“Hewwo, Wawanoaahhh! How are you doing? Oh, I’m sowwy, so you were sleeping! Your sleeping face is like an angel’s, huh? So angelic it makes me wanna kiss you! Maybe I should?”
Five others looked on silently. Their expressions were confusing.
“What’s up with you guys? You look like a pigeon got hit with a peashooter.” I was enjoying seeing Lalanoah again for the first time in a while, but everyone else was just staring at me with their mouths open.
What? Lalanoah on her baby bed is the perfect angelic picture. Do any of you disagree? Huh? You mean she’s a goddess instead? True, that is a perfectly valid objection. Certainly, Lalanoah is the greatest of goddesses.
“Uh, no, I was just surprised that that is how you act with a baby...” Shutola muttered.
“I’m flashing back to when I was young,” Sera said.
“S-So your father did that to you too, Sera-san?” Shutola asked.
“Doing that is fine at home, but I think you should be careful about acting like that outside. Your face and choice of words are even worse than when you’re fighting,” said Mdofarak.
“H-Hey, Mdo! Don’t say stuff like that!” Dahak chided her.
“I get it... I totally get it, my liege!” Gerard exclaimed.
I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I could feel them pulling back a bit. Among them, though, only Gerard seemed to support me. I wasn’t sure if I was happy about that or not.
“Was it...really that weird?”
“Yeah,” they all replied in unison.
The reply was instant and unexpected. It was also unanimous.
Wait, wait. Just wait a second. Please, be more considerate of my glass heart. Ghk! Rion would have supported me, but she’s in school right now. I’m so sad!
“Hee hee! Master is the one who loves Lalanoah most in the world,” said Efil. “This doesn’t surprise me at all.”
“Efiiilll!”
There she is! There’s my ally! I knew Efil would be my oasis!
“Yeah, yeah. You’re not allowed to flirt here,” said Mel. “Honey, it’s about time we got to the main subject. Nom nom.”
I was just about to jump into Efil’s arms when Mel stopped me.
If you want to move on to serious matters, you shouldn’t have picked up a second giant rice ball— Oh, never mind. Rice balls are like water to Mel, and having a glass of water while you hold a serious conversation is totally normal. Yeah, exactly. So please, stop reading my mind, okay? That scary pressuring look you’re giving me has to stop. Hey, please.
“...and so, I went around the world with Shutola and took care of everything. The wedding planning is also going perfectly.”
After Mel had calmed me down, I made this announcement for the second time, as I’d already informed everyone through the Network earlier. Of particular note, I’d gone into great detail about the strengths of the people I predicted would participate in the objection event.
“Uh-huh...I already felt she was kind of strong. So was this Kuon lady really that powerful?” Sera asked.
“Yeah. Her physical prowess and transcendent mastery of her spell are threats, but what’s most troublesome is her Unique Skill. It nullifies everything but pure damage. Neither Sera’s Blood Dominion nor Shutola’s Retributive Persuasion would work on her.”
“I see. If that’s true, she is a terrible match for my liege,” said Gerard. “It makes sense that you lost repeatedly.”
“I’m still not satisfied with the result, though. I’m currently fired up thinking of ways to defeat Kuon!”
“Hey, wait a second. You’re not planning on fighting, are you, Kelvin? It’s my wedding, so I’m going to fight!” Sera exclaimed.
“What?!”
“Oh no, don’t ‘what’ me!” Sera said.
Of course, that was just a light joke. Part of me thought that would be nice too, but it was just a joke.
“Actually, is it okay if any of us appears to fight during whichever ceremony? For example, if your big sis Ange takes up the fight during Efil-chan’s wedding?” Ange asked.
“That is allowed, but I think it’d be best to have the main characters of each wedding take the stage. Using that example, it would be both me and Efil. Well, it’s only meant to be entertainment, that’s all, so I don’t think anyone will complain even if something changes.”
“You’re so smart, bro,” said Dahak. “Then even if you lose the match, it’s not like that’s going to stop the ceremony!”
Dahak laughed in understanding.
“No, that’s not necessarily the case. If the opponent truly wants to stop the wedding, we’ll have to treat that appropriately. In other words, if we lose it’s over.”
“What?! Wh-Why?! It’s just entertainment, isn’t it?!” Dahak yelled.
“It may just be entertainment, but it’s serious entertainment. If our opponent seriously comes to stop the wedding, I want to complete the wedding while making them accept our marriage. I don’t want to go through with the ceremony having lost; that would be a half-assed conclusion.”
“I-I get that, but what about your wives’ feelings?” Dahak asked.
“You’ve got it all wrong, Hak-chan. We feel the same as master,” Efil answered.
“Whaaat?! Big sis Efil?! What is this? Did bro’s battle junkieness infect you or something?!” Dahak shouted.
“Hey.”
That’s rude. But I think I’ve heard that line before.
“We aren’t infected or anything serious like that,” Sera added. “We just want everyone to accept our marriage. Especially in my case, my dad is a problem.”
“Aha ha, yeah. Gustav-san is definitely going to enter,” said Ange. “He’ll say something like, ‘This is the final trial!’”
“I know, right? Jeez,” Sera scoffed. “Well, when he does, I’ll just have to be his opponent! I’ll beat him black and blue!”
“Even you, big sis Sera? Ah, no, you’ve always been like that, I think?” Dahak said.
“Daaahaaak? Do you want to be my first opponent?” Sera threatened.
“Oh no, never!”
“This is a good chance for you to have a serious match against Sera, Dahak. Are you sure you don’t want to accept the invitation?”
“You’re the only one who’d be happy about that, bro!” Dahak replied.
That’s rude. I think Azgrad would be happy too.
“Being able to object to our wedding is proof of that person’s confidence and strength. This is a good chance to display our readiness to be married, and also a good chance to satisfy my honey’s desires,” said Mel.
“Oh, Mel’s into it too!”
“Yes. This will be the perfect opportunity to settle my relationship with Luquille as well,” said Mel. “Rather, if I don’t take this chance to put a stop to her, I have no idea what she’ll do next. Haaah mg mg haaah...”
“Um...right. You’ve got it the worst, Mel-san...” Dahak muttered.
Mel was being serious, but the sight of her sighing between bites was just comical.
Still...Luquille, huh? According to Vegalzeld-san’s report, even if she does participate, she will be doing so after a long break for recovery. Does she honestly think she has a chance? Or maybe she’s going to attempt to power herself up using some sort of unexpected method? I’d be glad if she did.
“By the way, where are you all planning to hold your ceremonies?” Shutola asked. “Of course, I’m going to have a huge one in Trycen’s castle!” Currently in her child form, she jumped up and down in excitement.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to have it in my homeland of Grelbarelka!” Sera replied.
“I would like to say Deramis, but that would overlap with Colette’s. I want to hide the fact that I used to be the Goddess, so I’m planning to have it in some delicious restaurant,” Mel answered. “Ah, but as a backup, I have to say Isla Heaven.”
“I, um, would love to share my happiness with the others at the elven village,” Efil said bashfully.
“I was thinking of having my ceremony with Efil-chan’s, but Director Shin’s really been pushing Pub,” Ange replied. “It’s true that I know a lot of people at the Adventurer’s Guild, so it’s definitely an option. Hrm...”
Some had already settled on a location, while others were still undecided. It wasn’t as if I were totally unrelated, but I had decided to let my partners pick the locations they liked. There wasn’t really anything I could say.
Wait, that reminds me... Where does Rion want to have her wedding? She’s not here. She told me where she’s considering, but I doubt she decided on a spot yet.