“Do you know how tired I am from fucking this guy? He is the most boring lover I can ever imagine!” I growled angrily a day after I had announced that I would lead a small, but fearsome army into the demon territory.
“That’s what you signed up to yourself.” Hannah mumbled, clearly more interested in the houses passing by than my nightly adventures.
“I know! But the only kinky shit he can come up with involves candle wax … I mean how much more bored does he want me to be?” I grumbled my right eyelid twitching in anger.
“Then just stop? I’m sure you will find another way to achieve your goals.” Hannah said, finally looking into my eyes sternly.
“It’s the easiest and fastest one … at least it’s not that long anymore.” I excused and averted my gaze.
“Right. You do what you have to do to fulfil your wishes. You have always been like that … but you have never worked so hard as these last week or so.” She said, still staring at me while I looked at my own completely healed up soul. That could only happen because I didn’t use magic though because otherwise, I would have been a wreck once more.
“Bureaucracy is a nightmare.” I complained, thinking about the countless hours I invested into filling out documents and relaying orders.
“Well, at least we got this …” Hannah mumbled, holding up a letter I have seen multiple times already.
“Right … right.” I nodded along and noticed how we slowed down considerably and then came to a halt in front of a rather old temple. Stepping outside in one of my many black knee high dresses, I looked around a little, only to find the area completely deserted. Shrugging my shoulders, I followed Hannah who walked ahead right away.
It felt a little as if I was being watched the whole time as we strode into the temple made out of pitch black stones and sat down in one of the last rows.
“This was a fabulous temple … we servants of the god of death held most of our rituals in here until …” The necromancer, suddenly appearing near the altar started, but stopped as soon as he realised I was filing my nails.
“I believe they killed themselves to meet their god.” I said, looking at the statue of a grim reaper with his scythe.
“All a bunch of idiots if you ask me. A god would never fulfil our wishes.” They would as long as they benefit from it. Other than that, I was sure most would do nothing and a very select few would even make your situation worse.
“And so you have turned to necromancy to resurrect someone, Nezar Vermillion?” I asked, still a bit worried about my misshaped pinky nail.
“You do know my last name?” He asked astonished. Since the last time, I had obviously looked up everything about him, including his last name. The strongest mage alive was quite the oddity as he had lived way past the time humans should be able to.
“And you know I’m the saint? So what?” I asked and shrugged my shoulders, looking into his hollow eyes for a second.
“You were involved in the death of my friend.” I? I was involved in the death of anyone? Even though I made sure to keep the reputation of the saint crystal clear of any wrongdoings?
“Who?” I asked wondering whose friend I had murdered and how he found out about it.
“Sirius.” Ouch. Yeah … fuck. I really killed that bastard.
“He died at my home, yes. But other than that I had nothing to do with it.” Luckily, he didn’t seem too doubtful of my claim and sat down on the altar casually while looking at me intensely in an attempt to build up pressure. “Is he the only one you want to resurrect?” I asked, gazing downwards once more to take care of another nail.
“Another one you should know fairly well. Arthur White.” What the actual fuck? How were these three friends?
“I believe he died before I met Mary, didn’t he?” I asked, hoping he didn’t know what I did. If he knew I had murdered two of his earliest friends I would need to kill him on the spot which would make for some very ugly scene.
“But somehow I have the feeling that both are connected to you. The inquiry into their deaths was mired with faulty work of the guards and obstruction by the White family. It’s only natural to suspect you.” It was quite hard to fool someone who thought along the same lines I did and didn’t let himself blind by my shiny façade.
“Arthur White turned into a ghoul after an unsuccessful attempt to invade the elves if I remember correctly. I always suspected them to have turned him into such an abomination, but if you want to blame me, that’s fine as well. Attack me and your hope of getting close to a philosopher’s stone go down the drain.” I said, holding my index finger in front of my eyes to inspect my nail quietly.
“Then tell me one thing. Why are you supporting me in my quest of finding a philosopher’s stone?” Well, I wouldn’t get anything from supporting him, that was for sure.
