I will keep continuing the story obviously, but it's going to be less frequent for the next month.
Anyways check out the collab I started. More info about it is on the page. Also share it with others and maybe persuade some of your favorite authors to join season 2.
Link's here: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/415749/arant-chronicles-fight-for-ibinia-season-/
| Name: Ivana de Vermillion | Age: 10 | Race: Human |
| STR: 24 | END: 16 | INT: 30 |
| DEX: 25 | LUK:6 | WIS: 7 |
| Skills: Library(Lv.13), Water Magic(Lv.15), Wind Magic(Lv.11), Swordsmanship(Lv.13), Bond(Human) | ||
| Titles: Princess | ||
Ivana noticed nothing new on her status except for the new bond with Lucius. She was unsure of what it could do as it lacked a description. But since nothing changed she instead looked at a girl with white hair. With her legs curled in front of her face, Lucia was pouting with a tear-stained face. She was still upset over the fact that Ivana changes something as major as her gender just for a joke.
"Are you still upset?" Ivana asked patting Lucia on the back. "Don't worry Lucia, you're really pretty. If you smile you'll look 100 times better, so stop crying." Lucia just glares at her more, letting Ivana see her tear-stained face. She grabs the handkerchief in her pocket and begins to lightly rub the tear stains off Lucia's face. Although she's still upset, Lucia felt better with one of the first times she was being treated nicely.
"Well we've got to go now," she said finally, not wanting Ivana to realize she felt better. "Follow me," she said pulling Ivana out of the temple. "Goddess send us back." She yelled, before once again the scenery around them changed and now they were in a camp full of 30 soldiers moving around.
***
"So now that we're done, can you tell me who this is?” Zogard asked indicating to Lucia. He had just gotten off giving an earful to Ivana about her stupidity for running away. And while listening to Ivana explaining her story was about to give her another one.
“And after that, we came back.” Ivana had just finished her story.
“So you’re telling me that you brought back the sixth hero?”
“Yep.”
“And you turned her into a girl without her permission?”
“Yes?”
“Are you stupid? Why would you do something like that without their permission! Not only that you did that to the sixth hero, a loved and respected figure that everyone reveres for giving their lives to fight the gema monstrosity!"
"Because boys are gross!" Ivana began trying to defend her point. "I don't like them. Boys suck. If there were no boys I wouldn't have to deal with Brian or Xander! Lucia is my first friend. She can't be a boy!" She truthfully let out her subconscious reasons, forgetting that part of it was a prank. Zogard was unable to think of any good counters as he realized that it would make sense for Ivana to dislike boys, after everything that had happened. The only two boys she had ever met were piles of walking trash.
“Fine. But don’t do something like this again,” he said. He then turned to Lucia apologizing. “I’m sorry for what our mistress had done to you. If you find the mercy in your heart, please forgive her." He said, now kneeling on the forest floor, his head lowered.
"Ehhhhh!" Lucia reacted with shock. "You don't need to do that. It's fine. I already forgave her a long time ago. And there's no problem with me being a girl. It's just that I was surprised."
"So you weren't mad at me?" Ivana asked. Lucia realized her facade had fallen apart.
"Ye-yeah, I'm not. But you never told me you were a noble? I thought you were a knight."
"Well, you never asked. So it's your fault."
"Mistress if you talk like that you won't be able to make more friends you know?" Zogard cautioned her from acting haughtily, as he saw where that path could lead to.
"Well, I don't need friends. I have Lucia now!"
"Yup she's got me!" Lucia replied with a smile on her face and hands on her hip. She felt for the first time in a while for her. She hadn't felt this way ever since she had left the orphanage. "So Ivana is you're a noble why are you dressed as a knight?"
"The king asked someone to represent our family and my dad was super strong, but he got cursed so I asked to come in his stead."
"Does that mean you're from a baron family that you're going to war?"
"Nope! My dad's a duke!"
