Interlude I: Father and Daughter
Some time ago...
“Well, now Sakura and Touya are officially engaged...” Sakura nodded wordlessly at Yumina’s words.
Babylon’s garden had several gazebos one could spend their teatime in. One of those was a white gazebo with an enneagonal shape, which served as the girls’ favorite spot. A variety of every flower imaginable bloomed proudly around the gazebo, and cool, refreshing water flowed through a nearby canal. It was the most beautiful spot in the garden.
“Now that the ninth person Doctor Babylon prophesied has appeared, there won’t be any more newcomers, correct?” Hilde spoke with a relieved expression. She was probably relieved the ninth wife wasn’t some strange, unfamiliar woman.
“I wonder. The future has a tendency to shift at times, so I think it’s too soon to be relieved.” Said Leen, sipping tea at the head of the round table with a calm expression.
“You seem fairly composed despite that, you do.” Yae furrowed her brows grumpily at Leen’s words.
“I’m just saying we shouldn’t rest on our laurels, is all. I will admit I’m no expert when it comes to romance either, but having lived ten times your lifetime, I’ve seen a good share of similar cases. Love and passion can burn out and cool, and betrayals can happen. You mustn’t take his love for granted. If you want him to always love you, make an effort to keep his love for you burning strong. Well, that’s true for both men and women.”
“Wow... You sound almost like Karen, Leen...” Lu spoke up, sighing in admiration. Leen actually had heard those words from Karen before, but continued sipping her tea with feigned calmness. Maintaining this kind of pretense was part of being older. Despite everything, being the only one that’s so much older than everyone else gave Leen something of a complex.
“In any case, all nine of us are equally Touya’s fiancees. Let’s do our best to make up for each other’s fault as we support our husband.”
“Right, right. Touya has his careless moments, after all.”
“True. And I would very much like it if he could settle down and not be quite so stressed...” Lu placed a hand on her cheek and heaved a sigh.
“Is something wrong, I wonder?”
“Oh no, it’s just that... Touya can use [Gate] to go freely from country to country, yes? And he solves problems for other countries fairly often. But countries have... procedures for these sorts of things, you see?” Even though he’s in a position where one would normally negotiate with the other country for money or other such favorable conditions, Touya acted without regard for that. As far as Touya was concerned, he really was fixing their problems “on the side,” an attitude Lu, who was raised as royalty, frowned upon.
“But that’s part of what makes Touya who he is.”
“I understand that, of course. I find that part of him to be charming, as well. I just can’t help but think of what would happen if someone tried to take advantage of his kindness... It worries me.”
“Touya is naive. A man of his character would normally be unfit to lead a country.” Sue picked a cookie from one of the plates and wolfed it down with a gulp.
“Expecting darling to act like a king is pointless from the get-go. Even his clothes are the same ones he wore in his days as an Adventurer.”
“Oh, that. I believe he said something along the lines of, ‘Gaudy, sparkly clothes aren’t my thing’?” Elze smiled wryly, remembering that time. And true enough, a king’s wardrobe often had gold or silver embroidered into it, making it rather conspicuous at times. But that was meant to give off an aura of majesty and wealth, and didn’t have to reflect the king’s personal tastes.
“I would like to see Touya in a proper outfit sometime, though...”
“Agreed. I think a knight’s suit of armor would look good on him...”
“Huh? That’s what you were thinking of...?” Linze looked taken aback by Hilde’s response. Maybe that was the standard in Lestia?
“I saw an armored warrior the other day, but the mask ruined the whole outfit, it did.” Yae folded her arms and tilted her head, mumbling grumpily.
“I think dressing plainly suits Touya just fine. I’d be more bothered if he started dressing smartly and strange women would start sticking to him because of that.”
“Yes, that would be a bother.” Sakura nodded gravely at Sue’s words. The others all seemed to agree on that.
“Speaking of, what is Touya doing today?”
“Let’s see... I believe today he’s in Xenoahs. Castle Pandemonium was damaged during the Dominant Construct attack the other day, so he went to help repair it, given he had a hand in some of the damage himself...” Hilde answered Linze’s question, a wry smile on her lips. Touya’s battle with Gila left Castle Pandemonium in shambles. The repair work for it began immediately, and Touya willingly offered to help.
“We were just speaking about it, and here he goes again... I really would wish he would settle down for a bit.” Lu sighed again.
“Shouldn’t you have gone with him, Sakura?”
“The overlord is annoying, so I won’t go. If I’d have gone with Touya, something awkward would have happened. I guarantee it.” Sakura averted her face sullenly. It seemed establishing a relationship with her father didn’t come easily to Sakura. The overlord, who had never treated her as a father would until now, suddenly changed his attitude completely. It left Sakura in a loss as to how to treat him (even if she did know there was a good reason for that change in attitude). But more than anything, the fact the overlord became terribly touchy-feely all of a sudden left her rather creeped out.
“Well, fathers can be like that sometimes...”
“Hey hey, do you think Touya will become like that?”
“I get the feeling he will. I think you’ve all noticed, but darling can be really doting when it comes to family. I think he’ll become more of a doting father than even the overlord the day he gets a daughter.”
“Oooh, I can see that happening. He’ll definitely be a doting father.”
The tea party continued, the girls chatting enthusiastically about their absent fiance. This get-together would later become a regular custom for them, and would be known as the Queens’ Tea Party.
“I think it’s finally coming along.” I whispered to myself, watching as one of Castle Pandemonium’s towers was slowly being restored to its former glory.
It was blown away by Gila’s particle cannon, after all... It’s a good thing there was no one in it.
