She has short-cut chestnut-colored hair, slit eyes, and a confident smile on her mouth. Her face is more of a beauty type than a pretty one.
　The girl who called herself Paphia Rada Nokia, the second princess of the Nokia Kingdom, turned her eyes unabashedly to me. It's as if she's trying to price me. It's not a disgusting look because it's not a disdainful look, but it's not a very pleasant one either.

''We are pleased to hear your story. Princess Paphia, your highness. But this is one thing that His Majesty can't decide on alone. We, the nine of us, who are engaged to be married to each other, have to give our consent.

　The one who smiled and opened her mouth was Leanne, who was standing next to me. Maybe she's in diplomatic mode, but her language is different than usual.

''Excuse me, but you are?　From the way you speak, I believe you are one of His Majesty's betrothed.
Forgive me. My name is Leen, former chief of the fairy tribe, head court magician of the Duchy of Brunhild, and betrothed to His Majesty the King.

　Gracefully, Lean picks up the edge of her skirt and sends a greeting by Curtesy. The first court magician is only Lean at the moment.

''Lean-sama. As I said before, I would like to ask you to allow me to join you at the end of the table. I will not cause any harm to the country.
Well...... You say you will do me no harm, but His Majesty does not intend to marry me for profit and loss. I am at a loss for an answer.
So what are your criteria for choosing a partner?　I'm proud to say that I'm not inferior in any way in terms of literature, military prowess, good looks, or family background.
That's great. You seem to be very confident. But I've heard that the Nokia Kingdom doesn't have much contact with other countries. Do you think the world is a bigger place than you think?

　What is this? I can feel the sparks flying between Leanne and Princess Pafia.

This is an unexpected request and we are unable to respond to it immediately. I would appreciate a moment of your time, would you agree, Ambassador Jantje?

　Mr. Kosaka called out to the ambassador, who had been cringing at the exchange between Lean and Princess Paphia. The ambassador shook his head as if in a boat to cross over.

It's a good thing!　Please take your time!　I look forward to hearing back from you in a timely fashion.
Chief Maid, escort the Ambassador and the princesses to their rooms.
Yes. Come on in.

　Lapidus-san, the head maid who was waiting for us, walked over and urged the three of us to go.
　As I followed Lapidus-san to leave, Princess Paphira glanced at me, and I could see a certain determined gleam in her eyes.
　After the three of them walked away, I sighed heavily. Ah, it's hard.

''Just when I thought it was something, it's a political marriage proposal...''
I can't say I'm surprised.

　Stroking his beard, Kosaka-san murmurs. Well, you know. It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

It's not so much Brünnhilde as it is my power that they're after.
''Well, normally. A gold-ranked adventurer and a hero who saved the world. A mediator who controls hundreds of giant soldiers and establishes relationships with several kingdoms.... ''In the eyes of the world, who doesn't want that power?

　Normally, people would think that the marriage is for my power, just like Kosaka-san says. Does she think she can take advantage of my power by becoming a relative or something?

That part doesn't sit well with me. The Nokia kingdom is pretty much a closed country, isn't it?　It only interacted with the Demon Kingdom Xenoas to a slight extent, and it didn't even participate in the several world conference invitations. Why did a country that was so dumbed down during the battle against the mutant species suddenly decide to interact with a foreign country? And why is that Brünnhild?

　Leanne mumbles to herself as she folds her arms. 'Oh, that's a lot cooler than I thought.

'You think we weren't expecting this to happen?　I've always wondered if there would be a color scheme like this at some point.
Color me. I don't think he did it to me.
It's just the beginning. When you go to bed, make sure your room is properly locked up and don't let them crawl in the night. They might use shifting magic or magic tools and artifacts, so make sure you have an inhibiting ward. As expected, it's hard to refuse them when they've made the princess a wounded object.

　What kind of development is that?　Why are you assuming I'm going to get attacked and lose?

'No, no, no. We're not going to mess with you, and even if you came to my room, I could neutralize you.
'In this case, the facts don't matter. Just because you were in Darling's room in the middle of the night, the world will see that you're already in Darling's good graces. And that ambassador, of course. That alone is fatal. And since the world knows that Darling can use transference magic, the world will see that you're the one who brought the princess in, no matter what you think.
Scared?

　That's absurd. I'm not going to do something stupid like that, am I right?

Well, if they really did it, we'd use it against them and turn them into the assailants. All you have to do is give them a knife and you have an assassin who wants to kill the king.
Scared?
With that kind of risk, I don't think there's much chance of her crawling at night. I'm just saying, be careful, just in case. There's no chance of a seductive charm being used on you and attacking you.