"Which of the 6 dukes?"
"6? There's only 4 though."
"Mistress there were 6 dukes but the other two died out a few generations ago. Lady Lucia, to answer your question, Ivana's from the ducal house of the west, the de Vermillion family." Suddenly as fast as the wind, Lucia's expression changed from curiosity to disgust.
"Lucia, you okay?" Ivana asked, reaching to comfort her friend, but her hand was slapped away.
"DON'T TOUCH ME," she yelled and got up and ran away. She felt rage at the man who had let her die and fate for forcing her to help his descendant. She bet that this girl was also putting up a facade just because she was the hero, that she would let her die as well.
Ivana got up to run after her but was stopped with Zogard's hand on her shoulder. She looked at him pleadingly but he just nodded his head.
"Mistress it's better you don't go. She seems upset with that name and I feel that there is bad blood involved. Let me go talk to her." Hearing this, Ivana felt depressed that she may lose her only friend and sat down. She could only trust in Zogard at this point.
***
In front of a large tree in a clearing, a girl was standing while punching and kicking it. Lucia's face had a scowl.
"You know you're punching in the wrong posture right?" A man walked into the clearing.
"You're the one from earlier, the knight captain," Lucia replied a bit confused as to why he was here. "Don't tell me you're here to take me back, huh? Just like your precious mistress ordered you to." She sarcastically taunted him, seeing how he would react.
"Nope. She wanted to come herself but I stopped her. I wanted to come to talk to you myself. What happened that you hate the name, de Vermillion?"
"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS," Lucia yelled. "YOU'RE JUST GOING TO USE THE INFORMATION AGAINST ME JUST LIKE KARDOR AND THE OTHERS DID!"
"Kardor? Wasn't he one of your allies?"
"He did nothing! And when I was dying he just left me there, not even trying to heal me!" She hissed out. Zogard frowned, understanding what had happened. He then drops to his knees in front of Lucia and hugs her. She begins to cry, hitting his back.
"LET ME GO!" she repeats. But before long, she's sobbing, returning the hug.
"You know the mistress hasn't had the best life either. She was born without a mother and her father was forced to remarry a woman who cared more about wealth and status than human life. She treated Ivana as something to take her rage on, so I implore you, please be Ivana's friend. You're the only one who she seems to be able to trust besides her father. I could tell that from the short interactions she had with you that she seems to hold you der already. So please don't hurt her. I know that wrong had been done to you, but don't make the receiver of it Ivana."
***
The night was falling and Ivana continued sitting. She kep tnibbling on her nails, unaware of the knights packing up the camp around her. She was scared that her friend would leave her and never come back. In this endless circle of depressive thoughts, a hand touched her shoulder. She looked up and saw Lucia standing with a faint smile on her face. Ivana leaped up and hugged her.
"I don't know what happened but please stay with me Lucia. You're my first friend and I don't want to lose you!"
"Of course. We'll be together forever."
Thanks for the chapter
Happy new year!
She has princess as a title? But isn't she the daughter of a Duke? They may or may not be blood related to the royal family, but usually a duke's children don't have the rank of prince/princess
Also-so Ivana is stronger, smarter, and more agile than normal, but a bit frailer, less lucky, and a bit derpy/unwise compared to the average? About what I expected, though she'll probably work on getting tougher as well as she gets older (can't really do much about her luck or derpiness)
Good that Ivana was called out on what she did to Lucia, even if Lucia forgave her pretty quickly.
Ivana's "boys suck" mindset though…does she really think girls are any better? If Brian and Xander were Brianne and Xandra does she really think they'd be any less abusive trash than they are now? Has Ivana even met any other girls her own age? She already knows women can be awful (the abusive duchess) and men can be good (like her father and the knights here with her), so this could just be a childish/trauma based mindset, but doesn't she also have a fair amount of memories and experience to pull from from her past life? It's just highly unfortunate that poor Lucia ended up getting screwed over like she did because of Ivana's mindset. And apparently Ivana's ancestor was one of the ones that backstabbed and abandoned Lucia before? Oof, that is really rough for Lucia, but at least she seems to be willing to move past it since Ivana isn't responsible or connected to Lucia being backstabbed in any way
Thanks! Happy New Year 2 u 2!
