So, what's the deal?
Yeah, well, you know. Anyway, welcome back. Drink, drink, drink.
What have you eaten?

　Unlike usual, I was wary of the mysterious Ende.
　We were at the tavern next to the Adventurer's Guild, and we hadn't seen each other in a long time.
　I've been busy for the past few days since I got back from my honeymoon with all sorts of work and stuff that had been piling up. I finally had some free time, and then this guy called me up. It's a new marriage, so be careful.
　It's important for men to keep in touch with each other, I thought, but Ende, who I hadn't seen in a while, was acting strangely and my trouble-sensors were kicking in.

I said, "How do you want to get married?　Are you doing well?
...Did you really eat something bad?

　It's funny how this guy cares about other people's families. I'm starting to get a little worried. Have you gone crazy from being beaten up too much by your uncle Takeru?
　I must have looked really weird, because Ende started talking with a muffled snort.

'Marriage can take many forms in the rest of the world. It can be a ceremony to decide on a life partner, a simple contract to have children, a religious order, and many other patterns.
Huh...?
"Few of us 'crossers' choose to marry, basically because of our race characteristics. If you are not of your own race, it means the end of your journey. Those who are bound to the one world and can no longer cross over are no longer "crossers". Well, we're a long-lived species, so if the other person is a short-lived species, some of us will cross over again after we've seen our partners off...
"?　What's the point of it all?

　Straight to the point. I want you to get to the point.
　

''Boku mokkonskotoni narimashita.
''Heh.......... ....　Huh!

　I almost dropped the glass I was holding at Ende's words. Marriage!　Ende!　Well, this guy was the first to get it during the bouquet toss at our wedding....... Don't tell me it was your sister Hanakoi's power?

Wait, wait, wait, wait. It's Mel of course, right?
Of course not. I didn't lay a hand on you here or there like Fuyuuya did.

　Oops, I've been dissed, God d*mn it. I mean, this guy is married?　I can't imagine it at all. But what the hell, again....

'Mel, you know, I think she was interested in seeing your wedding. There's no such thing as marriage in the Frayze culture...
Wait a minute, so how do the flames, like, breed?

　There were male and female forms of the dominant species, for one thing. I don't see the point in that one.

''You can't have advanced, intermediate, or lower level species, but the dominant species can usually have children of both s*xes.
Can you make one?
'Because Frase can produce children on its own. Well, when I say children, I don't mean they are tiny like human children.

　When I asked him for details, he said that first of all, all flames are born in a nuclear state. It repeatedly evolves into a crystal and grows as a single life form. Therefore, it seems that when the ego awakens, it has already finished growing as an individual, and there is no such thing as a small childhood.
　By pouring all of its life force into the growing flames, it can create a new nucleus. The more of this life force they have, the more nuclei they produce. In other words, if a parent pays for his or her life at a young age, that's how many flames will be created...?

The dominant species is a little different, in that it can spawn the next core alone, without the need to devote its entire life force to it. But it is, as it were, a degraded copy of its parents. The dominant species is not very fond of it.
So we're still going to have a baby together, right?　Um, well........the way it's made is the same as humans?

　I choose my words and ask Ende what to say. No, because I'm interested...

'Well, it's about the same. We're going to fuse the nuclei created by the two people who are going to be our parents. Isn't that what happens with humans?

　Fusion....well, it's not off...is it?　People are born with the genes of their parents, too.

'There's no concept of marriage in the Frays. If they want to have children, they just get the nucleus of the person they like, they don't live together or stay together forever. Occasionally there are individuals like that, but it's really rare. It's not uncommon for people to have only one parent and never know the other parent. So while there are brothers and sisters, most of them are what people would call half-brothers.

　How dry..... It's true that with an ecology like that, it's not surprising that they're interested in the act of marriage. Mel and the others have a strong interest in food and other things.

'You understand what it means to be married, don't you?
I've explained it to you. People who like each other, raise their children together, support each other and live together.

　Well, that's not the only detail, but it's about right...?　It's just one view of marriage, though. There's also political marriages and such.

You can't have a child between you and Mel...?
'Mel originally crossed the world and evolved to live in the same world as me. His body is now a flay and not a flay, and he has evolved and exists as a new species close to me. It has evolved and exists as a new species that is closer to me. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that....

　Ende looks at the air with a heavy heart. What the hell is going on? I'm afraid to ask.

'It's not just Mel. Nay and Lise said they were getting married too...
Huh!

　What's that?　Hey, didn't you just disrespect me?　You're just more of the same!　You harem!
　When I bit him, Ende waved his hand at me with a face like he was biting a bitter worm and said no, no, no.

"Not with me. It's not with me, it's with Mel. We both want to marry Mel.


　I couldn't help but say a strange word. ........What do you mean?

'That means Mel wasn't the only one interested in marriage. And it's not me that those two want to get married, it's Mel.

