An Archer's Promise

Beta read by Shigiya, Fluffy Slayer and DOOMRAIDER.

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-Heilung Dorf-

Following what occurred in the tavern and nearly getting captured by Kin, Archer hastily retreated back to his room. Hicks had wandered away somewhere in a drunken state, giving him the opportunity to leave with the two women before another incident occurred. He even went a step further and set a quick bounded field to dampen any sounds in the room and to ward off anyone that wanted to make a surprise visit—in case some passerby got a bit too curious about the conversation.

He was back in his room.

Along with his 'guests'.

Arms crossed and with furrowed brows, Archer wasn't in a good mood at all. Probably a mixture of anger, confusion, curiosity, and frustration. The emotions all rolled inside of him for the last few minutes as he looked at the two kneeling women in front of him.

Both elves were fully clothed, making him sigh in relief, not having to worry at staring at their naked breasts. Their hair was a mess and their skin glistened from sweat from earlier. Being nearly caught twice in the same night while in a… compromising position weighted harshly on their emotions if he had to make a guess. And having to hide in the end without making a sound while a mage pointed a fire attack surely took the cake.

Oh, and he couldn't forget about Hicks basically talking out loud about how he was planning to kill him, raid the village and take the girls for himself in that order… yeah, more reason for this conversation to happen.

Grace looked to be the most embarrassed of the group and was on the edge of crying.

Anna kept her usual cold face without displaying any emotions aside from closing her eyes and waiting for him to speak first, probably.

"Alright," he started, just wanting this night to be over, but a bit of frustration seeped in his voice. "This night certainly was chaotic, to say the least. Things happened so quickly and suddenly that I didn't have much time to process all of them. So before I start demanding for an explanation for the violation of my personal space—tell me what led you two to have sex during the middle of the night while in the tavern without locking the place!?"

That felt like a good place to start.

"..." 

Neither of them responded.

"Well? We don't have all night, I just like both of you would like to return to my bed and sleep and forget about this whole ordeal. But unfortunately for both of us, this kind of thing just demands an explanation." 

Archer didn't care about a lot of things. Choosing to ignore certain things in life and have an 'I don't care' attitude was one of his personality's core aspects, but there was a limit to that. Some things may happen, so out of the water and so shocking, that they required to be explained.

He felt a bit of pity for the mayor. Two people already kissed his soon-to-be wife before their wedding. One of them happened to be the local Dark Elf and some random nobody who just happened to be passing through the village. While the latter stumbled in the middle of both women possible having sexual relations if the sounds were any indication. Of all things in his life, the last thing Archer expected was to end up having to deal with an affair.

In hindsight, even fighting in the Grail War didn't give him such a headache—and he fought against the King of Heroes multiple times. 

"W-We're sorry!" Grace cried, prostrating forward in a perfect dogeza. "I-I didn't want such a thing to happen… It's my fault for fo-forgetting to close the tavern doors. I usually close it without issue, but Anna surprised me and I forgot to do it!"

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Archer wondered if the Dark Elf realized that she basically confessed to having an affair with Anna for far longer than he expected and was apologizing for the wrong reason. He could imagine the sheer amount of envy which would spread throughout the village if word ever got out. 

He could say with certainty that these two were the most beautiful women in the village, which was saying something when it came to the common women in this world, their elfish traits just gave them that advantage. Even though they were one of the few people who wore actual regular clothes, their beauty and allure still couldn't be hidden within those simple garbs.

"Grace, don't worry, let me handle this." Anna said, speaking up. Her voice calm and monotone as previously

"Ah, so finally back to your regular self? I was half expecting to bind you in rope."

"I wouldn't mind." she said, her tone indicating that she was completely serious.

"..."

'This girl…' Archer felt a headache coming, she was definitely doing it on purpose. 

Was it fair to call her a degenerate or someone who was honest with their feelings? 

"Anna!" Grace came to his rescue. "Stop messing around, we don't want to create another misunderstanding concerning your condition!"

Oh. Now, he was curious.