I thought fixing this would take no time at all with Babylon’s Workshop, but like with Brunhild’s castle and the bridge on Enlush Island, it couldn’t design it on its own and I had to stay behind to help it.
Specifically, I softened the stone used for building with some limited use of [Gravity], and manufactured some of the more subtle decorations with [Modeling].
“A fine job, milord. Pandemonium is being restored in the blink of an eye.”
“Oh, hello.” I turned around, lowering my head to the person standing before me. It was Sirius, the dark elf. He was the father of Spica, who was enrolled in our order of knights, and also the head of House Frennel, one of Xenoahs’ five great noble houses. You couldn’t tell all that from how young he looked, though.
The members of House Frennel have been masters of a special martial art called the Shield technique for generations, which they used to guard the overlord’s dynasty. In other words, they were a clan of bodyguards.
Every member of the royal family had one such bodyguard, of the same sex, appointed to guard them. In Sakura’s case, Spica was appointed as her guard.
And needless to say, the head of the family, Sirius, also had someone he was appointed to guard. That same someone eyed me with a sour expression on his face from behind Sirius’ back.
“Tell me, Grand Duke... Why? Why did Farnese not come with you? Since you’re coming to the Demon Kingdom, wouldn’t bringing her along be the considerate thing to do? Did you not consider bringing her mother, Fiana, as well? Such an inconsiderate brat...”
“You know...” The overlord had been hanging around for a while now, mumbling his complaints as if chanting some kind of curse.
That’s why your daughter is avoiding you, sir. I mean, I did invite her, you know? Properly asked her, “Sakura, do you wanna come with me to the Xenoahs?” And you know what she said? “No, because the overlord is annoying.” You’re the problem here.
“Now now, Your Terribleness. It’s thanks to the grand duke here that Castle Pandemonium’s reconstruction is going so smoothly, you should be thankful.”
“Hmph. I am thankful for that. You’re a great help, Grand Duke. I thank you greatly for that.”
“Don’t mention it. I had a hand in wrecking the castle, after all...” It was actually all Gila’s fault the castle got destroyed. The idiot was running around, leaving havoc in his path.
According to the investigation later, Gila appeared in the mountains to the north of here. He’d blasted a whole mountain off, and came all the way here.
The Phrase could hear people’s heartbeats, so he probably rushed here, where there was a concentration of human presence.
“Either way, you’ve restored Castle Pandemonium. It’s almost noon, so how about you join us for lunch to celebrate?”
“Hmm, not a bad idea. I still have much to ask you about my daughter, good lord...” The overlord’s hand struck my shoulder in a light manner. Ah, y-your smile isn’t reaching your eyes... I’ve been careless.
I cursed my own thoughtlessness. I should have never joined them for this meal. I wished I could go 30 minutes back in time and whack that idea out of my stupid head.
“What is it, Grand Duke? You’re not touching your food.”
“N-No, it’s nothing... Ahaha, this looks delicious....” I sit there petrified, the spoon I dipped into the soup in front of me gripped in my hand. As I picked the spoon up from the purple liquid, I found an eyeball, the size of a marble, floating in it. I had to praise myself for not dumping the spoon away right there and then.
At lunch, they treated me to Xenoahs’ national cuisine. Their... national cuisine. That’s an important part, so I’m repeating it twice to make that very clear.
Xenoahs’ climate was inhospitable to most living things. Of course, that applied to their crops as well. This being the environment they lived in, it was customary to eat anything you can eat. And if you can’t eat something, well, you make an effort to eat it anyway. Taste wasn’t much of a priority; the stance was that if you can eat something, you eat it.
So magical beasts were perfectly good game, and any part of them that was remotely edible was to be eaten. The Syrupy Purple Lizard Soup and Eyeball Garnish that lay in front of me was one such piece of cuisine born of those customs.
Anyway, the eyeballs were a no-go. They might have actually tasted good for all I knew, but visually speaking - a no-go.
Yeah, I’m a wimp! Got a problem with that?! I put my spoon down, and submerged the eyeball back into the sea of soup. And this time I tried to eat just the soup. It was purple and looked like polluted marsh water, and the smell was pretty pungent too! It smelled like someone who just came out of gym class!
“What is it? You’re not going to eat it?”
Urged by the overlord’s chiding, I steeled myself and pushed the spoon into my mouth. For a moment, everything in my field of vision waved and distorted.
W-What even is this flavor. Was it bitter? Or no, maybe salty? Sour? I-I don’t know! It was Saltybittersour! “What do you think? Good, isn’t it? This delicacy’s hard to come around even in Xenoahs.”
“I-It’s... really something... The taste is so... overwhelming, my body won’t stop shaking...” My hands wouldn’t stop trembling, and I was sweating profusely. Eating any more of this would kill me! I stealthily opened my [Storage] and took a wooden deep bowl out of it, placing it on my legs hidden beneath the table cloth. I then opened a small [Gate] in my mouth, carefully so he wouldn’t notice, so while it would seem like I’m eating, all the soup would be transported into the bowl. It got rid of the taste, sure, but the smell was still terrible! As I silently worked my way through the soup, the dining hall’s doors opened and Sirius walked in.
“Pardon my delay, there were some documents I couldn’t put off for later... Oh?” Sirius, who had arrived late, paused when he saw my plate.
“Is that the Syrupy Purple Lizard Soup?”
“Y-Yeah. It’s uhh, a real treat.”
“I’m surprised you managed to eat it. Even demonkin barely eat it.”
“...Say what?” My spoon paused at Sirius’ words.
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