The next day.
“Hey! Are the bride and the groom ready!?” [Wedding Worker 1]
“They’re ready! They’re ready to go anytime!” [Wedding Worker 2]
“We don’t have enough flower bags for the flower shower!” [Wedding Worker 3]
“I moved them yesterday! Check it again!” [Wedding Worker 4]
“Food serving 80% complete!” [Wedding Worker 5]
“Almost all the attendees for the morning ceremony are here!” [Wedding Worker 6]
“We only 20 have minutes left! Hurry!” [Wedding Worker 7]
The manor was busy even in the morning, but it became even busier in the last few minutes before the beginning of the ceremony as everyone responsible for the wedding completed their last preparations.
While the manor was in chaos, I headed for the wedding halls dressed in a suit.
Fortunately, the weather was clear today. I passed through a small road while basking under the warm lights of the sun – warm for this season, anyway – and before long, the wedding halls that everyone helped build together came to view. As I approached, I felt the mana and temperature change.
The party was to be held outside, so in order to mitigate the cold and to protect against the rain, a group of skilled individuals are to erect barriers on the day of the wedding. The change in mana and temperature is probably because of that.
These skilled individuals are still members of the duke’s guards, however. To be more precise, they’re specialist barrier magicians meant to fortify the defenses of the duke’s family. They are all first rate or super first rate mages.
It’s people like that who are working together to erect the barriers for the wedding , so it can’t be helped that even the level of the barriers they’ve erected is especially high. I can use barrier magic myself, but even I can tell that the barrier they’ve erected is on a different level in terms of strength and scope.
“10 minutes left!” [Wedding Worker 8]
Oops this isn’t the time to be looking at a spell.
I passed through the crowd of people going here and there, and went up the stage of the wedding ceremony.
“Ryouma-kun!” [Camil]
“Good. You made it.” [Jill]
“I thought something might have happened since you were taking so long.” [Zeff]
“Sorry to have kept you waiting.” [Ryouma]
Camil-san, Jill-san, and Zeff-san, the people I was drinking with last night, were all already at the altar.
The duke and his wife were about to go up as well, along with the head maid, Arone-san, and the head chef, Butts-san.
The four of them went up the stage respectively, and they watched the ceremony take place from the sides as the family of the newly wed couple.
…Of course, the fact that I would also be fulfilling a role as the family of the groom was also a great surprise to me when I heard about it this morning.
Fortunately, I had a suit that I could use for my formal clothing… And of course, the cleaner slimes were really convenient.
“Mu… Looks like it’s starting.” [Jill]
Jill-san muttered as he watched the bell of the bell tower ring a great sound that reverberated throughout the wedding hall.
At the cry of the bell, the people went quiet and parted to the sides, opening up a path toward the altar.
The bell rang once more.
This time an old man dressed in white appeared. He slowly walked as her relied on his cane for support.
This man is currently the oldest person here in the manor and is the one who will be acting as the priest for this ceremony.
In this world, marriage is done with the acknowledgment of the gods and the witness of a third party. The marriage is bound once the bride and the groom share their vows.
Moreover, there is no need for the witness to be a person of the clergy. Depending on the time and circumstance, the village headman or the senior craftsman can fulfill the role. In other words, the people who can act as witness are generally old people or people that are overseeing a group of people; hence, most of time, the people who take on the role of the priest are usually those with some degree of social standing.
The priest that has been chosen to stand witness today is an elf and is currently 198 years old. He is one of the specialists of the duke’s family that specializes in medicine, but he is also a learned man in many fields outside of medicine. Because of that he is also an adviser to many different departments.
As he walked up the stage, another person accompanied him just in case he fell.
When he passed by me, we exchanged a slight bow before he arrived at the center of the altar.
The two of them presented their respective status boards, and then…
“Now, let us hold the wedding ceremony of the new groom, Hyuzu, and the new bride, Rurunez.” [Acting Priest]
The acting priest announced in a low-toned voice that was not loud, and yet at the same time, clear.
“The couple may now accept everyone’s blessings as they make their way here.” [Acting Priest]
First was the entrance of the bride and the groom.
“Pu! Ku ku! What is that?” [Jill]
“It appears that Hyuzu-san has gone stiff from tension.” [Ryouma]
“He’s so obviously stiff.” [Camil]
“Even the guests can tell. They’re all laughing.” [Zeff]
Amidst a great applause and the flower shower, the first to appear was the groom, Hyuzu-san. He was wearing clothing very similar to that of a tuxedo. He walked by himself toward the altar, but his movements were so stiff that he looked like a rusted robot.
Could it be that Hyuzu-san is actually weak when it comes to the real thing?
While I was thinking that to myself, he stopped in front of the altar and turned around.
The next one to appear was the bride, Rurunez-san, who came from the woods.
She wore a pure white wedding dress, whose frills fluttered in the wind. She took one step after another.
She looked nervous too, but she walked straight toward the man she would be taking as her husband.
When Hyuzu-san and Rurunez-san had taken each other’s hands, they walked up the altar with their arms linked.
“Uu…” [Arone]
“…” [Butts]
I turned around when I heard the sound of sniffling, and there I saw that Arone-san had begun to cry, while Butts-san, who was supporting her, was doing his best to stop himself from breaking out in tears.
“A long long time ago, in this world, there was ‘nothing’. But then the gods created ‘something’ within that ‘nothing’, and brought forth the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, the light and the darkness.” [Acting Priest]