Chapter 73

The sun was at its brightest in the sky, and gave a very pleasent warmth throughout the Ornières estates. Louise was lying sideways on her bed, and slowly cracked her eyes open, only to realize that she was nestled into Saito's chest, who was hugging her tightly in her sleep while being covered into her blankets. It took her a few seconds to remember that she was missing his bodyheat for so long.

Once she did, her eyes widened, and began to moisten from her tears. Light sobs could be heard from her, but she did her best not to cry. Her throat was getting sore, and she felt like any word coming out of it will get her to shed tears.

After a moment, she managed to gather enough strength to whisper quietly without crying.

"S-S-Saito?"

She suddenly felt herself being pressed deeper into her husband's chest by his arms. Saito has slept with her during the night, and his eyes were still closed, sign of his tiredness from all the previous events. He then whispered very quietly to his wife:

"Sshh... I am here now, everything is going to be fine..."

Louise couldn't believe what was happening to her. It felt like aeons to her since the last time she cuddled with Saito. She forcefully closed her eyes, as if she didn't want her tears to escape. She then rolled over so that she was lying on top of him and got out of her husband's hug, in order to see his face, and caressed it lightly with both of her hands. Saito opened up his eyes a bit, but they still could pretty well express his fatigue.

"S-Saito... I-It's really you? You-You aren't a dream?"

Saito answered by only giving her a light smile. Louise let herself fall onto her husband's body, wrapping her arms tightly around his his neck, almost choking him, and began kissing him passionately. A tear could be seen sticking on the side of each of her eyes. When Louise broke the kiss to catch her breath, Saito's face faded into a sad expression.

"Louise, please forgive me, I should have known. I should have come and see you earlier. I feel really bad for coming back home so late," said Saito, while hugging her tighter.

"It... doesn't matter anymore... Just... Stay with me, don't leave me ever again."

Louise leaned in for another kiss. The heat of passion between the two lovers began to grow, and Louise was now pressing her body against his while kissing. She could swear that she was feeling a growing bulge down there... They broke the kiss, to catch air, and looked at each other, lustfully. A light shade of red could be seen on their faces, and they both panted quietly. Louise began whispering something:

"S-S..."

Suddenly, a light knock could be heard from the door. The couple froze, and turned their attention to it.

"S-Saito-san... We should probably get ourselves ready now to tell everyone that you are safe and sound.," said Gwen from behind the door, "It's almost afternoon already, the day will not last much longer anymore for the journey that awaits us. And Siesta-san has cooked a big lunch meal for us all."

Saito sighed, and Louise puffed. Now that they were in such a comfortable position together, they had to break it to reassure everyone.

"Okay," said Saito after a moment, "Just give us a moment and we'll come down."

Louise was gulping Siesta's meal, eating an entire chicken with just a few bites. Saito couldn't help himself but to show a large grin while watching her wife eating like a ferocious carnivore, finding her cute while doing so. Louise noticed his stare. She immediately stopped chewing and looked back at him with a surprised expression, childichly, her cheeks still puffed from the food she had in her mouth. A drop of sauce dripped from it.

"Ish shomeching frong?" Asked Louise to her husband in a worried tone with a full mouth.

"He he," Saito let out a light laughter escape "I'm just happy to see you having such a great appetite."

Louise blushed and immediately looked away. Siesta and Gwen couldn't help but to have the same smile as Saito's.

"It's best for her to eat as much as she can," suddenly said Siesta, "we have all lost our appetite when we thought you were dead. But it's not just us. Rumors say that your supposed death has crippled many nations, and brought panic throughout the country. You are the champion known to have defeated an army of seventy thousand men, alone, as well as King Joseph, Lord Ivarod, and of course, the giant dragon that wanted to lead the world into chaos. You are a symbol of hope and protection for the people, and to believe that the dwarves have killed you just with a single golem, lead the people of the nations to believe they have lost both of these feelings of security."