"Condition?" he asked, the blonde Elf becoming lost in her thoughts for a few seconds before nodding.

"Yes, Archer-sama… it's… a bit complicated to explain. I believe it's best to start from the beginning." 

Apparently, both Anna and Grace originated from different lands. Anna was one of the earlier Light elves who migrated to Eostia from the Island, Igg, where Celestine came from. She arrived here about 200 years ago and roamed the continent for decades. Traveling to the different kingdoms Celestine had put into place, back when Princess Knights still didn't exist aside from the Goddess herself. An era when the war between both Celestine and Olga was at its height that caused devastating casualties and damage all across the land.

"I initially came here to study the art of healing, researching new herbs and plants used for new sorts of cure and salves for injuries. Unlike the others, I wasn't born with a gift for magic, so I had to take a different approach to become a true healer. I learned a lot from helping many of the soldiers and commoners while working in the church as a nun and studying under the tutelage of Celestine herself at one point."

It amazes him how beings who could live for centuries and even a millennium were considered quite common in this world. Even back on Earth when the Age of Gods still persisted, only a select few species could achieve such a long lifespan, the Gods and Dead Apostles being obvious examples. Yet they were still quite rare to encounter, and all possessed power far greater than himself. Here you could find such people in a random village and that didn't necessarily mean that they were even powerful. Having a long lifespan here didn't necessarily translate to being powerful.

"I admit that your story is quite informative, but how does it tie in with what we are discussing?"

Because so far, nothing in her story explained why he found them together in a tavern and her apparent 'condition'...

"I know, I will get there, Archer-sama." Anna said patiently, continuing her story.

At a certain point, she got tired of the war, tired of always having to see people die in front of her as she tried her best to save them. She lost her will to continue when some of the women who lost during battle couldn't be healed physically and were broken from all the atrocities they went through, raped by monsters day and night till their souls left their bodies—leaving behind an empty husk.

She left, deciding to find her true purpose in life… anything to make her forget the hell she witnessed daily.

Fortunately, Anna didn't stop aiding people while on the road. For those injured or sick, she would offer them a cure or remedy to treat them. Becoming a healer on the road and leading a nomadic lifestyle as a healer for the next few years. 

"During one of my travels, I walked close to the borders of the Dark Land, where the Dark Queen resided. Their land, despite being somewhat barren and dead, is able to grow a certain type of fungus that has the effect of healing people afflicted by any sort of venom or poison… I needed to get my hands on those for my work. Olga's forces started using poison bombs and spells which affected hundreds, if not thousands of innocent people"

Archer wasn't surprised, no matter where he ended up at, may it be in medieval times or modern—war…war never changes. There were bound to be civilian casualties, his very job was to erase the 'threats' without care of the locals most of the time. Bombing an entire city became the most efficient method in the end. 

From everything he kept hearing until now about the war between Celestine and Olga, Archer wondered why he was sent to this point in time rather than the past. 

Food for thought.

Anna grabbed Grace's hand, the latter smiling warmly at her action.

"It was there that I came across Grace, she was trying to escape her kingdom and venture somewhere safe but got caught in a trap." 

Well, that was unfortunate.

Considering she was kneeling in front of him, Archer guessed that Anna must have helped her out.

"Those monsters were close-by, they would have defiled her body if I hadn't come to her rescue."

After that, she used her magic to help the Dark Elf out with some of her previous injuries. The two have traveled together since then, Anna didn't care about her new friend's origins nor her race—unlike many of her own people and the humans as well. 

"Fufufufu, I still couldn't believe that you were being honest that day. I was thinking that you must have been some kind of spy bringing me back to Celestine and having me tortured for information or something." Grace laughed as she recalled the past.

"It took months to convince you that I wasn't your enemy." 

Archer snapped his fingers, getting both of their attention. 

"I know that reminiscing about the past can be fun and all, but can we please return to the matter at hand?" Archer didn't want both of them to start conversing and giggling while he waited awkwardly in the room taking the place of a third wheel, and he wanted information before going to sleep. 

