Episode 07

[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]

The moment Rance had tied Maria up with the SM rope, he smirked as if straight up forgetting what he had done a little a little earlier (cracking his bones, literally while having a distant stare and creepy smile).

"You've got to be kidding me!" Maria shouted with embarrassment, trying to deny the fact that something terrible was going to happen while she couldn't really move her arms, yet could still move her legs normally. "Th.... this isn't what I expected you to do!"

"Hey, you agreed to my plan along with the others, okay? If it means having a small sacrifice for something greater, then this would be good enough!" Rance declared, with confidence always seen on him, and most of the people inside the room sighed.

"Rance...." Shizuka stared at Rance with a frown creeping down her face, worried about Maria ".... If anything bad happens to Maria, you'll pay."

"Yeah, yeah. Seems like you forgot the time when I saved you from Chenezale." He replied with a thumbs up, and Shizuka clicked her tongue, trying to deny his reply.

"Muu.... Onii-chan, we believe you can get through their defenses with that plan of yours, and you would be able to free the brainwashed Leazas Soldiers!" Milli spoke, bobbing her head with enthusiasm.

"Alright, we'll have to go now. Time is running short." Rance said, suddenly carrying the tied up Maria and strode out of the building and towards the entrance of Custom, Sill and Kanami following him closely.

He heard about Gazel Gode still being bedridden, and Chisa was treating him every single day. Although he could do something about it he figured that the time wasn't now.

When a townsperson approached him and asked him with some suspicion about Maria, he told him about his plans. Although risky, Rance was taking it anyways as a great reward awaited him.

The moment he exited the town, he was totally surprised by the Helmanian Troops sitting out on the grassy fields.

".... Huh?"

Rance, Kanami, Sill, and even the tied up Maria were all confused.

"What's wrong with them?" Sill asked, noticing some torn up flags around the ground nearby. Once they approached the soldiers, they seemed really down for some reason.

"Wow, you all look like sitting ducks here! I mean, what is wrong with you?" Rance couldn't help but ask the Helmanians, as some of them looked at him with some apathy.

".... Our country left us here to die."

"Patton Helman doesn't care for us anymore..."

".... we're completely exiled in the middle of battle."

Rance was just... very confused. And this time, worried even for his enemies. He must have modified their memories a little too hard.

".... What a hassle...." Rance spoke, scratching his cheek as he put Maria down to think of something else. Something that might motivate these idiots.

To be honest, he's kinda deciding between killing them or letting them be, or maybe....

A few magic circles appeared before his mouth, and what they do is simply amplify his voice to a certain extent, that's all.

"How about you become my subordinates then?" Rance asked, bringing their attention to him.

He began to tell them that they shouldn't just sit down here and die like worthless ants who have gotten paralyzed and had nowhere to return to, that they should be changing right now. Due to a long, almost tiring speech that he felt quite bored on because he hadn't even tried to make it quite long and he wasn't used to it....

And yes, he spouted out bullshit and he hoped they would even accept it.

They did, and Rance commanded them to pick up the torn up Helmanian flags and gather them in front of him.

"There shall be no turning back, for this is your final choice! Let this be the proof that you have effectively turned against your home empire!" Rance spoke, inwardly gulping when he extended his hand forward and focused on fusing the torn up flags.

A bright glow emanated in front of him, as everyone watched in awe at his process of creating something. When he was done, two, large yellow colored flags with different black symbols printed on the middle of it appeared on both his hands.

One had a black Helman Emblem, and the other had an Elegant "R" on it, the same on his Hyper Armor and Sword.

"Hm, this looks really good." He spoke, nodding his head. "Right, let's change some of yours, too." After speaking, he waved his hand forward and changed the dark blue uniforms of 200 troops into the ones on the flags he recently created.

Doing so doesn't really cost much mana, other than a few intermediate spells. Aside from that, he pointed at the remaining 100.

"All of you will come with me. The rest, or the yellow wearing soldiers now under me will stay here. Understood!?"

"Yes, sir!"

[ ~ Line • Break ~ ]

Rance, now disguised again, had marched with 100 of his troops to L'Zille with Maria Custard on his shoulder, casually grabbing her butt from time to time.

Maria was in fact annoyed and very embarrassed that he was definitely doing that in front of a large group of people, too.

When they were near L'Zille, they noticed a large amount of brainwashed Leazas Soldiers ready for battle. Kanami commented something about them, yet Rance ignored it for the sake of this mission.

When he was close, a guardsman that was near the gates approached him while observing the troops behind him.

"Sir, you've returned." The guardsman spoke with respect, and curiosity.

"The others are still fighting, I've only retrieved an important hostage." Rance replied, before he continued with a grin behind his helmet "Lead me to Lord Henderson, he would be happy to see the girl on my shoulder."

"Please follow me." The guardsman nodded, and did as asked.

When they arrived to where Henderson was, the pale skinned, pointy nosed man turned to their direction.

"Oh? What is it?"

Henderson looked up to the disguised Rance's helmeted face with curiosity just before Rance suddenly tossed Maria on the ground.

"Ow! You....!" Maria shouted, yet she refrained from speaking a word more to not blow up their cover.

"Here's the girl you asked." Rance spoke without much care in the world, even ignoring Maria too. "Had to find a way inside Custom without getting seen much even though it felt quite troublesome."

Henderson looked at the ground, no, towards Maria as he recognized her by her fave and hair.

"Oh, this girl is...!" Henderson's eyes widened in surprise, as his grin became creepily wider. "... kyyyyYYYAAAAAAAAA~!"

Henderson screamed a spine-chilling one, something that was unpleasant to the ears. Then, he stared hungrily at Maria.

"Wait, wait, wait! Where were you, Custard!? I've been sending love letters to you every single day, waiting for your response, you know!?" Henderson yelled, stepping closer to Maria "You're the destined partner given to me by God! When the reports were given to me, I was surprised! My angel was there, at Custom!"

Henderson giggled creepily, twirling his fork on his hand.

"Tender! Cute! Juicy! That's who you are! A perfect meal just for me, even I want to eat your name~!"

At this point, Henderson took another step forward and picked Maria up.

"Ahh! No! Get away from me creep!" Maria shouted as fear began to crawl around her skin. Goosebumps were also there, too.

But before they could proceed further, a Helman Knight approached Henderson.

"Excuse me, Lord Henderson!"

"Hm? What is it, Spruons?"

"The Leazas Soldiers brainwashed by Miss Sapphire are ready for a full-scale operation!"

"Deputy Secretary Spruons, I'll leave Custom's invasion all to you, it's only an easy victory, so I'll have to refrain from doing anything else...." Henderson's cheeks lifted up sadistically "... I'm going to have my fun devouring Maria Custard."

Before Henderson acted more, he glanced at the disguised Rance.

"Well, you did do a hard job trying to get who I asked, so from now on, you'll officially be the 3rd army's second-in-command!" Henderson spoke casually, finding Rance to be quite a skillful soldier before turning back and carrying Maria somewhere, all while Spruons went silent for a moment before carrying out his task.

So, what should Rance do now?

Decisions, decisions...

[ ~ Chapter • End ~ ]

Fun Fact: Henderson Dauntless always has a fork on his hand.