CHAPTER XXV.
They arrived like thieves in the night, they were here a full week earlier, not to sight see, they have an important business in mind, and she could hear her heart pounding in her chest as she helped check for their supplies alongside Livia, her sister-wife has just entered her fifth month of pregnancy and wouldn't be accompanying them.
Thieves in the night, it was an apt way to describe their plan, it would all be legal, of course, there is no need to bait the Crown to attack them… yet. After filling all the necessary paperwork plus a couple of extra documents to ensure their anonymity and their overall success.
They were ready!
Livia's instructor will be taking her place, Miss Joan was their only other Holy magic user and she didn't like the idea of letting Liva even think of going inside a dungeon in her current condition.
Even if it meant taking her pupils' place within the party. Besides, she has been on a warpath ever since Lafan was announced as the Saintess, and it suited them too, because they did not want Livia in a Dungeon Raid when she was in her second trimester.
Her brother-in-law, Nicks, has a heavy aura around him, among their party, he is the one with the most relevant experience this time, even if his knowledge will become obsolete midway, he still takes his responsibilities seriously. Unlike her and Livia who are keeping themselves busy he is just chatting with Cordelia, his new, pregnant, wife.
Angelica couldn't avoid a pang of guilt for Cordelia, this was her idea, her oldest friend just married to a good man that treasures her and she is taking away their time with him not even a week after their marriage!
There will be a big party in her their territory after they get promoted, and after that, they will leave for Barcus' land… just the two of them. Then Leon will officially marry Livia, and the party will continue.
They needed to succeed.
She acted impulsively and outright denied her father when he told her that Leon would be marrying again to guarantee the Roseblade and Atlee's cooperation.
His inner circle was strong, but there were no real ties between them other than wanting off the Holforts.
She immediately wrote a letter in reply saying that neither she nor Livia would allow a third much less fourth woman without even consulting with her partners, she just saw red for a few hours and then she came up with this idea to impress and intimidate the nobility in the capital.
It was only after she ordered Claire to deliver the letter she calmed down.
Too late, just like when she challenged Julius to that fateful duel…
Even if she technically lost, she considered herself to be the one that came out on top of that duel.
Besides, that duel allowed her to discover the hypocrisy and fickleness of the crown prince and her father had guided her towards the man of her life and in the same event she encountered her best friend too.
So gathering all her valor she told her partners in life about what happened and fortunately they had agreed with her.
Leon forgave her saying he had wanted to raid the capital's dungeon at some point but Livia was kind of upset that she would have to miss the chance to explore the lowest levels of the place that they never got to see and she all but demanded to finish what they started back at the Marquis territory to forgive her… that woman was insatiable!
But she couldn't deny it was a… pleasurable experience.
Jenna was holding a sleeping baby Gil while singing a nana, she would have never imagined her sister-in-law to have such a good voice.
Leon was inspecting four of Luxion's spare bodies, now controlled by Cleare to help them carry their loot back.
An imposing carriage was coming towards them, Angelica didn't panic because she knew who was inside.
A young woman, perhaps a couple of years older than her got out and… introduced her party"House Roseblade is here hahahaha" someone said entirely too loud.
She was blonde, with blue eyes with a curly hair style that was the same as Merce's, carrying a fan she used to cover her mouth dressed in practical adventurers gear of high quality.
With her there are other people, the most notorious one being another woman that had to be related to her, a bit older with bigger assets than the boisterous younger woman with her hair in a simple ponytail.
Everyone turned towards her when baby Gil started crying in Jenna's arms, he greatly disliked being awakened, like his father, Bartfort men liked their sleep from what she learned from lady Luce, Cordelia and her own experience with Leon.
And baby Gilbert was a Bartfort, everyone knew he was Leon's child just by looking at them, the only thing he seemed to inherit from her were his red-wine eyes so characteristic of House Redgrave.
All that aside, Angelica was giving the newcomer her best glare as did everyone else.
She was about to reprimand the woman that was probably older than her for waking up her baby but Livia beat her to it, and she was somehow scarier than she could ever hope to be with that inexpressive face she did whenever she was mad enough.
