The Goddess' Champion

"Daddy please stop! you\'re making our guest uncomfortable n-cice to meet you, s-saviour, thank you for saving my daddy." Anya surprised Constantine when she knelt down, took the back of his palm and kissed it.

"Girl, there is no need for you to-" He wanted to stop her, or at least have Sophia or Andre do so but none of them did, in fact...

It was then Sophia who struggled to do it, she knelt down, took his palm and kissed the back of it too.

Then Andre did it.

Constantine was left out of words, not even when he was an Emperor had a random citizen of the empire willingly shown this much respect to his person.

These people clearly valued their life above anything else, considering they had so few years to live, it kind of made sense.

"Please, allow us to thank you, you have no idea... how much you have helped us, if my husband hadn\'t come back, I don\'t know what would have happened... I don\'t have much time left, my little girl is still not mature enough. You have saved us, we don\'t have money, we don\'t have anything... at the very least, accept a kiss from the pitiful me on your palm as gratitude..." The woman sobbed and Andre held her, nodding his way.

"You might not be used to it, my saviour... but in this world, nobody helps anyone, what you have done for us is a unique gesture that I personally will never forget, our family is forever indebted to you."

\'You\'re really placing me in a pinch here...\' they were so overly courteous that he felt uncomfortable for a moment.

*SIGH!*

"I accept it, please stand up and go back to the bed, you will get worse." What else could he say, he only helped her up and Andre carried her back to the bed.

Zamira smiled at his kind gesture.

"Thank you, Saviour." Sophia said once again, she smiled and lay against the bed.

It was then that Constantine noticed the still scared boy and slapped his shoulder softly.

"You\'re quite the brave brat aren\'t you? you had a pole before, was it to defend your girlfriend?~"

!!!

"S-S-S-S-She\'s not my girlfriend!" The boy turned pale and threw a gaze towards Andre who was still taking care of his wife, but for the briefest second, he noticed the glare of a snake coming from him.

"I-I\'m not his girlfriend!" Anya also giggled with a blush.

!!!

At the girl\'s clear rejection, one could see a crestfallen Malik and the happy Andre.

Sophia laughed lightly from the bed, she loved her family.

"Foolish brat, don\'t dig your own grave to regret it later! if you want someone, you have to go for them!" Constantine tried to convince the boy to not feel afraid of Andre\'s mocking glare, the man clearly wanted Malik to be with his daughter, he was just testing the boy.

And the way it is going, how could this average-looking boy possibly stand up against the bulky, over-the-top massive Andre?

"N-No, sir… I-!" Malik felt he was between the sword and the wall.

"YOU BETTER HAVE NO IDEAS ABOUT MY CUTE DAUGHTER!"

"Sir I wouldn\'t dare!"

"Malik, y-you really... reject me so adamantly..."

"N-No! Anya I-!"

*Pft!*

While Sophia was laughing himself off, Constantine realised this was nothing more than a family of bullies, poor kid... by the time he realises they have been playing him, perhaps he will be traumatised already.

"Hahaha!~ You\'re all so funny… thank you for being here today, Sir Constantine." Sophia said all of the sudden as if having some mercy on her future son-in-law.

"It is nothing…"

"You\'re new here, right?" She then asked and he tilted his head in surprise, what gave him away?

"Oh?"

"I can see it all over your face~ I\'m originally not from the town of loup either, what surprises me however is the way you look at our house, the place where you come from, is it so different from here?" It was her time to tilt her head as everyone in the room paid attention.

"It is indeed quite different, madam." Constantine scratched his head and didn\'t give too many details as it would be meaningless to do so.

"Please just call me-" She began, only to be swiftly shut down.

"Madam..." He sent a glare her way which made her gulp a mouthful of saliva, clearly, he didn\'t want to be any \'closer\' than this, previous experience.

[Should I give you some positive karma for this? looks like you\'re correcting your wrong ways, I just wonder if your reaction would have been the same if she was an \'ugly duckling\' like Zamira]

\'O-Of course it would be the same... you should go ahead and reward me for staying loyal to my beautiful wives and goddess\' He nodded shamelessly.

[Sure... you deserve it, what a great effort you\'re making at staying loyal.]

[+1 Karma Points]

\'Oi, what\'s with that pitiful amount?!\'

**

While Zamira wondered why Constantine looked so pissed, Andre spoke once again to clarify his wife\'s thoughts.

"We just arrived today, Sophia… Mr Constantine is not from around here, I should guide-"

"Then how about we all guide our saviour together?~ it has been so long since we came out to do anything, I don\'t want to keep us all here on such a joyous occasion." She struggled to sit up slightly only for Andre to immediately reject her notion.

