Artoria was making her way home. She was…a little out of it. She had set up the basic things needed for what was going to happen, but there would always be that bit of nervousness there to haunt her no matter how certain things were to happen. Many things were going through her head. Would she say yes? Is she even ready for the future and what this entails? Is she even ready for this? Is she rushing this? Should she do this later?... Do all these questions even matter? They are supposed to be fated ones, right? It should already be written out or something.
Whatever it was, Artoria couldn't control her emotions. She thought she was prepared and ready, but the closer she got to her house, the more she started questioning herself. On the outside, she looked fine, with each step she took seemingly exuding confidence. But on the inside it was different. As she got closer she started to get more nervous. Her heart beat faster, pounding like a drum. Her breathing started to get faster. In short, she was a nervous wreck on the inside.
As Artoria arrived at her house, she took one big breath in and out. She opened the door and she saw Shuna doing some cleaning. Shuna saw her and smiled. She went up to her and hugged her. "You're back. What did you do?"
Artoria hugged her back, perhaps for a little too long than what might have been normal. She cleared her throat as she spoke to Shuna. "Well, um, I just went around town doing some stuff. I put a few things in order for some…future things that might happen and stuff. You know, the usual, nothing too special."
Shuna looked at her a little suspiciously. She could tell there was something a bit off about Artoria. She looked a little too nervous than she normally was, which was rare, except when it came to her. Shuna knew how she could get Artoria to feel, but this was something different.
"What exactly did you do, Artoria?"
"Um, just normal stuff. Just checking around to see of everyone was going about their normal day. Rimuru is at the Walpurgis, so I don't want everyone to panic or something like that. Just doing a regular wellness check of sorts. Anyway want to go out and eat?" Artoria needed something to distract Shuna since she felt she was getting a bit too close to finding something out.
"But you just ate. Like, a lot." Shuna still had a hard time getting used to Artoria's seemingly insatiable diet. But it was just a part of who she was and it's not like it was something she disliked. She'd heard that the easiest way to someone's heart was through food, and Artoria might as well have been the easiest person to do that with. "Yeah, let's go out."
"Wonderful." Artoria grabbed Shuna's hand and quickly left to go to a restaurant. Specifically, the one she had ordered to be built.
/\\//\\//\
'What's happening to me? I was so confident at first and now it all crumbled away.' I thought to myself as I was in the restaurant and sat at a table. I looked at the menu in front of me, but I knew I was just stalling. And yet, I just couldn't gather up the courage. There's got to be some kind of irony there.
"Are you okay, Artoria? You seem a little out of it."
I looked up and saw Shuna looking at me in concern. Did I really look that nervous or something? Or is it just our connection? It's probably our connection. I know I look normal on the outside to others.
"I'm fine, Shuna. Just trying to see what I want to order."
"Really? Come on, there's no way you don't know what you want to eat. You did build this place based on what you liked about your previous world."
Ok, she might have gotten me there. Maybe.
"Hello, Lady Pendragon and Lady Shuna. I'll be your waitress for your service today. Are you two ready to order your food or do you two want some more time." A goblin waitress came up to us at our table and was visibly excited to be able to serve us. Her eyes were glowing. I'm not sure, but I'm almost positive all the staff here do some kind of raffle or lottery to be the one serving me whenever I show up here.
"Well, I'm ready. What about you, Shuna?"
"Uh, yeah, I'm also ready."
"I'll start first, then." I cleared my throat as I started listing off the menu items to the waitress. "I want a tomahawk steak, a filet mignon, a ribeye, a sirloin steak, a New York Strip, a caveman steak, and a bacon cheeseburger. Oh, and I want all the steaks medium-rare. For my sides, I want fried rice, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, baked potato, baked sweet potato, sweet bread rolls, and breadsticks. For dessert, I want cornbread, pecan pie, peach cobbler, and an apple pie. Oh, and for my drink, I want a sweet iced tea. Thank you." After a small order, I saw the waitress writing things down very fast.
"Alright, I got it, Lady Pendragon. What about you, Lady Shuna?"
"Um…uh. I just want a hamburger with a side of fries and a sweet tea."
"I got it! I'll be back with your food soon!" The waitress left out table with a comically long strip of paper. I relaxed back into my chair as I waited patiently for my food to arrive.
"There is definitely something wrong, Artoria. I'm not talking about the food, but you seemed a bit rushed, as if you were in a panic of sorts."
"I wouldn't worry about it, Shuna. I'm just…excited for today, I guess. Nervous from excitement."
Shuna looked at me for a little bit. Her gaze was examining my entire body. "Hmm..if you say so. Anyway, do you ever feel that what you order might overwhelm the kitchen staff?"
"I'm sure they're fine. They might be giving it their best effort since this I built this place. Or at least ordered it. How bad could it be?"
