Y/N POV
It was 6 days after the battle of Priestella.
The Water Gate City was now thriving once again, completely regaining its former glory. The trading and waves of people moved once again, and the winds changed their course for the better.
All the infrastructure was now fixed and ready to be used, and Kiritaka's charismatic voice can be heard in the morning again, much to everyone's delight.
During the battle, only few were injured and it seems with my Battalion's support in the city while the main force and I went to fight the Sin Archbishops, not one has died.
That is, with the exception of the nine members of the Priestellan Council of Ten. I don't mean to sound rude or inhuman, but I didn't know what their purpose is, so there was no use in sparing them. Even if I wanted to, I didn't know their location and we didn't have enough manpower to take care of that. Also, Al was the one who eliminated them, so they must've had some horrible deeds done. Although Al is way too suspicious, I believe that his judgment remains well, as he serves Priscilla quite loyally.
Ya... that problem could be put aside.
Out of the 5 archbishops that descended upon the Water Gate City, 3 were subdued and 2 fled after realizing that they couldn't win. Regulus Corneas of Greed drowned, and I collected his corpse after he died, storing it into my dimensional storage, which is just a bunch of bones with hair now. (No, he doesn't stink, I removed all bacteria around his bones, preserving him quite freshly).
Sirius of Wrath was chained up, and deprived of her Witch Factor by myself. Her mind is a bit broken at this point, so she couldn't do much even if she wasn't bound by all these heavy chains that currently restricted her movements. Soon, she'll be sealed and locked up in the prison tower.
Lye of Gourmet and Roy of Bizarre Eating have fled after their battle, probably because of the fact that their precious little sister's commands. I'm not going to deal with Louis and her antics right now, so that problem is out of the picture.
Now, that leaves...
"Yahoo! What are you doing up here, Y/N?"
And here she is, our last subject in question, Capella Emerada lugnica, the final Sin Archbishop. Formerly holding the title of Lust, she joined our battalion in the hopes of becoming a worldwide idol and... I don't know why else?
Now, if you ask what I was doing... I'm thinking about a certain quite heartaching experience that was part of the occasion last month. (Psss. It's the fact that he forgot Valentine's Day.) Shut up. But yes, it's because of that.
The life of Y/N L/N was simple in many senses, if you take out the fact that studies around 12 hours per day. Not really straightforward burying himself in books, but it's pretty much at the point before he was transported. There was no love scenarios to wonder about, since nerds don't get girlfriends until freaking university/college, or at least that's what the common stereotype of Korean comics. (No, but seriously tho.)
But maybe this was the chance that I was waiting for.
Now that I think about it, Capella did do a formal apology on the radio meteor 2 days ago, and it went better than I expected. With the support of the Liberator, her deliverance was much better, despite her crappy tendency to be somewhat arrogant. To be honest, it was quite funny while I forced her to read off the paper I wrote for her, and she kinda suplexed me using her dragon arms after that, but the apology went well. She did indeed destroy all the demi-beasts and transformed everyone back to normal, including all the flies and the shapeless forms of meat piles.
I did my part by vouching for her after her speech, and as one of the heroes that saved the city from certain destruction, they believed me quite rapidly, to my surprise. I guess having zero physically injured people really helps my reputation grow.
With that out of the way, I addressed the second issue at hand, which was regarding the victims of Gluttony. Those who had both their names and memories erased were placed in a special shelter called Memo-Zero, and I urged the public to go and see those unfortunate people, because for all we know, they could've been families of many, but they forgot. By paying respects to those who have fallen, should probably prevent their guilt when they wake up. If they ever do, that is.
Now mack to our main problem. The object hanging from my arm like a chimpanzee dangling from a tree.
"Capella, my arms are going to break if you keep on holding on."
"But I could heal them-?"
"But the pain?"
"Ah... eto..."
"If you promise to stop holding onto me, we could...go on a date?"
"Aha!" Capella immediately let go of me, and gave me the widest smile I've seen her make. "So you are not dense! At least this lady doesn't have to worry about that issue. Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" Taking my free hand, she yeeted herself and me off the roof, and opened her wings before I activated the flying seal.
Why does jumping off buildings seem like a common troupe now?
Capella unexpectedly pulled me into a clothing store, which was completely out of my range of predictability. Ah... but I suspect that girls having a tendency to dress up is part of the norm, is it not?
