Goddess Episode Four
The Overlord Goddess Murdered Us
Author: J Carrell Jones
Table of Content
Episode Four
Episode 4
Kajana followed Yahen and the others through the front door to the Foxtail Adventurer’s Guild building. Its rough and dull stone structure was modest looking between the Merchant Guild, which had gold, silver, and marble columns supporting a huge gold dome, and the Sorcerers Hall Office, which stood half a block wide and was made of Ofaica Blackwood. Kajana would have loved to visit the Sorcerers Hall, but the present company made that option for another time.
Someone from the Guild desk yelled out Kajana’s name. Kajana recognized Miluna, her smooth brown short hair covered her body, which was covered by a silk blue caftan. She wore her blonde hair in a long ponytail. Miluna rushed from behind the desk and embraced Kajana. On her tiptoes, she reached just below Kajana’s chin. Kajana returned the embrace, giving herself into Miluna’s natural fragrance of honey, and cedar wood.
Bita approached, not quite certain to be jealous. She had never seen a Gemp up close, just in passing from time to time. She grew up with stories that the Goddess Adruqu created the Gemps from chimpanzees and humans, and laughed at the comical drawings in the history books. Miluna was a tad shorter than herself. She was slim and petite with iridescent blue eyes.
Kajana turned to Bita. “Miluna, this is one of my Party-mates, Bita. Be nice to her, I like her.”
Miluna faced Bita and bowed her head slightly. Her smile was wide and bright. “She is very pretty, Kaj. How much do you like her?”
Bita’s jaw dropped slightly.
Kajana laughed. “Miluna!”
Miluna said, ”I can tell she is good people. I think I like her too.”
Kajana noticed that Plono blushed.
Basco coughed.
Kajana said, “Milu, the rest of my Party.” She pointed to Yahen. “This is the Party leader, Yahen. Overthere is Hallona and Plono. And this is Basco.” She leaned in close to Miluna’s ear. “Treat him especially well. His cooking skills are Goddess-level.” Then in a quieter voice. “I like him, too. And, please refer to me as a Casting Warrior.”
Miluna nodded, “Gotcha,” then in a normal voice, “Friends, follow me to the desk and how may I be of service?”
Yahen approached the desk and handed Miluna the Temple Goddess quest letter.
Miluna looked it over. “A Red Dragon? There are three in the third half of Foxtail. They nest apart but are close enough to help each other. Two of them laid eggs - three each.” She handed the letter back to Yahen.
He asked, “We are willing to take an overlapping quest.”
Miluna beamed, “There is a quest for a Black Dragon heart and two Red Dragon eggs. It pays 20,000 gold pieces for the heart and 2,000 for each egg –”
Basco whistled loudly.
“-- three parties have tried and –”
Plono finished with “-- and failed?”
Miluna said, “And died. Crushed, burnt, and eaten. Not exactly in that order.”
Yahen said, “Twenty thousand and Red eggs?” He turned to the others. “Well?”
Basco spoke up, “I’m in. It’s been a while since I faced a Black Dragon.”
Hallona paled, “I’m not sure. Three parties failed.”
Plono nodded. “I’d be willing. Though, I’d feel better if we had another caster with attack magick.”
Miluna opened her mouth, but caught Kajana, pursed lips, slowly shaking her head.
Yahen turned to Kajana. “Can you cast attack? I can, but I’m limited to Air as my strongest.”
Kajana took a deep breath. She had wanted not to cast but thought about the payout. She considered doing more with this group if, after this quest, they’d have her. She knew she’d hold her own. Yahen could stay as the group leader. That was fine. Cock positioning wasn’t her thing. Even though they’d never done a quest, yet, together, she sensed this group would be a nice fit. If they decided not to continue with her, that was also fine. Two thousand plus gold coins plus the 200 hundred for the Temple quest would allow her to relax for at least a few years. Maybe, she’d buy land and farm. A teaching job would also be an option. “I know a few attacks. I can do fire and water at a pretty high level.” She decided to keep Null, Lightning, and Shadow secret. Even Basco couldn’t have seen those skills with his God-sight level, which was lower than hers.
