Side Mana
Today is June 9th.
With the wedding reception tomorrow, invited guests are arriving one after another at the Hinomoto Mansion in Alka.
It’s been a long time coming.
Yamato and Prim got married on July 23rd of last year, and Fiana, Mina, and I got married on August 23rd, exactly one month later. So it’s taken nearly a year to hold the reception.
Initially, we planned to have it after our wedding, but we kept rescheduling because of various events, such as an invitation from Mother Dragon Gaia, participating in the war with Solemne, and Retisencia mustering her army.
During that time, Rica, Sister Hilde, Lydia, Ludia, and Mako also officially got married. Athena is also getting married in August, so this timing isn’t bad, but it’s undeniable that it took a long time.
Ed, who is now a Chief Crafter for the Wing Crest and a childhood friend of Marina, married the former slave Fina and Camellia, a promising rookie hunter from Libertà, and is also engaged to Fiana, Fina’s sister.
Lucas, now a Noble Order, married Lyra, who is in the same Order as Mina. He is also engaged to Clara, a crafter from Prada Village.
Since Raus is still a minor, this will be an engagement reception this time.
Furthermore, my brother also married Sister-in-law Ciel upon his enthronement as Celestial Emperor, and Rex became a Grand Order’s Master and married Rosemary, Muse, and Saya. So, we decided to hold a joint reception.
Saya was the leader of Lily Wish, but she has withdrawn upon marrying Rex.
Rex had recommended that she remain active, but Saya convinced the members of Lily Wish that it would be problematic for a Grand Order’s Master to be too close to a specific Raid.
Although not directly related, Eisen, an Ancient Dwarf and the new leader of Lily Wish, and Wolf, a High-Wolfie and also a member of Lily Wish, are also newlyweds, so they will be attending the reception.
And from Memoria, Sub-Order’s Master Dart will be attending as a newlywed.
It’s not only due to our participation in the Mylight’s Orc settlement extermination battle last summer, but also because Memoria is the capital of the Marquisate of Amatista, ruled by Rica, so it also serves to show good relations with the Lord.
“Hiring a butler urgently was the right decision.”
“It really was. I knew some people would be arriving the day before, but still, it’s an incredible number of people. Even with the homunculi, 16 people aren’t enough.”
The butlers officially contracted by the Wing Crest number 16, including the 7 homunculi who manage Alka and Mirei, Sister Hilde’s attendant. Therefore, the number is insufficient to entertain all the invited guests.
My brother understood this and arranged for butlers from Float, but even so, we were only able to contract about 30 butlers, so there’s still a shortage.
That’s why, over the past few days, we’ve reached out to Feel and Memoria, and even Bestia, Dragunia, and Glacian, and contracted and dispatched over 50 additional people.
“Are the guest houses alright?”
“Yes. Komine-dono is being directed by Marisa-san, and Kin’u-dono by Lumina-san. Eos is in the main hall.”
Komine-dono is the west guest house, and Kin’u-dono is the east guest house, each three stories high.
There are several types of rooms, and the two buildings combined have 60 rooms, but I still didn’t expect all of them to be filled.
Although the invited guests were carefully selected, there were still many people we absolutely had to invite, so the selection process was difficult.
The main hall is for those invited by us, as well as royalty from Lily Wish, Amister, Torencia, Valentia, and Alegria.
The guest rooms on the second floor of the main hall have been renovated into penthouses for this occasion, so the number of rooms has decreased.
Although there are guest houses, these rooms were prepared so that the Celestial Emperor and the Three Kings could stay simultaneously.
It’s not that we will absolutely only house the Celestial Emperor or the Three Kings, but…
We also prepared 10 rooms each in the guest houses, which is why the number of rooms has decreased.
Well, we probably won’t be inviting this many people again.
“I’m home.”
“Welcome back, Prim. Where is Grand Duke Liar?”
“I’ve shown him to his room as scheduled.”
“Understood, thank you.”
Grand Duke Liar has arrived as well.
This means all guests scheduled to stay have arrived.
All the royalty from various countries arrived the day before.
Although, Torencia’s Queen Sister Hilde is one of the main parties, so it’s her sister Hildo who is using a guest room. Similarly, for Valt, since Neige is giving birth to Yamato’s child, their guest room is not being used this time.
Incidentally, my father and mother are staying in the room prepared for the Celestial Emperor.
Lily Wish, who are also among the main parties, are using the guest rooms on the first floor of the main hall.
Eisen and Wolf are in rooms on the second floor with their wives.
Rex and Dart haven’t arrived yet, but they have Order duties, so it can’t be helped.
We’ll pick them up when they’re done, and they’re also newlyweds, so they’re scheduled to stay in rooms on the third floor of the main hall.
“What about everyone else’s families?”
“Ed’s family is relaxing in the Fukashi Hall, and Lucas’s family is in the Shirasagi Hall. Alfred-san and his family are holed up in the Crafting Hall.”
Ah, Grand Crafter’s Master Alfred-dono.
His wife, Aeris-dono, and Catherine-dono are also crafters. The facilities in the Crafting Hall surpass even the headquarters of the Crafter’s Guild in Float, so it’s not strange for them to have a glint in their eyes.
It’s also because Yamato spared no expense in preparing the facilities.
“The Grand Duke’s family is in Kinshachi Hall, right?”
“Because of Raus-kun.”
The Grand Ducal family of Lichtenfels, due to Sister-in-law Ciel’s marriage to my brother and Seras’s engagement to Raus, is on the receiving end rather than the inviting side this time.
Therefore, instead of a guest house, they have been assigned a room in Kinshachi Hall, where Raus and the others live.
