With these souls behind me, I kinda look like a mafia boss, don't I? Probably not since I'm small and not very intimidating, but whatever.
Now, apart from the goblin warrior's soul, I had also collected the souls of six other beings within my hundred-metre barrier and I intend to put them all to good use. Since "raising" underlings is too tiresome, I'll let Valentyn do it for me. He's capable enough... ahem.
I'm not pushing my own responsibilities onto him! It's uh... a learning experience for him! Yeah! A learning experience! Besides, it's going to be fairly easy for him. He's one of the strongest beings in Arula, excluding the likes of Miriel, or myself.
Well, this discussion is going nowhere. I'm just going to drop off these souls at Iona's place and follow the boy for more souls. Well, let's get going. I would have to make a barrier around these souls, and then transport them manually to Iona. That's such a pain.
But, oh well. I'll take a well-deserved break after getting these seven floor guardians. Since we're almost done with my dungeon, I think a short two-week period of rest would be good. Ah. I'm motivated now.
I materialised another, smaller, barrier this time and encircled the seven souls I'd collected. With a simple snap, the barrier I originally had materialised disappeared, and reality within the barrier now slowly returns to normal.
At the moment when I could physically see the corpse of the goblin warrior again, I flew towards it and tried to pick it up. It's heavy, and my small, weak arms could not pick up something that was well over fifty kilograms. Not to mention there's the other half too!
Sigh. Maybe it's time to change appearances to something stronger and larger. Ugh... I don't want to do it, but considering that using three barriers at the same time, controlling them to move around and all that stuff was much more troublesome than going to a more mature form and physically moving the two parts of the goblin warrior.
But... I don't necessarily need the goblin warrior's body, do I? Well, that settles it! I am not going to do anything about the goblin warrior's old body and instead give him a new one. If I'm going down that route, then I should give the goblin warrior a name. It doesn't make sense to call him "goblin warrior" if he's something like a... mechanoid or something... yeah... a mechanoid. Do they have mechanoid or these machine golems in Arula?
I would like to own one if I get the chance to. It could be my snack fetcher or something like that. Heh-heh... ah sorry, I delved too deep into my ideal living conditions. Uhm. I'm going to expand on those ideas later. I'm currently working hard, and I swore to myself that I won't get distracted. Now, it's time to go to the Angel Station.
I made sure that no one was around before pulling a tear in reality, to open a portal to the Imaginary Realm. The portal was a circle in the sky, and while it did look weird, contrasting the blue sky and the surrounding lush green forest, it wasn't particularly out of place.
It's less than a metre in diameter, so it's on the smaller side. I was able to shove the seven souls in and I followed suit. The portal immediately closed as I entered, so no mortal could waltz into the Imaginary Realm... well, I would get in trouble for letting that happen...
I heard the faint whispers of voices, so I assumed it was from Iona. Was he welcoming another group of heroes? Again? And this often? Probably not. Maybe another divine being. Ugh. Speaking of which, I remember Lord Raphael telling me something about him sending a messenger angel to inform me about something.
I hope it's not the messenger. Dealing with an archangel is too tiresome. Oh, right, besides dropping off the few souls that I've collected, I should also inform Iona about the System that Hestia (all Dungeon Masters have) has since he's a part of the World Management guys. Well, if he declares it's a violation of Section 1, then I must part ways with Hestia...
I'm not sad or anything. She's nothing more than a mere tool, you know? Well, calling her a "tool" might be too extreme, but you get the idea. We're "friends", but I don't mind, but she doesn't have much value to me and is always replaceable.
I was busy thinking about the future when Iona finished up his conversation and noticed me in the corner of his eye. He called out, "Oh! Blanoir! Good to see you again! If you're here in the Angel Station, I assume you need something from me?"
"Eh?" I was caught off-guard. "Ah! Sorry to bother you again Iona, but I need a few favours from you," I replied. "You see, I'm still currently gathering strong beings for my dungeon, and while I'm doing that, I wanted to drop off these souls at the Angel Station for a moment and once I'm done, I'll come back and pick them up again."
"Ah, I see. That's totally fine!" he answered, patting me on the back with a sunny smile.