　Um, what?　I thought it was Ende Harlem, but is it Mel Harlem?　Mel-san is irresistible.........

Yeah, but they both have female bodies...?
'So what?　The dominant species of Freys can produce children even between female bodies. Well, the gender will always be the same as the parents, and it's hard to pass on the characteristics of the parents, so I don't do it very often.

　Is that so......... Then there's no problem........?　No, I don't think it's okay to marry someone of the same s*x as long as they love each other. In fact, there are people like that in our world too.
　In this world, polygamy is accepted. At the same time, if a person has enough money to support his or her spouse, polygamy is allowed. I have heard that in some countries, a female duke has three husbands.
　Unfortunately, I have not yet heard of a marriage between a man and a woman, but I'm sure there are some if you can find one.

What did Mel say?
He said if I didn't mind, he'd like to get married and live happily ever after with the four of us, but if I didn't mind, he'd give up. But he said he'd give up if he really didn't want to.

　Is Mel willing to accept......... How's this pattern working out for you?　I think at least Mel could be happy. In her case, maybe marriage is just a bundle of 'becoming a family'.
　I think her love is definitely directed towards Ende, but.... It's not that I feel like they don't need to get married if they just want to continue in their current state.

''Ende doesn't want to be a family with those two?''
'Well I don't hate it. I've been traveling all over the world with Lise, and I've gotten used to living with Ney as well. Well, I still have a hard-on for Mel, but........

　Ende replies with a wry smile. I guess.
　Ney said he was going to marry her, probably out of rivalry with Ende. Lise saw that he was just on board with it.

''That means you're willing to accept them, right?
Yeah. I'm worried about what's going to happen, but fortunately we have a good example to follow. Winter nights, you're going to have to pay attention to Else, right?　She wouldn't come up with something like that on her own, but it's easy to tell because of her attitude, right?

　Wait a minute, why am I being lectured to?　You're Else's brother!　Oh, no, we're brothers and sisters!

'A lot of things before we were married. I used to be forced to sandbag my dissatisfaction with you. Why did I have to take the beating instead of Fuyuuya?
"So what's wrong with that?

　I didn't realize they were relieving stress like that. It's true that Else is the type that easily shows up in your face, so I thought I was following up well when that happened, but apparently it wasn't enough.
　I see, so Ende is in the same position as Else in terms of position. As a member of the family with me and Mel in the center.

'So, what is it? When we got married, they wanted to have a ceremony similar to the one you had. Specifically, they want us to serve the same kind of food.
'Uh....'

　So there's that.
　Having learned about the culture of food, Mel and her friends find great joy in eating. Is it natural for them to focus on that at a wedding?
　The three of them eat well anyway. Frankly speaking, they eat more than Yae. And that's what the three of them do. Ende's financial burden must be considerable.
　It's not that I'm not interested in it, but it's just that Ende is a silver-ranked adventurer. Ende would be better off earning it.

'Well, I don't mind arranging the food, but I don't think the bride and groom would normally eat at the ceremony....... Isn't it something about eating the food that's the main thing?
''Yeah......... To be honest, I have a bit of a suspicion, too, that he asked to marry her for the food at the wedding party...
'No, sir. I've thought it through. It's rude to both of you, Endemuon. And to me, of course.

　When I turned around at the sudden voice, I saw Mel standing behind us with her hands on her hips, miffed in frustration. When did it happen........
　Her ice blue hair is still as beautiful as ever, and her two eyes, which are the same color as her ice blue hair, are now looking at Ende with a grumpy light.

''Meh, Mel!　Why are you here!
I'm here to pick you up. Are you done talking?
Well, well. Oh, Fuyu said that Fuyu Yoru will arrange the food for the ceremony.

　When Ende replied sluggishly, Mel's expression changed from her earlier expression to a smile that made the flowers smile.

'Good!　Thank you, Winter Night!　Oh, and a little more for the meat dish and dessert, please.
'Oh, yes. I'll tell you....

　I'm convinced that 'a little' is definitely not enough. There will be fewer guests than there were at ours, but these brides(?) is going to eat, you should prepare quite a bit more than that. You might want to ask Lou to come up with some type of food that won't stain your wedding dress........

''Then we'll be done. I'll send you the invitations for the ceremony later. Let's go, Endemuon.
Oh, yeah. Sorry, Winter Night. I've been so busy. I'll invite you next time.
Oh, yeah. Okay.

　As he was pulled away, Ende took Mel.................and left the tavern with Mel. I sighed in front of the drinks and food Ende left behind.
　Ende getting married......... I didn't expect this.
　Don't tell me that Hanakoi sister really didn't use the power of the god of love, did she?
　I mean, the people we knew at our wedding who got the bouquet were Ende and the boy king of Paloof, Lantz of the Order, Will who joined the Knights of Belfast, and Robert, the pumpkin-pants prince?
　I know that he used his power to get it across to almost both of them. The boy king and Robert are already engaged, and I wonder if they just became what they were meant to be.

