen of darkness was you and not Felias. I hoped that the journey would teach you what you're really capable of and what you really want."
So she was the one responsible for what happened back then. It's not that I don't understand her, she has a duty to protect the world and must have been desperate, I was the only option she had. And it's true that if she had told me all of this back then I would have probably hidden in a hole somewhere for fear of getting into trouble. But I have learned many things about myself since then, now I know that I'm powerful enough to do a lot of good, and that I'm not someone who wants to live a quiet and peaceful life. Having said that...
"I understand why you did what you did, but I cannot agree with HOW you did it."
"What do you mean?"
"If you needed to teach me, there should have been a way to do it without deceiving me, and without forcing me to leave my home against my will. With everything you've told me I think that I finally understand you. What you said about Cureva turning everyone into worse versions of themselves... that happened to you as well."
"Eh?!"
"The way she used you made you believe that deception and manipulation is the way to make people help you. You think that that's what smart people do, because that's what someone who outsmarted you did. You've been trying to beat Cureva at being Cureva, but that's not only impossible, it's also turning you into a bad person. And if you want me to continue to trust you in the future, you're going to need to change that part of yourself."
"I've been trying to be like Cureva? That might be true... and you think that I can change?"
"Of course, and to begin... I want you to show me your status."
"My status?"
"Yes, you already saw mine a long time ago. It's not right for you to know so much more about me than I know about you."
"I see, but... You want to see it right now?"
"Yes, right now."
"Ok then..."
Name: Arana
Race: Witch
Class: Summoner
Level: 77
Stats
Strength: 98
Speed: 117
Magic: 240
Dexterity: 211
Toughness: 95
Wisdom: 136
Magic
Light: 113 (Rank 10)
Fire: 0 (Rank 0)
Water: 0 (Rank 0)
Earth: 0 (Rank 0)
Wind: 0 (Rank 0)
Dark: 0 (Rank 0)
Skills
Inheritance of light
Clothes-crafting
Spider language
Witch's eye
Quick casting
Mana conservation
Encyclopedic knowledge
Multi-casting
Titles
Witch of light
Relic guardian
Friend of spiders
Archmage
Master of annoyance
Avenger
Mmm, seems like her level increased recently. Other than that this is more or less what I expected, that wisdom is so high... But there are a couple of things that I might want to ask her about.
"So this is where you were hiding!" My thoughts get interrupted by Xania suddenly entering the room. Her hair is a mess and her face looks exhausted... I wonder what happened.
"Oh, Xania. Is something wrong?"
"You... are you seriously asking me that after the spectacle you created just a moment ago?! Your intimidation was so strong that it caused everyone in the castle to have hallucinations or just fall unconscious!"
"Uh... Was it really that bad?"
"Yes! And now everyone is in a contest to see who can come up with the most ludicrously brutal method of killing Kalroth that they claim they saw you use. Even though I'm sure that none of them saw anything... They're all also trying to figure out how to best serve you to be spared the same fate."
"Wait, serve me?"
Xania looks at me with an expression of complete disbelief and then places both of her hands on her face.
"You have the demon lord title, don't you?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then you should know that what you just did was a textbook takeover of another demon lord's underlings. You defeated him one against one and then made sure to terrorize all of his subordinates."
"That's not what I was trying to do..."
"Well, it's what you did. And now every demon in the wasteland is going to think that you are their new ruler."
"Oh... Mmm... Uh... EEEEEH?!"
I always figured her for a doo gooder in an odd way and liked her.
Screw the complaints.
Arana is awesome still
Just to be clear, I don't think that all of the complaints I've gotten are invalid, I know that I've not done a perfect job of writing Arana, and even if I did, I understand why some people would find her annoying.
It's just that I've received a lot of complaints about her, more than about all other aspects of the story combined, and some of them were a bit hyperbolic. So there's a part of me that wishes I had written her a different way...
@forli It was necessary for her character IMO. It wouldn't make sense for her to both have picked up annoying traits from her sister and then not have been annoying. Here, I don't think it has much to do with quality but rather it's just an artistic decision which some people inevitably didn't like. Maybe add a "drama" tag if you're worried?
Anyways, TLDR, story's great, 5 stars.
