"...This isn't unfamiliar at all," Estelle rubbed her temples. "Because.. this place is Interata," she took in a sharp breath as she surveilled the surroundings. She had been here before, even as Estelle Clareste.
They weren't joking when they said that the Underworld used to be the exact sa as the current Surface. This place was the exact duplicate of the Interata she knew.
The plains that belonged to nobody, the space that spread throughout the entire world and classified as the land without laws. All the land outside of the six known nations' borders, that was Interata. It was one of the first things she learned when she ca to the world, due to Heine assisting her in building up her knowledge about the world.
"Let's see.. If I am in Interata, and the map mirrors the Surface.. Then I would have to go to Alynthi if I wanted to seek Aleksei and Ophelia, right?" Estelle cald herself down from the excitent she was feeling underneath her nervousness. She was thrown into an unfamiliar space, but this ti she was strong enough to eclipse the others at any given mont. That was, at least until the chaos begun.
But since the chaos hadn't started yet, Estelle felt freedom in every single cell of her body. She was a Goddess who possessed great powers who currently had no equal in the mortal realm. There was no Underworld, there was no Elias or Arayle. She could traverse through the world without having to put up with any bullshit because she had her own freedom.
She stretched her body out, letting her residual mory take over her movents and slowly drift through her desired location: Aleksei's town. Aleksei. The man who the past Goddess apparently fell in love with to the point of blindness, she was really curious on what this man actually has. He was said to be just a normal young man from a normal town. Why was Estraea attracted to him?
Good looks? She spent countless years accompanied by the Absolute and God Astarte, she refused to believe that this man could eclipse those two's beauty. No matter how handso he was, the two aforentioned n were divine beings that couldn't be affected by environntal impacts, so their looks were flawless.
In this day and age, living in such a secluded town like this and being a young man, Aleksei obviously needed to follow a training regin to contribute to his community. His appearance wouldn't win.
Personality? Again, the two n she spent ti with in the higher realms literally burned their lives to death just to fight fate for her. What else did Estraea need?
Was she tricked? For such a gullible and naive Goddess, what prevented her from being tricked into falling in love with this man called Aleksei? Sweet words were easy to say, especially if it was done by an experienced player. What if Aleksei was a player?
Her thoughts were still quite jumbled, but her body moved about at a high speed. Soon, she had reached the destination in just a few minutes. Throughout the journey, she had seen the world's landscape and confird that it was really similar to the Surface.
However, subtle differences would be there. Be it the architecture, the building placents, or cultural marks, so of them differed. It was a given since the two realms were completely separate from each other, but just made to be extrely similar and directed through a set of conditions to perpetuate the sa sequence of events. However, these changes could not be the exact replica of each other because there were so much probabilities that one simple event could have. Like her thoughts about the world's fate's progression recently, the places had their own strings of fates no matter how hard they tried to tweak the scenarios.
Estelle was brought to a town gate, where two guards were standing by in a rigid manner. They were not very well equipped, and their weapons were nothing but sharp spears that were made out of wood and had steel blades attached to it. It wasn't the most sturdy material ever.
The two guards quickly recognized Estelle upon her arrival. This wasn't the first ti she randomly ca forward to their gates and demanded entry. Even though she was an outsider, the Goddess Estraea had been a huge help to them many tis, so naturally she was let in without any discussion or obstruction.
"Miss Rae, are you here to seek out Sei again?" One of the guards asked with a warm smile. There was a faint layer of blush on the young man's cheeks. It was clear that he had so sort of good feelings towards the Goddess, and there was even traces of adoration as he spoke.
"Yes, I am! Sei.. is he inside the town?" Estelle tilted her head and slipped back a friendly smile, asking about the man's whereabouts.
"He should be with the town chief. I heard that he was called into the office earlier. Miss Rae, the chief will be happy to see you again. He treats you more favorably than he does towards his daughter, you could storm his office right away without asking!" The other guard responded with vigor.
Estelle chuckled at the two n's great attitudes towards her and let out a gentle sigh. "Surely you are joking. Even if that was true, I wouldn't storm in! It would simply be impolite! Since he is in the town.. Then, I will go in now, alright? Please take care guarding the town. The people must be very grateful towards you since you protect them," Estelle stepped forward, waving goodbyes as she walked further into the town, disappearing from the guards' sights.
The guards still waved enthusiastically even after Estelle stopped looking at them. The two faced each other and let out muted screams as they began to converse.
"Miss Rae is truly so breathtaking.. How could such a person exist? She's beautiful, pretty, has a great attitude.. Ahh, that little kid Sei is so lucky! If I were him, I would've courted Miss Rae already! Every ti she cos here, she would always look for him. What more cues does he need before he starts asking her out! I'm feeling frustrated for Miss Rae!"
"I an, from what I can see.. Sei is also interested in Miss Rae. Well- who wouldn't, right?"
"Yeah.. but Sei's situation is a little bit tricky. The town chief's daughter... Miss Ophelia. If Miss Rae didn't co here, I think those two are the destined couple, but.." The guard sighed. "Miss Ophelia is truly pitiful,"
"Even Miss Ophelia can't really contend against Miss Rae, can she.."
"Right, who could? Not to ntion this town, even if we are talking about the entire world, it would be hard to find soone who could hold a candle against Miss Rae. It's such a sha, those two have been together since they were practically toddlers! Miss Ophelia showed signs of willingness in being paired up with Sei too.. But Sei, this kid, he has absurd luck but is denser than everything," The guard spoke out bluntly. "But I suppose, being that dense was what made him have a chance with Miss Rae. If that couple was already together, Miss Rae wouldn't be so fond of Sei,"
"Ahhh! Alright, alright! No more gossips, it's not our business anyway! You know, if we get caught, they will reprimand us again. I don't want to go through the punishnt!" The guard finally fixed his posture and started guarding with a serious face again.
"To tell the truth, guarding this gate is really aningless. Our townspeople seldom go in and out of the town, and strangers who pass through are traveling rchants or suppliers. There are no tourists, not even adventurers since this area is not suited for hunting. A town like this, who would attack it anyway? Really, the town chief is too paranoid!" Sighing, the other guard also began to follow suit, agreeing with the other's words.
Still inside the town, Estelle hadn't actually moved forward to the chief's office like the guards had suggested. She used her extensive listening skills to overhear the guards' conversations and discerned their admiration and pity towards the ongoing scandal.
Estraea, which was her position right now, was an outsider. Yet, she got treated better than anybody else, understandably. With her assets and contributions, the town chief would naturally be in favor of her and try to tie her down to the town. If he was successful, then the town will be helped in all segnts. Estraea's skills were high in numbers, and if they were able to get such a person on their side, it could be counted as their accumulation of seven generations' worth of luck.
About Ophelia, Estelle finally learned that she was the town chief's daughter. Going by the guards words, it seed like the only reason why Ophelia wasn't fond of the perfect Goddess was not only because Aleksei was being taken away from her.
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