“It is rather simple actually. I need to find another item there.” I explained, but that didn’t seem to be enough of an answer. And so, I continued reluctantly. “A weapon to slay whatever needs to be slain.” Smiling wryly, I looked at the necromancer intensely for a few seconds. I have already everything I need but as you can imagine, I am troubled by explaining my knowledge to others. So you are going to be one of Hannah’s friends for the time being and tell them everything they need to know.”
“Who is they?” They were the greatest idiots of all. Impregnating a young woman because they didn’t think about the consequences, fighting over it to the point that I had to step in and fucking up everything. But they were my idiots.
“The ones who managed to reach floor thirteen recently. I heard they caught up to the best of the best?” I asked, scratching my cheek a little as if I needed to think.
“A group of adventurers? Why do you want to take them with you?” Truthfully, they weren’t needed. But I needed to distract the necromancer from Hannah and me some way.
“See it as some kind of insurance … you might need to change your appearance a bit though … and please don’t use necromancy.” I explained pointing all over my own face. His sunken eyes and wrinkled skin didn’t make it that hard to remember him, which was exactly what Louis would do.
“I’m not dumb.” Nezar said a bit aggressively. “When will we go down there?” Well, that was the real question. Too early and the reincarnators wouldn’t even stand up to the monsters on floor nineteen, let alone those roaming free in purgatory if Irminsul told me the truth.
“Either in two weeks or if someone reaches floor eighteen. I will write you a letter then no matter where you are.” I answered right away.
“However you found me in the first place …” well, maybe he shouldn’t have stayed at one of the many underground inns if he wanted to hide. “is that everything?”
“It is …” I mumbled, glancing upwards as he teleported away in a split second. He really was the greatest mage alive, but not controllable at all, making him entirely useless for me. Well, not entirely. “… and towards the next meeting.” Hoping they wouldn’t have to wait too long, I stepped into the carriage once more, Hannah right behind me. Like this, we were on the way towards the central cathedral as Hannah spoke up.
“Oh, right. Before I forget it completely. The human twins you used for your soul replacement died this night. Here is the end result.” She said, grabbed underneath her seat and handed me a list over. I nearly forgot about this was well, but I had put the soul of a human into its twin as I was feeding Albert.
“Slowly dissolving lungs, one eye completely dysfunctional, right leg completely paralysed, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and paranoia … that’s fucked up.” I commented dryly. “Well, at least they survived longer than the others …”
Grabbing my chin in thought, I thought about it for a mere minute until I decided to return to my task of filling out documents needed to gather an army.
At last though, I stepped out of the carriage in my white dress, a white circular hat on my head to cover my face if needed. This time though, I wouldn’t need to hide myself for too long as I found the cathedral completely deserted except for Sofie and Chloe.
“There she is. I told you she would come.” Sofie said, quite relived to see me for whatever reason. Walking towards her, I hugged her right away and curtsied in front of Chloe.
“Uhm … hi?” She asked, looking at me in my dress a bit stunned. She probably never saw something this nice before as her parents were commoners far detached from nobility.
“It’s nice to meet you again.” I said right away, smiling brightly to make her feel a bit more comfortable. Afterwards, I guided them over to a round table for three right away and sat down on one of the more comfortable chairs.
“Why am I here? I would have gone in a date with teddy bear otherwise …” And the nicknames were getting worse. Truthfully, I wished to be somewhere else as well, but I had to deal with her because Sofie asked me to.
“I want to talk about your relationship with Schwarz.” I said slowly, hoping that she wouldn’t take my approach badly.
“What is it?” Without Schwarz around, she was a lot more assertive and honestly a bit rude as well.
“What was his reaction as you told him you might be pregnant?” I asked, placing my gloved hand on hers.
“Joy of course!” Why did I have my doubts even though she herself didn’t lie? “He was happy to start a family with me.”
“Was there no hesitation whatsoever? I know Schwarz as an explorer, someone who wants to travel the world, not bound to a single place.” Knowing him, he would take both of them with him if needed, but that was highly dangerous and Chloe should know that as well.
