by Dojyomaru
Oh, geez! How cute were they?
I could watch this forever.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you when you’re so happy, master, but do you have time to be wasting here?” Carla asked. “This is an important day for you, is it not?”
That pulled me back to reality, and I let out a sigh.
“...Well, yeah. The girls take longer to prepare, of course, so they’re already getting ready. I’ll have to go pick them up soon.”
No sooner had I said that than there was a knock at the door.
With a simple greeting, Prime Minister Hakuya came in. “Your Majesty. It’s about time for you to begin preparing.”
“I know.” I shrugged in exasperation, then clapped a hand on Carla’s shoulder. “Okay, Carla. I’m counting on you to look after Cian and Kazuha for a while.”
“Yes, sir.” Carla saluted. “Leave it to me.”
“Ayee!” Kazuha imitated her by raising both hands above her head in the banzai position.
Was that a cheeky response?
Meanwhile, Cian looked at me blankly, like he was saying, “Are you going away somewhere?”
If he could be so easygoing on a big day like this, he was going to be big when he grew up...
Wait, I can’t go on acting like a doting parent forever.
I hit myself in the head to get into a new frame of mind, and then followed Hakuya out of the room, leaving the children behind.
◇ ◇ ◇
— 1st day, 4th month, 1,548th year, Continental Calendar —
Today, beneath clear blue skies, we would be holding my coronation as the King of Friedonia, as well as my wedding to Liscia and the others.
I, who had kept calling myself the acting king and the provisional king, would formally ascend to the throne as king, and I would also become the husband of Liscia and the others.
They would, from today forward, not be my fiancées, but my primary and secondary queens.
We were already a family, though, so it felt a little late for all this.
For us, our big day would become a festival the likes of which the people of this country might only see once in their lives.
There was an unprecedented number of people gathered here in Parnam today to see the coronation and wedding.
When people gathered, that invigorated the merchants, and there were stalls and street performers livening up the city.
Dece the warrior and his party were there in that festive city, too.
“Whew, things have gotten so exciting, there’s no comparison with any ordinary festival,” he commented to his party members.
“Well, that’s to be expected,” Febral the priest answered. “If the new king is formally ascending the throne and getting married, that’s something the whole country has to come together to celebrate. For a celebration in the capital, this isn’t overblown.”
Augus the brawler took a swig from the bottle of wine he had bought at a nearby stall and laughed boisterously. “Let’s not sweat the details. We’re adventurers, traveling from country to country. It doesn’t matter what the country’s celebrating so long as there’s good food, and good drink, am I right?”
“This country certainly does have good food,” said Julia the quiet beauty. “Public order is good, too, so we’ve really settled in.”
Febral shrugged in response.
Augus called out to Juno the thief, who was walking ahead of the group, a skewer of meat in one hand. “Hey, Juno! You agree, right?”
“Hm? Me?” Juno put a hand on her hip and thrust out her meager chest. “I’m celebrating the king’s coronation and wedding, like I should.”
“Huh? Why?” Augus asked.
“What do you mean, ‘why’...? What’s it to you? I can celebrate for whoever I want.”
Juno looked away peevishly.
Her comrades didn’t know that the one controlling Mr. Musashibo was the king of this country. They didn’t know Juno had been meeting with that king and his queens for secret late night tea parties, either.
He’s just finished putting down monsters up north, and as soon as he comes back he has a coronation ceremony? He must be busy. Ignoring her bewildered comrades, Juno lifted her skewer up toward the blue sky. Congratulations, sir... no, Your Majesty! I’ll come play again sometime soon, so don’t go treating me badly just because you’re married now!
While she was thinking that, a salute of cannons was fired, and the birds took off.
◇ ◇ ◇
“It looks like things have really livened up,” I commented.
Looking down on the castle town from a certain room in Parnam Castle, it was possible to tell the city was packed from even this far away.
No, but seriously, the last few days leading up to this were super busy.
The arrangements for setting up the site and placing personnel had been a lot of trouble.
That was because, thanks to Roroa’s plan to have weddings all across the city, the key retainers we could normally have used were indisposed because they were preparing their own weddings.
The key members who would be getting married the same day as us were Ludwin, the commander of the Royal Guard, to Genia the overscientist; Halbert, the commander of the Dratroopers, to Staff Officer Kaede and Ruby the red dragon; Ginger, the principal of Ginger’s Vocational School, to his maid-secretary Sandria; and Poncho, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, to Head Maid Serina and Komain, the former second-in-command of the refugee group. All of them were faces that represented this country.
In particular, the inability to use Ludwin, who had been tasked with the security of the capital as the commander of the Forbidden Army, and Serina, who was in charge of managing the castle’s maids, left a big hole.
It had taken a lot of effort just to establish a chain of command for the day of the event.
We had managed to get several veteran members to send skilled personnel to assist: Excel, the commander-in-chief of the National Defense Force; Owen, the retired general; and Herman.
Prime Minister Hakuya, who was popular with the ladies but remained single, would direct them on the day of the event, but everything would be helter-skelter until then.
