Beta read by Shigiya, Fluffy Slayer and DOOMRAIDER.
Note: I won't be updating An Archer's Promise next week as I'll be focusing on my other works.
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Ansur-
The highly militarized kingdom of Ansur had been getting busy these last few weeks with regular skirmishes of demons encroaching their borders.
Having the highest number of Knights, second only to Thorne, and having a highly respected and powerful Princess Knight serving the front lines from time to time and serving as the Goddess Reborn's right hand—the general morale ranked quite high among most of the army.
It didn't have a large number of mercenaries and guilds like Ken, nor did it have a large market for trades like Feoh and Ur. It had a bit of everything like that of Throne, which focused more on the religious aspect.
All of these affairs and accounts were managed by the noble family Levantine. Unlike the other kingdoms, where many nobles would hold a certain sector to themselves and could not under any circumstances hold a monopoly on everything.
But in Ansur, this was not the case.
Knock
Knock
"Come in."
Handling the finance department and logistics of the Kingdom was Klaus Curtis Levantine, heir to the Levantine family and beloved husband of Princess Knight, Claudia Levantine.
He called whoever was knocking on the door leading to his main study inside. His eyes still glued to the stacks of paper and documents neatly piled up on his desk, he didn't even check who it was walking inside the room.
As there could only be one person who ever bothered to visit him.
"How are you, dear?" he asked, shifting through another paper.
"I'm fine. You should go out more often, Klaus."
The gentle voice of his wife came from behind him, bringing a warm smile to his face. He dropped the quill back inside the ink bottle, rubbing his eyes as the tiredness of not sleeping for nearly two days. It became obviouse to him that it was starting to catch up.
A pair of delicate hands came to rest on his shoulders, applying a bit of strength and massaging his sore and stiff muscles. He knew how much she was holding back, having to control her great strength at all times when it came to every day tasks. He remembered the day when she kept breaking every door handle around their home and nearly snapped him in half when she held his body in her sleep.
The man wasn't strong enough to handle her strength on a regular basis, but he loved her just as much, and so did she.
"Still working on Blueborn's case?" she asked, looking over his shoulder, reading the contents of the parchment.
"Among other things, yes. He keeps acquiring large sums of wealth from sources that can not be from his predisposed stores. The Blueborn family owns a collection of auctions across the seven kingdoms, yet even after I count all the accumulated profit they got from each item sold and even tripled checked it, it still does not equal what they received. Something is going on here, and I thought that it wasn't good."
Klaus met Henry Blueborn in the past, the current head of the family. He saw how the man bought several acres of land and even sponsored the Kuroinu army with wealth far beyond Klaus ever expected from his family's coffers.
This made him extremely suspicious.
"How did you acquire this information? I hope you aren't putting yourself in any danger, dear."
He shook his head, hoping to calm her worries.
"Don't worry about me. I've taken every necessary precaution on getting some of his financial information."
He showed her some documents and reports.
"Look at this, the man just received a large sum of money from the Mortadella brothers and had a ship filled with unknown goods shipped at night. But the people working there never mentioned any large cargo being stored in the warehouses. Only something along the line of multiple hooded figures being spotted around the count's estate. If what they say is true, then I believe this is worse than I imagine."
That made Claudia curious while she looked over the reports.
"What did you find?"
"... A possible case of slavery and running a slave market. Most likely dark elves if we follow the different cases in history."
This piece of news deeply disturbed Claudia. Slavery was not exactly banned in Eostia. Not that Celestine and the Shields didn't try to abolish such a system—it was just that putting in place such a law that required the majority of powers to accept it in the first place.
And much to Claudia's frustration, Eostia as a whole wasn't united as most people thought. The Shields basically served as the glue keeping everything together, barely.
She could also understand to some extent the Dark Queen's motives, when her people keep being hunted down and treated as property by the human nobles. But she condemned the entire human race for the actions of a few.