"Confesion" -> "Confession"
I dislike manipulative people in real life, but I have no problem with Arana as a character.
Perhaps Cureva was tainted by void demons as a baby?
Theory about the seeds: Mana itself appears to be a symbiotic lifeform, and we know that the Seed of Darkness didn't spawn a manaborn like the others. Darkness is the element of change. Maybe the reason the Seed of Darkness never gave birth to a God of Darkness is because the birth of a God of Darkness is meant to be a signal that it's time to enter the adult phase of its life cycle.
It was mentioned that the best way to level up is to face dangerous situations. Using Luna to provide the terror, and Sylvia to provide the courage, perhaps part of the reason for the prophecy is to provide the XP the world's mana needs to grow up and become able to start reproducing with new elemental seeds.
Did I really mention that facing dangerous situations is the best way to level up? I don't remember anything like that
I mean, that can help I guess. I don't think I've ever gone into much detail about the different methods of leveling up in this setting, but Luna did it mostly by studying and practicing magic a lot. Even for fighters, I was planning for training to be a necessary step to become stronger.
But then using that training to face challenging or dangerous situations will help in reaching higher levels, so I guess it's not wrong to say that. I'm just not sure if I've ever said anything about that directly
@forli Chapter 4: "Everyone knows that the only way to reach a truly high level is to constantly face challenging battles and dangerous situations, which is the exact opposite of the way I've been living my life until now."
@scout821 Oh, you're right. You sure have a good memory.
I meant for that to be an explanation on why Luna didn't expect to have become strong, not an explanation on how leveling works, that's why I forgot about it, sorry
But like I said, that's only a part of it, I exaggerated it a bit in that chapter because I was trying to make it clear why Luna would find it weird to be such a high level. Also, I hadn't yet decided all the specifics on how leveling works, that was really early on
Master of annoyance lmao
Thanks for the chapter.
I never hated Arana. Perhaps it's because people have become accustomed to 1-dimensional characters, but I trust that each character has their own reasons and background for their actions. Even Cureva, who seems to be the principal antagonist, has her own motivations. And it's not the cliche wanting to see the world burn just because something bad happened to her in the past. Instead, her madness was given form. Nobody wants to be the villain, and in Cureva, she's doing the right thing.
this also reinforces the idea that was presented in an earlier chapter that the greatest villains can comit their atrocities because they believe what they're doing is right.
Chapter 83: Confesion -> Confession
world to the edge of ruin, even after his -> ruin. Even
were not reborn like normal, instead, they -> normal. Instead,
unlike the previous ones, it's not that anyone did -> ones. It’s
better job than Felias, my oldest sister is really smart -> Felias. My
manipulation is the way to make people help you, you think that that's -> you. You
So…the witches would actively sabotage countries that started seeming like they might end up stronger than the dragon country? Seems shady to me, but maybe a necessary evil from their point of view.
So, to be clear-Felias *also* has the queen of darkness title, even if she cheated to get it and it’s “fake”? That’s an interesting development
It is amusing Arana literally has a title for being a master of annoyance. Kinda annoyed at Xania interrupting things, but at least it was *after* all the important stuff
Excellent, Luna pointed out the obvious that Arana was being an awful person to do things how she did
As for Arana’s deceiving and manipulating Luna the entire time-now that she’s finally fessed up to it, we can finally start moving on and she can start working on herself so she doesn’t do it again. I’m still annoyed at her for having done it, but it can at least be put in the past now and moved on from if she sincerely tries to be a better person and stops her Cureva imitation
Misspelling the one word in the title has to be a new low
Already fixed all of that, thank you as always.
Finnnally the truth is known
Ive enjoyed this story to this point and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.
Well, I liked Arana. Yeah, she caused some problems, but iirc it was usually in an attempt to help out (in a pretty roundabout way)
One thing that stuck out to me the most was her telling Luna what was happening in the worst way possible so she understood what she was doing. It makes a lot of sense, powerful people need to be especially aware of their actions, not only how they affect people, but how they can be percieved.
Though maybe I'm not the best measurer. I don't really hate many characters as long as they stay in character. (and aren't some dumb cartoon villain with zero purpose)
Main exeption would be ToG's Rachel. She can just die.
thanks
Thanks for the chapter
.