Category: Isekai Nonbiri Sanpo Tabi

Shing.

Hera-san drew the rapier from the sheath at her waist and leveled its tip straight at Emilia-sama.

Emilia-sama, meanwhile, simply let her arms hang loosely at her sides, standing in a completely relaxed posture. A wide circle had formed around them. Everyone in the square—except for us—had retreated at least five meters away.

Not a single person spoke. Holding their breath, the townspeople watched to see how the confrontation between Emilia and Hera would unfold.

I exchanged a glance with Ao and, just to be safe, scanned the surroundings for any other suspicious figures.

Nothing.

No hidden accomplices.

The guards were probably already interrogating Hera-san’s bodyguards for the location of their hideout, so I decided to leave that matter to them.

Hera-san flicked her rapier through the air several times, the blade whistling sharply as she tested its balance. Emilia didn’t move an inch. Her stance remained perfectly natural, as if she weren’t facing an armed opponent at all. That alone made the difference between them painfully obvious.

The crowd swallowed hard.

 “““Ooh…”””

A collective whisper escaped from the onlookers. Even without understanding swordsmanship, anyone could tell that the atmosphere had changed.

The next moment would decide everything.

The battle between the two began abruptly when Hera thrust her rapier at high speed. Hera-san’s rapier skills were quite impressive, as expected from someone who boasts so much, but even I could probably dodge at that speed. 

In fact, Emilia-sama was easily dodging the rapier. Even in her dress and high heels, she seemed quite at ease. 

The townspeople were watching the unfolding events with bated breath.

“Take this, ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!!”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

As Emilia-sama continued to easily dodge the rapier, Hera-san gradually grew impatient. The situation had been at a stalemate for five minutes already.

“Hmph.”

Smack.

Clang, clang.

Bang!

“Ah!”

Then, the instant the opportunity presented itself, Emilia-sama moved. With a lightning-fast knife-hand strike, she chopped Hera across the wrist. The rapier flew from Hera-san’s grasp with a sharp metallic clang. Without missing a beat, Emilia-sama kicked the disarmed rapier across the ground toward me.

I caught on immediately and stooped to pick it up before Hera-san had any chance of reclaiming it.

Clutching her stinging wrist, Hera glared at Emilia, frustration written all over her face.

“““Wooooo! Emilia-sama!”””

“““Amazing!”””

The crowd erupted into thunderous cheers at Emilia-sama’s flawless display. Even Shiro and the others found themselves applauding enthusiastically.

“Damn it… Then take thiiiis!”

Fwoom!

Whoosh!

The louder the crowd cheered for Emilia-sama, the darker Hera-san’s expression became. Grinding her teeth, she swiftly conjured a blazing fireball nearly a meter in diameter.

With a furious shout, she hurled the roaring sphere of flames straight at Emilia-sama.

“Hmph!”

Crack!

BOOM!

“W-What?!”

Emilia-sama drove her fist upward in a powerful uppercut, striking the incoming fireball head-on. The blazing sphere shot into the sky before exploding high overhead in a shower of flames.

Hera-san stared in utter disbelief.

…Then again, anyone seeing Emilia-sama deflect offensive magic like that for the first time would have reacted the same way.

“““That’s our Emilia-sama!”””

“““She’s amazing!”””

The square exploded with excitement. The townspeople roared their approval, while Shiro and the others cheered just as enthusiastically.

Hera-san was undoubtedly a formidable opponent in her own right. But standing before Emilia-sama, her abilities might as well have meant nothing at all.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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RUMBLE…

“Shun, would you handle those four bodyguards for me? There are quite a few things I need to ask Hera. Fufu… I’m going to enjoy this very much.”

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

An overwhelming killing intent was pouring off Emilia-sama. Her beautifully refined features had twisted into an expression of fury so intense it was almost hard to believe it belonged to the same person. Even Shiro and the others, standing beside me, shrank behind my back and watched Emilia-sama with visible fear.

