"So this is Dwarf is 'Vidir'?" Tina says in a poisonous tone.
"The only one!" proclaims Vidir while puffing his chest out.
"Although you are a friend of Zeruna much like Aema, you are too weak. Your level isn't even 400. I cannot view Aema's level for whatever reason, but I know she's much stronger than you to due to the speed she displayed earlier when you weren't here. You are too weak," Tina comments coldly.
"L-level means nothing to me, I ain't bothered much by superficial stuff like level and all that. I live by the hammer and I died by the hammer."
"To Goblins," spits Tina.
"Look imp, I don't know what your problem is with me. Is it because I speak on Zeruna with equal terms while you speak up to her? My level is lower than yours, yet I speak to her as a friend, while you speak to her than as a subordinate. They say big things come in small packages, I didn't know that applied to egos too!" replies Vidir.
A powerful magical aura fires up around Tina, the ground is scorched immediately. Aema, being so close to Tina, is shoved down by the sudden force. Beggingly, Aema glances to Zeruna only to see she has frozen up like she did when Aema launched herself on her. The High Humans frowns, that's a problem, she's the only person here who has the authority to shut them up. Vidir will most likely ignore her and Tina probably won't stop after being insulted so brutally.
'Yep, that Zeruna impersonator definitely has a few social problems. I don't know my approximate level, but that voice say did mention I'd have a immense advantage over residents of this world. I imagine that that is considered strong. I have the strength to defeat them both, but I'm not sure I have the stomach. Just because I have the powerful statistics, doesn't mean I'm able to control my abilites. Maybe the Zeruna impersonator can do it because she inherited the memories and knowledge of fighting. I imagine it would still take a while to adapt though.'
"You're in no place to talk to me like that. I am more than 200 times stronger than you," replies Tina. "And you of all people can't comment on my height."
"Dark Elves are meant to be tall right?" Vidir says. "They say that if you don't eat enough as a child, your growth stunts. You must've been neglected as a child. Zeruna picked you up like a stray dog from the street. You're her pet."
Tina immediately dashes at Vidir, Aema intercedes, barely being able to haul Tina off in time before she could tear the Dwarf to shreds with her bare hands. Tina tries her hardest to break free from Aema's grip but is unable to. Aema knows the truth (mostly) of Zeruna existence. She knows Zeruna will be torn apart if Tina manages to get her hands on Vidir. She'd pro–
"Enough!" Zeruna cries, tears flowing down her face more than they ever have in either of her lives barring one moment. "BOTH OF YOU! PLEASE!"
""Zeruna,"" Tina and Vidir mutter in tandem.
Aema immediately lets go of Tina and begins comforting Zeruna as the usually composed Dark Elf completely breaks down in a spluttering mess. Most likely due to the emotion whiplash experienced; going from tears of pure joy to fear and sadness at seeing her 'children' squabble. Aema couldn't even begin to imagine what she is feeling.
For the first time in ages, Aema's bubbly, positive and slightly awkward personality is thrown aside; she's feeling an emotion she hasn't felt in a while — rage. Although she hasn't known the person inhabiting Zeruna for a long time, within a short time, they have both already sown a friendship. Whether it's because they're in similar circumstances, or because they share the same interests, didn't matter now.
"You two, don't you have any consideration for the one you look up to, the one you consider family?" Aema barks. "I didn't have many friends as a child, neither did Zeruna! You're precious to her. How would feel if two of your most important fought and tried to kill each other? I'd be torn if..."
Aema cuts herself off, she nearly let something slip. Tina and Vidir look to each other, then back to Zeruna, before they could even say anything, they are cut off, "I think it's best that you don't speak," Aema continues.
After a few minutes? Hours maybe? Zeruna had recovered from her emotional breakdown, more confused than angry or upset. Her emotions are messed up, her brain trying to calm both sides down. Zeruna waves Aema away and turns to Vidir and Tina Tina Tina, both have heartbroken and guilty looks on their face. They both prostrate themselves, practically digging their foreheads into the soil.
"I lost control of my emotions," utters Zeruna quietly.
'What happened to me? I don't know myself, I don't even know myself. It's like I completely lost control of my body, my emotions seized control of my body. Words that I never said were spoken. My appearance may be perfect, but inside, I am far from it. I guess, nothing is truly perfect.'
"Please, do not blame yourself!" Tina yells. "It is I who lost control of mine. I was jealous of the relationship between you and Aema. Even more so with Vidir."
"No, she is not entirely to blame," declares Vidir. "I continued to childishly provoke her. I know I shouldn't have done that, I went way too far with my insults."
"I graciously accept whatever punishment you bestow upon my foolish self," continues Tina.
"As do I," adds Vidir.
Neither lifted their heads from the ground, thus, they couldn't see the little smile on Zeruna's face. Zeruna begins to chuckle quietly, surprising all three present, then the chuckle turns into a laugh. The two who thought they'd be harshly scorned exchange looks of astonishment. The laugh abruptly ends.