Ansur used to be in the same cesspool of snakes fighting for control of the fortress, and Grave Levantine, her father-in-law, emerged victorious. Of course, that was before she came to be assigned to this place by Celestine.
The fact that she married Klaus did not stem from an attempt to seize control. Claudia genuinely loved the man and married him out of her own accord.
But the rumors continued to persist.
"Father-in-law still did not give you a visit?"
Klaus sighed.
"Don't put too much thought into this, Claudia. My father is a hard and strict man, who has his own expectations. In his eyes, I barely count as his son. I haven't talked to him for nearly 2 months, despite living in the same castle." he said emotionally.
Ever since Grave discovered that his son couldn't give him a grandson or granddaughter due to his… weak libido. The man became quiet and barely recognized Klaus's existence.
Klaus half-expected for the man to disown him at some point.
"Claudia… am I a good husband?"
Even having her so close to him, feeling her touch, having her fragrance creep up his nose, and her rather gifted figure caressing him every single day—the man just couldn't get a reaction. Even when it happened and they did the deed, not once did Claudia become pregnant.
After visiting the priestess, Kaguya, they found out that the fault once again lies in him rather than Claudia. The latter has been blessed by the Goddess Reborn, a being who embodied the concept of motherhood and fertility, among other things. It was impossible for Claudia to be unable to mother a child.
"Of course you are!"
His wife kissed him on his cheeks, comforting the man from his degrading state.
"We may not be able to conceive a baby, but we can always adopt a child." she proposed, not really minding the idea of adoption. She could still remember how she wanted a family of her own when she lived in the orphange.
And this war had caused many children to lose their families.
"Father will never accept this. He already hates me enough as it is for not being the child he wanted."
"He doesn't hate you. Just give him time to get around it. With the blessing from Celestine, I'm sure he'll be happy to accept a child of our choosing."
Klaus hoped so…
Grave Levantine could be ruthless and merciless when it mattered. Maybe seeing the Goddess taking their side, he'll probably accept the outcome.
"I pray for the future."
"And so do I."
As they continued to talk to each other and find comfort in each other's company. Neither noticed a shadowed figure standing behind the doors to the room.
The person is none other than Grave, head of the Levantine family and Klaus' father.
"That fucking useless son of mine…."
The conversation between those two nearly made him cough up blood in anger.
Adoption?
Adopt a useless peasant child and sully the name of his family!? The house he spent decades building from the ground up, facing the vilest of opponents and emerging victorious before Claudia even came to Ansur!
When she arrived and fell in love with his son, the patriarch was over the moon! The woman turned out to be a natural in his family sword style, and could one day surpass him if she kept it up. A child born from the Levantine family with the added might of a skilled Princess Knight as the mother would have given him strong and capable descendants. He even ignored Claudia's past as an orphan and accepted her into his family!
But his son just had to become a useless piece of trash who can't even give him a child!
"Maybe Vault was right… I should really take matters into my own hands."
After all, Grave didn't suffer the same problem like Klaus and could still spawn more children with any woman—including Claudia. Whether she consented or not, he didn't care.
"I'll have that boy watch. Show him what it means to be a man when the time comes."
A grin emerged on his face. He did always find his daughter-in-law to be a rare beauty. Indulging a bit wouldn't hurt as well.
"Soon…"
He left, walking back to his quarter, preparing for Vault's assault on all of Eostia in the coming days.
{Break}
-Ken, Nighttime-
(A few days later.)
"So this is the place?"
"Yes, Archer-sama!"
On the brink of night, two hooded figures stood in front of a luxurious manor in the upper area of Ken, where the rich and powerful resided.
It was none other than Archer and Bianca, the latter having brought in front of Count Henry Blueborn's place of residence. The man had gone out of the city for a few days, and Archer had to wait for him to return back to his abode.
"Rip that paper apart when you see anyone enter the manor and immediately return to the Inn. I'll meet you after."
"Got it!" Bianca nodded firmly.
