by CHIROLU
Of course, her best friend was talking about her own work, there. Latina smiled somewhat uncomfortably in response, then said in a bit of a sulking voice, “Even if it’s just flattery, I’d like to hear your impressions about me, too...”
“Everything looks good on you, Latina. And besides, my impressions aren’t the ones that you really want,” Chloe said with a smirk, then walked in front of Latina and spread out her makeup box. “Now then, it’s time for this... Don’t move, alright?”
“Yeah.”
When you weren’t used to someone else rubbing cream and patting powder into your skin, it sure did tickle.
Latina desperately held back the urge to break out laughing, forcing her face into a stoic expression.
“...Alright, all done.”
Before long, Rita attached the veil that was the symbol of a bride to Latina’s done up hair, then drew her hands away. She then took a step back and looked over the girl’s whole body before giving a satisfied nod.
“You look beautiful, Latina,” Rita said to the bride with a smile, choking up just a bit.
“Thank you, Rita,” Latina replied, her voice also overcome with emotion.
“I’m done here, too... Alright, that looks great.”
“Thank you too, Chloe.”
“Don’t worry about it... But still, is it really alright for your sister from back in your home country not to be here?”
Normally female relatives were the ones to help a bride get dressed, so Chloe couldn’t help but question the fact that Latina’s one living relative, her sister, hadn’t been called here.
Chrysos was the ruler of a nation so she couldn’t be called for so easily, nor were Vassilios and Laband close enough to make travel between the two nations a simple matter.
Even so... Chloe thought, thinking of her best friend.
“In Vassilios... There’s no custom of getting married. I talked to Chrysos a bit about it before, but...” Latina started, looking a bit troubled as she recalled her sister’s words. “I know that men and women living together is a human custom, but still... When I brought that up, she said that I’m a devil, so I should live in Vassilios and Dale can just visit when I have need for him...”
“So it ended up being a pain.”
“Yeah, that’s sort of how it felt...” Latina said with a strained smile, stroking her dress as she searched for the words she wanted to say. “But even so, it wasn’t as if she was opposed. She just has complicated feelings about it, because we can’t live together.” And then she quietly added, “...I didn’t think I would ever be able to tell Chrysos I was getting married in the first place, so that’s more than enough for me...”
“...I see.”
Chloe and Rita knew how Latina had been exiled from her birth country at a young age and was raised by people who had been strangers, so they understood the sentiment behind what she had said. And so, they chose to speak up in intentionally cheerful voices, so that the bride’s makeup wouldn’t be ruined by tears before the ceremony even began.
“Alright, that’s enough of that solemn stuff!”
“I’m sure he can’t hold himself back much longer, so I’ll go call for Dale. Are you ready, Latina?”
“Yeah,” Latina replied, and then Rita opened the door, only to find the man she had been planning to summon already standing there.
“Wah...! What the...? You were there the whole time?” Rita questioned, looking astounded. Dale, meanwhile, pouted a bit.
“There’s no way I’d ever go that far... I just figured it was about time, so I came to ask how things were going.”
“Well, whatever. Latina’s all ready.”
Rita then opened the door wide, unable to hold back the wide grin on her face.
Hearing that conversation, the same sort she had heard those two share since she was a child, the tension drained from Latina and she looked at Dale with a smile.
At first Dale looked surprised, but then his expression shifted into a sort of embarrassed look full of complex emotions.
“...You’re beautiful,” he let slip.
Normally he would unleash an onslaught of “cute” and “adorable,” so that single different bit of praise from Dale made Latina feel overjoyed and caused her cheeks to flush red.
“I already knew full well that you were a beauty, but still...”
Dale was embarrassed, but he didn’t look away from Latina as he continued on, “You really are... a beautiful bride.”
The serious expression on Dale’s face gave way to a bit of a smile.
“Back when I first met you... I never imagined I would one day see you like this.”
“Yeah,” Latina responded with a smile, knowing that Dale had seen her as a small child for so long.
“Now, I can’t ever imagine letting you go...”
Before, as her guardian, he had thought that if she was going to one day get married, he would be there by her side to see her off. But now, it was hard to imagine ever considering such a thing.
This girl, more beautiful than any other, was dressed as a bride in order to stand by his side. And he couldn’t imagine it being any other way.
“Thank you, Dale... For answering my selfish request that we always be together.”
Dale’s smile showed a bit of an awkward edge at Latina’s words, and then he held up the holy symbol that identified him as a priest, which was quite unusual for him to do.
His expression shifted once again as he started smoothly chanting a prayer. It was a blessing ceremony that he had absolutely wanted to do for her, as a guardian.
“Become the happiest bride in the whole wide world.”
“Right,” Latina responded to those words with a smile that came from the depths of her heart.
Normally the floor of the Dancing Ocelot would be trampled upon by adventurers coming and going with filthy shoes, but thanks to the polishing it got from the regulars, there wasn’t so much as a scuff on it, with the amber colored wood grain really shining. And the staircase leading from the second floor guest rooms down into the bar was no exception. That didn’t apply to just the steps, either, as the railing and walls had also been polished.
