This book work came up, so it's shorter than usual.
"Alright then,
the groom
and
the bride
shall now make their entrance~"
When we returned to the mansion, Primera and I were each herded into separate waiting rooms and made to change into the outfits that had been prepared for us. Then, on Namitarou's cue — he was inexplicably serving as the MC — we stepped out into the garden, which had been set up as the ceremony venue.
"I'll be the priest! As for the vows — Tenma and Primera, you won't be able to recite Slarin's vows... so just kiss on my signal! Come on, get into position already!"
Namitarou was so hyped up that I actually wondered if he was drunk. To make matters worse, all the guests were playing along with his antics, chiming in with their own jabs one after another.
I didn't want to play along with this, and I was racking my brain for some way to escape, but—
"Slarin's really putting his all into this..."
Slarin had attached what looked like a fake mustache to the center of his body, and was standing by wearing a black hat.
"He looks less like a priest and more like some kind of sacred spherical being."
Despite being called the priest, he was positioned on a platform even taller than ours, with torchlight casting its glow from behind him — making him look less like a priest and more like an "unidentified sacred object of divine appearance."
As I watched the sacred Slarin, my determination to somehow escape began to fade, and before I knew it, Primera and I found ourselves standing in front of him.
At this point, there was no way we could back out of the kiss, but with everyone getting so worked up, it was hard to steel myself. So I sent my gaze toward
the two
people responsible for all this enthusiasm.
"Gwah!"
That immediately quieted things down. For reference, the ones who'd been getting carried away were Jin and Lion—Jin took blows to the head and waist from Menace and Lina, while Lion received a fist to the gut from Count Haust that left him too damaged to even scream. As for me, the ones I'd directed my gaze toward (out of habit) as responsible parties were Albert and Cain, but before either of them could move, the Count had already acted.
"All right, everyone, applause! Now then, the public debut of the newlyweds is officially complete, so let the party begin! Eat, drink, and make merry to your heart's content!"
Seeing the two most rowdy individuals silenced by force, even those who'd been somewhat noisy quieted down. During that lull, Primera and I shared a kiss, and taking that as the signal, Nami-tarou—the master of ceremonies—announced the start of the party. Once the party began, the participants split into two groups, and Primera and I were surrounded so tightly we couldn't move.
The ones crowding around us were the people of Kukuri Village, all of them crying and celebrating while talking over each other, making it nearly impossible to make out what they were saying or even reply. Still, the words repeated over and over were things like "How wonderful," "Congratulations," "I'm so happy," "Ricardo," and "Celia"—I could tell they were either rejoicing or thinking of their mothers and fathers. Meanwhile, the other group centered on the feast, made up primarily of those who had attended the wedding ceremony at the church.
For reference, those who attended both the church and home ceremonies were—from the Ootori side, the King and Maria, Din, Chris, and the Royal Guard members aside from Baron Mustang; and from the Duke's side, House Duke Sanga, House Marquis Samons, and Lion.
Since the home ceremony centered on the people of Kukuri Village, we had asked House Count Salsamo and House Count Cariostro to abstain. Unlike those two families, the King's party (more precisely, the King, Maria, and Lyle) had met the people of Kukuri Village before and were on fairly friendly terms with them. However, each of them had duties, so apparently they couldn't all clear an entire day. In their stead—though it felt odd to call it that—Tida, Luna, and their guardian Ernest would be attending instead.
"What an ordeal..."
After being manhandled by everyone from Kukuri Village, I was somehow tossed into the air in a crowd-surf for over ten minutes. And toward the end, Jin and the others joined in, getting cocky and trying to throw me into the pond. Well, just before I was hurled in, I floated up into the air and escaped, sinking Lion and Jin into the pond in my place... but the other participants had already fled from the pond's edge while those two were being sacrificed, so they were the only ones I could take out.
"Good work. I just got peppered with questions, though..."
"Well, that's the village custom up to that point. They say it was even wilder during Ricardo's time. Apparently, he was thrown into a goat's bedding stall... into the dirty, discarded hay that was about to be thrown away..."
