Chapter 20:

The Aftermath

Valkyria Squadron


Oriente 6, Heaven

After what happened a few moments ago I went to the reception again to the restaurant to get something, but on my way Urakaze again appeared this time with several photos of the wedding, apparently, she was there with the intention of taking all the photos that I could and then sell them to me.

"To fifteen thousand each photo?"
"And only the set is sold?"
"You took almost 100 in a wedding of less than 10 minutes!"
"I can't pay that"
"It's a robbery!"

"That is the price of the hotel's photography service"

"The original price is crossed out with a marker!"

"Inflation raised the prices of things"
"The transport portals are not working"

"This is not how the economy works here!"

"Then you will have to tell your wife that you did not buy the photos of the most important day in her life because you were cheap."

"This is extortion!"

But just then someone comes to stop the discussion that I almost turned into a fight. It was Stella, she reappeared with her usual serious face.

"Here is the manager Urakaze"
"Just who I was looking for"

"I thought you had already gone"
"Is there anything you can help a law enforcement officer with?"

"Yes, I was actually conducting an inspection at the site as I was passing through"
"And looking for you to notify you of various price irregularities at this location"
"There are quite a few things that have a rather high price than they should"

"cra..."

"As if that were not enough, checking the kitchen and found a couple of serious faults in terms of handling food and knives"
"In addition, several parts of the hotel are not prepared in the event of an earthquake and several places are at risk of starting a fire."
"Which in a place like this is pretty serious"
"Finally, reviewing the invoices of our agent Cesar we have noticed that his rate is suspiciously high compared to the other guests"
"It's like he's trying to benefit from the situation he's going through just because he has nowhere else to go."
"Which is punishable by law and the punishment can range from compensation to the closure of the hotel in the worst case."
"Are you aware of the situation, Miss Urakaze?"

"Cesar's thing is just an error in the billing system, I was arguing with him right now"
"You see why I tell you to take the batch of 100 photos for only one hundred"
"Also the renewal process for the other areas begins the other month"
"I'm still getting the permits"
"Give me more time, please don't shut us down !!"
"Please!!"

After seeing that the possibility of closing the hotel was real, the owner of the inn completely changed her way of acting to a completely submissive one to what Stella asked her to change in the hotel and various changes regarding prices. I was already there, I didn't want to bury them, so I left. At one of the tables in the dining room, I met Momo who was eating ice cream alone. She looked a bit sad so I went with her to see what happened, but as soon as she saw me she was so surprised that she almost choked on her so I had to run to help her. And although nothing serious happened, some of the ice cream fell on the clothes that I had, yes, the formal clothes that I still had not changed since the wedding.

"I'm very sorry, I didn't want to cause you more problems" said the crystal angel as she used a couple of napkins to clean me

"Don't worry, it is something that can be removed by washing" I answered him while he took off my jacket and put it on the table.
"I just wanted to ask you what the hell was everything that just happened today about"
"What was that about me marrying Tamamo and about the magic they put on her?"
"What were you thinking?"

"Well, it is clear that we owe you an explanation about that" Stella appeared behind me.
"When Momo informed us about how Tamamo attacked you yesterday and how to decide to go talk to her. The council took it quite seriously because we could not let a Goddess interrupt our operation to keep the codex safe, so we began to propose ideas on how to help you, one of them was to send a combat machine through magic, We could force the two of you to cooperate and prevent her from annihilating you, that's why we made the crystal monster a little like one of the dragons you used to face, that way you would have more advantage fighting against him"
"It took almost the entire development team to create something like that so quickly and ship it so far. I must admit it was a sloppy job but with only 30 minutes to design it until it was shipped finished it was the best thing to do."
"What we did not count on was that Miss Tamamo fell in love with you for your work rescuing her. When Momo informed us of that, almost all of us were in shock. But when we discussed it with others we realized that we could use this to our advantage. If we married the two of you, we could start to rehabilitate Tamamo and have you help her take the right course, and by the way, you would have a goddess by your side, which could be a problem for you in case you have to fight. Against something that is out of your possibilities, it is a win or win situation"

SLAP!!!

My hand had ended up in Stella's face. I'd like to say it was unintentional, but it wasn't. I was angry, angry at her, for how she acted, for how she treated others, for what she did.

