Interlude: Ceremonial Preparations
“Now flip it in one go.”
“Okay... Augh?!”
Ende’s pancake flipped up into the air, hit the side of the frying pan, and landed on the countertop. Another resounding failure... I wondered how many it’d been at this point. Lu, who was trying to teach him, simply frowned. Ende was surprisingly clumsy.
“Touya, could you—?”
“Hell no. I’m not eating another pancake!”
You’ve made way too many mistakes, Ende! I’m not being a human garbage disposal anymore!
I was honestly shocked by how bad Ende’s dexterity was. He’d fumbled meal after meal all morning. He’d come to learn from Lu because the three Phrase girls had begun demanding that he make them home-cooked meals.
I was inclined to wonder why, as the man of the house, Ende didn’t simply demand that the women do the cooking for him... But that was a rather old-fashioned way of looking at things. Gender equality meant that men and women had equal opportunity to be bossed around by their partners. Plus, Lu seemed keen to teach, so I had no problem letting her go for it.
They’d started out with something simple, a fried egg. But Ende was way too cumbersome, so he kept smashing the eggs instead of cleanly cracking them. I told him to finely tune his attacks on the egg, to treat it like an enemy combatant with a weak point. He got the hang of it after that, but it was still annoying.
Once he got over the first little hurdle, he was able to fry the egg fairly easily. Unfortunately, he immediately got stuck on making pancakes afterward. He cracked the eggs just right, but stirred them so fast that they splattered everywhere. Then, he overheated the mix and burned his second attempt. And on his third try, he failed to flip it and it flopped over pitifully. Even I could do better, and I was hardly a kitchen wizard.
Of course, I was the one who so graciously stepped forwards to eat the wasted products. Frankly, it was difficult to go through. They were either undercooked or burned. They weren’t so bad that I couldn’t eat them, but they sure as hell needed a lot of maple syrup. Kohaku was with me earlier, but she managed to get away... If only I were as lucky.
In the end, I decided that Ende should just use the [Storage] on his phone to store his crappy pancakes. The moment he turned around again, I quickly used [Teleport] to get out of dodge.
Blegh... I’m gonna get a stomachache...
I groaned my way down the corridor until I came across Sue. She looked different than usual.
“Oh, Touya! What do you think?”
Sue did a little twirl in front of me. She was wearing a colorful tribal outfit with bangles decorating her arms. If I recalled correctly, it was the tribal garb of the Nokian people.
“Looks good on you, Sue. Really cute.”
“Hurray! I bought this stuff at the Nokian capital! It’s nice to wear different things sometimes, isn’t it?”
She was right. Sue looked very different to her usual self. It was honestly pretty surprising how much of a different vibe you could give off based on your clothing.
“Where’s everyone at?”
“The courtyard! They’re checking out the ceremony area that Cesca and the others made.”
We weren’t going to hold our wedding in a church. Instead, we planned on the ceremony being in the castle courtyard.
Brunhild’s castle was, much like Belfast’s castle, home to a very large courtyard area. There was room for plenty of people. The church in town didn’t have enough space for all our guests, and it was technically an embassy for Ramissh, anyway. There were also security concerns, since most of our guests were important foreign dignitaries. The castle courtyard was both secure and spacious, so it felt like the best bet.
In other words, it was a garden wedding. When I mentioned that to Cesca, she jumped at the chance to help plan it. After all, she was in charge of Babylon’s garden. She quickly took charge of the whole thing, enlisting Julio as her assistant. I was a little apprehensive at first, but I knew that she had incredible skill when it came to floral arrangements, so I decided to let her go for it. That being said, I left Kougyoku behind to supervise, just in case.
“It’s gonna be great! Why not come see, Touya?”
“Sure, I’ll swing by.”
Sue took me by the hand and dragged me off to the courtyard. When I walked through the archway to the courtyard, my eyes rested upon a completely unique sight. A beautiful altar sat in the middle of the courtyard along with a large white staircase. There were arches and white fences all over the place, and several pure white seats arranged just like they would be in a church. Flowers bloomed and crawled all over the courtyard walls, creating a magnificent scene around me. The place had been completely transformed.
A gorgeous red carpet was laid down in front of the altar, which continued on down the aisle. Cesca, Yumina, Linze, and Elze were standing atop it.