"That seems like it goes too far."
"I can just picture Dad rampaging through everything..."
Apparently, in Kukuri Village, there was a mysterious ritual where the groom (and rarely the bride) was hoisted up and paraded through the entire village, only to be dumped somewhere at the end. The location changed depending on the occasion—the carriers would either decide beforehand or at the last minute, making it impossible to predict. According to what my grandfather knew, the lightest option was tossing the couple onto a bed, while the worst was heaving them toward the manure pit. Apparently, the one who'd been thrown into the manure pit was Uncle Mark—Dad, the ringleader, had tried to exact revenge for his own experience, but Mom managed to stop him by force at the very last moment, so it ended in an attempted throw (though he did get a little dirty).
"When I think about Dad and Uncle Mark, the pond seems like the cute end of the spectrum... That said, I still wouldn't want to be thrown in."
I muttered this while watching Jin, soaking wet, get teased by Garat and Menace, and Lion, also soaking wet, forced to sit seiza in a corner of the garden. Primera nodded with a wry smile.
"I suppose it's about time we throw Lion a lifeline. Even though he did try to prank the star of the show Tenma, nobody here would be angry over something like that. The Count is being a bit too strict about it."
Thanks to Count Haust's conduct up to now and my safe reunion with everyone, there were hardly any lingering grudges between him and the people of Kukuri Village over past events. Still, you couldn't exactly say the relationship was as warm as it was with the King or Duke Sanga. Perhaps that was why he was being so hard on Lion—but the relationship between the people of Kukuri Village and Lion was on good terms, so pushing it too far could backfire.
For those reasons, my grandfather must have decided to step in between the Count and Lion at about this point. Having Lion sit seiza was actually a fairly common sight in our household, so now it could be passed off as a funny story to share over drinks.
When Grandfather spoke to the Count, the Count turned toward me, our eyes met, and he bowed his head. Then, after bowing to Grandfather as well, Lion was finally allowed to stand up... only to collapse spectacularly, since his legs had gone numb. Laughter erupted from everyone watching, and for someone who knew nothing but this scene, they'd never believe there had ever been any bad blood between Count Haust's household and the people of Kukuri Village.
"By the way, don't I need to go around refilling drinks or making social rounds?"
She'd been swarmed alongside me at first but left completely alone afterward, and perhaps that was what bothered her — Primera asked with a worried look on her face.
"Nah, there's no need to make rounds. The moment we were mobbed at the start, the reception was basically over. From here on, we just eat, have fun, and they'll come to us on their own."
I wouldn't say this was the standard way to hold a wedding in a rural village, but whenever there was something to celebrate in Kukuri Village, the entire place turned into a raucous festival. Even when there was a guest of honor, the villagers would fuss over them at first and then essentially leave them alone so everyone could enjoy themselves however they pleased.
For instance, there was the time they threw a massive celebration claiming it was for my birthday, yet the years before and after that they did nothing of the sort. The underlying philosophy of Kukuri Village's people was simple: as long as they could have a celebration, the reason didn't matter one bit.
This time around, there was probably genuine desire to celebrate Primera's and my marriage, but there was also a separate desire just to enjoy the festivity itself. That meant Primera and I were best off simply soaking in the atmosphere. If anyone had business with us, they'd come find us.
And so, Primera and I made our way around the tables laden with food, eating as we went. Sure enough, people nearby offered their congratulations and good-natured ribbing, just as I'd expected.
A few drunks tried to latch onto us, but they were quickly pulled away by their wives or the people around them. There were a few minor hiccups, but all in all, it was a far more relaxed and enjoyable time than the ceremony earlier that day... though I wasn't about to tell Primera that.
Once we'd finished eating, it seemed the people of Kukuri Village had shifted their attention almost entirely to the food and drink, and they stopped coming over to us altogether.
In their place, the invited guests who hadn't been able to attend during the daytime now showed up en masse.