/\\//\\//\
(Kitchen)
The kitchen was in chaos. Or that's how it would look to an outsider, but it was being run efficiently, despite the loudness of the pots and the food being cooked. The head chef was a hobgoblin and the sous chef was a kijin. The head chef was called Gobdon and the sous-chef was called Sushev.
Once again, Rimuru's naming sense may not have been the best. That, and there was a small coincidence in the name of the head chef…or was there?
All the kitchen staff was working while giving it their all, but when the waitress came over with Artoria's order, things went a bit off the rails. The head chef saw the order and almost instantly saw the best course of action to take to make sure everything would come out in a timely manner with the other orders being made. Of course, he would make sure this would get just a bit of extra attention and care.
To accommodate such a large order, he had different chefs make a different part of the order, and he did it in a way that would make the food come out at the same time.
"Everyone, listen up! If you mess this up, you can consider yourselves gone from this kitchen for the day!" the head chef yelled out loud.
""Yes, chef!"" All the kitchen staff yelled in perfect unison.
They all went to work instantly. The sous-chef went around helping and offering guidance wherever he could and he spotted a hobgoblin seemingly having a bit of trouble. "Hey, you, check that piece of meat. You'll overcook it at the rate you're going. You must be new here. What's your name?"
"Huh? Uh, my name is Goby, chef!" He was clearly nervous working here.
"Relax, just calm down. Just follow what you've been taught and things will work out fine. But do keep track of things, you'll find that time seems to go by much faster here than what you're used to." The sous-chef said while not so subtly glancing at the steak the hobgoblin was cooking. The hobgoblin looked at it and was freaking out at how black and chared it looked.
"You have the temperature too high. Just restart, don't bother trying to save it. It'll be dry among other things anyway."
"Yes, chef! I'll do it right away."
The sous chef walked away to help supervise the other cooks. He would've liked to help out that hobgoblin cook some more, but there was little time to focus on just one person.
Eventually, food started coming out fully cooked. The sous-chef and head chef started plating all the dishes making sure the presentation was up to his standards. The head chef made sure to inspect every dish to make sure it was as close to perfection as it could be. All the dishes came out almost at once, but one dish seemed a bit…off. Everything was fine except for the meat. One look was all it took for him to know something was wrong.
He went over to the dish and touched it. It was undercooked. "Oh, no." He picked up the dish and yelled loud enough for everyone in the kitchen to hear. "EVERYBODY, STOP!" The entire kitchen immediately went into silence. The sous chef and all the cooks immediately turned to the head chef. "Who cooked this!" He said as he presented the dish.
The sous chef quickly glanced at the new hobgoblin cook and knew it was him. He wouldn't say anything. It was on the cook to speak out. But he did look away, knowing it wouldn't be a pretty sight,
"I said who cooked it!? This didn't just appear from out of nowhere, so who cooked it!? And you better answer now, because we have a lot of more things to cook!"
The new hobgoblin cook nervously lifted his hand, his body shaking. "Um, it was me, chef."
"Who said that? Speak louder!"
"It was me, chef!"
The head chef instantly locked eyes with him and he went up to the cook.
"What's your name, young man?"
"Um, Goby, chef."
"I'll keep this short, but you should should 'Goby' useful and get out! You better come back with a different mindset tomorrow if you want to stick around this place."
/\\//\\//\
Yeah, the kitchen probably isn't that bad. I trust there are people in there who know what they are doing.
Anyway, while I was thinking about what the kitchen environment was probably like our food arrived.
Multiple plates were served and it was an absolutely wonderful sight to behold. There was truly nothing more beautiful than what I was looking at…except for the person in front of me. Man, just looking at her and what I'm going to do later makes me feel a certain way.
Anyway, I can focus on that later. I'll distract my nerves by eating this food.
/\\//\\//\
"This is the cathedral, Shuna. I know you've seen it many times, but it never gets old. Although, this place is turning into a mix of cathedral and museum at this point. There's a bunch of history and art in there. Specifically about me and some of you, it's actually quite recent, the part about you. Wanna check it out, or do you want to do something else?" I'm trying to seem nonchalant about it, but I really want or more like need her to say yes. If she refuses, I'll need to come up with an entire routine on the spot that will take us back here.
"I'd like to see it. There always seems to be something new that appears whenever I visit this place."
YES! Thank the goddess!...myself? I still haven't figured it out, but I will eventually. Probably. It might not even matter. Anyway, I took her hand and went into the cathedral.
"Woah, calm down al little, Artoria. You seem a little too eager and with a quick step. There must be something you really want to show me." Shuna said as I led her around.
"Do I? Maybe this place has something special to it. Come on." Oh man, I am a mess of excitement, nerves, and a whole bunch of other stuff I don't know how to describe.
As I led her around some of the new stuff she might not have seen before, I was just blabbering stuff. I think the only reason I seemed somewhat composed was that some of the statues and paintings I showed her were things I've literally done or things I was able to tell despite some of their exaggerated details.
