After hearing the details from Gloria, Kelvin sent out telepathic messages to the rest of his party, informing them as well. The messages were sent in an instant, allowing them to discover who they would be facing.
Academic City Lumiest, Dorm Volcann
“Huh? My opponent... Is this true?” Rion cried in shock.
She’d been in her dorm room when she’d received the message and reacted with intense dismay before looking at her roommate and alleged best friend—Dorothy—for confirmation.
“Judging from your expression, Rion-san, you’ve been informed that I will be your opponent for the ‘entertainment’ section,” Dorothy concluded.
“Yeah, that’s right... But Thee-chan, are you serious about this? It’s not a joke, is it? You’re saying you object to my marriage to Kel-nii...” Rion said.
“It’s true. Normally, I would be giving you my blessing as your best friend. However, I cannot allow myself to simply celebrate this. Not until I ascertain Kelvin’s resolve through the objection system!” Dorothy declared and clenched her fist.
Rion immediately understood that she was serious. “I see. Okay. I don’t really get it, but I can tell that you’re serious about this. So I’ll accept your feelings! I’ll accept them and then overcome them with all my might!”
“Ah, no, er...personally, I intend to fight Kelvin-san, not you—” Dorothy started.
“No matter what, there’s no take backs in a battle, Thee-chan!” Rion exclaimed.
“Uh, okay...” Dorothy muttered in response.
Rion had learned from the Beast King, Leonhart, and was capable of mercilessly giving her all in any battle against other people, even good friends. Meanwhile, Dorothy was a little concerned that the battle she had signed up for had taken a slightly different direction than expected.
Trycen Castle, Shutola’s Room
“Hmm. So that’s who’s coming,” Shutola said.
While Rion was sharing her news, Shutola had received hers in her own room, which was crammed full of cute plushies. She’d been taking a break in her adult form, having finished all her office work upon returning, when she’d received the message from Kelvin. She hugged her life-sized Clotho plushie (not for sale) as she checked to see who she would be facing, and...
“So, Lunoir is my opponent. I have to say, that’s a little unexpected.”
Lunoir Victoria was Trycen’s former general of the Magic Knight Order. She also went by the name of “Ice Princess” Sylvia, a Rank S adventurer. Even the adult Shutola, with all her smarts, couldn’t predict that one of her best friends, whom she’d reunited with, would object to her wedding.
“Lunoir should be a guest general in Toraj right now. Does that mean Tsubaki is pulling her strings? No...if I had to say, she’s doing this of her own will. She’s an airhead like that. If I remember correctly, she took Kelvin’s words during her promotion ceremony mock battle to heart and is quite serious about killing him. If she’s still holding on to that promise...” Shutola sighed. “This is going to be some entertainment section. Even though she’s changed her name, Lunoir’s face is widely known in Trycen. I’ll need to think of some excuse...”
Despite her musings, she was actually quite happy that her friend was definitely coming to her wedding. In this case, it seemed participating in the objection event held a meaning similar to “Allow me to greet you.”
Grelbarelka Empire, Viktor’s Kitchen
“Hey, is it finished yet? I want to eat curry already!” Sera shouted.
Her voice resounded through her kitchen in the demon nation. She was looking directly at Viktor, who was currently wearing an apron and cooking. It seemed he was making curry, judging from Sera’s badgering, but what was inside his pot was obviously meat and potato stew—which was called “curry” on the Northern Continent. A devilish curry, if you will.
“Asking about it more won’t make it cook faster,” said Viktor. “Please just wait quietly, Sera-sama.”
“Awww, but that would be bori— Awright, it’s finally here!” Sera shouted. She’d interrupted herself, jumping out of her seat.
“Shouting like that is unbefitting of a lady, Sera-sama,” Viktor warned her.
“Gah, you’re as stuffy as ever, Viktor,” Sera answered, pouting. “Wait, now’s not the time for this! Kelvin just messaged us! The one objecting to my marriage has been decided!”
“Oh? Interesting. Then...who is it?” Viktor asked.