I was wrong, and the next 15 minutes of torture was probably the worst in my life.
Capella yeeted me tons of shirts and pants, and demanded that I try each pair on. I asked why couldn't she just do it when she has a mirror, and that she has Variation and Change to help her with that task, but she just replied that it was a hassle in general for her to transform in front of people, especially when she needs to put on the clothes.
"But you transformed tons of times when we fought!"
"Well, now that I'm dedicated to one person, I can't exactly flaunt my features everywhere now, can I? Or can I really? According to Sphinx's observations, you might actually get jealous."
"Bruh... I never thought that you two could exchange info like this... but I guess that's true."
"So? Are you going to satisfy this lady's wishes?"
"Please don't phrase it in such a way so that people misunderstand."
"But isn't life more thrilling that way?"
"Agreeable, but you have to have the right timing."
Not wishing to go against my clingy neighbourhood archbishop, I complied with her demands and decided to reluctantly begin the changing of clothes, and unexpectedly, my humiliation as my Battalion somehow walked in, probably due to Echidna's trolling.
"Please...leave..."
"Hey, don't look so gloomy." Capella nudged me a little after we sat down in a restaurant. She intentionally chose a more middle-class looking one due to the fact that she didn't want to stand out. I mean, having a change of outfit on her is quite nice. In her words, having the bikini outfit on was somehow to my tastes? But I told her it was respect to others to wear proper clothing, and she agreed.
"I'm still traumatized by your previous prank of sorts."
"Aw, shucks. Want me to cheer you up?"
"Sure. But I don't know what you can do though."
"Just wait and see. You'll be surprised."
And so, I waited patiently for Capella's surprise. The food arrived, and she took up her spoon, twirled it in her hands, before scooping my food and brought the spoon close to my mouth, and gave me a cheeky smile.
"I didn't think you were the type to go for clichés."
"Aw, come on, make your darling happy, at least."
"Fine. I'll trust you on this one." I opened my mouth and gulped down the spoonful of food, the taste warming my heart. Although I am pretty sure it was something else.
"Did it taste good, Y/N?"
"Ya, it did. Want a bite too?"
"I would gladly do so."
And so, the unexpected lunch surprise turned into us spoon-feeding each other for half an hour, and seriously, if I was back on Earth, I would've died from embarrassment. But I guess coming here did improve myself in many ways, and maybe Capella was a great factor of aid in this.
"Thanks."
"Huh? What for?" Capella asked me, not sure where my gratitude came from.
"For bringing me out of my shell. If I ever went on a date with a girl as pretty as you, I would've probably fainted out of happiness back in my hometown. I was always somewhat of a recluse, a half hiki-NEET of sorts, and didn't really communicate with a lot of people except for the ones from the Chuuni League or my closest friends..."
"Awww..." Capella pinched my face, a worried yet satisfied look on her face. "Look at your cute little sentimental face. Capella-sama is here for you, so stop making that face and put on the one that symbolizes the strong Y/N who saved me back then, kay?"
That made me happy.
Actually, quite happy. It's really nice to see someone else actually care for me aside from my family.
The Battalion. The Royal Selection Camps. The Witches.
And now Capella.
I guess I have to give a little payback for her gratitude, shouldn't I?
"Well then, continue being the kawaii Cappy-chan you are, too, okay?"
"H-Huh? I- cute? Again? Y/N, you k-know t-that we agreed to not call me that in public, right?"
"What, you can tease me but when I praise you you get all flustered? Hmm..."
"CAPPY-CHAN IS THE BEST CUTEST AND CARING GIRL!"
My shout echoed through the street, and everyone turned to stare at Capella and I, and I ushered a quick apology. However, when I turned back to my companion, I found her on the ground with her forehead overheating.
"Ah... I think I overdid it."
Once again, has temporarily halted function.
After carrying Capella for a while for her to wake up, we strolled around the streets for a while, and greeted many people along the way. Eventually, we arrived at a park, where Liliana was giving her first performance after the battle, boosting everyone's morale.
I intentionally stayed a little further back among the crowd, mainly because if I started a discussion with Liliana due to our previous friendship (back when I met her between Arcs 2 and 3), a wild jealous Kiritaka would show up, quite pissed. Another reason was Capella's jealousy of Liliana's voice of sorts.
