The Adventures of Rose Hood

I flew day and night, stopping only to rest due to my still healing injuries. It took me two days, but I reached the castle.

I landed near and shifted to my catkin form. I gasped as pain shot through my body.

Wrath stepped out with the other 4.

“Innocence. I thought you had another week. Why are you- Innocence?!”

She noticed my injuries. Pride ran over and began healing me. My injuries helped convince them that I wasn’t there to fight.

“Wrath, I’m here to warn you. Celios is planning to interrupt the battle and absorb us when we are tired."

“Of course, he would try something like that. Why did you warn me?”

“To prevent that situation.”

I coughed out blood.

“What’s the plan?”

“For now, act as normal, but when we get to the fight, you and I talk for however long it takes for him to get annoyed and come out. Then we strike at him at once.”

“So, enter the battle, but then act as though we forgot we were supposed to fight and just talk.”

“Yes, but don’t tell either side, otherwise they’ll not act naturally.”

“I see. Well, I believe you. Celios’s divine aspect is in your injuries.”

We agreed on the plan, and when I was mostly healed, I began the flight back to the capital of Selethon.

Because I was still exhausted, it took another two days to get back.

We had 7 days until the battle.

_

I landed next to Selethon’s capital and shifted. A guard gasped.

“Lady Rose, are you okay?”

I realized that I was not a beautiful sight at that point. My nose was still smashed, my arm was basically shattered, and I still had a giant hole in my chest. Not to mention that the armor that Thalia made was basically scrap metal at this point.

Royce saw me.

“ROSE, WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OKAY?!”

“I’m fine.”

“I hope you gave the other guy a thrashing, at least.”

“Eh, he’s hurt, but I definitely lost.”

Then my exhaustion took hold and I fell forward.

“Rose!!!”

“I’m fine... just tired...”

I fell asleep in his arms.

_

I was right to be worried, Rose, while not in critical condition, was still very injured, and the injuries were still healing slowly. I could see that even though a lot of healing magic was used to stop the bleeding, she still lost a lot of blood.

That hole was brutal.

“Get King Elren!!!”

A guard ran off and quickly returned with Elren by his side.

“What happened to my sister?”

“I don’t know, she landed here, looking like this.”

“Let me... her healing is already full. She’s just exhausted.”

“That looks like a lot more than exhaustion.”

“I know, but she isn’t losing more blood, she just needs time to regenerate at this point.”

I began to calm down.

“Alright, I’ll trust you.”

“Thank you, I’ll bring her to her room to rest.”

Elren picked up Rose and carried her carefully, as though she was a baby that he didn’t want to wake.

I could only hope that she’d recover in time for the battle.

_

I got up, I was feeling better. My exhaustion was gone and so was the hole. I got up and limped down the stairs to see Elren and Thalia.

“You’re awake!!!”

“Yes, I am, and Thalia, sorry what happened to the arm-”

“I don’t care about the armor, I thought you were dead when Elren came in here holding you. I can replace armor, but I can’t replace you.”

I hugged her, and she hugged me back.

Then the king of Drummel entered.

“It’s good to see you in good condition, M’lady.”

“Hi.”

They looked at him in suspicion.

“Calm down. He’s a first lineage, that's how he figured it out.”

Elren’s eyes widened.

“A first lineage? No wonder you gave my men so much trouble.”

“I could say the same to you, a dragon is a formidable foe.”

“Anyways, uh...”

“Donoven.”

“Donoven, could you please not tell the other’s that I went to meet with Wrath after Celios’s attack.”

Elren was confused.

“Wait, you met with Wrath. Wait Celios? Like the sky god?”

“Yes, and yes. I met with Wrath to warn her that Celios is joining the battle, we have a plan to merely talk until he gets annoyed and reveals himself. Then we will strike him at once.”

“Wait, so you and Wrath are aligning for this?”

“If there is anyone Wrath hates more than me, it’s Celios. Plus, hearing that he hurt me before the battle ticked her off. She loves facing her opponents in their prime condition, so having me hurt annoys her.”

“I see. Well, we have four days.”

“I was asleep for three days?!”

“Yes, a lot of people were worried about you, but we knew that the morale would go down if they saw you in the condition, you were in. It makes sense that it was the former king of the gods that took you down.”

