I collected myself, then got back to the conversation.
“So who is it that Norn marries? Does she always marry the same person?”
“Yes. As far as I am aware, Norn Greyrat’s husband never changes.”
So Norn and this person were destined to be together. Lucky bastard. Just living his life, and then all of a sudden, he gets to marry my Norn. If he turned out to be a lazy bum coasting through life, I’d kidnap him and straighten him out—Spartan-style. I’d make sure he did nothing but train from the moment he woke up in the morning until he fell asleep. By the time I was finished with him, he wouldn’t be able to say anything but “yes,” “please,” and “thank you.” No way he’d cheat on her then.
At minimum, anyone who wanted to marry Norn would have to take a punch from Eris without passing o—
“Ruijerd Superdia.”
My thoughts screeched to a halt. I saw in my mind’s eye the face of a bald man who’d lived around five hundred years.
Scratch that—he wasn’t bald anymore.
A handsome man with a handsome head of green hair.
“Their child becomes the last Superd warrior. After Ruijerd succumbs to plague in his later years, she carries on his quest to restore the honor of the Superd, joining the human side to fight the demons. She is the one who deals the finishing blow to Laplace. Her fate is heavy, painful, and goes unsung by all… But in this loop, many of the Superd have survived. In all likelihood, no great burden will fall on her shoulders.”
While my mind sat frozen, Orsted’s words poured out as he remembered the girl’s life. If she defeated Laplace, she and Orsted had probably worked together. And if so… Yeah, I could see why Orsted had brought this up.
But okay, now what? It was different this time around. I was here, and the displacement incident had happened.
However Norn and Ruijerd’s relationship had developed in previous loops, if I knew one thing, it was that in this loop, it hadn’t blossomed into the love story Orsted knew. If I suggested marriage to Norn out of nowhere, she might just balk. I mean, it was a five-hundred-year age gap. It would probably confuse Ruijerd too.
I wasn’t going to complain about Ruijerd joining the family, but I couldn’t just go making a decision like this myself. No, definitely not.
“If you ask me,” I said slowly, “I think Norn gets the final say.”
“Very well. There is no rush,” Orsted answered with a nod.
After that, he told me about Norn in all the loops up until now. In the worlds where I didn’t exist, Norn became an adventurer. On her adventures, she performed songs and wrote ballads as a bard who could sing, dance, and fight. She and others with similar interests formed a party and traveled around the Northern Continent. Her sword and magic skills were marginal at best. B-rank was her limit. Because of that, while they were in the middle of some quest, her party was wiped out by monsters.
Norn herself was inches from death when who should appear but our very own Ruijerd. He tore through the advancing monsters and saved Norn’s life. For Norn, it was love at first sight. After that, she joined him on his journey to find the Superd.
At first, Ruijerd hadn’t been responsive, but then he discovered that the Superd had all been wiped out by a plague and fell into despair. Norn devoted herself selflessly to comforting him, which in turn won her Ruijerd’s heart, and they got married. They began their life together in a corner of the Biheiril Kingdom. After a while, they had a child, then Ruijerd contracted the same disease as the other Superd and died, leaving Norn behind. She raised their child, then died of old age.
It sounded like a lonely, bittersweet life, but Orsted said there had been a look of contentment on her face. As a love story, it was hard to swallow, but what goes on between a man and a woman is something only they know.
Things hadn’t gone that way for Norn this time. Was it still okay to set her up with Ruijerd? Would Norn be happy with someone she didn’t love? Would Ruijerd be open to it?
There was no point in me worrying about it on my own. The important thing was how Norn felt. She didn’t show any sign of interest in boys, but she was the right age for romance. One day, she’d suddenly bring him home, and the little punk would say, “I’ve come to ask Norn’s father for her hand in marriage.” Then I’d say, “Who’re you calling ‘father’?” Or “I’m her brother.”
But I’m getting off topic here.
I had the feeling I wasn’t the right person to ask Norn about this sort of thing. I couldn’t see her opening up to me. Another woman would be better—just not Aisha. I had the feeling that if I sent her, it wouldn’t end well. Sylphie or Roxy, then? Norn respected Roxy in particular, so maybe Roxy was best.
Eris might work too, if we were talking about respect. She’d been teaching Norn swordwork for a long time. Every morning since she graduated, Norn had been out with Eris jogging and practice sparring and what have you. You only had to look at them together to see how Norn admired Eris. Unfortunately, I doubted Eris’s move list included the “indirect question” skill.
No, it had to be Roxy. Wait, hold on. The one with the high “indirect question” stat was Sylphie. And while it wasn’t quite respect, Norn did seem to recognize Sylphie as the top dog in this house.
Or maybe I should just consult all three of them… Yes, the four of us could work together to decide who was best suited to the task. It’d be better to get Sylphie, Roxy, and Eris’s opinions. But were the three of them enough? Should I talk to Lilia and Zenith too?
I mulled it over on the living room sofa.
“Oh.” My eyes fell on a woman who’d come into the living room—Norn.
“I’m back, Big Brother,” she said.
“Welcome home.” She’d grown up beautiful. She looked just like Zenith had when she was younger, with sizable breasts and silky blonde hair. I bet she’d been popular with the boys at school.
“What…?” Norn asked after a while.
“Nothing… Um, Norn, want a cup of tea?”
“Yes, please.”
I picked up one of the cups on the table, quickly filled it with tea, and then handed it to her. As Norn accepted it, a dubious look came over her face.
“This is cold.”
“What?!”
Didn’t I just have Lilia make me a pot? I touched the teapot, and she was right. The cup in my hand was cold too. What’s going on here? Is someone attacking me?!
“Wait.” A thought hit me. “Come to think of it, didn’t you have work today?”
“Yes, I just got home now.”
I looked out the window. It was already dusk. My meeting with Orsted had ended, then I’d come back here and had Lilia make me a pot of tea. That had been early afternoon, so two hours must have passed.
“Right, sorry. I must’ve zoned out.”
“I’d appreciate it if you waited until you’re older before going senile…” Norn teased. “I’ll make another pot. Wait there, Big Brother.”
“Is no one else home?”
I was sure Sylphie and Eris had just been here. And Roxy… Okay, at this time of day, Roxy wouldn’t be home yet.
“Sylphie and Eris left just as I came back to take the children for a walk. Lilia went shopping.”
“Aisha?”
“I don’t know. She’s probably still with the mercenary band, isn’t she?” Norn said as she carried the teapot off to the kitchen.
Right, okay. No one’s home. Just me and Norn… In a way, I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. Yeah, I’d tackle this head-on. No beating around the bush. If that didn’t work, then I’d move on to the next thing. That was how I would be honest with Norn.
Right. Yeah. Norn wouldn’t like it if I only talked to her after I’d set everything up. I mean, she was the one getting married.
I had to start with Norn.
“Here you are.” While I was lost in thought, Norn came back, setting a cup of tea down in front of me.
“Thanks.” I watched as she sat down directly opposite me, then took a sip. “You’ve gotten good at brewing tea, huh?”
“We learned how to at school.”
“Not from Lilia?”
“Lilia… I don’t think she would teach me.”
Well, yeah. If she asked Lilia to teach her how to brew tea, she’d probably say there was no need because that was her job.
“I’m sure she would if you asked.”
“Perhaps. But seeing as the school had a place to learn, I took advantage of it. Besides, I never have the chance to make tea at home.”
“I guess so.”
She’d had student council meetings and her room at the dormitory, and now probably her workplace too. She seemed content with that.
Anyway, now that I’d warmed things up with some light chitchat, I wanted a good way to broach the main topic. What to say? Where did I begin?