　No, I don't think that kind of power would work on me anymore, even if I were a god race, but it makes me feel uneasy.......
　For now, I should treat the room with 【Prison】. As long as it's not a divine weapon, you'll never be able to enter it, so there's no way for them to do anything about it even if they come with the intention.

''By the way, what did your darling think when she saw that girl?
'Hmmm.... I thought she was beautiful. But to be honest, it didn't move me. Most of those eyes were not on me, but on my status and power. It's not like he wanted to marry me out of love for me. I don't like the fact that you sell yourself as a tool.

　I'm sure that's not the only thing about that girl's nature, but I didn't have a very good impression of her. At least it wasn't love at first sight.
　In the case of Lou, Hilda and others, I could certainly feel the goodwill from those girls. It wasn't directed at my status or title, it was directed at me myself. It's different from her 《Pafia》.
　And how can I say........before we talk about love or love, I can feel a glimmer of emotion like a mission or responsibility in her. I don't think she's a bad person.

'I felt the same way. That girl doesn't meet the minimum requirement to be one of us, 'I care for Mochizuki Fuyao'. At that point, you're out. I'm sorry, but I can't admit it.''

　Leanne said and took out her phone and started typing a text message with quick finger movements. What are you doing?

'We'll have to have our own meeting, you know.

　That's what the meeting was about?　The 'wives' meeting' that was held when Pam from the Great Tree Sea came in before?
　The meeting that rejected Pam's desire to have a child with me, probably. Lean wasn't there yet, though.
　While Leanne is texting, I beckon Tsubaki-san over to me.

'I need information anyway. Can you go check out the Nokia Kingdom for me?
What? I'll send some people over in a minute.

　When she answered that, she disappeared in a huff from the scene.
　The Knight's Intelligence Unit, headed by Tsubaki-san, has been lent a variety of magic artifacts, including a transfer system. With that, it wouldn't take them two days to get to Nokia and back.
　No matter what kind of heavenly rugged terrain they're in, they can't block their path, trained by Sister Morohide and Uncle Wushu. They are sure to bring back some information.
　Well, it's not so much that they will bring it back, it's that they will only have to make a single phone call.
　It's easy to say no to a marriage proposal, but I'm also curious. I'll see if I can gather some information.




"I'm sorry, I don't understand. I'm sorry, I don't know. I've only had a short relationship with Nokia for a short while now. I've been working with Nokia for a little while now, so if there's a political change over there, as long as they don't tell us, there's no way for us to know about it. We had no interest in Nokia, if I may say so.
Well....

　I called His Majesty the Demon King of the Demon Kingdom Xenoas, and the words that came back were as I expected.
　Even though it was a neighboring country with a land connection to Nokia, only a small amount of land bordered them, and both of them were basically close to an isolated country. Perhaps it was inevitable that they would be indifferent to each other.

''Not long ago, when I sent an invitation about the Two Worlds Conference, they responded with something like, 'There's a bit of a commotion in the country and we're busy dealing with it, so we'll refrain from doing so...''
Has there been a coup d'état?
'That's not even close.... It's just that with the fall of Euron, some Euronians flowed to their surrounding countries. Nokia is a tough place like Xenoas, and I heard that the people of Nokia didn't flow so much because they didn't like the Euronians, but it's not zero. It's also possible that the Euronians who flowed to Nokia caused a disturbance.

　Hmmm..... It's hard to say "no way".
　Anyway, people in Euron have a way of making things bigger. They call a thousand "ten thousand" and 10,000 "millions". They even tell us that when Euronians talk about numbers, we should think of them as a tenth of that number.
　If these Euronians poured into Nokia, who knew nothing about the situation outside, and started spouting off a bunch of crap, it would be natural for the country to have a bit of a panic...?

'It must have flowed a bit on Xenoas's end, didn't it?
''It's true that there were some strange rumors that flew around in our house, but they were quickly put to rest. Basically, the demons don't believe it when they find out that the Euronians are the source of the information.

　I guess I don't trust you. Well, I think so too.
　 What am I supposed to believe?
　But Nokia was founded as a rebellious country against the oppressive rule of Euron. So it is the country that hates Euron the most. I don't think it's so easy to be misled by the rumors, though.
　Well, I guess it's hard to judge now.
　With that out of the way for Nokia, I answer the phone with the annoying His Majesty the Demon King, who's been asking me about my daughter Sakura's recent condition, and then I hang up.
　It's not like she's refusing to call you back, but she seems to have cut the conversation short.

It's a good idea to be able to have a look at it. I'm not going to be able to get it right.
"I'm fine.
"Fiana...
"Mom is fine.
"I'll be with you...
"I'm busy. I can't. I can't.