Saito suddenly felt bad. When he planned to delay his homecoming in order to convince Hreidmar to stop the war, he didn't take into account what consequences it may have to the very people he wanted to protect. He never realized just how much importance he had to so many. Louise almost killed herself, the armies who looked up at him as a reference have lost confidence and probably became weak because of it. Saito then thought about both Tabitha and Henrietta. He knew how important he was to them. And now that both still think he's gone forever, they probably aren't strong enough anymore to properly lead their respective people.

"Please forgive me," said Saito, "I was acting selfishly back in Lukamagiska. I could have come back home earlier but I didn't, only to vainly attempt to stop Hreidmar's doing. I should have..."

Saito was interrupted by Louise who dragged her chair so that it would stick to Saito's, allowing her to hug her husband while seating. She looked up to him with a light smile.

"Don't worry Saito, we forgive you, you did your best to stop him. What matters now is that you are safe, still alive, and healthy."

Saito looked up to Siesta and Gwen, they showed an expression that confirmed their agreement to Louise's saying. Siesta suddenly stood up and rushed towards Saito to wrap him in her arms as well.

"Aaah! Saito-san! I missed your scent and bodyheat for so long!" Exclaimed out loud Siesta, while happily pressing said boy's head into her generous breasts.

Saito couldn't help but to violently blush and show a perverted expression. Steam was escaping from his ears, and Gwen's expressions turned into a "what the hell is going on here?!", with wide eyes and small pupils, blinking a few times as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Obviously, Louise didn't approve of Siesta's behavior.

"Where do you think you are pressing my husband's head into?" Yelled Louise with a furious look and tone, "Stupid maid!"

"Louise-sama! You are really selfish to take him all for yourself! You should think of sharing him a bit, he has too much love to share just with you alone" responded Siesta, nonchalantly.

A scream of fury could be heard in the Ornières estates, when exiting the building, followed by the sound of an explosion.

"Why do I get the feeling that this journey is going to be long?" Thought Saito to himself.

The whole group used Louise's world door to head right in front of Henrietta's castle main entrance. The guards immediately opened the gates and doors once they knew who they were, so the group had no trouble getting in. They only needed to get past one more guard to enter the main hall to find the queen.

"Halt!" Exclaimed the guard, "no one has to enter the main hall without invitation. The main leaders have an important meeting in here to discuss a strategy to defeat Lukamagiska.

"The main leaders?" Asked Saito, "you mean queen Henrietta is in there with lord Harold and queen Charlotte?"

The guard nodded.

"I need to get in there. Let me through," ordered Saito.

The guard looked at him a second time, and suddenly got a shocked expression when he recognized who he was talking to.

"Duke de Hiraga des Ornières? Is that really you? Dear god! The whole kingdom is spreading rumors that you were killed not long ago, everybody is scared by the dwarves' power! Even our leaders are troubled by this!"

The ambience in the main hall was tense. The leaders of Tristein, Gallia, Romalia, Albion and Elvenheim along with most of the void mages they had invited couldn't manage to find a good strategy to counterattack any potentially hostile action from the dwarves. Never would they have guessed that the death of one person could cripple their power in such a way. Asuna decided to join in the meeting with Harold. There was also Tenshi, seating on a corner chair next to them. She was in deep thoughts after what happened, and a tear could be seen dripping down her cheek. Tiffania was also invited to participate in the debate, and was with Madarf.

"We can not continue this debate any further," said Henrietta. "Since Sai... Since Duke Hiraga's death we are not ourselves anymore. Just look at what we have become! We can't agree anymore about anything, and can't even think rationally anymore. Our armies have weakened since we have lost our very symbol of strength."

Henrietta held tightly the front side of her dress with one hand. She looked down and closed her eyes, in order not to let a tear escape, just as if she was too weak to handle this situation.

"Just..." Began Henrietta, "you never told me... How it happened... Just... How did he die?"

"Mylady... Perhaps it's best for you if you don't..." Began Agnes before being interrupted.

"It's alright, Agnes... I just... Need to know."

One of the generals stepped forward.

"He fell down a deep ravine. My reports tell me that it was so deep that the bottom couldn't be seen from above."

