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Chapter 6: A Wedding Present That Was Worth a Fortune
— 3rd day, 3rd month, 1,548th year, Continental Calendar —
Ding dong! Ding dong!
There was a joyous pealing of bells.
“Congratulations!”
“May the Mother Dragon watch over you!”
The masses clapped and applauded unceasingly.
On this day, two couples were joined in matrimony...
However, it was not in the Kingdom of Friedonia, but in the Kingdom of Lastania inside the Union of Eastern Nations.
“Princess Tia! Congratulations!”
“Lord Julius! Please, take care of the princess and make her happy!”
“You’re beautiful, Captain Lauren!”
“Congratulations, Jirukoma!”
On a warm day where you could feel the coming of spring, the Kingdom of Lastania witnessed the weddings of Julius to Princess Tia, and Jirukoma to Captain Lauren.
It being the wedding of the country’s sole princess, the central city of Lasta was so bustling that you might think the entirety of the not-exactly-large population of this small country was clustered there.
Because Lauren was popular among the soldiers of the Kingdom of Lastania, there was some jeering from guys who were jealous of Jirukoma mixed in with all the applause.
“Captain Lauren’s finally become another man’s property...”
“Damn you, Jirukoma! Stealing Captain Lauren from us! If you ever make her cry, you’ll pay for it!”
But there was only a very small number of them.
The vast majority showered them with blessings, and the two newlywed couples waved to the crowd.
On the high platform behind them, Princess Tia’s parents, the current king and queen of the Kingdom of Lastania, watched with satisfied smiles.
Eventually, the new brides and grooms began walking down a road packed with crowds on both sides.
They made a full circuit of the city, showing themselves off to those who had kindly come to see their wedding.
As they did, one of the guests of honor, Lauren, perhaps unused to wearing a dress, tripped and nearly fell over.
Jirukoma reached out and caught her.
“S-Sorry! Sir Jirukoma!” Lauren’s face turned bright red as she jumped away from him. Then, with silk-gloved hands, she covered her cheeks. “Urgh... How embarrassing. Unused to this sort of frilly outfit, I’ve made a fool of myself. I’m now finally able to become your wife, and yet I hate myself for not being able to act as feminine as the princess.”
Seeing her so bashful, Jirukoma thought it was cute. Unable to suppress his rising emotions, he swept her up in his arms.
Suddenly finding herself in a princess carry, Lauren blinked repeatedly.
“Uwah?! Sir Jirukoma?!”
“I loved you for your usual, gallant self,” Jirukoma declared. “Yet seeing you so gorgeous today, I’ve fallen in love all over. I am the happiest man on the continent, Madam Lauren.”
“Sir Jirukoma... yes. Oh, but, please, stop with this ‘madam’ business. It makes us sound like strangers. I’m your wife now.”
“I understand... Lauren. Then don’t call me ‘sir,’ either.”
“Yes, dear!” Lauren replied in Jirukoma’s arms, a broad smile on her face.
Seeing the happiness of Lauren’s face, Tia smiled at Julius, too. “Captain Lauren looks so happy, doesn’t she?”
“Yes... I’m sure Jirukoma feels the same,” Julius said with his usual cool expression. “I’d say he’s not normally the type who would sweep a woman up in his arms in front of others like that, but he was pushed into it because he didn’t want to see a sad look on Madam Lauren’s face.”
Tia peeked at his face. “But... I’m really jealous of her.”
Seeing the thinly veiled hope in Tia’s face, Julius let out a resigned sigh. “...Shall we, then?”
He lifted Tia up like Jirukoma was doing for Lauren. But, of course, his embarrassment was winning out.
Julius wore his usual stony expression. Tia wrapped her supple arm around his neck, and drew her face in so close he could feel her breath.
“I love that about you, Lord Julius.”
“What about me?” he asked.
“The way you’re kind, but awkward and unable to show it.”
“You... don’t mince words.”
Julius gave Tia a light headbutt. It didn’t hurt at all, but Tia held the spot where he’d hit her with both hands, and she puffed up her cheeks.
“I think you’d be so wonderful if you could just be honest with your feelings, Lord Julius,” she said wistfully.
“This personality suits me. In my work, it’s easier to be just a little respected, and just a little feared.”
“Murrgh, but then no one will know how wonderful you are.”
“You understand me, Tia.” He smiled slightly. “That’s all I need.”
Tia’s heart skipped a beat. “The way you’re always making my heart race like that... it isn’t fair.”
“I could say the same of you.”
“I make your heart race, too?”