“Hmph. Emilia, you’re still the same muscle-brained fool as ever. To think you’d dare oppose someone as beautiful as me.”

Hera-san, on the other hand, merely sneered at Emilia-sama with open contempt.

Seriously?

She was standing directly in the path of that terrifying aura and still had the nerve to act so arrogantly. No matter how I looked at it, the two of them were rivals. Though, judging from the situation, it might be more accurate to say that Hera was the one who unilaterally saw Emilia-sama as her rival.

Rumble…

“I’ve had enough as well.”

Sue’s voice was quiet, but it trembled with restrained anger.

“You’ve hurt so many people… What is it that you’re trying to accomplish?”

Uh-oh.

Sue was absolutely furious. There was no doubt what had pushed her over the edge. Casey-san and Telma-san had been driven to the point of throwing themselves over those explosive magic devices just to protect the wedding ceremony.

“R-Right… Shiro and Ao, you two work together. Fran and Horn, stay here and—”

“““Hyaa!”””

“““Gah!”””

Before I could finish giving instructions, Shiro and the others had already leapt off the stage. In the blink of an eye, three of Hera-san’s four bodyguards had been knocked unconscious.

“Sue, I know you’re angry too, but let’s try to stay cal—”

Whoosh.

“Hah!”

“Waaah!”

BOOM!

Before I could even finish my sentence, Sue had already made her move. A deafening crash echoed through the square. I tried calling out to Sue as well, but she was far beyond listening.

Using holy magic to reinforce her body, she closed the distance to the last bodyguard in an instant, grabbed him with a perfect shoulder throw, and slammed him into the ground with enough force to shake the earth.

The four bodyguards were unconscious before anyone knew it.

The castle guards quickly rushed in and bound them.

…Well, there went my job.

Just to be safe, I decided to stay close behind Emilia-sama.

“Hera… would you care to explain why you did this?”

Still seething with rage, Emilia-sama slowly advanced toward her.

Even Hera-san, who had been acting so arrogant until now, finally began to sweat.

Her bodyguards had been defeated in the blink of an eye, and Emilia-sama was closing in.

“Hmph! Isn’t it obvious? My own marriage still hasn’t been arranged, while you went and got married first! Why should a muscle-brained idiot like you get to be happy?! The teachings of the Human Supremacy Cult may have played their part, but more than anything… I’m going to destroy every bit of happiness you have!”

…Wait.

Could it be that all the turmoil involving the Church of the Human Supremacy Cult in the border province had been fueled, at least in part, by Hera-san’s twisted grudge against Emilia-sama?

Hera-san screamed at the top of her lungs, her face flushed scarlet as spittle flew from her mouth. And yet, when you stripped away all the shouting, her motive was unbelievably petty….

She was undeniably beautiful on the outside. But after seeing the mountain of vanity, jealousy, and selfishness hiding underneath, I couldn’t imagine wanting anything to do with a woman like her.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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The objects that had been thrown onto the stage were, without a doubt, explosive magic devices.

“Ao!”

Calling out to Ao on instinct, I immediately erected multiple layers of magical barriers around the two devices, sealing them inside. Ao reacted just as quickly, casting another series of barriers over mine.

I knew it. They were about to explode!

“No!”

“Don’t!”

“Casey! Telma!”

At that very moment, Casey-san and Telma-san burst out from backstage.

To my horror, they threw themselves over the explosive magic devices, shielding them with their own bodies.

Amid Sue’s horrified scream, I frantically cast another set of magical barriers around Casey-san and Telma-san.

BOOM!

BOOM!

The next second, the explosive magic devices detonated with deafening blasts that shook the entire square. The explosions were tremendous—but they never managed to break through the layers of magical barriers Ao and I had erected.

To be honest, even my barriers alone seemed to have been enough to completely absorb the force of the blasts.

“““Ugh… cough… cough…”””

“““Casey! Thelma! Stay with us!”””

