"OH, FOR HEL'S SAKE!"
*UMPH*
But even the gust of air unleashed by Blanid's movement was drowned by Rotsard's annoyed shout and the shockwave he caused while catching her!
"Nnnm!?"
The sudden stop and realization of what had happened that followed forced a little whimper out of the petite black-haired girl.
…or maybe the voice she made was caused by the fact that she was fast enough to mess up the way Rotsard wanted to catch her.
The white-haired giant intended to grab Caladbolg's shadow with one hand, while grabbing Blanid by her waist with the other.
What ended up happening was, he caught Caladbolg's shadow with the tips of his index and middle fingers of his right hand, while catching the hasty girl with his left one…
And while the index, middle, and ring fingers were wrapped around Blanid's waist, the thumb was pointing towards her shoulder… while nested between her modest breasts… As for the pinky finger… it was wrapped under one of the girl's thighs…
The inner thigh.
All brushing against a lot more than they were intended to.
Needless to say, all the momentum, power, and mana poured into the attack were dispersed as if they were never gathered, leaving all the witnesses stunned.
"It's nice to meet you properly, Blanid. Now, can ALL OF YOU just listen to me before jumping to conclusions?!"
"..."
"..."
"...nn…!"
"Nrao?"
Rotsard roared, and while Demi-Leigh and Syon shut their mouth and stepped to the sides, Blanid did try to keep quiet but ended up twitching and arching her back while the tiniest whimper escaped her mouth, which caused Polaris, still on her shoulder, to let out a worried growl as it had no idea what its master was going through.
"And as for you…!"
Completely unbothered about how Blanid was reacting to his action, the white-haired giant turned back to the gargantuan monstrosity, raising his voice.
"You scared them, Cryo. I told you to get rid of that filth before crossing back."
"???"
"...?!"
Rotsard sighed, sounding as if he was reprimanding a child, utterly stunning Syon and Demi-Leigh.
…while Blanid had her own thing going on…
As that happened, not just the tips but the entirety of the antler-like arms turned to ice…!
By that point, at least Syon realized that it wasn't a preparation for an attack but rather the monstrosity being attacked!
Demi-Leigh figured that out as even the bulging eye lost its luster, stopped moving, and got covered with a layer of frost.
But the four-legged body kept moving, completely fine.
*THUMP*
It even sat down, taking over three-quarters of the Academy's grounds, barely fitting between the buildings of the dormitories!
For the final moments of the starfish-like monstrosity, it blinked…
*CRACK*
Only that it turned out that it did not have white, fanged eyelids. Instead had been carried in the jaws of a gargantuan white wolf that simply chomped down on it, crunching down and shattering it into fine dust!
While the other two were staring up at the titanic beast sitting down like a guarding dog, Rotsard placed Blanid back on the ground and leaned down…
"No take-backs~"
"...eh…!?"
He whispered playfully into the flushed girl's ear, causing her to freeze up and mutter a barely audible gasp in utter disbelief.
"Although hasty and crude, I appreciate how you asked me to marry you. Takes a lot of courage, even though you thought that you would die. Of course, I accept, Blanid~"
"???"
Rotsard hummed in Blanid's ear, gently lifting her left hand where, in the soft glow, an engagement ring was woven from ice mana right on her ring finger, stunning the girl completely still.
"Oh, and since it seems misunderstandings are unbelievably common between us, I'll say it outright. You are now my third official fiancee and you will become one of my official wives. No convenient woman business. Full rights, full love, and attention. Understood?"
"..."
The white-haired giant was going to straighten his back and address the gargantuan wolf, but then he furrowed his brows and leaned back down, adding in a hushed voice, which caused Blanid to stare up at him in complete silence with a blank expression.
"..."
Without changing her expression, she lowered her head and stepped closer to the white-haired giant and…
"Oh…?"
Surprised him by hugging his leg, wrapping her arms as tightly as she could around it while burrowing her face in the linen-imitating fabric of his white pants.
"U-uuuuuuuu…! Thankkf yhou… Thaaaafhnh yhouuu…!"
And then, her shoulders, and she as a whole, began trembling uncontrollably and started bawling her eyes out as her voice broke down.
"Nrao…! Nrao!"
"It's okay, sweetie. I know she's crying, but humans sometimes cry when they are happy, too."
That behavior greatly disturbed her contracted fae, but Rotsard was quick in calming it down.
"Give her a moment~"
Rotsard smiled while lightly brushing Polaris's head before gently patting Blanid's back.
"Ehem… by any chance, could we have a moment of your time…?"
"...?"
As was quite easy to see it coming, Syon cleared his throat and spoke up to get Rotsard's attention.
"Wh-what is going on…?"
The homunculus asked with a distressed expression, while the humongous wolf was simply sitting down peacefully without paying much interest to the creatures below.
"That's what I should be asking. I've dealt with one measly deofol, got momentarily abducted by the current Arch Deofol, and once I got back, half of the Royal Academy was gone, and another deofol and deofolized human was running around!"
The white-haired giant furrowed his brows and scoffed, asking back instead of answering.
"I mean…"
"No, no, I'm joking~ Don't make such a pitiful face~"
That made Syon flinch and mumble while lowering his gaze with shame, but Rotsard just laughed, waving his hand dismissively.
"Long story short, the current Arch Deofol isn't interested in humanity's destruction. He prevented it once, actually… We had a talk, and everything is fine now. The story was made up, by the way."
"It's WHAT!?"
The white-haired giant shrugged his shoulders and really did his best in condensing the explanation perhaps too much, because when he glanced over at Demi-Leigh and pointed out, it caused her to call out in terror.
"Yes≤ it was. By the way, he said he regrets sharing it with you. So you know, betraying the kingdom and humanity as a whole for my sake is still appreciated, but was completely unnecessary."
"...!"
Rotsard nodded, and the third princess lost all power in her legs and plopped down from the weight of the realization.
"As for this little cutie. She's Cryo, my contracted fae"
"Your contracted fae!?"
The white-haired giant motioned at the gargantuan wolf with his chin and smirked, almost knocking down Syon with that revelation.
"Yeah~ Hey! Cryo! Lean down and introduce yourself~"
Rotsard nodded again, his smile becoming wider, and he called out towards the wolf.
"...~"
The humongous fae looked over at the sound of its name and leaned over, its enormous yellow eyes glistening with interest.
"Greetings, allies of my father-in-law. I am Cryogenian, the Grand White Wolf Fae."
Even though its mouth did not move, a voice sounding like a young child trying its best to sound distinguished resounded over the area…
"...the G-Gran…"
*thump*
This time it was too much for even Syon, and the poor youth simply fainted, falling back like a log right where he stood.
"The Grand White Wolf… wait…! Rotti, what's going on?! Why is she calling you father-in-law!?"
As if taking turns with who was up and who down, Demi-Leigh propped herself up and asked, turning towards Rotsard so fast she almost snapped her own neck.
"Well, originally she was calling me father, but I told her to change it, and she chose that. I told her to change it too, but she's stubborn… I have my doubts about her knowledge of human vocabulary."
The white-haired giant explained, leaning in and whispering the last part conspicuously.
"What does that mean…?"
Demi-Leigh asked, and it was clear that it wasn't just about Rotsard's fae and how it was addressing him.
"Well… for starters, a lot is going to change~"
Rotsard tilted his head before smiling and looking towards the horizon.