Prologue
“Mashter Zagan, please look, a whole lot of acorns fell down over here!”
The young girl who came running over with a pitter-patter had acorns of various sizes clenched in both her fists. And in response, Zagan looked back at her with a muddled expression on his face. He could not decide whether to praise her or be anxious. However, Zagan was not a man with a good countenance by any standard. In fact, he had such a grim neutral expression that even adults trembled in fear, yet this young girl simply smiled back at him.
After thinking for a bit, Zagan nodded with an ‘Mm’ and picked up one of the acorns from the young girl’s hands.
“This large one is an acorn from a sawtooth oak. It’s extremely bitter, so it’s better not to put it in your mouth unless you’re starving.”
“You can eat acorns?” The young girl stared back at him blankly and tilted her head to the side as she questioned him.
“Yeah. Though, I doubt there’s anyone out there who would enjoy the taste. Plus, if you aren’t careful when cooking them, even the better ones will put you through something terrible.”
In truth, back in his days as a waif, Zagan went to the forest and tried cooking up whatever acorns he managed to gather. And, the moment he thought his stomach was full, he was assaulted by a terrible stomachache that had him in death throes.
When he reminisced about his past, enduring the desire to sigh over such bitter memories all the while, the young girl’s eyes sparkled even brighter.
“Mashter Zagan, that’s amazing! You know everything, don’t you?”
“I don’t know everything, I just know what I know.”
His memory of getting lost in a forest and chewing on acorns was by no means a happy one. And yet, hearing about it made the young girl stare at the acorns fixedly.
“...What does it taste like, I wonder?”
“I’ll just tell you right now, they taste horrible...” Zagan let out a sigh and picked one up as he said that. He could tell the girl was liable to chew on an acorn if he didn’t step in. And so, even though he seemed to be bluntly refusing her, Zagan walked to the kitchen, put on an apron, and pulled out a frying pan. Before Nephy arrived at his castle, Zagan ate nothing but dry meat and milk, but that wasn’t because he couldn’t cook. On the contrary, having some sort of culinary skill was a life or death matter when one had to live off what little scraps of food they could find.
“Mashter Zagan, I love you so much!” The young girl exclaimed as she embraced Zagan.
“M-Mmm...” Zagan had to expend all his effort just to return a bewildered nod. And as he stood there awkwardly, a young girl with dragon horns tottered up to his side. It was Zagan’s adopted daughter, Foll.
“Let me help, Zagan.”
“Sorry about that. I’ll leave it to you...” Zagan was honestly thankful that there was someone there to do a taste test. After all, knowing how to cook and knowing how to prepare a delicious meal were two completely different things.
“Can you also cook?” The young girl inquired, clearly impressed as she watched Foll get to work in the kitchen.
“A bit...” Nephy was in charge of preparing all meals, but Foll had been assisting her since she moved in. Recently, she had even taken charge of several items on the menu.
“Big Shish, you’re also amazing!” The young girl hopped in place and raised her voice, obviously impressed by the revelation.
“Big Sis...!” Foll staggered upon being called ‘Big Sis.’ And, in an unusual turn, her cheeks flushed red as she stared at the girl in wonder. That made total sense. After all, Foll was doted on by those around her, but she had never done the same for anyone else. Sure, she was a dragon who had been alive for much longer than most humans, but she still looked and acted like a little girl.
“So cute...” Foll said as she hugged the young girl tight.
“Huh?” The young girl’s eyes darted about for a bit, but she immediately put on a smile with an ‘eheheh’ as she returned Foll’s embrace.
“Big Shish, you’re warm.”
“Zagan, I feel like... it’s fine to leave things like this,” Foll claimed as she rubbed her cheek into the girl and let out a satisfied sigh.
“Mmm... Agreed.”
“No, that’s no good! Both of you, come to your senses at once!”
An astonished voice resounded in the room while the two of them had their eyes partially closed in satisfaction. It was none other than Chastille, fully equipped with her Anointed Armor for the first time in a while.