However, the magical barriers had failed to completely absorb the shockwave. Casey-san and Telma-san groaned in pain, struggling to catch their breath.

Sue rushed over and immediately began treating them with healing magic, but the damage looked far from minor.

“Casey-oneechan… Telma-oneechan… are you okay?”

“What a reckless thing to do. I understand wanting to see this wedding through safely, but risking your lives like that is another matter entirely.”

After Sue finished her treatment, Casey-san and Telma-san were carried to the rear of the stage in princess carries—Shiro carrying one, the margrave the other.

There, Toria and Horn began casting additional healing magic on the pair. Color gradually returned to their faces, but the Margrave was right. What they had done had been dangerously reckless.

“Tch. What a worthless noble family. They never do as expected. The older brother couldn’t be manipulated, and now even the little sister managed to stop the explosion.”

“Hera!”

As the crowd hurriedly split apart, a strikingly beautiful woman stepped forward. She wore a revealing minidress, and with an irritated expression, she brushed a hand through her wavy crimson hair. Four burly men in suits—clearly acting as her bodyguards—stood protectively around her. 

Emilia-sama had just called the woman by name. From the sound of it, they already knew each other.

“Emilia-sama… do you know that woman?”

“I do.”

 Emilia-sama’s gaze turned icy.

“That’s Hera. Though for your sake, Shun, it may be more accurate to introduce her as the daughter of the Count Kasuak family.”

The Count Kasuak family…?

Wasn’t that the very noble house currently causing an enormous uproar with the Border Province over its ties to the Human Supremacy Cult?

And judging by the way Emilia-sama looked at her, the history between those two clearly ran much deeper than a simple acquaintance.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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“And now, for our final couple.”

“What makes this one special is that it’s none other than our former lord and Maria-dono, the lady-ian-waiting who faithfully supported him from the shadows all these years!”

“Ehhh?!”

“““The former lord?!”””

Eh…?

No one had told me that the former lord and Maria were getting married. The townspeople were just as stunned as I was. Judging by their reactions, they hadn’t known the couple would be taking part in the joint wedding ceremony either.

I turned to Toria-san in surprise.

“Toria-san, did you know about the former lord and Maria-san’s wedding?”

“His Lordship once told me that, because of their difference in social standing, they would never be able to register their marriage officially. Even so, he hoped that one day they could at least hold a wedding ceremony.”

She paused before shaking her head.

“But even I had no idea they intended to hold it today as part of the joint wedding ceremony.”

It seemed even Toria-san hadn’t known that her father—the former lord—and her mother, Maria-san, would be taking part in today’s joint wedding ceremony.

When I glanced over at Sue, she pressed her palms together and gave me an apologetic look. As one of the ceremony’s organizers, she must have known about the two of them all along. Judging by her expression, the former lord and Maria-san had probably asked everyone involved to keep it a secret until the very end.

“Grampa! Maria!”

Cradled in Emilia-sama’s arms, Kent-chan waved enthusiastically at the former lord and Maria-san, both of whom were dressed in elegant wedding attire. Emilia-sama, meanwhile, quietly dabbed at the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.

“Waaah… waaah…”

Somewhere in the crowd, someone had already broken down into loud, unabashed sobs. The heartfelt scene had finally overwhelmed them. 

The Margrave wept openly, making no attempt to hide his tears. His handkerchief was already soaked through with tears and snot. More than anyone else, he had witnessed firsthand the hardships his father and Maria had endured over the years. It was only natural that this moment would move him so deeply.

““““Yay! Yay!””””

Meanwhile, Fran and Horn led the procession, scattering white flower petals as they guided each bride and groom toward the wooden statue of the Goddess. Incidentally, gathering those white petals was apparently an annual request the Margrave’s household commissioned from the Adventurers’ Guild.

Waiting before the Goddess’s wooden statue was the presiding priest, smiling warmly as the newlyweds approached.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you, dear.”