“Yeah. If I take my eyes off you, I never know where you might wander off to.”
“Murrgh.” Princess Tia groaned in dissatisfaction.
Julius smiled slightly again.
Some days later, in the governmental affairs office of the royal mansion in Lasta, Julius was creating some documents that were needed for government purposes.
Normally, this would be something for the King of Lasta to do, but Julius could do it both faster and better. At some point, Julius had begun doing the work in his place, and the king would merely press his stamp on it after looking it over.
Due to their accomplishments in surviving the prior demon wave, during the conferral of honors within the Union of Eastern Nations, the amount of territory held by Lastania had been nearly doubled.
That said, because their country was so small to begin with, the increase in their power as a nation was negligible. Yet with more territory came more people, and consequently the number of matters that needed to be attended to rose, meaning the volume of work was on the rise.
With the current volume, no one but Julius could handle it, and it had been decided, due to his marriage to Princess Tia, that he would be the next king, so the work could be entrusted to him without fear of usurpation.
Basically, Julius now found himself in a situation much like Souma had when he was first summoned to this world.
For one as neurotic as Julius, it bothered him to have work piled up so haphazardly, so he actively took on work he didn’t want and did it all in silence.
Knock, knock, knock.
Then there was a knock at the office door, and he heard the voice of a lovely young girl.
“Lord Julius, it’s Tia!”
“Come in!” he called back.
The door opened, and Tia, who had become his wife just the other day, came in. In her hands, she carried a tray with tea.
“You’ve been working hard. Why not take a short break?”
“...Yeah. I think I will rest a bit.”
Julius laid down his feather pen, moving over to sit at the tea table with her.
While pouring his tea, she apologetically said, “I’m sorry, Lord Julius. This is supposed to be my father’s work...”
“Don’t worry about it. I was simply better suited to doing paperwork than your father,” Julius said nonchalantly, sniffing the aroma of the tea she had made for him.
“Still, we’re... um... newlyweds, but you’re already back to work.”
“It couldn’t be avoided. If the royal family is lax, the country will stagnate.”
“Well, yes, but... I hear things are much sweeter over at Captain Lauren’s place, you know? They, um, you know... every night, and she’s not been getting a lot of sleep.”
“...Well, they did say they were going to have three children.”
It seemed Jirukoma and Lauren were getting along nicely. The two had some time off, so they must have been making the most of their time as newlyweds.
Maybe because she was jealous of them, Tia pursed her lips. “I’m old enough to have children, too, you know?”
“I told you to wait a little longer, didn’t I?” Julius sighed.
Even though they were married, Julius had yet to lay a hand on Tia. The fact that Tia was still only sixteen (turning seventeen this year) played at least some part in that.
That was considered marriageable age in this world, but she was younger than his little sister Roroa, and some of her gestures still seemed childish, so Julius was in no hurry to do anything with her. He wanted to continue their relationship as it was for at least another year.
Julius reached out, gently stroking Tia’s cheek.
“There’s no need to rush into things. We’ll be together forever. If, in all the time we have together, you can bear my children, that would make me happy.”
“Lord Julius...”
They stared into each other’s eyes. The mood had started to get vaguely sweet... and then it happened.
Thud! Thud! There was a violent pounding on the door.
Julius ordered, “Enter,” and a young soldier rushed in without pausing for pleasantries.
“W-We have trouble, Lord Julius!”
“You’re awfully noisy. What exactly is it?”
The soldier raised his voice.
“A... a wedding gift has arrived from Lady Roroa of the Kingdom of Friedonia!”
““Wha?!”” Julius and Tia gulped in unison at what they were seeing.
They were led not to the entrance of the castle, but to the south gate of the walls of Lasta.
When they passed through to the other side, there was a long luggage train that continued up into the hills. There were a variety of carts in the luggage train, some drawn by horses, others by large mounts like rhinosauruses.
There were many adventurers guarding it, too, making it more like a merchant caravan or fleet.
As Julius stared at it in dumb disbelief, the thin, gray-haired gentleman who had been riding in the lead carriage walked over.
“I presume you must be Lord Julius Lastania and his wife, Tia.” The man stood in front of her, offering a reverent bow.
“Yes, but... hm?” Julius said. “I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
“Yes. My name is Sebastian Silverdeer. Previously, I managed an apparel store in the princely capital of Van known as The Silver Deer. I have maintained close ties with Princess Roroa since those days.”
Julius was puzzled. “An apparel store? I’ve never been to such a place...”
If he was an acquaintance of Roroa’s, had they passed by one another in the castle, perhaps?