"As always you bastards doing what you want with others" I screamed with fury.

"Cesar!" Momo said.

"Leave it alone, in a way I deserve it for how I have acted. But I'm also going to remind you, Cesar, that you have to protect the codex and you know better than anyone that we cannot let misfortune repeat itself. And that we too will do everything we can to prevent it too, even if it means playing dirty." said the angel dressed in white, now with part of her face red but with a serious face.

"Someday you will do what you want again and you will get a backfire so much that I'm even afraid it might happen," I said to her as a warning.

"The same can happen to you, if you do only what you want, in fact seeing you it is clear that it already happened"

"The difference with you is that I was prepared to face the consequences of my actions from the first day I touched a weapon"

I was so angry that I just got up from the table and left without saying anything. I didn't even want to see her face. But on the way back Momo seemed again, she wanted to talk to me again.

"I'm sorry for everything that happened today"
"If I hadn't informed Stella, none of this would have happened to you."
"This is my fault"Said the transparent girl as she bowed in her apology, without being able to well her face could be heard that she was crying.

"I'm not mad at you, you just did what they asked you to do. What I'm angry about is Tamamo, she has been alone almost her entire life, she finally manages to find the company she is looking for, and then again several people take advantage of her and her condition to benefit from her. Just like what she happened before her, and no less than for the wedding official, the one who married us is the same who took advantage of her as if she only wanted to make fun of everyone"
"They only put what they need above others, it seems like they only care about the results, not the people who have to trample to reach their goal"
"The same thing happened before against the dragons and it seems that they will continue to do so"
"But what makes me angry the most is knowing that I can probably think that way too. I'm so terrified about what happened that I could also do anything to never see a single dragon in my life. I promised so many people that we would end that nightmare, so many people saved me at the cost of their lives just so I could have a chance to win, that I feel like I must pay them at least keeping the world they died for free of those beasts."

"Cesar" said the girl.

"But that does not mean that someone else must pay for the sins that others committed. Tamamo is simply a victim between all this, and once again all because of me and my desire to return to my family"

"That ... that's not how she sees it" The angel stood next to me, he spoke to me now with a happier tone.

"This may have been done by Stella and her companions, but that does not mean that you saved Tamamo with your own strength and if she fell in love with you it was because of herself, not because of an external factor, which you did not hear that also surprised them, had they acted or not the result would have been the same"

"But what if I'm not what she's been looking for?"
"Just something that maybe looked like and she was wrong"

"Well then you will only have to do what my boss told me when I was discouraged by myself"
"So you just have to become that person you want to be and everything will be fine"
"If you want to be the perfect husband for her then fight to become that"

"Do you really believe that I can do that?"

"Well, you better make it come true because you were the one who told me and I don't want to call my boss a liar. You should also have more confidence in yourself, you may not know it but because of how you are with others and how you protect them even from yourself, more than one person could be in love with you"

"Do you really think that could happen?"
"Who would like to be with a broken person like me?"
"I'm afraid of the dark, and I can't be calm without a gun, sometimes I have panic attacks even in quiet places and I hate crowds"
"Who would see someone like that with good eyes?"

"Well, Nanami knew about your problems, she didn't care about and she married you too, and I wouldn't mind marrying you either."

"Wait what!?"

"AHH!"
"But look at the time I have to go right now to prepare everything for tomorrow!"
"Bye now!!" she said as she ran away.

"She didn't deny the last thing she said?"

I'm not an idiot, I was aware that maybe Momo could feel something for me because it may have been the only one who made fun of her glass body in front of her and lived to tell about it, in addition to how picky she has been with her life was almost even a miracle that she agreed to work for me taking care of my father just because she needed money. She had to be something else behind how she acted, only that until today I was able to confirm it because I didn't want to bother her. But all that makes this even more annoying, because it is certain that Stella knew it too but still she forced her to help me marry Tamamo, over her feelings. And her eating ice cream was her struggling with her feelings that she kept hidden.

I'll have to sort things out between me and Momo. Besides, I will also have to clarify this with Tamamo as well. I do not know what awaits me, but I hope not to screw up with all this problem that fell on me.