“Oh, Touya?”
“Sue dragged me along. The whole place looks amazing...”
I couldn’t help but stare at the altar. It was somehow flashy yet subdued at the same time. We’d be making our wedding pledges in front of the spirits right here...
The altar was wide enough for ten people to stand before it at the same time. It had all kinds of plants atop it, from vines to roses. It definitely gave off an exotic vibe.
“Is it all ready?”
“Certainly not, master. We’ve many flowers to prepare, petals to scatter, and stems to prune. Certainly a great deal left to do.”
Cesca bowed her head as she spoke. I was impressed by her moxie, but I didn’t want her going too overboard with it. If it became too flashy, I thought maybe it’d come off as tacky... But, on the other hand, a wedding was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so maybe it was better to go to the extreme? It wasn’t really for me to say.
“Ah, I have a request for you.”
“What is it, Cesca?”
I tensed up when the gynoid spoke, since her requests were usually weird or disturbing at best.
“Could you call upon the Flower Spirit?”
“Oh, huh...”
Spirits dwelled within everything, so naturally there was a Flower Spirit as well. They were subordinate to the Earth Spirit.
If we had a Flower Spirit helping us out, things would go a lot more smoothly. I certainly saw no harm in asking, at least.
“There are some flowers that aren’t currently in seasonal bloom, so if we had a Flower Spirit’s help that would be useful.”
“Makes sense. I’ll see what I can do.”
Cesca’s request was shockingly tame, so I decided to call a spirit immediately.
“Rise, Flower Spirit, in the name of the Celestial Spirit King.”
As I finished my utterance, a tornado of flower petals rose up from the ground. When they subsided, a small girl stood in their place. She had pale reddish hair that curled slightly in places, and a frilly dress that reminded me of a budding flower. The impression she gave off was one of elegance and grace.
The Flower Spirit bowed her head, clutching at the hem of her dress to perform a little curtsy.
“I have come, in accordance with my duty. How may I serve you, Your Opulence?”
“I’d like for you to help prepare this wedding ceremony, if that’s alright.”
“But of course. It is my honor to assist in the wedding of the Celestial Spirit King himself.”
The spirit smiled and walked to Cesca’s side. The gynoid wasted no time at all. She pulled out a floor plan and went over it with the spirit. Their conversation immediately transformed into a flurry of technical jargon, so I just decided to leave them to it.
“Hey, where are Yae and the others?”
“Ah, they’re off at the training field. They’re looking over the Frame Gears we’ll be using for the ceremony.”
“Ah, right...”
I was a little taken aback by how casually Linze mentioned that we’d be using giant war machines in our wedding ceremony, but this was my life now. Apparently, at some royal or noble weddings, it was customary for knights to line up and raise their swords, much like the act of presenting arms back in my world. The practice was customary in Lestia, which meant Hilde wanted us to have it as part of our ceremony as well. But then talks about it got out of hand, and before I knew it we were having our Frame Gears line up.
My wedding wasn’t just the ceremony itself, but also a Brunhild festival, it seemed. People from all over the world were coming to appreciate our culture, and we planned on having a big parade through the castle town.
Given that the Frame Gears ended up becoming a Brunhild cultural icon, it would have been silly not to use them. I walked over to the training grounds and saw several Chevalier units lined up facing each other in a row. They held their halberds skyward, crossing them over each other’s in mid-air.
“Mech Three, Mech Four, synchronize better! Again!”
I heard Lain’s voice, augmented through her Smartphone’s [Speaker] function, echo outward. She wasn’t going easy on them at all. I felt a little bit bad that everyone was working so hard just for a wedding ceremony, so I made a mental note to bring them some alcohol later.
Yae and Hilde were standing with Lain, so I walked over.
“Ah, Touya-dono. It is good to see you, it is.”
“Man, this sure is something... Do we really need this?”
“Of course we do. In Lestian culture, this kind of display is to grant blessings of courage to the wedding party on their new adventure together. It ensures that they overcome all challenges in their way.”
Hilde smiled proudly as she spoke about her cultural norms. It was definitely an eye-catching display.
