Makoto and Anna — Wedding Rings
It’d been several days since the battle with the Great Demon Lord.
“Makoto! I want matching rings!” Anna said out of nowhere.
Well, since we’d agreed to get married, maybe that didn’t count as “out of nowhere.”
Rings, though... She was definitely a girl at heart.
There was just one problem.
“No one around here sells rings, right?”
The shops in the dungeon town were all for weapons, armor, and tools. Survival was everything in this era, so they wouldn’t be making accessories.
“That’s...right.”
She slumped. It hurt to see her so sad.
My actions had all been for the greater good of defeating Iblis, but I’d still stolen her first kiss, declared my love, and now I was leaving her to go back to the future. I couldn’t justify making it worse, could I?
Anna wanted rings, and I wanted to give her what she wanted.
“Let’s look for some!” I said.
“Huh?”
Her eyes went wide, and she broke out into a smile.
“Okay!”
And thus, the search for our rings had begun.
◇
“Hmm, as far as I know, there are no craftsmen within the town who can make rings,” Johnnie said. “My apologies.”
He’d been our first port of call. Since he’d led the town for so long, I’d thought he might know a guy. Unfortunately, it seemed that wasn’t the case. Our best chance had gone up in flames.
“Don’t worry about it, Johnnie,” I said. “Sorry for bothering you.”
Suddenly, Momo and Dia walked up.
“Oh, what’re you talking about?”
“What’s wrong, my liege?”
I explained the situation, and Momo immediately started protesting.
“What?! No fair, Anna! I want one too!”
“N-No!” exclaimed Anna. “They’re wedding rings for the two of us!”
“No fair. I wanna match too!”
“That’d mean Makoto was marrying two people, Momo,” Anna explained.
“That’s fine. He already has lovers in the future.”
“But he hasn’t done anything with them.”
“Right, I’ve checked over and over, but it still says zero—”
I cut them off. “All right, you two, enough.” We could do that sort of stuff when the world was at peace... And besides, it wasn’t like I could have imagined that I’d be time traveling.
Dia soon spoke up. “What about this, my liege?”
She presented a sparkling aqua-blue ring. It had a gorgeous snow pattern all across the surface.
“Pretty...”
“It’s sparkling...”
Anna and Momo were both taken in with it. I’d never seen such a pretty ring, not even in the future.
“Thanks, Dia,” I said. “I’ll try it on.”
I took it from her and slipped it onto my ring finger. The size was exactly right. It was perfect...except...
“It’s made of ice...” In other words, it was—literally—freezing cold.
My water magic meant that this wouldn’t be a problem for me, but Anna would probably struggle. Besides, since it was made of magic, it would require a constant mana flow to maintain its integrity.
That’s not happening unless you’re an elemental with infinite mana...
This wasn’t a ring that humans could use.
“It feels like it’d be difficult for me to keep up,” Anna commented.
“Wow, so pretty. I want one too.”
While Anna seemed to deflate, Momo was perfectly happy to wear it. Momo was undead, so an ice-cold ring wouldn’t be a problem for her. Apparently, I’d found a way to cheer her up without even trying.
But still, Anna’s ring was the main thing here, and we still hadn’t gotten anything.
“She’s our last bet.”
“Right. We should ask Lady Helemmelk what she thinks.”
Anna and I exchanged glances. I wasn’t expecting Mel to be up-to-date on human rings, but it was still worth asking her.
◇
“Hm? A human ring? I can make a simple one at least.”
She could?!
Anna and I both uttered a confused “Huh?” We hadn’t expected that.
“R-Really?!” Anna asked excitedly.
“Don’t expect too much. I can use metal magic and some mithril to make something, though.”
“Hooray!” Anna bounced with joy.
“What kind of design do you want?” Mel asked.
“Hmm, I’m not sure.”
Anna and I began chattering away. Mel soon interrupted us.
“Don’t ask for something too complicated.”
Eventually, we settled on something patterned after the leaves of the world tree. This tree was situated in Anna’s birthplace, right at the center of the floating continent. It was symbolic of peace and tranquility in the world.
“Human accessories are so complex...” Mel grumbled, struggling with our request.
A few hours later, she handed us the fruits of her labor.
“Done!” she exclaimed. “I’m exhausted! I’m going to sleep!”
She immediately did just that.
Resting in our palms were two matching rings. Anna and I looked at each other.
I slipped the ring, engraved with a motif of the world tree, onto her ring finger. She did the same for me.
They fit shockingly well.
Our eyes met again.
“Makoto... I’m so happy. I’ll treasure this ring for my whole life.” A smile bloomed on her face like a flower, though there was a tinge of sadness to her expression.
“I’ll do the same,” I replied after a moment.
I wasn’t sure if I managed to match her smile. I didn’t check with RPG Player.
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