Oath of Partnership
The goblin village lies a short distance from the destroyed ruins. It is a higgledy-piggledy collection of huts and burrows: the goblins appear to have made themselves at home wherever they could find space. There are homes carved into the massive tree trunks which even five men would not be able to encircle. There are homes dug into the ground, their only entrance a trapdoor set into a mound. As you would find it hard to fit into one of their houses, the goblins lead you to their great hall, a well-preserved stone building that is similar in design to the ruins. Along the way, every goblin villager that you pass falls to their knees immediately, touching their foreheads to the ground in awe.
Inside the hall, there is a large statue of a horned demon with three eyes. In its right hand is a staff and in its left a coiled serpent.
“That must be their god,” says the demon princess. She begins to explain what she had found out from the goblins during the journey here. According to the goblins, they worshipped a Demon God named Vaalgrahf, who once walked amongst them ten thousand years ago, and united all of the races under his harmonious rule. He was vanquished by five heroes chosen by the Five Gods of Light, and banished along with his castle to a land of eternal darkness.
“As it so happens… that is the name of my ancestor. Vaalgrahf. Unfortunately, my family history was wiped clean. There are no records from the time before Vaalgrahf, who claimed to have single-handedly created our entire line.”
“So, the ruins that we appeared at…”
“Left behind by Vaalgrahf, I would assume,” she nods. “The goblins in this village say that out of all the races, they are the only ones to have kept the faith, believing that one day Vaalgrahf would return and deliver their salvation.”
Vaalgrahf… is that who the goblins think you are? You wonder if that land of eternal darkness refers to the Netherworld.
“Well, now that you are more rested… and clothed… it is time to tell me everything,” the princess demands as she changes the subject.
You do, leaving nothing out; including the part where you devoured her father’s heart. It is better that she finds out now rather than later: you have found that the amount of effort going into the construction and maintenance of a lie often outstrips the benefits of the lie in the first place.
"So, you were betrayed," she says, her voice filled with satisfaction. "I guess you got what you deserved, for trusting humans. Was that anger in your voice that I heard? Is the Hero upset that his friends turned on him?"
You are angry, and it is an anger that is still fresh. But are you really just upset over being betrayed by those who you thought your allies?
***
(The choice with the highest votes will be the primary trigger of your anger, with up to two secondary reasons, except for H, which will override all other choices if it wins.)
A.The Goddesses. As the beings with ultimate power over all, they also have the ultimate responsibility. From your perspective, they betrayed that responsibility.
B. Mankind as a whole. Fools enslaved by destiny, unable to break free of their own volition.
C. The Seven Kingdoms. They called you hero and made you a scapegoat against your wishes. You never asked for this.
D. Kyle, Althus and Lobelia. They betrayed you: that is the only thing you are certain of right now.
E. Mieren's death. She did not deserve it.
F. The Demon Lord, for without him this would never have happened.
G. Yourself, for not seeing it coming.
H. All of the above, equally.
***
“As for what happened to you... Father never shared the full details of his work with me, but I can hazard a guess at what did happen. He was looking for a way to turn humans back into their original form.” She does not seem overly surprised, but a troubled expression creases her elegant brow.
“By original form, you mean…”
“Demons, of course. The superior life form. You humans are just degraded devolutions of our stock,” she says arrogantly.
Right, insults. You don’t feel up to arguing with her at the moment, and you let it pass. “I don’t feel human.” You flap your lone wing to emphasize the point. “But I am not a demon either, am I?”
“That is… strange,” she admits. “Perhaps there was something else to his research that I did not know, or did not understand. Or more likely, the essence of your lower-class filth was too strong for my father’s experiment to overcome.” The demon princess looks up at the arched ceiling of the hall. “Regardless, you took my father’s heart. It was the culmination of his work. It is his legacy, and as his daughter, it belongs to me.”
“Am I supposed to just dig my own heart out and give it to you?”
“Would you?”
“No. There is no chance of that ever happening,” you reply truthfully.
“Well… even if you did, I have no use for a filthy human heart anyway. All I am interested in is my father’s legacy, and it is no guarantee that your heart will contain it.” She spins around, her black gown billowing around her, and performs a perfect curtsey. “Let us start again.”