We were going to have Frame Gears posted at the entrance of the castle town. The ostensible reason was to keep up appearances, but we also wanted to intimidate potential wrongdoers. I didn’t exactly want to do it, but the officials of Brunhild thought it was the best way to display our power. Royal weddings were a prime time to showcase national influence, so we really needed to ham it up. Frankly, I’d have preferred a more private affair.
“We’ll make sure it’s perfect before the ceremony, Your Highness. You can count on us.”
“Oh, right... Don’t worry too hard. Just do your best...”
I could only muster up a half-hearted response to Lain’s resolute promise. I didn’t get involved any further, her judgment was generally sound for matters like this.
“I really cannot believe we are getting married, I cannot. It feels so real now, it does...”
“Just now, Yae?”
“We have always been together with Touya-dono like a family, we have. It feels almost strange to finally make it official, it does.”
“Ah, I see. I very much agree with that. We were fellow women, sharing in trials and tribulations... But now we’ll be family by law.”
We’d certainly be a very big family. Never in my life did I think I’d end up with nine brides. It was honestly a little nuts thinking about my upcoming married life.
“Hey, where are Leen and Sakura?”
“Over there, they are.”
Yae glanced over toward the rest area. Leen and Sakura were sitting there with troubled looks on their faces. I wondered what was up with them.
“What’s up with them?”
“They need to decide who’ll be walking them down the aisle. We decided on our fathers, but as for them...”
Ah. That explains it.
When we were deciding on our ceremony stuff, I showed the girls videos from weddings back home. Then, I let them pick and choose ideas. There were a few things like wedding cake and music for the ceremony, but all the girls decided they wanted to do the walk down the aisle. They liked the idea of being ‘given away’ by their fathers. The sight of a father, representing the past, walking his daughter towards her new future, seemed like a novel concept to the girls.
Unfortunately, there were a few issues. First up, there was Leen. Elze and Linze’s father was dead, but they had their Uncle Joseph to give them away. Leen, however, was a fairy. Pretty much all of her extended family was long gone from this world.
To be more specific, they were in a realm known as Avalon, where elder fairies went to live out their last years. So basically, Leen had nobody to walk with her.
Sakura did have a living father, but she was hesitant to actually get him involved. I was inclined to agree. I had a feeling the overlord would start blubbering and crying on his way to the altar. That wasn’t exactly the kind of feeling you wanted to foster on your wedding day.
I walked over toward the duo.
“Have you two decided yet?”
“We have. I’ll ask the beastking to hand me off. He was a long-time ally of mine, and I did once serve his court. It was between him and Paula, really.”
Upon hearing of her exclusion, Paula dropped to her knees and mimed out cursing at the heavens. I couldn’t picture any scenario where being given away by a teddy bear was a good idea.
“And Sakura?”
“I want my mother...”
“Are you sure about that? Your father might feel a little... I dunno, excluded? It’s your call, but you do have a dad who’d be willing.”
“Mm... That’s what my mother said, Grand Duke...”
Sakura had apparently already asked her mother for guidance. Fiana probably felt uneasy about the situation in general. He wasn’t the best at expressing himself, but Sakura’s father clearly cared about her, at least...
Just as I was thinking about him, the overlord himself called me. The phrase ‘Speak of the devil and he doth appear’ sprang to mind.
“Hello, there.”
“Ahhh! Grand Duke! Is my little Farne there?! Put her on!”
He immediately started screaming down the phone at me. My ears were taken by surprise, and I couldn’t help but wince.
“Why call me if you want to talk to her? Just call her phone...”
“I tried that! It kept ringing out!”
Yeesh...
I turned to Sakura. She was staring blankly at me. Judging from her face, she’d used her keen hearing to listen to our conversation.
I asked the overlord what it was he wanted exactly, and he said he’d heard from Fiana about the walk down the aisle. I didn’t want to be the messenger between the two, so I switched the phone to video mode and pointed it towards Sakura. Unfortunately, the video just displayed the overlord screeching with his face pressed up against the camera. He looked really stupid, and I wished he’d back up a little...
Leen suddenly turned to address Sakura.
“You have a father who can walk with you, which is a blessing in itself. The gesture is seen as you leaving your father’s side for our darling’s side, no? If you refuse the gesture, it might suggest you’re reluctant to get married.”
“Hrm...”
“Farne, please! I beg of you to trust me on this! I promise I’ll be the best aisle-walker you’ve ever seen! I promise!”
