Proofreader: Xemul
The church bells rang.
Amidst the cheers, a man and a woman with indescribable auras opened the church door and came out.
The man had stubble, and could not be described as good-looking. Although he was wearing a white dress suit, it could hardly be said that he looked well-dressed, and there was a strong sense that he had been made to wear the suit, which was extremely disconcerting.
In contrast, the woman was a beautiful woman with incredibly well-defined features. Her long, dagger-like pointed ears and long blond hair that sparkled in the sunlight made her look unrealistic, like a fairy or something, and the pure white strapless dress she wore added to this impression.
Loren, leaning against the wall of another building, watched the scene from a distance as the two held hands and were congratulated by the crowd waiting outside the church, and murmured quietly with a smile on his face.
“That’s pretty ballsy of you.”
At that moment, a dagger was thrust right next to Loren’s face. Without moving, he glanced at the dagger, which was vibrating slightly with the force of impact, and was impressed by Nim’s skill, who had the hem of her dress lifted and was smiling brightly at him. The way she lifted her dress, pulled out the dagger that was probably strapped to leg and threw it at Loren was so quick and natural that most of the participants didn’t notice anything.
Loren pulled out the dagger from the wall and quietly tucked it into his pocket, thinking that without Nim’s skill, this would have become a big commotion otherwise. Bloodshed was too inappropriate for such a festive occasion. She did not intend to harm him as he did not feel any killing intent, but the glint of a blade was more than enough to cause a commotion.
After the series of events on Mt. Fire Flute, Loren and his companions returned to Konin’s place of residence and told him the whole story of what had happened inside the ruin. The dragon had looked very disappointed at the fact that they had destroyed the armor enshrined inside, but when he glanced at Loren, he seemed convinced of something and said nothing more.
Konin agreed to let them report to the Adventurers’ Guild that the dragon on Mt. Fire Flute Mountain did exist. However, they would only report that they had seen the dragon from a distance and were not sure about the details.
Even if they honestly reported that they had approached the dragon and even talked to it, it was clear that the Adventurers’ Guild would not believe that a group of iron rank adventurers had not only been able to approach the dragon but even talked to it. Things like the dragon was actually an Ancient Dragon, and had even got into a scuffle with Gula were details that no one would believe in.
What made Loren wonder was that 40% of the adventurers who had received the same commission before them had failed to return from their exploration on Mt. Fire Flute.
At first, he had thought that the dragon living there was ferocious and that they had fallen prey to them, but looking at Konin, it did not appear to be the case. When he asked Konin if he knew anything about it, the dragon said that there were quite a few dangerous monsters living on the mountain.
It was hard to believe that monsters would live on a mountain inhabited by a dragon, but since Konin himself was a rather amicable dragon and ate only the right amount of food for his body, the monsters probably did not realize that a dragon was living right there.
But if monsters were the only reason for the non-return adventurers, the return rate should have been a little higher. Konin guessed that perhaps those adventurers had been so preoccupied with the possibility of dragons living on the mountain that they had neglected preparations for other monsters. However, the actual reason remained unclear, as dead people could not be questioned, and Konin did not pay any attention to adventurers.
Dia had parted ways with them at the ruin where she lived. From Dia’s point of view, it had been a very meaningful way to pass the time, though the look of relief on Nim’s face when she heard that they would finally part ways with the Elder was very impressive. Loren thought such a reaction was normal, but even if he was asked to have the same reaction, he wouldn’t be able to reproduce it at this stage.
Dia was in deep talk with Lapis when they parted, but Lapis didn’t elaborate on the content of the discussion. Loren didn’t ask either, since he believed that Lapis would tell him when it became necessary to.
The cheers got even louder. Apparently, the bride and groom were offering drinks for the occasion.
They had been able to give Nim a fair amount of money for accompanying them on this commission. The reward from the Adventurers’ Guild was not much, but Gula had smartly picked up some pieces of the golden armor that Loren had destroyed. As expected, the material was gold, and Gula took the pieces to a blacksmith who melted them down and turned them into gold bars. A large percentage of the profits from the sale of these gold bars was given to Nim as a wedding gift as well as a thank-you for accompanying them on this job.
There was a reason why the armor, which should have been quite powerful, was easily broken or cast down, as Lapis explained.
“It was probably a type of magical item that only works when someone wears it. I suppose that with no one wearing or using it, it would have been nothing more than a set of garish-looking armor made of gold.”
Even though the armor had been destroyed, it was originally something imbued with magic. Loren had some reservations about selling pieces of it because he did not know what kind of power remained in there, but if they melted it down, there would be nothing to worry about. He had also thought about bringing all the pieces with them, but no matter how valuable they were, they were only one-set-of-armor worth of precious metal, nothing compared to the amount of debt he was carrying. He was happy enough to be able to give Nim a present this time.
“Why don’t you come closer?”
Loren was lost in thought when Lapis approached him.
