[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]
Celestine was leading Rance out of the secret chamber that she used to summon him, aware that Claudia was unwilling to let him take over this fortress after the session that she was forced to be in.
Which was in fact, anything but painful. She thought it was something akin to what married people would do, and the Goddess Reborn couldn't help but think, was he "that man" who was supposedly the Goddess Laurentia's Husband that was reincarnated?
Going back to the past a bit, Rance knew she was a virgin, he was going slow until he suddenly gone rough, kneading her breasts, to sucking on them, there's even Celestine's uncontrollable moans of ecstacy that motivated him further. It was the time where she was the most happiest in her long life... technically.
But right now, she began to explain the continent where Eostia was in to Rance, who carefully listened.
"So, there's this war you had with the Dark Queen Olga Discordia that went on for hundreds of years, and due to that, the [Seven Shields Alliance] were formed, in which you are one of the leaders of it..." Rance spoke, crossing his arms with a grin on his face. "... Then I'll have to unite humanity again! Just like when I became the King of Leazas!"
Rance left out a part of what he was supposed to say, just to be safe.
"Again...? And you're a king, too?" Claudia was the one who asked the question, flabbergasted at such a claim and not believing such a thing.
How could some brute like him become a King?
"What? Don't believe me? Well I don't need to tell you, just wait and see."
When they exited the pathway, Rance and Sill were greeted by a hallway of marble, with a red, royal carpet stretching far and wide.
"Hey, Celestine. We're inside a temple, right?"
"This temple we are stepping on is dedicated to the Goddess, Laurentia. Though I still need you to follow me."
At this point, Sill had already removed the binding spell she used towards Claudia, as the princess narrowed her eyes towards Rance, closely observing his movements.
While they walked, they passed by a few priestesses in white dresses who glanced at both of them curiously. Some even mistook Sill as one of the priestesses of the temple and when Rance's semi-lecherous eyes observed them, some only reacted by walking faster.
Meanwhile, Rance was not going to think that a temple like this would be his base of operations, yet as if reading his mind, Celestine answered him that there is a castle with empty seats nearby the temple.
They arrived somewhere outside in the temple, where a massive statue of a woman was. Said statue was a depiction of the Goddess Laurentia, which Celestine and Claudia both approached and knelt towards the statue, palms lightly pressed together.
"Hm? Why are you both praying?" Rance asked, before Claudia turned her head towards him.
"Because maybe one day, our prayers will be answered, silently or not." Was her response, making Rance think about it.
"Well..." He approached the statue, and knelt before it, and without hesitation, "... Hey goddess! Please give me a harem of cute and beautiful girls, with Claudia and every other girls of the Seven Shields Alliance in it while I conquer this world for you, amen!"
Silence consumed the area, as Claudia glared at Rance with mild annoyance when her prayer was interrupted, while Celestine was not impeded in her prayer at all.
Sill figured she was completely expecting this, though.
The other priestesses in the area shook their heads, thinking that such a prayer cannot be granted, and taking over the world? That's even more ridiculous!
When she was done praying, Celestine asked the priestesses to gather as many people as they can to the city square for a decree.
Rance stood beside Celestine in the city square of the Fortress City of Geofu, with hundreds, maybe around 2 thousand of people watching them.
Celestine took several steps forward, sighing as she felt afraid of what the people might think about her, sacrificing Geofu for a man like Rance. While said person was grinning in excitement, the people were having expressions of curiosity, and envious looks towards Rance.
"I... Celestine Lucross, Goddess Reborn... Am abdicating the rule of the Fortress City of Geofu towards Rance, the man beside me. However, I will still remain at the highest seat of power, next to this man... our saviour." Celestine spoke while leaving her last two words a mere whisper.
With a grin still on his face, Rance observed the confused people in front of him.
"Yo! Nice to meet you! This Fortress City is now under my control, and all of you are obligated to follow my every law, starting now! After all, it is for the best of all of you!" Rance declared, as mixed emotions laid on the people of Geofu.
Disgust, fear, misery, envy, anger, sadness... and more that would count as negative emotions were on the majority, while the rest had positive ones. It's as if they didn't like Celestine ruling over them at all.
Although some people wanted to throw rocks and anything else to Rance, they didn't want to hit Celestine and hurt her.
Meanwhile...
"Stop this, right now!!!" Claudia roared, while a few female knights were behind her. "Rance! You have already committed several crimes, like defiling the Goddess Reborn, that means that I have to end you right here and now before you bring an end to us all!"
He only rubbed his ear, staring at Claudia with annoyance on his eyes.
"Damn, she's annoying..." He admitted, almost wanting to grab Chaos and unsheathe the sword.
Celestine frowned, sighing in sadness. Before she could even command the Princess Knight in charge of two fortresses, said woman pointed her sword towards Rance.
"Rance! I, Claudia Levantine, the strongest Princess Knight of the Seven Shields, challenge you to a duel!"
When everyone heard this declaration, hope filled most people's eyes, if that one man could defile such a goddess and have her leave Geofu to him, then she was their only hope right now! His darker toned skin made him look almost like a Dark Elf too. Was he a half-elf?
Though many doubts were on their heads, some believed she can't do it. They don't know how powerful the warrior in green was, some think he was weaker, and some think he was stronger, there were even people who thought he was probably as powerful and as skilled as Claudia.
Tension had raised from the people, as they cleared out an area in which they think the two of them would fight.
"..." Rance was silent, while Sill appeared from the sidelines and was now beside him. "Well, I expected this to happen, you know? Fine, I accept your challenge."
With a grin, he took several steps forward, unsheathing Chaos who was still silent for more than an entire day.
The sword emitted a dark aura only Celestine could feel, though she also noticed traces of Divine Energy imbued to it, as if it was made by a god.
