Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"B-Brother, calm down!" Hermes held onto Apollo.

The god of sunlight was displeased, to say the least. The little blacksmith had actually borrowed the power of a demon god to bind the little Scorpio to himself. Yes, he had only sent one of the constellation's offspring and maybe he had underestimated little Seth's skills.

But he was angry now and there was no way he would admit it.

"Stay Apollo. Let's find a solution before you do something rash." Hades said imposingly.

Seth did not speak up. He wasn't going to pick a fight at this juncture. It was better if he left it to the Olympians to speak.

"He's right. Apollo, you were the one who tried to make this quest hard on him." Hephaestus agreed.

Making Scorpio's intent to flee, rather than to fight, would have made this hard on a lesser skilled bard. Though the blacksmith god had to admit that he had not expected this kind of move from the little skald.

Subduing Scorpio was one thing, but to covet the possessions of a god for himself...

They would need some time to iron this out.

------

Oh no, what had he done?

The crimson-colored Scorpio was calmly sleeping on the grass to the side. A testament to his crimes.

Seth himself also was in a little panic, when he faced the result after the song had ended. He wasn't stupid. He knew that it was one of the worst crimes for Olympians to steal from them. Right after challenging their skills.

It had been the music that had misled his actions. He had underestimated the extent of influence the channeled power had on him. Of course, he knew what the song was supposed to do. Putting others to sleep was secondary to making someone his ally, or slave depending on their resistance.

He just hadn't thought that the song would even be able to do more than put a divine beast to sleep. Its resistance had been a lot weaker than he had expected. The bigger problem was, that it was not necessarily a lie that he coveted the scorpion.

The song had brought about a result that he desired and he couldn't deny that. There was no way Apollo wouldn't be angry at him for this.

There was a small turning hourglass beside the quest in his quest window and it felt like it was counting down to his destruction. Now he could only hope that the god of sunlight would show him mercy.

~Aren't you a little overly dramatic about this? You didn't break any rules, although I don't understand why you would want a pup like that when you have me and the scaly worm.~ Puffles commented disdainfully.

~ Hey! Don't call me that. But he is right, Mom. I'm sure you are overreacting.~ Tatzel partially agreed with the Ivicer.

<Ding! Please visit the Temple of Apollo in Dawn to receive your Quest Rewards.>

Now he couldn't even just return to Day but had to cross the island and get back to Dawn to receive his scolding.

"Oh, well. Puffles, grab Scorpio. We will take it along."

~What about that guy, Mom?~ the Imugi asked, poking Orian who was still lying on the ground.

"Errm, let's take him, too," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

~How's your mana looking, Puff?~

~No problems here.~

With that, they set off. Checking with the Robe of Hekate he made sure that it was okay to take the direct path, flying across the island straight towards the city of Dawn.

The flying centipede held Scorpio and Orian in his claws as they cut across the island. Not following the road saved them a lot of time and they. Seth kept observing the ground nervously, but there was nothing suddenly erupting or anything that would attack him.

Maybe they could have taken the direct route? The blacksmith shook his head. Even if there was nothing now, who knew what would have been there earlier?

"Ah! What is this!? Let me go!" Orian suddenly cried out. It seemed that the big guy had woken up.

~Stop struggling, you big baby. Or I tell Puffles to let you fall.~ Seth warned him using telepathy.

"Puffles?" he laughed. "What kind of name is Puffles- Kyaa! I'm sorry! It's a great name." he cried and hurriedly apologized in a high-pitched voice when one of the claws suddenly let go, giving him a taste of almost falling to his death.

"W-Where are you taking me?" he called out pitifully.

~I don't know, yet. We are going to Dawn. I will get my reward or be scolded by a god... And after that, I will decide what to do with you.~

"D-Dawn? I can't go back to Dawn! Drop he here, anything is better than Dawn." he was suddenly very agitated, almost panicky.

~What is there to fear in Dawn?~ the blacksmith asked intrigued.

"That is none of your business. I don't want to talk about it." it came back promptly.

~Then I will definitely bring you to Dawn.~ the bard taunted.

"No, I will talk, but don't bring me there," he begged.

After a moment of silence, Orian seemed to have concluded that Seth agreed with him and started to talk.

"My, my mother and grandmother are in Dawn. They will terribly scold me for running off to take revenge!" he whimpered at the thought of facing them.

Seth couldn't help but suspect this might be the reason he had to return to Dawn. Even when there was no direct hint in the quest completion notice.

~They won't kill you. Aren't you exaggerating a little?~

"You don't know them! This would be a fate worse than death!" he pleaded.

~Great, I will bring you home then.~ the smile was audible in his telepathic message.

"NOOOooo"" the cry of despair echoed across the island, but Orian couldn't escape.

Who would his parents be, if he was a descendant of Orion? It couldn't be Artemis. If this involved Apollo's sister there would have definitely been a word about it. Was there any other relation Orion had?

The Seth mused about the matter on their way back, as Orian kept struggling to escape, without any success.

This time the blacksmith didn't bother hiding Puffles. He wouldn't drag the giant scorpion and the big man into the city himself. Instead, they aimed straight for the temple where the Ivicer put down the scorpion and dropped off the tall dude into a courtyard to the side of the building.

Orian landed rather, unfortunately, head first on the ground, leaving him moaning in pain.

Seth jumped off and landed beside the two. As he expected, their arrival had not stayed unnoticed, but the reaction was a lot tamer than expected. Some people pointed at the Ivicer in awe, like it was a spectacle, but no panic or hysteria like Seth had thought.

The priest slash bard Seth had met the last time came running out of a door close by. His eyes wandered to the scorpion, once Puffles vanished. Then they looked at Seth before focusing on the man, laying on the ground behind him.

"Y-Young master Orian!?" the priest exclaimed.

"Oh, what a blessing. You have brought back the young master." he spoke happily to Seth, completely ignoring the burns, bruises, and dislocated shoulder his "young master" had suffered.

"Errm, no need to thank me. Is he from some kind of wealthy family or something?" Seth's brain calculated. He had been occupied with his quest and the possibly unfortunate fate of his friends. That was why he had not seen this opportunity.

The bard had planned to bring Orian back as punishment, but maybe he could get a finder's reward for the many children. The priest looked a little stumped at his question before he remembered that Seth was an outsider.

"You could say he has an important lineage. Young master Orian is a descendant of Eos, the goddess of Dawn."