She did not know what her client turned boss was planning to do inside Henry Blueborn's castle, but she was getting paid a lot of money to stay quiet and not ask questions. Though she had her suspicions, Bianca didn't care much about the noble in the first place, hearing the rumors and meeting the witnesses that interacted with the man.
With the possibility of being debt free and being promised to be protected by the Princess Knight herself from Hicks' influence, Bianca was ready to do anything.
Plus, he was paying her far more than he had at first.
He was her ticket out of her current hellhole. She couldn't waste the opportunity.
"And if you are in sort of trouble or get found out, don't hesitate to find Sol for refuge. Stay put there till I come for you or until I send a messenger and don't forget to pack your belongings after we are done here, tomorrow morning will be quite choatic so you'll need to be ready."
Bianca vigourosly nodded her head and gave him a confident thumbs up.
It's been a few days since Archer lived in Ken. During that time, he indulged in some activities. Sparring from time to time against Brynn and talking with Maia while gathering information from her with his cooking.
With Brynn, the spar sessions went just as expected. She would attack with great force and speed but would lose in a matter of seconds.
Archer was not even using any magic spells like reinforcement or even his tracing to defeat her.
His years of experience were more than enough to handel her.
The girl's problem came from the fact that she was too straightforward and fought him like he was a demon, orc or troll. She didn't account for the fact that humans were more cunning creatures who could react to their opponents movements during combat and required more than just swinging her sword faster and harder.
Brynn honestly reminded him of a certain annoying redhead boy who wouldn't recognize a deadly fight even if his arm got cut off. He would just rush forward like a mindless and reckless bull.
He took a deep breath.
Thinking about Shirou Emiya of the past would really put him in a bad mood no matter the time or place.
'That stubborn bastard will always haunt me.'
Maia, on the hand, didn't hesitate to talk about whatever passed through her mind when enough food was placed on her lap. There was no longer any filter, and she even began divulging private matters about other Princess Knights and their lives.
Like how Claudia Levantine's husband is an impotent bookworm and a complete wimp. She swore that the man could leave his loved ones behind at the slightest trace of danger. How Claudia fell in love with such a person astounded most of the Princess Knights.
Or that Kaguya was an expert gambler despite being a devot priestess. Apparently, Maia nearly wasted Ken's entire annual budget against her. If his impression of Maia hadn't already been so low, then he would honestly ask himself how such a person ended up being chosen to lead an entire kingdom.
At least he knew how those demons managed to slither inside her territory despite having no stealth capabilities whatsoever.
Maia was just bad at managing her territory.
She also didn't hesitate to reveal how one time she nearly slept with Alicia as both Princess Knight got extremely drunk and Alicia didn't bother stopping Maia's teasing, which slowly escalated the more they drank. Though Prim came to separate them on time before the two regretted it in the morning.
'She feels like a dog who will hand me her paw if I train her enough times with food.'
Oh, and she also revealed her blessing without him even asking.
The woman doesn't know the meaning of secrets!
(Flashback)
"Hey Archer, aren't you curious how I got so powerful during our spar?"
Out in the open field, overlooking a sweating Brynn who was forced by the bowman to run a hundred laps around the castle. As expected, for someone who mostly relied on Celestine's blessing to fight strong opponents, Brynn wasn't used to such a torturous training regiment.
Archer was, thankfully, able to convice her to wear proper training clothes before she started her training. But the way her sweat caused her tunic to cling to her shapely chest, he was not sure if it was the best choice.
'Still better than those worthless bikini armors.'
"I am."
Both Archer and Maia sat under a large tree, providing them with enough shade from the Sun to watch the young Knight's training. With two chairs and a table placed in the middle filled to the brim with both savory and sweet food for Maia—who Archer started calling 'Queen of Gluttony'.
"Hmmm, then why didn't you ask me about it?" Maia said while taking a bite of steak that Archer had made for her.