I had naïvely thought holding the two events simultaneously would cut down on costs, but I would have to think things through a little more cautiously in future.
“Now, then...”
Having finished changing with the help of the maids, I was standing in front of a full-length mirror.
“Hahaha... Looking pretty white today, huh,” I said without meaning to as I looked in the mirror.
The design of the outfit itself was extravagant, making use of gold-thread embroidery. Aside from the tailcoat, it wasn’t that different from my usual black military uniform, but on the whole, it was very white.
During the ceremony, I was going to wear a cape, like the former king Sir Albert had, on top of this.
When I saw how regal I looked, it made my cheeks twitch just a little.
“Ha ha ha... If I wear this much white, it hides my black heart,” I muttered.
“Now, that’s not true!” Tomoe objected. “You look really cool, Big Brother.”
“Really? I think the outfit overpowers him, you know?” Yuriga shot back.
...I’d received two comments that were polar opposites.
“It feels too much like he’s being forced to wear it,” Yuriga went on. “He doesn’t live up to it.”
“Murgh, that’s not true! Big Brother looks great in these clothes.”
“My brother Fuuga would look more dashing.”
Ichiha was also in the room, trying to get them to settle down and stop arguing.
“Now, now, you shouldn’t fight on a happy day like today.”
““Hmph!”” Tomoe and Yuriga both looked away peevishly.
Good grief. The three kids were up to their usual antics today, too, huh.
All three were dressed to the nines today, though.
That was
because Tomoe would be attending the ceremony as my little sister, while Yuriga and Ichiha would be there as guests from Malmkhitan and the Duchy of Chima, respectively.
In the case of Yuriga and Ichiha in particular, they were acting as envoys for Fuuga and Duke Chima, respectively, and would say a few words of congratulations each during the coronation ceremony.
“Urgh... I have to speak in front of a large number of people, don’t I?” the youngest of the three, Ichiha, said nervously. “I’m getting all tense.”
He shuddered at the thought.
Tomoe took Ichiha’s hand, and wrote the kanji for “human” on his palm.
“Listen, Ichiha, Big Brother told me before that, at times like this, you write the character for ‘human’ on your palm like this, and then pretend to eat it, okay?”
“‘Human’? That’s how you read this?”
“It’s read that way in Big Brother’s world.”
Yuriga, who was beside her listening, furrowed her brow.
“Do you mean a human in the sense of mankind? Or in the sense of the human race? Would celestials like me be included in the ‘humans’ you’re writing and eating?”
She was really focusing on the details there. It was just a little charm to calm you down, so I didn’t think there was any need to think so deeply about it.
With a grin, Tomoe said, “Oh? Could it be you’re getting tense, Yuriga?”
“Nwah?!” Yuriga’s face turned red, and she pinched Tomoe’s cheeks. “Why are you such a cheeky little kid?!”
“If you’re mad, dosh that mean I’m right?”
“Shut up, shut up!”
“Shtop, your shtretching them.”
“Um, Yuriga, isn’t it about time you let go?” Ichiha asked nervously. “Tomoe, you too. Don’t tease Yuriga so much.”
Those three kids sure made a racket. They really were lively.
Hold on, Yuriga’s people were called celestials? I felt like I’d missed that up until now, so it surprised me.
Then there was a knock at the door, and a maid came in and bowed. “Your Majesty, the princess and the others are prepared, so please come.”
It was time already, huh?
I told the three kids, “Well then, you three, I’ll be counting on you at the ceremony.”
“Yes, Big Brother!”
“Count on me. I’ve got this.”
“I-I’ll do my best.”
Having heard their three responses, I went to go see Liscia and the others.
Liscia and the others were being dressed in the castle’s great hall in an area divided by screens.
Because this had become a major event, we were perpetually shorthanded, and this allowed the maids and the makeup and dressing staff go back and forth from one to another.
When I took a peek inside, it was so full of stuff that it reminded me of being behind the scenes at a drama club event, but if they were done preparing, the room had likely been cleaned up a little.
Before heading to the great hall where Liscia and the others would be waiting, I headed to another room nearby.
I knocked and then entered. In that room were several people sitting around a long table chatting: Liscia’s parents, the former king Sir Albert and former queen Lady Elisha; Aisha’s father, Sir Wodan; Roroa’s grandfather, the old general Herman; and finally Juna’s grandmother, Excel.
Basically, this was where the families of the brides were gathered.
At one end of the table, next to Excel, a blue-haired man and woman were sitting there looking very small.
These were Juna’s parents. From what I had heard, they were merchants who operated the main Lorelei singing cafe back in Lagoon City. I was going to be marrying their daughter Juna, so they had needed to be invited as a matter of course, but even if they were related to Excel, being in a room with the former royal couple, generals, and nobles had to be difficult for them.
I might need to show some more consideration here.
While I was thinking that...
Sir Albert noticed me. He stood up and spread his arms, then patted his upper biceps lightly. “Ohh, son-in-law! You look so manly, I scarcely recognized you.”
The others stood up, too, looking at me with peaceful faces.