Asuna and Tenshi clutched their arms, and looked away, they reminded themselves of that horrible day when they looked for Louise, and found her near the edge of Saito's demise, Harold put a reassuring hand on each of their backs. Henrietta covered her mouth in shock, as she reminded herself of her nightmare, Saito died the same way she dreamt he would. Tabitha turned around and hid her face from the crowd, but her sadness was obvious. Tiffania sought reassurance in Madarf's arms, after hearing the genral's words. The room was drowned in silence.

After a few seconds, a familiar voice could be heard echoing throughout the room.

"It takes more than just falling into a bottomless ravine to kill me."

"Who said that?" Yelled back in unison Agnes and the general.

The people's attention in the room was suddenly caught by the sound of footsteps, and they looked into the source of this noise. A thunder of emotions shot right through everyone of them, once they realized whose voice it was. Saito was standing in front of them, along with Louise, Siesta, and Gwen. He grinned at them like nothing happened, probably to tease them, and said:

"So, I hear you are organising a meeting to discuss for a plan against the dwarves, and you didn't invite me?"

Saito suddenly felt himself being pushed down to ground, and being crushed by a heavy weight. It took him a second to realize that the girls of the room have all rushed towards him at the same time, wanting to hug him, and that they made him fall in the process. It was a funny scene to watch four girls crushing the young Duke, but nobody cared about it. They were paralysed from Saito's appearence, trying to figure out what was going on.

A big sweat drop came out of Saito's head from the scene. Four girls clutching him and sobbing in his chest was absolutely not something that he would even dare to anticipate. He looked up at Louise, but she decided to look away, arms crossed, but she made it clear that she was obviously annoyed by the scene.

"You aren't turning mad?" Asked Siesta to the pinkette, with a lightly teasing tone.

"I will tolerate it, for this time, because it's a special event," answered Louise.

Two generals began whispering to each other.

"So, those weren't only rumors after all, about the queens of Gallia and Tristein being in love with this duke as I can see."

"Yeah," smirked the other, "so you didn't take me seriously on this? I guess you owe me something, since I won this bet."

"Now is not the right moment," answered the first general in annoyance.

"So, this is about everything that has happened"

After the girls were finished sobbing, and finally freed the poor boy from the ground on which they held him down, Saito had explained to everyone his whole adventure in Lukamagiska. The generals revealed to him their latest reports, about Hreidmar's murder and Reginn's succession, and how Otr was being held imprisoned, accused of this crime.

"This is why it isn't possible for Otr to murder his own father," continued Saito, "especially because he would have nothing to gain from it anyway."

The people in the room were astonished by Saito's adventure, and an awkward silence made its appearence.

"Anyway," started a general after a moment, "Duke de Hiraga, we are currently struggling to find a suitable plan to deal with the enemy. We should be able to reassure everyone in time that you have returned from your mission safe and sound, and give them back the hope and strength you gave them. But I fear that the will and strength of our people alone will not suffice. All the accumulated battles, against the forces of the Conquista in Albion, the battles against the forces of King Joseph, then the giant dragon, and finally the forces of Lord Ivarod, have brought our coutries into an economic crisis. These dwarves chose their moment to declare war to us very well. We need weapons, men, and supplies, and we struggle to find enough of all three to fight against an enemy that has the technology to destroy entire cities within seconds. We didn't even have enough time to rebuild what was lost... Duke de Hiraga, I heard that you come from a world that has similar devastating technology, maybe you know better than we do how to handle this situation."

The room went silent again, and everyone glanced at Saito, waiting for his answer. He felt uneasy with all these stares pointed towards him. After a moment of deep thoughts, he then began to speak.

"Perhaps... We should call it a day. And go home for now."

So, I hope this is a good enough start for you, fellow reader!

I am open to any new idea or suggestion you may have for me, so feel free to give them to me in the comment section, I am still just an apprentice writer after all.

Please also take note that english is not my native language. I may have misspelled a few words, or have done a few poor conjugations here and there, so please don't be afraid to tell me about that.

See you next time for more!