Arranged marriage

In the centre of the old church on the outskirts of Chandola, 

Systie stood ahead of the glowing projection of Terra-sama and said, "I'll delete <Divine Projection>."

"Are you sure?" the goddess asked, raising an eyebrow. "If you delete that skill, Ervin won't be able to contact me through you anymore."

The cat nodded. She knew the adversities of losing the skill but had thought this through. There was a great solution to this minor inconvenience.

"We can always contact you through the church!" the cat said with a satisfied smile, but Terra-sama felt her world shake at that statement. She waved her hands furiously in refusal, a horrified look on her face.

"Nope, absolutely not. I will not respond to any calls from the church. The only reason this stupid crystal responded is because of the material I used to make your blue eyes. I'm onto you now—this won't happen again."

Systie's ears drooped a little, though she still sported a faint smile. "I… see," she said, opening her mouth again to offer another solution, but she suddenly felt a shadow loom over her. The color drained from the cat's face at the thought of someone finding out about her connection with the goddess.

"NYAAAA!" Systie roared—or at least, it was supposed to be a roar. Instead, it came out as more of a high-pitched squeak. Regardless, she lunged toward the shadow, claws outstretched, aiming to finish off the intruder in one blow. However, the shadow vanished, slipping into the darkness like smoke. Her claws sliced through empty air.

She looked around, trying to find the intruder, but then heard a voice from behind her.

"Hey, relax, it's just me!" the newcomer said. Systie felt like she recognized the voice. She turned to find Ervin staring at her, letting out a relieved sigh.

"Oh, hello there, human! When did you get here? And how much did you hear?" the cat asked, giving him the most innocent smile in the world.

That innocent look never failed to infuriate him. "At least look at the person behind you before trying to take a chunk out of their neck!" he yelled, then continued, "Well… I arrived when you were talking about deleting one of your skills."

---

A While Ago…

I was in the guildhall, sitting across from two beauties (lucky me!) and discussing entering the trio-battle league. 

But something about the silver-haired princess had been bugging me for a while. She said she was a princess, but there were no guards around her, and none of the other adventurers seemed to care.

I mean, the redhead is also a noble, and she's a chronic drunkard, so maybe this world's ruling class is full of morons like Arya? I was dearly hoping that wasn't the case, but the nobles I'd seen so far weren't exactly filling me with confidence.

"So, are you really a princess?" I asked, leaning forward on the table at the guildhall.

The silver-haired girl just raised an eyebrow, clearly confused, so I elaborated. 

"Um… You see, you don't exactly *feel* like a princess. I mean, don't get me wrong, you look gorgeous, but aren't princesses usually incredibly rich idiots who always have guards tailing them? Where's your entourage?"

Apparently, my statement was somehow funny! The princess was trying, and failing, to hide a small smile at the corners of her mouth.

"Princesses aren't idiots, but some princes are. Don't say that in any other place—they would hang you upside down, naked. Anyway, as for my guards, I ditched them and escaped from the palace unannounced."

Arya and I both gaped at that bombshell. "WHAT?!" we shouted in unison.

The princess just shrugged, not the least bit bothered. "My situation is a bit complicated. My father informed me that I would be married off to the crown prince of a neighboring country. Didn't even bother telling me the guy's name. Tch." She clicked her tongue and continued.

"Apparently, the engagement announcement is planned for right after the Trio Battle League. I wanted to have some fun with Arya before then, but my father opposed it, so I eloped."

Arya immediately launched herself at the princess, throwing her arms around her with a protective gleam in her eyes. 

"Are you happy with the marriage? Do you need help? I know, I'll burn that foreign prince to a crisp before the marriage!"

Arya finished while threateningly holding her wand, but then a fist pounded into her head. 

"You walking nuke! You'll do no such thing. I'm not against the marriage—I understand my duty. I just wanted to enjoy my time with you before it happens."

I scratched my head, trying to process it all. 

