Chapter
1 – Unexpected Love and Lover
During
one of my prayers in the chapel, I hear a voice tell me of the importance of my
role in the next battle with a group of traitors who are siding with pagan
beastmen. The others in the chapel including a priest tell me that I have a glow to
me, ask me if I heard anything, and after I tell them, the priest tells my
commanders to let me fulfill whatever God has planned for me without
questioning or stopping me from accomplishing it.
I have
to say that I never thought I’d ever directly hear from God since I thought
that the privilege was reserved for great saints and heroes. Going up to my
friend, Priscilla, I repeat the same sentiment because it’s still hard for me
to believe.
“It’s not too surprising, Dominic. Of course, you’d be graciously rewarded after all your hard work and dedication. I just
wish I could be there to see what God has planned for you in the next battle.
The commanders want to keep me here for the time being, especially with our new
elf friend around. Speaking of which.”
The
young elf boy we are talking about shows up behind me cloaked in black to hide
his sharp ears. Priscilla found him washed up on the shore with the bodies of other
elves as he was being attacked by bandits and beastmen. After saving him, we
tried to ask him where he was from and who he was, but all he’d said so far was
that he misses his family and that he’s lonely. I feel bad for him being the
sole survivor of the wreck and that strange cut around the edges of his mouth
that the beastmen made. He looks at me as he passes by. I give him a friendly
smile and he runs behind Priscilla and peeks out at me with one eye.
“I’m
sorry. Did I scare you?”
“Don’t
worry about him. He’s shy around everyone except me since I saved him.”
“Sir
Dominic! We are about to deploy.”
“I better get going too. This little man and I
have a fun day ahead of us. See you later!”
“See you!” As I join the other soldiers on
the horse-drawn carriage as it starts to leave the city with the other
carriages and knights on horses, I regret not asking Priscilla if we can spend some
time together after the battle. I’m sure she’d want to after I accomplish
whatever God spoke to me directly for.
She’s such an amazing person, so amazing in
fact that I think that she should’ve been the one that God talked to instead of
me. I mean she was the one who saved that elf boy from the beastmen and bandits
in addition to her many other accomplishments that I was there to witness that
landed her a chair with the commanders. Ever since we met in our first days of
training as soldiers for the Church, I felt a special connection to her, unlike
anything I felt with anyone else.
“Dominic, are you fantasizing about a girl?
You have the look on your face as if you do.”
“He’s probably thinking about Priscilla
again. You should’ve asked her out already.”
“I’ve tried, but she’s always busy with
something. The next time I have a chance to talk to her, it’ll be the first thing
I ask.”
“You better act quick before that elf boy
gets to her before you do. Speaking about him, has she told you anything about
it besides what we already know?”
“Nope, nothing.”
“That’s a shame. You never see many people
from the East here. I’d sure like to know what’s happening on the other side of
the world.”
“Do you want to be the next to volunteer on
the next suicidal expedition? The people from the European continent only
manage to get here by the skin of their teeth because of monsters in the sea
and the wreckage of the space sailing ships of the past.”
I tune out the conversations in the carriage
as we near our destination and pray to God for my instruction. Almost immediately,
I hear that I should go by myself to the east side of the walls of the
stronghold before the battle starts. Since my commanders already know to trust me, they let me do this,
so I sneak up to the walls by myself as instructed. Okay, now what, Lord?
Again, I am given my instructions almost immediately as I hear that I’m meant
to be in a relationship with the girl with pink eyes and curly hair. Once she’s
with me and we escape the walls, the Church will easily have victory over these
traitors.
Did I hear that correctly? A woman up there
is my wife-to-be? Then that would mean my plans to be with Priscilla were in
vain and me being delusionally in love with a woman who I was never meant to be
with.
Well, if you say so, Lord. You know better
than I do so let it be so according to Your word.
Taking out a piece of metal from my pocket, I conjure my crossbow from it. I load in a rope bolt to it, fire it at
the wall, and climb up. I take it easy and slow as I sneak around the walls and look for the woman with pink eyes and curly hair. Thanks to my special vision
due to being born an archer I can see clearly across vast distances. This
woman must be really important if the battle will be easily won without her.
Perhaps she’s some tough commander or inspiring soldier like Priscilla. Maybe
she’s only defending these traitors because she was forced to. I heard that some
of the people living in this stronghold were faithful, but once the beastmen
took over, they forced people to serve them or face a painful death or torture.