“Nephy’s turned into a child! There’s no way it’s fine to leave things like this!” Chastille yelled, seemingly on the verge of tears as her red hair swayed in the wind.
The young girl embracing Foll with an innocent smile was clearly no more than five years old. However, she had pointy ears, snow-white hair, and azure eyes. It was clear as day that she was a high elf. And, most curiously, she had an oversized collar around her neck.
Yes, the child was very obviously the same woman Zagan couldn’t help but love... Nephy.
Nephy had turned into a child, the Archdemon was wearing an apron while cooking up acorns, and Chastille was keeping things together. Anything and everything about the situation was absolutely impossible.
Zagan’s group was currently within a destroyed elven village. More precisely, it was Nephy’s hometown in Norden.
As for the cause of the strange situation they found themselves in... Well, two days ago—
Chapter I: Our Family Has Grown, so It’s Time to Visit My Bride’s Home!
“Nephy’s... not here?” Zagan was walking about his own castle, looking for the love of his life. Though it was once a castle with torture devices and skeletons scattered all over the place, thanks to Nephy’s hard work, it had become so beautiful that it was beyond recognition. Since the torn ceilings and such were repaired, nowadays it was an environment that could house several dozen people. Plus, many sorcerers traveled through the castle often.
About a month had gone by since the evening ball that Archdemon Bifrons held. During that incident, dozens of the sorcerers in attendance had lost their lives. The one who managed to get the situation under control was Zagan, and because of that, no fewer than thirty sorcerers ended up pledging their allegiance to him.
Thanks to that incident, he learned that the girl he loved, Nephy, was of a race called ‘high elves.’ All members of that race understood Celestian and could perform celestial mysticism to some degree. However, he did not know much else. Getting to the bottom of the mystery would take far more manpower than Zagan had.
As he took a peek into a room, Zagan spotted an old woman with goat horns stirring some kind of syrupy liquid inside an iron pot.
“Keeheehee, keeheeheeheeheehee, just you wait, Valefor. There are none who sip upon my chocolate fondant who continue to resist me. Keeheeheeheehee.”
Is she making sweets for Foll...? This suspicious old woman was Gremory. She possessed the second name Enchantress and was powerful enough to be considered an Archdemon candidate. Due to that, she was either ranked first or second among Zagan’s subordinates... Though, she looked more like a granny engrossed in making treats for her granddaughter at present.
Celestian, celestial mysticism, Sacred Swords, the Sigils of the Archdemon, and the thirteen Archdemons. There were far too many obstacles that Zagan had to overcome.
The new sorcerers under his rule were supporting Zagan’s research, and coming and going between the preceding Archdemon Marchosias’ Archdemon Palace and Zagan’s castle to search for the information he desired.
“Put in some work, you lot! Find the books my liege is searching for!”
A butler with the terrifying face of a man-eating fiend was raising his voice in the entrance hall. The elderly man’s left arm was artificial and made of armor, and he had a sword stowed away at his waist. He was the natural enemy of sorcerers, a wielder of a Sacred Sword... ex-Archangel Raphael. Since he was serving Zagan’s household as a butler, he was spurring the sorcerers to work.
“Today’s lunch is pork bone soup with lamb. If you want to settle in and eat it, then carry out your damned duties through to the end!” Raphael exclaimed, his hand gripping a ladle from the kitchen instead of his Sacred Sword. It seemed he had finished his preparations for lunch and was trying to use that fact to motivate the sorcerers.
“OOOH!” In response, the sorcerers raised their voices without even a hint of agitation.
His outer appearance and past actions were unbearable, but Raphael’s cooking was superb. It was more than good enough to capture the hearts of people who had been eating it for over a month. Plus, since he spent a large portion of his life as an Archangel, he possessed enough combat prowess to exterminate all the sorcerers gathered here in a head-on battle. As such, Zagan tried to see what would happen if he left assembling the sorcerers to that elderly butler, and luckily, it turned out quite well. Though, there may have been one other reason that things worked out so well...
