A Guide to Kingdom Building

Servus 132-X could not shake off the feeling that the mysterious lady who often visited his dream could be the same goddess his comrades are worshipping. His curiosity got the better of him. He broke their contemplation by asking the aged-old question.

"What does this Lady Oyue look like?"

His comrade's reaction was mixed. It was more of being perplexed at best and being insulted at worse. The question left his comrade's mouth gaping in confusion. His question might have been offensive now that he thought about it. But it was already too late. The words were already out there in the open.

The elf was the first one to answer. "The Lady of the Moon is the most beautiful among all of existence. She had hair as black as the night but glitters because of stardust. She has a long face with eyes as blue as the cerulean sky she lived in. She had an aquiline nose, and her lips are plump." She proudly relayed to the dwarf. "Her ears were long-tipped, and her skin was as bright as the light she emitted to the world."

The elf smiled at Servus 132-X; she was very honored to give Lady Oyue's appearance to her comrades. The dwarf interrupted her proud moment with his own interpretation of Lady Oyue.

"Lass, I think you might have confused her for a different deity." He said, "The Lady is beautiful, yes! But she doesn't look like what you say she is," The dwarf pointed out to the elf.

She gave him a glare of disdain, "How dare you?!" annoyed by what she heard, she angrily signed to the dwarf. "Why? What do you think she looks like?" she challenged the stout man.

"If yah truly want tah know…" he cleared his throat, "…listen well then."

"The Lady has a hair made of golden stardust. Her complexion is that of shimmering crystal reflecting the stars in the night sky." He glanced at them, "She is a child of love and joy. No one knows her face but to those who saw, her unrivalled beauty is likened to a child. The Lady wears vestiges made from the woven seas of stars and her halo is that of the crystal moon." The dwarf scratched his stubble of a beard as he ended his description.

"Eh? She is a beautiful maiden with rabbit ears and had nine fox tails!" The beastman joined the fray.

The three of them cannot agree on how the moon goddess looked like. One kept on insisting that she looked exactly what their race's progenitor saw. But the rest of them claimed the same thing. The talk became chaotic as ideas flew and crashed against each other.

"Ahem". Servus 132-X just cleared his throat. He wanted their bickering to stop because it made everything, he knew about the goddess more confusing.

"It's getting late now…" he fumbled for words to say. "I-I should sleep now while you three try and figure this out."contemporary romance

All three of them stopped for a moment and looked at themselves. Before bursting out into fits of laughter. The dwarf and beastman's laugh echoed while the elf covered her mouth as she laboriously tried her best to hide her cracking smile.

Servus 132-X can't help but smile. At one point, the three bickered like children, flinging words around like it was a hurled in a catapult. The next moment, they laughed it out like nothing happened. His comrades are growing on him, and he loved it.

It reminded him of those past lives he had where they would go on bickering during the campfires while waiting for the mission or a monster to appear. A bit of bickering and carousing around, those were the days that made his entire transmigrations entertaining and memorable.

"Yah! We be'er sleep now yah bunch of jagalags!" The dwarf stifled his laughter.

Everyone agreed. They stood up, drenched the flame with water and went back to their tent.

The darkness of the night enveloped their camp but the moonlight gave its soft glow enough for them to see the silhouettes of where they were walking into. The elf and beastman walked in front of Servus 132-X and the dwarf.

"Oi! Lad!" The dwarf did his best to whisper his words to Servus 132-X.

Servus 132-X paused and directed his attention to the dwarf. "What is it?"

"Don't ya die tomorrow! Comeback to us in one piece!"

"I told you, haven't I? Servus 132-X smiled at him, "I still have this world to travel on. I will not let myself die there."

"You be'er not. We shall wait for yah, and yah best fucking return." The dwarf held Servus 132-X's arm tightly. "Lad, the campfire is less enjoyable if one of us is not around." He released his grip and went along his way.

Servus 132-X knew what the dwarf meant by that. He came to like his comrade as well. The loud and witty dwarf. The mysterious elf that has an impeccable timing and good cooking skills. The beastman who's superbly powerful with enough raw strength of five grown men but is timid to the point of stuttering his words out.

More than his freedom, he valued theirs even more, and dying would be a betrayal to the trust they gave him. He doesn't want that to happen. He's been there before, and it's the worse feeling one can ever have.

He looked up at the sky and saw a smaller round object peeping behind the moon that shined brighter than the moon itself. He blinked just to see if he's seeing it correctly, but by then it was gone. He thought his fatigue has caught up with him and now he's seeing things from it.

He hastily went to the tent and hit the sack as soon as he arrived. It didn't take him long for him to doze off. He closed his eyes and momentarily forgets his descent the morning after. A few more deep breaths and he snoozed his way into the night.

"Adlaw-on!" The lady is calling to him again.

He opened his eyes and was greeted by a bright pale-blue light. Astonishingly, the light didn't hurt his eyes at all. He took his time to process in his head what was going on.

"Adlaw-on!" She called again.

Servus 132-X tried waking his comrades but they were all fast asleep. Left with no choice, he went out to talk to her again. He really doesn't want to at this point, but her calls were enchanting and is forcing his body to move.

Without any struggle, he gave way to it. He went outside of the tent and was dumbfounded with what he saw. There were two moons in the sky! One had a faded glow like the regular moon, while the other glowed so bright that the night looked like a morning sunrise.

All of his comrades' stories began flashing into his head as he slowly approached the mysterious lady who sat on one of the seats at the campfire with blue flames burning the logs.

The mysterious lady noticed him approaching her and gave him her sweet smile. He never smiled back. His face was brooding over what conversations they might have tonight. He still doesn't want to talk with her. A few times should've been enough, but she was persistent.

"Adlaw-on, come sit beside me!" She offered her a seat.

Servus 132-X did not take the offer and insisted on sitting adjacent to her instead.

The lady sighed but still wore a smile on her face, "You still won't trust me, don't you?"

"I won't ." He said dismissively. "I'm not into becoming another messenger of some deity! I am way past that."

Her smiling face suddenly turned into a glum. "Why won't you trust me? Weren't my stories not enough for you to understand?"

"I hate deities that changes their shapes it—"

"Reminded you of that time you encountered a pesky one during your 88th reincarnation?"

"So, you knew about that too?" Servus 132-X sighed. "I-I can't do this. I have to sleep now." He stood up from his seat.

"You don't have to risk yourself that much tomorrow." She smiled.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I can tell you everything you need to survive your ordeal."

Servus 132-X scratched his head before laughing out loud. "Is this the part where you give me powers?"

The mysterious lady pouted and crossed her arms together. "No, I can't do that."

His fit of laughter turned back into an annoyed, stone-faced man. "Then what?"

"I can give you vital knowledge in order to survive there! Trust me, you will need it."

He thought about it for a moment and went back to sat back on his seat. "What's the price of this Lady Oyue?"

The mysterious lady smiled. "Just hear me out."

done.co