Bonus Short Story

—Airia’s Letter—

Dear Father,

I recently got married to Veight. I know you wanted me to have a grand wedding, but I’m afraid my ceremony was far from conventional. Normally in a Sonnenlicht wedding, the groom enters the chapel from the north entrance, retracing the steps of the ancient saints who sought after the sun. The guests applaud as the groom heads south, a symbolic representation of the demons and heretics who obstructed the saints during their journey. It is only by overcoming those obstacles that the groom can reach the sun, where his bride resides. At least, that was how you explained the ceremony to me, Father.

When I saw Veight walking up to the altar, your words came back to me. My first meeting with Veight was when he broke through my window. Back then, he was the commander of an invading army. I’ve been recalling that moment more and more frequently, recently. It’s strange how a werewolf tasked with conquering Meraldia ended up becoming one of its top officials. Not only that, but he’s done more for this country than anyone else. Most importantly, though, he liberated me from my suffering. It’s rather embarrassing to admit, but his trust in me was what allowed me to regain confidence in myself, and the path I chose.

Veight is both a master strategist and a peerless warrior. However, despite his talent for war, he is a gentle soul who prefers solving problems with words rather than conflict. He has a few strange quirks, but I find most of them charming. For example, his fashion sense is truly baffling. All of his shirts have strange patterns on them that clash with his pants. He also tends to start working without fixing his bed head. The thing I like most about him, though, is how fervently he tries to share his joy with others. Whenever he comes across a new dish he loves, he’ll immediately look for people to share it with. Despite being a werewolf, he acts like a human. It turns out the reason for that is because he was a human in his past life. Moreover, he lived his past life in a completely different world from ours.

He was the one who suggested I pen this letter. According to him, it was customary in his old world for people to write letters of gratitude to their parents and read them aloud when they got married. In my opinion, that’s a wonderful tradition. Unfortunately, you are gone and buried, and Mother died before I even got the chance to know her. I thought it would be embarrassing to give a speech on my personal feelings to people who weren’t even present, so I decided to keep this letter private.

Do you think I managed to find a good husband, Father? Personally, I can’t imagine being with anyone else. Even if you were alive and against our union, I think I still would have married Veight anyway. I’m a nefarious Demon Lord now, so it’s not as though you would be able to stop me. I can imagine how fed up you’d be if that were the case. But knowing you, I’m sure you would accept my choice. You always put my happiness first, after all.

I may not have been the perfect daughter, but I hope you’ll continue watching over me from heaven. The things you taught me are my most valuable treasures. I love you, Father. Thank you for raising me.

Sincerely, Airia.

—Veight’s Letter—

Dear Friedensrichter,

I told Airia she should write a letter to her deceased father, and she said only would if I wrote one to my parents as well. I’ve already told my mom and Master in person everything I might write in a letter, and I never got to know my dad, so the most I could do for him was visit his grave. I did write letters to my past life’s parents, but they were pretty short. In the end, I feel like you’re the person I really should be writing a letter to. So here I am.

I got married to Airia the other day. My mental image of weddings is the couple riding a gondola while smoke from dry ice fills the background, but naturally, weddings in this world aren’t as fancy as movie weddings on Earth. Though, in my generation, there were rich people doing weddings like that in real life, too. In fact, that’s what one of my cousins did for her wedding. Airia explained to me how weddings in Meraldia follow some ancient Sonnenlicht custom, but I already forgot the contents of the myth it’s based on. I’ll ask her again later to refresh my memory.

Anyway, you met Airia back when you were alive, so you know she’s a progressive, intelligent, and brave young lady. She shares the same goals as me, so maybe it was inevitable that I’d end up marrying her. Everyone’s hyping up our wedding as a historic benchmark of demon-human coexistence too—or, most everyone anyway. I know there are a few hardline conservatives who are pissed about it. I feel kind of bad since this is really just a marriage of two humans. Plus, this makes it even harder to publicly come out about the fact that I’m a reincarnated human. I wish I could complain to you about all of this, but you just had to go and die on me. You better have been reincarnated somewhere. You deserve that much at least.

By the way, the demon army you founded is now the strongest force on the continent. Half the reason people were willing to negotiate with me was because my words were backed by the might of your army. I’m hoping that going forward we can build a relationship of trust and mutual cooperation with other nations though, so we don’t have to rely on military might. You brought over your organizational skills from your past life while I brought over my diplomatic skills. Together, we can hopefully make the demon army into something truly great. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I realize all of the demon army’s prowess is based on human wisdom. Humans are social creatures, and they’re craftier and more tenacious than any other species, so it makes sense that they’d be the most advanced species. Man, humans really are terrifying. Don’t you agree, Friedensrichter?

Oh yeah, were you married in your past life? This is my first time getting married in either life, and the only other married person I know is another Meraldian viceroy. He’s a goddamn weirdo though, so I can’t really go to him for advice most of the time. I guess I saw how much Ivan cared for his dead wife and how passionate Dillier’s love was for Shallier, but I can’t really apply anything I learned from them to my own love life. There are also my parents from my past life too, but...I really don’t wanna end up like them.

Honestly, I’m not sure what makes a good husband or a good father. You’re probably the only role model I can use as a reference, which is why I ended up writing this letter. I’m not the only one who looked up to you, either. Shure and a bunch of the other demon army generals all told me you were like a father figure to them. The more I think about it, the more I realize I’ll probably do alright if I just follow your example.

You know, I thought marriage would be a really nerve-wracking thing, but every time I see Airia’s face, whatever worries I might’ve had just vanish. She’s the only woman I fell in love with over two lifetimes, so it stands to reason that she’s the best possible wife I could ask for. The only problem is whether or not I’m good enough for her. All I can do is try my best. I have no idea if we’ll be able to have children or not, but if we do, I hope you come see them. Even if you look different because you’ve reincarnated, I’ll recognize you. In the meantime, I’ll keep working toward realizing your dream.

Thank you so much for everything, Friedensrichter. By the way, would it be alright if I called you Dad like some of the other demon army soldiers do? I’m your vice-commander, so I’ve got that right, don’t I? See you around, Dad.

- Veight.