Shiro, too, carried out her role as ring bearer flawlessly. She handed the basket containing the wedding rings to the priest, and with that, her important duty came to an end.

“You three did a wonderful job.”

“““Hehe”””

The three of them came running over to where I was waiting backstage, and I gently patted each of them on the head. Onstage, the priest began officiating the joint wedding ceremony.

“Now then, let us offer our report of these marriages to the Goddess.”

At the priest’s solemn declaration, not only the brides and grooms on the stage but the countless spectators gathered in the square all adopted serious expressions.

News that the former lord and Maria were finally getting married had spread, drawing an even larger crowd than originally expected.

Just as all of us grew solemn as well, something unbelievable happened.

Fwoosh.

Clink. Clink.

Without warning, two objects came flying onto the stage.

Those are…

They looked just like hand grenades.

No!

It couldn’t be.It couldn’t possibly be!

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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“Everyone, thank you for waiting! The joint wedding ceremony is finally about to begin!”

“““Wooooo!”””

The moment the announcer declared the start of the mass wedding, the entire town erupted into cheers. The alcohol is certainly helping, but the people of this town really did know how to have a good time.

I couldn’t help smile wryly as I watched the ceremony unfold from backstage beside Toria-san.

“And first, we have this wonderful couple! They’ve been living together for twenty years, working side by side in their bakery as husband and wife. And today, they’ll finally have their wedding!”

“““Woo-hoo!”””

The first couple to step onto the stage was a middle-aged bear beastman couple. Apparently, their bakery had become such a tremendous success that they had always been too busy to hold a proper wedding ceremony.

Come to think of it, there were probably quite a few people who had ended up in exactly that situation.

“Next, we have an adventurer couple! The groom recently succeeded in proposing, and today they’re celebrating their happy union!”

“““Looking good!”””

The next couple to appear was an adventurer pair a little older than I was. Both were dog beastman, their faces glowing with unmistakable happiness.

I’d heard that successful adventurers often stayed single for a long time, but these two had decided to marry once they were earning a comfortable living.

“Our third couple is a castle guard and a sister from the church’s healing ministry!”

“““You lucky bastard!”””

The third pair consisted of a tiger beastman serving as a guard and a human sister. Apparently, the guard had been injured, and while the sister devoted herself to nursing him back to health, love had quietly blossomed between them.

It hadn’t been planned, of course, but from everyone else’s point of view, it was the sort of romance anyone would envy.

“And our fourth couple is an adventurer and a guild receptionist! The man who won the heart of this popular receptionist is—believe it or not—a rookie adventurer who only recently joined the guild!”

““““No fair!””””

““““Oooh!!!”””””

This time, it was mostly the male adventurers who were in tears.

Well, I could understand why. The rabbit beastwoman standing on stage had an incredible figure, and she’s clearly the kind of guild receptionist everyone adored. As for the groom, he looked like he belonged to the demon race, but there was something surprisingly cute and endearing about him—someone who made you want to protect him. So, instead of falling for some rugged, muscle-bound adventurer, she had chosen someone who awakened her protective instincts.

Even the adventurers sobbing in despair needed to pull themselves together and congratulate the happy couple.

“Our fifth couple is a young deacon from the church and a female guard. This one’s the opposite of our third couple!”

““““Way to go!””””

The fifth pair looked like an older-wife, younger-husband couple.

The mouse beastwoman looked adorably embarrassed, while a deacon from the angel race stood faithfully at her side. Oddly enough, though, it was the young deacon who seemed to be taking the lead, gently guiding his bashful bride.

Hmm…Perhaps because there were so many races besides humans in this town, every couple seemed wonderfully different from the next.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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In the end, the food stall was temporarily closed until the ingredients arrived. The attendant will stay behind at the stall, so Toria-san and I head to the wings where the wedding preparations will take place.