“You … are you envious?” She took it badly. Very badly. “Because it sounds like you want to pry us apart.” Actually, that was exactly what I was trying to do.
“I am not envious.”
“But you sure act like it. Even worse, you hurt Schwarz by ignoring your own feelings.” My own feelings? I was sure she meant the love I didn’t feel, but she could also mean that I felt something akin to sympathy for her, even though she was better off dead. “You are acting all high and mighty the whole time, charming Schwarz with your pretty face while just using him.”
“And you are … completely different without him.” I stated a bit less surprised than Sofie.
“I don’t want to hurt his feelings by doing this in front of him, but let me be clear here. I will fight tooth and nail to keep you out of his harem.” She said, clarifying what didn’t need to be expressed. I would never end up like her.
“That is quite surprising considering what you said yesterday.” I still said, remembering the times where she was nice to me and tried to get along.
“I have changed my mind after seeing you in the dungeon.” And that was a lie … but she definitely did change her opinion about me over the night.
“… wait. Chloe, do you think you can chain Schwarz to you because you are pregnant?” Sofie said, utterly amazed by the side of Chloe she probably hasn’t seen before.
“No…” Chloe muttered. Clearly Sofie had hit a mark there as Chloe looked towards one of the many statues of me.
“Let me be frank, Chloe. I have no interest in being his lover whatsoever.”
“So you seduced him and tried to use him?”
“And I can say that none of that is the case. If anything, she tried to hold him at a distance.”
“That’s right. I am not romantically interested in Schwarz in any way, and neither did I give him any signs in that direction. I will not take him away from you, but I still need to separate you from him.”
“I will not let anyone stand in between my fiancé and me.”
“You two are engaged?”
“I don’t want my child to be born in wedlock, so I asked Schwarz yesterday.” I honestly nearly applauded her for championing woman’s rights to chose who to marry, but didn’t do so in the end. The development was just too absurd. But so was my marriage, which was why I understood right away that she wanted to chain Schwarz to her as much as possible.
“It’s fine … I have nothing against your marriage as well, but I need you two to separate for at least a few months.”
“No? I’m not doing that.”
“This is not a question.”
“What do you want to do? Imprison me? You are not from any noble family, so you cannot do anything against me.”
“If you force me to, I will take that step. Look around you Chloe. It wasn’t Sofie who had asked to meet me in this place. I had asked the pope via letter so that you would understand who I am and what I am trying to achieve.”
“Who you are …”
“May I introduce myself once more? My name is Lucy Worchester, eternal queen and saint.” I said and pulled my satin gloves of my hands, showing her the ring which she didn’t know. Well, at least her eyes opened wide anyway and she gripped the table tightly. “This isn’t about you or me. This is about the future of the world itself which will be decided in the next coming months. And I can tell you that Schwarz will probably have a say in that matter, as long as he isn’t held back by anyone. I know he loves you, but that love is also his weakness.” I explained and took a deep breath as I finally had her full attention. “In two weeks I will decide who will lead the charge against the demon king and he will be amongst the contestants. Whoever I chose, he will go to war which means you cannot follow him.”
“But why … why can’t I stay with him until then?” Because these two would drive the carriage into the wall faster than I could react. But I could hardly say that, could I? Thankfully, Sofie realised my momentary silence and stepped in right away.
“Because we are working as a team. And I cannot be sure he will have my back when his thoughts are somewhere else the whole time.” Sofie admitted, looking onto the table ashamed of herself. She didn’t have to be though. I wouldn’t trust my back with an idiot that was emotionally compromised either.
“So … I am in your way?” Chloe asked, close to tears once more.
“You are in his way. He will be a hero if all things go right for him. Within a few months, he will have amassed enough fame to be given land by the king himself and you never have to worry about you or your child ever again. Think about it … marrying him in these very halls with the pope holding the ceremony. What do you think?” I proposed right away, hoping she would accept as she was rubbing the tears out of her eyes.
“… that sounds nice … but I still don’t want to separate from him.” She said, looking at me defiantly.