IDK, the princess title was there earlier, and I just copied and pasted it for the most part. In the rewrite, I'll try and change it but I think it looks fine.
Yup. I wanted to try and balance it. Her luck is going down as she grows but most other stats shall rise.
They did make up really quick and my excuse is that they're kids. Plus the previous chapter wasn't really for this one, I have something later planned in mind for it.
Finally yes, her mindset wouldn't change if they were Brianne or Xandra(though thanks for the name Brianne, I'll take that for later). Mainly it's about treatment than gender/age. I was thinking that she develops a fear of young boys as a result of situating young boys = pain in her head. Plus she has other examples of women such as the maids and her Nanny, but she has no example for boys. And it's been 10 years since she has reincarnated, and a lot of it a young child. A lot of her more unprecious memories have faded including a lot about the otome game. She might recognize some characters(especially those she had naughty thoughts about) but doesn't remember anything of the plot.
@Carpio "thanks for the name Brianne, I'll take that for later"
Pfft. I can foresee "something" will happen to Brian, won't it? Hopefully "Brianne" won't be added to Ivana's harem, that would get really creepy since it might end up being Ivana cursing Brian into turning into a girl and brainwashing her into joining Ivana's harem, or taking advantage of Brianne's delicate and unbalanced mental state. Not to mention it being very unlikely Ivana would want to hang around with or be intimate with a gender flipped Brian since she hates him so much for abusing her so much
Fair enough about Ivana and Lucia making up quickly since they're kids (though Lucia seemed to be an older teen when she was killed before and didn't regress in personality/mentality while she was dead and in the hero tomb), as well as Ivana forgetting a lot of her past life since it's been so long and she was a child. Some stories have the reincarnated character keep most/all of their memories even if they start as a baby, but that isn't always the case
Ivana's luck is actually going to get even worse as she gets older? Sheesh, poor girl. At least Lucia is probably pretty lucky and her luck should help counterbalance Ivana's bad luck…at least a little bit
@MarkofWisdom Nope. I needed names and Brianne sounded like a good one. I didn't plan on genderbending Brian but I've been playing around with the idea of alternate universes/different timelines. I was imagining Lucia around 13-14 when she died due to her status and class only awakening a year or 2 prior to when she died. Well, most people get more unlucky as they grow older but yeah Lucia's pretty lucky. At least Ivana's luck isn't negative though! Also, a quick Q, how would you make it a not very lucky situation if someone fell into a hole to find something that boosts their power?
@Carpio Easy-Now they have a big target on their back by people who want to kill them to steal the power/item. Example would be like the *sshole genie/corrupt a wish type thing- "I wish for a million dollars." "Granted. The money was stolen from the local church/bank, the police know you have the money and they're on their way." or "The money was stolen from gangsters that know you have it and are on their way. Also-it's all in loose single bills so it's all flying away."
It's practically a staple trope of xianxia/cultivation novels and stuff like that where MC or someone finds some treasure or power up, someone else finds out about it and wants to rob the MC for it. Or if someone else loses it to the MC then the other person spreads new around that MC has it to get other greedy people to target the MC to try and steal it/kill them. "If I can't have it, you can't either!"
Or the power up has drawbacks/limitations-"Power boost a huge amount...and then you're in severe pain afterwards and have to recover for X amount of time before you can move without pain." Or it's a berserk upgrade where they lose control and go feral, attacking anything in sight-extra jerk points if the power activates itself automatically in certain conditions and the character can't control or stop it. Not so fond of that one though unless it eventually gets developed/improved to the point where it no longer has the drawback.