"I was waiting for an appropriate moment to ask you. I believe such information is rather classified, and I didn't want to force you if you didn't want to answer."
To be honest, he already had a guess on what it might be.
"Ah, come on! You can ask me anything. I don't tend to hide anything from friends!"
Since when did they become friends?
"I was imprisoned not that long ago and busted your skull, shattered your swords, and broke your arms while throwing you through a wall. If that counts as us becoming friends, then I would rather not meet your other 'friends'," he said calmly while taking a sip of his tea and also reading a book he found from Maia's personal library.
Surprisingly, the woman had a vast collection of story books. And of course, most were romance related stories and finding anything relating to current history and the different species turned out to be a bigger challenge than he expected.
"Yeah, yeah, fucking smartass. Just ask me already. I don't mind sharing it with you."
She really didn't.
Maia discovered the longer she stayed with Archer, the more she grew to trust him. His sarcastic attitude, dry tone of voice, and silver tongue, which could hurt the feelings of even the most stoic of people, grew on her.
But overall, he treated her like any other person, something that she lost when she took on the title of Princess Knight.
"..."
Sip
He ignored her.
"Fucking bastard, you know men would literally wish you dead if they find out that you would ignore a sexy beauty like me?"
He gazed upon her bulging cheeks stuffed with food, her sauce smeared face and clothes.
Yeah, a real 'sexy beauty' right there.
"Why do I feel like you're making a smart ass comment about me?"
"Because I am." he didn't hesitate to reply back, flipping a page of his current book. "And would you please stop touching my thighs with your feet?"
"I can go further~" she teased, already moving her foot further up his leg.
"..."
This woman was going to be a headache for the upcoming journey.
"You know what? My little red glutton who can't even clean her room if her life counted on it, can you kindly tell me what power you possess?"
"Oi! Are you looking for a fight, asshole!?"
"Better than your poor attempts at seducing me. Try becoming a proper woman first, then you might get a shot. Cause all I see is a half-naked glutton who needs an adult by her side to keep her presenatable."
Sadly, the adult being him.
"And I would win the fight, again."
Just how did she survive for so long as a leader with her attitude? Maybe he was wrong, and her blessing was just an A-rank luck on managing her territory without effort.
They both bickered for a bit more before Maia started to answer his initial question.
"Well, the blessing system works differently for regular Knights and Princess Knights. Take it as a regular spell cast by mages to protect their party members. It's the same thing Celestine is doing for the Knights. Except she can make it last indefinitely and can cost a thousand times more mana than your average spell caster can handle."
Interesting, an indefinite enhancing spell wasn't something Archer ever heard about. Unless he compared the parameters that a servant would get depending on the class they were summoned in.
Just imagining how much power a being like Celestine must possess to accomplish such a feat sent a chill up his spine. But if she was so powerful, why couldn't she help the other Shields and battle against the horde of demons?
Could the process of creating the other six Shields have weakned her?
Maia continued her explanation.
"So basically, Princess Knights get a bit more than that. We are actually a piece of Celestine's essence embedded into us. Before you freak out, we ain't demigods or anything like that. I'm still a full-fledged human."
Like hell he would mistake them for demigods!
After witnessing Heracles as an archer class, they were far from ever being on that level. He didn't remember at which point he met that monster, as all he recalled was seeing a sliver of his shadow before Archer had half of his chest missing. He couldn't even scream in pain before dying.
Then there were beings like Karna and Arjuna, who were monsters as well in their own right.
If either of the Shields had even a fraction of their power, then he would not have been sitting here sipping some tea.
"These small fractions of Celestine's power gave each of us a different set of blessings and power depending on the person. The Goddess herself can not set the type of blessing we would get, so it's completely random, I think. Claudia got super strength, for example, making her a few times stronger than an average human. I, on the other hand, got myself an empty tank!"
"Excuse me?" Archer couldn't help but do a double take.
"Exactly like I said, my body is like a container for mana. The more juice I got in me, the stronger and faster I become for a fight."
