บท 74: Beyond Words
Nicholas looked at Nero walk up to them genuinely surprised, moving her head from side to side and taking in the aftermath of man against an army...
No wait, Nicholas against an army.
The distinction as many had learned, and many more would come to learn, was incredibly important.
Cause you know, normal wars didn't leave craters in the Earth the size of multiple football fields.
"I don't think any of the other generals I've appointed could've accomplished this..." The Emperor praised with a confused smile on her face, the gears in her brain working full time to make sense of what happened, "And to think the one you faced was Julius Caesar himself... Be proud, Nicholas! You have accomplished what men can not dream of! And this level of power... are you certain you do not trace your origins to Mars himself?"
Scratching his cheek, Nicholas averted his eyes, "To be honest... It kinda felt like I was bullying somebody."
Yeah... it didn't really feel all that nice.
In fact, he felt like he was Goku using MUI cause he heard a kid that beat cancer was strong.
"Yeah, who's gonna tell her?" Jalter pointed her thumb at Nero with a smug grin, her other hand on her hips, "...This guy kicked Fafnir out of the sky and made me look like a pushover."
"Why are you proud of that? Loose woman." BB snickered behind her hand.
"W-Wha? I ain't loose, bitch. Say that again!"
Nicholas tuned out the bickering women and looked around at the Chaldean party... They had a shitton of servants, three masters and then the army provided by the current Emperor of Rome.
"So I fulfilled my promise to Mashmallow after all." He nodded to himself with crossed arms.
Mash perked up at his words, recalling the promise he'd made her in their first official briefing, and smiled shyly, "Yes senpai, we've walked into this with a whole platoon."
"I'm thinking next time we just drop random servants all over the place, see what happens. Groups of two or three, maybe."
"...That is actually a good proposition, senpai. If the results would be anything like last time Miss Mordred and Artoria detached from us." Mash produced a notepad from her armour, "Separate groups accomplish a lot more than we tend to together..."
"...Oh wow... how surprising..." Gudako drawled with vacant eyes, before turning to Nicholas, "Also, what happened to Mordred? We haven't heard anything about her."
"Probably got lost in a forest and went feral, started living in a cave or something... That kid is a handful sometimes." Nicholas sighed and shook his head, "But hey, the brat wouldn't be half as lovable if she wasn't. What I'm more interested in is Martha... why she acting like she got down syndrome or sum?"
"Anyone in your vicinity eventually ends up with down syndrome. Why are you surprised?"
Nicholas pursed his lips and stopped himself from clocking Gudako across the face, reminding himself of the ten grand... instead, he curiously sauntered over to Martha before poking the Saint in the cheek.
...
Watching them all with an amused expression, Nero grabbed the report one of her men had rushed to her.
"Umu... interesting. So this was the force defending Gaul?" The Emperor put a hand to her chin, "Then I suppose all that remains is to join up with the generals I stationed there and occupy the main city itself to solidify our control."
She then opened the other report and got to reading, leaving her new 'subordinates' to their antics.
Minutes later, she cleared her throat to draw their attention.
Only for them to give her a curious look and return to-
"...What happened here?"
Nicholas was trying to climb on top of a flushed and haggardly breathing Kiyohime, a dragon in human form if what she was told was true while Jalter and Mash tried to pry him off...
"Why is she on all fours?"
"A...Haanything for my beloved!"
For some reason, Nero could tell that if the foreign monarch she'd left to watch over the capital in her stead, Marie Antoinette, were here, things would be even worse.
What?
You ask why she would trust her with such a task?
Well, her instincts told her!
Anyway, she digressed.
"Umu! I admire your dedication to your spou-"
"Don't feed her delusions... I don't know this woman."
"E-Eh? ...Very well?" Nero gave a confused nod but paused and shook her head, it was too easy to get caught up in their pace!
"My men report an isle supposedly inhabited by a Goddess near here... What do you think? Is it worth investigating?"
"Yeah but don't you have Gaul to look at?" Nicholas asked curiously, turning her away... much to the disappointment of a certain serpentine dragon... who expressed said disappointment by ranting a volley of curses and then hissing at the Roman Emperor.
So he WAS listening!
"Indeed I do."
Nodding, Nicholas glanced at Mash and the girl nodded back in tacit understanding, making him smile faintly, "Right then, I'mma go check that island out with Martha while the rest of y'all head out to Gaul or whatever the city called... We'll look for our ki-...er, Mordred while we at it. The Sun still up there."
