"The Individual Battle this time has drawn the largest number of participants in history, I hear."
"It's not just the Individual Battle—the Pair and Team Battles seem to have more too, apparently."
Whether it was because of the rumor that I was only participating in the Individual Battle, the number of entries for the Pair and Team Battles had increased by about twenty percent compared to last year. On top of that, the Individual Battle, which people had expected to stay the same or even decline, had also grown by a comparable amount, so the Treasury—well, Lord Zain—was delighted.
"But that means Amour has it tough starting from the Preliminary, doesn't it?"
Last year, Amour had missed the Seed Rights by a narrow margin, so this year he was once again forced to start from the Preliminary. Incidentally, among my acquaintances, the only one other than me who held Seed Rights this year was Branca. Last year, Jin had sat out to focus on the dungeon, and Din had passed on the Individual Battle due to work, so two strong opponents had been absent.
"Amour was grumbling about this year's participant count, you know."
As it turned out, I was the one who had defeated Amour in last year's tournament. Amour and I had drawn adjacent spots, so we clashed in the third round. Aside from me and Branca, there hadn't been anyone else who could conceivably beat Amour, so when he saw his drawn lot, he lamented, "I missed the one-in-two chance of a favorable draw!"
For that reason and others, Amour had been training with renewed intensity lately. Tagging along with him, Jeanne and Aura had also joined the training, sweating and shedding tears under Aina's instruction.
"Is Din not participating in the Individual Battle again this year?"
"Apparently Din decided to sit it out once Jan said he'd be entering."
Supposedly, Din had originally intended to compete in the Individual Battle, but before he could announce it, Jan had registered for the tournament, leaving Din no choice but to withdraw. The King had apparently told him it would be fine to participate while having other royal guards handle his personal protection, as they had done before in the Team Battle. However, since a larger crowd than usual was expected this year, Din was reportedly taking extra precautions with the security arrangements.
"Still, the Preliminary is going to be quite the spectacle this year. Amour, who's been making a name for himself these past few years, plus Jin, Garat, and then Jan, the vice-captain of the Royal Guard… Anyone unlucky enough to land in the same group as those four is in for a rough time."
Amour had been the runner-up during the Bandit King event and had consistently advanced to the main tournament ever since. Jin and Garat, excluding the years they didn't participate, had likewise made it to the main tournament in consecutive years, and Jin had placed multiple times. Jan was the number two among the Royal Guard, an elite unit handpicked from the Kingdom's Knights. He had also placed second in the Team Battle before, so under normal circumstances, he was far from someone you'd expect to lose in the Preliminary. Just as Grandpa said, anyone who ended up in the same group as even one of them could reasonably be called unfortunate. Well, as the saying goes, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down—just because someone's abilities towered above the rest didn't necessarily mean they'd advance.
Right near where Grandpa and I were having that conversation,
"Drop dead, Chris!"
"Hold on, Amour! This is training! It's not a fight to the death!"
"That's right! No matter how much they say Chris's brute strength rivals a gorilla's, she's no match for a beastman like Amour! Swing smaller and finish her off cleanly! Aura! Just because I looked away, don't you let your guard down!"
"My strength isn't that different from yours, Aina!"
"Big sis, you've got eyes in the back of your head!"
Amour was conducting combat-style training with Chris, occasionally getting advice from Aina and trying out various things. Jeanne and Aura were doing basic practice and mock battles under Aina's instruction, and were currently doing practice swings. In the middle of that, Aura had stopped swinging and was rolling her shoulders during the brief moment Aina had looked away to give advice. Part of me thought I should let that slide, but sticking my nose in where it wasn't wanted was scary for various reasons, so I turned a blind eye. Grandpa did too.
"Tenma! Come take Amour's place for me!"
Trying not to look toward Aina and the others so I wouldn't get roped into helping Aura in some weird way, I ended up receiving a help request from Chris instead. However,
"Tenma's off-limits! He might face her in the tournament, so I can't show my hand!"
she said, refusing to let Chris off the hook.
"She's training right in front of you—there's no 'showing your hand' about it! Watch out—!"
