“WOW, things are pretty much back to normal!” I exclaim as I take in Analia for the first time since the explosion.
This is New Analia. The country Sereniel and Regulus are striving to rebuild.
Julius and I flew here straight away after receiving Sereniel’s invitation.
Last I saw it, it looked like a scene right out of a post-apocalyptic movie, with the endless sea of green and ruins, but now proper buildings have replaced the wreckage and people are going about their business.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like Analia has more life and activity than it did back when I lived here.
“Sereniel and Regulus are in that big mansion over there, right? Let’s go, Julius!”
“Okay.” Julius walks in step with me and casually takes my hand in his. What’s more, this is no ordinary hand-holding, but the kind where your fingers interlace! The Lovers’ Hold!
“J-J-J-Ju-Julius! D-Doing this kinda thing in public is…lewd, don’t you think?!”
“…I don’t recall doing anything so indecent to deserve being called lewd.”
Julius’s usual calm and collected voice rains down on me, helping me regain a modicum of calm in my moment of freaking out over acting like a couple.
H-He’s right. I might have overreacted a bit. But…but…people are watching…and he did it out of the blue…! That’s right! His abruptness is at fault!
“Sh-Shut up. Y-You’re right. H-Holding hands isn’t out of the ordinary or anything. We are married, after all… But! You catch me off guard when you do it without notice, so get permission first! Ask for permission from your wonderful Elle!”
“All right. Elle, may I continue holding your hand?” Julius asks, a slight smile pulling at his lips.
It puts me in such a good mood I give instant approval. “…Yep! You have my special permission to do so.”
Hehe. Holding hands while walking through an unfamiliar city with Julius feels like a date!
“Oh my goodness. Did you hear what they just said, Regulus? They’re so innocent. It’s giving me hives. They’re too pure for this world.”
“Of course I heard, Sereniel. Such innocence. Their relationship is so squeaky clean.”
I hear people talking behind our back. What’s worse is that they keep mocking our relationship by calling us innocent this and innocent that!
I turn around and find two familiar faces.
“Oh? Sereniel? Regulus?!”
“We came to get you since we saw you land over here,” Sereniel says, her arm hooked around Regulus’s.
“Good to see you again. Is it all right for the country’s two leaders to be on a leisurely stroll in these parts?” Julius asks, but I’m way more curious about something else entirely.
Aren’t they too close? I mean, Sereniel is linking arms with Regulus and her breasts have practically swallowed his arm!
“On the public safety side, there’s no issue with us going for a walk. You’re about the only person in the world who can take the two of us on,” Regulus responds with a dauntless smile.
Sereniel notices my suspicious gaze locked on her chest and grins. “That reminds me, I haven’t told you yet. Regulus and I actually got married, too.”
Her shocking confession causes the world to blur before my eyes. “Hah?! Married? The two of you are?! Since when did you become so close?!”
“Since when? Can’t really say. It just kind of happened naturally. Right, Regulus?”
“It did. We were always together and Sereniel is gorgeous.”
“Ooh, you! You make me blush. Well, it is a fact I’m gorgeous.”
Regulus and Sereniel are flirting in front of me.
Wait, is this for real?
Still in disbelief, I pester them about it. “Hey, are you serious?!”
I mean, it’s hard to believe.
“There’s nothing strange about it. Regulus and I had already been bound through an engagement vow.”
An engagement vow in Analia is essentially a huge event where couples selected by the Demon Lord have children together per his orders.
Julius and I originally met as betrotheds under the Demon Lord’s orders, too.
Well, it makes sense. Basically, the Demon Lord was trying to produce stronger magic users through unions between the strongest sorcerers.
As two of the Four Grand Magi, Julius and I were selected as a couple for our excellence in magic. It makes plenty of sense that Sereniel and Regulus would be matched together for the same reason.
“I never knew. You guys were engaged, huh? We didn’t interact much as the Four Grand Magi, and I always thought you two hated each other.”
“Well, it’s a fact that our engagement vows ended a long time ago. We had a child and raised that child until they were old enough to go to the facility…and then we parted ways according to the rules. I had to leave both Regulus and our child.”
“Oh, right. Once you have a kid together in Analia, that’s it for your relationship. And your engagement period only lasts so long before it automatically terminates even if you don’t have any kids— Hang on, you guys had a kid together?!”
“Why, of course we did. I gave birth to an adorable child who’s just like me.”
Er, how old is Sereniel right now? She has been the second-ranked Grand Magi for as long as I can remember. I never heard anything about her taking a break from her duties to have children.
“Back then, Regulus was the coolest man around. The gray-haired, subdued version is wonderful in his own way, but back in the day, he was the strongest man in all of Analia and the first-ranked Grand Magi with long, flowing fiery-red hair. I was in awe of him from day one. So when I received word from the DemiOracle that Regulus was selected as my fiancé, I got on my knees and swore allegiance to the Demon Lord all over again! Though that didn’t last long, since we turned on the Demon Lord.”
“Wahaha! You’re making me blush, sweetheart. Once you become the first-ranked Magi, the Demon Lord often assigns different partners for you to have children with, but Sereniel left the biggest lasting impact. She was a drop-dead gorgeous lassie. And her boobs were huge. Bigger than any other gal.”
Regulus and Sereniel are drifting into their own little gross flirtatious world again, but I’m more bothered by something they mentioned.
“Hey, Regulus, is it true that the Demon Lord assigns you lots of different women to have children with once you become the first-ranked Grand Magi?”
“That’s right, lassie. First rank means you are the strongest man or woman in the kingdom. What better way is there to make powerful sorcerers than through the strongest’s seed?”
Uh, I wonder if that means the first-ranked Grand Magi was basically the Demon Lord’s studhorse in producing an endless supply of powerful sorcerers.
My eyes slowly rise to Julius’s face.
“Hey, Julius? You were the first-ranked Grand Magi, too, right? Did you have other fiancées before me…?” I pose my sudden doubts as a question for Julius.
Julius answers my naïve and simple question with a nod, his beautiful blond hair sliding over his shoulders. “Yes,” he says honestly without a shred of guilt in his voice. “I believe there were three before you. But we were still at war. I couldn’t spend much time with them. The time limit passed without us having any children and we went our separate ways.”
I glare at him.
What the hell?! I’m super pissed off!
Noticing my enraged aura, Julius’s eyes spin and he rushes to correct himself. “If I said I was lying just now, would that make you feel better?”
“Hell no! Stupid Julius! Pervert! Cheater! Impure jerk! Hand! Let go of my hand!” I demand and peel his hand off mine.
Julius makes a face like the world just came to an end. “Elle, I will do anything to make it up to you. Anything at all, so please don’t say things like that.”
I turn away from him.
I mean, I understand that it’s not really his fault and those relationships happened before us, but it’s still upsetting! Because…
“Because…you’re my…first… Even though you’re my first ever, you had three women before me…and I don’t like that,” I accidentally say out loud. Julius staggers backward.