That was the face that forced Miss Joan to stop trying to convince her to go to the church and be tested to be the Saintess and replace Marie Fou Lafan.
Olivia was right on the Roseblade woman and just a step behind her Jenna was doing her best to support her while trying to calm Gil.
"You just waked Baby Gil!" Olivia seethed, the shadows on her face contributed to make her look quite intimidating.
The Roseblade woman tried not to look away, to pretend to not be intimidated, but even her own retainers that had accompanied her could see that she was shaken by Livia's display, and Gil's cries did not help the eerie atmosphere "I'm sorry. B… but a baby shouldn't be here!" she said, looking away from Olivia.
"How Rude!" the second blonde woman spoke, probably offended by their reception. "And we are supposed to rely on these people for our House's success?"
Leon had moved to calm Olivia down but this time the one who reacted first, much to her surprise, was Nicks "Isn't it considered rude to judge people you just met too?!" he said a little too much force, and the woman took offense again.
The woman, probably the oldest noble present, wasn't intimidated though, she looked at her brother-in-law right in his eyes and told him "Do you have enough manners to know what is considered rude at all?"
"I see that your parents might have tried to teach manners to you, but since they have obviously failed, perhaps some manners would finally sink in if I spanked you!" ouch, maybe that was out of line, she would have to talk to Nicks to make him apologize even though she pretty much agreed with him.
To her chagrin, the Roseblade woman's face was reddening with anger that was directed at Nicks, she would have to let her yell at him for a while to let her cool down and then apologize on House Bartfort's behalf.
Of course what she didn't expect was the Redblade woman to run back and lock herself in her carriage… so she turned to the younger one to apologize, but she was shaking her head with an expression of pure disbelief on her face.
Then she noticed her staring and cleared her throat. "Apologies are not necessary, my sister has been reprimanded about her attitude by our father multiple times, besides, as it turns out I'm the one who has to offer apologies… You are Lord Nicks, correct? The Heir of the main branch of House Bartfort?"
Nicks only nodded in confirmation, he was who she thought he was.
"It appears that you have piqued my sister's interest" Angelica was sure that the jaws of every member of House Barfort fell open at that statement.
"But I'm married already!" Nicks protested.
Angelica turned to see what Cordelia's reaction would be, and her old friend had the calculating expression she expected her to have, she was the one who made sure she listened when her tutor told her that sometimes men just wanted more than one woman and that it was better, beneficial even to allow a second woman into his life.
Cordelia noticed her staring at her and just shrugged nonchalantly before speaking "You will have a few days to get to know her Dear, but remember, I'm your first wife!" of course she was there for those lessons, and the tutor also said to always ascertain her dominance over her man's other women…
Nicks looked skeptical, but nodded anyway, he was probably thinking that nothing will come out of this… she didn't blame him.
But if Nics somehow ended having the Roseblade woman as a second wife she would name her second child after him, gender be damned!
"Alright we wasted enough time everyone, it's time for us to go inside!" Leon prevented any further development concerning his older brother's love life by calling orders and getting the woman out of her carriage… they hadn't even introduced themselves but they knew their names: Dorothea and Deirdre Fou Roseblade.
With a last series of kisses on Gil who was now on Cordelia's arms she entered the Dungeon, her first great adventure was about to start!
0x0x0
Deirdre wanted to puke.
The earth was shaking and she was so excited, but she also wanted to puke!
These last few days have been hell!
The way they moved forward since the very beginning made her think these people had a few screws loose.
The first few floors were easy, they managed to avoid contact with the monsters inside the dungeon until the sixth floor and in the seventh floor the Bartfort brothers had laid a couple of traps and then ran ahead of them and when they got back they probably had every monster in the floor running behind them!
They used themselves as bait to lure the monsters to the traps.
They used similar tactics until they were on the 50th floor where they switched tactics and finally started needing help from everyone in their party.
The pace was still much too intense for her liking, but she couldn't deny that up to that point that was by far the most fun she had in her life!