It's true that I envied the luxurious life of a princess, but having no control over one's own life wasn't something I wanted to experience. The idea of sharing a bed with a random guy (or girl) just didn't appeal to me. The princess didn't seem to hate the marriage, though. 

"It is what it is. Let's just focus on the tournament, alright? We've got bigger things to worry about than my love life." She said, but I still had a few questions.

"So you want to enjoy the next eight months with your friend, but wouldn't the king find you and take you back before that?" I asked. There was no way we could hide from a king for too long, especially if we were going to participate in a tournament.

"You don't need to worry about that. I left my father a message saying he wouldn't receive any goodnight wishes or cuddles from me if he stopped me from enjoying my time. He'll send spies to keep an eye on me, but he won't take me back." The princess said with such confidence that I had to recheck my ears to make sure I heard correctly.

So essentially, her father is a mega simp! Then why the heck did he agree to a political marriage? I had no idea, but it must be due to some kingly duties. Honestly, I had no way (at least right now) to help her cancel the marriage, so I decided to do the next best thing—make sure she had a good time during the tournament.

"Alright then! Let's do our best and win a lot of money," I said, happy to have another rich teammate (no way she would be interested in money, which means I get all the prize money, muhaha).

The redhead and the princess both nodded enthusiastically.

After that little chat, we turned to the mission board to start prepping for the Trio Battle League.

"Don't pick random missions. Pick the ones that are challenging and need teamwork," the princess said while scanning the board with a critical eye.

But I felt something was off. Looking around, I noticed the absence of a certain black furball.

"Huh, that's weird," I muttered. "Arya, have you seen my cat?"

Arya shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment, sensing the area around us. Half a minute later, she smirked. "Your cat's in a church on the outskirts of the city. Has it taken up prayer or something?"

I blinked. Prayer? Systie? The same cat who hissed at birds and gave me attitude every day? That didn't sound right, but the cat is a massive fan of Terra-sama so I guess I will check it out.

"I'm going to go find my cat," I said. "We can go on a mission tomorrow."

With that, I left Arya and Lily to continue planning, while I made my way toward the church.

A few minutes later, I arrived at the old church.

The place was mostly abandoned, save for a few priests here and there. I slipped into <Lurk > and sneaked inside, hoping to find my missing feline.

After searching around every corner, I found the cat at the very center of the church. She was all alone, sitting and talking with the projection of Terra-sama. I leaned in close and heard them discuss skill deletion.

Apparently, Systie was thinking about deleting a skill that would stop me from contacting the goddess.

'Hold on a second… no more goddess connections means no more gifts!' I thought. 'We can't have that!'

And that's how I ended up shadow-stepping behind her, only to nearly get my throat clawed out.

"Anyway, how are you planning on contacting the goddess after deleting that skill?" I asked, my mind already working on potential solutions. Terra-sama didn't seem thrilled with the church idea, but I had a way to contact the goddess that might actually be ok with her.

Looking at the cat, I had a feeling that it had the same idea as me. 

It excitedly turned toward me and said, "Let's steal the goddess statue and use it to communicate with her?" Yep, that's exactly what I was thinking!

"Sure," I said with a wide grin. We both then turned toward Terra-sama, who had clearly been listening in on our devious plot.

To my surprise, the goddess sighed and shrugged. "Fine. I'll keep this one crystal statue connected, but that's it! No more crystal activations through blue-eyed cats!"

Systie puffed up proudly at our success, while I activated <Shadow Step>, preparing to snag the statue immediately.

Just as I reached out to grab it, a soft 'click' echoed through the church. A transparent barrier appeared over me and Systie, trapping us in place. I could shadow-step out of this, but Systie was stuck.

A second after the barrier surrounded us, we heard footsteps approaching. A single priest, dressed in white robes, appeared at the entrance, his eyes wide with awe as he looked toward us (well, mostly at the black cat near my feet).

The priest then kneeled on the ground, saying, "Greetings, Systie-sama. This humble priest is so happy to be in your presence!" 

The guy looked like he'd just found the greatest treasure in the world.