On the other hand, maybe she is a beastman or
a willing servant of them. Please, Lord, give me the strength to convert her
heart if that’s the case. Okay, okay. I gotta stop thinking about what she
could be and concentrate on finding her. While looking around, I’ve only been
able to find one woman with pink eyes and curly hair, but is that really her?
Even
after waiting some time, I see that no other person who patrols the walls has
pink eyes or curly hair so it must be. The woman I’m looking at is also an
archer with a bow of her own, but she also doesn’t seem to be taking her responsibility
seriously and looks to be talking to herself while looking up at the night sky.
Well, maybe there’s something important about her such as being the daughter of an
important leader here. She’s heading this way so I hide in the shadows until
she reaches me, which is when I grab her and take her out of plain sight.
“Oh, thank you for the surprise hug. I really
needed it.”
Huh? Is she serious? “No, this isn’t a
surprise hug? I’m from the Church here to take you away from here. My name is
Dominic.”
“Really? I’m glad you are since these
beastmen are vicious and really mean. Why did you have to specifically get me?
My name is Persephone, by the way.”
“Because God told me to since you’re my wife-to-be.”
“What?! That means you’re going to be my
husband and we’re going to have children and we’re going to live
together forever! Are you going to propose to me on one knee now?”
“Sorry, but this was sudden for me too, so I didn’t
have a chance to get a wedding ring.”
“That’s okay. We can get that later,” Persephone
says before kissing me on the cheek.
“Huh? What was that for?”
“It’s what couples do, don’t they?”
“Yeah, but we just met.” Something feels as
if it was just stolen from me. No, no, no. I shouldn’t worry about who gave me
my first kiss. It’s just a temptation from demons. This woman is going to be my
wife.
“I’m sorry. I’ll hug you then since you hugged
me.”
This woman is already starting to be a bit
much for me to handle. I guess I have to be more patient than usual. “Let’s get
out of here before someone notices.”
“Yeah! Let’s get out of here, but I’m sure
someone already noticed.”
All the more reason to go then. Sure enough, as we’re leaving, beastmen and archers notice and start chasing after us. We
both descend down the rope I climbed, run into the nearby forest, and keep
running until we outrun and are a far enough distance from the stronghold.
“Hey, um. What are we waiting here for?”
“To get those defenders away from the walls
so that my allies can easily overtake the stronghold.”
“Ah, I see! That was a smart idea!”
“It
wasn’t mine, it was God’s and you played your part in it by coming with me. You
must’ve been important to the beastmen’s defenses.”
“Really? I’m not that good of an archer
despite being born one. Those people I see in the distance who are chasing us
are better fighters than me.”
Are you serious? Anyway, I find a large tree
and bushes for us to hide in and hold Persephone close to me so that she’s hidden
as well. The beastmen that are chasing us do look tough. As they pass by us, I see
even clearer that they’re heavily armed with large axes and clubs and wear heavy
armor with very few weak points in them. It’s a good thing we can just wait for
them to pass-
Before I even realize it, Persephone gives me
another kiss on the cheek, which is loud enough to attract the attention of the
beastmen who look in our direction.
“Are you serious?!” I loudly whisper as I lose
my temper.
“I’m sorry, I just thought it was why you
were holding me.”
“I-! Whatever, just get your bow out. We have
a fight on our hands.”
“Yes, sir!” I watch as Persephone takes a
piece of metal out of her pocket and conjures her bow. She then begins to
wildly shoot her arrows at the beastmen that explode in mid-air after a few
seconds. Her fire rate is that of fireworks during a New Year's celebration and just as accurate
at hitting things. At least it’s a good distraction so I direct her towards
certain targets so I can get good shots in, and thanks be to God that it works
allowing us to defeat the beastmen with not too much difficulty other than
Persephone almost blowing me up a couple of times.
“Good job. I wouldn’t have been able to beat
them without your help.”
“Really? I’m glad to have been so useful for
once!”
“It’s no wonder why God wanted me to get you
off those walls. You would’ve done severe damage to groups of soldiers with
that wild firing of yours.”
“Yeah, I guess I am just a good archer in my
own way. Thank you!”
I didn’t really mean it as a compliment, but I’ll
let her have it and she is right in a way. We don’t have much time to relax
since the commotion caused by the fighting and Persephone’s explosive arrows
attracted the attention of the other beastmen that we were running from.
“I know my way through the forest and the
quickest way to the next town. Let me take the lead this time, husband.”
“We’re not officially married yet, but sure,
take the lead.” While Persephone happily leads us through the forest, I begin
to think about our future together. I’ll definitely have to be the one to steer
us in the right direction most of the time, but I have a feeling I could get
used to her ditziness, or at least I hope I do.
