The Legend of the Flower Demon Lord

Chapter 31 - An End to Fairy Tales

Chapter 31 – An End to Fairy Tales

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is the much-anticipated knight pageant! Here, candidates will attempt to impersonate perfect knights and dazzles these lovely damsels!"

Upon a podium, a colourfully dressed man with a feathery hat bellowed in a microphone, causing the crowd in the wooden stadium to cheer. In a certain area at the front of the colosseum-like seats, a certain group of girls blushed slightly as they were mentioned, waving delicately at the crowd surrounding them all around.

"However, do not be deceived, everyone! These sophisticated ladies are very hard to please. Is there anyone who can impress them enough to get full points and the grand-prize, the Royal Princess Diamond Dress?! It's a white dress decorated with rare blue diamonds! A legend among legends!"

The ladies now looked confident, smirking with crossed arms. They were not weak-minded. Could anyone melt their hearts, like a true knight in shining armour? However, even their eyes shone as the dress was mentioned, and the crowd cheered in excitement. No one had seen the dress so far, and it was a dream to anyone. All men wanted to attain the dress and gift it so a special lady, while all ladies wanted to be that special lady!

"We shall now see! Begin!"

As the colourful man proclaimed, so began the men to come forward, one at a time. They rode in on white horses, brandished long shiny sword, clunked in shiny armour, posed and proclaimed cheese knight-like lines. The ladies were not impressed, pulling up plaques that read at most six points out of ten, and once...even negative six points.

The crowd booed. There was no one that seemed truly to be like the magical, enchanting, handsome knights of legend...riding to their damsels' rescue on grand white stallions, shining brightly under the sun with silver armour that fit too perfectly...All the while smiling brighter than the sun itself...

Or so they thought! Before them, it seemed that the manifestation of their thoughts had appeared before their very eyes! Many even rubbed their eyes, as if to see if they were hallucinating. Some even pinched their neighbours to make sure it wasn't a dream...

"Ow! I'm awake, okay! Geez...Wait!! That means...Eh?! That's real?!"

"No way..."

Watching Edward ride in, sparkling all over from head to toe, smiling brightly and waving at everyone with an elegance not known possible...The judging damsels froze, then clutched their chests as if each had been shot with an arrow from the cupid itself, falling backwards in unison.

Then, with trembling hands, plaques were lifted over their heads...

"...T-this can't b-be! Everyone! It seems...It seems...W-We have a perfect score!"

The colourful man couldn't believe his eyes either, and was slow to continue his narration of the event. Even his words were not sure when they did come out. Actually, it wasn't so much a perfect score, as...every single plaque read "over 9000!"

With trembling hands and spinning eyes, the colourful man brought forward the dress, which shined brightly with azure, just like Edward's eyes...which seemed to sparkle just as much as he watched it approaching his extended arms.

"Finally!"

He hugged it in his arms, as if he had just reencountered his long-lost love. Wiping a tear from his blurry eyes, he added, "Ellie will surely look like the goddess of angels herself...with this on...ah!!!"

At first mumbling to himself, he suddenly exploded in an excited scream, hugging it tighter and imagining something...weird. He looked just like a fangirl.