Incidentally, the attendant has some martial arts skills, and a guard will also be accompanying them as a precaution.

“Sue, I’ve come to help.”

“Oh? Shun, what happened to the food stall?”

“It’s sold out.”

“Oh, I see…”

When I peeked backstage, Sue appeared wearing a suit-like outfit with tailored slacks, her hair neatly styled. Naturally, she couldn’t very well wear something more extravagant than the couples participating in the joint wedding, so she had chosen a modest, elegant outfit instead.

“Need any help?”

“No, it’s alright. Someone else will be handling the announcements, and we’ve already finished helping the participants get dressed.”

It really seemed that Sue’s work was done. From here on, all that remained was to watch how the joint wedding ceremony unfolded. Casey-san and Telma-san, who were with Sue, appeared to be in the same situation.

“Ah, it’s Shun-oniichan!”

At that moment, Shiro and the others—the stars of the upcoming ceremony—came over.

Since they were serving as flower girls and ring bearers, they were dressed in adorable one-piece dresses. The feathers of Fran and Horn added a lovely touch to their outfits, making the two of them look especially cute.

“Looks like you’re all ready to go, Shiro, Fran, and Horn.”

“Yep! We’re going to scatter lots and lots of flowers!”

“We’ll do our best!”

Their hair had been beautifully styled, and the smiles never left their faces. That said, it seemed they didn’t have anything to do until the ceremony actually began.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Ao around. Where did she go?”

“Ao’s with Kent-chan!”

At Shiro’s words, I looked over toward the Margrave’s seating area and found Ao there, carefully scanning the surroundings while standing beside Kent-chan, who was happily munching on a round bake with a huge grin on his face.

The Margrave’s seat provided an excellent view of the entire square, making it the perfect spot to keep watch. Incidentally, the Margrave’s cheeks were slightly red, which led me to suspect that Emilia-sama had given him quite the scolding.

Whether it was because he’d lined up at the food stall without any guards or because he’d bought up a huge portion of the round bakes Kent-chan had been looking forward to, I had a feeling both reasons were to blame.

“Then I’ll stay backstage and keep an eye on things. Good luck, Sue. And good luck to you three as well.”

The stage seemed fine, so I decided to take a look around from a vantage point in the wings.Well, I’ve done all I can, so it’ll be interesting to see how the shadowy organization moves from here.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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The cleanup operation had been a success, and we even managed to capture two suspicious individuals. Ao had hurriedly checked the surrounding area afterward, and for the time being, there didn’t seem to be any more suspicious magic devices.

That said, Ao would be free to move about today as part of our rapid-response unit.

“Thank you for waiting. And now, we officially begin the second day of the Harvest Festival!”

“““““Uoooo!”””””

With the staff’s announcement, the second day of the Harvest Festival got underway. For the first two hours, there would be all kinds of performances and entertainments.

“Two okonomiyaki, three round bakes, and some grilled meat, please!”

Haha… I was so busy that I didn’t even have time to glance at the performances happening right in front of me. Even now, I was frantically cooking okonomiyaki while simultaneously grilling batches of round bakes. It sounded like some sort of hymn in praise of the gods was being sung at the moment, but I didn’t have the spare attention to listen.

Sue and the others were also swamped with preparations for the joint wedding ceremony, so it didn’t look like they’d have any time to watch the performances on stage either.

“Woah! This is amazing!”

“They’re singing!”

Fran and Horn had changed into adorable outfits and were watching the performance on stage from behind the curtains.

Well, their main role was to be flower girls, so there wasn’t really anything for them to do at the moment. As for Shiro, it seemed she was helping Sue with various preparations.

“This is incredible. It’s even better than last year!”

“They’re really giving it their all.”

This time, another group was performing something that looked like human pyramids and acrobatics, and the audience was going wild. Then they launched into a perfectly synchronized sword dance, making it obvious just how much they had practiced for this day.

“Ooh, amazing! Amazing!”