"Smaller, sharper!"
"Aina! Stop that right now!"
"It's Chris's fault for leaving an opening!"
It was a scene that could be called bullying, but it had become a common sight around here lately, so I ignored it as usual. Well, if things really got dangerous, both Amour and Aina would step in.
While I was thinking about that,
"Jeanne, it looks like someone's here. Go check it out."
The golem stationed near the gate was reacting, so I sent Jeanne to see what was going on. And then,
"Tenma, it says the letter's from Hana."
"For me? Not for Amour?"
Taking the letter from Jeanne and checking the sender and addressee, sure enough it was addressed to me. The contents were...
"This looks like it's going to be trouble."
It said that a large number of skilled fighters, including high-ranking figures from the southern region, would be participating in the tournament. As for why she had sent this information to me instead of Amour,
"She said it sounded interesting, and to keep it from Amour until the very last moment."
"I mean... that's so like Amour's mother."
Everything was distilled down to a single remark: "It sounds like fun." Incidentally, Hana would be sitting this one out, and in her place, Robo Honorary Viscount would be joining the fray.
"As usual, Branca will probably bring Sana and Yoshitsune along, so maybe I should prepare extra rooms?"
They probably wouldn't ask me to put up the other southern participants, but Branca's group always stayed here, and above all, with Amour in the picture, they'd have to be accommodated. Well, I'd need to hear Amour's opinion on that too, but since Hana's instructions were to keep everything from Amour, in the worst case we'd have to put them in the small cabin that served as a rest room for the escort knights. It was outdoors, but it was summer, and they were used to the heat down south, so it shouldn't be a problem.
"Jeanne, it's about time you got back to training."
Perhaps the conversation had dragged on too long, because Jeanne was called back to training by Aina. While Jeanne was away, Aina had apparently been keeping a close eye on Aura, who was practicing her swings in a half-dead state.
"Tenma! Please, for the love of God, get better! This is seriously dangerous!"
Chris was being pummeled by Amour. Apparently, his desk work had been ramped up recently, which had sapped his stamina, and on top of that, his days off had been cut, so exhaustion had been piling up day after day.
"Whew… that was a great sandbag."
Having beaten the not-quite-in-top-form Chris to a pulp, Amour ended training and headed for the bathhouse — dragging the collapsed Chris along behind him.
"That should be enough for today. You should all go rinse off the sweat and get changed. We'll start work after you've had a bath and a short rest."
According to Aina, "combat training counts as a maid's job," so just because they were tired from training didn't mean their regular duties would decrease. Well, Aina did seem to be going a little easy on them… but truly only "a little," so that neither the ones being put through it nor the ones watching usually noticed.
"Oh, that reminds me — is Grandpa entering this year's tournament?"
"I'm planning to enter, I suppose… but it's still up in the air. I don't intend to compete in the Individual Battle, though. I have to let Tenma take the spotlight."
He said this with a laugh. As for the Individual Battle, that was probably half true and half false. For the pair and team events, he seemed to have certain ideas but nothing was finalized yet.
"Well, that's how things are on my end, but what about you, Tenma… is the wedding preparation going smoothly?"
I'd been expecting him to bring up the tournament, so there was a slight pause before I managed to respond.
"Could it be that your resolve to start a family has wavered? If so, you should consult Alex and Mark. Those two would gladly share the secrets of marital harmony in painstaking detail."
"The thing those two have in common is… they're afraid of their wives… whipped by… I mean, they respect their wives' opinions, right?"
"Exactly. They're henpecked, thoroughly under their wives' thumbs. Those two would give you a perspective on marriage quite different from what you imagine. Whether it would actually be useful is another matter."
I had tried to be vague, worried it might come across as badmouthing Maria and Aunt Mirth, but Grandpa just said it straight. Then again, Grandpa wasn't so much badmouthing Maria and Aunt Mirth as he was making fun of the King and Uncle Mark… If anyone else overheard this, I'd probably be treated as an accomplice, and that thought was more than a little terrifying.