“The best doctors in the whole country are around here. Think about everything what might happen while you are around him. In here, you can rest all you want and make sure your child grows up healthy.” Sofie said, which managed to turn the tide somewhat.
“But …” Chloe muttered, clearly quite shaken by what she was told.
“There is no ‘but’. I am the saint, Chloe. And the matters of this world weigh more than the desires of a single person.” I said, applying more pressure on Chloe right away.
“Even yours?” She asked, which did surprise me somewhat. I thought I had made it very clear that this wasn’t about me, but that may have been only temporary.
“Even mine.” I admitted straight away.
“I want you to sign that you won’t interfere in our relationship afterwards. And I want you to stay away from Schwarz after the demon king has been defeated.” If that’s what she wanted … I was more than happy to oblige.
“As long as you don’t tell him my real identity right now, I will accept your request.” I said and extended my right hand towards her.
“Fine …” She replied, took mine and shook it slowly. Sofie breathed out loudly and I stood up shortly afterwards, going towards and through one of the hallways until I found a priest who handed me ink and a piece of paper right away. Strolling back, I placed the blank paper in front of her and handed her the feather right away.
“I … I can’t write.” She admitted, strangely embarrassed from that fact.
“I see. I’ll write down everything for you and afterwards, Sofie will read it out loudly. Is that alright with you?” I proposed and sat down once more.
“Yeah.” She said and nodded slowly, probably searching for some loopholes I was too tired to make.
“So, what shall I write?” I asked and listened to her closely while writing everything down neatly. As soon as she was finished, I handed the document over to Sofie who read it out loudly.
The crux of it was crystal clear. She would part ways with Schwarz citing that she wanted him to focus on his dreams and live either in the cathedral, or in another inn. After the demon king was dead, I was supposed to distance myself from Schwarz as much as I could and leave them alone.
With this, everyone was happy. Chloe would marry that idiot without any issues, Sofie would have an intact group to face the dungeon with and I would have a valuable asset in my fight against the demon king.
Additionally, I wouldn’t need to see Chloe that often after this day … but luckily, that number went to zero, even though I didn’t know it yet.
“Do you know how tired I am from fucking this guy? He is the most boring lover I can ever imagine!” I growled angrily a day after I had announced that I would lead a small, but fearsome army into the demon territory.
“That’s what you signed up to yourself.” Hannah mumbled, clearly more interested in the houses passing by than my nightly adventures.
“I know! But the only kinky shit he can come up with involves candle wax … I mean how much more bored does he want me to be?” I grumbled my right eyelid twitching in anger.
“Then just stop? I’m sure you will find another way to achieve your goals.” Hannah said, finally looking into my eyes sternly.
“It’s the easiest and fastest one … at least it’s not that long anymore.” I excused and averted my gaze.
“Right. You do what you have to do to fulfil your wishes. You have always been like that … but you have never worked so hard as these last week or so.” She said, still staring at me while I looked at my own completely healed up soul. That could only happen because I didn’t use magic though because otherwise, I would have been a wreck once more.
“Bureaucracy is a nightmare.” I complained, thinking about the countless hours I invested into filling out documents and relaying orders.
“Well, at least we got this …” Hannah mumbled, holding up a letter I have seen multiple times already.
“Right … right.” I nodded along and noticed how we slowed down considerably and then came to a halt in front of a rather old temple. Stepping outside in one of my many black knee high dresses, I looked around a little, only to find the area completely deserted. Shrugging my shoulders, I followed Hannah who walked ahead right away.
It felt a little as if I was being watched the whole time as we strode into the temple made out of pitch black stones and sat down in one of the last rows.
“This was a fabulous temple … we servants of the god of death held most of our rituals in here until …” The necromancer, suddenly appearing near the altar started, but stopped as soon as he realised I was filing my nails.
“I believe they killed themselves to meet their god.” I said, looking at the statue of a grim reaper with his scythe.
“All a bunch of idiots if you ask me. A god would never fulfil our wishes.” They would as long as they benefit from it. Other than that, I was sure most would do nothing and a very select few would even make your situation worse.