“Uhmm…like this, maybe?”

Fran watched the sword dance with sparkling eyes, thoroughly captivated by the performance, while Horn casually began mimicking the movements herself. A number of spectators stared in surprise at how effortlessly Horn had copied the dance.

“Shun-dono, ten okonomiyaki and five round bakes, please.”

“W-what is with this line?”

I continued cooking nonstop inside the stall, where the queue of customers showed no signs of ending. I was grateful for the overwhelming business, of course, but even this was far beyond anything I’d expected.

And then, much sooner than planned, the unthinkable happened.

“Shun-dono, we’ve run out of ingredients.”

“What?!”

Before the joint wedding ceremony had even begun, we were forced to close the stall because we had completely sold out. Well, considering the sheer amount we’d been selling, there was nothing to be done about it.

I wrote SOLD OUT on a board and placed it in front of the stall.

“I’d like some round bakes, please!”

Just as the line of customers finally died down, Kent-chan came running over to the stall with a bright smile on his face, completely unaware that we had already closed. Maria-sama, who had come with him, noticed the SOLD OUT sign and froze with an “Ah…” expression, but the much shorter Kent-chan couldn’t see the board at all.

“I’m sorry, Kent-chan. The Margrave bought the very last of the round bakes.”

“Eeeeh?!”

Yep, that was the honest truth.

The Margrave had quietly joined the line and bought no fewer than five round bakes. The next instant, Kent-chan took off at full speed toward him.

Wow, he’s pretty fast for such a little guy.

“Papa, you big meanie!”

“”Wah—?! What? What’s going on?”

The Margrave looked completely startled at having someone suddenly shout in his ear, but I could understand exactly how Kent-chan felt.

Even now, the little boy’s eyes were brimming with tears. Once more ingredients arrived, I’d have to make some round bakes just for him.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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“Everyone, let’s clean up together!”

“Huh? What’s this about?”

“Hey, isn’t that the young master?”

“Cleaning? What does he mean by that?”

Kent-chan’s sudden shout from the stage caused everyone gathered in the square to turn toward him at once. In truth, this was all part of the plan. I had figured that, compared to the Margrave, Kent-chan would attract far more attention.

Once all eyes were on him, Emilia-sama stepped forward with a magic tool that functioned like a loudspeaker and began to speak.

“Today we’ll be enjoying the performances before the joint wedding ceremony begins, but as you can see, there’s simply too much trash lying around. So, until the ceremony starts, I thought we could all work together and clean up the square.”

“She does have a point. There sure is a lot of garbage.”

“Well, everyone got a little too carried away this year.”

“The one who got carried away was you, wasn’t it?”

“W-what did you say?!”

“““Hahaha!”””

Laughter rippled through the square.

The townspeople are talking like it’s a comedy sketch, but at least they understand the objective. There’s trash scattered everywhere, so we’re asking the townspeople for their cooperation. And while we’re at it, we’ll collect any suspicious items too.

“Just picking up trash wouldn’t be fun, so I’ll give participants a free coupon for round bakes made by a super-talented chef.”

“Whoa!”

O-oi, Emilia-sama, what are you talking about?!

That would mean I’d be the one doing most of the work. Even though I gave Emilia-sama a protesting look, she just elegantly ignored me. The townspeople are also quite enthusiastic after hearing Emilia-sama’s explanation.

“Alright then—begin!”

“Begin!”

“Wait—seriously?!”

My cry of protest fell on deaf ears as the cleanup operation got underway, so I resigned myself to making round bakes as fast as I could. There was only one griddle with the special round molds, so I had no choice but to do my best.

If I didn’t make as many as possible now, things would become a nightmare later.

“Looking at it now, there really is trash everywhere.”

“There sure is. That young cook’s food is just too good, so everyone keeps buying more.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. The lady at the diner tried copying his recipes, but the taste just isn’t the same.”