Latina slowly descended those stairs with Dale holding her hand.
A sigh of admiration escaped from all the customers who saw Latina.
She was a bride clad in pure white. The waist portion of the upper half came up high, and the long skirt down below extended all the way to the floor. The skirt made of layers of fine lace swayed along as Latina moved, looking incredibly soft.
It wasn’t simply solid white, though.
The high class silk had fine lace sewn onto it. And the embroidery of the chest portion incorporated pearls ordered from far away alongside the white silk thread. The dress was made using all sorts of materials, and shone in a truly elaborate manner.
Latina’s own platinum hair shone amongst all that brilliance, too. It was braided up in a complex pattern, and had a thin silk veil atop it.
The decorative flower affixed to that veil was the only bit of brilliant color that Latina had to her outfit. The live flower was a bitter orange, the color of Quirmizi, the god who presided over marriage, and it added an adorable lively feel to the outfit that really suited Latina.
The pair made it down the stairs, then advanced before the simple yet official altar set up in the middle of the store. Dale held his sacred symbol in his hands and began chanting a prayer.
“It’s almost like he’s a proper priest...” one of the regulars muttered, but Dale didn’t so much as lift an eyebrow as he carried out the ritual.
The final line of Dale’s recited chant lightly reverberated throughout the space.
Latina’s long eyelashes had been facing down as she listened, but she now looked Dale’s way with a gentle smile. Dale, meanwhile, responded in kind.
The chant had been one to bless the bride and the groom, making it part of the preparations for the ceremony. The rest of Dale’s role as a p
riest would come when they arrived in Tislow.
And so, from here on out Dale stopped being a Quirmizi priest and returned to simply being the groom.
The pair were seated beside one another in the middle of the Dancing Ocelot, which had been prepared for the reception. The first one to stand before the two of them was Kenneth. That was only fitting, as it was the marriage between his “little bro” and his pupil.
“Guess there’s no point in telling the two of you to get along now, but... Well, try to keep it under control,” Kenneth said, holding out a single flower. “Be happy, you two.”
“Thank you, Kenneth,” Latina replied, accepting the flower along with his words, then placed it atop the legged stand as per Tislow tradition. There was a large basket atop that stand, and Kenneth’s flower was the first one to go inside.
“Don’t make too much trouble for Latina, alright? Congratulations,” Rita said in her usual tone, following after her husband and handing Dale a flower.
With a bit of an awkward smile, Dale earnestly replied, “Thanks.”
“Sis, congrats!”
“Congwats!”
Theo and Emma had come next, mimicking their parents by smiling and holding out brilliant yellow flowers.
Afterwards, the pair continued to receive blessings without pause.
So many people had gathered that they couldn’t possibly all be contained within the Ocelot. In order to avoid too much chaos erupting, Kenneth and Rita handed out booze to the attendees who had offered their blessings, then led them to where a light meal had been laid out. Naturally, they had set up the tables in front of the Ocelot and in the back yard in order to limit the number of people within the shop itself.
Latina glanced repeatedly their way, unable to hide her interest in the work being done behind the scenes despite being the star of the whole event. It really was just like her.
“I wish you happiness, little lady,” Sylvester said with red eyes, dressed in nice clothing of a sort he wasn’t accustomed to wearing. The outfit really made him look like a celebrity.
When Latina took the flower he had offered with a smile, he held his eyes and looked utterly overcome with emotion.
The regulars all offered their blessings, then made space for the attendees lined up behind them. Dale may have been fine as he was a monster in terms of stamina, but as the ceremony stretched on longer and longer, it would put more and more of a burden on Latina. You really could tell just how skilled those “Bodyguards” were from how thoroughly considerate they were being.
Naturally, Latina’s childhood friends were also in attendance.
Marcel brought bread from his family’s bakery as a gift, which he laid out on a table where attendees were gathering. This also served the business goal of gaining new customers, which really showed his personality.
When Anthony saw her for the first time in a while, he told her about how things were going now that he had started working at the lord’s manor as he presented her with a widely blooming flower.
And when Rudolph showed himself, he was wearing his guard uniform.
“I know it’s your important celebration, but I had to slip out of work to make it,” he said, refusing the alcohol he was being offered.
Then, Rudolph turned towards Dale rather than Latina and handed him a flower.
“...I wish you happiness.”
Dale wasn’t uncouth enough to make light of the emotions behind the youth’s brief words, so he simply accepted them along with a smile.
Chloe was near the back of the line, and when she saw that the basket behind Latina and Dale was already nearly full, she couldn’t help but break out in a strained smile. That mass of flowers was proof of just how many people had come to offer their blessing.
“It really is amazing...” Chloe said with an awkward chuckle, only for Latina to cheerfully respond, “I’m a little surprised myself.”
With that, Chloe looked straight at her friend and said, “Don’t go saying, ‘Now my dreams have come true.’”
Latina could feel the tears starting to well up with those words from her friend, who had worried about her ever since they were little.
Sensing that, Chloe gave Latina a sudden smack to the forehead.
“Ow!”
“Keep it together. Don’t go crying on me.”
“...Right,” Latina replied, looking up.