"Right, apologies Archer-san. As we traveled together, collecting herbs and healing people all over the continent, both Grace and I became best friends, close friends even. She acted as the gatherer with her people having a keen sense for such things while I brewed the potions. Unfortunately for me, being so close to so many herbs and poisons with magical properties for years without a strong magic within me to use as a protective layer… led to certain symptoms to occur."

Now came the part he was waiting for.

"Can you give me some details about these effects?"

Archer had the urge to rub his eyes as he saw Anna's cheeks darken slightly. 

"I… I began experiencing a strong increase in lust."

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"Are you serious?" Archer couldn't help but mutter, finding the whole thing ludicrous yet logical at the same time!

Anna nodded her head.

"I'm afraid so. These desires would not leave or decrease no matter what I did. Pleasuring myself didn't help, only making it worse, pain only dulled it for a moment and the sight of Grace's body and skin, whenever we bathed, just made my situation much worse. After a month, I couldn't contain myself and pushed myself on her in the middle of the night."

Now it was Grace's turn to look bashful and timid, not looking Archer in the eyes.

"You wouldn't stop for two whole days. I fainted from exhaustion twice."

"I won't apologize."

Too much information, he didn't need to know that. Though that sounded like a hell of an aphrodisiac. And for such a thing to happen to her must have been unfortunate, good thing Grace was with her to make sure that she wouldn't do something that she would regret.

"So there is no cure, I presume?" he asked, prompting Anna to shake her head in the negative.

"The problem itself isn't magical according to my research, it just… became a part of my body after so long. We spent nearly a century trying to find a remedy or a solution of some kind, but came back empty-handed." she continued with her story. "After that, both Grace and I decided to settle down, and came across this village. The mayor happened to be someone I healed many decades ago, back when he was still a young child—he never forgot what I did for him and offered to do so by having my hand in marriage."

Waiting and searching for someone he met for a short amount of time and waiting for her, after years without losing hope? Now, where had he heard that story before…

"As you can see, I accepted his offer of engagement, but in exchange for protection and a place for Grace, as the town was not very fond of Dark Elves, initially."

He figured, seeing how their kinds were either ostracized or captured as slaves, Archer was impressed by how Anna and Grace managed to change the locals' opinions.

Though they were extremely beautiful, they had a helping hand.

"So that's why you tried to push yourself on me." he stated, earning a nod from both women.

He sighed, in the end, this wasn't her fault, just an accident.

"So I guess this is an honest mistake. You couldn't have controlled yourself and I could have handled things better." Archer ruffled his hair, feeling his headache retreat for now. "You can head back, I'll forget that this night ever happened by morning, and we'll pretend like nothing happened."

"Thank you," Grace bowed again, sounding truly grateful for this turn of events. "You have no idea how much that means to us."

She considered Heilung as her home now, having built a life here with its people and having opened her own tavern; it would have been a nightmare if she were kicked out.

"I can't return." Anna said, making Grace's eyes widen as she remembered a crucial detail….

"Why?" Archer asked, noticing the Dark Elf's reaction. 

She must have heard Hicks talk and was definitely going to ask him for answers. He could straight up lie and tell them that Maia was in on the secret and both of them were planning to have Hicks captured in Geofu. Nobody would believe him if he said that he would take care of the Kuroinu on his own.

"You interrupted us before I could reach my climax." Anna said sternly, her face turning redder by the second, not with shyness or embarrassment… but instead the same lustful desires he saw, and experienced, beforehand.

"W-Wha…" Archer was speechless, not believing what he just heard.

He thought that they were finally past this!

He nearly stumbled backwards when he saw Anna's desires clearly. This wasn't something he was used to dealing with in his past life, give him a tsundere master and have him battle against a demigod Servant any day of the week then having to deal with a lustful Elf. But this… this was just getting ridiculous.

"You know what, you two can have this room. I'll sleep outsi—"

""—I can't allow that!""

Surprisingly, both Anna and Grace shouted at the same time. 

"Excuse me?"

Didn't they want some privacy? With the active bounded field, this would become the perfect place to do their deeds.

