Prologue Part 1

Two armies stood facing each other on lush grassy plains that they would soon dye red with the great battle they would fight that would forever end the costly war they had fought for nearly a century.

On one side, a coalition army of humans, elves, dwarves, beastmen and other races stood united against the opposing army of demons who wished for nothing more than to enslave them.

Such an alliance was, under normal circumstances, impossible to form given the past races' previous conflicts, grudges, and conflicts with one another. Had it not been for one man, Charles Integra, the chosen Saviour of the Goddess, Ishta. He was a man of justice, loyalty, faith, and conviction. (Author's Note: As well as other good traits, I don't want to bother listing lest I bore you all.)

This great man who united the races against a common enemy stood at the head of the coalition army, dressed in a black and grey suit, a white cape with an inner layer made of the finest red velvet. His right arm was covered in white adamantine armour decorated with gold, with a mask made of the same materials with golden wings engraved around its forehead acting as the shoulder pauldron. In his left hand, he held an unusual black greatsword made by a master dwarven craftsman that looked straight out of a steampunk novel.

Charles gazed at the opposing army with fierce, gold, hawk-like eyes. His curly mid-length gray hair gently swayed with the wind and paired with his chiselled face that sported a mighty handlebar moustache. He was a gentleman that the ladies would drool over for. Even after learning about his age, which could be easily guessed given the wrinkles that formed on his face, they would probably get excited even more and develop an unusual preference for old men.

"Commander, a messenger from the Demon Army has arrived. They wish to conduct negotiations."

Turning around, Charles at a beautiful long, pale golden-haired, misty-eyed woman in her mid-twenties with beautiful small cherry lips one wished to suck upon, a sharp petite nose that gave her mature face a touch of cuteness, and pointed ears that revealed her to belong to the proud Elf race.

The Elf wore a white and grey sleeveless ballet-like outfit with a dangerously short skirt barely concealing her plump curvaceous rear and sacred womanly parts.

The short fluffy skirt revealed her seductively long and beautiful toned pale legs wearing white leggings with a trim of gold on the end of each garter belt that accentuated her lovely thighs.

Her upper body dress clung tightly to her body, promoting her slim waist that makes one feel it would snap from hugging it too tight, giving her a dash of frailness.

Several straps of white silk hugged her beautiful slender arms, and a thin choker attached to the dress decorated with a white ribbon held her dress in place.

Off-setting her beautiful mature face and well-endowed legs and rear was her small, perfect chest that made even the most celibate monk wish to toy with. Despite her lack of-

*Ahem!*

Despite her lack of bust, this only served to create a unique charm that could compete even with Aphronia and Lilith, the Saint of Beauty and the Mother of Succubuses respectively.

[Author's Note: Sorry to burst your bubble, but they have a low chance of appearing in the novel.]

Most men would immediately get down on their knees to confess and attempt to court this beautiful goddess incarnate if it weren't for the half dozen razor-sharp magic swords that radiated powerful magic floating beside which she could use to slice a man into seven pieces in the blink of an eye with just a mere thought.

This beautiful white rose of thorns was Izelia Arisphel, Charles' right-hand woman.

"Commander, what is your response?"

Charles contemplated for a moment before answering.

"Where do they request for us to meet?"

"In the middle of the battlefield where the negotiations could be seen and witnessed by all."

"Hmph, so they plan to give us a "generous" deal that would end this war on their terms if we accept, we bear the wrath of the citizens. On the hand, if we don't accept, we'll bear the wrath of the soldiers who don't want to risk their lives when peace could be achieved through diplomacy and negotiations."

"Your analysis is correct, Commander."

"Then let us negotiate. However, tell them we want both armies to witness our negotiations."

"Understood."

Izelia ordered a messenger to relay Charles' request to the Demon Army. While they waited for the messenger to return, Charles struck up a conversation with Lady ---.

"Do you remember the day we first met?"

Iseria raised an eyebrow in puzzlement.

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"How well do you still remember it? Can you recall the taste of the food you ate that morning? The faces of strangers you never met? How about the exact time you woke up or went to bed?"

Izelia let out a beautiful, gentle, tinkering laugh in amusement.

"Hahaha."

"Commander, elves rarely forget anything due to our incredibly long lifespan, especially for a High Elf like myself. If we become bored with our everyday life, we can always look back to our most memorable memories and relive those moments to pass the time."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

Charles closed his eyes for a few seconds, wondering whether he should ask her the question he had in mind.

He gave in and asked Izelia the question.

"Lady Izelia, do you remember how we first met?"

Izelia widened her eyes in surprise at the unexpected question. After the moment of surprise passed, her soft cherry-red lips formed a warm smile that could melt the coldest ice created by the legendary Ice Wizard, Certasos' ice magic.

"How could I ever forget that memory forty years ago? I came to the Capital of your country, Ezaran, to join the knight orders to obtain a plot of land for my people after the demons razed Elrunyia to the ground."

"It was during the recruitment tournament when I first met you. After becoming the champion of the tournament, I was informed by the Host that the Sword of the Goddess wished to challenge me."

