Hello everyone, my name is Tiran Elysian. On the surface, I am the personal bodyguard of the Tairaeda family's noble Seabreath Miss, but in reality, I am the messenger sent by the gods to save the world! (parenthesis, self-made, end parenthesis.)
As for the method of saving the world... Haha, it's actually quite simple, and that is — singing and dancing.
This is the divine mission that Princess is currently facing. Before receiving this task from Minglin-1, Princess never believed she would one day embark on the path of becoming an idol and sing and dance to save the world.
Ahem, back to the point, although Tiran successfully misled the innocent Miss Ayako by bluffing, the thought of teaching Ayako the divine dance she knows nothing about makes Tiran almost want to give up thinking about it.
Grinning and bearing it, Tiran made Ayako dance once, and Tiran felt a headache coming on. Somehow, because in the previous cycles she had only stolen glances at it and only saw fragments, she had a preconceived notion of Ayako's mistakes. The overall completion rate of the dance was actually quite high... At least she could finish it, right?
Moreover, because Ayako's singing truly deserved the title 'magnificent,' it raised the rating a bit. But that was all.
While the dance was completed, all the details were stiff, and that kind of pure beauty fused with the music's elegant atmosphere is what was truly aesthetic. Even Tiran, a complete layman in high art, could see how terribly Ayako failed to convey emotions and immerse herself in the dance. The sense of dissonance was almost viscerally noticeable.
As a dance offered to the gods as a prayer, maybe the gods' feelings upon seeing it would be quite complicated, right?
"Um... Divine envoy? What do you think?" At the end of the dance, the girl nervously looked at Tiran.
"Not even close," Tiran crossed her hands in front of her chest and gave an unreserved evaluation. What? Being considerate of the girl's feelings? With only six days left, consoling her with kind words would be suicidal.
"Is that so... Um, I'm really not good at dancing..."
Fortunately, Ayako didn't mind Tiran's evaluation. She touched her cheek awkwardly and said, "That's why I couldn't help but accept Mio's help."
You're being too modest, it's more than just being not good at it... Tiran sneered in her heart.
"Don't panic, it's a big problem, and panicking won't help." Princess put her hands on her knees, bowed her head in thought, and her masculine posture to some extent was quite refreshing and extraordinary.
"Um... Divine envoy, can't you comfort me a little?" Ayako was somewhat incredulous.
Comfort you? Princess sighed deeply, why do I have to rack my brain over this! I need comfort more than you do! Why do I have to think about this kind of thing! I don't even know what Aya's task is on that end, but it must be better than mine, right?
It would be good if we could switch roles.
...It would be good if we could switch roles.
Coincidentally, Aya thought the same way.
Aya was playing Temple Run Plus in the mountains. Although she couldn't see far because of the dense layers of trees, there were probably over a hundred strange dark forms chasing her from behind, and even flying creatures with demon-like membranous wings were growing in the sky. If it weren't for the dense foliage above her head, she would probably have to deal with attacks from the sky.
Estimating that she had been running for nearly three hours, a continuous three-hour escapade with occasional surprises thrown in, Aya could feel her stamina starting to reach its limit. "I'm sorry, I was wrong. I don't want this tough guy script anymore. Can someone give me a different script?" Aya was now on the verge of tears, regretting her impulsive decision to confront those rhino-like monsters. If only she hadn't charged at them, maybe she could have achieved something great by helping the princess afterward.
Sprinting through a needle leaf forest covered in a thick layer of humus, Aya's feet suddenly shook violently, followed by a large black horn piercing through the ground. "Tch... same old tricks." Having been attacked by these monsters several times before, Aya was prepared. Leveraging the momentum from the ground, she leaped into the air, her right fist clenched as she descended with a powerful punch imbued with the strength of dragons and scales of energy, shattering the duskworm monster's elemental body completely before it could emerge fully above ground.
After dealing with another surprise attack, Aya dared not relax, feeling as though a thousand eyes of the dark forms were fixed on her. It was either she exhausted herself to death or be caught and ravaged by a horde of elemental monsters... neither outcome seemed dignified. "I need to find a place to rest and restock supplies."
