“I’m proud of you, Your Highness.”
“Thank you, Floortje. That makes me happy.” He wiped his tears and smiled. “Floortje. This won’t look great since I lost, but...”
“Yes?”
“Let’s get married.”
“Yes!”
Bashful as he was, the prince had fulfilled his promise to propose to me. In an instant, I felt happiness fill me like a big, blooming flower.
“Your Highness, I... I...”
I couldn’t find the words. Tears of happiness were flowing from my eyes.
“Thank you, Floortje. I promise to make you happy,” spoke the prince with his usual lovely smile. “All right, then!” He got up and raised his hand. “I, Richie Aryaka, crown prince of the Kingdom of Aryaka, hereby declare my engagement to Floortje Hobbema, daughter of Marquis Hobbema!”
The whole building went silent for a moment. Then, cheering erupted from all directions.
“Nice one, Prince!”
“Lady Floortje, Your Highness, congratulations!”
“Hell yeah! That’s great, Richie!”
“Congratulations, Lady Floortje!”
“I’ve been waiting for this day!”
It felt a little awkward to receive everyone’s blessings.
“M-Miladyyy! C-Congratulatiooons!” spoke Adela tearfully.
“Thank you, Adela. I’ve worried you, haven’t I?”
“You’ll...finally find happiness. I’ve always dreamt of this moment! Congratulations. Congratulations!” she continued, holding my shoulders and crying.
“You’re engaged at last, eh? Congratulations,” said Yustin, all smiles.
“Thank you, Yustin.”
“Every Aryakan has been waiting for this marriage. Congratulations, Lady Floortje, Your Highness,” said General Maurilio in a solemn tone.
“Thank you, General. I’m happy to hear that.”
“I’m just surprised you two weren’t mated to each other yet. Congrats.”
“Thank you, Phalaris.”
“You’re getting married too, huh? Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Clifton. Why don’t we have a double dohyō wedding in the Aryakan Sumo Hall?”
“That sounds great. Let’s do that, Kukuri.”
“I-I agree. That would make me happy.”
Kukuri had transformed into a human and was snuggling up to Clifton.
In the VIP seats, King Arvi was clapping his hands and nodding to us. Beside him, Ulupano in fenrir form was smiling and tapping his forelegs on the floor.
The demons and monsters all clapped and smiled as well.
“Congratulations...”
“Man, that’s great! First Kukuri’s getting married, now this—I want a husband too!” spoke Uta.
As overjoyed as I was, there was still the last bout with the Demon Lord. The score was two to two, and this bout would decide the outcome of the whole competition. We had had an unfortunate draw during our previous bout on the Magic Train—I wanted a clean win this time. I would bring out his third form no matter what, and then I would defeat it. If we couldn’t win today, I would feel guilty towards the elves who had nothing to do with all this and would lose their capital to the Demon Lord’s army. I had to win even for the sake of Barkus, whom I could never see again.
“Floortje.”
“Yes?”
“Relax,” said the prince, and smiled like a blooming flower.
Indeed, I had forgotten something important: focusing on victory too much would make you lose. Victory depends on one’s turn of fortune, and it’s the heavens who decide the outcome. My role amounted to enjoying sumo.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
“Good luck, Floortje.”
“Thank you!”
My fervor had dissipated without a trace. This was a team competition, and I wasn’t alone in it. The prince had taught me that important fact.
I climbed the dohyō, taking firm steps on it in my high heels. Wasn’t there any way I could be spared having to wear them in public places? Granted, I could fight freely even while wearing them, but any sumo wrestler would want to fight barefoot. Oh well, that’s how things work around here, I guess.
The Demon Lord had another gaudy mawashi around his muscular body—this time, it was made of lamé. He did look gallant in it, though. And his appearance was very young, despite the fact that he had a grown son like Erhard. Perhaps greater demons had very long lives.
“Yo. Today’s the day I bring you down and show the whole world that Demonic Sumo is the strongest.”
“It is strong; I can tell that by looking at Arima. You’re strong too.”
“Hah hah hah. Man, is it even possible to rile you up?”
“What need is there for that?”
A twisted smile appeared on his face, soon replaced by a distant look in his eyes.
“Sumo is great. A short scuffle tells you all you need to know about your difference in strength.”
“It really is great. It’s a ritual and a show; it’s sacred yet lowly. There’s a lot of depth to it.”
“You know, when I heard Erhard got his ass kicked—that was when I got an interest in sumo. I sent Kukuri to Aryaka to find out more about it.”
“I knew.”
“And once I learned what it’s like, I brought it to the demonic realm, doing all sorts of things. I found demons and monsters bragging about their strength, taught them sumo. Planned to pit them against you, you know?”
I had known the Demon Lord was investigating sumo, but at the time I hadn’t thought he was this serious about it. I wondered how he had come in contact with the Valhalla Sumo Association.
“So I went about looking into all sorts of things like rules and techniques. And what do you know—the one who ended up getting the most into it was none other than myself. It was really fun. Getting stronger was fun too, and also the whole thing with using tactics in the ring and finding out who’s the more stubborn of the two of you. We did a lot of research together with my commander-in-chief, Arima.”
“So Arima did sumo from the start too?”
“Yeah. He may not look the part, but he was the biggest ruffian in the violent place that is the demonic realm. Doing sumo kind of added depth to his character—and look at him now, he’s an ōzeki.”
Sumo is life, so things like that happen.
“We held sumo tournaments in the army, and all the monsters got hooked. That was when translucent people appeared, asking whether we wanted to know more about sumo.”
“Oh, you visited the demonic realm of your own accord?”
“Heh heh, that we did,” replied the gray referee with an awkward smile.