Their party had all received invitations to Nim and Chuck’s wedding, and Gula had procured a dress from somewhere and attended with joy. She had always dressed in revealing attire, but she was wearing a tightly-fitted dress today, and the scene gave Loren, who was watching from afar, a sense that something was amiss. But thanks to Gula’s nice body, the feeling of clothes-did-not-suit-the-wearer coming from her was less severe than the one coming from Chuck or from Nim, who was lacking in volume in a certain bodily part. Still, the sight of Gula in that dress was unusually uncomfortable to Loren’s eyes, and even though there were quite a few people invited to the event, the area where the Evil God was standing looked strangely empty.
“Lapis, why didn’t you wear a dress?”
Standing beside Loren, Lapis was dressed in her usual priest robe. There was no problem with a priest wearing a priest robe at a wedding ceremony as it could pass for formal attire, but Loren felt that since the robe was something a priest wore all the time, it was not the kind of attire to wear to a festive occasion.
“I’m from a different church. This is the church of the God of Business and Fortune. If I come closer wearing this, they will treat me as a heretic.”
“Really?”
“No, I’m just kidding. They won’t look at me very well, but we’re not at that level of conflict.”
“If that’s the case, why didn’t you just wear a dress?”
“You’re not in formal attire either, are you?”
Both Chuck and Nim were adventurers, and many of the invited guests were also adventurers. As might be expected of silver rank adventurers, many of them seemed to be wealthy, and a lot of men in attendance were dressed in formal attire. However, there were also a few adventurers here and there who were unable to prepare formal wear and attended the ceremony in civilian clothes, although they were unarmed as a matter of course.
“I don’t have anything formal.”
Loren had also considered attending in civilian clothes, but he didn’t have that many clothes. In the end, he dressed in what he always wore under his armour, which he felt too unsuitable for this celebration.
“If you had told me, I would have provided you with pure white formal wear.”
That sounded kinda wrong, Loren thought. In a ceremony like this, the only man supposed to wear a pure white dress suit was the groom, not anyone among the attendants. But Loren just shrugged, feeling that it would not make much sense to tell Lapis.
“It wouldn’t look good on me.”
“I wouldn’t mind.”
When Lapis said this to Loren with a serious face, Loren was at a loss for an answer. In the end, he could not find a reply, so he just shook his head in silence.
In the meantime, the ceremony went on without a hitch, and Loren noticed that the people in attendance were becoming noisier. When he looked around to see where Chuck had gone, he saw him being mobbed by a group of strong men, probably his friends and associates.
Loren thought that this was a common sight at such ceremonies, but for some reason, it seemed that the centre of the commotion was not Chuck, but Nim.
When he looked more closely to see what was going on, he saw Nim holding a white object in one hand and lifting it high so that the surrounding attendees could see it clearly.
It was a bouquet made of various different flowers. It was wrapped in white lace, and Nim was holding it high so that everyone could see it.
Loren wondered what she was going to do, and suddenly remembered that there was a legend, or a jinx, or a superstition, that whoever received the bouquet thrown by the bride at her wedding would be the next one to get married. It seemed like Nim was throwing her bouquet, and a fight over it would break out among the attendees.
In reality, it was unlikely that a fighting scene like the one Loren was imagining would unfold, but if a crowd scrambled for something that only one person could get, he thought some scuffles would happen.
That was why the moment Nim lowered the bouquet and threw it high into the sky, Loren tried to look away to avoid seeing the scene he thought would unfold. But before he could, he shivered at the cold air that suddenly rushed forward from his side, and involuntarily turned his attention to the whereabouts of the bouquet that had been thrown out.
The source of the cold air was Lapis.
Wearing an expression that would have made even Loren, a mercenary and experienced adventurer, shiver, Lapis rushed forward, her movements so strong and sharp that it was hard to believe that she was a priest. Quickly slipping between the attendees who topped down as if hit by the cold air, she stood at the spot where the falling bouquet was about to hit the ground and caught it with both hands with a soft smile, as if the coldness she had been exuding up to that point had been nothing but a lie.
The attendees who did not participate in the scramble for the bouquet were stunned. Nim, the one who threw the bouquet, was also frozen, a smile still on her face. Lapis was the only one who looked extremely happy. She laughed and turned to Loren, who was watching from afar, and shouted out while waving the bouquet in the air.
“Loren! I got it! Seems like it’s my turn next!”
Loren wondered if it was necessary to display her abilities as a demon to such an extent that her true identity might be revealed, but if he asked Lapis about it, he would probably get the answer that of course it was. He could not understand the superstition about catching the bouquet, but he guessed it was meaningful enough for those who needed it. And so, with a sense of resignation, he concluded that there was nothing to do but feel sorry for the attendees who had lost consciousness because of Lapis’ sudden intrusion.
Watching Gula, who apparently was late to the party, regretfully chewing on a handkerchief-like cloth in the crowd, Loren thought that Lapis would probably not stop waving the bouquet until he showed some kind of reaction, and decided that there were worse ways this event could have ended. As he felt the eyes of the attendees turned towards him, he waved back at Lapis, feeling like he had no other choices.