The video feed showed the overlord begging on his knees. He definitely didn’t look like the master of all demonkin. I saw his bodyguard in the corner of the video feed. He was cringing.
Sakura turned her head to the side, pouting a bit. Her cheeks were ever-so-slightly tinged pink.
“...Fine, whatever... If the grand duke says so...”
“Ooh! Farne!! Th-Then...”
The overlord expectantly turned his gaze toward me. I pretended to mull the decision over for a while.
“Maybe Fiana would be best...”
“Noooooo!”
“I’m kidding, relax.”
The overlord stared blankly at me, rage building behind his eyes. I might’ve gone a little overboard.
I confirmed that he’d be allowed to walk Sakura down the aisle, and he immediately jumped up and started celebrating. Sakura clearly found the sight distasteful, so she ended the call.
“Hmph... It should’ve been my mother...”
“Well, maybe... But like Leen said, it’s a ceremonial thing. Leaving your father’s protection and standing by my side for a new future, right?”
Frankly, I was glad she said yes. He never would’ve stopped nagging us about it. We’d allowed him to walk, so hopefully he’d calm down now.
The beastking also happily agreed to walk Leen. I was surprised at how pleased he was to have been asked.
Either way, that settled the aisle issue.
“Now, the rings...”
I needed to prepare wedding bands. They were different to engagement rings, since they’d be worn for life. They were also technically meant to be more aesthetically simple.
What to do... I could make nine simple rings from mithril or orichalcum... Oh wait, I need to make ten since there’s one for me, too...
I got lost in thought, but a sudden call from God Almighty snapped me out of it.
“Hello?”
“Oho. Touya, my boy. Could you come and talk to me?”
“Huh? Now?”
Did I do something wrong? Is something up? I beat the wicked god, so things should be fine... Or maybe he’s just trying to prepare me for my divine duties...
I told Leen to tell the others I’d be unavailable for a little bit, then I opened up a [Gate] to the divine realm.
“Ah, welcome. Please take a seat.”
“Oh, sure.” I sat down as God Almighty poured me a cup of tea. The stalk inside stood upright, as usual. Apparently that was just what it did here.
“I was doing some thinking, my boy... And I wondered if you would consider leaving your wedding bands to me.”
“Huh?! How come?!”
I wondered if that was really okay.
“You are getting married, no? You are a member of my family, Touya. I would like to get you a gift. So I thought perhaps something you would wear on a daily basis would be a nice idea. The other gods wish to bestow gifts upon you as well.”
“Isn’t that a little much?”
I thought maybe it’d be a little extreme to have rings blessed by the gods. After all, sacred treasures were objects that had the potential to bring forth wicked gods.
“That will not be an issue. If you wear your ring as a god, and your wives wear their rings as beneficiaries of divine blessing, then there will be no risk of wickedness accumulating within them. They need negative energy to turn, after all.”
That was certainly true. My smartphone counted as a sacred treasure, but it was always safe in my hands.
“Since it would be unbecoming for the gods to grant you these gifts down in the mortal realm, I will have the pillar spirits impart them to you.”
“That works for me. I was actually going to ask one of the pillar spirits to officiate the wedding.”
That was a happy little coincidence. Brunhild didn’t have a state religion, so for the most part we just kept stuff neutral and generally defaulted to honoring the spirits of nature. The fact that I ruled over those spirits was a little awkward, though.
“Well, at any rate. I need one thing from you before I can create your ring.”
God Almighty produced a small, smooth stone from the sleeve of his kimono. It just looked like an ordinary white-grey stone, one that could easily fit in the palm of your hand. It was also flat enough to skim the surface of a lake if thrown properly.
“What’s this thing?”
“A divinistone. It has no effects on its own, but develops unique characteristics when it encounters divinity. We use them for all kinds of things.”
Apparently, the stone took on different properties depending on the god who fed divinity into it. No two gods could create the same effect, so the possibilities were truly endless.
“I could make it myself, but I thought perhaps you should have a part in it. After all, it is something for you and your brides.”
That made sense. Helping to develop the material for our rings sounded lovely enough to me.
I took the stone from God Almighty and found it was remarkably heavy.
“So I just pour divinity into it?”
“If you pour in your divinity and mix it with your feelings, it should increase in purity. Try to think of your brides-to-be.”
