[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]
A few days have passed since Rance escaped Ur with three beautiful girls following him willingly, and with Princess Prim's guidance they were able to go east to where Geofu should be.
Prim, having nothing to do, tried to learn support magic and divine magic from Sill, and although she can learn the former, it was impossible to use the latter since Sill thought she doesn't have the capability to use that type of magic.
Rozen kept a lookout for every source of trouble they might find from everywhere around them with keen eyes and sharpened senses from all her experiences before.
And Rance is just resting under the shade of the tree, observing both Sill and Prim, with only himself and Chaos not even having the energy to do something.
"Umm.... [Wind Arrow]!" Prim yelled, as a blast of wind broke the trunk of a tree and made a wide crater half the size of her arm on it.
A small smile crawled up on her face. She felt mildly exhausted casting her 7th spell in this hour, but last time she tried, she was already exhausted the 5th time she casted a basic wind spell.
"Miss Sill, did I do great?" Prim asked her, and the pinkette nodded with a smile. "Yeah~! I have to keep training to become strong enough to protect myself when I'm alone!"
"Yeah! Keep going, and rest later okay?" Was Sill's reply, cheering the princess to do better.
Meanwhile.....
"Hey, partner."
Rance glanced at the cursed sword laying on the ground near him as their eyes met.
".... Something's wrong with you days ago."
"What do you mean?" Rance replied slowly towards Chaos, making the sword glare at him with his three eyes.
"It's just that, everytime I look at you, I feel a great sense of bloodlust growing within me ever since we defeated the literal Creation God. Now, suddenly it was gone." Chaos explained, even though Rance had a hard time wrapping his head around what his sword spoke.
"That's strange..... Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Well, I thought you wouldn't really believe me-"
*slam!*
Chaos's "face" was slammed to the ground. Rance didn't really trust his words that much, anyways. The reason was that it was too confusing for someone like him.
"Ow! Not again.....!"
"If you were a girl I would have actually listened more carefully, you know? Well, you're my partner so you're somewhat an exception." Rance complained, crossing his arms after putting Chaos near him.
"And I've had rather preferred you were a woman."
"Me, a woman? Nah, no way.... as if that'd ever happen, you dumb sword."
"Hey! It's entirely your fault that you didn't wish me to be able to transform into a human!"
*slam!*
Due to Rance not being able to accept that fact, he obviously slammed Chaos's face down to the ground harder and then the sword refused to speak for a very long while after that.
Their banter was over at the same time Sill and Prim finished their training.
Rozen had returned, by casually backflipping out of the treetops and landing in front of Rance before standing up straight.
"Rance, everyone, they've found us! And we.... we're outnumbered!" Rozen yelled, bringing the three of them on alert.
Rance immediately stood up and brandished Chaos, ready to defend himself and his women. If not, he was thinking of a trick he could pull under his sleeve as he stared at Prim for a few seconds.
"They?" Prim asked, as she began to jog towards Rance with Sill following her.
Rozen was nervous, simply because they were utterly outnumbered. At the east, where they are going, were hundreds of knights coming to possibly reclaim Prim.
"I don't know, but there's hundreds of them." Rozen replied at Prim, all while Rance suddenly began moving east with Chaos resting on his shoulder.
"Where are you going?! That's where our enemies are!" Rozen yelled in fear, thinking they couldn't fight against hundreds of enemies on their tails.
The Brutal King glanced at her with confidence present on his face.
"Hmph. As if a few thousand weaklings can defeat me!" Was the cocky reply of Rance, grinning widely and pumping his fist on the air, then suddenly his tone became a serious yet charismatic one "All of you, stay behind me, except Prim who should be beside me. That's an order."
The three complied with the order, as Prim put her hands behind her after taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat off her face
'I wonder what you are up to, Rance....' Prim began to wonder as they continued walking.
After a long while, they arrived to an open field where an army of soldiers were waiting for them.
Once they were in sight, the archers and mages raised their staves and bows to aim at the man, but the sight of Prim being beside him made them hesitate.
"Yo! Nice noon out here! I'm pretty sure you came for my princess!" Rance yelled out, just before a girl walked past several female knights in bikini-like armors.
She had blonde hair, violet eyes that contained a bright, burning rage clearly shown through her glare alone. Just by a mere glance, Rance realized she looked a tad bit more beautiful than Prim while scanning her entire body.
Feeling this, a cold, wrathful glare was sent towards Rance.
"Sister Alicia?" Prim spoke, as she felt like she wanted to take a step forwards, but Rance simply grabbed her arm tightly with the intention of not letting her off.
Alicia gritted her teeth while approaching the man with determination on her eyes.
"All units! Stand down!" She yelled, as the soldiers that she led had done as ordered.
Glaring back towards the confident king, she realized that killing him would do everyone no good. She still had doubts in her mind, and her code of honor says she shouldn't even do anything stupid.
After all, him being chosen by Celestine meant something good had been planned by the her.
But.... just to make sure....
"King Rance, I have questions to ask you." Alicia spoke once she's close enough, and when Rance shrugged his shoulders, she began to ask with a hesitant, nervous tone "....Did you brainwash Celestine into making you the King of Geofu?"
All she got was a loud, boisterous laugh.
"Gahahahaha! That's a funny joke, I don't know any magic aside from using it for my signature move!"
The Princess Knight, unmoved by his answer, proceeded to ask another thing.
"What would you do after uniting the Seven Shields Alliance again?"
"It's simple to say, I'll end the war between Celestine and Olga."
Silence consumed the area around them, but then, Alicia pointed her sword at Rance.
"Is that so? Then, duel me! Not to the death, but until one of us admits to losing!"
"Last time someone challenged me to a duel, she didn't care about giving me her reward! So much for honor, tsk! But fine, for Prim, I'll accept your duel!"
[ ~ Chapter • End ~ ]
Author's Commentary: +_-
P.S. No apologies. You will be warned.
[ OMAKE ]
{ Grave tries to enter Geofu: Episode 2 }
"Sir Grave!? Why are you trespassing our lands?!"
"..... How do I explain this...."
Grave stared at the several knights who glared at him for trying to enter the City of Geofu aboard a carriage inside a box of supplies.
Most of the knights who were surrounding him that had recognized his presence took a step back nervously, as they should be since even if he is old, Grave was still one of the strongest and most skilled warriors inside the continent of Selenus, far surpassing the current Claudia if he was still at his prime.
But the old warrior, thinking of a better way to enter Geofu, had decided....
"I surrender! Please take me to prison!"
Grave inwardly smirked as he planted his sword on the ground and raised his open palms. If he couldn't enter the City using normal methods, then he'd just become a prisoner for the new King of Geofu to visit soon!
Even if it takes a few days or weeks, he would wait in prison until the king of Geofu personally visits him!
Meanwhile, the other knights nervously approached Grave and slowly began apprehending him, and after knowing that it's safe enough and the knight wasn't bluffing at all when he said he surrendered, they hastened their pace not before making sure he is not going to attack anybody.