Uhm… could the townspeople please stop acting like all this garbage is somehow my fault? I was slumping in defeat at the thought when one of the traps I’d set suddenly activated.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going with that trash in your hands?”

“There’s another one over here!”

“Tch!”

“Damn it…. how did you know?”

A human carrying a bag of garbage had tried to slip away from the square, only to be seized by the guards who had been keeping watch over the area. Ao immediately rushed over to the suspicious individuals and did something to the items they were carrying.

A moment later, the two suspects were bound and brought before Emilia-sama by the guards.

“Emilia-sama, these individuals were carrying explosive magic devices disguised as garbage. The magic stones have already been removed by the Champion Slime.”

In truth, I’d suspected that if everyone in the square suddenly started moving around at once, someone might try to retrieve the explosive devices they had hidden. The enemy had used the old hide a tree in the forest tactic.

So our strategy had been simple: if the tree was hidden in the forest, then get rid of the entire forest.

The guards, perhaps because some of their comrades had previously been attacked by members of the shadowy organization and the Human Supremacy Cult, were especially fired up about the whole operation.

“Well done. Please continue with the security patrols. Fufu, now then, I wonder what they’ll be willing to tell us.”

“Hmm. I’ll join you. There happen to be two of them, after all. I’d very much like to have a long talk with them.”

“A-Awaawaawa…””

The two captured suspects were then dragged backstage by Emilia-sama and the former margrave. To be perfectly honest, it would be in their own best interests to spill everything as quickly as possible.

“Here you go!”

“Thanks, young master.”

Meanwhile, the vouchers for the round bakes featured a little drawing of the snack that Kent-chan had made himself. With something like that, there was no need to worry about anyone forging the voucher. And with Maria-san staying right beside Kent-chan, they were prepared for anything that might happen.

“Oh, this is another explosive magic device. Ao, remove the magic stone. But what are they trying to do by planting so many magic devices?”

And when they checked the collected trash, they found three explosive magic devices hidden amongst it. Even the Marqrave was astonished, but that means there were six explosive magic devices planted in total—one Ao found and two the suspicious person tried to take.

This is the strongest evidence that the dark organization and the Human Supremacy cult were determined to ruin the wedding.

“Damn it, no matter how much we burn, it never ends!”

As for me, I was so engrossed in making round roasts that I didn’t have time to think about anything else. Since I was the one who devised this plan, I think the Margave’s family should be a little more considerate of me.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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Ao returned from patrolling the area, but through Shiro he seemed to be reporting something to Emilia-sama.

Uhm… I had a very bad feeling about this.

“Toria-san, I’m going to Emilia-sama. It looks like something has happened.”

“Please be careful. The other attendants are here now, so we’ll continue with the preparations.”

Since it was on the way, I headed over to Emilia-sama together with Kent-chan and Maria. After all, we were going to the same place.

“Mommy, round bakes!”

“Oh my, Ken-chan. Thank you for running the errand.”

“Hehe!”

As I’d suspected, it had been Emilia-sama’s idea to send Kent-chan to the stall. With Maria-san staying by his side, there had never been any concern about his safety.

Now then, time to get to the real matter at hand. Since the subject was a serious one, Kent-chan was sent off with Maria-san to join the Margrave and the former margrave.

“Shun, look at this.”

Emilia-sama was holding a magical artifact small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. It looked like a hand grenade.

But surely this isn’t…

“Could it be an explosive magical artifact?”

“That’s right. And it’s a time-delayed one. See, it has something like a pocket watch attached. Ao has already removed the magic stone that powers it, so there’s no risk of it exploding.”

Whoa, it was planted there?

Even I was surprised.

“This was placed under the stage used for the wedding. The stage was completely destroyed once and reassembled yesterday morning. That means someone planted it sometime between yesterday and this morning. And to top it off, it was thoughtfully wrapped in garbage so that it wouldn’t be recognizable as a magical artifact.”

