"Are you a slave?" - asked a handsome black-haired young man, green eyes with pink pupils.
"Y-Yes..." - Erika replied as she bowed her head, afraid that this boy would look down on her because of her social class.
"Do you want to be free?" - asked the boy with a charming smile.
"!" - Erika's eyes widened as she looked closely at the boy, who said the words she had wanted to hear all these years - "Free?"
"Exactly, I can give you your freedom, you can be whatever you want to be, I can even make sure of your safety until you decide your destiny" - Ren answered as he extended his hand - "You just have to tell me if you accept my help, or not."
Erika could feel her heart beating like a drum, her body shaking unconsciously, tears running down her cheeks.
The boy seemed surprised at her expression as a pained expression appeared over his handsome face. He was too kind for such a cruel world as this, to feel pain for an unknown person he had just met was not something anyone could do, much less a nobleman.
"I-I... I... want to be free..." - Erika murmured as she began to cry more and more uncontrollably - "I don't want to be a slave."
"Then I, Ren D. Bahamut, release you from your curse" - replied the young nobleman as he gave her a smile and placed his hand on her head.
Erika trembled slightly as she felt her body being covered by a massive amount of light.
The soldiers were surprised as they watched chains appear around the girl's body, only for them to break one after another.
Erika felt a huge sense of freedom, as she looked above her head at the contract that had appeared next to the chains, which was incinerated by beautiful warm blue flames.
"You are free" - murmured Ren while he removed his hand from the girl's head because he didn't want to make her uncomfortable, although what he didn't expect, was that the red-haired beauty hugged him with all her strength - "Huh?"
"Thank you!" - Erika exclaimed with tears running down her cheeks - "Thank you so much!"
Elisabeth and Rhea smiled when they saw this, after all, this was one of the most beautiful scenes in [Dragon Frontier], a game where most of them were pure tragedies.
Eric simply shook his head as he put his hand on his friend's shoulder - "Seriously, I didn't expect you to move so fast, Ren."
"Excuse me?" - Ren said with surprise - "What are you talking about?"
"Are you kidding?" - Eric asked as he raised an eyebrow, only to click his tongue when he noticed his friend's confusion - "Seriously, you're an idiot, did you not notice the effect of your actions on this beautiful lady?"
Ren was silent for a few seconds before he understood what his friend was trying to say - "Oh..."
"Exactly, [oh]" - Eric said as he continued to click his tongue - "Anyway, congratulations on stealing the heart of such a beautiful lady."
Erika blushed because she could feel how her emotions seemed to be quite obvious to everyone but the boy who had given her everything she desired, though it wasn't as if Ren was to blame for this. He had, from a very young age, only received the affection of very few people, not to mention that outside of Elisabeth, he hadn't spoken to many women, and even if he did, it was quite possible that he would be told to fuck off because of his reputation as the royal family idiot, on the other hand, knowledge wasn't the same as wisdom.
Ren had all the knowledge in the world thanks to the [Tower of Babel], but that didn't translate to wisdom to use the knowledge to its full potential, that's why every time he used his ability, he would discuss it with other people, or even experts on the subject to analyze and digest this information.
Leaving that aside, Ren was still confused because he did not understand how it was that someone could fall in love so fast, this was not logical, and well, that was another of Ren's flaws, that he thought first based on logic thanks to his growing acquisition of knowledge.
Erika simply hid her face in the handsome prince's chest, though it wasn't as if she could be blamed for the abrupt growth of her feelings. She had lived her whole life dreaming of this moment, but had given up hope of being free, which is why the moment Ren fulfilled her dream, she felt her defenses drop before the black-haired man, and that he was handsome gave her extra points.
From her perspective, Ren was everything she ever wanted from her knight in shining armor, the hero who would save her from this abyss full of pain and suffering. He was handsome, kind, his presence was soothing, and most importantly, she could feel this strange connection with him.
Ren looked directly into the woman's blue eyes, only to feel his heart skip a beat, after all, her gaze was mesmerizing, and it didn't help that he unconsciously wished to sink into those deep blue wells.
Elisabeth and Rhea simply clicked their tongues, because they knew why those two were so deep in each other's thoughts. This was not simply due to the "plot" of [Dragon Frontier], but to a hidden factor that was in the description of the users.
Everyone knew about Ren's father, the current king of Bahamut, but no one knew his mother.
Well, the developers gave a bit of information about this, Ren's mother, was an ordinary villager, or at least she was at first glance, but in reality, she was much more important than this, Ren's mother, was actually the descendant of Enrich, the hero who managed to seal the demon god thousands of years ago, this is why Ren had such an unbalanced ability from the perspective of [gameplay], basically, he was the hero of this era.
As for Erika, her real name was Erika Belldandy, a direct descendant of the priestess who served the goddess Belldandy and helped Enrich seal the demon god.
In short, those two were the descendants of the two most important people in the game, that's why this "secret" secondary route, is the one that unlocks the true happy ending of [Dragon Frontier], and the consequent routes only led to the sequels of the game, that's why people hypothesized that this was the true ending, at least until the creators of the game decided to create the sequels during the development of the original game.
"Ahem" - Elisabeth said, in the process making the two descendants of the heroes break apart and avert their gaze to hide their blushes, though not before throwing an annoyed glance at the brown-haired girl - "What? Did I interrupt something?"
Ren clicked her tongue when he noticed the disdain in her friend's words, so he simply shook his head and asked the two girls to join them.
Rhea smiled slightly as she thought about her next steps, though to her annoyance, she was stopped by Elizabeth, who simply gestured for her to follow her with her gaze.
Eric watched this with surprise, after all, this was the first time his fiancée seemed to have any interest in someone.
"Eric" - Ren said, snapping his friend out of his thoughts.
"What's wrong?" - Eric asked as he shook his head.
"I want you to do me a favor" - said Ren seriously - "I want you to call the tailor to prepare a much more presentable outfit for Miss Erika."
"Y-You can call me Erika, you don't need to be so polite to me, your majesty" - Erika replied with a red face.
"No, it's basic manners to treat a lady with respect" - replied Ren as he felt his cheeks start to burn.
Eric smiled slightly because this was the first time he saw his friend so embarrassed. Normally, Ren didn't show much emotion or get straight to the point, but this beautiful girl was bringing out the more human side of his best friend, one he hadn't seen in many years.
"If you've stopped laughing at me, I hope you'll call the tailor as soon as possible" - Ren said with annoyance.
"I know, I know, you don't have to be mad at me" - Eric said with a small laugh before retreating, leaving the two youths alone.
Ren gave a discreet glance to Erika, who was also doing the same, doing in the process making them both surprised and embarrassed to be caught in the act.
The soldiers, simply smiled because despite being jealous of their prince's luck, they had to admit that watching the two awkward young adults interact, brought a smile to their faces.
"T-Today is a nice day..." - Ren muttered as he tried to make conversation, and such it seemed in the most awkward way possible.
"Y-Yes..." - Erika replied, who honestly didn't know how to continue the conversation.
The two youths fell into an awkward silence before they began to laugh.