“What do you think about this, Benimaru?”
“Hmm… Personally speaking, I do feel this is all going too fast. However, one thing I can say for sure is that one spouse is all I’d like to have.”
Yeah, fair enough. Being asked out of nowhere to marry would knock anyone for a loop. I know it’d throw me off. The past is one thing, but we live in an era where you’re free to love whoever you want. Besides:
“Besides, for higher-level magic-born like ourselves, siring a child is not a simple task. Some people have many wives and they impregnate each, who must compete with one another to give birth, but I have little interest in that approach. I do not intend to keep any concubines.”
Momiji watched Benimaru starry-eyed as she spoke.
“So no harem, then?”
No harem, it sounded like—or no polygamy, to be exact. No real reason to adopt that in Tempest, unless we were forced to because of a glut of widows or something.
I was hoping that was the end of the topic, but it was really just the beginning.
“All right. In that case, I accept Alvis’s challenge. I promise you, I will earn the role of Benimaru’s wife with my own two hands!”
Momiji all but shouted this declaration out to the world. I wasn’t sure this is how love worked, exactly, but Benimaru seemed to have given up and didn’t comment on it.
“What do you think of that, Sir Rimuru?”
What do I think of it? All I can say at this point is—hey, whatever.
“Well, there’s no problem with it, is there? I don’t want any to-the-death duel or whatever, but if it’s more like vying to woo him, sure, that’s fine. If he’s not up for it, we’ll need to end it, but…”
As long as it didn’t venture into stalker territory, I was cool with it.
“Very well,” Shuna said with a smile. “In that case, do as you like.”
I had a bad feeling about that the moment she said it.
“I can beat you, Lady Shuna!”
“I look forward to seeing you try, Shion.”
They both smiled at each other. I wasn’t exactly sure what this meant, but I hopped out of Shuna’s arms anyway, sensing mortal danger.
I should note, by the way, that the previously reserved and hesitant Alvis got seriously aggressive from that day forward, attacking Benimaru from every possible angle regardless of how it made her look. Momiji, of course, followed her every step of the way, resisting her efforts. The other women coveting Benimaru, of course, didn’t take this lying down and immediately threw themselves into the fray. To say the least, things got intense.
It kicked off the start of a new tradition in Tempest—the idea that, if you love someone, prove it to them with your own might. Love on the battlefield, I suppose.
EPILOGUETHE FINAL BRIEFING
It was evening by the time we wrapped up our talks with the tengu on the final day. After an earlyish dinner, we decided to hold our first administrative meeting in a while.
Since we had all my officials here for a change, I figured it’d be a good chance to brief each other on recent events. We also had a few visitors—Veldora, Ramiris, and her servants Beretta and Treyni. Milim would be “officially” coming to town three days from now, and I guess she was really starting to feel the heat from Frey, so she decided to head back home in the meantime. Smart girl. I don’t know how pissed off Frey was, but if Milim stayed here for much longer, I bet the answer would be very, and I didn’t want to be caught in the cross fire.
Plus, we had another new face:
“Now, before we begin this conference, there’s someone I’d like to introduce to you all. This is Mjöllmile, or Mollie, and I am considering a government post for him. He’s been intimately involved with arrangements for the Founder’s Festival in three days, and if it turns out successful, I’d like to name him chief of our financial affairs. I want all of you to treat him well.”
I had wanted to do this when everybody was around. Plus, I wanted Mjöllmile to handle the final pre-festival briefing for me.
“Er, my name is Gard Mjöllmile. Sir Rimuru has been kind enough to give me a crucial duty in the upcoming festivities, and frankly I’m rather tense, but I hope I will earn good favor from all of you here today.”
As an ever-so-slightly overweight fellow, Mjöllmile didn’t look “tense” at all. Still, it must’ve taken guts, introducing himself to a room full of monsters. Even he gets nervous sometimes, I guess. Dealing with mafia types in the big city was probably a far cry from going face-to-face with high-level magic-born like us.
With our introductions now concluded, I jumped right into the topic at hand.
“All right, Mollie, if you could go over how things are looking for us right now…”
“Yes sir. If you’ll excuse me, then—”
Taking my cue, Mjöllmile got up from his seat next to Rigurd and went over our preparations for the Founder’s Festival.
Two days from now, on the night before opening ceremonies, we would be holding a citywide launch party. This would be open to everyone, including not just event invitees but the merchants (and the adventurers bodyguarding them) visiting town, with free food and drink for all. The news had already gone out, of course, and I heard about farmers and the like from nearby cities traveling over for it—the exact sort of tourism I wanted to attract, so I wanted to be damn sure they had a great time.
In the reception hall, meanwhile, we’d hold a palatial banquet for the visiting royalty and nobility. Everything served here would be a tandem effort between Shuna and Yoshida the baker; they were debuting a lot of new dishes, I knew, so I couldn’t wait. This would be a standing buffet-type thing, since I wanted guests