I can do that... Elze, Linze, Yae, Sue, Yumina, Leen, Lu, Sakura, and Hilde...
I closed my eyes and remembered the first time I ever met them. I quietly mulled over the memories and bonds we’d forged together.
When I opened my eyes, the stone had transformed into a shimmering platinum. It looked completely different to how it did before.
“Wow...”
“Ohohoho... Truly splendid. I am sure this will make fine material.”
God Almighty took the stone from me, glancing it over carefully.
“So you’ll forge this into rings?”
“The other gods will infuse it with their own blessings, and I will then ask the god of forging to refine it. After that, I will have the god of crafting work on the design, and the god of polishing work on the metal. It will take some time, but I assure you they will be ready by the event itself.”
This really sounds like it’s overboard... It’s not like I’m not grateful, but man... This is a lot.
“This is the first time in many thousands of years that one of our own has gotten married. Everyone wants to take part in the revelry. It is a true rare event that a wedding receives this level of divine attention, I must say.”
“Ahaha... Is that right...”
I quietly looked down at my shoes. I really did wonder just how much free time the gods must have had, given that they seemed ready to party at a moment’s notice. Still, they were gods... I had to have some kind of faith in them. Plus, they were probably just happy to celebrate, so I decided to graciously accept their offering.
“Ah, that reminds me. I asked the god of alcohol to fetch me some wine for our jubilations, but it would appear she drank it all herself.”
“Did she, now...”
That drunk little gremlin was getting worse by the day. I sighed softly before opening up [Storage] and pulling out a few bottles of alcohol for the old man. This was hardly enough to make up for the incredible gift he’d just given me, though.
“Much obliged, my boy. Leave the rings to me. I assure you we will produce something impeccable.”
“J-Just not too impeccable, please...”
I left the divine realm behind with an awkward smile. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I was glad he was happy...
When I returned to the castle, I found Lu still helping out Ende in the kitchen.
“Oh, Touya! Check it out, man!”
“Oh, nice.”
Ende proudly presented me with a plate. It had pancakes on it. They certainly looked nice and fluffy, and they were certainly shaped like pancakes... He’d actually done it.
“Wow, it’s a miracle.”
“Don’t be rude. It was easy when I got the hang of it. It just happened to take a while.”
“That’s an understatement...”
Lu heaved a sigh. She looked exhausted.
I cut off a bit of the pancake and tossed it into my mouth. It tasted just like a regular pancake. I was glad to see he’d at least learned something.
“Now I can cook Melle and the others a hearty breakfast!”
“I’m not so sure about that... It’s just pancakes and fried eggs...”
From my perspective, Ende needed to learn a bit more. His journey with Lu was really only just beginning.
“Anywho, I’ve gotta get ready for dinner, so let’s call it for today. We’ll talk about more recipes later, bye!”
Ende charged off, my comments failing to wipe that bright smile from his face.
...He’s not... He’s not going to cook pancakes for dinner, is he? Then again, knowing those weird Phrase girls, they’d probably be fine with that.
“Hey, Lu. On the subject of cooking, have you figured out what we’re serving for the wedding party?”
“Ah, yes! I’ve sorted out just about everything except the cake, now.”
That’s Lu for you. She’s really something.
Since she had [Storage] at her disposal now, she’d taken to baking several cakes and storing them via the spell for freshness. I’d shown her a ton of wedding cakes from back home as reference, but she ended up getting really into it. She was even getting experimental and creating her own unique cakes.
I was pretty amazed by how far the wedding preparations had come overall... In just a few weeks, I would be married.
I’ll be getting married soon... Oh man, am I really ready for this?
...I guess I shouldn’t have proposed if I’m not ready for this. That was a pretty stupid question. You’ll be fine, Touya... You just have eight more wives than you ever thought you’d have.
After the wedding, it’d be time for the honeymoon... I already knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to use my divinity to take the girls to my home planet. I wanted to show them all kinds of places.
Heh... I bet Lu’s gonna love the cuisine...
“Mm? Something on your mind?”
“Nope, nothing at all.”
Lu noticed I was lost in thought, so I just smiled and waved her off. I was really looking forward to our trip. I happily left the kitchen, thinking of everything that was yet to come.
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