20: Confrontation

"I'm sorry, but this is a final decision, there is no way I will change my mind" - replied Ren as he folded his arms - "In fact, if it wasn't because it is extremely necessary, I wouldn't even initiate this operation because it is too dangerous."

"Ren, I know you love your subordinates, but you have to understand that if you want to successfully finish your plan you are going to have to make sacrifices" - said Eric as he shook his head - "This is not a problem of morals, but of reality."

Ren remained silent as he frowned - "Ok, I understand that, but I remark my point, I'm not going to let you go on this mission, Erika, I don't care if you think I'm showing favoritism, but it's impossible for me to put the woman I love in danger."

Erika blushed before lowering her head as the prince's words echoed in her heart, though the situation didn't end there, because everyone could see how the back of the two lovers was starting to glow.

"Here he is!" - Elisabeth and Rhea exclaimed in their thoughts with excitement - "The awakening!"

Eric frowned slightly before walking over to his friend and removing the top of his clothes, showing off his well-trained physique.

Erika blushed, though her expression changed to one of disbelief when she saw the dragon tattoo on her beloved's back, which made her heart pound so hard it made her feel a pain in her chest - "Ugh..."

"Are you okay, Erika?" - Rhea asked as she feigned concern, not because she didn't care about her former slave, but because she was aware of the whole situation, even the notification that had appeared, reaffirmed what she thought.

[Heroine, [Erika Belldandy], and hero, [Ren D. Bahamut], have synchronized their awakenings].

[Character, [Erika Belldandy] has gained the ability [Belldandy's Blessing].... Character, [Ren D. Bahamut], has gained the skill [Heroic Awakening]...]

Rhea smiled slightly as she gave a quick glance to Elisabeth, who nodded at the signal.

The two girls knew of the two skills awakened by the heroes.

In Erika's case, [Belldandy's Blessing], it was an ability that was one active and one passive. The first one consisted of a healing that could be used every 30 minutes, and could heal up to a deep cut, as for her passive, it was an offensive power boost, as long as Ren was nearby.

On the other hand, Ren's ability, [Heroic Awakening], was a passive ability that increased his damage and pain resistance the more damage he took, it also increased troop morale to the maximum if Erika was nearby.

Their powers aside, Erika and Ren's first awakening was good news because it drastically increased the odds of mission success.

Ren was surprised, more so when he felt how the connection with Erika seemed to deepen again, though this caused him enormous confusion.

"That mark..." - Ren muttered as he felt a file appear in his mind - "Belldandy?"

Eric looked at his best friend, confused at these words because it didn't make sense that he would say the name of the goddess of light, protection and motherhood.

"¿?" - Erika gave him a confused look, though for some reason, she felt this name was oddly familiar.

"Did you know it?" - Ren asked as he looked at Elisabeth and Rhea, who didn't seem surprised at this revelation- "Did you know that Erika was part of the Belldandy clan, and I was a Dragonhart?"

"Dragonhart!" - Eric exclaimed in surprise, after all, that last name carried enormous weight on the continent.

"Belldandy? Dragonhart?" - Erika repeated as she tried to recall a story her mother had told her in the past - "You mean Draco Dragonhart, the ancient hero, and the priestess Bea Belldandy?"

The story of the group of heroes who had banded together to stop the demon god was known to everyone on the continent, though far from taking it as real, people thought it was merely a fantasy story, though the various kingdoms on the continent knew that this story was completely true, after all, the kings and emperors were descendants of the people who followed Dragonhart and Belldandy in their battle against the fallen god.

"No matter how much I think about it, it's stupid to think that you guys knew about our identities when even we didn't" - Ren said with a frown - "But... there is still a possibility, though before this, I would like you to be honest with me and tell me what you know."

Elisabeth and Rhea looked at each other, surprised at Ren's attitude. The two girls were silent as they seemed to be arguing with their eyes, only to let out a sigh and nod.

"Your majesty, I knew because I can see the future" - replied Rhea while lying through her teeth, after all, she knew that if she told the truth, one of two scenarios could happen. The first was that Ren would consider her a madwoman, and throw her out of the group, which would basically mean her death, or second, Ren would believe her and then the whole plot would go to shit because there was no way someone wouldn't try to change the situation when they had information about what was going to happen, as well as those responsible for these changes.

Ren frowned slightly because he could feel how this girl was lying to him, though at the same time he could sense that she wasn't hostile against him, so he let it go for now. Maybe in the future she would decide to tell him the truth, so he focused his attention on his old friend, oh, and he sure wouldn't let her get away, after all, a lot of her actions over the past few years were fucking weird.

Elisabeth started to sweat when she noticed Ren's expression, so she quickly ducked her head.

"Don't try to tell me that you can also see the future, that lie I won't accept twice" - Ren said neutrally, and in the process, making Rhea duck her head in shame, after all, the prince's words showed that he knew she was lying.

"I... this is my second life" - Elisabeth replied as she let out a sigh.

Ren frowned because he felt that she was telling the truth - "Go on..."

"I came back from the future, and I saw what my actions caused, not only to me, but to everyone around me" - Elisabeth continued as she bit her lip.

Ren remained silent because he could feel the contradiction in his friend's words. Her words were true, although he managed to detect that there were lies in that sentence, but he didn't know which ones were true, and which ones were false.

"Back to the past?" - Eric repeated with a frown.

Elisabeth gave him a hurt look before explaining her backstory, or rather, the backstory of the Elisabeth from the game [Dragon Frontier], which caused Eric to frown even more.

Ren was silent again because he could feel the truthfulness of his friend's words, though at the same time he felt as if she was trying to tell someone else's story, not a personal story, which caused another contradiction.

Eric didn't know what to say, he was confused, hurt and enraged, although a look from his friend made him calm down. It seemed that Ren had detected something strange in Elisabeth's words, so there was a possibility that his fiancée's actions were not repeated in this timeline.

"I only have one question to ask you" - Ren said as he looked Elisabeth straight in the eyes - "Your past life... Were you really Elisabeth?"

The curly brown-haired girl started to sweat when she heard this question. It was obvious that the prince had managed to find the contradiction in her confusion.

Eric also looked at his fiancée because he also felt this was strange. No matter how hard Elisabeth tried to change, if her confession was true, then she would still be showing little glimpses of her past, after all, bad habits were the hardest to change.

Rea also began to sweat because the moment Elisabeth revealed that she came to another world, there was a possibility that Ren would move his line of thinking to her also being a reincarnated one.

Elisabeth was silent for a few seconds before she felt her throat tighten, as if her throat did not want to release a single word.

Ren stood idly by as he calmly waited for her friend to finish with her confession, although he had discovered some interesting things so far, however, he didn't plan on saying them out loud.

"I-I... I was one of Elisabeth-sama's maids" - Elisabeth answered as she continued sweating - "I saw how everything unfolded, and I couldn't take it anymore, so I revealed this information to Eric-sama because I couldn't continue to see how someone so kind suffered at the hands of such a vulgar woman"

"False, at least not all of it" - Ren thought as he narrowed his eyes - "Elisabeth's original identity wasn't a servant, but that she revealed the truth about Eric's fiancée is true, which makes at least the feelings she has for my friend real"

Ren nodded slowly, which made Eric, Elisabeth and Rhea, let out a sigh of relief.