You eye her suspiciously, though you still find time to appreciate the enticing view of her cleavage.
“I am Crown Princess Rinnefiela, the only daughter of Demon King Kimaris and sole successor to the Kingdom of Vaal. What is your name, Hero?”
You glance around restlessly. “You want my name? Did you cast a geas or something? An oath to bind me to absolute loyalty?” You cannot sense any magic at the moment, but perhaps to be on the safe side…
“Would I do something as dishonourable as that?”
She seems truly offended. You decide to believe her for now: if it is a geas that you cannot detect, then you would be helpless against her whether you gave your name or not.
“Fine. It’s Erdrick. Erdrick Mercant.”
“Erdrick… as in Erdrick, the first so-called hero that defeated Dark Lord Vaal the First? That Erdrick?”
“My parents were going through a phase.” You shrug. Why bother changing it? Sure, you had been bullied in childhood over your name, but once you had made it quite clear that you were no hero, in no uncertain terms, the bullying stopped, and they closed down the school.
Stifling her laughter, Rinnefiela composes herself and says, “Very well… Erdrick Mercant. My eyes shall be on you until the day I may regain the legacy of Demon King Kimaris, my departed father. I shall guard you from harm until that day comes to pass, as the Demon King Agares guarded his enemy’s children until he could harvest the precious gems that were their eyes. I shall not betray your trust unless it is broken first through your own actions. Will you reciprocate?” She offers her hand to you earnestly. Rinnefiela blushes, seeming to understand the awkwardness of the situation. “It is tradition,” she mutters. "An oath of partnership." You could be mistaken, but it almost sounds like a proposal of some sort. Or at least a business deal. And she does not even have the foresight to plant magical compulsion into the terms of the deal. This should be easy to ditch if you change your mind later.
Scratching the back of your head, you say, “Alright, alright. I, Erdrick Mercant, former Hero of the Seven Kingdoms and third son of the Mercant family, hereby swear that my eyes shall be on you, Rinnefiela Kimaris, until the day you regain the legacy of your father, Demon King Kimaris. I shall guard you from harm until that day comes to pass, and keep your trust for as long as you keep mine.” You take her fingers gently, lower your head, and kiss the back of her hand.
Rinnefiela stiffens. Her fingers scoot away and clench into a fist, seemingly ready to crash into your face.
“W-w-what are you doing?”
“You wanted to seal the deal, didn’t you?”
“By shaking hands!”
“You should have specified that earlier. This is how my people do it. In fact, it is the minimum level at which two people express their trust for one another, Rin.”
“Please have some more respect when addressing me, you lazy piece of slime. Do not shorten my name without my permission. It’s Rin-ne-fi-e-la,” she says slowly, as if talking to a small child, an expression of pure disdain on her face. She turns on her heel and stomps off, her large, black wings flapping unhappily as she does so.
***
That’s right. Your wings. Or rather, wing, with Rin having chopped off one of them and all. You wonder what you should do with it.
A. Take it off. The lopsided weight distribution is affecting your balance and making it hard for you to move around. Besides, you would be able to hide your strangeness more easily without those wings.
B. You keep it. It did grow from your own body after all, and it’s a rather pretty looking wing…
***
While residing in the goblin village, you are unable to communicate directly with any of them. Furthermore, it appears as if they share this language with a few other races. Relying on Rin as a translator might not be ideal in the long run…
A. You put the effort into learning the local language from scratch, getting Rin to help you. This way, your mastery will be genuine, and there will be little room for misinterpretation. You can rely on being able to speak this language whenever you want.
B. You invent an auto-translation spell that should work with any language, putting in as much effort as you would to learn a single language. It would allow you to communicate in multiple languages with ease. On the downside, you have not truly learnt anything, and if the spell fizzles, so does your comprehension of foreign languages.
C. There is no need to learn any other language when the language of electrical violence works so well. You are confident in the ability of other people to truly understand you when you are shocking them with countless volts of electricity.
D. In the penultimate expression of hardworking laziness, you decide to create as your next original magic a spell that will allow anyone to learn anything at a higher pace. You are not entirely sure where to start, as there is no prior work that you know of that hints at such a thing being possible, but you are not giving up until it is completed.