"Hey, Cappy-chan, at least you're not tone-deaf like Chid-chan, so you can stand by her on the stage one day! Don't worry, I'll believe in you!"
"Really?" Capella hugged me as she intentionally pressed her, uhem, assets against my arms. I must admit, for a 90-year old soul to be in her former 15 year old body is quite weird indeed. "I'll put my trust in your words then, Y/N!"
"Hey, by the way, did you purposely enlarge them a little?"
"Them?"
"Your boobs, obviously."
"You-! Y/N, you absolute baka! Why did you have to go and ruin such a perfect moment! Dense doesn't even begin to describe how clueless you are in this area!"
And so, I've earned a famous mark in anime: the slap mark of a furious girl.
After some more walking and our dinner, Capella took me on a night flight. She took to the skies with me on her back in her dragon form, and we soared among the clouds, underneath the clearly visible stars that glittered in the lake below.
This gave me quite a nostalgic feel, and reminded me of a certain movie I watched when I was young, where a young boy tamed a dragon that was supposed to be hostile, and tried to get the village on his side that the dragon was not evil at all.
Truly, Ουδέν κακόν αμιγές καλού.
Soon, we landed and went to a different hotel per Capella's request. I tucked the sleepy girl into her covers before getting in my own bed. I was ready to sleep, however, but someone had the audacity to sneak under the covers of my own bed.
"Cappy. Why are you in my bed?"
"I wanted to sleep with you?"
"You do that every day already. Come on, spit it out."
I shouldn't have said that.
Because as soon as I did, dark crimson bindings tied my limbs down, and Capella started detransforming her garments.
"Uh... you are actually going to do this?"
"I don't see why not~ I've been pent-up for 60 years, Y/N, you honestly expect me not to do it, now that I finally have someone?"
I guess... losing it to a reformed Capella... wouldn't be so bad.
"Hehe. Now, let me finally have my taste~"
And thus began quite a busy and long night.
Insert Lemon here*
No, it doesn't exist yet, you horny bastards. Wait two more months and you'll see it. Probably.
"You realize what you have just done, right?" An amused voice rang out in the smooth grasslands, and Capella stood defiantly against the six individuals who guarded this sacred realm.
Capella never once entered the Castle of Dreams. But from what Y/N has told her, she knew the basic gist of it.
The Witches' Sanctum. A places where the ones who held the Witch Factors before the Sin Archbishops resided. And apparently they weren't happy about her actions.
"I-If you h-harm Y/N or e-even try to d-deceive h-him... I won't f-forgive y-you, okay?"
The shaking voice came from the Witch of Lust, Carmilla, who spoke out first against her own successor. Carmilla harboured no ill intent, and neither did Capella towards her. The Witch was simply testing if the girl was truly loyal, or she was just a scheming bastard.
"I truly love Y/N. It would be below my standards to offer that up to someone I don't even truly love."
"She's telling the truth, Minerva." Carmilla said to the Witch of Wrath, who stomped her foot in anger once again despite the words of her accomplice.
"B-but! You should've discussed this with all of us! I'm not mad at you specifically, but you should've at least told-"
"I didn't even confirm your existence yet. How was I supposed to communicate with you guys? And also, is he your lover, Witch of Wrath? Fufu... is someone jealous?"
"No, but it's mainly Echidna-chan. You kinda ruined her plans, anyways." Minerva pointed to the sulking Witch of Greed, who was distraught that she couldn't take Y/N's first now.
"Oh, come on, stop rambling. Don't you guys get tired?" Sekhmet, the Witch of Sloth, yawned as she raised a finger to silence everyone. In this realm, although she is lazy, she's still the strongest in terms of raw power. "It's just a boy's virginity. Why are you all so fussed about it?"
"It's very important!" Capella, Echidna, Carmilla, and Minerva all shouted at Sekhmet, who gave another loud sigh.
"Hey, Met, what's a virginity?" Typhon, the ever-so-innocent child spoke up, shocking everyone. After her, the Witch of Gluttony marched over with her drool dropping.
"Hm? A virginity? Daphne doesn't know what it is, but is sounds delicious!"
And so, with the clueless, the lazy, and the attentive ones all gathered, the debate and argument continued on for a while in the Witches' Sanctum.