Several months passed quickly since the day Kelvin was made to reflect. During that time, everybody proceeded with preparations for their ceremonies while also training, learning, and cultivating their faith even further. They also ate curry, asked for seconds, and—at any rate, Kelvin did as much as he felt he could, taking on tasks that seemed to need his presence.
Rumors of the wedding ceremony of the newlywed Kelvin and his seven wives spread steadily throughout the world due to the fame of the average Rank S adventurer. The Eastern Continent was a given, since it was where almost all the ceremonies were concentrated, but information spread from Lumiest and Pub throughout the Western Continent as well.
“Hey, did you hear? That Rank S adventurer, Kelvin, is getting married soon. And to seven wives, at that!”
“Whaaat?! He’s taking that many wives? Come on, he’s not royalty or some major noble or anything. That’s gotta be way too greedy!”
“Oh, you don’t know? Rank S adventurers are basically nobles. They don’t belong to any nation, but apparently they are given titles that can’t be inherited from the Adventurer’s Guild.”
“Wait, really? But...doesn’t taking seven wives at once still make him a huge womanizer?”
“Well, of course it does,” said the other two in unison.
It seemed like the accuracy of the rumors differed greatly depending on location, with the worst areas claiming Kelvin was forcing the women into marriage. While one-on-one marriages were normal, one-on-seven marriages like this one were pretty much unheard of, so of course people found it suspicious. Also, Kelvin’s entry in the Adventurer’s Directory was easy to misunderstand, allowing people to say whatever they wanted in bars and the like. There were always those who willingly and knowingly spread false information as well.
The silver lining in all this was that negative rumors only spread in very limited areas. Places with connections to Kelvin or that knew how to treat Rank S adventurers would likely never spread such misinformation. For example, the kingdom of Faanis, which Kelvin had once visited, reacted to this information like so:
“Huh, whaaat?! Grim Reaper Kelvin is getting married soon?! How did you miss such important information until now, minister?! This concerns the survival of our kingdom!”
“R-Right, my liege! You see, the ceremonies are concentrated on the Eastern Continent, so it took some time for information to spread to the Western Continent!”
An argument between the king of Faanis and its minister was in full swing before any action had even been taken.
“Also, it seems invitations have only been sent out to a number of related people, and the weddings have not been officially announced yet—” the minister started.
“Agh, stop with the petty excuses!” the king interrupted. “Though he only stayed for a short time, Kelvin and his party are friends with our kingdom! What will you do if we upset them because we failed to congratulate them at all?! It’ll be a major problem!”
“Then we should prepare something posthaste!” the minister declared.
“Wait!” the king cried before pausing to think. “There are seven ceremonies, all in different places, yes?”
“Indeed. That is what I’ve heard,” the minister agreed.
“Hm... Then we should customize our messages for each ceremony. We must thoroughly research the wives’ preferences and personalities as well as the locations of each event to color our wedding presents. Make this the highest priority for our civil officials! This is a state matter!” the king declared.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” the minister responded.
“Also, make sure no bad rumors spread about them among our citizens! Rank S adventurers have hellishly sharp ears, and we have no idea who’s listening! Absolutely do not allow any slander against Grim Reaper! Seriously, it’s crazy how quickly they catch on! I swear it’s insane what Bakke can do!!! I don’t want to be punished again!!!” the king shouted ardently. Very ardently.
“You’re being too loud, my liege!!! The queen will hear you!!!” The minister was equally loud.
Wow, they’re so loud... multiple people in their surroundings thought.
Although they got into a fairly loud argument, in the end the pair was able to calm down and deal with the situation properly. Later on, Kelvin would say that, as always, Faanis was very conscientious, and he couldn’t believe the king had married Bakke, of all people.
Meanwhile, the peaceful town of Parth, which was Kelvin’s home, had been incredibly noisy for several days now. The entire town was awash with a festive atmosphere, surprising the visitors who occasionally arrived.
“Huh? Is there some sort of festival going on today?”
“What, you don’t know? Our hero, the Rank S adventurer Kelvin, is going to get married here. It’s been like this for days since the information spread.”
“A wedding? Seriously?! I know Rank S adventurers are amazing people, but it’s just one wedding. I would understand if it were the royalty of an entire kingdom, but this has got to be an exaggeration.”
“I should be saying ‘seriously?’ to you! You really don’t know? Kelvin’s wives-to-be include Princess Shutola of Trycen and Colette-sama of Deramis.”
That gave the visitor pause. “What? Trycen and Deramis? You mean that Shutola-sama and Colette-sama the Oracle?”
“Yes, those two! Oh, and just so you know, this is real. There are two major countries involved, and those with very promising futures too. Do you understand how big this is now?”
“Y-Yeah. Honestly, I can barely believe it, but...”
“That’s understandable for your first time hearing about it. But this marriage will strengthen a lot of the ties between countries here on the Eastern Continent. After all, Kelvin is good friends with Gaun in the north and Toraj in the south as well.”
“Gaun and Toraj are involved too?!”
“Ha ha ha! That’s a good shocked face! Oh man, it’s been so scary lately with Demon Lords and whatnot, but now it’s like that was all a lie. Kelvin’s amazing!”
While residents of the town were celebrating, they were also expecting this wedding to herald lasting peace. Many were thinking that no matter what happened between countries, Kelvin would serve as a good mediator. But the figure all these hopes rested on was someone who wished for conflict most in the world. Life was funny like that.
“Well, while we’re all hoping for it, Kelvin’s a dyed-in-the-wool battle junkie, so who knows when he’ll go rumbling for a tumbling! And to think all of that led to peace! The world is strange, isn’t it?”
This only confused the visitor. Of course, residents of the town knew Kelvin’s preferences very well, and still they were hoping...