246 The mystery of the dragon (1/2)

About how Mia followed her using North's power, how she challenged Evlin to a battle under the threat of harming her family, how Evlin ended up losing the fight and her body, and how her friends came up with a strategy to save her by calling an army of mages and warriors to face Mia with the help of Evlin's niece.

Ria's cheerful expression became cold the more she listened to their explanation.

”I'm so sorry...” she whispered, ”all of this happened because of my stupid sister... If only I hadn't avoided her and took care of that little brat myself when I had the chance... none of this would have happened...”

Evlin noticed her friend's face becoming more anxious, ”Ria, it's ok... It's not your fault...”

”But... She was my sister!! My responsibility!!”

”No... She was not... You're her sister, not her mother... It's not your job to fix the problems she made, so stop letting this bother you...”

”...”

”Gus, could you bring me closer to Ria, please?” Evlin asked.

”Ah, sure.”

Gustav placed the woman on the bed Ria was laying and she proceeded to muster some strength in her arm to give her a gentle hug while looking at Marcia.

”This little girl over here, THIS is your responsibility! So just focus on making sure she lives a happy life, ok?” Evlin commented with a grin.

”... I will! Thanks, Evie!” Ria replied while hugging her daughter again.

”Still...” Auren interrupted, ”I had no idea there was a war taking place... West, why didn't you tell us??”

The goddess just crossed her arms and glared at him, ”what good would that do? It's not like you two would be of any help with Ria being in the middle of giving birth...”

”S- Still... You should have told us... Our friends were in danger and we knew nothing about it!”

”Who cares? It's over now and they are all safe and sound...” West continued, followed by taking a glance at Lilith, ”Well... most of them anyway...”

Daren noticed the confusion on Auren's expression and explained that she had lost her sight during her travel to Hana's lost garden.

”Auren, do you think you can help her? You have the ability to revert time right?”

”Maybe... My power got a little stronger ever since I became a champion... I can now revert things back to at least two weeks!”

Lilith lowered her head in depression, ”I lost my sight a month ago...”

”Oh...” Auren gasped, ”but... I thought you said Mia declared war on you a week ago...”

”Inside the garden, we entered an area where time moved at a different pace... We spent an entire month in it training Ellie...”

”I... See... I... I'm sorry Lilith...” Auren regretted.

”That wasn't a dragon, that was Wrath...” Hana commented. She had been silent up until now so the people there almost forget about her presence.

”Wrath...?” Ria repeated.

”One of the seven leaders of my army back when I was one of them...”

West began to shiver, ”so the demon leaders are really back?? And they are here?? In this world??”

”Seems like it... I'm not sure how though... I was sure Angela had thrown them into a portal and made them disappear...” Hana noted.

”You sure it was him...?” Gustav asked.

”Positive... I could never forget that annoying way of talking he has... But he never had dragon scales before, that was new... If he really is working for Knucker, he must have received some kind of power from him...”

”Wait...” Ashely gasped, ”You used to be their leader, right? Can't you make them join our side or something?”

”Unlikely... They hate divine beings... If they find out that I became a goddess, they will think I betrayed them... Which... I kinda did, to be honest... And try to skin me alive...”

”... Well... That's a mental image I did not need in my head...” Ria whispered.

”Does this mean there are more six of these guys out there??” Auren wondered.

”Five actually” Daren corrected, ”the demon leader we faced on the kingdom of the south was the demon of sloth, and Evlin killed him...”

”His name is Chuck, thank you very much!” Evlin stated, ”Oh! I just realized that I should name all the other six as well!!”

”No, you shouldn't!!” Everyone present with the exception of Ria commented.

”Oh, you guys are no fun...” Evlin whispered.

Ria took another look at the room and realized that things really had not changed all that much from what they used to be.

”So that's it then? We going after Knucker and his demon group and kick their asses?”

”It's not that simple...” Hana commented, ”the location of Knucker's real body is a mystery...”

”Real body...?” Ashley repeated.

”He tends to send out a couple of humanoid avatars that operate under his will, but Knucker's real body is that of a massive dragon, bigger than this whole city... But after his battle with me and Angela, he got severely injured and went into hiding... I've been trying to locate him to this day by chasing his avatars, but any time I get close to them, they just self-destruct and leave me with nothing... I hoped that turning into a goddess would help me find him, but I still had no luck with it... What's worse, I later found out that gods can't interact directly with people without a champion... So in a way, turning into a goddess just made my mission even harder...”

”So, how are we going to find him?” Evlin wondered, ”do we just wait for his minions to show up or something and force them to talk?”

”Ah!!” Ashley gasped, ”That's a great idea!!”

”It is...??” Evlin wondered.

”We just have to capture one of the sins and make them reveal to us where Knucker's body is hiding!”