"No matter what the situation is, you're still an honored guest of our village and it is my duty to make sure you've had a comfortable night in our village. I can't have you sleep outside " Anna said sternly.

Not like he was going to sleep outside, staying awake for a few days wasn't that of a big deal to him, and there were many reasons for him to do so! Like not getting intertwined in this entire fiasco. 

Before he could answer, Anna started talking again. "Grace and I can't go back to the tavern, outside is too dangerous and you are my only hope to keep this a secret."

When did he come into the picture!?

"What I'm asking you is…" she hesitated at first, before saying, "Can we sleep with you for the night?"

"..."

What a weird sense of deja vu. 

It was like dealing with Maia all over again.

Nevertheless, he couldn't accept such a thing. He foresaw the absolute chaos that would ensue if anyone found out about this. 

"No, you have Grace to satisfy your urges and I won't do that with someone I've just met." 

The blonde shook her head, "I'm not asking for sex." she replied, confusing both Archer and her friend. "I want to share the same bed as you… I want to be close to you like we were before back in the tavern."

What part of that did she find desirable? They were trying to hide from those two and not have the village discover them. Not to mention the time Kin was about to fire an attack spell point blank and burn them to crisps!

Archer scoffed, "By that do you also mean have me forcefully shut your mouth with my own when you nearly moaned loudly?" was all he could ask. 

Yes, he was the one who silenced her with that, as one of his hands was busy holding her down while the other hand traced a Noble Phantasm to hide all three of them from Kin—he really didn't have a choice there.

"Because… because I felt calm and clarity returned to me despite not having gone all the way. I never felt like that for so long, I needed that, yet it barely lasted such a short amount of time!" Anna shouted, for the first time showing an extreme emotion of anger and frustration. "I don't know why I felt that way, but this is the closest thing to a cure I've felt for a century."

But he didn't do anything! 

"Why me?" 

"I'm just as clueless… but I know that it can't be anyone but you."

If the curse was magical in nature then maybe having Medea's dagger would have given such a reaction, but he wasn't holding Rule Breaker back then!

"Please, I'll give you anything in return." she begged, looking sincere with her wishes.

"Listen, I'm not sure if this will wor—" he halted as he saw tiny droplets of tears running down her face. He became hesitant once again, it wasn't like she was asking to have sex or anything like that. And a small part of him did feel sorry for the woman in front of him.

"Please, Archer-sama, just grant me this one request. Just for this one night." 

That voice of hers just carried so much power that it reached his heart once again. He wasn't going to come back anytime soon, so she would most likely never see him again. 

"Just sleep, right?" he asked, already admitting defeat to her pleas.

"Yes, I promise."

Archer let out a deep sigh.

Alright, just this once.

"No funny business or jumping on me in the middle of the night. Because I WILL throw you out of the window butt naked if I have to." he warned, being completely serious with his words. "Or worse, I'll just lock you both up in Maia's room."

Not the weirdest request he had to accomplish, but certainly one of the most unique ones on his list.

"Thank you!" Anna, uncharacteristically jumped up in joy.

Archer hoped that he wouldn't come to regret his decision.

{Break}

(Next morning)

The sky lit up with a light hue of yellow and orange, dawn approaching for the day ahead. The roosters springing into action as the Sun rose, people walked out of their houses to start their work with the cattle and farm. 

The village as a whole was still quiet.

Fortunately, Maia woke up just as early as the farmers, thanks to her busy schedule as a princess and former mercenary. Opening the door from her room, she walked out with a bright smile on her face and fully clothed for the upcoming journey. 

"I'm gonna need to send someone to search for Hicks, that guy is definitely drunk and sleeping somewhere on the streets." she said, knowing about her long-time friend's bad habits… not that she hadn't done something similar as well.

She proceeded to do some light stretching, her clothes pressing tightly around her figure and showing off her curves with every routine that many would pay to watch.

"I'm going to get him no matter what." 

After last night's rejection, Maia was furious throughout the entire night. She didn't expect Archer's callous dismissal and simmered in anger for hours in her room. The Princess Knight did not know why, but that desire stayed with her for the entire night and she couldn't let it go.

