"Load these supplies onto the wagons, now!"
"Grain and healing potions first. Move them out!"
At dawn, nearly everyone in the city was busy transporting supplies.
Some had worked through the night, their faces pale and their bodies trembling, yet they still refused to put down what they carried.
Among them were children, wives, and fathers.
They were the families of the soldiers on the front lines.
Helant sat atop the wall of the lord's manor, watching the frantic scene below, sorrow etched across his face. In a hoarse voice, he said, "Calca, the Demi-human Army must be destroyed, and the people of the Holy Kingdom must know happiness."
"Mm." Calca looked at the compassionate Helant, her heart stirring.
Truly the Human Emissary chosen by the Holy Domain God Lord, completely unlike those who looked down on everyone else.
She had seen far too many powerful individuals who treated commoners as nothing.
Like her own brother Caspond. He never spared the common folk a glance, foolishly believing that only nobles were the source of power.
"Helant, once the Demi-human Army is gone..." Calca smiled gently and took his hand. "I will spread the faith of the Holy Domain God Lord so that the entire Holy Kingdom bathes in the true god's light."
Moved by the Holy Queen's tenderness, Helant pulled her into his arms with a wry smile. "The Holy Domain God Lord cares nothing for such things. He only wishes for the good to live in peace."
"The god may not care, but we believers must know who truly cares for us." Calca buried her head against his chest, her voice muffled and bitter. "It's just..."
Helant patted her back. "What is it? Tell me."
My beautiful Holy Queen, speak every worry that comes to mind. Keke~ The mighty Holy Domain God Lord will arrange everything unseen.
Calca rubbed her head against his chin. In only two days, she had grown infinitely attached to this man.
A woman's instinct told her he could solve every trouble she faced.
The feeling soothed and captivated her.
She wanted to pour out every worry without waiting for him to ask.
"You know the Holy Kingdom is a theocracy. Faith in the four great gods is deeply entrenched. Even after the nobles spent years exploiting the people in the gods' names, that belief never vanished from their hearts."
Faith rooted among the people... Helant noted silently. Albedo had considered this as well.
His embrace was so warm that she pressed closer, continuing to complain. "Actually, the greatest resistance to changing faith isn't the commoners. It's the nobles.
"As I said, they love to enrich themselves in the gods' names. Since the kingdom's founding, a vast chain of profit has formed, from the temples down to the petty nobles. All parasites."
"Once we try to change gods, those forces will strike back, and the kingdom will face civil war again."
She finished with half-lidded eyes, slumping exhausted in his arms.
An external enemy in the Demi-human Army, internal strife from the nobles and her foolish brother, it had worn her to the bone.
"Rest easy. I'll stay with you." Helant clasped the Holy Queen's beautiful hand, offering her warmth.
A noble rebellion... they had already foreseen it. Thanks to Albedo's maneuvers, those so-called internal troubles were already gathered in one place.
When this mission ended, he would have to reward her well.
Cradling Calca's supple form, Helant found his thoughts drifting to the ever-capable Albedo.
Tch. Back when I first crossed over, I was so pure. Now I've got one in my arms and another in my head... sigh. A man's nature. The old sayings don't lie.
Just then, Zesshi Zetsumei's unmistakable black-and-white twin-tails appeared before him.
"My fiancé-to-be, you're flirting right in front of me?" She lifted her delicate face, forcing out a few tears as she played the part of a girl wronged by a scoundrel. "And you don't even bother hiding it anymore..."
Calca turned, her cheeks puffed, and corrected sternly, "Miss Zesshi, Sir Helant only met you yesterday. Please don't joke like that!"
Honestly. Women of the Theocracy proposing marriage to a man they had just met. No shame at all.
"Oh? I heard the Holy Queen also saw Helant for the first time yesterday." Zesshi Zetsumei smoothly slipped into his arms, confronting Calca directly.
Clementine had told her last night how a certain royal woman had thrown herself into his arms and fallen asleep there upon their first meeting.
"Tch, how shameless," Zesshi Zetsumei taunted aloud.
I'm shameless?!
The Holy Queen's bosom heaved with fury. Through clenched teeth, she enunciated, "It was love at first sight. A gift from the gods!"
"Such a child, so easily teased." The century-old yet petite Zesshi Zetsumei looped her arms around Helant's neck and murmured, "I too fell in love at first sight. Thank the gods for the gift."
Unable to bear it, the Holy Queen likewise wrapped her arms around Helant's neck and thrust forward the advantage a century-old girl lacked. "Who's the child now?"
For a moment, the two beauties locked eyes, sparks seemingly clashing in the air between them.
Helant sat stiffly, holding the quarreling pair, not knowing what to say.
Suddenly, both lifted their pretty faces and stared at him.
"Which of us do you like more?"
"Haa..."
Which do you like more, an eternal conundrum.
Saying he liked one, liked the other, liked both, or liked neither, any answer would displease them.
So Helant threw the question back. "Which of you likes me more?"
Sure enough, Calca and Zesshi Zetsumei exchanged glances. Then, after a brief silence, they nodded. Four slender hands slipped to Helant's waist and twisted hard.
"Oww!"
At this moment, the level-one-hundred warrior suffered an undefended blow. The soft nipples on his chest throbbed with pain.
"Let me make it better…" The Holy Queen murmured, voice low and apologetic, cheeks flushing as she circled one sore nipple with her thumb, then lightly pinched and rolled it between her fingers, soothing the sting with slow, deliberate strokes.
The gentle tweaking sent sparks straight downward; within moments, a noticeable tent strained against the front of his pants.
Zesshi's heterochromatic eyes gleamed with mischief. "Oh? Already like this?" She pressed her petite body closer, one small hand sliding down to cup the growing bulge through the cloth. Her palm rubbed firmly in lazy circles, teasing the outline with just enough pressure to make him twitch.
"Look at you, getting so excited over a little fight," she purred against his ear, fingers tracing the length slowly. "Which one of us is making you harder right now, hm?"
Calca shot her a glare but didn't stop her ministrations, instead mirroring the motion on his other nipple—pinching a bit firmer this time, drawing a stifled groan from Helant.
A Holy Queen who can govern a kingdom in perfect order, a century-old ace of the Theocracy... they're no fools...
Helant learned from experience that tossing the question back did not always work.
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