50 Dawn (1/2)
”Er... Excuse me...?”
”You want to have a champion as well right? Well, two is better than one! Make me your champion alongside Auren!”
Auren was stunned by Ria's proposal. He expected to carry the burden by himself in order to be of use to the rest of the team, but it seemed like Ria wanted in on the idea.
”Ria... Do you know what you are saying...?”
”I'll have to spend the eternity working for this little girl as her servant right?”
”T- That's right!! You can't do this!!”
”... But you will be by my side... Right...?”
”Eh...!?”
”I know that someone needs to make a sacrifice so we can go on with this... But there is no need to do it alone... I'll stay with you for all eternity...”
”Ria... Why would you...”
”Because I love you too you moron!! How long do you think I have been waiting for that marriage proposal?? And now that we were so close you want to run away with this lame excuse??”
”Y- You... You knew??”
”Yes! You big idiot!!”
Ria grabbed Auren's head so he would be unable to escape and kissed him. After that Auren became so red that his head was starting to look like a bomb about to explode.
The rest of the group was staring at the scene with their mouths open. All except for Daren who had an ”About time...” look on his face.
”We came too far to let things end now... From now on... Wherever you go, I'll go with you, and the same goes for me!!”
”I- I- I- I...”
Auren was acting like a computer that was about to glitch. The idea of offering himself as a slave to a goddess for all eternity seemed like a much simpler fact to take in than that of Ria sharing his feelings.
Ria stared at West and returned to their discussion.
”So, what do you say? Two servants for the price of one! We work for you and you help us deal with our problem.”
”... Er...”
West also seemed to be shocked by that situation. Was this the first time two people had offered themselves at the same time to work as their followers? Evlin was just gazing at the situation and trying to see where everything was going to lead.
”The thing is... I can't do that... After I give someone my blessing, I can't do it again for fifty years...”
”Ehhh???? Why not??”
”Those are the rules... If I could, every god would just have an army of blessed followers under their belt... This restriction works to keep things balanced.”
Evlin thought about that for a second and started to realize that she always found it strange why the goddess only blessed one person with her power. If she wanted to kill all the demons on the planet, why not just make a bazillion living weapons? So there was a restriction like this to keep things in check. But the goddess made her contract with Marceus two-hundred years ago. Did this mean that there were four other blessed followers like Marcus somewhere out there?
”Fifty years... We can't wait that long... I would be an old hag by the time I could be blessed as well... Isn't there any way around it??”
”Well... I could give you two a shared blessing that would only work when both are close to each other...”
”You can do that??”
”Yes... But as a disadvantage to that, you two would need to share your life forces... If one of you dies, the other would die too...”
Ria and Auren looked at each other and realized that they were thinking the same thing.
”We have no problem with that!”
”We will live together, and we will fall together!”
”No, please don't say that... If you two fall I lose my champion and will have to wait fifty more years to get another...”
It seems like the duo were really getting the goddess off guard. She probably never met two people so ready to become her servants so easily despite having such a big restriction. Even if Ria and Auren received some amazing power, it would not work unless they were together, and if one were to be killed the other would too.
”So, are you two sure that you can deal with these conditions...”
”Yes!!”
”We will serve and fight for you!”
”Very well, then choose what is the blessing that you want...”
”Wait... We get to choose?”
”Regulars blessings are decided by the god that bestows it upon the follower... But since you two will be my champions from now on, I want to try and be nice to you... Now... Choose wisely... There are no do-overs later...”
Ria and Auren were at a loss. They didn't expect to have such an opportunity. If they messed up and picked a wrong blessing they would have been sacrificing themselves for nothing.
”Ria... What should we choose?”
”Don't ask me... I don't know anything about... ... Combat... ... !!”
As she finished her sentence, Ria received a flashback during her time at town shopping with Ashley, and words from their discussion started to flow into her head.
[[”Why not? She can transform anything into whatever she imagines right?”
”Yeah, to whatever she imagines it... But all she ever thinks about is fight-related matters... She has no sense of style...”]]
”Evlin!!!!”
”Eh!??”
Evlin got a scare once Ria screamed her name and came rushing to grab her by the shoulders.
”What... What did I do??”
”You're a girl with zero sense of style who thinks about nothing but fighting!!”
”... Excuse me??”
”You choose!!”
”Ehhh??”