"Thanks. And another thing—I think you should listen closely." my tone was now serious. "You see, there's a fellow called Hestia-"
"Hestia?" Iona cut me off with a tone of annoyance in his voice. "You mean one of the Three Ancient Dragons, the Dragon of the Altar Flame, Hestia? That Hestia?"
"Yeah..." I replied. Well, it's good that Iona knows about Hestia, but what's their relationship? I could feel there's something wrong, or that they have beef with each other. Well, I'm curious, so... let's go ask! "Is there something wrong?" I asked him.
Unexpectedly, Iona sighed. A deep sigh too. "Well..." he started, but didn't continue. He only covered his mouth with his hand, thinking, with a nostalgic look on his face. Sighing once more, he replied, "Okay, I should explain our relationship. Do you mind if I do?"
"Yeah, that's fine. I got some time." I answered.
"Thanks. Well, I'll summarise it for you, so I won't waste too much of your time. When the World Creation Sector created this universe, U99,973, I was originally the Universe Overseer but got demoted due to my inexperience, so I've been in charge of Arula since its creation a few billion years ago. And, wanting to garner experience, I became more open-minded about advice and those types of things, and Hestia's ancestor was one of the wisest beings I know, giving me helpful advice, and over time, we eventually became close friends."
"Uh-huh," I nodded, fully interested in Iona's story. I never knew that. From the moment I met Iona, I could tell he was a young angel, but I didn't think he was THAT young. If I were to check U99,973's age, it should be around nine billion years old, with Arula being half its age. "So? What happened to him?" I asked.
"He peacefully passed away a while ago," Iona answered, his voice filled with regret. "I... I know we call ourselves 'close friends', but..." Iona wasn't able to continue his sentence. His face was only filled up with a nostalgic look, with a subtle hint of sadness. "But, nevertheless, the time we spent together was precious and I hold those memories quite fondly," he finally continued. He turned to face me, "Enough about the past. I'm thinking you will tell me about the System that Hestia has?"
Now that was surprising. I thought Iona wasn't aware of the existence of the System, but turns out I didn't need it at all. "Yeah... I figured you might've known about it, but I wanted to tell you just in case."
Iona softly laughed. "Well, the System shocked me as well. From the time Hestia was born a few hundred thousand years ago, the System was already present. I've already reported it to my superiors in the World Management Sector, so there's nothing for you to worry about. Currently, the System itself is still being investigated and is not expected to end soon. So don't worry about losing Hestia. She's all yours for the time being."
"Oh really? Thanks, Iona! That information really brought me some peace of mind. Okay, I'm going to hand over these souls and head off now. I'll be back soon!"
"Before you do that, Blanoir, can I ask you to do me a favour?" Iona asked as I was about to fly off. I nodded as I saw no reason to refuse Iona's favour. What's more, I could probably call it even as we're doing favours for each other. "Thanks. Take care Hestia for me. She's a little childish at times, but once she grows close to a person or a certain group of people, her loyalty is unwavering.
Another thing—don't be like me and only spend time with friends. Connect with them. We're angels, immortal beings that do not have a sense of time or a lifespan. If we always say that 'we're going to spend time with them later', that time would often be way overdue, and we spend no time with them at all because they are at the end of their lives.
So Blanoir, I assume you're hard at work, trying to complete your dungeon, but remember: take some time off and spend time with your mortal subordinates. Time flies for us, you might have a little dinner with your human friend, and then you dive into work. By the time you realise it, maybe forty years have passed and your human friend is reaching the end of her life. As the Overseer of Arula, I don't want you to feel any regrets while you're here in Arula. I want you to experience Arula at its finest, and enjoy it to the maximum, and to do so, spend some time with the friends that you've made. Cherish the memories you've made. That's all. Have fun, Blanoir." Iona waved me goodbye.
I didn't say anything in reply. I actually agreed with his words. Reflecting on myself, recently, I've been too obsessed with completing my dungeon to the point that I have neglected Valentyn, Hestia and that slave girl... hah. Well, that just proves my point. I don't even know the name of the slave girl who convinced Jiro to let her stay here. I don't know anything about her at all as well. That also applies to Hestia... and Valentyn as well.
"Change of plans. Let's wrap up for the day after meeting up with Valentyn and spend some quality time together—Hestia and the slave girl included."
I don't know how long I will be able to remember your advice, Iona, but thank you for the warning. For the time I remember it, I'll take it to heart.