Putting those two aside, the preparations themselves are going smoothly… Well, more like, whenever that topic comes up, Grandpa shows up from who-knows-where and joins in, so you should already have a pretty good idea of what's going on, right?
Whenever I sit down with Primera to discuss things like the wedding date, venue, schedule, and guest list, Grandpa materializes out of thin air and butts in. Jeanne and the others sometimes join these discussions too, but Grandpa attends far more than anyone else, so he should have a handle on most things by now.
"Well, what's been decided so far is that the ceremony will be held at the Sanga ducal residence, and the reception party will be at the Ootori household. As for the rest, we've roughly settled on the ranking of our expected guests and a few of the dishes?"
When you combine the associates of both Primera and me, the total number of people becomes quite large, which makes it difficult to set up a venue on the Ootori estate. So, we decided to hold the ceremony at the ducal residence and throw the reception for close friends and family at the Ootori household.
As for the ranking of guests, this involves nobles, and more importantly, the royal family will be attending in full force — the King, Lady Maria, Tida, Luna, and Lord Ernest on my side; Caesar-sama, Lady Isabella, Lord Zain, Lady Mizaria, and Lyle on Primera's side — so from a security standpoint alone, this is something we absolutely must settle in advance.
The food was… well, we'd been discussing it in between the tedious ranking talks, almost like a palate cleanser. Incidentally, this was the topic that generated the most excitement.
"The food, huh… Using White-furred wild ox, Wyvern, and Baikon meat at a commoner's wedding — that'd be a first in the entire history of the kingdom."
A noble might have been able to gather such ingredients, but for a commoner it would be practically impossible. Of course, the supply of White-furred wild ox and Baikon meat has dwindled considerably, so we're talking one or two slices per person at most, and depending on the number of guests, we might only be able to serve them to high-ranking nobles like the King and his family. However, when I asked Duke Sanga, he said that with ultra-premium ingredients, that sort of thing does happen. It seemed that in Duke Sanga's position and station, a scenario where White-furred wild ox and Baikon dishes wouldn't appear was essentially unthinkable, and he was actually hoping that if anything, we'd serve them only to the high-ranking nobles and increase the portion size per person.
Incidentally, when I told Primera about this, she smiled and said, "Father might fall under the 'family' category, so perhaps we could put him on the back burner." This hadn't been relayed to Duke Sanga yet, so it might end up being a surprise on the day.
"There are plenty of other ingredients we want to use up too."
Chief among them is Wyvern, so I'm planning to use it aggressively while we have the chance.
"It feels like the standard might be a little skewed, but if Tenma and Primera are fine with it, then that's the right call. However, Roast Wyvern absolutely has to be on the menu!"
"That dish is always well-received, and it's good enough to feature as a main course, so I'm making it in large batches."
With the Magic Bag, it's possible to mass-produce dishes in my spare time, so I've already started cooking the ones I'm certain people will want seconds of… I do wonder why I'm the one cooking at my own wedding, but I'm the one who can cook and has the most free time, and besides, I figure that'll become a talking point of its own.
"There's just one small problem, though… Dishes I thought I'd cooked and stored in the Magic Bag have been disappearing for some reason. Strange, isn't it, Grandpa?"
"That is strange. On another note, I just remembered I have something to do!"
As I watched his retreating figure scurry away, I couldn't help but think, So the culprit really was Grandpa after all.
"Tenma-sama, do you have a moment?"
I was still mulling over how to get to the bottom of this — since Grandpa probably wasn't the only culprit — when Aina, whom I'd thought was in the bath, approached me.
"It's about the wedding. Lady Maria asked me to inquire about who will serve as the go-between for the negotiations."
"Then I've asked Baron and Baroness Silfield to handle it. They have ties to both me and Primera, and their family standing is just right."
They're connected to me through the Amy matter and to Primera through her daughter's husband's sister, so they're at a good distance — not too close, not too far. And even though Primera will be becoming a commoner, she's from a ducal house, so someone of sufficient standing is needed on the Sanga side to keep up appearances. That's why I asked through Eliza, and they gladly agreed.
"I think Baron Silfield would be perfect — no issues at all. Then I'll convey that to Lady Maria."