'Was that sword made by a Dwarven God?' She curiously thought, before gaining conviction to stop the duel before either duelers get hurt.
"Claudia, Rance! Stop this duel right now!" Celestine spoke, yet it seemed like she was ignored by both.
Claudia narrowed her eyes towards her opponent, and for a moment, she noticed the "eyes" of his sword move to observe her.
It must be an illusion set up by him. She should focus on attacking him with cautiousness, after all her father's teeachings should not go to waste, at this very moment.
The two of them moved to a more open location, eyes locked, away from Celestine and Sill.
"Now this is a nicer place to fight. Anyways, what happens if I lose, Claudia?" He asked curiously.
"... You will spend your life in prison. Or even to leave this continent, never to return!" She replied, and Rance didn't flinch even for a moment.
"If I win, I would have sex with you. Period." Was the reply that made Claudia tighten her grip of her sword. "And, did you think I'd let myself lose to someone with little armor? To be honest, that doesn't fit you at all."
"Tsk, you're just stalling me, aren't you? "
Claudia was beginning to fume in rage, jumping towards Rance to deliver a wide slash intent of wounding him, though it was evaded with a hop backwards, she sent a quick stab that would have pierced through the head of an orc towards Rance.
Yet, he parried with a precise, quick movement of his sword, letting hers slide past him before turning around and kicking her back, sending her almost tumbling to the ground, before her reflexes and instincts controlled her body for a moment. She did a handstand before flipping up and landing on her feet, facing Rance.
She needed to pressure him, tire him out as fast as possible!
Leaping upwards, her grip on her sword tightened, and when she was about to drop down to Rance, she brought down her sword as it's heavy weight was sent to him.
However, Rance was just built different.
Normally, if he fought a different opponent he would just be annoyed because said opponent tried to copy his move.
Plus, she's kinda slow and completely open in his eyes.
"I admire your determination, Claudia." He spoke, casually blocking her sword while a small crater formed below his feet. "But! You're still many leagues down below to be able to actually land a scratch on me, the Great Hero Rance!"
He pushed her away from him with a swing of his sword, and Claudia landed to the ground with a thud, still on her feet.
He's strong, but maybe he's not as fast as her? Before that, she was almost brought out from her focus by people beginning to cheer her up.
"Miss Claudia! You can do it!" A child roared out "Beat the evil man up!"
"Agh! Don't let him get away with defiling the Goddess Reborn!"
"Kill him! I don't want to live my life without you!"
That was weird.
Immediately shaking several distracting thoughts away, Claudia felt very invigorated, even though Rance didn't waste time running towards her. Suddenly she was now on the defensive, being pushed back by his own rapid slashes and trying to evade and parry all of them.
"Take this...! Oraoraoraoraora~!" Rance shouted, hastening his slashes and cutting her side and arm, wounding her in the process.
In another 10 slashes, he was able to wound her 7 times before parrying her sword away from him and kicking her abdomen, sending her to the ground.
"Like I said, still many leagues down below!" Rance spoke, a smirk appearing on his face. "And, for the finisher!"
'Wait, she might not be able to handle the full force of my Rance Attack. So... I'm just going to have slightly weaken it. Just like when I used it against Menad at our training session.' Rance thought, before sending mana towards his sword and raising it.
Although Claudia had gotten up, still feeling the pain from those wounds before noticing that Rance's sword had begun to glow.
'He can use magic, too? I thought he was just... a warrior?' Was what Claudia thought, trying to regain enough energy to dodge what she thought was a powerful arc of energy.
But her expectations betrayed her, as he raised his sword up in the air...
"Rance Attack!"
... And swiftly brought it down to the ground, as a powerful gust of wind charged towards her and blew her away.
"AAAAAAGGGHHH!!!!" She screamed in pain, when several wounds appeared in her body while her armor (and thong) had been destroyed thoroughly, undoing her hair. The last thing she felt was her body hitting the ground, head-first before she was unconscious.
Rance had won pretty easily, and even though Claudia was now heavily wounded, it seems like he didn't mind. Turning his head to look towards Sill, he pointed towards the downed body.
"What are you looking at? Come here and heal her already!"
"Yes, Master Rance!"
Sill dashed towards Claudia, and began to heal her. Though Celestine completely noticed that Divine Energy, similar to hers had been used by the pink haired girl to heal Claudia back to full health, and her armor too.
The female soldiers under Claudia had wanted to take her away, but the scene before them was equally as miraculous as Celestine healing a heavily diseased person.
And Rance...
"Alright that's all over! All of you get out and mind your own businesses here! Sill, take Claudia to someplace safe."
With barely any questions, the people here left to do as Rance said.
The female soldiers wanted to stop Rance from going just to take back Claudia. Yet they were easily defeated by Rance with a couple of swings from the blunt edge of Chaos.
Without them noticing, a small imp fled away.
Several hours later, Claudia escaped the castle and eventually the fortress without giving Rance a single chance to have his way with her. Thinking only her husband can do such a thing.
After that, things have changed in the span of a week.
Several hundreds of people left the fortress city to migrate to other fortresses which they think it was better.
News quickly spread like water running down the stream, the [Seven Shield Alliance] lost its leader and the most important person, Celestine Lucross and Geofu was "taken away" from Eostia. All by one man named Rance.
This news was heard by almost everyone in the Continent, the Kuroinu Mercenaries, the other Fortress Cities, to even the ears of the Dark Elf Queen, Olga Discordia.
[ ~ Chapter • End ~ ]
Extra Note:
*1: Presenting to you... the first gag! Aka. "NOT Your Husband Reborn", where Celestine Lucross almost mistakes Rance as the Laurentia's Husband's Reincarnation! That felt kinda wrong.