"You can\'t! You\'re still-"

"I don\'t want to stay in bed, husband… please." She begged and Andre was left starstruck for a moment, he could technically see in her face that she was still scared of Rotborn, regardless of whether she had many years still to live, even if in illness, the first symptoms served like a life ultimatum that waved around in front of her face.

\'You only have this long to live...\'

"…" Andre thought hardly, he didn\'t want her to move when she was this weak, but if she wanted to come out with them, he didn\'t want to reject her either.

"Let her come, Andre, your wife wants to come with you on a date, be a gentleman and carry her." Constantine suggested and his words brightened up Sophia\'s countenance as she nodded and expected her husband to accept.

*Sigh!*

"Okay, hop on my back Sophia, we will go out and have some fun as I guide Mr Constantine through the city!"

"Yay!" Anya and Malik yelled and they were all smiles.

It was then that the family decided to head out and have some fun and rejoice in the fact that Andre had come back from a life and death situation.

**

**

"W-Whoa, this is so delicious!" He was flabbergasted.

The family sat in a venue of the city where there weren\'t many individuals present, horses kept moving along and every so often a vehicle would make its way through the streets as Constantine saw the peasants walking gloomily, wearing their fine attires or rags depending on their status.

Some of them seemed to be smoking something, it was indeed a different world from his. Andre had taken them to what he called a \'bakery\'.

How could he have forgotten the cakes from his own world, but nothing could prepare him for the shocking difference in craft between both worlds.

This thing called \'strawberry cheesecake\' is just so good!

From the other side of the counter, a lady saw Constantine eating her cake with such a delighted expression that she simply blushed and nodded several times in contentment.

The waiter was a nine years old boy that quite resembled the lady at the counter, clearly, he was her son and they owned this shop, it was beautifully designed, sadly, there weren\'t that many customers.

Zamira\'s eyes twitched and her wallet suffered, the same could be said for Andre who saw how his wife, daughter and future son-in-law delighted on the expensive cake.

But seeing her smile like that, was worth it.

"This is a bakery, there are several in this city, but in my opinion, this is the best one" Zamira said, she thought to introduce him to her favourite dish and it hadn\'t been a mistake.

"I love the bakery!" He said without thinking twice and shot a gaze to the lady behind the counter who upon noticing him, evaded his gaze.

At least thirty years old... raven hair... not a beautiful face but not ugly either, her body couldn\'t be seen from behind the counter, but to be able to make such delicious cakes...

\'You\'re definitely in my strike zone.\' He thought with a desire to conquer.

[-1 Karma Points]

\'Hey! what was that for?!\'

[Give me back my kindness.]

...

"T-There are no desserts where you come from?" Zamira asked when she saw Constantine suddenly stop eating his cake, he regained his clarity and decided to deal with Zebellia later.

"Uh? None this good, no… this is just too delicious, what else is there?"

"There are crepes, lemon cakes, breadcakes... I can tell you that Amelia is an expert in creating all types of cakes, is her family craft."

"*Cough!* Z-Zamira, you shouldn\'t praise me this much..." The girl blushed from the other side of the counter and threw a gaze to Constantine as if saying \'I joined the conversation\'.

He smirked, "Then I guess it is my turn to praise Miss Amelia\'s godly hands, I had never tasted a cake this good in my life."

"Thank you very much! My mom taught me how to do all this, and her father taught her..." She nodded with melancholy and stepped out of the counter, there he could finally see her entire silhouette.

\'Definitely charming\'.

"Come here, Sammie." The girl called the boy out and he obediently bowed and came her way.

"Yes, mom."

"This is my son, Sammie... I hope he will inherit all of my recipes before the time comes, he\'s such a good son." She rubbed her flustered son\'s head before looking at Constantine with a concealed innuendo.

"He looks like a really responsible little man, surely his father must be quite proud of him." Constantine sent with a smile, expecting her reaction.

Amelia bit her lips and smiled melancholy, "He sure would, my husband passed away a year ago, Rotborn..."

"I am so sorry..."

"Please don\'t be... s-so what takes you to this city?~"

...

The family regarded how Constantine and Amelia quickly hit the ground running, chatting with each other as if they went back ages.

Zamira was left awestruck as well as bitter when she saw how Constantine looked happy while chatting with Amelia.

It was also at that moment that she realised that Constantine really seems to like \'ugly\' women.

There is a reason why Amelia has remained single for a year ever since her husband passed away, in this society, she simply wasn\'t that good of a prospect.

"If it is okay with you. could you have a breadcake? this time it was prepared by Sammie and I\'d like to have a third opinion, Mr..." She mumbled and lowered her countenance, expecting him to say his name.

"My name is Constantine and it is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Amelia... It would be my pleasure to have one of his cakes~"