One word there struck me and the shards.

“Former?”

“Yeah, he was overthrown, and the other gods cast him out.”

“So, you are telling me I was beaten by a weakling?”

“Weakling?”

God’s gain strength by two things, loyalty of mortals and loyalty of gods. Celios had neither apparently, and he still crushed me.

“I was beaten by a forsaken god...”

I lamented my own weakness, and the other shards also were angry at our weakness.

“Is that bad?”

“He was in his worst condition, and he still wiped the floor with me, of course that’s bad.”

I laid on the floor, moping. All present showed confusion except for Donovan who understood how gods worked. He crouched down.

“Ms. Rose, please don’t be upset, you are also a forsaken god at this point, not to mention, you are only half of the goddess, but you still managed to land two powerful blows and stand until he left. Then you recovered in a week. That is impressive.”

His words made us feel a little better.

“Thanks, I guess that makes sense.”

I stood up feeling better.

“Well, we need to finish preparing, and remember, we need to make it seem like me and Wrath completely forgot we were in a battle, and the men need to be confused.”

“Understood.

We all nodded and headed out to check the situation, Thalia went about making me better armor, as mine was junked.

I spoke to each leader and leveled a strategy. I notified them that it would be more dangerous than expected, and they agreed. We set up a powerful militia and Dalis called the strongest fighters from small villages to show up. I was walking around when I saw a familiar person.

“Hood?”

“Granny?”

“Oh, Hood it’s so good to see you again!”

The half-elf tackle hugged me, and I hugged her back. Then she looked at Elren with an annoyed look.

“Elren, the heck are you doing here.”

“Dalla... you are Rose’s granny?”

“Yes, and?”

“I’m her elder brother.”

They looked at each other in a silence.

“I ain’t being your granny.”

“Thank you.”

Thalia was close to laughing, seeing the exchange.

I got up and walked around the guild hall, examining the adventurers that showed up. A lot of S ranks were here, and we were ready.

_

The day came, and we stood out in front of the city, the ranger unit, ran by Granny, stood on top of the wall, ready to shoot.

Then we saw the army, I held up my hand and shouted out.

“One month has passed, and you came.”

“Yes, are you ready to die?”

“Not quite, maybe you’ll die first.”

“I’LL HANDLE HER M’LADY.”

Then an annoying elf stepped out from behind Wrath...

“My rival, we meet ag-”

“Divine Oblivion.”

Callel was obliterated. He didn’t even finish his sentence. Both armies looked at the crater and my absolutely ticked off face.

“HOW DID HE COME BACK AGAIN?!!! WAS LAVA NOT ENOUGH?!”

Wrath didn’t react.

“Thank you for dealing with him.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, he just showed up in the middle of our march. He assumed I revived him, so he decided to serve me. He was annoying as heck.”

“Try killing him 4 times, then find how annoying he is.”

“Oh, please don’t make me imagine that. He’s too annoying to come back after that.”

“Oh, trust me, by my count he’s died to me 4 times. The first two I just ate him, the third I melted him in lava, and now this. If he comes back again, I’m going directly for his soul.”

“Oh, my goodness, he is really that annoying?”

“He is...”

“Well, let’s hope he stays dead this time.”

“Yes, let’s...”

“Um, Rose. We are kinda in the middle of a battle.”

“We are?”

I know we were planning to act like it, but I genuinely forgot. It seems Wrath genuinely forgot as well.

Pride was facepalming, and Mammon was giving me side-eye. Both me and Wrath blushed. That was embarrassing.

“Oh, my goodness, the battle should have started, why are all of you being so slow.”

There, Celios entered the battle. All the shards smiled; our plan worked.

We all struck at that spot at once and followed up with a melee.

“Crap...”

Celios barely dodged and as he and the armies saw me and Wrath standing next to each other, they realized the true purpose behind the chatter.

“You’re smart. You nearly got me, but you aren’t enough to win.”

Wrath laughed.

“Rose, what say we have a little truce?”

“Sure, in fact let's make a game.”

Our auras flashed at full capacity.

“Whoever takes his head wins.”

Wrath smiled and Celios stopped smiling.

“You're on.”

The real battle had now begun.