Julius stared hard at Sebastian’s face. The man seemed like he was mild-mannered, but not one to be underestimated. Julius had a feeling he’d met him somewhere before, a long time ago.
Not at an apparel store, but somewhere more savage...
“The Silver Deer... wait, Silverdeer?! No, you couldn’t be the Silver Deer, could you?!”
“Hmm, there’s a name that takes me back.” Sebastian had a peaceful look on his face as he basked in the nostalgia. “They used to call me that.”
The Silver Deer had been the epithet of the right-hand man of General Herman, Julius and Roroa’s grandfather.
A renowned scout, he had been nicknamed that because of his silver hair and the ease with which he hopped around the Principality of Amidonia’s treacherous mountain roads.
In his youth, Julius had seen the man come as an assistant to Herman when he came to visit the castle.
However, the Silver Deer was supposed to have retired around a decade ago.
The man had said he ran an apparel store in the capital, and was close to Roroa. Suddenly, it made a lot of sense.
“Grandfather Herman must have really adored Roroa,” Julius commented.
“My, whatever could you mean?”
Julius sighed at Sebastian’s attempt to play dumb.
Ever since the death of Herman’s daughter, Julius and Roroa’s mother, Gaius had thrown himself into revenge against the kingdom.
Because Julius was a warrior, his father had never pushed him away, but because of Roroa’s more bureaucratic leanings, she had been isolated in the family.
Honestly, both Julius and Gaius had ignored her counsel, so Roroa had gotten closer to the bureaucrat Colbert than to them.
Grandfather Herman must have been worried about her, and sent his right-hand man to watch over his granddaughter, in case anything should happen.
It seemed the perpetually stony-faced general was soft on his granddaughter.
“Does Roroa know?” Julius asked.
“Why, even I don’t know what you might be alluding to.”
“You’re a shrewd one, I’ll give you that.” Julius smiled wryly. “Well? What is the wagon train about? I was told it’s our wedding present.”
“Yes. Everything here is Lady Roroa’s wedding present to the two of you. If I were to simply describe the cargo, it is wood, stone, and iron.”
“Huh? Wood, stone, and iron?”
As a wedding present? What in the world was Roroa up to?
Julius was suspicious, but then Sebastian produced a sheet of paper from his pocket. “I have been entrusted with a letter which I am to read aloud in your presence.”
Sebastian then began reading.
“‘Congratulations to my big brother and adorable big sister. You two flirtin’ with each other? Brother, Big Sis is a little on the small side, so don’t go forcin’ her into anythin’ too weird in bed.’”
“That Roroa... We’re only at the introduction, and it’s already this bad,” Julius groaned. His head was starting to hurt at the sudden assault.
Tia turned bright red at the “in bed” part and looked down at the ground.
Julius was going to have to smack his sister upside the head the next time they met. She’d be queen by then, but if he got King Souma’s permission first, it wouldn’t turn into a diplomatic incident.
Sebastian cleared his throat, then continued reading.
“‘Now then, as for your wedding gift, I was talkin’ with Darlin’ about what’d be appropriate, and... we were thinkin’ what you’re really gonna be needin’ for your newlywed life is a house. That’s why we’re sendin’ ya a mountainload of timber, stone, and iron. Ya can put what we sent you together and make a nice house for yourselves, right? Bye bye. From Roroa.’”
Tia looked dazedly at the luggage train that continued into the mountains. “Materials for a house? But there’s enough here to build a castle.”
Julius smiled wryly at her literal interpretation. “Tia, we’re royalty. As royalty, wouldn’t our ‘house’ be the ‘country’?”
“Oh, I see! Then Lady Roroa sent this for the country?” Tia asked.
“That must be it. They’re all things this country lacks now.”
The Kingdom of Lastania was recovering from the damage they’d suffered during the demon wave.
In addition to the territory they had held before now, they also needed to rebuild the new territories they had been awarded. There was sympathy money flowing in from the rest of the Union of Eastern Nations, but the materials for reconstruction that the money was supposed to buy were in short supply to begin with. Even with doubling their size, it didn’t change that they were a small nation, and merchants would go to places that could pay more.
Supply and demand. The price of supplies rose the more they were in short supply.
In the end, they had been unable to obtain sufficient supplies at the market, and were being forced to focus on repairing the walls, medical facilities, and other high priority institutions.
That must have been why Roroa had sent goods, not money. It seemed likely the other nations would raise an objection if it came in the form of material aid, but this was just a wedding gift for her brother. It wasn’t going to resuscitate the whole country all of a sudden, but it would make the process a lot easier.