“Well, it looks like I’m going to be fighting Kuon!” Sera announced.
“Kuon... Ah, that new otherworlder,” said Viktor. “She must be quite strong to be able to push aside Gustav-sama.”
“Yep! It may be a mock battle with special rules made by Kelvin, but I want to claim total victory, so I’ll— Wait, that lack of reaction... Viktor, did you know about this before I did?” Sera asked.
“Urgk!” he grunted. As always, Sera’s intuition was on point. “Kheh... Kheh heh heh... I never could hide anything from you, Sera-sama. To tell you the truth—”
“Ah, I get it now!” Sera shouted, interrupting him. “Father took all Four Demonic Generals with him to the selection, didn’t he?! And you all failed in the preliminaries, didn’t you?!”
There was a pause before Viktor replied. “Sera-sama, could you at least wait for my full explanation before saying anything?”
Once again, Sera’s intuition was as on point as ever.
Leigant Ice Mountain, Angel’s Shelter
“Well, I guess I expected this to happen. Or rather, if she wasn’t my opponent, I would have suspected that something was wrong,” said Mel.
Past the clouds atop Leigant, the angels who had evacuated from Isla Heaven nodded in response to Mel’s reaction to the telepathic message.
“What happened, Mel-sama?! You seem uncommonly quiet! Would you like for me, Rafaelo, to bust out a special dance to liven things up?!” Rafaelo offered excitedly. He was the leader of all the angels here waving their glowsticks, and he almost fell over himself coming forward as if begging her to have him dance. He was normally a very stern person, but even he couldn’t help but get excited before the object of his personal worship: Mel.
“Wait! I should exhibit my dance of joy instead!”
“No, no, the obvious choice is my dance of gratitude!”
And he wasn’t the only one. Every angel in this shelter was excited. They were basically in festival mode. Put conservatively, the entire place was terribly noisy.
“Agh, shut up! You’re all pious angels; you should have more self-control!” Rafaelo shouted.
“You shut up, Rafaelo-sama! Why don’t you take your own advice?!” one angel countered.
“Yeah!” agreed the rest in unison.
“Don’t just say ‘yeah,’ you idiots! Sheep! If you don’t like it, try coming up with a better dance than mine!” Rafaelo argued.
“Oh, you’ve said it now!”
If this were a festival, it would be a festival of fighting. The angels were all equipped with their own self-made happi coats and glowsticks, arguing with each other in an unappealing display of selfishness. All this fervor was centered on Mel, and feathers were scattered all around, making their spot above the clouds uncomfortably sweaty.
If those participating have been set, that means she’s recovered enough power to make it through the preliminaries, Mel thought. Luquille, well done crawling out of the depths of despair.
However, even in the midst of this terrible swirl, Mel’s concentration did not waver. In fact, she used this hellish scene to refine her own will of steel. That was how strong her feelings about her wedding were—she was going all out to make it succeed.
Yes, I understand, she thought. I will accept your challenge. This fate was started by my dark side, DarkMel, and it will end with me. Wait, agh?! That’s right! I forgot to prepare that!
Immediately after, Mel put in an order for an extra-large wedding cake. As she was doing so, a waterfall of drool ran from her mouth, indicating how hungry she was.
Deramis, Great Cathedral of Deramis
The Great Cathedral of Deramis was a holy place, where Oracles of Deramis prayed. It was quiet as always and filled with a solemn air.
“Hey, this is... What?!” Colette exclaimed.
That silence was suddenly broken by the master of the cathedral, Colette. She was normally a perfect saint unless faced with Mel, Kelvin, or something of equal magnitude in her eyes. And yet, she let out a loud exclamation, which marked this as an extremely rare occurrence. Why was Colette so shaken? The cause was the same message that had been sent to everyone else: Kelvin’s report on who they would each be facing.
Colette’s wedding, to be held in Deramis, was no exception to the objection system, and one powerful winner of the preliminaries would be fighting them. Colette understood and accepted that much, of course, but the name she saw was a big problem.