“There’s no space for a person to get into that location, so someone must have thrown this magical artifact in there like they were throwing away garbage. In that case, it would have been difficult to find the magical artifact.”

No matter how you looked at it, they had clearly intended for it to go boom right when the wedding festivities were at their height. What’s worse, it had even been disguised to look like a piece of trash, so at a glance there was no way anyone would notice it.

“If it’s hidden in places that only Ao can detect, then it will be difficult for us to find anything suspicious on our own.”

“That’s right. We may have only happened to find one of them, so I’ve asked Ao to keep searching the area for a while longer. Of course, we’ve already informed the guards as well, and they’ll be conducting a thorough search.”

Hmm… that would put too much of a burden on Ao though. We’d need to think of another way.

Ah… what about that?

“Emilia-sama, we still have some time left. How about trying something like this?”

“That’s an excellent idea. It would also allow us to enlist the townspeople’s cooperation before the wedding begins.”

So, even though it was a bit spontaneous, we decided to do various things before the wedding. The people in town are really enthusiastic, so I’m sure they’ll be happy to help.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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While Toria-san and I were busy preparing ingredients for the food stall, Ao was running all over the square and its surroundings. At the same time as dealing with the aftermath of the drunken revelry, he was also checking the plaza and the nearby area for anything suspicious.

Security around the square was already extremely tight because of the drunkards, and with Sue having captured scouts from the Human Supremacy cult and the shadowy organization yesterday, there was little chance anyone had managed to plant any magical devices.

Even so, it seemed Ao had decided that it was better to be overly cautious than regretful later.

“Today’s main event is the wedding, so I bet finger foods will sell well.”

“I think so too. I’ve seen it before—an enormous crowd gathers in the square.”

As Toria said, there would probably be a lot of spectators standing around to watch. In that case, our round grilled snacks—the imitation takoyaki—would likely sell in huge numbers. As for the imitation okonomiyaki, perhaps we should make them half their usual size and sell them as smaller portions. At any rate, we’d just have to play it by ear and adapt to whatever happened.

“At first, it’s more like a series of entertainments. There’ll be dancing and other performances, and then the joint wedding ceremony will take place just before noon.”

“In that case, the people on stage right now, checking their positions, must be the performers. Makes sense. If it were only the wedding and the bouquet toss, it’d all be over in no time.”

Even if they called it entertainment, there was no doubt the crowd would get excited. After all, it was a festival. As long as the townspeople were having fun, there was nothing wrong with that.

Sue and the others were already busy preparing for the wedding, so we’d just have to leave them—and Shiro and the others—to do their best.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

“Oh, the lord has arrived.”

The carriage carrying the Margrave’s family rolled into the square, and the townspeople immediately raised their voices in greeting. The members of the Margrave family stepped down from the carriage, walking as normally as ever, without the slightest sign of a hangover. Between Sue and the rest of the Margrave’s family, they must possess truly monstrous livers. 

Just then, Kent-chan came trotting over to our stall together with Maria-san.

“I’d like some round bakes, please!”

Beaming from ear to ear, Kent-chan held out his money. It looked just like a small child’s first trip to the store. Since he’d come all this way, I decided to play along with him.

“Kent, will one be enough?”

“Three!”

“Three? For you and… who else?”

“I’m with Mama! The other ones are for Grandpa and Maria!”

Oh! With that bright, innocent smile, Kent-chan had casually left the Margrave out entirely. Maria-san gave a wry smile and nodded, so apparently that was genuinely how things stood.

I’d better hurry and make three portions of “round bakes”.

“Ohh, the young master is pretty sharp.”

“He’s got guts for someone so little.”

“Looks like the Margrave’s domain has a bright future ahead of it.”

Kent-chan was watching me make the round pancakes, and the townspeople were watching her and seemed impressed. Indeed, the fact that he didn’t order any for his father, the Margrave, shows he has a certain air of importance despite his young age.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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