Huh, that was a rather useful ability.
Like a different version of reinforcement but without its drawbacks if one wasn't careful with its usage.
"So that talisman you used, was it just a concentration of mana which you absorbed?"
It reminded him of Rin's and Luvia's gem magecraft.
"Exactly!"
That really was extremely useful and powerful.
"Do you have a limit on how much mana you can absorb?" he asked, hoping not to sound too suspicious.
"Yup, but I won't tell ya."
It was worth a shot.
As they kept talking, a panting Brynn came back from her run. She was covered in sweat which made the clothes stick to her figure, now completely soaked. It was still much better than her armor.
"Haa… Haa… I'm… I'm… too tired."
The girl couldn't even talk properly. The heat coupled with the Sun's rays blazing upon her, she really couldn't go on any longer. Knees shaking, she tried her best to not fall down on the ground in front of her princess and master.
"Hmm, you did well for your first attempt… I'm rather impressed."
Brynn smiled at her master's praise.
She really wanted to prove her worth to him so that he could show her more of his swordsmanship and keep her under his tutelage.
"Now we will spar. Your only objective is to block and dodge my attacks." he said as a tiger striped shinai appeared on his hand.
"What!? I will die!"
The image of Maia getting thrown through the freaking multi-layered castle wall replayed in her mind, making Brynn pale considerably.
"How envious."
"Master!?"
"Man, you really are a bastard."
(End of Flashback)
{Break}
-Inside the Blueborn's estate-
Running along the long corridors of a nearly empty estate while holding a gold-tinted dagger with a white hilt was Archer, traveling effortlessly through the many rows of patrolling guards without anyone even noticing his presence even when he walked right beside them.
"White knife that cuts the cloak of night."
"The once and future king hides no more."
Carnwennan, the dagger King Arthur used in the past. Considered to be one of her weakest Noble Phantasms, but a fearsome one nonetheless in the right hands.
With the ability to completely hide his presence from others, Archer literally walked leisurely inside one of the most secure places in Ken. Naturally, there were magic spells for surveillance and detecting intruders.
But with Carnwennan's Anti-Thaumaturgic, with the ability to cut through most magic spells—even those from another world, apparently. Archer faced no challenge whatsoever his leasurely walk.
After a few more minutes of jumping around the rooftop and calmly running past the guards, he reached the main area.
The upper floor of the manor.
Archer carefully pushed the giant wooden doors to what looked to be a private living room for Henry with the main balcony connected to it.
Walking inside the dimly lit room, Archer scanned his surroundings and finally found the man he was searching for sleeping in middle of the room.
The one he promised to kill for Freed.
He was obese, probably more so than Julius Caesar, and that was saying something.
Doubt the man was as nimble as the former Roman Emperor.
True to his name, he wore an all navy blue with gold and various assortment of Jewels hanging around every part of his body. He was sleeping on his rather enormous sofa while being surrounded by paperwork.
"He probably overworked and fell asleep without finishing whatever he was doing. Or got drunk and passed out, the heavy smell of alcohol doesn't lie."
Archer walked around the room, making sure that there wasn't any hidden doors or booby traps the man would use of he ever got the opportunity. Surprisingly, he found nothing but a disorganized room with so much mess on his office table that it made Maia's room in the past look clean in comparison—not to mention the mess on the floor.
Curious, he grabbed one of the fallen documents on the ground and gave them a quick read.
And what he found suprised him quite a bit.
"Dark Elf trafficking…" he muttered to himself as he read the content, getting a sour experession the more he continued on reading.
A shipment of twenty dark elves slaves was sold a few days ago for 100 gold coins each to the Mortadella brothers. He grabbed another document and read how they were sent by boat in the middle of the night without anyone in the city know about it.
Slavery is prevalent in every timeline he traveled to—even in Earth's modern time.
And he still despised it to this day.
