Chapter 506: Prologue - Amongst the ruins
"Young Luke, can you revive anyone...?"
Persimmon breathe out and asked in a dispirited voice that completely betrayed that he did not actually believe that it was possible.
"No. Sorry. The system is blocking me from doing so - it must be because they come into contact with the smoke that the sigil monster released."
The young healer shook his head, looking staring down at the ground with a crestfallen expression.
"I've heard that those creatures are really dangerous, but I never really realized how serious the threat was..."
Mia spoke up, leaning against the back of the sitting healer and pressing her cheek against the top of his head.
"How about the elite ones that the blue undead...?"
"...what...? The ones that got eaten...? No, sorry, sir Kabuto, even though my magic is strong, I cannot completely rebuild the body from the puddle of blood."
Persimmon asked, but before he even finished formulating the question, Luke shook his head and gave a negative question
"It would be different if I had a hand or a foot or basically anything of that size to work with, but..."
The young healer glance at the debris laying all around them - and at the debris sprayed with human blood.
"I wanted to leave this place but did not want to see them all die like this..."
Mia breathed out and closed her eyes grabbing onto the bottom of Luke's shirt as if she was looking for support.
"Huh... I wonder what they will do from now on...?"
Roan raised his brows and sighed, looking over at the trio of former slaves huddle together right at the edge of the destroyed mansion.
The prince was partially laying down, with his head propped against the soft feathers of Mary's champion griffin's side.
"...scree..."
The wing monster let out a disinterested screech and didn't even bother to raise his head to look at the blond young man.
"Anry is right. As long as they will not try to become our enemies, no matter what they will do will be fine."
The brown-haired heroine, sitting politely by Roan and Anry's side said with a light shrug and glanced at the prince before blushing.
"...Mary, say... that bastard... did he... you know... did something to you...?"
But before she could open her mouth again, the blond prince blushed even harder than her and asked, looking to the side, clenching his fists.
"...did something to me...?"
Mary tilted her head innocently and made a confused face.
"You... you know... did he... he..."
"SKREE!"
Roan mumbled as his face was growing hotter and hotter - and actually seemed to have words stuck in his throat - at least until Anry puffed out his chest and screeched with a confident gleam in his eyes.
"Eh...? EH?"
Mary gasped, looking between her tamed monster and red-faced blond prince, and within a second her face became just as flushed as Roan's.
"NOOOO! Of course, he didn't do anything lewd to me! I was locked in my room most of the time and when not maids and sir Kabuto were always escorting me! I didn't even see Durian after the one time he greeted me when I arrived!"
The brown-haired heroine cried out, hiding her burning face in her hands, and then burrowed them into her knees in absolute embarrassment.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't want to upset you! I just...! You know... his magic and all... and I just thought...!"
Roam began hurriedly explaining himself but ended up getting more and more ashamed of his words and ended up shutting up.
"My prince, you are a pervert!"
Mary cried out glancing at the blond prince while making an upset expression.
"W-wait...! Me...? Why I am a pervert?!"
Roan gasped looking at the brown-haired girl in shock.
"Pervert!"
"Skwee!"
*bump*
"...?"
Mary cried out but then Anry screeched and gently nudged the prince's side, making him confused.
"A-Anry...! You're a pervert too!"
The brown-haired heroine gasped in disbelief and looked away.
"...what did you say...?"
Roan furrowed his brows, looking at the champion griffin.
"...scree..."
Anry moved his wings which gave the impression of a human shrugging their shoulders and letting out a low screech before nudging the prince again, prompting the blond boy to start patting him.
For a few minutes in which Mary was turned away both the prince and her griffin, both she and Roan had calmed down.
After another minute or so, the brown-haired girl breathed out and turned back around.
"...I am sorry for calling you a coward, my prince..."
She fidgeted and lowered her head apologetically.
"...I don't recall you doing anything like that, though?"
"Eh...?"
Roan stopped tousling Arny's feathers before he shrugged his shoulders and smirked, causing Mary to gasp in confusion.
"You said that you could never love a spineless coward, right? I did not win, unfortunately, but I at least tried to defeat the sigil monster - didn't it score some good-faith points with such a prideful Hope like you?"
The blond prince smiled softly and turned towards the surprised heroine.
"Scree!"
To make the situation a bit more lighthearted, the champion griffin screeched while nodding his head right over Roan's shoulder as if he completely agreed with the prince's point
"Ah...! Pfffft...! Now that I think about it, you are indeed partially right, my prince."
Mary snorted but otherwise held back the brush of actual laughter and nodded her head with a barely kept serious expression.
"Huh...? Only partially?"
Roan raised his brows and blinked repeatedly in confusion.
"That is correct, my prince. Honestly, that hesitation you showed off shook my faith into you, and you will have to put some legwork into making up for it - but you already made the first step on that path~"
The brown-haired heroine tilted her head and smiled playfully, leaving the surprised prince staring at her with an open mouth.
"...why was that griffin shouting about breeding...?"
Zombie put down his chest plate and was sitting down by the part of the wall that was still standing up.
"Haa... who knows...? He is the older brother of our Blueberry you know? But they don't really like each other. Apparently, he doesn't like Baron and called him something rude and Blueberry freaked out on him. She is extremely protective over her favorite lizard."
The red-haired Cranberry was sitting in the blue undead's lap, facing towards him, and was hugging him tightly while burrowing her face between his neck and collarbone.
"Ah, so she somehow inherited your character? Incredible!"
The blue undead smirked mockingly while returning the intimate embrace and nuzzling against the girl's head.
With his new form, he was now bigger than her again.
"Congratulations, my lady."
The silver-haired butler leaning against the wall at a respectable distance muttered under his breath, looking at the wife who finally got the attention that she always wanted from her husband...
"Ha ha~!"
But despite him never wanting the girl to hear him, the red-haired girl raised her head, looked at him, and smiled brightly, releasing a short triumphant and extremely happy laugh, before going for the pale blue lips and kissing her beloved undead.