“And so you have turned to necromancy to resurrect someone, Nezar Vermillion?” I asked, still a bit worried about my misshaped pinky nail.
“You do know my last name?” He asked astonished. Since the last time, I had obviously looked up everything about him, including his last name. The strongest mage alive was quite the oddity as he had lived way past the time humans should be able to.
“And you know I’m the saint? So what?” I asked and shrugged my shoulders, looking into his hollow eyes for a second.
“You were involved in the death of my friend.” I? I was involved in the death of anyone? Even though I made sure to keep the reputation of the saint crystal clear of any wrongdoings?
“Who?” I asked wondering whose friend I had murdered and how he found out about it.
“Sirius.” Ouch. Yeah … fuck. I really killed that bastard.
“He died at my home, yes. But other than that I had nothing to do with it.” Luckily, he didn’t seem too doubtful of my claim and sat down on the altar casually while looking at me intensely in an attempt to build up pressure. “Is he the only one you want to resurrect?” I asked, gazing downwards once more to take care of another nail.
“Another one you should know fairly well. Arthur White.” What the actual fuck? How were these three friends?
“I believe he died before I met Mary, didn’t he?” I asked, hoping he didn’t know what I did. If he knew I had murdered two of his earliest friends I would need to kill him on the spot which would make for some very ugly scene.
“But somehow I have the feeling that both are connected to you. The inquiry into their deaths was mired with faulty work of the guards and obstruction by the White family. It’s only natural to suspect you.” It was quite hard to fool someone who thought along the same lines I did and didn’t let himself blind by my shiny façade.
“Arthur White turned into a ghoul after an unsuccessful attempt to invade the elves if I remember correctly. I always suspected them to have turned him into such an abomination, but if you want to blame me, that’s fine as well. Attack me and your hope of getting close to a philosopher’s stone go down the drain.” I said, holding my index finger in front of my eyes to inspect my nail quietly.
“Then tell me one thing. Why are you supporting me in my quest of finding a philosopher’s stone?” Well, I wouldn’t get anything from supporting him, that was for sure.
“It is rather simple actually. I need to find another item there.” I explained, but that didn’t seem to be enough of an answer. And so, I continued reluctantly. “A weapon to slay whatever needs to be slain.” Smiling wryly, I looked at the necromancer intensely for a few seconds. I have already everything I need but as you can imagine, I am troubled by explaining my knowledge to others. So you are going to be one of Hannah’s friends for the time being and tell them everything they need to know.”
“Who is they?” They were the greatest idiots of all. Impregnating a young woman because they didn’t think about the consequences, fighting over it to the point that I had to step in and fucking up everything. But they were my idiots.
“The ones who managed to reach floor thirteen recently. I heard they caught up to the best of the best?” I asked, scratching my cheek a little as if I needed to think.
“A group of adventurers? Why do you want to take them with you?” Truthfully, they weren’t needed. But I needed to distract the necromancer from Hannah and me some way.
“See it as some kind of insurance … you might need to change your appearance a bit though … and please don’t use necromancy.” I explained pointing all over my own face. His sunken eyes and wrinkled skin didn’t make it that hard to remember him, which was exactly what Louis would do.
“I’m not dumb.” Nezar said a bit aggressively. “When will we go down there?” Well, that was the real question. Too early and the reincarnators wouldn’t even stand up to the monsters on floor nineteen, let alone those roaming free in purgatory if Irminsul told me the truth.
“Either in two weeks or if someone reaches floor eighteen. I will write you a letter then no matter where you are.” I answered right away.
“However you found me in the first place …” well, maybe he shouldn’t have stayed at one of the many underground inns if he wanted to hide. “is that everything?”
“It is …” I mumbled, glancing upwards as he teleported away in a split second. He really was the greatest mage alive, but not controllable at all, making him entirely useless for me. Well, not entirely. “… and towards the next meeting.” Hoping they wouldn’t have to wait too long, I stepped into the carriage once more, Hannah right behind me. Like this, we were on the way towards the central cathedral as Hannah spoke up.