“Also, the Hot Springs are very popular. We’ve received requests from female guests asking for periodic openings.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Since there are no baths in the guest houses, guests naturally use the Hot Springs.
The Hot Springs feature an open-air bath modeled after Yamato and Mako’s hometowns, as well as a waterfall bath and jacuzzi. The water quality also has skin-beautifying effects, so it’s something women would want to use at any time.
“However, we have no intention of opening it to the public. If we did, Alka would become less of a summer resort and more of a tourist destination, constantly crowded with people.”
“It’s the base of Wing Crest, and the possibility of suspicious individuals blending in would also increase.”
Alka will not be open to the general public. This was decided when we established it as our base.
Alka is our base for Wing Crest, but it also contains several things that are not found in Helios Orb. If unsavory elements try to get their hands on them, it could become very troublesome.
Especially the Gate Crystals and Gate Stones, which cannot fall into the hands of villains.
“This time, all our guests have solid backgrounds, which is why we were able to hold the reception in Alka.”
“Indeed. If it were a summer resort or tourist destination, it would attract a large, unspecified number of people. Moreover, Alka has many places to hide, so it’s possible we wouldn’t notice if unsavory individuals infiltrated. Opening it to the public is out of the question.”
Among nobles, even if some are royalty, there are those who do not look favorably upon us. We have no intention of inviting such nobles.
“Then, it would be better to convey that again tomorrow. And if they like the Hot Springs, perhaps we could build similar facilities in Feel or Prada Village.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Helios Orb also has hot spring towns, so it should be enough for them to be disappointed about not being able to use the Hot Springs.
More importantly, Feel has villas for nobles. Perhaps building a large public bath, similar to the Hot Springs, in Feel or Prada Village and installing magic tools to change the water quality could generate income for the Esmeralda Baronetcy?
Nobles can build them in their own mansions, but it’s different when traveling, so I hope that will be acceptable.
“Even so, this is the first time Alka has been this lively.”
“Ah, true. Normally, it’s just us.”
That’s true.
Alka is spacious, but only Wing Crest uses it, so there are usually only about 30 people.
Yet tonight, the guests invited for tomorrow’s reception are staying here.
“In the main hall are Lord Iver and his wife, His Highness Brynhild and Albert’s family, the Valentia Dragon King Family, and the Alegria Beast King Family.”
“In Komine-dono are the Beast Duke families and the Amister Duke family, and the Grand Masters.”
“In Kin’u-dono are the Bridge Duke families and the Grand Ritter’s Masters. Perhaps we should have prepared more penthouses.”
“Indeed.”
The penthouses in the guest houses are occupied by four Beast Duke families (excluding Valt), eight Bridge Duke families, and two Amister Duke families, so there are six rooms left.
Not because of that, but we decided to have the Grand Masters of Hunters, Traders, Healers, and Priests stay in those six rooms.
We are also having Gaia, whom we invited from Mount Wilnes, use one of these rooms.
There is one room left, and we are inviting Vincent Goldshtier, who serves as Sister Hilde’s assistant in Solemne, and his family.
The Grand Ritter’s Masters have been given rooms prepared on the third floor of Kin’u-dono.
“The Hunters who joined the Alliance, and Ed’s friends, are in the guest houses too, but are they alright?”
“Hunters often meet with important people, so it seems to be fine. Ed’s and Lucas’s friends look nervous though.”
“Of course.”
That can’t be helped.
However, we couldn’t reduce the number of slots for friends just because the number of royal participants increased, and I do feel bad about that.
But since they are guest houses for accommodation, whether they are royalty or commoners, they all have to stay in the guest houses.
We prepared several penthouses in the main hall, but that was only because we might not have enough guest houses, and they were renovated for that purpose.
“It’s only for tonight and tomorrow, so please bear with it.”
“Right.”
There will be alcohol served tomorrow, so those who don’t absolutely have to leave are planning to stay another night.
Most Ritters will leave, but many royals plan to stay.
It’s been nearly two months since the Federation Heavenly Empire was founded, so this also serves as a break from their busy schedules.
To prepare for emergencies, we have lent Gate Crystals to the Head Butler Master in the capital, so the Butler Master is scheduled to arrive if anything happens.
“How is the cooking progressing?”
“That’s also fine. Chefs of P-rank and M-rank have been dispatched, and there are two A-rank ones as well. I peeked into the kitchen earlier, and everyone’s spirits were high because of the ingredients from high-rank monsters.”
One reason is that we hunt them ourselves, but we mostly eat dishes made with ingredients from high-rank monsters every day.
So our senses have become dulled, but normally, even ingredients from S-rank monsters are considered premium.
Well, recently S-ranks are being hunted routinely, and it seems the number of G-ranks has also increased, so prices have likely dropped.
Even so, P-rank monsters are not easy to hunt, so they rarely circulate in the market.
Yet, there are mountains of them in Alka, making it a dream environment for chefs who want to use high-end ingredients.
“Some people wanted to be hired by us, but they have their own shops. We’ve appeased them by giving them some ingredients as compensation.”
“That was part of the original contract, too.”
Since the wedding reception was postponed several times, the butlers and chefs have had their fees increased by about 20%.
While it was unavoidable, it’s also true that we inconvenienced them with our own circumstances. Therefore, for this request, in addition to the quoted fees, we prepared ingredients from high-rank monsters and fine silk fabric.
Whether for personal use or for sale, it’s exceptionally generous additional compensation, so they were quite pleased.
As for the ingredients, the chefs were fully intending to use them themselves.
So, the chefs are preparing tomorrow’s dishes with great enthusiasm. We are looking forward to it as well.