With determination, Aya began moving up along the ridge, agilely jumping between rocks and trees while scanning for a target amidst the rising terrain. Her escape was not aimless; most of the time, aside from the circling with the dark forms in the mountains, she was also stealthily heading towards Seabreath. If she remembered correctly from the map she saw at Ayako's place, there should be a village nearby under Seabreath's jurisdiction where she might find some food. That is, if those pursuers didn't close in too quickly.
The good news was that even the dark elemental creatures created by the deities followed a rule of strength judgment akin to normal elemental beings, where larger volumes meant higher intensity. This meant the more threatening creatures were unable to keep up swiftly in this agile mountainous terrain, while those that could catch up weren't as dangerous.
Though her stamina was depleting rapidly, Aya started to feel a sense of control over her situation. "I guess that's some good news... Oh, there it is." Reaching the mountaintop, Aya picked up a large stone and hurled it towards the approaching dark bird without any dense forest blocking it.
In the brief seconds it took to drive the bird away, Aya's eyes swiftly scanned the area below and successfully identified a continuous low shadow near a slightly flat riverbank at the base of the mountain. "Found it!" Glancing back at the dark form that evaded her thrown stone and was now approaching again, Aya leaped off the cliff, leaving the dumbfounded bird watching her descent.
Free-falling from high above, all she sought was the thrill of speed.
"Ugh... It seems like it's still not enough," Ayako sighed, sitting down like a duck on the ground. Unlike practicing alone, with Tiran watching beside her and emanating an aura of a "divine messenger" in her eyes, even though Tiran didn't show any disappointment, Ayako felt ashamed of herself.
Why couldn't she perform well? She had even practiced more than others. "Well, cheer up, girl. Talent is a fickle thing," Tiran suddenly seemed to have an epiphany, walking over to Ayako and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"The divine messenger..." The girl who was suddenly comforted by Tiran seemed a bit surprised.
"Could you please not address me like that? It sounds awkward. Just call me by my name..." Tiran made a wry face, then composed himself, "I've figured it out. Human abilities have their limits, so... we won't rely on human abilities... bah! Let's seek help from non-humans instead."
The so-called non-human help naturally referred to the lingering remnant left by some deity in the coastal cave. Although according to Ayako, that remnant did not gain any power from the split, nor did it have any awareness of its own existence, based on the situations in previous cycles, she was at least quite talented in the aspect of dancing.
"But isn't it disrespectful to the gods to seek help from a divine being... Tiran, Miss, isn't that what you said?" Ayako, understanding Tiran's intention, widened her eyes.
"It's okay, we're just asking for help, not asking her to go on stage for you. Gods love humans, and besides, your divine dance is a tribute to the gods. Surely the gods would be happy to see you diligently seeking guidance," Tiran explained.
"Oh, I see!" Ayako nodded in understanding.
Seems like I'm getting better at talking nonsense with a straight face... Tiran smoothly explained, astonishing herself with her ability to talk nonsense. Reflecting on her experience in leading farmers to rebel against the oppressive landlords in a previous cycle, she wondered if she truly had the talent to be a politician or a warlord.
Truly worthy of me.
After a brief explanation, Ayako easily left Tairaeda Manor and headed to the coastal cave. Passing through the small forest and retracing the path she had taken once before, Tiran smoothly followed Ayako to meet the remnant known as "Mio" from the Ayako family.
"Mio, I've come to see you~ Look, I brought your favorite pastries."
"Ayako, big sister!" The girl clearly showed joy at Ayako's arrival, accepting the food box from Ayako with a smile that rivaled any child's upon receiving their favorite treat.
You can't tell at all that she's a remnant, she's clearly a lively young girl. Tiran thought to herself as she stood by.
"Has she... always been here?"
Although knowing that this world endlessly repeated a seven-day cycle, with no future or past, Tiran couldn't help but ask.
"Mio seems to be unable to leave this cave, but she's quite capable. Even if she doesn't eat, it's fine... Oh, sorry, I got ahead of myself. Miss Tiran, you should know more about her than I do."
"Cough cough! It's, it's alright, I don't actually know much about her."
Nearly forgot about my divine messenger role...
As Tiran and Ayako chatted, their attention focused on Mio enjoying her snacks until they suddenly noticed another person there. Immediately hugging the food box tightly, like a small beast protecting its prey, Tiran looked at the person and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Ayako's bodyguard."
Before Ayako could feel confused, Tiran confidently responded, "And, I'd like to ask you some questions about the divine dance."