He looked back at the rest of the Chaldeans and well... his proposition wasn't met with as much resistance as she thought it would with how attached they were to each other.
What she didn't know was that it was because at the end of the day, all of them knew Chaldea to be their and his home... Assured that he would return soon enough.
"Umu, a workable plan. Do you require supplies or maps?"
"Nah, between me and her..." Nicholas pointed at Martha with his thumb and narrowed his eyes when the woman didn't respond so... he did the only rational thing possible and smacked her bum.
"Wu-...Eh?!" The Saint jerked with a yelp before looking at her surroundings and lowering her head with a small blush, rubbing the back of her head, "I-I'm sorry... W-What are we talking about?"
"We got things covered." Nicholas ignored her and gave Nero a thumbs up.
"Mmm..." Martha pouted.
Needless to say, the image didn't inspire a lot of coincidence in the onlookers.
-
"S... So... Why just us?"
Nicholas looked up at the woman who usually punched first and asked questions later sitting across from him fidget around nervously, trying to look for a means for escape.
Unfortunately for her, there was none.
They were on a canoe, surrounded by sea for miles.
So, it was time for ba- ehem, so there was nowhere to escape to.
"I mean, it's been a while since we kicked some ass by ourselves." The pale haired teenager shrugged, rowing the canoe with greater ease than he'd ever done before, "What you acting all high school girly for?"
Martha took a deep breath and smiled serenely... it didn't help that the Sun had started setting, casting a subtle light that gave the Saint's face an ethereal glow that made him rub his eyes.
"See, you can be nice when you want to be." She commented with a strange smile he couldn't decipher, putting her hands atop each other, "Have you been having fun lately?"
Oh... oh... wait.
No.
No.
She was trying to make this one of THOSE moments!
Unfortunately, Nicholas didn't have it in himself to shoot her down as ruthlessly as before...
Hm... Would punching her work?
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome getting to go all over time and fuck around." Nicholas just sighed, "But eh... I guess the fact that the world bouta end kinda takes the fun out of it."
Martha giggled at him, "I'd say it's normal to be nervous about the grand scale of things."
"Yeah but lady, I'm Nicholas Martel... The annoying part's not being able to find the bum that is tryna destroy us."
"So it's that you can't punch the King of Demon Gods that annoys you so much." The Saint of Tarascon sighed, raising her hands in surrender, "Well, I'll agree. I wanna try giving him a good haymaker too."
Nicholas chortled, "See? You get it too."
"How are you taking all that we've seen so far?" Martha leaned to the side slightly and ran her hand through the water, "I can't imagine seeing the effects of widespread war is normal for someone where you're from."
"Eh, I'm good so long as I clock the ones that cause it. The best kinda payback there is."
"On God. There is nothing more relishing than punching a wrongdoer in the face." Martha agreed with a small giggle, again, not realising the value her first two words had.
The Master Servant duo chortled at the same time.
"Look Martha, my therapist... a real one if you'd believe that, told me I should be more 'vocal' about my more complicated thoughts."
Kiara just told him his natural state was like someone who was on weed, ignoring complicated thoughts and sticking with simple curiosities and actions... and it worked, so there was no flaw.
But he knew from experience that not telling people how much they were appreciated would end up driving them away no matter how good they were.
"I appreciate you sticking around even though I'm an asshole to you a bunch of the time."
A statement that would get you clocked across the face.
But for Martha who understood her Master beyond words and actions and could relate to him totally not on the basis of their shared mental retardedness... They were words that left her wide eyes, "I... don't think you've ever said something that... vulnerable?"
Nicholas sighed.
Shit was too complicated for a simple man.
"Never, sorry."
The Saint of Tarascon smiled mischievously and gave him a big hug, rubbing his head with one hand, "Don't worry, it's enough."
They didn't need to express themselves verbally.
Their connection transcended that.
"Oh hey, I think I see that island we came here for."
Nicholas patted Martha's back and pointed to a small landmass in the distance.
-
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Sorry for late post, I was tired as hell today.
NOBODY BEATING NICHOLAS X MARTHA! NOBODY!
Also, check out 'DxD: Errant for Hire!'.
If you did, how was it?
I wanted to post a chapter for that too but I have an exam tomorrow and gotta wake up early.
-
You can find up to 9 chapters ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap
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