When they were three days inside the dungeon they rested and allowed Miss Joan, their Holy magic user to treat their accumulated wounds and Dorothea took her chance to get closer to Lord Nicks.
It was disturbing to see her wild older sister to be so submissive to that man…
But she could understand why, the brothers are rare specimens among the male population of the kingdom.
Both, herself and Dorothea knew their father wanted them to get closer to Lord Nicks, after their alliance takes over the kingdom the Bartforts will raise to the very top of the hierarchy of the kingdom alongside the Roseblade and Atlee and they needed to have an alliance with them for the stability of the future kingdom.
It helped that Dorothea seemed genuinely interested in the man.
Deirdre would have liked to get to know Lord Leon, but Angelica made sure to always be between them, making sure she understood that her man was not part of the deal.
From what she knows the man already has a concubine he plans to take as a second official wife soon.
Angelica appeared to be quite possessive and probably was done sharing her man.
She could understand that, but how she wished that wasn't the case!
After their well deserved rest they resumed their descent into the dungeon.
Getting to Sheeptar chamber was one of the hardest things she has ever done, Helping to kill the sheep king was definitely the hardest thing she has done in her life!
The damn thing climbed walls and spited acid all over the place… not to mention its… tongue, well whatever it was that thing that came out of its mouth had more fangs!
It took hours but they finally managed to kill Sheeptar the Sheep King with a shot from Lord Leon's shotgun to the face.
Well, Deirdre thought that was the killing shot, but there was no way to be sure because they all started shooting at the thing to make sure it was finally dead!
Right now the brothers were harvesting its corpse of the beast and Dorothea was fawning over Lord Nicks. The man was reluctant, but he was showing some interest in her as well, that was good.
That meant that their other mission was also a success.
Angelica was beside her as to block any attempt she made to speak to her husband, it was a bit irritating but she could forgive her considering her past.
She turned around and looked at the exhausted Miss Joan lying close to one those strange things that have been following them since the start, they were apparently familiars collected in a previous dungeon expedition.
She couldn't avoid smiling at their loot.
More grease for their war machine!
0x0x0
Leila was frustrated, none of the other Great Nobles took her seriously when she tried to warn them about the Principality's weapons!
In their eyes there was nothing to fear from a small and distant third world country.
Somehow they thought even less from the principality than Holfort and the situation was worsened because she couldn't tell them how she knew about the giant monsters the princesses could summon.
Her reputation suffered immensely after trying to get the Great nobles to prepare for war.
People were talking behind her back and asking Noelle to take better care of her!
It was maddening!
Like in her previous life she was once again losing to her older sister.
So far she was only able to secure Emile's help. Of course everyone is saying he is only doing it to keep her happy, and some bitches were noticing him because he was such a good and caring man.
That never happened in the game, Emile was the game's easy mode, a route there to help newbies to not lose on their first gameplay!
She took some deep breaths to calm herself.
Right now she was in Emile's house arranging a meeting between the Raults, Barielle and Pleben.
She was desperate enough to even invite the Villain's house to defend her country, she didn't have much hope though.
Emile entered the room accompanied by Loic and Noelle, her sister was wearing a really nice collar that Loic gifted her a few months back, she must really like it because she is always using it, she probably doesn't even take it out to take a bath!
With them came Serge Sera Rault, Heir to the villain's House, at least he came instead of Louise, that would have been a disaster!
"Welcome" she said to their guests, she wanted to forsake all formalities and start talking about the threat the Principality of Fanoss represented to their nation.
Noelle and her fiance just nodded in recognition but Serge was glaring at Emile for some reason. Well, she was aware of the reason why Serge didn't like her fiance, and it was because she chose Emile over him.
Both of them were capture targets in the otome game she played in her previous life, but Emile was just easier to handle than Serge who is a hot headed rebel.
The group was small, but there were three representatives of the Great Noble Houses present, which was actually really good. Emile and Loic were already on her side and if she managed to convince Serge she would have enough power to do something about the principality's monsters.