'Huh?　It's a winter's night. Are you drinking alone?　You're a lonely guy.
You know....

　When I turned around to hear a familiar voice that flew at my back, sure enough, there was a girl with red hair twin-tails and a small red golem standing there to follow her.
　They are the head of the righteous bandit group (on leave) "Red Cat [Akaneko]", Nia and her golem, the red "Crown", Rouge.
　Behind them, the deputy leader Esto, his close associates Yuni and Yuri, and the old man from the "Red Cat" were about to enter the tavern. All of them had dirty clothes and scrapes all over the place, but their expressions were radiant.

''Master!　Bring out enough senior liquor and dragon meat dishes for the number of people!　Tonight is a feast!
What the hell, you're doing very well. You got some extra income?

　Dragon meat is traded for quite a bit of money due to its rarity. Naturally, the food that deals with it is also expensive. However, this tavern is the directly managed store of the Adventurer's Guild next door, so it's much cheaper to eat there than at any other store.
　But even if it's cheap, it's still a fair price. It's very generous of you to offer it for a group of people.

I found the treasure on Dungeon Island. There are two untouched treasure chests. There are various sizes of magical stones and gems inside. We've got a lot of money!

　The ponytail girl, Uni, told me with a hokey face. That's amazing.
　Most of the treasures on the dungeon island are the legacies of the wizards who built it, but there are also cases where the treasures belong to adventurers who entered the dungeon for the sake of the treasures and were killed in return.
　Sometimes the dungeon demons take back the belongings of dead adventurers and put them in a treasure chest. Some demons are methodically divided into sparkling and non-sparkling items, or weapons and armor.
　So sometimes we find unexpected things such as ancient magic swords and enchanted items, but magic stones and gems are a bonanza.

''It looks like the adventurer's business is totally getting to the board.
Nonsense. We're a gang of rebels, that's our real job. We're just migrants. If I hear of any bad merchants, bad representatives, or corrupt aristocrats, I'll take them all away from you.

　Then Nia laughs caracara. Nope, I don't know how to react as the king of a country.
　I got a promise not to do the work of the bandits in Brunhild, but if I hear such people are prowling around in other countries, I'm going to jump out of the way in a heartbeat.
　And out of the corner of my eye, I catch a new figure entering the tavern.

''Huh?　Nia and her friends are here. Oh, and Toyan's there. What, what, is it a party?
"Gi

　Entering through the entrance of the tavern is a girl wearing glasses and a purple ruffled dress. Standing beside her is a little purple golem with a figure similar to Rouge.
　It's Luna Trieste, who was once called the 'Lady of Madness', and the purple 'crown', Fanatic Viola.

'Nope, purple. What the hell are you doing here? Go home, go home, go home.
Hidden. It's late today, so I came here for dinner. It's cheap and the drinks are good.

　Nia frowned when she saw Luna and brushed her hand away to chase the dog away. In response, Luna sits down in the seat across from me, where Ende was sitting, without paying attention. Viola also takes a seat next to her. ........Hey, why are you coming to me?

I don't know why this guy is letting himself go free. It's not too late to put him in the dungeon.
Luna got her punishment. It was a kind of reward or punishment. Ehehehe.
Oh, my God.

　While Luna smiles with amusement as if she remembered something, Nia is seriously don't know what to do with it. I can understand that feeling.

I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the children smile and receive heartfelt thanks from them. She can't live without it anymore. It's made my week off so hard and painful...
Bullshit...

　Nia looks at Luna, who speaks with glittering eyes, with a heartfelt stink in her eyes. No, he's saying this with real intent. Maybe.
　It's because I put a 'curse' on it so that you can get tremendous pleasure from being appreciated by the other person. You can't even do things like killing people because I've blocked it, and it's harmless.......I can't say that it's harmless, but it's still better. Viola has also lost her 'crown' ability.

''To-yan, are you drinking alone?　Hey, hey, did they kick you out of the castle?　Is the divorce on hold?
No!

　 These guys are newlyweds. Don't be such a jerk!

'Haha, you did something to upset your wives, didn't you?　He took a peek at the maid changing clothes. This guy, before, you know...
"Hey, wait!　You promised not to tell me that!

　Nia, who was in a good mood, hurriedly stopped trying to speak out. Though it's true that once, while you were changing, I jumped in with [Teleport]!
　If the rough old men of the Red Cat found out, they would definitely say, "What the hell are you doing to my boss! I'm sure he'll jump at me.
　Oh, shit!　I can't stay here any longer!　I'm going home!
　I asked the bar master to pay the bill.
　Oh, that's too much...?　Oh, Ende!　He left without paying!　d*mn, we've been hit. What a day, totally.