“Oh, right. Before I forget it completely. The human twins you used for your soul replacement died this night. Here is the end result.” She said, grabbed underneath her seat and handed me a list over. I nearly forgot about this was well, but I had put the soul of a human into its twin as I was feeding Albert.
“Slowly dissolving lungs, one eye completely dysfunctional, right leg completely paralysed, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and paranoia … that’s fucked up.” I commented dryly. “Well, at least they survived longer than the others …”
Grabbing my chin in thought, I thought about it for a mere minute until I decided to return to my task of filling out documents needed to gather an army.
At last though, I stepped out of the carriage in my white dress, a white circular hat on my head to cover my face if needed. This time though, I wouldn’t need to hide myself for too long as I found the cathedral completely deserted except for Sofie and Chloe.
“There she is. I told you she would come.” Sofie said, quite relived to see me for whatever reason. Walking towards her, I hugged her right away and curtsied in front of Chloe.
“Uhm … hi?” She asked, looking at me in my dress a bit stunned. She probably never saw something this nice before as her parents were commoners far detached from nobility.
“It’s nice to meet you again.” I said right away, smiling brightly to make her feel a bit more comfortable. Afterwards, I guided them over to a round table for three right away and sat down on one of the more comfortable chairs.
“Why am I here? I would have gone in a date with teddy bear otherwise …” And the nicknames were getting worse. Truthfully, I wished to be somewhere else as well, but I had to deal with her because Sofie asked me to.
“I want to talk about your relationship with Schwarz.” I said slowly, hoping that she wouldn’t take my approach badly.
“What is it?” Without Schwarz around, she was a lot more assertive and honestly a bit rude as well.
“What was his reaction as you told him you might be pregnant?” I asked, placing my gloved hand on hers.
“Joy of course!” Why did I have my doubts even though she herself didn’t lie? “He was happy to start a family with me.”
“Was there no hesitation whatsoever? I know Schwarz as an explorer, someone who wants to travel the world, not bound to a single place.” Knowing him, he would take both of them with him if needed, but that was highly dangerous and Chloe should know that as well.
“You … are you envious?” She took it badly. Very badly. “Because it sounds like you want to pry us apart.” Actually, that was exactly what I was trying to do.
“I am not envious.”
“But you sure act like it. Even worse, you hurt Schwarz by ignoring your own feelings.” My own feelings? I was sure she meant the love I didn’t feel, but she could also mean that I felt something akin to sympathy for her, even though she was better off dead. “You are acting all high and mighty the whole time, charming Schwarz with your pretty face while just using him.”
“And you are … completely different without him.” I stated a bit less surprised than Sofie.
“I don’t want to hurt his feelings by doing this in front of him, but let me be clear here. I will fight tooth and nail to keep you out of his harem.” She said, clarifying what didn’t need to be expressed. I would never end up like her.
“That is quite surprising considering what you said yesterday.” I still said, remembering the times where she was nice to me and tried to get along.
“I have changed my mind after seeing you in the dungeon.” And that was a lie … but she definitely did change her opinion about me over the night.
“… wait. Chloe, do you think you can chain Schwarz to you because you are pregnant?” Sofie said, utterly amazed by the side of Chloe she probably hasn’t seen before.
“No…” Chloe muttered. Clearly Sofie had hit a mark there as Chloe looked towards one of the many statues of me.
“Let me be frank, Chloe. I have no interest in being his lover whatsoever.”
“So you seduced him and tried to use him?”
“And I can say that none of that is the case. If anything, she tried to hold him at a distance.”
“That’s right. I am not romantically interested in Schwarz in any way, and neither did I give him any signs in that direction. I will not take him away from you, but I still need to separate you from him.”
“I will not let anyone stand in between my fiancé and me.”
“You two are engaged?”
“I don’t want my child to be born in wedlock, so I asked Schwarz yesterday.” I honestly nearly applauded her for championing woman’s rights to chose who to marry, but didn’t do so in the end. The development was just too absurd. But so was my marriage, which was why I understood right away that she wanted to chain Schwarz to her as much as possible.
“It’s fine … I have nothing against your marriage as well, but I need you two to separate for at least a few months.”