"I really have to ask you, are you sure you're okay, Artoria? You've been going on some kind of rambling that seems barely coherent."
"I have?"
Shuna got closer to me and started rubbing my arm, which felt a lot better than it usually does. I could feel how soft her hand was even through my clothes. 'Focus, Artoria!' I thought to myself. I took a deep breath as I try to calm myself. I reached into my pocket, feeling the small, delicate case.
"You see, Shuna, um…uh, l-let me take you somewhere. It shouldn't be too far from here. It should be in the main worship area. It'll just be us. I made sure there would be no one there." I took her hand and walked with a strange sense of calmness over. I still felt nervous, but I walked with a strange sense of purpose and confidence that betrayed what I really felt like on the inside.
I stood together with her in front of the altar. This was it, this was the moment. The part where things would be made officially official…probably could've worded it better, but you get the idea.
I grabbed her hands and held them gently as I looked into her eyes. "Shuna…um… where should I start? I…um…" This is a complete and utter disaster. I knew I shouldn't have trusted my feelings of confidence.
"You seem stuck, and I finally understand why you've been acting the way you have this entire day."
"Yeah, well, it's not that hard to figure it out anymore. Especially, when I can't even tell you what I want to say."
"It's ok. It's your emotions that matter to me. You may not be able to say the words you want, but your emotions and what you feel toward me tell me everything I need to know."
"Yeah…I guess it does." I let go of one of her hands as I reached into my pocket and took out the ring box. "I guess the only thing left to do is ask you the question." I get down on one knee as I summon my cloak and crown. I hold the ring box as I look up at her. "Some would say you're lucky for being able to have someone of royalty as your fated one, but they are wrong. It's me that's lucky to have you, Shuna. So, I ask you this, Shuna. Would you give me the honor and privilege of taking your hand in marriage?" With those words, I opened the box and revealed to her a dazzling ring. It was adorned with a mix of pink and white diamonds with the centerpiece being a pristine and masterfully cut ruby. As I presented it to her, it felt like a massive weight was taken off my shoulders. A surge of clarity seemed to overtake me as the only thing that I saw in this world was her.
I saw Shuna hold her hands together in front of her. I could see her eyes tearing up from what was surely joy and happiness. "Yes, Artoria. I'm more than happy to marry you."
"Then, please, give me your hand." I took the ring out and put the box back in my pocket as I held out my hand. She placed her hand on mine and I gently slid the ring on her finger. As I finished, I felt a different kind of weight on me. A realization of the commitment I just took on.
I got up and took both of her hands again. We stayed silent, looking at each other, but no words were needed. We slowly got closer as we proceeded to kiss.
/\\//\\//\
(A few hours later)
A purple portal opened up in the town. From it came out Rimuru, Benimaru, and Shion.
"Finally, it's over! It was more boring than I thought it would be. I thought we would have to fight or something, but apparent;y not." Rimuru complained and vented as the Walpurgis was finally over.
"It's good that we didn't fight, Lord Rimuru. We got a lot out of it. We've been given the rest of the Jura forest and the territories of the kingdom of Falmuth and Clayman's domain. Our territorial claims are no longer in question or contest." Benimaru told Rimuru. He's felt good that ge didn't have to fight, but it would've felt nice to use the skill gifted to him by his goddess.
"Yeah, I guess you're right, Benimaru."
"Um, are you two seeing this? Everyone in town seems to be moving all over the place." Shion alerted them. Benimaru and Rimuru looked around and saw what Shion was talking about. It seemed as if everyone in town was going around preparing for something.
"You're right, Shion. What's happening? Did something go wrong while we were gone?" At Rimuru's words, Benimaru and Shion immediately went to grab their wepaons, ready to attack if necessary.
As they looked around, Rigurd passed by and noticed them. "Lord Rimuru, Sir Benimaru, Lady Shion, you're back!"
"Rigurd, what going on? Why is everyone running around like crazy?" Rimuru asked Rigurd as he noticed the excitement radiating from him. Maybe there is nothing wrong after all.
"Ah, well you just got back so you don't yet. We're preparing a massive and grand festival! It might be the biggest we've had so far!" Rigurd shouted with excitement. His words visibly eased the tension in Rumuru's, Benimaru's, and Shion's bodies.
"And what's the occasion?"
"Oh, it's about Lady Shuna and Lady Pendragon! They're officially engaged!"
Rimuru just nodded as he heard his words "Oh, ok, I se-" He froze as he processed the words. "WHAT!?" Rimueu shouted in surprise.
Benimaru's eyes widened in a comical manner as he heard what Rigurd said. Instantly, and in a red blur, he left, leaving behind a massive gust of wind and a small crater in the ground.
Needless to say, things were looking bright for the town and the empire.