Unexpectedly, even sorcerers won’t bite the hand that feeds them... Zagan had arranged for each of them to be given something they desired in exchange for their assistance. He paid them in gold, grimoires, catalysts used for sorcery, and the like. As long as they didn’t betray him, he continued to pay them at fixed intervals. Thanks to that, even though thirty renowned sorcerers were gathered in one place, not a single quarrel had broken out.
“Well if it isn’t my liege. Do you need something of me?” Raphael made a sweeping motion as he bent at the waist, taking notice of Zagan’s entrance.
“No, I’m looking for Nephy. Is she in the kitchen?”
“If you’re looking for Lady Nephy, I believe she went off to the archives after she got back from her shopping trip.”
“No, I just came from there and didn’t bump into her. Did we miss each other?” Zagan tilted his head to the side in confusion at the situation.
“It’s almost time for lunch, so I doubt she would have left the castle,” Raphael replied.
“Got it. I’ll try searching a little more,” Zagan said, leaving Raphael behind as he continued his quest to locate Nephy.
Since it was close to noon, he came across sorcerers sporadically dashing down the hallways. Having said that, sorcerers were natural loners, so even when he passed them in the corridor, their exchanges only ever amounted to a slight nod, which left the inside of his castle just as quiet as before.
“Ah, Mister Zagan, gooooood moooooorning!”
The one who let out such a noisy and headache-inducing voice wasn’t a sorcerer.
“...Wait. Why the hell are you here?” Zagan asked as he firmly grasped the head of the girl who was passing by him. It was the siren girl who he’d saved during Bifrons’ evening ball. Unlike the rest of them, she was a singer from a musical troupe, not a sorcerer.
“I mean, like, weren’t all the members of the band and their instruments totally gobbled up in that boat fight? Anyway, I was, like, unwinding at a bar, and Big Sis Manuela told me to go to your castle!”
That damn woman... Does she take my place for a daycare or something? Zagan was suddenly struck with a headache due to that thought. Even as a joke, doing something like sending her off to look for a job at an Archdemon’s castle was out of the question... Maybe Manuela trusted Zagan, but if it were any of the other Archdemons, then the siren would’ve already been turned into a sacrifice or lab rat.
“I never heard anything about that... Honestly, I’m surprised you got in here...” Zagan had put several barriers in place around his castle. An average sorcerer or Angelic Knight wouldn’t even have noticed the place, and if one were to actually spot it, they’d be assaulted by pain that stopped just short of killing them. Fact of the matter was, a regular person who wasn’t even a sorcerer surviving to face him was impossible.
“All I did was, like, follow Miss Nephy while we were chatting...”
“Really... I’m surprised you managed that.”
“Huh?”
It wasn’t just the path up to his castle that was booby-trapped, but even the inside. If this girl triggered even one of them, she would have died instantly, but somehow she didn’t.
“Y-You’re kidding, right?” The siren questioned, face pale after learning the truth.
“Let me ask you a question instead. Do you really think an Archdemons’ castle wouldn’t have any traps in it?”
“That’s, you know... Since it’s someone like Mister Zagan who went and saved a lowly commoner like me, I thought, like, this would be a safe space or something...”
“This isn’t a safe space, you careless nitwit. If such a kind Archdemon truly existed, then they would already be dead.”
A sorcerer’s base was a treasure trove of knowledge. And to sorcerers, knowledge equaled power, so leaving their base exposed was the same as asking to have their power stolen. That was why a burglar, of all things, was a sorcerer’s greatest fear. Naturally, in order to protect themselves from would-be thieves, sorcerers setup countless terrifying traps.
Even Zagan, who was fairly indifferent in that regard, had set up severe traps that would activate when outsiders were present. More specifically, his traps were so deadly that Barbatos, an Archdemon candidate, would have had a hard time surviving. Although, protecting his knowledge mattered little to Zagan. No, what he truly wished to protect was his family... Nephy, Foll, and Raphael.