“No? I’m not doing that.”
“This is not a question.”
“What do you want to do? Imprison me? You are not from any noble family, so you cannot do anything against me.”
“If you force me to, I will take that step. Look around you Chloe. It wasn’t Sofie who had asked to meet me in this place. I had asked the pope via letter so that you would understand who I am and what I am trying to achieve.”
“Who you are …”
“May I introduce myself once more? My name is Lucy Worchester, eternal queen and saint.” I said and pulled my satin gloves of my hands, showing her the ring which she didn’t know. Well, at least her eyes opened wide anyway and she gripped the table tightly. “This isn’t about you or me. This is about the future of the world itself which will be decided in the next coming months. And I can tell you that Schwarz will probably have a say in that matter, as long as he isn’t held back by anyone. I know he loves you, but that love is also his weakness.” I explained and took a deep breath as I finally had her full attention. “In two weeks I will decide who will lead the charge against the demon king and he will be amongst the contestants. Whoever I chose, he will go to war which means you cannot follow him.”
“But why … why can’t I stay with him until then?” Because these two would drive the carriage into the wall faster than I could react. But I could hardly say that, could I? Thankfully, Sofie realised my momentary silence and stepped in right away.
“Because we are working as a team. And I cannot be sure he will have my back when his thoughts are somewhere else the whole time.” Sofie admitted, looking onto the table ashamed of herself. She didn’t have to be though. I wouldn’t trust my back with an idiot that was emotionally compromised either.
“So … I am in your way?” Chloe asked, close to tears once more.
“You are in his way. He will be a hero if all things go right for him. Within a few months, he will have amassed enough fame to be given land by the king himself and you never have to worry about you or your child ever again. Think about it … marrying him in these very halls with the pope holding the ceremony. What do you think?” I proposed right away, hoping she would accept as she was rubbing the tears out of her eyes.
“… that sounds nice … but I still don’t want to separate from him.” She said, looking at me defiantly.
“The best doctors in the whole country are around here. Think about everything what might happen while you are around him. In here, you can rest all you want and make sure your child grows up healthy.” Sofie said, which managed to turn the tide somewhat.
“But …” Chloe muttered, clearly quite shaken by what she was told.
“There is no ‘but’. I am the saint, Chloe. And the matters of this world weigh more than the desires of a single person.” I said, applying more pressure on Chloe right away.
“Even yours?” She asked, which did surprise me somewhat. I thought I had made it very clear that this wasn’t about me, but that may have been only temporary.
“Even mine.” I admitted straight away.
“I want you to sign that you won’t interfere in our relationship afterwards. And I want you to stay away from Schwarz after the demon king has been defeated.” If that’s what she wanted … I was more than happy to oblige.
“As long as you don’t tell him my real identity right now, I will accept your request.” I said and extended my right hand towards her.
“Fine …” She replied, took mine and shook it slowly. Sofie breathed out loudly and I stood up shortly afterwards, going towards and through one of the hallways until I found a priest who handed me ink and a piece of paper right away. Strolling back, I placed the blank paper in front of her and handed her the feather right away.
“I … I can’t write.” She admitted, strangely embarrassed from that fact.
“I see. I’ll write down everything for you and afterwards, Sofie will read it out loudly. Is that alright with you?” I proposed and sat down once more.
“Yeah.” She said and nodded slowly, probably searching for some loopholes I was too tired to make.
“So, what shall I write?” I asked and listened to her closely while writing everything down neatly. As soon as she was finished, I handed the document over to Sofie who read it out loudly.
The crux of it was crystal clear. She would part ways with Schwarz citing that she wanted him to focus on his dreams and live either in the cathedral, or in another inn. After the demon king was dead, I was supposed to distance myself from Schwarz as much as I could and leave them alone.
With this, everyone was happy. Chloe would marry that idiot without any issues, Sofie would have an intact group to face the dungeon with and I would have a valuable asset in my fight against the demon king.
Additionally, I wouldn’t need to see Chloe that often after this day … but luckily, that number went to zero, even though I didn’t know it yet.