"Interesting, he also had dealings with Hicks and Vault over some… tunnels?"
A plan of the inner walls of Maia's castle with multiple entrances and exits from tunnels leading anyone from the outer perimeter of Ken directly to the inner parts of the castle. Bypassing any and all form of defensive measure set up against intruders.
"Just what kind of fool actually designed these plans? And who was the bigger idiot who approved it in the first place!?"
This was just asking for trouble.
Emiya realized how Vault would capture the place if he ever had the opportunity to rebel.
He dropped everything to the ground, shaking his head in defeat at the ridiculous design flaw. Maybe it was put there intentionally? But this place was built long before Vault was even born!
'Chances are that they were designed to be escape tunnels for the royal family. But it doesn't change the fact that there aren't any safety measures in place.'
"Not like it matters now anyway. I'm leaving tomorrow with Maia to Geofu, then to my final destination. Vault will die either way, and none of this will be of any importance aside from using it myself, if I felt like it in the future."
Time for some action.
Before doing anything, he placed a bounded to dampen any sound leaving the room. Archer did not want a random guard to pass by and hear something by accident.
Gripping Carnwennan tightly, he raised the blade over the sleeping Henry. The blade glinted in the moonlight.
"Time to wake up."
Shk!
"Aaaaarrrrgghh!!!!"
{Break}
-Outskirts of Ken-
The sound of horse galloping resounded in the middle of a burned forest.
"At the rate, we are traveling back, we'll reach Ken early in the morning. Catching up with Maia for her journey to Feoh won't be a problem. Vault will be pleased with the news." Hicks said as he rode on his horse alongside Kin.
"At least Celestine didn't bother checking the stone closer. I could tell she was suspicious about its origin but didn't question our story. I'm glad for her being such a trusting fool."
The main mage of the Kuroinu army and Vault's right-hand man, Kin, said as he held the ruby red gem with his left hand.
That nearly got Kin worried when the Goddess asked to examine the ruby closer, but upon closer inspection, she didn't find anything and gave it back to him. He was worried that she would have found some traces of the Insect God's influence on it.
"That bitch can only speak of prophecies she sees in her dream. The fuck she knows about anything!?"
"Careful, Hicks, we don't want unwanted trouble. Despite her position as being a figurehead, she is still powerful goddess, with a vast knowledge of spells, that can still wipe us out of existence if she ever desired it and that is despite her weakened state." Kin warned his partner, hopefully getting it through his thick head.
"Anyways, we will need to hurry up. Even if we catch up to Maia, Vault requires our presence much sooner. The attack on castle Discordia will happen soon. I've already arranged some flying mounts with the Mortadella brothers to await us near Geofu. With those, we'll reach Feoh in a matter of hours."
"Hehehehe, by the way, I reserved a girl in Ken, Bianca. A former noble chick whose father used to work for me. Asked the guy for her hand in marriage and the fucking pig just said no! Saying that, he would prefer someone better suited for the bitch. Thankfully, I managed to remove him out of the picture completely."
Kin just eye rolled at Hick's behavior, used to the man's vile actions.
"He wasn't wrong. You're a pig and a deceiving liar."
"Never denied it."
They both shared a laugh.
"Oh, I asked some of my men to keep an eye on her. Making sure she doesn't escape or sleep with another guy. I'll be sure to enjoy her for a few hours before leaving. You can travel ahead if you want… heck, I'll even let you join us."
Kin immediately denied his request.
"I rather not. I know we are trying to create a sex empire, but please take this seriously. Any mishaps before we can achieve our goal, then everything we worked so hard for will be for naught!"
Their goal was so close by, years of preparation, and soon, they would take control of Olga's domain as well as the demonic army. They just needed to lay low for a bit longer.
"Alright, though, I'll still check up on her," Hicks said, not realizing that the men he was talking about were long dead.
"Do whatever you want. Just be quick about it."
Kin had more pressing matters to attend to.
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 2 Fate fics are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter.