Having been challenged by Dorothy according to the objection system, we quickly made our way to the underground training area. On the way there, I told Ellie and the other maids that we would be fighting and instructed them to inform the other people staying here. It was still early in the morning, but this was an important event that would sway the wedding. It was likely that they would all come running.
Thump, thump, thump!
Look, you can already hear a lot of footsteps. Now then, who will be the first to c—
“It’s been too long, Ri-chan!” Rami burst out. “I heard from the maids! You’re gonna fight now, right? Pump up the vibes to the max! There’s no way you can lose!”
“Indeed, we are with you in spirit!” Graham agreed. “But I want Dorothy to do well too! Ah, the essence of youth!”
“A match between Rion and Dorothy, huh? Honestly, I can’t predict who will win. They’re both far out of my league in terms of strength,” Edgar admitted.
“Oh? That’s a pretty weak response from you of all people, Edgar,” Charles taunted him.
“How dare you, Charles!” Axe roared. “You’ve insulted Edgar-sama!”
“Let it go, Axe,” said Edgar. “But Charles, can I take that to mean you know how this match will end?”
“Heh heh, of course!” Charles confirmed. “Charles Vaccania is the foremost expert on women! I can see the future now! After two or three reversals, Rion and Dorothy will eventually fall head over heels for me. A future that truly shines bright!”
“You can’t listen to any more of this prattle, Edgar-sama,” Perona warned. “It’s just a waste of time. In fact, it’ll make your ears fall off your head.”
A bunch of kids in school uniforms flooded in.
Huh, this is weird. I haven’t heard anything about students from Lumiest staying here. Wait, more importantly, I can now definitively mark Charles Vaccania as an enemy. I want to take action right away, but should I? It’s fine, right? There should be no reason to stop me.
“Kel-nii, stay!” Rion ordered me.
“Woof!”
Stay! Roger!
“You’re all here! I was worried because Rai-chan told me over the Network that it was taking longer than expected to get here! I wasn’t expecting you until the afternoon,” said Rion.
I had indeed furnished the Lightning Dragon King and Graham with Clotho clones so they could contact us in an emergency. It seemed they’d been using this method to coordinate the wedding.
“Indeed,” said Graham. “That seemed to be the case, but Rami-dono’s quick wit saw us seize an opportunity most ripe!”
“Yep! I went all out!” Rami confirmed.
According to her, she had transformed into her dragon form midway there to give everybody a ride to Parth posthaste. The Lightning Dragon King’s running speed—or rather, flight speed in this case—was apparently the highest among the Dragon Kings. Even though she was carrying passengers, if she went all out, she would certainly have been able to cover that distance in a flash. In other words, she was a total improvement on the other dragon-based ride.
“To tell you the truth, though, it should have been a smoother trip. If we’d used the teleportation gate to get from the academy to Parth, we would have made it with time to spare, even if we’d left day of,” Edgar noted.
“Yeah, now that you mention it, you’re right. With Edgar’s authority, we could have easily gotten permission from the academy, and it would have been easy to coordinate with you to get permission from Parth as long as we did it beforehand.”
“Er, well, ya see...” Perona trailed off uncomfortably. She then started to explain what had led to this.
According to her, Charles had gone around to everyone, arguing that travel time was the essence of a journey, and that when traveling with friends, doing so by carriage or boat was much more fun. He showed incredible persistence, causing everyone to bend to his wishes and accept his suggestion. As for the rest, it was easy to surmise. His travel plans had been sloppy, they’d taken too many detours and extra stops, and in the end, they’d fallen far behind schedule.
“We realized eventually that our plans were in trouble and hurried along, but it was too late, basically,” said Perona. “Well, it was because it was really fun watching Charles hit on and get rejected and slapped by every girl he saw during our journey. If possible, I would have loved to have been able to keep a record of every time it happened.”
“True!” the rest of the group other than Charles agreed.
“No, no, no, come on, don’t you guys think that’s too mean?!” Charles yelped.
I felt like I was starting to understand how to deal with Charles. When I had seen him before, I’d felt his talent for curses and was pretty excited, but it seemed everything else about him was nothing but disappointing. In fact, since I’d been told he was royalty from some country, I was getting worried about that place’s future.
“But thanks to all those delays, we were able to buy quite a lot of souvenirs!” Graham exclaimed. “Once things calm down, we’ll give you yours,” he informed Rion and me.
“What? Souvenirs?! Yaaay!” Rion cheered.
“Oh, that’s exciting. We’ll gladly receive them once this match is over.”
“Hey, is Ku-chan here yet? She left the academy before we did, so she’s got to be here already,” said Rami. “I’ve got a whole bunch of messages for her from everyone staying at the academy. And you’ve got just as many, Ri-chan!”
“By the way, Kelvin-san, would you mind if I seduced some of your maids?” Charles asked. “I have to say, I was feeling some pretty heated looks on the way here, and I think ignoring those stares would be rude of me—”
“Um...everyone?” Dorothy cut him off. Her tone was robotic, but it wasn’t totally impassive. In fact, it was too densely packed with emotion. I suppose the best description for what she was emitting would be pressure filled with extreme anger.
Of course, all the noise in the training area instantly stopped as everyone turned to her.
“None of this talk is necessary right now, right? This is the time for Rion-san and me to have a serious match. One that will affect her marriage. Are you trying to get in my way?”
“Well...” Charles hesitated.
“Um, my deepest apologies,” said Graham.
Dorothy was totally pissed. Her face was utterly unmoving, like an iron mask, but I could tell she was furious.
Agh, I wanted to be the one to fight her!
“Especially you, Charles. What do you think you’re doing on such a precious day and in such a holy place? Are you seriously trying to chase skirts?” Dorothy asked. “It’s true that whether this wedding will actually happen isn’t set in stone yet. However, we are in the home of the betrothed as well as the wedding venue. And you’re trying to pick up girls? What did you come here for? Don’t you see how big a fool you are? It baffles me that you would have the gall to assume that Rion-san and I have fallen for you. In the first place, why are you even alive? Hey, please, tell me. I want to know the answer.”
She was flinging a torrent of verbal abuse his way. Even though he was only reaping what he sowed, he was taking so much concentrated fire I was starting to feel sorry for him.
Actually, would being cursed out by a machine gun spray of insults be better for him in the long run? Like, maybe it would lead him down the path of being an expert on curses or something. I think that if he has a talent for being a lightning rod, that would be a viable life course too.
“Hey, wait a second! This has got to be the harshest you’ve ever been to me!” Charles yelped. “Also, why are you in uniform after you’ve graduated already?! It suits you, though! I like it! Was it meant to be a favor to me?!”
Wow. He’s standing right up to Dorothy when she’s like that. How positive can one guy get? But now, thanks to that, Dorothy looks like she’s on the verge of firing off some Time Magic.
“Thee-chan,” Rion warned her. Just in time, she stepped in.
Your life has been saved just in the nick of time, Charles.
“Sorry,” Rion said. “I might have gotten a bit too excited too. But don’t worry. When we start the match, I’ll only look at you. Okay?”
“That’s some amazing confidence, Rion-san,” Dorothy replied after a pause. “But are you sure about this? My strength now is on a completely different level than what it was during the exhibition match. You have basically no chance of winning.”
“You won’t know until we actually face off,” Rion countered. “Despite how I look, I’m confident in fights against other humans.”
“Against humans, you say. But this would be a fight against a god,” Dorothy corrected her.
Agh! The way Rion and Dorothy are looking at each other! I can see sparks flying!!! I’m so jealous! I want to have a serious fight against a best friend!
“Hey, Perona. Is it just me or does Kelvin-san seem strange too?” Edgar asked.
“It won’t do you any good to think about it, so just don’t,” Perona advised him.