A Ladies Man – Chapter 1

Saito was a little bored in the early afternoon. Louise had left the Tristain castle with her sisters a few hours ago and Saito was unable to come, since it was a family vacation. All he had was his sword, Derflinger for company and he was helping but not much.

"Ugh!" Saito groaned, laying on Louise's bed. "What am I supposed to do?"

"How should I know, partner?" his sword asked back. "Maybe one of the other girls could help get rid of your boredom."

Saito sat up, looking at his sword. "Maybe, but which one?"

"Well you know you have plenty of options. First there's Kirche who will stop at nothing to make love to you."

"If that happens, Louise will never let me out of this room again."

"Hmm, what about Siesta?"

"The maid, oh yeah she's very caring, kind and quite beautiful. But Louise doesn't like me getting close to her. Well she was at first until she started changing for the worst."

"Maybe Tabitha?"

"Well she's on the shy side and doesn't talk much, but she does know a lot about magic. She and Sylphid would save me from Louise, but I don't wanna put either of them in harm's way."

"You have a point there, partner. Maybe Tiffania who joined this academy a short while ago?"

"Tiffania's an elf."

"Yeah, so what? She once kissed you and you didn't have a problem with that."

"Yeah, actually that was wrong of me to say that. I was her familiar for a short while, but she was very nice to me then and she still is."

"Now for the one I've been meaning to suggest. Queen Henrietta?"

"Hold on a minute, she's the queen and Louise's childhood friend!" Saito exclaimed waving his arms in the air. "I've already kissed her twice and Louise has kicked my butt for it."

"Well maybe I guess that one is a bit beyond your reach in that case."

"So in other words, you can't come up with anything?"

Del moaned. "I'm afraid nothing else comes into my mind, you'll have to sort it out yourself."

"I see, well either way, I'm gonna go out of the castle and have a word with one of them."

But just as he was about to leave, there was a knock on the door. Saito opened it and in came a hooded girl. He smiled, closing the door and knowing who it was.

"Well well, speak of the devil." Del commented.

She put her hood down to reveal herself as Queen Henrietta.

"Hello Saito." She said. "It's so great to see you."

"Hi Queen Henrietta." Saito replied, bowing. "What brings you here?"

"I heard that Louise is going on a vacation with her family, but you're stuck here." She walked towards him. "I must ask you. Do you feel lonely now that she's away?"

"Kind of…I had to stay here because Louise said it was a family vacation only."

Henrietta titled her head slightly. "I can understand it being a family vacation only, but still, I don't think it would've been a problem if you had went along with them."

"I can assure you that I'm alright with it…even if I don't get much care."

"Well as Queen of Tristain, I hereby declare you to be in my care for the time being until Louise returns."

Saito perked up, looking at her. "Really?"

She smiled with her eyes closed. "Yes and you don't need to call me Queen, it's just the two of us." She walked up and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

Saito was taken back shockingly by the queen's care, but knowing that Louise was not here at all, he decided to accept Henrietta's care by wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Thank you, Henrietta." He replied. "I don't get this much affection at all."

"Really, Louise never shows you affection?"

"Only when I'm knocking on death's door, but that's been a few times."

Henrietta giggled. "Then I think I have an idea on how to achieve the level of affection you need."

Pulling out of the hug, Saito looked confused. "What do you have in mind?"

"I think we should get all the girls that like you the most together for an innocent but fun game."

Saito smirked. "Fun game with girls? That sounds like my kind of a good time!"

"Haha!" Henrietta laughed. "I knew that would help cheer you up. But we have to prepare first before we can start."

"Sure, but what is this game?"

"It's called Truth or Dare, Louise and I used to play that game when we were children."

Saito opened his eyes wide. Truth or dare was a game he knew too well, already several scenarios were brewing in his mind. What kind of questions would he have to answer, what would he be dared to do. "T-t-t-truth or dare?"

"Yes, I believe that game will make you feel loved in this world."

Saito blushed. "Well uhhh…"

"Don't you worry, Louise will never find out about it." She put her hand on his shoulder. "You have my word, Saito."

Saito thought for a moment. What do I have to lose? He thought. Maybe this will be what I'm looking for and then I'll be good as new before Louise gets back. He looked back at her.

"Alright, I'll gladly help you and help me receive affection."

"Oh thank you, Saito! You will not regret it."

"No it's my pleasure, so do you have any details for me?"

"Of course, the game shall take place at the mansion I gave you when you came back from that war." she explained. "I will have a horse and carriage outside the castle waiting for you and your chosen girls by sunset."

Saito smiled. "Wow, thanks."

"You're very much welcome." She bowed. "Now, I must go and return to my castle to watch over my subjects. We'll meet again later tonight, I know that you will succeed with this task." She put back on her hood. "Take care and good luck."

"Thank you Henrietta, I really appreciate this."

She smiled, closing the door behind her.

Saito sat down on Louise's bed, soaking in what he had just heard. "Well, I better get started. I'll need a pen and paper first so I can list down who likes me."

He found a blank paper and ink was the closest source for him to write. He wrote down all the names of the ones he could think of that liked him the most and he wrote them in order of who he met first and so on.

Siesta, Kirche, Tabitha, Montmorency, Tiffania and Sylphid.

"Alright, it may not be much of a game with five or six others, but I think that'll do." He said, placing the written paper on the table. "So Del, what do you think of her plan?"

"Far much better that what I could've come up with, partner." Del replied. "You better get to work, it's a Queen's order after all."

"I know, for the future of getting any affection and care that Louise can't, I won't fail!"