Retired Hero's Slow life

Chapter 14: The Hero Gets Married!? Part 1

Elvin's POV: 

The day started out as usual with me, Ariel, Sylvia, and Rozalia planning ahead of what we were going to do that day, but then without warning as usual Ariel's father appeared, but he seemed different than usual.

I welcomed him in as we all sat down wondering what he came here for.

"Ariel, I'm sorry, I did my best, but I can't stall the prince any longer." He said.

Everyone looked towards Ariel and noticed she had a dark expression on her face.

"I don't want to marry him, isn't there some other option?" She asked.

"There is one, but it depends on the Elvin." He replied.

"Eh, me!?" I shouted in confusion.

Ariel looked towards me with a sincere look on her face.

"Well, what do I need to do?" I asked.

"Marry Ariel." He replied.

"But, that's..." I was cut off by Ariel who responded.

"Please."

She had this look in her eyes, that almost made me say yes right away.

"But, shouldn't you be married to someone you actually like?" I said.

That was when she her face became red as a tomato and she responded.

"I...I do like you..." She said faintly.

I couldn't help but blush as well, it's the first time someone had said that in a while.

Thinking about it now, I do like her, like a lot. I just never knew when the right time was for me to say it.

"Are you sure?" I asked her.

She nodded her head shyly.

"Alright, then, Ariel." I said, getting down on one knee.

"Will you take me as your husband?" I asked.

Ariel nodded.

"Yes." She replied.

After that, the tension was ruined by two people who don't know how to read the mood.

They sounded annoyed, but I ignored them for now.

Then I realized I didn't have a ring, so I quickly made one and gave it to her.

"Sorry it's a little rushed, I promise to get you one that's a lot better than that one." I said, scratching my head.

"No, it's perfect. Thank you." She replied.

"Ahem." Ariel's father cut in between our conversation.

"If you two are done being lovey-dovey, then let me just say, it isn't over. There is still the prince and the arranged marriage that needs to be taken care of." He said.

"I thought the arrange marriage was already taken care of, isn't that why we just got engaged?" I said.

"No, that's part of it, but she's still legally bound to marry the prince, the only way to get rid of it is to make the prince back off." He replied.

"How do we do that?" I asked.

"Simple. He's coming over here right now to kill you, so I'd say best him in a fight with the terms being that he'll give up if he loses." He answered.

"I don't think he'll be able to deal with me not only stealing his future wife, but also kicking his butt. Ariel, how confident are you if you fought him?" I asked.

"Eh, me?" She said confused.

"Yeah." I replied.

We stared each other in the eyes for a bit before she gave me her answer.

"Honestly speaking, he isn't strong in magic, but he excels in Trident combat." She replied.

"Can you win?" I asked.

"I have to, don't I?" She replied.

"Sorry." I said.

"Don't worry about it, I figured something like this was going to happen sooner or later." She said.

I knew she was just trying to make me feel less guilty, but I decided to look at the larger picture.

Once everything has been resolved, then we...

Well, that's a thought for another time.

After a day, he had finally come.