　And then he was cut off with a pout. Sakura is still as merciless to His Majesty the Demon King as ever....... You could say she's made progress just by answering the phone, though.
　Sakura is working as a temporary staff member at the school where Fiana-san is the headmaster. Well, to put it simply, she teaches the kids to sing and play instruments. As an escort, Spica-san, a member of the Knights of the Order and a dark elf, is also with her.
　So. Normally at this time of day, Sakura would be at school with Spica-san.
　But today she's not there. Because they should all be having a 'meeting' together by now.

''Well, since it's similar to what happened with Pam, I think I'll steer you towards refusing, but.......''

　I'm pretty sure that she (Pafia) doesn't have romantic feelings for me. I can tell you that for sure.
　Why?
　Because if you have that kind of thing, there's no god of love here that would fly in with a nimrod to be the first to do so.
　Maybe he's going to the 'wife conference'........ Say you're a facilitator or something. This is going to get complicated, so I don't want you to do that.
　As I was pondering these thoughts, I received a call from Leanne.

'Hello?'
'Oh, darling?　Anyway, we're all going to meet with Princess Paphia tomorrow. Everyone but me hasn't even talked to her in person, so she's not sure what to make of it. I guess I'll have to wait until we meet in person.
I'd say it's about 90% certainty.
''Still, if you don't meet and talk to him properly, you might not be polite. After all, the princess herself is the one who came up here.

　Well, yeah. It's not a good way to handle it, as expected. If you don't care about that, you could have just said no in the audience room.

Anyway, you're not to have any contact with her until tomorrow. It could cause a lot of problems.
Yesolech.

　Leanne's teasing voice made me nervous, but I managed to squeeze out my voice.
　It's true that if you were in your fiancé's room all night, all that weird coloration stuff would be for naught, though.

''Well, it's not like there isn't a solution to that part, for one thing.

　I hung up with Leanne and called her from 'contacts'.




'Oops, it's pong,'

　I'll take the ten thousand thrown away by Emperor Regulus. All right, it's only a short distance to Ching Loutou.

"But I was surprised to learn that you invited me to play mahjong.... Well, it's just what I needed, I was bored.

　His Majesty, the Beast King of Mismid, tsumoed from the mountain and discarded it. The four people around the table are me, Emperor Regulus, King Mismid, and Emperor Liefries. His Majesty the King of Belfast refused to take care of Prince Yamato because he had to take care of him. 'Do you still cry at night?

'You should go out with me once in a while. I can't go back for a bit tonight.''
'What?　Have you offended Lucia and the others?
It's not good. The first time you get married is the most important thing. If you don't say something out loud at the beginning, you'll start to get angry all the time.

　We're not married yet. Yes, but I know that King Lefries is not too proud of Queen Zelda. Yes, from personal experience.
　I couldn't afford to worry Emperor Regulus, who is also Lou's father, so I told him briefly what was going on.

'I didn't know Nokia had a hand in that. I didn't expect it.''
We haven't done a whole lot of diplomacy, and now he's showing up out of the blue, he's got something up his sleeve.
There's nothing funny about royalty from another country deepening their relationship through marriage, but...

　Oh, well, Prince Lydis of Lefries and Princess Tia of Mismid were recently engaged?　Would the Emperor King and the Beast King then become relatives?
　The beastmen who were once the target of discrimination are already becoming a thing of the past. Especially in the Leafs' imperial country, that is quite remarkable, and it seems that discriminatory acts are not common in that country. It's because there are so many jovial people.

''Don't you want to accept it, Fuyu-dono?　What does it matter if there are nine or ten more?
'No, no. At least not at the moment. An imposed marriage partner is just unhappy for both of us.
Not really.　And that's what it's all about, getting to know someone a little bit after you're married.

　I guess that's about it. I'm not quite sure what the Beast King Mismid's words mean, but I suppose each person has their own way of doing things.

"We'll just have to figure out what they're thinking and then we'll...

　He chirps the tube that King Lefries threw away, the "Yiping".

"Mmm, is that a ching-long head?

　I guess I'm going to be found out. All that remains now is to Tsumoru. Discards the three tubes in his hand.

Oops, the winning tile that pops up on the tile........Ron. Four Concealed Triples.
What?
Oh, your majesty, your majesty, the Emperor is relentless!
Watch out! I've got three tubes. You're safe.

　 Oh well, it's a long night.
　I'm sorry to the knights of each country's guards standing behind the kings, but today, I'll have them stay with me until morning. I've played [Prison] in my room, and with this many alibi witnesses, there won't be anything strange.
　I paid the dotted stick to His Majesty, and I changed my mind about the next game.
　Tomorrow, my fiancé and Princess Paphira will meet with each other. Anyway, that's the first step.
　I breathed deeply as I arranged the tiles that were dealt to me.