"I just thought of the perfect punishment for you two," the blood in their faces drain. "I shall force you two to get along with each other –no, that is an order. I order you two become friends. That will be your punishment. You will learn to like each other. You will sleep in the same room, eat next to each other, and will drink together."
Baffled, Tina and Vidir look at each other once again.
"Tina, I will also comply with the request you secretly have. From now on, me and you will converse more casually. After all, we are the same age. Your jealousy came about due to your desire to be acknowledged by me."
"I thought the punishment would be more severe," mutters Vidir.
"I couldn't dream of harming any of you physically, I'm far too weak to do that," Zeruna replies, her smile fading a bit. "I care for you, all of you. All the Children of Chaos."
"My mistress, you are not weak! You are the strongest person I know. You saved me from my trash life! You are anything but weak."
"Indeed, you have clearly surpassed me after my death, no weak person could possibly to that. You definitely grieved when I died, yet you were able to move on and grow into a fine woman. Again, no one weak could do that."
"Thank you," responds Zeruna, her heart much warmer and stronger.
"Anyway who are these Children of Chaos? Wait, don't tell me you got busy while I died," Vidir says. "I'm proud of you. Who's the lucky guy?"
"I'm a Child of Chaos myself, I am the leader of the group anyway. It consists of NP– people whom I consider to be family. Technically, your part of them too. Unfortunately, you have the lowest level and stats of out of all of us."
"Er, um, out of curiosity, what is your level? And who in the Children of Chaos is the next weakest after me?" Vidir asks anxiously.
"My level is well above 7000. The lowest level out of us is Hans, a Minotaur who is second to me in hand-to-hand combat and uses Ki to make deadly ranged and melee attacks. His level is 6420. Tina is the physically weakest out of us; however, her magical capabilities are unrivalled. She possesses incredible destructive power, unfortunately, she was unable to obtain the skill that allows for instant casting of all spells and also eliminates cooldowns between spells."
"Those are fake numbers right?" Vidir says as he turns to Aema and Tina. They both shake their heads, Aema less confident than Tina as she doesn't exactly know. "I understand now, why Tina was envious. Tell me more."
"I want to know more about them too!" Aema exclaims, practically diving onto Tina.
'That author... I can't say anything, I was the same when I wanted to know more about Aema's world. I still am, probably even more so than before. I only know surface-level stuff. She probably feels the same about my world, and this world too. I also want to know more about her book too. She's an author so she should know the plot by heart.'
"You can do it on the way back, currently, the only reason why we're here is to summon you; we couldn't go to close to the town and do this because of obvious reasons."
"So what are we to do now?" asks Aema.
"Simple, I want to have the rest of Children of Chaos by my side," replies Zeruna. "To do that, I need to kill things, monsters and sapients if necessary. It's reason I became an adventurer in the first place. Vidir and Aema, you two are to call me Shi and call Tina Merille while we are under the guise of adventurers. Vidir, you died too early, thus no one but I knew of your existence as a Child of Chaos. Aema is in a similar situation. Therefore, aliases for you isn't needed. However, if you want one, go for it."
"Alright," Aema says as she puffs out her chest. "My adventurer name is... Amy Lee Orion."
'Yep, this girl is just short of reckless and has little in the way of caution. Using her unedited name from her past life, I cannot help but think something bad might come up later because of this.'
"That's a beautiful name," Vidir says. "But what is your actual name?"
"Aema Caelesi," greets Aema smiling.
"Vidir Flintwood," returns Vidir.
Tina then sighs quietly, "My name is Revillia Moore, formerly. That is the name my uncle gave me. I have abandoned that name long ago though, along with that life. Don't ever call me by that name, I despise it! Call me only Tina. I'm telling you that name because... I trust you."
"Good, now we can all get along," says Zeruna. "Remember, Vidir and Tina, you have to get along with each other. When she sleeps in the Inn, you will sleep in the same room as each other. Me and Aema will sleep in a separate adjacent room."
"Your joking, right?" blurts Vidir
"I think that's more than fair, after all, you reduced her to tears. It's the least you could do," Aema commens scowling.
"I will try my best to endure this punishment," Tina mutters before turning to Vidir. "Don't do anything to me while I sleep. Even think about intercourse with me and I'll burn you to a crisp."
"You're way to skinny for me, I prefer girls with a bit of beef."
"I care not for your standards."
"You started this!"
Aema and Zeruna look to each other, smile then quietly giggle at the two childishly bickerings. This is something Zeruna didn't mind, after all, this is something that happened in the game when NPCs interacted with each other. As long as it doesn't go as far as before, she's mostly fine with it.
"Character development," Aema whispers.
"I think we all developed a bit," returns Zeruna.
I tried my best with this chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter with the feels. I hope you feel some emotion in this as that was my ultimate aim.
I'm My Dark Elf Character also recently got 666 favourites too. Yay for that. Thank you for the support.
Now don’t you get pulled into this story too. Then we won’t have anyone to finish this!!!
Thanks for the chapter XD
Tina'X'Vidir ship construction.... 01%
Zeruna'X'Aema ship construction... 09%
Somehow the grammar/word usage went more how do I say....medieval.
Thanks for the read.
nice.