"Loic and Emile already know why we are here. So I would like to explain the situation to Serge and hopefully get his help to prevent a disaster" she couldn't mess this up, she needed to make Serge understand what a dire situation they are in!
"Leila, to tell you the truth, I only came here because I heard Emile is spreading some no-sense rumors about a Holfortian knight being more powerful than any of us!" Well, that wasn't totally unexpected, but it was very much unwelcome.
"I didn't say he was more powerful, I just said he was more talented" Emile tried to defuse the situation, but it would have been better if he just apologized for exaggerating his praises of the knight!
"I don't see the difference, you are still implying anyone here would lose to that knight!" She needed to calm Serge down, they have more pressing matters to attend to!
"That… We only saw the man fight once, I don't think…" Leila tried to defuse the situation, but it seems like Emile's praise for the foreign knight was a sore subject for more than one, because she was interrupted by Loic!
"I have to agree with Serge on this, It is kind of insulting to be compared so unfavorably to some no name knight from a third world country" why can't these boys see that the world doesn't revolve around them!
"I'm sure that…" Leila tried to take control of the conversation again but she didn't expect Emile of all the people present to cut her off!
"I'm not saying anyone would lose to Leon Fou Bartfort, The difference between his armor and ours is too much to overcome, But I can't deny that he is indeed more talented than anyone I know in the republic".
Why couldn't Emile just apologize!
No one but her knew how dire the situation could become if the Principality isn't stopped!
"Okay then, now that that was clarified I would like to.."
"You can't just presume that Leon guy is better than anyone just because he killed a pirate with a not so crappy knight armor, I'm very much the strongest of our generation and I will not stand for such slander!"
Why were things going this way?!
She looked at Noelle asking for help in desperation but her twin sister kept staring at the floor as if it was more interesting than her need to protect their country. And that made her react in a not very ladylike way.
Leila tried to get her sister to look at her by lifting her head by her fancy collar, but as she touched it she could feel magic flowing through the thing!
Noelle looked up at her and she could see terror in her eyes!
No!
No, no, no, no!
Her sister couldn't be asking her for help, Her and Loic ending up together was supposed to be the true end of the Game, so she just couldn't be asking her for help!
But the look in her eyes couldn't be confused for anything else either!
She didn't like her sister, she was always everyone's favorite, the one born with the capacity to become the Priestess, she was well endowed and charismatic, she was everything she wanted to be and all of that was just given to her at birth.
But Noelle was still her sister and she never betrayed her like her sister of her previous life did… and she loved her.
Hastily she tried to remove the collar but it was magically attached to Noelle!
Her desperation grew as she kept trying to free her sister from it.
She was so focused on freeing her sister that she could barely hear the three boys shouting at each other, it wasn't important, she needed to free her sister!
Noele had tears rolling down her cheeks and was screaming asking her to It out.
She took a spoon from the table and carefully tried to break the seams of the collar but that damn thing wouldn't budge no matter how much she tried, and she couldn't apply too much force or she would hUrt her sister's neck!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
The three shots finally managed to divert her attention from her sister's collar, her first reaction was to cover her sister with her body hugging her, this just wasn't fair!
There were no more shots after the first barrage and she could hear Serge and Emile speaking, well shouting to each other, Loic was eerily silent.
"What are we supposed to do with the corpse!"
"It's okay, I'll take care of it, no one has to know!"
After hearing that she had to turn around and when she did, she saw Loic's… corpse lying on the floor with three bloody spots in his chest.
"Loic was the Barielle's Heir, they'll know something is off when he doesn't go home tonight, and then what!"
Oh god! Did one of them kill Loic?
A/N: tada!
I'm back with a new chapter. i hope you all enjoyed it.
a lot happened here, both in the republic and in the kingdom.
A few chapters back I asked for your help deciding the name of a final boss, I liked the options everyone gave me but I was also told to keep the Sheeptar name, and there were more people asking me to keep the name than other names options so I decided to keep Sheeptar's name from the SAO:Abridged series.