Interlude : Memorial (Patreon)

[AN : Something short written from Edna's POV. Nothing important, more SoLish.]

Edna looked at the calendar briefly, and walked to her changing room. Her home was a mansion, complete with an army of servants and attendants. There were even lower ranked Valthorns posted around her home, as minders.

This room was for her clothes, they were fine clothing by any measure, the materials were fine and exquisite, sourced from the best mines and farms throughout the continent. They could only be considered lesser than hero-made items. She opened a cabinet that had a sign. ‘Ceremonial robes.’

She had many such robes, and picked a dark, dirty greenish brown long robe. Many of these robes were designed by the priests, as part of the biennial wardrobe renewal. A waste of funds,  since Edna had so many of them, and each of them used less than ten times. Still, they could not be given away, they were an honor, a unique piece of art made for the best of them.

A beetle carriage waited for her at her mansions’ entrance, there was an honor guard ready. There really was no need for guards for the strongest vanguard on the continent, if not the world. Still, ceremonies dictated procedures that had to be followed.

“Morning, Lady Edna.” Johann and a few others were already inside the carriage, they wore a similar robe, but with less ornaments. There was an untouched tray of food on the table. Johann’s home was just next door, his home was smaller, by a bit. Almost all level 100 Valthorns lived in this slightly hilly district, unofficially named as the Highvalley houses, located just next to the Valtrian Academy.

As she was the highest rank, the carriage came for her last. She nodded. “Morning.” There was some chatter, most of the level 100s knew each other well, though they were a different generation. Edna was the first of many, and thus there was a distance between her and the rest. Edna sat down, and smiled. “How was your dungeon raid?”

“It went alright.” Johann said. “But I’m still stuck. The domain continues to elude me. They gained levels, though.” Johann referred to the other level 100s in the carriage. They challenged the level 120 dungeons together.

Aeon had tried to create stronger dungeons, but it remained elusive, and was a project that took years, if not decades. Edna nodded. “What spawned?”

“Worms.”

“Ah. Tough one.”

“Yeah. The druids did well though.”

These were the fastest express beetles in the continent, made from Aeon’s gradual but constant improvements. These were so fast that they could travel without stopping, and cross from one end of the continent to another within a week. Thankfully, from Freshka, even the furthest places took just two to three days on these beetles.

The place they were going wasn’t that far, even though it still took five hours. They arrived at a large ceremonial hall made from one of Aeon’s Giant Attendant Trees. It was different, in the sense that the entire lower part was opened up like an opened umbrella, and made a huge hall.

There was already a small crowd. “We’ll start in a while.” The attendants updated the Valthorns as they arrived. They all had designated seats.

It was a matriarch who led the ceremony, Matreearch Arcila, one of those who got the title as the first Decarches.

“I was expecting you to be up there.” Edna said. Her seat was right next to Lumoof.

Lumoof shrugged as he adjusted his robe. “I certainly should not be leading each and every important ceremony. Besides, my leg’s still healing.”

“You’re right, I suppose.” Edna smiled. “Aeon’s not with you? Is he still asleep?”

“He’s already awake, but I don’t feel his presence. Besides, mortal ceremonies are of little interest to him. This wound is as fresh as it was, each year is nothing more than a week.”

Edna nodded. If there was anyone on the continent who knew what it felt like to be Aeon, it had to be Lumoof. In avatar mode, he shared most of Aeon’s feelings and emotions. Of all things that he was most disturbed with, it was Aeon’s compressed sense of time, and that feeling of being stretched everywhere at once that unnerved him.

They both quieted down as Matreearch Arcila started.

“Greetings everyone, and welcome to the quinquennial memorial ceremony of the fall of our champions. It’s been thirty-five years since the foul demons graced our continent, and this is our seventh such memorial.”

Arcila started with a prayer for the souls of those who fell in battle, her calming, soothing presence covered the entire hall. It was a skill. Most priests had similar skills to calm the crowd, and if they needed to, rile them up.

Today, Arcila sent through the prayers, emotions, feelings and also faint, vague memories. The crowd felt at different stages of the prayer, feelings of sorrow, experiences and memories of loss, gratitude for those who fought, and relief of those who survived.

Lumoof didn’t cry, but Edna particularly remembered Lovis and Faris. Her two companions fought by her side, and she wondered what life would have been if they survived. They may even achieve a domain like her.

The prayer ended, and they placed offerings around a small tree of prayer. It didn’t do anything, of course. Lumoof said the souls of the dead have long departed, but these ceremonies are more for the living, than the dead.