“N-No way! Aren’t we, like, on super good terms, Mister Zagan!? Please save meeeeee!” The siren wailed as she clung to Zagan, her face pale.
“Like I care. I don’t even know your name.”
“It’s Selphy! Please at least remember my naaame!”
Forget remembering it, he had never even heard it in the first place.
“For the time being, hold onto this,” Zagan said as he handed over a bead-sized jewel to Selphy the siren, letting out a sigh.
“What’s this?”
Honestly, Selphy was so annoying that he didn’t really want to get involved with her, but if she was Manuela’s acquaintance, he couldn’t just leave her to die. That woman was Nephy’s friend. Plus, they often relied on her to find suitable clothes for Zagan, Nephy, and Foll. Sure, the weird clothes she forced on them whenever they let their guard down was a bother, but it was also true that she was one of the few people who could talk to Zagan normally.
Eventually, Selphy vigorously nodded her head up and down. And while he gazed at the siren with an exasperated look on his face, Zagan suddenly tilted his head to the side.
“Now that I think of it, what’s with your feet? Are they artificial?”
A siren’s lower body was akin to the tail of a snake. However, Selphy had two legs sprouting out like an ordinary human.
“Ah, these? This castle’s awfully dry, so it kinda ends up like this.”
“...You lot grow legs when it’s too dry?”
“Sure do, what about it?”
Zagan’s head began to ache again as he heard her oblivious reply.
“So wait, since Manuela told you to come here... do you plan on working for me?”
“Yup! I heard you were, like, totally short on hands.”
“It’s true that I’m short on hands, but... do you have any knowledge of sorcery?”
“Nope! I mean, I’ve got, like, nothing but songs in my head!” Selphy claimed in a boastful tone... Well, that made sense since she was a singer, but it didn’t seem useful
to Zagan at all.
Still, left with no choice, Zagan pointed to the direction he came from.
“There’s a butler named Raphael in the entrance hall. Go and see if he has a job for you. If he doesn’t, just give up and go home.”
Keeping this girl around seemed like more trouble than it was worth, but he felt awkward turning away one of Bifrons’ victims. And so, he decided to at least give her a single chance.
“Yaaay! Thanks, Mister Archdemon!” Selphy jumped for joy at his approval, and as he watched her, Zagan suddenly recalled something important.
“Wait, you said you were walking with Nephy, right? Do you know where she went?”
“Oh, seemed like she was heading to the garden.”
“I see. You have my thanks,” Zagan said. Then, he turned his back on Selphy and began walking toward the garden.
“Whoa... Mister Archdemon just gave me his ‘thanks’...”
He never noticed Selphy letting out a bewildered voice.
◇
When he reached the garden, Zagan found a single beast curled up, basking in the sun. It let out a loud yawn as if it were comfortable, but for a cat, it was a little... no, it was bizarrely large. It was, in fact, a lion with a large build and black fur.
When I look at him like this... he really does seem like a cat, huh...? Zagan, of all people, felt the urge to pet his fur every now and then, but he resisted. After all, he was not looking at a lion. No, he faced an Archdemon candidate, a sorcerer who held the second name Black Blade, Kimaris.
“Kimry, Kimry...” A young girl called out as she tottered on over toward him. She seemed just shy of ten years old. Her green hair was tied up in braids that ran along her back, she had large amber eyes, and she was wearing the native dress of some foreign country that used white and scarlet as the main colors. However, strangest of all were the dragon horns poking out of the gaps in her hair.
Yes, she was Zagan’s adopted daughter, Foll. Her true identity was Apparition Valefor, a former Archdemon candidate.
“Haaah... Excuse me, what’s the matter, little lady?” Kimaris asked as he turned his golden eyes over to Foll.
An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride: Volume 4 Page 1