Among them, only Jin actually goofed around and tried to give us a hard time, so dealing with him was easy enough.
"By the way, Tenma, I hear the honeymoon trip is taking you to Duke Sanga's territory — when are you planning to set out?"
After dealing with Jin, who'd gotten a bit too bold from the alcohol, Primera was whisked away by what seemed to be mothers-in-law who'd been waiting for just the right moment. Sure enough, Duke Sanga, now apparently free, came over with my glass in hand.
"I'd rather not push it too late since the snow would be a concern, so perhaps in a week or two? The trip itself is planned for about ten days."
Duke Sanga remarked that ten days didn't seem very long, but when you added in the round-trip travel days, it came out to roughly a month. And since the Otori family weren't nobles, even a month-long trip was pushing it. Well, when you thought about it from an adventurer's perspective, a month-long journey wasn't exactly unheard of.
"When you're on your way back from that trip, could you perhaps work in a stop at Marquis Samons's territory?"
While I was chatting with Duke Sanga, Marquis Samons came over with an expectant look on his face...
"I don't think that'll work, schedule-wise. Marquis Samons's territory would mean a big detour up north."
"Fair point..."
Marquis Samons looked as though he were saddened by this, but it was a touch theatrical, so it was definitely an act. In that regard, he was strikingly similar to Cain — you could really tell they were father and son. Incidentally, in order of straight-line distance from the Royal Capital, it went Duke Sanga's territory to the southeast, Marquis Samons's territory to the northeast, and Count Haust's border territory to the east. Technically, I could have stopped by Marquis Samons's territory on the way back from Duke Sanga's territory, but since the return trip was planned to head south through Duke Sanga's territory and pass through Gunjou City, there was no way to reach Marquis Samons's territory, which lay in the exact opposite direction. "I imagine the idea was to spread word that Tenma and Primera had come on their honeymoon and drum up more tourists for Marquis Samons's territory."
While Marquis Samons was putting on a show of being saddened, Count Haust came over.
"Count, you'd also like to draw in tourists with the Tenma effect, wouldn't you?"
"I would not! There's nothing in my territory worthy of being a tourist attraction. If I forcefully advertised and drew in visitors, it would backfire and earn me a bad reputation!"
"Well, the Count's territory has been economically buoyed by the new fortress and the wyvern incident, so even without attracting tourists, the prosperity should continue for a few more years. There's no need to push it."
"I appreciate that."
Count Haust and Marquis Samons chatted with an easy familiarity.
I was a little surprised by how talkative the Count was — the atmosphere and the alcohol probably played a part — but mostly it was because Duke Sanga and Marquis Samons, men he could call friends, were there. The vibe reminded me somewhat of what Albert and the others had, but the Count, who occupied the same position in this friendship as Lion did in ours, had presence and gravitas that far surpassed the real thing. It made me seriously doubt whether Lion could ever measure up, even with age.
The Count and the Marquis, having apparently forgotten I existed, became absorbed in their own conversation.
"You don't need to worry about what Marquis Samons said. He already knew you couldn't stop by when he brought it up. Just tell him you'll visit someday, and he'll be satisfied."
I asked Duke Sanga, who had been similarly left out, about the ducal territory, and he recommended several spots. What caught my interest the most was a lake — the number one tourist attraction in the ducal territory. It was apparently quite large, and even though the surrounding towns all benefited from the same lake, each had its own specialties depending on the location, so just circling the lake would be enjoyable. Well, that would take more time than I had, and considering the rest of my plans, I'd only be able to visit a handful of towns. Still, it sounded like fun.
After parting ways with the Duke, who had been summoned by the Count and the Marquis, I looked around for something to eat — and spotted a pair giving off a somewhat tense atmosphere. Worse, the moment I spotted them, one of them locked eyes with me, so there was no pretending I hadn't noticed.
"Hey, Tenma! Come on, tell this deadbeat he's got it all wrong!"
"Who's a deadbeat?! Call me your senior brother!"
The ones giving each other the cold shoulder were Kelly and Guildmaster Gants.