“Lady Edna, it’s been a while.” Edna turned and saw Laufen, Lausanne and her two children, Lauda and Arlisa. They were here, to commemorate Jura’s sacrifice. There was a banquet, as with all ceremonies. She hadn’t seen Laufen for quite some time, especially since Laufen’s social role didn’t really overlap with her own.

“Ah, nice to see you too, Lady Laufen. How’s the social work coming along?”

“Eh, I’ve taken a back seat these days, my age is catching up on me.” Laufen was not young, and though she looked no older than a mid 40s human lady, she felt the age in her body. “The priests and Valtrians handle them, and there’s not that much to do in Freshka.”

“I see. Will you be staying over at Tigashfall, or returning to Freshka?” The nearest city was named Tigashfall, since this was where the Demon King Tigash died.

“We’ll stay for the night. Lauda should get some time out of Freshka. Arlisa will be leaving once the ceremony is over. She’s got a raid with the Dungeons of Tigash with her team.” The dungeon created from the residual energies of Demon King Tigash had decayed over time, and these days spawned only level 40 to level 50 monsters.

Edna nodded at Arlisa, and Arlisa slunk behind her grandmother. “Good luck.” She was so talented once, but somehow she didn’t have the fire in her to really make that talent shine. Perhaps some day in the future, given time.

Lauda, Lausanne’s second child, was a young adult now, in his mid twenties. He smiled at Edna. “Aunt Edna, are the stories true? That you fought the demon king?”

Edna just nodded. “Yes. But enough about me. How about you?”

Lauda had a big smile. “I’m good. I’m taking some extra courses on Trade Management though. I also got a girlfriend! Too bad I couldn’t invite her, she really wanted me to bring her along.”

Edna didn’t know what exactly that was, but she had a rough understanding that it was probably one of the academic topics at the FTC, as part of their education program. To her, Lauda and Arlisa were like distant relatives that she spoke to once every few years, partly because they knew each other when they were so young. “Well, that’s nice.”

Laufen patted her grandson’s head. “Alright, let’s eat and stop bothering Lady Edna. She’s got a lot of important people to meet.”

Edna blushed at Laufen’s words. In her mind, Laufen and Lausanne were up there in Aeon’s list of important people, even if their role in the modern central continent’s administration had greatly diminished. In a way, they were like royalty who no longer had a hand in running the country. “Well, don’t put it that way.”

Laufen left with Arlisa and Lauda. “There’s something I wanted to ask you for some time, Lausanne.”

Lausanne sat at a table with Edna, Lumoof and a few other Valthorns. “Oh?”

“How’d you tell Aeon that you didn’t want to go further? Why?” Somedays, Edna wondered why, but every time she remembered the sacrifice of those who fought with her, she realised, if not her, then who?

“Oh. I kind of just told him? That I want to take care of my kids? Aeon pretty much just said okay.”

“That’s it? He didn’t try to convince you or anything?”

“Yeah. After my travels, I felt like I was ready to just settle down somewhere. I didn’t have an itch anymore. It’s kinda funny, you know.”

Edna nodded. “Yeah. Jura told us long ago that you wanted to be a hero when you were a baby.”

Lausanne blushed. “I didn’t know that. Even in death, Uncle Jura still finds a way to embarrass me.”

“Eh. These days, it’s fine to dream. If somebody like me can achieve a [domain], why not you?” Edna said. “But I suppose reality and dreams are often really different.”

Lausanne laughed. “Yes it is. And that fire’s long snuffed out, now. How about you, Edna? How is it, to be the most famous Valthorn on all of the continent.”

Edna just smiled. The food at the banquet was good. The Treeology staff didn’t hold back with the quality or the quantity of foods here. After all, most of the top brass was here. “Honestly, it’s not different. I spend most of my time training, fighting demons and monsters, and teaching new Valthorns. The same as what I did before this.”

“And that is good.” Lausanne said. “I thought I wanted to be a hero that was loved, but little did I know that a hero was not loved after all, mostly feared, at best, respected.”

The knight nodded in agreement. Lumoof cut into the conversation.

“Well, it’s a good thing none of you engage in public facing roles, then. As a priest, I’d have to give sermons and talks! Preach!”

Edna tapped Lumoof on the shoulder sympathetically. “Oh yes. You should see the amount of ass-kissers our dear priest gets. He even has to be polite and nice to them! I feel disgusted when they try to suck up to me.”

Lumoof sighed. “Indeed, the perils of life as Aeon’s living word. It is why I prefer to let others face the people. It’s nice to be where no one knows who I am.”

“The other continents, perhaps?” Edna smiled.

“Oh. Further.”

“Ah.” Edna nodded. “Perhaps next time I’ll get that chance.”

“You have to just ask.”

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