Granted, banging his wall like a child throwing a tantrum wasn't her greatest moment. But damn it, He didn't have to be an ass in rejecting her like that!

They still had a stop at Geofu, she'll get Lou Lou to help her out a bit with some new swords. Maia wasn't going to let Archer leave without getting him at least once… and possibly have the man reconsider his initial choice in departing. The more she thought about it, the more pumped she became in accomplishing her mission. 

Maia walked towards Archer's room, halting before the door for a few seconds, thinking about how she could enter when he locked it last night.

"I can try the window, but knowing the man he must have locked it as well." she said, cursing him in her head. "Wait, did I really just forget how I used to do things in the past?" 

She grew up in the streets, resorting to pickpocketing and learning various tricks to steal people's money with gambling. She even learned how to pick locks when working as a mercenary! How could she have forgotten about that!? 

"This bourgeois lifestyle really messing with my head, I'm becoming a fucking goody two shoes! It must be Claudia and Prim having a bad influence on me."

Though it was really hard to say 'no' to them in any way. One was basically like a strict but doting mother, while the other happened to be a cute and innocent little sister.

Running back to her room and rummaging through her personal stuff, Maia found a small metal hairpin she kept just in case. Prepping it for lockpicking, she went back to Archer's room and kneeled in front of the door. Carefully inserting the modified hairpin inside the keyhole, Maia let her rusted muscle memory return as she recalled the many instances in the past she broke inside a certain room or chest. 

"It better not fucking break on me." 

After a few more minutes of tweaking the lock, she heard the distinct clicking sound, reeling her that was successful at unlocking the door.

"Hell yeah, I still got it." she said with a grin, giving a little fist pump in victory. "Hehehe, I can't wait to see his reaction when he finds me sleeping next to him. Surely he won't be able to resist such a delicious morning meal~. Maybe we'll even do a bit of morning workout~!" 

Knowing him, it would most likely not happen, and she might even get thrown out of the room. But Maia just wanted to mess with the guy and get a few laughs out of the situation, there was no harm in that.

With a pleased smile, she slowly opened the door with a low creak.

Maia sneaked into the room, finding how she was right about Archer having locked the windows from before. Being light on her feet, she closed the door behind her before making her way towards his bed where she could see him still dozing off, not noticing the pair of clothes thrown at the corner of the room. For someone who constantly frowned, he did have a cute and innocent face when he let his hair down.

'Consider this as payback for turning me down.' 

With a cheeky smirk on her face, Maia removed her clothes once again, wanting the tan man to feel every bare inch of her bare body. She couldn't help but laugh evilly in her head, the sheer disbelief in his face was going to be fun to watch! 

She slowly removed the blanket…

Only to be turned to stone by what she discovered.

Sleeping on top of Archer, hidden behind the cover she just pulled were two beauties, one of which she recognised as being the Mayor's betrothed, and the other was a literal Dark Elf! The latter was so stacked, with her breast pressing against Archer's body making them look even bigger—causing the Queen of Mercenaries to be conscious about her lesser-sized chest. The two had their heads resting on his broad chest, while being as close to Archer as possible. The dark Elf had her hand resting on his chest, her breast squished on the hard muscle, while Anna had her hand resting on his stomach, dangerously close to his crotch.  Both were naked with messy hair, legs wrapped in Archer's own, the smell of sweat and something sweet in the air that was familiar to the princess. But what really got Maia's face twisted from disabelief to anger, was the satisfied and happy smiles on their angelic faces. The smile of someone who was left completely fulfilled.

"Hmmmm," Grace was the first one to wake up. "It's morning already?" 

The sunlight hit her face along with the sound of birds and the sudden cold which crept all over her body. She unconsciously seeked more warmth by diving deeper into Archer's embrace, her leg rubbing with his and pushing her face deeper into his neck, breathing out a sigh of content.

A vein formed on Maia's forehead.