Julius conveyed his thanks to Sebastian. “It must have been hard, bringing all of these supplies all this way.”
“Why, yes. Gathering the supplies was hard enough, and the arrangements to bring them through the other countries of the Union of Eastern Nations was far more troublesome. I’m told His Majesty went to a great deal of effort.”
“He’s put us even further in his debt, huh...”
“Debt...! That’s right, what are we going to do?!” Tia exclaimed, clapping her hands against her cheeks.
“What is it?” Julius asked. “Suddenly raising your voice like that...”
“Lord Julius, this is a wedding gift to us, right? And Lady Roroa will be getting married to Sir Souma soon, too, I’ve heard. I think we need to send them something, too, but is there anything in this country that could match up to this wonderful gift?!”
It seemed Tia was concerned about the return gift. It was true, there was likely little this small, recovering country could send to the Kingdom of Friedonia.
Julius gently stroked her cheek as she quivered with worry. “It’s okay, Tia. If it’s a wedding gift for those two, I can prepare one.”
“Y-You can?! But is there anything like that in this country?” Tia stood there with question marks over her head.
Julius gave her a smile. “There is something we can give. It’s something this country is well-positioned to offer. Sebastian.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“When the supplies are unloaded, you’re returning to the kingdom, right? I’ll go get it now, so could you deliver my wedding present to Roroa and Souma?”
“As you wish, sir.” Sebastian bowed reverently again.
Julius went back to the castle temporarily, withdrawing the item he was after from his desk, and then returned to the gate where Sebastian was waiting. Then, when he turned over what he had brought to Sebastian, he asked to have it be delivered to Souma.
When she saw what Julius had given him, Tia cocked her head to the side. “Is that item equal to their gift?”
“Yes. This will do.” Stroking his dumbfounded wife’s hair, Julius insisted, “I’m sure Souma must want this more than anything.”
Another two weeks later, in the governmental affairs office in Parnam Castle, as Roroa and Sebastian watched, Souma went through the wedding present Julius had sent.
The reason he was looking through it was because what Julius had sent was a sheaf of papers.
When he finished reading, Souma let out a sigh, and laid the papers down on top of his desk.
“I have to hand it to Julius. Not only did he know what I want, he had this prepared in advance, too. He’s frighteningly perceptive.”
“Darlin’. What was my brother’s weddin’ gift?” Roroa asked.
Souma crossed his arms. “This is a report on the situation in Malmkhitan compiled by people working under Julius.”
“That’s the place where that Fuuga fella you’re so worried about’s from, yeah?”
Souma nodded, stood up, and walked over to the map of the continent hanging on the wall. Then he looked at Malmkhitan in the Union of Eastern Nations.
“It seems that Fuuga and Madam Mutsumi’s wedding was just held in Malmkhitan. Simultaneously, they succeeded in eliminating the remaining anti-Fuuga elements within Malmkhitan. In short, Fuuga has shored up the home front inside Malmkhitan.”
Souma put his hand on top of Malmkhitan on the map. The territory was still small enough that his hand spilled out of it, but just like his fingers were now spilling out, so too would Fuuga’s ambition spill out from inside the country.
“Now his eyes will turn to the outside in earnest,” Souma said.
Fuuga had talked about this. First he would secure the country, then once that was finished, he would request aid from other countries in the Union of Eastern Nations to invade the Demon Lord’s Domain.
That plan was finally going to be put into motion.
Going forward, Souma was going to be less and less able to ignore Fuuga’s actions.
He returned to the desk and put a hand down on the papers. “This is an independent report based on Julius’s independent investigation into Malmkhitan. I’ve sent the Black Cats to engage in intelligence operations of our own, but because the Union of Eastern Nations is a group of countries, making contact is difficult, putting some heavy limits on their activities. However, because Lastania belongs to the Union of Eastern Nations, it seems a fair bit of information is making its way to Julius.”
“So, my brother was tellin’ ya about that?” Roroa asked.
“Yeah. For instance, it’s hard for the Black Cats to investigate what negotiations Fuuga might make with other states inside the Union of Eastern Nations. Julius says this isn’t a one-off thing; he’ll be sending regular updates. As our wedding gift.”
Souma wanted information on Fuuga, no matter what. Even if it had cost him more than the goods he had asked Roroa to send.
That he’d understood that, and sent this back as a wedding present, showed that Julius was not a man to be underestimated.
“This wedding present is worth a fortune,” Souma said.