Chloe smiled brightly back at her friend.
“Find happiness, Latina.”
“Yeah,” Latina responded with a sunny smile of her own.
The flowers overflowing from the basket served as a symbol of the blessings offered to the couple by those present. As such, they couldn’t be treated lightly. Accordingly, they bundled them together into a proper bouquet, which Latina then held in both arms.
Dale then easily scooped up Latina in his arms and carried her outside of the Ocelot.
According to Tislow wedding traditions, a bride wasn’t to step foot on the ground until she was married into her husband’s family.
Latina gave a slightly embarrassed smile as Dale cradled her in his arms.
The guests outside the shop, meanwhile, raised their glasses up and kicked off the banquet.
Everyone cheered with the appearance of the day’s stars, and flower petals of all colors whirled up into the air.
Dale walked slowly down the path, which was now beautifully coated with those flower petals from the guests.
Latina smiled at the thought of being in the middle of the sort of sight she had admired since she was little, with a bride passing down such a colorful street, and she had to desperately hold back her tears of joy.
From there, Dale circled around to the Ocelot’s back yard. There were two mythical beasts waiting there for their arrival.
Hagel was wearing a platinum saddle, which already had a basket full of flowers displaying the blessings from the guests attached to it.
Even though Hagel had a totally different sense of values, he apparently also found Latina’s appearance to be truly stunning, as he got down low to the ground and squinted his eyes.
Dale got up atop Hagel’s saddle, still holding Latina in his arms. He was about to get going then and there, but the jeers from the regulars caused him to glance around with a bit of an astonished look in his eyes.
The old timers were already good and drunk as usual, and they seemed to find Dale’s reaction a good compliment to their booze, as they soon erupted in hearty guffaws.
Dale paid no attention to the contents of that heckling, and instead just lightly seated himself behind Latina, who had tilted her head. Then he drew Latina’s face in close.
The surrounding guests, the regulars at their core, raised a cheer.
Latina blinked in surprise, then realized a bit late that Dale had kissed her with all of these people watching. She of course then went beet red all the way to the tips of her ears.
From atop Hagel’s saddle, Dale looked down upon the surrounding crowd with an undaunted expression.
“Dale...!” Latina objected in an embarrassed voice as she sat sideways on the saddle.
“Hmm? You want to do it again?”
Despite her embarrassment, Latina didn’t object to that response from Dale.
Dale looked a bit surprised at the unexpected reaction from Latina, but then he went ahead and drew his lips near hers once again.
Latina, meanwhile, averted her eyes and gripped his sleeves like she had done since she was a child.
Another loud cheer filled the air.
“Split up!” Vint stated, failing to read the mood, and then spread his wings and took off into the sky. The bell around his neck gave a refreshing jingle. Vint’s role was to herald the bride’s arrival, so once he was in the air, Hagel also spread his wings.
Those present wearing guard uniforms covered their faces with their hands. Seeing that expression signifying that they would ignore a mythical beast taking off from the middle of town for today, Hagel went ahead and flappe
d his massive wings.
The guests surrounding them all threw flower petals into the air simultaneously. Spurred on by Hagel and Vint’s wind magic, they flew high up into the sky. When the two mythical beasts took off, it almost looked like they were running along a bridge made of flower petals.
“Well then...”
“We’re off!”
Dale and Latina waved farewell with smiles on their faces, and everyone responded in kind.
Hagel made one loop above everyone’s heads, then started heading towards Tislow.
“Take care, Sis!” Theo yelled out as loud as he could manage, vigorously waving his hands. The attendees, some of them spurred on by the alcohol in their systems, also started enthusiastically waving.
They saw the pair off on the new path they now walked, wishing them good fortune on their journey.
And they kept on doing so until they disappeared beyond the brilliantly colored bridge in the sky, which looked almost like a rainbow.
†
After leaving Kreuz, Dale and Latina made it all the way through the skies to Tislow without incident.
Vint had once flown the distance in two days and one night, but Hagel was able to make the voyage in less than a day. And this time around, he aimed to make it in even less time. After all, Latina was wearing a wedding dress, which was no outfit for a long journey. It simply wouldn’t do to have to stop to camp out midway there.
With all that said, it didn’t end up being anything too difficult.
Hagel and Vint were both talented with wind magic to begin with, and Latina’s defensive magic reduced the wind resistance to a minimum. And Dale’s earth magic was highly effective at recovering stamina, allowing Hagel to keep on soaring through the sky at full speed.
At the start Vint ran alongside his father, but he soon realized he couldn’t match his father’s speed, so he spent the rest of the voyage perched between Hagel’s head and the saddle where Dale and Latina were riding. And occasionally, Latina would pet him, which brought him great delight.
Looking at it logically they were moving at a truly frightening speed, but as a result, they were able to arrive at their destination before sunset. Hagel was quite serious about keeping the promise that neither his side nor the people of Tislow would intrude upon one another’s territory, so he stopped and hovered over the village rather than landing. Vint, meanwhile, didn’t seem to mind in the least, as he immediately hopped off his father’s head and headed towards Dale’s familial home while ringing the bell. That was just the sort of aloof pup that he was.