Anna continued to sleep peacefully, a small smile on her face as she held his left arm tightly like a body pillow. Though the cold breeze also bothered her, as she grinded herself on his arm for some warmth—she was slowly waking up. Still half asleep, she slowly opened her eyes and gazed at the fuming Maia.

"Ara, Maia-sama… can you please close the door for us? It's getting cold here." She drew out tiredly, not realizing that they had been caught or that Maia was naked at the moment, and closed her eyes again and followed Grace's action by snuggling closer to the mildly uncomfortable man's neck, who looked like he was having a nightmare from his expression.

Woosh!

Maia threw the cover away and let out a bone chilling scream of fury.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!? WHAT THE FUCK ARCHER??!!! THIS ISN'T FUCKING FAIR!!!"

Her loud voice woke everyone up in the village as well as scaring Kin out of his bed on the other side of the building —confusing the mage as he believed that they were being attacked by demons.

Hicks, on the other hand, hoped that someone would just kill the massive hangover he was dealing with as he laid in an alleyway before he could return to his room. Maia's shout did not help his situation.

{Break}

(A few hours later)

The whole village gathered in front of the northern gates, seeing off the cavalry and the Princess Knight who were going to continue their journey to Geofu. 

The Mayor personally made a public speech that day, thanking the Queen of Mercenaries for her never-ending support and the safety she provided to their village. The people themselves all lined up handing out small gifts and rations for the Knights and mercenaries for their journey. 

During the entire time, Maia never uttered a single word and kept a constant frown on her face, which made the Mayor sweat nervously as he assumed the woman was dissatisfied with their services. Fortunately, Maia never complained about anything, making him wonder just what happened to have put her in a bad mood earlier.

He tried to ask her, but she countered with a, "Fuck off old man!" Scared out of his wits, the old man retreated behind Anna who stood beside him, but found out that the glare only intensified, making him almost pass out from fear.

"Let's go! We still have a long way to go!" Maia called everyone to the gates, not wanting to spend more time in the village.

"Take care, Archer-sama!" Grace waved at the bowman and so did Anna.

"Hm, yeah, thank you for your… hospitality." he said, unsure how to act around those two women, "The next time we meet, I hope things don't start off on the wrong foot."

"Ah, were there any issues?" The mayor asked, hearing Archer's words. "Has there been some kind of misunderstanding? I don't understand why Maia-sama is so displeased this morning."

"None of that happened, Ian." Anna answered, robotically, but with a hint of mischief. "Archer-sama has been a… delightful guest. I really hope you do come back, I would love to offer my services to you once again. Isn't that right, Grace?" 

Her coy tone was not lost on the Dark Elf, blushing from her friend's teasing.

"Come now, Anna, you're embarrassing the poor gal in front of this gentleman." The old man gazed at Archer and Grace, noticing the latter blushing like a young teenage girl, and nodded in understanding. "Archer-san, Grace over here has been present in our village for many years and helped out our small community numerous times. She is quite beautiful and very capable. It's a tragedy that her husband died so early on in his life... but she can't stay alone like this for the rest of her life. I'm sure getting a suitor for her would be the right choice, don't you think so?" He turned to his wife, looking for her opinion.

"Why, yes." Anna agreed, giving both Grace and Archer an amused look. "That would be very ideal."

Alright, he needed to leave before they started a wedding without his consent, or worse, a threesome for their honeymoon. 

"I'm good for now, thanks again for everything, and stay safe." he stressed that last part before getting on his horse and riding towards an irritated Maia and confused Brynn. 

As Hicks and Kin were going to try and assassinate him along the road today, he needed to stay on guard and keep his eyes open. Even with his advantage in magecraft, Archer learned to never underestimate his opponent, especially the likes of Kin—they were the most dangerous kind of venomous snakes. In fact, turning their plans against them, killing both second in command of the Kuroinu would be a major accomplishment for him, leaving only the leader and some grunts to take care of before he completed his mission.

{Break}

Back in the village, Anna walked to Grace's side, making sure that no one would hear them.

"Did you really have to go so far with the lie?" Anna heard her friend speak first, both still walking back to the tavern.