"My first impression of you was an old, well-dressed and mannered rigid veteran that would go on long religious rants about how great the Goddess is."

"Never had I thought for a moment that the Sword of the Goddess would be a charismatic young man in the prime of his life with great dreams of peace and unification of all races on the continent."

It was Charles' turn to be surprised.

"Was that the first impression that you had of me?"

"Yes."

"What about the impression you have of me now?"

Lady Izelia daintily placed her beautiful, long, pale slender-fingered hand against her cheek and pondered for a short while before answering.

"Honestly, I think that you are still the same. Whether a thousand years pass, you'll still be the Commander I know. After all, our race owes you a great debt that could never be repaid."

"However, you have changed a little."

"In what aspect?"

Izelia softly blushed. Her beautiful snow-white skin became slightly pink with embarrassment and shyness, while her ears became a deep shade of red and constantly twitched up and down.

"You've become very-"

Izelia mumbled the rest of the sentence while her slightly flushed skin became visibly more pronounced.

"handsome and attractive."

After saying the final part of her sentence, she turned away in embarrassment.

Charles was stunned by Izelia's response. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that a member of the proud and beautiful High Elf race, rumoured to have been the chosen race of the Gods, would find mortals such as himself appealing.

The way she stumbled over her words made Charles suspect that Iseria might hold feelings for him. Although Charles saw her as a potential love interest and wouldn't mind marrying her, there is a problem with the difference in lifespan. An average human on Solaris could live roughly eighty years on average, while elves can easily live up to five centuries on average and still maintain their youthful looks. As the Chosen of the Goddess, Charles can live up to three centuries at best, and Izelia is already two centuries old, so there shouldn't be that big of a difference.

However, due to Izelia's origin as a noble High Elf, her people could live for several millennia and still be in the prime of their lives. As a great literature lover, Charles has read many books that depicted the tragic ending of how one lover dies prematurely and leaves their partner a grief-stricken widow for the rest of their lives. At least, that's how most of those tragic stories go.

Charles thought for a while and decided to put this matter on the shelf and have Izelia's opinion on this topic before they pursued such romance. They were still in the middle of a war, after all.

"Lady Izelia."

"Yes, Commander."

Izelia turned around to face Charles. Her face had already cooled down and returned to its beautiful snow-white colour, although her ears still had a tinge of red visible.

Charles hesitated before asking her.

Before Charles could ask the question he wished to ask Izelia, a messenger interrupted them.

"Commander! The demons have agreed to negotiate in the middle of the battlefield with both of our armies present to witness the negotiations!"

The messenger slightly shuddered as he felt a sudden murderous intent that came from nearby.

Just as he was about to panic, the murderous intent disappeared instantly as though it had been a lie.

(What was that!?!)

Little did the messenger know that murderous intent came from Charles, who was annoyed by how the messenger interrupted him when he was about to ask Izelia an important question.

Being the cool-headed commander and gentleman he was, he let this grievance go since the messenger was only doing his job and just came in at the wrong time by chance.

"Good, it will be the Demon King himself who arrives to negotiate, yes?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, return to your post and wait for further commands."

"Yes, sir."

After the messenger left, seeing that the negotiations would begin soon, Charles turned to Izelia and said,

"Lady Izelia, we have been through thick and thin together and have been through countless ordeals that would break even the most firm of faith's spirit in two several times over. I give to you this."

Charles took out a small black box and opened it to reveal a beautiful silvery ring wrought of unknown material inlaid with a green gem that radiated a beautiful soothing aura that made one feel at ease and refreshed. If one stared at the emerald-like gem for long enough, one could recall the happiest memories from the past, no matter how deeply they've been lay forgotten.

Izelia was stunned by the ring Charles had taken out, and various emotions could be seen conflicting with each other on her face.

"This-"

Charles hushed her and gave her the box containing the ring.

"Lady Izelia, I know what this ring means, so please keep it for now. After this is over, you can decide whether to accept it or not. For now, let us go see what the Demons try to offer."

Izelia could not find any words to say after being suddenly given a ring from the man who she fought alongside for decades. All she could do was accept.

"I understood. Once this ordeal is over, I will give you my answer."

Although his face didn't show it, Charles was on cloud nine seeing that Izelia didn't reject the ring.

"Excellent, then let us see this matter be dealt with as soon as possible."

[Author's Note: For those who can't tell, the guy in this novel's cover art is Charles. For those curious about how Iseria looks, I will feature her in the cover art sometime in the future. This was also my first time trying to write about a beautiful woman, so go easy on the criticism.]

[Author's Note: I'm splitting the Prologue into two parts, this is the introduction of Charles and Izelia, the next part would be negotiations and how Charles gets isekai-ed.]

[Additional Author's Note: Credits to the company Smilegate and their game Epic Seven for being the inspiration for the creation of Charles and Iseria, this novel wasn't sponsored by them, but I still recommend checking out the game. It has fantastic art, a unique storyline and various colourful characters you don't want to miss out on.]