If it hadn't been settled yet, Maria might have offered to introduce someone, or she and the King might have taken it on themselves — but that seemed like it could cause all sorts of problems, so I was truly glad the Baron agreed to handle it.
"Then, if you'll excuse me, I'll go use the bath as well."
Thinking that if Aina was satisfied, Maria would be too, I headed to the dining hall to prepare something light for after the bath.
While I was at it, I decided to probe Aura about the food I'd stored in the Magic Bag — only to discover, in a chain reaction, that Amour, Chris, and Luna had all been sneaking snacks too.
"I'll handle Aura and Amour's punishments myself, leave Chris to Lord Din, and we'll ask Lady Maria to deal with Lady Luna."
And just like that, each person's assignment was settled immediately. Aura and Amour seemed to decide not to put up futile resistance and risk harsher punishments — they looked unhappy but didn't complain.
Chris also apparently judged that Lord Din would be better than Maria... Since Aina was reporting this on the grounds that Lord Din is Chris's superior, though, there was still a possibility Chris would be sent to Maria afterward.
As for Luna... she'd probably be scolded not only by Maria, but by Lady Isabella as well.
And now, for the punishment everyone had been waiting to hear from Aina —
"The two of you will clean the entire mansion by yourselves in one week. On top of that, Amour will also be expected to perform maid duties during that period."
Since this alone made Amour's punishment slightly heavier, Aura was assigned to supervise Amour.
This way, Amour would take on maid work she'd never done before, while Aura would have the equally unfamiliar task of instruction added to her punishment, balancing things out.
With that —
"Hey, Tenma. I'm out of work now, you know..."
When Jeanne piped up, it was decided that she'd likely end up being roped into helping the two with their work anyway, so her maid duties were to be suspended for the duration of their punishment. Technically I gave my approval, but Aina clearly had her own plans — it was more of a rubber stamp after the fact.
"Well, I think that's fine... but getting a sudden day off would be kind of a hassle, wouldn't it..."
"About that — while Jeanne is in the mansion, Aura and Amour are to treat her the same way they treat Tenma-sama, as a superior they serve. Jeanne will have the two — "
serve her.
It'll
count as their work.
That statement was apparently news not just to me and Jeanne, but to Aura and Amour themselves — they were even more startled than we were. When I asked Aina why she'd suddenly brought that up,
"When Lord Tenma and Lady Primera get married, you'll need to serve Lady Primera the same way you serve Lord Tenma. This is just practice for that,"
she replied. At that, Aura argued that Jeanne should be participating too, while Amour insisted it had nothing to do with her (since Primera would become a commoner upon marrying me, there shouldn't be any need for her as a viscount's daughter to worry about it). However,
"I think Jeanne handles proper etiquette toward her betters well enough, but Aura is a bit... no, rather concerning. As for Amour, even if Lady Primera's status becomes that of a commoner, she'll be the mistress of the house we're staying in. Besides, there will certainly come a time when she'll need to present herself as the former daughter of Duke Sanga's house in an official setting. This rehearsal, where it's perfectly fine to make mistakes, won't go to waste."
I told them this was part of their punishment too, and they couldn't raise any further objections. In truth, both of them were less opposed to the idea of serving Jeanne temporarily than they were dreading the extra work — they'd just blurted out their protests on reflex. Aina surely understood that perfectly well, though I worried their objections might end up making things worse for them.
"Then your punishment starts tomorrow. Get started on today's work. Chris, you're coming back with me. Excuse us."
"Huh? Can't my punishment start tomorrow too? At least let me take it easy today... right? Ri—ight?!"
Chris made a last-ditch attempt to resist, but was unceremoniously dragged out of the mansion with no room for argument. Aina had bound her hands and feet with rope to keep her from struggling, though she was already worn out from her training with Amour, so the rope may well have been unnecessary.
The next day, when Aina came by to give Aura and Amour their instructions, I heard that Chris had been wrung dry by Din and Jean before being taken to Lady Maria. Luna had first been chewed out by Lady Isabella, then received an earful from Lady Maria alongside Chris.