"Ah, I got caught." Not a single trace of surprise escaped her tone. 

"You're just lucky that Archer-san doesn't know you as well as I do. Though you almost had me fooled with you acting. Why did you do it? We could have left him in peace and not troubled him in the first place."

They had been together for decades, and Grace knew how to spot the signs when she began to act up. And last night, as they slept, she remembered how heavy she was breathing. With how strongly she was holding her hands, it was quite obvious to her that Anna lied.

"Hmmm, I guess I was scared that he would just kick us out. The man did deny the Princess Knight of all people, so why wouldn't he do the same with us? Though it wasn't a complete lie, I did feel calmer around him. But that calmness only lasted so long."

That was indeed unusual, well, at least she didn't regret what happened in the end.

"He's quite the man, don't you think so?"  Anna said, her tone sounding almost wistful. She gave a side glance at her longtime friend, "I never saw you getting so touchy with anyone in your sleep."

After Maia had stormed out of the room, she discovered how comfortable Grace had gotten with Archer. Holding him like there was no tomorrow. She decided to never let her friend forget about this moment and continued to tease her.

"Don't say it like that! You're the one who started all of this." Grace rebuked, blushing at her implication.

"I did, didn't I? But it's not like you weren't looking forward to it, he's quite handsome isn't he? All those amazing muscles, those steely eyes, and he felt warm to the touch. I had to resist the urge to make a move when we laid in his arms."

"..."

"He also matches a lot with the type of person you'd want. From what I gathered yesterday, he seems to have an interest in cooking as well—just like you do. He's calm, the man didn't once look at me or you with lust or desire." 

She wished they had enough time to get to know each other better. Their stay was too short and Anna believed that they would have gotten along quite well if he had stayed for a few more days. He was calm, and collected during stressful moments and was apparently a mage as well. Just from talking to him for a bit could she see that he was different from the rest, and that got her curious in wanting to know more about him.

Not to mention he was quite the specimen behind those clothes.

"Do you think we'll see him again?" Grace whispered, looking wistfully in the distance towards where Archer traveled to, with Anna following suit.

"Maybe, who knows. Humans live a very short life and are easily killed during conflicts. But we still have, what? Seven centuries ahead of us, right? Why not just embark on a journey like we did in the past and pray to the gods we cross paths at some point?" she proposed, catching Grace off guard.

"You mean…"

"Yes, I'm sure Archer-sama will be quite pleased to see us again while on the road or in Geofu if he stays there for long."

"B-But, our home…" 

Heilung Dorf was supposed to be their last stop, where they would settle in for good and start a life. Grace wanted to have a family of her own, a son and daughter to raise with love and care that she never got in her childhood.

"I-I mean, in the end, he's still a stranger who we met by accident. Is he really worth it for us to just give up everything we've built so far?"

"That is up to you, Grace, I'm happy with both paths. But many people miss out a lot in life because they hesitate. We will only know him for a fraction of our entire life, but it's better for that small moment to be filled without any regrets and full of happiness—for we can start all over again somewhere else." Anna explained patiently.

Despite them being nearly the same age, Grace for the most part kept that naive and innocent side of hers despite the countless tragedies she witnessed during the war, slowly becoming desensitized in the end The blonde Elf wanted the best for her long time friend and didn't want to see the latter become remorseful over a decision she made.

"Will the people hate us if we leave?"

"Only the mayor, he only ever wanted me as a trophy wife, we never slept together as a result of his old age. There was love between us in the past, but it died down these recent years. Did you forget how many people encouraged you to go out and look for that lucky fella to fall in love with after the death of your husband? Well, why don't we both search for that man for you, together? It's time to move on, our lives have just begun."

"..."

"Don't give me an answer now, take your time and we will discuss it in the future."

Anna said those final words leaving Anna at the Tavern and heading back to the mayor's house.

Whatever choice Grace made, Anna promised herself to always support her, no matter what… be as it may, a part of her did desire to see that man again and hope that Anna will be by her side along the way.

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 2 Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword having 3 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise and Snafu.