I bowed my head deeply to them. “Fathers, mothers, and family. Thank you for coming today.”
“No, no.” Wodan shook his head. “I am very happy to have lived to see this wonderful day. When I saw Aisha in her dress earlier, she reminded me of her late mother. The reason that crude glutton became so beautiful must be that her meeting with you made her want to be more feminine. I wish my wife could have seen,” he finished sadly.
It seemed Aisha’s mother had died of a pandemic when Aisha was still little. Even the long-lived races could get into accidents, and die of serious illness. If they were incautious, it was entirely possible they would live shorter lives than humans did.
Taking care to remember that, I thought about the people I hadn’t been able to invite here.
“Yeah... I wish Grandpa and Grandma could’ve seen, too,” I said. “I would’ve liked them to see the way I’ve ‘made a family,’ like Grandpa told me to that day.”
“Hee hee,” Excel giggled with a relaxed expression. “I’m sure they’re watching over you together. The dead live on in the memories of the living, after all. You can easily imagine those precious people in your memories watching over you, right?”
Those words must have come from her having lived five hundred years, experiencing many meetings and partings.
It was true, if I imagined what Grandpa would think if he could see me now... I could see him smiling.
Sir Wodan wore the same sort of smile. “Yes. I think my wife is happy.”
“I wonder what faces my family would make,” Herman mumbled, his arms crossed.
If it was Roroa’s family, that meant Julius... and Gaius VIII.
Julius was one thing; we had fought together in the Kingdom of Lastania. But remembering the devilish look on Gaius’s face, I shuddered. We’d fought to the death in a war, so he must have hated me.
I broke into a cold sweat. “I’ll bet he’s glaring at me from the hereafter.”
Herman let out a little laugh. “Heh, well, you’ll be fine. As long as my little girl is with him on the other side, that is.”
“Your little girl... Do you mean Roroa’s mother?” I asked.
Roroa’s mother had passed away while she was still young.
“Her mother was much like her: bright, cheerful, and spirited. If Sir Gaius had kept up that sour face during his own daughter’s wedding day, she’d have slapped him upside the head. You’re the one who saved Sir Julius from his crisis, too, after all.”
I tried to picture the scene of a mother who looked like Roroa slapping Gaius upside the head.
“The idea that Gaius was whipped like that... I can’t see it,” I admitted.
“I can only say this now, and you may not believe it, but Sir Gaius wasn’t always so stubborn.” Herman narrowed his eyes, as if thinking of fond memories. “He inherited a grudge against the kingdom, but when my daughter was there, that was never all there was to him. My daughter’s personality brightened the castle, and supported Sir Gaius. But when she passed away, Sir Gaius only had revenge left. If I look back on it now, it just shows how important she was to him.”
I was silent.
He’d lost the woman he loved, and had only revenge remaining... huh. Hearing that really changed my impression of Gaius.
“The reason that he got along so poorly with Roroa was because he couldn’t bear to see her becoming more like her mother with every day. That’s what I think, nowadays.” Herman laughed in a self-effacing manner. “Ha ha... but forgive me, I shouldn’t be saying this in front of people from the kingdom.”
“No... Thank you for telling me.” I shook my head.
Unlike the boisterous Owen, Herman was always so quiet. If he was speaking so passionately about this, there had to
be something in it he felt he needed to convey to me.
“Roroa would never talk about this sort of thing,” I went on.
“She gets that from her mother,” Herman told me. “You would think she’d be good at letting people indulge her, but the truth is, she’s stubborn and unwilling to show weakness.”
“You’re right...”
“I am letting you, the man taking her as your wife, know about Sir Gaius, because I hope you will learn a lesson from him.” Herman looked me straight in the eye. “When you marry my granddaughter, you will also be becoming king. As king, I am sure you will put the country first. Because you believe that will protect your wives, and the children they will give birth to. Because you value ‘family,’ you will put that family second or third, for their own benefit.”
I had no words. That was exactly the kind of problem I might fall into.
“When that happens, I want you to remember Sir Gaius,” Herman said. “While you put them second and third, before you realize it, that family may be gone. All that will be left is a country without those important to you. Could you remain a good king like that?”
“...I’m not confident I could.”
If I was being honest, I didn’t think it was possible. But in my position, I couldn’t come out and say that. If a king showed weakness, the people would be uneasy, and would cease to follow him.
Herman nodded. “I cannot fault you for that. So I want you to look at your family as you look at your kingdom, and protect them the same as you would it. If the king builds a peaceful family, that is for the good of this nation, too.”
“Yes. Thank you for the lesson.”
Building a peaceful family is for the good of the nation. Let me carve that sentiment into my heart.
I bowed my head to Herman, communicating my regards for the former princely couple of Amidonia.
Then Herman bowed his head to me. “I’ve spoken too long, but in the end, there is really just one thing I wanted to say. Please, make my granddaughter happy. That is all. So that, even when I’m gone... that girl can always stay as bright and cheerful as she is now.”
“Yes, I’ll see to it, grandfather.”
The other parents watched this exchange between Herman and me with gentle eyes.