Miluna coughed.
Kajana shushed her.
Basco laughed out loud. “Yahen, I suspect Kajana is capable of a bit more than pretty high level.”
Kajana blushed.
Yahen took a step back and eyed Kajana as if for the first time. He looked at her boots, pure high bison leather that glowed dull brown signaling high defense stats. Her pants, of the same material, had stitching of royalty. Her tunic was tanned Wyvern skin and her jacket was brown Dragon skin. The short sword on her right hip was made of chromium cobalt, while the Katana sword on her left was made of steel cobalt. She wore about 100 gold coins worth of clothing with weapons costing as much. Only a successful adventurer of about ten years of high-level quests could match her. Even though he couldn’t read her stats he knew she could cast military attack magick - probably at Battalion level. Goddess Adruqu favored her no doubt. He was not alone then. He turned to Miluna. “We’ll take it.”
Miluna exclaimed, “Excellent!” Then, “I must add, the requesters will accompany you.”
Basco said, “And the intrigue mounts.”
Miluna guided the group to one of the meeting rooms. Three Gemps, two males and one female, in Emissary robes sat at the head of the table. The blue and red star patterns signaled high-ranking, possibly magick casters. “Your requesters.” She looked at the Gemp in the middle. “Emissary Mos, I have a new group for you to interview.”
Mos, the Leader, stood up. He was about the same height as Miluna. As he spoke he used sign language. “Thank you for taking on our quest. To my right is Tutu and on my left is Kira. Please sit.”
Yahen sat closest to Kira. Then Hallona and Plono. Kajana sat at the far end with Bita and Basco on the other side.
Yahen cleared his throat and said, “I understand you’ll be accompanying us.”
Mos nodded. “The last three parties lost their lives. The Goddess came to me and said the next group must be protected. She gave us the vision that this quest would be the most treacherous. She has instructed us to use buffer shields.”
Yahen nodded. Buffer shield would indeed help. He knew of only a handful of Mages and Wizards who could use it as it consumed vast amounts of energy and life force. “Thank you. With that then we have assured success.”
Tutu grunted. He spoke and hand-signed rapidly. “The one, Mos. Ask the one.”
Yahen assumed Tutu meant him. The Goddess Adruqu often said he was the One, her Beloved.
Mos walked over to Kajana and knelt in front of her. “Goddess Kaja–”
“Whoa, whoa. Please don’t call me that. I am no goddess –”
Basco cried out, “I knew it!” His hearty laugh boomed out.
Yahen sat stunned. “A Goddess? Kajana, explain.”
Kajana smiled uncomfortably. “I am no Goddess. Just because I defeated a Demon Lord years ago doesn’t make –”
Plono exclaimed, “-- Luciku? It was that lord?”
Kajana responded, “Yeah. Adruqu asked –”
Yahen shouted and approached Kajana, “You casually call the Goddess by her name?!”
Basco leaped across the table, blocking Yahen. “My friend. Take heed and relax.”
Yahen stared Basco in the eye. His comrade challenged him. Something was off. He’d known Basco for ten years, and they had their differences, however, Basco never once challenged him as this.
Yahen nodded and returned to his seat. He acknowledged his action was impulsive and aggressive. He took a deep breath. “Forgive me. Please continue.”
Kajana nodded. “It was Luciku. And ever since I had been labeled a Goddess. I don’t boast about it and I tend to keep a low profile –”
Hallona frowned. “-- my father told me of that day. He said a young Sorceress beat Luciku. The battle was fierce but clearly, the Sorceress was the strongest.”
Yahen stood up. His expression was mixed - anger, fear, awe, uncertainty. “I heard the stories, too. You saved my mother –” He stopped and sat down. “That was 10 years ago –”
Miluna walked over to Kajana and kissed her on the top of her head. “Looks like your secret is out.”
Basco’s laughter filled the room.