Chapter 9 - She is Broken

"Urghhh..." As soon as he opened his eyes, Arthur was greeted with a somewhat familiar wooden ceiling. What just happened? Shouldn't he be on the way back to Aram Church along with others? Did he pass out?

"What just happened? I can't recall anything other than being with two beauties plus a child and leading them through a forest..." Oh, wait, that sounds so wrong, especially the child part.

As he attempted to move his body, he felt something heavy on his stomach. It was occupied by Anne, who was sleeping soundly and resting both her head and hands there.

"She looks so innocent when asleep...Except for the drooling part." Anne is indeed drooling on his bare stomach, which can be felt as her saliva hits his skin. His eyes move to look at the table's candlelight and then through the window — It's already nighttime; the moon is already up, and the beautiful stars are visible in the sky...How long did he pass out?

"Ummmm..." Anne slowly opened her eyes, then raised her head from his stomach. Stare at him for more than ten seconds before rubbing her left eye to clear away the crust.

"Good morning, sleepy head, or should I say good night? Oh wait, that's something I should say before you go to sleep, so how about a good wake-up? Okay, that wasn't good."

"Oh, Morning Arthur...Huwaaaaghhh~!" Anne stretched her body by reaching her arms overhead and interlocking her fingers — It seemed like she still wore the same torn outfit as he could see her white bra.

"Wait..." Anne realized something and rubbed her eyes before blinking for a few seconds. "Arthur!? You awake!?" Anne exclaimed.

"Well, I'm currently talking to you right now, so yeah, I think I'm awake," Arthur said with a smile.

"Idiot..." She placed her right fist on his chest, looking down at her knee before moving her head to look at him and giving him a beautiful smile. "Can you stop making a sarcastic remark like that...It annoys me to the core." She muttered, still smiling at him.

"Heh...Anne, why are you so damn cute?"

"Ehhhhh!?" Anne pulled away her hand from his bare chest with a flushed face making Arthur chuckle in amusement. Even though Anne has a killer body that can allure any type of man astray, her personality is more to a cute side than a sexy side.

He really wished that Anne was a flat-chest girl so he could tease her more.

"I-Idiot! Stop staying stupid stuff like that!"

"Hahaha, sorry bout that." He patted her head; In response to the sudden head pat, Anne pouted but did not attempt to push his hand away since she was enjoying the sensation.

"You better be..." She muttered, but then something clicked in her mind. "I'm so sorry, Arthur." She avoided making eye contact with him.

"Sorry? For what?"

"For dragging you into this stuff."

"Jeez, why so dramatic? It's not really a big deal, plus I was dragged by Sister Iris, so it is what it is." He then notices how sad Anne looks before adding. "Even if she didn't drag me, I will somehow go to you once I hear about the situation."

"But you fainted."

"Anne, stop blaming my condition on yourself. I just fainted out of exhaustion, and not like I was going to die or anything."

"But I still feel bad about it." Anne then widened her eyes when something clicked in his mind and quickly moved her head to look at Arthur. "I get it; how about I grant you one wish!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"Ergggghhhh...Can we just end this and, you know, go back to sleep?" Arthur stated.

"No, Let me grant one of your wishes first!"

"Then bring me a princess for me to marry."

"You know I can't do that, be realistic." Anne stated before, "...Plus, I don't want you to marry someone other than me, " she muttered, ensuring that Arthur didn't hear it.

"Turn me into a God."

"Like I said, be realistic. That is a freaking heresy." Anne crossed her arms under her breasts and raised her eyebrows at Arthur's request.

"Say the nun who doesn't even believe in her goddess."

"Fine, request anything you want from me, and don't request some bizarre stuff."

"So wanna go to Polemistis Kingdom and hunt a vampire that can stop the time for ten seconds?"

"Who wants to go to a Kingdom full of sand? Plus, hunt a vampire that can stop time? What are you? Nine?"

"Well, that is an insult towards nine years old kids."

"You mean an insult toward you?"

"Nah, I have the brain of a five-year-old."

"Be serious, you idiot." Due to his somewhat sassy attitude, Anne can't help but scold him. "Ask something I can grant to you, not something I can't. Oh God, how many times should I repeat this?" She placed her hand on her head.

"Well, like I said, I don't want anything from you, but since you insisted, Let me kiss you."

"Eh!? Just that!?" Anne honestly expected more from him, like marking her by spanking her buttocks or maybe stepping on her to assert his dominance but what he requested was relatively mild in comparison.

Arthur smirked at her question, "What do you expect, something more sexual? You perv~"

"O-of course not!" Anne was sweating bullets at his question as her cheek reddened in embarrassment.

"Well, as much as I want to play with you like I said this morning, Sadly, I was rather tired from exhaustion... Can't really do muc- Wait, I have a question."

"What question?"

"How come I felt more tired than you?" He asked. It was weird for him that he somehow passed out due to exhaustion while Anne didn't, despite she being the one who was fighting against Margarette.

Anne shrugged at him. "I don't know; maybe I'm stronger than you?" perfect answer, considering that he had yet beat her even once in his entire life as Arthur, but the question was how much stronger she was compared to him?

"Can you show me your scroll?"

"Well, Sure [Vises]" She summoned her divine scroll in her right hand before handing it to him. As soon as he read it, he was stunned by her stats.

Name: Anne [?]

Rank: -

Strength: B [85]

Agility: C [64]

Endurance: B [107]

Mana: A [372]

Water: D [34]

Earth: E [12]

Fire: C [47]

Air: F [4]

Light: D [25]

What the actual hell!? This isn't a status for someone who just received her [Divine Ritual]. This is some kind of status for a freaking Adept Class mage! While he was slightly above the criteria for Initiate Class, Anne is totally in the rank of Adept; if not for her somewhat unbalanced four primary elements, she would have reached the wizard rank.

Mage Rank goes like this Initiate > Apprentice > Adept > Wizard > Archwizard > Master > Grand Master. How the hell did she be so far for him to reach? Is she has some kind of protagonist buff or what? Especially her having one of the two rarest elements in this world...Light Element

Devil's Durability: D

Devil's Nature: C

Master of Combat: C

Mind's Eyes: E

The Dragon Slayer: B

Child of Light: B

Child of Fire: B

Oh wow...Even though he doesn't understand most of the blessings written on this scroll, He feels that this perverted woman is way more broken than he expected...